And just like that, a year has gone by. My itty bitty newborn baby is now a busy, walking one year old! It’s hard to believe that we’re celebrating his first birthday! On this day one year ago, I woke up, walked three miles and went to my final OB appointment. I was 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant and very ready to meet my baby boy. When my doctor said they had a room ready for me at the hospital if I wanted to go right away for induction, I took it. After 3 days of prodromal labor and one night at the hospital not in actual labor, my emotions got the best of me and I just wanted to give birth. So we went to the hospital and 7 hours later, James Brody Gougler entered the world! Feel free to read his whole birth story here!
I thought I would be more emotional about his first birthday, but since we celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago and I’m jet lagged like crazy right now, I’m doing okay. (More to come soon on his awesome Brody’s Bubbles and Brunch birthday!)
Celebrating One
One is such a huge milestone. Not only are you celebrating the first year of life for your tiny human, but you’re also celebrating your accomplishments as parents. Together, you made it through the newborn stage. You taught your child so many different things like how to eat, sit up, drink from a straw, possibly even take those first steps. You endured sleepless nights, sickness, worry as well as unconditional love, tears of joy and laughter. Today I want to celebrate this sweet boy, but I’m also giving his daddy and myself a pat on the back. I think he’s turning out to be a pretty cool little dude.
These last few months Brody…
- celebrated his first 4th of July.
- stayed in the nursery while mommy taught VBS! (This is a big deal because it was the first time someone watched him besides family.)
- went to the beach and visited his Auntie Julie for the first time!
- celebrated his sister’s 4th birthday!
- two weeks later celebrated his own 1st birthday!
- two days later traveled the world.
Yes, he literally traveled across the Atlantic two days after celebrating his first birthday! In case you don’t follow along on Facebook or Instagram (click to follow along!), we’ve spent the last two weeks in Manchester, Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh. Our adventures in the UK were amazing and Brody did a great job on the trip overall. Stay tuned for lots of posts to come, but you can check out all of my pictures on Instagram if you want to see where we went!
Just before his birthday party, Brody started to take his first steps! He got up to 9 in a row before we left. While in Scotland, he managed to take 15 multiple times. Now he will walk between things that are short distances, but he still prefers to crawl or furniture surf most of the time.
Brody’s favorite word is Ba which means a lot of different things like dog, ball, bath and who knows what else. He can also say mama, dada and yeah. Overall he prefers a series of grunts and shrieks, which is quite different than his talkative sister at this age.
This little boy is full of personality. Brody is incredibly laid back just like his daddy. He will go with the flow until he’s over it, but don’t worry, you’ll know! When he’s done, he’s done and he’ll let you know. Just because he’s a second child doesn’t mean he’s going to let anyone push him around. Overall he’s the happiest, easiest baby I could have ever asked for. He’s definitely a momma’s boy, but loves his whole family so much!
Brody loves…
- his big sister Chloe. He truly looks up to her and adores her!
- runs in the stroller. Mom loves that too.
- dogs! Any and all dogs he loves.
- music. He loves to dance, listen to music and play on his Little Einstein piano.
- balls. He loves to throw them and chase after them, so pretty much he plays fetch with himself. Let’s go ahead and throw balloons into the ball category too because he’s obsessed.
- any of his sister’s toys. She doesn’t love that, but he wants whatever she has.
- fruit. His favorite food of all! He could eat only fruit and breastmilk all the time and be a happy boy. Grapes are his favorite though!
- being held. What can he say, he’s a snuggly boy.
- water! He loves bath time especially when he gets to take one with Chloe. He also loves any time he gets to go swimming at Nonna and Poppa’s. Water Baby!
It’s hard to believe that he’s officially one year old. No longer a baby, but starting to enter toddlerdom. I love this little boy something fierce and can’t wait to see what the next year with him brings us. I know it will involve a lot of adventure and he’ll keep us on our toes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Happy 1st Birthday James Brody Gougler! We love you!
All professional photos were taken by the amazing Kellianne Barron Photography! If you need a photographer in the Houston area, I highly recommend her.
