Happy Birthday

Dear WP,

Today, you turned one!! Mommy does not know where the year went. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I flash back to the week you were born. The sense of anxiousness and excitement growing as we neared your due date – Mommy and Daddy could hardly stand the waiting.

On April 30, 2009, Mommy and Daddy’s day started out like any other day…we both headed off to our respective jobs thinking we still had a week (at least) before we would meet our sweet boy. However, as the day progressed, my back started hurting. I just assumed it was late pregnancy back pains until your Mom-Mom quickly mentioned that all of her labors started with moderate lower back pain. Well that was enough to get my hopes up that you might arrive sooner than your estimated due date (May 9, 2009).

At 5 pm on April 30, 2009, Mommy’s water broke! You were on your way!! Daddy quickly headed home and then we headed to the hospital. After 15 hours of labor (13 with out pain medicine), you were ready to make your grand entrance. At 8:21 am, on May 1, 2009, you arrived, a healthy 7 lbs 6 oz. You were absolutely perfect and Mommy was head over heels in love from the moment I heard your first cry!! When they put you in my arms, I knew that God created me so I could eventually grow up and be your Mommy!!!

Since those first precious moments with you, I have found myself falling more and more in love with you. Over the last year, you have gone from a cute fussy mess of a baby trying to figure out night and day to a handsome brave little boy who knows no limits. Now, when I look at you trying to walk, I wonder where did my little 7lb baby go? How can you be over 20 lbs and a little man in the blink of an eye?

With each new skill you have tackled and mastered, more and more of your personality has erupted. Your laugh fills our house with sweet innocent joy. When you and Daddy play hide-and-seek, you burst into pure fits of giggles that fill every bit of Mommy’s soul with goodness and delight. Your mischievous eyes twinkly with that same goofy boyish charm your Daddy has. We see “the look” most often as you try to escape into rooms you know you are not suppose to go to. You’ll turn around to see if we are watching, as if to say “catch me if you can”, and then you’ll crawl as fast as you can. Faster and faster you go, laughing, as we run to catch you.

At the end of the day, when you’ve had enough, you come reaching for Mommy. Those last few moments before you drift into slumber land, those are Mommy’s favorite. Watching you reach for me so we can have snuggle time, your little sounds of contentment as I give you your bottle, the way you reach out to touch my face in an effort to ward off sleep, and then when there is no more fighting it, the way you burrow down into Mommy just before closing your eyes…these are the moments I will always treasure.

Little man, you are growing faster than the speed of light, but I would not have it any other way. As I watch you grow, I know you will be a strong, independent, confident, caring, respectful, loving, gentle, intelligent man. And that, my son, is all a Mommy can hope for!

Happy Birthday, WP!!!

Love,
 
Mommy