Sawyer, you're my little (err, maybe chunky!) ball of smiles, laughs, and absolute sunshine. You love it when I get you out of your bed (which is a pack-n-play that's snugly tucked in between Mommy and Daddy's clothes in the closet), regardless of the hour. You'll go from crying to nothing but smiles and snuggles. You've been waking up once during the night for the past month or few weeks, but you always go right back to sleep after snuggling and nursing in bed. (It's usually either 1:30 am, 3:45 am, or 6 am that you wake up for this.) Depending on what time you wake up during the night to nurse, you usually go back to sleep until anywhere between 7:30 and 9:30 am.
You like to either A) eat right away when you get up, or B) help me wake your big brother for the day, and you squeal with excited delight the second I go to open Carson's door. You for sure eat more than your brother at almost every meal, and there's very few foods you don't like. So far, you don't seem crazy about beans and occasionally peanut butter. Those are honestly the only ones I can think of that you don't love! As for favorite foods, you really love cheese, yogurt, goldfish crackers, watermelon (or pretty much any fruit), and chicken. But really ... you pretty much love all foods about equal!
You love drinking from your sippy cup, but you really slam it down ... and this almost always results in you coughing up a storm! So you haven't totally mastered the whole drinking-from-a-sippy-cup-while-still-breathing thing. You also love snitching cereal from your brother's bowl, even if you've just eaten, too!
You love going places, primarily because you really enjoy being around people - even people you don't know. Without fail, you flash your 8-toothed (almost 10!) smile at anyone who pays you any kind of attention!
You love eating shoes, and you cause a lot more mischief that your big brother ever did at your age, I'm convinced! The more I redirect you to play with kid toys, the more you want what I tell you that you can't have! You love pulling yourself up on everything, and you'll use anything from the laundry basket to a diaper box to a rocking chair to help you walk!
In fact, you are getting SO close to walking all by yourself! One of the biggest things you've done this past month is start to stand up all on your own - without help from furniture or surrounding objects! You're also becoming pro at walking while holding just one of my hands. Often, if I'm holding your hand while you're walking to someone else, you'll pivot and walk right back to my arms! I secretly love this. :) And you get really giggly and excited when you "walk" back and forth to Mommy and Daddy. Often, you'll kind of just dive towards your dad when I help you walk to him, or vice versa.
Right now, it's July 12th, but I started typing this on your birthday. Within that short time ago that I wrote the above paragraph, you've started walking! I'm pretty sure it was July 7th that I was sitting on the floor of Grandma and Grandpa's living room. you were standing next to me, beside the couch. All of a sudden, you pivoted to face the center of the room, and you took a couple steps! You were absolutely thrilled as you giggled with joy! I was SO SO excited for you, and just so very proud of you too!
Just in those few days, you are now constantly standing up completely on your own and taking as many as 4 or 5 steps! I can tell you just wish you were running already; because most of the time, you're so excited and laughing so much that you just kind of dive forward! This never discourages you; it actually seems to motivate you to keep trying because you're having the time of your life!
You love following your brother all around, and you hate seeing him sad. If Carson's crying, you'll frequently crawl up to him and kind of start climbing on him! Or if he's in time out, I have a hard time keeping you from crawling up to him to try and play! You occasionally bite him and even leave bite marks! You little sassy boy, you! Daddy says that you've also been biting him and then laughing!
You start getting tired for a nap around 10:30 am or so, but I hold you off til your brother's nap time - which is about 1:30 pm. We'll lay in bed together while you nurse, and you just stare at me ... all while either trying to claw my face or grab skin on my arm as hard as you can! It legitimately hurts! I don't really mind though, because I just love that time with you so much. You've gotten into biting me to let me know you're done, too!
You go to bed sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 pm, and we always give you a bottle. Daddy and I just started you on whole milk a few days ago (I think Friday, July 8th?) since we're leaving you and your brother this weekend while we go to Chicago. You were a little reserved about it the first night, but you don't mind it at all now. I'd like to think you still prefer breast milk though!
You've become more and more of a Mama's boy - crying or fussing for me more and more frequently. It's certainly difficult and frustrating at times if I'm trying to get things done, but it also melts my soul that you so desperately seem to need me if you're the slightest bit tired or sad.
Sawyer, I love you more than I could ever say. I reflect on this time frame a year ago - when you threw up blood, got transferred to the Marshfield hospital in an ambulance on your dad's birthday, and spent far too long getting poked, prodded, and tested. I'd be lying if I said that whole experience didn't change me; it did. The anxiety of what you had to go through stayed with me for a long time after that. But you've taught me some incredibly important lessons on the way: life isn't easy and scary things happen. Things that stretch you beyond what you feel capable of, but if you keep smiling and just ... keep going ... things turn around. You and your ever-present smile are testimony to me that Heavenly Father is real, that He loves us, and that He wants nothing more than for us to grow and become more like Him. And at 1 year old, I find you to be doing an incredible job at that. I love you, my sweet Sawyer, and you are so loved by everyone in your life - your big brother, your grandparents, your cousins, your aunts and uncles,
Happy 1st birthday, Soy Bean, even if I am a week late in actually posting this. I look forward to the rest of your birthdays to come. But for now, I just want to enjoy each precious day with you.
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