Happy First Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated the first birthday of our littlest "gift from God."  He is so precious and so amazing!  He is a very happy little one, unless you have food and fail to give it to him fast enough.  He loves food!  All kinds of food!  He eats just about anything!  No food allergies!  WooHoo!  That is a miracle!  God healed me and my five older children of food allergies/sensitivities, and so much more, and God gave us a baby without any of the "issues" that my older children and I suffered.  Praise the Lord!

I write this to remember this precious child's first year and this special celebration of his life.

This baby sleeps!  He has always been a good sleeper compared with our other children.  He napped regularly, and though he woke in the night, he always went back to sleep, so he never had his days and nights mixed up.  That is a huge blessing!  Praise the Lord!  Just before the school year started, he began to sleep through the night (12 hours).  I nurse him.  I sing to him.  I lay him down.  I walk out.  He goes to sleep.  Amazing!!!  Praise the Lord!

He began to walk earlier than our other children.  The first five children all walked within two weeks of their first birthday.  This little guy started walking at ten months.  I know that other babies have walked earlier and that ten months is within the normal range for walking, but for us, it is a novel and exciting thing to have such a little one toddling around under foot.  He's so big, yet not.  I loved that he was such a confident walker by the time he celebrated his first birthday!  It's a whole different kind of first birthday when they can run around the way he did.

He loved the balloons.  He is doing his best to say, "Balloon!"  It comes out, "Baaalll."  Too, cute!

He was all smiles when we placed a cake in front of him in his high chair, but his smile quickly turned to cautious concern when everyone started singing Happy Birthday.  Everyone was singing loudly.  They were looking at him and pointing to him.  He was not sure what to make of that!  I put the whole cake on his high chair tray, and he smiled big and reached out for the candle (we never lit it), but everyone laughed and several kids exclaimed loudly about the baby messing up the cake.  They thought it was great fun, but it stopped him short.  He pulled back his hand and looked uncertainly at the cake, clearly wondering if he had done something he should not have done.

We gave him a piece of cake on a plate: vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate covered sunflower seeds for sprinkles.  He did not know what to do with it.  He was a little weirded out by the texture of the frosting.  We eventually had to break off pieces of the cake, with no frosting, so he could pick up the pieces and eat his cake.  He liked it, but not the frosting, because of the texture.  Ew.

He has had eight teeth since he turned nine months.  Still eight teeth.  I think he might be working on some molars.  Time will tell.

Still no shoes.  I have not found any that I like for him.  Little time to shop around, so I bought him some socks so that his feet will not be cold when the weather cools down.  I will keep my eyes open for shoes.  I may have to make a special trip soon, just for shoes.

Just this week, he started to point to everything and say, "Thah?"  He tries to say everything we say.  Yep.  He's going to be a genius baby, just like all the rest!  (wink wink)  I do think that they are all amazing!

What else?  Other miscellaneous facts:
1) He expertly ascends the stairs, and he is enjoying his efforts to walk down the stairs like the rest of us, one foot at a time, but this can only be done by a person of his size if a big person has a good grip on both wrists.
2) He discovered that pencils make pretty marks on the pages of teacher's guides while Mommy is distracted with teaching an older sibling.
3) He only drinks water from a real cup, but almost always chokes on too much water.
4) He loves a bath.
5) He has the smoothest skin and rarely gets red or rashy.
6) No cradle cap!  OK, a little, but it brushes away with dry brushing.
7) He has never been washed with soap, except for his hands.
8) He plays happily with just about anyone.  He is independent and confident.

I'm sure that there is more, but I am falling asleep.  I can edit later to add more, so I will just post and go to bed.  I can enjoy eight hours of sleep.  Praise God!

A Prayer

Wow!  What a crazy year!  There is simply too much to update tonight, because it is already after midnight, but I will post again soon.  I just want to pray "out loud" and then go to bed.

Heavenly Father, You are my Abba.  You are my daddy.  Thank You so much for making me to be Your child.  It is unfathomable to know that I am a child of GOD!  You love me with a love that endures forever.  Your faithfulness continues through all generations.  You uphold me with Your mighty right hand!  Lord, my Lord, I praise You, for You are worthy to be praised.  You sent forth Your Word and You healed us!  You gave us faith to believe!  You teach me when I come to You and ask You for wisdom.  You give generously, without finding fault.  Thank You for teaching me.  Thank You for teaching us!

Father, I thank You for Jesus!  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  He is the visible image of You, my Father!  He is the exact representation of You, so if I know Jesus, then I know You.  You are eternal life!  Your Word says that to know You is eternal life!  I know Jesus!  I believe in Him!  Therefore, I have eternal life!  Thank You, Jesus, for loving me and dying for me, so that I might be reconciled to the Father.  Because of Your great gift, I am righteous and can stand before the Father in Righteousness!  There is NO condemnation for me, because I am clothed in Your righteousness.  I am in You and You are in me!  Wow!  Thank You for giving me the gift of the Holy Spirit!  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for living in me and working in me to will and to act according to Your good purposes.  I love living in love!  I love knowing that love never fails!  I have proved over and over that selfishness fails every time, but I believe Your Word, that love never fails!  I will live in love because Your Spirit lives in me.  Your commands are not burdensome, because Your Spirit lives in me.  I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!

Lord, give me rest tonight.  Give me strength for tomorrow.  Fill me with love for those who are difficult to love.  Thank You, because I know that I can ask for anything in Your name.  I can have confidence before You and know that I have received whatever I ask for, because I obey Your commands and do what pleases You.  Thank You for faith to believe.  Thank You for hearing my prayer.  Thank You for advancing Your kingdom through me and through my children.  Thank You for the privilege to live for You!

Father, I love You!  Thank You for filling me with You love and for giving me the same kind of love for others that You have for them.  Amen!