Joseph's First Birthday!

"If someone lined up every single baby in the whole world together, and said I could choose one, I'd always choose you...every time." -What I tell Joseph on an almost daily basis
Something big happened in our life recently, and that something big is that, on October 20th, our little man turned a year old!  It's hard for me to believe that it's been a year since his incredibly scary and eventful entrance that I had blogged about here ( http://onefleshonelove.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-most-emotional-and-longest-post-ever.html ) .  While I'm still not sure I'm 100% emotionally healed from the traumatic events of that day, I do know one thing - my little man is growing so fast!!! 

When he was born, I really had two parenting goals in mind for his first year of life - to spend as much time with him as I possibly could, and to breastfeed for at least a full year.  Well, we've accomplished both!

 In his first year, the longest I've ever been away from my sweet boy is seven hours, and that was on the actual day of his birth (this was due to some very very poor hospital procedures involving the emergency nature of his delivery, and the hospital has admitted to me many times that Joseph and I should have NEVER been separated so long that day).  Other than that, I've been with him pretty much constantly, other than an occasional 2-3 hour date night.  I'd say this goal was accomplished for sure!  I love that I've been able to have so much precious time with my boy and consider it a true blessing from the Lord.

And we've met (and exceeded) our breastfeeding goal!  Many of you know what a huge breastfeeding advocate I am, and from the moment I got pregnant it was very important to me that I do everything in my power to nurse my baby for a full 12 months.  Well, his first birthday came and went and we are still happily nursing - a little less often of course, but still nursing.  It's been positively one of the best parts of motherhood for me.

So, with both goals met and a year of life with our sweet Joseph under our belt, it was time for some major celebration!  Thus, on Saturday, October 19th, we had Joseph's first birthday party!  We had a football theme, lots of family and friends, and a TON of fun.  What a special day!!!

Joseph had so much fun having all of his family and his good friends there!  What a blessing!

Joseph and his buddy Samuel share some puffs on the coffee table!

Joseph's friend Bennett is on the move!!!

Joseph and both his grandfathers - love these three!

Miss Ginny with Bennett

Just look at these two boys having fun!  Samuel's mommy Heather is my best friend (other than my hubby, of course)...imagine my delight that Jojo and Samuel will grow up so close in age!

My two favorite people.

We were so thrilled that our friends, the Jordans, could join us!

Family birthday shot!

Miss Hannah and Davis

David talking to Heather (probably MBA talk that I'm not smart enough to understand!) while our boys continue to have a ball!

Heather and Samuel - love them!!!

Joseph with Mimi and Poppy who came down from the mountains to help him celebrate!

 We had lots of yummy food and some fun decorations!  Let me use this opportunity to thank my parents and my in-laws for all of their help that day!  Without them, this party wouldn't have gone off very easily at all!  My mom made the invitations and took care of the cake.  My in-laws took care of Joseph that morning while I got things ready and went to the store to buy some last minute refreshments.  Bless them all!!!

We all had a ball opening presents...

And he definitely had fun with his smash cake!

After everyone left, Joseph was so worn out from all of the fun that he passed clean out asleep.  Great Mimi (my grandmother) and Poppy (David's Dad) took turns holding him for nap time...

What a wonderful celebration!  Thanks to all of our family and friends that came out to help us celebrate one year of Joseph being on this earth!

The next day, on Joseph's actual birthday, we took a walk around the neighborhood and, while doing so, took a picture at 3:09pm - the exact moment he turned a year old!  Boy, being on a walk in the neighborhood is sure a lot less traumatic than laying on an OR table!

One year old, to the minute.

I hope this little man knows how very, very, very much his mommy and daddy love him, and that we are so excited about what the future holds for him and for our family!