We have ourselves a one year old!

WOW.  We have a one year old as of August 6!  CUH-RAY-ZEE.  I can't even put this past year into words.  I'm more than grateful at how far we've come -- as a baby, as parents, as a family.  I'm thrilled with Luke's progress, my growth as a mama and, let's be honest, really excited to be sleeping through the night.  But in a way, this was bitter sweet re-visiting all the memories of the fear and anxiety of a year ago.  Soooooo many times this week I caught myself remembering exactly what I was doing at that exact moment a year ago.  It's a strange feeling for me to re-live the past and something I don't find myself doing often. 
That being said, we partied like it's 1999 2012.  Saturday was Luke's birthday party, which deserves it's own post.  So let me back up.  Last weekend, I took pictures of Luke for his first birthday pictures.  Here's a couple favorites (but keep in mind I had to take over 100 pictures to get a couple gems...AND since I'm no pro, these are totally untouched)

Kinda in love with them, or just my lil dude. 

So, let's re-cap on the last year in a waaaaaay bird's eye view.

This time last year, literally about an hour ago, I was being wheeled into L&D and apparently the nurses all knew we'd be meeting our little guy pretty soon but I thought we'd head to dinner after I was monitored for a bit.  Oh, and we had our couples shower the next night so we didn't want to scare anybody so we could still go.  Ooops.  Within about 15 hours, we met our lil guy.  Since then he's gained roughly seven times his body weight.  He's gone from preemie diapers to newborn, 1, 2, and now 3.   We went from feeding him 1 ounce every three hours and now he's eating some solids (turkey, chicken, apples, and CHEERIOS!!!) and eight ounces of milk just at sleepy time (half cow's milk - yay!- half mommy's).  There was a point when he couldn't wear clothes because even preemie clothes were too big.  NOW, we've caught up and are mostly in twelve months.  And really - that's just the stats.  The reality of our journey this past year would be a book, not a blog post, so I'll just carry that in my heart for now.

For the current stats, check back Wednesday since we go for his one year on Tuesday afternoon.  And say a prayer that I can be as strong as Luke during his shots.  It's real humiliating to cry when your baby toddler is sitting all stoic. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!  You are the coolest kid I know. It was scary for a bit but we love that you march to the beat of your own drum.  Keep it up, kiddo!