Lovin' life!

I have really, really been enjoying Jasper lately. Not just me, but my husband, also. Jasper is in this incredibly  precious stage where he says new things daily and is constantly picking up new "tricks" or flooring me by performing some new task that I didn't know he could do.

For example, the other day I was talking out loud and said, "oh! I need to get you a clean diaper." and Jasper toddled out of the kitchen and came back a moment later holding out a clean diaper. Totally floored me. Now every time he has a dirty diaper, I say, "Jasper, grab a clean diaper. It's time to change you." and he really obeys me! I'm still floored because I never, ever taught him what a "clean diaper" is or where we store them.

Another example, when something is a "no touch" and i'm training Jasper not to touch it, I say (with concern in my voice), "Jasper, no no no. Don't touch the remotes." I apparently always say "no" 3 times, although I didn't realize it until Jasper started saying "no" yesterday.

I have been dreading and dreading the day that Jasper learned the word "No". I thought it would be horrible and my precious little darling would turn into a rebellious monster. I could not have been more wrong. It's utterly, completely, profoundly precious.. Whenever Jasper sees something he's not allowed to touch or something that's off-limits, he points at it and says to himself in a VERY concerned voice, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...." He says it all as one word, it sounds an awfully lot like yodeling, and he says it with concern and caution filling his voice. He looks to me for approval to make sure he's getting it right, and once I affirm what he's saying, he goes back to his "no" yodeling for quite some time. It is so, so precious.

As I watch Jasper yodeling "nononononononono..." while pointing at some off-limits thing, and as my heart is completely melting within me, I often find myself thinking of the verse in Psalm 8: "What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?". God heard our pleas for a child and I still can't believe God chose us to be the parents of this precious, precious boy and I'm so often filled with humble gratefulness as I thank Him for our precious blessing.

This stage of Jasper's life is the best stage ever. Hands down. Granted, I've said that about each stage so far, but this one really is the best one yet.

Did someone say "new shoes"???

So... something that you may not know about Jasper is that he is completely, wholly, unabashedly addicted to accessories. More often than not, I get him out of his crib in the morning and the first thing he does is go to his "accessories basket" and pick out a hat and pair of shoes to wear. If you happen to stop by our house early in the morning, it would not be unusual to see Jasper running around in a diaper, hat, shoes, and nothing else (yes, I have lots of pictures of this favorite "outfit" of his).

If, on the rare occasion, we forget to pick out some accessories before breakfast, Jasper will suddenly look up from his bowl of oatmeal and say "HAT! HAT! HAT! HAT!!! SHOOOOOOES!" In other words, when it's all said and done, we never really forget to put on accessories.

Another thing about Jasper: there is no greater joy in his life than to see that momma (really, daddy b/c daddy makes all the big bucks around here) bought him NEW shoes!! Last evening I went through the process of switching over Jasper's summer wardrobe with his fall wardrobe, so one of the very 1st things Jasper saw this morning was not 1 pair of "new" (to him) shoes, but 2 PAIR!!!

This morning, he looked at the shoes, looked at me, he started grinning so large it almost cracked his face in half, looked at the shoes, looked at me some more, grinned huge, then picked up a new shoe and started frantically jamming it against his foot. He was SO eager to wear his new shoes; it melted my heart! He wore one pair of  new shoes during breakfast, then when breakfast was over, he ran over, grabbed the other pair of new shoes, and started frantically jamming those new shoes against his foot.  He. was. in. heaven. And frankly, so was I. I never dreamed I would have a 16 month old son who loves new shoes as much as I do!!

We put the 2nd pair of new shoes on his feet, and then he sat still. Let me repeat this: he sat still. My son NEVER EVER EVER in a billion years ever sits still. For anything. Period. But he got his new shoes on and he sat still and just stared at them in wonder and appreciation. I happened to have the camera handy (surprise!) so I snapped a few pics of Jas, rockin' in his nubby thrift-store sweat pants, wearing his new brown dress shoes.


Here he is, sitting on my lap, just staring at his new shoes.

Here he is again. Jasper had just stood up, then decided he wanted to stare at his shoes some more, so he bent over upside down and is staring in joy at his new shoes. He stayed like this for a disturbingly long time. :o)

Now, finally, Jasper decided it was time to play again. But the new shoes MUST stay on.

I will do everything in my power to make sure my little guy doesn't grow out of his accessories addiction! It's just the best! :o)

Friends!

The Lord has given me such, such, SUCH awesome friends!! Almost everyday, I'm blown away by how I have SOO many girlfriends who not only love the Lord but are also FUN, energetic, stylish, current, love to eat, supportive of their husbands, and hip!! And I'm always so humbled by how they genuinely care for me, my fam, and all that's happening in my life. I don't deserve these friends who so selflessly love on me, pray for me, and give their time to get together to gab and watch Jas as I get my hair cut, etc. I definitely don't deserve them but I'm SO, sooo thankful for them and really, REALLY cherish them!!


Me and my momma... a lifetime of memories, heart-fulls of love, and the best girlfriend a gal could possibly dream of!

Mother's Day cookout at our house many years ago!

At John and Ali's wedding in Maryland just 2 days after my emergency tonsillectomy hemorrhage surgery for which mom dropped everything to come be at my side. 

Visiting grams (and mom, her caretaker) at the Rehab Center.

At mom and dad's house, announcing to my fam that Andrew and I were pregnant.

Mom's birthday party at my house (my huge, pregnant belly didn't make the pic)

Mom at my side as much as possible for Jasper's emergency c-section. Here is their first bonding moment and Jasper is just an hour old.

Cade's graduation in Indiana!

Right after I finished my duatholon, during which mom cheered me on ecstatically! 

LOVE this pic! It so captures the heart and spirit of my precious momma! 

A slice of paradise

Jasper and I had the wonderful privilege of going up to my parents' house for a few days!! I thought we would have a really nice time, but we had a BLAST!!! A total, complete, 100%-off-the-radar blast!!!

We met GG Sally at Panera for a scrumptious lunch, then went to the farm and started the festivities!! First on the list, play time with Marley (the dog, aka Jasper's newest bff) and Nana's wagon which Jasper quickly grew addicted to. Then nap time for both Jasper and me (thanks Mom!! You're a saint!!), and then.... the county FAIR!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE county fairs!!

Lovin' the goats!

Waiting patiently while I buy my 4th fair food of the evening!!

Riding the carousel with Nana & Brogan, Papa & Elliot, and me & Jas. Jasper loved loved loved the carousel; I'm trying to decide if we can justify buying one for our backyard.

After an awesome evening at the fair, we got an exhausted Jasper into bed and Mom, Dad, and I chilled on the couch and watched some Covert.

The next day dawned bright and beautiful and held so many new adventures for Jasper, such as:

more play time with Marley...

more wagon time...

paddle boat rides with Nana!!

gator rides with Nana!! (have I mentioned how fun Nana is??)

pickin' corn from Papa's field after a lovely visit with GG Tractor...

 helpin' Papa get the combine ready for harvest!

and getting dressed up with beautiful Nana to get coffee and do some shopping in Bucyrus!

Yes! It seriously was SOO wonderful and lovely and relaxing, and I keep thinking how blessed we were to have a little slice of paradise.

Bible

One of the highlights of my day is reading the Bible with Jasper every morning.
He really treats the Bible with respect and loves it when I let him touch it and turn the pages.
We talk a lot about how the Bible is God's Holy Word and how everything in it is true. (yes, I totally stole that sentence from lesson #1 of BSF :o))
Below is a picture from our Bible time this morning. :o)

Crazy hair

I'm not sure why or how, but all of Jasper's hairs on his head decided to stick straight out this afternoon.

Being the "camera obsessive" mom that I am, I couldn't resist snapping a few pics. :o)

Smelling!

Jasper has a new passion in life, and it's smelling our candles.

It. is. precious.

He yearns and yearns to smell.

This morning, I got Jasper out of his crib, and the first thing he did was look at me and make a looooooooong "smelling" noise. He basically closes his mouth and sniffs through his nose. and sniffs through his nose. and sniffs through his nose. and sniffs through his nose. Then I say, "Jasper, do you want to smell a candle?" And he goes absolutely bonkers with joy.

Jas is totally addicted. As soon as he smells a candle, he asks with such sweetness and longing to smell the candle again. and again. and again.

Our morning looked like this:

Got Jas out of crib, we smelled the candle, I put Jas in his highchair, we smelled the candle, I got out a box of cereal, we smelled the candle, I poured some flakes on his tray, we smelled the candle. I got out the milk, we smelled the candle, I poured milk in the bowl, we smelled the candle.

And no, I'm not exaggerating. After breakfast, I finally wised up and put Jasper on the couch with all the candles and we spent a good chunk of the morning sitting on the couch and smelling candles on the couch.

(note- if you ever wondered what a stay at home mom does, wonder no longer. Things like this is what she does.)

Not only does Jasper love to vigorously smell the candles, but he loves to hold the candle out so I can smell it, too. I think I permanently have "lavender", "creme brulee", and "peach" stuck in my nose.

A few pics from our "candle-smellin' morning".

Jasper's favorite candle, the creme brulee

His joy at smelling cracks me up, especially since we've been smelling for the past 2 hours.

smelling...

and more smelling.

I'm pretty sure I know what we'll be doing this afternoon! :o)