One Year!

Dear Bobby,
   You came into our life at the perfect time. When we were at our darkest time after Papa's death, when we were trying to figure out how life was suppose to go on without the most amazing man, dad, and Papa, and we found out we were expecting you. God had a plan for us, for you, before you were even born. There was such a mixture of happiness, sadness, and anger when we first found out. We were, of course, thrilled to find out that we were having a baby and were so grateful that it would give us something to direct our attention to while also giving us a reason to celebrate and be happy. We were, however, very sad and angry that Papa would not be here to see you, interact with you, and hold you. Papa LOVED babies! We would, and still often still do, imagine what kind of relationship you would have had with him. You are a busy body, sometimes naughty, and Papa LOVED that in kids! I just know he would laugh if I called him to tell him the stories of all of the trouble you had gotten yourself into and would respond with something along the lines of, "You better not be picking on my grandson!". We were so sad that we weren't able to shared the news that we were expecting you with Papa before he had to leave Earth. However, we knew that God sent you to us for a reason and that Papa knew as well. The night we found out (a week after Papa's funeral), I was crying, a mixture of tears of joy and sadness (that Papa would miss it), and I was putting your sister to bed, out of nowhere, she said, "Hi Papa!" and waved at the wall. I think that was Papa's way of telling us congratulations and that he knew about you. We are so grateful that you have the best guardian angel always watching over you and your sister. When we found out you were a boy, we knew we had to name you after the greatest! Robert James Christensen, you were bound to be amazing from the start. I will say, you do have a lot to live up to, your Papa was unlike no other. I have no doubt that you'll do great things and make a name for yourself like your Papa did.

From the start, you have kept us on our toes and smiling. You are such a go with the flow kind of guy. Maybe it is because you are a boy, maybe it is because you are the second child, or maybe it is just your personality. You LOVE your sister to pieces and she LOVES you more than I ever could have imagined. Having you was the best gift we ever could have given Izzy. She wants to be your mother and is always nurturing you and taking care of you. As soon as you see her, you smile instantly. The bond and relationship you two have, I will never understand, but it warms my heart every. single. day. You have such a love for life. All we have to do is say "Hi!" or "Bobby" and you smile instantly and often giggle too. You love life, food, your sister, making messes, climbing, your blanket, and your nuk. You get frustrated easily when you don't get food if we are eating it without you. You LOVE to knock everything over and make a mess. Once you have made the mess, you simply crawl away from it and find another mess to make. If we let you, you would eat all. day. long!

You are starting to reach your milestones, a little later than your sister did, but that is just your personality. You are so laid back and are in no rush to do things, just like your Papa, you do things on your own time. You now wave, clap, point, shake your head no, feed yourself with utensils, and climb the stairs. We had to put a gate at the bottom of the steps because you don't want to feel left out and will follow us wherever we go, even if it means climbing all of our wooden stairs! When we ask you to say "Mama" or "Dada" you simply smile and shake your head no. You love being around people and would prefer to pull yourself up on our legs than to try to take steps on your own. You are getting bolder and bolder every day and taking more risks when it comes to walking and pulling yourself up. You are starting to pull yourself up and let go and stand there for a second to try to get your balance. I am sure you'll be walking in a month or so, for sure by the end of summer. While we are excited for you to walk, we are also nervous, you get into quite a bit of trouble now with just crawling.

Bobby, Bobarino, Bobs, Bubba, Bobber, you have brought more joy into our lives than we thought possible. You make us smile all the time. You are so easy going, happy, and silly. Our family seems much more complete with you in it. I am so glad we don't remember life before you were in it because it seems so perfect with you in our family. I cannot believe you are one year old! Seriously, we blinked and you were one! Please, slow down and stay a baby as long as you can because we aren't ready for you to be a toddler just yet. You are all boy. People always told us boys were different than girls, but we didn't believe it since your sister is a busy body; however, you proved the theory. You are ALL BOY and we LOVE it! Thank you for bringing us joy from the start and for always keeping us on our toes. We cannot wait to watch you grow through life. We hope you never lose your ability to make others smile no matter what their mood is. We hope you continue to be laid back and continue to love food, but not so much that you cannot control yourself. :) We want you to know that no matter what, we will love you in life. You'll make mistakes, some will may seem unforgivable (think teenage years), but we will always love you and forgive you. We hope you live a long and happy life and that you do what makes you happy, even if it isn't the most lucrative. We hope you continue to smile, giggle, and not take life too seriously. We also hope we can continue to learn from you and your sister...enjoy the small things, stop and smell the roses, notice the little things, not let life get the best of us and make us forget what is most important....being happy, loving, smiling, giggle, etc. Thank you for being you Bubba! We love you to the moon and back...now, stop growing up so fast! :) Happy 1st birthday baby boy!