I'm James and it's my birthday

I enjoy: long baths, doing flips on the bed with my dad, and my sister's entertainment.

My interests include: my paci, a good bottle of goat's milk, and anything edible.
My hobbies are: soaking my shirts with drool, pointing at everything I see, eating anything I can reach, clapping at all my accomplishments, and being held by my mommy.

My accomplishments are: standing by myself, saying Dada, baba, and ball, making a few animal noises, and being irresistible to the ladies.

I'm looking for a girl who will wait 20 years for me to date and who loves my mommy.

Today my baby is one year old, and as usual, it is bitter sweet for me. James is an amazing human being. He is living proof to me that God exists and that God is love. He has the most loving spirit in the world and has since the day he was born. I consider it a priviledge and a blessing to be his mother, and cannot wait to see who he grows to be.

Today my darling girl turns four years old. She is such a precious gift to Jeremy and I. We enjoy her so much and are overwhelmed with appreciation to our Father for blessing us with her. She has such a beautiful personality. Although she is very opinionated and knows what she wants, that is one of the things we love about her. She is loving, compassionate, and hilarious. I'm so proud of the person she is becoming and I can't wait to see what the Lord does with her and through her.

Oh, how He loves us so!

This Christmas season I have been overwhelmed at the thought of what Christmas is really about. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords left His heavenly thrown and the angels worshiping Him day and night to become a helpless infant: totally dependant, sitting in his own excrement, crying because cutting teeth hurts, living a perfect, sinless life, loving on scoundrels for 33 years, to eventually die a very painful, humiliating death. And all for us. I understand why that sounds too crazy to believe for some. The idea of a Servant King is completely ridiculous in this world, and it isn't until we know who our Saviour is that we can believe this amazing story. But how can those of us who know the truth make Christmas about anything else? The magic of Santa to a three-year-old is so precious and I don't want to take that away from my children, but I need to do a better job of teaching them what Jesus did for us. I need the Lord to help me grasp the magnitude of His sacrifice before I can help others to do it. Oh, that this Christmas would be different, and that we won't get lost in the gift-giving and Santa, and that we would take this season to honor and glorify the Lord for how He loves us so.

Quarterly Post

Apparently I feel I only need to update my blog a few times a year, and a trip to the pumpkin patch pushed me to do it today. Aside from an emergency room visit for James, the Bankes brood is doing great. James is almost 100% now and Elizabeth's love for her brother continues to beat out her love for us by about 100% as well. He is her favorite thing, and she truly is the sweetest big sister ever. She is always looking out for him and there is nothing she wouldn't do for him. James lights up when he sees her and adores her as well. Jeremy and I constantly are in awe of God's generosity and faithfulness to us. We are humbled and amazed that He would bless us so richly with each other and our incredible children.

We decided to go on our annual McKillip/Bankes pumpkin patch trip last night, and when I told Elizabeth we were going she said, "Oh, I used to love going there when I was a little girl!" I asked if she thought she was to old for it now that she was 3 and she assured me she wasn't. Our pumpkin patch venture was bitter-sweet however. We were having a great time until we were about to get on the hay ride and feed the animals (which happens to be mine and Elizabeth's favorite part) and it started raining. We waited under a shanty, wooden roof until we accepted defeat and ran to the car. But I was able to get some sweet pics of the cutest little pumpkins ever.

I have to brag on my two babies!

First of all, Elizabeth just completed her 10th swimming lesson and can swim all by herself! She just learned to come up for air while swimming and jump into the water and swim to the side herself! She went from not wanting to go under at the first of the summer to jumping off the diving board and loving it! Sorry for all the exclamations, but I am just so proud.
I am equally proud of my baby boy, who for a week has consistently only woken up to eat once a night and has gone right back to sleep every time. Sleep and I have finally caught up and are closer than ever. If anyone elses baby is doing better than this, I don't want to hear about it.

Dear Sleep,

Hey how's it going? It has been way too long. I wanted to let you know that lately I have been thinking a lot about you and remembering all the great times we used to have together. We used to spend hours on end with one another, uninterupted - just you and me. Do you remember? I miss you so much, and really hope that someday soon we can get together and catch up.

Love,
Kelli
P.s. I love you - that will never change.