Mem.

Chase's words are few and far between, but he has been making some strides lately.  Here's his list as of now, although they take a practiced ear to identify them:

Mama

Dada

Gaga

Papa

Baby

Cup

Go (as in ready, set)

Go (as in here you go)

Hot

House

Eyes

Bye Bye

Hi

Bubble

Ian

Chase

Pretzel

Cracker

...and the latest we heard tonight as we were finishing up dinner.  He was finished and wanted down so that he could play with the bunny that he could see laying on the floor (we knew because he signed "all done"  "down" and "bunny"- how amazing is he?!).  So Bryan put him down, and he went right over to the bunny and squeezed it (it says that "Now I lay me down to sleep..." prayer).  Then he tried to do it again, but he wasn't pressing it right, so he signed "help" and "bunny" and looked at me and verbally said, "Mem."  Then he said it again and again...and then we realized..."Mem"= "Amen".  The bunny says it at the end of the prayer.  And he's also been saying "Mem" at the end of our blessing before dinner, but we never really caught it until now.

I asked him if he meant "Amen", and he got a huge grin on his face and said, "Mem!!"

So- add that to the list.  Mem!

Quick Updates

1- Chase has been sleeping in his twin bed consistently (all naps and all night long!) for 2 1/2 weeks now!

2- Gavin now smiles at us and is rolling from belly to back!  I thought the rolling thing was just an accident, but he did it 3 times in a row this morning!

3- Ian loved summer camp this week, and is totally excited to start preschool again in September.  He is such a social kid.  He has also discovered my brother's box of Legos and is a Lego Maniac, officially.

4- Bryan and I committed to the B90X...reading the Bible in 90 days...with our couples group from church.   Here's the link for the reading plan if you are interested.  It is pretty whirlwind, but it is kind of cool to have a challenge.

5- Along with the reading, we were also challenged to start the P90X.  That begins on Monday.  Here's hoping that we will be able to walk, dress ourselves, and otherwise function normally on Tuesday.

6- Goal for this week:  gettting Gavin to take a bottle so that Bryan can handle one night feeding and I can enjoy 4 hours of sleep all in a row.  Last night there was some cluster feeding going on (growth spurt maybe?) and I saw 11pm, 12:06am, 1:20am, 2ish am, 3:30ish, and 5am.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.  It is a good thing he is so freaking cute.  

Me and My Dad, by Gavin

Wait!  I'm not ready yet!

OMG, Dad.  This is SO embarrassing.
Just two dudes hanging out.

Garden Update

Remember when we put in a gigantic garden?  This is what it turned into!

We have green onions and herbs, tomatoes, cukes, bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, cataloupes, watermelons, pumpkins (well, pumpkin blossoms...), and sunflowers.

See the melons in there?  I hope they grow big enough to eat.  Well, I guess you could eat a softball-sized watermelon, but it wouldn't be very satisfying...Love me some sunflowers :)

DSAC Picnic

We had the DSAC Roots and Shoots picnic this weekend...and my camera battery died.  These are the only photos I got of the kids having a blast on the splash pad.

On the left is Chase's little friend Michael, who is a day older than him.  Last year the two of them just sat in the water, but this year they could run around with the big kids!  What a difference a year makes.

Ian and Michael's older sister, Emily, enjoyed the water, too.  This was before we could get Chase changed into his trunks...he went in wearing just his diaper and soaked up most of the water by the time Bryan got there with his swimmy.
Aerial view :)  The pavilion was above the splash pad, which made Chase happy because there were a bunch of stairs to go up and down.  And up and down.  And up and down.
We had so much fun.  I wish I had more photos of the kids and families that participated.  It is amazing to me that without Chase we would never have met any of them...how much we would have missed out on!

Wildlife Encounter

We had a visitor on our back porch a few days ago:

Ian spent quite a while outside talking to his new friend.  I asked him later what he was telling him, and he said, "Just that he could stay here and tell his family and his friends that they could stay here, too, and that I would be a good friend to him and not drop him really hard."

Things that are not funny with girls, but are HI-larious with boys.

So, Ian bought some new toys with the change that he has been rolling.  They are these weird robot things that fold up into little balls, and when you crash them together or on the floor, they open up.  Ian loves them.  But he keeps saying things like, "I really really like playing with my little balls" and "I'm breaking my balls back here" and "Tell Chasey not to touch my balls!"  

They have brought endless entertainment to all of us.