Happy Birthday Will!

Dear Will,

I am not sure how this has happened, but today is your first birthday!  Where did the time go?!  It truly seems like just yesterday that we were at the hospital waiting on you to get here so we could love all over  you...and now here you are a ONE year old!  I am not going to tell you that I am sad that you're bigger...because I am not.  I am sad that time seems to move so fast because I don't feel that I get to enjoy each stage with you as long as I would like.  I love the stage you are in now...and I think that every time I sit down to write to you.  You truly get more and more fun each and every day...and at this stage you are sweeter than you've ever been.  You have learned how to give the best kisses!  You open your mouth very wide and come in and wrap it around mommy and daddy's mouths.  After you give a kiss, you smile really big because you know you did something sweet!  I think that is my favorite part...seeing how happy you get knowing you made us happy:)  It is these moments that I get a glimpse into your precious little mind and heart and I am so proud of the little boy you already are!  You are not walking yet, but you could if you wanted to.  You hold onto everything and walk around using anything you can find (including the bar stools that you push around).  You have learned how to get off the couch by diving  head first into the floor.  Mommy used to try and catch you and ease you down until I realized that you seem to enjoy the rougher route!  You have 6 teeth now...4 on top and 2 on bottom.  You will eat pretty much anything, but you hate sweets.  In the past week you have spit out a homemade chocolate chip cookie piece, as well as a Krispy Kreme doughnut!  One day you will probably think that was pretty stupid to spit out such yumminess! (Yes-that is a made up Mommy word!)  I think your favorite foods are blueberries and grilled cheese sandwiches.  You can eat an entire grilled cheese and still have room for goldfish and fruit!  You are still attached to your lovey that we call "puppy".  You go to sleep with puppy and wake up with him in your hand.  I bought a backup puppy a couple of weeks ago just in case your puppy goes missing...which we will hope doesn't happen!  You still love the outdoors and we still meet Mrs. Laura and Ashley at the Riverwalk a lot which you always enjoy.  We got you a baby pool that you love to splash in.  You love to throw your toys out and then try to reach them.  I always get nervous that you're going to tip out and knock your head open on the concrete, but you always seem to keep your balance.  We went to the zoo this past week with Lindsay, Maggie and Blaine and you were a little angel.  You did not cry one time-although you almost did on the choo-choo train.  Daddy still calls you "squatch" and Mommy still calls you "angel pie" and "budders" the most.  We both call you "Will bug" and this seems to be the name that will stick! I am so sorry that your parents picked such crazy nicknames for you, but one thing is for sure, we love the stew out of you!  I really cannot thank you enough for the joy that you have brought into our lives.  There is no way to thank God enough for giving you to us, and we cherish every moment with you.  I love you Will bug...and so does Daddy:)  Happy First Birthday!  Your birth day is truly a time of celebration for us!!!  

Not so picture perfect:)

Okay, so this past Saturday we went to take pictures for Will's one year photos...and also to get a couple of pictures of us with Will-ones that are not being taken by my extra long arm.  We met the photographer at Tannehill State Park.  Let me first begin by saying, I am guilty of looking on Pinterest and Facebook and seeing these picture perfect moments of little ones and thinking, "oh I want to get a shot like that!"  We got to Tannehill and I was already feeling a little anxious because Will had been crying for about 10 minutes.  The pictures were scheduled for 5:30 because lighting is good...but this is Will's worst time of day, so I thought it should be pretty interesting.  We started off with some of him and Cullen and I were able to make him smile with our usual goofy antics...pretending a phone call is for him and saying his name in silly ways.  Once Will was done with our usual stunts, he didn't want to smile anymore.  His face got very serious and at times it even looked miserably unhappy.  I have to give props to our photographer for being so sweet and patient and just going with the flow.  The last pics we had done by a professional were newborn pictures.  I now know why the majority of pictures that get featured are newborn pics...when your baby doesn't care if it is dressed up like a turtle, or put in a bucket, or laid naked on the floor...they just want to sleep.  At 12 months, things played out a little differently...I think it was payback for putting him in a wheelbarrow when he was a newborn:)  Cullen and I jumped around, we made noises, we sang "old McDonald"-very off key I might add, we tried tickling, we tried it all...and nothing.  In addition to the lack of smiles we were getting from Will, we were being full blown attacked by gnats.  I felt like a rotting piece of carcass the way they were swarming me...and not just me, but our photographer and poor Will.  If his pics end up looking like he has black freckles, everyone will now know why:)  I got so tickled when we were done because what "picture day" looked like in my head versus how it played out were so different.

Later that night as I rocked little Will to sleep and he looked up at me and smiled, I realized that pictures are just pictures.  While I will cherish photographs, the moments that can only be captured in my mind and kept in my heart are the ones I will covet the most.  So if there's any advice I can give for the unknowing Mom like myself, just "roll with it".  Kids will be kids, gnats will be gnats, but any picture of your little one will be priceless to you.  

Our "sneak peek".  Lindsey does such beautiful work!

My "mamma"...

My precious mamma:)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and my first real Mother's Day-as I was 9 months pregnant this time last year!  While I am blown away by what it means to be a mother and the overwhelming joy and love that Will brings into my life every second of every day...that is not the focus of my mind this Mother's Day.  This Mother's Day, like every one in the past, I am focused on my mother...or as we say at the Powell house, "mamma".  While I have always celebrated my amazing mom on Mother's Day, it means more this year being a mom myself.  I am able to reflect more this year on all that my mom did for me, and for my brothers, growing up.  I have gained an even deeper understanding of the little things she did that made her the super mamma that she was...and is today!  From my earliest memory of my mom, I remember her love...and her affection.  I can remember holding hands and swinging our arms walking through the mall and there was nobody that I was more proud to be walking with.  I remember her making us hot chocolate at night and curling up in my bed to read "Arch books"-which were Bible stories set to rhyme...and they were so fun to read!  I will never forget the line from one of the books... "even though Jezebel was beautiful and rich, the Lord knew her heart was the heart of a witch". LOL!

I remember her waking us up by singing "you are my sunshine" and how happy I was to see her face standing in the doorway of my room.  I remember all the notes I got in my lunchbox telling me how happy I made her and how much she loved me.  I remember her checking me out of school on my birthday and taking me to Showbiz Pizza to make my day extra special.  I am sure you are not even allowed to be checked out for such now!  And most importantly I remember getting up with her at 5:30 a.m. to sit and have coffee while we had our "quiet times" with the Lord.  All these "little" things are memories I will cherish forever and it leaves me wondering what "little" things Will will cherish one day. (Writing Will will is very challenging!-I may should have thought about that when we were naming him!)  As I celebrate my Mamma this Mother's Day, I also celebrate the kind of mother I aspire and pray to be.  As a 34 year old woman, I am so thankful that I continue to build on these memories of my mom with memories that include Will...what a tremendous blessing from God!  I pray I never take my Mom for granted...or the privilege of being a mom myself.  Happy Mother's Day Mamma!  I am forever grateful for all the little ways you have always shown me the huge way in which you love me! :)  I love you!!!