Looking back at my year with BJ

I can hardly believe that BJ is one! It has been a busy few weeks as I prepared for a little over 25 people to come over to celebrate on is birthday and then the following weekend we celebrated again with my mom, dad, and the rest of the family who could not make it to birthday party number one.

So, I thought I would cover what BJ has been up to lately:

1. Last night, BJ took two independent steps!
2. Over the weekend, he climbed three steps to the upstair's bedrooms before caught and pulled off.
3. Although is gag reflex is still strong (digestive issues of the past) he has been able to eat mushy french fries and small pieces of toast. Loved his birthday cake too. He put his full face into it!
4. He crawls like a demon.
5. He can pull himself up using his sister as his climbing pole and pull her down!
6. He will throw himself into the beanbag chair (this is partly to do with Andy tossing him into the beanbag chair as "superBJ")
7. He is working on saying more than just Mama and Dada, he almost has "no no" "ok" and "yum" down.
8. He does full bodied belly laughs when you tickle him.
9. He has eight teeth and will visit the dentist for the first time December 30th (MM visited the dentist last week and spent days showing off her special shiny teeth!)
10. He sleeps through the night as long as he sleeps with me. All attempts to get him to sleep in his bed result in me getting no sleep. Will try again over holiday break, but not holding breath.
11. He can throw a toy with amazing accuracy. My mom was amazed at how hard and how well aimed he is. So maybe it will not be football, it will be baseball.
12. He loves to sit on mommy's lap as long as it is not the rocking chair because he knows that he is going to fall asleep if I am there.

I am not sure what life would be like without my big boy. I am sure things would be different, but more than that, it has forced me to prioriterize differently. After falling down the stairs with him, I thought I would never feel better, but now I am getting my energy back. I am able to move more quickly than I have in nearly two years and I am able to get more accomplished in a shorter time period than before. If I do not have the children, I am able to clean the house, go shopping, do laundry and loads of other things in the same amount of time it took for me to just clean the house. I still do not know how the supermoms do it; I can either get work done or play with the kids, but not both. I want to be all things to my children, but do not know how to get the house in order and play with them. Maybe the trick is that the supermoms do not have small children; they only become supermoms after the children are all over three!

Knowing that BJ will be my last child has also made me focus more on the little details that seem a blur with MM. I am taking the time to snuggle and just sit with him on my lap. I try to make sure I pay attention to him for a while when I get home because I know that I only have an hour and a half before he falls asleep. Afterwards, I sit with MM, eat popcorn and watch the "Good Night Show" on Sprout until after the "Rubbadubbers." Every once in a while I am able to get her down and then go back downstairs to clean up, but usually I just stay in bed with them and enjoy the down time. That explains the messy house!