Perspective.....

I have been feeling very reflective these last couple of weeks. Only 1 year ago it seemed that I couldn't look past the moments that I was living in. Each day seemed like 3 and every time I stepped into the NICU I wondered when I would be able to bring my little boy home. Those days were long and grueling. It was an experience that brought me closer to my husband, my 5 kids at home, my new little guy and my Heavenly Father. I learned a lot about patience and about, how in fact, we can only control our own lives to a certain degree. I am thankful for my experience, I have more empathy for others in the same situation and am so grateful for the absolutely perfect boy I have now.

J.D. bore his testimony on Sunday, it was all about 'perspective' - look at our lives now....

Jiles has learned how to open all the doors in our house (those darn levers). For some reason the ones that he is the most interested in are the ones that lead to the pantry (the garbage cans, eeewww!), the laundry room and the toilets.....he also really likes to go into Ella and Jensens rooms also because they have lots and lots of little toys - the perfect size for his little hands. Lego's and random coins, Petshops and Polly Pockets. All of them fun, but unfortunately the perfect size for choking. I need to be on my 'A' game at all times, constantly chasing down my 1 year old keeping him safe from stairs, poisons, falling off beds, and like I said, choking hazards.

As I post this blog, he also ripped apart one of my hanging plants that I brought inside so it wouldn't freeze last night. I could read his round little face "but Mom, the purple and red and yellow flowers were calling my name!!"

Why are boys so much more curious than girls?? Ella never ever opened up my kitchen cupboards just to see what was behind them.....Jiles on the other hand opens all of them and leaves them that way. He tips over picture frames and rips all of his diapers out of the basket in my bedroom - he loves wet wipes, and pulls as many out as he can before I can stop him.

Dishwashing tablets, oh my!! What fun!

His smile and the pats on the back that we get from him, along with his kisses on our shoulders when we get him out of bed, his blue eyes and faux-hawk hair do, his babbling "mamamamama", blowing bubbles and loving the bathtub, his waving both 'hi' and 'bye', eating everything in sight and learning to walk, knowing how to crawl not only up the stairs, but down also....all of these things in only one year. From being so fragile and dependent to becoming a little boy with his own mind. He puts a smile on my face and makes me laugh every day.