One.

My baby is one today.

 

And he is so full of life. And smiles. And grunts.

He lights up anytime I catch his eyes, unless he believes I may be rounding a corner, at which point he starts to sob hysterically.  He's 100% devoted to his mother. And you won't hear one complaint out of me. Unless it's a Saturday or Sunday and he's been on my hip for most of the day.  Because he's a complete tank (seriously, those cankles....), my arms and back can only take so much.  Therefore, I tend to pass him off to someone else as the day proceeds.   And as his feisty little temper allows.

  

 

 

 He's very, very different from Henry.  Henry wouldn't have left one morsel of the cake.  In fact, I'm confident he would've licked the cake plate. 

 Walter was more excited to play with the balloons.

 

And attempt to chase his father to see where he was going while leaving the cake behind.  

 

He's so curious, and wants to know what everyone's doing all the time.  Especially Henry.  He's typically right under Henry's feet, and Henry puts up with it most of the time.  The laughter in our household has increased significantly over the past two months, and I hope it never stops.  Yes, we still have our share of temper tantrums and crying (we have two children under 2.5 years - would you seriously believe me if I denied it?!?), but it's so worth it.  Toddlers and babies are hard, but so worth it.  Especially when they love their Daddy this much.

 And their Daddy loves them enough to bathe them after their smash cake photos. :)  I don't deserve that man.

 One year ago tonight, Walter left for the nursery, and proceeded to spent an agonizing 14 hours in the NICU when they became concerned about his breathing.  In retrospect, I know how lucky I am.  But I worried and fretted more in those few hours than I have the remainder of this year.  But those hours were a wonderful reminder throughout the year of the blessing that is this sweet baby.  It reminded me to actually lay hands on my children and thank God for them late at night when they're sleeping peacefully.  I'd do it during the day more, but it's hard to catch them sometimes. I'm so very thankful, and so very blessed. What a fabulous year.

 Happy birthday, Walter. Little light of my life.