Happy 11 Months, Adrian!

Adrian is 11 months today! This year has been the fastest one of my life, and I just know the next few years are going to go by just as fast.

At 11 months, Adrian is constantly "talking" and singing. He says a few words (mama, dada, hot, cat) and signs a few (please, thank you, more). He LOVES music more than ever and loves dancing to any sort of sound he hears.
He is eating a lot more solid foods, and takes great pleasure in feeding himself. I haven't found anything that he doesn't like.
He has 4 teeth as of today that came in in random order. He got his bottom right tooth first, then his top right eye tooth, then his bottom front left tooth, and then his top front right tooth. His top left tooth and his top left eye tooth will be in very soon. They've come in really fast since he spent the first 10 months of his life completely tooth-free!
He is still not walking, but has become really fond of the push-walker I found at a garage sale and uses it often mostly because we give him lots of obnoxious praise and applause. I'm sure I'll be running after him before too long.
One of his favorite games is putting things into our mouths. He will just crawl into our laps, force a toy car, animal cracker, stuffed toy, his bottle, etc. and crawl away with the most satisfied look on his face. It's quite hilarious.
Nick and I are always laughing about him. The Lord has truly blessed us and we are SO thankful to have this sweet child in our life :)

Our 5th Valentine's Day

I realized today that today Nick and I are celebrating our 5th Valentine's day together.

That's exciting! 5 is a big number to me :) I'm thankful to be married to him for several reasons, but today especially I'm thankful that he not only "deals with" but embraces whole-heartedly my very cheesy appreciation for Valentines Day.

I love it. Like, really majorly love Valentine's Day.

To celebrate, Nick got me a Diamond Candle. I saw the website a few months ago and asked for it specifically because it is oh.so.fun. I didn't mention it again, but being the caring and precious hubby that he is, he got me the "orchid meadow" scented candle. Orchids are my favorite flower so kudos to him for that as well.

For those who don't know what it is, here's the link: Diamond Candles

Also, when I woke up this morning, there was a long trail of love note post-its (my favorite) and sweetheart candies leading to a very giant box of chocolates. It was a magical way to start the day.

I got Nick a new pair of dress shoes (he has hinted several times that he wanted some new ones) and a pair of Angry Bird lounge pants. He was quite pleased with both gifts.

Adrian got a dancing monkey. He LOVES it and insists that it never stops dancing. We're going to go raid the valentine's section tomorrow when things go on sale to see if we can get him a different dancing toy for his birthday. It's so fun to give to my sweet loves!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Fill In the Blank Friday

 

1.  I started my blog because   I was overwhelmed by my pregnancy and impending motherhood and wanted to document my thoughts and what I was learning so I could look back on it later. I didn't see myself journaling on a physical notebook because that had never worked before. Here I am, a year and a half later, still going strong!

2.   One thing I love seeing on other blogs  are photos of children, DIY projects, blog help, true stories, encouragement, other women being vulnerable in their walk with the Lord and in their family life.

3.  Something I love about blogging   is that I can have a creative outlet by changing the layout. I also love reading other blogs and being inspired by other blogging moms. It's nice to feel that what I write may hopefully encourage someone, and if not, at least I got it off my chest. I always feel better after blogging.

4. A favorite blog post of mine is probably  blogging about how Nick and I met and fell in love, as well as Adrian's birth story. It was exciting to see how all those anxious prayers had been answered by the Lord, who is always faithful!

5. Something my friends in real life know about me that I've never before mentioned on my blog is   a lot of things. A blog is a very public forum and I try to be mindful of that.

6.  My new favorite blogs to read are  http://www.aholyexperience.com, http://momastery.com/blog/, http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/, http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/, and of course my mom's blog ,http://aponhodgepodge.blogspot.com/.

7.  Some things I tend to avoid doing on my blog are  being too transparent - if I'm writing about something controversial (which is almost never), I try to be respectful. I also try not to complain or be super negative. A blog is not the platform for that. I also try not to be fake or overly-joyous. I want my blog to be real and positive.