so much has changed

this was me one year ago at a friends wedding. my cousin donald was trying to tell me i had a cyclops baby. he was poking it's one eye.

anyways....so much has changed since then. i cannot believe that in twenty days my little tiny baby will be one year old! STOP!!! stop time right now! i miss my little baby. i miss being able to rock him to sleep in the swing. i miss him being able to hang out in his boppy.

however...there are many things that i do not miss about a little baby. yes, maybe gabe only eats lodi sausage and berries but that's a whole lot better than pumping every few hours and having a freezer full of frozen breast milk. and maybe gabe winds up in our bed for a few hours. it is so much nicer to be able to sleep in my bed and not on the couch next to the bassinet. and the spitting up. i do not miss the spitting up. i realize that gabe's was not as bad as some babies but on the other hand, he was a lot worse than some babies too. it's nice not having to have twenty back up outfits for the two of us just in case he pukes.

because gabe is such a cuddler, i don't miss holding a newborn. he cuddles all of the time (um...three hours yesterday at nap time) and he also gives the best hugs. there is nothing like a gabe hug. it is intentional, it is tight, it is full of love. he woke up early yesterday morning and i went in and got the biggest hug and it made up for the fact that it was 4:15.

people always told me that i needed to enjoy him. and that time goes by fast. well, they were right! i do enjoy gabe. how could i not? he is my pride and joy. but time, time is tricky. the first three months didn't feel like they went that fast. it seemed like i was always pumping and gabe was always eating. the holidays probably should have made it seem like time was flying but not really. then came january and before i knew it, september! i treasure every day with gabe, maybe not every moment, but i know how precious everyday is.

every day when he was tiny seemed like an important day. it always seemed like he was learning something new. then things slowed down. but now, it seems like he learns something new everyday. i also (a bit biased) think that he is a smart baby. for example, today he moved the pack and play (which is angled into a chair to block getting to the stairs) crawled through the opening and pushed it back so that i couldn't get through. WOW! i was on the floor laughing and telling him how smart he was. he is also taking alot of steps and always seems amazed with what he is doing. sometimes it is hard for me to grasp that not so long ago he was just army crawling or that in a short time he might be running.

this has already been one crazy adventure and i can't wait to see what lies ahead.