Change

There have been many changes happening in our lives recently.
Joel has had to fend for himself a lot lately.
Liam has had a mommy that is much more willing to sit with him all day long and read books.
I've completely lost my appetite. Usually the whole day. Every now and again there will be one food item that I can handle a day. This varies, but has come in the odd forms of pickles, Polish hotdogs, stuffed mushrooms and Subway sandwiches (though technically I'm not supposed to have deli meat). Otherwise my diet consists of ensure drinks and protein shakes. The past few days has been a bit better.
Simple tasks such as washing the dishes and cleaning my son's food stained clothes are now huge ordeals that take a really long time and are filled with bouts of nausea.
Instead of cleaning up after my son's warpath during his nap,  I now find myself napping when he is.
The smell of food is nauseating, and I can't even walk into our garden anymore, and look at my lovely basil, tomatoes, beets or other vegetables.
I occasionally run through my mind different rearrangements of the furniture in Liam's room, to possibly include a twin-size bed.


Three guesses as to what could possibly be causing these changes in our lives. But I think you will only need one.

For My Sister...

... who says it's been way too long since I blogged. Which is true. We've been busy. Kinda. I noticed that I once again failed to send out a couple of posts that are still in the queue, because I wanted to attach pictures first. I'm too lazy right now (or the clothes that I promised Joel I'd iron today are calling), so they will have to wait. But here's a quick video, for my sister. :)

This is at a nearby cider mill where I met Sherice R, Cherise B and Stacie K one morning last week. After drinking cider and eating donuts, we fed the ducks a few leftover cider donuts and some bread. Liam was nervous for the health of the ducks however, and frequently sampled the food he fed them to make sure it was safe ;)

Late Night Home Videos

What do you guys do when your child wakes up screaming his head off in the middle of the night, and will not be consoled? I took his temp, and it didn't seem to be that high (though I don't know how accurate it was), and after reading stories, eating grapes, trying (unsuccessfully) to wake up his Daddy, and skyping with his grandparents... well, the only thing left to do to try to calm him down so I could put him back to sleep was watch home videos.

So I figured since according to my sister, I hadn't posted in a while, I would post a couple for your enjoyment. (Sorry if I've posted them before.) These are a few of the ones that brightened his spirit. For the straw one, he actually giggled.

Here's to hoping you aren't viewing them at 2am!

Boys and their Cars

So the past three weekends, we had been traveling, and in each of the spots we visited, they always had one of those little tykes/step 2 cars for kids. If my son saw it, it was like the were polar magnets, drawn to each other with some mysterious force. If another child was in it at the time, he didn't yank them out (for which I'm grateful), but would hover like a vulture waiting to pounce as soon as the other child ignorantly left the seat for even a split second.

I made a mental note that this would be a great Christmas present.

Apparently it must be Christmas in September.

When I returned home, I decided I would craigslist it to see how much they run used so that I could wait for a good deal, buy it and hold onto it until Christmas time. Well, I found one for $10 (actually $5, since it came with a ride-on motorcycle/four wheeler). It wasn't the newest model, but it was the classic (which I enjoy) with a little horn that honks (a little less obnoxious then all the bells and whistles that the new ones have- and my son has plenty of those toys). I figured this was too good of a deal to pass up, especially since it was only 5 miles away. I bought it, still with the hope that I could hold out until Christmas.

Naïveté
the state of being naive (deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment)

Problem #1- Never buy a car, unboxed for a one-year old, when he is with you.

Problem #2- If you decide to buy aforementioned car, make sure you have room to store it in the trunk of your vehicle so your one-year old doesn't see it. If you don't think it will fit, borrow your husband's SUV.

Problem #3- If he is tired, try to drive around until he is totally asleep, that way you can hide aforementioned car somewhere in the garage, before you get him out and possibly wake him up. 

Unfortunately, a lack of mothering experience led me to fail on all three of the above. Instead, the trip unfolded with my son coming with me to pick up this car, since Joel wasn't home. Then, because it wouldn't fit in the trunk of the car, it ended up going into the back seat next to my elated son. The whole entire ride home, I listened to him serenade me, his little voice saying 

"cah... vroom vroom... cah... vroom vroom..." 

until it became more of a 

"cah... ... ... vroom vroom... ... ... ... ... cah... ... ... ... ... ... ... vroom... ... vroom... ..."

before he finally fell asleep. But remember, I was only 5 miles away from home. Definitely not enough time for a little one to be completely, utterly, without even an inkling of a  shadow of a doubt, fast asleep. And as soon as I opened up the door to get the car out, he startled awake and started his "cah vroom vroom" mantra again with much earnest.

Now it had started to sprinkle, and the skies were grey overhead. I was determined not to get caught trying to hose it down and clean it in case there was a downpour, neither did I trust my luck that a downpour would take place and if it did, clean it sufficiently to my approval, and I didn't want to hide it sufficiently until it was clean. So after I unloaded my wee one, it was a race to the backyard, me pushing the car around the side of the house as fast as I could, and him running as fast as he could after me, shouting the words "cah cah cah". I beat him (by just a bit), grabbed the hose, and had just turned it on when he got to the car. He proceeded to start getting in and out of it, even as I was de-cobwebbing it as quick as I could. Well the possible downpour took place. And I decided that it would get rid of the remaining cobwebs quite easily, and I ran for the house, calling Liam to follow me... which I figured he would, because as much as he likes water, he really doesn't like rain.

Once again, I underestimated the love of a boy for his car.

When I got into the house and turned around for the first time, he was still at his car. I called to him, and he smiled and waved to me. He played out in the rain with his car for over an hour. I stayed inside (except to go outside with an umbrella to take pictures). He probably would have stayed out there longer, but I was moving to another section of the house and wanted to keep him in my line of vision, and so moved him and the car to the patio. A little bit later, he slipped on the wet cement while trying to climb in and fell out. It more startled him then anything, but he whined a bit, and I took that opportunity to pretend he was truly injured, bring him inside for a bath, and put him down for a nap.

I decided my $10 was a worthy investment.

Liam's First Words

Well, apparently he is going to take after his Daddy and be a real talker ;)
He chats a lot all day, and it is real cute, because he even uses inflections and tones with his voice.
Based off his a few of his first real words though, you can definitely tell he is all boy!

1. Mama (or Mom/Ma)
2. Dada
3. "Chuck" (truck) which is followed by a humming sound of a vehicle
4. "Cah" (car) which is followed by a "vroom vroom"
5. "Ahrpwah" (airplane)... this one is a little harder to distinguish, but you can tell what he means because he is pointing up in the air the whole time.

Everything else usually has to do with food. He knows the signs for "eat", "more" and "all done", but somehow with him, they are all synonymous with eating more food; corresponding with these nonverbal signs are a few verbal "gar"s and "dat"s.

He definitely also has the praying down (because that comes before food, obviously), his goodbyes, bumps, high-fives, "love you"s (which when he does it looks more like a one handed 'peace out'), baths, and showing people how strong he is (even throwing in the "grrr" as he flexes).

He is growing up so quickly I don't know quite what to do with myself, except thank my Lord for the blessing of being his mommy and hoping I don't blink, because I know I will miss something!

**Addendum- I stand corrected. Liam does say other words, such as "nana", "ball", "dog", "uh-uh" (uh-oh) and "duck" (which means any bird he sees- the result of me reinforcing 'duck' so much from when we were at the park one day). Also, if you ask him what a dog, cat or cow says, he will respond with the proper sounds. :)

The Newest Member of the Virkler Landscape

So a couple weeks ago, I was walking through the gate to go the backyard from the front. I noticed a small plant, that had leaves that looked like some type of vine. As there are many things growing everywhere at my house, I didn't pay too much attention.

Yesterday, as I was leaving my house, I happened to notice one of my small trees had fallen over, I made a mental note to set it by the side of the road later that evening for trash pickup. When I walked back along the side of the house, I discovered that the tree hadn't just "fallen" over, but had been pulled down and uprooted by the now enormous squash-looking vine. This is so crazy to me, as I have not planted any vine this year (my mother in law said I had no room in my garden for such a beast, and by the looks of this thing, she was right!), and a month ago, this plant didn't exist. Although it is flowering, I don't know if it will fruit so late in the season, but I'm curious to see what will come forth. This area doesn't get a whole lot of sun though, so my curiosity might all be for naught.

To help peak your curiosity to the level of mine, I thought why not make this a little contest of sorts? So I figured I would maybe give a $5 Target gift card to the winner who correctly guesses what my plant will become (Sorry it's not much, but my husband just paid for some surgical equipment and a conference, and until he is reimbursed by the hospital, we must watch the budget- but since this could be a little while until we find out the answer, maybe I will surprise the winner with an increased amount!). If more the one person guesses the correct answer, I'll just randomly choose from them. Since there is no guarantee the flowers will even fruit, you can also guess that we will never know. The little giveaway will end when I discover what the plant is! I included a couple more pictures below for all you botanists that would want an upclose shot of leaves/flowers with a possible fruition(?)

 Happy Guessing! :)

Conferences and a Haitian Reunion

...Such a blessing!

Though I didn't get to attend. So I guess it's just hearsay. I'm super bummed to have missed them though, but I am grateful my son decided to take a 4 1/2 hour nap and catch up on his sleep! I caught a ride with Tom H, who was heading down anyways for some world relief meetings (He also wanted to rub it in anyways that he was able to have his cousin's grandchild in his vehicle). The next few days was just hanging out with all my wonderful relatives again. Even though we had just been down here a couple weekends ago, I really didn't get to spend too much time with my cousins, but this trip I was not only able to spend time with them, but also their new spouses! My dad also flew out (along with some ministers from Phoenix and Magdalena), and my aunt Janice had a packed house this weekend, what with her family, my dad, my in-laws, my aunt Jane and me!

 

For his part, Liam did really well this trip. He napped in the car rides, and loved playing and getting spoiled by all my cousins. I think his favorite part was getting his own blueberry yogurt cone- a treat from both grandpas!
So much for trying to limit this kid's sugar intake!

 fresh sweet corn- this is becoming a summertime favorite for Liam!

 road rage- reminds me of his Auntie Katie

eating froyo with grandpa Joe

popcorn with grandpa Stan

his first time driving a combine ;)

unfortunately, its a case

 the epitome of comfort while shopping with Kelly and I

On the way back, Tom and I stopped in a small town outside of Toledo. There, we met Joel and we went out to dinner with Dr. Rudolph, a Haitian doctor that Joel worked with down at Bonne Fin hospital. I was able to meet his wife and little son and we all went out for chinese food together. I think Joel, Tom and Dr. Rudolph enjoyed catching up again, but the highlight of that evening was when Daniel, the son of the administrator that used to run the Bonne Fin hospital walked in to the restaurant and sat at a table near ours! It is truly amazing how God works- here this boy had been traveling from Canada back to school in Georgia, decided he was hungry at 10pm, got off the highway, past other fast food restaurants and 2 Chinese places that were near the street, to go 1/4 mile off the road to ours to get food!

Picnics and a Prayer Request

This weekend has been absolutely gorgeous! I think God gave me a cold first summer in Michigan, and then a sweltering early summer this year to help me more fully appreciate these beautiful summer days of late! And I am!! A young brother from Lacrosse has spent the summer out here and will be returning this week to Purdue for school in the fall, so it was the perfect excuse for the Detroit church to have yet another one of their lovely picnics at McNamara. Everyone was instructed this afternoon to bring their bikes, and young and old enjoyed a lovely bike ride after dinner. We also enjoyed homemade peach ice cream and the usual kickball/frisbee and tree-climbing ;)

Our elder Mark and Bev were even able to attend for a short period tonight, and Joel and I reflected on the drive home the little things that they do to help show support for their congregation and enjoy the fellowship, while also realizing their boundaries in making sure they left early so that they could have some quiet time this evening before they travel to Rittman tomorrow for conferences... on that note, please be prayerful for wisdom and discernment of God's direction for the elders this week during the annual fall conferences, as well as for travel safety, unity, etc.

Gateway

The Lemon Shake-Up Stand.
As is tradition, they auctioned off the last one
... it sold for $750.

I think my husband is rubbing off on me. I cannot in any other way figure out how in the world I am carrying on such a busy lifestyle- and this being without him!

Anyways, this past weekend was the annual Gateway Woods Auction in Leo. Since we have been traveling the past few weekends (and are planning on continuing this routine the next few weekends), I figured why not hit up the Leo sale on one condition- I would not be driving! Randy Gasser happened to ask whether or not I was planning on being a med resident widow last weekend (which I was) and told me that if I wanted a ride, there would be room for Liam and I in their vehicle. I was grateful for the offer and took them up on it. So we headed down Friday night, and returned Saturday evening. (And Joel really wasn't home at all while I was gone, so I didn't miss too much :)

It was fun being at the sale again. I am sure I definitely did not enjoy it as much as my husband would have, but I know he was well-missed, as most everybody asked me whether he was there, and I saw so many disappointed faces when they were told that he wasn't. Some highlights were definitely seeing Amy, Kaits, B and Megs, as well as all my lovely Phoenix friends that I have missed so much! The weekend was a little bit rougher on Liam, as he had too much fun with Brady to really nap in the vehicle, and playing with the "new" toys at the Stieglitz's to want to sleep Friday night, but eventually my little boy tuckered out at the end of the auction and was able to salvage a short nap- the rest of the day he lived on everyone's attention, his mommy's arms, softserve, and the lemon shakeups!

Watching firetrucks with Brady on youtube.

 Great Advertisement.

Set up a sand/water toy and allow the kids to play with it, before you auction it off!

It was great seeing Uncle B who is on a brief vacation from Jamaica!

 Megan, Natalie and I :)

He fell asleep towards the end of the auction, and was able to sleep to the very end-

the Settlers game that sold for over $300!

Rested up, he decided he needed a cool "refresher"-

one of Randy's diet coke's did the trick!

Javan and Josie

This past weekend my cousin Josie got married. Joel actually had the whole weekend off, so we took the opportunity to visit some friends that we haven't seen in a terribly long time. I didn't take too many photos this trip- it seems that whenever my son is on the loose, it's best to follow after him versus worrying about snapping a photo. He did fairly well on this trip, though he was extremely exhausted. This mommy made the terrible mistake of switching him to his upright car seat for the trip. For most of the drive, I could hear "tuck... tuck... tuck" coming from the back, as my husband sped past the semis. That combined with late nights and early mornings made for one tired baby, who actually took a four hour nap on Monday.

 A reminder of the wonderful customer appreciation sale I was missing out on... ;)

Javan, Josie and Eric.
I stole this pic (and the next two from him)

Julie and Z & J's little boy Zion.

 Jacob and Bethany.
They are the ones that got married in May, when I didn't have Eric around to steal pics from later :)

Playing with cousins

 Uncle Glen with Moriah, Z & J's little girl

Look at those eyes! Doesn't he look worn out?!

Liam definitely was able to get a lot of attention throughout the weekend. My uncles (and cousin Arthur) won out however, as he pretty much wanted to be held by them alone- it must be the Greenbank touch!

 Sweet corn eaters

Uncle John walked us out to the car, Liam didn't want to leave him to come to us!

Anyways, we had a blast with Jon and Kelly, though we were definitely not out there near long enough. It was good to also see a lot of my relatives, as well as Steve and Lisa again too. The only bummer is we missed seeing Isaac and Britt, but she was having a baby, so I can't be too disappointed ;)

Relaxing after a long Sunday

Liam's fav toy at the Zollinger household.
I'm sure J & K are glad we are gone so they don't have to hear it's obnoxious sounds any longer... :)

Of Birdseed and Boys

Once upon a time there was a little man made out of bird seed. He had been given to a certain Mommy by her secret sister at church to stick outside so that her little boy could enjoy watching the birds come to the back porch to eat.

One day, while this certain Mommy was pulling up beets from her garden for dinner, she turned to check on her little boy. He was staring up at the little bird seed man hanging from the shepherd's hook. She smiled thinking how he would like watching the cardinal, finches and sparrows eat the dropped birdseed tomorrow morning. That thought on her mind, she turned back around and continued picking beets; suddenly she realized that her little boy was being abnormally quiet. She once again looked back, in time to see her little boy pulling the birdseed man from his mouth. Upon closer observation, the startled Mommy realized that her son was holding a now headless birdseed man!

The Mommy called out the little boy's name and a chase ensued, as the little boy ran away from his Mommy, still holding the birdseed man. Fortunately, all's well that ends well... the Mommy caught up with the little boy, fished the broken head out of his mouth, and figures the rest will reappear eventually.

Moral of the Story: If your little boy loves to eat, he may be willing to eat whatever he sees anything else eat.

Carnivals

So I've never been attracted to carnivals. I think of them as dirty cheap attractions with scary workers, ultra-fried foods, smoky environments and expensive gimmicks. Perhaps this is the result of my parents never really taking us to them as kids. I guess I don't understand why you would go to one of these forelorn places when you could go some place like Disneyland, where you have higher quality rides, friendly employees, your choice of food, a clean environment, and... expensive gimmicks. Perhaps this is the result of my parents taking us there a lot as kids.

Anyhow, my mom was out this past week, and left Wednesday. I had seen posters for the upcoming carnival for the past few weeks, and conveniently "forgot" to mention it to Joel that this was coming in town. Unfortunately my choice of our last meal pick with my mom (the non-confrontational Greene's Hamburgers- I recommend it) had a poster, and my husband saw it. So guess what we did for our date night (along with the Friday night concert at Riley Park and dinner at the Bangkok kitchen, where the owners and I reminisced about Thailand together)...

The one good point about this carnival was that it was free admission and free parking. Joel and I both decided though that this was the perfect year to take Liam... in other words, while he is entertained by the colors, people and sounds, versus when he will want to participate. We wanted to take him to the petting zoo, which was conveniently located at the END of the carnival- past all the various booths, food stands and other random things that kids are dragging their parents towards. It was humorous that even at the "free" petting zoo, there were puppies for sale.

I think he enjoyed it and was fascinated with the animals... from a distance.

He was just as captivated with the sirens and rollercoasters as well. 

The person that enjoyed it the most though in our family was my husband. It is an excuse for him to have elephant ears (I offered to make it for him sometime, and he said that would take away the fun of getting the greased, fried dough at the fair). 

Apparently it is also an excuse for him to ride mechanical bulls (he said it was practice for Toby Keith's later with Katie). He was debating if he should do it and asked if it was a waste of money. I told him he didn't want me to answer that question.

 Joel said it was the best well spent $5 in his life. I think Dave Ramsey would beg to differ.

Mr. Independent

So I was about to feed my son dinner last night when he reached for the spoon and decided to do it himself.

At the beginning of dinner:

At the end of dinner:

The video would have lasted a bit longer so you could see the transformation of his face from clean to messy, but Joel came home, and I thought I'd spare you the details of our days that were rehashed while he ate. Maybe next time. ;)

Biased-Mommy aside, I thought he did fairly well for his first time of feeding himself with a spoon. I had to wipe his fingers a couple of times (after he tried to reach in the jar to get that last hard to reach food), but at least the food mostly stayed on the bib and high chair table.

A Battle Cry Call for Fasting and Prayer

A little while back, I mentioned, asking for prayers for a couple that lives out in Illinois, Jordan and Katelyn Schroeder. Joel knows them (I don't recall ever meeting either of them, but he's introduced me to so many people, who knows!). Anyways, since then, I have been following their battle with cancer, and praying for them constantly, as I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to experience this so close to home (it came even closer with the diagnosis of Zach's cancer- he could use your prayer too!).

After being in remission for a short while, Jordan's battle with cancer has taken a turn for the worse, and they are beseeching Christians everywhere to pray to the Great Physician to heal him. If you have the moment, please take a minute to read their request and if you feel led, take a part in the prayers of the saints that will be lifted up.

West Lafayette

What a delightful weekend we just had! :)
We have come to appreciate every day that Joel has off, especially those full weekends, which are few and far between! It seems that we always try to make the most of them however, and this one was no different.

Originally we had planned to go to his grandparents cottage on Lake Michigan as a lil mini getaway for Friday night, and come back in time for our church duties at Woodhaven's retirement center. But we were reminded that two of his cousins were getting baptized in West Lafayette, and we figured if we could trade (again) then we would go. The Gasser's were kind enough to take these responsibilities, and so we figured it was God opening up the door for us to head down there to be able to spend time with Joel's extended family (since he'll be working Thanksgiving this year), experience his old stomping grounds, see the new (and very lovely!) West Lafayette church, catch-up with old friends... and most importantly, listen to the testimonies and witness the baptisms of his cousins! :) It ended up being all that and more! We were able to surprise his family, stayed at Ed and Annette's (though they are gone picking up Mia from China!),ate pickles, bread and granola bars,  were able to spend some time with Clint and Alesa, and spend the afternoon after baptisms with all the family at Greentree :)

Uncle Tim and Liam sharing a late afternoon snack at Greentree

 Wheelchair rides were the popular attraction of the afternoon

The only bummer of the weekend is that while we were down in Indiana, my uncle and aunt came up here for a mini family vacation! So we were able to spend Friday night with them, but then left them to a host-less B&B home!

Who needs blocks when we can stack books?!

My son is such a mooch when it comes to food... and usually everyone thinks he's cute enough they give in- in this case, he was able to eat some cherries! Although their time was short, he definitely loved my Uncle Glen, who must have reminded him of his Papa!

We are so blessed to have such an awesome traveler! I couldn't help but think that as I drove home (while Joel slept). He was either sleeping or contentedly sitting and talking in his car seat the whole 5 hour trip. And I was reminded that I'm really going to have to teach him about strangers, as he probably went up to everybody in that church this weekend to be held for a few seconds. He even escaped my mother-in-law's eye in the nursery and the usher brought him into us during the afternoon service after he had been found wandering around to various people (for 20 minutes!!) back in the kitchen... embarrassing! This also made me sooo very thankful to attend a church, where I know that no matter which congregation we are in, he is in good hands! :)