One

I am officially the mother of a one year old.

Cillian turned one two weeks ago and he is as happy and bouncing as ever... I sure love my tiny tot. He is our little sunshine - it sure takes a good deal to dampen his cheery spirits. I look forward to seeing his grinning dimpled face every morning, as he bounces happily in his crib, ready to start the day with me.

I've been blessed with a very happy baby...

We had a celebratory cookout for him at a park here in Indianapolis the Saturday after his birthday, and it went very well. I made a couple of car cakes (complete with racing stripes!) with the help of my neighbor and we had the classic burgers and hot dogs, fruit salad, green salad, potato salad, and cake and ice cream. We had a lovely turnout of family and friends and drove home with an extremely generous caboodle of new presents for Cillian.

I know it's the most cliche thing I can say on the subject, but I really can't believe how fast this first year with Cillian has gone... it truly flies by quicker than you can imagine. But wow, it's been a terrific time so far. Caleb and I love being parents, and I am convinced now more than ever that our decision not to wait for kids was one of the best we could have made for our newly married life.

Speaking of our married life, Caleb and I are approaching our second wedding anniversary coming up on July 12 (also Caleb's 27th birthday). And that is also hard to believe!

I am so happy right now. This is truly the best life I could have dreamed of having - better even. Of course it's better than I could have ever imagined. I'm blessed beyond understanding with the husband, little son, and family I have. What an abundance of blessings I have to be thankful for!

Back to Cillian... he is in the beginning stages of walking now. He can stand up without support for a few seconds at a time, always testing himself by lifting his hands off of whatever he's holding on to in the "So big!" way. He can also take a couple of steps when he's feeling more daring, but so far he's been slow and steady in the walking development. He'll be a pro in no time though.

One of his favorite things to do is dance - he loves bouncing whenever there is music playing. Some hits are Celtic music (the kid knows his roots!) and my piano playing. As soon as I play his song, he crawls over as fast as his little limbs can carry him so he can plink along with me while he dances like crazy. I love it...

He has been saying a couple of words too, which is fun - normally "duck" and "dog" only without the "d's." So we hear quite a lot of "uck"ing and "og"ing. Whenever he hears a sound outside (and most times, it's not even a dog,) his tiny eyebrows shoot up, eyes bright. "Og! Og...og. Og!" Every once in a blue moon a "d" will slip out, and we'll hear the legitimate "dog," but it is a very rare occurrence, nearly to the point of being mythological.

I sure am enjoying these simple days of just me and him during the day. His simple and predictable routine. Wake up, eat, play, sleep, repeat. We're in between teething spells right now, so I'm enjoying not having to deal with that for the present. The most upset he ever gets is when he's tired, hurts something, or can't have something. It's a pretty simple little world of Cillian's right now. We're in the beginnings of discipline, but even that is relatively simple.

Life is pretty easy with a one year old. I love every age he is in, and each stage he comes to is "the best so far." I wonder if I'll continue thinking that once he reaches teen-hood... Hopefully if I do my job right, I will be. :)

For now, I'm loving my one year old. He is my little man. And he holds my heart in both of his tiny hands.


Here's the Quote of the Day!

“My friend has a baby. I'm recording all the noises he makes so later I can ask him what he meant.”

~ Stephen Wright

Projects and Bedtime Stories

Starting last Tuesday night, something happened that Caleb and I have been talking about doing since before we got engaged. We both dreamed of reading to one another once we were finally married (and once Caleb was finally back in the US, as he was in England the first seven months of our relationship). Furthermore, the idea we had was that he would read me all of the Chronicles of Narnia books and I would read him all of the Harry Potter books as there are seven in each series. From the time we were engaged to the present, we'd gotten through maybe a chapter or two of each first book.

So, within the last seven days, Caleb read Prince Caspian to me. We chose this one because we're already so familiar with the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and since this is the next one in the order C. S. Lewis wrote the books, we started with it. I had forgotten how riveting it is to be read a story. Prince Caspian is one of the Narnia books I'm least familiar with, and I was eager to listen to my fantastic storyteller.

I found myself waking up looking forward to the evening because there was going to be more of the story... I never want to forget this wondrous, child-like anticipation. It is so enchanting.

Caleb finished reading Prince Caspian to me last night. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is next. Maybe we'll start tonight! (grin)

Something that kind of goes hand in hand with the bedtime stories... I've got a couple knitting projects going and have started to become a better knitter. It's something I've always enjoyed, and last week, (with some birthday money and a gift card to my ever-favorite Hobby Lobby,) I bought some yarn, a pair of knitting needles, some knitting books, AND a wedding photo album all for about $40. You guessed it - I was a happy gal.

I've never explored patterns or anything, so this time I really wanted to try getting into it (hence the knitting book.) And man, reading knitting patterns is tricky! But I guess once you get it, it's easy. And I'm a very consistent knitter, so it's pretty easy so far. For those of you who are knitters and might like knowing - I chose a simple knit two/purl two pattern (which creates a beautiful ribbed look) for a scarf I'm making for my brother-in-law for his birthday. I found a gorgeous charcoal grey color that I couldn't pass up... I think he'll like it.

As for the photo album, I've been meaning to put one together of our wedding pictures for... well... ever since we got married last year! So this is a long-overdue project to complete, and I'm going to really enjoy it. I've narrowed our 500-something pictures down to 200 (which is how many the album fits.) So now all I have to do is get them printed! And I'm going to do that here as soon as I get Cillian from his nap (I can hear him waking up) and service him and get him all ready to go. :)

So here's a Quote of the Day (it's short and sweet):

"Godliness is perfection that is never complete."

~ St. Philotheos of Sinai