Has it really been 12 months??

The more I think about the upcoming week and the milestone that it brings the more I start to think I may have an anxiety attack. I can not believe Kinsler will be 1 on Friday. It seems like yesterday I was sitting in my Wednesday morning Senior block class freezing my butt off at 40 weeks pregnant. The following day I would be going in for our induction. I remember my professor dear ole Dr. K saying "I didn't think I'd be seeing you today." when I walked in. My response "Well, figured I needed to come." Ha. Following his birth came the first milestone of leaving him for the first time with a sitter while I went back to class. Thank goodness for Auntie Ang and Paxton. Bless her...she got him on a schedule and everything! Not to mention I had no worries when he was with her. To this day he is all smiles when he sees Ang.

Then May was here and I was accepted to the Graduate school at U of A and I graduated with my Bachelors. We spent the majority of summer at home hanging out and in the pool with Deena and the girls (of course Bill was around too :) ). Summer school started and was over in the blink of an eye.

The next milestone was around 6 months old, sending Kins to Mrs. Jeannie's, who is our babysitting savior. Kinsler loves Mrs. Jeannie and all the kids at her house. She is an amazing woman who loves my child as much as I do. We'd probably be up a creek without her. I also started my internship and second semester of Grad school taking 15 hours and thinking how in the world am I going to do this. God knew exactly what he was doing, his timing was perfect (duh, didn't I already know this!?), my acceptance to Grad school has been doable (duh, all things are possible through Christ). I made a 4.0 for summer session and a 3.8 this past fall (toot toot). Why, oh why, did we worry. I have been paired with amazing mentor teachers who are completely understanding and who are a big help to me with school projects.

Next, Kinsler's first Christmas! We had a blast celebrating with all our family and eating lots of food. Chris gave us the best gift of all...he has started his quest for a healthier lifestyle. He began running and as a family we have started to do our best and eat better. To date he has lost 18.2 pounds and since he started his journey he has run everyday but 4 or 5. We are so proud of him!! (Check out chrisdoinglife.tumblr.com to read about his journey thus far.)

January came and with it Kinsler learned how to walk. Now he doesn't slow down for anyone or anything... unless it's food. Our baby boy is more of a toddler now. I also started my last semester of Grad school and with it my research project began. Chris also had a milestone this month, you may ask him personally about it but we are super excited at what this next year holds for him.
Now it's the very end of January and in less than 7 days he will be 1 year old. God has blessed us with a sweet, loving, happy, and handsome son. We have definitely learned that God is fully in control and knew what he was doing when he planned for us to be pregnant before we thought we were ready. He placed both of us in families that love and care for us and who wanted to see us succeed in parenthood. With their help we are doing it.

 Kinsler, we can not wait to see what this next year has in store for you and us. With that sly smile anything is possible. We love you. - Mom and Dad