A BEAUTIFUL YEAR...

BOO!

Day 1 of his beautiful life..

Day 365 of his beautiful life.. the king of HIS jungle :)...

Well… so there you have it.. the first year is done and gone. And might I add my opinion that IT WAS WAY TO QUICK! The experiences of the last year are so intense to me because there are emotions in those experiences that I never knew I was even missing. You have taught us so many invaluable lessons… emotions… and just how important life is. You have brought joy and love into our lives that WE NEVER KNEW WAS MISSING. You have taught us the simple pleasures, such as a beautiful hair… and how it can captivate you for hours :)…. You don’t need the fancy things that life can throw at us making us THINK we need them. You just need love, lots of love, and son…. People love you very much. You have taught me that never should someone be able to bring me down… life is too short to let feelings get stepped on… you let me learn those things simply by me hearing those little pats of your hands as you crawl over to me after a hard day when I get to Gigi’s to pick you up. The little hardships that life brings sometimes are just so trivial.. You have taught me faith.. you have taught me that we will communicate and learn from each other without using even one word. You are captivating.. you love life.. you love kids… MAN DO YOU LOVE KIDS. The young ones hit your tickle box like none other.. for example, we were at a surprise party and there were some kids, I would say around the age of 5 or so, all they were doing was throwing paper airplanes.. HOWEVER, that- to you- was enough to have you laughing so hard I was asked if you were crying! HAHA! It’s that son.. those things that you do that leave me with an uncontrollable smile on my face. You just look up to children and love anything that they do! When you laugh at them they just start smilin’ and love that you love what they are doing! That is the kind of things I am talking about.. you just make people happy. Your laugh is so captivating, it is no wonder that people just smile around you. I have been asked if you are always this happy as you portray yourself in your happy ways… I don’t even have to answer. The people around me will step in and say HE IS ALWAYS LIKE THAT :). You are.. you are a happy camper and a baby that has been an absolute blessing to us, our family, our friends.

When I think back to the moment that I found out that we were having our little Connell... there was so much love in my heart. From the first time I saw you, even though you will always hear the stories of how I looked over and said, AW HE HAS A BUTT CHIN ;).. just like your daddy, and every other Connell :)… it was love at first sight. You have taught me so much about myself, not to worry about the small things, and most of all.. to trust the knowledge and abilities that God has given me to be your mother. Doubt overwhelmed me for, I would say, the first two months ( I could be cutting that a bit short though :) )… it was uncontrollable and I never knew for sure that I was doing the right thing, nor did I trust what popped in my head to do… You have always been so responsive to my attempts in providing care to your needs… You taught me that you will let me know should something be wrong and that you will let me know if my attempt was a “miss”… But that I could trust myself and you and let the doubt in my head subside. I don’t think you would have to persuade many that have known me for a while, to agree that you have taught me the patience that I have NEVER had. There is just this strength and patience that has entered into me ever since you came to me that I am very thankful for. I have to still work on the patience part with other parts of our life (the dog… bad drivers ;).. etc.) but with you I have extreme patience and I am thankful for that. The more patience you have, the more room you have to love… and I love you very much.

You have spoiled us… you have made me realize that I have wasted so much time reading and worrying about different things when you were born.. any little cough justified hours on the internet to see what “atrocious” thing could be causing my baby to cough, even once :). I read, and read about how to help you sleep through the night.. at 7-8 weeks.. you basically said, without words, MOMMA I GOT THIS.. and did it.. and have been ever since. Just in time for me to return to work.. shortly after that.. you started going to sleep around 7-8 and slept until you had to wake up to go to Gigi’s.. I wasted so much time worrying, and planning.. ok I have to get up at this time, because he will probably get up at this time so I won’t have time to be ready to go.. once again.. you said MOMMA I GOT THIS..  never made a peep until I woke you up.. it was a rough start, I am not going to even try to sugar coat it.. but it was a rough start within’ my own head. You took away my internal struggles and taught me to trust myself, my instincts, and YOU. For that, I will always be eternally grateful.. you bring out the best in me… you bring out the best in your dad… You have made our family complete.. you have made our lives better than we could have ever imagined… we are already so very proud of you and we have so much yet to come. Every part of you is perfection.. every part of you is part of your dad and I, I love that it took both of us to create you.. and we are equally part of you, although I am going to say that I got scammed with the looks part ;)… But your daddy is handsome and beautiful so you can look like him all you want :). You are beautiful.. outside as well as inside. Your little heart is just sweet as can be.. and brings out the beauty within you with your smiles.. your “talkin’”.. your sweet long blinks.. your reaching up to have us pick you up.. your new thing of gently rubbing foreheads… :)… your patting us back when we are patting you before bed cuddlin’… and that smile… it’s addicting baby boy.. Makes you want to just keep playing and playing with you to get more and more laughter. You recently started giving “kisses” and I tell you what that is a heart-melter right there… We ask you for kisses and here comes that gapingly open mouth as if you are like SURE… HERE IT COMES :). You are taking some Frankenstein steps that have us believing that running a marathon will be coming to us soon.. chasing you everywhere as you go from crawling to running! You get the most excited look on your face.. Hands go straight up.. eyes wide open... eyebrows up… mouth wide open.. and there you go.. you will try to take as many steps as you can :). (Thanksgiving you took FIIIIIVE!)

I love you.. thank you for coming into my life.. thank you for “choosing” me for your mother.. thank you for loving me.. thank you for your hugs and new kisses.. thank you for making me feel important.. thank you for helping me to feel needed.. thank you for helping me to feel successful for having such a wonderful son.. thank you for helping me to realize what is important (momma’s priorities were a little off track before you sweet boy :)).. thank you for making me smile.. thank you for making me proud.. thank you for helping dad and I see that you are what we live for.. thank you for bringing confidence to us that we can be so much better then we have been before.. thank you for helping us want to reach for the stars so that you can do so as well.. thank you for being so perfect.. thank you for always bringing joy to our lives.. thank you for being so sweet.. so loving to all.. so loving to those that you barely know so that their hearts can be warmed as well… THANK YOU FOR JUST BEING YOU.. always be your beautiful self my sweet baby boy. You are love.. you are our life.. and you always will be the most important thing in our life. Always be confident in knowing that.. and that we will always do the best that we can to give you the best loving… the best life… the best family. It will always be our intentions and our goals for you. You will never have to wonder how much we love you.. we will always show you. You will always have our hearts and our open arms…

I LOVE YOU BRADY JAMES!