Happy Birthday Joel!

Happy First Birthday to our son (March 10)! I still choke up that I married such a wonderful man and have an adorable daughter and now a precious son! What a year! He's been overall healthy less a few ear infections and a stomach bug 5 days before his party. He weighs 20#2oz (30%) - gain of 11# since birth; he is 29 3/4 inches long (50%) - gain of 10 inches since birth. He's got 2 deep dimples that melt you when fully expressed. He is crawling like a sprinter, coming up to standing on his own, cruising all furniture, and took 6 steps a few times over his party weekend. He's in exploration mode! No real consistent words yet but he gets his needs known -Lots of syllables! He has syllables for Claire and milk :) He's a Blonde haired and brown eyed bundle of joy for sure - with 3 teeth! We planned to celebrate starting with a family party in our home on 3/8/14. A few caveats occurred of course - one being that I ended up with the stomach bug the night before but the show must go on - it did with the Lord's strength and family help! We had Jeff's parents and Uncle Bob and my Dad and cousin Mary Morgan come. My mother and Jeff's brother both couldn't come due to illness themselves. We had some family photos taken (first slideshow) and some taken at his family party. You'll see Claire helping with the gifts and Joel's preference to just crawl away from all the attention! We were thankful for a beautiful sunny day to celebrate. Thanks to all who traveled the major miles to come! We also did a little party at Joel's day care with his buddy Tanner who had a Bday the same week he did. You'll see a few shots there of him with teachers and friends and YaYa and Jim got to come too. Joel was not as into the cake as Claire was. I'll post her video sometime soon. It's such a gift to have a son and a daughter! Fun to reflect on the year of growth and milestones he's done and all we have learned having 2 kids now. We are blessed! Thank you God for giving Joel a great first year and look forward to watching him grow this year!

2014 Mar Joel 1st Bday PHoto Shoot - Video Maker

2014 Mar Joel Bday Party - Video Maker