Death of a Blog?

It has been so long since we've posted, I'm starting to wonder if our blog is dying a slow death. Posting has become more of a chore lately. We've been busy working around the house, Amy recently had out-patient surgery, we've gotten hooked on watching Heroes, Seasons 1 and 2, and chasing Gus around always keeps us busy so we haven't made the time to write. I think the pressure we're feeling to keep the blog updated hasn't helped either. It isn't that we lack interesting things to post because we do - at least in our opinion. Having a toddler is material enough! It's just that after a long absence, there is so much to post that sitting down to catch up becomes a daunting task. At any rate, we're going to keep trying for now. If nothing else, maybe it will preserve our good-standing with our parents and grandparents!

Gus just turned 17 months on January 17th. Where do I start? He has been very healthy up to this point...a gift that we are so thankful for. He has had a couple of rough falls recently though. The latest was yesterday. He fell and hit his head on a water meter (made you cringe, didn't I?) of some sort just before Amy arrived to pick him up from the "baby sitter's" house. I don't know all the details, but his head revealed no evidence of the event by the time I was home from work so that's good. His previous two falls, however, left their marks. The first time he fell and hit his head on a wall register (made you cringe again, didn't I?). It could have been much worse, but thankfully his forehead hit the top edge. The thought of him hitting his little nose on the grate instead (still cringing?) gives me the heebie jeebies. He had a little cut on his forehead as a result of that one though. The second time he fell and hit his cheek on a club chair. That was last Wednesday or Thursday and he still has a bruise. Other than the falls, though, his health has been great. Even teething hasn't been too bad, although we'll all be glad when the last four come in!

What else? He's certainly turning into a little boy. He can run now and Patti, Amy's mom, recently taught him how to march while she was here. That's not something that I would have thought to teach him, so I'm so thankful to have other people (especially family!) interacting with Gus. (Another example: it was someone in the nursery at church that taught him how to clap.) He has recently starting standing on things (cars, papers, etc.) and climbing is now part of his repertoire. In fact, he fell into the bathtub the other day! Thankfully there was no water present! Notably absent from his physical achievements: throwing balls and rolling cars. We've been trying, but no luck yet. He just doesn't understand that he has to let go in order for it to work!

Maybe he is more brain than brawn. He knows how to identify and say the names of five colors (most of the time...for some reason there are times when everything is "yehya"), can pick out about 10 letters and a few numbers to boot. We have stopped teaching him sign language because he's saying so much these days. Of course, the words he utters don't always come out quite right, but there's time for phonetics, right? He said "closet" and "hanger" the other day which was pretty cool because that was the first time (as far as I know) that he's ever heard those words. Some of his newest words have been really funny: booyah!, hooray! (I'm trying to get him to throw his hands up in the air when he says that...no luck yet), all right!, cool!, Porsche and Hummer (humma).

Gus is still sleeping great. He stays asleep each night for about 12 hours. We're so thankful for our time together each evening...without kid. The nap situation has been a little more tricky. Amy transitioned him over to one nap during her Christmas break, but suffice to say it was a very confusing time for them both. I thought we were stabilized, but Amy said that he's taking a morning nap today so I guess we're not completely switched over yet. It's been a while since that happened though, so maybe today is a fluke.

Gus's favorite foods these days: blueberries, turkey pepperoni, tomatoes and anything sweet. He REALLY likes ice cream sandwiches, but we really try not to let him have any junk food. Now, if only his father wouldn't partake...

He has started "singing" more these days. When he's in the mood but doesn't know the tune or the words, he just kind of babbles in a musical way. Other than Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (and the ABC song) and Jingle Bells, he really doesn't know any tunes. He is trying to pick up the Old MacDonald Had a Farm song, but so far he's only been able to sing, "E I, E I, EEE." I'll see if I can't get him to end with "OOO" before moving on to the other parts.

As far as we go (yes...we exist beyond our son), things are pretty much the same. Amy did have surgery to repair an umbilical hernia on January 7th. Amy's mom came in to help for 10 days b/c Amy wasn't allowed to lift Gus until two days ago. As you can imagine, that restriction presented many difficulties so we really needed some help. We were so thankful to have Patti here. My mother was on standby to swoop in post-Patti, but Amy hasn't had any complications so I think we're in the clear.

Amy continues to teach class for one hour a day, four days a week. I think that has been going really well although it's always tough to go back after Christmas break, regardless of how many hours she teaches. She likes it enough that she'd like to teach again next year, assuming that we're not expecting or having trouble finding someone to watch Gus.

I have been doing a lot of work on Gus's bathroom. It's a project that has been ongoing for almost a year, but I've ramped things up lately and we're almost done. It's amazing how much progress I can make when I pay people to help with the difficult pieces. Amy is really excited about it so I'm sure she'll post pictures soon. There's even been a rumor that we'll be swapping rooms with Gus so we can take over that bathroom!

My daytime job is still the same, although it looks like I'll be transitioning into a new position. Please pray that it would get pushed through and that God will give me the skills and knowledge to perform my new duties well. I like the group I work for and it would be nice to stay rather than hitting the job market in this economy.

I think that's all I can fit into a lunch break. Hopefully we'll blog again soon...but I'm not guaranteeing anything. I'm sure we can manage a few pictures, however. I'm also still looking around for a cheap, digital video camera, so maybe some video clips are on the horizon. I know Gus's fans would appreciate that!