Rhen Approaches One Year

In a week’s time Rhen will be one year old. I’d like to say that it went by so quickly but it didn’t–that’s not to say it wasn’t the most enjoyable and challenging year I’ve experienced, it’s just that life is simply more plodding and tedious. No seriously, changing a diaper at 3 in the morning doesn’t get easier as time passes, in fact it’s harder because the adrenaline rush of the first couple times is completely gone. Surprise surprise–shit gets old. Regardless, it’s taught me a great deal of patience because if you didn’t have that, padded walls would be the new decor of my one small room.

My favorite time with Rhen are the mornings. He’s fresh and ready for the day. We watch a little bit of PBS (Arthur, It’s a Big Big World) but Rhen’s not that interested. He loves his Baby Einstein DVDs and I love it when he tires of playing/watching and I bring him up to sit next to me. I cover us with a blanket and he just sits and watches the DVD with me. It’s the best.

Rhen is chattering away everyday and he’s such a good crawler right now! It’s exciting to see him make his way from room to room as he explores the house. If he needs to kick it in the ass he does a tripod step where he kicks his left leg out and sort of squats (I’m sure I’ve described this in the last three posts). Rhen also has been doing the most adorable squishing his nose and mischievous grin thing (see photo below, this is by far the best capture of it). We were at Culver’s (Winona’s premier fast food restuarant) last Friday night. Four college girls were sitting in the booth behind us. Rhen was pretty interested in them. One of the girls turned around and waved to Rhen and gave him a big smile and asked him how he was doing. Normally Rhen would become shy but he gave her his squished nose grin and bounced up a little. How freakin’ cute is that?

We’re throwing Rhen a big one year party this weekend. We’re very excited for it and can’t wait to celebrate our little man’s big day. He’s changed our life forever–I’m not sure what life would be like without him. I don’t even want to know.

All photos by Mumsie.