Happy Birthday, Joshua

One year ago today, I was in the hospital, cringing and gritting my way through Pitocin-induced contraction after contraction. I was thinking about that this morning as we walked to work. I cannot believe one year has already passed since that experience -- the excitement, the pain, the desperation for it to be over! And then, the tiny, slimy, squirming baby placed on my chest and me looking down at him in disbelief and wonder, and saying, "Happy birth-day, Joshua". One year later, a lot of it still makes me grit and cringe, but he is the most amazing, precious gift I have ever been blessed to have. Josh started walking last week, just in time to toddle his way into the one year celebration. We spent the weekend up at my aunt's farm, looking at the horses and cows, playing with his older cousins (who coloured his palms green with permanent marker), eating lots and lots of cake, making snowballs, and laughing and laughing. It was pretty awesome.

Happy birthday, my still-squirmy, sometimes slimy baby boy. You are the most wonderful thing in the world.