this past week...

Boaz celebrated his 7 month birthday with Grandma & Grandpa Glace. They came to our house to spend time with us and watch the Iowa/Iowa State game. I made chili that was way too spicy and we went shopping to get Grandpa some new running shoes.






Luke is still working to bend his fingers, since getting his cast off. He's getting better, but will start some occupational therapy next week to help the healing process along.

We have new neighbors across the street from us. We had them over for dinner last night. Boaz is excited about their new little one on the way. He hopes it will be a boy so they can run around the neighborhood together.




Holly is our adopted college student from church. She came over this morning to visit and see Boaz. She fed Boaz his breakfast- he enjoyed being silly. My friend, Jess, and I made baby food on Monday. We made 5 different kinds for about $9 a piece. I saved $12 on squash alone!! I'm looking forward to keeping up this cost-saving activity. Plus it makes me feel pretty domestic!! :)




Boaz has such a fun personality. He's such a happy little guy. He's working on getting his first tooth... I can see the little white line where it will come in. It's made him a bit upset today, but he's doing pretty well with it. Soon I'll have some 'first tooth' pictures for you.




Luke and I have always joked that our kids will be shot-put throwers. Luke went out and bought these racketballs for Boaz to play with last week. We thought it was funny the first night he had them that he held one to his chin just like a shot putter!

It's been funny to have all of you respond to my alarm clock story. Many of you have the same clock and think it's too bright also. My brilliant Aunt Sandi called the other day to ask if I had looked to see if there is a dimmer switch. There is one!! I hadn't thought to look for it. So... we'll try the clock facing upright on the nightstand again tonight. We'll see if that dimmer is dim enough!! Again- I'll keep you posted!

luke's replacement.

This clock was the subject of a lot of laughter in our home last night. I am blind as a bat without my glasses on. I have always had a little travel alarm clock on my nightstand- impossible for even the 20/20 person to see without some effort. Since I can't see and it's a lot of work to find my glasses to look at a clock at 2am, Luke's 'job' at night is to tell me what time it is when Boaz is fussing, so I know if it's time to get up and feed him.

My travel alarm clock croaked the other day, so I decided to purchase a new clock. This is what I ended up with. I got one that I thought I might be able to see without glasses, so I could be kind and not depend on Luke for the time. The picture does it no justice, but the numbers are about 2 inches tall and the thing lit up our room like a street light. It was hilarious. I was in bed first and laid there laughing hysterically waiting for Luke to come in the room. I unfortunately threw away the packaging last week, so won't be returning it. I think I'll try to put some sort of filter on it and see how that works... maybe tissue paper?? I'll keep you posted. Needless to say, Luke told me the time last night while the clock was turned upside down on the floor!!


This picture was taken without a flash... and I was almost blinded looking at it for more than 2 seconds to take this picture! Don't stare at the picture too long!





Here are Boaz & Luke at the doctor's office this morning. His cast came off today!! Hooray!!!










The doctor said it takes hands longer to heal than other bones, but things are looking good. Luke will have to work really hard to get his fingers bending again- they are pretty stiff today.



Freedom!!!







Boaz & his friend Addelyn played during our small group this past Friday. Addelyn is 2 months older than Boaz and just started crawling all over the place. It was fun to watch them play. Boaz was fascinated by her moves!

boaz 6 month pics

We are blessed to have several friends who are amazing photographers. Our friend Christina came by the other day to get some 6 month pictures of Boaz. There are tons of great pictures... I'll share a few with you. We are continually amazed at how fast he is growing and overwhelmed by how much joy he brings to our lives. Enjoy the pictures!

the end of an era.

Yesterday was a big day for me. It marked the end of my 8 year career at Orchard Hill Church. I still have a few little things to wrap up, but I'm done working in the actual building. All my coworkers (over 30 of them!) planned a surprise party for me in the afternoon. I love them all. They made treats, gave me a really nice gift, and had a time of affirmation for me. I hate times of affirmation... I never know what to do or how to respond during them... but I left feeling very cared for. Though not without its occasional struggles, Orchard Hill is an amazing place to work. I'm thankful for my years there.

My home is going to be a great place to work also!! I'm very excited to start this next phase of life. To celebrate my first day at home, I made waffle cookies for our small group tonight. Boaz helped by banging a whisk on his highchair tray. I figured that since it was my first day home, I'd better be domestic! My cookies didn't turn out as well as yours, Mom! This change will have its sacrifices, but it will be completely worth it. Right, Luke?? (He's not buying tickets to UNI's first home football game tomorrow!) I'm excited to help shape and mold this little man God has gifted us with. We are so blessed.



Luke's aunt, uncle, and cousin from Georgia came to visit last weekend. Our cousin has a new little girl named Aniston. Here are the two grandmas with their new grandkids. (cousin Brittany in the back!)

Great grandpa just has a new fountain in his yard this year! Uncle Justin and Boaz had lots of fun playing in the water.

there, there...

I married a man's man. He will readily admit that he's not sensitive or romantic. I have learned that I need to verbalize my expectations to him. For example... "It would be really nice to get a card on my birthday. And it would be great if it had something written in it." When my expectations are clear, he follows through with flying colors! (I'll tell you the story about cards some other time...)

The first few times I cried around him, he didn't know what to do. So one night we had a conversation about it. I told him that when I'm crying, all he needs to do it put his arms around me and give me a hug, then ask me if I'm okay. Pretty simple stuff. The next time he found me crying (probably for no reason!), he took my instruction one step further. He put his arms around me, began to pat me on the back, and then said- "There, there..." And all I could do was crack up. "There, there..." Now it's the joke phrase that accompanies most crying sessions in our home.

I've said many times that Boaz is exactly like Luke. Well... he's displaying one more trait that's his daddy. Lately, when I put him on my shoulder to burp after a meal or to walk around the house, he reaches his little hand around my shoulder and pats my back. And everytime he does, I smile to myself (or laugh out loud) and think of the way that my wonderful, witty, hilarious husband consoles me- and that Boaz will hopefully do the same for the love of his life someday.

a mover and a shaker...

Boaz may be tiny, but he's getting strong!! He is on his hands and knees all the time. He rocks and rocks, and scooted a few times yesterday. We are ordering a safety gate for our stairs today!!

** the blankets that are all tucked into his crib are to prevent Boaz from playing his new favorite game - "poke the pacifier through the wood slats." It was especially fun for him to make it slide down the wall behind his crib and then watch mom & dad try to crawl after it! Yesterday, he managed to slide it between two blankets and launch it into the middle of his floor. Smarty-pants. :)

doctors.

Wednesday was a day of doctors visits. We started off at Luke's post-op appointment. They took off his first splint to look at the incision and take xrays.







Here is his first moment of freedom in two weeks. He was really careful not to move his fingers.

(don't look at the next picture if you hate medical stuff...)






Here's the incision. The doctor thought everything was healing very nicely. The xrays looked good!








Getting all the stitches out wasn't very fun. But now he's sporting a nice blue cast. (I'm sure I'll have pictures of that on here soon.) He will wear that one for two more weeks before he's free of casts, and then will start physical therapy to regain movement.








Here are the boys interrupting my work time in the morning... Boaz likes to come in and check up on me. Only a few more days to be interrupted! My last official day of work is Sept. 1, but I'll have some meetings and things to wrap up next week.

After Luke's appointment Wednesday, we went to Boaz's 6 month check up! He got some shots- which he loved- and was given a clean bill of health. He's doing great... but he's small!! He weighed 14 lbs. 12 oz. and was 25 inches tall.... placing him in the tenth percentile!!! We couldn't believe it! We knew he was a little guy, but wouldn't have guessed that little. He's well proportioned, and Dr. Riggs said there's no concern... there's hope that he'll be tall like daddy yet??? Boaz got to start eating vegetables the other day. He wasn't sure what to think of sweet potato at first, but now is quite fond of it!