Colin Turned 1 Year Old!

Just look at this cute baby.

He reached the 1 year mark yesterday and we had a fun celebration

I am so blessed to be the vessel that God chose to bring this incredibly sweet spirit to the earth. God has entrusted me to love, shelter, and nourish this perfect boy and teach him how to love and be a good force in this harsh world. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity that this affords me to grow and learn so many new things about myself. I have never been pushed to the brink of what I thought I could do until I had a baby. I have found a strength that I didn't really know that I had. It has only been one year since that day I nervously took him home and started on this journey as a parent. I know that Andrew and I are so happy when we are with him and he brings us immense satisfaction in life. I see better and better why we are commanded to have a family. I wouldn't have life any other way. It is a HUGE sacrifice to bring a child into this world and I don't think I could have gotten a better one. He brings joy to everyone he meets. Even the little old Dutch ladies can't resist pinching his cheeks. They do it all the time.

I have officially raised a baby from infancy to toddlerdom. Yes, he toddles and he is 12 months old so I can call him a toddler. Woah! He holds on to one hand and walks pretty quickly so any day now he will let go and venture forth on his own.

Of course with all of that walking he needs shoes. That was his present from us and a couple of colorful wooden toys.

This years award for going above and beyond for birthdays goes to, of course, the incredible Debra Lowe. It is my birthday in a couple of days so she contacted me to see what we wanted. I gave her a list to choose from and low and behold she sent us everything on the quite extensive list. Yes, she shipped things to us and yes, they came on time and with lovely cards. Same thing happened for Christmas. This is just who she is, a generous and thoughtful human being who loves us and we love her.

Here she is with Colin right before we left the West.

We had a party with our Dutch friends who could make it on a weeknight. Our families were invited to watch and say hello on Google Hangout. Bless technology. They came and went at different times (except for Grandma Honeybee) and it was fun to be able to share the party with them.

We stayed up the night before, wrapping presents, blowing up balloons and making decorations

I made the most moist and incredible carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I made the cream cheese and presoaked the spelt flour so that it wouldn't irritate Andrew. It was a very nutrient-dense cake (so if a cake could still taste amazing and rich and be healthy, this was it) and I was so excited to see that everyone loved it. It was a labor of love and we get to eat the leftovers for my birthday on Sunday.

Colin ate the cake all up!

We opened presents for/with him and he received lots of toys and some clothes. Ignore the male stripper attire. Haha.

We had some of Andrew's work colleagues come and then a couple of people from church. They sang to him in Dutch, which is a really fun birthday song. They also congratulate the whole family on birthdays. I like that. 

This is Betty and she takes Colin for us during church so that Andrew and I can do our callings. Usually children are watched at 18 months old but he is the only baby so she just takes him into Primary with her and includes him in their activities. The other day he peed on her. She still loves him a great deal.

Playing with some of his new toys, the day after.

Enjoy these pictures we have taken over the past couple of weeks. 

After looking at these I have realized that he is shirtless quite often and he gets ahold of our phones way more often than he should.