Our precious Ellyson Rose, 

 We can’t believe it’s already time to celebrate your first birthday. We can’t believe the amount of joy that entered our lives a year ago that has only multiplied every day. We can’t believe our petite, helpless baby is quickly growing into a tall, independent toddler. And sometimes? We can’t believe we survived. 

 Your first year was filled with excessive fear and worry, episodes of trial and error, and lots of experimental parenting. We had a lot to learn. The first of which was that everything we thought we were prepared for was evidently just an exercise in silliness on our part. 

 In your sweet little state, you taught us more in a year than either of us had ever learned. We learned how to adapt to change quickly.  We learned that it’s a necessity to take one day at a time. We learned that our desires had somehow overnight morphed into only meeting your needs and wants. And while we’re still learning how to do most of those things on a daily basis, we didn’t need to learn that we could love more than we ever thought humanly possible. That was instant. 

 We have discovered that exponential joy can come in the smallest packages, the tiniest moments, the briefest breaths. We were elated every time we succeeded in a peaceful feeding, a clean diaper change, a smooth bedtime. We were heroes. Then we were humbled every time you had a tummy ache or had teeth coming in. We briefly put aside our hero capes and sometimes just cried with you until we could get to a better day, which always came. 

 We found a new meaning of trust – a trust that you showed us by being fully and completely dependent on us for everything. It’s that same trust that God expects of us and the only way we can be a good mommy or daddy is to trust in our heavenly father, daily. This is a life lesson that it took far too long for both of us to learn and pray you will see quickly the peace that can come from this trust. And be proud that you showed us that. 

 We treasure every precious moment with you and wish we could bottle up a little piece of you at every stage, just so we never forget anything. Our hearts overflow with these memories and burst at the anticipation of what’s to come. You light up our lives every single day and we don’t know how we were ever so blessed to be called your parents. 

But enough about us, today is YOUR day! 

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our feisty, kind spirited, beautiful-beyond-words baby girl! 

Love, Momma and Daddy

So we partied!

[We partied a little before Elly’s actual birthday. You know, because Duck Dynasty is going to be in town the weekend closest to her birthday, and heaven forbid we impede on that! :)]