First things first

January, the first month, started us off with a lot of new firsts.

First of all, ok I'll stop saying that...

Richard started school.

He's been doing a lot of research for the summer and fall, and now it's back to class!

I can't possibly imagine what doctorate level engineering course would be like.

So I won't try.

Colette has moved onto her first primary class!

Being just a year younger than Parker is hard for her to see him do all these new things,

then she has to wait a whole year before she can do it. 

So now that she is in Primary with Parker, she is one happy girl. 

when I asked her what her favorite scripture was, 

she pointed at the big book on the side table and said, 

"This one."

haha.

And the king of first times for everything, 

Mitchell has really astounded us lately with all he can do.

I showed you already how he can stand by himself, and clap.

But he is also waving, eating lots of foods, drinking from a bottle, 

getting teeth, signing "more", dancing, and many other things.

He grows everyday.

When we first got home from Christmas vacation, 

I would walk upstairs and then realize that Mitchell would be right there.

I would think "that's weird I don't remember bringing him upstairs."

Then I would walk downstairs and he would again be right by me.

"Hmmm, I really don't remember bringing downstairs."

Then we finally caught him going up and down the stairs all by himself!

At first I got scared and freaked out that he would break his neck.

But after letting him go up and down a few times, 

I can see he is really good at it! 

At the top of the stairs, he will be on his belly, feet toward the stairs,

and then he will stretch his little toe as far as he can until he feels the next step.

He is very very cautious.

It's fun to watch.

No baby gate required. 

My only teeny tiny complaint about Mitchell would be 

when he turned six months old, 

we moved  him into his own room. 

That's when he decided that he didn't need to sleep all night anymore.

He will still wake up two or three times a night. 

I'm getting really really tired. 

I can't wake up in the mornings and 

then I don't get as much done because I got up so late.

I'm so ready for it to stop!

But then when he wakes up, he is so happy and easy going.

So...

It's not the end of the world.

Just a little tiring.

I just hope very soon that 

sleeping through the night 

will be another first.