Merry Christmas!

Christmas this year was here and gone in the blink of an eye. Our Christmas started the Saturday before in Ossian, Indiana at my Aunt & Uncle's house. We combined Christmas with my cousin Danne graduating from Ball State. Most of the family was there & it was so fun to have everyone together. Sunday we headed back and went to my Dad & Karen's house. The boys did so well for having spent 10 hours in the car in a 24 hour period of time. Monday we were with my Mom & Ron for dinner. Jeannie brought her web cam and we got a special treat of talking to my cousin Erica who didn't make it home for Christmas. Christmas morning we took it easy at home. Santa came & brought Andrew a Vacuum, Race Track, and Tractor. He was a little interested in tearing off the paper, and really liked taking the toys out! He didn't quite understand why he couldn't just play with one thing! After a relaxing morning we then headed to Mike's parents for dinner. Everywhere we went we were blessed with wonderful food, family, and generosity.

As I was getting ready Christmas morning, I couldn't help think back a year. As I was trying to remember Andrew last Christmas, I kept getting memories of the little baby covered in plaster because I was trying to make handprint ornaments & he was trying to eat them! This little guy who was just starting to push up on his hands and kness...just rocking to start to think about crawling. He had just learned to sit up unassisted. He only had a couple of teeth, and he was still spitting up a lot. Was that just a year ago? Is it possible that in such a short amount of time, I now have this little boy who runs around, talks up a storm, and has brought more joy than I ever could have imagined. Did all that really happen in just a year? I suppose every year I will be amazed at how much he has changed. At his first birthday, I expected (obviously) that there would be alot of changes from birth to one...but even the last six months he has changed so much --- it is unbelievable to me. So many times I feel fortunate and overwhelmed with happiness that he his healthy and growing and changing....but what I would give to just hit pause sometimes...