Happy 1st birthday, Jack!

Jack, what a beautiful boy you're becoming! We love you so much, and your giggles and hoots, bear crawl and your cheeky grins all bring us great delight. In honor of your first birthday today, here is a collection of your momma's favorites from this past year.

What a cute baby burrito you were in the hospital!


Your brother loved you from the very beginning...


So did Dada...


Everyone wanted their turn to hold you...


Or to try and make you smile...






Mama likes watching you sleep,


and loves that you have your Dada's big blue eyes and dimply knuckles.


You've already proven yourself to be a great traveler...


And met lots of really wonderful people... (Eric's grandma, Ellen Wheeler


and our niece Sally Joy Fender - who looks like a tiny babydoll in this photo but is actually an appropriately-sized newborn!)


And made good pals with the little guys at Mom's Group... (Jack's in dark green, then clockwise - Elliot, Aidan, Sam, and Cooper... we were missing Caden and Beckett that day to be the complete set of boys!!)


You've celebrated Christmas...


And been to a family wedding...


You've learned to play...


and grab your toes...


and do push ups...


You can sit...


And stand...


And crawl on your hands and knees...


and today you "cruised" for the first time!


You've eaten LOTS of good food! Plastic chicken legs...


and applesauce...


and corn on the cob...


and now, birthday cupcake!


I love you, Jack! And I thank God for you every day!

Tonight's Bedtime Prayers...

Tonight as I was putting Brooks down for the night, we got into a conversation about Jesus and Batman and Curious George. He mentioned bad guys again - he's had a thing about "bad guys" lately, perhaps taking my warnings to stick close to me in crowded, busy places VERY seriously. He announced that bad guys like to come out when it's dark, but that they go away when it's light outside. I told him about Jesus being the Light of the World, and how when we have Jesus in our hearts, we don't have to be afraid, even in the darkness... That Jesus can drive away the darkness and our fears.

Brooks wanted to know who was good, or MORE good - Batman or Jesus? When I explained that no one was good ALL the time, except for God/Jesus, and that that meant that Jesus definitely won that one, he said "is Curious George good?" Boy is this guy literal, or what? All his Curious George books start with "This is George, he's a good little monkey and always very curious. One day..."

After telling him that God was by definition good, that He was the perfect example of all that is good, I sang "Love Him" and tucked him in. As I moved to the door, Brooks announced that Batman visited his room sometimes at night, after we turned the lights off. He wanted me to stay in the room after switching the lights off to see if we could see him. Lo and behold, Brooks announced as soon as it was dark "there he is, Mom!! See!?!" Me? I was still in the dark. (Hmm, when did this obsession with Batman start? Probably at the eye glasses store, where they have a Barbie-doll sized Batman with movable limbs for kids to play with while their glasses are adjusted.)

But I told him as I said my final goodbyes that Jesus is always with us when we ask Him to come near, and that He would be in the room with Brooks tonight, in the dark. He just had to call Him. As I shut the door and listened with my ear to the crack, I heard "Jesus? JEEEE-sus? Are you there??"

May he hear Him answer, and open the door for God to come into his heart at this tender age.