A Tricycle for Brendan

Brendan got a tricycle today! We ordered it Sunday evening and amazingly it arrived this afternoon! I wasn't expecting it to arrive until sometime next week. Unfortunately, the helmet we ordered hasn't arrived yet...


But we let him ride it anyway. He was ecstatically happy! He hasn't figured out how to use the pedals yet. I'm pretty certain that he understands that they make the trike go, he just doesn't get how to use them yet. He had lots of fun anyway. Michael couldn't get him off the trike to come inside for dinner - he had to carry Brendan in still on the trike!




Oh, and Brendan's new sign is "music". He signs it whenever he wants me to turn on the radio or, if the radio is already on, it means he wants me to dance with him. I was very impressed that he learned this one as I had only shown it to him a few times and hadn't been very consistent in teaching it to him at all.

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Here is a picture of Luke enjoying some [drool and] computer time.

Just like Daddy

So does this mean that Brendan wants to be a pastor too?!


... or does he just want to be like Daddy?

Luke seems to like my goofus ball almost as much as I do, except I don't try to eat them (although the sprongies (tentacles) are quite tasty).

Chester update

It's been a while, so here are some pictures of the family.

Here is Luke, enjoying eating his hat.


Since I've been busy at church a lot, Mama has had her hands [and back] full with the boys.


Luke enjoys playing on the floor and his new doggy is pretty cool too.


The boys have been getting along pretty well. Sometimes, Brendan really wants to curl up with his brother in bed.


I'm not sure if Luke is yawning or smiling. Either way, we've all been pretty tired.


Brendan still has his cute smile [and a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises].


Luke has discovered that toes are the best thing in the world to gnaw on. They don't necessarily have to be his own, nor does the person need to know he's about to gnaw on their toes. He likes to surprise them.

Graham Crackers

I think Luke has a little radar in his head that lets him know exactly where every crumb of graham cracker Brendan has dropped is.
On Saturday, Brendan decided to share part of a graham cracker with Luke, who has not yet been fed any solid foods. I walked into the living room to see Brendan sitting next to Luke, both with a piece of graham cracker in their hands. Luke was thrilled! Happily sucking away at that cracker. It was taken away and Brendan was told not to give Luke pieces of his food.
Ever since, Luke gets really excited every time he sees a graham cracker and really upset when he can't get to it.
He's also three times now found good-sized chunks on the floor and twice has gotten them into his mouth before I grabbed them away from him. I swear I look araound for them before I lay him on the floor! But he keeps finding ones I didn't see...
Poor sad baby, once he's done cutting this tooth I'll probably start him on a little bit of solids. I'd like to wait until he's six months old, but he's definitely showing signs of being ready.

Sorry!

I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get around to posting! We've been quite busy, obviously, with getting settled here. Now, things are more orderly, the boys are mostly adjusted, and we've found most of our stuff. There's still some boxes way back in the laundry room I haven't gotten to.
The house the church provided for us is very nice. I'll admit, the bluff across the street and the woods in the back do make me a little nervous with a very fast toddler. But the yard is huge and so far Brendan's been very good about stopping when I tell him to. Brendan loves the four stairs up to the bedrooms. We didn't have any stairs in our last house so these are pretty exciting for him. He's also learning more and more words and signs every day it seems. He's just learned the sign for "I love you" and uses it every night when we sign it as we leave his bedroom after bedtime prayers.
Luke has learned to crawl! He started on Saturday. We're all in a state of surprise over that. He's only 5mo. & 1wk. today and he's been crawling for several days now! It's still rather clumsy, but he can get himself pretty much wherever he wants to be. He's also not too far from being able to sit up unassisted. Oh, and he speaks in full sentences, too. Ok, maybe not, but I'm not sure it would surprise me coming from him right now! He is working on cutting his first tooth, though. Which has made for a number of VERY long nights here.
Today I found a children's show that I'm alright with Brendan watching. So far, the only TV he's really seen is the evening news, some Baby Einstein DVDs, and an occasional episode of the Simpson's (good, quality entertainment :P). Anyway, I was trying to fold laundry this morning and he was unfolding as fast as could fold so, out of desperation, I turned on the TV and started flipping through the guide channel to find something to distract him. Well, I found The Backyardigans on Nickelodian. I love it! It entertained him, it wasn't about a bunch of kids being direspectful and disobedient, it was a group of animal children having imaginary adventures in their backyards! They were polite, smart, and cool! It reminded me alot of when I was a kid having backyard adventures with my brother and our friend Julie. Oh, and there was music and dancing. Brendan was dancing along with the animals and having an absolute blast! So cool!
Anyway, Brendan just woke up early from his nap. At least he took one today...

Hello, Chester

Just a quick post to let everyone know we've made it safely to Chester. We're pretty busy right now with unpacking and all but we'll post more when we can.

Bye-Bye Fort Wayne!

For those of you who asked, we are feeling better. We still have sniffles, but we are doing much better than last week.

The packing is coming along pretty good. We'll be ready to go tomorrow without much of a problem.

Both of us have really enjoyed Fort Wayne. We've had a great two years here, but it is time to move on. It's sad, but we didn't move to Fort Wayne so I could just be a student all my life. I'm really looking forward to the vicarage, it should be a great learning experience.

It looks like I won't have time to post for a while, but here are some more pictures.




Brendan discovered an air conditioning vent and had a fun time squatting over it. Afterward, he had to travel around the room and find all of them.




Here is a picture of Luke doing the 'happy dance', waving his arms, in place while kicking his feet.




Luke enjoys giving out his cute little smiles.




Brendan loves Teddy soooo much...




He takes such good care of him that he even makes sure to clip Teddy's nails.




The boys love their mommy, and Mommy loves them too.




Apparently, Brendan had twins (Freddy is on the left, and Teddy is on the right).



Now that Brendan is done teething, Luke has picked up the slack. Just like this brother, Luke has fallen in love with Norbert's cherry flavored foot.


So long Fort Wayne, and thanks for all the memmories! (Don't worry, I won't pull a Connie Chung!) We look forward to seeing you again in another year. Good-bye Fort Wayne!




and Hello to our new home in Chester!