baby catechism book - initial concepts

so we're running with this idea of making a catechism board book. here are some initial mock-ups of what the pages may look like:

we may not do quite everything ourselves as far as the construction of the book goes, as there are other options, like covering up an old book, or buying a blank board book. so far the idea is to make the pages as 4"x6" images, and just print those at Sams or wherever. then glue them onto the book, cover with contact paper, and viola. we'll see if this works.

I want to use our own pictures as much as possible, but I may borrow some from the internet at large too. some of the concepts arent easy to illustrate, like "For his own glory" so we'll have to get creative, but try not to cross the line into inappropriate. if anyone has any ideas for illustrating some of these concepts, please do share. here are the first 10 questions that we're planning on using:

Q. 1. Who made you?
A. God.

Q. 2. What else did God make?
A. God made all things.

Q. 3. Why did God make you and all things?
A. For his own glory.

Q. 4. How can you glorify God?
A. By loving him and doing what he commands.

Q. 5. Why ought you to glorify God?
A. Because he made me and takes care of me.

Q. 6. Are there more gods than one?
A. There is only one God.

Q. 7. In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. In three persons.

Q. 8. What are they?
A. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Q. 9. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.

Q. 10. Where is God?
A. God is everywhere.

if anyone wants to share any ideas for this little project, feel free. Michelle also wants to do a family book, and she's planning on doing a "quiet" felt book too.

make your own board book

oh the possibilities! I've wanted to make my own board book for a while, but wasnt sure the best way, or if it would be worth it. I'm still not sure if it would be worth it, but it'd be fun to try. no telling how much it would be able to hold up to being chewed on and used as something to help scoot across the wood floor.

in his example, the guy makes a counting book. but we've got a ton of those. what we're really lacking is a board book of the kid's catechism. never too early, right? any other ideas?

check it out here (via Daddytypes).

great-grandmas

Caleb got to meet both of his living great-grandmothers during our travels this summer (he also has 2 step-great-grandmas, one of which he met earlier this year, and the other hopefully soon). we spent the most time with my dad's mom, as we were staying in her cottage in Vermont. Gram W is getting up in years (88), and getting a little more, shall we say, particular about her circumstances. so we were a little nervous about how she would handle sharing the little cottage with 4 adults and 1 infant (who took to crying in the middle of the night for most of our time there).

but most everything went really well, and Gram was super sweet with him, crawling around on the floor, playing little games and generally having a grand time. I'm sure she got tired of the baby hubbub now and then, but she'd get out her walker and go for a stroll. and Gram is famously talkative, so we'd need to go for a stroll of our own now and then. it was special for my parents to have them there together, as this was the first time 4 generations of my immediate family were gathered. I just hope I'm as energetic and encouraging as she is by the time I'm that old. it's just cool to hear her sprinkle in reminders to love eachother throughout her conversation. hopefully all our kids will get to know and love her as much as we do.

and on our way home from VT, we got to stop and see Michelle's mother's mom. it was a brief meeting, as she was on her way down to FL, but it was fun to see them interact. Caleb loved her shirt with animals on it, so they had some cute times together. Nan has had cancer for a while now, and she seems to alternate between bad reports and good reports, so we just pray that God will continue to take good care of her even through some pretty hard times.

baby names, friends

dont forget about the baby name contest. winners receive fabulous prizes! and speaking of, for your inspriation and entertainment, I present to you the coolest applet on the web: the NameVoyager. it's quite addictive, and if you have a living room full of friends with you, you might just be sitting there entering names in for hours on end. quite the modern parlor game.

anyway, it seems to be the time of year when friends come and go. I guess being still closely associated with academic types makes August a transition month. some old college friends are coming back into town. Joel and Jenny and the girls are returning very soon, and I saw Sarah D back from Slovakia the other day too.

but the hardest part will be losing our best friend Sarah, who is going to grad school in CT for a few years. she's very close with Michelle, and I've known her for 10 years now, which is somewhat amazing to me. alls I got to say is that she better come back, and she better visit often. we will miss her greatly.

new game, no nap, I'm weird

Caleb made up a new game for himself this weekend. it's simple, fun and tons of laughs. I could explain it, but the video is much more fun.

last week was something of a change for all of us, as Caleb dropped his morning nap all of a sudden. we figured it was coming soon, but we thought it would be gradual. but no, he just decided on monday that he didnt want to nap in the morning. this drove mama a little crazy at first, since she likes to nap in the mornings too, but we're adjusting. she takes him out of the house much more often now, and we especially like getting out to our friends pool.

and finally, I am officially weird, scoring an 80% on this trusty weirdness quiz. awesome.

health report, vaykay pics

my minor surgery stuff went well. thanks to all who offered well-wishes and prayers. I've yet to eat solid foods, so I havent tested my newly-enlarged esophogus, so tomorrow we'll see how successful it truly was. apparently I have something with my stomach that's not quite right, so I get acid reflux just at the bottom of my throat, which causes swelling and whatnot, thus making it difficult to swallow. so the dr wants me on meds to keep the acid down. I'm not keen on popping pills, so we'll see if it helps. I may just continue to live with it? but hopefully the enlargement procedure has done the trick for a while.

---

I've posted batches of pics of our summer adventures in Delaware and Vermont. hopefully soon I'll tell a few stories about our time in VT, but it pretty much boils down to relaxing family times by, in and on the lake.

no more st. elmo bus?

according to the chattanoogan, the powers-that-be are considering discontinuing bus service to our neighborhood. if you'll notice, cutting us off will be the biggest cost-saver on their list.

in some ways, it's understandable, since the few times that I've taken the bus, there were only 1 or 2 other passengers. I've never seen a bus near us at anywhere near capacity. but if my junker gives up the ghost, there goes a viable option to get to work. fortunately I can bum a ride from various folks (as long as I'm willing to put up with their timetables).

but what about the folks who use the bus as their only option to get to work?

and how dang ugly could their site possibly get?. rumor has it there's a really nice new site in the works (give ya 3 guesses where it might be found), but you know how bureaucracies go.

but now for some good news for the hood: apparently bi-lo will be buying-lo our winn-dixie! hooray!

esophageal dilation

I am eating my usual lunch (lunchmeat and cheese on homemade whole wheat, topped with garden veggies) wondering if this might be the last time I have to try to force the food down with lots of water. could this be the last time I have to worry about the food getting stuck about halfway down?

I've had this problem for at least 10 years, but I've learned to live with it. it's not usually a big deal, but now and then something will get stuck. people tend to freak out, because they think I'm choking, but it's well past the airway intersection. all it does is make me uncomfortable and prevent me from eating or drinking anything else until I can force it down or bring it back up. on average, I think it causes such an issue maybe once a month, but I've always got to be careful.

so tomorrow I'm going in for an esophageal dilation. hopefully it'll do the trick, and I will no longer fear apples, steak, chicken or bread.

basket case

it's not as cute as getting stuck under the furnature, but it's still pretty funny. I guess he's doing his Moses impression?

I'll take the little story from the email mama sent to the grandparents and such (since she's too busy to blog these days): "I had a friend over and she and I were talking while he played near the book shelf at the end of the sofa. We have a basket of games and dog toys down there that Caleb loves to empty. Well I happened to look and see he was standing in the empty basket and by the time I grabbed the camera he had sat down completely. Gotta love it!"

other recent Caleb stuff:
he's craftier than I had realized. he bumped his head the other day, very lightly, and certainly nothing to cry about. but he looked up to see if we reacted, and catching mama's eye, he thought about it for a second, and then poked out his pouty lip and started to fuss. and so the attempted emotional manipulation begins.

he goes through phases of having a favorite babble word. right now it's variations on "shut," "zit," and yes, quite often: "shit." mama blames me. but I contend if it's pouring rain, and you're going 60+ MPH down the highway, and it's nearly impossible to see, and a truck is trying to merge into you, there's no better word to express your feelings at that moment. so Caleb's trying it out for himself, which is either amusing or alarming, depending on the context.

he loves dogs. he really loves our dog, but thus far his affection is unrequited. but when he sees a dog in one of his books, he'll often point to it and say "oof, oof." or I'll open a page and ask "where's the doggy" and he'll usually get it right. he long ago learned to mimic Katie's yap, but now he'll associate that noise with any dog (or fox, as the case may be). it's so cool to see him learning and interacting.

he's catching on to the baby sign stuff too. he'll do the all done sign pretty well, although only when we prompt him so far. I was trying to teach him "please" the other day, when I had a piece of fresh-baked bread (which he loves). I'd show him a bit, and ask him to say "please" (showing the motion at the same time of course) before I gave it to him. before too long he started doing the motion on me (which was super cute) but eventually he caught on. I'm sure we've got a long way to go before these stick, but it's cool to see progress.

he doesnt yet seem too interested in standing or walking, being very content to crawl very fast around the house. we want him on his feet before too long, so mama wont have to carry 2 babies.

we told him he was going to have a little sister. he took the news rather well.

the boardwalk

one of the major differences about "the beach" (which is ususally found in FL) and "the shore" (in places like NJ, DE, and MD) is the boardwalk. there simply werent boardwalks in FL where I grew up, but they seem to be common in the north.

the beach we went to in DE has a small boardwalk. no games or rides, just food and candy and hermit crabs and such. so one night we packed everyone up and headed to Ocean City, MD, where the boardwalk is rather large and indeed exciting. it's quite the carnival on the sand, with lots of rides, lots of games, lots of t-shirt shops, and lots and lots (and lots) of people.

so we did the ferris wheel and carosel and whatnot, and whack-a-mole is always a must. it sure seems like we did a whole lot more than that, based on how tired I was, but I think I get easily overwhelmed at crowds and such hubbub. Caleb did extremely well for being out so long past his bedtime. he would just suck his thumb, eat his snacks, and look at all the lights as they went by. I daresay he did better than I did, as I started to fade quicky near the end. I hope I wasnt grouchy, but I know I was at least withdrawn for a while. maybe it's my love for the ocean and all its beauty, which was being completely ignored by 99% of the people who are only 100 yards away. I could just sit and watch all night. or maybe it's because I'm a jerk sometimes.

it was still a good time with the whole fam. later in the week Michelle and I went to yet another boardwalk, which is somewhere in the middle of quiet and chaos. still fun stuff to do, but not complete madness. and best of all, it had the horsey game, which we could unfortunately never manage to win.

dear little girl

I love you so much. I've seen you on the screen twice now, and the second time the nice lady was able to assure us that, yes, you're a little girl! ever since that little revelation, I havent been able to think straight. of course if the lady is wrong and you happen to be a boy, I will love you just the same: with my whole heart, no matter what. there simply isnt anything you can do to keep me from loving you. sorry if that may sound silly to you whenever you might be reading this, but know that it's quite true.

anyway, the news of your girlness is still sinking in. it's a lot like when we found out we were pregnant with you (and your mama said it was even better). suddenly you seem a lot more real, and we've started to call you by the name we've picked. I kiss you goodbye when I go to work and love to say hello as often as I can.

dont go thinking this is a start of a trend, but the first thing I did after we found out you were a girl was buy you a cute outfit. I really couldnt resist. thankfully your aunt said we can borrow your cousin's baby clothes, so between that and Caleb's stuff and your grandparents (who are sure to send mountains of cuteness), that may be the last outfit I buy for you for a long time. we shall see.

I really hope you enjoy growing up with your big brother. I guess neither of you will be able to remember life without eachother, and I hope you love eachother for your whole lives. I love my sister, but we're 4 years and a lot of personality differences apart, so we're not all that close. so I hope yall will get along reasonably well, and care for eachother as you grow. I'm sure there will be conflicts and hard times, but remember to be humble, to forgive, and above all to love.

suddenly I'm starting to think of all the scary stuff that comes with raising a girl. first off, I hope for everyone's sake that the trend in clothes swings back to loose-fitting stuff. but if it's still skin-tight, low-cut, almost-nothing, and you want to look like that, we're gonna have some problems. I'm not afraid to tell you what goes through a guy's mind, but perhaps your mama should explain that kinda thing. but I hope you'll grow up understanding that you are loved, that you are beautiful (and I know, I've seen you already!) and looking like the latest trends is far less important than being your beautiful self. sorry if I'm getting preachy here, but a daddy's gotta look after his little girl.

when it comes down to it, I know that all I can really do is entrust your life and your heart to Jesus and live faithfully as a family. we're already praying that you'll know and love Him as soon as you can. you're His covenant child, and He's made special promises to you and to us, and I hope will all my heart that you'll take up those promises. I'll try to live in such a way that will help you to know Him, but I want you to know that sometimes I will fail, and I hope you forgive me when I do.

we're so glad you're a part of our growing family. we may not have planned your arrival so soon, but we recently remembered that God had you and your life planned since before the begining of the world. you were always meant to be a part of us, and you're coming exactly on time. I cant wait to hold you in my arms.

love,
daddy

2 more

for quite a while here at work, I've been the guy who does most of the work on our standard websites. so it's amazing to me that we could launch a site without me even touching it a bit. ahh, the beauty of having 2 summer interns who have caught on quickly and really know their stuff. I suppose I shouldnt get used to it, but it's been nice having not one but two guys eager to do pretty much anything I ask them to. so a shout-out to JD in particular right now, who recently launched a small site for a chattanooga law firm. (matt's site should launch soon, and it's a doozie, complete with 21st century CSS). and we've finally launched an extensive site for chattanooga's air pollution control bureau. this was a family affair, as michelle worked to move the content over from their old site and such. both of these clients had sub-par sites before (to say it kindly), so it's always nice to clean up the web a little.

guess the name II

it's a girl!!!

we're having a girl! we just found out, so I'm still trying to process all of what that means. we're so excited, and we love the name we have picked out. she was still pretty shy, so the lady had to keep trying from different angles, and she finally got the shot she was looking for to confirm that yes indeed, the new baby is a girl! woohoo!!!

we always said we wouldnt want frilly lacy stuff for our girl(s), and I know the grandparents are going to have a hard time resisting. but suddenly I find myself drawn to it. good thing there's Old Navy: pink, cute, but not over-the-top. I just couldnt resist:

outnumber them

one lesson we learned at the shore (and not "beach" as Jeannette correctly pointed out) was that parent-types should outnumber kid-types at all times. usually this wasnt a problem, with Gramma and Grampa around, but they had a party to attend in the next state for a day. Gramma tried to warn us, but we decided that we'd rather have chaos in a nicer setting than the living room.

we headed to the sand, surf and sun with 4 adults (the 3 sisters and me) and 4 kids: 3 infants and 1 toddler (who picked that day to be terrified of the water). it was indeed chaotic. first, we forgot to aquire quarters to feed the ever-hungry parking meters, and then I forgot my camera in the car. so Liz went for quarters and I went for the camera, leaving only 2 moms and 4 needy kids. the twins were hungry, Casey was acting like a 3 year old (which is only natural, since she is 3) and Caleb was clingy, so things broke down rather quickly. soon one of the twins had a face-full of sand, kids were screaming, and it didnt take long for the folks around us to find a different patch of sand to claim.

things got a little better when Liz and I returned to even the odds. so we brought the boys down to the water, leaving Casey to throw sand whereever she pleased. Caleb and Julian didnt want much to do with the chilly ocean, but Chase, the bold one, had a grand time.

it wasnt too long til we packed up all the junk (and there was a LOT of it), retreated back to the house, and waited til the grandparents showed up to improve our odds.

monster cukes

I havent tended the garden as closely this year, but we're still doing ok so far. not great, but not too bad. as can be seen, we have our first tomatos, as well as some monster cukes. I left vague instructions with the neighbors before we left...something about turning on the sprinkler if needed, and harvesting what they wanted. so they enjoyed some tomatos, but didnt care for the cukes, so they just got bigger and bigger. normally they get all woody when they get that big, but once I peeled off the overly-bitter skins, it tasted great. the hot peppers are doing well, though we havent tried them yet. the tomato plants arent looking so good, so I'm wondering if we've got too much rain or if there's some other cause of all the yellowing. now is the time of year that I start to lose interest, as it's stinkin hot and lots of bugs out there. being 2+ weeks behind on tending to things doesnt help either. so we'll see how things turn out. meanwhile it is quite nice to enjoy a sandwhich with my own tomatos on it. the squash look terrible thanks to the vine borers, most likely, as tom has pointed out. oh and our blueberries are doing well. we only have 2 small bushes, so we just get a little snack when there are some ripe ones. this year we remembered to put netting over them so the birds cant help themselves.

early b-day party, books

one of the things we did as a family in DE was have an early birthday party. figuring the dates were close enough (July 31 for the twins and Aug 11 for Caleb) and this being the only time we were all together, we had a little celebration complete with their first cake. Caleb was definitely interested, but it was late evening for him, so he didnt last long. then a well-meaning aunt tried to get him to try some more icing, not realizing he doesnt like to be forced to do anything, especially when it comes to eating. so that was the end of that, but it was indeed fun while it lasted. his cousins definitely showed him how it was done, but I'll let their dad show them off if he'd like. maybe next month when we have his regularly-scheduled (and relatively low-key) b-day party, he'll know better how to attack the cake.

oh and if anyone is so inclined toward gift-giving, NO MORE TOYS PLEASE (THIS MEANS YOU GRANDMA). the kid has enough for a long, long time. but we're of the mindset that it's hard to have too many books, so I've set up a little wish-list on amazon for Caleb. we especially like the "Bright and Early Board Books" which are small versions of Dr. Seuss and whatnot. perfect size for his little hands, and slips easily in the diaper bag, etc. I got him The Eye Book a while ago, and it's his clear favorite these days. we of course have it memorized by now, and it's super-cute to see him toss aside his other books and go after that one. he's also WAY into the "Touch and Feel" books. and Sandra Boynton is great. and Eric Carle and Margaret Wise Brown. and you cant go wrong with Spot. I could go on and on. I guess I already have.

at the beach

Caleb's first view of the ocean was here at Bethany Beach, DE. since I grew up near the ocean, loving nearly everything in it and about it, I hope that our kids will come to at least appreciate it. living in a land-locked state doesnt help that much, but I guarantee we'll have a membership to the big fishtank soon enough.

Caleb loved to watch the waves come in, and he was a little interested in the sand, but he didnt much care for the cold, cold water. and neither did I, since in my experience, one never goes in the water unless the temp is near 80. I remember marveling at the tourists in south FL who would brave the chilly waters of January. mama was brave enough to swim a little, but Caleb wasnt interested, to say the least. so we saved our family spashing time for the lake in VT, which we'll get to in a little while.

so here we are enjoying the quiet boardwalk at Bethany for the first time. we made it to the beach a bunch of times during the week, and most of those were quite adventurous, having 3 babies and 1 toddler to look after. more details later.

depressed dog

now that we've returned from vacation, our dog is depressed. she wasnt able to go with us, so she stayed at the house of her favorite person: Marylu. she's a dog-lover's dog-lover like no other, and she's a big fan of our little fluff-ball, so I'm sure she took very good care of her while we were gone. many thanks out to her.

but now the dog clearly misses her. she laid around all depressed yesterday, only perking up when we approached the front door, clearly hoping that we'd take her back. she was happy to see us initially, but that didnt last long, and we wish she'd enjoy Caleb more. she only tolerates him for the food he drops her way. wait til she finds out she's dropping further down the ladder come November.

baby roadtrip results

after 2700 miles within the past 2 weeks, I now feel qualified to offer a little baby roadtrip advice, but of course every kid is different. here's what we learned about traveling with Caleb.

the first 2 legs of the journey were quite bad. we started early but not super-early, and hoped not to resort to the Baby Einstein videos for a while, and we wanted to hold off on the benadryl until necessary. Caleb started fussing and crying before the first hour, so on came the video. many, many thanks to the Cooleys and Kennedys for supplying the DVD player and discs. simply amazing. we must have played those 6 videos at least 6 times each. of course I've got little tunes in my head even now, but it's a small price to pay.

but after many hours, Caleb started freaking out. we took long breaks, spreading out the blanket and having a good time of it in some shady spot, and the weather was beautiful. but still he didnt do well, mostly because he would only sleep for about 1/2 hour at a time, and less than 2 hours total for the whole day, which makes for misery for all. a potentially 13+ hour journey took 17. that was the first leg (TN to DE).

the second was a week later (DE to VT), which started out OK, but a little late due to family times. it would have probably been a good trip if it wasnt for the huge delays in the NY thruway, as well as the downpours that followed. the friday of the 4th of July weekend is a bad time to travel those roads. it took us 13 hours to travel what would otherwise take 8.

on the way home, we were traveling from VT to PA and then to TN the next day. we knew we had to try something else. so we gave him benadryl before we left, and took off before sunrise (which in New England is REALLY early). this proved to do the trick, as he got a really good nap first thing, and then another decent one later. the weather was bad, but the roads were good, so that helps. a 6 hour trip took 8. not bad at all.

the final leg was the next day, from PA to TN. it usually takes 12 hours. we ended up leaving early again, giving him the drugs early again (for a 2 hour nap), and then once more in the middle of the day (for a 3 hour nap). the roads were good and the weather was beautiful. we made it home in 14 hours, in time to unpack a little and cool down the house before bed. beer is seldom a more welcome sight after such journeys.

and so we thank God for answering our prayers, and we also sing the praises of benadryl and baby einstein videos. who knows when our next trip will be, but we'll now no longer fear the road. details of actual adventures between the roadtrips coming soonish.

back

we're back from our travels and adventures to DE, VT and PA. 2+ weeks of family and fun and non-compy relaxation. lots of pics and stories to come. now we're trying to transition back to "normal" life. it was so good to have such a good vay-kay, but we're certainly happy to be home. thanks to all for your prayers and well-wishes.