Chase is a Wild One!

OMGGGGGGG!!!!! I cannot believe that it has been an entire year since this little human being came rushing into the world and changed our lives forever!!! I’ve been super nostalgic the past week, telling my husband “remember a year ago today we were walking for 2 miles while I was 20 hours in labor?” “or a year ago today we were sitting in the hospital trying to figure out how to change his diaper?”.  BTW, if you want to read our interesting birth story from a year ago, check out this post.

Anyway…A full 365 days later and we have a full on toddler on our hands. Although most of our time with our little cub is spent chasing him around and pulling random objects out of his mouth, these are moments that we treasure, as they will only last so long.   I have never felt such a sense of pride and adoration for such a small being.  This is such an exciting time in his development. Watching him discover the world around him and explore the capacity of his growing body is so fascinating.  I love the way he inspects everything so thoroughly, flipping it over and over in his tiny hands to see what it’s made of.  The way he squats down to pet the sleeping dogs, even though they tower over him when they stand. The way smiles when he succeeds at climbing onto something, as if to seek our approval and applause. The way he throws his little arms around our neck when we walk through the door and puts his head on our shoulders when he’s ready for bed. That’s the type of feeling that turns your heart to mush.

I think parents should also see first birthdays as a milestone for them too. I mean, we kept a tiny human alive for a full year without any major complications, that’s pretty huge.  Especially for first timers who don’t have a clue at what they’re doing most of the time and learning on the fly. AND we’re still married! Parenting takes teamwork, despite wanting to pull your hair out sometimes. But what a wonderful adventure it has been for us.

Where the Wild Things Are has always been one of my favorite childhood books, and since we have a wild one as a son, we turned Chase into the King of all wild things. We headed to the backyard for his birthday photoshoot and had some fun:

Happiest 1st birthday to our little man!