Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

Dear S.,

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!  Your first birthday was a few days ago and I wanted to write a little note to you to let you know how much I love you.  You have added so much love, joy, and laughter to our lives.  I remember how happy your dad and I were the day in May of 2007 that we found out I was pregnant with you.  We had tried for over two years to get pregnant and had done almost everything a person could do to make it happen.  We followed any and all advice available: yoga, meditation, chiropractic visits, vitamins, no coffee, no chocolate, lots of green tea and pineapple, Coke, charting, Clomid, and lots and lots of trying.  Finally, you stuck and we were ecstatic!  I was so worried that I would lose you through the first three months, I didn't want to tell anyone other than family that I was pregnant.  

When I was about three months pregnant with you, your Dad, your Grandpa Steve, and I flew to Turkey and Greece for vacation.  We had such a good time.  Your Grandpa kept calling you Katie because he thought you were going to be a girl.  He claimed that you were talking to him the whole trip.  If you look at the pictures of the trip, you can't really tell that I was pregnant, but I was!  You're already a world traveler.  I was never really nauseous while pregnant, with the exception of the plane and bus rides on that trip.

I had some very strange dreams when I was pregnant with you.  I remember in one you were born with a full set of teeth and you bit me really hard when I was trying to nurse you. 

 I had three food cravings while pregnant: I wanted cinnamon everything all the time the whole pregnancy.  I ate toast with cinnamon sugar on it almost every morning.  The second trimester all I wanted to eat for lunch everyday was cheese enchiladas (something I hadn't eaten for years).  The last trimester, my favorite thing to eat were tuna subs with horseradish and banana peppers from Quiznos.  Throughout my whole pregnancy, I couldn't eat lemons or lemonade.  Lemonade tasted like dirty dishwater.  Now, finally, lemonade tastes normal again.

I remember the first time I felt you move.  I was eighteen weeks pregnant and I could feel this strange sensation in my belly--like soap bubbles bursting.  It was you fluttering and kicking and moving around in there!  It was such a wonderful, awesome experience, feeling you moving inside me and knowing that you were growing and developing and turning into this amazing little person.

I worried about you all eight months you were in there baking.  I think that constant worry is something all mothers feel.  I so much wanted you to be alright, to have you develop as you should and be born when you should.  Once I reached about thirty weeks, though, that worry started to ebb.  Six weeks later, you were born.  You were a month early, born with the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck and oxygen-deprived.  You spent a week in the NICU and scared us to death!  Now, though, you would never know that you were a preemie.  You are such a robust, sweet, goofy kid.

I have loved watching you grow and develop this last year.  From the beginning your own little personality has shown.  You are sweet-natured, almost always in a good mood; you are stubborn, silly, mischievous, smart, curious, loving, generous, gregarious, stubborn, optimistic, mechanical, visual, stubborn, musical, warm-hearted, humorous, left-handed, and stubborn.  When you were just three months old, you decided that if you went to sleep you would miss something important; from that moment on, you have tried to avoid going to sleep.  You used to moved your head slowly back and forth and/or scream to keep yourself awake.  Sometimes you would either stop nursing or refuse to nurse because you didn't want to fall asleep.  Now, you just kick and kick and kick, or refuse to sit still, or refuse to lay down, or talk and talk and talk, or scream to keep yourself awake. 

One of my favorite things about you is your smile and laugh.  You have such a sunny, ready smile and your laugh makes me laugh every single time.  I love that you are so able and so willing to find joy in life.  I love how you turn everything into a game.  I love that you are such a little tease.  You will offer food to the puppy and then, at the very last second, take it back and eat if yourself.  You tease me, acting like you are going to kiss me then turning away, or crawling away from me.  You play with your dad, making up games as you go along.

You are so clever already.  You love anything electronic and already have a toy cell phone and computer because you won't leave ours alone!  You love figuring out how things work and will turn a new object over and over and over in your hands as you study it and try to figure out how it works, your tongue poking out the whole time.  Once you figure out how to do something, you do it over and over and over again.  Already, you scream if you can't have something you want (I am not looking forward to the terrible twos).

Thankfully, you seem to have a sense of caution.  For awhile I was afraid that you weren't going to having any fear.  Right now, though, a fear of falling is the only thing that's keeping you from walking. 

You love to hang upside down and romp around.  You constantly want to be thrown up and caught, or hung upside down, or jiggled or chased, or bounced.  You are going all the time.  We took you to have your picture taken yesterday and it was almost impossible to get you to stay put long enough to get any shots.  

You have met or exceeded all the growth and developmental milestones you were supposed to.  You are very close to walking, you say several words: dada, mama, kitty, dog, hello, and no.  You try to say Penelope, night-night, bottle, and love you.  You just started meowing, which makes me laugh every time you do it.  The only thing you need to work on is growing some teeth!

I love you, S., with all my hear and soul.  You are the best and brightest part of our lives and we are so thankful every single day that you are with us.  I can't wait to see how you grow and change over the next year and the years to come.  Happy Birthday, Baby, and may this next year be even better than the last.

Love, 

Mama