Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

It is hard to believe that today marks the one year anniversary of Wes' arrival into our family.

1 week early by due dates.

1 day early for his scheduled induction date.

Right on time for us.

Last year we needed Wes to arrive. Not in the "we can't wait to have a baby" sense of the phrase. Not in the "I'm so uncomfortable that you must come now" way that many moms feel in the last trimester (though, I had that feeling many times!). His arrival proved that we had survived.

Wes' birth followed his sister's near brush with death by a mere 4 months. Those months we were consumed by concern, grief, struggle, loss of innocence, and gradual recovery. Greta recovered physically & cognitively from the illness quite quickly. We, her parents, were slower to rebound. We put one foot in front of the other, focusing on what had to be done for her.

And then it was April. The reality that Wes would soon be with us was undeniable to anyone who saw me. We finally cleared out the nursery and readied it for his arrival. Easter came and went, and then we realized...we were ready. At least physically we were ready. We wondered emotionally how prepared we were for his birth.

After measuring big for months, Wes was becoming super-sized. At 39 weeks he was large enough to lead our OB to weigh the possibility of an induction. On Wed the 14th at my weekly appointment an induction date was set- Friday the 16th. We had one day to finish preparations, laundry, prep the guest room and prepare our hearts for Wes to join us. And then..in the wee hours of Wednesday night/Thursday morning right before we went to bed my water broke. We laughed. In a year that nothing had gone according to plan, we were reminded once again that parenthood is a dance with the unknown. We were thankful that this surprise was a happy one. We headed to the hospital. I labored all morning and at 12:34 pm on Thursday April 15th, Wesley Tyler joined our family in the flesh.

In that moment he rescued us.

His birth signaled the moment when we began to make the transition from survival to living again. Holding him put to rest all of my worries...

was my heart ready to be so vulnerable again?

would there be enough of me for another small one?

would I feel connected to him, even though I'd spent the lion's share of his gestation consumed with his sister's recovery?

He was enough. We were enough. Surplus love.

Wes has been an ideal baby in most ways (we'll forgive the 9 months of iffy sleeping...). A snuggler, an easy smiler, a sister watcher, a voracious eater, and a plain ol' happy baby. We've given him many nicknames- Woo, Woobear, Chubby Bubby, Messy Wessy, and just Wessy of course. We've loved watching him grow and marvel at both how quickly time passes and how it feels like he has been a part of this family forever.

At one year he crawls, cruises (those first steps will come soon), climbs, loves to swing, loves to get into kitchen cabinets, takes on the stairs with a maniacal laugh, follows GBoo EVERYWHERE, gives kisses (open mouthed, bitey type kisses which we all love to receive), is freakishly strong, loves playing peekaboo in the castle, picks up books often, makes car sounds as he moves his cars, has 4 upper teeth & 4 lower teeth, loves "lights," still "tucks" on occasion (puts his arms between his body and ours- it is the ultimate snuggly move), has more of Tyler's expressions than you could ever believe and has 2 words we think- Greta (Gee-tah) and Doggie.

Happy Birthday my little Love. Thank you for all that you have brought to us as a family. We adore you and are grateful for this year with you!

We will celebrate Wes' birthday this weekend and we'll follow this post with some birthday footage.