Let's see... we've had 2 soup nights. The first one (Sat the 10th) was pretty good size and there was lots of activity (and kids singing at the top of their lungs) so Mercer had a hard time leaving the party to go to sleep... but overall he did really well with the crowd. He did wake up screaming, however, because the LOUDEST boom of thunder I've ever heard scared him... poor guy! (or did he just want to re-join the crowd?!)
Also, last Sunday (the 11th), we visited a church up on the square... we said that when we had kids, we'd raise them in a church. It was just the first one we went to, but we enjoyed it. We took Mercer into the (contemporary) service with us, but he wasn't really that well behaved, so I missed a good portion of it. We sat in the back and brought him in when they sang... because he loves to sing. Seriously! (It's just one or two notes at this point, but he has to start somewhere). After the service, a friend of ours who we ran into showed us the nursery and we went to lunch together / talked more about it. We'll visit another church next Sunday.
Todd was in Asheville Monday & Tuesday... and on his way home, he found a Nintendo Wii at a store. (We've been looking for one here, and no one has them.) This was our Christmas present... we had several gift cards towards the purchase (thanks mom, Todd's mom / dad / brother!) Todd set it up right away and set up Mii profiles for himself, me, and Mercer. The next night, he set up the Wii fit... and gave it a try. So far, so good. Some things are a little cheesy, but overall it seems pretty cool. We joked that Mercer's going to be our exercise program in 2009... but this will be a great way to keep it interesting and to keep track of things.
Friday, Todd and I went to the Cirque du Soliel show - KOOZA. We "hired" our first teenage babysitter (the very young-looking, but responsible 18 year old daughter of a friend). I enjoyed the show more than some of the past shows we've seen. I heard that this one went back to it's roots... they had contortionists, jugglers, tight-rope walkers, a guy on a unicycle, trapeze artists, etc. Of course all of these people did really trumped-up stunts... some of them were hard to watch because they were so dangerous! (And the contortionist finale was a little disturbing, actually!) It's always such a visually fascinating show -- and the live music grabs you. It's such a terrific production... and definitely on our "splurge" list - for we have to see it when it comes to town. (Here's a link to the promotional video, if interested: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/kooza/intro/intro.htm )
The following morning, I headed back downtown to meet up with a bunch of my co-workers. My company has a number of volunteers at a MLK service event every year -- helping low-income / elderly make energy-improvements to their homes. Other civic groups, companies, and individuals work on the houses too painting, doing carpentry, yard-work, etc... but our group does specialized things to help them save on energy bills. I've done it before... and learn a lot -- things to actually apply to our home. I don't like that it took me away from the family, but I feel that it's important to teach Mercer about community service / helping others.
Here are some links to some (simple) things we did at Bula & Jessie's house Saturday... Check it out / get your hands dirty / save some bucks if you're interested in employing these strategies at your own home. (We mostly did "air sealing"... I worked on caulking HVAC penetrations... and a couple of people worked in the attic while someone else installed weatherstripping.)
The second soup event later that night (on the 17th) was much smaller -- mostly neighbors -- we assume because there were actually snow flurries Saturday night! Unfortunately, none of the snow stuck. On the positive side... one of our favorite soups... we had a lot of left-overs. I know Todd was happy about that!
We got some shots yesterday of Mercer playing with "dit-dee." It's his way of saying Kitty Cat. Pigg doesn't really respond to him too much, but Mercer is SO interested in him! 
Mercer has really mastered climbing up our stairs... 6 steps in the first run.... he scoots across the landing then he goes up the 10 additional steps. He gets tired out at the top of the second run of stairs, but when I bring him back down -- he's ready to climb up again. I mentioned he's going to rock our worlds soon?!
Speaking of which... he's gotten so much better at "creeping" along furniture and walls in the last week since I've posted. He is becoming brave and he will lunge towards us letting go of whatever he's holding onto. So far, we've been just 2 - 3 feet away from him when he does this so we've been able to catch him, but.... oh.... I dread the day when we're not able to catch him in time. He's very trusting and/or doesn't have a sense of depth yet to know that we're just out of reach. Scary!!
That brings us to today. (Long post. Sorry!) I took Mercer to daycare so that I could work on the nursery. I painted a big piece of furniture that's been in his room and hung some pictures on the wall. I still have a little bit of stuff to do in there, but it's getting close. Mercer's 1st birthday is coming up... and we're flying the birth mother out. I'd love to get his room 100% done -- just to have a deadline.
The wrap:
I've been watching new shows... some daytime t.v. interviews and reading the paper this long weekend. There's SO MUCH buzz about serving others... pitching in... all of us - as a WHOLE helping out in our communities. Some of the buzz is in the name of MLK day. Some of it is due to the inauguration and renewed interest in the leadership of the country. I liked these links:
I'm interested in getting involved in the events tomorrow. I think that I'll actually watch the swearing in & inaugural speech online from work (during lunch?). I've never watched one -- but there is energy in the air about this historic event. It's pretty amazing how the excitement is building... as tomorrow is the beginning of this new era.
Later!
Candice
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