Dear 1-Year-Old Mason: Hooray For a Year of Firsts!

Dear 1-Year-Old Mason,

I am writing this love letter to you, as you sleep soundly only a few feet away. How can I explain the feelings that are swimming in my head? One year. How is it possible that one year of firsts have already flown by? One year of snuggles, smiles, kisses and tears. Your Daddy and I were there for every moment of your growth. No one else. It has been our biggest challenge but also our biggest accomplishment. Daddy gave your first (sponge) bath to you and changed your first diaper. Daddy was actually the champion of diaper changing as I was terrified to do it myself for your first two weeks! He never complained as some daddies do... he enjoyed every moment (even the poopy ones!) He is wonderful like that. He was awarded by getting to see you crawl and pull yourself up to a standing position for the first time! I was also blessed enough to experience my own handful of baby firsts. First smile and laugh. First time you sat up by yourself or stood up unassisted. I have never been more proud than when I watch you accomplish a new task! That's what was so great about your first year. Everything was new to you and everything was exciting for us to do with you!

First car ride! (What normally would have taken Mommy and Daddy 45 minutes to drive, this time, it took us close to an hour and a half. Everyone seemed to be driving far too "reckless" around our precious bundle that day!)

First Football Sunday!!!

First time eating carrots! Yum yum!

I should probably take this time and give you my apologies. In all of my excitement of your many firsts, I may have taken some "compromising photos" of you. Let me make it clear, that I am not sorry that I took them. (After all, it's only payback for all the sleepless nights you have given me!) But I am sorry for any embarrassment that I may cause you when these pictures resurface at your high school graduation party or when I meet your first serious girlfriend. Get used to it kid, I'm an out of control mama!

First Halloween!

First Election Day!

First Thanksgiving!

It's very surreal to have the first year behind us.  It seemed like just yesterday that I was inhaling your sweet baby smell as you slept on my chest for hours. Now, our snuggles have been shortened due to your constant need of motion but they are not any less sweet. You are the best thing that ever happened to your Daddy and I. When we found out you were a boy, your Daddy was OVER THE MOON. He wanted a boy so bad! Someone to take outside and get dirty with! I know if you had been a girl, he could have done all the same things with you but he had his HEAD SET on having a boy! And you are everything he dreamed of. You are his mini-me. When I was growing up, I assumed that I would have a girl (since I loved all the girly stuff like dolls and dress-up!) But how quickly my mind changed when I learned your gender. I immediately started thinking about trucks and Batman and everything else boy-driven. You were the little boy I never realized I wanted! Now my world is full of dirt and trucks and grunts and burps... and I love it! It's also filled with sweet kisses, hugs and loving touches.

You are such an amazing little boy! Sometimes I sit back and look at you and wonder how I gave birth to such a cool human being. You are such a kind soul. When we read books together, you give kisses to every animal and baby you find on the pages. I didn't teach you that. That is you in your purest form. I love watching how reflective you can be. When someone first meets you, you come off as being shy. But I know you're not. You just have to take in every new situation and surrounding. You drink it in and then you dive in head first!

I have so many things I want to teach to you but thankfully we have years ahead of us so here are just a few... For each month I've been blessed to know you:

1. Dance. Dance whenever you hear music. Dance when there is nothing to dance about. Music got me through the long days as a new Mom. When you wanted nothing else but to be held, we would sway to music and look out the window for your Daddy to arrive home from work. Now it brings me so much joy to see you bounce around to everything from Flo Rida to Alan Jackson. You have music in your heart sweet boy, never let it go.

 2. Give yourself to a cause. Find something that you care about. Move mountains and make a difference. Make the world a better place.

3. Be kind to animals. If you are kind to animals, they will be kind in return. Respect their strength and power and show them love. You will never meet a more loyal companion that a well-loved pet.

4. Have faith. Have faith in God, have faith in family, have faith in yourself. When life is hard, have faith that everything will work out. It always does.

5. Learn to cook. There will be a time in your life that you will be left to your own devices. Don't survive on soba and fast food. Learn to cook real meals. You will be thankful one day and your spouse will be too!

6. Play a sport... or don't. Your Daddy would like nothing more than for you to take after him and play baseball, football or basketball. That's awesome if you follow in his footsteps. (God knows you won't be inheriting any athleticism from your Mommy.) And if you choose to go an entirely different route, such as art or music.. that's awesome too. Or you can do both! Just know that whatever you choose to do, we will be proud of you.

 

7. Love with all your heart. If I learned anything from your Grandparents, it was to give yourself freely and fully in the name of love. I hope you will learn the same after watching your Daddy and I.

8. Laugh. Laugh until it hurts! Don't take life too seriously. We are only here for so long on this planet so enjoy every moment you can! Laugh at yourself, laugh at stupid jokes, and laugh at every situation (except funerals, please don't laugh during a funeral.)

9. Work for tomorrow but live for today. Work hard for what you want but don't forget why you were put on this earth. Make sure you enjoy your time here no matter what your future goals are. Save some money for a rainy day or for your dream home. But please blow some of that hard earned dough on meaningless crap! ... Because probably at the time it doesn't feel meaningless and that's all that matters. 

10. You are no better than anyone else and no one is better than you. Always give respect to those around you and expect the same in return. I don't care if you become a valet driver, a waiter, a surgeon or the President of the United States. All I care about is that you are respectful and kind to all walks of life. Do me proud kiddo.

11. Never forget family. Your family (especially ours) will drive you crazy! They are loud, they are opinionated and strong willed. But they love you. Friends and jobs will come and go in your lives. But your family will always be here. So show up to the family reunions, weddings, funerals and birthday parties.

12. Don't even try to understand how much I love you. You'll never know until you have a child of your own. Just know that when I'm following your school bus to school, giving you kisses in public places, crying at graduations and your wedding... it's because I love you more than I can ever explain in this letter. You are my world, my everything. Happy birthday my darling boy.

 

Can You Dig It?!? My Baby is Turning One!

Wow. Had to believe that Mason's first birthday party was today. Thank goodness his actually birthday is a couple days away, otherwise I'd be a sobbing mess right now! It feels like just yesterday that Mason was a 4-week-old, sleeping on my chest, as I combed Pinterest for birthday party ideas. (Yes, I was the crazy mama who started planning that early and yes, I'm already thinking about next year!)

I chose a 'construction theme' mostly because it was a cute compromise between the "baby themes" that I loved and the "rough and tough big boy themes" that my husband pushed for. Little did we know that as Mason grew into his own personality, he would discover his love for trucks and tools! (One of his fave toys to haul around is a plastic saw).

Seriously, how cute can one baby be?!?

The great part of planning a party so far in advance, is there was little to no stress in getting everything together. I purchased all of the plates, forks, cups and napkins at Dollar Tree so I think I spent $9.00 total. I made a lot of the decorations myself but also scored $10.00 worth of construction themed birthday decorations (7 pieces) from a Kids Party Swap group on Facebook. (I seriously love the genius mama who came up with the idea of swapping used party decorations to save some dough!) My husband's place of business lent us some caution tape and safety cones (FREE STUFF IS THE BEST!) and I washed up some of Mason's toy trucks and incorporated them into the decorations.

Since Mason was born, I've always taken monthly photos of him to catalog his growth. On one of our glass doors, I posted each month. It was fun to look back at the different months!

I "borrowed" some ideas from Pinterest and renamed a lot of the food I was serving. Carrots turned into traffic cones, onion dip turned into cement, pretzels turned into support beams and grapes turned into wrecking balls. 

 

My favorite part of the party planning was designing his cake! I'm not exactly known as a domestic goddess in my family so everyone was a bit shocked to hear that I made it myself (and by "make" I mean used box cake mix). But I did make my own frosting and decorate it myself! I scored a few tiny tonka trucks on sale at Target months ago and they were perfect for the cake's "construction scene". I also made tiny traffic signs out of card stock and toothpicks. Everything else was edible.

Taddddaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

As much fun as the planning was, it was even more fun to celebrate! I was so proud of Mason for missing out on one of his naps and still partying like a 1-year-old rock star! He laughed and clapped when we sang Happy Birthday and tore into his presents like nobody's business! There were minor "bumps in the road" when Mason decided to bite off a piece of his plastic fork and I almost did the Heimlich on him and another "bump" when Daddy went to do a diaper change and Mason peed all over the both of them... but those will be funny tales to write in his baby book someday. It was a perfect day and I wouldn't change a thing!