Happy Birthday, Grey Grey!

Today is our Bubba's first birthday. To celebrate, Roque and I resolved that instead of being half-alive like we usually are in the mornings with him, we would attempt to be decidedly awake. Usually, I get up, nurse him and then bring him into bed with some quiet toys to buy us some time while Roque and I try and wake up. Today we were up at his first squeal and we both greeted him with sleepy waves and a birthday song. He was thrilled to see us both. We had play time in the living room while we called Lola and Mama, and then as a special treat, I made him some of his favorites for breakfast: yogurt with strawberries, apricots, bananas, wheat germ and flax meal. We finished off with some mashed bananas on toast. Greyson was happy.

Our boy started pulling up today. All this time I've been a little concerned about Greyson being a late bloomer in the crawling department. Today, after I put Greyson down for his afternoon nap, I walked by the video monitor and lo and behold, I found him kneeling on his own, perfectly balanced in the middle of his crib playing with Wooly! He'd never done that before today. It's as if he knew it was his birthday.

All day today, Roque and I have been thinking back to what this day was like for us a year ago. At 10ish am I thought to myself, this was when I got my epidural. At 12:30ish, our dear friend Arvin came sailing into my delivery room, he'd left work half a day early to be there. Our friends Amy, Joey, Dalen and Arvin spent hours waiting outside my room while I rested. 2:30 was when I started pushing. At 5:36 was when I felt what seemed like a giant poop and my baby entered my world. Even with his cone head and puffy little face, he was beautiful to me then. I am filled with nostalgia and wonder when I look at him today. My son is "above and beyond all that I asked or imagined." I used to think that my birthday was the one day out of the year that belonged to me. Now I think that a person's birthday belongs to his mother. We hold the memory of what that day was like, we shouldered the changes it brought our lives, and we tell the stories that get handed down from generation to generation. We share this day with our children.