Sigh

Sitting here watching the winter Olympics and I am quickly reminded of 4 years ago, watching the Vancouver Olympics with a brand new Jeremiah.  That was pretty nice, actually-- something to watch on TV late at night and during the daytime while on maternity leave (one can only take Maury Povich and his "You ARE the father!" shows for so long....).  Of course, they don't air any of the exciting events late at night or during the day, but still.  It was nice!  And now, apparently, the winter Olympics will forever remind me of Jeremiah's first weeks of life!

So, since I get nostalgic every year at this time, and since Jeremiah has an upcoming 4th birthday (!!!!), I give you:

MY TOP 10 FAVORITE J VIDEOS (in order from birth to now):

1.  Brand new baby video.   Pretty much the only video we have of J as a tiny baby (sadness!).  How stinkin' cute was he with all his blond hair?!?!?!?  Oh my.

2.  Don't drink the water.  Can't go wrong with a bath video, right????  I have no idea why he was so fixated on drinking the bath water that day.... I don't remember him EVER doing that other than in this video!  He's cute.  I think he was about a year old in this video.

3.  Grandpa Magnet.  I know J is probably one of the few children out there who has a picture of Grandpa on a magnet.  And how cute are his interactions with Grandpa in this video?!?!?  I think he was about 16 months in this video.  I have quite a few favorites from the 16-18 month range when he was starting to talk!

4.  Animal sounds but not Abby.   Another one from about 16 months old.  He would NOT say "Abby!"  But oh my, the just learning to talk stage, I think that might be my favorite age!!!

5.  Jeremiah's Song.  My absolute favorite video of J (he's about 17 months in this video)!!!!!  I love his little song!!!

6.  The birdies.  The cheeks..... talking about "buh-dies".... it's just too much!  Another 16-18 month age video.

7.  Come out, duckies!  He was about 20 months, here.  He just wanted the duckies to come out, people.

8.  Twinkle, twinkle Little Star!  20 months old and singing "Twinkle twinkle Little Star!"  Sometimes we still sing this rendition as it is just too cute!

9.  Eating it.  My first cookie decorating attempt with J-- he was about 22 months.  Stepped away for 1 second and that's what I came back to!  "Eating it."

10.  Daddy, mow!  2 year old J.... pretty darn exited about daddy mowing the lawn!!  And let's all just pause for a moment of silence as we remember the year when it was already hot, the grass was green, and lawns needed to be be mowed on March 25 when I took that video.  Sigh.  What does that even feel like?!?!?

11.  Daddy, mow!  Part 2.  This one is a bit more realistic-- 3 year old J all bundled up as daddy mows for the first time....

12.  "Oh my Soul"  J LOVES the song "10,000 Reasons" (although he likes to call it "1000 Parts").  He requests this song over and over and over again in the car (good thing I have it on my iPod).  "Hey Mommy, can you please play that song that goes 'Oh my soul'?"  Not sure why in this video he just repeats the same part over and over.... he knows the whole song and sings right along in the car!  Make me tear up every time. :)

Oops.  Did I say top 10?  I guess by 10, I actually meant 12.  I don't expect many people to click through all those videos and watch them (except maybe my mom-- Hi Mom!), but I like having all my favorite videos of my favorite little boy in one place. :) 

Some highlights of last week, for those of you who skipped over the videos (shame on you):

~We got snow last Tuesday.... and I shoveled twice.  I was pretty proud of myself. :)

Of course, by the next day, it had snowed more and blown like crazy, so the driveway was all covered again. :(  I was happy and relieved to find out that one of our awesome friends came while I was at school and cleared off the driveway and sidewalk once again (Thanks Josh!).  Oh, and I got 1 early-dismissal and 1 late-start out of this snow storm, so that was nice.  Then another late-start the next day for the frigid cold.  I'll take it.  This was my drive to school on our late-start day:

~Our smoke detectors decided that Thursday at 1:30 am would be a good time let me know that they were all OLD and malfunctioning.  Perfect.  Scared the C-R-A-P out of me and a certain little boy (who still brings up smoke detectors at least 5 times a day).  Anyway, I didn't know why they went off, didn't know how they stopped by themselves, I have no idea.  But going back to sleep that night was just a bit difficult.  This guy agreed!

After the smoke detectors went off AGAIN Thursday evening while J was home with our babysitter, I knew something was not right with those things.  Thankfully another awesome friend of ours came over, checked everything out, and installed 6 new smoke detectors for us the next day (Thanks, Scott)!  And (fingers crossed) we have had 4 peaceful nights of sleep since then.

~We are incredibly blessed by our daycare provider and her family.  J and Grady are the best of friends, and Grady's Grandpa and Meema wanted J to have a fireman suit (and even a hose!) just like Grady-- such a sweet thing to do for Jeremiah!

Proud to be a "real" fireman!

That was about all the excitement I could handle for one week!  Next week promises to be a great one-- Jeremiah is turning 4 (I can hardly believe it)!!