Happy Birthday Lil' Buddy

Romeo today you turn one years old!

I am so proud of you and the little boy are becoming.

I knew that this first year would go fast but i honestly think that with being my second blessing it has gone even faster.

When Dr. Presley first put you in my arms, I cried tears of joy because I was so thankful that God has placed you in my life.



Those first couple of weeks, I rarely put you down because I wanted to savor every second of you being my newborn child.



But even as a newborn you were a Mommy's boy. The day you were born if I wasn't holding you, you would be looking for me. Even though your eyes could only see a few inches in front of you, you would constantly be looking at me across the room.

I do hope that means that we will always be close.



This year you have survived many things.

My mistakes...
which unfortunately are many. I just hope I didn't do permanent damage.



Your big brother...



Where do I start.

This has been the most challenging part of your first year of life. That became apparent the first day home from the hospital when Wild Man got my water bottle and completely soaked you with it. But you took it with stride and didn't even wake up from your nap.

I know that it doesn't seem like it. But Wild Man does love you. My desire, like most moms, is that you two will be close friends. Hopefully this next year with your independence growing you will be able to play with Wild Man more rather then just watch from the sidelines. At least that is my prayer everyday.


Sunday School...

Oh boy. This part has not just been hard on you and me but also half of the preschool department at New Vision Baptist Church. There is even a sweet man that wears tennis shoes to church every week just for you. He's job is to walk you in a stroller through out the whole church and when it is warm you get walked outside for this is the only thing that distracts you enough to calm you down the 3 hours you are there. His wife is happy because this is the only exercise he gets all week.

Ever since the bottle incident when you were 5 months old, you have never been the same since. I will always wonder what was in that milk for you to go from the easiest baby in the nursery to the one that only wanted his momma and no one else would do.

Every week I remind myself that there will be a day that I will not be the one that you want to be with and I will look be at this time and miss it dearly.


Which brings me to the next thing, is that you are a determined and strong little boy.



Once you have set your mind to something it is hard to distract you from anything else.

At 4 months old, your arms were not strong enough to hold your weight but that didn't stop you to get what you wanted.

You would push yourself with your big toes, with all of your might to whatever destination you wanted to go to. I think you started doing this partly to get closer to me and partly to get away from Wild Man.

Eating...



This wasn't so much of a challenge but trial and error. Once I realized that you eat more than any child your age or even my age sometimes. You were a very happy boy.

An example of your lunch consisted of 2 to 3 jars of baby food a small can of carrots and then a bowl of sliced grapes. Yes, that was just one meal.

You are one of the best eaters a mom could ask for. You generally eat whatever I put in front of you. You love green beans, peas, zucchini, and squash. But your favorite is blueberries, apples (sliced with the skin!), cantaloupe, and banana. But that doesn't mean you don't each chili, or lasagna, or even spaghetti squash. I hope you never grow out of this. It is always fun to see what you will eat next.

One funny thing that you do, is that you like to throw some of your food down on the floor and if I take you out of your highchair before I sweep all of that food up you will immediately crawl to under your chair to each your after meal snack.

Which brings me to the next challenge that we had this year.

Reflux...

Ugh. This was not a fun challenge for me at all. You didn't even seem to notice that you would spit up 10+ times a day.

When you were first born you had to sleep in your car seat so that you wouldn't choke while you slept. Which is also the reason you slept in mom and dad's room until you were 3 months old.

This reflux caused you and me to change clothes 3 to 4 times a day and endless cycles of laundry. When you started eating food it caused for investing in lots and lots of stain remover.

But because of all the blueberry and carrot spit up I got hardwood floors!



So thank you Romeo. I will be forever grateful for you and your reflux.

Your favorite toy right now is a ball. Any type of ball is fine but the best are the ones that are squishy. You can be entertain for hours with a squishy ball.



You like to put the ball in your mouth and act like you are a dog and shake your head. You will then throw the ball in front of you and then you chase it, catch it, then throw it again. This usually last for about 30 minutes or until Wild Man takes the ball away. Which ever comes first.



Romeo as the year moved on you have developed the sweetest personality. As long as you have food to eat and you know that I am not going to leave you, you are such a happy baby.



You bring the biggest smile to my face every morning when I get you out of bed. I can not wait to see what this next year brings us.

I Love you,

Mom