ONE

ONE year old.  We have a one year old.  Ah, this is just crazy! Where is my little tiny baby boy?  He's now a wild, sweet, hilarious, and toddler who amazes us everyday.  

I very vividly remember sitting in bed with Matt the night before we went in to deliver and welcome Barrett and talking about how we couldn't even wrap our heads around our baby actually being here. I couldn't wait to see him.  Put a face to his name and see if he matched at all what we had envisioned him looking like.  To smell his newborn baby smell, feel his newborn baby skin, soak up his sleepy baby snuggles, and give him an unsurmountable amount of kisses.  Matt said "before we know it he is going to be in our arms, and the time is going to fly.  He's going to be a month old and then a couple months old and then a year old in a flash".  And I couldn't even imagine it.  No way this little human I had been growing for the last 10 months was going to get any bigger than a fresh newborn baby all snuggled in our arms.  Everyone tells you how fast it goes, and man were they right.  And now I look at him and am still in awe that this handsome baby-man is ours.  In awe of how much he has grown, has learned, and how much our hearts have grown with love for him.  There is no better feeling in life than sharing it with your children and the love you have for them.  It continues to overwhelm me.  I feel so incredibly lucky that we were chosen for him and that we get to live our life with him in it.

My friend, Jamie, took Barrett's one year pictures (including an awesome smash cake that she made everything for..incredible!) and it was crazy seeing this little man walk around with such spunk and compare to his newborn photo shoot a whole year ago.  I can't thank her enough for capturing our family throughout Barrett's first year.  I don't know what I would do without these photos.  I'm just so thankful!

And now for the smash cake!  Can you believe she MADE all of this?!  I have the most talented friend in the world.  I was so crazy impressed by all of this.  The cake, colors, sign, overall look was perfection.  Straight out of a magazine :)

 

barrett matthew : 12 months

Our little baby boy is 12 months old! Man, did this year FLY or what?  This has been the most fun, challenging, hilarious, humbling, rewarding, and just plain best year of our lives.  We had no idea this kind of love was possible.  We were blessed with a happy and healthy child and we couldn't ask for anything more.  Barrett is a wild child, through and through. He has endless energy and has no fear.  This kid is happy.  I mean, really happy.  His smiles and laughs are so contagious and he makes us laugh every single day.

Bear loves talking.  He chats all day long and tries to carry on a conversation with us.  He has this word ("GA" and "GO") that he will sometimes say over and over and over again and point at things trying to get you to understand what he's saying.  I have yet to figure it out, but I pretend like I know :).  His vocab includes: mama, dada, gog (dog), car, duck, cow (and can point to the animals if you ask him what they are), and lots of other sounds that he thinks are words.  He still gives out the sweetest kisses and hugs and is such a lover.  I love when I say "give mama a kiss" and he does it.  Train them early :).  If he's playing and you're sitting on the floor with him, he was randomly walk up and give you a hug or kiss or sit in your lap-just a quick refuel I guess.  My favorite is when you pick him up and he wraps his arms so tightly around your neck, buries his head in your neck, and squeezes so tight.  It is the absolute best. 

He loves being chased.  He laughs hysterically if you say "I'm gonna get you!" and chase after him.  He is walking SO well! Like he's been doing it all his life.  He rarely ever crawls anymore. If he falls, he stands right back up. Speaking of that, the kid is a wrecking ball.  He takes down anything in his path and rarely ever cares if he falls.  He only cries if he's actually hurt which doesn't happen very often. He gives me (and everyone else!) a heart attack with how he falls and bumps into things, but he could care less.  Linebacker already.

He has 6 teeth and uses them to chomp on all sorts of big people food.  His current favs are waffles, eggs, blueberries, sweet potatoes, zucchini, cottage cheese, avocado, and cheerios.  He eats 3 meals and signs "more" and "all done" for food.  I'm so glad we taught him "more" because he will randomly do it if he's hungry,  We will be playing or doing something and he will all of a sudden start signing it and I look up at the clock and realize it's time for him to eat! It's better than him just screaming at me and not knowing what he wants.  He only drinks out of a straw sippy or a regular straw-wants nothing to do with regular sippy cups.   

We got 8 inches of snow the day after his birthday party, so we went out and played for a little bit!

Lounging-the rare moment the bear is sitting still.

These eyes have a way of getting him whatever he wants...

He LOVES shutting doors, and will do it if I ask him to.  If he's in the fridge and I say "shut the door" he will back up and shut the door and then smile.  He also wants to shut the washer/dryer doors too and loves "helping" me.  He wants to put clothes in the dryer and then shut the door.  It lengthens the process, but he loves it.  If you give him a washcloth or paper towel he will wipe up the floor and his favorite job is when I let him hold the top spout part of the humidifier while I fill it and then he gets to put it back on.  But yet, his very most favorite thing is making messes and getting into EVERYTHING (pulling all the clothes out of the hamper, drawers, puling everything out of cabinets or any basket), so we need to work on the cleaning them up when we're done part :).  He is the absolute happiest when I give him a cabinet or drawer full of stuff to get in to.  

He waves "bye-bye" which is the cutest thing ever for some reason.  He will bring you books to read to him and will plop right down in your lap.  If a song comes on, he is dancing.  Moving his head back and forth and clapping his hands.  If the song "if you're happy and you know it" comes on, he will clap his hands.  He also loves playing peekaboo. He will hide behind the couch and then laugh hysterically if you find him.

Weight: 23 lb (75%)
Height: 31.75 in (97%)

Happy 12 months to our favorite little guy!