Happy First Birthday, Xander!

Xander,
I wrote this letter to you back in January and while I didn't post it on my blog, it has been sitting here since then waiting for me to publish it. I didn't forget about it! Life has just been so busy!

I love you so much!
Mommy



I can't believe you are already a year old! I am writing this letter to you super late as your birthday was almost a month and a half ago. I have had no time to do anything since starting my job - I am surprised I was able to even finish planning your birthday party!

I was going to make you a cake for your birthday but ended up ordering one instead because I wouldn't have had any time to make it since I started working.

Your birthday was a fun day - we had your birthday party at noon so you could take a nap after the party was over. We had Grandma and Grandpa Vest, Grandma and Grandpa Huff, Uncle Ryan and Julie, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Jen and cousin Sam, Uncle Andy, Aunt Amy and cousins, Tyler, Madison and Grant and mommy's friends Laura, Kevin and Claire. You got lots of fun toys and books and some clothes too! You really enjoyed your smash cake and it was fun to watch you make a mess!

We can't believe you are already 1! That first year of you life went so fast. I still remember many of the moments of you first year. I remember bringing you home. I wasn't sure what to think or what to do, but I just did it. Being your mommy did seem to come pretty naturally for me. I had no problem changing your diaper and holding you when you cried. I loved being with you every moment!

I am sad that I am working now and can't spend each day with you. I hope that our situation is temporary and hope you still love mommy just as much even though I am with you so much less.

Here are a few pictures of your first birthday!

I miss you Xander!

Dear Xander,

Ever since mommy started working three weeks ago, she has missed you so much! There are days that I don't have a lot of time to think about you during the day and it makes me feel guilty. It is hard going from spending just about every minute of every day with you to only seeing you for a few hours in the evening. I miss all that time I had with you and I admit I took it for granted.

You are changing so much and have changed so much even since the last time I wrote to you. You now have seven teeth. I don't see the eighth one yet but I am sure it will come through soon. You got 7 teeth in about 2 months. You can pull yourself up on anything now and are afraid of very little. You aren't walking yet but you can walk with the walking toy you have really well. You just take off across the living room and you look like you are so proud of yourself! We sure are!

You are such a good baby overall. You don't cry that much and are so much fun to be around and play with. You sleep great and are happy most of the time.

I hope you don't grow even faster now that I don't get to spend as much time with you every day. I feel like I will probably miss your first steps while you are at day care but I know that is the way it goes sometimes.

I love you so much!

Mommy

Teeth!

Dear sweetie pie,

You are just so cute I can't even believe it! We thought you were a little late getting teeth - you got your first one just after you turned 9 months - but then you got 4 within a month and you just got two yesterday! Or should I say, I noticed two new ones yesterday - based on how far one of them was already out, it has probably been coming in for a few days. The other one probably just started coming in yesterday though. You are so cute with your little teeth and you haven't been too bad with the teething pain. You haven't been that crabby or anything. You did have a little bit of diaper rash but it is already starting to go away.

I like to think you are the cutest baby ever but I am sure I am just biased. :) But, whenever we go out in public, people always talk about how cute you are. See, we aren't biased! You are super duper cute!

I feel super lucky because you are a great baby! You started sleeping through the night at about 7-8 weeks. You were tough at first but we got you into a good schedule and you aren't hardly ever fussy. You do have one time of day where you tend to be a little fussy, but I think all babies have that during the day. But overall, you are such a good, content baby. People also comment on that - they always say how good you are and how you seem happy all the time! Man you are just awesome! And we love you so so much!

I don't have a lot else to say today, other than I love you with all my heart and daddy does too!

Love you baby boy!

Love, Mom

About a year late

My dear sweet Xander,

I (your mommy) decided I wanted to write letters to you as you grow and let you know how happy your dad and I are to have you and let you know how fun it is to have you.

I started almost a year late! You were born on November 21, 2008 and I just now decided to do this. I think the way I will do this is start with recounting things that have happened over the last 10 1/2 months and then write you letters going forward.

Lets start with before you were born.

Dad and I weren't actually planning on having you when we did. We wanted kids at some point but didn't really know when we would be ready. Even though we weren't expecting you, when we found out I was pregnant we were super excited! From the very beginning we knew how much we wanted you and loved you already!

The pregnancy wasn't too bad overall, but the anticipation about killed me! We found out that you were a boy at about 20 weeks, but we already knew you were a boy in our minds. We just had a feeling about you. We had your name picked out before we knew that you were a boy, and you if you would have been a girl, we probably would have named you Piper Elizabeth.

You were born about 3 weeks early on a Friday. When we left for the hospital, it was only about 15 degrees outside - super cold! I still wore flip flops though since my feet were so swollen that I couldn't fit them in normal shoes.

I had a c-section and you were born pretty quick! You needed a little help with oxygen when you first came out but you were a chunky little monkey and healthy otherwise!

The first day or two was a blur just because I was so tired and was on medication for the pain. It was amazing just to have you here and we were so in love with you right away.

We brought you home on Monday but ended up taking you back to the hospital the next day because you had jaundice. You had to stay overnight and then we left on Wednesday and were home for good. Thanksgiving was Thursday of that week and that was a blur too because I was still in a fog a little bit and in pain.

As the weeks went on things came into focus more and more and we fell into a routine and I loved having you! There were times that we were frustrated with how much you cried at night and a few times you even made me cry because I was frustrated, but we loved you no matter what and still do.

It is so fun seeing you grow and change and we can't believe that you are almost a year old! It is almost sad how quick you have grown but we just love every minute we get to spend with you and cherish your little life more than you know!

I am excited to write to you and let you know how you are changing and growing and becoming more and more fun every day! This post is about the past but all of the posts in the future will be about the present!

I love you!

Love, Mommy :)