1 year
A year ago today, my younger son was born. In the operating room, I watched as the doctor pulled him from his mother. I could only imagine the shock he experienced being in air and breathing for the first time. The nurse snapped me out of the moment to remind me I might want to use that camera I clutched unused in my hands. I did. They took him to a table where he was weighed and measured, and I followed. Even covered in amniotic fluid, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. He was loud, too, really giving those newly-used lungs a workout. As they cleaned him up, my thoughts ran the gambit - from how amazing it was he was here, perfectly formed, to wondering how his life will turn out, and back to how thankful I was for him. They wrapped him up in blankets, and after meeting Mom on the outside, I carried him to the nursery. Through the window there watched his brother, and the rest of our family. Each looked in with excitement, and I was probably beaming from ear to ear. Nine months of waiting resulted in a day that was surreal - as if it were a dream instead of reality.
He started with that cute baby cry - more like sobs than a true cry. Mostly he just slept, ate, and pooped. Before I knew it, my three weeks of paternity leave was over. That day was the hardest, leaving mom and boy at home and returning to work.
Each day brought new and exciting things. He first learned to look around. Next came rolling over, crawling, and furniture surfing. He is speedy at a crawl and getting faster at surfing. Walking is only a few weeks away now. He claps, says “Ma-Ma”, and loves eating the rubber duckies during bath time. He’s progressed from the tub on the counter to sitting in the regular tub. Those baths became a frequent necessity once he started on baby food, but now he’s even beyond that - eating regular table food whose scraps are found in his shirt, diapers and the crevasses of his high chair.
He smiles infectiously and bounces to background music. He loves to crawl over Dad and to give Mom kisses. He chases his brother wherever he goes, and loves to give him hugs. His new favorite place to hang is inside the entertainment center after clearing it of of tapes and DVDs.
His hugs and snuggles are the best things ever, and the way he lights up when he sees me melts my heart.
I thank God for my wonderful children, and sit in awe of how much this little one has changed in the last year.
Happy Birthday, little one.