Happy 1st Birthday Ezra James!

One year ago our sweet, sweet baby boy was born.

Check back for more on Ezra's big day. We've got lots of celebrating going on but I wanted to post this one while Ezra is finishing up his morning nap. I love this little boy and still can't believe he's one year old today!

We took a few pre-birthday shots today. Ezra wanted to test out the hats and party favors. :0)

I can't believe Ezra will be one year old in just three short days. All this week I've been thinking about everything last year at this time. The few days leading up to Ezra's birth. His delivery. Our stay at the hospital. How tiny he was! How big he is now! How far we've all come and how much he can do now. He's so very interested in everything these days. A very busy little guy. I think about how things were in the beginning such as bath time. When he was a newborn baths were definitely not something that he liked. But now he LOVES them! Check him out ....

So sweet.

We put up a gate between our kitchen and laundry room since Ezra walks around so freely these days. He loves to go for the trash can and laundry detergent so a gate was a must. He thinks these little holes are so funny to look through! Little does he know that he's the funny one!

Our sweet little guy hasn't been feeling so well this week. We knew it was going to happen with starting daycare but it's still hard to see him sick. So far this week he's only made it to daycare one out of four days. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets to feeling better.

I snapped this picture of him sleeping yesterday. Reminds me of the picture that we put on his birth announcement. We took that almost one year ago. These days I think he looks so much like a little boy and not a baby anymore but when I saw him like this it made me think of him at seven days old. I can't believe he's almost one year old now!

And here he was sleeping away at one week old...

Heading back to work on Monday. I'm a little sad about that but looking forward to the fall. There's something about a new school year -- new students, new staff, new schedule, a fresh start. Ezra and I have had such a good summer and I've really enjoyed spending my days with him. He's been a busy little boy! He's gotten quite good at this walking thing and can now make it almost all the way across a room. I give him about a month before he starts running! Speaking of running....I've decided to cancel my plans for the San Antonio Marathon in November. It's hard for me to say that but I think it's the best thing for me to do with our busy fall schedule that's about to start up. The thought of the long runs on the weekends (I'm about to get up to 17, 18, 19, and 20 in the next month and a half) makes me dread those weekends. I actually enjoy the running part (never thought I would say that) but it's the time later in the day when I'm dead tired and soar that makes me want to back out. And who wants to do that when you have a sweet baby boy at home that I would much rather be hanging out and playing with. So instead of a full marathon I'm going to do the half in Waco on October 26th. I'm actually quite excited about it because part of it goes through Baylor. A couple other updates on Ezra....he can now clap! He gets very excited about it! It's pretty sweet. And he started daycare this past Monday. He had a good week and I think things will work out fine but we sure will miss having Nanna and Julie watch him like last school year. We are so grateful for all the wonderful family and friends who have helped us so much with our sweet baby boy!

p.s. - I LOVE this video! Makes me so proud! One of my biggest hopes for Ezra is that he falls in love with reading. He was flipping through this book all by himself for about three minutes until I grabbed the camera. Go, Dog. Go! is one of his favorites. He always comes back to this one. (And it must taste pretty good too!)

We rode the Forest Park mini-train last week. Our cousins have been raving about this little train for years and since it's right by our house we decided to give it a try. Ezra seemed to enjoy it so we will try it again once the weather is a little cooler. It definitely felt like summer on this day last week!

It's official....Ezra is now walking!!! He took his first steps last week.

We spent a few days hanging out with G-Ma last week while Don & Lynda were in Hot Springs. She loves her great-grandson Ezra and he loves spending time with her! It amazes me how G-Ma can always get Ezra to laugh.

And this guy by the front door is always so fascinating. Ezra checks him out quite often.

Ezra loves his cousins!

This one was from a couple weeks ago. I was in the middle of folding laundry when Ezra decided he wanted to play peek-a-boo. He snuck one of Logan's shirts out of my pile and then I noticed this red thing sitting on the floor just waiting for me to play. He does this quite often now. He's a funny little dude sometimes! :0)

Remember El Tesoro? It's been over 20 years since I last visited. Many, many fun times were had when I went on camping trips with Blue Birds growing up. I think I must have been around the 2nd-4th grade age. Well, Logan has been on the board for Camp Fire this past year so that's kind of reminded us about El Tesoro. We've been trying to get out there for a tour for the past couple months. We picked one of the hottest days in July to do it but it was worth the time in the heat to rediscover what a fun and beautiful place this is. Even though you don't see campers in any of these shots there was a camp session going on. The kids looked like they were having alot of fun. This first shot of is Ezra and me on the swinging bridge that you have to walk over to get into the camp. I think I have a picture of our family on this same bridge 20 years ago. I'm on the lookout for that photo now. MB -- any chance you've come across it?

Our tour guide Lisa chatting it up with Ezra J....

Robin Hood? Logan's first time ever to shoot an arrow.

Don't you wish you were this flexible?

Birds Eye View

Just in case you haven't seen these I thought I would post on this blog. And in the few short days since I took these pictures Ezra can now open the door. He is a fast learner!

I LOVE THIS LITTLE BOY!!!!

I can't believe Ezra is 11 months old!