what a difference a year makes, happy birthday declan!!!

allow me to be trite, cliche, obvious....babies grow up SO FAST!!!

one year ago today declan was born very early in the morning after a breeze of a pregnancy and a stubborn entrance to the world. i reflected on his birth as i drove past the hospital on my way to work this morning. how lucky and blessed we were with that sweet little bundle with so much hair. all the doctors and nurses fawned over him because he was the most beautiful baby in the nursery, so they said, and i believe them b/c why would they bother when they see 30 babies a day?

we waited 9 long months for his arrival but how fast the months go on the other end now that he's part of our life!

a brief history
then:
7 lbs 11 oz 21 inches long
now:
25 lbs 6 oz 32.5 inches long (95th percentile)

then:
ate every 2 hours on the button, slept between feedings
now:
eats 3 square meals a day with us, 4 sippy cups of milk, sleeps 7:30pm-7:30am!

then:
anxiety, are we doing it right? how do we stop the crying? just make it through another long day.
now:
laid-back, let him eat mac & cheese and cupcakes. let him open doors/drawers/cupboards for nonstop entertainment. let him watch a little sesame street. let him inspect our computers - ooops he removed tim's "enter" key and my "j" in the blink of an eye! let him stand up in the tub and drink the bathwater. let him chew on his toothbrush and comb. remove the batteries from an old remote so he can have his very own. he is a very happy child.

then 11.25.07


now 11.25.08


we started the day giving him his presents, an igloo play tent and a mini play house. in the evening we had jenna, brad and parker over for pizza and cupcakes. we let the boys loose in the playroom and they had so much fun and didn't stop for a second. i do believe the cupcake went straight to his head b/c he was even more off the walls than usual until 8pm when i put him down for bed then talked and sang to himself for another hour after that. and i made it through the day without any tears, i wasn't sure how i would feel today so that was good.



we love you little man and couldn't imagine our days without you! we look forward to seeing you grow into a little boy (but in the words of mariah carey, you'll always be my baby)!