Oliver is one! by: mommy

I don't even know where to begin...You. Are. One!  You have come a long way since the day you were born and the first week of your life but you are a survivor.  Every day you bring us so much joy and our life would not be the same without you.  Your sister loves you fiercely.  She doesn't always do the best job showing it but she loves you.  She loves to play with you.  She loves to watch you.  She loves to take care of you.  And most of all she loves to love on you.  Your big brother is your protector.  He would never let anything happen to you.  He watches everything you do to make sure you are safe.  He doesn't want to see you hurt.  Your daddy loves to make you laugh.  He loves your hugs when he walks in the door.  He loves to cuddle with you on the couch and loves to see you splash around in the bath tub.  I love watching you grow.  Because I get the privilege of being with you every day to see what you learn, to see you see things for the first time, to see you touch things for the first time, to see you learn to walk and talk.  We all love you more than you will ever know.  And most certainly more than we could ever show you.

This first year of your life you have grown so big.  You weigh 21 pounds and have grown to 31 inches.  You have mastered playing, sitting, crawling, eating, waving and riding on ride on toys every where in our house.  You love to play with balls.  If someone joins in, it makes it more fun but you will chase a ball anywhere.  You love to crawl super fast wherever you go.  The faster the better.  You love to eat raspberries and blueberries.  You love to wave.  I think you just like to see people smile at you but then most of the time you get shy and turn away.  Your most favorite toy continues to be anything and everything you can ride on.  You still don't sleep through the night.  You wake up two times most nights.  Its ok.  I know we will all sleep through the night someday.  You can say 'momma' and 'da'.  Rice tries to get you to say his name but that will probably take some time.  You love your pacifier and you have recently started to drink whole milk. 

My wish for you is you keep smiling.  You smile because things make you happy.  You smile because you have no worries.  You smile because you are loved.  Keep smiling little guy.  And HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!