I have a 1 year old!

The fun started last week when Mom, Jenna, Jack, and Mary Beth arrived on Wednesday night. They came on over to Valdosta so they could keep Henderson on his birthday (Thursday) while Stephen and I were at work. Dad and Carter came in on Thursday followed by Brad, Katrina, and Frank on Friday! What a blessing to have my whole family here to celebrate!

On Friday, Jenna, Carter, Jack, Mary Beth and I went to Wild Adventures (much like a small scale Six Flags) while Mom and Dad kept Henderson. I can't believe I had never been. We had a great time. Saturday, we had Henderson's birthday party over at Honey and Grandpa's pool. We kept it "small" with family and a few of Henderson's close friends. We were so thrilled that everyone was able to make it. Henderson had a really big time and dove right into his birthday cake. Unfortunately, I guess I let him have a little too much because the next morning he projectile vomited all over our bed. So gross! Poor guy! Anyway, after clearing that out he was fine (just a little warning to all you with one year old birthdays coming up!)

I can't even begin to describe what this year has been like. I remember the first week home with Henderson wondering if I would ever be the same again. I thought I would never get to sleep again and would have paid a thousand bucks for a solid 4 hours of sleep. As many told me it would, that passed so quickly! I was blessed (and still am) to have a very "easy" baby. He was a champ at nursing, slept through the night early, a good eater, and usually in a great mood.

I knew being a mom would change my life, but I never knew I could experience the kind of love that I have now. As most parents can tell you, there is a very special, indescribable love that parents get to experience. By getting to experience this, I now have an understanding about how much my parents love me and how much my heavenly Father loves me. It is so awesome!

I can also tell you that God knew what he was doing when he gave me such a wonderful husband to experience this with! I'll try not to gush too much on the ole blog, but let's just say that Stephen has been an amazing husband and father (to say the least!) He has weathered every emotional roller coaster that I have been on this year and still is there to help me with bath time every night! Although Stephen had never really been around a baby, he jumped right in there the minute he became a daddy. Watching Stephen with Henderson just makes my heart want to burst!

Now, if you are still reading this rambling... on to Henderson! He has a few words: bye, mama, dada, and he has said Nannie (of course I couldn't get him to say it while she was here). He can sign "more" (and as a speech therapist, I am embarrassed to admit that I have been horrible about teaching him signs) and he waves hi and bye. He crawls extremely fast and it seems for this reason he doesn't take too much interest in walking. He does pull up on everything and cruise on furniture. He hasn't been standing alone yet, but he has walked behind his walker a few times. He drinks whole milk mainly from a cup (I admit that I still give him a night bottle which we will end soon). He now doesn't really like cooked veggies. He will eat them in baby food form, but spits out any regular cooked veggie. He does eat a lot of different things, but I find myself going to the ole trusties which I know I shouldn't do so much. It still amazes me that God gave us such a special gift! I can't wait to see what the next year brings! Thank you to all of you out there. We couldn't have made it without our friends' and family's support. We love you all!

My dad is posting the pictures he took from the party on his Picasa page. I am also going to post my pictures from his birthday on my Picasa page. The links to both of these are on the blog if you would like to see pictures. They will be up soon!