The pains of...

... teething! Isaac has now been on an antibiotic for the past 20 days and still acts like he has an ear infection. He is having a lot of pain with cutting teeth this weekend. He had a 100-102 degree temperature Friday through Saturday night. He woke up today without a temperature, so we went to church. He will be visiting the Dr. this week to check his ears, so we'll get the scoop on what's going on!

Daddy came home from England on Tuesday (4 days early). The church above was a part of the castle he visited while he was there. He got home within hours of his Grandmother passing away Tuesday night. Those she left behind will miss her, but only for a short while :) She had trusted Jesus Christ as her savior as a young woman, and she was faithful unto her death. She is sitting at the feet of Jesus, and we'll see her again someday soon.

17 Months

I can't believe my baby is 17 months old now! Isaac and I had to commemorate the 17 month mark alone since Daddy is away on a 2 week business trip.
We've been spending a lot more time outside now that the weather is warmer. Isaac loves being outside and around other kids. His 4 canine teeth have broken the surface and are making their way into his mouth. The ear infection he had as a result of teething is finally gone and the runny nose and cough are on their way out the door, too. The other thing on its way out is two naps a day! For the past 2-3 days, Isaac has been only taking one very short nap and then passing out around 8PM. Hopefully, we'll get this nap business figured out soon, because I liked it better when he went to bed at 9:30PM. That way he got to spend more time with Daddy in the evenings. O well, I guess Daddy will have to come home from work earlier to have more time to spend with his little guy :)

Vaccum

Grandma watched Isaac Friday night while Charles and I went to the sermon portion of the "All-nighter". She brought him a new toy that he just loves! Whenever I am sweeping or vaccuming, Isaac wants to play with the broom or the attachments for the vaccum. Grandma brought Isaac his very own toy vaccum! I only wish it really worked!!

Outside

Isaac loves being outside. He and Daddy got a chance to play "hide and seek" on the deck. Isaac loves hiding, being found and surprised, then running away.

Difficult Lessons

Everywhere Isaac goes, his stepstool is sure to follow. He has learned that he CAN climb up on the couch, the ottoman and the piano bench if he uses his stepstool. The only thing that is taking a little bit more time to learn is that he falls harder and further from one of these places. But, boys will be boys, and he has to learn somehow :)
Here are some pictures of Isaac climbing onto the piano bench, playing the piano, and then falling off.

Maybe one of these days Isaac will enjoy learning to play the piano more than he enjoys climbing onto and falling from the bench!

Happy Easter

Isaac has started repeating things that we say. We went to Aunt Cindi's house yesterday for Easter supper and once Isaac warmed up to everyone, I got him to say everyone's names. He said Jessi, Nicole, Cindi and Lisa. He loved the ham and broccoli that he had for supper, but he liked the cake and ice cream better! We celebrated the birthdays of 5 of our nieces and nephews.
This is a picture from when we colored eggs on Friday. Isaac thought we were coloring our hands... as soon as I poured the water into the mug, he dipped his left hand in the green dye. He really wanted to play with the colored eggs... he kept touching the drying eggs and saying purple over and over.

Today at church, he tried to say Natalie, but it came out "Lalalie" instead :) He is also saying Ella's name. He's getting to be a big boy now. It's so neat to watch his brain work. He is saying his colors, too. He gets hooked on a certain color for a few days... right now it's "puple", last week it was "lellow" and the week before that was "geen". He got some new cars in his Easter basket and some Peeps (which he sucked the sugar off of and then spit the rest out). Here he is just opening his basket and seeing the Peeps and cars.

Then we went to church today and heard 4 challenging sermons. It was really great! You can hear the sermons on our church web site at http://www.msbc.com/. It is so nice to be a member of such a great church where the gospel is preached in every message. We are very blessed to belong to a "new testament" church, and to have met such good friends there.

The grand opening...

...of IKEA was this past Wednesday, March 12th. Isaac and I have already been there 3 times!! Today was the first day I actually bought something (a shower curtain and hanging medicine cabinet for Isaac's bathroom). The store seemed busier tonight than it was opening afternoon, but I have become a pro at following the "short-cuts" and bypassing the crowds... which made it an enjoyable visit for Charles :)

Isaac likes the carts. The wheels spin in all directions and Charles was spinning the cart in circles in the warehouse section of the store. Daddy has better cart maneuverability skills than Mommy ;)