Good, not perfect, but really good...

Blaine is changing faster than the speed of light!! I cannot get over how much he comprehends, even more than he can tell me right now. With the addition of the Christmas tree you can imagine that things got interesting...well really they didn't. From the very beginning Blaine really didn't bother the tree so much. I'm not sure if it's because he had already has his little tree for sometime (and it has COLORED LIGHTS...) OR if he really just wasn't that impressed with the tree, either way he hasn't made a huge fuss about our tree in the living room. We really watched him carefully in the very beginning and really made a big deal out of telling him "NO" about the touching the tree. We said you can look at the tree but no touching...we would say "NO NO, OHHHH NO" about touching the tree while making the gesture with our hand no no...now he looks at ANYTHING that we have ever told him no about and he makes the no no gesture. : ) It's amazing how quickly they learn isn't it???

Blaine is such a good baby...he is so pleasant and fun loving...he laughs and smiles constantly and is always thinking and MOVING!!! I am learning so much as a Mom. So much about picking my battles, and making sure that I pick the important ones, and go with the flow (so not my personality believe it or not). I have learned a lot from Jason about being a good parent, so much about letting some things go and focusing on what is important 10 min. from now. I am so lucky to have a husband that is invested in our family, even though he isn't here every afternoon or night (which I hate). I have to admit, I get frustrated some times when I'm here and it's only me..I occasionally resent the fact that he has someone (me) to make major decisions and worry about the logistics of life...but I also realize when he comes home and takes over, how lucky I am to have a husband that is capable and willing to let me have a few minutes to myself to have a bath, or a phone conversation, a lot of women don't have that.

ANYWAY... we had a great week and weekend...my Mom's family gathered here on Saturday. All of my Mom's siblings showed up, and even a few of us cousins to chat and catch up on what's going on with all of us in the last ummm...10 years : ) I LOVED it...I loved the chance to see everyone, talk to them, and reminisce about our parents/grandparents. We got to see Cailynn, Blaine's cousin, and Blaine had a BLAST with her. It was the first time that he had had the opportunity to be around another child so close to his own age, and it was FUN to watch. I cannot believe that I didn't get a picture, but I was really busy keeping up with Blaine...you have to have your eyes on him ALL the time...Jason and I took turns and I was busy catching my breath when I wasn't directly involved in what was going on. In fact the ONLY picture that I captured of the evening was this one...

I love my family, and i am so thankful that I was able to spend time with them. I want Blaine to know that Christmas is about getting together with family, playing with cousins, and celebrating Jesus' life. These are the important things in life...

Jason, along with our friend Jim helped to make reindeer food for the get together....I HAD to get a picture of this!!!




This is one of Blaine's favorite places to go in our house...the laundry room...Daisy's bowl is in the laundry room...he loves to sneak a splash in the bowl...




We bought storm doors right after we moved into the new house, but JUST had them installed, and Blaine LOVES them!!! I took a picture of the






Here are a couple of videos of Blaine learning to sit and "rock rock" in his rocking chair that my co-worker Robert gave him before he was even born...






Life is so good right now...not perfect (we all have our daily trials), but so good. I love my family