Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with Jon's family in Orange City. Here are just a few pictures from the five days we spent there. Highlights included: all the yummy food (of course); a picture scavenger hunt (go to Sue's blog to the Kroesche Family Games post to see more about that, plus a special video); little boys running, laughing and playing; spending time with family; and a whole week of Jon, Jeremiah and myself being together! We had such fun, but we were also glad to get home to somewhat a sense of normalcy.

Christmas Baking

Things in our kitchen have been rather busy of late. I love to bake, and it wouldn't be Christmas if the mixer wasn't going, the oven wasn't on, the counter covered in dirty dishes, flour, and pans of cookies, candy, etc.

At Jon's suggestion, I tried to cut down this year, but it's so hard. I love to bake, and I keep thinking, "I'll just make one more thing." But really, I think I've done less this year; it's just been over a shorter period of time.

Our kitchen has produced thus far three kinds of Christmas cookies, several "cookies in a jar," cinnamon rolls, and something else that I won't name since it will be used as gifts for some who read this blog.

Jon and Jeremiah even got into the baking mode with some sugar cookies. As I was starting to roll out the dough, Jon says, "What are you doing?!" I replied with the obvious answer. "I'm rolling out the cookie dough." "No," he says, "I'm supposed to do that. It's tradition!"

Now I've heard that the tradition for the Kroesches growing up was Mom made the dough, Dad rolled it out, and Dad and the kids cut out the cookies. However, we've been married for 9 years (9 years, thank you very much) and this is the first time it's been offered in our household. Granted, I don't make cut-out sugar cookies every year, but still. How was I supposed to know we were starting that tradition this year?

So, Jon rolled out the dough, and Jeremiah "helped" to cut them out--for about 5 minutes. Then he was more interested in chewing on the cookie cutters. (However, he loved eating the finished product.) But it was a good start to what I hope will be a yearly tradition that will last in his memories when he's older.

So, after today, I'm done with my Christmas baking. Well, maybe I'll make just one more thing . . .

Thoughts of Christmas

So Jeremiah is taking a nap and this seems to be the best and sometimes only time to blog. He is so active and full of energy. It's fun trying to keep up with him.

As Christmas draws closer it's good to reflect more on the reason for the season. We sure are glad it's not about shopping, parties, or toys. It's not about hoping the stores do well so the economy can keep on rollin'. It's this time of year when we should be filled with joy as we reflect on the gift God gave to us, the gift of His Son, Jesus. Before He came there was no way to be redeemed from our sin. Now that He has come we have hope and a reason to be joyful.

We are blessed in so many ways and thank God for His blessings, but mostly for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

A Christmas Prayer

I received this in an e-mail today and thought it was so good that I should share it:

Most Holy & Majestic Father,

There's so much "hype" around Christmas time. I have to admit that I enjoy all the jolly jingle and festive frolic as much as anyone. But, Lord, as I enter into the fast-paced season ahead, help me walk slowly and quietly.

Let me stop and listen to the angels sing of the greatest news ever told!
Let my heart, mind and soul join the chorus. "Glory in the Highest!! The Messiah has been born!"

Among all the bright sparkling lights and cheery holiday tunes, let my spirit travel once again toward Bethlehem to honor and worship Jesus, my King! The Prince of Peace, the Lord of Hosts, Mighty Counselor, Son of God, the Lamb. All Your love, mercy and power somehow made flesh in the tiny form of a humble baby born in a manger. Let me worship the only one who is worthy to take our sin away and open the gates of all eternity!

Amen

On the Go

It's almost 8 o'clock, and I just finished the dishes after putting one extremely wound-up boy to bed. From the time he finished supper to the time he went to bed, he pretty much just ran up and down the hall. Every so often, he'd turn around to look at me as if saying, "C'mon, Mom. Chase me!" So I did. Up and down the hall. Into the living room. Around the kitchen. Tickling, laughing, carrying my "sack of potatoes." It was fun.

I don't do the chase game as well as Dad does, but he's out of town--in sunny Miami, no less, while we enjoy highs of 20 degrees! Jeremiah is at the age now where he misses Jon more. He wakes up saying, "Da-ddy!" and goes to look for him. The longer trips like this one (Tuesday through Saturday) are hard on all three of us. But we get to talk on the phone several times a day and that helps.

It also helps on our end to get out of the house if we can. So this morning we had a play date with the Thelander twins from church. Braden and Conner are 4 months older than Jeremiah. They played together very well, and it was fun to watch them teach some new games to Jeremiah. Since there are two of them, they can do things at home that Jeremiah can't--like one climbs into a cupboard and the other closes the door. They knock, giggle, and change places. Jeremiah liked the climbing in part, but he didn't always like having the door closed on him.

And along that same theme of twins, we went to the hospital to see my friend Tonya who just had a twin boy and girl on Monday. Leah and Canaan are still in the NICU, so we didn't get to see them since Jeremiah was with me. But I know we'll see them lots. Their older brother Caleb is almost 2 and is a favorite playmate of Jeremiah's.

It's quiet in the back bedroom now. My energetic little one has finally fallen asleep. But I know tomorrow he'll wake up raring to go. And I'll need to be on my toes to keep up with him!

P.S. The pictures have nothing to do with our day. They were taken during Thanksgiving at my parents' house. (The one picture is of Jeremiah and his cousin Kaylee.) But since we haven't posted in so long, I thought I'd put them up.

Getting Faster

We really like the video option for this blog. It's been fun to put videos up of Jeremiah. He sure is growing up fast. Here we have a video of him "running." He is definitely getting a lot faster.

Something New

We've had the privilege of having Isaiah and Phinehas with us since Thursday, and we've learned a few new things about each of them.
Isaiah loves the movie "Cars." He really likes to help in the kitchen, especially if it involves cooking or food. He can be pretty sensitive and is able to turn on the tears pretty quickly. It also takes the proper tact to get them to turn off.
Phinehas, there is so much we learned. He is the "quiet one," but you definitely have to keep your eyes on him. If he doesn't like some type of food, he will tell you that it's "hot." After you feel the food and assure him it's not hot, he will hold it in his mouth, start to cry, and then spit it out and tell you it's hot. When you listen to what he is saying to you, he provides the verb and a noun and you must fill in the rest. He will sometimes only provide the verb, and then you have to figure out what it is that he wants.
We've had a great weekend with both Isaiah and Phinehas. Jeremiah has also had a blast. It's been fun to watch him, watch his two older cousins. Shortly after his cousins do something there is Jeremiah repeating what he's seen.
We're taking Isaiah and Phinehas back to their parents tomorrow, who we know are anxious to be back with them. We'll miss our nephews but we've really enjoyed having them here and getting to know them better.

The First Full Day

If you hadn't figured it out already, or weren't "in the know," we are watching our two nephews this weekend. Today is our first full day with Isaiah and Phinehas. We had a very full day today. Let me be the first to admit taking three boys on a shopping trip is so much more challenging than one. I'm sure many of you are reading this, smirking and giving that all knowing nod but I don't mind, we're enjoying our time with the nephews.

The weather was also nice enough to spend some time outside today. The boys got to swing, play in the sandbox, and go down the slide. I'm still pretty psyched about that playground set purchase I made at an auction almost a year ago now. Later in the afternoon we had a fun craft time and then finished the day off with a movie night. Tonight's movie feature was, of course, "Cars." We're looking forward to another day of fun. Stay tuned!

Rainy Days

It's been cold and rainy here the last several days, which means staying inside where it's warm and dry. For me, that's no problem. In fact, it's what I prefer. But for Jeremiah, there have been some hard moments where he stands by the sliding glass door, points at the swingset and cries.

Yesterday it finally stopped raining and was a little warmer. Jon took him outside to play, and as you can see, he had a blast.

Something else that we've been doing a lot of these days is dancing. We'll come downstairs and play the stereo and just have a jam out time. We've gone to Toddler Time at the library, and Jeremiah has gotten to dance with some other kids. And sometimes he just starts dancing when we have the radio or other music playing in the background upstairs. Yesterday, we checked out a kids' CD from the library, and Jeremiah had fun listening to it. (Because I couldn't figure out how to rotate the video, you'll have to bear with me and tilt your heads to watch it. I figured a few seconds of tilt was better than me spending hours trying to figure out that one little thing.)

This afternoon, we're off to Onawa, IA (halfway between Sioux Falls and Lincoln) to pick up Isaiah and Phinehas. They'll be staying with us for a few days while their dad has shoulder surgery. So, be watching for fun pictures and stories that are sure to come!

Election

Jeremiah did his part on Tuesday--by wearing a sticker anyway!

Halloween

The Halloween costume decision was an easy one for us this year--a friend offered to lend us her son's costume from last year. So, Jeremiah was a pumpkin (and a very cute one, I might add).

He wasn't overly fond of the costume, particularly the hood. But he left it alone while Jon took him trick or treating to a few neighbors' houses. He didn't get a lot of candy, which was fine with us since we ended up eating most of it. And I'm sure he didn't really get what Dad was doing. But I hear he did get the hang of holding out his bag for people to put stuff in it.

As soon as they got home, off went the costume. But that's when the real fun started. Jeremiah loved going to the door to see all the other kids come to get candy. Every time the doorbell rang, we'd hear, "Oh!" and he'd toddle over to see who it was. Jon also had fun greeting the kids in his cowboy outfit. With the bandana pulled over his face (and with his height), he looked more than a little imposing. There was more than one child whose eyes got big and round and took a couple of steps backward before accepting their candy.

A Veritable Cornucopia of Topics

I knew a girl in college who loved to use the phrases, "It's a veritable cornucopia of ideas," or "that's a plethora of words." So, since this blog is going to be full of various topics, and it's harvest season, veritable cornucopia seemed like a good title.

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My parents came for a visit at the end of last week and over the weekend. Thankfully, they left the snow in Western Nebraska . While Jon and my dad drove an hour away to look at a tractor, Mom, Jeremiah and I had a lot more fun going shopping at a quilt shop, the mall and other stores. I guess I should say Mom and I enjoyed it. Jeremiah wasn't especially thrilled about it, and let me know by screaming. A lot. In very quiet stores. I hope it's just a stage, and a short one at that.

It was fun to watch Jeremiah warm up more quickly to my parents than he ever has in the past. He quickly realized that it was fun to sit on Granddad's lap and play with the pen in his front pocket. And he liked it when Grandma looked at books with him (and shared her food with him, too).

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Have I mentioned that we have a picky eater in the house? No, it's not Jon (though sometimes he qualifies). Jeremiah is extremely picky about what he will eat. The list isn't long--milk, crackers, yogurt, cheese, pudding, applesauce, pureed fruits and vegetables, green beans, cheese, strawberries, and bread (sometimes and only certain kinds). Oh, and ice cream and anything else that's sweet (muffins, cake, pie, etc.). He refuses to eat meat, and routinely throws his food off his plate. We keep trying to introduce meat and non-baby food fruits and vegetables to him, but he squishes them, like he's using his fingers to taste them, and then, whoosh, off they go to be gobbled up by the eager Weimaraner waiting in the wings.

But I've been reading a book (The Baby Whisperer for Toddlers) that basically is telling me to chill out about it. To stop trying to get him to eat more and just relax and know that when he's hungry, he'll eat. So, the last couple of days, I've been trying to just let it go when he only has a few bites of food and signs "all done." Maggie's still enjoying the leftovers, Jeremiah doesn't seem any the worse for wear, and I'm not as stressed at mealtimes.

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This isn't our year for appliances. At the beginning of July, our fridge decided to quit. For one week, we ate out of a cooler full of ice on the kitchen floor before our fridge was fixed. Our latest appliance to quit was the dishwasher. It was only three years old, and unfortunately the warranty had expired. To fix it would cost about the same as a brand-new dishwasher, which is the way we went. In fact, Jon's on the kitchen floor right now trying to remember how he installed the old dishwasher so he can uninstall it. I haven't heard too much muttering yet, but I know it's not going as smoothly as he'd like.

I have a very generous husband. He gave up buying a few things this month that we'd been saving for so that we could get a new dishwasher. He said he knew it made my life a lot easier. Jon has many qualities that I'm thankful for, including being thoughtful and considerate. Thanks, Ron and Sue, for helping to instill that in him.

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I've known that our library has a toddler time for a while, but always thought Jeremiah was too young. They recommend the time for ages 18-2. But after pretty much being on my own with a 14-month old for 5 days, I felt the need to get out of the house today for something other than a doctor's appointment or church. So, we went. And Jeremiah did great. There was singing with lots of clapping, stomping, and actions, plus an interactive story about the Hungry Caterpillar. Jeremiah had a great time and also enjoyed running around the library later on in the kids section where they have some toys and puzzles. I had to restrain him from pulling all the books off a shelf or two (guess what he likes to do in his room?) and he would have rather put the books in his mouth rather than have me read them to him today, but I think we'll go again soon.

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Well, that end my cornucopia, other than I just have to express my sadness that my favorite Lady Huskers volleyball team just lost their first game of the season!!!! And to Colorado no less. Oh, well. That happened two years ago, and they went on to win the National Championship. Maybe I should have Jon get me tickets to the Final Four in Omaha for my birthday? Here's hoping.

A Moment in Time

The second weekend in October we made a whirlwind trip to my parents (Jon) and then up to my brother's place. While we were visiting my brother's we had one of those times that we both agreed was one of our favorite moments for the weekend. It was one of those times, which I'm sure you've all experienced several times in your life, where you wish that time could go on for much longer than you're actually able to experience. I'll try and set the scene for you as best I can.

We were all hanging out in the living room, and Nathan plugged his Ipod into the stereo and started playing random music. Isaiah and Phinehas knew this as their cue for a "dance party." They pushed the bench from the table up to the couch to use it as a sort of "runway." Then all the boys and some parents began dancing to the music. As I sit here writing this I'm at a loss for words as to how describe the feelings in those moments--contentement, wonder, grace, joy, treasured, peace. Let's just say it will be a time that I will strive to hold on to in my mind.

The Last Few Weeks--Condensed Version

Ok, it's been almost 2 weeks again since we've posted. (Sigh) The days have gone by so fast. We got back from Sioux Falls, and now we're headed that way again this evening, as soon as Jon gets back from a trip. I've had a lot of writing deadlines, but have the big projects all done, for now anyway. We've made apple crisp, apple bread, apple cake, apple butter, and have a lot of apples in the freezer. Jeremiah (the picky eater that he is) has tried some new foods. Some were a hit, like a cheese quesadilla, green beans, and strawberries. Some were not, like the broccoli that was thrown across the room. Jon's been to Arizona, California, Kansas and Iowa.
So, that kind of sums up the last couple of weeks for us. Here are just a few pictures from when we were in Sioux Falls. Jeremiah had a blast playing with his cousins.

September Days

Hello . . . hello . . . is anybody out there? I can understand if nobody is, since we haven't had a post for two whole weeks. So, for the last day of September, here are just a few pictures from that time. Some are from an orchard we visited. We also had a great visit from Dusty, Brandee and Kaylee.

Jon's in Arizona right now and won't be back until the end of the week. So, this afternoon, Jeremiah and I are headed up north to Sioux Falls for a visit of our own to Nathan, Kristin, Isaiah and Phinehas.

Ranch Centennial Celebration

In 1908, my great-grandfather, James Wilson, left the coal mines of Tennessee to come to the Sandhills of Nebraska to seek a better life for his family. Under the Kincaid Act of 1904, he took over a relinquished homestead and over the years built up what is now my family ranch—the Lazy Five.

This Saturday, my family held a centennial celebration for the ranch at my parents’ house. Let me just say, it was a wonderful time. My parents had invited all the descendants of my great-grandfather, neighbors, friends, and business associates. We didn’t know how many people to expect and still aren’t sure of the final count, but Jon (who is good at estimating such things) said there were easily over 200 people there.

After a soaking all-day rain on Friday, the weather was sunny, clear, and beautiful. My brother did a lot of work putting together a slide show of the history of the ranch, which constantly ran throughout the day. There was also a varied display of photos showing ancestors, the ranch throughout the years, Hereford bulls, etc., plus several photo albums, historical documents, scrapbooks, and more.

Following a huge lunch with almost every kind of salad and dessert you can imagine, plus some yummy meat my parents’ had catered, Dusty gave a short talk on the history of the Lazy Five. Then, my cousin Ryan played some of my grandparents’ favorites on the guitar and my cousins Wheeler, Kelton, and Weston (with accompaniment from their dad, Troy) entertained us with some down-home fiddle playing. I organized a scavenger hunt for the kids, which gave them a little history while taking them from place to place hunting for clues. Wheeler (the ring bearer in our wedding who’s now 12!), told me it was fun and educational.

I saw cousins and family friends whom I hadn’t seen in years, plus got to meet new friends of my family. We ate good food, played with the umpteen kids who were running all over the place, laughed at jokes and stories, and just plain had a good time.

My immediate family (who planned all of this) didn’t know what to expect, but we were so pleased with how the day turned out. There were a few times when my parents almost decided not to have a party, but now they’re glad they did. Because as my mom said, it’s not as if we’ll be around to do it again in 100 years!

On the Road Again

Well, we're off to Western Nebraska again tomorrow morning. This time, we're going for the 100th anniversary celebration of my family's ranch. We'll post more on that next week, along with some pictures.

Before we go, here are some random photos of Jeremiah. In this first one, he's letting me know he's ready for his snack.






He also likes to drive his car around saying "vroom, vroom" (or have Mommy drive him around).


And he really likes bathtime. Daddy is good at making him laugh.

He's All Boy

What exactly does it mean when someone says, “He’s all boy”?

Several people referred to Jeremiah with that phrase last week. At the time, he was busy exploring a new place, crawling, walking, climbing to see new, tantalizing items that we either don’t have at home or have been put away, out of sight.

So, does “he’s all boy” come into play when Jeremiah pushes his little car around the house, making vroom, vroom noises? Is he being all boy when he takes all the pots and pans out of the lazy Susan, banging lids together, stepping into bowls and sliding them around the floor?

How about when he’s sitting with Mom on the loveseat, crawls to the side and hangs over the edge (with Mom holding on to his feet, of course) so he can see Maggie lying on her pillow?

These all fit with the stereotypical meaning of “he’s all boy” (i.e. active, climber, yeller), but let me suggest one more scenario that I think fits as well. How about those times when he snuggles in my arms after he wakes up from a nap? Today, he woke up early, so we sat and rocked for a while. He quietly played with a tie on my shirt, content to be cuddled up close. After a while, he looked up and I smiled. He smiled back. And we just sat there for several minutes, rocking, smiling, content just to be there together.

Then, he fell back asleep, and I kept rocking. I looked at his sweet little face, his long dark eyelashes lying on his smooth, perfect little boy skin, and my eyes filled with tears of joy and gratitude at this wonderful, amazing gift God gave us a little over a year ago.

Yep, he’s all boy. Whether awake or sleeping, laughing or crying, getting into everything or snuggling with Mom or Dad. He’s all boy, and I’m so thankful he’s ours.

Visiting our New Niece

We were finally able to go and visit our new niece, Kaylee. She is already three weeks old. Before we know it we'll be remembering how just one year ago we were going to meet Kaylee for the first time.
We're looking forward to watching her grow and showing Jeremiah the ropes around the ranch as they get older.

More of those Birthday Party pictures

Jeremiah had a lot of fun with all the party balloons
Here he is riding along on his birthday present from Mom & Dad
You may have noticed a duck instead of a candle, that was planned
He loves chocolate, don't we all.
Mmmmmmm good.

We don't have a Bridle or a Saddle!

Jeremiah thought it was great fun "riding" Maggie.

The One Year Birthday Party (A few days early)

Wow, are we slow at this sometimes. Ok, so it's been four days since we celebrated Jeremiah's first birthday. The last few weeks we have been reminiscing about what our life was like and what we were doing, "a year ago today." We are always amazed at how God worked all of the details out. A year ago today (Aug 27 ) we had no idea that in just two days we would get a call that would be the answer to a prayer we'd prayed for so long. Of course many of you are wanting to get to some pictures so here there are. A great time was had by all, and we are so thankful for all the friends and family that took the time to come and celebrate with us.

Jeremiah's Like List

As Jeremiah approaches the big "1" it's been fun to watch his personality develop and take note of what he likes and what he does not. At this point, there are more things in the first category, which include:

∙ Pushing chairs around the kitchen

∙ Climbing on anything he can find. Last week he was in my Sunday School room with me as I was getting ready. I turned around for a second, and when I turned back, he was sitting on top of a Little Tykes picnic table.

• Maggie. Just seeing her makes him laugh. She usually comes with me into his room when I get him up in the morning, and he squeals in delight when he sees her.
  
  
• His daddy. Yes, he loves his mommy, too, but Jeremiah is definitely a daddy's boy. When Jon goes in another room and shuts the door, Jeremiah stands outside and cries and cries. He's not very happy when Jon has to leave for work, either.




• His stuffed Weimaraner--a mini-Maggie, if you will. I don't know if that's why he loves this toy so much, but he does. He'll hug and cuddle with it, and rarely pays attention to his other stuffed animals. It's fun to watch him lie on his back on the floor with the toy dog pressed up to his face.


• Baths. Jeremiah loves to splash and play in the tub. He also likes to stand up and play with the faucet. Last night, Jon was giving him a bath, and Jeremiah turned the shower on while the water was running. It scared him, and he definitely did not like that!


• Walks. It hasn't been as hot lately, so I've been taking him and the dog on more walks. He will squeal and laugh at things as we go by. Don't ask me what, though. I haven't figured that out yet.


• Watching older kids play. Jeremiah loves to stand at our front window and watch our neighbor kids play outside. We'd join them, but they always go out in the evening right before his bedtime.


• Jammin' out to music. Jeremiah likes to bounce up and down now whenever we have the radio on. A few weeks ago, we were at a praise concert in a park, and he bopped up and down while in his stroller.

I could go on, but I thought this would give whoever reads this a little glimpse of Jeremiah. It's amazing how much he's grown and changed. He's getting better at playing by himself. The last several days he's entertained himself by playing with our tennis shoes (dragging them around by the shoelaces), bungee cords, a cardboard wrapping paper tube, pots and pans, and books. Makes me wonder why we bought him a new toy for his birthday!

In other news, we're gearing up for his first of two birthday parties this Saturday. Jon's parents and a few friends are coming over. Tomorrow's my big baking day. I'll be cooking three kinds of cake (two cupcakes and one rubber ducky cake) and some mini quiches. Jon's folks get here tomorrow night, and then his mom and I will go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning before the party. It's going to be a busy weekend, but one full of fun.

Anniversary Thoughts and Celebrations

Nine years ago last Thursday, Jon and I stood at the front of the church before family and friends and promised to love, honor and cherish one another for the rest of our lives. It's hard to believe how much time has passed since then. The people in the pictures have definitely changed, both on the outside and the inside. The faces don't look quite so youthful anymore and maybe not so idealistic.

If we could go back to that young couple and give them some advice, what would we say? We'd tell them to be more patient with each other, to listen more, to go out of their way to do what the other person enjoys, even if it's not their favorite thing. We'd tell them to be each other's champion, to offer encouragement, to hang on to faith and trust in God when life doesn't turn out exactly like you thought it would.

We've learned a lot in nine years, but it makes me realize how much more we (and especially I) still need to learn. Just think about all the wisdom of couples who've been married for 40 years (my parents next year, Jon's in three) or those who even make 75?

On a less serious note, we had a hard time deciding what we should do to celebrate our anniversary. We definitely wanted to go on a date, but we wanted to do something different than dinner and a movie. And we weren't ready to do an overnight trip yet without Jeremiah, even though some family members had offered to watch him.

So, we opted for something different, something I've wanted to do for a long time. We took a cruise on the Fremont Dinner Train for one of the Murder Mystery Nights. In our car, we sat at a table with two other people (who were from Le Mars and Ireton, IA, no less, and the lady worked in Orange City). Throughout the meal, three actors from Omaha put on a play loosely based on The Maltese Falcon. All other actors were recruited from the audience, and even those of us who didn't act had some lines to shout out together. At the end, each table (or detective agency) marked on a piece of paper who they thought was the killer. Can you believe it--we were the only table who got it right! And we won tickets to a play in Omaha.

We ate. We laughed. We laughed some more. We wiped the tears from our eyes, we were laughing so much. In a word--it was fun. We're so glad we chose to do the Murder Mystery car rather than just riding the train and having dinner. I think that would have been rather boring. And while the food was good, it wasn't spectacular.

We didn't get home until after midnight, way after our bedtime. Jeremiah was, of course, asleep, and quite awake at 6:30 this morning. So, I'm a little bleary-eyed and have a nap as my top priority this afternoon!
P.S. The photos from the train were taken with Jon's phone (not a sentence I ever would have imagined writing nine years ago), so they're a little grainy.

Little by Little

"I can't believe how big he is!"

That's usually the first thing we hear these days when someone sees Jeremiah. We know he's grown a lot, but it's hard for us to notice the changes when we see him every day.

This past year has gone by so fast. It seems like just a few days ago when he was so tiny and pretty much just slept, ate, cried, etc. Now he's all over the place, taking a few steps here and there, saying a few "words"--ba for bottle or ball--laughing, playing, climbing all over Mommy and Daddy.

As I write this, he's pushed one of our dining room chairs into the kitchen and is playing with all the pots and pans he removed earlier in the morning from our lazy susan.

When we look back at pictures, the changes are more noticeable. Our little baby is no more, and we have a little boy in his place.