Bye-bye Grandpa

Greg's dad left for Indiana tonight. He will make the trip in two days, break it up a little so it's not so long. He spent three whole weeks here with us working on the house and he got a LOT done! All the trim is up in the bathroom and office, there is a new wider doorway between then living room and dining room, we have a coat closet under the stairs, all of the awful bead board is covered up, the ceiling is repainted and the ceiling trim is back up in the living room. There is still plenty for us to do... finish the drywall and paint it, strip and re-stain all the floor trim and put it back up in the living room, get the electric hooked up for the bathroom and office, and so many small little projects. Eventually we want to get different carpet in the living room and refinish the wood floor in the dining room. Greg borrowed a "dustless" sander from our friend Jordan, it is motorized and has a shop vac attached to it so it goes supper fast and you have to be really careful but it makes things go a lot faster. Greg had a lot of fun trying it out on our living room walls... There is still a lot of dust, but not nearly as much as there would have been otherwise! Thanks Jordan!









We are really going to miss having Grandpa around. Luke had gotten used to having him around all the time and even learned how to roar finally in the last few days! He really wants to be big like Daddy and Grandpa and Mommy. He wants to walk around in my shoes, play with the pots and pans, wash things and fold laundry like Mommy. He wants to pound with a hammer and roar like Grandpa, and he wants to sand drywall and vacuum like Daddy. Another game we have really enjoyed lately is chase! We have had the entertainment center pulled away from the walks pretty much since Grandpa came and he likes to run around it with me crawling after him. Then after he goes around the corner I change directions and surprise him on the other side. He LOVES being scared like that!



Here is a short video of the shoes!!!

and here he is trying to sand the drywall like Daddy...

Here is Grandpa next to the two doorways he put in...

And here is a picture of us that Grandpa took for us!

Bye-bye Grandpa, give lots of hugs and kisses to everyone back in Indiana for us. Thanks so much for taking care of us. We love you and we'll miss you!

Construction

The construction continues... Greg's Dad will be here for about one more week, he has to be back in Indiana the first of May, so there is a lot to do in this last week.







These pics are from our front living room. The wainscoting or bead board was covering all the walls and changing directions at each corner! Now the only places you can still see it are on the chimney, in the closet and on the wall going up the stairs. Eventually only the inside of the closet will still have it showing.

Luke and I try to get out of the house fairly frequently to get away from the dust and all the dangerous things lying around everywhere for his tiny hands to find. He needs a break now and then from constantly hearing me tell him, "NO LUKEY!!!" in a very panicked voice! (-:

Yesterday morning he woke up super early, not quite 8am even and his normal is closer to 10. When he still wasn't going back to sleep an hour later we got up, dressed, ate breakfast and headed out to my Mom's. I was scheduled to work that afternoon so he would have to go out eventually anyways, and this way he could play, I could sleep, and Dennis could work without worrying about the noise or dust or anything. I ended up getting called off until 7pm so after my nap and talking to my sister for a while we decided that it was such a beautiful day, we should show Luke puddles! My sister was a notorious puddle lover. When she was a toddler my mom couldn't let her out of the house on Sunday mornings if it had rained the night before because whenever she saw a puddle she would run and sit down in the middle of it before Mom had a chance to stop her. Even when she was four or five it wasn't uncommon to find her playing in the full ditches around our house, her pants off so they wouldn't get wet, whatever friend happened to be visiting joining in the fun!

It was so warm and we had a big rain the night before so there were lots of glorious puddles all over the place. We stripped Luke down and took him out to the yard where there was a nice grassy puddle to wade in. I set him down at the edge and started wading in myself, with pant legs rolled hi. He followed me a little and splashed a few times, and then he decided he did not like this! He liked the water and he liked the splashing, but he didn't like the feel of the grass on his feet! How could I have raised a son who doesn't like to be barefoot outside?!? After a few more unsuccessful attempts we took him back to the house. We sat on the steps to let him play, still naked, and he didn't like the feel of dirt on his feet there either. The steps were pretty smooth, but when he walked onto the sidewalk he got a little grit on his feet and started complaining and walked back to me on his tip toes! It was funny to watch, but I really am a little sad that he doesn't love to be barefoot like I do. I hope he will grow out of this eventually. Mom suggested water shoes for my sons sensitive toesies, but I think that's probably not going to happen.

Easter

A week ago we had Easter on good Friday with my dad's family. Here are a few pics from that day. Grandpa and Eli were big hits with the babe, especially since Eli had electronics on him.

We also managed to find Luke's Easter basket, and he was really excited to get started on all that pretty chocolate!

This week on the 18th we celebrated Easter with my Mom's side of the family and had an Easter egg hunt. The idea was that each kid was allowed 7 eggs, but somehow the message wasn't communicated and some kids ended up with one while another kid had 16 or so. I think Luke was the only one to get 7 on the nose! He had a little help from his parents but he retrieved all his own eggs and really had a lot of fun! Afterwards it didn't take him long to figure out that if he threw the plastic eggs they would break open and spill out pretty chocolate eggs everywhere! My aunt Annette was more than happy to help him unwrap those pretty chocolate eggs so he could eat them, and since she was so happy to get him hyped up on sugar we also let her donate her bandanna to the cause of keeping his clothes relatively clean! It was a lot of fun to watch him enjoy everything.

Today was Clarence Rempel's last day as our pastor. It was a really good service and we had a time of sharing and a meal together afterwards. He has been our pastor since I was a freshman in high school, fifteen years ago. His first year there he baptized me, four years later he commissioned me for short term service to Paraguay, four years after than he married my husband and I, and last year he dedicated us and the church to raising my firstborn son in the Christian faith and gave him a life verse to help guide him. Through all those years he has also been involved in the more everyday aspects of our lives, coming out to the farm during harvest to play in the wheat with the kids and ride the combines with the men and share in a harvest meal. He has become a part of our families, well loved and obviously carrying us in his heart. Even his sermons spoke to us with love flowing through them. He didn't shy away from hard topics but spoke the truth to us and encouraged us "to continue to work out (our) salvation" as Paul would have said. He loved us enough to not let us sit back and stagnate, to keep us moving forward, to keep stretching us and helping us make ourselves better and stronger Christians through God's love and help.

In the sharing time as I was thinking about all of this and how much we would miss him I remember something my mom said to me when I left for Paraguay about missing people. She said it hurts, but that the hurting is good, because it means that you loved well and were loved well. She said that when the loneliness came to take out the book of notes that people had written me and go ahead and feel the hurt for a little bit, but not to stay there long. To instead go out and live vibrantly, to love well and be love well where I was. To do it even though I knew it would mean hurting again when I had to leave, because loving well is what makes the journey worth while, makes everything you do meaningful. Clarence and Amanda and their family loved us well, and we loved them well in return, and we will really, really, REALLY miss them. But I'm not sorry. I hope we will have another pastor who is willing to love us as well as Clarence did and I hope we can love him as well too.

This afternoon it was such a beautiful day and Greg and his dad wanted to work on the house...

They have really gotten a lot done. The trim and base boards are all up in the bathroom and office and Greg worked on staining some today.

They also have the Sheetrock up by the stairs and the new closet going well...

And this doorway used to be a lot smaller, look at the carpet on the floor to see how much it grew!

So Luke and I were feeling kind of in the way and needed a good place to go run around where Luke wouldn't constantly be in danger from the construction zone that we live in.

We decided to walk a few blocks away to an old school playground where there is a lot of grassy space to play in, it was just the ticket. We had SOOOOO much fun!

Later after supper we saw Ben and Andrea walking down the sidewalk so we chased them down and walked to the church together. Luke was supper intense, maybe a little too much ice cream??? Anyway, he wanted to RUN on the sidewalk, not walk, and he fell down at least five times pretty hard! He got a few small scrapes on his hands and one good sized one on his forehead and still was running around like a maniac so finally I said enough and made him let me carry him the rest of the way home. He actually was fine with me carrying him, I was all prepared for a fit but it never came. When we got home I noticed that his forehead was getting a goose egg so I got a wet towel and an ice cube and he and I read stories and snuggled while I held it on his forehead. He didn't like it much but as long as I was reading stories he would focus on that and was fine.

few new things...

We are enjoying having Greg's dad here with us, though I have to admit I am seeing much less of him than I thought I would. I work four days this week and next week I work three and am on call for a fourth. Also with Easter last weekend and the MCC relief sale coming up not to mention a wedding shower for a cousin of mine our time is really scheduled pretty full. Still, (or maybe because of the fact that I and Luke are gone so much) Dennis is getting quite a bit done. I think Greg really wishes he could be off more so that he could work with his dad more of the time, but he has to work and his work is pretty strenuous so he comes home pretty exhausted and then puts in an hour or two with his dad before falling into bed. I think Dennis has figured out why Greg doesn't get much done when he's not here! (-;

Luke continues to amaze me. I think I can almost see him getting taller these days, and his teeth are definitely still bothering him quite a bit. The other day he was playing and found a can of pop that still had a few drops in it so he decided to dump them out onto the floor (the wood floor, thank goodness)! When I caught him he was rubbing it around with his hand looking very determined. I just thought he was playing with it, seeing how it felt on his hand and how it made the wood look darker, etc. Then that night when we were taking a bath he needed something to occupy him for a minute so I asked him to wash my knee, something I have never done before but I thought, I have washed him every night for a long time, maybe he will figure it out... And he got right to work, just like when he was "playing" on the floor, washing my knee with his hand! I totally hadn't expected him to really do anything and here he knew exactly what I had asked him to do and was doing it!

Later after we got out he was sitting on the floor playing while I got dressed for bed and when I was done I looked down to see what he was getting into. He had found one of his socks in the laundry and was very diligently trying to put it on his foot! I just sat down next to him and watched. At first he would grab any part of the sock and try to put it on his foot as hard as he could, usually just wrapping it around his toes. After a while though he found the opening in the top of the sock and worked very hard to get it open and then onto his big toe before he started pulling as hard as he could! He never did get that sock all the way onto his foot, just over his big toe! I tried to offer him one of my socks thinking that since it is so much bigger he would have an easier time getting it on his foot, but he knew it wasn't his sock and set it down on top of my foot and then went back to work with his own sock! I think he was working at it for a good twenty minutes before he got interested in something else.

It is so much fun to watch him learn new things...

Birds!

My father-in-law arrived here on Tuesday and is staying 2-3 weeks to help us work on our remodeling projects. He also brought presents, both from Luke's birthday and for Easter! For his birthday Luke got several new outfits, including some Bears outfits that Greg was super excited about! He also got several books, a blue bouncy ball, a boat that makes noises to play with in the tub and several other smaller items including a magnedoodle (I think that's what it's called) which will be great for in church. He has already played with almost all of it, and he and grandpa have especially enjoyed the blue ball together! We wish Mimi could have come too, I know she really would have enjoyed watching him enjoy all the things she sent and getting a chance to play with him too. Mimi thank you so much! We love you and miss you!

Here is Papa working on trim for the doors inside the house. He and Greg have gotten quite a bit done. It is always so good to have extra help to do these sorts of things. Greg works so hard at his job that he is pretty much exhausted by the time he gets home and never has much energy to put into the remodeling projects, and there are always maintenance things to do on the weekends like mowing the lawn, etc. so progress is very slow when he doesn't have any help. I'll take more pics soon to post on the progress they are making.

Luke got two new teeth on the top this week, that makes six total and a fairly unhappy baby, especially at night. Papa claims he has slept through it all, but I definitely haven't and I know Greg hasn't either! I think he is over the worst of it for this set of teeth now, we'll see how long the break between teeth is this time.

Luke has really been enjoying the warmer weather and the chance to get outside. Unfortunately he wants to walk everywhere by himself without holding my hand, and the street happens to be especially enticing so there tend to be at least a few tears along the way. He also likes visiting our neighbors which I believe they enjoy as well. I have gotten to know our neighbors quite well thanks to him! One of my neighbors happens to be a coworker, which I didn't even know until last week. Her husband is always out on his porch, in fact we met him the day we moved into our house because it was raining and we couldn't get in and needed to call someone so he let us use their phone. They have a cat that often sits on their porch and a tiny dog just the right size for Luke who happens to be very gentle and friendly despite the sign on their door! (-:

Visiting the neighbors!!!

Luke also likes looking at birds on people's lawns and gets terribly excited when he sees one! All of the sudden he will stop in his tracks and start pointing and squealing very high! Then, all of the sudden he is off, chasing that bird wherever it goes if I am not fast enough to stop him.

It's a bird!!!!!

first scar

That's right, my baby's face is forever scarred... On the third he was standing close to me in the kitchen while I made dinner and all of the sudden he lost his balance and went face first onto the edge of a paint can that was close by. It was closed and dry and he started crying immediately. Since he had basically just bent over and hit the paint can without much momentum I really didn't think he was that hurt but I picked him up and held him close and after a couple of seconds I pulled him off my chest to get a look at him.... and blood was pouring down his face! I yelled for Greg and grabbed a handy clean black towel out of the drawer, wet it and slapped it on his forehead. When Greg got there we added an ice pack and the three of us went to sit down so we could get a better idea of what needed to happen and so that I could keep pressure on the cut more easily with out Luke trying to pull my hands off his face. Poor baby, oh how he cried. We tried several things to calm him down and finally started reciting his favorite books to him which got him quiet but snuffly so we could figure out the next step. His cut was not bleeding as hard anymore but it looked pretty deep and definitely wasn't going to stay together on it's own. We debated using steri strips or supper glue and Greg ran to the store to get some, but I still wasn't convinced it didn't need stitches and since it was on Luke's face I really didn't want it to be a big scar. I called my work and my mom and they suggested we take him to this immediate care center close to the hospital so I called them while we waited for Greg to get home and they said that they were open until 8pm and you only paid your normal copay for a Dr's office visit, SOOO CHEAP! When I heard that I figured it would be worth it to get him checked out, even if they told me we could have just put steri strips on it at home I would have peace of mind for only $25! Greg got home and we took him in, and sure enough, he needed the stitches. He got six total!

This pic above was when he snuggled up and fell asleep in my arms tonight after a traumatic little cleaning with peroxide, I hate the stuff!

So... now we have the adventure of trying to keep his hands off the stitches and keep the wound clean. The Dr said to leave it open to air and clean it with peroxide two or three times a day so that it doesn't form a big scab, but that seems to be easier said than done. Today I took Luke to the park to enjoy the warm weather and let him run around outside, thank goodness I decided to put a couple of band aids over the cut before hand because he decided that throwing sand over his own shoulders was a lot of fun, I have no idea why he decided that might be fun but he spent a good ten minutes doing it! I wish I had taken the camera and gotten a video of him doing it because it was hilarious. Looked kinda like an elephant spraying muddy water over it's back. When we got home I took off his clothes and diaper outside, thank goodness it was still warm, and then he got an early bath! As you can see for the most part it doesn't seem to bother him.

So, a few pics from earlier... Luke cracks me up everyday with something different. Today was the sand dusting. Yesterday he wanted to get up way before I was ready so instead of getting out of bed I grabbed one of his little toys, a duck, and tried to entertain him with it. He thought

it was hilarious when I would make the duck nod or shake his head and eventually Luke started trying to nod his head yes with the duck, something he hadn't really mastered before. It is so deliberate and exaggerated that it made me laugh. Wish I had a video of that too.

Another day Luke found Papa Myers' hat that he left at our house last time he was here and had a blast walking around with it on his head and then bringing it to me when it would fall off.

March 27th we had pizza for supper and after we were all done and busy doing things Luke decided he wanted another piece! I caught him in the act with pizza toppings and sauce all over the place!

March 25th we Took Luke to get his hair cut professionally for the first time. (I cut it the weekend after Thanksgiving but decided it was worth paying someone else to do the next one.) We went to a good family friend, Jennifer. She has cut almost all my family's hair including cousins on both sides so I thought she should get the honor. (-: I was pretty nervous about how it would go so I took my mom along and several books and toys which we read without much luck. Luke really did extremely well but the trick it turned out was that he found two new favorite things, the squirt bottle full of water which he wanted us to spray in his mouth for him to drink, and the buzzer/clippers, which he wanted to feel vibrating in his hand and nearly put him into a trance. My mom took pics and sent them too me over email so here are just two.

A few weeks ago he was in love with pushing my exercise ball around the living room and sometimes would push it up a wall until it fell back down behind him. He also still loves to sit on my lap while I bounce on it or to watch me or Greg make it bounce like a big basket ball.

You can see how long his hair was before we cut it again.



Here are the spring flowers that bloomed in March, just before it decided to snow and they all went away...

Well, that's about it for now, kind of the belated short backwards version of the last few weeks. I have a couple of really cute videos that go along with some of the cute things Luke has been doing, but I haven't had time to edit them down to a size that I can upload yet so that will have to wait. In the mean time we are really busy getting ready for Easter, the MCC sale, and Greg's dad visiting to see us and help out with the home remodeling projects Greg wants to do.