52/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Our first year together is coming to a close, and I can say that it's been best year of my life.  You are sweet, adventurous, curious, smart, funny and LOVE being the center of attention.  You love splashing around during bath time, reading your favorite books in our laps, snuggling after nap time and kicking everything with your feet.  You have made our lives so much better!

51/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Here you are eating your lunch on Sunday.  Sundays are our days together since papa is at church.  Some Sundays are long and hard and frustrating, but some are wonderful.  I know in a couple of years I'm going to look back and cherish these days where its just you and me.  You make me slow down, and I am grateful for that.

50/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Here you are looking cute and playing at the park.

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"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

You love being outside no matter what, and I love watching you take everything in for the first time.  You're one curious little bug!

48/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

You are one wild, crazy, sweet, smart, lovable little boy!  You love to say "mama" and laugh hysterically when we tickle you.

47/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Lately, you've turned into the biggest flirt.  You smile and turn on your charm every time we go out, and you especially love the ladies.  I love seeing your little smile and squinting eyes, but I'm not ready for you to grow up so fast.

46/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

You feel asleep in my arms the other day, and it was the sweetest thing.

45/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Your new favorite activity!  I let you play this game once while I was trying to fold your clothes, and now that's all you want to do.  You crawl over to your dresser like you're on a mission and just start pulling everything out.  I know you could be getting into worse things, so sometimes I let you just go at it and take as much out as your little heart desires.  You're only little once!

44/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Here you are trying on your beanie for your Halloween costume and not wanting to keep it on.  (Surprisingly, you left it on most of the night.)  You were the cutest little lumberjack ever!

It's so amazing seeing you grow up and discover new things and become your own little person.  I can't wait to see the boy and man you become, but I don't want this time to go by so fast.  Selfishly, I want you to stay my baby forever!  (I guess that's something all mamas struggle with.)

43/52

" A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

How did my baby turn into a little boy overnight?!  You are getting so big and wanting to do big boy things all the time.  You love walking around the house with your push walker and climbing up on everything.  You sure do keep me on my toes, and I have a feeling that it's only going to get worse from here on out.

Even though you're my little wild child, you're the sweetest boy this mama could ever want.  You still like to play with my hair when you nurse and give lots of snuggles when you wake up from a nap.  I want to bottle those moments up!

42/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

My little reader!  If you're not wanting to read your books, you're wanting to go over to your bookshelf and pull them all off.  You keep me busy straightening up!

41/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Just like your papa, you like your meat!  All gone.

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"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Welp, you skipped right over the bottle and now drink from a sippy cup.  I tried so hard for you to take a bottle when you were younger, and you wanted nothing to do with it.  (And still don't!)  Now you graduated to big boy status and like to drink your water out of a cup.  So much for all those "bottle training" days!  

I'm secretly glad you never liked a bottle.  Just means more nursing time!

39/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

You are one curious little monkey as of late.  You like to crawl around and get into everything which leads to some bumps and bruises (evidenced by that one on your forehead).  Anything that you're not suppose to have, you want!

38/52

" A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

You're such a pro at finger foods now!

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"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

A lot has been happening for you this week, little bug.  You started pulling up on everything that will hold your weight - bookshelf, play table, cardboard box.  All you want to do is stand and move around by yourself...such a big boy!  You also started waving and saying "hi" to us.  It pretty much melts our heart!  Every morning you look over at your papa and say "hi papa!"  It makes him wake up with a smile when he's not even a morning person.  And you are still loving your bath time.  If we'd let you stay in there all night, I'm sure you would!

Even though you're growing up so fast, you still like to cuddle after nap time and sit in my lap when you play with your toys.  You are such a sweetheart! 

36/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

You are turning into a little boy more and more every day.  Your favorite mode of transportation is "creeping" but you've been experimenting with crawling more and more.  And if I do say so myself...it's pretty darn cute.  But then again, you're always pretty darn cute!

And just look at that red hair in this pic!

35/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Yes, another nap time pic because it's just way too sweet and adorable.  And look at those lips!  I could kiss them every second of every day.  You're the sweetest, my Smith!

34/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

Silly boy!  Lately you have been enjoying play time in your pack 'n play and doing all kinds of silly things for your papa and me to see.  You like to play with your beach ball (a little weird), your new remote control (which is way too loud), and smash your face against the side of the pack 'n play making the silliest faces for us to laugh at.  

PS - I realized I'm behind on my weeks (how did that happen?!) so I'm going to play catch up to get back on track.

33/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week, in 2014."

My sweet boy!  You have been super clingy this past week and waking up at night.  We think you're teething and going through a growth spurt so we're trying to take it all in stride.  I get frustrated sometimes when you want to be held pretty much all day, but I'm just telling myself that you aren't going to be this little and need me like this forever.  It's such a special time for me to get to be here with you all day long and see all the ups and downs.  You make my days so sweet.  And I love our afternoon naps together (pretty much my favorite part of the day!)

You are such a sweet little cuddle bug!