Eleven Months Old!

Dear Ethan,

Here you are at eleven months!

You are getting so big!

And you are busy...

Busy...

Busy!

It's hard to believe we will be celebrating your first birthday in a little less than a month!  It's so true what they say... that the days are long, but the years are short.  I am going to miss all your sweet babyness.  I found myself getting teary the other day when I had to take down your crib mobile because you now stand in your bed and were yanking on the little bears.  It's a strange mix of emotions... bittersweet for sure.

You are fully crawling now on all fours and pulling yourself up on everything.  You want to do everything you see your big brother doing and frequently become frustrated when you are not quite able to master it.  You cruise around on all the furniture and the walls and cabinets and you have figured out how to climb the stairs.  You hate to be left out of anything and have now started shouting when you are angry.  What comes out sounds like "No!"  You also said what we are calling your first word... "uh oh" and you love practicing it all day long.  Any time you drop something or we drop something you exercise your opportunity to use it!  It's absolutely adorable!  Sometimes you really have to work at it and I love watching your little mouth try to figure it out.

You are still such a happy little guy.  We love those smiles!

This is one of my favorite shots because I just love your cheeks!  And your chubby hands!

Check out the cankles... this one had to be preserved.

I just switched you from formula to milk and I am trying to get you to eat more table foods though you mostly still like baby food.  Some days you will eat little cut up foods I put on your tray and the next day you throw them all on the floor.  Some days you nap like a champ and other days hardly at all.  One thing you are not: consistent.  

I found myself getting frustrated early in the morning today because you woke up crying at 4:30 and would not go back to sleep.  All you wanted to do was snuggle with me.  What a precious time to just get to hold you in my arms!  And yet I was squandering it in favor of a few more minutes of sleep.  Later in the morning I was at the grocery store and this nice man came up to me and asked how old you were.  After I told him he looked at me and said, "Mine is graduating from high school this year.  Enjoy it.  It goes so fast."  I think I uttered something like, "People tell me that all the time, but it sure doesn't feel that way when they are waking you up all night."  All I could think about was how tired and grumpy I was.  Now I realize that God was giving me that moment to recognize my blessings and the wonderful gift he has given me in you.  

There are those days that seem so long and frustrating and exhausting and I just want to carve out a little space for myself, but honestly when I look at the miracles of my two boys and their sweet faces I just can't help but feel anything but overflowing love.

I am blessed beyond measure.

Happy eleven months to my sweet, smiling boy!

You prepare a feast for me

    in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

    My cup overflows with blessings.

⁶ 

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

    all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord

    forever.

~Psalm 23:5-6

He is Risen!

This past Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful Easter celebration with friends and family.  Early in the morning we attended worship service and then came home to share breakfast together before beginning the preparations for our big dinner with the whole family.  The kids got to check out their baskets after church because there wasn't enough time to see them before we left.  Sadly I didn't get a single picture of the boys in their cute outfits!  By the time we got home from church everyone was hungry, messy looking and tired!  I might have to put them back on this week just so I can snap a few pics!

James is the easy one to buy for right now.  He is at a really fun age where he gets super excited about everything and the things he likes only cost a few dollars.

Drew is a little trickier because most of the stuff he enjoys is pricey for an Easter basket!  But I did find a few fun hockey themed items including a poster for his room that isn't in the picture.

Ethan's basket was pretty sparse.  At ten months he doesn't have a clue about Easter baskets, but I did want to get him a few little things of course.  He got a sippy cup, a toothbrush and a Praise Baby DVD.

The firetruck was a big hit with James as I knew it would be.

My parents stopped over with another Easter basket for each of the boys.  We are on major candy overload here!

After breakfast the boys took naps and I got to work preparing everything for Easter dinner.  We had invited all the family and some other good friends.

We had eleven people at the dinner table.  What a blessing!  The big kids sat at a card table in the kitchen and the little kids ate in the playroom.

This was the scene in the playroom for the first half of the meal.  All the other kids were running around playing.  James has a singular focus.  He loves to eat!

It was truly such a wonderful evening.  We ate until we were stuffed and then enjoyed sweet fellowship.  The kids had a blast!  We did an egg hunt for them in the basement since it was freezing cold and raining outside.

There was a lot of bouncing around and being very silly!

In general it was lots of fun!  And, there is always a "clean up fairy" who quietly wisks away all the dishes and makes my house look put back together again.  I am blessed!

I can't think of a better way to celebrate our risen LORD than to spend it with these wonderful people.  The only thing that would have made it more complete would have been my sister and her family down in Georgia.  

Happy Easter!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In his great mercy he has given us new life into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...

~1 Peter 1:3