Ten Months and Walking (sometimes)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

10 months

This is what I get trying to take his picture at 10 months.....busy, busy, busy! 

His mobile is still one of his favorite things :)

"hello"

Playing peek-a-boo with the curtains

"Where's Tytus?"

"Peek-a-boo!"

Tytus has been perfecting his walking skills for quite some time. He took his first steps right after nine months, has been cruising for several months, and now will take himself short distances alone. Crawling is definitely more efficient at this point, but when necessary he'll stand up and go for it. He's also figured out how fun it is to climb up and down things. At church we have small steps leading up to where we sit, so they provide some great entertainment when the time is right.

Right after we got back into town after Thanksgiving, Tytus and I pulled out our Christmas decorations and put up the Christmas tree. He mainly played with the box as I assembled things but then watched very carefully as we hung the ornaments. I'm sure he was wondering why we seemed to be hanging toys on this weird fake tree. That kind of triggers the thought of "Why do we do this every year?". Ian and I have started to talk about our traditions, why we celebrate, and how we plan on teaching the importance and real reason for the holidays we celebrate. What a gift and responsibility we have to pass on all of these things to our son!

This year we put up Christmas lights for the first time. It was a whole family project as it took us several trips to Home Depot, Lowes, and Hobby Lobby to get the right number, kind, and size of lights. Who knew there were so many choices? We all sat on the floor to put the clips on and then Ian did most of the hanging with a little bit of help from me. They looked so good once they were up, and it's been fun to have a lit up house at night.

Mia and Tytus are being so helpful

Figuring out how to help daddy

Now we're really workin'

Now that Christmas is over and we're starting the new year we'll need to take down our lights and decorations and clear a path for everything before us. We ended up being out of town for the holidays a lot longer than we'd planned, so once we got back we desperately wanted to get settled in and get things in order. We ran several errands, did some much needed grocery shopping, bought and sold a car, and started to clear out the garage. With home projects, storing various things for friends, and all the in's and out's of the year (including a large collection of teaching supplies/papers from my classroom last year) it is in need of some reorganizing. Most things have a place, so we started putting things back where they belong. In the meantime I managed to work on painting a side table (almost finished!) and Ian fixed/worked on various things inside and outside the house. We make such a great team!

The guys of the house working together. 

So much has changed in the past year, and we're praying that this coming year will give us just as many opportunities to listen closely and follow what the Lord is leading us to. He reveals things in perfect timing and always brings to completion what He starts. I hope that we all find comfort and energy from the promise that He has numbered our days and has a specific plan for each of us.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Playing before bedtime in some new pj's. Thanks Andy and Renee!

Just gettin' smarter and smarter for what's to come this year :)