Twelve months, twelve onesies!

With the debut of the twelfth onesie, the lead-up is over and it can (finally) be said that The Bean is one year old!

Of course there was a party, but that deserves a post all of its own. Today I'm here to wrap up a year of onesies.

For those of you who weren't around for the inception of the monthly onesies, or have forgotten because you have lives of your own and don't actually live, breath, sleep The Hirano Family Blog, I shall start with a little history.

On January 14th 2013, a little under a month before I was due to give birth to The Bean, my dear friend Anna threw me a baby shower. It was there that our good friends and family designed the onesies that I have been debuting once a month since Kio was born. Along with their onesie, each person wrote a letter. I have to say that I practiced a great deal of self-restraint by not opening them all at once when I got home from the baby shower. Instead I have been doing my best to read them to Kio one at a time on (or around) the 11th of each month.

The letters are funny, sweet, sentimental and most of them include a small plea for Kio to let his mommy and daddy get some sleep.

Thanks all!

The onesie and letter for Kio's twelfth month was done by yours truly. I couldn't remember what I had written, so I was looking forward to reading it to Kio.  Honestly, it was pretty lackluster. I had forgotten that while I was writing I got really emotional. Of course there were some hormones involved, I was in my ninth month of pregnancy after all. But the thought that I would actually be holding my one year old baby while I was reading my letter got the better of me, and I cut my letter short in order to avoid showering my shower with tears. I didn't even sign it. Perhaps I had planned to go back and finish it up once I got home, I don't actually remember. It was lovely to read, but obviously not finished, however that didn't stop me from shedding a tear or two this time around as well. 

In honour of all the sentiment, creativity and love that people put into their letters and onesies I think that a bit of a fashion show is in order!

One Month Old

Letter and year of the snake 1 onesie by Anna (aka The Sugar Fairy).

Kio had already outgrown the newborn size onesies while he was still a newborn! So for the first few months he went with the 'draped-look'.

Two Months Old

Letter and transportation inspired 2 onesie by Donna.

Love those squishy thighs!

Three Months Old

Letter by daddy and classic stitched 3 onesie by Anna.

Look at that pudgy baby, love it!

Four Months Old

Letter and yacht party (cocktails and all) 4 onesie by Jane.

 I think that Kio looks more like the little boy that he is today in this picture.
 AND he's finally able to model his onesie...barely.

Five Months Old
Letter and star burst 5 onesie by auntie Miki.

 As you may notice, this is not a onesie photo. We were in Canada when Kio turned five months old and I had totally planned to bring it with us but, in the whirlwind of last minute packing, I forgot. This picture was taken the first time Kio went swimming in the week of his five month birthday and is too funny not to show one more time.

Six Months Old
Letter by Mel (in Australia) and sweet 6 cupcake onesie by Anna.

Look at that hair!


Seven Months Old
Letter and panda with hand-drawn accents 7 onesie by cousin Sara.

The first onesie shot with Kio sitting on his own.

Eight Months Old
Letter and groovy 8 onesie by Midori.

Mugging for the camera and showing off his first haircut courtesy of mommy.
Note that the onesie is not fastened at the bottom - he grew out of them again.

Nine Months Old
Letter and lightening bolt robot onesie by Autumn.

 Unfortunately, Autumn had a job interview on the day of my shower but that didn't stop her from sending along this fabulous little number!

Ten Months Old
Letter and onesie from the panda collection by grandma Hirano.

By this point Kio had become a wiggly little worm, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to get a photo of him that did the onesie justice.

Eleven Months Old
Letter and glam bike 11 onesie inspiration from Becca (in England), onesie design carried out by Anna.

 Kio was instantly enthralled by the sequins on this onesie and did his best to pick them off.

Twelve Months Old!
Letter and crayon coloured 12 onseie by Mommy.

Wowza! Look at that belly (and boobs)!

Wait for it...

Any moment now...

Obviously someone was far more interested in stealing my phone than having his picture taken.

With a tickle and a kiss!

Here he is!

And yes, he needs another haircut.

At twelve months Kio is a going concern. He is into everything! He is cruising around the furniture and climbing as high as he can go, earning the moniker Danger Baby. He has dropped his crazy high leg march and I believe that any day now he'll be off and running - well walking anyway.

Onesie number twelve brings us to the end of an era. Each month as I dressed Kio in his one-of-a-kind creation, I stopped to write about the new things that he had been doing and how much he had grown. It is so cool to have a record of it that I can look back on when he is older, and if he chooses, he can check it out too. The thing is, I'd like to continue the updates but, without something motivating me, I think that they may fall by the wayside. As such, I've decided to begin Project Quilt.

At the end of my shower, Anna offered to make me a quilt featuring Kio's onesies. The idea has stuck with me, but rather than pawn the work off on Anna (who is frantically packing up her family for a move to the US), I've decided to take on the task myself.

Of course I could take the easy way out and use my sewing machine. But my grandmother - a prize winning quilter, would turn over in her grave. With no quilting experience to fall back on, I figure that a year to complete the project is realistic...? Hopefully making it a present for Kio's second birthday. So there's my motivation to check-in monthly with an update on both the progress of my quilt and how The Bean is continuing to sprout!