I like the awkwardness of Spring. I like that it's not a girl, not yet a woman. I like that it always surprises me, that it's pouring rain one day and the next day it's bright, balmy, and "all you need is a light jacket." I'm also really impressed with myself for sneaking in two late 90s/early 2000s pop culture references into that one paragraph. 

More than the New Year, for me, springtime is always a time that presents new beginnings. I had my bridal AND baby showers in the spring, got laid off in the spring, pushed for 4.5 hours to meet ODP in the spring, and I always have a strong urge this time of year to start something freshhhh. I don't know what that is this year, aside from our dude's impending first birthday. 

Looking back, I'm amazed at how far we've come—we've really gotten to know each other and we've grown so much as a little family that I can't help but be really proud of us. We've worked hard and we'll continue to work hard. His little monthly milestones shove everything into perspective for me. 11 months ago, at this time, I was probably watching a lot of Friday Night Lights and looking at this handsome creature we created and not knowing how it would all work out. Would he even like me? Would we find a groove? Would I be able to work for myself? Would we be able to balance it all? 

It's had its challenges, but I feel so lucky that we've gotten to navigate these past eleven months together. As his first birthday approaches, I can only imagine how weepy and nostalgic I'm going to be. But he was just blowing out his diaper on his first airplane ride! But he was just falling asleep on my boob in the middle of the night! But he was just giving me his first smile! What a mess I will become when we drop him off at college and marry him off to someone who I hope is really nice and thinks I'm okay to take wine tasting with them sometimes...and maybe to Nordstrom on the way home. 

I'm proud of him and the person he's becoming, but I'm really proud of me, too. Every day we work to live our best lives and that's really all I can hope for. So, how DID we get here? How did we get to this day where my nearly one-year-old is looking totally grown and already crawling faster than I can run and catch him? Sometimes I don't know. A day, an hour, a minute at a time, I suppose, and by having a whole lot of fun along the way.