Time Flies...

It's almost been a year.  I really can't believe it.  We are only a few weeks shy of the one year mark since our sweet baby boy made his arrival into this world.  My oh my how we have grown in this year.  We have learned so much already!

I will admit it...I was once one of those "I'm not a parent, but I could do it better than you if I were" non-parents. Dumb, dumb, DUMB!  As a young, dumb non-parent I would frequently roll my eyes at the screaming children in WalMart as I silently vowed that my own little preciousness would never be allowed to act like that in public.  Fast forward to today...Tyson had a complete screaming melt down in WalMart one day because we wouldn't let him drink as much sweet tea as he wanted from our cups.  I had two choices...give him the tea or let him scream.  WalMart seemed like a loud enough place that night...his crys couldn't have been that noticeable.  That point brings me to another dumb thought process I have had in my past life.  My naive, childless self once swore she would never give her young child such terrible things as sweet tea.  I would be lying if I said you would never find a sippy cup lying around here filled with sweet tea and cut with water.  The kid's got to be allowed to live a little I've decided...plus he really likes it.  This one though, this one is my favorite all time 'I will nevers'.  Our bed is for Mom and Dad ONLY--no babies in our bed!  HAHAHA.  Last night Tyson barely made a peep as he rolled over in his bed down the hall...he did make one peep though, and that was all I needed to happily go scoop him up and bring him back to our bed to snuggle. One day I'll probably regret that habit I'm starting...but not today!

Here are just a few other things I have learned in these recent months of living with a child...

1. Don't rush things.  Good things come to those who wait.  We could not wait for Tyson to get here.  Then when he got here, we couldn't wait for him to get out of the nursery and off the billi lights...seriously could not wait.  Let me tell you, that was a tough one on an already emotional new mama.  Everyone who saw me during that point in our lives probably thinks that I am more than a little crazy based on the amount of time I spent crying over my perfectly healthy baby sleeping contently in the nursery under the billi lights with the careful eye of wonderful nurses always on him.  Looking back, I was more than a little crazy at that point, but I was hormonal..what can I say.  (You should have seen me one of our first nights at home when I cried after giving him a bath because I thought I gave him hypothermia...in August!).

2. They don't stay little long.  It's hard for me to think back and remember this tiny baby (ok he never really was all that tiny, but you know where I'm going with this) who couldn't say anything and, for all intents and purposes, couldn't do anything besides eat, sleep, and poop.  Now I have an incredibly active almost 1 year old who is WALKING and TALKING and making us laugh every day!

3. Boys will be boys.  When I was pregnant and when Tyson was first born I was pro breast feeding all the way ( and I still will recommend it to anyone who asks and is able).  When I wasn't able to nurse the way I had planned I thought everything was falling apart...I mean have you ever read any blogs or even random Facebook posts about formula feeding moms?  Don't if you haven't...people can be very educated yet still very under informed...keep that in mind and take nothing to heart.  Anyway, that's not the point of this one.  I have breast fed, finger fed, bottle fed, agonized over all of it, and now he eats dog food, dirt, and anything else he can find on the floor.  He likes to jump up and down in his bed...even after he's slammed his chin on the rail and sent his teeth into his lip hard enough to bruise it inside and out.  He won't go around his train if he wants something on the other side of it, he will lean over so far that sometimes he flips over onto the other side of it.  He knows how he is suppose to get off the couch safely, but most of the time he prefers to try and lodge himself off the edge head first.  He loves for his daddy to throw him in the air and a couple feet across the pool to Mommy.  He's a boy.  He loves dirt, and trucks, and making noise, and eating things, and doing anything else he's not suppose to.  I might as well embrace it...this is just the first year of many that involve dirt and noise I suppose.

4. Sometimes even the best of us have bad hair days.  This one mainly applies to me!  It is HARD to get dressed with a baby crawling around, wanting to be held, wanting to be fed, wanting you to do anything but get dressed and look decent.  It's also hard to get up and get dressed working on little to no sleep.  Sometimes I feel like a science experiment trying to determine just how little sleep a human can survive on.  I have deduced that after about 3 nights of only sleeping about 4-5 hours I start to get a little cranky...naps are our friends...as are early bedtimes.

5. We don't like sand.  Ok we already knew that one.  Love the ocean...hate the sand.  It's tragic seeing that you can't very well enjoy the ocean without having to deal with the stinking sand which gets everywhere and is HOT!!

6. But snacks make everything better.  Duh. We already knew that one too!

7. And sometimes you just have to cut your losses and take a bath.  Baths make everything better, and this baby loves the water...and he loves attention!  Taking a bath in the middle of a kitchen full of people who were all looking at him was hog heaven in Tyson's book!

Bottom line is that this year has been the biggest, most blessed, most exhausting, most fulfilling, absolute best year of our lives.  The biggest thing I have realized in these short 11 months is that everything has a season.  Some days when Tyson's being extra fussy or clingy I just have to remind myself that this is just for a season.  He won't always want me to hold him, he won't always want to be with me every where I go, he won't always cry for me when I leave the room, and, as overwhelming as it can be sometimes when supper needs to be cooked or I have a paper that has to be written, I know there will come a day when this season is over and I will undoubtedly miss it.  I will never be as wanted  as I am in this season, and I am doing everything I can to enjoy it and savor it so that when this season passes me by I won't regret anything.  There's a season for exhaustion..it won't be like this forever.  I won't always be in school and up all night studying because I can't bare to do it while Tyson's awake and wanting to play.  Tyson won't always wake up in the middle of the night just because he wants to get in bed with us (or vice versa), and for now I enjoy the middle of the night snuggles.

Of course we have our days when I feel frustrated and overwhelmed...everybody does.  But there is honestly nothing I would change about this crazy, fast paced, life we have as a family of 3.  We aren't perfect, and we don't claim to be.  We are happy, we work hard, we love our baby with everything we have, and we are just trying to achieve and maintain the best life for us.  No matter how crazy things can get with work and school and life in general, everything stops and everything's ok the second I walk through my front door and see my two boys...my whole world is right where it should be.

We look forward to the completion of this first year, we look forward to many more years to come.  We can't wait to watch Tyson grow and learn and turn into the little boy and then man he is destined to be.  We hope to teach him to be happy with life, to be kind to everybody but stand up for himself when warranted, to work hard for what he wants, and just be the best person he can be.

Here's to coming close to completing one chapter, and here's to many, many more.

Now, I'm off to re-read an old blog post to remind myself of the letter I once wrote Tyson where I promised not to put him in a bubble.  Yeah, that gets harder and harder every day.  Sheesh...I can't help he's just too cute for words!!

I've never tried to post videos before, so I am not positive that these will work.  Worth a shot though!!  The first one was in late June...Tyson walking for the first time!  The second one is Tyson saying "Tyson"!!