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.

we survived soup night!

the last soup night of 2010 just ended. it was actually an early night.

we were trying to remember when we started soup night. i think it was in Jan 2002. it begun b/c i had read an article in cooking light magazine about a woman who had been doing this for 20 years one night a week for 3 months. and, after 9-11 2001, it was really important for us to connect with friends that year.

i found on one invitation where we were "bringing soup night back" - which means we didn't have it the year before (due to the renovation to the kitchen. our living room was full of boxes with the kitchen cabinets in them -- and the kitchen was gutted / we didn't have a stove.) doing a little bit of math, i think that this soup night was the 8th one we've done. CRAZY that we've been doing it this long! the demographics have changed quite a bit. the volume is a lot louder as kids run around & scream!

these are some pics taken at the very beginning of the year that we haven't posted yet. mercer is sharing his train with mommy's old teddy bear.

here's a few things going on with the little guy:

mercer is not afraid of the crowd of people at soup night. he does really well. he's pretty social.

he's also become quite the entertainer lately. he has pulled todd and me to sit on the step at the kitchen while he dances around the room. we're his audience and sometimes, he has this funny expression that he does when he's trying to figure out his next move.

• he says "ok" a lot. you ask him a yes / no question... his answer is "ok" - as if you've talked him into something.
• he tries to count. it usually goes something like this: 9. 3. 9.
• we have to step up our baby-proofing efforts soon. he's able to open the door to the hall now.... which mean that he can get to the stairs where his train set is.
• we're branching out on new foods again - exposing him to nuts and chocolate in little bits. chocolate chips in his pancakes & some pumpkin bread that a neighbor brought over... and walnuts in some "carrot cake" pancakes that todd made. so far / so good. don't think he's allergic to either, but we're still going with a little caution. if anyone's interested, here's a link to a recipe that looks similar (ours came from cooking light) http://lunchwithloni.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/carrot-cake-pancakes/
• there are some video links that i meant to post in an earlier blog... last year, mercer was into bows on packages. this year, he was into the paper: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddGroves#p/a/u/1/CBOLEVY3MF4 and into attacking todd's sister, tonia: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddGroves#p/a/u/0/oenLzBqFBsU
• at the end of the 2nd video - he's pointing at his nose and his ears. he loves doing that - pointing to his eyes, teeth, hair... and your eyes, nose, ears, teeth, etc
• his vocabulary is growing exponentially. it's pretty amazing to watch. one day he walked over to the wall in the kitchen and it sounded like he said "this is the wall." he was hiding behind me and todd asked: where's mercer. sounded like he said "i'm over here." the phrases aren't totally clear, but - cool that he's putting little sentences together
• we caught a glimpse into the future: one night, mercer threw his pacifier out of the crib & we couldn't find it. (actually, almost a week later, we still haven't found it!) we decided to try to make a go without it. oh - it was painful. after almost an hour of off-and-on crying, we just got another one. as soon as we did, he immediately fell asleep. we've been weaning him off of it a little bit and not let him go to daycare with it (he's in the toddler room now / they don't allow it). sometimes it's a struggle, but he does ok -- and takes a nap there without it. oh - we're not looking forward to the total ban of the paci!
• finally - daycare sent artwork home in his bag on friday. i'm really happy about that!! he got to glue stuff onto paper. he got to do some finger-painting. he got to scribble with crayon. yay! so exciting! can't wait to see what he brings home this week.

This is the 200th blog! Mercer is 23 months old tomorrow.

Wow. 200 blog posts (according to the blogger dashboard!)

Mercer has changed so much over the course of these posts. He's not a baby anymore. He's not yet two, however, he's got "terrible twos" nailed down! He's mastered tantrums. He can go bone-less in a second and drop to the floor. Oh - it's been such a trying week for Todd and me as Mercer has now added biting to his repertoire. So far we've been able to avoid damage.

I think part of why it's been such a tough week, too, is because we're more in tune with what all is going on in Haiti after the earthquake. Watching it unfold has been heart-wrenching... especially seeing the children coping with the disaster. Don't know if it's because now I'm a mother that I think about the children... and the stories of mothers digging through the rubble searching for their babies. It's incomprehensible. I feel helpless here - but I can't imagine what it's like there on-the-ground. Obviously there are ways to give... I just learned about one that was interesting: providing solar cookers and water pasteurization systems for families. http://solarcookers.org/

Speaking of cooking... Mercer has taken a real interest in activities in the kitchen. We've rigged a booster seat in the bar stool so that he can sit up high and watch me cook (a safe distance from the stove or the counter where I'm chopping veggies). Here, he's helping out with pancakes (he pats them with the turner after we flip them).

We got him a little set of wooden vegetables that he can chop himself. He seems into it. He's always saying "I do it."

Mercer jumped on the bed for the first time this week. Last week, I saw him picking his nose! (But I didn't make a big deal about it / haven't seen him do it again). He drew on the wall for the first time this week. He keeps pointing to it and saying "Daddy." Is this the first time he's blaming someone for something? We're trying to teach him to say I love you. Sometimes he whispers back to me something that sounds like I know. He's taking an interest in potty-training. So far, he's just sitting on the little potty in his diaper. He also keeps putting toys in the pot. We'll have to make sure he stops doing this once he's sitting on it without his diaper!

Here, he and some of his friends have jumped on Todd at a soup night. It's been tough wrangling with the little guy, but he's definitely a lot of fun. It's hard work, but great at the same time! We'll see what adventure awaits us in the coming weeks. - candice

a new year

Since it's been so long since I've blogged - I'm sure a lot of details will fall out from the past two weeks... but this might not be a bad thing. (Some of the previous posts were too verbose; I'll try to be more succinct in the new year!)

We wrapped up the end of 2009 in our home spending time with neighborhood friends & their kids. We made it to midnight - but, of course, we put little guy down before the year's end.

We enjoyed the long weekend at home settling back in. (After the unpacking & laundry, that is.) We took Mercer to the Georgia Aquarium. (He's seen here in a bubble behind one of the tanks.) He hasn't been since his first birthday. He was impressed, but - unfortunately - not at his best. Maybe he was tired? Or since it was a holiday weekend, maybe there were too many people around? He threw quite a few tantrums. We'll try to go again soon, as he "oohed" at a lot of things... and was excited by the fish.

A couple of our friends from out of town stopped by one night and brought their 10 month old. They went out to dinner while we watched the baby. It was interesting to see Mercer react to Todd or me playing with the baby. (He was jealous at times.) Sometimes he had a hard time sharing. If the baby started to play with something, then Mercer would want to play with that exact item! Here, Mercer is sharing daddy's hat with Saber, putting it on him. Overall, the two had a good time together... and we enjoyed the time with the two of them.

As has been our tradition for a number of years, we have begun the new year with friends - and now a lot of kids - in our home. Soup night has begun! We'll post about the soup events later. Goodnight!