Two Years ago today...

... we met Mercer for the first time. He was 2 days old and SO SO tiny! We had NO CLUE what we were doing, honestly, and hung onto every piece of advice the social worker in Colorado gave us on how to take care of him.

Good times.

Mercer turned 2 on Tuesday; we had a big celebration over the weekend on Saturday. He had a "Planet Earth / Jungle Animals" party. We painted noses and whiskers on the kids who wanted it... the kids had animal crackers, fruit, vegetables, and a cake with animals on top. The weather was gorgeous, so instead of watching the earth video or doing the jungle art project that was planned, they played outside. Just as well... everyone's been stir-crazy due to all of the rain, snow, and cold weather. We blew up some of the earth beach balls and the kids had a lot of fun with those as well as popping balloons on the grass. I have no idea what the kids are doing here, but it looks cute / they seem to be enjoying themselves.

At daycare on Tuesday, instead of taking cupcakes, we took fruit and blueberry muffins to share with his classmates. The teacher was grateful that there was no icing, and the kids seemed happy with their digs. One kid sitting next to Mercer blew out his candles two times... but, finally, on the 3rd light, Mercer finally got to blow them out. I'll try to get some video loaded soon.

His birthday wasn't the only thing we celebrated over the weekend: Mercer was baptized!

It went AMAZINGLY well! (whew) Several people said he was an *angel*. Mercer was so calm throughout. My vision of "worst-case scenario" was that he would punch the pastor, shimmy down out of his arms, and run down the aisle. But... he didn't even cry, fuss, or wiggle. We were just stunned. Here's a recount of the day's events:

Sunday morning, February 21, we went to the church to meet Elder Neil Blake who presented the three of us to the congregation. Pastor Wells began the service, said a few words, and then took Mercer in his arms.

Mercer laid his head on Pastor Wells’ shoulder as he sprinkled water over his head three times: “in the name of the Father… the Son… and the Holy Spirit.” Mercer – on cue – lifted his head so that Pastor Wells could anoint him with oil – tracing a cross on his forehead.

Carrying Mercer in his arms, Pastor Wells walked up and down the center aisle. He asked the congregation to watch over and guide Mercer as he grows in his relationship with Christ. He remained calm throughout the procession – gazing out at members of the church. We were all amazed (including Pastor Wells – which he told us afterwards!)

We had lots of family in town: Todd's mom & sister. My mom, dad, step-mom, step-sister & her boyfriend. We had friends and neighbors at both events. With back-to-back parties over with -- we're not going to entertain for quite some time! We had a great time, though... and have lots of wonderful memories from the weekend. (Including this shot of Mercer "blessing" us. Funny!

the sky is falling... the sky is falling!

We got snow. For Atlanta - we got lots of it: 3 - 4 inches of big fluffy powdery stuff. Mercer and I played out in it for awhile.... at least 'til he was "over it" and started wailing. He did pretty well. He lasted 20 minutes or so.

He did not want to try to make a snow angel; he probably thought I was nuts for laying on the cold ground. But, he did enjoy grabbing snow and throwing it up in the air. And - he had fun throwing the ball around outside and running through the snow to try to fetch it. (the gloves made it a little hard)

Todd and I have noticed several interesting things as of late that's interesting. Mercer seems to recognize direction. IF we divert from the usual route from daycare to home, for instance, he starts moaning Daddy... Daddy... Daddy... Daddy then will bust out into a full-blown cry. Daaaaaddddeeeee! He knows that we're not going straight home and seeing his favorite person in the world.

He's starting to understand the difference between 'big' and 'little'. He'll say in a deep drawn out voice "beeeiiiiigggg" and in a much smaller voice "little." He sometimes puts his fingers together near his eye too as if trying to peer through a small gap between his fingers. Somebody must do that at school? He also says "beeeiiiiigggg" a lot and gets a funny animated face that goes along with it.

At school, they must also sing and dance to the Wheels on the Bus. I was singing it to him one night along with a CD he has and he started to move his arms around-and-around. He could move his arms a little for the "wipers" that go swish-swish-swish. And I think there's a part that goes hooray... he threw his arms straight up in the air. The best part, though... how his face lit up when he heard the song.

The next stage of baby-proofing really needs to take place. Grippy things on the door knobs. Latches on the closet door. And removing the crib rail? Ugh... we're not ready to do that one yet - but the other day when putting him in time-out, he tried to make a break for it. When I went back in a couple minutes later -- he was on TOP of the crib rail. One leg on the inside. One leg on the outside. Yikes!

We'll wait 'til after the hoopla this weekend. We have lots of family members coming to town to celebrate Mercer's 2nd birthday and to be a part of his baptism. He's going to have a really big weekend!

Had to throw in some winter wonderland shots around the house... it only stuck around for 1 day. By mid-day Saturday, it was beginning to melt quickly. Ahhh it was fun while it lasted!

"love you"

For months, I've been trying to get Mercer to say "I love you." Usually when putting Mercer to bed - I'd say "I love you" and he would smile and whisper something that sounded like "I know."

Todd says that Mercer said it to him a few weeks ago. I don't believe him (kidding)

But - tonight - Mercer's answer changed... still in a whispered tone, he said "Love you"
He said it 3 more times. Yay!

can a noodle up the nose cause brain damage?!

One day this past week, we were having a dish with noodles in it. We cut up Mercer's food so he can scoop it up and eat it. A noodle fell off of his fork so he picked it up. He looked at it then - in an instant - stuck it up his nose!!! WHY?! We tried to get it out - which only pushed it in further. he sneezed a couple of times... but it didn't come out. later that night - while giving him a bath... i saw a noodle sitting on his upper lip. WHEW!

We had a good weekend. we had lots of socializing, culture, and fun:

Todd and I had a "real" date Saturday night. We decided somewhat spur-of-the-moment to get tickets to the Buddy Guy & BB King show at the Fox Theater. We were in the 2nd-to-last row in the theater -- the nosebleed seats, but it still sounded really good. (And - we got to appreciate ALL of the beautiful architecture in the building on our scenic tour to the top top top.) It's an amazing structure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Theatre_(Atlanta,_Georgia)

We wanted to go because we love blues... we've seen both of these performers before... and figured it may be the last time we get the opportunity to see BB King. He's 84 - and - quite frankly didn't play that much. He talked about his age. He talked about women. His band played more music than he did. Buddy Guy - who opened for BB - did a fantastic job, however, and we'd love to see him again. He's a great performer!

Sunday, we made valentine's day cards for grandparents and great grandparents - which are in the mail & on their way. Mercer helped glue hearts on the papers and he drew all over them. Then we went to see some drawings (done by Leonardo Davinci) at the High Museum / met friends there. Todd and I didn't get to see the show together, however. He went to look at it with his guy-friends while I hung out with Mercer in the children's area. I got to check it out with my girl-friends while Todd watched the little guy. (He looks like a little boy here instead of a toddler.) This children's area kept his attention for HOURS. there are different stations for the kids to explore - if he got bored with something, he could move onto the next thing and the next and the next. There were big blocks that he could stack, climb on, and shimmy under. There were stations for "painting" with markers. Magnetic things. Shape sorting. Puppets. Things to hide behind. And lots of room to run around.

Finally, we went to a neighbors to watch the Superbowl. Mercer was the only kid there and entertained everyone - especially during half-time. He enjoyed the Who's performance as he would dance around and clap. He also would laugh at some of the commercials because everyone else was laughing. I had to drag him away from there to put him to bed.

We always admired some friends of ours who wanted to make their children a part of their lives -- instead of completely altering their lives around the things that were kid-centric. It was an exhausting weekend (in a good way)... but we feel like we accomplished that parenting style this past weekend. We had a great weekend (wish we could "live it up" like that more often). It appears that Mercer had a great weekend as well.

One final photo: This is his "cheese" face.