the year of Ian

This is the time of year for a lot of reflection on life and what has happened during the past year.  2012 brought a whole new dynamic into our family life with the arrival last March of little Ian Benjamin.  He just turned 10 months old yesterday.  Experiencing the shift in roles when your kids have kids has brought a different perspective to many things.  Bob and I find that we now often reflect back to when our 2 kids were babies, trying to remember what we went through at that time.  And you can't help but make many comparisons to what was considered the right thing to do back then compared to now.  

It has been a time of growing and learning for all of us.  There is so much that has to be learned by experience, not by textbook.  I think each baby rewrites the book!  We are lucky to live near this little guy, and be able to offer a helping hand to his mom and dad when needed.  They have become such a team, working through all those first weeks and months and the bumps along the way.  I recently realized that we had not had an actual family photo taken since Ben joined the family, and with Dan living at a distance our opportunities to get everyone together are limited.  So last Friday we were able to squeeze in a little time with a local photographer, Kelley Conley Reiter.  It was reasonably warm that day, so we went ahead with outdoor pictures.  Here are a couple of the sneak peeks that Kelley already prepared, with more to come.

It was very rewarding to see this come together, and these pictures are wonderful.  Little Ian loved riding in his little wooden sled, which was loaned to us by my friend, Leisl.  Her boys used it about 25 years ago and it is perfect for this little guy.

Happy New Year!