Happy 1 year (and 2 months), Colson!

The 6th of the month is a month-a-versary of sorts for 3 of our 4 boys. So, on August 6th, we celebrate Calvin's half birthday, Carter's three-quarters birthday, and Colson's one-sixth birthday. Cooper is the outlier, although his date is the same as Lucas', so I guess I'm the true outlier -- the only girl, and the only one not on a 6th or 29th. We don't actually celebrate month-a-versaries per se, but we do celebrate half birthdays with a half cake. But, this is not a blog post about half birthdays. This is a post about Colson as a one-year-old, two months removed from turning one.

Lucas' mom has what we affectionately call "the wall." It contains photos of her sons and grandkids at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. For all of the boys's photos, we've only gone to a professional photographer twice. Sometimes my own little photo shoots are more elaborate than others. And sometimes, I even forget. I realized amid all the craziness of the early Covid days that we totally forgot to take Cooper's 2 year photos. For Colson, I snagged these super cute ones at a park right around his birthday. He was in a happy mood, and I loved his expressions. So, while I didn't intend on this being a photo shoot, I liked his cuteness and the nature-y background.

I tried again at home and wasn't nearly as lucky...

When I went to order the 8x10's of the pictures, Mamaw was wanting a picture of Colson in the one-year-old outfit she had made for him since all the other grandkids were featured in their outfits on "the wall." So, I tried again (two months later) and got some good ones in a matter of minutes. To keep him from walking away (it's so hard to photograph new walkers!), I sat him down on a stump by our creek. Those little feet!

We ended up not doing a big party or anything -- just celebrating as a family of six with his first stab at chocolate cake (he liked it!).

Cooper was a bit upset that the day wasn't all about him. "MY birfday!" he kept saying.

And so...here's our sweet one-year-old Colson, much loved by his brothers. He's learning quickly to toughen up to handle having three older brothers.

He's super smiley! He has 8 teeth now and is often smiling with his mouth wide open.

He started walking soon after his birthday, and now, there's no stopping him. We have to be careful what we set on the edges of tables.

He LOVES to eat and will shove into his mouth whatever he can get his hands on. With the other boys, we mostly fed them baby food until they turned one. Colson, however, has been eating small bites of regular food (he loves lasagna!) for months now. He actually often eats more than Cooper and Calvin.

And he's definitely now joined the ranks of mess-makers. Just as Cooper was finally starting to not rip or pull down or knock over, Colson has taken his place. I find myself constantly putting things up where they can't be reached by little boys.

And here's the joyful, playful buddy we know and love. We're already starting to see his personality shining through, and we're so grateful that God has entrusted him to our family. His hair won't always stick straight up, but he has captured our hearts, and we're thankful for our little Cols-Bols.