15 Months

Here are some pics of Isaiah we took a couple of weeks ago at Rowan Oak (not Roanoke). He doesn't do much posing anymore because he is constantly in motion. Thankfully, spring is in full swing so we can take him outside and let him run around a good bit. And in case you were wondering how big he was, he's roughly the same height as a fire hydrant! (90th percentile for kids his age, 75th percentile for weight.)

Grandma

Today is my grandma's birthday and I am missing her and thinking of her.

Every time I saw her, she whispered "Grandma loves you" in my ear, no matter how old I got.

She was the go-to person when one had a loose tooth.

She always had these chocolate fudgesicle things in her freezer.

She pierced my ears herself with an ice cube and a hot needle. (I know! crazy!)

She loved to tell stories about her life, and now I am thankful that she told me some of them over and over because I remember them well.

where we are

It is April 14th. If you didn't know, that means 3 weeks left to go in the semester counting this week!

That also means that we have A LOT to do in the next few weeks. We have so many pictures to post and fun stories to tell, but you might have to wait for them. Unless I feel like procrastinating, which is what I am doing right now.

A very short fun story: Isaiah knows a new word. I don't know if you could actually call it a word--it is listed in the dictionary as "an exclamation" (I love the dictionary on my computer!). It is "uh-oh" and he uses it often. How fun is that?

if you could see us now...

So here is something you need to try to imagine:

D. and I do our best to "tag team" a lot of diaper changes. Isaiah is stronger than you might imagine a 26-pound person to be. He is pretty buff. He doesn't like having his diaper changed, probably because he's been traumatized by having saline squirted up his nose in order to help with congestion. So we have a diaper-changing strategy.

We sing one of several songs, the choices include "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Wheels on the Bus," and "The Alphabet Song." If you'd like to suggest another choice, be sure to add a comment. In an attempt to add variety, D. has been known to sing the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to the tune of "I Need a Lover Who Won't Drive Me Crazy" by John Cougar Mellencamp. It's actually pretty catchy.

Before we take him in his room, one of us begins singing one of the songs listed above. The singing must involve a lot of enthusiasm and fervent motions. The designated singer must sing whole-heartedly and keep Isaiah's attention while the other one opens the wipes container, gets down to the diaper and cleans up Isaiah's bottom as quickly and efficiently as possible all while joining in on the song. Of course, the designated diaper-changer isn't expected to participate in motions.

The hardest part may be putting the clean diaper on him, because by this time he has gotten tired of listening to the song and laughing at the motions. Forget about snapping a onesie! Whoever thought it was a good idea to make a pair of jeans with about 40 snaps up the legs?

Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall? I bet we could make a lot of money off a reality show. I'm thinking TLC because we're way too classy for a network reality show. Especially Fox.

10 things that make me happy

1. I love that when we ask Isaiah if he wants to take a bath he says "ba" and runs to the bathroom.
2. I love that there are only 5 weeks left in the semester. yay!
3. I love my friends Matt and Amy, and I love that today is April 1st, so I am believing that they will be hearing good news about their adoption soon!
4. I love dogwood trees and the fact that they are blooming right now.
5. I love my church, the Orchard Oxford.
6. I love my husband and the way he makes me laugh.
7. I love Chocolate Silk Soymilk in my coffee.
8. I love that I got the chance to lecture for 50 minutes about Eudora Welty on Monday.
9. I love Newk's pimiento cheese sandwiches.
10. I love seeing Isaiah's smiling face when I wake up in the morning.

Easter Egg Hunt

We've had a wonderful Holy Week and Easter Weekend.

D. and I had the chance to read scripture at our church's Good Friday Service. The service was so moving, especially due to the music played by our good friend Matthew.

On Saturday, we invited members of our church over to our house for an Easter Egg Hunt. It was so much fun! Isaiah was the only boy, but he really didn't care. He enjoyed having all the girls over and watching them play with his toys. His red wagon from Nana and Poppa and his new outside car that MeMa and Pop brought him this weekend were very popular. (Incidentally, MeMa, bargain shopper, got the car for $5 at a yard sale!)

Isaiah "found" 3 eggs. He had so much fun putting them into his pail, taking them out and looking at them, and putting them back in his pail again... I hope he is always this easy to entertain. He has not discovered Easter candy yet. Maybe next year we won't be able to avoid it!

Our sad discovery of the weekend is that Isaiah suffers from seasonal allergies. After the wonderful egg hunt and being outside all morning, his nose and eyes have been running for a few days. We are working on getting those allergies under control.

This morning we enjoyed celebrating Easter. We woke up and were able to remember that the mourning of Good Friday has ended forever. We are so grateful for our church community here in Oxford.

Christ is risen indeed!

trip to the park

MeMa and Pop made the long drive to come and see us for Easter Weekend. We've had so much fun!

Here are a few pictures of our trip to the park on Friday. It was a beautiful day.

Preaching Class

I'm taking a preaching class this semester and I have to preach 2 sermons and have them evaluated. For those who have about 17 mins to spare, my first is posted here. (This is easier than putting it on a disc, if you'd still like a disc, just let me know.)

Sermon 1 from D. Merricks on Vimeo.

iPhone = Isaiah Phone

If you don't know this already, Isaiah loves phones. Yesterday morning he somehow got the regular phone and somehow called these really nice people in Batesville...on speaker phone. I walked in the room and heard a lady saying, "Hello? Hello?"

Of course, being the responsible parent that I am, I grabbed the phone and hit the off button.

This morning, I left my cell phone within Isaiah's striking distance and so he grabbed that too. Let me just assure everyone that Isaiah's dexterity, meaning the strength of his fingers and thumbs, is just fine. He began carrying around my phone and somehow took this video. If you listen closely you can hear Corrie discovering him red-handed.

A Spring Break

Last weekend we took a break from life in Oxford and went to visit Sis in Birmingham. Aside from the dusting of snow on Saturday morning, the weather was perfect for getting out and about. On Saturday morning, we went to the McWane Center, which is like a children's science museum. We all had much fun playing with water, magnets, pulleys, and 'lasers'. Isaiah especially enjoyed looking at the fish in the aquarium.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Botanical Gardens. Corrie's affinity for flowers and plant life showed as we walked through all the different parts. As you can see below, Isaiah also had fun walking around picking up pine cones, 'prickly pears' (you know the little round spiky things that stick to your shoes), and leaves of all shapes and sizes.

"Daw"

Isaiah has a new word: it's "Dog" without the -g!

We went for a walk on Monday and heard a dog barking. Isaiah pointed and said "daw"....twice!

This morning I picked up his "doggies" book (that is overdue at the library) and asked him what was on the cover. He said "daw"!

Maybe he inherited the dog-loving gene from his mom. Soon he'll be saying "Springer Spaniel", "Viszla" or maybe even "Weimaraner."

Adventures in Birmingham

We spent the weekend before Spring Break in Birmingham. Here are a few clips of what we did this weekend.

Bear

Isaiah loves stuffed animals. He has been particularly attached to one we like to call "Bear" for a while now. He likes it so much that we couldn't wash it, so we got a backup bear. He really isn't particularly concerned about which one is which--he just loves them both. He really likes to carry them both around, one in each hand. Here he is rocking his bears.

Problem Solving Skills

Just in case you were concerned, Isaiah's problem solving skills are developing nicely. Here are the steps required to get to where he is in the picture:

1. Open the appropriate cabinet.
2. Select the appropriate box of cereal.
3. Open the lid to the box.
4. Take the bag out of the cereal box.
5. Open the bag.
6. Enjoy cheerios and one's autonomy.

Update

Isaiah said "mama" on Saturday... and definitely knew what it meant! Now I feel prideful too.

We had a great weekend of hanging out, raking the yard, playing with bubbles and going for long walks with Rigby since it was warm and beautiful weather. We are looking forward to Spring Break next week too!

official first word

"Daddy."

as of 6 pm on February 20th, 2008.

And I think D. is feeling a little prideful about it.

vocab update

Last night we mastered "where's daddy?"

If I ask Isaiah where daddy is, he points at D. and looks quite proud of himself. D. is proud too.

vocabulary quiz

Isaiah is not talking yet, but we are realizing every day how many words he knows. It is so fun to see him process what we say and translate it in his own way. We have successfully taught him three signs: "more," "eat," and "Touchdown!". (D. got touchdown on video the other day, so hopefully he will post that soon.) We have not mastered please or thank you yet, though.

We are realizing that Isaiah knows a lot of words that are related to food. The other day D. asked him if he wanted supper and he signed "eat." Last night one of our friends said he was hungry and Isaiah signed "eat" again! If you're realizing that food is very important to Isaiah, you're right! He weighs 24 pounds and he still has quite a belly.

We'll let you know if he develops any new vocabulary, especially if it's not food-related!

an amazing documentary

The Business of Being Born

Regarding the post below, D. is obsessed with the new Indiana Jones movie. I really don't understand why. In my opinion, it only demonstrates that Harrison Ford is way too old to play the part of Indiana Jones now. A prequel would have been better--I don't know who should play Indy in the prequel, but it should obviously be someone who is much younger than Harrison Ford.

Anyway, this link will connect you to a trailer for a documentary we went to see last week. It is a remarkable movie about something that D. and I are both pretty interested in--childbirth! If you don't believe me when I tell you that D. is interested in childbirth, just ask him. He'll talk about it for at least 10 minutes.

Check out the movie if you get the chance.

Oh yeah....