Elliot is ONE!

Yup. It's true. This little Button turned ONE yesterday! Blow my mind away why don't you. As a coworker told me. He's yours! No returns accepted now! Yes, he is all MINE! Ours ;)

I was so so happy to get his birthday off thanks to MLK. We snuggled, played, ate and napped. The weather was so beautiful too!

So on a Sunday evening at around 5:04 pm, this little tiny baby was born via emergency c-section after an entire day of contractions.

I woke up that day having cramp-like pain and just thought they were Braxton Hicks as I had been getting them on and off for the past few weeks. It was the day we needed to go back to our apartment to do a final cleaning after having just moved in to our new home. Our apartment was on the complete opposite side of town and off we went. You can read that crazy story here. I think that being a first time mama, or first time being pregnant I should say, when I started having contractions I didn't listen to my body. I wanted so bad to be completely moved in and done with turning in the keys to our apartment before Elliot came, that I went through the entire day with contractions. Imagine that.

A good friend of mine had her baby not too long ago and she was texting me on what to do, how far apart her contractions were, what she was feeling, the pain, etc and the first thing I told her was, listen to your body, if you in your heart and mind think it's time, then it's time. Get your things and go to the hospital. If only anybody would have given me that advice.

Anyway, this was the day that changed our lives forever and we became parents, just like that. Nobody gives you a book and tells you "read it, it will tell you exactly what to do." Crazy right? It was the most frightening and amazing moment of our lives. I remember laying there high on my spinal tap with Jack by my side and feeling all this pulling and pressure. It was a blur but I remember perfectly when they were wheeling Elliot out. I didn't get a chance to hold him. I saw him in his little cart and I could hear Jack telling me "look, look" and I turned to see this perfect little baby being taken away and all I could say was "aww" then off he went. I don't even remember the nurses telling Jack to take pictures of him quick because they had to take him. That was the beginning of the longest week of my life. Aside from having to recover from the c-section which was not easy, I didn't have a baby to hold. I spent three days in the hospital and the last night at around three in the morning, I remember looking through my phone at all the pictures I had taken of him and just bursting out in tears because the next day I would go home without a baby. Jack came running to me and hugged me and told me that we would be able to take him home soon. I didn't want to go home without my baby.

Now, we have a one year old going on three ha! He truly is the most loving, sweetest kid. I had been feeling down (I think it might have been the one-year old blues or something plus working so much) and kept telling Jack that Elliot didn't love me (I know, lame) because he just wanted to be with him and not me and how he loved the girls at daycare more than me. Then out of nowhere, we were in the kitchen and Jack handed him to me, Elliot put his little face in my neck then looked at me and put his little lips against mine. It was like a sign. Like he was telling me "of course I love you mama don't you ever doubt it" I wanted to cry. I told Jack that's exactly what I had been wanting and needing from that little boy and he made my day by doing that. He knew. He is so loving and playful. He knows exactly when to do things like complain about being in his crib, wanting his bottle, wanting to play and we love it. He is a strong minded baby. I think that as first time parents we did a good job. It's not easy at all especially being working parents. We have busy weeks and get home exhausted but we know we have to make time for our son. The weekends are spent giving him all of our time, then drinking a few beers when he goes to sleep :) We want to enjoy him and soak up every single second we have with him.

Then I remember he's no longer a little baby. That moment made me realize that he is in fact a toddler now. We made it through this entire year that actually flew by. I wouldn't change absolutely anything about this year. I cannot wait for what this kid is going to bring us this year. This is a brand new year of good things to come. It will be different. I will focus a lot more on my little family. The things that matter and the moments I have with them. I will no longer give in to petty things, things that don't really matter. This is what it's all about.

So yesterday we celebrated. We got Elliot a cupcake, his first ever sweet treat! I waited for Jack to get home, we ate dinner then gave Elliot his little dessert. At first he kept eating the sprinkles then I took it away and cut a tiny sliver for him. He tasted it and couldn't get enough of his red velvet goodness. Red Velvet was the cake we had in our wedding and it was a no-brainer for this occasion. He devoured it! That was enough to make him a hyper baby and he didn't go down until about nine! Jack and I face-palmed ourselves thinking that would never happen again haha. But we were so glad he got to enjoy a little treat for his birthday.

Happy first birthday my little boy. We have many, many more to celebrate!! Thank you for all your sweet comments on IG & Facebook. All of you are so special to us!! We love you!