Mr. 22 Months

My Baby is almost 2.  How is this possible, I ask you!!?? 

When folks inquire about his age, I struggle to mentally compute and then choke when I reply, "almost 22 months."  Almost 22 months!!!!! 

It is a happy/sad thing when your children grow up, though...  You miss the previous phases, but the new ones are so much fun, too!! 

Right now, he is toddling about saying the darndest things...  Daddy claims he said, "I love Daddy,"  the other day, but there were no witnesses.  Not that anyone would mind if he said that...  It's just a little suspicious...

He loves to talk about owls:  baby owls, mommy owls, Ga-ma owls, hawks, and baby hawks.  He is also developing a love of cows.  They say mooooo, you know? 

The emergence of speech is such a fun experience.  It's something new every day.  So, how can I be sad about that?  I promise I'm not...  Just hoping to cherish every day as these phases pass too quickly.

His current vocabulary also includes the following:  pizza, cheese, apple, issa (it's a)________, wazzat? (what's that?), cracker, books, truck, car, put down (as in, 'put me down!'), kee-kee (kitty), doggy, mommy, daddy, hu-see (sister's name), di-der (brother's name), football, ba-ball (basketball), hello, hi, bye, oh no!, all done, water, gamma, pada, coffee, hot, cookie, birdie...  I'm sure there are more. 

 

So big...  he can even watch the Super Bowl! 

 

 

This little dude brings much joy to our whole family.  What a blessing he is!!  We are very grateful for the almost-2 years of his presence in our lives.  Hugs and Kisses, Baby!!  I promise to change your screen name soon.  

Photo Dump from My Phone

Thanks to my sweet husband, I am just a teeny bit ahead of the technological dark ages. Without him, I'd surely still be using a phone with a cord and my Brother word processor from college. Sometimes, he has to take the bull by the horns and get all the pictures off my phone for me, a task he completed the other day after a conversation that went something like this:

Him: Do you have ios7 (or something that sounded like that) on your phone?

Me: Um.... yes?

Him: No you don't. Give me your phone.

  And now I have an old/new phone that is completely transformed. But, the point of this post is to display never-before-seen pictures from events (some more important than others) where I forgot my real camera. These date back as far as 2 years ago... or maybe more...


maybe 3 months old?



one of my favorite baby outfits.. and babies... and 10 year olds...



mommy/baby selfie!  not sure where we were



at a Lego club meeting about a year ago, I think



just barely squeezing into that cart! 

US geography fair!  We had Ohio, obviously...  this was 1.5 years ago...



First Halloween.  Best baby costume ever. Wanted one of the other kids to be fries, but no takers.



chillin' between games at a tournament last year.



She dances wherever she goes.  This is the botanical gardens about 1.5 years ago.



Same day at the botanical gardens.  One of my favorites.

Little traveler.  One year ago at the NWBA national tournament.



Little capitalists.  Last Spring.



Another Selfie.



*heart* our kitties.  They're always snuggling up in funny ways.



big sissie/baby brother selfie (or maybe little sister photography?)

Joy's rendition of us in 1989 - I think she is a little off on her dad's decade...mine is fairly close, unfortunately.



last Fall's fencing class!  It was great!  This is Spike vs. Kid118.



On a field trip last October, we got up close and personal with some farm animals.



Guess who was not a big fan of the close proximity with cattle.



Sad selfie.  At a another basketball tournament this winter. 

New Year's Day selfie!  Out to lunch with friends on a rare New Year's Day off. 



Ice skating on a relatively warm day in January. 



Recent taekwondo tournament - 2 second place medals for sparring and forms!!

 

Thanks for taking this little trip down memory lane!  If you want more, there are 486 others where these came from...


 

Yarn Along

I have long been lurking at this link-up...  I love to see what others are knitting and reading.  I've picked up some great ideas for both knitting projects and book selections.

Today, I'm actually joining in....

This Christmas, we decided to pare back the number of gifts we gave our children.  We limited ourselves to giving one bigger gift, one small gift, and one homemade gift per child.  Unfortunately, I failed to finish gifts for 2 of my boys.  But, never fear, they have finally been completed!

And here they are:

boys in beanies!

In the reading category, I have far too many books going at once, as per usual...  But, at the top of my list is Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist.  I also started this one last night.  I'm previewing it for my daughter and had a bit of difficulty putting it down last night...  Hence, we're running late this morning...

Have a great day!

A Day at the Soup Kitchen

This year, because I'm just a little bit crazy, I conned my friend Coleen into joining my mission to revive the youth group at our church.  We're not alone...  A sweet older couple who have been in charge of the youth for a loooooong time are still very much involved, but have asked for help with organizing events on a regular basis.  

I'm not sure if it was the promptings of the Holy Spirit or just my tendencies toward overbooking myself, but either way, for the cause of the youth of our dear parish,  my friend and I stepped forward. 

So, Sunday afternoon, 7 middle and high school kids and I loaded up after Mass and trekked to our city's soup kitchen to volunteer.  The kids served food, chopped veggies, and helped wherever needed.

My daughter Joy, her good friend and I went across the street to clean the homeless shelter (which is closed on Sundays).  Oh my.  It was dirty.

All the kids want to go back.  I do, too.  It is just really good to step outside your comfort zone, to get perspective on the little things that seem like huge problems but really aren't, and to do something for those less fortunate.

Another perk was getting to know some of the kids a little bit better.  Christian community is important.  I feel super-blessed to have spent a few hours with these neat young people.

Bad Blogger Transforms

So much to blog... so little time. 

In an attempt to get myself back into the blogging swing of things, I'm going to join in with Jen for the 7-Day blogging challenge.  That is, I will publish posts 7 days in a row, starting today. 

Think I can do it? 

We shall see.  I can't guarantee the quality of writing and/or photography, but I'm up for the challenge...  If you'd like to check in with us in the next week, I promise to be here, documenting all the drama.  :) 

Have a great week! 

Birthday Alert!

 This son of ours is turning 9 in 2 days!!  Seeing as how it's nearly impossible to get a non-goofy smile out of him for a photo op, thought I'd just go with this one.  It captures his personality, his delight in the little things of life, and the weather conditions surrounding his big day this year. 

Our original plans involved visiting a raptor rehab center in the southern part of the state.  Unfortunately, due to the extreme weather we've been having, the kind volunteers there let us know they wouldn't be able accommodate us right now.  It seems they have moved all 20 birds (hawks, owls, eagles) into someone's living room due to the cold. 

Can you even imagine?  I don't really want to.

Anyway,  they encouraged us to try again, so we'll be heading there in June. 

So, instead, we're loading up Grandma and Pada, all of us and a cousin and heading east to Columbus, OH.  Some of our very best friends in the world live there.  Plus, there's a really cool science center, zoo, and all kinds of other fun stuff.  Like a hotel pool.  What else do you need, really?  Did I mention the hotel has a happy hour?  Good for the parents. 

Have a happy and safe weekend, everyone, and please say a birthday prayer for Mr. Kid118, our bookworm, science guy, martial artist, soft-hearted middle child.