One

Jude, today you are one!

All day today, the day before your birthday, I thought about what I'd been doing exactly one year ago. I may not remember all of it, but I remember that I was so ready to meet you. Much of this was credited to the acrobatics you'd been gracing me with for the last 5ish months, but I was also just so, so, so ready to share you. I never was one of the women who said that they loved pregnancy, maybe it was just mother's intuition that you were going to be such a fun kid and it would be so much better to see you with our friends and our family than just having you to myself.

Little boy, you have such a joyful spirit. You can laugh and smile so big that your eyes squint and those dimples... oh my word, they make your mommy (and so many others) swoon. I hope that joy never leaves you. Everyone who keeps you and interacts with you always comments on how happy you are and how you smile about everything. I'm so thankful for this in you.

You light up when your daddy or I come into a room. You are attached to us, for sure, but there are so many people who you love to see. Even family that we don't see day to day or week to week you have such a love for and get so excited when you see them again.

You love to eat, and that may be an understatement. I still haven't found a single food that you turn your nose up at, but you are OBSESSED with bananas. We found out that you're allergic to dairy, which has really thrown a kink in our cooking and lunch eating, but your pediatrician is really hopeful that in another 6 months it will be a non-issue and you'll grow out of it.

You are ALL boy. You love running (read: you don't sit still), throwing balls, playing with cars, being mischievous, and getting dirty. You are LOUD, which you come by naturally. You've really picked up a good vocabulary and can say: mama, dada, nanny, poppy, hi, bye-bye, night night (ni-ni), ball (ba!), boo (buh), go (guh), flower (flaw-r), banana (na-na), puppy (pu-peh), and sometimes duck, dog (doh), car (cah). You sign: please, thank you, more, all done, bites, and blow kisses.

Normally you put yourself to sleep, but occasionally you still like me to rock you to sleep. Those are sweet nights, but I really like that you enjoy your independence on some things.

I don't really know how to begin to express what you mean to me. Getting to see you grow and see you develop into a "real person with opinions and facial expressions" (via Matt Winslow) has been such a sweet thing. Parenting is hard, which you will not believe yourself until you're much older and have your own kids. It's such a refining thing and constantly shows me how much I need Jesus (and caffeine.)

My prayer for you is you will grow into a man of God and have every confidence in His will and purpose for your life. I pray that your heart ever seeks him in all that you pursue. Micah 6:8 hangs above your crib and it really sums up my desires for you, that you act justly, that you would love and extend mercy, and that you would walk humbly with your God.

As you grow, you'll realize your daddy and I are so far from perfect. We will make mistakes and we'll do things wrong, but your Heavenly Father loves you so much more than we ever can. His love is perfect love, pursuing love, redeeming love. Our prayer as your parents is that we always, always, in all that we do, point you to Him. It is the single most important thing we can do.

Happy birthday, baby boy. I love you. So much.

{1 year stats coming on Wednesday after his appointment!}