365 Days Never Seemed So Short!

Last week, on Sept. 2 to be exact, my baby turned ONE! Oh my, I'm still in shock. My little baby is officially not a baby anymore but I don't want to call him a toddler. Ahh, life is so hard. Last year during labor day weekend I was, very unhomorously, going into labor. Well, kind of labor. The kind of labor with a lot of pain and no progress.

September 2 last year was THE most horrible days of my life, hands way down (!!), but ended in my life's single greatest joy. But doesn't that perfectly sum up how most of life is- the best things always come through the hardest experiences. I recall vividly the terror that gripped me as they hauled me into surgery, covered the lower half of my body with a blue curtain, and started poking me with things. I clearly remember the string of songs the doctors played from Sting's Greatest Hits as they carried on casual conversation like they were all sitting around over coffee. Then, suddenly, a baby cried. It was such a foreign sound. For some reason I imagined that I would instantly recognize his voice but it was a completely new and unfamiliar sound.

Now, Jacob is one and I have spent the last 12 months getting to know this independent, changing and incredibly charming person. It booggles my mind how much a human can change in one year. And yet, despite all those changes, he is the SAME kid. Does that freak anyone else out? When I recall old memories of my own childish self, I am amazed to think that it is the same person as the me I am today. But, for some reason, it's more weird when you are a daily and observant witness to the change.

Jacob has turned out to be really sweet and charming- clearly someone ELSE's influence on him. He waves at everyone, everywhere we go! Seriously, it takes an hour to go grocery shopping because he wants to wave at everyone and then talk to them. At Target today I put him down next to the cart and he thought it was one of his push toys- he started pushing the huge thing up and down the aisles. People were CRACKING up! Especially because from the front it looked like it was moving on its own.

To celebrate Jacob's birthday, we had a cowboy themed birthday party for him. It was compelte with a cowboy boot cake, straw to play in and a homemade (guess how many hours of study time THAT took up) stand up cowboy picture. Jacob made out like a bandit (or outlaw?) with way too many fancy toys! He has a fire truck with firemen that dance when you push a button. I told Jacob that mommy likes dancing firemen too, but I don't think he got it. He also got a rocking pony that sings and moves its mouth and Jacob immitates it by moving his own mouth open and closed.

See all the fun we had!: