Jonah turns ONE!

 The only picture I have to show for Jonah's 1st birthday doesn't even have him in it!  I am a failure as a mother.  Who does that??  I won't lie - I was a bit frazzled.  We were in the middle of packing a house, getting ready for a trip to Hawaii the following day, getting things settled for babysitters so we could leave for a week.  His birthday did not go how I planned at all.  Luckily, he didn't really know or care.

We went over to Brandi's and had dinner with Mother, Susan, Jourdan, Jake, Spencer, Brandi, and Gilbert.  The kids played and came up and we sang to him and had him open a present.  A towered spinning ball thing that he figured out and loves.  We tried to get him to dive into his cake but he wasn't into it.  Oh well, neither were we, I guess.

We tried cupcakes again a few weeks later on Easter and it was a hit.  So we'll count these as his birthday pics as they are the first true tastes of that yummy treat.  He ate three!  Of course, there was at least a full one in crumbs!

Dear Jonah,

I can hardly believe a whole year has gone by.  I honest to goodness feel like we JUST got you!  It's interesting how things change the more kids you have.  I think I've tried hard to appreciate you and the time more.  That hasn't been hard for me to do at all.  Although somehow this year has gone so quickly!

You are such a good baby.  Really.  You have been the best and pretty low maintenance.  Unless you are sick or teething, you really don't have much to complain about.  You are happy and so pleasant.  While you were our smallest baby at birth, you have turned into the biggest!  I never thought we'd have a kid pass Gavin up in size, but you did it, buddy.  You weighed in at almost 28 pounds at your year appointment.  You have started babbling all the time.  You say mom, mommy, mama all the time.  ALL the time!  I love it.  I feel like you are starting to understand what I'm telling you.  You can say dad and owie too.  You feed yourself and make a very big mess every time you eat.  There's really no point in having you wear clothes!  Your brothers love you and take good care of you.  Sometimes they pick you up and carry you wherever they want you and you usually go along with it.  Although you are letting them know when you've had enough.

I really do love everything about you.  You are squishy and smiley and perfect.  And that strawberry blonde hair is so cute.  It's definitely toned down since you were born, but it's most certainly there.  I can't wait to see what you learn this year.  We are so grateful for you and glad to have you around.  I can't imagine it any other way!

Love you,
Mom