The Crawlin' Man

Straight into your living room...V Man goes mobile!

Reverse angle.

Mad Skills

These are pictures of Gus with Kanba, one of our two cats. Kanba has done much better adjusting to Gus than Mariko has. It's amazing what Kanba will let Gus get away with...especially when Kanba is hungry (as he was in this situation...not venturing too far from the food bowl)! The scene above is not normal, however, so it was really cool to watch Kanba accept Gus's excitement and rough play.

In addition to cat wrangling, we thought we'd let you know what Gus is into these days.

Interests: phones, remote controls, spoons, cats, dogs, food (especially peas, bananas, carrots and yogurt), buttons, ceiling fans, lights, sucking his thumb, mirrors, splashing and picture books (which he can hold on his own...sometimes).

Words he understands: Mama, Dada, Gus, Kanba, Mariko, cat, dog, eat and up.

Signs we are focusing on: Mama, Dada, cat, dog, eat, up, ball and hi/see ya.

Signs he understands: dog, eat and hi/see ya.

Signs he can, well, sign: hi/see ya (new over the past week! he waves at himself instead of waving outwardly...so cute!!!!!!!)

New accomplishments: signing hi/see ya, crawling, sitting up from a crawling position, crawling from a sitting position, pulling himself up to a standing position (FIRST TIME TODAY; his motivation: he couldn't see the dogs he was eyeing!).

It has been so fun to watch Gus grow and learn. Seeing him crawl and wave have been especially rewarding. We are blessed to have such a healthy, happy and well adjusted boy. Praise be to God for the work He has done!

"Camping"

The title of this post is in quotations b/c the word "camping" means different things to us. To Amy, it means "car camping." To me, it means "backpacking." The former involves coolers, bathrooms, swimming pools, games, communal areas, normal meals, etc. The latter leans towards minimalism, long hikes, solitary environments, etc. Seeing that we have never done much of either since we've been married (which is very sad to both of us), her way seemed best for several reasons. The first and most obvious is Gus. He's only 9 months old, so taking him camping forced us to err on the safe side initially. His young age coupled with our limited availability to get away from normal life, our rusty skills and the relative proximity of the campsite to home all added up for 18 hours of car camping.

We're so glad we went and we're hopeful that it will be a catalyst to some continued camping in the future...the form of which will be up for debate! Amy did pretty much everything to get us ready for this excursion. All I had to do was come home from work on Friday afternoon, pack a few things for me and then we were off! Great job, Frau!

Set up. We bought this very large, very heavy tent used from Unclaimed Baggage a while back and were unsure how easy it would be to set up. Thankfully, it was a breeze and all the parts were there. We couldn't be happier that $25 gave us this much tent! I'm not sure how it would perform in rain, but we'll leave that test for another trip. By the way, almost immediately after this picture was taken, Gus reached down, pulled up a large handful of dirt and ate it before we could extract ourselves from the various tent poles, rain flies, etc. that we were trying to assemble.

After we set up the tent, Amy made an attempt at the camp fire. She had some early, promising flame...but, alas, it wouldn't hold. Enter the man of the family. What is it about guys and fire?

We had hot dogs, baked beans and chips for dinner. For a nightcap, we made smores. Amy and I got to talking about the experience and both realized that we don't really care for smores. For me, it's the messy, sticky fingers you're left with. Amy would prefer the usage of dark chocolate to the traditional Hershey's milk chocolate. Sorry V Man, but that tradition may not be around by the time you're old enough to give them a try. I do like a good, roasted marshmallow, however. I used to burn the outside, slide off the burnt skin and eat it and then start the process again until there was no more marshmallow. Now that I know about cancer and excess carbon in food, however, those days are over. Then again, I used to eat raw hamburger meat when I was a kid, too. I guess we've learned a lot in the past 31 years. I still continue to eat raw cake batter and cookie dough, however. I don't plan to give up those rare treats anytime soon!

Gus slept in his pack and play on one side of the tent. He went to sleep later than usual, but once he was down he didn't wake up until about 6:15 am (which is pretty normal). Amy and I didn't fare as well. There were some rowdy Mennonites in the site next to ours. They stayed up until around 3 am talking, laughing, throwing green branches into their fire and otherwise making noise. If you'd told me when we arrived that they'd be the last group at the camp to go to bed... Who knew? They were asleep for the first two hours of our morning activities. I thought about going over to their campsite banging one of our borrowed pots with a stick to even things out a little, but Amy convinced me otherwise.

We spent the morning just relaxing from within the relative safety of the tent. We had breakfast burritos for, well, breakfast. Afterwards, Amy and I read. Gus read a little, too. He's got a book called First Words that he really enjoys. The rest of the time he just spent playing with his colored cups, my keys, Amy's phone and did some crawling, too. At one point he tipped over and hit his face on the floor of the tent. Wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that there was a rock underneath the tent floor. He caught it right above one of his eyes and had a little knot to show for it. Sorry buddy! I'll rake the area before we set up next time!

And he's off......

Gus has been crawling for about a week and a half, and he's now beginning to realize that he can use this new mode of locomotion to actually get somewhere! He has already discovered the stereo and the bookshelf, of course. He is still pretty slow, so if I'm paying attention, I can divert his attentions to something safer....for now. Scott has been doing his best to help Gus' speed. He has figured out how to get him to do "wind sprints" by moving the cell phone from one side of the den to the other. Gus is so focused that his eyes never even leave the phone!

Childhood dreams really can come true....

Yup, that's right. This is really what you think it is: an entire bag full of genuine Lucky Charms marshmallows. We stumbled on them at a Mennonite market in Virginia. One of Scott's childhood dreams has come true at long last. Now he can enjoy that sugary goodness any time he wants, without having to bother with eating the actual cereal that would normally accompany the marshmallows! When I occasionally find bowls of colored milk lying around the house these days, I just have to smile:)

Vacation Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our vacation to Virginia.

One afternoon, Scott and Gus used some of our resort bucks and logged some father-son time at the waterpark. Actually, to tell the truth, Scott spent the entire morning there too:) There are only so many things you can do when your partner is under 42" tall.

Rockin' the lazy river.

Hanging in the tot "swings."

Checking out one of the many fountains.

Another afternoon was spent getting our sports fix.

Gus seen here acting as net judge (actually, he just watched the empty tennis ball can roll back and forth across the court; God was good to provide the wind) .

Tennis, anyone? (We're looking for a smaller racket.)

Mini golf. Gus was extremely helpful while Scott lined up his putts.

Oma and Opa came to spend the last few days with us.

3 out of 4 were participating in this photo shoot.

Opa trying to inspire Gus to get moving.

Flashing their pearly whites.

We finished up the trip with a visit to my Aunt Emilie and Uncle Steve's house for a scrumptious breakfast and a tour of their amazing gardens. Then, it was back in the car for the ride home. Let's just say we survived:)

Ok. Sorry. We haven't devoted much time to the blog lately. Here are some pictures from our trip to Massanutten, VA a few weeks back.

Gus getting the lay of the land and trying to figure out what to do first.

Gus participated in his first (of many) timeshare presentations. This was our fourth and this particular resort bribed us with 100 resort dollars to use on the premises. Not the best gift we've "received," but we didn't complain.

We took Gus to one of the indoor pools. They said the water was 84 degrees, but I'm not buying it. As a result, Gus wasn't in the pool long. Although he seemed perfectly content, we took him out after his lips turned a muted shade of blue. It was kind of a let down. We were all dressed up with nowhere to go!

The next day we went up into the Shenandoah National Park. Much of Skyline Drive was built during the Great Depression and this was a monument to the Civilian Conservation Corp. Gus was paying his respects.

We took a hike down to Dark Hollow Falls. Gus made the trek down in the pack.

Down in the hollow.

On the way home, we stopped at 1 of the 5 remaining covered bridges in the area.

Gus was as bored as you are right now, so he just slept in the car.

More later. It's late.

Travelin' Man

We've just returned from a trip to VA. V-Man traveled well. More after we recover.

Back To Work

I (Amy) have been going in to work one morning a week for the last month or so to help a student who needs to finish his Environmental Science course. It has been really empowering and stimulating to be back in the workforce! I have to actually get up, get dressed and get out the door at a certain time:)

Gus has been hanging out with my friend Rachel and her two kids while I'm gone. He has been having a GREAT time and, hopefully, is learning lots of new things from his new playmates. Here are a few pics.

Gus and Anna-they are only 6 weeks apart.

Gus' new mentor, Isaiah

(It's amazing how giant a 2 year old looks when you're used to an 8 month old!)

Little Shoes

Lone Star State

This post is way, way overdue! We had a wonderful trip to Texas to see Scott's family....we just haven't had a chance to write about it yet!

Life with an 8 month old is busy...and messy. We've been getting aquainted this week with the unpredictability of projectile vomiting (thankfully only one occurence!), the sleepless nights of an ear infection and the sweet, chalky taste of the "pink stuff"--amoxicillin!

But all that aside, here are some Texas trip highlights:

First, we went to Houston to see the Noll side of the family

Grandad (Gus, Jr.)

Mimi (a real natural at this great-grandmother stuff)

Uncle Bill (seen here in his golf shop)

Aunt Wendy (one of the nicest people on earth)

Checking out some carrots for lunch

Family photo, of course (minus U. Bill)

Then we went to Tyler to see the Lewis side of the family

Nonnie Lewis (an amazing hostess and loving great-grandma)

Nonnie (or Nana, depending on who you ask)

(Aunt Dee Dee was there too, but we have no photos to prove it)

Bath time in the sink! Based on the way he's operating the faucet and sprayer, I'm thinking future pilot. Of course, he'd hopefully have a flight suit on or something.

And then we flew home:) He's a great flyer! We're 4 for 4 on good flights!