Hello, Blog

I have drafted a hundred or so posts but never seem to ever hit post.  Reflections on life, love, theology, politics, motherhood, etc.  I have also drafted several letters to J.D., but a good old fashioned journal of phrases and stories have replaced the blog in terms of documenting all the amazing things about our little boy.

Everyone says it, but the years have flown by.  Seriously.  A blur of months and milestones.

Our boy is now 3.  How does that happen?  The thing I love about 3 is that he is equal parts little and equal parts big.  He is independent and dependent.  He is self-sufficient and needy.  He is sweet and tenacious.  He is cuddles and tackles.  He is quiet and loud.  He is a joy and he tries our patience.  :)  We love him.

But, back to this blog.  I realize I would benefit from blogging and journaling (paper and pen style) in 2013.  I have no goals in terms of how often I will do it.  Just that I will.

Happy 2013!

Soon to be 15 months old.....

Our dear little Joseph,

I have been composing this letter to you in my head for the past 3 months...with the intention of posting it for your FIRST birthday. But my oh my, little one, every time I decide to sit down to record all that is new with you, so many things prove to be new...EVERYDAY there is something new going on in your life! Today is one of those days (well, most days are like today!) when your Daddy and I look over at you walking from place to place, climbing up onto the couch, playing with your toys after breakfast and are simply AMAZED at the little person you are.... a mind and personality all your own, happy as a clam.

If I think back from Springtime until now, the amount of changes we have witnessed in you is simply incredible. From rolling, scooting, to crawling, now CLIMBING, walking....from simply banging objects randomly together to now actually playing with objects as they are intended to be used - using a hairbrush to brush your (absent) hair, a toothbrush to brush ALL those teethers, putting animals in the barn in your play farmyard, rolling your cars and dumptruck across the floor...trying to put shoes on your feet, putting lids on containers and stacking blocks one on top of the other....dumping sand in buckets and using a shovel to scoop it in and out.... so many things we haven't ever taught you....you have just figured it out all on your own! In August we discovered that you could crawl up the stairs all on your own...a couple months later, you figured out how best to go down the stairs...and how best to get off our bed and couches safely, too....swinging your little legs towards the floor and sliding off.....figuring it all out on your very own. At a park this Fall, you approached crawling down a little hill the same way...backwards, legs leading the way, because you felt it was a bit too steep.

There are so many things we love about you, from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall fast asleep. First thing in the morning, we hear your little chit chatty self....probably talking to your stuffed animal friends. Chit chatting away....until your chit chats get a little louder and more pronounced. We know, then, that you are trying to get our attention...as if you are saying, "Hello? People! I am here!" Yes, your chit chatty ways often happens way way earlier than we would like and we try very hard to hold off getting you until 6 am....but what an absolute joy it is to open up the door to your room and see your sweet self standing in your crib, smiling, most times with your beloved pup pup in your hands. You smile, we smile and then your arms raise up to be picked up. And then, if Daddy is not already out of bed, I whisper in your ear, "Let's go say hi to DA!" And a wide smile comes across your face. DA! Your favorite person, DA! What fun we have as a family trying to cuddle you in our bed....although cuddling rarely happens, lots of tickling and tackling instead!

We love how when we ask if you are hungry, you race over to your chair to eat and we love how you try to feed us your food during mealtimes. We love how you stand at the edge of the bathtub with great anticipation of a bath...so excited! Tossing your toys over the edge of the tub to see the "splash!" We love how you now go over to your bookshelf at naptime and bedtime and pick out the books you want to read, handing them over to us or crawling towards your chair with one in your hand. We love how you "high five" and wave bye bye and will shake your little body, from your head to your toe, when we say "Dance!" We love that you can point to your belly and your nose, your head, and your feet. We love how you love to be chased around....and then to chase us, in return...and then when one of us "hides" in a closet or behind a door, you sneak around the corner, discovering us, and laughing such deep belly laughs. We have yet to find anything sweeter in this life than the sound of your laugh! And we love how you are now "talking" with us...telling us everything you want us to know, pointing to objects and people and telling us all about them. Though we cannot understand everything you are saying, it is so wonderfully cute to hear your little words, inflections, and tone...especially when you get really excited about something! Needless to say, we so look forward to being able to understand all that you have to say in the coming months and years.

We love that we have been able to bring you alongside this life we live...especially the many travels we have planned along the way. In your first 15 months of life, we have traveled long distances by car and by plane and you always handle it AMAZINGLY well. Seriously, Amazingly well! You seem to love seeing new sights and meeting new people as much as we do! We first drove you to Chicago last December, flew to Montana in February, flew to South Carolina in May, flew again to Washington D.C. in late May, drove to Montana in July and again in August, flew to Chicago in October, flew to MAUI in early December and here we are again, back in Montana at the close of this year. Though you will never remember these many trips, they have produced so many wonderful memories for us as a family - being able to show you glimpses of this beautiful world God created and being able to see you visit with family who love you so very much has been one of the greatest joys we have ever experienced. We look forward to many more hikes through the Montana wilderness, spotting wildlife in Yellowstone, many more trips to the sun and surf of the Pacific, trips to new cities and new states, and someday, we will see you don your first pair of skis as we venture down powdery slopes!

We know, without a doubt, you are a gift from above. You are the best gift we have ever been given and one we cherish so deeply. Your sweetness fills our hearts with joy and your sense of wonderment for the world is simply contagious . We love you so very very much and we are SO VERY BLESSED to be your mommy and daddy.

WE LOVE YOU!

Gone Baby Gone.....

with Grandma and Grandpa....

digging in the kitchen cabinet....all sorts of fun things to play with!

I love to look outside!

Look at me! I am such a big boy!

Hiking with Daddy.

A visit from Great Aunt Kay and Great Uncle Nap!

Swinging.....

I have started this blog post a zillion times since JD turned 9 months. Now he is 11 months old as of yesterday. Summer always has a way of just flying by way too fast....so fast that a friend of mine coined the term, "Julaugust." Julaugust flew by and now here it is September.

I have lots of flashbacks these past few weeks of all that was unfolding a year ago. Getting the baby's room all ready, wondering if we would be welcoming a little boy or girl, wondering if I could really, indeed, get any bigger, feeling equal parts excited and equal parts frightened at how our lives would be forever changed. And now here we are....with a little precious boy who is just weeks away from turning 1.

Whenever JVD and I would discuss having children and planning the arrival of our little one, we always envisioned a little buddy. I actually always envisioned a tow-headed little boy who would toddle around wearing khaki shorts and a little polo shirt and a baseball cap....a curious little guy who would investigate every little thing and wrestle around with us with shrieks and squeals of laughter. Well, our little buddy officially arrived this summer. Our little baby has been fading away little by little every day....so much so that I began to jokingly hold JD in a cradle hold and say in a sappy voice "when you were just a little itty baby I used to hold you just like this...." he just laughs and smiles at me and thinks it is the silliest thing.

So our little baby is gone. :( We are officially moving away from mommy's milk and venturing into the world of whole milk - he drinks from a cup and sips from a straw and he eats everything under the sun. He loves nectarines and apricots and grapes and blueberries and broccoli and cauliflower and carrots and green beans and peas and zucchini and LOVES bananas and noodles....bread, bagels and cream cheese, CHEERIOS, oatmeal, bunny grahams and goldfish and yogurt and chicken and beef...pretty much anything! I do love meal times because he is a delightful eater and he also tries to feed me food off his plate. Sure, the noodles and cheerios might be a bit gunky from his little baby hands but he is determined that I should have it. How can I say no?

The amount of changes that have unfolded in little JD's life these past few months are almost too many and too amazing to count. He started on a rolling spree as he approached his 9 month birthday. He would roll and scoot military style to get from here to there....but that did not last long. A few days after his 9 month birthday he started to crawl....and once he discovered what it means to be truly mobile, life has not looked the same since. He is little Mr. Independent and we now have a full-fledged little hurricane/tornado who hits our home each day. Every bookshelf and cabinet within reach gets attacked and items get taken out, played with, moved to other locations in our home and every night, mommy and daddy put all those things safely away....until Hurricane JD strikes again. :)

Since JD is now crawling (and a fast crawler at that!) one of our favorite things to do is to play peekabo around our kitchen island and/or chase after him on our hands....he loves it! He will just cry out with loud belly laughs. Love it! I will forever cherish the sound of his little hands hitting/slapping the hardwood floors with such forceful determination. He moves and moves fast! But if he is in a serious mood he kind of looks like a giant kimono dragon as he crawls stealthily across the floor.....

I cannot really remember what it was like to have a stationary baby. Now, wherever we go, little JD follows. If we are in the kitchen, he will follow! If we move down the hall to our bedroom, he will follow! If we move to the living room.....yep, there he is! Not only does he follow but most of the time he will crawl right up to our leg and pull at our pants as if to say, "hello? Hi! It's me! I am here!" I must say, it is so nice to be loved so much.

Not only does he kneel to get our attention, but he kneels now to play and reach for things...which means standing really is not too far behind. He especially likes to kneel in front of the oven door and giggle and gibber gabber to the baby in the reflection. But too much kneeling resulted in us lowering his crib. :)

Goodness...what else? Well, he has the cutest little smile...at least I think so. He sprouted two teeth shortly after his 6 month birthday and within 2 months he practically had a full-fledged toothy grin of 8 teeth. He loves to attack and wrestle his stuffed animals and he loves reading books and he loves going for walks/runs (well, going along for the ride, anyway :) ). He has a great adventurous spirit which allowed us to drive out twice to Montana this summer. The highlights of our summer travels included the 3 days in Mandan, North Dakota (due to an unforeseen unplanned car repair that required a stop at a reststop in the middle of nowhere (i.e. North Dakota) and a drive with Butch, our tow truck driver, and a stay with the ever-hospitable Simmers family who took us in due to all the hotels being booked in Bismarck (softball tournament) and who had a great dog named Grommit. Grommit and JD hit it off splendidly. JD would drop food on the floor and Grommit so kindly would eat it all up. It was a great relationship. Once we made it to Montana, we ventured to Yellowstone for the day....saw a grizzly mama and her 3 cubs (at a distance), enjoyed the scenic vista of Lake Yellowstone and met a Harley Davidson Biker who was completely enamored with our little boy. He insisted on saying hello and asked if he could touch JD's head. He said he had a little boy at home and seeing JD just reminded him how fast they grow up. He was so very nice....and he and his buddies revved up their motorcycles and honked and waved at JD as they drove away.

Other highlights this summer? Lots of visits from family....from Nana, Aunt Michelle, cousin Taylor and Alison in June, Great Aunt Kay and Uncle Nap in July and Grandma and Grandpa in August. He is a loved little boy.

So....there we have it. Gone baby Gone, but a hearty hello to our little buddy...our little friend....our sweet boy. We love you, JD!

8 months old

How is it possible that my baby is now 8 months old? I can pretty much sum up the last 2 months by saying that each day that goes by, we seem to be saying goodbye to our little baby boy and hello to the little boy he is growing up to be. I admit that I get a bit weepy seeing the baby side of Joseph fade away (he is a such a cute little guy!) but it is equally awesome to see him grow and develop and change day by day.

The last 2 months have been full of new adventures! We traveled to Hilton Head, SC in early May to visit with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kerry. We experienced our second trip on a plane and had our first introduction to swimming, the beach, the Atlantic Ocean and ofcourse, JD had a fun time showing off all his latest tricks to his adoring fan base. :)

Less than two weeks later, we hopped on another plane to travel to Washington, DC over Memorial Day weekend. This was our first family vacation (just the three of us :) ) in celebration of our 6th Wedding Anniversary. This time, Daddy was already in DC for business so Mommy and JD flew solo.....I admit I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but it turned out just fine. Actually, having now taken 3 trips via airplane (and a total of 8 flights total) I feel like we are becoming pros at this "traveling with baby" thing. In fact, when we were going through Security at MSP to head to Hilton Head, the guy behind me said...."whoa...you guys are experts at this...you're faster than most people who don't have a baby with them!" That was quite the compliment. Traveling also reminds me how many people in the world love babies. Oh, we have our fair share of a glare or two from people on the plane who see JD in our arms ....but overall, most people smile at us and at him and just seem quite pleased to see a small human being. Most of them tend to be grandparents who are missing their respective grandchildren. "How old is he? Oh, I have a granddaughter his age," as they look longingly at JD and start smiling and waving like lunatics. Thank goodness for all the grandparents in the world. :)

So what is new with our little 8 month old boy?

JD is expanding his repetoire of foods....beginning to take nibbles of new and different foods to try. Yesterday was a big day as he really began picking up the cheerios and puffs off his tray and feeding himself. I looked over while I was preparing his cereal and there he was...eating by himself. I was so proud. He was pretty proud of himself, too...smiling ear to ear....

All in all, ALL his movements are so much more precise and methodical. A couple weeks ago, I was taken aback when all of a sudden he reached up and took my glasses off my face. Not in a hurried "oh what is this" kind of movement, but rather a decisive, "oh, I would like to have those, thank you very much" movement. It is just wild.

JD's primary mode of mobility is still rolling....and scooting backwards on his tummy. He has not really figured out how to crawl or move forward, but truthfully, I am ok with that. I know there is a limited amount of time remaining when we can put him down in one place and know that he will stay there until we return. :) Although yesterday he discovered that if he holds onto the side of the table off my lap, he can actually stand by himself...for a few seconds anyway. :) He has other modes of travel....a few days ago I decided to plop JD inside the laundry basket and drag him around, like a wagon without wheels, which got a lot of smiles and laughs.

His favorite toys are blocks....he loves banging blocks and other objects together to see if they make noises. He loves shaking any object to see if it makes a noise. He loves books...and flipping through pages of his board books is quite fun. He loves to kick his little legs like crazy...so much so that his teacher asked if Joseph or I were soccer players? Funny she should ask because JD and I do play ball...I roll the ball or toss the ball onto his lap and he will roll or kick it back to me. He also loves his huge hippo and crocodile stuffed animal friends in his crib. He loves to wrestle around with them and especially loves it when his daddy and mommy sit him up in his crib so he can fall backwards on top of them. Super fun!

Lately, we especially love the way he looks for us if we leave the room. Now when I leave him seated on the floor by the couch while I go into the kitchen area, I look over and I see this little head bop over the side of the table to see where I am - just two little eyes peaking over - reminds me of a meerkat. So I smile and wave and he smiles back. He also loves being hoisted onto our shoulders and love going for walks and runs in the stroller...he just loves to take it all in.

JD loves digital clocks. There is a clock by his chair in his bedroom and when we sit there he loves to look at the numbers change. Just this week, he discovered the digital clock on the microwave. Very exciting ! As for his personality....JD seems to be a nice mix of Daddy and Mommy. :) He is very determined and focused (like Daddy) but his teacher says he gets very upset (cries even) when his friends start to cry. She said he seems to be very empathetic (like Mommy :))

Our little boy keeps growing and changing and I keep having to put away more clothes because they no longer fit. :( Little Joseph now has his two bottom teeth and his two top incisors are coming in...before his two front teeth. They kind of look like two fangs. Good thing vampires are so in vogue these days.

What more can I say? Except to say that I am glad I have just written this all down - albeit in blog form - before I forget it all. These months are flying by so fast...but we are loving every minute with our little boy. He is very much a bundle of complete joy. :)

I have a video to post, but I am having technical difficulty. So, here are some favorite recent pics instead.

6 months old!

Dear Joseph Valentine Dworak II,

6 months ago tonight, we welcomed you into our lives. 6 months ago, with your Daddy by my side, they removed you from my tummy and announced with great excitement, “It’s a Boy!” I remember your Daddy looking at me, and repeated… it’s a boy! – with a great smile on his face. A boy. Our very own little boy. Joseph Valentine Dworak II. JVD2. :)

They cleaned you off and laid you next to me. I remember seeing your little face. It was so cute and precious. You were just a tiny thing. 5 lbs. 10 oz. But already, we knew you had spunk! You had a big strong cry and a look on your face that said, “I’m tougher than I look.” A little peanut, your diaper and clothes all hung off of your lanky legs and arms. A nurse gave us a cute hand knit blue beanie for your head- the only thing that fit you. More than one nurse said that you were such a cute baby. And it was true! You had these cute little cheeks and precious little mannerisms. We loved you to pieces.

There are certain things I remember most about you those first few days. I remember how sleepy you were. You were born early and it was as if you were telling us that you just needed to rest up a bit longer. I remember the set of little white spots on your nose. Speaking of noses, we immediately fell in love with your cute button nose. :) I also remember the soft hair on your cheeks and shoulders and backs. Hair you did not lose in utero because you were on the early side. You were so soft to the touch….just this precious little thing.

I think back on these past 6 months and so many things come to mind -mostly, just how fast these months have gone by. Just yesterday, your little arms and legs would flail about and you would make little grunty noises – this completely dependent little being. Now, you are a little one on the move. We love how when we put you down to bed at night, we know we will greet you in the morning and you will be in a completely new position. Upside down or tucked in the corner or legs splaying out of the crib. We love how you decided early on that you did not want a pacifier. You always took it reluctantly with a look that said, “this is stupid” - a little glimpse into the independent little guy that you are growing up to be. But we equally love how you have found comfort in your little doggie friend instead. How your little lovey travels with you as you move around in your crib.

We love how you laugh and giggle…whether it is because we tickle your tickle spots or whether Daddy makes funny noises with your stuffed animals or whether you just find something completely humorous on your own. We love your laugh! We love how when you see Mommy or Daddy first thing in the morning, the first thing you do is smile a great big gummy grin. We love your gummy grin. It fills our hearts with unspeakable joy.

We love your little hands. How they look to reach and grab anything and everything in reach. We love that you take a book into your own hand as we read to you. We love how you clutch your little hands tightly when you are nervous or scared or uncertain. We love how you look to us for reassurance when you are unsure about something. We love that you rest your little head on our shoulders when you need to feel secure. We love your wide eyes that take everything in and we love how you focus intently on something when discovering something new. We love your little feet that love to push off of things and kick way up and down and we love your little toes that curl. We love how you kick with full force in the tub splashing water all around.

Oh, and we love your voice! We love all the sounds you make and the long conversations we have about what’s happening in your life. We look forward to all the conversations we are going to have with you in months and years to come. We look forward to knowing what you want to tell us and what you want us to hear and what you want to say.

Just 3 months ago, your Daddy and I had to take you to Children’s Hospital to have hernia surgery. The hardest thing we ever did was let you go – releasing you into the care of the anesthesiologist – knowing you were going to be put under and operated on. But, you were such a champ! Before that day, we knew you were a tough little guy. But that day confirmed that you were a fighter….and nothing’s going to hold you back. Before that day, we loved you as dearly and deeply as any parent loves their child. But, on that day, we experienced both the great anguish of having something so dear taken from us, and the great relief of our precious boy being placed safely back in our arms.

And that is what you are to us. You are a sweet boy. Precious boy. Our most treasured gift. We feel honored that God chose us to be your parents. We want you to continue to live life with same great joy you live life now. We want you to smile and laugh and continue to grow.
We always knew we were going to love “Baby Dworak.” I just don’t think we ever imagined that we would love you as much as we do. We love you more and more each and every day.
And what happened to those long lanky newborn limbs of yours 6 months ago? Why they are now filled with delicious dimply plumpness. :)

We love you, little Joseph! Our little JD. Our little Sweets. Our Lil’ C.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Spring!

Or, at least a good taste of it. :) We bought our BOB running stroller and have been enjoying increasingly more time outside soaking up the sun and warmer temps. I confess my running has a long way to go yet...but I will get there! Thanks to the BOB. Oh, and Coach JVD, too. :)

We have loved reintroducing our little JD to the great outdoors. It had been a while, poor thing. Not only have we been taking many walks/runs at home, but he has been enjoying a good daily consitutional at school, too.

Can I tell you how excited I was to see a set of strollers coming my way down the path at Bethel? I know I have mentioned this before, but when I found out we were having Baby Dworak, I knew (for many and obvious reasons) I wanted our little guy to join the other little tikes at the Bethel Child Development Center. For years, I had watched those little munchkins walk the path down by the lake. Some toddling. Some toppling over. Some walking hand in hand with a friend. Some being wheeled down the path in a stroller. All evoking images of happy childhoods.

Well, this Wednesday I was walking down the hallway at work when I spotted a set of strollers outside on the path. So, I decided to take a little walk to see if our little guy was there....sure enough! Donned in his little coat and hat, little JD was seated in a 4 seat stroller with 3 of his little school friends. All cute, ofcourse. But even cuter was the fact that his buddy Rylan was holding JD's hand. Just the two of them. Hanging out. Holding hands. It was beyond cuteness. I spotted them all out for a walk on Thursday, too and once again stopped to say hello. My co-worker accused me of stalking my own son, but the teachers really did not seem to mind.

Last night I decided I needed to delete the pictures off our camera. It is so amazing (and scary!?!) to see how much little Joseph has changed in the last few months. He is such a little person now. He grabs hold of things (ME!) with such force. He now actually holds onto me when I hold him....no longer this limp uncoordinated little body, but a full-fledged little person...looking around, reaching for things. It used to be that I had to practically beg him to produce a smile for me....and now his smiles are given freely....ever so freely....and laughs, too. Just because. :)


There are just a zillion and one things that keep changing every day and we feel so completely blessed to be his mommy and daddy. We just love getting to know our little JD!

Here is a good dose of laughter:

http://www.danielledworak.blogspot.com/

So many changes!

We came back from the Doctors today with a glowing report! Little JD is 4 1/2 months old....14 1lb 10 oz and 25 inches long. Our Doctor commented on how happy and content he is...and how observant! He was looking all around the room, at the instruments, at his Dr., trying to make sense of his new surroundings...all of which she said is more characteristic of a 6+ month old than a little guy his age. Way to go, little JD!


He has really great neck control right now....so much so that I can no longer call him my little bobble head anymore. :( He does not even try to lean against me when I hold him on my lap.


A few other fun things to note:


Tummy time (which we need to do more of, I confess.....) - last week I attempted tummy time -- he cried for one minute and then fall fast asleep on his tummy. It reminded me of someone with narcalepsy.


Thumper....among other kicking movements, he keeps kicking his right leg back and forth, tapping his crib...it reminds me of "Thumper" in Bambi.

When Little JD is upset, he holds his hands in tight little fists....and as he relaxes, his hands relax, too. So today, when he got his second round of shots, his little hands tighten up into little tiny balls. Poor thing.


On Saturday I was drinking from a glass and he wanted to hold onto it and put his lips around the edges. He was fascinated by the whole experience.


Daddy. Oh my, he just LOVES Daddy! All Daddy has to do is walk into the room and smile at his little boy and there is an instant grin and laughter. He especially loves the way Daddy plays with him....tickling and "flying baby" and all that good stuff!


Here is a video of him this morning.....

http://www.danielledworak.blogspot.com/

Here is little JD helping us around the house: