Here we are.... 1 whole year later! Happy birthday to the most amazing, smart, cute, and adventurous little one year old I know! And, I get to be your mommy! How blessed am I? Well, let me answer that question. More blessed than I ever imagined I would be and more blessed than I surely deserve but God is good and I have a healthy, beautiful, thriving little girl that came from my tummy. And a husband who is just as amazing. I mean, read the blog before this one. Need I say more about how amazing your daddy is!?!
Quincey, you have officially turned my world upside down. And, I think I've landed on my feet and am now stronger than I was before you came along. It's true when they say that babies probably teach the parents more than we teach the babies. I have learned a lot of things about myself this last year that I had no idea before. For example, I had no idea what it meant to be sleep deprived and how precious sleep truly is until you came along. We have enough blog posts about that subject so I'll just move on from there.
I have also learned what a mother's love feels like. It is unlike anything you can experience in any other way. I mean, us mom's carry you in our belly's for months and then when you're born we bond from sunrise to sunset (and even in the middle of the night too {unfortunately}! :) with our little ones. You quite literally didn't even know you were a different person then me until around 6 months old. You actually thought I was you and that makes for a pretty special relationship between a mamma and her baby. Also, I had no idea how much I expect things to go a certain way, the way I envision they will go, and how hard it is for me to adjust when things don't go that exact way. This has been a bit of a learning curve for me that I definitely didn't expect. Like when you didn't nap the way I expected or Christmas wasn't exactly the way I thought it would go because I have a little baby that didn't read my script. I never realized that I relied so much on these expectations before but you have taught me that I can be more flexible. Your resilience has been contagious for me.
I have also learned that I'm stronger then I give myself credit for and I owe that to you. Without having you as the motivating factor, I'm not sure I would try quite as hard as I do. I want to be better for you (and for your daddy). I want you to be happy and that starts with giving you a happy and firm foundation. And how could I not be happy when I am literally getting to live out my dream. I know I have said it before but, I always dreamed of finding your daddy, getting married, and having our baby. Not only did I find your daddy but somehow I convinced him to love me back and want to marry me and have a baby with me! So, now that I have my dream, I want to give you the best start possible for you to achieve your dreams.
Lets go over some of my favorite things about this last year. In no particular order, here are the top 5....
1. I loved sharing your with my family over the last year. I'm not sure why but it gives me such joy to see you with the ones in my life that are most important to me. It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Peanut butter is good on its own and jelly is good on its own but put them together and you having something real special. Now, this is not to say that you aren't special on your own but that's the beauty of family and the reason we like to get together with them. It's a different kind of special.
2. I loved mornings together in bed as a family. You would wake up and I would bring you into bed with me and papa. Papa would always play this fun game with you-even before you could sit up on your own. He would say, "Quincey Sheridan Schroeder, I have a mission for you. Are you ready for your mission?" And then he would wait for you to make a movement or sound and take that as a yes. Then he would say, "You are to fly to the planet mars (or wherever he would come up with) and collect 8 sandals for your mom. ARE YOU READY???" So here's the thing, originally when he started doing this he was saying samples but I always thought he was saying sandals so one time I asked him why sandals and it was then that he clarified the truth. It was originally soil samples. But, after that he just started telling you to collect sandals for your mom. Then after you would accept your mission, he would hold you up in the air and fly you around the bed and I would become the "Kissy Monster" and every time you flew close to me I would get you and kiss you. Finally, he would land you back on his lap saying, "beep beep beep" and have you step off of the space craft and give mamma your sandals. It's the best but now you're getting too big for it and just want to crawl all over us when you come to bed with us.
3. Our daily walks and Stinker. I don't think I've ever shared the Stinker story. So here goes... When you were still in my tummy, papa used to tell you stories at night and one night he made up a story about a skunk named Stinker that lived in the cotton grove down by our house. He would tell you that Stinker was a lonely skunk that was so hungry and always thirsty and he would spend all his time searching for food and water. He would say, "And Stinker would go sniffin' and sneakin' and sneakin' and sniffin' around for food all night long." The story actually has a pretty bad ending as papa would get quite creative and talk about how Stinker would fall into delirium due to dehydration and start to hallucinate and eventually die but we never shared that part with you once you were born :). However, every time we go on a walk we walk by that cottonwood grove and I always tell you to say hi to your "best buddy" Stinker and tell him you love him and wish him luck on finding his grasshoppers. You will probably have some weird subconscious association with those cottonwood trees the older you get and have no idea why you feel a certain way towards them!
4. How you finally come running into my arms. Oh the wonderful feeling I get deep down in my bones when you come, arms stretched out to me, wanting up; especially when you just got a bonk and need a little mamma love to get you though it. It is the most sweetest purest feeling in the world. I can't resist it and literally want to melt into a big puddle of mushy squishy love when it happens.
5. Your giggle. There is no better sound in the world. I absolutely love your giggle. It makes my heart want to squeeze you and squeeze you and kiss you and kiss you and hold you so tight. I CAN NOT get enough of it.
Oh Quincey, my bug, BG Schroeder, butt-cheek baby, cutest baby in the world, there are so many more things I could mention, like A LOT of things I love about you, but it would end up a novel and not a blog post!
I love you and am so proud to be your mom.
