Family of 3

While my mom was here we took some family picture at our house. Many great places to take pictures here and all of these are in our backyard! We have had tons of rain, so we did it in between showers. My mom did a great job and so did my guys! I seriously could not narrow it down anymore than these. So there are a lot. Enjoy!

building behind us is the old spring house for this place

that is where they used to store anything that needed to stay cold

beautiful huge poplar tree right next to it

this one makes me smile. he was trying so hard to pull on the forsythia.

We have a walker now!!!

Pictures and life will never be the same.

almost looks like he is fishing

He thought sitting the logs was hilarious.

I have no idea why!!!

i just might want to be an otter

I have been saving 2 passes to our Nature Center for over a year now. I wanted to wait till Cap was just a little older so he could enjoy all the fun stuff it has to offer. Since my mom came, it was the perfect time to use them since Cap gets in free. So off we went the next day after she got her! It was in the upper 70s lower 80s, sunny, and bee-you-ta-full!!! That kind of weather in the middle of March here is quite treasured. All the animals were awesome! Cap walked around calling and signing EVERYTHING a dog!! It was hilarious. He loved it!

Here are some pictures that captured our fun day! I loved having my mom here and of course Cap did too!

We were watching the raccoons come out from hiding.

They were eating blueberries and peanut butter which is one

of Cap's favorite.

Cap was cracking us up doing this. I think he is trying to stand up.

He can't go from sitting to standing yet, but soon.

Grandma Spesh and Cap checking out the chickens.

They let you go in on this one part and pet the animals.

I wish I would have had a video of Cap. He is just so

funny. He has such a personality.

This was a long fast slide right by the otters.

We did this a million times. Every single time Cap would

be cracking up before we even started to come down.

He thought it was so much fun!!! Too cute!

Mr. Cool himself. Enjoying his new shades and sun hat thanks

to his grandma. We wore him out...or did he wear us out???

Not sure. But I want to be an otter. I think an otter is Cap's animal.

Hope you enjoyed the day of pics like we enjoyed the day!

12 months

written on 3-12-12

Happy Birthday my sweet dear Capitan!! What a year! Every hour since the middle of the night last night, I have been thinking where I was in labor at this time last year. As I type this the night before the Big Day, I was finally getting to the hospital after laboring at home for 15-16 hours. I really thought the Kid would come on the 12th! If only I knew how hard of time he was going to have coming out!!!! We are so thankful to have spent the year as Cap's mom and dad. What a blessing you are son and a joy to be woven into our family. We are so proud of you and who you are becoming. We love you. Happy 1st year!

- weighed 22.10 one week ago

- took his first steps 4 days before his 1st birthday

- back to not eating

- he has been in the same size clothes since October (in hopes he will be in full time undies next winter, his pants should still fit since they are 18-24 month size)

- does not like hard soled shoes on his feet

- signs 'more' for many things these days...anytime he wants something opened, pulled down, etc.

- also signs 'more' when he says again

- wipes his nose with the back of his hand

- likes the nose sucker thing now since we use it ALL day

- after he poops in the toilet, he like to flush it and light a match (we light it of course)

- did not eat any of his birthday cupcake this weekend (more on that later)

- forward facing in the car now and loving it!

- sick for almost 5 weeks straight

- he LOVES his blanket and LOVES to rest his head on us and cuddle...usually not for too long though

- has a thing for feta cheese (comes from a goat)

- when he wants up he hikes up his right leg way up like a climber

- we taught you "no" a couple of weeks ago. you have done awesome with it! (more on that later also)

- likes the park but would rather just slide a few times and then walk all over the place

- starting to get his 2 front teeth and we also think the 2 side ones next to them are coming in soon

- great helper. give this boy a rag and he will copy his mama wiping down whatever needs some wipen'

- gets very excited when we go to the farm to take our compost. likes to watch the chickens, goats, and Lou the turkey do their thing

- not as good at signing for potty due to being sick for so long:(

- took his first nap in the nursery during my women's bible study!!! i was shocked! and so were the sweet ladies who watch him!

- great at asking (signing) for help

I am sure he is doing much more. He is a growing sponge watching and listening to everything around him. He can be SO funny at times, and of course, hard to be around other times!!! Enjoying the moment...

Happy Happy Birthday!

Fact: I did do a 12 month post on time, but I have not downloaded the pics yet which is what I need to "really" finish it.

Fact: Cap is 1!

Fact: We gave it 2 go's on 2 different days with 2 different treats and he did not want to eat either one of them!!! (I called this one though)

Fact: Great kid, feeling much better, my mom is here!!!! Too many good things going on here to be on this thing blogging!!!

Will publish his 12 month post soon!!!

Enjoy these teasers for now!

His Own Path

One of the many things I love about Cap is he has no concept of trails, paths, or sidewalks. We walk TONS outside and the path he creates for himself is different every time. We step over big rocks, in and out of flower beds (dirt and weed beds right now), up and over our locust fence, back on the porch and down in between 2 poles. Sometimes we do laps or circles and other times we go from the lake back to our house back to the lake and so forth.

His almost 1 year old self has not been confined in a box or taught that there is only 1 way off our porch. He has not been taught that there is only one way to do things. We have a "free range child". Though he is being taught biblical ways to live life and love people...and there is an order to our home, he is free. We are going to do the best we can, relying on God's wisdom, to teach him, love him, show him what it means to give your life away, and many other things so that when he does have to pick which way to go, which turn to take, which path to make, he will seek God and make the right choice. I know it will be his decision and my job right now is to give him what he needs for when that day comes.

Well, all of that and I really just wanted to say I love his own little path!!!!

On Friday, Cap took his first steps. He was with Bryce and just did it! Bryce thinks it was about 5-7 steps! Cap didn't even really know what he did, but he knew his dad was excited! 1-2 hours later, he did it for me too, but more like 4-5 steps. Crazy! So he is getting there.

It was kind of an emotional day honestly. A few days before this happened, Bryce pointed out that Cap is not always going to need hold my hands all day long like he does now. Sometimes I find myself weary of bending over holding my little guys hands for hours throughout the day, but it will all change one day too soon. Though he still needs my hands and isn't walking fully on his own yet, I know he won't always need them.

Friday night, Cap woke up in the middle of the night. He hasn't done this in a long time and I could tell he wasn't going to go back to sleep easily. He is still fighting some sickness, me and him both. Yes, we are going on 5 weeks now!!! So crying it out was not an option! I went in his room, picked him up, and held him. It might have been my favorite 2 am waking since he was born. I so enjoyed holding him and rubbing his back and letting him know we are proud of him.

I eventually brought him back to our room to try to get a little more sleep. This is only the second time we have done this. He was sick the other time also.

Bryce ended up getting up and going on a very long trail run in the dark. Side note: very sexy that my husband started his long run at 5 in the morning so he could be back with his family for the day. So it was just me and Cap in bed for the rest of the night. He was hilarious in ways where only a video would do it justice. He eventually went back to sleep. I did not. Cap was a snoring fool with being so stopped up. But I loved every waking moment that night. Thank you Lord for my family.

1 Year Ago

This time last year I was exactly 40 weeks pregnant...patiently, or not so patiently waiting for the life inside of me to want to come out and play. I was one happy woman growing Cap in my belly. I am thankful for life today and looking forward to my son turning one next week.

Cows and Poop

I find myself not blogging when I don't have any new pictures to post. I haven't really had the camera out lately for some reason. Thought I would give a little dairy and EC update for those anxious and curious readers out there who are interested.

First up, the cow. We have been almost dairy free since January 1 now. At first it was an attempt for me to breath better and take away some allergies. There are many more reasons for it now. The best and fastest way to understand it more would be to watch a documentary called "Forks over Knives". You can stream it on netflix for those of you who do that. Off the website it briefly states, "Forks over Knives presents evidence that a whole food plant-based diet can prevent, and in many cases, reverse degenerative diseases." Cutting dairy is just a start for us.

We have always considered ourselves "freegans". You know, if it is meat and free we will eat it, if it is veggies and free we will eat it too. Now it looks as if we will eventually be primarily vegans, but it is a process. I also don't think we will stop eating meat or dairy products entirely. But it will not be a normal thing in our pantry or fridge. We eat dairy right now once a week on a pizza. I just can't give pizza up. Cutting dairy was hard for the first few weeks. It made me a little crazy actually. But now the only time I really miss it, is when we eat noodles. I just love parmesan cheese. Other than that, we have found good substitutes where we can and have just given up the rest entirely.

Now on to EC. My last update was about how awesome Cap is doing with letting us know he needs to go potty. Well...then he had the runs for a few weeks and now we are all out of whack. I realized I have been spoiled with a baby who did all of his poo's in a pot since he was 7 months old. It has been over 4 months since I have had to clean this many poop diapers!!! BUT, we are getting back into the swing of things. We are just being way more intentional and back to leading him more with it instead of waiting for him to tell us. Poor guy has just had a funny body this month that's all. He is feeling much better, actually he has been hilarious lately. Still has a terrible cough that is lingering inside of him.

I feel like I have more updates.........oh, we are becoming more productive in my household as of a few days ago. We are trying to stay up later and wake up earlier to add more hours to our day. Let me tell you, this is not easy for me. Ask my parents, I just need a lot of sleep. During the winter is the worst for me. I love to go to bed between 8-9 and wake up at 7. Ridiculous I know. Summer is way different, but still require more sleep than most. So now we have been waking up at 6 so we have roughly an hour before Cap wakes up. That hour is worth it for me. I can journal and read before the day starts rather than doing it in the middle of this and that. It is also nice to determine when I wake up rather than getting woke up by Cap at various times. Puts me in a better mood! We shall see how this last!

These are a couple of pictures when Cap and I drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway and went for a short hike/ rather walk. It was gross and cold, but still beautiful in the blue ridge mountains. Enjoy!