I find myself holding you so tight before I lay you down in your crib at night because I’ve done this enough to know that there will be a day when I can’t remember what it felt like for you to be tiny. Graham already feels like a little boy when I hold him. You are starting to feel that way but when you’re really tired and you kind of collapse on our shoulders, I’m reminded that you’re still tiny. You’re still our baby. When I think about this year, I think about…….

• How I was pregnant with you in the beginning of the pandemic and how I gave birth to you in the midst of the worst of it!
• We can home and had Covid and didn’t know it!
• When I found out I was pregnant with you, I had just found out an hour before that Emy was pregnant with Hayden!
• My pregnancy with you was easy…. I mean, you were massive but it wasn’t complicated and I was so grateful!
• You were barely 10lbs but I’m so glad I got to claim that title! If I’m going to give birth to babies as big as ours, I want to be able to claim that at least one was 10lbs! Graham was just two ounces shy!
• You and Graham have had similar growth patterns. Sometimes I envision that I’m going to have two pretty big boys in my house one day. :)
• I never saw myself as a boy mom but that’s most definitely what I’ve become and I love it.
• You are walking!
• You are not talking much but you seem to be focused on your physical abilities!
• You love to climb!
• This was our last month of not being able to have baby gate up on the stairs!
• You love dumping out all of the kiddie plates and bowls from the cabinet!
• You made us feel like a BIG family. We feel like we have a “crew” of our own ever since you came along!
• How we feel outnumbered and at times, it’s a lot!
• Your squawk! You can be very loud when you don’t get your way or want attention.
• Your raspy old-man laugh
• How EVERYONE has been commenting on your teeth since you were four months old!
• Your sweet, sweet face! Your daddy and I always say “Look, look how cute he is!” randomly when you walk by!

Goodness there are so many things. I’m honestly two months late writing this blog post (I’m going to back-date it!) because life is FULL. It’s full in the best way. I’m doing what I love to do…. I’m a momma and I’m running a business that uses my gifts to help people. It’s a life that I don’t feel like I deserve. I couldn’t have ever imagined any of it. Out of all of my roles, being a momma is the greatest joy of my life. I look at you and Evy and Graham (and James in heaven) and I think about my life before you all. It was wonderful but it was missing something. We had freedom and time and sleep and time for “us” but we also didn’t know that there was a love waiting for us that transform us in the best way. Becoming parents was the greatest thing that ever happened to us and we’re so grateful.

Rhett Boy, you are loved and cherished. Happy one year little nugget.