Dear Ethan, you are 1!

My sweet Ethan,

Today you are 1! We had so much fun celebrating you last weekend at your party, but in a way we have celebrated you every day this past year. I have soaked up every second with you that I could this year. We hoped and waited for you for so long that even now when I look at you, I still can't believe you are mine. You gave me the most special gift that I could ever receive, you made me a Mother. It's a role I was born to be. I had to wait 3 hours to hold you in my arms when you were born and I cried and cried until you were finally in my arms. The instant you were placed on my chest you snuggled against me and had a little smile on your face. It was like you were home and I knew then exactly what it felt like to have my heart beating outside of my body. You will always be a part of me forever. I have had the happiest year of my life with you. I have never taken for granted how lucky we are that you are a gift that we were so blessed with. You truly are the best thing in both mine and Daddy's lives. You give us so much love and joy it is hard to remember what life was like without you.

You entered this world in such dramatic fashion, uh hello 30 hour labor, that I thought for sure you were going to be challenging from the start, but I could not have been more wrong! You have been such an easy baby. I can probably count only a handful of difficult days this first year and they were mostly likely caused from an ear infection or gas in your early days. We never hit that wall most new parents face with bringing a baby home. You simply just fit into our lives so perfectly like you were always meant to be here. I think waiting for so many years helped us be calm, prepared, and appreciative that even if you had a rough day we were so thankful just to have you, even if you were a crank face!

You are laid back and love to just go along for the ride with us. We have taken you everywhere with us right from the beginning. You charm everyone with your smile and those piercing blue eyes. We can't go anywhere without someone stopping us to say how beautiful you are and I always say that I agree! You keep us laughing every day with your fun loving personality. You are so smart and pick things up so quickly. You can figure out how a toy works in no time. I just have to show you how to do it and you study my movements a few times and you try it out for yourself. You are quite the talker too! You are constantly babbling and adding new words to your vocabulary. I think you can thank me for the fine gift of gab I have passed down to you! You love your books. You love to turn the pages and you study every single thing on the page. Our night time tradition is still "Pajama Time" by Sandra Boynton. We don't even need the book anymore. Daddy and I just sing you the words while I put on your pajamas and give you your milk before bed. You light up as soon as we utter the words, "The moon is up, it's getting late..."

You are growing and changing so much right now. I know that you have been growing and changing this whole time, but it just seems like the past six weeks have brought on a whole new person. In a few weeks you have gone from army crawling, to crawling, cruising and walking. You have left the baby stage behind and are entering toddler-hood  I thought I would be sad when you turned one because it goes by fast, but I just love you at this age right now. You are so much fun and it is so exciting to celebrate all of the milestones you reach. I love watching you learn and grow. You are such an observer and you have so much focus. I think you are going to be a very determined little boy. I am so excited to see the person you are going to become!

Every night after you've gone to bed, I miss you SO much. I miss you any time I'm not with you. I know that sounds a little crazy but I just love being around you. Thank goodness for video monitors so I can see my angel sleep. I check on you all the time at night just to see you sleeping so peacefully. My favorite time of day is getting to walk in your room in the morning when you wake up. You are so happy and full of smiles when I say, "Good Morning!" Sometimes Daddy and I race to your room so we can get the first smile of the day!

You are so precious to us Ethan. I hope you always know how loved you are. You are our biggest miracle and our greatest work. You were so worth the wait and all the struggles we faced. If you are the only child that we will be blessed with, I will be at peace with it because you are more than we could have ever imagined. I cannot wait to see what this next year will bring and watch you grow and change even more.

Thank you for being such a light and joy in our lives and for giving us the gift of being your parents. We love you so much,

Mommy and Daddy

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