my baby is ONE!

I'm playing catch up here as the past month has been an absolute whirlwind. It all started with a transatlantic trip to Nashville the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The U.S. of A. welcomed us with colds for everyone, starting with Miles the day after we arrived, which also happened to be the day of his birthday party. Josh's mom and stepdad made the trip down, and we had a nice little family affair along with my parents and grandparents. And by "nice," I mean that the three of us were jetlagged, and Miles was an epic grump due to said illness.

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to!

Despite the rough go of it, I did manage to make a pretty delicious cake (courtesy Smitten Kitchen, of course), and Miles got some awesome birthday presents from his grandparents - several wooden things-that-go... trains and tractors and such... some fun books, stuffed animals, some new clothes, lots of cold hard cash for his college savings account, and from Josh and me, Elmo to fuel his newfound obsession with Sesame Street on YouTube. 

In true one year old fashion, Miles was most amused by the bags, boxes, and of course, glorious, magical paper.

One whole year. Just like that, our baby is a toddler. Today, we celebrated Miles's first birthday. These have been both the longest and shortest 12 months of my life. I've been more exhausted, more stressed, more proud, and more grateful than ever before. I've been challenged and stretched and molded into a new person. I've felt like I knew exactly what I was doing and more often, felt totally clueless. I've experienced the overwhelming emotions of having your heart outside your body - of loving a person so much, it actually hurts. Precious boy, you fill our lives with endless joy, and your spirit and spunk brighten every day. I am beyond blessed and eternally thankful to have the honor of being your mama. All my love, forever and always ❤️#milesalexanderglessner

A photo posted by Elizabeth Glessner (@elizabeth.glessner) on Nov 21, 2016 at 10:00pm PST

Above is my (sappy) Instagram post from his actual birthday, but I'll give you a little update on what he's been up to for the last few weeks. It seems like overnight, my baby became a toddler - a miniature adult with opinions (and lots of 'em), an occasional tantrum, loads of personality, and curiosity.

• loves climbing and can walk (but still prefers crawling as it's much faster)
• will have "conversations" with you in his completely incomprehensible baby language but with inflections in all the right places
• gives lots of kisses, particularly to mommy, his stuffed animals, and the characters in his books
• still loves reading
• has added the words "light" and "keys" to his repertoire
• is still utterly obsessed with cars - I hear vroom, vroom all. day. long. every. day.
• has suddenly become very opinionated about his food - my excellent, adventurous eater has suddenly decided that he prefers cheese, bread, fruit, and yogurt and he'll stare me down as he throws food over the side of the high chair. Mommy is learning lots of patience!
• as of his one year checkup, was 20-something percentile for weight, but has shot up to 70-something percentile in height
• likes to copy anything and everything that we do and wants to do everything himself, including feeding, dressing, brushing his teeth, etc.
• has begun weaning (hallelujah!) and is now down to just wake-up and bedtime nursing
• is always, always on the move!

Life with a toddler, though exhausting both mentally and physically, really is a joyous adventure. I love watching the person he's becoming, and though I find it an epic challenge to parent these qualities, I know that his fierce independence, passion, and his desires to learn and explore will serve him well.

I'm looking forward to seeing what 2017 and year two of adventures with Miles bring!

P.S. If you're looking for another good read, be sure to check out my hubby's newly established blog starting with a little personal 2016 recap :) He'll probably be mad at me for shouting out, but honestly, he's way more entertaining.

summer visitors

We've finally reached the end of our month chock full o' visitors, and boy, was it a good time. It started with my college friends Megan and Claire visiting for a week with their significant others. We rented a "van" (I use that term loosely - it was basically a glorified hatchback that was far too small for 6.5 people) and travelled to Maastricht...

...took our second trip to Amsterdam (you can see a recap of the first one here), where we ate pancakes (a must!), visited Rembrandt's House and the Rijksmuseum, tried Indonesian food, took a canal cruise, and finally toured the Anne Frank House...

...and took a day trip to Burg Eltz - our first visit to a German castle! ...

...before they headed back to the good old U.S.A. One week simply wasn't long enough.

---

Next up were our pals Jas and Jennie from the U.K. We visited them in London last summer, and they came to Aachen the first weekend of this month. We partook of wine fest, endured the scorching heat, and enjoyed some good food and even better company, before they boarded the train to spend time in Bruges.

---

Last but not least was my dad's visit. This was super exciting because, a. he's my dad and 2. it was his first trip to Europe. It was so much fun showing him around. 

We also took him to Maastricht...

Then, I got brave and kept the car for a couple of days and drove on the Autobahn (my first time without following Josh). Things I learned: I have the need for speed; a highway is a highway pretty much anywhere you go; people in Germany are MUCH better drivers than in America (they actually use the left lane only for passing... WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!)

Driving through wine country en route to Koblenz.

We drove to Koblenz to meet up with my dad's friend John, from our hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, as he's currently stationed in Germany as a chaplain in the military. We enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch and a walk along the river...

The next day, we went to Monschau, where we walked about the town, partook of a delicious lunch, and picked up some more of their infamous mustard.

Josh took off from work on Thursday, and we took a trip to Bastogne, Belgium. I'll do an entire post on this one since I actually took a decent camera with me and got lots of photos. For now, I'll just say that it was an incredible experience. Hubs got this great shot of the U.S. memorial...

And on dad's last day in town, we hung out in Aachen, lingered over a delicious breakfast spread, and took Miles on his first trip to a zoo. His favorites seemed to be the goats, ducks, and the ostrich!

Aachener Cafe is one of our favorites for breakfast and a great cup of coffee.

Dad and I on his last day.

We're so thankful to have friends and family that are willing to travel far and wide to join us on our adventures! We don't have any more visitors planned until the beginning of next year, so we'll be exploring on our own over the next few weeks before we return to Nashville and High Point for Thanksgiving!

seven years and still no itch

Our wedding day. Photo by Sarah Beaty of Eyeris Photography.

If you had told these two kids what life would look like today, I likely would have laughed maniacally in your face, then promptly proceeded to have a panic attack and contemplated putting on my running shoes. Thank goodness there's no magic crystal ball in life.

Today, Josh and I celebrate seven years of married life. Seven years of big moves and crazy adventures and lazy nights spent on the couch watching TV and career changes and puppies and babies and arguments and so much joy and laughter. Perhaps no year has been more adventurous than the past twelve months - we've packed those months with our fair share of challenges and triumphs - moving to Germany, spending two months separated by an entire ocean, welcoming our son into the world, learning to navigate parenthood (and still be loving spouses despite sleep deprivation), becoming debt-free, exploring new places. To say it's been a whirlwind would be quite the understatement. It's been stressful and exciting and exhausting and just plain crazy.

Despite the craziness, or perhaps because of it, there's no one I'd rather do all of it with than my best friend. He's the one constant in this circus. He makes me laugh until my face hurts and doesn't care how silly he looks or sounds doing so. He throws sour gummies in the basket for me when we're in the line at the grocery store. He's such a good daddy and makes Miles smile like no one else can. He works hard to provide for our family and ensure that I can stay home to care for our child. He tells me I'm pretty even when I'm sporting messy hair, yoga pants, and a t-shirt smelling vaguely of spit-up. He makes me coffee in the afternoon when he gets home and I can barely hold my eyes open. Even when I don't like him, I still love him to pieces. I guess what I'm trying to say is, even though I may have married him for his good looks and witty charm, I got so much more, and I couldn't have chosen a better partner for this life.

Less than two weeks after we welcomed our baby boy. Photo by Marissa Joy Photography.

Boo - I love you more now than I could have even imagined possible on this day seven years ago, and I hope to spend a hundred more years with you in this crazy life. xoxoxo times a million.

Read past anniversary posts here:

Celebrating 5 Years in San Francisco
5 Things I've Learned in 5 Years of Marriage
Four Years Married
Third Anniversary
Six Years of Dating