Happy 1st Birthday John!!! 7-31-13

John loves to crawl, but he is especially fond of keeping the toys that he likes in his hands while he does so. So he has developed this crawl to solve his problem. I have seen him crawl with no less than 3 different toys in his hands. He is very talented.

We have also had to seriously babyproof the house. John is very good at opening drawers, doors and cabinets and at getting into mischief in general.

John had his first real hair cut, (we had to handle a bit of a baby mullet and hair growing over his ears a while back, but that wasn't as big as this hair cut), on this one I had to even out all of his hair and trim around his ears, and his bangs, and in the back. It was a dangerous feat, and for this one I had to pull out all the stops and put him in front of the TV. Normally, this is not allowed, but when it comes to TV or a stab wound, we will choose TV. He was mesmerized, and did very well, I even cut his fingernails and toenails too! So I've found that there is a small place for the TV in our baby's life - as a safety precaution.

Mr. Tippy Toes Mozart

John is also our little piano prodigy. He loves to stand on his tiptoes and play the piano (well...he's always standing on his tiptoes, really). Sometimes John plays the piano and sings to us at the same time. We are so proud :)

This was John's birthday bath, his last one in the baby tub. He has now graduated to the big tub. He loves taking baths! He is our little fish.

And we had to get some pictures of him in his "Birthday Suit" as my mom would call it!

Opening birthday presents! We had to space them out, one each day. So it was kind of a birthday week. John loved the wrapping paper. Thank you, thank you to those who gave John such generous gifts! He has had so much fun reading his new books and playing with his toys!

He loves to laugh and laugh and laugh. It is my favorite sound. It brings so much joy to us to hear him laugh!

Unfortunately with all of John's developments have come more falls. But he's a good sport and usually rolls out of them pretty well.

You can kind of see John's 4 top teeth in this one.

He's finally learned how to chew on food! (He has always been great at chewing on toys). And now he can feed himself which is great!

John has really loved going apple picking with us this month. He likes to pat the apples, touch the leaves and hold a piece of apple in his hand to gnaw on.

I've been meaning to post this Birthday post for a long time, but I haven't yet because I've wanted to wait until I had plenty of time to write down what John means to us, some profound words to express how much we love him, and how much joy he has brought into our lives. But I realize there would never be time sufficient to express all that in a blog post, so I'll just have to tell him every day in every chance I get that he has brightened every moment of our days, that our most ardent desire is for his safety and happiness, that we learn so much from him, like how to love unconditionally, how to see the good in everyone, how to smile and laugh and enjoy life, how to learn and grow every day. We are amazed that we have been entrusted to care for such a special spirit. 5 and a half years now doesn't seem as long to wait for a son so precious and loving and happy and wonderful. We knew God had something great in store for us, but we never could have known what a joy John would be. We have a son, our little son John. We are deeply grateful every day. 

We love you John!