Birthday Boy Bryce

One year ago at this time (it's now 8:42 pm), I was staring into the eyes of my brand new baby (born at 6:11 pm) trying to imagine how he'd ever fit inside me, and considering the life stretching out before him. We're now one year into this journey and it's been such an amazing experience getting to know this valiant, loving, strong, spirit the Lord has sent to our family. I love watching Bryce grow and seeing his personality develop and evolve. The first year of life is especially remarkable because babies change SO much. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the last year (I know I'm incredibly biased, but I think he started out cute and keeps getting cuter!):

Almost 2 months old4 months old7 1/2 months old

To mark this special day, Bryce decided to start walking! He's been SO close for a long, long time, but this afternoon instead of holding onto furniture and cruising around, he let go and began walking around the house like an old pro. I guess he was just waiting to be one. He is so proud that he can walk. In fact, he frequently stops his ambling to clap for himself. We're very proud of him too. I love it when my kids learn to walk! Oh yeah, he cut two more top teeth too.
I tried to have a fun day for Bryce. This morning we went to the park to play with friends. Bryce adores the slide and also likes the swings. We had a simple picnic lunch, but decided to come home early when three busloads of elementary kids showed up. We spent most of the day at home playing. This morning I gave Bryce the first of his gifts - a little ball - and he and Aubree played with that for hours. Bryce has now reached an age/stage where he and Aubree can actually start to play together. Their current favorite game involves Aubree running around the house laughing like a maniac as Bryce tries to chase after her. Since Bryce is significantly slower than Aubree, he has to make numerous course corrections as she circles and flitters around him, and that always results in his own laughter. For the most part, they get along extremely well and Aubree is a super big sister.

When Mark got home from work we opened presents (oh, have I mentioned how lately Bryce has becomes a total Daddy's boy? His favorite word is "Dad!," pronounced very emphatically and when Mark walks in the door Bryce starts bouncing up and down calling for him over and over. Too cute.). Aubree was planning on helping him unwrap his gifts and was amazed that he was able to do some of it himself. "Mom!," she proclaimed, "he already knows how to tore!" (not a spelling mistake, just a grammar mistake). Bryce received very BOY-type gifts including 2 cars (noisy ones to boot) and a hammer (also noisy - right up his alley). He wasted no time figuring out how to hit things.
Then we hurried and had dinner and the traditional first-birthday cake (we decided to just have a family birthday this year - we had to hurry because we also had Pack Meeting this evening). I was very interested to see how Bryce would respond to his cake. He's great at feeding himself (finger-food) and it's no secret he's quite fond of food, so I expected he'd dig right in when given the opportunity. He surprised me by being much more cautious. I don't think he liked how the frosting stuck to his fingers and he was reluctant to put the cake in his mouth. Mark gave him a couple bites and he quickly overcame and previous reservations. Aubree had no such reluctance. I think she finished her piece and was asking for more before Bryce even got started. She's such a sugar-fiend!
Happy Birthday Bryce! We love you up to the sky, past Heavenly Father's house, and back to our hearts!