Katie May turns ONE

Today our beloved friends Rob & Julie celebrate their daughter's first birthday.

The amazing thing is that I remember the day she was born just about as good as I remember my own son's birth day. I remember talking to Julie about how the 9 months of pregnancy felt like eternity, especially those last few days. I remember the calls/pages at work to announce that Julie was in labor (with a false alarm added in for good measure) and again when Katie finally arrived. I remember driving out to see our new little friend at the hospital that night after dinner and driving home later on with great anticipation for the upcoming labor and delivery of our son. Little did we know that we would meet our own little bundle of joy just 4 weeks later. I was inspired by Julie not only througout my pregnancy, but in the inital weeks of motherhood with nursing and enduring those first few weeks and months of parenthood when we felt like our world had come crashing on us to the tune of a baby screaming in the background. Julie has been my best friend for about 5 years now, and our friendship only got more precious to me with the birth of our babies. And ready or not, our worlds are about to be shaken up again with the transition of our babies into toddlerhood.

So today we send this post filled with happy birthday wishes to Katie as well as congratulations to her parents on the anniversary of the day that rocked their world.

Note: Dylan took his first steps last night, on the eve of Katie's birthday! Ryan and I were playing with him before bed and he casually stood up about 3 feet from the coffee table, paused for a brief moment, and took a step. It was a beautiful moment. Ryan and I exchanged looks of "oh my gosh, he did it!!!" and I bounced across the room into his arms with excitement. Dylan got excited by all our happiness and crawled over to us to get in on the hugs. Cute little peanut. (sigh) I'm in love...