Dear Gavin,
How can it be that a full year (or 13 months for this procrastinating mama...) has gone by since you came into the world? It has been a year full of happiness, challenges, changes, milestones, travel, meltdowns, giggles, and so much love. In some ways, this year feels like much longer, since it is hard to remember back to when it was just Daddy and me.
You are such a unique little man! Your personality has many levels. Sometimes you are a very serious boy. Even when you are reading books or dancing to music or seeing people you like, sometimes you put on your serious face and try not to smile! Don't take life too seriously, baby boy. Sometimes you are an absolute ham. You love to make us laugh and you cackle at yourself when you are being silly. You wave your hands in the air, throw your head back and let out your big yelling laugh. It's hilarious. You are adventurous, always wanting to explore and get your hands dirty, but sometimes you are also cautious, and like to stick close to mama. Lately you have been very cuddly, which is so precious. You cuddle with your stuffed toys, you nuzzle into blankets on the bed, and you give your mama lots of snuggles, lying all over me, giving me kisses, lying your head on my shoulder. These are special moments to me and I love you for being a cuddly boy!
Your first year of life, Gavin, was such an adventure!
You first smiled on your one month birthday.
You have been on FOUR big trips - with 8 plane rides! You have seen mountains and oceans and have been a wonderful little traveler.
You love to eat and I love seeing you try and like new foods. You also chug your sippy cup of water like you've been in the desert for weeks. Oh, and I'm sorry for giving you the spicy tomato from the salsa you were begging for. I think you quickly realized that was a bad idea.
You sat on your own in Florence, tried your first foods in Switzerland, and started really crawling at Nana and Papa's on Thanksgiving - your baptism weekend.
You are very close to walking. You are more confident standing on your own and are taking more steps holding onto our hands.
You are eager to be outside more, I can tell. You love the swings at the park but would probably rather crawl all over the dirt and sand, which Mommy doesn't like. You are also very good at climbing stairs and going down stairs or getting off the couch or bed backwards, but please stop trying to do this off a very high drop on playground equipment. Your depth perception needs some work.
You have 11, almost 12 teeth, beautiful dark blonde hair (which has been trimmed twice!), Mama's eyes and Daddy's mouth. You are a skinny little bean but tall, and you weighed 22 lbs at your 12 month doctor visit.
You still love to nurse and can sign to ask for "milk". I love these moments, but it will be nice when you don't want to have milk as much through the night. To date, you have slept a 5-hour stretch twice and one blissful 6-hour stretch. We still struggle with sleeping and you still wakeup lots in the night, but you are doing so well sleeping all night on your little floor bed in our room.
You can sign "more", "milk" and "finished", and you sign and say "hoo hoo" whenever you hear the train! You can say "mama" though you don't say it all the time, you know how to say "dada" when you're babbling but have yet to repeat it in the right context. Yesterday you said "moo" for a cow and you always say "woo woo" when you see a dog. You like sticking out your tongue and your conversations with perfect intonation are so fun to hear. It will be exciting to hear you start to say more words.
It's hard to think about how much more will change in this next year... We will be moving to a new house, with a nice big room for you and a backyard to play in. We will be making new friends, going to new places, trying new activities. It will be a big change for all of us, but we are very excited. Maybe by your next birthday, you will have a new brother or sister on the way...but I would really like you to start sleeping better before that happens!
I try not to think too much about the night you were born, but I think about it almost every day. That night was the hardest and scariest night of my life, and I am thankful every day that you were so strong and fought to take your first breaths. I'm sorry that it was so stressful for you, and I wish with all my heart that you didn't have to be taken away from me. Those moments that we missed would have been heavenly. I think in some ways this has affected you, and that makes me feel sad, but we can't change what happened, and can only thank God that you were and are a healthy, growing boy, surrounded by love. So many people love you, Gavin. We have made some wonderful friends who love you (your best buddy David loves you so much he gives you hugs and pats your head!), our friends love you and love to see your pictures that we share with them, our family loves you to bits - especially your special Nana who can't get enough of you - and Mommy and Daddy love you SO SO much. I love when your face bursts into a smile when Daddy comes home from work and I love the peaceful look on your sweet face when you're sleeping in my arms. This has been such a special first year, Gavin, and I pray it only gets better from here.
We love you so much Bo Bo!
xoxo Mama
