let's see... this has been an incredible year so far... but for John and I our "new year" started about 3 months ago with the birth of our son Sam. He was born on Halloween 2007 at 5:44 in the morning weighing in at 8 lb 2 oz (big boy) and he hasn't slowed down in the growing department since... I hear that's good for babies though... he's now 14 lbs. CRAZY... Anyhow, the first few weeks were incredibly difficult, not that he was a difficult baby... because he wasn't... we just didn't know anything about babies. Even though John came from a large family and has three younger siblings he seemed just about as lost as I was in the whole thing. I'd never had any contact with babies except for when i lived with Steve and Lynn... but Seth was mush older then. Again, the first few weeks were rough. We held him all the time... prayed he would fall asleep so that we could get some sleep... my mom was a big help but when she was here I didn't want to sleep, I liked the company and even though I wanted the sleep I wanted to visit more. I had this horrible feeling that after Sam was born I would be sequestered to the house and not be able to leave... not true... those first few weeks we found out that our carseat was the answer to all our problems... it put him to sleep very fast so going out wasn't a big problem. It took us about a month to finally finish reading a book I should have finished before I had Sam. It is called "on becoming babywise" basically it's about setting a schedule for your baby with the end result in them sleeping through the night. It works! Sam now at three months sleeps from about 9:30 till 6 am. It's very liberating. I love being a mom and am blessed to be able to stay home with my son and watch him grow. He lifts his head up now and can roll over. These things seem very small but to us they are cause for celebration every time. Life has certainly changed in this little household and it's definitely an adjustment but one we are more than happy to make. We are excited for this new year and all it holds; all the firsts that Sam will have and we will get to take part in as parents. We have found a church that we are getting more and more involved in and a small group that has been a tremendous blessing. Life is good! And moreover God is good... all the time.