Chad's first birthday

My little boy is officially one year old. Not only does that make him seem old, but it makes me feel old, too. His birthday was Friday, Valentine's Day, but since my parents and Charity couldn't get in town til late that night we celebrated it on Saturday. Justin's parents made a heroic journey all the way from Belfair, WA to Rexburg on Thursday and thus were around to watch Chad so Justin and I could go to Olive Garden in Idaho Falls for dinner. It is perhaps a sign of the times that Olive Garden seemed like a pretty swanky restaurant to me.

Saturday was a fun chance to show both my family and Justin's parents around campus. There is beautiful artwork in the BYU-I Center and they keep the balcony of the auditorium open during the week for "study and reflection." The width and breadth of that enormous room never ceases to amaze me. Chad's party went well with a mountain of presents four times as big as him to open from doting grandparents and a bear-shaped frosted cake for him to eat. He wasn't quite sure how to consume such a massive edifice, even after I cut the head open so he could see the cake beneath. His cake face didn't really end up being all that messy but we had cake leftovers which he ate plenty of the next day. So far, his favorite gifts have been a Spiderman-themed ball pit and a little push-along car.

The semester is halfway over now, which is a bitter-sweet realization to me. I've looked forward to having a life outside of Rexburg for years, but now that the end of our time here is so imminent I've been gripped with fond nostalgia for the place that has been my home for the better part of the last 5 1/2 years. Justin's testing in Washington two weekends ago went really well, and now we're just playing the waiting game. He sent his test results to several agencies so we're hoping someone will want to bring him back for interviews. This whole job application process is so tedious and expensive, I wish it was over with already.

Chad is not quite walking yet, but he can stand for a second or two at a time on his own and he loves cruising around holding onto walls and furniture. He's also a pro at crawling up and down stairs, though not so much we feel comfortable giving him unlimited access to them. Today, however, he somehow made it past the chair covered with a blanket we use as a barrier to the hallway and climbed all the way upstairs to where I was in the bedroom. I took the little escapee back down to his father, who had been oblivious of the breakout. The chair and blanket were unmoved so the only thing we could think was maybe he'd climbed over? We're not sure and he has yet to repeat his performance.

He has the sweetest, spunkiest, most independent personality and has some very definite opinions about what is okay and what is not. For instance, he's terrified of the pinata game on my iPad and the garbage disposal and a little girl in our married ward who we see in Sunday School. He loves playing with white plastic mixing spoons, plastic pipes, and getting food out of the garbage to eat. One of his most favorite pastimes is cuddling in my lap while I read to him and he absolutely hates getting set down. If he had his own way, he'd probably sit in my lap all day scrolling through the pictures on my phone. He likes crawling around in just his diaper yet strongly dislikes baths. And perhaps the most interesting quirk of all is his penchant for pulling the lint out of the dryer's lint catcher and either dropping it on my clean clothes or all over the floor. My little boy is definitely one of a kind.

How Chad and I spend our free time

Chad's first blanket fort

My Valentine's Day gift to Justin

Pictures of Chad's party