Happy 1st Birthday Westley

Happy 1st Birthday to our Sweet Westley London!

It is so hard to believe that our little nugget has been with us a year exactly today.  It truly is a day of celebrating having him in our lives. But to me it's also a day to celebrate the fact that we are all still alive and survived this first year together!  We had no idea, I mean no idea, how drastically different our lives would be.  Brad and I used to talk with all our friends about things we would NEVER do once he came along and I now know they were listening sweetly, but in their minds saying, "these two have no idea what is about to hit them." And BOY WERE THEY RIGHT!!!!

We do everything we said we wouldn't do; but I'm okay with it. It's worth it.  Totally worth all of it. 

Since West has come into our lives, I feel like I am a TOTALLY different person. Quite often, I hear that I have shocked more than just a few people by the way West has radically altered my life.  I rarely have time to just sit and think about it, I'm too busy living it.  But if I was to just list a few things, it would look something like this:
I used to be so organized and manage major events.  Now, I sing Old McDonald about a million times a day and have gotten exceptionally good at the peek-a-boo game.  Getting 9 to 10 hours of sleep was something I did on a regular basis and having a clean house was the norm.  Now I'm lucky to catch 7 to 8 hours (which I know is a blessing), but I'm ALWAYS tired.  I'm still shocked at myself that I quit my job, but I did not quit working.  My new job is now being a stay at home mom and the hours are ridiculous.  I used to feel like I had some sense of fashion, but now anything with a drawstring will do just fine because it's going to get a stain on it at some point in the day.  I used to feel like I somewhat had control in my life and my sassy personality has crumbled into a hot mess of blubbering hormones.  The list could go on, but I don't want to bore you.  And to be honest, he's worth everything I have given up and makes life more fun than I ever dreamed.

I still remember one morning so vividly walking into his room, seeing that sweet smile sweep across that precious baby face.  In that moment, I realized I love this little guy more than I could ever have imagined and I have been changed forever, for good.

I'm not going to sugar coat it.  Becoming a mom and keeping a child alive for one year has been the hardest job I have ever taken on in my entire life.  It's hard. Some days I hated it. The crying, the feeding every 3 hours, barely sleeping, and not having one minute to myself.  But now that I have crossed from the darkness of those first few months into this wonderful stage of chasing each other down the hall, babbling and growling back and forth at one another, and watching this very strong willed personality develop, I'm loving it.  The days are still long and tiresome, but they are filled with so many sweet moments and sweet kisses, even sometimes without being asked.

Well, I think you can tell I love being a mother.  Coming from a girl who wasn't even sure she wanted to have kids, I can honestly say I would have missed out so much on this life.  The laughs and tears that Brad and I have shared over this little man have brought us so much closer and our relationship is so much sweeter.

Besides my relationship with God, and Bradley - West is the best thing to ever happen to me. I feel like God used him to help soften my heart. To learn to really love and to teach me that I am not in control.  I love him unconditionally, absolutely, no matter what he does.  (Brad calls this...Grace)

So Westley, thank you for the best year of our lives.  Happy Birthday my sweet little boy!

I will say though, as much as I hated being asked when we would have kids,  I will loathe even more the person that dares ask me when we will have another.  Unless you are willing to quit your job, help out everyday with everything and move in with us to be able to help take care of more children, just keep your sweet comments to yourself.