Happy Birthday Baby!

My baby.  Today you are one.  One Year Old! 

You were born on the coldest day of the year in 2009.  If this cold snap does not let up, your birthday could be on the coldest day of 2010!  It is FREEZING out there!

No one believed labor could be as painless and easy as it was when I delivered your big sister.  And then you came along and broke the record by 8 minutes.  My doctor decided to induce your labor.  One of your aunt's came over Saturday morning to watch your big sister until Grammy and Pop-Pop arrived, while your daddy and I went to the hospital.  By 8am we were getting the induction medicine, and you were born less than 8 hours later!  I got the epidural, so we spent most of the day talking, reading, and napping.  The doctor checked me about 6 hours later and I was not very far along, so we told everyone to wait a little longer before coming to the hospital.  After an hour of laying on my sides, I told the nurse "it is time to push", but she did not believe me.  Boy, was she wrong!  She called the doctor and told her to "RUN!  NOT WALK!" over, and the doctor barely had time to wash her hands and put on gloves before you arrived!  Another perfect delivery!  Another perfect baby!


While you were getting cleaned up in the nursery with daddy, I was recovering in the delivery room.  I decided to turn on the news and discovered a plan had landed? crashed? in a river.  It was not until much later that we got the whole story.  A year later, I recorded the "one-year later" news program just so I could relive the news from that day.  It amazed me there were other things going on outside in the world that day.  I literally spent all day wrapped in a cocoon of love, delivering you in to the world, and could not see how your amazing, life changing entry to the world did not stop time.

The first few months were tough!  I had a toddler and a newborn to care for, and I was stressed.  I did not know how people could have three, four, or more kids - this was enough for me!  But, I kept hearing "the transition from one to two is the hardest, the rest are gravy", so I leaned on that and got through knowing I was not the first person to find this so exhausting.  Somewhere along the way, that changed.  Things got easier, and now we have a good routine. 

You are the easiest baby I have ever seen (I do not know what I would have done if you had been tough considering how hard I found this parenting two kids thing!).  We thought you would be a terror because your sister was such a perfect baby.  But, then you came along and proved that we could be blessed with two amazingly easy babies (proving EVERYONE wrong)!  You are happy all the time!  You laugh and smile constantly.  You love to cuddle and snuggle; you would be content to sit in our laps, snuggle, and suck your thumb all day long.  You like to get down and play, but cannot resist climbing into someone's lap the minute they sit down on the floor.  You are so sweet. 

For the past six months, you have been sitting up and interacting with us and your big sister.  You want to do everything just like your big sister does.  You play with her toys, copy her actions, and try to climb over things just like a big kid, even though you are still very small and cannot walk.  Your face absolutely lights up when your big sister is anywhere near you, and you laugh and get so excited you can barely contain it when she talks to you or plays with you.  You do not care if she is a little rough, you are just happy to have her around!

My baby, you are an absolute joy.  I cannot wait to see what this next year will bring :)