Recent Developments

So it's a little belated, but Happy New Year!

I'm trying oh so hard to be better about blogging here. It will help things along, I think, now that I have a beautiful Nikon D90 (whoop!) with which I can (hopefully) begin to become a better photographer. I know I have a lot to learn, and this is a good place to showcase my work, for now. If I can ever figure out how to make my website look put-together. :/

We had a wonderful Christmas, although we received the sad news about Husband's grandfather passing away. We naturally went to be with the family, and it was a bittersweet time. Good to see everyone, but of course we were all missing the patriarch of the family. Even so, I felt as if he were still there with all of us. I could sense his spirit in the gathering of the family and the happiness that everyone felt with seeing each other again, despite the reason for the gathering.

We all gathered, reminisced, laughed, and cried. We mourned the passing of a great man.



As has been the long running tradition, Little Man played the role of the go-to comforter.

And did he ever do a lot of visiting and comforting this past week!

There's just something about being around a baby that makes your heart a little warmer. Whenever we get together, we always find ourselves just staring at him. Maybe it's the opportunity for a fresh new life. Or maybe it's the sweet way that they fall asleep in your arms.

Or maybe their little cheeks that you just want to nom.

Ok, so in case you haven't picked up on it by now, there will be a gratuitous amount of baby pictures on this blog. Don't worry, I'll branch out... occasionally. But for now, it's my blog and I'll do what I want, nnyah! :)

Little Man is rolling everywhere now. You put him down somewhere and a minute later he's halfway across the room. He can rotate, get up on all fours, and get down from a sitting position without free-falling backwards, but he's not quite there with the crawling yet. I keep saying "soon, soon" but it's hard to believe he will. It will be one more step away from my tiny little cuddly newborn (sigh).

Still... rolling, rolling.

Also, we're fully into the "solid food" era. Fruits, veggies, meats, pasta - you name it, he loves it.

But his true love is currently the banana.

There were many many toys brought by Santa this year. Interestingly enough, the biggest hits were the simplest ones. Case in point: the maracas.

Loves 'em.

Also favorites: the peg and hammer set

and the ring stacker (a classic)

...Not to mention the puzzles. Ok so I know I'm a bit biased, but I thought it was pretty darn cool when we (ok, I) started putting together a puzzle in front of him and he picked up a piece and put it on the board. Whoa. Needless to say, we went out immediately and got a few more puzzles. :)

We all loved watching (and controlling) the remote controlled helicopter.

Most of all, of course, we enjoyed just being together. This was the last time for us getting together like this for a while, and my father-in-law had to soak up every last bit of Little Man's company before heading out for a few months to his big project in Africa.

So that's all for now. A brief update, some shameless showing-off of baby cuteness, and a promise to return with another post soon. I want to try my hand at a few photo challenges. :) Oh, and yes, I do realize my photos are all different sizes. Believe me, it's bugging the crap out of me. It's one of the many kinks I'm currently working on. :(

Until next time, I'll leave you with this.

And just one more that makes me happy: