It's been 5 months.. It's about time

I'm finally getting around to posting at least a LITTLE something for Colin's first birthday... a little bit of a year in review.  Unfortunately our pictures are spread across multiple computers/devices/clouds, and so I haven't been able to put everything together as well as I would have liked.  This means there will be parts.  So this is Part 1.

It's so crazy what a year can bring.  We were so excited leading up to Colin being born and so excited to meet him.  He was so little and so perfect.  Looking back at the pictures I can't believe how squishy and small he was, so many emotions from a few hundred pictures.  We were so nervous coming home and doing it all on our own.  We were unsure about bassinets and where he would sleep.  Like the nervous parents we were, we called UppaBaby first thing to see if he could actually sleep in his bassinet from our stroller... in the 24 hrs it took them to get back to me (honestly, INSANE customer service - they called me on a SATURDAY!) we were so paranoid we blew up the air mattress and slept on the floor of his room because we knew he was safe in his crib.  A year later we sometimes don't even turn on the monitor and just trust that we'll hear him if something really goes wrong.  

He has tried our patience, driven us crazy, but been so amazing all at once.  I didn't realize I could go through so many emotions in one day, in one year.  Every day we love him more and more.  He is so much fun and we have loved every milestone he has hit, worried every time that he wasn't hitting them fast enough, and been relieved when he finally reaches them.  He's finally walking, he talks up a storm, and just ingests everything so quickly.  It's unbelievable how much our lives have changed, and we are so grateful we had so many years together to weather the storm that is raising a strong-willed, previously colicky, loud, biting little boy.  

I have to keep reminding myself that eventually he'll eat, eventually he'll sleep (he's down to only 1-2 wake-ups per night!!!), and eventually he won't be our little baby... so until then I will appreciate what we have, appreciate where we are, and look forward to where we are going.