Mama was way more excited about this selfie than you!
you love doug.
this is how I feel about you turning 1.
morning selfie
You are so much fun right now! You're constantly on the go, and I can't seem to keep you in one place for more than 10 seconds. I think you may be the fastest little crawler I know. You love cruising while holding onto the edge of the furniture, but you haven't mastered walking yet. Your daddy tries to walk with you holding his fingers, but you'll have nothing of it and plop down. I secretly love it. Like I told you last month, I don't want you growing up any sooner than you need to. So if that means I knock your feet out from under you when you try to walk, so be it.
You are LOVING your swing. It's been so nice outside in the evenings, we usually spend about an hour outside just swinging and playing. You're not a fan of the grass, which may or may not break your landscaping daddy's heart :) You love anything that has to do with a ball. You'll bounce it, throw it, and catch it. You throw with your left hand, but eat and are dominant in every other activity with your right hand, just like dada.
twins!
Speaking of DaDa - he's probably one of your favorite people (besides me, of course ;)). You wake up saying "dada", and looking around for him. Every time he gets home, your little face just lights up. I'm fairly confident that the feeling is mutual :D Besides dada, you say buh-bye, ball, and most recently MAMA (finally). You don't say mama very often, but when you do, oh my heart melts. We've added a few more tricks to your act - you've gotten much better at waving, and you love giving "knuckles". You still rock the "where's Grant" and blowing raspberries, but you don't love giving kisses as much anymore. Playing in the bath is a fun time for you, untilllllll you realize I have to actually bathe you. Then you get mad every.single.time.
snuggles with ms. Kelly at daycare
who needs pants when you're this cute?
this is how you feel about shopping with mama. EVEN when she buys you new shoes.
Eating and sleeping? psh. You've got that down like a newborn. You take three 8oz bottles a day, as well as three meals. I can't WAIT to stop paying $25 for formula! ONE MORE MONTH! You eat pretty much everything we do - you love baby Nutri-Grain bars, yogurt, Annie's cheddar bunnies and mac&cheese. You're not a huge fan of pork, but you love chicken and steak. You also eat A LOT of food. You demolish a 12 count grilled nugget from CFA like a grown man. We put you to bed around 7, and you sleep through the night until I wake you up at 5:45. Most weekend mornings you'll sleep until 7:30 or so (praise the Lord). I don't know if you're going through a growth spurt or what it is, but you have been going to bed SUPER early this week. Sunday night, you went to bed at 6. Monday night? 5:30. Tuesday night, we ate dinner with one of mama's friends, and you were a HOT mess. We left at 7:00, and you were asleep before we even left the parking lot. Wednesday night you were passed out by 6:30. We'll probably try another early bed time tonight!
We LOVE pasta night.
Contrary to the look of this picture, you sat and snuggled with me for a solid 20 minutes. Unheard of since you started crawling!
Justin held you like this for at least 15 minutes and you were so incredibly content.
and the doughnut hole tradition continues. Thanks, Pepa & MawMaw
We spent one more weekend on the road, when we went to the Perry Fair. You loved all of the cows (you are my son, after all), and the lawn mowers! Pepa and MawMaw don't live far from the fairgrounds at all, so we took you to their house for your afternoon nap. Mama and Daddy went back to the fair to meet Uncle Cale and Alexa for the Alabama concert, so Pepa and MawMaw watched you for the evening. They sayyyyy you were the perfect angel. But I don't know how true that really is :)
i love your little hand.
same. exact. scowl.
We got home late Saturday night, and after church on Sunday morning we went to Grayson to celebrate Uncle CoCo & Millie Kate's birthday! We had a delicious lunch (thanks, Mimi), and you were so loved on!
so many tries to get a good picture of you four!
this is my favorite of HDG :)
ohhhh boy, does Millie Kate love you
Finally, this last weekend we visited Mema & Poppa in Mansfield to celebrate Mema's birthday! I normally don't put you in the nursery when we visit other churches. But I think it's about time - even when you're happy, you're a littttttle too loud for church. I ended up taking you out of church about 15 minutes in and put you in the nursery. Apparently they loved you and you slept like a champ! Win for both of us!!
I can NOT believe that you are almost one. I've been planning your birthday for a couple of months now, and am so excited! The older you get, I feel like the more introspective I get. So many times I wonder "am I a good enough mom?", "should I be playing with him more?", "is he going to resent the fact that I didn't stay home with him?". It's a fine line to toe between keeping our house running and making sure we're spending good quality time together. I stumbled across this quote, and absolutely love it: "To be in your children's memories tomorrow, you must be present in their lives today". Hallelujah, and amen. The dishes can wait. You know what won't wait? That sweet baby pawing at my leg and reaching up to be held. So if you come visit us, and my house is a mess, know that it's not because we don't care. It's because we have a sweet, sweet baby, and babies don't keep. As you grow, your daddy and I's desire for you to 1. Know the sweet, sweet love of your Jesus, and 2. Grow up to be a rich banker so you can put us in a good home. Kidding about number 2. Kind of.
And because you haven't seen enough pictures of yourself in this post, here are some basic pictures of you with some pumpkins. We had a beautiful fall day yesterday, and I couldn't NOT take any pictures. They aren't all crazy amazing quality, but your faces in them make me smile :)
We love you, sweet boy. Here's to finishing out your first year with a bang!
