busy week

auntie, are these outfits ok?

mom looked down and i was asleep.

i never kid around about my hunger.

all hooked up for my hearing test and still smiling.

what?? uncle eric and aunt kara are having a little girl? yes!

me and miss catherine

sarah, my monkey, and i have become fast friends.

grammy and i spent all friday night together.

miss megan and i at sean and julie's house warming party.

there's a first time for everything

so isaac has had a lot of firsts lately. here are some of the highlights:

first roomate: katherine daiss

first time playing the wii. although dad is a very humble wii pro-bowler, isaac was a little bored.

first flight

first attempt at learning to wave goodbye


first chevy's happy hour of the new year

first time meeting anne deggleman

first trip to little italy

first time wearing "big boy" shoes

uncle derek helping him take some of his first assisted steps

first time getting his touch on a real soccer ball. annie nearly cried she was so happy.

_____________________

it is crazy the rate at which he seems to be developing lately. he is so much more aware, so much more responsive, and so much more fun in general. he has started reaching for things from the toys that hang on his car seat to any face that is put within arms reach. it is cute, but it is also dangerous b/c somehow infants get those fingernails sharp as all get out, even if you cut them every other day like annie does.

about two weeks ago he began to realize that animals are separate and living entities. unfortunately for him the one dog his size (trooper the pug) only takes an interest in children who have recently bathed in bacon grease or raw meat. our kid is no butcher, so trooper quickly tires of his company.

the face isaac makes while pooping is quickly becoming a classic around here, cheeks red with pressure, eyes squinted with determination, body rigid with effort. he is eating all sorts of new foods lately, mom's blueberry and banana smoothies are among his favorite, so his poop is turning more colors than an everlasting gobstopper. tonight's surprise was a lump the consistency of semi hardened clay and the color of grape soda.

he LOVES to jump. arms up, feet bouncing, happy as a clam, he logs at least a couple hours a day in his jumper. (please note the extremely appropriate onesie which has a picture of a lion and reads "courage". it is a gift from anne deggleman, which supports st. jude's hospital.) when annie and i cheer for him he loves it even more; sometimes he will even look at us and wait for our applause. a first child who loves to be the center of attention? imagine that.

5 months

5 months is the best!

after i endured two shots into my scar (to help with the breakdown of the scar tissue) grauntie thought i had earned a shopping spree

auntie comes by to see me almost everyday.

naked baby time

happy baby

grandpa says we're padre fans and i'll have an outfit year round to prove it.

my colic is gone and as it turns out i am a pretty happy baby.

my momma dresses me funny

dad thinks my new hat makes me look like an ewok.

so this is the new year

if you have ever wanted a great discussion starter, may i recommend an infant. for some reason it seems strangers of all sorts are drawn to them. now, i must admit that our son is a rather handsome lad, but there is something else at work as well. fact of the matter is that people are attracted to things that are new.

think about it: people love that new car smell, a new product flies off store shelves even if it doesn't live up to the hype, and new year's is one of the biggest celebrations of the year. the idea of a clean slate or a new leaf is pretty appealing. we would all love a second chance, and most of us are in need of a four hundred and seventy third.

today is the day that most people take the opportunity to consider the coming year: the goals they want to achieve, the pitfalls they want to avoid, and the habits they want to break. it is not that today is remarkably different from any other on the calendar, but it represents something: 365 (or in this case 366) days that have not been lived, 366 new beginnings. unfortunately, this isn't entirely true.

my father in law has a proverb that goes like this: "life is a series of choices." it is his way of highlighting the fact that the decisions we make today affect the type of people we become tomorrow. each choice carries a consequence, so in the wisdom of indiana jones: choose wisely.

and yet, we have made mistakes. we have made unwise choices that have come with unwanted consequences. like sheep we have gone astray, and we have started to become people we never intended to be.

some are very aware of this trend and they recognize the ways in which this pattern has played out in their lives. a few years ago i was listening to a radio interview with fiona apple, a female musician known at least in part for her caustic break up songs. "you have all these really horrible break ups," noted the interviewer. "do you think you are cursed when it comes to love?" her viciously insightful response came without hesitation: "well, i would like to think so, but then i realize that i am the common denominator in all these relationships."

i believe that most people see babies as a fresh start, a life with endless potential, a chance to correct or redeem their past mistakes, the promise of a story with a better resolution. while to some extent this may be true, they are also born into a world full of people who are reaping what they have sown. new children are surrounded, and sometimes even parented, by undone, flawed, and old adults.

one of my favorite authors/speakers is a guy named donald miller. the first time i heard him speak he confessed, "the struggle of my life is that i become new." it is to this struggle that Christ came to speak, offering the promise of new way of living, a new way of life, a new creation, the kingdom of God in the here and now, something truly new, truly hopeful, truly redemptive.

my dream for the new year is that i can live in response to hope and not in reaction to fear. our world is drowning in its own worry, and i am so prone to going under. i want to trust in the goodness of God, and in the life Christ came to initiate. i want to respond in patience, grace and love, instead of anger, hurt, and apathy. we think isaac is starting to teeth, so this should be a perfect time to practice.

below is a prayer i believe was authored by eleanor roosevelt. may it strengthen you in this new year:

"our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us all seekers after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to be satisfied with what we make of life. draw us from base content and set our eyes on far-off goals. keep us at tasks too hard for us that we may be driven to Thee for strength. deliver us from fretfulness and self-pitying; make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world. open our eyes to simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from us because we do not try to understand them. save us from ourselves and show us a world made new."