Happy Birthday Cade!!!!

At 2:28 am exactly one year ago today, the journey began. 

we laid eyes on the most precious, perfect, gift from God.

we became parents.

And we fell head over heels in love with every 8 lb 9 oz and 21 inches of

our bundle of joy, our sweet baby boy.

This year? Wow. 

I knew parents would tell me "You think time is flying by now? Just wait until you have kids" and I never really believe them. I thought life was flying pretty darn fast, as busy as I stayed at the store. But boy was I wrong. Time has flown at lightning speed.

Before our eyes, our 8 lb 9 oz newborn became a 25 lb toddler!

pics from his one year photoshoot I did

Chad and I prayed and prayed for a child. We bought expensive ovulation testers, spent more than we should admit on pregnancy tests, and impatiently waited month after month after the miscarriage to see if God would bless us again. And let me just say, this verse will always be in my heart...

"A faithful man will be richly blessed"

(proverbs 28:20)

Not just blessed, but richly blessed. Even through the miscarriage, anger, months of even more waiting...we praised Him. We praised Him with everything we had in us. We prayed and prayed...and prayed some more... and kept a grateful heart.

 After all, God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

He is ever faithful and he answered our prayers. We have been RICHLY blessed. 

I had an awesome pregnancy and we could not be more thankful for our healthy boy. Words will never do justice to express our gratitude. What a blessing.

We have never been happier...

never been this exhausted...

never been this selfless...

never been this utterly disorganized and always-frantic.

But guess what? It's worth it. Yep, every little bit. 

Even the colicky nights when we thought we would never sleep again.

Now his personality and (ahem...) temper is starting to show, so we know we even have MORE work cut out for us. It's definitely a journey alright, and a challenge. I remember Chad and I never thinking that we had an "easy baby", if you know what I mean. Maybe the next one, one day, will be because whewwwww, (we don't have anything to compare him to but...) we do not think Cade was. 

I can honestly now say that I agree with every single person who says "being a parent is the hardest job there is" Yep, pretty much. And like they say, it's also the most rewarding.

I mean cmon now, when else do you clean up a disaster mess of poo only to be

 rewarded with this little grin right here? 

There's not a thing out there you wouldn't do for them and I never knew my heart could be this overhelmingly full.

We will know his specific height/weight next week at his checkup, but at 12 months Cade is...

- wearing size 3 diapers during day, size 4 at night

- has 8 teeth

- wearing 12-18 month clothing | 18 month sleepers & jon jons

- size 5 shoe. He had a few size 4 but they are officially too small

This is his favorite face. He squints that little nose up and gives you a grin. 

No idea where he gets it from, but we love it every. single. time.

He also makes this "surprised face" now too. If you take him outside and he spots the cat, then "OOOOOH!", yep there's the face. We can't get enough.

Speaking of outside, it is probably his favorite thing in the whole wide world, as I expect with most boys especially. Snips and snails and puppy dog tails. Yep, I'm seeing exactly what they are "made of." 

 I mean, good thing I took these pics outside because trust me he wouldn't be this happy/smiling so well if we were inside. He knows now that Chad is the one that takes him outside more so when Chad comes in from work, he gets SOOOOO excited. Then when Chad goes outside late to feed Cash and Cade can't go, oh man...you better watch out, because here comes the "Hall temper". He has definitely learned how to pitch a fit. The sitter even said so by telling us "he got real mad when we had to come inside". Lovely.

He is also very observant and has been since the time he came into this world. The nurses even said so. Maybe, just maybe, I drank a little too much Diet Mt. Dew while I was pregnant? No? 

Kid is insanely alert, always looking at his surroundings, and so inquisitive. 

He loves to clap, loves to read his books and loves to eat.

His favorite toys are his new pony, his slide, "Chuck" the truck, his workbench, his Dyson vacuum and his Cabelas toy shotgun (true Southern gent, I tell ya. Helping his mommy clean before he goes outside to hunt! HA)

Just the past two weeks he has been climbing up into the dining room chairs then onto the tables (with us watching just to see if he can do it) and he is non stop climbing onto his toys!

He learned how to blow his nose out of the blue. He just reached for his wipes, grabbed one and put it up to his nose and started "blowing". I was like well alrighty then. Where did he learn to do that?

He also took a pen and began to "write" with it on a sheet of paper. Again, he has to be learning all this at the sitter and thank the Lord we have an amazing one, because he has just learned SO much. I know it's because he has been the youngest of five for about a year now so he has picked up on so much from the older kids. He definitely catches on quick. If we do something once, he will imitate it now in a heartbeat. 

He knows where his (and our) belly buttons are and thinks it's hilarious when he points at them

He loves loves loves bath time. Gets so excited when we start to run the water. I think he could stay in there all night if we let him. He also loves to brush his teeth and gets ridiculously mad when you try to take the toothbrush away. He is so strong I feel like an episode of Swamp People, as if I'm wrestling an alligator every. single. night. 

He still takes a morning and night time bottle but we've incorporated organic whole milk over the past two weeks. We are finishing off any baby food we have left, but he eats lots of fruits and veggies now...loves Ritz crackers...and even mini pancakes, tortilla wrap pieces, bread and pasta. His favorite is macaroni, hands down. Boy loves some mac & cheese just like his mama. He still loves those Gerber Maple Syrup snack things. Whatever they are called. You always can tell when he's been eating them because he smells like syrup all. day. long. No joke.

I know I'll probably have more sappy blog posts coming this week than you could ever want to read, but for now I'll finish this and try to keep it short and sweet. Just so it's recorded and "blogged", ya know...

Joshua Cade, 

You are truly our SUNSHINE and have brought more JOY into our lives than we ever thought possible. This has, hands down, been the best year of our lives. We look forward to another fun year of experiencing new things with you, watching you grow, and seeing things through your eyes

 for the first time. You are Mr. Personality, keep us laughing (and on our toes) so we know this is sure to be a fun, fun year and we absolutely can not wait!

We thank the Lord each and every day for sending us our perfect gift, our answered prayer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

our sweet precious!

Love, 

Mommy & Daddy