Happy First Birthday Baby Boy!!!

Dear Elijah,
You are so cute, lets just start with that... This is a letter to tell you how much you have enriched our lives this past year! You are a bundle of fun, sweetness, gentleness, smiles, laughs, cry's, snuggles, kisses, and sweet sounds! You have been such a joy in our lives, and have made daddy to day living so much fun, crazy, and sometimes down right chaotic, and we wouldn't change it for anything! You are such a smart little ONE year old Elijah. You pay attention to many details, you can color, you can look at books, you can walk, run, and kick a ball around. You can determine what is not ok to do, and what you are allowed to do. You communicate by making loud sounds, grunts, pointing, or taking hold of our hand and leading us to where you want us. You wave hello and goodbye, you clap, and you throw your hands up in the air when you want to celebrate or are proud of yourself for an accomplishment. You can put your shapes in the correct holes with little help from us, and you go down for naps very well. You sleep through the night, and you enjoy dancing so much! You dance all the time throughout the day. You love the ABC song ;) You also enjoy all of Jana's songs. We haven;t quite started showing you videos, or TV show, but when you do catch something on TV that mommy and daddy are watching, you pay attention to clapping, singing or music that comes on, otherwise, you would rather be playing with your toys.
We threw you a fun Jungle Party! The party was so much fun for mommy and daddy to plan and put together for our special little you! We set up a candy bar, a chocolate fountain, and made Jungle Juice ;) Hahaha... We baked banana cupcakes, and muffins, and also made you a MOnkey cake! W made most of the decorations ourselves, and one night my friend Stacy even ca,e over to help cut little flags out for you. Since your party was one day after our friends wedding, we were pretty busy! We ordered PIZZA!!! Your auntie Tiff and Grandma Diane made fruit salads, and your great aunt Teresa made a HUGE green salad! Your grandma Darcie and grandpa Dean brought lots of beverages, and your grandpa Cruz and grandma Patty brought homemade salsa. Your Nina's friend made another monkey cake that was chocolate with a banana cream filling. Since you can't have much sweets and chocolate isn't the best for you right now, I made you a monkey cake made from banana's and apple sauce with less sugar. You really liked it! Elijah, I can not even believe how good you were for your first birthday party!You were such a little ball of joy, and running around playing with your cousins and friends. You are pretty shy and clingy, but you did great wondering around and being a bit more social. You weren't cranky, you enjoyed the day, and you loved playing with all your presents after opening them. Your daddy and I were so blessed and blown away by all our friends and family who came to celebrate with us! We are so thankful for every single person who was at that party! It's so nice to have so many kind people who love you and us in our lives! We had fun naming all your candy jungle themed names. Hahahaha... Our favorite quote from your party was a kid asking, "mom, can I please have some exotic parrot poop?" Hahahahahahahahaha... That was our name for M&M's... heehee... We love you babe. We thank Jesus every day for you. Our lives are super duper fun with you around ;) Happy First Birthday Elijah.

Strong Willed Blessing...

Dearest Elijah James,
You mean so much to me. Lately you have been acting different, and showing me new challenges. I am so pleased to say that I actually appreciate this new season. You have been testing us more and more, which includes screaming, fits, running away from us, and all that fun stuff ;) I have to say that for a few days this was bothering me and I was at a loss on how exactly to tackle this. I didn't know how to show you what was positive behavior and what was not. You are not even 1 year old yet, and you are already walking, exploring, and trying to figure out your boundaries. It's harder right now because you can't talk, and do not know how to communicate what you want to us. All you know is that if you scream, we react. So why wouldn't you scream? You learned that by trying it out, and it sort of got you eventually to what you thought you wanted. Here is the difficulty. We are learning too! Hahaha... The contrast to this is that you are the sweetest, most tender hearted baby boy! You always want to show us love, kiss and hug, and snuggle. You are always worried if we are hurt, and always smile at us to let us know you are happy! You love to look us right in the eyes and smile. If we aren't looking at you, you will run up into our face just to smile, and then you go on with whatever you were doing. You are very cautious as well. It takes you a long time to warm up to other people. At first I was a bit tense with this because I didn't want people to think you didn't like them, but now I am actually touched by it. It shows me that you feel safe with mommy and daddy, and little by little on your own time, you eventually let others hold you or play with you. I've grown to really adore that about you. You are so cute and timid at first in front of others, but I get to see the crazy, loud, run around the house laughing Elijah that I love so dearly. You have sides only shown to mommy and daddy, and I treasure those fun moments we all get to share together. You like to share, I have never once seen you take something from another baby, or scream at another baby around you. You usually just give what you have to other little ones who take it from you. You have not yet entered the stage of "mine!" but are more hurt by us taking something from you. You get sad, and start to cry, but you don't fight to get it back. So, here we are, a walking, eager, curious not yet 1 year old trying to test the boundaries. At first the issue was trying to remain consistent. I was actually slacking on this because I had other factors. Since we live with your grandparents right now, it was hard for me to let you cry when you needed to. There are times when I believe it's necessary to let you cry it out. For instance when you are repeatedly trying to do something you are not supposed to be doing, and I am repeatedly having to remove you from the place you so desperately want to be, like, the toilet, or the trash can. hahaAaaaaah, so sweet and innocent you are! I love you more than words could EVER express.