first year

Ok, enough of that deep, mind-wandering thinking... let's go lighthearted today. Afterall, it's a new month! Happy November, yall. And - happy almost one year birthday to my youngest! Wow, how time flies! This little guy has turned into quite the charmer. We wake up each morning and open his blinds, waving "hi world" and saying "thank you" to God for the start of a new day. He is a morning person - his wave "hi" turns into smiles and grins at mommy, and then, inevitably a wiggle in my arms to get down and play! The differences between boys and girls is so huge, even at less than one year old. With the same variety of baby toys as his big sister, this guy automatically turned to the rattles that made noise and, even better, could bang on things and make twice the noise! As soon as he could crawl, came cars or anything with wheels - he just knew how to do it. I don't even think we had to show him! He now has a bigger tractor that he can stand and (hunching over) push across the room. He'll be walking on his own any day now. It'll be interesting to see if it happens before his first birthday or just after. He has mastered "cruising" and has enough confidence to hold onto one thing and turn to reach out and, shifting his weight, move to something else, and then continue walking around that item. It's so neat to watch how they progress. He can stand by himself and will squat down to pick something up, still balancing. So much changes in that first year of life - it is truly amazing!
He loves to wave hello to strangers, seeing them smile, then smiling back at them or burrowing his head shyly into my neck. He will sit and watch Thomas the Train with big sister or watch football with daddy (still working on the "touchdown" signal). He is an outside kind of guy. He adores his swing and likes to climb up on his toddler slide, just sitting at the top watching the world around him.
I guess because it has been so long since Lynn was a baby and probably because of the reminder of how precious life is after losing Nathan, but it has been such a joy to watch Zane grow this first year. I pray for his future and the plans that God already has laid out for him.

Thank you for the gift of motherhood, God, especially when I forget how precious a gift it is.