Welcome 2012!!

Happy New Year everyone! 2011 brought us the most significant event in our lives - the birth of our little boy! Sean and I have learned so much in the past year:

- How you don't completely know the meaning of loving another person until you become a parent.

- How no matter how bad your day at work is, it all melts away with a little baby giggle and toothless grin.

- How becoming parents makes you learn to lean on and love your partner more than you did before.

- How you can be exhausted and sleep deprived but still function pretty well!

There are many many more things we've learned this year and many more to come.

We are so excited for the coming year, new goals and new experiences. Lochlan is growing up so fast and learning so much more everyday. He is 8-1/2 months old now and so busy! He has been "army-crawling" for about 2 months now, and recently he's started to push himself onto his hands and knees and try to crawl the traditional way as well. Over New Year's weekend, he showed mommy that he can pull himself up onto his knees, by using the crib rails! Time to lower the crib!! That same weekend he also started to get his 2 top teeth as well. Currenly he has 2 teeth on the bottom, his upper right incisor, and now both top front teeth are coming in. I thought I also saw the upper left incisor...so maybe a 6th tooth is near.

He's been doing great eating solid food. He sits at the table with us everytime we eat and he gets so excited at mealtime. We are trying to teach him sign language for "eat", and "more" by doing these signs while we feed him. He responds to the words, so I think that he is learning. He probably won't repeat the signs for a few more months though. Some of his favorite foods are: banana, avocado, zucchini and peas. Foods that he doesn't care for are: pears, apples, cheerios or puff cereals. Other foods he's tried are: sweet potato, squash (butternut and acorn), black beans, brown rice, and carrots. I've been making all the food at home and it's really easy. I'm trying to build up more variety for him by mixing foods together (sweet pototoes and black beans) and also trying to make sure he tries some veggies, protein and grains each day. We haven't started any dairy yet and probably will wait until after his first birthday.

Lochlan follows in both his parents footsteps because he is a real chatterbox! He talks and talks all the time. He talks to his toys as he plays with them in the bathtub or when pushing them around the living room floor. It's adorable.

We feel so blessed to have such an amazing little person with such a great personality as our son. We are excited to see how much he changes and grows as he matures into a toddler later this year.

As we typically do each year, Sean and I set our goals over New Year's weekend for 2012. Some of our goals for this year include:

- Going on some adventures - through Oregon as well as hopefully getting back out to Hawaii this year

- Home Projects - remodel/extension of our laundry room. More plantings in the front and backyards.

- Investment - shopping for an investment property!

- Personal - making time for getting more exercise, relaxing, date nights, & for me writing children's stories and drawing/painting. I am also going to start looking for a new position at work. I still want to work for the same agency, but I'm looking forward to taking on a new job. =)

We hope you've set some time aside to reflect on your accomplishments and memories of 2011 too. It's been a wonderful year for us and we hope you had a wonderful year as well. We are looking forward to another year filled with joy, love and many happy memories.

Much love, Jen, Sean and Lochlan