It does not seem possible that it has been a whole year since Cousin A was welcomed into this world. His mom and dad wanted him very much and, although my sister told me she would be sorry to not be pregnant anymore (a bizarre notion I cannot relate to), they were beyond excited when A made his debut at 5 lbs 10 oz.

He was SO tiny. When I spent some time with my sister two weeks after A was born, I remember thinking that I had never seen a more beautiful thing in my entire life. I was able to hold him while he slept, which he did quite a bit, and smell his sweet baby head and wonder how I would ever love my own baby as much as I was already in love with my sister's. I cried quite a bit when I left Orlando to come home last November.

It has been an absolute joy to watch this nephew of mine grow from the tiniest baby I'd ever seen into the sweet-natured one-year old he is today. He is always laughing and playing and I see so much of my sister in the joy he finds in learning and discovering and taking the world by storm.

Happy Birthday, A.