One

A year ago today we were still at the hospital, clinging to our minuscule new baby with no idea what we were doing or how much things were about to change.

It’s almost as surreal now, looking back, as it was at the time. Especially since it’s now utterly impossible to imagine life without Marley.

So first up, Happy Birthday little man! It’s been an absolutely amazing year.

And it’s flown past at light speed, blowing (most of) those traumatic hospital memories away and replacing them with a million different, beautiful Marley moments that will never be forgotten.

Changes

I was feeding him outside in the garden the other day – a rare, British summer treat – and as he casually flung his food all over the ground, I was thinking (again) about how much he’s changed in that time.

From a tiny little fragile newborn thing; to the ‘few months’ stage where he began to acknowledge people; to that little guy who slept all the way through the night; to this amazing little sociable and hilarious one-year-old boy we have now. 

Next stage?

It made me wonder – when does he actually stop being a “baby”? 

Is it when he can walk, and talk? 

Or is it when he’s two years old? 

Or eighteen months? 

Or is it literally this week – now that he’s passed the one year mark?

I have no idea, but I don’t feel like it’s that far off. Especially since he decided to properly start crawling on the exact anniversary of his birth. 

So despite everything we have learned from this massively challenging but absolutely incredible year, it seems we still begin the Second Year just as clueless about what lies ahead as we were 12 months ago!