Farewell Mr. Lincoln...

Today we gave away Lincoln, the bunny. We decided that he wasn't getting the attention he needed or deserved since Amelia was born. Actually last weekend we let him out to play and then forgot about him! About 3 hours later we realized he was gone, but thankfully he'd just escaped to the next-door neighbor's yard. Maybe another time we'll get a bunny again, when the kids are old enough to help care for him. We gave him to a family that lives pretty close, so maybe we'll get to visit him occasionally. Until then, we will miss you Lincoln, we wish you Godspeed.

Practical Caley

Caley has been working on potty training. If she pees or poops in the toilet, she gets to put a stamp on her "Potty Train" sheet. There are about 30 spots for stamps on the sheet and when she finishes a sheet she gets a present. Eventually, we'll work up to filling in multiple sheets for a present until she is fully trained. Yesterday she finished her first sheet, so we went to Toys R Us and she chose a present! We were thinking she'd choose a toy or maybe a ball or car. After walking through the whole store, she decided on a Tinkerbell umbrella! We offered her other toys, but she was set on the umbrella. It was even raining when we left so she got to use it. And she beamed holding it at church today walking in the rain to Children's Ministry. Caley's so practical, just like her parents. Way to go girl!

A Project in Progress

Just like Jesus worked as a carpenter, Bill has been working on an octagonal picnic table. He started in early July as an anniversary present, and he's hoping this project will be the first of many. Along the way he's made numerous trips to Home Depot, bought a mitre saw, made the garage a little dusty, and learned a lot. Here are some pictures of the process.

Amelia Diann is here!

We are now a family of four.

Amelia Diann Gerlach arrived 2 weeks early on August 6, 2007. In the last week we've learned that God has a sense of humor and incredible timing. We had a false alarm on Thursday Aug. 2 in which we thought my water had broken, rushed to the hospital after dropping Caley off with some friends, only to be sent home 2 hours later.

They say that second labors are usually half as long as the first, but for me it was 3x as long. My water broke at 4am on Monday morning and she was born at 5:36pm. They started me on a pitocin drip after a few hours of non-progress, it was like my body needed to be reminded what to do. It was actually a blessing because the biggest fear I had of this labor was that it'd be so short there wouldn't be enough time to get the antibiotics in my system to guard the baby against Group B Strep. Bill and I took naps and watched some TV, and he ate the lunch from the hospital since I wasn't allowed to. And Caley got to visit us, which was really nice. Once my body was in active labor, it took about 3 hours for Amelia to be born. She was 6lbs, 14ozs and 19.5 inches long. We chose Amelia because it was a name we both liked (actually we considered it with Caley but it got bumped) and Diann as a combo of our mom's names Diana and Ann.

The first week is going really well, Amelia's sleeping a lot which is easing the transition for all of us. Caley's a little blindsided, but always asks to hug and kiss the baby, and has even been waking at night and yelling, "See baby!" Cute, but not at 3am...

So enjoy these pictures and more on our Shutterfly site (link to the left). Jesus is good to us!

4 weeks to go!

We are now 36 weeks pregnant and the clock is ticking. Tomorrow we are having another ultrasound and hopefully we won't be getting any huge surprises like, "It's a boy instead." When I was about 35 weeks pregnant with Caley we had an ultrasound and got a full on picture of her "girl parts" and it was very reassuring that I wouldn't have to return everything that was pink. No name yet, but we're working on it. Her bassinet is in position, her clothes are folded and put away, the infant carseat is in the car, and Caley is often staying, "Baby come out." You tell her Caley! I'm sure she'll get a little shock when she realizes the baby is staying and that she'll have to share all her stuff, but she'll get over it.

Other than baby stuff, we've been staying busy with keeping up the house and the yard. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary on July 6 by camping out in the backyard. We bought a gazebo tent and put Caley's full size mattress in it, complete with sheets and blankets. That's the extent of "roughing it" for now. Our friends the Hursts were kind enough to watch Caley for the night. Bill has also started working on an octagon picnic table that he's building. It is an anniversary present, which is convenient because the 5 year gift is wood. Whoever came up with what's supposed to be the yearly gift, I don't know. Next year I can look forward to something that's candy or iron (http://www.findgift.com/Anniversary-Table/). Maybe Bill will weld something for the yard? We also had a garage sale with some friends from college and it was fun! The pictures above are from that day.

Life is good, it's not too hot, and we're about to have one more in our family. Thank you Jesus.

Heat Wave

One way to cool off this summer...

Shoreline blogs

I'm writing about once a month on the Mars Hill: Shoreline blog, check it out!

The link is to the left.

It's so...quiet

My parents have Caley for a few days. They were originally going to take her to Astoria next week but it works out better to do it now. It's "Caley Camp" which is like "Cousin Camp" minus the cousins. When I was little my brother and cousins and I would go to Grandma Runyan's for a few days and give our parents a break, so the tradition continues.

When we got home from church we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. It was so quiet in the house, I felt almost useless. It was like Caley was just napping but I'd check her room and it'd be empty. Very surreal. It's nice to have the freedom, but I'm glad it's not like this all the time. We'd be so lonely without her! It makes me wonder how we spent our time before she was born.

Tomorrow I have no plans. It's so weird to think that. I don't even have to be home in the afternoon to let Caley have a nap. I get to see what the world looks like from 1-4pm!

"I need Butt Paste"

This is Caley's new sentence. This week she has had some mild digestive issues and has a nasty rash that is only being helped with Butt Paste. Butt Paste is a diaper cream similar to Desitin. It has a "pleasant scent" and can be used on any number of skin irritations including diaper rash. She likes to hold the tube while I'm changing her and put it on her "owies" (thankfully it comes out really slowly). Meanwhile, we're still battling the stream of poopy diapers. Seriously it's like 4 or 5 times a day in small batches. Otherwise, she seems fine so I think it's just from something she ate, not a bug going around.

Today she went in the swimming pool and had a blast! The swimsuit is from Grandma and Papa Bales. She's a little small on top to fill it out, but I think the diaper compensates. Enjoy these pictures. Happy Summer!

Cakes!

I like to bake and decorate cakes. Here's a sample of a few I've done, if I find more I'll post them too.

Caley's 2nd birthday. Bees!

For Angela's baby shower. It looks a little like Charlie Brown in a diaper...

For Jennie's baby shower. I used the wrong white frosting so it doesn't look like I wanted it to, but it was delicious! (And that's the whole point right?)

Workin It

... "Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Gen 3:17b-19

Addie's folks came down for the weekend and were very gracious by giving of their time and energy and working around the house. When I type "working around the house", I mean that literally. We spent most of the time aerating and mowing the lawn, and dethatching, raking and bagging moss. Lots of nasty moss. We filled 32 large contractor bags full of heavily compressed moss. Joy of all joys!

And who knew that a dethatcher could make a lawn look like someone just threw a grenade? Holy crack smoker. We also had a leaf blower to corall moss into piles, which suprisingly worked. Phil brought along his riding mower, and we took turns filling up the dual bags it carried (along with me clogging or stalling the thing) while Addie, Ann and Caley raked up piles and bagged. Actually, I think Caley spent more time un-piling the piles, but she was having a blast so we just let her do her thing. We worked it all Saturday afternoon and finally called it quits because of the dehydration and faintings. Sunday morning after getting back from Mars Hill we finished up the backyard, and then Phil & Ann packed up their truck to head off on their next adventure. A few things like re-seeding bare spots and weeding are on the agenda, but we got so much done it's amazing. Thanks again Phil and Ann. It's so thoughtful that of all the fun things you guys could have done on your weekend you chose hard labor at the Gerlachs. We really appreciate it.

This weekend of working the soil reminded me of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Basically what happened was they sinned and rebelled against God, and so God cursed the ground and made it hard for them, and us, to "work it". (along with other curses but I won't go into those) I think most Christians believe that the earth, including the soil, became cursed (ie. weeds, thorny bushes, etc) after Adam and Eve sinned. So the garden that God created, full of the choicest trees and plants for food and beauty, would have been free of moss, weeds, and brown recluse spiders. After the fall, only then did the garden become just like any other garden, full of weeds.

This brings up an interesting question in regards to God's command for Adam to "cultivate and keep it". (Gen 2:15). If that garden was "perfect", then what would Adam need to do in order to cultivate it? We know that God already planted the garden and it was watered by a stream, so what did God's commandment mean to Adam and what was his job? One theory that I really like is that God created weeds and thorns, etc., BEFORE Adam and eve sinned, but just kept the garden pretty much separate from the outside areas. This is different than the popular belief that after sin entered the world, only then did God "curse the ground" with weeds. I like it because it makes sense, for example, that weed seeds from outside the garden, via the air, may have made it into Eden to give Adam a little bit of "cultivating" to do, instead of him just bored out of his mind, walking around naked all day, plucking fruit off the trees like fast food. This would make it less about cursing the "ground", because the weeds were already around, but instead directed at Adam for his sin against God. This curse is obviously shown by them getting booted out of the garden and having to figure out how to plant, water, and deal with weeds on a much larger scale, like we get to today.

And lets not forget about the moss. Adam didn't have a dethatcher or aerator like we have today, so, all things considered, we had it pretty easy.

Beans Beans the Magical Fruit

Beans, beans, the magical fruit.
The more you eat, the more you toot.
The more you toot, the better you feel.
So let's eat beans for every meal!

I wish beans were magical enough to get themselves unstuck from a nostril of a toddler.

So last week during bible study, the kids were in Caley's room playing under the supervision of our lovely teenage sitter Sadie. Caley had been playing with a noisemaker I made out of an Easter egg filled with dry chickpeas/garbanzo beans. I remember thinking when she started playing with it, "I need to remember to take that away because it could open and make a mess." Well, everyone started showing up and I forgot about the egg. It opened at some point and there were chickpeas around her room, which Sadie tried to pick up and move away from the kids. Halfway through bible study Sadie called down to me and I went upstairs. Caley had stuffed a bean up her nose, and it wasn't coming out. I could see it, and with tweezers it'd come out, but I knew Caley would have a fit. She actually looked really funny, just like she had a stuffy nose, and while it was in there she really didn't seem to mind beyond being a little uncomfortable. My friend Angela and I held her down, and I tried to get it out, but she was wailing so much it made me really scared, more to see my daughter in such distress than anything else. Thankfully my friend Casey took control and I held Caley while she tweezered it out. After it was out, Caley was fine. This is yet another reason I love my women's community group: we pray for each other, watch each other's kids, and when the time comes get beans out of their bodies.

Alas, I doubt this is the last time one of my kids will shove something in a crevice, but hopefully it has taught me not to be stupid and leave nostril-sized/shaped items lying around.

Bye bye binky!

We had a good weekend just working around the house mostly. On Saturday Caley and I went to our friend Fiona's birthday party and it was really fun! She got a custom made sandbox that the kids had fun playing in. Thankfully Caley didn't really want to get dirty, I had dressed her in a pretty dress. She's such a girl. :)

On Sunday Caley helped me wash the Volvo and did a really good job. She got out of the way when I had to spray the car with the hose, and only washed in the area I was washing. She did get pretty dirty though, and wet. She's less like a girl in that way. :)

We also worked on a doll house from our friend Jennie. Jennie is letting us borrow it long term because she just had a baby boy and probably won't be using it for a while. And with our 2 girls I'm sure it'll get a lot more use. I washed it down and put in some "carpet" and took down some old wallpaper. When Caley saw it she got really excited. She likes putting things through the front door and putting her little bears and dolls in the rooms. She's a girl for sure. :)

Sunday night we decided to take away the binky. I was a little nervous because I've heard of people trying to extinguish the binky and their children cried for hours. We just continued with her normal bedtime routine, but without the binky. She started asking for it and when we left the room she cried, but only for about 15 minutes. Then she slept through the night and I didn't hear a peep from her. No more binky! Although I'm sure she'll latch onto any stray binky, especially when her little sister comes. That's just how she is and we love her for it. And if she ever wants a binky of her own, this is what she'll be getting:

Tell it like it is...

While in Value Village today I found a great book that teaches kids about toileting. It's called "Everyone Poops" and it surprisingly truthful and accurate! I'm all for telling the truth to Caley and this is one way to make the poop conversation a little easier!

Happy Easter!

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!




























We celebrated Easter this year by attending church in the morning and then by hosting Addie's family for a yummy ham dinner, complete with potatoes, veggies, crusty bread, pie, and angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Fitting 16 people around our table was no easy task, and we realized late Saturday night that we had enough chairs, but not enough places to put those chairs, nor did we have enough matching plates for all the people. We got by though with Aunt Roberta and Uncle Jan's card table, and two sets of different plates (once food is on them who really notices or cares what the plates look like?).




This weekend was fun too, we went to Bunny Bounce at the zoo with our friends Alden, Trish, and Patrick. The kids did a little Easter egg hunt and then we checked out some animals. Caley liked the snakes, elephants and monkeys (and Alden's goldfish crackers). It was a bit cold and sprinkly, but for Seattle the weather
was pretty nice.

Jesus is not dead, He is alive and active in our lives! We are thankful that Jesus did not stay in that tomb!

And the winner is......

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and found out we're having another girl! Yay for girls! I guess now people know that we'll be having at least 3 kids. But it's going to be fun having 2 blondies running around and I know Caley will love having a little sister.

For Bill's birthday we got a Bowflex. You might not recognize him because he'll probably look like this soon:























The name's Bond, Billy James Bond.