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Ashley Graham marks son's 1st birthday with 12 things she learned in 12 months

From loving her postpartum body to operating on little sleep, the model shared lessons from her first year as a mom.
/ Source: TODAY

Ashley Graham always keeps it real with her posts about what it's like to be a mom, and so in honor of son Isaac's first birthday, the model decided to share 12 things she's learned in 12 months about raising a child.

Graham, 33, and her husband, Justin Ervin, welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world on Jan. 18, 2020.

"I can't believe I have a 1-year-old," Graham said at the start of a YouTube video she shared Monday in honor of the big day. "Does that mean he's a toddler now?"

Graham kicked off the video with what she remembered about her first month of motherhood.

"Hello January! You were earth-shattering and groundbreaking for me," she said, reminiscing about the day she went into labor and met her son.

"I learned to love in a way that I never knew I could love. Never! People tell you. People try to explain it to you, but you don't know love until you have a child of your own like that."

Graham used to love going to bed early, sleeping in late and taking naps, but she said in February she "learned that my body can survive on a lot less sleep than I ever knew."

The first-time mother continued to work her way through the calendar, sharing notable lessons she learned each month, along with videos of Isaac, whose face is always covered to protect his privacy, getting bigger and snuggling with his parents.

When the coronavirus pandemic pushed the country into quarantine, Graham said she realized just how important it is to have help.

"Teamwork makes a dream work. Thank God for my amazing husband. Thank God for my amazing mother because we made it work in Nebraska in the house that I actually grew up in," Graham said.

As a body positivity advocate, Graham has also been open about the changes her body has gone through after pregnancy, including sharing a video of herself embracing her stretch marks eight months after giving birth.

"I learned that my body can do amazing, strong things like create a child," she said as her takeaway from July. "I don't need to achieve a postpartum goal weight. That's some BS!"