Happy Hallowe’en!

Last night, of course, was David’s first Hallowe’en. Mawmaw found him this cute little Spider-Man costume at Goodwill and fell in love with it, while Leah’s Little Red Riding Hood is a hand-me down from her cousin Norah. Both of them looked great, though.

We started off by taking them up and down the block, visiting maybe six or seven houses in one direction and two or three in the other. Of course, since many of the other parents were doing the same thing, quite a few houses were empty. (One kid even told us to come back later, that his parents weren’t giving out candy yet!) The reason for this brevity was simple, though: our Church had a tri-ward “trunk-or-treat” for the kids and scheduled it right on Hallowe’en night (unlike most ward we’ve been in, which schedule it on, say, the Friday before Hallowe’en so that kids can still trick-or-treat on Hallowe’en itself—a practice we greatly prefer, since it gives us a chance to meet more of our neighbors).

Great-Mawmaw and Great-Pawpaw

Mommy’s Mawmaw doesn’t get to leave home, very much. For the last forty–some-odd years, she’s been taking care of her home and Mommy’s mentally disabled uncle, Anthony. Because he can’t really go anywhere, she doesn’t get to leave the property more than about once or twice a year. Sure, she’s got 26 descendants and their spouses in Indiana, but Anthony’s needs understandably trump all, so it’s a rare event for her and the kids’ Great-Pawpaw to come for a visit. To give you an idea, the last time they came, Mommy and Daddy had no kids and were living in a two-bedroom basement apartment, so that’s why it’s such a big deal that they came for a visit, this past weekend. (Until then, they’d never even met six of their great-grandkids, and they still haven’t met the kids’ uncle Ashante, who had a conflict and was out of town for the weekend.)

Since Leah and David’s house is the biggest in the area, it served as home base for the festivities. This, of course, helped Mommy and Daddy to get their butts in gear and get things a lot more in shape. We had a wonderful family dinner on Saturday night, then everybody came back for breakfast, Sunday morning. Great-Mawmaw and Great-Pawpaw had to leave, after breakfast—Mommy’s Great Aunt Fannie was watching Anthony, and they’re not comfortable leaving him for much longer than 24 hours—but the chance to have them visit was an opportunity that was too good to miss. ☺

(more pics)

Shape Recognition

This entry is a really big deal, to Daddy. You may remember, a year or so ago, that Leah’s favorite computer game was a little piece of freeware called “Baby Banger”: the child hits any key and it pops up a shape and, optionally, announces the shape’s name and color. Well, now that we’re pretty much settled into the new house (that big box in front of her notwithstanding), Dory’s been hooked back up and Leah’s having a blast with her favorite game, again… only this time, it’s different.

First of all, Leah’s gotten really good at pressing only one key at a time, an action which keeps the computer from saying, as I previously blogged, “ ‘blu-gree-or-or-pur-yellow squa–-cy-re-magen-brown rectangle,’ as each shape interrupts the previous.”

Secondly, when Dory announces the color and shape, Leah almost always repeats it in that beautiful little voice of hers.

Finally, though—and this is most important part—she remembers! I can’t tell you how many times Daddy’s been working at the computer when Leah turns around in her seat, pointing frantically at the screen, saying, “Daddy! Daddy! Tringle, Daddy! Tringle!” (So she doesn’t quite pronounce it right. She knows what it is!)

It’s amazing how incredibly proud of her I am. ☺

(more pics)

First Tooth!

Well, it looks like David managed to one-up Leah on something: at only six months, four weeks, his first tooth has poked through! (Leah, for the record, took one day shy of eight months to accomplish the same feat.) I’m guessing it’ll be a little while before his little chomper will be visible in photos, but rest assured, the fitful nights have finally produced some fruit. Congratulations, Double-D!

Potty Girl

For several weeks now, Leah has been informing us that she needs to go to the potty. Of course, when we’d finally get to the potty, she wouldn’t do anything but sit there, but at least she was trying.

Well, today was the big day. Right after lunch, Leah informed Daddy that she needed to pee. We went into the bathroom, removed her surprisingly still-clean diaper, and allowed her to sit down. Within a few minutes, she had not only peed but even pooped in the potty, just like the big girl she is! She was soooo proud of herself, and needless to say, we are, too!

(Now we just need to get some AAA batteries so the potty can play a recorded message when she “flushes” it!)

– more pics –

A Farewell to Ears

For those of you that don’t know, there’s a cornfield in the Drakelings’ backyard. (Okay, sure, technically it borders our backyard, but you get the point.) Anyway, it would seem that harvest time has come early this year, cuz the corn is no longer standing: after a false start on Saturday (they stopped due to rain), two farm vehicles came back, yesterday, and took out the entire many-acre plot in a little over an hour. This, of course, fascinated the kids—and frankly, it fascinated Daddy, too!

Vacation Chronicles

Well, we’re finally back from our vacation to New Jersey. It’s the first time Mommy and Daddy have had a real vacation since before Leah was born, and is therefore (obviously) the first real vacation the kids have ever had! All things considered, they reacted wonderfully to the whole thing.

We started off at about 7:00 p.m. on Friday, 24 August, determined to drive through the night as completely as possible. While we actually did stop to rest, a few times, Mommy and Daddy were able to trade off well enough that we made the almost thirteen-hour trip in a mere eighteen hours—not bad, considering some of the stops were necessary ones (food, gas, etc.).

The first half of our vacation was a trip to the beach—Ocean Beach, Unit III, to be exact. Daddy’s grandparents bought a bungalow there, back in the ’80s, and when the kids’ Great-Grandpa passed away in 1997, he left it to his four children, three of whom still co-own it and rent it out, most of the summer. While most of what happened there is recorded in videos (coming soon!), there are a few still photos documenting our trip. (One fun aside: David somehow came down with an ear infection and pink eye while we were there, so for the rest of our vacation, we were giving him meds, four times a day. Not the most fun thing to have to do.)

The second half was a bit more homey, as we spent the next few days at Grandma and Pop’s house. Amidst the constant parade of friends and family wanting to see (and bring presents for!) Leah and David, we even got some time to take the kids in the pool and the hot tub (the latter turned down to bathwater temperature, natch) and for Mommy and Daddy to get in their first real date sans kids, in over a year!

(One interesting highlight of the trip: Pop’s minivan got pummeled in a wreck—it was parked, with no one inside, thank goodness—so we’re still waiting to hear the full extent of the damages. However, since both kids’ car seats were inside, the insurance company declared them both totaled, since it’s too hard to determine if they’re still usable and imagine the liability suits if they weren’t! In other words, we had to get two new car seats—both strictly top-of-the-line, per State Farm’s instructions—so we could bring the kids home!)

Finally, since David had his six-month doctor appointment scheduled for yesterday (and we wanted the kids’ existing pediatrician to take care of it, if for no other reason than to say good-bye), we spent the night in our old house, in Noblesville. We were a little worried, since we just dropped some $2,300 to re-carpet the whole house, but everything turned out okay, even though David accidentally got a large blood spot on the living room floor. (Mommy got it all out—it was still fresh. More importantly, David was basically okay; he’d just gotten a cut on each of his pinky toes, which the pediatrician said was probably from wearing mis-sized shoes at some point during our vacation. He’s already healing nicely, so don’t be too worried.) ☺

Anyway, it’s been a wonderful yet exhausting couple of weeks. It’s certainly good to be home, but it’s going to take us a few days to get back into the swing of things. At least we got a severely needed recharge, plus we’ve got some updated photos and footage of the kids! Ciao for now….

Old Friends and New

Yes, the picture’s blurry. Sorry ’bout that; Daddy somehow misplaced the good camera before we left and had to make do with the cheap one. Wanna see more blurry pictures? Here ya go.

Anyway, a little background: when Daddy was in high school, he had a friend Maureen that lived down the street. While many years have passed, it turns out Maureen still lives down the street, only now she lives there with her husband, Mitch (another of Daddy’s high school friends); and daughter, Noelle. While we were out there, we decided to spend some time with their family and invited them over to Leah & David’s grandparents’ so they (and Noelle, of course) could go in the pool and the hot tub.

Bottom line: Noelle, though almost six years Leah’s senior, seems to enjoy our little Leah, and Leah certainly reciprocated her enthusiasm. We wound up getting together two or three times throughout the weekend and will hopefully be back in touch through e-mail. Ah, technology!

Patient David

Poor little David…. We’d only been at the Jersey shore for a day or two when we realized that he wasn’t feeling well. A trip to a local pediatrician confirmed our fears: he’d somehow picked up both an ear infection and pink eye. Although there wasn’t a Meijer (with its free antibiotics for kids!) within several hundred miles, at least there was a local Wal-Mart where we could get them for $4. Almost as importantly, I guess it’s a good thing Aunt Becca got him these cool sunglasses!

“Kiss [Her] Once for Me”

Almost twenty years ago, an artist named Michael McLean wrote a beautiful song called From God’s Arms to My Arms to Yours. The song is sung from the perspective of a birthmother preparing to place her little boy with his Eternal family. The song has always made Daddy cry, every single time, but now it’s even more poignant. Each time he hears it, he has in his mind’s eye our own little girl’s birthmother, with that beautiful voice of hers singing this incomparable song to us, the parents of the child she bore.

So anyway, this morning, little Leah was out in the driveway with her cousins Caleb and Sam, running around and playing. She was wearing a dress (which was our first mistake), so when she fell down, there was damage. Both knees were skinned and the tears came freely. As Daddy picked her up, immediately to his mind came a line from the bridge of the aforementioned song: “Now I know you don’t have to do this, but could you kiss him once for me / The first time that he ties his shoes or falls and skins his knee?” (Seriously, even just typing this, Daddy’s sobbing uncontrollably.)

So now, here it was: “the first time that [s]he … f[e]ll and skin[ned] her knee.” As Daddy held his daughter close, he gave her not two but three kisses through the tears: one from himself, one from Danny, and one from Auntie Kellie. It’s really the very least he could do for these wonderful angels, the people that gave us our little Leah. And as Michael states is the intent of the song, we hope and pray that Leah always knows—even across the miles—how much her birthparents really do love her.

Finally, as for us—we that have been entrusted with her care—we can only pray for the ability to “give this baby both [her] mothers’ love”—and both her fathers’, as well.

(Oh, the by the way…. If you check the Photos page, you’ll see that once we added Band-Aids to the boo-boos, Leah was good as new!) ☺

Our New Home

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks now, but we’re finally in the new place. We’ve still had to make several trips back to the old house—we’ve got pretty much everything out of there now, not that there was that much left—and will be making yet another on Wednesday, to get the last few things, but we’re finally back in Lafayette, and man! does it feel wonderful! Mommy and Daddy both agree that this house already feels more like home than the old one ever did, and we can only attribute that to the presence of family: the fact that Anna’s most distant sibling is a mere twenty minutes’ drive is incredible, and being able to get together with our best friends in the world—her family—is just amazing. (Not to mention the nine cousins that the kids now have nearby!)

We’re slowly getting back into the swing of things—among other things, Daddy’s still working via wireless connection since the electricians still haven’t finished hooking up the phone jack in his office—but it’s all coming together, slowly but surely. Leah loves her new room, David’s sleeping more (although his room still isn’t ready, but give it time), and life is generally a lot more fun.

We’ll keep you posted!

First Bath Together

In the midst of everything else, David’s been growing up, almost without Mommy and Daddy having a chance to notice! He’ll be six months old tomorrow and he’s started sitting up on his own! (That’s remaining in a seated position, by the way; he’s not getting into a seated position, just yet.)

Thus armed with his latest trick, Mommy and Daddy decided it’s about time we implement a time saver and bathe the babes together. They both loved it so much, laughing and splashing away. It’s so cool that our beautiful little kids are such great little buddies! ☺

(more pics)

Busy Days

Another quick entry here…. Not much to say except that Grandma and Pop came out from New Jersey to tow the U-Haul trailer Daddy was renting, up to the new house. We figured we’d get a whole bunch up there in one or two trips and make next week’s Friday night “moving party” easy. No such luck. The electrical system in Pop’s minivan—the wires that the blinkers on the U-Haul were supposed to hook into—was broken. He’s never even used it, but it’s already broken. Niiiiice.

Anyway, we took the van up to the new house three times and the car twice (following the van, of course). It wasn’t nearly as good as a U-Haul, but at least we got something done. Plus, Grandma and Pop got to spend time with the kids while Mommy and Daddy got some extra time to pack, so it wasn’t a total loss. ☺

We Got It!

Just a quick entry to let everybody know that we got the house! The story is frankly long and protracted—the sellers didn’t want to fix anything—but their Realtor® took care of some stuff and convinced them to give us an extra $1,000 to cover the rest. Bottom line: it’s all good.

Anyway, we move on the 28th, so we’d better get back to packing. (It’s going to be a very long two weeks, but we want to make sure we’re back in Lafayette before Daddy goes to his annual developers’ conference in Florida. Mommy + two little kids + three days with virtually no help = unhappy Mommy.) ;-)

(P.S. The above pic is the kids in the new house; there’s a few more in the Photos section.)

Inspector’s Gadgets

Well, yesterday was the big home inspection. Mommy and Daddy brought the kids up to Lafayette and left them with Mawmaw while they headed over the house to meet Inspector Don. What we weren’t expecting was for the inspection to take four hours! Don is apparently nothing if not thorough, and man, was he thorough! Of course, a few things couldn’t be missed.

First of all, the roof: it’s not even up to code! Apparently the manufacturer’s requirements specify a maximum ⅜″ overlap and the builder had overlapped them by as much as 1½″! There was also a missing shingle and a loose one, so those obviously need to be fixed. The denouement of this issue, however, seems to not be so dire: our Realtor® had a roofer go out to the property yesterday, and the roofer claims that although Don was right about all of the problems, they don’t actually constitute a code violation. Don says that’s fine, that he’s going to confirm who the manufacturer is and what code specifies, and if he’s right, the roofer is then liable for any repairs (since he put the bill of health in writing). We shall see….

Secondly, the air conditioner wasn’t working. I mean, it was blowing like crazy, but it wasn’t actually doing anything to speak of. When we got to the house at 10:30 a.m., it was 80˚F in there; when we left at 2:30 p.m., it was 79˚F. That’s not a good sign. Bottom line: an HVAC specialist went out to the property yesterday and, among other things, changed the filter. Between that and whatever else he did, it was 74˚F by the time he left—a much better result, to say the least.

The third big thing is that the top eighth or so of the garage door is literally bent in half, and the tracks it runs on are likewise bent. On the bright side, the sellers knew about this one, so they’re fixing it.

The list goes on and on—we gave them thirteen “action items” to respond to within 24 hours (not to fix within 24 hours, mind you; to respond to), but the rest are fairly minor. What’s probably going to happen is that they’ll sign a contract to fix x, y, z, etc. within t days and escrow the money to do it, so if they don’t actually get it done, we get the money. The selling Realtor® still thinks we can close on Friday, so we’ll see what happens!

David’s Cereal

Well, it’s official: David has eaten a little bit of solid food! Granted, his oatmeal didn’t go down that well: unaccustomed to such an intrusion into his little system, he gleefully spit out a lot of it. Still, for a first effort, he did a great job!

(more pics)

A Lesson Learned

This rather long entry is copied from Daddy’s personal journal.

First of all, a moment of silence for my beloved grandfather, “Cort” Drake, who passed away twelve years ago today.

Now… you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m doing up at 2:30 in the morning, writing in my journal. Well, my daughter just taught me a very important lesson, and I wanted to record it for always:

A little while ago, Leah woke up and was calling for me, as she generally does when she wakes up: Daaaa-ddy! Daaaa-ddy! Daaaa-ddy! (She’s so freaking cute!) Anyway, I went into her room to find her standing there (as usual). What I usually do, in such a situation, is part the curtains, part the blinds, and show her that it’s dark outside, encouraging her by saying something to the effect of “See? It’s dark outside. Sleepy time.” This time, however, it didn’t work: “Drink,” she told me (although it’s actually just “kə,” but we know what it means. We have started trying to get her to say the full word, though, and she is learning).

Now, everybody knows that when a child wants to stay up a little later, they stereotypically ask for a drink, so I picked her up, kissed her, rocked her a little, and tucked her back into bed. As per usual, I told her, “I love you. Get some sleep. See you in the morning” on my way out, but as I closed the door, she was immediately standing up and crying. It occurred to me that I, myself, had been very thirsty before bed—Mommy, Leah, and I had shared a black cherry shake at Steak ’n’ Shake, the sugar content of which may account for this—but I dismissed the thought, went back into her room, repeated the routine, and all seemed well. Still, I couldn’t shake the thought that maybe, just maybe, Leah really was just thirsty, just as I had been before downing a couple of glasses of water, right before bed. I went downstairs, washed a sippy cup, filled it about halfway with fresh water, and brought it back up with me, placing it on the ledge for easy access. After a quick trip to the bathroom, I was about to get back into bed when I heard her crying again.

Now, at this point, I had set myself up for what I obviously needed to do. I picked up the sippy, opened her door, and walked around to the side of her crib. I handed her the drink, which she immediately grabbed and started sucking it down. I leaned over, both forearms on the side of the crib, and apologized to her: “I’m so sorry, Sweetie. I’m sorry I didn’t bring you a drink, the first time.”

The look on her face was not to be forgotten. It’s amazing to see a look of shocked comprehension and compassion on the face of a 19-month-old, but that’s exactly what it was. It’s not like I’ve never apologized to Leah before—I do, whenever the situation warrants—but this time, there was an understanding in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. She lowered her sippy, walked across the crib to where I was leaning, and planted a kiss right on my lips. With the pure innocence only a little child can muster, my daughter had immediately and completely forgiven me.

So wherein lies the lesson? Well, we hear the words of Christ many, many times: “[Y]e must … become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (3 Nephi 11:38). While most people have at least a logical understanding of what that means, it takes on a new intensity of understanding when you see a little child, in all her innocence, express pure love and forgiveness toward an errant, imperfect parent. My sweet, little Leah is growing up, and she’s teaching me, every step of the way.

Room to Move

Okay, never mind the weeds in the front yard; that happens when a home’s been empty for a couple of months. What you’re seeing here is one of the first shots of our new home in Lafayette! To be frank, we were actually planning on getting a different house—a new build, one block over from this one. However, Heavenly Father has different plans for us, and even though we’d already put down our earnest money and signed a contract to hold that one, He made Himself very clear that this—a two-year-old, nearly identical floor plan that’s missing a few of the nicer upgrades but has extra storage, a fifth bedroom, and a $20,000 lower price tag(!)—is definitely the one we should buy. Our offer has been accepted, we expect to close in the next couple of weeks, and we plan to make the big move back to Lafayette, on July 28th.

(more pics)

Playtime with Daddy

Mommy sure is lucky: she gets to stay home all day, every day, and play with the kids. I mean, okay, sure, she also has to take care of the kids and the house and whatever, but Daddy really misses his babies when he’s at work (even though he’s usually just up the stairs—or even just in the next room—from them). So when the workday is done and he can do as he pleases, it’s Daddy’s time to shine… and it looks like his babies appreciate it.

Overkill

You ever see those guys that shove like 150 cigarettes into their respective mouths, all at once? This is David’s version of that trick. ☺

New Cousins

For those of you that haven’t been paying attention, Mawmaw and Pawpaw have gained six new grandchildren since last August: Becca’s stepson, Jamie; Aubrey’s son Jacob; Anna’s son, David; Liz’s stepdaughter, Alicia; Eddie’s daughter, Heidi; and Ben’s son, Benjamin. This past Sunday, we got the four newborns together for a few photos. They are (clockwise from top): Benny, age 2½ weeks; David, age 3½ months; Jacob, age 7 months; and Heidi, age 5 weeks.

(more photos)

A New Kind of Sandwich

Two of Daddy’s favorite treats are ice cream sandwiches and banana splits, so when he discovered a box of banana split–flavored ice cream sandwiches in the Wal-Mart freezer, there was no question that a box would be coming home.

After a couple weeks, all but one of the sandwiches had been consumed. It was a pretty warm day, so after Daddy and Leah finished their lunch, Daddy decided it might be nice to share a treat with his little girl. As you can see, Leah thought that was a pretty good idea, as well.

(more pics; video to come)

Buddies

Leah’s become quite enamored with David—especially with helping Mommy and Daddy take care of him. Whether giving him his pacifier, bringing Mommy a clean diaper (or throwing away a dirty one), or just plain talking to and kissing her little brother, she’s really become quite the little helper, and David is responding in kind. Granted, he’s a very smiley baby anyway, but Leah definitely reaps the benefits.

Like the shots on today’s welcome page, this photo was not staged; Leah just walked over to David, laid down beside him, and put her arm around him: always the loving big sister.

Mommy and Daddy sure love having two kids!

The Hand-Me-Down

Now, before we begin, it must be emphasized that David is in no way old enough for the Intellitainer. He can’t sit up by himself, he can’t reach for things with any degree of intent, he can’t do a lot of things. But the one thing he can do is look around in awe and amazement of the world around him.

This evening, while Daddy was dressing Leah for bed, Mommy place David in the Intellitainer and drove the little school bus back and forth while the music was playing. David sat transfixed, focused intently on the fascinating display of control and dexterity before him (not to mention the music, sounds, and lights).

He may not technically be old enough yet, but he’s so darned cute in there!

Bubbles!

Leah’s bath has become as integral a part of her bedtime routine as reading or family prayer. It’s one last chance for Leah to play—and therefore, one last chance for her to get the wiggles out—before getting dressed (and ostensibly calmed down) for bed.

Over the last few months, Grandma and Pop have gotten Leah a bunch of new bath toys: a big, orange ball, a Baby Genius magnetic caterpillar, even a Dora the Explorer playset with an entire island that floats around the tub. But one thing that Mommy and Daddy got for Leah’s bath was the bubbles. Sometimes it’s just baby wash, sometimes (like last night) we go all out and use Spongebob Squarepants’ Snorkleberry bubblebath, but it’s always one of Leah’s favorites.

As demonstrated.