Otis | 1st Birthday Party

I pray we never forget what a chocolate covered blur you were at your very first birthday party, Otis! You were on.the.move or else and into it all! And just as I remember feeling at Wren's first birthday - I just feel so happy and content with our little family. You belong to us through and through and we'd never go back to before there was you. You make all of our hearts swell so big; your slobbery open-mouth kisses, melt me smiles and general crazy boy mischief is best here to stay! 

We all sure do love you and hope you always feel celebrated! Wren sure did task herself with making sure your day felt special to you. My sweet boy, just keep growing big and strong and we can't wait to spend all of our days with you as you do!

Otis | 1 Year Old

Otis Perry, we've been loving on you so hard for a whole year now! Today - on your first birthday - we are all in full celebration mode over you! You've already been enjoying homemade birthday cake all week. A rare bonus of having food allergies is that you get practice treats. I'll oblige year after year for you, my sweet boy. 

You're walking so well, climbing everything climbable and talking just a little. You are brave and wild, silly and messy. You love to explore and do new things, laugh with Wren and be with your people doing whatever we are doing the most. You don't appreciate your limits and show your frustration pretty easily, but you don't seem to dwell on things too long. 

You are such a constant source of joy, a treasured part of our crew. You have taught us that our family rhythm doesn't really have to feel like a rhythm at all. Embracing all the crazy and rolling with all the things, letting God's presence and our togetherness be quite enough, has been the most precious gift this past year. We are blessed and better for belonging to you, our littlest bud!  

Just keep those heart melting smiles and smooches coming, brOtis! Happiest first birthday and all of our love to you! 

Otis | 11 Months Old

Otis, my littlest bud - you really are hard to catch on camera! I had to break out the flash. You have absolutely zero use for sitting still which left me staring at your letter board this time around and I would have rather not considering it is your LAST one before your first birthday! That's hard on a mama. But you bring.the.fun and time has just flown right on by!

You are finally crushing sleep and often snooze through the night. Praise praise! That has been a game changer. You're getting so tough in all things physical and seem to get stronger and more brave by the day. Honestly, you like to push the envelope, so I'm sure you will be keeping us on our toes until the end of time. You just had your first trip to the beach [Folly] and I think you would've crawled straight into the ocean if we had let you keep going. You just love to explore! I can't wait to watch you climb your first tree one of these days; I have a feeling you'll head straight for the top.

You love groceries so much that I think I either need a job at Publix or a bigger garden. Probably both. And I believe you are going to be a stock pot forever, but we will see. Your big, flirty, genuine grin is going to melt hearts forever, of THAT I am certain! 

We love you so much, Otis Perry. We delight in you and all of the joy and chaos you add to our family. You make us better, more whole and we can't wait to celebrate your first year next month! For you, my sweet boy, are much to celebrate. 

Otis | 10 Months Old

Double digits my little dude! I can't believe we are back to summer and you are going to be one year old so very soon. Time is just not the friendliest when you little ones keep growing up by the day. 

You are quite coordinated these days, standing on your own and pulling up to check out anything that catches your attention. You love to explore the whole house and your favorite is chasing after Wren and I around the kitchen island after dinner. Bath time is also at the top of your list and you'll stay in there as long as Wren will allow before she wants to "swim" her laps. We still have daily family dance parties and Uptown Funk is your jam, sweet boy. You often cry when Wren cries and are more content when she is around. It is just too quiet when she's gone, I think. You play well independently and love to rip every single thing out of our little play kitchen roughly 10 times a day. You also love to tote around something manageable in one hand while you are crawling - Wren's baby doll bottle, a rattle, a small rolling pen, a calculator, Wren's tea cup.

You are saying "mama" and "dada" and grunting like a caveman. You scrunch your nose to be cute when you are getting a little attention (our family's version of trouble) often for being impatient and short tempered. Traits straight from your mama and namesake, Papa, I'm afraid. And I hate to admit, but sometimes we still have a some stress surrounding meal times as we have had some questionable reactions, but so far are still managing peanuts as your only allergy. Hopefully we can continue to safely introduce you to a expansive healthy diet and keep you safe and sound. I am still working on being laser focused, but relaxed enough to not drive everyone crazy. I pray often for discernment, intuition and confidence in this area because I can easily succumb to worry and fear when I remember watching you go through anaphylaxis. But then I come right back to God's graciousness in protecting you beyond my understanding or action and I am comforted all over again.

What a precious gift you are, little bro. We treasure every day with you and have so much fun getting to know you more and more as you show us who you are. We'll always be your biggest fans!

P.s. Wren wants you to know that we are headed to the beach next week and she cannot WAIT to show you everything she loves to do there! She loves you and includes you so well, Otis. I hope y'all are forever best buds and loving companions for each other.

Otis | 9 Months Old

This past month has been an absolute blur, my sweet boy. In some ways I think there will be two categories to life now - before April 2018 and after. And April 17th will go down as my scariest day of mothering to date, by far! Your anaphylactic allergic reaction. Your new peanut allergy diagnosis. Toting around an EpiPen. Having to start and stop breastfeeding. But we are on the other side of it now and still have you here to squeeze and kiss and love on...plus all the things you shamelessly do to the baby of the family. We are definitely pouring it on extra thick. 

Otis Perry, you are 9 whole months old today and in many ways I feel like we are having to start over from here on out, figure out our new normal as a family. I will forever be so sorry that I didn't know. But now I do. Obviously, it is not hard at all to give up food, but functioning under the pressure of protecting you from exposure because allergies are such a maddening guessing game is making it difficult to keep our chill. But trust me when I tell you that I will live to protect you and care for you while still giving you room to grow without limitation. Your dad and I are already in constant prayer over how to manage this without forgetting the faith in which we rely on for all things. No bubble for you buddy; we are just going to do our very best. Your life is so precious and we enjoy every ounce of the little boy that you are! 

We love you so, sweet Otis!

P.S. Please just think I'm cool when I haul off and punch an inconsiderate middle school mom 10-12 years from now. 

Otis | 8 Months Old

Otis Perry, 8 months has flown by! You have developed so much over this past month - army crawling, crawling, pulling up, standing, sitting up on your own. I don't remember Wren getting the hang of all of that all at once like you. You are still so chill until the instant that you're not so I try to be a bit preemptive although I don't stress over it. Character building for us both, little buddy. 

You're still hit or miss with sleeping at night so we never know how many times we'll be up, but I do have you down to one feeding a night! We may just have to tackle sleep after you're weaned because I have a hunch you just like that one-on-one time with mama. That's a slim slice of pie for you and me [dearest second born] and my sappiest side has a hard time saying no to that moonlit rocking sesh too. Yep, I'm one of those.

We've had a handful of overnights away from you and a big trip planned in April, so we are already praying that your little heart will be at ease and that it'll be loads of fun for Oowa, Papa and Nana, Mimi and Pops and Shellee spending time with you and Wren. And speaking of Wren, she still makes you happier than anyone so I am thoroughly enjoying watching your sweet relationship grow! She, Daddy and I will always be your biggest fans, little brOtis (: We love you so so much!

Otis | 7 Months Old

This may be my favorite age on you so far, Otis Perry. Your hair seems to be turning more and more red and you're still looking just like Daddy (but my nose!). And you are still sporting that smile nearly all the time, but your little puckered up crying face is cute too so you really can't win for losing. Sorry, my littlest bud. 

This month you went from army crawling all over the place to real deal crawling in a matter of days. I've been looking for some baby gates that don't hurt my eyes with their lack of coolness (they don't make any!), but we're just free-styling until then. You've got yourself two new teeth - the top two middle ones to match your two bottom middles - chomp, chomp! And as if your own mobility isn't enough, you are constantly being picked up and hauled all over the house by your big sister. So far, you love the attention and don't seem to mind the brushes with death training in toughness and resilience. 

You have a thing for my ponytail (which I just cut off - oops) and funny enough, you get scared every single time you see me with a towel wrapped up on my head after I get out of the shower. Every.single.time. But I think in a crowd you'd still pick being held by me over anything, towel or no towel. My sweet little guy, you are something else. We just love you so!

P.s. If you wanted to turn a magical corner on sleep this next month that would be great. Not a condition of my love, but I think I could step up my mom game with another hour or two each night. Just sayin...

Love you more than all the sleep filled nights though, sweet boy of mine!