“Aunt Shelli” requested a blog entry

She said it’s been too long since the last post. So – here it goes:

I posted right before we left for NC the Saturday before Christmas. We went up to visit my mom & dad’s family there. On the way up, we stopped in SC to visit my college friend Cindy and let Mercer stretch his legs / crawl around / play for awhile with her children.

We saw all of my mom’s family at a Christmas gathering on Sunday. Mercer enjoyed himself at the party too and could’ve played with the bow from a package all night if we let him. (It was hard to get him to open any presents, honestly, after the thrill of the shiny bow!) He did take interest in a red remote-controlled car that was opened nearby and kept crawling over to it – trying to grab it.

We also went to see my dad’s mother – Mercer’s great grandmother – as well as his sister for short visits with each. We didn’t get to see everyone that we wanted to, but our time in NC was brief (basically 2 full days).

Tuesday, we loaded up the car and headed for Washington DC – where Todd’s brother Jim lives. Mercer was able to meet two cousins there, Nathaniel and Marley, who he had not seen before. He also got to partake in a Hanukkah celebration, as Jim’s wife, Becki, lit the candles of her menorah as well as that of their kids. And – as luck would have it – they were having a pot-luck dinner that night with their friends, so we got to partake in that as well.

Wednesday, we were back in the car – headed up to NJ to stay at Todd’s parent’s house. Todd’s sister (and 5 children – ages 17 to 8) arrived shortly after we did and the festivities there began. It’s always very busy / bustling there with that number of folks under one roof. They were all very excited to see the baby. The next morning – Christmas morning – the excitement and activity level rose as the kids all wanted to open gifts. They were allowed to open their stockings but – they had to wait a short while for Todd’s brother, Bob, and his son, Sam, to arrive before opening. Mercer was drawn to the shiny wrapping paper, of course, but did seem interested in some of the toys (there weren’t many bows to distract him). He was especially interested in the remote-controlled cars that the cousins got that rode on the ceilings. Yes – that’s correct. They were vacuum-powered and the suction held them on the ceilings and walls. He got one too, but we haven’t opened it yet. Todd was happy to see this gift... click to enlarge! There was enough activity with the others riding all over the place! Also – Mercer got in the habit of pointing up. That meant “put a car on the ceiling… NOW.” (translated, of course.) Todd’s brother Jim and family arrived that night. So – in Todd’s parent’s house there were his parents, the 4 children (Todd included) and their spouses, and 9 grandchildren. It was / always is crazy!

We were in NJ a full two days as well, then packed back into the car at 4:40 am Saturday morning (ugh) and drove for 12 hours (including stops) back to NC. We got in one last visit to my grandma and grandpa – Mercer’s great-grandmother and great-grandfather… as well as a visit from an aunt. We were there for less than a day before we packed back into the car and headed to Asheville NC where we are now. Todd’s project in Asheville is beginning to wrap up and he has been doing punch-lists and walk-throughs of a number of the buildings. I’ll blog more about Asheville and the final leg of the journey home later. But I “needed” to get this done to get Shelli off my back. : - )

There have been a few things that Todd & I have noticed over this past week with Mercer:
His crawling – he’s mastered it… and is pretty fast now. He’s pulling up on furniture a lot and seems to want to stand more than sit. (We’re in trouble, for he’ll be walking sooner than later!)
He’s beginning to throw tantrums (at least with me) when I feed him… pushing the spoon away or grabbing it and throwing it! We’re tinkering with his feeding amounts and schedule, as he seems to be hungrier than he has been in the past / he can’t seem to eat enough. (Suppose it’s the crawling around and burning of extra calories – or maybe he’s hitting a growth spurt?)
He’s starting to communicate more and understand us more now. He points at things that he’s interested in. He pushes things away that he’s not interested in.
He’s starting to really emulate us. We say bye-bye. He says bub-bub. Bottle and ball come out as “ba.” We say uh-oh. He repeats that. We say ok. He says oh-aye. He’s trying to copy the sounds that we’re saying and the variation of voice (higher and lower pitch). It’s really pretty interesting.

He’s turning into a little person… looks and acts less like a baby this past week!

We hope that each of you had a safe and happy holiday. Our best to you in 2009! (The next post will probably be “next year.”)

A quick post...

It's been awhile since blogging... things have been INSANE lately. This time of year is always busy -- and more so now that we have Mercer.

We went to a Christmas party last weekend in our neighborhood. It's been going on 5 - 6 years, but this is the first year that we've been able to attend. We've been wanting to attend for awhile because they have horses pulling a wagon around the neighborhood! These are our friends Les & Jen, their two girls August and Skyla, and their 6 month old baby boy Jude -- who we're sure Mercer will be fast friends with. The girls wanted to sing carols as we rode around... so we did. It seems like a nice tradition to begin. This Mercer's first time seeing horses up close.

Mercer also had a little Christmas party at his daycare. He's still the youngest one there and couldn't really participate (decorating gingerbread cookies and making decorated Christmas trees out of upside-down ice cream cones covered with icing and candies.) There is a kid there who's a few months older than Mercer who didn't decorate one either, but the teacher made a cookie for him / set it down in front of him in a high chair / and let him at it. I think Mercer was the cleanest kid in the class that day!

Here's a picture of his teacher, Ms. Angela. She's really sweet and sweet on Mercer.

Well, we've got to run, but we hope that each of you has a great holiday.... Happy Hanukkah... Merry Christmas! Be safe. Savor the time with family and loved ones!

Do any of the blog readers have a suggestion....

... for travelling with a 10 month old on a long road trip?

We're gearing up to do our trek up the East Coast and we're trying to figure out logistics.
We will need to stop every couple of hours for feeding solid foods and bottles alternatively... but Mercer's crawling and we're horrified at the thought of putting him down on the floor of a restaurant so he can stretch out and move around.

I'd love to hear suggestions and/or baby-friendly places. Please post a reply or email.

(One suggestion is to drive overnight while he sleeps, but neither Todd nor I are thrilled with having to drive all night.)

thanks!

Oh... my heart is breaking.

Mercer did something today that sounded WAY TOO GROWN UP for his age.
When I picked him up from daycare today, he waved and clearly said (loudly) "bye"

Not the bbbb....bbubbb.....bub he normally says when we prompt him to say bye bye. Flat out -- clear as a bell "bye" -- 3 other people heard it including someone in another room it was so loud and clear. Ugh.

He sounded like he was a couple of years old. Oh this growing up too quick is KILLING me~

We do have some photos to post. We took Mercer Sunday to see Santa up on the Square. He did ok. I LOVE those crying baby photos, but we didn't get one. Even though we everything we weren't supposed to do to get a "good" Santa photo, he was pretty good -- of course. We took Mercer out walking around that day for part of the Christmas tour of homes, he missed a nap, AND we were about 1/2 an hour late for his feeding. Amazingly, he didn't cry at all (he's such a good baby).







Saturday I worked for a couple of hours for the tour of homes with a neighbor and we received comp tickets for the tour. She and I only went through 4 of the homes because Saturday afternoon / evening, Todd & I had a "date."

We went to see the King Tut exhibit that's here in Atlanta. I'm really glad it came here because we missed it when it was on it's original 3-city tour here in the states. (Philly, Ft. Lauderdale, and Chicago). It's now in Texas AND in Atlanta through May 2009. I'd highly recommend that anyone who's at all interested should go see it. http://www.kingtut.org/home They recommend 1 1/2 hours to go through it, but it took us close to 2 hours. It is amazing how intricate and detailed these items that came out of his tomb were. Even the vessel that held his stomach organs was fascinating!! And the jewelry... and the new cat scans.... etc. Check it out if you can!

A few interesting things this past week...

Lately, we've noticed a few additional things about little M.

He's more into "discovery" -- while folding laundry in his room one day -- I let him crawl around in his bedroom. He'd go over and pull a bin of toys off of the shelf (not to worry -- that was the plan). He'd go through the toys and pull them all out. After awhile, he'd crawl a little more and then he actually went out the door into the hall. He stopped and turned to see where I was. It was cute. Then, once he felt comfortable (I guess?) he crawled across the hall to the bathroom door, but stopped there. // That same weekend, he would crawl from the living room into the kitchen. He's learned that he can get from point A to point B. (Yes, he'd crawl around a little bit before -- but it was mostly to go after a toy or something... not to get someWHERE or to expolore what's around the corner.) Cool.

Another thing we saw was him stopping mid-crawl and "scratching" at things. In the kitchen floor, for instance, it's pine, but the old nail heads are darker in color. He would stop and scratch at that dark spot; he noticed a difference in color or texture and wants to see what it's all about.

He's also been sleeping differently. He still sleeps on his stomach, but he scrunches up now with his butt up in the air. For the yogi's out there... it's sort of like "Child's Pose." Which is aptly named! I feel bad because I snapped a couple of shots while he was peacefully sleeping. Didn't wake him, thankfully.

We got Mercer's birth certificate this week too. It has his original birth date and birth city / state... but now has OUR names on it... AND the name that we gave him. (The previous birth certificate we had for him had the birth mother's name and the name she gave him.) So -- that was really the LAST document that we needed to make all of this official /finished. We can apply for a social security number, 529, passport, etc now.

M did get sick on Sunday. He had the croup again, but we caught it early enough by going to a Children's clinic on Sunday morning for the treatment to clear his air passage... He was much improved by that afternoon / evening. They told us to follow-up with his pediatrician Monday morning. Todd took him... and they said he sounded good. While there, we asked if they could give him a couple of immunizations which he was supposed to get anyways. They agreed that he sounded like he was over the croup / healthy enough / so he got a couple of immunizations. Unfortunately - as a side effect - he got fever off and on for a few days... but we think he's pretty getting back to normal now.

Finally, something interesting that I got to do Tuesday night -- attended a lecture by a famous architect,William McDonough. He does more than buildings... he works with scientists to develop and improve products so that they never have to be landfilled. It's a process called "Cradle to Cradle." (Often, after recycling something over & over, it gets down-graded and will eventually need to be landfilled. C2C products do not. They can either be composted and turned into technical nutrients or can be re-manufactured infinitely. (Basically waste = food.)

The company I work for was asked to come set up a table at the event (which only had about 100 attendees). It was very small. Very intimate. Very casual and pretty interesting. Check out the concept if you're not familiar. (I know a couple of blog readers are familiar, as they sent me a Cradle to Cradle link about the g-diapers we use.) http://www.mbdc.com/overview.htm

We've got a good weekend in store. Hope you all have a nice one wherever you are!

We had a nice Thanksgiving.

We didn't travel this year -- it's the first Thanksgiving we've spent at home, ever.

We had neighbors over (and their two children too) for lunch. I admit -- I ordered a pre-cooked turkey breast and a couple of side dishes. Todd made sweet potato casserole. I made cheese cake pumpkin pie. Our neighbors brought mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pie too! We ALL ate more than we should've, but it was oh so good.

We didn't have anything "festive" for the table -- so I bought two packs of cloth napkins in gold and cayenne and used some to drape the table, some to use as napkins. The dining room was totally transformed for 20 bucks. (I already had the glass pumpkins; I got the napkins to match them.) At each end of the table sat their kids (they ate off of plastic -- but it went with the china we used). Mercer drank a bottle, then played in the dining room in his exersaucer and ate some sweet potato puffs.

After our guests went home, Todd and I walked up to the square. The weather was gorgeous (in the 60s). This is the first time I have walked all the way to the square in a long time -- since before the surgery. (I only got clearance Oct 31st... and since then Mercer was sick / I was sick / the weather's been bad.) It was GREAT going up there. We love our square!!

On the way up, we stopped at a home-town bank for a photo that I've been wanting to get for awhile. Mercer in front of a chicken sculpture. There was a fund-raiser for a local organization that had artists decorate the "Little Chicks of Marietta" (much like the Cows on Parade event that was up in NYC, Chicago, and Atlanta). This is modeled after the Big Chicken -- a 4 story KFC which is "historic" and serves as a local landmark here. This is one of my favorite Chicks b/c it speaks to an industry that was prevalent in Marietta during the war: building bombers at Lockeed-Martin.

We continued up to the square. It was empty. No businesses were open... and there were only a handful of people up there. We took some cute pictures of M on the train that's usually swarming with kids. They usually crawl all over it. But - we had free-reign of the train. Check out these great photos!

We rounded out the day by feeding Mercer his "Thanksgiving Dinner." (Earth's Best Vegetable Turkey Dinner.) He only ate half of a jar of the baby food, but at least he got to partake in the festivities sort of. It was a nice Thanksgiving, indeed.

Mercer woke up this morning around 4:45... I laid in bed for awhile, then just decided -- what the heck -- I'll go shopping. Places were open early. I completely steered clear of the mall, so the store I went to really weren't that crowded. There was one line I stood in (with about 10 other people) at 7 am. World Market had chances for the first 100 people at each location to get a game piece for a National Wildlife Expedition (valued at $20,000 each). That's really what got me up and out shopping. Just the chance to win one of the three trips they were offering(I was laying in bed calculating the numbers -- the odds were less than 1 in 10,000.)

Oh well. we didn't win. I did get a nice blown glass ornament, though as a "parting gift."

I had some time to kill before World Market opened. I went to a neighboring store / wandered around / found all sorts of great things for our nieces and nephews. I made a rookie mistake (first time at home for Thanksgiving... first time at home to shop on Black Friday): I hadn't planned on going to that store / I had to go back home... grab my coupon / go back out to the store... but it was worth it. I got probably 1/2 of my shopping done at this one store. yay!

"Little M" is 9 months old today

He's beginning to stir this morning, but I thought I'd try to blog quickly before our day begins.

He's 9 months old today -- hard to imagine that 3/4 of a year ago -- we had no idea that we would be chosen to call this sweet baby our own! Oh how different life was 3/4 of a year ago!!

Yesterday, we went to a "National Adoption Day" brunch held by our adoption consultant. She has placed over 80 families with babies this year... and said by the end of the year -- she's targeting over 100 families. (I didn't realize this, but she has families along the East Coast... there are several from NC, FL, and even a couple she worked with from Michigan.) Mostly people from Georgia were at the event yesterday, though, and only about 1/2 of the families that she worked with were there.

They had a bunch of tables set up in a church fellowship hall, a buffet at one end, and about 1/3 of the space was a play area for the kids. Yes -- she's done this before!! Setting up the play area was really really smart. All of the babies were younger than 1 year... so there were lots of things for them to do -- on the floor. Mats, bouncy chairs, exersaucers, etc. There was even a little tiny rocking horse that Todd put Mercer on for a minute. There were older kids there too -- siblings. In fact, one family adopted a baby (who's now 11 months old) and then got called back out to Texas by the birth mother to see if they wanted to adopt his older half sister. She's 2 1/2 years old. They did, of course. She was the oldest "adoptee" present. Pretty cool! The youngest babies (there were a few) who were around 5 - 6 weeks old.

She asked the crowd to raise their hands if -- once they were approved for their Home Study -- that it took over 12 months to be placed with a baby. No one raised their hands. It took less than a year from the time they started 'til they had added a little bundle to their families. She continued to ask people to raise their hands: less than 12 months... less than 9 months... less than 6 months.... less than 3... less than 1... less than a week? A few of us raised our hands. Actually I asked "how about if you were placed with a baby before the Home Study was approved / but by the time you got on the plane it was done?" There were three couples there (including us) raised their hands -- who it all happened very very quickly to! She's aggressive, but gets the job done!

There was one set of twins there. There were several couples from Colorado (their babies were born in Denver). But the couple we met in Colorado Springs the week Mercer was born (shown on our blog back in Feb) were not there. They were signed up to attend, but for one reason or another they didn't make it. There were several babies born in Utah, Nevada, Florida, etc. There were lots of stories about how they "got the call" and off they were to another state for this big journey... the "looks" they got for taking a several day old baby to a restaurant (yep - we got that look)... the "oddities" of raising a baby in a hotel room for a week or two (yep - we had that experiences too!).

The consultant showed a video of photos that parents had sent in. I suppose she only used digital photos that were emailed to her instead of scanning in printed ones sent because the only photo she had in the video of Mercer was one we emailed her while we were in Colorado (one of Todd feeding him when he was teeny-tiny). She then took a group photo -- which will be posted on her website. I'll put a link on the blog once the photo makes it up to the site. Currently, last-year's Adoption Day party attendees are still on there.

It was a good event overall and we're glad we went. It was the highlight of our week. We did other things too this weekend -- going out Friday night, stopping by a friend's house who lived a mile from the church we were at yesterday, attending a pot luck last night at a neighbor's house, etc... but the Adoption Day party was definitely a unique experience!! Since we've had our "fun" already, the rest of the weekend will be spent cleaning house (oh -- the dishes and the laundry never seem to end anymore!) and FINISHING some baby-proofing things.

I have a video to post to the blog of Mercer in his crib... standing... walking along the rail. Time to lower the crib to the lowest setting, now. And his crawling is getting better. Time to get that baby gate up at the kitchen because there's a step he's already headed straight for. When we have him up on the bed or the couch -- he doesn't seem to have any concept of "down" yet... he'd crawl right off trying to grab something on the floor... if we'd let him. He'll learn!

We made it through the weekend safe and sound

The previous two weekends, Mercer was sick. So, we were really relieved when we made it through this past weekend without a hitch.

We had a pretty good weekend and actually did a bit of socializing. Friends over Friday night for a pot luck. And the house was filled with laughter. I LOVE that Mercer got to hear good hearty laughing throughout the evening. Saturday, we went downtown to a club to celebrate a friend's birthday. A neighbor came over to watch Mercer. This was the first time we had a "baby-sitter" really. We have gone out a couple of times when my mom or Todd's mom was in town... but this time... I filled out the little form that lists emergency contact numbers / the pediatrician's number / his date of birth / etc. wow.

I definitely feel like an adult. Seriously. Filling out that little form.


The weekend was filled with some work too. One thing we did was go take a tour of an environmental high school near Atlanta. It's a project I worked on -- brainstorming green features with the team before the design was done. And - now - it's built. We took some shots of Mercer there specifically because we haven't uploaded pics in awhile. He had fun playing in the grass -- and -- of course he tried to eat some.


Speaking of eating... Mercer's mastered eating some little finger food. Organic-O's (like cheerios) and these little sweet potato puff things that are supposed to melt in his mouth. We had tried off and on for the past several weeks to introduce these things and each time he was horrified by it. But Sunday we think he "got it." It's cute watching him work on his hand-eye coordination and put these little things in his mouth.

His crawling is getting a little better. He still does a little bit on his belly -- but most of it's up on his hands and feet. And - he's starting to pull himself up on furniture to a standing position. Including inside his crib. It's weird to set him down in there to go wash your hands after a diaper change and come back in / he's standing up! It doesn't last long. He really doesn't have any balance yet -- so if he lets go of the rail -- he tumbles. Luckily, it's soft in the crib. Our hardwood floors, however, are not so soft. He's already taken a spill from this standing position and (thankfully) seems pretty resilient.

He's also picked up on us saying "uh-oh" a little. He's said it several times on Saturday, but not so much on Sunday.

Seems like there has been a lot of stuff going on in the past week with Mercer. I texted the birthmother about the crawling and pulling up on stuff. She said "That's so cool!" Cool... oh I don't know... I think Mercer is about to rock our worlds!! (Have I said that before? It's going to be SO different from this point forward!!) Does that mean that he moves from baby to toddler once he's mobile? oh. so much change!

goodnight.

A couple of videos were added of Mercer

I wish I could say that Mercer was feeling better -- but he's got a "double whammy" -- some sort of stomach bug. Lots of throw-up Saturday morning... which has moved to the opposite end of the spectrum (the "d" word) Saturday night / Sunday / Monday.

His croup is basically, gone, though. He has a little bit of a residual cough. So do I - have a little bit of a cough (I got "adult" croup (basically a sore throat) like the doctors said I would get since I was confined with him. Unfortunately, I think Todd is getting it / he's not feeling well today.)

I really want our household to be well. I am going to try to research some stuff to see if I can (naturally) help build up Mercer's immunity system... and prevent this ICK from entering our house to begin with! ugh.

I really can't think of anything going on. b/c of Mercer not feeling well, we really haven't done much. (We did go to a friend's house, however, and cook together... made homemade pizza appetizers, she & her sister made homemade ricotta cheese to put in homemade pumpkin ravioli, another homemade ravioli dish with chicken, ham, and spinach, AND homemade apple pie. It was quite the feast... and quite chaotic with three of us in the kitchen and the guys watching the kids for much of the evening. We're trying to socialize but not spend a lot of cash (we used to go out to dinner as a form of socialization - but since we're not going out as much... we don't want the good times to end!)

It was fun -- but I think we shouldn't try to make SO many things all in one night!!

Here's what you were waiting for... right?! Seeing Mercer crawling a little bit. Oh -- in week or two -- he's really going to rock our worlds once he's mastered crawling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2AsfirsefM

And another video from the neighborhood Halloween party: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddGroves The "puppy dog" is Henry -- who was on the blog this summer. He's one of the boys on our street also born in February. Jackson - the "teddy bear" - is 1 year old (a few months older) and is Mercer's friend from the next street over. Good times.

I'm glad that Todd & I voted last week because Mercer...

... Mercer went to the ER Sunday / spent Monday in the hospital / we couldn't take him out today (Tuesday). [Another long blog, but I wrote a PS at the end - which I think Mercer will appreciate one day.]

The little guy seems to be ok now, but Sunday night we noticed that he was having difficulty breathing. His chest was "retracting" -- basically sucking in because of lack of air. We called the on-call nurse who told us to take him into the bathroom for 15 minutes and run a steamy shower then take him straight to the E.R. At 10 pm +/- off we went (it's only 1 mile away, luckily).

They determined that he had croup and administered a breathing treatment and a steroid to open up his throat. He didn't seem to respond, so they observed him and administered another breathing treatment. We waited in the E.R. for more observation.

I had heard of croup before, but didn't really know what it was: basically it's a cold... but instead of lodging in the chest... it lodges in the throat. It's particularly dangerous in small children because it constricts the airway / their airways are so small. If interested, this "moderate to severe" definition seems to fit the bill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup
One thing that's pretty cool: there's a device that wraps around the baby's big toe that can instantly read the amount of oxygen in his blood instead of taking blood and sending it off for results. Mercer's oxygen level dipped down to 96% when we checked into the E.R. Not dangerously low, but not good either. He had lost some oxygen.

Around 2 or 2:30 am Monday, Mercer was transported to a Children's Hospital here in Atlanta. I rode with him down in the ambulance. (The medic who rode in the back of the ambulance with us took a cell phone pic (cheesy, I know, but she offered!)... as soon as I can figure out how to get it out of my phone I'll post it.) I checked Mercer in / and they hooked him up to some machines in order to observe him. He did really well throughout it all and finally fell asleep around 4 am. I crashed about 4:15 and woke a couple of times before Mercer woke up promptly at 7:30. (He ALWAYS eats at 7:30 am -- so it didn't surprise me that he was wailing for food!)

He and I hung out all day in the hospital room. I did leave the room to get some lunch with Todd in the hospital cafeteria, but Mercer was "confined" and was not allowed to leave the room at all. People coming in were wearing masks and gloves. It was a little daunting -- but it dawned on me / I learned later that we were in a Respiratory ICU wing of the hospital... and there are some kids there with some very serious diseases. It was as much for his protection as it was theirs.

After a day of observation, he was released. Once home / after visiting the pharmacy, Todd took Mercer duty and I crashed at 5:30 pm!! I could have slept all night, but did get up for a couple of hours before going to bed for real. I slept in Mercer's room because I was worried about how he'd do through the night. Every noise he made had me jump up (Todd too -- he was listening & watching on the baby monitor which resides on his night stand)... it wasn't until about 6:15 this morning that I actually got Mercer up and into the steam shower again. It sounded like he was having breathing distress. We have a nebulizer here at the house from when Mercer was 3 months old & had a respiratory infection. We gave him an at-home treatment and waited until we could administer his steroid this morning.

Basically, croup is not treated with antibiotic b/c it's viral. It has to run it's course through him... and relapse is definitely a possibility. We had a follow-up with Mercer's pediatrician this morning. Again, he sounded good, however, the doc agreed with something I was concerned with: why did the hospital prescribe the steroid in the morning instead of before he went to bed?! This doc wrote a different prescription for the same steroid with "modified" instructions for evening and morning administration. I haven't had time (in all of this rush) to research what this treatment does to him... but at this point... keeping his airway open is most important to us!

I need to run - it's late - I'm going to sleep in his room again, but expect that I'll sleep better than last night. You know -- through it all -- the little guy is happy... playful... and really doesn't show sign of not feeling well. He is such a good baby. I am SO glad that I had received my 100% medical clearance on Friday and was able to spend this time with him Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I feel that I really got a chance to (strongly) bond with him again.

Good night.
Candice

PS -- I began this blog shortly after Barack Obama was announced as winning the presidential election. I know that blog readers are of varying political parties... and Todd / I are not "in your face" about politics... so we don't really talk about it publicly.

But we do want to share with Mercer that we are excited for him... excited for the possibility that lies ahead of him... excited that a new path has been paved for him in the future of this great country. Mercer is bi-racial and will hopefully be of a generation that will not see prejudice. He will hopefully see opportunity... fairness... hope.

we had a Happy Halloween

My Halloween started on Thursday. I had a girl's night outing. "crazy Candace" down the street had us over for awhile then we all hopped in the back of a couple of pick-up trucks from the guys on the street that were filled with hay... for a hay-ride up to the square.

It was really fun! They dropped us off and us girls went on a ghost tour. We were pretty obnoxious, of course, and felt sort of bad for the others on tour -- but I think everyone had a good time. (Some of us stayed on the square for a few more hours at a local pub and walked home afterwards.)

Some people went all-out on the costumes. Mine not so much, but I was happy that I picked it up for under $4.00 at the Goodwill store -- a little straw hat and a stick horse... both of which can be passed down to Mercer to play with in a couple of years! I had boots on too and would "gallop" around making a clickity clackety noise.

Even though I didn't get much sleep, I got up (at a reasonable hour) and went to Mercer's daycare Friday morning. They had a little "party" in the toddler room and we went over / hung out while watching them make Halloween crafts. For Mercer and the other couple of infants -- there wasn't much they could do. The only "craft" that involved them was getting paint on their hands and making hand prints on a card. It was messy - of course - but cute. I also caught some video of him trying to crawl..... he's SO close!

I had my doctor's appointment Friday afternoon... and got the "6 week" ALL CLEAR. So, I can go back to normal ("ease" into things). I baked some witches finger cookies (but forgot the green dye so they look more like human fingers in a bowl.... ewwwww) THEN we started with Halloween festivities once Todd got home from work. Dressed Mercer in his costume and headed up to a neighbor's house for a kid's party. This annual kid's party is the real reason why we got the costume (we didn't take him trick-or-treating or anything). There are so many kids in our neighborhood. It is pretty cool to see all of them piled into one yard playing! We came back and passed out candy, glow bracelets, bubbles, and Halloween pencils -- which kids actually really like. We ran out of those before candy. The evening concluded with going to a bon-fire at a neighbor's house. It was a good day!

He slept in this morning and is taking a long nap today. Guess yesterday wore him out?

We caught some video of him this morning "crawling." It's a little bit of a scootch / an "army" style crawl on his belly -- but mostly his knees were under him and he moved forward a few steps. Yesterday, when we were at the kid's party, we ran into Henry and his parents (one of the February boys on our street). He's been crawling for awhile -- and his parents said it was "cool" the first day to see him crawl, but you get over it after the first day.

We know that crawling changes a lot. Todd's working on safety-proofing the house today. Outlet plugs / cabinet locks / safety gate at the step at the kitchen... I know there's more we should do. I suppose we just figure it out as we go along?!

We'll post some footage of crawling soon!

Todd uploaded videos...

I blogged yesterday about something exciting (if you haven't read that yet -- don't forget to read that one). Three posts in the last 4 days!!!

Today - we have videos to add:

Mercer on a swing set (first time -- video from about a month ago)... he looks like he's holding on for dear life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzok7VuLne4

Mercer and Todd singing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oStSDxlKCI (this video was also taken about a month ago)

And more video of M in the Johnny Jumper. He's wearing shoes this time -- and we think he was really excited because he had different leverage than he usually does in socks. About 30 seconds into it he's really squealing and jumping high. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiIxZwOKfYQ

Mercer playing catch (and a little bit of clapping in the end). Video taken earlier this month: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7muT4Bks_k

Some high-fives and claps (a couple of weeks ago): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4WmZbTQASQ

And video with Mercer chewing on Sophie the Girraffe -- a (bpa-free) "classic" teething toy. If you watch the last 5 - 10 seconds of the video, you get a clear shot of his two top teeth. (This video was taken Oct 17th. He's popped out another top tooth now, though, so there's even more white in his mouth than what you'll see in the video.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvpaYipVnx4

Mercer did 3 things that I think "count"

1. This morning, he looked at me and said "ma."
2. He turned a few moments later and looked at Todd and said "da."
3. This afternoon, I said "ma ma" and he repeated me. I did it again. He repeated me again. I tried it a third time and he only said "mmm"

Does that count?!

He's been saying ....da da da... da da dddd... daaaa... da da da... for a long time... just babbling -- we think because he learned how to make his mouth say "d" sounds. He's been saying ....ma ma mmmm..... maaa.... ma ma ma..... mmmm.... for awhile. He had learned how to make "m" sounds. I think we blogged when he did "b" sounds....

But we never claimed that he said a word -- 'til now? (again - don't know if it counts, but I feel like he's sort of communicating with us with his recognition of "ma" and his recognition of "da")

Another thing that he's been doing / I got to see on Thursday -- he waved to me. Todd says that at the daycare he's been doing it some. Sticks his arm in the air and shakes it a little. Oh... it warmed my heart when he did it earlier this week.

And - I dont' think I mentioned that he's got a 5th tooth. It's on the top. (It started pushing out last weekend during the whole "fever" episode... it's pretty visible now.) 3 on the top. 2 on the bottom now (which were the first two teeth and are getting pretty big.)

I'll see if Todd can get those videos on YouTube today or tomorrow. I'll post when they're up. He's good. Happy. Jumping around in his Johnny Jumper right now. He still loves that thing -- and since he hit a weight plateau, he's been able to use it longer than we thought he would.

Candice

8 months old today

I got a text from Danielle today. Had to tell her that Mercer's been sick. (Friday night he had a high fever 102+. We called the 24 hour nurse line / had to take his temp every 4 hours... The fever broke Saturday morning. We went to the square for a Harvest Festival they had / grabbed lunch / then felt that he had a fever again so we went home instead of sticking around. He had it overnight Saturday again... so Sunday morning - back on the phone with the 24 hour phone nurse. They told us to call the pediatrician on Monday morning. They weren't too concerned. (New for us, so we WERE concerned.) The pediatrician said that - if on Monday night - his fever hadn't broke (72 hours) bring him in Tuesday morning. Monday night it was over 103 (we gave him a cool bath promptly which helped a lot). Todd took him in Tuesday morning and found out that he had an ear infection. Mercer never acted like he felt bad. A little crabby sometimes, but not grabbing his ears or anything. So, when / if he gets one again... don't know how we'll tell!

We really haven't been doing much. Partly b/c of economy stuff... partly b/c Mercer was not feeling well. I went to a kid's bday party without him on Sunday. Some of the neighbor kids up the street (3 year old twins and their 1 year old brother, Brody, who's been on the blog before) had a recent birthday / had a party. But I didn't stay long. (It's not as fun without the kid in tow!)

This weekend, we'll probably decorate for Halloween, carve a pumpkin, and stay low-key again. Hope all of you guys are doing great out there. I've been really busy and feel out of touch with a lot of people these days. Take care. Candice

Finally scanned that pic from the birth mother and other...

I've been SUPER busy the past week. Turning my attention from (and recovering from) the trip to SC last week... turning my attention to my big meeting in CO this week. It's ironic that my friend Carla wrote about Girl Scout cookies in her comment to last week's post.... b/c that's who I was meeting with in Colorado! We didn't talk about cookies (but for only a few minutes) but we did talk about sustainability with facilities that they're involved with (with delegates from across the country representing buildings nationwide) and we did have a conversation about greening more than just buildings... so -- I won't say anything more (I shouldn't) but do look for in the next 1 - 2 years (if Bella is still pushing cookies) something more substantive that goes along with the cookie sales!! They did tell me, too, that their packaging was modified to reduce the amount of it -- and that there are 2 cookie manufacturers / the councils in ea state get to choose which manufacturer to use. One of the manufacturers rolled out an enviro-friendly mascot and message. Got to see the literature. It was cute.

(also - a message for my dad's side of the family - unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see my cousin Josh while in Denver. I worked 'til an insane hour at night... and got up at an even more insane hour in the morning to continue working on the PowerPoint. Mercer's birth mother and my step-sister's son are in Colorado Springs 45 minutes south of where I was... and I knew going into this meeting that I wouldn't be able to get down there (no transportation). So, we'll have to plan another trip out there where we can spend some time!)

Thankfully, I did not have as bad a recovery from this trip this week. I wasn't feeling well the day before (probably nerves more than anything b/c I was leading an all-day meeting on something different than what I'm used to!)... felt good that day... and felt pretty decent the day after (yesterday). So, it seems as if my body is healing. (I worked 51 hours last week and was DEAD. I worked 53 so far this week and feel fine. -- NOPE -- that's not part-time, but I may have to go back to full-time anyways. Todd's office had some lay-offs. He still has his job, but each employee still employed was affected with cut-backs in benefits and pay. So -- I "think" I can handle the increase in work if I need to. (I really don't want to, though, because I'm just getting to the point where I can really reconnect with Mercer!) ugh.

I have 1 1/2 weeks to go before I get my "all clear" to pick up the baby / start caring for him again. He got his 4th tooth. 2 on the bottom AND 2 on the top now. He'll be able to eat baby food with chunks of stuff in it soon. He's moving on up! He claps a lot now and has this huge grin on his face when he does it. (I think he's just impressed with the noise he can make!) We've tried to get it on video / we'll see if we can post a link over the weekend of that.

He likes hitting the floor when we put him down to play (and maybe crawl?). Again - impressed with the noise, I think! He's still not crawling, but he does rock back-and-forth... and now he can get his butt in the air and his legs under him a little... but he still scootches backwards mostly.

As promised: here's the photo that I mentioned in last week's blog. The birth mother got her phone fixed and texted me with her new number. I asked her if that was Mercer's first day of life or second. In this pic, he is two days old. He looks SO SO DIFFERENT! He even looks different than when we saw him late that night of his 2nd day! Also, remember, those clothes are Preemie --- and they're too big on him! Crazy how small he was and how much he's changed in these last 7 3/4 months!

Have a good weekend. C

We got a letter from the birthmother

I wanted to post a couple of days ago because we got a letter from the birthmother (but I was REALLY busy this week / preparing to go out of town for a work trip - so it had to wait 'til now).

I'd lost touch with her again for awhile. My cell phone texting was all wonky. I tried customer service a couple of times to fix it, but had to go into an actual store / have them do some things to the phone. It works now, and I texted Danielle several times to let her know that I was back up-and-running, but never heard from her. She emailed last week and said that her phone was on the fritz again and she'll get it fixed soon. WHEW! Todd and I just didn't want her to think that we were not in communicato on our end.

When she emailed she said she dropped a card in the mail. It was really sweet. If I may, I'll share with you what she wrote (and - yes - it did make me a little misty-eyed).

"Hello, I just want to say Hi. I love all of the photos you guys have been sending. He is getting so big. I'm glad he's doing well. I couldn't have found a better home for Mercer than you guys. He means the world to me and I'm thankful that you & Todd are taking great care of Mercer. Please continue to keep me updated. I'm doing well and I hope you, Todd, and Mercer are doing well. Talk to you soon. -- Danielle --"

Even typing it out now (after having read it several times) still "gets me." : - )

I think it's pretty cool.

"P.S. I sent some of his hospital pictures for you."

She did. She included some copies of a photo taken in the hospital. I'm not sure if he's 1 day old or 2 days old in the picture. I'll try to scan it over the weekend & post it -- but he looks SO DIFFERENT!!!

Last weekend, I went all the way back to February's blog posts and copied all of the entries / put them on our computer hard drive to save. Looking back to those early days it's so amazing how little he was, how different he looked, how much he has changed in the past 7 1/2 months!

____

Ok. So you may notice what time this blog post is. Yes - I'm up in the middle of the night. Ugh. I am exhausted, and I desperately need sleep, but I woke up a couple hours after going to bed, put a heating pad on the area where the surgery was, took a couple of Aleeve, but... 3 hours later... no good still.

I guess I over-did it this week? I worked late on Tuesday (I went to an "Earth Faire" for teachers and school principals / sat at a booth telling people about how to save energy and water in their schools to [thankfully] VERY interested attendees - you'll understand this comment if you read the whole blog). I went out of town on Wednesday for work. Worked until about midnight on a powerpoint. Presented it on Thursday with a group of my co-workers at an all-day meeting in South Carolina. Rode home. (I didn't drive at all or lift my luggage or anything. I sat down during the training when I felt tired (which was only about 1 hour off-and-on, honestly) so I'm not sure why I'm feeling some pain tonight?) With the exception of some time yesterday morning (and some Aleeve), I felt great all day. Had a lot of energy. Was up-beat.

I have a speaking engagement (a short one) on Saturday. And one next week in Colorado that's another all-day one. I'm somewhat bummed that the recovery is taking longer than I expected. It's been 3 1/2 weeks... but we were sold on that "2 week recovery" time. I do think that I hit it hard after 2 weeks going back to work (again - mostly from home) but my hours were pretty high last week. They'll be very high this week. And pretty high again next. Higher than my "part-time." I do have a light at the end of this tunnel. I can scale back and take a bit of a break after Colorado!

____

One final thing, then I'll wrap this blog post up.

I'm not too happy about this, but as Todd says: welcome to "school."

Mercer's day care (a Montessori school) sent home a form this week for a Cookie Dough Fundraiser.

[Major Side-track: For my "green-building" work that I do, I went to a PTA leadership conference a couple of years ago (we were given free registration and asked to set up a booth / provide info to the PTA folks across the state on green schools). I was actually excited -- get to to a little outreach... talk to people... get out of the office.. sit in a booth at a trade show (I had never done it / I thought it may be fun?).

My co-worker and I were so turned off by the number of booths there pushing stuff for sale... basically... fund-raisers. There were maybe 80 - 100 vendors at the trade show and only about 5 or 6 of us were there with any substance. The rest - literally - were "bribing" the attendees with cookies, pizza (for dough sales), candy, flashy sparkly light-up toys (ugh), wrapping paper, etc.

We were there ALL DAY, but after the first 1/2 hour, we were both ready to leave because we were so over-run with visual bombardment (and amazed at how the attendees were "trolling" for all of the free stuff they got). It was really traumatic!]

So, with that, I will ask if anyone is at all interested in buying a tub of frozen cookie dough. This will be my only sales pitch (wow - following that paragraph above... I'm really bad at sales)~

There's Chocolate Chunk, Macadamia White Chip, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk, M&M, Oatmeal Raisin, "Monster" which has a combo of chocolate and PNB, Snickerdoodle, and one called "Fun Dough." They show a blue happy face with red hair and smile / yellow & red eyes / green nose. They show a colorful sail boat cookie too. I guess the "Fun Dough" is a colored sugar cookie dough and the kids can make what-ever they want out of it before baking? Price ranges from $13 - $16 a tub. (Cookie orders and $$ are due by the 21st of Oct.) Looks like there's enough dough for 8 dozen bite-size or 4 dozen medium cookies. DON'T FEEL OBLIGED at all. I am just doing my "parental" duty by asking, I suppose.

But... for each kid who sells over 5 tubs... they get to participate in an ice-cream party. (What peer pressure - who wants their kid watching as everyone else eats ice-cream?!)

OH WAIT! MERCER CAN'T EAT ICE-CREAM. HE CAN'T EVEN EAT THESE COOKIES!!

oh - I'm SOOOO not going to enjoy this fund-raising stuff in the coming years, I can tell already!! Maybe I should work on finding a more meaningful fund-raiser for next year for the school?

Our Little Pumpkin

Mercer got another tooth this week -- this one is on the top. He has 3 now.

I worked a lot... back to a full week (from home -- which I could really get used to!!) I heard that they're starting to pilot a Teleworking policy at my office... I hope that I get to test-drive the program!

This morning, we took a tour of the Kennesaw Gardens - a facility that hosts events. It was a part of a state solar tour that my office was a part of. They have a solar array on their banquet hall, a dual-flush toilet, and "green" catering. We learned that the tax incentives that were set to expire at the end of this year on solar were a part of the bail-out package that was passed and they've been extended 8 years. (Federal - 30% tax credit - (not deduction) and Georgia 35% tax credit. Basically whatever the price is -- it's going to cost about 1/2 in the end. We have talked about a couple of eco-improvements to make to the house, but solar is still expensive. We - if we do something - will need to wait 'til next spring or summer.

This afternoon, we went and picked up a pumpkin to carve. There's a farm about 20 miles away that has a pumpkin patch, a corn maze (maize), farm tours, hay rides, pony rides, and bon-fires. We've done the corn maize one year, but this year, we just went to pick up a pumpkin. And - we got a number of good shots of Mercer, although he was very distracted by people walking by. In future years, we'll definitely go back and participate in some of the other events.

The weather is really great these days / we wanted to do some things outdoors. October will be a fun month, as it seems that there are a lot of festivals and things going on!

Enjoy the shots. Candice

Mercer's 7.25 month stats...

We're a bit stunned. We feel like Mercer's getting bigger, however, he weighs only 20 lbs (we thought for sure 23 - 24.) At his 5 month visit he was just over 17 lbs... so he's really only gained 2 1/2 lbs in the past 2 months. The doc says that everything looks good and that he's consistently been following the 75% curve in weight and height. He's growing normally... and, truth be told, the curve is steep to begin with then somewhat flattens out if you look at it on the chart.

Mercer's now 28 1/2" long. 20 lbs even.

We did an unofficial weight a month or so ago and he was 20 lbs so we changed out the car seat. Kind of hard to imagine that he's tapering off because he looks so much bigger now.

Last weekend, we took a trip north of where we live. I bought this cute "walking wagon" off of Craig's List for 1/4 the price (literally) as a new one. That's significant when you consider that I saved over 60 bucks on this thing buying "slightly used" wagon!! It was worth the 1 gallon of gas to go pick it up (yes - even during our gas crisis!) And - better yet - it's a nice (heirloom) quality that we can save for Mercer's kids... and it didn't end up in a landfill. A win-win-win. I "may" have been able to buy a big bulky plastic walker used for the same price -- so I was THRILLED with this purchase!!

We went to a pond store north of our house too, then headed home. We didn't stay on our road-trip long because I wasn't feeling too well over the weekend. The only "non-errand" stop we made was in a town called Ballground, GA. We wandered around for about 10-15 minutes on their main street and through an antique store and also fed Mercer in the park. There were people hanging up balloons -- so we asked what the celebration was for? Ballground was celebrating it's 125th birthday.

Todd was in Asheville yesterday and today for work. This posed a couple of challenges.

1 - gas crisis. When he got a rental car, would it have gas in it? If not, where would he get it? (Well, we found gas on our trip north & filled up the car while there -- and Todd scoped out stations for his drive to Asheville.) If he could just make it back to where we were over the weekend -- he would make it to Asheville and part way back. He filled up there... then found more gas outside of Asheville to top off / make sure that he could definitely get back home. Yay! Last week, that mountain town in NC didn't have gas -- and his boss almost got stuck up there. But, it all worked out well / Todd's home now.

2 - I couldn't pick up Mercer. But -- I had a neighbor come over and go with me to daycare to pick Mercer up. She also stuck around to feed him. A co-worker of mine had a little bit of overlap and helped out with the feeding / gave him a bath / changed him / helped me get him to bed. She stayed the night & helped out this morning too getting him ready and dropping him off at daycare. A different neighbor came over to help me pick him up today, feed him, put him down for a nap, then get him in the stroller so we could go for a walk. That's when Todd pulled in the driveway.

So - we both "survived" his trip away... and I had fun catching up with some girls I don't get to spend much time with.

I go to the doc tomorrow for my post-op appointment. I'll find out if I'm allowed to drive and go back to work. (Although - since I've been off the pain meds all week (Sunday was the last I've taken) I did drive to & from daycare Monday / Tuesday... drove slow... took surface roads. I think it's ok!)

I need to crash, but wanted to share Mercer's new stats and the cute pic of his wagon. We're going to have lots of fun with it!

bub bub bub.....bbbb....bbbb... bub

Noticed this week that Mercer was making "B" sounds. bub bub bub.....bbbb....bbbb... bub.

A week or so ago, "M" sounds (maaaa... mmmm..... ma... ma..... mmmmma.) Nope - that's not an official "ma-ma" yet!

He has been doing the da....da... dddda.......da sounds for quite some time. He has not had an official "da-da" yet either. (for the record - no official words spoken yet!)

I wanted to share this photo with you. Don't fret - he's only crying because he's being burped. He always cries / fusses when we take the bottle away to burp him. You think he'd learn to TRUST us by now. I guess he just wants to voice his unhappiness for taking the bottle when he's in the middle of eating. I suppose we would do the same if someone took our food away in the middle of eating! (I won't mention who's holding him while he's crying. It's not me though.) Isn't he cute even when he cries?! : - )

Speaking of trust: something interesting has been going on this week. We've been putting Mercer down to sleep in his crib and encouraging him to go to sleep himself. Normally, we (well, Todd as of late) would feed him around 10 or 10:30, read him a story, rock him to sleep in our arms. Todd mentioned that as Mercer gets bigger that we won't physically be able to do this (he's probably about 23 - 24 lbs right now). It's true, but so sad -- as it's WONDERFUL rocking him to sleep. But - I suppose Todd saw this window of opportunity as I'm out of commission for awhile to alter the routine!

Now, we feed him a bottle around 9 or 9:30 (see below how we did that)... brush his two little teeth (good habits start early!)... read him two books... tell him we love him... lay him in his crib... and I rub his belly while singing a little lullaby. We've done it each night this week. And - he did fuss and cry the first few nights a little bit, but last night - he played a little bit and went to sleep without crying. We were both amazed!

Todd read up on how to put a baby to sleep on his own (what initiative!). Lay him down. If he cries - only let him do it for 2 minutes. Go in and soothe him for 2 minutes. Come out. If he cries - only let him do it for 4 minutes. Go in a soothe him for 2. Come out. If he cries... 6 minutes. Soothe him for 2. If he cries... 8 minutes. You see the pattern? We only had to go up to 8 minutes the first night. We went down to 4 the next (we had him completely tired out, though - no nap at all after daycare!). And last night, he didn't even fuss. whew! We're not counting on things being this smooth each night, but it's interesting to see the progression.

Not only have we changed his sleeping routine, we've also changed his feeding schedule this week. We've added an extra solid food feeding in the morning at daycare -- he now gets both fruits and veggies every day (we're making sure he has one of each for his daily intake). We did this so that we could take his bottle feedings down from 5 a day to 4 a day. A neighbor of mine with an 8 month old asked about his feedings at a play-date last month and hinted that we may be feeding him too much. I looked into it / found an article on bottle feeding schedules - and yes - he was a little bit over the top of the range by a few ounces... by eliminating the one bottle, we're back in range. We're meeting with the pediatrician on Monday of next week and will discuss this with her.)

Also - I'm finally starting to feel human this week. Wednesday I started to feel less pain (down to 1/4 of a pain pill now). So, that's good. (I felt pretty rotten Sunday, Monday, Tuesday as I was trying to scale back on the meds / but was miserable in doing so. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to be off of them at that point - which was silly. The oncologist said it would take 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to feel better. Today is 1 1/2 weeks. I'm still taking it easy - working from home in bed or on the couch mostly. I have a doctor's appt on Oct 1st for follow-up to the surgery and find out what I'm allowed to do / add back to my activities.

Have a good day and a great weekend! It's fall and the temps actually have dipped into the 50's here in the morning. Great time of year!!

ps - we had to finally succumb to the gas craze here in Atlanta (it's not really a problem from what we understand in the rest of the country or the rest of the state - even). We went for almost 2 weeks in the Prius (with Todd driving downtown each day for work -- taking my car b/c of the fuel economy). The gas station near our house has been getting shipments and has had long lines of 10 - 20 - 30 cars to even get into the gas station, but Todd went late one night after Mercer went to bed / went in through a back entrance of the station (through a driveway for a neighboring restaurant) and had to wait for only 2 cars in front of him. I wish we didn't even have to get gas / give into all of this craze. It's silly! oh well.

But now with a full tank of gas -- we have a good day Saturday planned. We're going on a drive north of where we live to run a couple of errands: 1) - to pick up an item I bought off of Craig's List for Mercer and 2) - to pick up some plants for the pond. But - we may check out to see if any of the leaves are changing color / I may talk Todd into one other fun thing to do while we're north of our house (I don't want to blog about it yet b/c I want to see if we can get some good pics for the blog later).

I think my only restriction to "long" drives is that I have to get out and walk every 45 minutes so that I don't get blood clots. At this point, I'm still I'm instructed to do this -- guess it's still a hazard?! Looking forward to the drive and getting out. I've been home-bound so much lately, that I'm not stir crazy yet, but could become so very soon!

Candice