I'm going to skip over the fact that my last post on this blog was for Claire's birthday shoot and give my full attention to the fact that my boy is now one. One. You read that right. A one year old. There is no denying that we had a rough start but as I hold my boy in my arms, feel his chubby cheek against mine and take in this perfect little person that I get to spend my days with, I know two things. One, the hard part is behind us. And two, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. My little red-headed life lesson in learning to let go, in order to hold on to what's important. He's rocked our world in the best possible way and made our family whole (third Hawes baby pushers, hold your tongues!).

He is so similar to Claire but so different at the same time. He'll barrel up the stairs, get to the top and slam the gate open and closed while hollering at the top of his lungs. Then a moment later, reach up and ask to be snuggled. He loves his family and the friend in our lives but he is definitely still mama's boy. So many of my friends told me "boys love their moms". I thought, "well of course they do. So do girls." But now I get it. He loves his mom in the most suffocatingly beautiful way ;) He is ridiculously easy to get a smile out of and is equally quick to bust out a belly laugh. He loves his sister more than I ever could've hoped he would (it's mutual) but often reminds her that she is not his boss. He is silly to the core but with a hot little temper that he reserves for only the most serious offenses (having to be buckled in the car seat, getting dressed in actual clothes, or being stopped from climbing anything and everything).

I love him more than I could ever explain. He's my boy and I'm his mama. It's simple.

Since a December baby is the gift that just keeps giving (or the complete opposite of that) I now realize that I will not only be planning a post Christmas Birthday party every year, but I'll also be doing a birthday photoshoot in the dead of winter. Who planned this? Oh wait, that was me.
A few days after Holden's birthday, we had a window of semi-not freezing weather and no rain. Since that's about all I can ask for this time of year, we threw our stuff in the car and headed to the park for his pictures. We had a good 10 minutes of a happy boy before he realized that it was actually cold out, it's tough to walk on uneven ground, and that pinecones don't taste as good as they look.  Luckily he's pretty darn cute so we wrapped it up and called it a win :)