Fun places to visit around Oxford

One of our favorite places in Oxford is Square Books, Jr. It is an awesome kids' book store. Several of the employees know Isaiah by name because we visit so often. I always find about 10 books that I think might be crucial to Isaiah's education and development when we visit, but I usually do a pretty good job of holding myself back from buying them. I have to remind myself (in the words of my Dad, the wise Rick Catlett) that I shouldn't buy a book when I could check it out from the library for free. Now, they don't always have these very important board books at our local public library, but they have enough to choose from, so I try to contain myself.

Anyway, at the entrance of Square Books, Jr. there is a collection of stuffed dogs surrounding a table. The table is quite large, so there are about 10 or 12 of these dogs. Most of them are bigger than Isaiah. They are made by Melissa and Doug, some of our favorite toy creators, and many different breeds are represented. Isaiah LOVES to go around the circle and pet each dog. He makes very sweet and/or excited noises when he sees these dogs. Yesterday, he picked up the Bichon Frise and carried around the store. He even tried to carry it out of the store. I have posted a picture of the black lab here; it's another one of Isaiah's favorites. He calls it "Big-by."

So I guess if you're looking for a somewhat frivolous gift that you know will be a big hit with Isaiah, this is it. Of course, in the words of my dad, the wise Rick Catlett, why should we buy that dog for Isaiah when that would take away the fun of visiting Square Books, Jr.?

Summer time... and the livin' is easy

We have made it to summer! It is glorious. So very glorious.

So far this summer, we have participated in some new and exciting activities:

This past weekend, D. and I left Isaiah with his Aunt RiRi, went to a Braves' game in Atlanta, and spent the night at the Hyatt in downtown Atlanta! (Thanks, priceline!)

I made a stuffed dog for Isaiah out of a pair of socks. I will have to post a picture after I give the dog eyes and a nose. I am crafty--it's true.

We bought a kiddie pool, inflated it, filled it with water, and Isaiah wouldn't get in. He did enjoy splashing, though.

I took a nap. More than once. :)

Isaiah and I went to my professor's house yesterday so she and I could talk about my directed reading. (19th century American Women's Fiction, because I know you were dying to know.) She has a nine-year-old and a six-year-old daughter. They LOVED Isaiah and he loved them right back. They had him pushing all kinds of animals around in a little shopping cart, dancing, and carrying around a toy guitar. The (almost) six-year-old insisted on inviting him to her birthday party next week. I am not so sure that we will go, but we will definitely draw her a picture.

We have been playing with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. I have been drawing with it; Isaiah has been eating it (or at least putting it in his mouth.)

We have been going for long walks as often as possible. We stop to gaze at all construction sites and admire all construction equipment, especially when it is in action.

Last night, I went out to dinner with two girl friends! It was so fun. We talked for 2 hours. What a gift.

We are doing our best to participate in saving the planet--we are trying to go all cloth napkins and all cloth diapers for the summer. So far, we've been fairly successful (traveling doesn't count).

Everybody needs to work at a university right--how amazing is it to still have summer at 29? I am so thankful to Jesus for the gifts he has given me!

Bi[g]-by

Isaiah is saying more and more words....or at least trying to. This morning, Corrie put Rigby up because a storm is brewing (again), and when she came back inside Isaiah started saying "Bi[g]-by...Bi[g]-by...Bi[g]-by." The 'g' doesn't always make it out, but as you can see, this is clearly Isaiah's word for Rigby.

mother's day

Does this boy look like his mama or what?

This is my second mother's day as a mom, and I am so thankful for the gift of motherhood. Every day I see myself in Isaiah, and it never ceases to surprise me.

I have learned a few things as a mom, and I am sure that I have a lot more to learn:

I should thank my own mom more often. Being a mom myself makes me realize how much she has sacrificed for me.

It is really impossible to control another person, regardless of how small that person is.

Going for a walk as a family can be a really special event--especially if the destination is Holli's Sweet Tooth.

It really does not impact my life significantly if I see a movie at home on my couch via Netflix instead of in the theatre.

Being a mom makes it easier to talk to strangers, especially if you have an outgoing toddler around to make introductions easier.

Babies change so fast. I cannot believe how different Isaiah is from just a few months ago, and it really makes me a little sad to think about how fast he's grown.

Sleep is such an amazing gift from God.

The Jacket and the Bus

The other day Isaiah and I were hanging out waiting for Corrie to get out of class. It's amazing to see how he can turn anything in to a toy. In this case, it was his jacket that happened to be hanging on a near by doorknob.



The Jacket and the Bus from D. Merricks on Vimeo.

Pastimes

Our church hosted a night at the Ole Miss baseball game last night. The grilled hot dogs and hamburgers in the outfield (not literally, on the other side of the fence beyond the outfield). It was great time to just hang out and enjoy the Oxford spring weather (70+ degrees and beautiful). As many of you know, baseball is one of my favorite pastimes (let's not talk about Braves right now), but what you may not know is that one of Isaiah's favorite pastimes is playing with pebbles. He loves picking them up, dropping them, picking them up, giving them to others, picking them up, dropping them, etc. etc. Here are some pictures...

Sharing pebbles with our friend Rajesh.

Is Alvin looking for another chipmunk?

Corrie forgot to smile. (She's thinking, "I love him soooo much!")

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.