13 Months old

His laughter and cheesy smile are contagious!

Loves his water cup...always trying to share.

Knocking on the door to get the kids' attention outside. He loves to look out!

He loves his slide...he climbs up the slide and just stands on the platform.

Trying to "kick" the soccer ball like he's seen his brothers do.

Being tortured by his sisters - those are toys stuffed inside his onesie. He's enjoying it I guess!

According to my husband I should just say he's 1, but for some reason (it's a mom thing), I always keep track of the months up until the age of 2. So happy 13 month birthday to my sweet Aaron Isaac today.

I should be packing, but documenting the milestones of my sweet boy is much more fun. Plus, it dawned on me that this child has no baby book yet so this blog may be the closest thing he's gonna have.

His favorite word is ball. He can spot a ball in a crowded room. Actually anything round, such as a globe, is a ball to him. And he's obsessed, even with footballs.

He's not walking on his own yet, but he loves to push his walker around and walk holding someones hands. He is fine to walk while holding the couch, a wall, the table....just not feeling like doing it alone yet. He will take maybe 3-5 steps from one person to another, but usually that results in a big laugh and a face-first fall forward (we always catch him of course!).

All that being said, he crawls at turbo speed! My favorite thing is to get on the ground, call his name from across the room and watch him turbo crawl towards me. Talk about a melting heart!

He discovered the stairs last month, so we've got the gate up now. A couple times we've forgotten that the gate is down and all of a sudden we hear him calling out and he's upstairs in the bonus room looking down on us, laughing.

Speaking of laughing...he is a laugher! (is that even a word?) He loves to laugh. Baby laughter is one of the best sounds and this child seems to laugh so much more than my other babies did. I often wonder if it's just him living up to his middle name, Isaac, which means 'laughter.' And the cheesy grin that accompanies his laughter makes it all the more endearing. Love that boy!

He knocks on things...we say "knock-knock" and he makes a fist and knocks. It's adorable.

There are a few "words" that he says: hi, bye-bye, mama, dada, dog (or woof woof), boat, ball and bird. He can also say 'more' in sign language.

We've been trying to teach him to give kisses, but usually what we get is him leaning his forehead towards us for a kiss. Brendan seems to be the only one who can successfully get him to give kisses with his lips. Precious!

Yada Yada

For some reason when I have a baby that I am nursing, I am able to get SO much reading done. And so help me if I find a book that is irresistible, it's like I speed read it every time I lay down to nurse. So this is how/why I've been able to read these fabulous books called The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson. There are 7 of them I discovered and when I'd finish one, I couldn't buy the next one fast enough. Easy reading, entertaining, convicting, teaching...they have impacted me and provided hours of relaxation.

Upon completion of book 7, I was so disappointed because there weren't anymore to read. Then I discovered there was another series by the same author that overlapped many of the same characters - The Yada Yada House of Hope series!! I just finished book 3 of that series and would you believe that she hasn't finished the fourth and final book yet? Of all the...now I have to wait until March. I'm so bummed.

The women in her books have taught me a lot about being a Christian, about being a wife and a mother, a true friend, a prayer warrior and how to live my life. Truly it has been more than just hours of mindless reading.

In the book I just finished, a character said this, which I found myself relating to so very much: "It's easier for me to trust God with other's peoples problems than my own. That's why it's good to have a prayer partner or a group of praying sisters. To hold up our shaky faith, to remind us of God's promises, to stand with us when we don't feel so strong ourselves."

And I am so amazed (and thankful) that in correlation with reading these books, I have become part of a special group of women who are just that...so, HSF, thank you!!

We are suckers!

Emmie Rose has us wrapped around her tiny little finger! We're trying to get her out of our bed. She's been sleeping with us since she was born, although there have been spells that she has slept in her own bed, but mostly she's with us. And now that Aaron has joined us, it makes for much more cramped sleeping quarters.



So we tried the tough love thing the other night. It resulted in Emmie crying hysterically and repeatedly getting out of her bed to come beg to sleep in ours. I was annoyed. Jay was losing his patience. We were stern. We got angry. She cried more.

Just when we thought she had given up, she tiptoed out to the living room with her puppy dog eyes and says, "Mommy, I am all alone in my bed and I love you so much so I need to sleep near you so I won't be alone."

I said no and sent her back to bed.

She started whimpering and said, "But I can't sleep alone because I love my Daddy so much and he goes to work and I miss him so much so I have to sleep near him."

We said no and sent her back to bed.

She cried harder and said, "But Mommy you are my bestie and I have to sleep with you!"

OK...so my heart did start to melt a little at that point, but I still told her to get in her own bed. She started blubbering again about loving Jay and missing him when he's gone at work. Next thing I know she is up in his lap, crying on his shoulder. Then Jay told her to lay on the couch and close her eyes.

And here was the end result of the battle of the beds that night....






Emmie was moved from couch to bed and somehow Brendan snuck in there too!

We obviously had to move a couple kids before we could get in OUR bed. I think there is a term for this...Family Bed...co-sleeping. Good thing it's a cal king.