Bryson is 1 years old as of November 23.
Christmas Eve is 1 week away.
2024 is coming to an end in a matter of weeks.
We are 5 1/2 months into our 2nd pregnancy.
Bryson is weaned off of breastfeeding.
Bryson is walking, as of 2 weeks before his first birthday.
Bryson took his first structured “class” yesterday – gymnastics.
Adrian will be working on Christmas Day, and our family is spending Christmas Day at the fire station as a result.
I have snoozed the 5:45am alarm for weeks now, and I finally decided to say “enough is enough” and just got out of bed and left the bedroom. No turning back.
Bryson is now sleeping in until ~ 7am consistently.
Tank will be 5 months old in 3 days, and we rescued him on October 29, so he’s been with our family for quite some time now.
Needless to say, there is a LOT going on! I wouldn’t necessarily say that “time is flying” as I am sure I have said before, but it’s quite remarkable how easily it would be to MISS all of the simple, beautiful, memorable memories and milestones in the making. Again, THIS IS IT! This is our one life we are privileged to live! I remind myself of this often lately, as I don’t want to take a moment for granted.
I’ve had an array of emotions surrounding the above shares, but alas, time just keeps moving, and the most comforting thing I can do is sit down, pause, reflect, and write.
AH! What a life!
I can still think back to the labor & delivery podcast I had created for Bryson’s arrival ~ when “push it” came on at the most opportune time ~ thank you, Adrian! It helped BIG TIME! Not only was my mood lifted for a hot second amidst the contractions and pushes, but the nurses were loving it, too!
We waited to find out if we were having a boy or a girl for Bryson’s arrival, and we’re on track to keep # 2 a surprise for us all as well. Amidst the pain and exhaustion, I can still see our midwife holding Bryson in the air asking “well, what do you think?” in relation to are we having a boy or a girl! Hard to tell! Haha! SO WORTH THE WAIT.
I took a photo of the whiteboard at our gym Thanksgiving morning after we completed nearly 2 hours of exercise together. It’s not common for me to take a quick snap of the workout we wrote on the board, but I was just so damn proud of what we pulled off that day, pre-feasting, or later to learn pre-Bryson!!! That photo was taken at 9:09am, moments before we drove home from the gym. Bryson was born at 3:20pm. WE HAD NO IDEA HE WAS COMING!!! Adrian didn’t even slide on some shoes before we jumped into the truck and he drove me to the hospital – funny how often that was commented on – “sir, where are your shoes?” HAHA! It was GO time! It was GO time, quick!!! Within an hour of arriving, Bryson was “happily” joining our world, and just like that – cue tears – our world changed forever for the better.
Bryson, I had written on a to-do list, prior to your 1st birthday, “write a speech”. I had written on that same list “send Bryson an email on the eve of his first birthday”. Alas, neither of those two things happened. What’s the point of a to-do list anyway eh?!? haha! Anyway, I do plan to follow through on those gentle reminders I set for myself.
I wanted to announce to everyone, hey, I would shout it on a rooftop if I could, similar to how I would shout out how insanely in love I am with your father to as many people as I could… Your father changed my world for the better the day I met him, and I didn’t even know!!! That is probably the most beautiful part about that love story of ours ~ I was so resistant for so long of something so perfectly perfect and inevitable. He was the one from the moment our paths crossed. I don’t even think I could type out anything that would do him &/or our love story justice. It’s not even a matter of “proving” anything to anyone. I know how I feel about Adrian, and that will forever be good enough for me. I KNOW Adrian, and I truly feel that those who get to have their loves touched by this incredible man are forever better for it… I just feel a love so strong for your dad, and I would LOVE for everyone in this world to feel the same love, and I believe that LOVE would change the world for the better. He reminds me often that it was my smile that caught his attention initially at the Crossfit gym we met at. Well, I plan to give your father a reason to SMILE (in his own unique ways as we all know) every day for the rest of his life.
ANYWAYYYYY…. back to you, my Bryson!
YOU, Bryson, changed our world for the better and I don’t think we could have possibly had any clue what was coming in terms of the level of JOY you bring to our world. I could go on and on about how cool you are, how joyful, how fun, how curious, how funny, how just simply awesome in every sense of the word…
If I were to have given that speech at your nerf gun birthday party in the park and/or at some point during your birthday weekend with a lot of our family here – I would have said something like this…
Bryson,
… I KEEP TYPING OUT A DIFFERENT VERSION OF HOW TO START THIS OFF, AND I AM SO TOTALLY STUCK!!! Looking for that “perfect” start to a “perfect” speech… NOT TODAY. Just write! Bryson Nash Mahadeo, a speech isn’t necessary to capture the love I feel for you every single moment of every single day. You are you, and you are our Bryson, and we will keep on loving you with all of our strength, to the best of our ability, for the rest of our lives. You make our world better just by simply existing. Thank you for being YOU. We love you. You are quite simply the coolest 1 year old boy I have yet to meet. Have so much FUN this next year ahead! I am proud to call myself your momma. This is quite literally just the beginning, and it’s been one hell of a start so far! ENJOY THE YEAR AND YEARS AHEAD! ♥️
This has been nice … it’s starting to light up outside, 6:40 am…
Christmas tree on with a festive candle close by…
The simple joys! =)
I hear Adrian & Tank are up now, too…
YAY!
Here’s to a beautiful Tuesday ahead…
With love,
Izzy
calculatedchaosofthemind 