Sullivan: 12 Months

My dearest Sullivan,

How is it possible that I am writing your 12 month love letter?? It doesn't feel very long ago that you were just this wrinkly little baby being held in my arms. Every month that passes seems to fly by quicker than the last, and I get it now when mom's say they blinked and their babies were off to college! The rate at which you changed in the first year or your life is amazing and wonderful and I didn't want to forget any of it. I don't plan to continue writing you monthly love letters, but I will still document moments of your life, both for my enjoyment and possibly yours when you're old enough to read these.

This month was full of new skills! You are standing unassisted (and pretty darn proud of yourself), and walking well along furniture. You haven't showed any interest in walking on your own yet, but I'm not pushing it as I know you will walk one day (at which point I will pine for the crawling days!). You high-five when prompted and just started clapping. If I sing "if you're happy and you know it…" you immediately clap your hands together and it never fails to amuse me. Peekaboo is your favourite game to play and you initiate it all the time by either hiding your face behind your hands, pulling a blanket over your face or even by crouching down when you are standing at the couch. You love peekaboo so much, you even play it while skyping with Nanny and Papa! Your greatest discovery has been the toilet paper roll and once you're done unrolling it, you try and put the toilet paper back on the roll, which is pretty much the cutest and most clever thing ever.

I had you weighed at your first year appointment with your paediatrician and you were 19 pounds and 3 ounces, and 29 3/4 inches tall. Your appetite for solids has been great! Green peas still remain one of your favourite foods. Lately, you've been preferring to eat them out of a little bowl, rather than off your tray. You also always happily eat anything if it's off of mommy or daddy's fork. While you can't feed yourself very well (ok, at all) with a spoon or fork, I give you props for trying! Much to my delight, you are still nursing, although you can often go most of the day without it. But morning and bedtimes feeds are still going strong. As for clothing, you're still rocking the 6-12 months sizes in almost all brands, with the odd 3-6 month pant thrown in. Your itty bitty waist just can't fill those bigger waistbands!

At night, you are sleeping well throughout the night, and I so very rarely have to go in to resettle you. Sometimes we do hear you wake slightly, but you usually are able to fall back asleep on your own. That being said, you still prefer to do all your napping either in the car or on my lap on the couch. It amazes me that you enjoy being held for so long while you nap, and it further amazes me how much space you take up on my lap now!

The biggest thing that happened this month was our move to Calgary! We packed up my little car and headed south 3 hours so that your daddy could start a new job. We've spent the last few weeks living in an apartment downtown and exploring our new city a bit. You are having a blast living in the apartment as it's all one level and since there's not much for you to get into, I give you free reign of the place. I was worried that you would have trouble sleeping in a new place, especially since the temporary crib here is small like a playpen, but fortunately, you've been sleeping great! (It must be the black out curtains!) We had a playdate at the Calgary Zoo, and it was so fun to point out the different animals and have you actually acknowledge what we were seeing. The highlight was seeing the lions roar and then having you imitate them the rest of the afternoon.

And of course, we had party to celebrate your first birthday! We went back to Edmonton so we could have it in our house there and we were surrounded by our closest family and friends. It was a great afternoon, and you were in your element playing with all the other kids there. The cake, on the other hand, didn't impress you all that much!

Sully, it feels like everyday of my life was just leading up to the moment you would finally be in it and I would become your mom. You've given me, and my life in general, a new purpose. Sometimes I think to myself, what did I do to deserve you?, because you are so perfect and special in every way possible. I know how lucky and honoured I feel to be your mom. Always remember that.

I love you to the moon and back,
Mommy, xoxo


You can see all your monthly updates and love letters here:

Month One
Month Two
Month Three
Month Four
Month Five
Month Six
Month Seven
Month Eight
Month Nine
Month Ten
Month Eleven

And in case you missed it, your first year slideshow.