The first of many

Ali,
When I think back on my life I can't remember a moment without you in it. It is as if you have saturated yourself into every crevice, past, present and future. How we ever made it though life without you is beyond me because you are our life. You are it.
365 days of loving you and how have those days past so fast. I can barely remember what you were like as a newborn, I search and reach into my mind and it comes up with small glimpses into the past year. The cheeks the drooped down have now shrunk into a modest state. My shark baby disappeared a long time ago and the bald head is now covered in hair.
The small stuff went by so fast, its such a blur, the cooing, the rolling over, the tummy time, the pacifiers, the scooting and crawling and now the orangutan walk and obsession with books.
Its your first birthday and you are so beautiful. Your sweet innocent face. You have no idea where you came from or where you are going. You don't know how lucky you are to have so many people who love you. Or how lucky we are to have you. You do know that when you call out 'mama' to me I will be there and that your dad loves to rescue you from your crib at night.
All day today I have been thinking about last year, the day you entered our lives and changed them forever. I was holding you trying to snuggle as you pushed me away and I thought about how you hate to be smooched, how traumatic 21 hours of labor must have been on you. Everyone thinks of the experience the mom goes through, and mind you, it was no picnic but, you sweet innocent babies go through such trauma to enter this world. You have no idea what is happening and I see that even though you don't remember the pain of that day the scars are still with you. You were occiput posterior, meaning your face was up and pressed against my pelvis for so long, you still cant have anything covering your face. Before you were born I always thought that birthdays should somehow revolve around moms, they are the ones who go through the birthing, I was wrong. You. You are all it is about. Your birth. Your life.
Aliya, Thank you for coming into our lives. This last year has been the best we have ever had and it is solely because of you sweetheart. We thank God for you every day and pray for your happiness. May you have a blessed second year in this world. Happy Birthday.
Love,
Mama