Happy First Birthday Caleb!!!

Today Caleb turned 1 year old. My sweet little 6lb 7oz Caleb is already a whole year. It really made me sad the night before his birthday when I went in to check on him and I looked at him sleeping in his bed. He is still my little baby and he is growing up so fast!

I wish this picture was not blurry...

I always want my kids birthdays to be a special day for them. I want to start birthday traditions that they will always know is a special day for them. It is hard to do for the first few birthdays because they don't really know what is going on. Benjamin was more excited about it being Caleb' birthday then Caleb obviously was. We started our day with special pancakes.. I usually do chocolate chip pancakes but we were out of chocolate chips so we had M&M's in them instead. The boys played and it was so nice outside I turned off our heat and opened the back door but put the baby gate across it so the kids couldn't get out. Benjamin went to spend the day with GaGa (Brad's mom). We took Caleb over to my sister-in-laws house to get his one year portraits done. We then went to falls park to get the rest of the pictures. I am so excited to see them. Caleb had on these little blue overalls and a white shirt and he just looked so stinking cute! He did so well getting pictures done, other then looking everywhere except the camera. He actually sat still the entire time. I will for sure post them when I can. After that we ran some errands and came back home. Caleb was exhausted and ready for bed but we are trying to move his bedtime to 8pm with Benjamin... He just always wants to go to bed at 7. I went in and had some extra cuddle time with Caleb and he fell asleep while I was holding him. I took time to pray over him and make sure he got lots of kisses. The real fun for his birthday will be on Saturday when we have his party.

Looking at the birthday cards from Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary

Playing in the cabinet

Eating his m&m pancakes

Dear Little Caleb,

You came into our world 1 little year ago and our lives have never been the same. We can't imagine one day without you. You are turning into a little boy now and as fun as it is to watch, I want time to slow down so I can hold you more, give you more kisses, and tell you I love you more. Your temper is going to be strong because when you like something it is fine, but as soon as you don't like it you let the world know. You have one of the loudest screams happy or mad. You are able to hold your own very well. When Benjamin takes your toy, you get super mad and scream at him and he will give it back. You have a smile that lights up the room and a laugh that is wonderful. You are so incredibly ticklish that you can't even get near your neck without you collapsing into a ball. You are very social, yet you are also very good at being by yourself to play with something or discover something. You look for Benjamin and what he is doing often and you want to be right with him. You are starting to become a little climber and a few times I have watched you think you could climb out of your crib. You are very strong so it wouldn't surprise me if you did pull yourself out of your crib. You are the squirmiest child I have ever been around when it comes to getting you changed or dressed. Often daddy and I have to work together. One person holding you still and the other trying to dress or change a diaper as fast as possible. Changing you is like wrestling a rhino, almost impossible. You just have places to go and things to discover and you don't want to be held down from doing it. You like to go to bed early and you like to wake up early. You have incredible energy especially in the mornings. You love to be snuggled (when you can sit still). You are a really good eater an most of the time will eat more then Benjamin. You have not started walking even though you took your first step at the end of February. You have just realized that you are much faster crawling. You love to get up on your knees and basically walk on your knees. It is really funny to watch. You kind of hop across the floor this way. I am pretty sure you are a daddy's boy right now. You just glow when daddy is home and you just love being with him. You love to get right down in the middle of wrestling with daddy and benjamin. I am realizing you understand a lot more then you are able to communicate at this point as well. I will say something and you will react in a way that I know you know what I mean. I am so excited that I have so many years with you to discover and learn. You are joy in my live overflowing and I am so thankful for you my sweet little Caleb. I love you!