THE STORY OF A BOY AND HIS HAIR

People have told me for about six months that I need to get Isaac's hair cut, and mothers with little baldies will perhaps not understand this, but it's a difficult decision. After all, once the hair is gone, so is your baby...he all of a sudden becomes a little boy, at least in my mind. So I have procrastinated (which, no, I do not have a habit of doing). Some of the last pictures of my son's long locks are in this blog; I know, I need to get his hair cut!

In his defense, he was sick this day, and I know the picture is AWFUL, but I had to show you the head of hair I am dealing with!
Here he is in the chair Granny bought him for Christmas, and, yes, his hair is big...
...and crazy all around!
I love you sweetie...you, and ALL of your hair!

SNOW DAYS

Snow days are fun, paid days off for me. Isaac also enjoys them because we get to play all day long! This week we got 8 inches of snow in one day, so I bundled my toddler up to go out and play; after all, his first reaction to seeing his first snowfall was to stick his hand in it and eat it. I just KNEW I had a snowbaby. Alas, I set him down for the first time, and this was the fruit of my labor (20 minutes of bundling...hey, at least he's still in diapers, so I didn't have to immediately unbundle him to take a trip to the bathroom).

So, Kelly, while you wish for snow and your kids would probably LOVE it, I wish for it to leave (please!), and my kid isn't exactly thrilled with it! Love you; enjoy that Miami weather!

ISAAC'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

Playing with LeapFrog Caterpillar with cousin Jajuan

Please allow me to compose my masterpiece!

Piano from Grandma Frances (thank you!)

Sand toys in a wagon from Papa and Mimi

In the wagon with Papa and Mimi

Family pic

I loved my balloons
Musical card from Papa and Mimi...I LOVE to dance!

I loved the 100 balls in my sandbox (because it will be too cold to play in it outside for a while now), but I was not thrilled about being IN the sandbox with 100 balls!
I'm actually attempting to share with my cousin Jajuan!
The Birthday Prince has been crowned!

So handsome (why doesn't he smile???)
Half of a smile

Here, have some cake!

Isaac with Mommy

Happy first birthday, Isaac! Thank you to all who came out to make it such a special time...Mommy, Daddy, Papa, Mimi, Granny, Gigi, John-John, Jajuan, Sam, and Phil! You are all really great friends!

It was one year ago that my life was forever changed.
It was one year ago that I experienced the greatest pain I ever hope to experience.
It was one year ago that I met the most wonderful person.
It was one year ago that I fell in love.
It was one year ago that I met my son.
It was one year ago that I experienced the greated joy I ever thought possible.
It was one year ago that my life was forever changed.

Isaac, you have made the past year more wonderful than words can express! I love you so very deeply, and I could never have dreamed of a better son! Happy first birthday!

Christmas with Mommy's Family

Gammy with Aubrianna, Annaliese, Isaac and Carson

Gammy and Aunt Crystal with all the kids!
Daddy and Isaac...I LOVE this picture!
At the Toledo Zoo Lights

Christmas Pictures

At the Lights Before Christmas (although we went after) at the Toledo Zoo...it was a COLD night, but we still had lots of fun with Aunt Amber, Aubrianna, Annaliese, Uncle Jamie, Aunt Crystal, Christian, Carson, Chloe, Gammy and Papa. (Uncle Ed went back to Chicago for church the next day, and we missed him a lot.)

Christmas morning breakfast

In front of all my gifts
My new toothpaste was my favorite
Not to be outdone by my Cheerios
Are there more???
Opening Christmas Eve PJs with Daddy

So he's not a fan of clothing gifts
But once he put them on, he was excited!
Our little man in his Christmas Eve PJs Granny gave Isaac a sit and stride car...he LOVES it!

some cute pix...

At about 10 months old
Naked...still cute!!!
This is when Isaac had the two bottom middle teeth and the two top side teeth...it made for an interesting grin!
No, he didn't just stick his finger in a socket!
Such a handsome little man!

TRINIDAD TRIP

Hey to all of you!!! I know that I am not much of a messenger or blogger on MySpace, but I wanted to let you all know about our upcoming school mission trip to Trinidad. We will be leaving April 11 and returning April 21. There is a group of twelve; six are students, three are chaperones, and three are people outside of our school who also wanted to participate. We will be flying into Port-of-Spain, and we will be staying in a local pastor's guesthouse. There will be the opportunity for a variety of ministries, including door-to-door evangelism, kid crusades, meals on wheels, homeless shelter visitation, prison visitation, and much more. One of the opportunities that the students are very excited about is taking a hike to a waterfall on our first day with the youth group from the church we will be working with; this will allow them to get to know the teens in Trinidad really well. The total cost of this trip is $14,000; if you would be interested in being a part of this trip by financially supporting my team, please send your donation to the following address:

Fountain City Christian School
P.O. Box 150
Bryan, OH 43506

Be sure to write Missions on the memo line, and include a note indicating that you are sending a donation in response to my letter. All donations are tax-deductible, and you will receive the necessary paperwork to that end.

Thank you all for your consideration in this. Please keep my team in your prayers between now and the time of the trip.

Crystal

OK, so I am a little late on this...as always. At 10 months, Isaac measured in at the same height, but he gained about half a pound. He had lots of fun in Christmas preparations. He was a trooper going in and out of all the stores with me, and he LOVED trying new foods (especially cookies).

Christmas was so cool with him. I have always loved both giving and receiving gifts, but this year my biggest delight was found in watching Isaac's reaction to each gift he received. I will upload some pix later. He loved everything, and now that he has had these new toys for a couple of weeks, he has figured out how to work them all, and it is a blast to watch him play with everything.

On Christmas Eve, David and I sat down with Isaac and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and we talked about the true meaning of Christmas. Of course, Isaac didn't understand this (though he did clap his hands to the song), but we want to start a tradition of making focus on Jesus the main idea at this time of year (as it should be all year long). He got to open his PJ's (a tradition my parents have had since I was a kid) and his ornament for this year. He wasn't super-thrilled, but that's okay. It was throughout the next week as he received all kinds of toys that he started to LOVE opening anything that was wrapped. I will post pix soon...so cute!

At Isaac's 9-month check-up, Dr. Rasor said that he is looking great and progressing wonderfully. The only thing we need to keep an eye on is his weight and length. He has been in to 50- 75th percentile in both categories since birth, but this month he is in the 5-10th percentile for height at 27 1/4 inches, and he is in the 10-25th percentile for weight at 18.2 pounds. He has only gained one pound in three months. There are a lot of factors that could be contributing to this: he is eating more food and drinking less milk, so less calories and fat; he has learned how to crawl and is on the verge of walking, so burning more calories. We are trusting God that Isaac will be just fine...he is such a delight!

For his first Thanksgiving, Isaac was able to see all of his family in the area. On Thursday we went to David's mom's house, his Aunt Doris' and his Aunt Nita's...Isaac had a blast eating all kinds of different foods! His favorite foods that day were the macaroni and cheese and the sweet potatoes! Yummy! We also went to my parents' house just to see them for a little while. Friday morning we got up early and went shopping with Aunt Amber and Grammy. We shopped from 5am-1pm (although Isaac stayed at home with David until about 7:30). After that, we had the Garrett Thanksgiving, which was a blast with six kids all around!

Isaac in his reindeer ears

All six kids on Thanksgiving

Saturday afternoon we went to have family pictures made...that was interesting to say the least...here are some of the shots.

All of the grandkids with Grammy and Papa

What in the world are we all looking at?

Our family pic

The whole gang...this was the hard one!

The three new 2007 babies