Happy 1st Birthday Nicholas!

Dear Nicholas,

Happy 1st Birthday baby! I cannot believe that one year has already passed, but it has been the best year of our lives. It’s hard to believe that a year ago, you were this teeny, little baby in our arms, and now you’re this amazing little man, crawling around, taking your first steps, and talking!

This month was full of special moments. You got your top two teeth, you added new words to your vocabulary, you stood up all on your own, and you took your first steps!! You are on your way to walking, little man! You now tell us what a cat says (your “meows” sound very realistic!), and what a dog says (“a-ruff, a-ruff”).

You have so many adorable, precious little personality traits and things that you do, so I want to dedicate this letter to telling you what some of the things are that I love about you. It would be impossible to list all of the things I love about you – there are too many to count!

- I love your happy, easy-going personality. You have made this past year so happy for us, and we couldn’t ask for a better son.
- I love that when you laugh really heartily, you snort…just like I do.
- I love listening to you laugh when your Daddy tickles you. The bond between you two is amazing to witness, and I smile every time I think about how lucky I am to have both of you in my life.
- I love that when we put you to bed at night, you roll onto your tummy, stick your butt up in the air, and tuck your hands under your tummy…it’s precious!
- I love that you love dogs. You exclaim “dog” every time you see one (whether it’s a live dog, or just a picture), and you get so excited to see them. But I especially love how much you love Wingnut. Over the past few days you’ve started crawling up to him and giving him big hugs. I hope you two will be best friends.
- I love watching how excited you get when you see people or things that you like, and you start flapping your hands up and down and bouncing up and down with excitement.
- I love that when you want me to hold you, you crawl to my feet, point at me, and then outstretch both of your arms up to me.
- I love that you have just started hugging people this month, and you’ve been super snuggly and huggy the past few days, and it’s so incredibly sweet.
- I love our routines, especially our night-time routine. We start out with a bath, Daddy takes you to your room and starts getting you dressed for bed, I come in a few minutes later with your bottle, and recite “Pajama Time!” while you listen and laugh. When I’m done with the story, you always clap at the end. Then Daddy picks you up, and jiggles you and makes engine sounds, and plops you in my lap in the glider. I feed you while Daddy reads to us, and then you get sleepy in my arms, and I sing to you (“You Are My Sunshine” and “Arrorro Mi Nino”)
- I love how even though you’re not a great eater, you LOVE your veggie puffs, and get so excited when you see them.
- I love going to Music Class with you every Sunday, and seeing how much you love the music, love playing instruments, and love when we dance to the songs.
- I love how much you’ve changed over this past year, but when I look at your baby pictures, I still see you! And when I think back to what a happy baby you were, I still see that happy baby in you.

But most of all Nicholas, I love you. I love everything you are and everything you do. As one of our favorite bedtime books says, “I love you any way you are, I love you because you’re you.”

We love you, Nicholas, and can’t wait to embark upon this next year in your life!

Here are your month-by-month pictures, starting with the day you were born.