one year celebrations

Our boy had a wonderful day of celebrations. It started out with birthday wishes and being sung to by his godfamily via Skype. We went to Mass, and as usual, Toby and I spent the majority of it in the gathering area, looking at a stack of board books they have there. Fortunately, there are speakers out there, so I could follow along and even hear Father M's powerful, as usual, homily. After Mass, (and stopping by the store to pick up a pre-made angel food cake), I whipped up the usual, easy-peasy first birthday treat, which was enjoyed after lunch.

Before nap time, we let him open a sweet gift from Elizabeth- a couple of board books. The boy ADORES books and he was very excited about these ones, which Jack and I read to him a couple of times before he went down. He had a nice, long afternoon nap and awoke to more well-wishes via Skype from the Pleasant-Ryans. After dinner, he got to open some more gifts- a thoughtful little photo album from Grandma and Grandpa with pictures of all of the members of our family- even his godparents! And a couple more books, a new bib, and a tunnel. His siblings were pretty stoked about this last one. They also bombarded him with a barrage of (re)gifts and homemade cards- very considerate, they are.

It was a delightful day with family, full of many blessings. It's hard to believe we now have a one year old! We're excited to see all that this next year holds for our sweet boy.

a whole year

Tomorrow will be busy... so posting this today... I remember walking around the yard and weed-whacking one year ago today in hopes of encouraging labor, which had started to pick up some. We ended up calling our friend to come and watch the kids a little after 4am the next morning, and our Sweet T finally made his appearance via water birth at 9:20 am, 12 minutes after my water was broken at 6cm (his birth story).

What a sweet dear he was then, and what a sweet dear is he now! I can't begin to describe what a blessing this smiley little boy has been over the past twelve months. Already, he is so full of loveable personality, so full of curiosity and playfulness. He doesn't say too many words relative to the others at this age (he has said Mama, Dada and "nigh' nigh'" a handful of times and starts of words like kitty, goat, truck and ball), but he is quickly learning to communicate his wants and needs and observations with gestures. He loves his siblings, animals (both real and toy), bath time, and books. And he's a pretty big Mama's boy, but he's gotten better with almost everyone else as well. He's probably my best eater so far- both solids and nursing- his favorite foods being tomatoes from our garden, zucchini creole, prunes, cheese, and pasta- and potato salad added today. He transitioned from two naps to one nap this past week, and thus, his night time and afternoon sleep sessions have gotten better. He's not walking unassisted yet, but he's walking along the edges of things like a champ. Happy, happy birthday to our darling little fellow, our sweet Tobias Nathaniel. We feel so blessed that God chose you for our family and can't imagine our lives without you. We love you very much. (He has been under the weather since last night with a running/stuffed up nose but has been a charming trooper all the same.)

a week with three {photo-dump}

wood fairies sanders Taking in the septic pump show photo by Mike This one we call Ferdinand. He likes rotten pears. I shooed him back through the barbed-wire fence three times yesterday, but he is undeterred. It's one of my favorite times of the year... I could subside on fresh bruschetta. Having lots o' fun at the mall so pleased with herself :^) #s one and two have been off having all kinds of fun, I'm sure, with Grandma and Grandpa for the past week. It's been quite a change of pace having just the five-and-unders here- a flash-back of what life was like three years ago, only it seems worlds easier now. I got in a couple of afternoon naps and even a 2.5 mile run on the treadmill while they huffed and puffed to Denise Austin's Fit Kids.

Opal and Iris have been absolute dream playmates. They are normally, but they seemed to hit it off even more without the interventions of the older crowd. Iris enjoys particularly being the oldest. She babied her baby brother and sister and took over her sister's usual job of feeding the goats.

Despite the nice change of pace of having only three kids, we will be MIGHTY glad to have those two back tomorrow. Plus Grandma and Grandpa, who will be here for the weekend to help us celebrate our baby's FIRST birthday (how can it have been a year?). We've missed them and their loads of personality, which add so much around here.

We are blessed!