One Year Old!

Can it really be? A year has flown by already? How can you be sad and ecstatic at the same time? I cannot believe how different our lives are from just a year ago and the year before that seems like such a distant memory that it is hard to believe anything existed before our sweet boy. Have I taken the time to mention how humbled and blessed I feel? I go to bed each night and this sweet sadness overtakes me just because my lil man is asleep and away from me. I miss him so much even in those moments he is asleep. And nothing compares to a full day at work away from him. I get filled with such excitement at 4pm because I know I get to see his face light up when I walk through the door of his school. I will admit that dropping him off at school has been so much harder this year - between him getting older and spending the whole summer with us, the drop off experience has been traumatizing (for me!) more days than not as his eyes well up with tears as I say goodbye. I know he loves it there and has fun all day but the transition back to being away from us has been difficult in the first few moments of every day.

This past month has been so exciting. I think we have had the most fun so far. Breck is older and more adventurous as a result. He loves to play and have fun so every waking moment is full of nonstop action. Walking has been our biggest development this month. Breck has been in the cruiser phase for a while so he stands readily and will happily hold our hands and take steps. We started practicing with him taking a step or two on his own and would position ourselves a few steps apart to give someone behind him and in front of him. Breck would get so excited at the look on our faces that he would take a step or two, enjoy the praise and turn around to try again. We caught the first real walking on video (an earlier post) when he took more than a handful of steps. Within a week of the timid penguin waddle, he just stood up on his own and started walking from here to there. By his birthday when the grandparents arrived, they were surprised to see him walking circles around the living room, happily showing off his new skill. As the weeks have progressed, he now has a bit of a run to his walk and can really move. I will look up and have no idea where he has gone off to within seconds! And Breck is so proud of himself that he just smiles and laughs the whole time he is off exploring.

Breck enjoyed the end to summer by going with his MeMe and Papa Gammon to the circus - he even stayed awake for half of it! He and I got to spend lots of time together with summer school ending and just soaked up every minute of fun in the back yard, pool, play room and out and about. We bought season passes to the local waterpark since they gave you the rest of this season with the same price as buying a season pass for next season. We were going to get one next year since I thought Breck would be older and enjoy it more but after seeing the fun he had at Sea World, I thought I would take him to the waterpark as a goodbye to summer. Just a one-day pass was a third the price of the season pass so with 2 1/2 weeks this year included with next year, we went ahead and got one. After sending Brian a text and a picture of us having so much fun in the covered splash area for little kids, he got a pass too and we went back several times in just a few days. It was funny to watch Breck in the splash area because that boy loves to have water spray him in the face. Most kids hate that but he is fearless when it comes to so many things with water.

With food, there's not much that B hasn't tried or doesn't like. He even enjoyed sweets for the first time in the form of his smash cake. A friend who is a photographer came the week before his birthday (those are all the shots you see above) so we could capture some fun birthday pics. I made him a Mickey Mouse birthday cake with the funfetti cake mix and it was hilarious to watch him with it. I set it in front of him and you could just see his eyes light up. He gingerly touched it to begin with but when he realized I wasn't going to tell him no, he started to dig in. Soon, he realized that since we were taking pictures, I wasn't stopping him. Before I realized it, he ate a third of the cake! And boy did we pay for it the next three days in the diaper department! I can definitely tell Breck's personality is coming out more every day. He decided he wasn't really in the mood to cooperate for his pictures, so I don't think there's even one with him smiling. I love the moments she captured though because I feel like they are true to who he really is. A few shots even reveal this boy that seems so much older - like I'm looking into what the future holds for my handsome man.

For Breck's birthday, we threw a big Mickey Mouse themed party. We had tons of fun with friends and family. We had the backyard set up with the inflatable bounce house Brian and I bought Breck as his present, the pirate ship water table Grams and Papa Boydstun got him, his swingset, two inflatable toys filled with balls and a splash pool. We rented a sno cone machine and had hot dogs, nachos, pasta salad, grape salad, goldfish and four kinds of delicious cupcakes (a bit overly ambitious for the day but yummy nonetheless). I am so grateful family came in early and helped get things together for the party - I quickly became overwhelmed with how much there was to do when the day arrived and Brian was busy with football. Thankfully, with seven people happily doing any and everything to get the last-minute details together, everything came together perfectly and the day (though quite warm) was awesome. I know Breck won't remember it but we have tons of pictures and video to show him someday. And I know I'll never forget how special the day was for us.

So, I am officially the mom of a one-year-old little boy. Even with as amazing as this year has been, I think our best days are ahead. I am so excited to see what the future holds!