Our little boy

These are blessed times indeed. Noah is 11 months old today, yep, just one month from being a whole year old. Is it really possible that just one year ago, I was placed on bedrest for preterm labor? What a gift that actually was, that I no longer had to work and was forced to rest, to enjoy the holidays with family, and prepare with great anticipation for our little boy who would soon arrive! If you asked Michael, he would tell you that my "bedrest" was certainly "modified." Praise the Lord that Noah waited until he was full term at 37 and 5.
Now, a year later, Noah is full of life, curiosity, expression, and energy! Over this past month, he has cut his two top middle teeth, learned to point to things, transitioned to the BIG tub, smelled a "Scratch & Sniff" book, sipped from a cup, and walked behind a push toy! In this picture, Noah was "helping" to put up our tree. His favorite ornaments to remove and carry around the house are bells and nutcrackers. We put the tree up last week, when his Great Aunt Cristina was here, and that was the same night that it flurried the first snow of the season. It made the evening seem so magical. Noah, of course didn't understand why all the excitement, but he was just happy to stay up past bedtime and be with everyone while we danced around to celebrate the first snow.
We are happy to announce that he is sleeping through the night, thanks to some good advice from a teammate of ours in Peru! It took a couple nights of letting him cry a little (sometimes for an hour), but the last couple weeks have been so much better - for all of us. Thanks for the advice, Lori!
I'm still reading "And Then I Had Kids" - and I'm still loving it. It takes me longer to finish books since I'm a slow reader and the only times I have to read are usually while I'm nursing Noah or before I fall asleep (often, sleep wins). In the chapter on discipline, she points us to Colossians 3:1-17, and brings our attention to characteristics of the "New Self." Once being clothed by the righteousness of Christ, we are called to "put to death what is earthly in you" and to rather...

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindess, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:12-17

It is my prayer that Michael and I, by the grace of God, will raise Noah to reflect these characteristics. I'm humbled at the thought of teaching these things to him, knowing that I must first learn them.