Joel's 1st birthday

I still can't really believe that my baby is one! He was just a little baby.




It's a little scary to think about how quickly he's going to grow up. I'm trying to cherish every moment that he's little and wants to be with me. He loves to hold my hand and walk around. (This is my attempt at taking a picture of him, without letting go of his hand.)



Lately, if I leave him in his play room to clean up the kitchen or something, he'll come find me and take me by the hand, back into the play room. It is so sweet. It makes it difficult to get things done sometimes, but I try to remember that before I know it, he will not exactly be going out of his way to be with me.

I am loving this age. It definitely has it's challenges, and sometimes I feel really nostalgic for the early days when I just got to cuddle him all the time, but overall, I am loving how interactive he is, and how much he's learning. I love watching his little personality develop.

Last year this time, I was frantically trying to nurse him, preparing for Sam to head back to Maine and crying a lot. Actually, it was last year today that Sam left and it was one of the hardest days of my life. Watching Sam say goodbye to his 5 day old son was absolutely heart breaking. Then Joel proceeded to cry for most of the night after Sam left. And things pretty much just went downhill from there for the next few weeks, before they got better. Anyway, I'm glad it's this year and not last year, even though it's a little sad to watch Joel grow up.

I wanted to share a few pictures from Joel's birthday. We didn't have a party, because we don't exactly have an abundance of friends here yet, but the day ended up being really fun anyway. We enjoyed our time as a family and we'll get to celebrate again this weekend when my family comes into town.

He started the day with his favorite, favorite food- blueberries!


Of course we had to include Chick fil a in our special day..


We played in his baby pool..


I tried all day to get a good picture of him...


Getting ready to give him his cake!




He liked the icing..


But not so much the cake.


I am so thankful, because I really thought I was going to feel sad on his birthday, missing friends and family, but I really enjoyed the day. I stayed up late decorating the night before and Joel walked around for half an hour the next morning, squealing and pointing at the decorations..such a joyful day and I'm so thankful that Sam could be there to celebrate with us!

And check out my post from yesterday about my recent revelation.