Memorial Day 2013

On Memorial Day we honored those who have faithfully served and are serving our country.  We always attend the parade in Sewickley and the kids love it!  It was a little chilly, but that didn't get us down.  James in particular really enjoyed watching all the cars and trucks and the marching bands.  He sat on his chair enjoying snacks and taking it all in.  He was very disappointed when it was over and we had to go home!

"And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free.  And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me."

~Lee Greenwood

First Steps!

It has been a big week here for Ethan.  We celebrated his first birthday on Monday and yesterday he took his first steps on his own!  I am already missing my baby!

Good job buddy!  We love you!

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan!

Dear Ethan,

Happy 1st Birthday!  I remember the day your were born so vividly.  It was a beautiful Sunday morning.  I had spent the entire day before planting flowers in the planters on the deck and lugging heavy bags of potting soil around in the hopes of jumpstarting my labor.  It worked!  And at 3:19 am on May 20th I felt my first contraction.  I knew you were on the way.  Just five short hours and  nineteen minutes later you arrived screaming and with a full head of black hair.  You were perfect!  My labor could not have gone better and your dad and I sat enjoying you in our room overlooking rooftops and steeples at West Penn Hospital.  

And here we are a year later.  I can't believe how much you have grown and changed!

At your one year well check you weighed 23 pounds 7 ounces and you were 29 3/4 inches.  You are such a big boy!  You are wearing 12-18 month clothes and your first pair of shoes... adorable navy blue crocs!  You are getting very close to walking.  You pull yourself up on everything and walk along the walls and furniture.  You will walk holding on to just one of our fingers, but you don't quite have the courage to take that first step on your own.  You love to play with everything except toys:)  Okay, that's an exaggeration... there are some toys you love, but you would much rather be getting into things that you are not supposed to like cupboards, opening and closing doors, pushing on the screen door, pulling on cords, shaking tables, unraveling toilet paper and flushing toilets, etc.  If there is a mess to be made then you're right in the middle of it.  You keep me very busy!  We are having a Curious George themed birthday party for you this weekend and I think it's quite appropriate!  You love to take things and stuff them places.  One of your favorite things to do right now is take the Leap Frog magnetic farm animals off of the dishwasher and open the cupboard next to it, then stuff them into various cups and bowls.  I have to say that every time I open that cupboard and see them in there it makes me smile and I will be really sad when you stop doing it.  

You are so sweet and yet such a stinker!  You can get away with a lot because of your winning smile and those beautiful blue eyes.  You are quite determined and get very angry when I tell you no.  You throw yourself on the floor and work up a few good tears and then try again to do what you were just told not to.  

We celebrated on your actual birthday with a family dinner and a little practice round of eating cake.  You weren't sure at first, but then decided it was pretty fantastic!

Then daddy got silly...

And into the tub you went.

It was a sweet celebration for a sweet boy and we can't wait to do it again this weekend with all of our family!

My prayer for you is that you will know the love the LORD has for you and give your life to Him at a young age.  I pray you will spend your days faithfully serving Him and using the gifts He has given you to glorify His Kingdom.  You are so precious and we love you more than you will ever know.

And the boy grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

~Luke 2:40

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