Pure Joy!: 1 year!!

12 MONTHS!!

Happy 1 year Family! This is Sam's actual birthday, Sept. 3rd, the day we got back from our Jackson Hole trip

My baby boy is 1 year old?!! ok, by this point he is 1 year and 1 month.. I am a little late on the 12 month post. :) This past month, once again, has been busy!! We have been here, there and everywhere. All fun things (lots of nuptials & bday celebrations!) but I will honestly be glad to be home for a few weekends. I have lots of house projects swimming around in my head that I need to tackle. Ok, sam update....Sam is a walking man now! That bear crawl turned into a walk a couple of weeks before his birthday. I love being in the kitchen and looking up and seeing him toddling in from the den with a huge smile on his face like he is so proud of himself. I really love it when that toddle ends up with a dive bomb hug into my legs. Melt my heart! I also really LOVE walking in the driveway holding sam's hand while he points at birds, planes, and the early morning moon (calling it a bubble). Sam really is a sponge right now. It amazes me when he actually does something that I ask him to (i.e. take kate's dirty dog toy to her, turn the tv on, and back on, etc.), point to pictures in books, and show me where his head, toes, tummy are (these do get mixed up at times.) He still does not really say mama.. he says dada, ball, dog, BUBBLE (his favorite), and boat, but noooo mama.. I thought he was saying mama until the other day I realized that mum mum is actually food. Oh well.. i made fun of lewis when he would point at himself saying "da-da, da-da" but i have found myself pulling the mom version of this lately. Sam LOVES being outside. We live in our backyard! It is so nice to have a yard! I really don't know what we would do if we still live at Park ave. (in regards to no backyard, LOTS of stairs, etc.) We make a lot of laps around the "baby block" (my neighbor called it the other day) in this push car that his nannie and poppie gave him. He is laid back kickin and enjoying the ride while mum mum is motoring through the low cut weeds/centipede grass combo. Sam is getting better at eating real food and he is definitely more accepting of new flavors, but he still loves feeding kate and throwing food!! He also loves laughing at me when I as sternly as I can say, "NO!" Any advice here? I don't think we are quite ready for time out but I am pretty sure it is coming in regards to this throwing food business. Oh, and I must include this VErY important change in our weekly lives.. Sam has just started going to a babysitter 2 days a week while I work. This is a pretty perfect situation because I really really like Lindsay and they live very close to us. She has a 4 year old little girl who is so sweet. It has been a very hard and wonderful transition at the same time. This step has been looming for a while and I thank the good Lord for guiding us to this decision and situation. Marsie will be SOOO missed but now marsie can come play with me and sam on a weekly basis. There are so many things that I am loving at this age that I want to write but I would be here all night. This is exactly why I have to get better at the impromptu blog post!

This has by far been the best and most challenging year of my life. I have grown and changed so much in a year and our family has grown and changed so much as well. We have had lots of wonderful changes and I want to say that the one thing that has remained the same is my deep love for my sweet baby boy and Lewis. But this isn't true because I love you both more and more every single day!