And just like that our second baby is one. Our loving, squishy, happy sweet Freddie bear is ONE. Already.

Freddie, it is hard to remember what life was like before you arrived but we love it so much more with you around.

One of the big things that I have noticed in the last couple of months is the sheer volume that you have added. I love how much more noise there is in our home with you around Freds. Whether it is the sound of your little hands and feet smacking the wooden floors as you speed-crawl around the apartment, or you turning anything you can find into a drum kit and actually doing a pretty great job of creating a rhythm, or just the joyful sound of you laughing and playing with your big sister. Everything is louder and we LOVE it.

You are so incredibly affectionate. In fact, affectionate would have to be the best description of you right now. You are such a snuggle bug. Aged one you will still fall asleep in our arms on the regular. I am savouring each time that you do that, because I know that it will eventually end and it is one of the best feelings holding your chunky (often sweaty) body as your snooze away.

Freds. You like to take your own sweet time. For everything. You took 26 long hours to be born, you only slept through the night for the first time last week, and just this month you started eating food (which was stressing both us and your Pediatrician out). We just spotted your first tooth (at 12 months!) and you don’t seem in any hurry to start walking. You are either very chilled out or lazy. We are going to go with ‘chilled out’ for now.

But really I am very happy that you are staying a baby longer. The longer the better in my opinion.

A bit about you at one…

• One tooth. Just. You have had a tough old time breaking those gums but it is finally here. Now bring on all the others.
• You like your food in the easiest, lowest effort form possible. Puree all the way. We have been blending up whatever we are eating for dinner and you LOVE it. You will eat pretty much anything as long as it is perfectly smooth and fed to you at a decent pace.
• That said, if we give you cake, cookies, chips or cheese you will magically concentrate all of your effort and motor skills into ensuring that you get it into your mouth. Funny that hey?! Fruits and vegetables… not so much
• At 12 months you have made the move into your own crib in your shared bedroom with Belle. You are now sleeping a good 11 hours at night which is simply glorious.
• Still nursing. Going strong. No signs of quitting yet.
• You can say “Dada”, “Mama” and “B’B’B” which we think means ‘Belle”. You wave goodbye to people and you love to point at things and shout “there”.
• You love your sister like nothing I have ever seen. You are obsessed with her and she is your biggest fan too. Each morning you cuddle up together and she asks you whether you had a nice sleep. You always greet her with the biggest smile that takes over your entire face.
• You love to press your nose against ours and smoosh it from side to side. We call this “ugga mugga” – Daniel Tiger reference.

Freddie, you are an absolute joy and we are so thankful that we get to be your parents. We cannot wait to watch you grow and see more of your character come out over this next year.

Happy 1st Birthday Freddie.