One

Carter James!

You are one. (And one month! But it’s COVID and life it upside down and birthday posts come a month late and also we forgot your picture with the 1 year blocks 🤷‍♀️.)

You just slide right into this chaos, smiling all day long. You giggle with a scrunched up nose and eyes, making short little breaths like you’re a puppy.

You say Dadda and Cahter (or Harper?) and NahNah (food) and NighNigh and Doggie and in the fleeting moments if you cry, Mama. And occasionally I swear you exclaim “I did it!” (at the top of the stairs after your climb.) Though time will tell if I’m right in that one.

You love with your full body in quick little bursts before moving onto your next conquest. You nuzzle and cuddle and grab on and quite literally give me pats on the back.

It’s impossible to believe that the 35 week old baby who was in the NICU is you. You are BIG. Bigger than your siblings at this age by far (23 pounds 30 3/4 inch 19 1/4 head, which we know is 75% weight but that’s as far as we got on the percentage tracking during our virtual pandemic appointment.) You are strong and on the go - about to walk, Tarzan-crawling at an astonishing speed with one leg tucked up against the other, and climbing up every steep obstacle you can get your hands on. You are a very dominant rightie, making you the first among your siblings.

You are amused by your brother and sister though are mostly too busy to pay too much attention to them. You have discovered that Roycie often comes with cars or trucks, and you are not shy to swipe them right out of his hands. You love your puppies and have made Bruno your walker of choice and Luna the recipient of your open mouth kisses.

You are pure joy.

2020 will be memorable for a lot of the wrong reasons, but you have made every single day of this crazy quarantined period brighter. When I get then seconds to snuggle you in at bedtime while you smile and coo and say “nigh nigh,” I marvel that you are ours.

We love you!