These next few weeks are full of birthday fun in our house with all three of our birthday happening over a three week period.
The most important birthday of all recently happened to kick off the birthday celebrations…
Our Little Viking is 1!
Happy First Birthday to our little Viking!
You guys, I can’t believe I have a one year old little boy!
Where did the time go?!
Cue the mama tears as I look at all his newborn pictures!
Since making his entrance into this world (quickly and right on time!) our little man has kept us on our toes and has us falling more in love with him each day.
From the early days when he would open his eyes and look at us, to those first smiles and giggles, to crawling over and asking for a snuggle, this little boy just melts my heart every single day.
Our attempt at a family birthday photoshoot in sunny Boston the other week. Family pictures aren’t getting any easier with our active one year old!
Speaking of Boston, our little guy, he has had quite the busy first year of life traveling around.
With multiple international trips marked in his passport and several visitors who he took exploring around Iceland I think we already have a little world traveler on our hands:)
Airport baby:)
Aside from his big traveling adventures our little man has had a year packed of firsts.
I made it a goal to remember all of these little firsts by keeping little H’s baby book up to date, and while some months aren’t as detailed as others I am so happy I kept this up! But, sadly there is not an update for month 12 in the book, so I am making my own little update here on the blog.
A few highlights from our sweet little man’s recent accomplishments:
*Our little guy took his time moving around (he did his own version of crawling by dragging himself around on his belly for weeks!) but has now mastered crawling at an impressive speed and is pretty determined to figure out how to walk on his own. This means there is lots of falling over a mini meltdown’s in our house at the moment but I know once our guy figures out walking I am going to be running after him all over the place.
*For being a baby that sure made nursing a challenge those first few months (thankfully he finally became a nursing champ!) our little guy sure loves to eat! He is seriously the best little eater who loves to feed himself and will eat almost anything we put in front of him. His birthday dinner included his favorites, meat and potatoes, a real Viking boy:)
As long as our little guy has something to eat, or play with, he is a champ when it comes to dining out!
*He is a talking machine that loves to experiment with the different sounds he can make. Mama, Dada, and Nei (no in Icelandic) are the current favorites. I can’t wait to see what other words are going to come out of our little bilingual boy’s mouth. It amazes me to see him respond to both English and Icelandic!
*For months our little H was quite shy in big groups and in new places and didn’t want me out of his sight. Recently this has changed and he now loves going to new places and being around new people, especially babies and little kids. I am so happy to finally see him enjoying all the playgroups we have been going to, and happy I stuck it out even when he was clinging too me most of the time, it was all worth it to see him thriving now.
*Lastly, on to his favorites. Our little guy LOVES playing with balls. Bouncy balls, basketballs, footballs, whatever kind of ball our little man is going for it. He has loved balls for months and now has gotten really into trying to throw the ball, as well as anything else he can grab which means I get hit by random objects multiple times a day. Other favorites, reading his books, (which makes my mama heart so happy to see that he enjoys books) and anything that involves being outside.
While this past year has been all about our little Viking and his firsts, H and I as new parents have experienced an entire new world of activities and experiences.
In a way I almost felt like this first year of motherhood was like arriving to Iceland all over again. I had to put myself out there and join playgroups and baby classes and find new “mom friends.” Sometimes (okay most times) I found it super uncomfortable, but I always packed up and went because I knew it would do us both some good to get out and about.
And I am so glad I did!
We have made some great new mom and baby friends this past year that have just added to the fun. And now both my little guy and I have some new wonderful friends here in Iceland.
So thank you my little man for pushing me out of my comfort zone all over again, it was good for me:)
It is safe to say that our little Viking has complete got us wrapped around his little fingers.
I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to spend everyday of my little man’s first year at home with him. He will be starting daycare, and me back to work, after our trip to Oregon this summer, and while I know we are both ready I know there will be some tears shed during that transition.
But, I am just not going to think about that now, and instead I am going to keep on enjoying every minute of our days together.
Happy first Birthday our dear little H.
This past year with you in our lives has been our best adventure yet.
We love you!
