birth day.

In honor of the one-year anniversary of the very moment we got to meet this sweet boy of ours, a bonus Hendrik post for today... zero to 12 months in the blink of an eye. Beyond the still mind-boggling fact that I grew and birthed a being, it is still utterly amazing to me how we started with this helpless (but adorable) newborn, and now, the fastest 12 months of my life later, we have this little person. With personality! Hendrik is easygoing, friendly, and has the sunniest smile. Plus some thighs and cheeks I just want to eat up always.

Looking back at his birth story gets me (not surprisingly) quite emotional - flooded with memories of the most challenging and rewarding day of my life, and on top of that, it gets a mom all kinds of nostalgic seeing photos of her baby that tiny. How was that ever possible? And how are we to this crawling, talking, chunk of a kiddo already?

Though I'll always miss that little baby sweetness, each month has gotten more and more fun as he's grown and changed. And while I especially remember it on this big first birthday of his, really every day is the most rewarding, getting to be the one bestowed with the biggest smile and exclamation of "mama!" every morning when I go to get him out of bed. I'm so happy it's this boy who made me a mom.