Happy Birthday Hayden . . .

Hayden --- 1 year

 I can not believe it has been 1 year since I first held my baby boy. This has been the best and hardest year of my life. I fell in love with my sweet baby boy the moment I held him. I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. I love being a mother and I love my bubba. There are a couple of things that I have especially loved this last year.

First, I've loved how much closer Shane and I have gotten this year and how much stronger of a team we are. When Hayd was first born it was like falling in love with Shane all over again. We were so happy and in love with everything that we had just experienced. Then a few months later, reality had set in and the stress of taking care of a baby and working full time starts to take it's toll. Shane and I had to work together to keep our relationship strong and to work together to overcome our stresses. And like any trial we came out better people and a stronger couple because of it. I can honestly say that I love and respect my husband more now then at any point in our relationship.

The next thing I've loved this last year are the changes I've seen in myself. I don't mean that to sound like I'm some amazing person now. . . far from it. But becoming a mother definitely changes you and I'm grateful for that. I am much more selfless then I was before. Again, I wish I could say that I learned this on my own, but I was forced to become selfless when I had Hayden, but I'm grateful for it. I also feel like I've gained A LOT of patience. I've learned to put things in perspective and to remember what is really important. And I've learned that I have no control :). If you know me, this is a huge lesson learned. I'm just really grateful for the growth I've undergone this year.

The last thing I've loved about this last year is watching my beautiful little boy grow and develop. From day 1 we knew we had a happy boy on our hands. We also knew we had a stubborn boy on our hands. I thought I was going to be able to determine how our day went and what kind of baby Hayden was. Boy was I wrong. I quickly learned that we come into this world with a personality and Hayden showed his quickly. I stopped reading what all the books were saying and just got to know my baby. Even though it's exhausting chasing him around and wrestling him to get his clothes  on and diaper changed, I love my stubborn, strong willed boy. I can only blame myself for that trait :) I love how aware and investigative Hayden is. He is constantly examining the world around him. I love how big he is! :) He is so fun to wrestle with and play. I've loved watching him learn new things, like rolling over to crawling to walking and pretty soon running. It just amazes me. I love our little babble conversations we have when he wakes up in the mornings or after naps. I love his facial expressions! Oh my goodness they are hilarious! I love my Hayden. I think my favorite thing, is how he just knows how to melt my heart. He will put up the biggest fight and tantrum and I am about to lose it, then he will look at me and give me one of his smiles and I'm done! :)

Thank you bubba for being my son. I don't how I got so lucky to be your mama, but I am grateful for whatever I did. Your daddy and I love you so much and feel so blessed to have you in our family. We can wait to see what the next year brings us.

Below are some pictures of Hayden's 1st birthday. It was a great day! We had family and close friends over to celebrate with us. Before we ate cake I spoke for Shane and I, expressing our love to everyone who was there and told them that we wanted them there that day because each of them had been such a big part of Hayden's life and had helped Shane and I figure out this parent thing :) We are grateful for all the amazing examples we have in our life.

The monster table

I made fruit kabobs with monster eyes on the end :)

A banner with pictures of Hayden from birth to age 1

His cake! My favorite part. Not to bad if I do say so my self :)

When I found these monster pants I had to get them for him for his birthday!

Hayden didn't quite know what to think about everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He looked like he was about to cry the whole time!

Testing it out . . .

Now he knows what to do!

He didn't get too messy, enough to get a bath right after :)

He knew just what to do with his presents . . .

. . .  Like eat the paper!

This was his favorite toy. Unfortunately it was the 2nd present we opened so he wasn't really interested in opening anything else. So we took it from him and this was the result . . .

Sad baby! He got his pacifier and all was well.

Checking out the new toys with his cousins. As you can see from Ada's face, the fighting had begun :)