Hello Everyone,

February has started out to be much better than January.  I am feeling 100% again and we haven’t been sick so far this month.  I think our first week of February made up for the lack of busyness we had in January.

But before we get to that I forgot something in January.  Thanks to Kris Iwasaki’s birthday party, Jeremiah now understands the pinata!  He had so much fun swinging at it at the party.  He was upset no candy came out when he hit it, but all was ok as soon as it broke.  He quickly understood how to get as much candy as he could.  He would scoop up huge handfuls and run it back to his bag and hurry to get more.  At half a brown paper bag we cut him off and made him give it to Isaac and Reece, who had stopped to eat their candy.  Of course now he wants to eat all of his.

We spent the rest of January getting caught up with the normal things.  Then this week was packed full!  I still had Christmas money left so we went shopping a couple days this week.  On Monday we also visited Debby Proctor in the hospital.  If you don’t know the story, please pray for her.  She has had a rough month and a half.  They had to do a tracheotomy mid-January after being sedated for almost a month and she is now in the long road to recover and therapy to move limbs again.  Pray she can start drinking liquids soon, she so wants water, but it would still seep into her lungs.  Sarah and I took turns watching the kiddos while the other visited.  Jeremiah had a lot of fun playing with Joshua.  He can’t wait until Joshua can walk.

We also took a couple meals to a lady from church who had a baby.  She lives north of here about 30 miles.  So we were at the North and South end of the county within 24 hours.  Jeremiah did really well being in the car so long.  Then Thursday I judged the New Venture Science Fair and Jeremiah went with me.  He had so much fun watching the kids, especially the ones that did the experiments for him.  He got to go to the kindergarten classroom to play during their lunch and a mom I knew was helping at the Science Fair and she took him out to the playground for a while.  He though he was king of the school.  He was SOOOOO well behaved.  I was so proud of him.  He sat on a chair at the back of the room and clapped really hard as the awards were handed out.  I think he was waiting for them to say his name.  I got a thank you card, so he took that and was satisfied.  We were there way past his nap, but he did stay awake to make it home.

Then yesterday I had a dentist appointment and Jeremiah went with me.  He yakked the whole time to the lady who was cleaning my teeth.  He was much harder to keep quiet yesterday.  I think Thursday took all the control out of him and he could not keep quiet at the dentist.  He met Dr. Ben and we set up his first appointment for the 15th of this month.  He is really excited because the hygienist is saving a Lightning McQueen sticker for him and he gets to pick out of the treasure chest again.   We will see how it goes once they are looking in his mouth.  He is super excited though.  (By the way I had nothing that needed done for the first time since I have been going to the dentist out here!  I was even more excited about that!)

This morning he and Daddy went to Home Depot and built a car display case.  He has it full of cars already.  He also has been playing with Daddy’s Star Wars Legos. He has really been interested in building things this month – legos, lincoln logs at New Venture and the latest obsession, Handy Manny kits.  He got a boat kit in Indiana with birthday money.  It has a screwdriver and you can take it apart and put it together over and over.  Then he got an airplane with a nail gun.  Now he is sure he is getting the the tool bench for his Birthday.  He thinks there needs to be a holiday before that he can get a “big toy” at, so he doesn’t have to wait until his birthday.  It has been hard to convince him that Valentine’s and Easter are not holidays where you get big gifts.  Wait til he finds out my birthday is in May, I bet he tries to convince me I need a Handy Manny tool bench for my birthday.

He has still been going a lot of mazes.  Andy got him a new book and he loves it.  He can figure out on his own if you start at the top or bottom.  But he still likes to go through the walls to get to the end faster.  Such a boy.  Andy also got him a couple more books for when he is older, but of course he doesn’t want to wait to do those.

He still weighs right around 40 lbs (40.1 today) which is the 96th percentile.  It actually comes up with the exact one on the website I use to check it.  It used to just say “over 97th percentile”.  He is 39 3/4 in. tall, the 86th percentile.  So he is still tall and stocky.  When we measure him we always have to measure one of his animals too.  “Little Bear” is 7 inches this time. 

Well, I need to go get stuff ready for the Super Bowl Party tomorrow.  Last week Jeremiah said he was cheering for the Colts, but today he says the Saints.  He usually chooses the opposite of whoever Eddie is cheering for.  Probably tomorrow he will choose based on the jersey color.

Hope all is well with all of you.  We are rainy and cool, so don’t think about leaving all the snow to come to “sunny California” we are not very sunny right now.

Nichole

P.S.  Here is a picture of Jeremiah pre-haircut and his expression after trying a key lime (I am pretty sure it was not ripe though).  As well as his monthly, post-haircut pic.

Hello Everyone,

Yes, we are still here. I know I am late but I actually have a valid excuse this time. I was sick for about a week and a half. Absolutely no fun. Praise God Andy and Jeremiah didn’t get it. Let’s just say I lost 9 lbs in the whole ordeal, but not in a way I ever want to lose weight again! But I am better now and can actually eat normal meals now and absolutely everything sounds wonderful. I am however determined not to gain the 9 lbs back!! So that has been my last 2 weeks, sick and then trying to recover.

What happened before that? It all seems like a long time ago. I guess I left off with Christmas. The weekend after Jeremiah’s birthday we celebrated our “California Christmas”. We made our Amish Friendship Bread for people out here. I think we made 37 loaves and 16 mini ones. But boy was it yummy. We tried to go to the Christmas Boat Parade again this year, but with the wind and rain we decided against it. Sunday was “Christmas Morning”. Jeremiah was thrilled with 2 weekends of presents. He got a scooter, which he was VERY excited about. He is getting the hang of it. He actually glided a little bit on it today. He loved giving out Christmas presents to his friends. The next couple days we delivered bread and finished things up before we left for Indiana.

We had a great time in Indiana. We got in only 10 minutes late, the best flight we had had to Indiana for a LONG time. Jeremiah did pretty well, especially with little sleep. But he was ready to be out of a car seat. We got snow on Saturday morning and Jeremiah just tromped around in it singing the “Fireman Song” (from LegoLand). That song is going to haunt us for the rest of our lives. He liked throwing snowballs, making a snowman and he even made a snow angel (which he wouldn’t even try last year). After a quick play in the snow we started off to Ohio to see the Merrill and Shultz side. That was a long trip. We had to stop several times and of course Jeremiah fell asleep 5 miles from the place we were staying. He slept a little longer in the car as Andy unloaded, but there is something about cold, snowy, winter air that just won’t let you sleep.

We had a great weekend in Ohio. Jeremiah loved playing with Cousin Grace (4 months younger) and thought William was a lot of fun (He was only 9 months). Wait until all 3 of them are running around!! There is a great video on the blog of Grace and him talking in the bedroom. They are hilarious. He loved jumping off the couch onto Grandpa and riding on all the Aunts. We had 2 Christmases there. The extended family and Andy’s immediate family. Yes, that would be the 3rd weekend in a row with gifts. Jeremiah was loving it and there was no turning back. We got to spend time with Great Grandpa and Grandma Shultz, who are now know as “the ones who made the jelly”. (He loves that currant jelly!) Then it was back in the car. I think he got a little more of a nap that day (little being the key word).

Then we were off to Muncie. They had more snow there, so Jeremiah got to play in the “fort” (the treeline behind the house), run and crawl through the neighbor’s field, build a snowman and his favorite, eat icicles. He thought those were the best things in the world. He sat down quite often and played the piano, a favorite at Grandma Merrill’s aka “the one with the kitty cats on the porch”. Evidently Jeremiah prefers kittens to cats, because he was not as excited about the adults. We also got to see Uncle Nich and his girlfriend Mel one night (more to come on that one).

So after a couple of days we headed back up to Grandma and Grandpa Caughell’s aka “Grandma & Grandpa Murphy Dog”. We had Christmas morning there and then Great Grandma Caughells aka “the one with the mower” that evening. Then on Sunday we had Christmas with Great Grandma Maxine’s aka “the one with Lily Cat” side. So here we were with our 4th weekend of presents. (Do you see the monster that is forming?) However by Christmas morning he figured out what a letter “J” looked like, so he could pick out his own presents. Which I think he was even more excited about. We had a white Christmas morning, but it all melted by the evening. Jeremiah loved running all over the house. He became a self-proclaimed expert on when Murphy need a piece of ice, which was anytime anyone got a drink. He had a great time “helping”. His favorite activity was launching himself from our bed onto his bed and back again. There is a video of this as well. Oh and there were the Superman poses off of the foot of Grandpa’s recliner. He definitely found things to keep him busy.

We were able to go down to Muncie one more time. Abby and John came also and brought the “mice”. Jeremiah is forever brainwashed, thanks to Aunt Anna, to think that hamsters are mice. One bit Abby and she dropped it and Jeremiah still asks me “why the mice fall?” We took Grandma & Grandpa out for there anniversary. As we were heading back home, we realized that Jeremiah had figured out to how to get out of his car seat. Two minutes down the road he pulled the “I have to go to the bathroom”. He didn’t he just didn’t want to be in his seat anymore. That child is too smart for his own good or we were in vehicles way too much!

Then we were back up to “Murphy’s” before we left for California. We were able to go sledding, not very well, because there was not a lot of snow, but at least he got to try. We also go to walk on the frozen lake at Grandma Maxine’s, which was baffling to Jeremiah. So we took in as much winter as we could. And I must say we were just as excited to get back to upper 70 degree weather when we got back to California. We left really early in the morning on New Year’s Eve (and that was Indiana time), so we were back in California by 11:00 am. My bag was not, but we were. So we did not ring in the New Year. We forgot to celebrate at 9:00 our time (Midnight Eastern) and there was no way we were making it. However Jeremiah transitioned back to California time the best he ever has. Not sure if that makes it worth it or not.

Since we have been back … Jeremiah’s imagination is off the charts. He is constantly making up stories or songs or tells me about the cartoon character who have visited him and of all things, left him presents. He is going through withdraw right now, he thinks every store we go into he needs to leave with a toy, even ones that don’t sell toys. He seems taller, but with me being sick, I haven’t measured him recently. He loved getting together with his friends at the park last week. He was so excited, but acted shy. It had been a while since we had seen everyone.

He is so observant. I cannot get over how much he takes in. While I was sick he got to watch some TV. He was interacting with Super Why and Word World. It was neat to see how much he picked up. He also got an activity book for Christmas and shocked Andy and I when he drew the lines to the objects that matched. He is very interested in letters and numbers and has started to learn to make J’s. He wants to make more letter. So I guess I will have to find some things for him to trace. He got stencils for Christmas and loves doing those. He does a great job filling in every space. Once again I pray now for his future teachers, they are going to have to have other things ready for him, because he will fly through those worksheets!

In non Jeremiah news … Uncle Nich called in the middle of me being sick to tell me he was engaged! Jeremiah is still trying to figure out what that means and why he would do it. Wedding date TBA.

And the most recent … It looks like we have made it through the 2nd of the rain storms coming through. # 3 (the biggest one forecasted) is on the way tomorrow. We got about 1.25 inches yesterday. Not as much yet today. Then I think there is one more to go through before Friday. Then we are supposed to have showers over the weekend. At the start of the week they were saying we could get 3 months worth of rain in one week (4-8 inches). That is a lot when we are supposed to get 11ish inches in the WHOLE year. Our street floods when we get 1/2 an inch too fast. Our house is up higher than the street, it just makes it tricky to get through. It is worse if you have to park on the street though. Luckily we don’t.

So that is our life this last month and a half. Let us know how your new year is shaping up. Here is a picture of our monkey boy!

Nichole