My Baby is Almost One?!

Can it be true? Is our little boy going to be one in just over a week? Could that be possible? Where did the time go? It felt like every day of my pregnancy was a lifetime. Nine months has never felt longer. But now that Ryan's been here for almost a year, I can't believe how quickly the time has flown! He's walking everywhere, knows about half a dozen words, and would rather eat a cheeseburger than drink a bottle. He's not really a baby anymore, but I refuse to believe that. I can't call him a toddler, yet. I wish he could stay a baby for a few more years, and then grow up.

A child's first birthday is a big deal. There's so much he learns in that first year. So, while it may be too ambitious of a project, I'm going to attempt to give Ryan a quick post for each month of his exciting first year, highlighting his milestones and what I loved most about that particular month. I'm also going to try to do this before his first birthday. Talk about shooting for the moon! But Ryan's taking a nap right now, the laundry's done, and I'm dressed for the day, so we'll see how much I can get done right now.

So without further ado, let's start with Ryan's first four weeks of life. I'm not going to re-write all the complications of Ryan's arrival. He's here safely, and is fine. If you'd like to review that, there are plenty of posts about it on this blog as well as my personal one. I just want to talk about all the things I loved in my sweet little boy the first few weeks he spent in this world.

Things I Love About Ryan: Weeks 1-4
- The way he made little high-pitched gulps as I nursed him
- How perfectly he fit in my arms
- The way he nestled his little head in my neck to sleep
- How tiny he was in the bathtub
- Finally getting to put him in all the cute outfits I folded and refolded while pregnant just to look at them
- How he could hold his head up from the day he was born
- The way he cooed while sucking on a binky
- How he'd calm down whenever I sang to him, because he recognized my voice.
- How patient he was with me and Brenton as we tried to figure out how to dress, bathe, change, and swaddle him
- How he always had to have his arms out of the swaddling blanket

Ryan, 3 days old

Our first child. What a miracle.