Happy 1st Birthday, Rowan Cain!!!

On the night you were born 

the moon smiled with such wonder

that the stars peeked in to see you,

and the night wind whispered 

"life will never be the same"

for there had never been anyone like you,

ever, in the world.

-Nancy Tillman

My goodness, June 18th came far more quickly than I expected it to!  Dave and I both took the day off of work and we spent a wonderful, relaxing day together as a family.  I knew that I would be emotional about my sweet boy turning one, but when I got a text message from Rowan's Aunt Christine congratulating me on being the mama of a toddler, I lost it!  How did this past year fly by so quickly?  And where did my tiny little baby go?!

Rowan is such a wonderful little boy and is the easiest baby (ahem, toddler) ever!  He crawled at 8 months, started taking steps at 9 months and 3 weeks, and has been running for the past month.  We can't keep up with him!  He knows how to climb the stairs at record speed, and even knows how to come down the stairs safely.  He has 8 teeth, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom, and is wearing size 18 month clothes.  He is tall and skinny!  I'm not sure where he got that from ;)

He is saying mama, dada, dog (his favorite word), ball, milk (although sometimes it sounds like mama so I get very confused!), bye, no, and yeah.  He will copy me and say "oh no!" or "oh yeah!" and it makes me laugh every time!  He is starting to mimick us too.  We play a game of "where's daddy?!" and once we find daddy, I always say "There he is!"  On his birthday, as we were walking back from the pool, I said "where's daddy?" and Rowan said "There he is!"  Obviously he was only mimicking the sounds, but I was still impressed :)  He LOVES lights and stares at them intently, trying to figure out how they work.  When I turn a light off and on, he gasps with joy!  Maybe he will be an engineer like his grandpa!

Rowan will be celebrating his first birthday with most of his family next Sunday, but we had a mini celebration for just the three of us.  Rowan experienced his first doughnut (LOVED it), and had his first piece of cake.  He wasn't interested in smashing the cake, so I gave him a fork and he decided to eat it like the gentleman that he is :) 

I wanted to take an opportunity to look back at a few photos from the first 12 months of his life, plus some photos from his very first birthday.

2 days old.

1 month old.

 

2 months old.

3 months old.

4 months old.

 

5 months old.

6 months old. 

7 months old.

8 months old.

 

9 months old.

 

10 months old.

11 months old.

11 9/10 months old!

 

ONE YEAR OLD!!!!!

Good morning birthday boy!!!

First doughnut.

Pool time on his birthday!

Twirling with tissue paper.

First birthday present!

First pizookie!

The pizookie was a success!

Happy Birthday Dear Rowan...

What 1 year old wants to eat their birthday cake with a fork???  This little guy right here!

Rowan was over it at this point...  Cake (or getting his hands and face dirty) just wasn't his thing!

It's amazing to look back at all of the pictures over the past year to see how Rowan has grown.  The past year has been the best year of my life, and I know it will only get better as Rowan continues to learn and grow.

We love our beautiful boy and are amazed by him on a daily basis.  What lucky parents we are!