Blessed

Most of the time,I would say that my life is pretty good. However, if you were to ask me this week, I'd say that my life is great. March of 2011 has some pretty exciting milestones for my little family and me. This month, Lori and I will celebrate four years of marriage, and I must say, it's been a wonderful four years. On March 16th, 2007, Lori became my wife. Since then, she has become a mother and my best friend. We have established a home together and started a family. We have helped each other recover from sicknesses and surgeries, supported each other in new jobs, and we've learned to rely on one another the way a husband and wife should. We are each the other's support systems--at least I know that Lori is mine.

On Monday I started a new job. For over four years I worked for KeyBank. When I left, I felt like I was leaving a part of my life behind. Lori said that Key has helped us build the life that we have had together. I have worked there since before we were married and I really have never had any other "real" job. A few weeks ago I accepted a position in the Tax Department at Goldman Sachs. Monday was my first day. Starting a new job has been fun, exciting, and scary. So far, there is a very obvious benefit to my new job: I have spent more time with my family this week than I have in months. To say it's been amazing would be an understatement.

Since JJ turned 7 months old this week, Lori had to take some pictures of him. OK, I guess she doesn't really need an excuse to take pictures of him, but here are some of his "7 month" pictures that have been taken over the course of the weekend.

JJ is a very determined boy. He has an extremely long attention span and an insane ability to focus on a particular task. I'm pretty sure he didn't get that quality from me, but hey, it's a pretty good thing to have. This picture above is him studying the rain outside of our front room window.

Everywhere we go, people compliment JJ's eyes.

Nothing much to do but stare at the rain. Poor JJ has had a cold all week so we haven't had him outside much. He seemed pretty content to just stare out the window though.

The kid has an obsession with tags. He scoots around all day finding tags to suck on. We had to take this picture to remember this little quirk about him.

Since he's been able to sit up, Lori is really excited about all the new poses she can do for pictures. The only problem is that he has absolutely no concept of falling or getting hurt so he'll throw himself off of anything.

JJ loves dogs. Well, at least he loves his dog, Hurley, and this stuffed dog that his Aunt Kathy gave him on the day he was born.

The laundry basket is one of JJ's favorite new toys. There is something about the toys being louder when he bangs them on the floor that really seems to get him excited.

He had to sit on the chair like a tough guy because he kept lunging forward out of the chair. Most of the time I was paying attention enough to catch him before he fell, but there was one close call. I caught the poor kid by the back of the shirt with about a quarter of an inch between the cement floor and his face.

Tags and strings. If he doesn't have a tag to suck on, he'll find a string to pull on. Funny kid.

7 months has flown by. JJ is almost crawling. He gets around in his own ways (scooting and rolling), but I know that any day now he's just going to take off. He is by far the best toy I've ever had. Yes, I am blessed.