A letter to my sons on their 1st Birthday!

Dear Chase and Ryder,

I can't believe you are one year old (and several days at the time of this letter.) I am blown away by how fast time has passed us by. My little tiny baby boys are thriving toddlers, and though I revel in your development, I am astonished how far and how quickly you have come.

When we found out we were pregnant (12-05-05), it was the best day in our lives to that point. We felt such a rush of joy and I knew that feeling would never leave me. There was no way I could know at the time, however, that the joy I was going to feel in the months/years to come was infinitely more special. I had loved you already and you were just 4 weeks into development. When I held you for the first time, your skinny little bodies no bigger than my forearm, I understood immediately that the love you have for a child is beyond measure, the depth is greater than ever imagined. I knew everything would be different from that moment forward.

This year has been quite the adventure. Every day there was something new for you to learn and something new for us to marvel at. Your first smile, laugh, coo. Your first burp, hiccup and poo. Your first food, crawl, stand, walk. All of it is precious and sweet and wonderful.

We transitioned you from Formula in bottles to Milk in cups. It was quite the easy transition for both of you. We simply ran out of formula started with milk and you hardly noticed. Up to that point you were not great with the sippy cups, but when you picked it up on that Thursday morning it was as if you had been using them forever. We never looked back, and despite the emotional breakdown I had leading up to your first birthday I was not sad to put those dr. browns bottles away.

Baby food is history as well. You remain to be fantastic eaters and table food is all you eat. Most days you eat what we are eating, but since we do not always cook for ourselves sometimes we make you special meals. You will never go hungry around here, even if Mommy forgets to eat. Chase you eat so quickly we often can't cut the pieces fast enough. You love everything and are particularly fond of all fruits. Since you gave up your bottles you both eat a lot more food.

Ryder, your top molars are coming through and as a result you are drooling incessantly. You suffered terrible diaper rash last week, which led us to believe you were teething and have a runny nose this week, but generally you remain to be your happy little self. Chase, you are working on your two front teeth, though they have yet to break the skin. As of your first birthday you had just your bottom two teeth.

You went to the doctor today for your one year check up. Chase you outweigh your brother by almost a pound, which is not surprising since you are quite the little eater. You weigh 20 pounds 2 ounces, which means technically you can be turned around in the carseat (yippee!) But, since Ryder only weighs 19 pounds 5 ounces we will wait a few more weeks and turn you around together. Chase you are also taller at 30 inches and Ryder is 29 3/4 but you both have the same size head. In many ways your weight is considered light (less than 10th percentile) but since you were born at just 4+ pounds, your gain has been substantial.

Chase we think you may be left handed. You tend to favor this hand for most activities, except eating for which you use both hands. You have become increasingly more active over the last few weeks and love climbing everything and have become quite good at it. Ryder you are getting ready to walk. You can now stand up by yourself, though you do not do it often. We encourage you, and try to build your confidence so that you can stand proud. You have taken a few steps on your own as well and we think it will be soon that you will start walking around. We can only imagine what trouble you will get in to once you are walking:) You are a bit of a bandit as is. You do not have any fear, will climb anything and have learned to climb out of your stroller. Luckily, you have not climbed out of your crib, yet!!

You both babble constantly and we try to engage you in conversation. You each can say mama and dada though I am not sure you say it directly at us. You both have attempted at hello, and simultaneously held your hand to your ears, which had us laughing. Chase you can and do say bubble. You love bubbles and now that you can ask for them by name it is hard to deny. Ryder you attempt at many words but have yet to master one specific one.
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Chase you are expressive. You point at everything and need to always know what is going on. Nothing can be done around you without you checking it out. Ryder you turn everything over and check to see what is beneath it all, almost as if you want to know how it works. If something is not nailed down, it is now your push toy, despite having several push toys you could use.

We celebrated your first birthday on your actual birthday which was also 07-07-07. A lucky day for many, certainly for us, and ironically, the biggest party day of the year. Daddy and I love to party on such days. Despite being the conclusion to a holiday weekend, we still had a wonderful turn out, a beautiful day, and an overall great party. Everyone had fun, you two included. You enjoyed your friends, your family and your first cakes. We enjoyed throwing you a bash and watching as you showed your smiles to all.

You also welcomed two new friends this month. Olivia Rose Betesh and Nathan Quinn Seltzer were born, three weeks apart. You do not realize it yet, but someday we hope you do, how lucky you are to be surrounded by such great friends, 2nd generation friends you could likely have for a lifetime.

Your grandparents continue to dote, and strangers are still attracted to you. I guess it is something about being twins, though it does not hurt that you are cute:)

Ryder, you are suffering from pink eye. It is not too bad, but your eyes are swollen and it is cute to look at you all puffy. As usual, you are handling any discomfort well and go about your smiling, happy ways.

Unbelievably, a year has passed and this second year will be filled with all new adventures. I will continue to cherish my time with you, and despite occasionally feeling a need for time alone, I do love being home with you and hopefully helping to mold you into good, kind men. Chase you are so very much like daddy both in how you look and how you are aware of everything around you. Ryder you are more like me and we are thrilled to have boys who are so alike and yet so different.
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I must be blessed to have such wonderful boys, I am honored to be your mother. I hope I provide you with the joy you have given daddy and me and I hope you know every single day how very much you are loved.

We love you so!!
Mommy