girls' night out

This happened a week ago, but with all the birthday excitement, it's just now making the blog. Last Friday night, one my favorite bands, Over the Rhine, played a magnificent show in Louisville. Local Bowling Greener (and Over the Rhine fan) Carrie Powell managed to get a night off (with the help of her hubby B.P.) to accompany me and my two sisters to the show. My dad and stepmom took care of Lewis for me, and I have to say it was really fun to leave the babies behind and enjoy some good music.

My sister, Beth, had her iBook along and took a photo of us in anticipation of the show starting. The effects were added by Beth and photo booth.
















Here's a photo of the band:

















At the end I took a short video clip of them performing Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl."



But after loading that into iTunes, I found a great video from Cornerstone last year of one of my favorite songs that they performed in Louisville. It's called "Born" from Drunkard's Prayer. Enjoy!



If you ever get the chance to see them live, you definitely should! They are one of the most talented musical couples with her big voice and his killer piano playing, as well as their prolific songwriting abilities. It's worth the trip, especially if you can find free babysitting. :)

Lewis officially turns one!



















Happy Birthday, Lewis! Hope year #2 is as fun as the first.......well, even more actually. :)

Actually, today Lewis has not been in the best mood, though he has really enjoyed playing the piano. His bad mood might be related to his 4th tooth that is coming in on the top (his right side).

























He has also enjoyed gnawing on the donkey's ear.

a couple of videos

This video is of Lewis after his birthday party:



This one is of him playing with his stackable rings:

Ahoy ma ty Lewis, your 1st birthday party!
























Due to several family members' upcoming travels, we celebrated Lewis's first birthday yesterday. We had a pirate theme (note matching cake to go with his shirt).

Aunts Beth and Ellen came down early to spend some quality time with Lewis, and went a little crazy with decorating and party-favoring, including their own pirate Lewis shirts.




































Grandpa joined in on the fun!

















Taylor and dad, Matthew Wilson, having a grand time.
















Lewis, not too sure about his cake.





















He threw some on the floor, ate some with help from mommy and daddy, but eventually like the cookies 'n cream ice cream the best.

















Heather Morozov with her son, Val, a.k.a. "the shy pirate."
















Corrie being feisty as the party winds down.

Father's Day and beyond

Well....we are getting beyond the loss of our kitty, and a quick way to get her off our minds was in celebrating Father's Day. Justin was practicing with Foxhole most of the day, so we had to give him his presents early. With a lot of help from our parents and sisters, Lewis and I got Justin his very own Nintendo Wii. It was fun to see him so excited about it then, and he has been getting better aquainted with it this week. It looks like it will be a good investment for the family.



















Lewis and I went up to Louisville to see my dad on Father's Day. We had a good time with him and my step-mom. Her grandson, Will (my step-nephew?) had his 8th birthday party on Sunday and also played in a little league tournament. We headed out to the ballpark to cheer them on to victory. Here's a picture of dad and Lewis:



















Lewis and his cousin, Mallory (Will's sister)





















Lewis playing with Grace Boyer last week. With the tragedy in our family, we forgot to post this earlier. Lewis made his first attempt at "swimming" in Grace's kiddie pool, but the water was a little too cold, and he preferred to watch. Thanks for the opportunity, Grace!

Goodbye Macchiato :(

Today we said goodbye to part of our shepherdfam. Our sweet cat Macchiato, left this life, after another accident left her with terrible internal injuries. She had disappeared for about 24 hours and when she turned up this morning, after much prayer, she looked pretty beat up. We took her to the kitty ER, but the damage was extensive and we had to say goodbye.

It's hard too, because she was such a good cat. She was sweet and friendly to strangers. She was bonding well with Lewis and he loved her dearly. In the good old days, pre-Lewis, she would run up to my car when I came home and talk to me like a person. She would come when you called her (except when she wanted to stay out at night), and followed orders fairly well. Almost like a dog, I suppose.

We are sad she is gone, but glad she will not suffer anymore. We are so relieved that she found her way home so that we could have closure and not be wondering about her for weeks on end. Still, there's nothing like the love of a good cat. We will miss her!

Photo 1--Our most recent photo of Lewis and Macchi.
Photo 2--Macchi and Lewis getting aquainted.
Photo 3--Our friend Val with Macchi as she gets a snack.

Mr. and Mrs. McBroom

On Saturday, Lewis attended his second wedding! This one was in Lexington, KY and united Abigail King and Nathan McBroom in holy matrimony. It was a very elegant occasion, and we were happy to attend. We are ecstatic those two are finally hitched!

The trip gave us an opportunity to catch up with some friends too. Below are some pictures of Yura and Lauren Metelski and their baby, Eleanora (5 months). It was great to catch up with them and introduce the babies. We were honored that they consider Lewis to be a potential suitor for their girl someday. Of course, there are so many prospects, only time will tell which one Lewis will pursue. :) Eleanora is awfully cute though.

On Sunday we got to catch up with even more friends connected to Belarus in one way or another. Still, Lewis was elated to get home as you can see in this photo below. He woke up as we pulled into Bowling Green and this was his expression (note his second tooth, to the right of the first):




















Abigail and Nathan, the happy couple!





















Shelley and Justin rejoice

















Zacchaeus, Justin and Adam celebrate the union

















Lewis enjoying the reception

















Justin and Nathan
















Lauren and Eleanora Metelski





















Yura Metelski
















Eleanora

laughing videos

Lewis' sense of humor is developing in a weird way. Watch these videos to see what he finds funny.

Lewis playing by himself:



Lewis and our friend, Kelly Morgan:

last week's pictures

Grandpa stopped by and we got to celebrate his birthday. Grandma had a hat made for him with Lewis' picture on it.
















Lewis continues to improve on his walking toy.

















Last Friday, we stopped in at Commonwealth Brands, my former workplace, and visited everyone there. Martha enjoyed a break with Lewis!

Corrie's party



















Well, Corrie turned one year-old last week, and it was a pretty fun celebration. She ate her cake very well and seemed to really like it. We liked it too! Lewis did not get to have any, but it won't be long and he'll be eating cake too, hopefully.

Here are some photo highlights:

Lewis enjoying his balloon while Isaac expresses his doubts about them. Simon sleeps in the background.
















Lewis and the birthday girl having some quality time.

















Lewis manages to con a kiss out of Grace, an older woman!

















A pretty fun night, all in all! We can't wait 'til next year.

fun at Panera

Lewis turned 11 months-old on Monday! He woke up from his morning nap and had visitors. Grandma and Grandpa Reitmeyer came to visit and took us all to Panera Bread for lunch. It was fantastic. Lewis had a good time eating puffs and throwing his ring of keys on the floor. It became a fun game to see how many times Grandpa would pick them up for him. We all lost count. :) Lewis sure loves waking up to find some visitors waiting to see him.

He is enjoying standing these days. There are lots of times when he absolutely refuses to sit down. He is enjoying his walking toy more too. The last week or so he has started playing a lot with two toys: a ring stacking toy and a shape sorting toy. The shape sorting toy has an optional lid that he is not using (where he has to put the triangle through the triangle shaped hole etc.), but he loves putting all the shapes into the container with the lid off. He does really well stacking the rings too, and gets really proud of himself when he gets them all done.

He tried meat this week for the first time as well. We got him some of those chicken meat sticks. He likes mashing them in his hands so we have mashed them into some veggies to get more of them down. He seems to like the flavor pretty well. He's working on his second tooth so his mood is all over the place, but he remains a pretty contented boy most of the time.

may I have this dance?

Lewis's "girl"friend, Corrie, is turning one in a few days. He's pretty excited about it, especially since they've been working on a dance routine to commemorate the day. He won't move like this for us--that's for sure!! SEE THE DANCIN'.

losers!

Do you ever feel like a loser? This week, more than most, the Shepherds have been feeling rather humble and loser-esque. Our candidates all lost in Tuesday's primary. Our team, the Cincinnati Reds, have fallen to the deep pit of last place in their division--and probably all of baseball, for that matter. Justin has some of his own examples that I will not go into out of respect for him and his ventures! It just feels sometimes like we hit a losing streak in our lives and for a while everything goes south.

Lewis remains our sole success. While he is slow in some areas of development, he is lots of fun and we can see his progress weekly (if not daily).

We all go through tough times, and they tend to make us grateful for sucess when it comes. We definitely have hope for tomorrow. This is not the worst time we've ever had, and we always get through whatever comes our way. We're not looking for pity, just sharing the burden. These are light and momentary troubles that are sure to bring about lasting character development, and good stories for the grandkids someday.

primary reminder

Just a friendly reminder that Kentucky's primary for statewide office is tomorrow, May 22nd. The Shepherd fam tries to steer clear of political discussion, but we are officially endorsing Jody Richards in the Democratic primary for governor and Anne Northup in the Republican race. Get out and vote!

physical therapy

We are back to normal and feeling more like the fantastic family we are meant to be! We have a new appreciation for all the food groups and being able to drink coffee etc. To celebrate, we had some visitors over the weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd came on Saturday with a special treat for Lewis that should help him learn to walk. It is a Little Tike's Activity Walker with parental speed control. On the slowest setting, Lewis can hold on and take steps at his ultra-slow pace. He loves standing, so we know he'll get a lot of use out of this thing.



Then Aunt Ellen came to visit on Saturday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Lewis always has a good time with her too. She helped him maneuver on his new toy. Watch this video to see some of the action:

yucky update

Well, Lewis is almost fully recovered! Unfortunately, I got the bug too, and got to really empathize with how our boy was feeling. Justin, so far is doing okay. We're hoping it bypasses him somehow. Lewis has maintained a diet of bananas and rice cereal. Tomorrow we'll probably try sweet potatoes and go from there. I've been eating pancakes and pasta mainly, and would really love to venture back out into the realm of meat and veggies. :)

Thanks for your prayers! After a lot of cleaning and sterilizing we should be social again in the near future.

feeling yucky

WARNING: This post contains info that you may not want to know!

Yesterday morning Lewis woke up and everything seemed fine! Halfway through his first feeding he started vomiting and it was enough to thoroughly soak our clothes and a nearby pillow. He seemed really happy afterward so he finished his feeding and started the day as usual. We had some errands to run and got out for a couple of hours. He ate again on schedule, but missed his solids because we were out. He went down for his nap at 11 a.m. He slept all the way until 2 p.m. and got up in time for the next feeding. However, as soon as I pulled him upright out of his crib, the spewing started again! He did not seem interested in eating then, though he did eat more later in the day, and even had some bananas.

The evening went a little better, but he woke up vomiting in the night and again this morning, first thing. The nurse at our pediatrician's office said that it is probably just a stomach virus and it will have to run its course. There has also been some action out the other end as well, so we're having all kinds of fun over here! Some of it could be related to teething (that's our assumption when anything weird happens), because Lewis seems soooo happy as long as he's not vomiting, and he is chewing his gums all the time. Still, we will be happy when he is back to normal. Your prayers and/or advice are appreciated!

Photo: This morning after Lewis had some bananas he chilled out with some Baby Einstein when I heard something at the front door. He had received a package from some of Justin's long time friends, Bruce and Betty Jo Whitcomb who live in Alaska. They sent the third installment of the Alaskan bear collection, the black bear. Here's Lewis and his collection. Thanks, Bruce and Betty Jo!

The End.

We finished off the weekend with a Foxhole show at the End. Special thanks to Guy Kelly for filling in for Derek Holt and playing some bass. Lewis spent time with Imogene and cousin Olivia instead. We got some photos and a short video.

weekend away

Here's a photo essay of our weekend in Nashville. First, before we left, Justin gave me my mother's day gift from him, our parents, sisters and of course, Lewis. It is a really great digital camera! It's pink with a pink case too, for that feminine touch. Thanks to all who pitched in for this fabulous gift. :) This was the first picture taken with the camera.





















On Saturday, while Justin practiced with the band, Lewis and I got to spend some time with my former roommate, Karen Grigsby. We walked around Centennial Park and Lewis got to see some real ducks! He didn't seem particularly interested, but we had a good time.

















Karen and Lewis
















After that we went looking for some swings and found some at Elmington Park.
















Thankfully, Justin's Aunt Imogene was kind enough to let us stay with her! Here's Lewis enjoying some peas on Sunday before church. Eating on the road can be a bit of a challenge!





















Justin and I had a nice lunch at the Spaghetti Factory while Lewis slept.






















We went to Cheekwood after that. For anyone not familiar with Cheekwood, it is a private park with some fantastic botanical gardens, a museum and some art exhibits. On the way there I got some pictures of Lewis and his tooth.


































At Cheekwood



























To be continued............