Rocco's World: A Trip Down Memory Lane: Rocco's First Birthday

It's hard to believe that in just one week Rocco will turn 2! It really seems like just yesterday we were celebrating his first birthday with friends and family. We didn't do a huge celebration, just immediate family and close friends, and we will do the same this year.

Our friends Dave and Kelly were living about 2 hours away at the time and stayed with us for the weekend so they could be here for his party. It meant so much to us that they came all this way to help us celebrate. Kelly and I stayed up late the night before drinking wine, making cakes, and catching up on lost time. I'm so bummed I never took a picture of the cake before we cut into it!

I ended up making Rocco a separate small cake for him to eat by himself. He wasn't a huge fan though no matter how much we coaxed him.

I tried my hand at a few Pinterest birthday crafts.

My post of facebook that day really sums up everything that I was feeling.

"1 year ago today we walked into the hospital as a family of 2 and knew we wouldn't leave until we became 3. Becoming that family of 3 was the most amazing thing either of us have ever experienced. And then the year flew by...some days hazy and some days crystal clear. The hard days were so HARD. Blood transfusions, marathon nursing sessions, getting peed, pooped, and puked on...often in the same day, waking every 1-2hrs for months and months, wearing a path in the carpet where I would rock/sway/bounce/and shush a crying Rocco for hours all while holding my phone with "white noise rain edition" playing on youtube, driving in blizzards to joes work during my maternity leave just to get out of the house, numerous doctors appointments to ask the same question "why does he cry SO much?!", getting endless amounts of advice on every baby topic possible, and hearing an obnoxious amount of times "you look tired". But the good days were so GOOD. First smile and every smile after that, giggles and belly laughs, the way our eyes would meet during those marathon nursing sessions, the feeling of being needed in a way only a momma is needed, watching him sleep so peacefully in my arms sometimes smiling and even laughing as he dreams, witnessing every milestone be met, hearing first words "dada" & "mama", watching the excitement and pride show on his face when a milestone is met, seeing how excited he gets when I walk into the room...every time I walk into the room, endless snuggles during those sleepless nights, and strengthening friendships by sharing in the experience of motherhood. Everyone said these days would fly by and they were so right. The hard days felt like they would never end but somehow this amazing year flew by before I could tell it to slow down. As the first year comes to an end, so do the things I've loved the most...breastfeeding, rocking to sleep, and him needing me more than anyone else. I wish that I wouldn't have wished the hard days away because in doing so the good days flew by too. I've been as good of a mom as I know how to be, but I pray each night that I'll wake up tomorrow a better mom with more patience and grace. Having a baby changed my life, changed ME as a person, and while this year has been hard...it's been much more amazing, fulfilling, and full of love than I ever could have imagined. I prayed for months and months to be a mom and I'm so blessed that God had a plan and chose me to be Rocco's mom."