Six Months

Half a year.  That's how much time has passed since Hezekiah James came into the world.  It's funny to realize how quickly that time has gone given how slow it felt waiting for his arrival.  And it's funny to realize how quickly that time has gone given how easy-going, calm and relaxed that kid is.  He loved to sit and watch the world pass by.  He loved to smell the roses.  He loved to breathe deeply and take things slow.

Until recently, at least.  Because now he's a crazy wiggling machine who rolls around and grabs at any and every thing he can reach.  He turned a corner a few weeks ago and now he wants to be a part of the world passing by, and he wants to shove his whole face in the roses and maybe even unearth them with his iron grip, and he breathes with giggly guffaws sometimes and whips his head in every direction so as to not miss a thing.  Taking things slow?  Not any more!

And he's fascinated with his brother.  Kai is intrigued by Caleb's shenanigans.  Caleb will sometimes slow down enough to give Kai some fleeting attention, and Kai returns the favor by grabbing his hair or just smiling and kicking kicking kicking his chunky little legs :)  They are stepping their toes into the next phase when they can interact with each other a bit, and it makes our hearts happy.  

Six months just happened in the blink of an eye.  Time will only rev up from here!

Easter Celebration

We had a long and joyful Easter celebration, culminating in a warm and sunny Easter Sunday!  It was a beautiful way to rejoice in our Risen Lord and welcome Spring at the same time.  (At least, we think we're finally welcoming her, since it hasn't snowed in a week...)

Eli's parents came into town on Thursday and we celebrated Sandi's birthday by going out to dinner.  Then we started Good Friday in a very good way by playing in the kiddie pool at a hotel!  Caleb was a bit hesitant at first, but once the beach ball was blown up he couldn't be kept away from the pool.   He also loved watching the bubbles in the hot tub: "Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!"

The Good Friday service at church was beautiful, complete with bluegrass music!  There was a banjo, mandolin, and upright bass on stage among other instruments.  There was even a melodica.  It was artistic and creative and we loved it.  Eli was on-call that day but made it to church halfway through the service and it was the first time in a long time that we were able to worship together and take communion together.

On Saturday we went back to church for an Easter Egg Hunt.  I particularly enjoyed all the chocolate chip cookies while Caleb was partial to the balloon animals.  His animal began its life as a dog and looked more like a worm by the time we left.  Caleb also loved the actual Easter Egg Hunt.  He's currently learning how to count and was in his glory counting the eggs over and over again.  He's also learning his colors and he thought every egg was either blue or yellow :)

And this boy had lots of extra snuggling and cuddling while Grandma and Grandpa were here!

We awoke Easter morning to a downright beautiful day.  We spent awhile playing on the deck.  It was the first time Caleb has worn his shades this year and he thought he was pretty hot stuff :)

We played a lot with this Avengers ball.  He's really getting the grasp of throwing a ball and he yells "Catch!" whenever he throws it.  (On a sidenote, Caleb said "Avengers" for the first time this past weekend, which we definitely consider a milestone :)  He also knows who all the Avengers are and can tell you which is which.  We are delightfully pleased with this!)

And even without snow, there's still ample opportunity for shoveling in this kid's mind.

Finally it was time for Easter baskets!  I made an egg trail up the stairs with one jellybean in each egg.  Caleb never had jellybeans before.  We learned two things: 1) putting candy inside the eggs makes the journey to the Easter baskets go painfully slow, and 2) this kid isn't as adept at chewing/swallowing jellybeans as he is M&Ms.  Definitely shoulda gone with M&MS.

But the boys were happy with their haul once they found it.  Kai loves his pinwheel and thoroughly drooled on it and has all but destroyed it by now.  Caleb loves Kai's new football and has made it known that it really should belong to him.  He also loves the new giant soccer ball, which I am deciding whether or not to regret giving to him.

    

Kai rounded out the day with a blowout.  So he got to enjoy some naked time afterwards.  He didn't mind at all :)

And for some reason I was particularly enamored with his little bare feet all afternoon.  They're so soft and so wiggly!  I love the way his toes curl and I love how his feet touch each other so much, as if they love to snuggle.  Baby feet are a true joy!

So are naked baby smiles :)

It was a lovely Easter celebration indeed.  Hallelujah to our Risen Lord!

Spoke Too Soon

Spring knocked on the door and Winter slammed the door in her face.  Welcome to Northern Minnesota, where it snows in April and our toddler is happy because it means he gets to shovel again.

He also loves to "brush off the car" and be oh so very helpful that way :)

He used the brush on the car precisely four times, then proceeded to swat at the snow on the ground, as if playing a rather uncoordinated game of mini golf, or maybe just Whac-A-Mole...

Caleb really does love to shovel.  He's going to miss it when Spring finally breaks the door down and wrestles her way in.  Maybe she'll exchange Caleb's shovel for a lawn mower so he can still be oh so very helpful around the house :)

Signs of Spring

The chickadees are at our birdfeeder in force.  It's still sunny at 7 o'clock.  We forgo our mittens when we go outside.  Someone rode his motorcycle down the street.

These are the signs of spring!

Also, there is no more snow on our deck!  We worked hard to get it that way - some shoveling here, some snowball throwing there - but finally our deck is 100% free of snow!  And this kid, despite how much he loved shoveling the deck all winter (and I do mean loved), was incredibly pleased to discover that he could finally run run run all over it.

He was also very interested in the birdhouse we wanted to hang in the tree...

...until we said it was time to hang the birdhouse, meaning he couldn't run around with it anymore.  

Life is rough :)


On a side note, Caleb is extremely attached to the little tractor in his hand.  That tractor (or its dreaded misplacement) can mean tears or no tears, panic or joy, anxiety or contentment.  He's been attached to it for months.  Other things come and go, but that tractor has remained a staple for awhile now.  I keep a keen eye on its whereabouts because if ever he distractedly sets it down, before too long he'll suddenly shout, "Tractor!" and all else stops while the frantic search begins.  It's a precious comfort to him.

But back to spring: it's almost here!  That's the point of the snow being gone from our deck, and the point of it being time to hang the birdhouse in the tree.  Winter has finally packed her bags and is just saying her final farewells before heading out the door.  And we wish her well! (We also secretly hope that she exhausted herself out from such a daring performance this year that she'll have to crawl rather than run to greet us next time.)

Welcome, Spring!  We welcome you with open arms and the pitter patter of little feet on our deck :)

Born to Love Jesus

Nuff said.