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Tyler is just over a year now and I just don’t see how life with him could get any better, but somehow it does! Over the weekend, Tyler started letting go and taking two or three steps toward one of us to catch him, so that has been fun!

These days his big thing is communicating. He does some signs to us and says many words now. I think the sign I see most is “eat”–he must be going through a growth spurt because he’s always hungry! The words he says most are, of course, “da-da” and “daddy”. It’s so funny because he says “hi” and “bye-bye” to everyone he sees. He also recently started saying “Ty” (my husband’s best friend’s name who we named Tyler after) and we’ve been in the store and a dark-haired guy will walk by and Tyler will yell, “Ty!” It is so fun to watch him grow and learn so many new things, life is just so great with this little guy!

I’m not at all trying to paint an unrealistic picture to my friends who read this and don’t have children yet. But I wish somehow I could give a better perspective about the joy of being a parent more than just saying, “The headache is all worth it in the end.” He is such a gift and every day is so sweet with him because if he’s happy I really enjoy that, if he’s sad I can comfort him, if he’s sick I get to take care of him, if he’s fussy I get to train him to have a better attitude…I’m so thankful that the Lord is letting us have this gift each day!

“Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.”

James 1:17

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