ELEVEN MONTHS

We are one month shy of being a whole year old. These updates will end next month and yet, I feel like I only started them yesterday. All eager to document his first month of life.. And look at us now. There has never been much consistency to these posts - some are written like a letter to Mason, some are written like a chat between you and me. All of them, though, bare a true portion of my life with my son. I only hope I manage to keep these up when I have another baby.

So yes, eleven months. Here we are..

You are your own spirit. I am reminded everyday. Like today, at the beach, I sat back and ate my sandwich and watched as you moved with such speed along the sand, stopping at anything that would take your interest. You would examine it with great fervour. If you deemed it worthy, you kept it in your hand as you continued on your merry way, if not, you dropped it and kept going.

You are a people person. You never shy away from eye contact. People are your thing. You make funny faces at them and send flying kisses.  At a restaurant, a large Mariachi band turns up and starts playing music loudly and you are entranced. For a portion of it, you yell (sing?) loudly too. The world around you is a delight to you. You soak it all in.

You give the best cuddles. You chase after other kids all day just to give them a big bear hug. It's a bit earlier than I expected, but maybe we need to talk to you about boundaries?

You are not without your challenges too, though. You have a fiery temper (Thanks Luke! - just kidding) and if something displeases you, we'll know about it! You also have an obsession with glasses and just grab it right off anyone's face. Gulp. Yes. We have that kid. 

It's such a cliche but every age you get to is my new favourite one. These days, you are pretty much a toddler and I think your dad loves that the most because you're less reliant on my boobies and he gets to spend solid amounts of time with you (if you ask me, he's been Flavour of the Month for a while now!).

You are a wonder in our lives. I have loved watching you grow this last 11 months, my love.

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We celebrated Mother's Day yesterday. I feel so blessed to be able to partake in a day such as this. Mason did not have the best of days - Thank you, cold. But we had a beautiful day, no less. Breakfast made for me by the husband, a picnic on the beach and an amazing Mexican dinner. Tonight as I put him to bed, I whispered, "Thank you for choosing me."

However, on a day such as Mothers Day, it is not lost on me that there are many women who aren't able to be a mother - for various reasons. So, to all mamas.. The ones of lost babies, of babies they will only ever meet in heaven, of babies you have only ever dreamt of holding.. from the bottom of my heart, Happy Mothers Day to you.