Today our friends (and maybe yours!) Brian, Carrie & Corrie Powell, moved to Indiana. They spent five years here in Bowling Green, and we greatly benefited from their friendship. They introduced us to Settlers Of Catan which has added much fun and competition to our lives, among other things. We entered parenthood just a month apart and it was kind of comforting to go through that major change together.
We've joked that Corrie was Lewis' first girlfriend, though Lewis has mostly ignored Corrie's 'advances' (she likes to hug him and dance with him sometimes). I'm sure someday he may change his mind, but she probably won't want to hug him then, and surely won't see him so often!
All that said, we wish them great joy, success and fruitfulness in their new home. Here's some photos of them before they departed.
Corrie's attempt at showing Lewis her book.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
23 months
Today Lewis is 23 months-old. It's pretty hard to believe he is just shy of turning 2! As he's grown, his hair has gotten out of control. So to prepare him for big-brotherhood, we cut his hair tonight. Here's the before picture with daddy.
And after:
Another angle.
To make the day even more exciting, Lewis used a big boy potty for the first time tonight! Our friends, Brian and Missy Howard, graciously gave us their special potty that plays music when it encounters something wet.
Since Lewis peed on the floor before his bath recently, it seemed like a good time to give it a try, at least before bathtime. So tonight, much to his dismay, we set him on the potty and within a few seconds, the music started! I have to say I haven't been so excited in a long time. The only problem is that the potty continues to play this music until it is completely dry, which is a tough task to accomplish! Hopefully our neighbors won't get irritated at the music because we'll be sitting that thing on the back porch for drying. :)
Who knows if this will become a regular part of our routine, but it was fun to have a successful first attempt.
catching up
We have been busy taking a lot of walks lately! Now that it is warm, Lewis wants to be outside all the time. We take walks in the stroller, and walks where Lewis can roam about freely. We've spent a lot of time at various parks. Oddly, Lewis loves Fountain Square Park the best. There's no play equipment there, but he loves walking around the fountain and checking out the water.
He's also enjoying reading books. Despite his lack of speaking, he is learning a lot of things and can point out lots of animals and objects in his books. He seems to know his colors fairly well too. He consistently finds blue objects and is generally right about the other colors too. We have no idea what he's thinking about most of the time, but he's having fun.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
cute boy
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
big baby?
Yesterday we had another doctor's appointment and an ultrasound. We were surprised that our friend, Trina Whittle, got to do the ultrasound for us. This was our third ultrasound this pregnancy and had no idea that Trina worked for our group of doctors, so that was a nice surprise for us.
Dr. Gass mainly wanted to check the size of the baby since I'm measuring "big." My weight gain is steady, but oddly enough, my belly is growing at a faster rate! At 32 weeks, which I am now, I'm measuring closer to 35 weeks. After seeing the measurements from the ultrasound, it appears the baby is already approximately 5 lbs. 7 oz.! With a rate of growth of 1/2 lb. each week, in 4 more weeks it will be 7 1/2 lbs. In 8 more weeks, close to 9 1/2 lbs. That is a scary thought! But, he assured me that because my last delivery was at 38 weeks (actually just at the end of the 37th week) that I should deliver early again this time. So that is our hope and prayer. Of course, time will tell. With Lewis weighing only 7 lbs., 3 oz. at birth, it is hard to imagine having a baby much larger, but I know plenty of women who have survived birthing big babies!
Here are the ultrasound pictures:
One more random note. The moms from our playgroup got to go out on Monday night to see Baby Mama. It was fun to get away from the kids and have some girl time. We had ice cream afterward at Baskin Robbins and took a picture.
L to R: Tobiaire Utt, Shelley, Carrie Powell, and Sarah Wilson.
primary season
As many of you know, Tuesday, May 20th is Kentucky's primary for the presidential election, as well as many local races. My sister, Ellen Reitmeyer, is running for the Louisville Metro Council to represent District 18. This week, things really heated up when her opponent showed up at her residence with the hopes of stirring up some trouble (or so it now appears). To see a video from the local news, click HERE. It's crazy what people will do to try to sabotage an election, but I had to mention it here in case any of you happen to live in District 18, or know someone who does. Please encourage them to vote for Ellen. She is by far the best person for this job. Most decent people have no desire to get into public service for obvious reasons, but Ellen has the integrity and commitment to serve well, and keep others on the council in check.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
daddy returns
Justin made it home this morning with less than 2 hours to spare before he had to report for duty at the Daily News. We are glad to have him back, even though we haven't gotten to see him much so far. He's off the next 2 days which will give us time to catch up! It's hard to believe the Foxhole van made it across 7 states without a break down. Yet another reason to believe in God. :)
Lewis and I finished up the week much as it started--busy and surrounded by friends. Thursday is Bible study (always a highlight, though Lewis does not enjoy the childcare as much as I do!) and speech therapy.
Friday morning we had our usual playgroup. We took some pictures of the kids this week. Isaac Utt is also part of the group but was absent. Here are the other kiddos:
Jacob Wilson, 5 months:
Jacob's sister, Taylor Wilson, 2 years-old:
Taylor again, with Corrie Powell, 23 months (almost 2--don't let the baby swing fool you!):
And Lewis, 22 months, hanging out with the Fisher Price farm:
Friday night we went to Rivergate to meet up with my Minsk stint team buddies, Shari Hill Kawashima, who was visiting from Lexington, and Heather Morozov. Shari announced this week that she is pregnant, so it was fun to catch up with her and talk about the upcoming changes to her life. We forgot to take pictures! All in all it was a full and fun week. We're all rather exhausted!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
the week minus Justin continued....
Lewis and I continue to enjoy our time without daddy, although we are looking forward to his return! Last night we had dinner with some new church friends, the Cahoons. Lewis has eaten great all week, and even had quite a bit of sloppy joe meat last night. Maybe having 3 small kids all eating food around him inspired him to branch out.
This morning we spent some time with Kelly Morgan and Mark, the 3 year-old she nannies. He is a great kid--very polite--and Lewis had a great time running around and swinging. He liked going down the slide quite a bit too. It was fun to be around another adult on a beautiful day.
This afternoon, Justin called as we were waking up from our nap (yes, I got one too!) and Lewis made himself comfortable on the kitchen floor while he rolled his water cup around. He rarely just sits down anywhere, but especially in the kitchen. It was kind of random, so I took a picture.
Tonight, the ladies from church got together to celebrate a birthday. Lewis got to spend more time with the Cahoons, thanks to dad, Jonathan, for his bravery in taking on a fourth child. We have had so much going on that we haven't had time to think much about Justin's absence. And Lewis continues to be a ton of fun. He has gone with the flow all week, which is such a blessing.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
on the road, again
Justin is out touring with Foxhole this week, which has meant a busy weekend and a fun week ahead. On Friday they played in Louisville at the 930. They are touring with a band called Interstates, some good friends of theirs. Here's a picture from Friday night.
In the meantime, Lewis got to spend some time with Justin's parents in Shepherdsville. He especially enjoyed playing on the pool table. He's quite good at rolling the balls into the pockets.
On Saturday night, Foxhole played at the Capitol in downtown Bowling Green. Here is a picture of me waiting for the show to start with my new Foxhole t-shirt on. My belly is getting bigger at 31 weeks!
Here's a clip of Foxhole playing "Forgiving Monarch" that night.
From there, the band headed to Mississippi and on to Texas. For more info on the tour visit their myspace page.
The last couple of days have been better than expected for me and Lewis. He got to stay with his grandparents until Sunday afternoon. He had a lot of fun with them walking in their yard and riding on their tractor.
Yesterday, we had several guests from our church, Grace and Peace Presbyterian, to keep us entertained. Missy and Jayden Howard came over for lunch. Then Mandy Guss and Chie Tanaka joined us for dinner. Lewis seemed to enjoy the company, and I did too!
Today, Carrie and Corrie Powell came to participate in Lewis' therapy session. Our Developmental Interventionist wanted to see Lewis interact with another toddler, and Corrie has been the best at trying to play with Lewis. It was fun to spend some time with them, especially since they will not be here much longer! We are sad to report they are moving soon so that Brian can take a job at Purdue. We will miss them terribly, but hope to take advantage of some hospitality when going to visit my sister in Evanston, Ill.
Lewis has been in a great mood so far and has made my first days as a single parent pretty easy. Hopefully the long naps and cooperation in eating some good meals will continue.
A couple more Lewis pics from last week at the park, where we'll hopefully get to spend more time with the beautiful weather we're having.
