My baby isn't a baby anymore :(

Hmm...I'm not sure anyone reads this blog anymore, but just in case anyone is interested in the mundane goings on around here, here's the latest:

-Isaiah continues to be the most amazing, adorable thing ever! I can't believe he is nearly 13 months old! I no longer have a baby, but a toddler. How is it possible that time flies this quickly? We did the best we could to celebrate Isaiah's first birthday with a lot of good company, fun, and love in lieu of bombarding the kid with useless presents. My thoughts on that another day. He had his official party a bit early and it turned out great. I spent the month prior to the party crafting decorations and went on a 16-hour cupcake/smash-cake decorating marathon the night before. Thankfully this kid only turns 1 once! We were exhausted afterward and needed a full week to recover. :)

-Isaiah finally got to meet Kai, my friend Nichole's baby. Our due dates were only a few weeks apart and we both ended up with preemies. They live in Australia now so the boys weren't able to meet until they were a year old. It was wonderful to see how sweet Isaiah is with others. He was immediately trying to hug Kai and share toys. I think this freaked out poor Kai who was still recovering from jetlag. Unfortunately, we didn't stay long since the meeting place turned out to be a little on the nasty side...that's what you get for choosing a place at random in the city...which reminds me...it was Isaiah's first major day out in the big city of Chicago. Mark and I got all nostalgic about living in the city until we had to find parking. It was a quick reminder why one might opt to live in the middle of a cornfield near a trailer park.

- At the end of August, Aunt Katie and her son Jacob flew in from Nashville (Jacob is only 3 months younger than Isaiah). We took both the boys to their first baseball game (the Cubs) on Isaiah's birthday. We kept the ticket stubs with his birth date on them and an autographed baseball for memories.

- On Labor Day weekend, we jam packed the days with activities. Mark's birthday was also that weekend so I treated him to dinner and a movie while Isaiah rocked out at home with Aunt Jen. The next day we took off to Brookfield Zoo with a friend and his 2 boys. I have so many adorable pictures of Isaiah checking out the seals, his favorite part. It took him awhile to realize the animals were real I think. Once he did he kept "pointing" at everything(Isaiah doesn't actually point, he stretches out his arm with his palm up as if to say, "ta-da"...we call it the Vanna White). Later that night we went to Aunt Nikki's where Isaiah met his new girlfriend and demonstrated bashfulness for the first time! It was hilarious.

Check out my facebook page to see the photos.

In other news, Mark and I are still hatching plans to flee the area. We have been going back and forth about when/if it is possible to leave. We've opted for Mark to put in for a transfer so that whenever the next position comes open we go where they tell us to go. I can only hope I won't soon be stuck in Iowa. Keeping my fingers crossed for Georgia...good bye snowy winters!

Must, get, sleep, now. :)