Happy 1st birthday Alex!!

It's finally here.  Your first birthday. 

 You have one sad mama that you are growing so fast but one very excited mama at what the next year will bring.  You are growing so fast and your little personality is just the sweetest thing ever.  

We celebrated today with a bit of a chill day, but special nonetheless.

We started out with our Best family tradition of birthday balloons in your crib.  

You were VERY excited and had the cutest little smile on your face.  Your sister sang you happy birthday and you were so excited to be greeted by mama, daddy AND sissy bright and early. 

You are obsessed with puppies lately and this little cutie caught my eye at Costco last night and I knew you would be excited about it.  You crawled right over to it and started "talking" to it.  You had the biggest grin on your face.

For breakfast mama made you pancakes - your new favorite.  I tried to make it into the shape of a "1" but it may have looked a little more like a seahorse.... you devoured it so fast I didn't get to take a good picture of it anyway so noone will ever know:)  

After a quick breakfast we headed to the bus stop to send sissy on her way and you and mommy headed back in the house for a little fun before naptime.  We sat on the kitchen floor and banged away on the pots and pans to your little heart's content.  

By 9am you were ready for nap.....and you slept....and slept.....and slept..... my 45 minute napper took a 2 1/4 hour nap!!  

You woke up just in time for your favorite part of the day..... getting sissy from the bus stop!  It was raining but you didn't care - you were so excited to help mama hold the umbrella.  

We played with sissy for a bit and then mama made you grilled cheese for lunch and we celebrated with sissy over cake pops.  You weren't sure what to do with it at first, but after clocking your sister square in the face with it you finally figured out you could EAT it!  Yummmy!

We played some more with sissy in the afternoon, napped, built a fort and then it was finally time for daddy to come home & celebrate all over again. 

 I was going to save your cake for your birthday party on Saturday but I couldn't resist...... you can't NOT have cake on your birthday, right?!?

You had NO problems figuring out to do with this one.  Mommy frosted it with yogurt so it wouldn't be QUITE so sweet.  We tried to sing to you with a lit candle but you just wanted to put your little fingers in the fire so your sissy blew it out for you.  

Then you were on to the cake....

You devoured it!

You looked as if you might have been getting full here....

Then you started licking the plate

Mmmm.... thanks mom!

We spent the rest of the night at sissy's ballet class where you learned to make this silly face:

and then it was home for bed.  

You even gave mama a few minutes of snuggles before bed tonight...

And I MAY have just snuck in your room to give you one more good night kiss before the day is done..... Happy Birthday Alexander Brooks!!

Today went WAY too fast, but thankfully we have the rest of the week to keep celebrating!!  Friday daddy took the day off so we can have family day and Saturday is your big party!!  

Mama has already been having lots of fun getting ready for it...

What a great day!!  And we are looking forward to a great week!!

So, what are you up to my little one year old?

You still have just 2 teeth....I feel like you have been teething FOREVER but still nothing else has popped through.  I adore your little two toothed smile so I am in no rush for more to come:)  

Your absolute favorite things are puppies, anything with wheels, balls and your mama.  Your new sitter has a dog and you follow her around all day long.  You get SO excited when we get there and you get see Nala.  You will play catch for pretty much hours on end:)   As for the wheels, you love anything with wheels - sissy's school bus, a motorcycle driving by, a toy you can turn upside down and spin the wheels - if it has wheels you are happy.  And, aw shucks, your mama.  You are SUCH a mama's boy.  I secretly love it but it does make me a little sad that you won't go by your daddy as easily as you used to.  

Your least favorite thing is definitely getting your diaper changed.  You HATE it!  You usually scream and cry the entire time, especially first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  

You are a great eater....Mama is still nursing you 4 times a day.  I'm ready to drop a mid day feed but I'm not so sure you are yet so we'll keep chugging along.  I did give you whole milk this week in a bottle and a sippy cup and you did great with it.  Your favorite foods are chicken, blueberries, toast and pancakes.  You aren't such a big fan of noodles or eggs which both seem odd to me.  

You are wearing mostly size 12 month clothes though some of your 9 month things still fit.  You are in a size 4 diaper and I have no idea what size your feet are since I'm just finally starting to try to put something on your feet now that the weather is cooler.  I do know that you grew out of a bunch of really cute shoes I had for you after going bear tootsies all summer.  

You are still not a fabulous sleeper though you have done better the past week or so.  You still take 2 naps a day and occasionally even 3.  You go down at 9 and sleep for 45 minutes or so and then at 1 and sleep for 1-2 (usually only 1) hour.  Your bed time is about 7pm and if you make it through the night you wake up at 5 or 5:30 to nurse and then go back to bed until about 7am when you wake up and nurse again and are ready for the day.  You still sometimes get up once or twice in the night either for just your nuk or a quick shot of mama's milk before you go back to sleep.  

You are not walking yet, but you will get up and walk behind just about everything.  Your favorite toy is your sister's Winnie the Pooh train she got for her first birthday - it lights up and makes noises and you can walk behind it.  

You love it.  You will also push your cars sideways and try to walk behind them.  Last week you were bent over on the floor walking behind the remote control and today you were doing the same thing behind a pot.  You don't have any desire to walk on your own, though you are really fast when we hold out our hands and help you walk.  

You still aren't using many "real" words.  You say Mama all day long....mostly when you are whining.  Daddy is actually your happy word - dadadadada.  You will repeat a lot of what I say....the other day I swear you said "Go Bucky".  You will say clock and truck and ball, but very rarely and usually you just grunt all day long.  You are such a boy.  

Oh, and you LOVE toilet paper and kleenex.  If you get your hands on a box of kleenex, you will pull and pull and pull and pull as fast as you can to get as many out as you can before you get caught...

Sassy boy....

You had your first haircut this month....

Uncle Derek did it for you and it turned out pretty sharp....

You've also had your share of bumps and bruises this month..... you don't miss a beat though.... 

Sissy:  Bubbers, your sissy is crazy about you.  

Unfortunately she has started enjoying showing you this love physically....lol.  Anytime you are sitting down, she will come up behind you, one leg on each side, arms around you tight and squeeze you as tight as she can. 

 You get REALLY mad and try to squirm away.  

She is still pretty good at sharing her toys with you though if you have something she wants she will pull the old bait and switch on you.  She was very excited it was your birthday today and told you happy birthday about a hundred times.  It was pretty sweet.  Your sissy fed you your first milk bottle earlier this week and she thought it was the coolest thing ever.

You love your sissy sooo much and she can still get you to smile the biggest out of any of us. 

Daddy:  Alex, your daddy is so very in love with you.  

You aren't reciprocating that love quite as nicely lately with your affections for mommy but when the two of you are alone together and you aren't tempted to cry for mommy you two have a lot of fun together.  Your daddy would do anything for you and he busts it at work to make sure he gets home to see you every night.  You put the biggest smile on his face and he does the same to you.  

I love getting out pictures of daddy and sissy throughout the day and showing them to you because you get SO excited to see them!!  I have a feeling daddy is really looking forward to this next year with you and seeing you grow and change into a big boy.

Mommy:  Bubs, I must admit I got a little teary eyed on more than one occasion today thinking about this past year and how fast it has gone.  I don't know how you got so big so darn fast.  I love seeing your sweet little personality and I'm having so much fun watching you grow I really just wish you would slow down a little:)  

I cherish the one on one time I get with you, especially with sissy at school now and I just love to love on you all day long. 

 It's been a great year and I look forward to celebrating with you all week!!

On to the last of the monthly pictures......

Dear Baby Boy......part II

Dear baby boy.....

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I sat down and wrote you the last "dear baby boy" letter.  It was the night before we met you, the night before my heart grew bigger than I ever thought possible.  Little boy, you have this mama wrapped around your little finger.  I'm going to be honest with you for a second....when I found out you were going to be a boy, I was a little sad.  I only knew girls.  I only knew big bows, lots of hair and ruffle butts.  I knew princesses and playing dress up.  I thought for sure I wanted more of the same.  I felt so guilty for even feeling a smidge of sadness over it....especially after all we had been through.   I still remember calling Ms Corie who had told me time and time again how awesome having a little boy after a little girl was and asking her to tell me just how wonderful it would be once again, hoping that it would make me ready and excited for a boy.  Looking back on that phone call, I get it now.  She couldn't even put into words how happy a little boy had made her.  It was a different kind of love - she had a mama's boy and it made her heart so full.  She kept saying there's just something about a baby boy.  Well, Mr. Brooks - from the minute I laid eyes on you I found that to be so true.  You are the sweetest little thing.  I still remember those few special days we had in the hospital, just me and you.  Daddy and sissy came and went and we had a few visitors, but mostly it was me and you time.  I took a million pictures and posted way too many to social media - but you know what, I didn't want to forget a single minute.  I had my boy.  I didn't even know what I was missing.  You are the baby I never even knew that I needed but it turns out God knew and He answered that prayer before I could even utter it.

Alex, this first year has gone by so quickly and yet so slowly at the same time.  Your daddy and I are finding life with 2 kids is well, crazy.  There is so much less I can get done in a day and yet I am finding there are so many fewer things that really need to get done.  Things can wait.  You will not be little forever.  I try to remind myself of that when I start getting overwhelmed at the million things I need to get done, but I'll admit I get stressed out way more than I need to.  It only takes a sweet smile from you with those big blue eyes to remind me that you are what I waited for.  You are worth every tear shed over overpriced coffee.  You are worth every sleepless night.  You are worth every month of hope lost.  You were worth the wait, baby boy.  And now, the less important things in life can wait.  I have a baby boy to spoil!

Alexander Brooks, in this past year you have taught your mama that she can survive with very little sleep for very long periods of time;)  Despite all the smiley, silly pictures I posted on social media you were quite the little stinker for the first 4 months of life.  You cried..... alot.  We were hoping to avoid the word colic around here, but there is no denying it - you had it in full force.  The difference with you was, when you were happy - man, you were happy.  Even now - you are all or nothing.  You are usually a very chill, happy little boy but when you want something, man can you scream.  That would probably explain why you are still not sleeping through the night consistently.  There are so many nights when you wake up and just sit up in your crib screaming - begging for your nuk or for just a taste of mama's milk to calm you back down and help you fall back to sleep.  I keep trying to tell myself that I will miss it when it is gone, but I must admit I sure enjoy a few good night's sleep from time to time.  But in the end, you know I wouldn't change it for anything.  There's just something so sweet about being the only ones awake in a big old quiet house in the wee hours of the morning....

Bubbers, if you had a quarter for every time I've kissed your head you would be a very rich little boy.

  I honestly can't get enough of you.  While I'm sad that in just a few days you will turn 1, I am so thankful that God has chosen me to be your mommy.  I'm thankful that He knew that I needed you even before I did.  I'm thankful that I got to bring you into this world and that God chose me to be your Mama.  I can't wait to see what the next year will bring, baby boy.  Just promise me you'll slow down a little, ok?

Love,

One crazy in love mama