Happy Birthday Caden William

Dear Caden William,

I just might be sitting here bawling my eyes out (or I mean wiping a few tears from my eyes) as I write your one year letter, not because I am sad but because I am so overwhelmed by you! You, my little man, are growing so fast. One, 12 months, toddler…all those words seem so unreal to me right now. A year ago I was holding a tiny 7lbs 10oz boy in my arms and hearing that most precious sound of your little boy cry. I couldn’t believe my eyes you were so perfect, you stole my heart with just one glimpse of you! I thought I learned on May 8, 2010 just how much a mother could love her child. But over the past 12 months I have fallen even more in love with you, with a love that I cannot even begin to explain to you. You are my sunshine, my sidekick, my best friend! You and I literally do everything together and I can’t imagine my life without you.

What a year you have had! It’s not the ideal year I had always dreamed of when I thought about having my first child, it’s not even one thing that I thought it would be like but I am choosing to say, it was the year God had planned for all of us and I am believing you are going to be a better person for it and that God gave all of us YOU to help bring a smile to our face! I wish I could count the times you made my day in the midst of some very tough days! When you were in my tummy and I would cry you would move all around, as if you were trying to make me smile. When you were 4 -5 months old you started giving kisses and when I would cry you would give me a kiss on my face. You will never know just how much I needed those little boy kicks and kisses. Despite all the craziness and ups and downs in the year we have still had some really great times. You are one well traveled kiddo and you have had the opportunity to see a lot of different places. Places you will never remember (and trust me that can be a good thing) and other places that we will continue to go to and you will become familiar with. You have been on an airplane 11 times in your short little life and praise the Lord you never got sick! In fact, you have made it over a year with out being sick at all! That is a pretty big deal despite all the places we have had you.

You have achieved some great accomplishments and are turning into a busy little toddler! You now have 8.5 teeth, one of your molars is half way in so I am counting it. You are pulling up and walking on things but you have only taken 2 steps on your own and that was weeks ago. You let go of things and just stand there but haven’t figured out how to walk without any support just yet. I am not worried, you will be running all over the place in no time and I am sure I will look back and remember your crawling stage and miss that cute little bun up in the air! You are still sleeping 12 hours at night and take 2 naps a day, unless we have something going on then you do fine with just one nap. You eat all solid food now, and whole milk. You started loving milk this month and you drink it all the time! We still do Kindermuisk and you love it. You are learning all the songs and you even like to sing along sometimes. We also started swim lessons this month, it was a little overwhelming to you at first but by the end of the first lesson you did not want to leave the pool! You kick, and float and even started putting your face in! You’re pretty fun to watch, I have a ball taking you. Other than our activities we stay busy playing outside, going to the park and visiting Oklahoma. You have become a great traveler and we have made two trips without having to stop at all during the four hour ride, I am why impressed with you!

You got your first haircut this month too! You were not so sure about it until we gave you a sucker and then you did awesome. You look like such a little handsome man now!

We just had your big birthday party this past weekend. I say big but really it was just family and close family friends but it was still a big deal! You loved it, mostly the cake! You did open a few of your presents but then you found your favorite ones and just wanted to play with those. You were really fun to watch and your daddy and I still talk about how cute you were!

Well my little buddy boo, you are one year old and just as perfect as you were to me when you were 1 day old! You have made me feel like the luckiest momma alive and have challenged me to be a better person each day. I am overwhelmed at the goodness of our heavenly father as I think about what he has given us in you. My deepest desire is that you grow up and love God with your entire heart and that you be a warrior for his kingdom.

Happy Birthday Caden William I love you more then you will ever know!