One year.

It is so hard for me to believe that my sweet boy turned one yesterday.  At 4:08PM to be exact.  I will never forget the feeling of having him in my arms for the first time. 

Hudson,
When you were born, and through all of the sleepless nights, I could not fathom you being a year old.  Here we are, and I still can't believe it.  As I have said time and time again, we feel so blessed to be your mommy and daddy.  We had no idea what was in store for us, or how we could love a human being so much.  You have brought so much joy to our lives.  With that being said, after being married a little over a year you put mommy and daddy's marriage through the biggest test.  I would not change it for the world.  We are stronger, and more in love because of you.  Thank you for that.  This has been the hardest, most trying, emotional, yet rewarding year of my life.  People keep asking if I am emotional over you turning one.  The feeling that first pops in my head when I think of you turning one is proud.  I feel proud to be your mommy.  Proud that God chose us to be your parents. Proud that we have been pretty successful at this parenting thing.  Proud that you are turning out to be such a sweet boy.  Proud that we have learned so much about ourselves.    Proud that we survived our first year of parenthood.  Let's be honest my little Huddy Buddy, you were a very hard baby.  You definitely put me and your daddy to the test, and kept us on our toes (and up all night.)  At the time I was so jealous of people who had "easy" babies.  Looking back, I wouldn't trade a sleeping baby for anything in the world.  I think it made daddy and I stronger.  We go to the Dr tomorrow, and I will have your stats then.  Here is what is going on now that you are a big ONE YEAR OLD.

Sleep:  All that mention about you not being a sleeping baby......well you are still not sleeping through the night.  We will have a random night here and there when you will sleep through the night, but you are usually up at least once at night.  We are so used to it now, we just go get you out of your crib, and you will snooze with us the rest of the night.  We accepted the fact that you are not much of a sleeper a long time ago, and just go with it.  I blame myself, because I am not much of a sleeper either.

Eating:  You eat pretty much any and everything I give you.  You really love eggs, pasta, blueberries, bananas, any veggie, and cheese.  You are drinking whole milk all the time now (hallelujah.)  You still have to have a bottle to go to sleep, and I am still trying to figure out how to get the bottle away from you.  You LOVE to eat, and would snack/eat non stop if I let you.  I have never been a particular or finicky mom, except when it comes to what you eat.  I am very particular about what you eat.  However your birthday was full of junk.....I felt justified.

You are walking now!  This is something that kind of came out of nowhere, and you have not stopped since.  You started walking right after you turned 11 months old.  It is still a little rough, and not very pretty, but you get better and better everyday.  It is also pretty hysterical.  You tend to hold your hands up in the air a lot when you walk.  I am not sure if you are just excited, or do it for balance.

You are still have a terrible time cutting teeth.  In fact, I took you to the Dr a few weeks ago, because I was worried you were sick.  Nope, just cutting all of your teeth at the same time.  We have had several tear filled nights, or nights where you just want to sleep on mom or dad.

I cannot get over how long your hair is getting.  It looks like you are going to have curly hair like your daddy, I love it. 

We went to your friend Brooks birthday party a few weeks ago.  You all are only two weeks apart, and I am sure you will grow up being best buds.

You love helping mom unload the dishwasher now. 

The weather has been so nice here, and we have made several trips to the park lately.  You are getting to be such a daredevil, and want to stand up in your car.

Your aunt Allie bought you cowboy boots for your birthday, and we tried them on you the other day.  They are about the cutest things I have ever seen.  You are not sure how to walk in them yet, but I am sure once you do we won't get them off of you.  Nana and Paw Paw bought you a chair, and gave it to you on Sunday.

Even though your party isn't until Saturday you still needed a little special treatment yesterday.  We woke up first thing yesterday morning to a text from your best friend Ethan.  I stopped on the way to Nana's and bought doughnuts for you, Macy, and Maddie.  Last night your closest friends and family got together at Fletcher's for
pizza.

We are so excited for your birthday party on Saturday!  Mom has worked so hard to make sure you have the best first birthday party ever.  You are so blessed to have so many friends and family that want to come help celebrate with us.  I am so excited to watch you grow, and turn into a little person.  We love you so much!