How to boast a little about your children: steps 1, 2 & 3.

Step 1. Write an awesome story about your kids. Even if others dont think its awesome, if its awesome to you, thats all that matters.

Like this one.

Our boy is a great mate to our little girl, they are the best of friends. Asher takes such good care of Dallin and Dallin laughs at all of Ashers funny faces. I love it when I catch Asher sharing her sandwich with Dallin so that he doesnt miss out or when I see Dallins face light up when Asher comes home from spending the night at my mums. These kids of mine are honestly so awesome, I, like most parents out there, could brag about them til the cows come home.

Yesterday I took them to the public library to check out the puzzle and game range for Ash. We had been all over town looking for birthday presents for Dallin so it was nice to get out of the heat and into an air conditioned room that was cool and quiet.

On our way down to the childrens section I grabbed some books for me and set our things down by the cozy chair. I took Dallin out of his stroller and sat him on the floor by the building blocks. Asher helped herself to the little red wagon and pulled it over to Dallin to let him take them out one by one the same way he does his own toys from the toy box at home. At this moment, I realised I could just let them play together while I got comfy in the cozy chair. So get comfy I did.

As I sat there and watched my two play I thought about how blessed I am that I can take my little ones to the quietest place in town and not have to worry about them tearing the place up or disturbing the peace and quiet - does this not spell awesome?

I read for a good half an hour, checking over the top of my book every now and again. So far so good. I look up again only to find that Ash is over at the bird cage. Thats funny because she strongly dislikes birds. In fact she dislikes most animals. I think its because they can be unpredictable. Well thats what I think. She stood there and watched the birds though. I think it was because they had their heads tucked up under their wings. And they were locked up. "They're alseep" I whispered to her. I guess she likes animals - provided they're locked up and asleep. Aw.

Once she got tired of the sleeping, locked up birds, Ash picked out some stories and I read them to her. Dallin kept playing on the ground with an old computer keyboard, a bead coaster and a hardcovered book about farm animals. Before I knew it an hour had passed so after a bit of story reading and building wooden towers it was time to head off home for our afternoon naps.

Seeing me there with my well behaved baby and child you'd think the librarian would notice and tell me how adorable they are and how nicely they were playing, but nope. Not in this instance. Thankfully I have this blog so I can put it all out there in the universe that my kids are the best.


Step 2. Post it on the internet.

Step 3. Tell all your friends about it.

And that my friends is how you boast a little about your children.

One fast year

This time last year I was laying up in a hospital bed trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. You see, the night before I was up thinking about how our family was about to go from 3 humans to 4. Dallin was sort of an early christmas gift to our family last year and we have so enjoyed watching him grow and develop throughout 2009.

To date Dallin has 8 teeth. They all came up so fast its hard to even remember that he once had a gummy smile. Dallin has mastered the art of running and manouvering his way around the house in his walker. He can get through all the doorways and will find me if I call out to him from the other end of the house. Other means of transportation include rolling around on the floor and his signature crawl which is a combination of press-ups and yoga stretching. Its so cute to watch.

The little man is also a great little conversationalist. Once he's got your attention you'd better start talking or else he will squawk until you do. And you cant let him go until he decides he's over it. He is actually quite fun to talk to. He will mimic all the sounds you make and try to add a few of his own. He's usually quite generous with his smiles and hugs, provided he knows who you are. If you are a stranger, it might take at least 10 minutes for him to scope you out before you get any Dallin hugs.

Like other members of our family, Dallin is fascinated by the talking picture frame that is our tv, especially when childrens songs start to play, at which point he commences to bob up and down in excitement. He even kicks his little legs and raises his little arms to show he is physically commited to whatever show is on the box.

There are so many things I love about our little fella but the one thing I love the mostest is how close he is to his sister. Even at such a young age I can see the difference between my kids relationship and the relationship I had with my own younger brother when we were little. It was somewhat competitive so it meant we spent a lot of our childhood fighting over toys and trying to be better at sports than the other (I was such a tomboy). Somehow I cant see that happening with my kids, at least not to the same extent, since my little girl is very nurturing towards him and very much a girly girl, two things I was not as a girl.

So Dallin, its been an absolute pleasure helping you to get to know the world and people around you in your first year of life. A common theme at church lately has been that of the love of a parent for their child. When you have your first child, your heart is so full of love for them it is almost impossible to imagine you could expand your heart to love another. I worried about this before Dallin came along but once he came I can honestly say that my heart grew and I love him with all the love a parent has to give, and more! Happy 1st birthday my boy, love mamma. xox