Grayson turns one on Wednesday. This has been the fastest and most amazing year of my life, and it’s definitely been the year that I have taken the most personal photos! I’m so glad that I made myself commit to a monthly photo project with Grayson. It’s been amazing watching him grow, and even on the craziest and busiest months it was nice to slow down and document our little guy.

This week is going to be one big trip down memory lane, and we’re starting it off with a post filled with all of my favorite portraits of our sweet baby boy!

I keep looking at the calendar and saying, “One year ago we were getting the call from the doctor to go in for an induction,” and “One year ago we were in the hospital and this was happening,” and “One year ago…”

It’s incredible how much has happened in one year!

Our sweet baby boy arrived 17 days before his due date, and he was perfect with sleepy eyes, the creamiest skin, and fluffy blonde hair!

It took me three tries in the studio to do my own son’s newborn portraits. He was so difficult to settle, and he jumped with every single click of the shutter on my camera. It’s funny to see how different he looks from one newborn portrait to the next because you can really tell which ones he had gained some weight in because they were taken a week after the first ones!

My first Mother’s Day! Gosh, he was so little then!

We really do have the happiest little guy! Even when he was just a few months old he was all smiles for the camera, and all smiles when we put it away, too! I just love his personality and I’m so grateful that we have a baby who is so filled with JOY.

Six months old and sitting up on his own! Little did we know that he would spend MONTHS sitting without moving on to the next physical milestone (crawling). Now at one year old, he is finally starting to butt-scoot!

This boy LOVES books, and he loves putting everything in his mouth! A few of his books have bite marks and chunks missing! Favorite titles this year are:
There’s a Bear in My Chair
Fox in Socks
Ten in the Bed
The Pout Pout Fish
Llama Llama — all of this series!

Grayson and I took these self portraits when he was 37 weeks and 4 days old — the same amount of time that he was inside of me for!

All of our holidays this year…

He sleeps with this elephant, and he knows that this toy is for naptime and bedtime. It’s so sweet how it’s always in his arms when he is in his crib. He hugs it, uses it like a pillow, and tosses it across his face to block the light. The elephant is never more than a few inches from him when he’s asleep!

This lucky boy spent a lot of time dog-sitting Bailey this year, and he is officially obsessed with this (very tolerant and gentle) dog! His first word came at 11.5 months — DOG/DOGGIE!

Those thighs! He’s slimming out now that he’s moving around more, and I already miss those rolls on his legs!

I’ll be sharing a few very special posts this week, along with his cake smash and updated 12 month portraits! More to come soon!