1 Year Old

My baby is one year old...I'm in denial! I'm not gonna lie...I shed a couple tears as I put Cash to bed the night before his birthday. Something about my babies turning one is so hard for me...I was emotional with Graham and I was hoping I'd keep it together with Cash. Nope! I held him a little longer the night before his birthday and thought about the past year. I though about how anxious I was for the hard "newborn" phase (not to mention major surgery and trying to function with a newborn after), how nursing would go and how long I'd be able to commit to that process, and, most importantly, how Graham would feel when he wasn't the sole recipient of our attention. I also thought about how excited I was for all of those sweet firsts - the coos and smiles, how I couldn't wait to see the brotherly bond form between Graham and Cash, and how I got to see Nate fall in love with another little sidekick again. I had so many thoughts and feelings waiting 39 weeks and 1 day for Cash to be born.

When Cash finally joined us, we fell right into our family of four like it was nothing new. Cash brought new challenges that we hadn't experienced with Graham (acid reflux/constant spit-up, ear infections, a major 4-month sleep regression that lasted months) but we rolled with it and, with a lot of coffee for this mama, made it through. Looking back now, it seems like those "hard times" were so long ago...but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday he was swimming in all of his newborn onesies and going pant-less b/c everything was too big for his tiny body.

It's amazing how quickly time passes - how days turn into weeks and then months...and before I knew it, Cash's first year was gone as quickly as it came. I have such happy/sad emotions -- more than anything I love watching him grow and learn and change, but as each milestone passes and the next size of clothes gets packed away, I still get a little sad that another phase is behind us. Thankfully, for this mama, the second birthday is typically easier than the first. So, until then, I'm going to continue to savor every single second with my 1-year-old!

Aside from the sap story - here is what Cash is up to at 12 months: he loves eating "big people" food, playing with/stealing brother's toys, being carried around, getting into every cabinet, pulling up on everything, being outside, playing/splashing in the bath and going to the pool. Cash smiles all the time - I loooove his little gummy grin and the way he wrinkles his nose when he gets tickled. He still isn't walking yet but it looks like we're getting closer. And, he is holding strong with just his two bottom teeth. His favorite word that he says waaaaay more than anything else - DADA! In a distant second is "bubu" and even farther third "mama"! :)