Visited the farm...

I front-loaded my week at work (had a couple of really big meetings) so that I could take Thursday & Friday off. Mercer and I headed up to visit some of my family.

Mercer did a great job on the way up to North Carolina. I left for our road-trip shortly after 6 am and he was in a daze for the first 1 ½ hours. Then he fell asleep for 1 ½ hours… whew – I had made it through half of the trip quite easily! He really wasn’t that bad the remainder of the trip – I had to bribe him with goldfish part of the way / he napped again / and we were there (well, almost there). We made a stop at my mom’s office before going to her house (somewhat on the way). She was leaving work early that day – and said that the ladies in her office wanted to see Mercer. He was such a HAM… he flirted, smiled, acted cute, was a charmer for no less than 6 – 8 women who were hovered around him at any one point in time!
While in North Carolina, we visited my mom / my mom’s parents (Mercer’s great-grandparents) / my dad’s mother (Mercer’s great-grandmother). We also saw some more extended family as well, folks who came to “town” to see the little guy. (small town!) He had a great time seeing everyone… playing… exploring. We noticed that he is starting to share toys (as you see the pile of cars on my grandma's lap that Mercer took her). He was sharing one of his absolute favorite possessions with my other grandma... a ball!

Mom, Mercer, and I also went to the zoo. He is so excitable and was pointing at things that moved a lot and would almost shout “ooohhh” “oooh” “ooohhh!” He did this for the otter, some ducks, an owl, puffins, and a bobcat. He also really enjoyed playing in the kid’s zone…. Painting on a wall with water and climbing on some of the nature-inspired playground equipment. Isn't this the BEST picture of him on the ladybug?!

The trip went well until the drive home. About ½ an hour into it, Mercer fell asleep, but then started coughing – like his croup cough. It kept getting worse & eventually woke him up. I pulled over (a little frantic, of course) and stopped at the first place I saw – a hotel. There was a woman outside landscaping. She went inside to ask the hotel if I could come in. A woman from the hotel came out, saw Mercer, heard him coughing, and said she’d have to go inside and call her manager. What?! I waited for a minute or two, then decided to program in Police Station on my GPS. They would help! There was one a couple of miles from where I was, so I went… but they were closed. Seriously!? Open M-F. Must’ve been more administrative than safety at that one. I programmed in the next Police Station and it was a bit farther away. A friend called and told me to go to a pharmacy – like a CVS. As I was talking to her, I passed one. They helped out. Yay. Great suggestion! I plugged in Mercer’s nebulizer (thankfully I packed it on the trip) and gave him a breathing treatment. The pharmacist was great / came to talk to Mercer / gave me a tip or two. I was SO RELIEVED!

I stopped in Greenville to visit my friend (who had called) and as we were packing up, Mercer let out another croup cough. He was also kind of crabby the rest of the way home – crying. I bribed him for awhile with some Happy Baby puffs (I didn’t feel as guilty about feeding him junk food b/c these are made with Kale, Spinach, and Collard Greens – no doubt!) but I think he was “done” and just wanted to be home.

He was so excited to see Todd when we rolled in Sunday night. I was too!

to be a mother is fabulous, however, it can also be...

... heartbreaking. Mercer is teething again. A couple of weeks ago, he got in some molars in on the top. Currently, he's getting some in on the bottom. These must be bothering him much worse as he's been waking up every 1 - 2 hours at night writhing in pain. We feel so bad for the little guy. He's just not been as happy either.

Over the weekend, Todd, Mercer, and I went to Callaway Gardens for Mother's day. I had asked that we go biking down there (which meant that we needed to get a baby seat for Mercer as well as get the bikes out of the garage / dusted off / in working order). We got there around lunch and ate out on this deck that over looks a lake. There were lots of turtles in the water. Mercer kept pointing and saying "oooooh." We went to a butterfly house that I love going to. Also, we went to a chapel that Todd likes going to. There was an organist playing songs and Mercer was dancing (or really - his version of dancing which is bouncing up and down).

I enjoyed the bike riding a lot. It is so pretty there -- riding along the lakes and through the woods. Mercer wasn't thrilled, though, with the bike helmet. We're hoping he gets used to it! We only got about half way through the park before Mercer completely melted down. I'd love to go back!

I had a busy week at work... two big (8 hour) meetings back-to-back. One was for a 60 acre camp that I'm helping to "go green." I've worked more than my part-time hours this week and am going to knock-off the rest of the week / go visit family. Mercer will see one of his grandmothers, two great-grandmothers, and his great-grandfather. Gotta go!

It's been teacher appreciation week...

.... Mercer's daycare sent along a form asking that the students do little things for his teacher(s) each day this week. He has one main teacher, Ms Angela, who watches him the bulk of the day. There's also someone who gets there early to watch him before Ms Angela gets there for the day and another teacher who stays later 'til we pick him up at the end of the day. Little guy is there at daycare for 8 - 10 hours the three days a week that he goes, but he likes it. I remember the first month that he attended, I absolutely hated it -- but that had everything to do with his original teacher. Ms Angela is very sweet and gentle and we hope that rubs off on Mercer! So, we are definitely appreciative of her! Honestly - I don't see how she does it every day... hanging out with 6 babies and keeping such a positive attitude. Wow. (There's one kid, Matthew, who's not there for the class picture.) We had a good week - walked up to the farmer's market over the weekend and bought some tomato plants for our garden, a basil plant, and a squash plant. We've never done squash - so we'll see how that goes. Another new thing for us this year: lettuce. We planted lettuce sprouts a month or more ago. And, we've recently been harvesting them / having some great salads! It will be fun when little guy is old enough to help get things from the garden and eat what he picks. Maybe by the time the tomatoes are ready later this summer?

I think that Mercer will enjoy harvesting things from the garden. This past weekend I was doing some yard work (moving around some bushes and flowers in the yard and mulching). He "helped" me out a little bit. As I was pushing around the wheelbarrow full of mulch, he got to walk behind me pushing his little walking wagon. It was really cute. Sometimes, however, he wanted to help me push the big wagon too. This is good stuff...

open season...

ah - we LOVE this time of year. The farmer's market up on the square opens tomorrow, as does one of our favorite traditions: walking to the square, going to the market, grabbing breakfast while up there, walking home. YAY!

there was a food festival (The Taste of Marietta) up there last weekend. I walked up with some neighbors. We are weaning Mercer off of baby food for the most part (it maybe consists of 25% of his diet still)... but I was not adventuresome enough to give him the spicy food I had from a local Cajun restaurant. The little guy is definitely getting to be a fussier eater and will turn some things away - as he did last weekend when up at "the Taste." I had made some sweet potato puree for him, but he was not interested. I had to resort to the only other "not horrible / but not that healthy" food on hand -- Fig Newmans (Paul Newman's version of Fig Newtons). He LOVED them and devoured several. Mercer is not the neatest eater, as you can see.




Not a whole lot is happening here. I am finally feeling somewhat caught up after working a lot this past month.... finally feeling a little bit more relaxed. (Could be b/c I'm spending a lot more time in the back yard with the sound of the water trickling into the pond. I was working on the back porch last week and a huge bird was preening himself in the stream. I looked it up, but am not sure if this is what it is... It's not really the right zone for this bird, but the "call" is the same. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Goshawk/id Others in the neighborhood think it's a Coopers Hawk, but it looks really different and I got a pretty good look while it was bathing in the stream for several minutes. He lives in a tall pine tree next to our yard -- and "defends" our yard when other reddish/brown hawks comes near. It's actually pretty cool to watch. (ps - Mercer went nuts when I was playing the bird sounds. He really responded to this one... I think he's familiar with it!)


A few other things that Mercer is doing now -- says "bubble", sort of sounds like he says "what's that" - but slurred, and he says "hi" and "bye" at somewhat appropriate times (and will say it to strangers now -- he grabs a lot of attention!) He also chatters....."whazzzy...wass... whizzy.... wuze... wat" - DEFINITELY has learned W's and Z's and wants to express that a lot! But, if he ever gets a hold of our house phone, he'll put it to his ear and say "Kak, cuk, kek" those types of sounds. (Do we sound like that on the phone?!) He also is able to hear the train whistle in the background (trains pass through Marietta a lot) and he says "too-too" his version of Choo Choo. Cool that he knows the sound now and can identify it.


He's been eating more with a spoon. Very messy, but every now and then he can make it to his mouth. It's pretty amazing to watch his development!

I think that's about all. Have a great weekend.

Happy Earth Day ~

Did anyone do anything cool to "love your mother" today?

Obviously -- every day is Earth Day. But - it's kind of fun to see all of the extra things businesses are doing. For instance, Disney launched a new line of cute eco-shirts and reusable bags. I imagine that this will grow into more of their product lines in the future. I know Home Depot was giving away Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (and letting people know that they recycle old CFL Bulbs). Also, an organization that I am on the board has been doing a lecture series all month -- and they gave away water conservation kits to everyone who attended the lecture this week as well as a couple of rain barrels. Hey it's one day that people think about what should happen all year... whatever gets people motivated, right?!

We had a good day. We went to the library for storytime and songs. Mercer's favorite part - by far - is the bubbles. He can now walk around and "chase" them. Before he'd just watch the other kids and say oooohhhh. It's a little hard to see, but he's wearing his (Tree) Hugger t-shirt that a neighbor made for him. The tree is a picture sewed on instead of a word. One-of-a-kind! His friend Brody is there in the background. It was his first time at the storytime. Brody was a little skeptical / hung out with his mom the whole time, but ventured a few steps in front of her once the bubbles came out. Mercer used to do the same thing -- watch and observe, but now that he's mobile and comfortable, well, there's no stopping him -- especially during bubble time.

We had a heating & air conditioning rep come to the house today to look at our system / give us a quote for a new one. We're not taking the plunge yet, but ironically it was on Earth Day that we were talking about efficient systems... and talking about offsetting costs a bit by applying a federal tax deduction. (FYI you can go to http://www.dsireusa.org/ to check out incentives if you have a need for a new HVAC system / efficient water heating / anything solar).

Oh... we have a new member of the family. His name is Thomas. He's a train. I feel that he will be a major part of our lives for the next few years. He joined us just before Easter. Todd's mom sent down a box of the trains, tracks, and bridges from the nursery school that they closed down when she and her partner retired last year. He LOVED LOVED LOVED them. This past weekend, our neighbors were having a yard sale and guess what was there: a ton of Thomas stuff. A train table... a round-house... a crane... a bunch of engines and track. Of course we bought some of it. (We didn't how much this stuff costs "retail" 'til this weekend / talking with our neighbor. Mental note - NEVER buy it new... ALWAYS buy it 2nd hand! There's no reason it should cost so much, honestly.) Mercer says "too too" sort of like "choo choo" when he plays with them. Todd was noticing that this is something that he self-entertains with and he can play with it for 15 minutes on his own. Yay!

There was another "first" today (I know he will be upset one day when he's a teenager for me posting this on the blog): Mercer played with poo. I occasionally let him "go free" around the house or when he naps b/c I just don't think that being cooped up in a diaper 24/7 is healthy. Well, I had him in these loose-fitting shorts for his afternoon nap. I knew he was awake and playing in his crib, but I was trying to get some work done, and, well... the rest is history. All I will say is that when I got in there, he was having fun. For the next 1/2 hour or so, I was scrubbing down the crib rails and Mercer, but couldn't be upset. I had to laugh. Good times!?

I can't think of anything exciting really. All is well on our end. Hope the same is true on yours.
Candice

a video before i go....

... I'm heading out of town for another work trip tomorrow, but I wanted to post a long-awaited video otherwise it wouldn't happen for awhile!

This picture (at right) and the video (which is linked below) is of Mercer at his first Egg Hunt. Someone in the neighborhood organized a hunt at 10-12 of the houses on our street and the one behind ours. Mike & Connie's house (two doors down from us) was his first stop. We went to a 10 or 12 houses total, but Todd and I thought that he was the most excited at this first house and had a really long walk, actually. Check out the video and go all the way to the end watch something really cute (he gets VERY excited). Ahhh the simple things. Would 2 plastic eggs with stuff in them make you this happy? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bal0o31YHec

He really does love eggs. He calls them "ba" like he's saying ball.

On Easter, we walked to church up at the square... walked home... grabbed some food from the house... changed clothes... and walked to a neighbor's. We had Easter lunch with them and another couple from the 'hood then all of the kids played together in the back yard. It was a nice day.

He's going to kill me when he's older - but I HAD to give him these lamb slippers Easter morning. I've had them for at least 4 or 5 years to use when we had kids. Here are some shots of him walking around in his g-diaper and little lamb slippers. (Look what he's holding: a ball and an egg... he's in another room now... and - yup - still holding the ball and the egg in this picture too.) Really - he loves them!

Monday night, we spoke at a meeting that our Adoption Consultant had. Each month, she has an informational meeting for prospective clients and less than 1 1/2 years ago (Nov 07) we attended that very meeting. We were asked - like the family who spoke at ours - to share our experiences and how the consultant helped us out. There were about 8 couples there and it went well. It was SO FUNNY to see Mercer hamming it up and interacting with the crowd, though. He is definitely a social kid -- and did well playing his part in the show as "happy baby."

Tonight, we're getting together with an ol' baseball buddy of Todd's - someone we hung out with in college. He's visiting from California and we're looking forward to introducing them to the little guy. I should run and clean the house a little while Mercer's napping! have a good rest of the week, Candice

ps - had to include another photo of our baby "bird." You know when a mama bird comes to the babies with the (regurgitated) worm? Well, the baby bird's mouths are wide open. Mercer has begun doing this - mouth wide open - when he's ready for another bite to eat. It's hard for us not to laugh, although we probably shouldn't encourage him to do this! Oh well.

Good Friday

We promise that we'll have some video posted over the weekend... we know that we'll catch Mercer walking because he's doing it with some regularity now. Before, he'd sporadically take 2 or 3 steps -- there was no way to catch it on video. Now, he'll take 5, 6, 7, 8 steps most any time we get him balanced and standing on his own. Actually, he took 16 consecutive steps this morning. Yikes!

I travelled for work to western NC (Asheville and Hickory) last week -- hence no post to the blog. I got home very late Friday night, then Saturday morning, Todd and I headed to Athens, GA to meet some friends of ours and wander around the town / check it out. We didn't really do much while there: walked around, ate lunch, and hung out on the "green" in the middle of the University of GA campus. There was an international fair that the students were having, so we checked that out a little bit. We went to several of the booths, but the thing that interested Mercer the most was the dancing and music that was on the stage.

An update on Todd's work situation. He had turned in his notice on Monday of last week to his old company. He went to Asheville Tues and Wed for his last trip to his mixed-use project that is 98% done (no, we were not in NC at the same time - we were there a day apart!) Todd was asked by his company to make Thursday his last day. They just didn't have the work for him. So - he contacted his new employer and said he could start a week earlier. He had Friday off of work. Wow - one day off between jobs! (It gave him a day to work on cleaning the pond in the back yard, though.) He started work at his new job on Monday and so far it's going well. He's going to be working on a church for the next couple of months to help someone at the new office get the drawings done & out the door - while learning the new CAD system and drawing standards. He'll begin working on his school project after that.

I'm looking forward to a low-key weekend at home. We do have a n'hood Easter egg hunt Saturday afternoon in people's yards. We will go to church Sunday and then to a neighbor's for lunch, but those are our only plans. Yay!



I had to include this last shot.



-- love it --


Have a great weekend~