Happy Birthday & Happy Father's Day, Justin!

Today is Justin's birthday . . . 32 years old! Here are a few of the many things I love about him:

He is calm. While I may be bubbling over with stress and frustration about something, he is calm, cool and collected. He doesn't sweat the small stuff - and I love that.

He has faith. He reminds me that the Lord is aware of us and will provide for our every need in a way that is best for us - and he has always been right about that.

He loves me. This may be selfish, but I love that he loves me, that he thinks I'm beautiful, even when I am un-showered and have baby spit-up all over me.

He is handy. Justin can fix anything. He looks at it, he futzes with it for 2 minutes and then he says, "it just needs a (insert any mechanical part name here)".Then he fixes it and it works like new. How does he do that??

He is smart.  I was a really good student, but once the tests were over the stuff I had just crammed in my brain was instantly gone.  Justin is smart. He remembers almost everything he has ever read; in staggering detail. He will often tell me some random fact and when I ask how he knows that, he says, "I read it somewhere".  (Granted, some of the time he makes stuff up and tries to pass it off as fact - that is why I always ask him how he knows something - but the vast majority of the time he really does know it!).

He is always educating himself.   He actually enjoys spending time teaching himself how to program a computer, build a motorcycle or fold origami.  Not to mention keeping up to date on all the details of foreign policy and politics.

He is a great dad. From the minute Adam was born I knew that Justin really loved him and was in awe of him. I love that Adam brings him joy. He has never ever expressed in any way that Adam is a burden or a bother - and I love that.

He is the yin to my yang. We are a perfect match. We often disagree on things, but we have always been able to work through them and come together in the end. His strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. He is the quiet, constant good example in so many areas of my life in which I struggle. He has helped me make progress in overcoming those things that hold me back. It is impossible to express how grateful I am for that.

And, last but certainly not least, he does this:



And Adam likes it too:

And one from the memory books (last Year on his birthday he turned 31 years and Adam turned 31 days).

I love you!

The Walking Wounded

Today Adam accomplished his first highly visible injury.

Behold!

There is no great or dramatic story other than the fact that he is now a walker. And he had the unfortunate luck of tripping right in front of a bookcase; propelling him head-first into the bottom shelf (if I was willing to give full disclosure, I would have to say how he actually did this TWICE in a 5 minute period. The second one was the one that left the evidence. Why didn't I prevent it from happening TWICE? Because once something like that happens once, you figure there is no way it could POSSIBLY happen AGAIN, and therefore let your guard down. But then you hear crying, and your son gets a HUGE purple welt and cut on his forehead that is likely to leave a scar . . . sigh).

But, as you can tell from the last picture, I have been blessed with a resilient child and he was over it quickly.

I have been remiss in my photographic duties lately. But here are a few we've taken lately.

We've taken Adam to the pool in our complex a couple of times and he seems to like it. We haven't got swim diapers yet, so we've just teased him by putting his feet in.

Enjoy!