A Birthday Letter To My Son

Dear Daniel,

One year ago today was the best day of my life. It was the day I met you. You spent 9 months growing inside of me, and as soon as I saw your little face, I felt as if I had known you forever. I finally got to meet the little boy who practiced kung fu fighting each day inside my tummy. You were the most beautiful baby I have ever laid eyes on. I cried tears of joy, when you let out your first wail. Your Daddy and I fell in love with you immediately.

The first few months of your life were a blur to me. Time just flew by. You had your days and nights mixed up for what felt like months. You liked to keep me up to all hours of the night, sleep a little and wake me back up again. Sometimes during those middle of the night crying spells I would cry right along with you...but then you would settle down. Eventually you would be sleeping peacefully in my arms and all was right in the world again. Even though I was exhausted, there were times I would just hold you as you slept and stare at you. My heart would swell with love for you.

As a little baby, you enjoyed your swing and spent many hours swaying side to side and listening to the music. Another favorite toy was your Baby Einstein MP3 Player. In fact, even now it remains one of your favorites. You have always enjoyed music of any kind. Sometimes, Daddy would blast music when you were crying and you would just stop and listen contently.

It has been amazing to watch you grow and learn new things. You smiled for real around 2 months old, although often times before that you would smile in your sleep. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen. Your smiles make your big brown eyes light up. Then came the giggles, and eventually the laughter. Whoever said, "Laughter is the best medicine." was right. Your smiles and laughter can make the worst day a thousand times better.

You rolled over for the first time when you were 4.5 months old. Once you mastered it you rolled all over the house! You could go pretty far very quickly! You sat up at 5.5 months. You learned pretty quickly how to keep yourself from toppling over. Then a few weeks later came the army crawl. You would tear around the house on your belly. We were amazed at just how fast you could move! You eventually started crawling on your hands and knees after you discovered you could go even faster than you had been!

By the time you were 8.5 months you could even pull yourself up! You showed off that trick to Daddy first and wouldn't show me for a few days!

Just 2 weeks ago you started standing alone. That same day you took your first steps! You're getting better at learning to walk each and every day, but haven't mastered the skill yet. You still prefer to drop down to your hands and knees.

This past year has been filled with many other "firsts" as well. First bath, first trip to the store, first trip to Grandma and Grandpa's. You've celebrated all of the holidays for the first time too! I always dress you up for holidays and you never seem to know quite what to think. You probably think  I'm crazy...but you're just too cute not to dress up.

Your first words were, "Dada, Mama, and Hi!" That's still pretty much all you say, but you have added in, "What's that?" You also can clap and wave. When other people cough, you "cough" too. It makes me laugh when we're at the store and you cough back at someone.

You are a sweet and loving little boy. You aren't one for snuggling usually because you want down to explore, but sometimes you lay your head on our shoulders, or give us slobbery kisses and it's just the best feeling ever! Other times you come over and lay your head down on my lap. Of course, you also have an ornery side and usually follow that up by reaching over me with your "Go Go Gadget" arms and grabbing my phone or the TV remote! You silly boy!

In this past year, my entire life has changed just by you coming into it. You make the world a brighter and happier place. I am SO proud to be your Mommy and to call you my son.

Happy 1st Birthday, Bubby! I love you so much!

Love always,
Mommy