One Big Year

Adorable stuffed animal bowling pins from Jenny and family. We played bowling tonight. Hudson thinks it's pretty fun.

Quite the party animal as you can see.

We went with a Sesame Street theme.

Suffering through a birthday pic with mom and dad.

We bought Hudson a ball pit for his birthday. Our living room officially looks like a home daycare. Oh well...

I still don't think I've recovered from this time last year, and I'm definitely still recovering from this time last week (a mean stomach bug swept our house), but I don't want to procrastinate any longer on my update about little Hudson turning the big ONE.

Yes, my sweet little 8 lb., 5 oz., angel that fit so nicely in the crook of my arm is now a 21 lb., 14 oz., ball of energy that will tolerate zero cuddling from his momma. He's still pretty sweet though. We had so much fun celebrating his one-year party, keeping it simple with only family in attendance. We ate lunch while Hudson slept, did the cake thing when he woke up, and then had fun watching him check out his new presents. In my mind I have written and rewritten a very well-written post on what a big day it was, but my mind is too tired to make the effort to pound it out with my fingers, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was a super special day. I left up his little Happy Birthday banner until Saturday. I just didn't want to take the tacky thing down.

What's most intriguing is thinking back one year ago. On the days leading up to his actual birthday to now I can tell you what we did on each day. Like today. Today was Monday last year, and my Mom had just stayed her first night with us. That was a very special week, having my mom down to help. My heart aches for new mothers who don't have their mom on hand to make those first few days less scary and intimidating. Today it feels like we've had Hudson forever, and taking care of him comes as natural as taking care of myself. Thank goodness. A year ago it took me three hours just to get ready to go to Walmart.

Yesterday I packed up more clothes that Hudson had outgrown, and these were 9 - 12 month sizes! I still have his first box of baby clothes in the laundry room ready to be packed away in the shop. I don't even want to look at how tiny those little onsies are. It breaks my heart!

But, with a one-year-old there is little time for looking back; Hudson is too busy going forward! He is toddling around now, taking five or ten or 15 steps at a time as he stumbles and stops and stutters along. He looks like a miniature little stumbling drunk; it's hilarious. I'm sure in another week or two he'll be running through the house. Hard to believe.

It's nice being settled into the life of parenthood. I don't think anything can be more life-changing than that of having a child. We look forward to this next year as Hudson continues to learn and grow. As I look at my neice Reiley, whose 10 months older than Hudson, I have a hard time believing that he'll likely be talking in phrases, feeding himself with silverware, and doing so many other things that make him less of a baby and more of a little boy in less than a year. Until then, enjoy a few more pics of my baby.