Ryan and Meghan's World

Did you miss us?

2011-12-08T10:17:00.000-06:00

So I've taken a blogging vacation. A long one. For those of you that followed this blog, I'm sorry to have been slacking but glad to be back. I can't promise frequent updates, but I really enjoy doing these updates and in honor of my 32nd birthday, I'm making a promise to myself that I will take time to do this.

There's no good way to recap 17 months, so I'm just going to recap a little, chat Patrick a little and tell ya'll about some of the exciting stuff happening now.

Recap: The last 17 months have been busy! We've had our share of travels, especially Ryan. Our family destinations have included Atlanta (wedding) and Florida (wedding and a Mouse House visit!). Ryan has also been to Russia and India. Looks like there may be more India trips in his future and we have a trip to California and Florida planned.

The work on the house continues and I dare say the end is in sight. I'll definitely have to devote a future post to the incredible work that Ryan (and others) have done.

Ryan and I also started bike riding for fun and exercise. Over the summer we participated in a few bike events locally. Ryan even did the Miles of Smiles event - 100 miles in one day. The highlight of the biking events was our October trip, child free :), to Nashville to participate in the Bike to Jack and Back. This was a 150 mile ride over 2 days that Ryan did with some friends while I worked as a 2 day volunteer for the event. Ryan and the rest of our team rode from Franklin, TN to the Lynchburg, TN. Between days one and two we had the opportunity to eat, drink, and relax with the rest of the participants on the Jack Daniel's Distillery property and then camp on the grounds of a local community college. Such a fun event that raised money for the National MS Society. Who is going with us next year?

Patrick:
At 2.5, Patrick is incredibly fun and unbelievably smart. Those of you who know his Mama well will not be surprised to hear he has excellent language skills. Translation: He never shuts up and has an opinion on everything. In a good way! He loves to climb, jump, run, and play with his trains. He also has some sweet dance moves :) Patrick loves his friends at day care, and looks for any opportunity to play with his cousins.

He can't get enough of his books and bargains every single night to have more books read to him. He even insists on having his light left on so he can 'read' himself to sleep. He adores Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Thomas & Friends (ick!).

While Ryan was in India in August, I got it in my head that I should potty train Patrick. Surprisingly, he took right to it and I'm proud to say he's been potty trained for months :) He still wears a trainer at night, but it is dry every single morning. At this point, its more for us than for him.

Patrick is really looking forward to Christmas and tells us all the time about Santa. He loves trying to figure out where his elf on the shelf has ended up each morning.

But do you want to know the thing he's really excited about??

The most exciting thing?

PATRICK IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!!!!

That's right! I'm 20 weeks along now, baby #2 is due April 23, and Patrick couldn't be more excited. Obviously, Ryan and I are also thrilled. This pregnancy has been very different that the first, and at 20 weeks I still find myself getting sick some mornings. But generally everything is great and so far both Mama and Baby are doing great. More on baby later :)

So that's about it for now. (What, that's not enough?) More updates soon, I promise.

Life in the country is never boring.

2010-07-20T06:30:00.000-05:00

One morning this summer, I had to call in to work and explain that I would be late for a reason I never thought I would use. "Mr. Boss man, I'm going to be late...I have to wrangle cows." No joke.

It started on June 3rd as Ryan and I were getting ready to leave for work. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something moving in the tall grass beyond our yard. I told Ryan I thought I saw something out there, and he jokingly said "Uh, duh, those are cows." Ha, ha, very funny. Yes, our yard backs up to a cow pasture, but I was certain I saw something in our yard. A few minutes later, my suspicions were confirmed - I had seen something. Ryan's joke had also been confirmed - it was cows. There were calves running and playing in our backyard. We snapped a couple of pictures out the kitchen window:

Then we chased them back into the pasture and called farmer Merle. Merle told us that he would be out to fix the fence and that if it was just a calf or two not to worry - they will always go back to their mommies.

4 days later, we were again getting ready for work when we heard a truck in our yard and walked out to find our neighbor driving on our lawn. Looking toward the backyard, we discovered a full-scale prison break. Cows. Everywhere. Big ones. Little ones. It was funny, fascinating, and a little scary. We chatted with the neighbor, who told us that he found a mama cow near the road and chased her back towards the pasture. He also informed us of an unfortunate personal situation that made farmer Merle unreachable, and that meant getting the cows back in the pasture and fixing the fence had to be done by, well, us. The neighbor headed home to change clothes and get his tools for fence fixin' and I went back to the house to call work and get the camera. For the next hour, we yelled, clapped, walked towards the cows and eventually got them all back. Admittedly, I was a bit afraid and kept myself and Patrick away from the action whenever I could, but we did have to get involved. It was overall a lot of fun, with the exception of when Ryan was trying to get a baby cow to move and the mama cow got a little...protective. Luckily, the mama was behind the fence and Ryan was in no real danger. Still scared me! Here are the pictures from the big escape:

Ryan and Patrick check out the action.

Cows EVERYWHERE!

The little ones liked playing in the mud...and were not afraid of us.

This one was so stubborn it took 2 people to get her back.

It was a situation I never imagined I'd be in, but certainly one of the better excuses I've had for being late to work :)

Party Time!!

2010-07-18T21:25:00.001-05:00

***NOTE: This begins a series of entries that will get us caught up on the summer. It has been a long, fun one thus far, and I've been terrible at documenting. Let's get started on the catching up!***

The Sunday after Patrick's birthday, we celebrated with family and friends. Patrick really loved all the attention, the cake, and getting to play with his friends and cousins. Check out the festivities:

The Birthday Boy with Aunt Julie

This kid LOVES balloons.

Patrick loves it when cousin Madison lugs him around.

Cuddles with Grammy Dorothy

Sammi and Finn (along with Brett and Cooper, not pictured) came all the way from Indianapolis to celebrate! {Thanks, guys!}

The Aunts and Uncles putting the back deck to good use.

Patrick's friend Henry really digs watermelon!

Mommy made the cake, but wussed out when it came to decorating. Thankfully, Mommy's creative friend Leslie stepped in and saved the day!

Make a wish!

First time wearing the Morge birthday hat!

Messy Monkey

So many presents that Patrick had to get his daddy, cousins, and friend Henry to help open 'em.

On the cool CAT power wheels!

Patrick's Birthday

2010-06-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

In honor of Patrick's birthday, I took the day off work to spend the day with him. After the doctor's appointment mentioned in the previous post, we headed home briefly before driving down to Decatur for my dentist appointment. Ryan met us at the dentist and took Patrick with him down to the other house to do some "boy" stuff (fixing the air conditioner). We met back up with Uncle Andy for a yummy lunch at Mancino's, where Patrick got to have some bits of pizza and shredded cheese.

'Aunt' Julie was nice enough to invite us over, so after lunch we went to her and 'Uncle' Pari's apartment to play. He LOVED getting to play for hours with her, but eventually we had to get home for a nap.
On our way home we stopped at daycare so that Patrick could see his friends and I could talk to his 'teachers' about the changes in his diet. After that short stop, we made our way back home where Patrick crashed for a nap. When naptime was over, Daddy was home! Yay!

Ryan and I had planned a celebration dinner of steak and potatoes, and since Patrick had reached the ripe old age of 1, Ryan decided it was time Patrick learned the fine art of grilling and I took the opportunity to do a little photo shoot. Here are a few of the pictures from the evening:

Happy First Birthday, Patrick!

2010-06-01T10:23:00.001-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!!

Can you believe it? Because I can't. It has been an entire year and our wonderful little baby has grown so much!

From this:

To this:

Ryan and I are continually amazed by how much joy one little person can bring to our lives. It is still hard to believe how much he has changed and grown.

We went to the doctor first thing this morning and chubby boy has officially outgrown his car seat at 23#6 and 30 in long. So big!!! Little dude has changed so much in the past few weeks!!

He:

Is standing all on his own for as long as he chooses.
Dances (shakes his booty) while standing without falling over.
Walks with assistance.
Has finally started eating some finger foods other than puffs. He can be picky and sometimes still doesn't want to eat at all, but does like bread, loves pancakes and cake (blame all the birthday parties for that one), eats some pasta, bits of grapes, watermelon...and other stuff. Still not enough to be his sole source of food, but we'll get there.
Has 9 teeth - all his front teeth and one of his molars. He is also working on the rest of his molars. (Woohoo, that is FUN! Sarcasm anyone?)
Clearly and intentionally says "Dada" and "Yum" Butthead still doesn't say Mama :(
Mimics sneezing and coughing to get a laugh
Cuddles with his cats at every opportunity.
Loves nothing more than being licked silly by his dogs.
Has an unusual attachment to wooden cooking tools. The kid carries a wooden spoon with him much of the time.
Still loves to throw food and sippy cups on the floor. Grrrrr.
Goes to bed at 8:15 (or earlier if he's especially pooped) and gets up around 6:45.
Still takes 2 naps at home - the morning one is usually in the 20-50 minute range while the afternoon one is typically longer, sometimes an hour or two. He has been refusing to nap at day care recently though, so who knows what his sleeping schedule is going to be.
Has perfected his slow motion reaction that follows being told "NO" - lowers his head, puts out the bottom lip, looks up to check and make sure you're looking, puts his head back down, turns on the waterworks and looks up crying. It is very difficult not to laugh at.
Is extremely curious - he wants to see everything you're doing, touch EVERYTHING, hold everything. He points everywhere and shouts "DAH!"
Still shows very little interest in TV - hooray!
Is more fun than I could ever put into words.

So that's our little Peanut in a nutshell (HA! I crack me up...)

Just want to say a special thanks to all the family and friends that helped make our first year with Patrick such a fun and successful one. Your love, time, support, and advice have been so valuable to us. The past year has been such a whirlwind and we owe so much of where we are today to those who stepped in and helped us get here. Thank you!! We love you!

Yard Work

2010-05-31T20:49:00.000-05:00

Although we've been living in our home for around 9 months now and the work on the interior has continued, we hadn't had the time to work on the yard. And it has been driving me crazy. The backyard had returned to its previous life as a hayfield and the front yard continued to look like a construction zone. I wanted a "real" yard.

This weekend, that real yard became, well, real. In fact, even more work than just the yard got done. On Thursday, my dad came down for the day and got hard to work painting inside. Thursday night, he and Ryan put down hardwood floor until way past my bedtime. (Believe it or not, Patrick STILL sleeps right through a hardwood floor being installed above his head.) On Friday, I headed off to work, Patrick to day care, and my dad, Ryan, and Ryan's dad got to work on the yard. Ryan's Uncle Don was kind enough to lend his bobcat and dump truck to our cause for a few days, and they got to work. By the time I got home on Friday, wow, there had been plenty of lawn mowing and dirt moving under way. My mom joined us on Friday evening to help keep an eye on Patrick while I was out in the yard and do some major cleaning and organizing on the inside of the house.

Saturday morning, Dad and Ryan got started early, and then headed south to pick up a tractor and tiller than a friend was kind enough to lend. While they did that, Mom and I ran errands. We met back at home after lunch for another hot day out in the sun. By the end of Saturday, the whole lawn had been cut, front yard had been tilled, flattened, and seeded, and the garden had been dug out. We celebrated with a relaxing night watching the Blackhawks win game 1. WOOHOO!

Sunday morning we again started early, trying to beat the heat of the day. We got a lot of work done before Ryan and Dad took the long drive to return the tiller and Mom and I worked on cleaning the house. By the time Mom and Dad P left and Ryan's family arrived for an impromptu cookout, the backyard had been tilled where it needed it, the soil was built up near the deck, and the low spots in the yard had been filled. And we were tired!

All in all, it was an interesting process. Dad P spent 8+ hours on a riding lawnmower, and Dad P and I both 'rode' the crazy contraption that he and Ryan built to drag the front yard. We picked rocks and construction trash out of the yard by hand, and all ended up sunburned and sore. But when all was said and done, we had a beautiful start to a gorgeous non-construction lawn. It looks AMAZING!! Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

Farmer Ryan pulling Dad P on the scary drag contraption

Of course I had to join in and take a ride!

Men at work

Patrick wants to help with the lawn

So much fun!!!

We had some major rain today, so no more yard work was done. Weather permitting, maybe I'll get some before/after up here sometime. But, get ready for this folks, there will be another post tomorrow. Two posts in two days? Crazy, I know. But tomorrow is a very, very special day for one very special little boy - Patrick turns one! Of course, that deserves a post. Until then...

Mother's Day Weekend

2010-05-25T20:40:00.000-05:00

Hello all, Patrick here again. Since I'm the reason that mommy gets to celebrate Mother's Day, I am taking over the blog entry for this weekend.

Mother's Day weekend was SO much fun for me and Mommy had a great time too. On Friday, my friend Henry came over to my house with his Mommy and Daddy to watch hockey and eat pizza. We wore our jammies and played late into the evening. Even though Henry is a Blues fan, we're still friends (GO HAWKS!)

On Saturday morning, we hopped in the car and drove up to Grammy and Grandpa P's. I slept almost the entire way, waking up to play just a few minutes before we got there. I'm such a great traveler!!

Once we got there, I got to go do something cool for the first time - go swimming!! My mommy took me into the water verrrrry slowly. Since it was an "old people" pool, it was very warm and there was a ramp for us to walk down - perfect for a first-timer like me.

Mommy and I got to cuddle in the pool (I think she might have loved it more than I did!):

I got to hang out in my own little boat:

Grandpa and Grammy helped me 'swim' while Daddy manned the camera from the edge of the pool.

Of course, no one could resist messing with my hair and giving me a funky do.

It was such a fun time!!

Sunday morning, I got to cuddle with Mommy and Daddy a bit and I gave Mommy her present. (More on that in a sec) Then we had a yummy breakfast, followed by another round at the pool with just Grammy and Mommy.

We followed our time in the pool with a great Mother's Day lunch, and then hopped back in the car to head home. When we got home, Daddy set up Mommy's present, and I got to join her in it:

Daddy and I got her a hammock!!! Mommy says its for "quiet Mommy time" but I think she'll let me hang out with her once in a while. Right, Mommy?

That's all for now! Love, Patrick

Creeping Towards a Year

2010-05-03T22:17:00.002-05:00

I’m having a very hard time believing this, but Patrick is 11 months old already. Next time I do an entry like this he’ll be a year old!! Craziness…

What’s been happening this month?

His hair is starting to settle down. The back is still sticking up all over, but the top has settled into normal little boy hair. This makes it glaringly clear that he needs a haircut, but I think we’re going to hold off for a little while. Mommy’s seeing a little too much change in her little boy right now; cutting the hair would probably push her over the edge.
We’re up to 7 teeth – this last one came in with little difficulty and it doesn’t look like any more are pushing through right at this moment.
He has 2 ‘talk’ settings – quiet as a mouse or chatting (nonsense) constantly. He has a lot to say, I just wish we knew what it was.
His new thing that cracks mommy up? He sits down on the floor with a book and starts flipping through it going “ooooooooooh” as if he’s very impressed. I don’t know where he got that, but it might have something to do with my over animated book reading.
Milk allergy: Present and accounted for. Not sure what we do in a month, getting a little nervous about it, actually. Luckily, it isn’t so severe that he can’t have products with dairy in them, or a taste of whipped cream here and there - he just reacts badly when I have a regular amount of straight dairy products. I’m taking that as a good sign that he may just grow out of this after all!
Food: Loves his puffs. Not a huge fan of chunks of fruit, but loved the fresh steamed sweet potatoes and squash that we gave him last week. Favorite food? Maple breakfast sausage. (Blame daddy for that one) He always wants to try whatever we have, but when we give it to him, he fake chokes.
And speaking of that - he has perfected the fake choke, using it whenever he feels he's not getting enough attention. We have to figure out a way to stop this...
Bottles: He finally slipped and showed us that he does know how to hold his own bottle, but most of the time just doesn’t care to. Why hold it yourself when you have two able bodied servants to do it for you? He is starting to get better at using a sippy cup, and loves to keep one with him, but Mommy is too worried that he isn't getting enough to let that be his only source of liquid.
He is a very, very busy little man. He loves to chase the cats, creep along anything he can, take all the Tupperware out of the cabinet, try to unload and/or crawl into the dishwasher, take all my cookbooks of the shelf, hand me things he finds on the floor, and try to play in the cat water.
He loves being outside – if he’s cranky, a walk out on the deck will calm him down (aka distract him!) immediately. He is NOT a fan of grass, however:

Get me off of this stuff!!!!

He is a dancing machine, although dancing at this point is limited to shaking his head and bopping to what mom and dad are singing. Still, adorable.
He will still applaud with the television, but now has added applauding for himself when he does something he's proud of. He also claps along with music - the other night we thought he was asleep in the back of the car when we heard him start clapping along with the radio.

We have a big month ahead of us - May is a Mother's Day / Graduation / Birthday celebration filled month. Think I can keep on top of the blog? Probably not, but I'll sure as heck try!!

Messy Messy Munchkin

2010-04-27T20:16:00.010-05:00

Little dude is getting more and more independent and adventurous in his eating. He loves his puffs, reaches for everything we have, and always tries to grab the spoon from me when I'm feeding him. Needless to say, the mess factor has been amped up. Luckily, messy is still a good look for him!!

Patrick's Baptism

2010-04-26T11:39:00.008-05:00

On Saturday, April 17th, we celebrated Patrick's Baptism with family and friends. Since we attend a small church, there was no way to fit all our guests in during our normal Sunday mass without displacing a quarter of the regular congregation, so we had it on Saturday afternoon instead. The result was a private baptism that was very warm and personal - Father Henehan did a wonderful job. I was a little worried about the water on the head because Patrick hates having his hair washed, but he was a trooper - no tears! While Patrick was a bit older than I pictured he'd be at his baptism, there was something so nice about him being old enough to know that he was surrounded by people he loves and that love him.

During the reading

Patrick loves his cousin! (Check out the sweet suit!)

A blessing from Father

I am clearly worried that he's going to cry!

Uncle Andy lights the candle - Patrick wanted that candle SO BAD!

Pay attention, kid!

Godfather Uncle Andy, Patrick, and Godmother Aunt Elizabeth

After the ceremony.

(Not sure why we're standing so far from them. I blame the candle.)

Father Patrick Henehan, Patrick, Meghan, and Ryan (That's right, Father Patrick baptized our son Patrick...at St. Patrick's Church. No joke. If only we could have done it on St. Patrick's day!)

After the ceremony, our family and friends joined us back at the house for a reception. Unfortunately, I was too busy hosting (a.k.a. chatting and eating) to get more than a couple pictures. But it was so nice to relax and spend time with our wonderful family and friends. Thankfully, the weather was somewhat warm and not too windy, so we got to really enjoy our deck for the first time:

This picture is supposed to be of people chilling on the deck, but I'm guessing that about half the people that read this blog only see the mini Morge pies on the table :)

This gorgeous cake was even more delicious than it was pretty. (No, I didn't make it)

And since no weekend would be complete without construction of some sort, after the baptism, Ryan and Papa got to work grinding down the countertop so that the cooktop and backsplash could be permanently installed. Nothing exciting about that, I know, but I couldn't resist a picture of the menfolk in their "work clothes" - Corona and Mt. Dew pajama pants.

Happy Easter! (Part II)

2010-04-10T19:52:00.024-05:00

The weekend after Easter, Grammy Dorothy and Grandpa Phil came to spend the weekend, help us to get the house ready for the baptism weekend, and to celebrate Easter with our little bunny. He got his first bubbles, which he LOVES, and a very cool activity walker, since he's ready to go, go, go!! (Given that during the same weekend, he 'tripped' over his own arms and legs while crawling, going face first into the floor, cutting his lip with his teeth, the walking concept makes me very nervous!)

We also had a finger food breakthrough. On Friday, I thought we had made progress, as I gave him a tray full of puffs and they disappeared. I was so proud of my little eater, until I lifted him out of his high chair to find that he had been stuffing them in the seat under his tush. He did eat one or two, but still playacted gagging.

On Saturday though, while we were eating some homemade banana bread, Grammy Dorothy gave him a little taste and VOILA, he was suddenly very interested in “our” food. He begged for more banana bread and when he was given puffs later in the weekend, he was all over them. I’m very excited to start giving him the things we eat!

We didn't get many pictures that weekend, but here is one of my favorite pictures that Daddy took one morning before daycare:

Happy Easter! (Part I)

2010-04-05T08:00:00.035-05:00

Patrick had a wonderful first Easter! Ryan had Friday off of work, so in the afternoon he brought Patrick to Bloomington to have his pictures taken. This photo session went MUCH better. Patrick was still a little afraid of the photographer, but with a bit of holding and a lot of Peek-a-boo, we got some great pictures!

On Sunday, we attended mass in Peoria followed by dinner with the Peoria Morges, the Wilsons, the Decatur Morges, and Great Grandma Ruth. The day started out a little rainy, but cleared up nicely just in time for an Easter Egg hunt. Here are a few pictures from the day.

10 months? Already?

2010-04-01T09:00:00.003-05:00

Our little man is 10 months old already. I can hardly believe how quickly time is flying. This last month has been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see what the next months hold. Our little Mr. Personality has a lot going on:

He is an expert high-fiver. Uncle Andy taught him to high five and he loves it.
He is a pretty big guy. He also has a ginormous melon head (but don’t tell him, he might get a complex)
He still has his crazy hair that sticks up all over. It is the most beautiful strawberry blond / red color. If I had a dollar for every time a stranger looked at him and said in a syrupy voice “I love your hair” we’d have a significant college fund for him.
He is still rocking 6 teeth but is working on 2 more. The bottom center two are quite close together, but he has a great Michael Strahan gap between the top center two.
He knows how to clap and loves the reaction it gets him. When he hears other people clap (even on TV) he gets a huge grin on his face and claps along.
Related to the clapping, he knows the sign for “more.” Sort of. He doesn’t have the fine motor skills to hit just his fingers together, but if he’s fussy and clapping softly, he’s asking for food. So, he kinda thinks its “food” but it gets the point across.
He “talks” all the time - calls out to us, responds verbally when we say talk to him and points and shouts at different things in stores while we’re shopping. His favorite place to talk? Church, especially during the quiet parts. Naturally.
He makes noises that sound like “I did” and “I do” and although we know he doesn’t know what he’s saying, it’s usually an appropriate response. It cracks us up.

“Patrick, did you pull all the toys off the shelf?” “I did”
“Did you just say Mama?” “I did”
“Do you want the rest of your bottle?””I do"

He is still rocking a stupid milk allergy. Unfortunately, that means Mama is also milk free right now. Never have I craved a warm chocolate chip cookie and glass of ice cold skim milk so much. We’re still hopeful that he can outgrow it.
He is still not a big fan of table food. We’re trying to give him more solids that he can feed himself, but he’s just not very interested. When he does get something in his mouth, no matter how tiny, he gags. Our doctor has encouraged us to try to give him meat, but he doesn’t care for it yet. We’ll keep trying.
He loves books, and loves pretending to read. This makes Mommy very happy!
He is getting better about biting – for a while there I thought it was going to be an issue, but now when he clamps his mouth on you, you’re more likely to get raspberries than bite marks.
LOVES his afternoon walks. On days when the weather is nice, Patrick gets loaded into his stroller and the three of us take the dogs for a long walk. He really enjoys watching and getting ‘kisses’ from the doggies.
Has a little bit of stranger danger, but not too terrible. He is usually extremely friendly and social, but sometimes just wants to be back with Mommy or Daddy, particularly when he isn’t feeling well.

We tried to get professional photos done on Sunday, but he was fighting a double ear infection and was very clingy. We couldn’t get a single good picture, so we rescheduled his appointment for Friday. Hopefully they’ll turn out!

March Madness

2010-03-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

March just seemed to fly by, perhaps because there was so much going on. The first weekend was a crazy one, starting with Patrick’s 9 month doctor appointment, followed by Meghan attending a friend’s baby shower and then all of us at Madison’s birthday party. Unfortunately, that weekend was followed by a stomach flu that took us out for a few days. Poor Patrick’s first stomach flu was not a fun one, but he was a trooper.

The cousins with Grandma and Papa at Madison's Party

Not long after that we got the excellent news that our new niece and nephew Celina and Josef had arrived. Hooray!! We haven’t gotten to meet them yet, but cannot wait so see them in a few short weeks.

The next weekend we were lucky enough to get to meet up with the Wilsons in Bloomington for a fun dinner out and a trip to Best Buy. Patrick loved it – any time he gets to spend with cousin Annabelle is a good time for him!

Chillin' in my laundry basket

The following week, poor little man ended up with a double ear infection. Bad for him: he didn’t feel well. Good for him: he got to spend a whole day with each of his grandmas who were each nice enough to spend a day watching him so Mommy and Daddy could both go to work.

The last weekend of the month, we got to celebrate Miss Annabelle’s 3^rd birthday with a very fun party at her house. It was a Tinkerbell themed party and the boys got to be pirates, so my little pirate dressed the part!

Cousin Annabelle, Uncle Ryan and Daddy playing golf before the party:

Patrick the Pirate:

Laundry can wait...Patrick is 9 months old!!!

2010-03-01T20:58:00.007-06:00

So as I sit here typing, piles and piles of laundry are waiting to be folded. I know I should be dutifully folding and hanging clean clothes, but the laundry will have to wait while I update the blog - because Patrick is 9 months old today!! I can't help myself - I felt bad for missing his 8 month update, and can't help but want to celebrate my wonderful son today.

Patrick has turned into such a cool, fun little guy. Some of the things we love most about him now:

He's mobile!
Patrick crawls all over the place. He can crawl normally, but most of the time chooses this funky broken crab crawl that consists of the right knee down and the left leg out to the side. It is very hard not to laugh when he does it, but he can move very quickly! In the past couple of days he's also decided to try the straight leg crawl, feet on the ground, arched up. Very strange.

He's growing like a weed!
Officially into 12mo. clothes now, I don't expect him to be there too long. We see his doctor on Friday for a 9 month visit, I'll post the updated stats then.

He is incredibly smiley!
This kid smiles so much, I don't know how his chubby, chubby cheeks don't hurt. He has the silliest dorkiest laugh that I desperately hope he grows out of someday, but for now though, it is hilarious and adorable! His smile is made even cuter by 6, count 'em, 6 pearly white teeth - 4 on the top, 2 on the bottom. Unfortunately, with those teeth come biting...hopefully a short-lived phase.

He's exploring more eating options!

He's still mainly on breastmilk, and is eating his cereal and baby food, but is starting to try some "mommy and daddy" food. He's had some fruit in mesh feeders, but seems to prefer slamming that into the floor to eating it. In celebration of this 9 month birthday, we had some chopped cantaloupe and our first apple juice from a glass. (Confession - the only plastic glasses I had were too big, so I gave him the juice in a little glass baby food jar. It was hilariously redneck.) Oh, and on Sunday during the US vs. CAN hockey game, Daddy and Uncle Andy gave him a baked Tostito. I won't go into details, but lets just say he won't be having chips again anytime soon.

He has quite a little personality!

Along with all the fun, we also have a stubborn and mischievous little boy on our hands. He thinks the word "no" is HILARIOUS, but usually does listen. And like his daddy, Patrick is convinced he's the funniest person on the planet. (Also like his daddy, he's usually right)

He's a chatty little dude!

Ok, so he's not using real words, but he apparently has a LOT to say. He blabs a ton and clearly is trying to tell us something. He says "dadadadadadada" but doesn't connect it to his daddy at all. I've tried to convince him that "mamamamama" is the way to go, but he isn't buying it. Saturday morning when one of the cats jumped on the bed, he looked at it and yelled "Haa-too" and then looked quite proud. Of course, the cat he was referring to is Pibb, so he was nowhere close to the right word, but we've decided it is easier to change the cat's name and have started referring to two of our cats as Haa-two and Haa-three :)

Here are a couple of pictures from the last few weeks:

SMILE!

Patrick on his way to open his first bank account!

Car shopping with daddy (no, nothing purchased, just fun looking)

Grandpa Phil came to stay while Daddy was in India - they were napping buddies!

Snuck away from Mommy and Daddy and found some wood glue to eat. YUM, paste! (Relax, it wasn't opened yet)

Rockin' a plumber's crack while playing with cousin Annabelle's bear friend.

Somehow managed to get himself partially out of his sleep&play one night. I thought the look was very Flashdance of him.

Sleepin' on Mommy

January...

2010-01-18T18:01:00.006-06:00

Well, 2010 has certainly started out a little trying, but we’re getting through. On New Years eve, Patrick popped his first tooth (one of the top ones), which was SO exciting for us! He had been a little whiney/fussy and drooly, but overall was a champ about it.

On New Years Day, Grandpa Phil and Ryan worked on the Decatur house while my mom and I took Patrick outlet shopping for some bigger clothes. It was cold, but we got some great deals on adorable clothes for Patrick.

We had a relaxing rest of the weekend, but started noticing that Patrick had developed a runny nose and cough. By Sunday night (the 3rd), his breathing was getting more rapid and I was getting more worried. He slept better than I expected Sunday night, but on Monday morning was looking and sounding much worse and was running a high fever. We made our way to the pediatrician where they checked his oxygen, had me give him a nebulizer treatment, swabbed his nose, and told me that he had RSV and an ear infection. AAAAUURGGGHH!!! I know its pretty common and we're lucky he didn't get it any earlier, but it was still really scary. Poor Patrick looked and sounded horrible, and our normally independent little guy spent much of the week curled in Mommy’s arms moaning. (For anyone who has seen When Harry Met Sally, picture the scene when Harry and Sally are on the phone and Harry decides to practice moaning. It was so pitiful.)

Patrick and I didn’t leave the house other than to go back to the pediatrician and Walgreens, and watched a LOT of terrible television. Oh, and little man popped 3 MORE TEETH while he was sick. Somehow, and honestly I’m not sure how, we got through the week.

Patrick’s fever was finally gone by Thursday morning and he was clearly starting to feel better. I was exhausted, but thrilled. That is, of course, until Thursday evening when I came down with a case of food poisoning. Thankfully, Ryan's mom and dad were able to come down on Friday - Papa to help Ryan with the Decatur house and Mom to watch Patrick while I tried to get my stomach back in order. Patrick and I spent the rest of the weekend recuperating while Ryan continued work on the house.

Despite still having food poisoning, on Monday I returned to work and Patrick went back to daycare. Finally, back to a schedule. Normal life. Not for long!

On Tuesday, Patrick developed hives on his back. So, although we thought we were through the worst of it, on Wednesday we found ourselves back at the pediatrician. Thankfully, during that visit they were able to recheck his ears (infection gone) and determine that the hives were due to some sort of allergic reaction. Unfortunately, given the different medications and recent introduction of new foods, there was no good way to determine what caused the reaction. He was given yet another medication to get the allergic reaction under control and with any luck it was a contact-type reaction that we won't see again (I'm hilarious, right?)

So here we are. 2 1/2 weeks into January. Everyone is doing better and this past weekend we were even able to get some projects done around our house!

Here are just a few pictures that we've taken so far this month:

Patrick has learned to love bathtime!

Like my new baseball cap?

This is what happens when you fall asleep on your play mat.

Daddy tried to lure Patrick into crawling. He is SO close!!

Two of the four teefers!

Happy New Year!!!!

2010-01-01T00:01:00.010-06:00

Baby New Year wishes you all a very happy 2010!!

2009 was such an a wonderful year that it is bittersweet to leave it in the past. Nonetheless, we look forward to all the adventures and experiences this new year will bring. May you all have a blessed and happy 2010!

Christmas Day

2009-12-31T09:41:00.001-06:00

Christmas day was a bit more hectic, but just as wonderful!
Mommy and Patrick woke up early and spent some time hanging out with Grandpa and Grammy while we waited for Daddy to get up:

Smiley guys

Ok, Grammy - they're making me wear this hat. What's your excuse?

Once we woke Daddy up, it was time to open presents. Patrick had a mountain of presents, and since Daddy wanted to let Patrick open all his own presents, it took us a long time to get through everything. Patrick didn't quite get what was going on, but liked sitting on the floor with daddy and the doggie Seamus ripping paper and playing with new toys. Ryan and I also got some really great things, it was a very fun morning!

Daddy was very patient helping Patrick open his presents,

but all Patrick really wanted was to eat the paper.

Nice bow, kid!

Watching Daddy open presents

Opening the BIG present

I love this picture - it looks like my sweet angel is making an obscene gesture and saying "@#$% you, I wanted a REAL pony!"

After the presents were open, we had a big, delicious Christmas breakfast featuring biscuits and gravy for Ryan.

All I wanted for Christmas was my two front teeth, but since they're still coming in, I'll keep chewing spoons!

After breakfast, we had a little time to cuddle and play before getting ready to go to Great Grandma Morge's house.

A cuddle with Grammy

Climbing on mommy

Patrick is ready to go to Great Grandma's house, Grammy Dorothy gets in another cuddle!

We packed up the car, which barely had room for us once the gifts were in, and headed to Aurora for the Morge Christmas, Part II. Great Grandma's house at Christmas is always hectic, with tons of people and presents, noise and laughter. It usually causes the 'only child' in me to get overwhelmed, but is Ryan's very favorite part of Christmas, and I must admit that I don't think Christmas would be the same without it! If we could bottle and sell the love and cheer in that room at Christmas time, we'd be millionaires!

Papa helps Patrick open his present from Great Grandma while Lucy makes a face.

Patrick with Grandma Trish and cousin Gabriella

Gift time at Great Grandma's house!

We had a wonderful time at Great Grandma's, enjoyed a delicious meal and spent time with some family members that we aren't lucky enough to get to see very often.

After Great Grandma's house, we packed ourselves back in the car (much more difficult this time!) and headed home. The roads were snowy, but my fearless hubby reported that they weren't as bad as they looked. Just a few short hours later, we were back home in our own beds ready for the much needed "do nothing" day we had planned for Saturday!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-30T23:14:00.002-06:00

Christmas eve was a wonderfully low-key day. In the morning, Ryan dropped the dogs off at the boarding place, then we packed the car in the pouring rain. We traveled to Meghan's Mom and Dad's and went to Christmas Eve mass with them. While there, we got to see Meghan's cousin John who lives in Atlanta, as well as her cousin Katie and Katie's husband Jamie, who currently reside in Ireland. Needless to say, we don't get to see them very often, and we were thrilled to see them even for a few minutes. Patrick LOVED getting cuddled by Katie - if only we had gotten a few pictures!

After church, we returned to Mom and Dad's for a wonderful dinner. Patrick got to open a few gifts from his Great Aunts and Uncles and played with them while we ate - such a great kid! Then we curled up and watched a movie, before heading to bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads.

Morge Christmas, Part I

2009-12-28T21:33:00.000-06:00

On Sunday the 20th, we had Christmas with the Morge family. We headed to the Peoria house and joined the Mom, Papa, the Wilsons and the Decatur Morges for a wonderful dinner and gifts. After dinner we had a very special treat - on one day during the holiday season, the neighborhood in which Mom, Dad, and the Wilsons live has a holiday celebration. Most of the neighbors participate in putting out luminaries along the street, which is just beautiful. They also have a horse drawn carriage that takes people for rides. After dinner, we all got to take a ride in the carriage. The quiet of the snow, clip-clop of the horse hoofs, and jingle of the bells combined with the beauty of the snow and the glow of the luminaries for a perfect Christmas-y scene that really set the mood for the week ahead.

Almost asleep - the walk to the carriage ride knocked him out and he slept through the whole ride!

In the carriage with Daddy, Aunt Mia, cousins Madison and Michael Aaron, and Uncle Mike.

The carriage

Hello, Mr. Horse!

Visiting Santa

2009-12-27T22:40:00.000-06:00

On the Saturday before Christmas, we decided that we'd better hurry and go see Santa so that Patrick could tell him what he wanted for Christmas. I was afraid that Patrick would freak out, as he is very hit and miss with strangers right now. However, after just a few seconds of examining him, he must've decided that the old guy was ok, and went right to him.

Visiting Santa is hard work! I'm exhausted!

My least favorite ‘baby’s first’

2009-12-18T21:10:00.004-06:00

NOTE: The following blog entry contains images that have been known to make grandmas cry.

Let's start this one by explaining that Patrick and I had both been sick with what seemed like a never-ending cold. On Friday the 11th, I was finally tired of feeling awful and took my lunch hour to head to the prompt care. While there, I was diagnosed with a sinus and throat infection and sent away with a prescription.

Knowing that I had more than just a cold, I became more concerned that Patrick wasn’t improving. I called the pediatrician and was told that unless Patrick started refusing food or started wheezing, not to worry. Naturally, later that evening, Patrick started wheezing. Not good. I then checked his daycare sheet and noticed that he had hardly eaten all day. When he continued to refuse his bottle, we decided it was better to be safe than sorry and headed to the prompt care.

At prompt care the nurse started taking Patrick’s vitals. Naturally, getting an o2 reading on an infant is difficult, and they were using an adult sized meter, so she wasn’t too surprised when the reading was very low. They took us back to the examining room, she headed off to find an infant sized finger thingy (medical term) and grabbed another nurse to help her. He came in and assisted, but no matter what they did, they kept getting what would be considered extremely low readings.

Next thing we know, we have the doctor in the room. Although Patrick’s lungs sounded clear, there was apparently some retraction on one side, which concerned the doctor enough to grab the nebulizer. Patrick was NOT a fan.

GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!

However, while he screamed his o2 level went up to 100% (where it should be!) which let them know that the low readings they were getting were accurate. The doc informed us that in children Patrick’s age, a reading lower than 96% (which he was well below) is an automatic trip to the ER with oxygen en route. The next thing we know, Patrick and I are riding in the back of an ambulance with Daddy is following close behind in the car.

Getting into the ambulance. (The female EMT had a crush on Patrick. The feeling was mutual!)

The nice EMT gave him medical supplies to play with.

Thus began a few maddening hours of mostly waiting. Patrick had some blood drawn and an RSV test, a number of breathing treatments and also had a chest x-ray. He was also given some medicine that his little tummy couldn't tolerate - the poor little dude vomited the nasty smelling stuff right down the front of mommy's shirt.

(Side note – perhaps this makes me a terrible mother, but seeing a 6-month old get a chest x-ray ranks among the funniest things I’ve ever seen. The put my poor son on a little saddle-like thing, lifted his arms, and secured clear plastic braces around him. Ryan figured out right away what it looked like – he looked as if he was trapped in a 2-liter bottle of soda.)

Mostly though, we waited.

Waiting...the meter on his toe lasted until he figured he could get it off by wiggling his toes

When this rough, exhausting, worrisome night was over, all we knew was that his lungs were clear, he was RSV free, flu free, and pretty darn patient!! We left with a couple of prescriptions to help with the breathing, orders to follow up with the pediatrician, and a really cool stuffed pterodactyl that one of the nurses gave him after he had his blood drawn. (Ryan has nicknamed it Pterry, but his full legal name is “The Most Expensive Stuffed Animal We’ve Ever Purchased”)

I have to pause here to give the EMTs a huge Thank You! They were so wonderful with Patrick - and with his very nervous mother - that they made what could have been a terrifying ride in an ambulance an amusing memory (even stopping to pose for a photo, as you can see!). They were so reassuring and kind, and even stopped by hours later as they dropped someone else off to check on our little guy. Such nice people!

The rest of the weekend was significantly more pleasant. Saturday, Grandma Trish came over to babysit Patrick while Papa, Ryan and I moved stuff out of the old house. Then on Sunday, we joined Grandma Trish and Papa, Elizabeth, Annabelle, Mike, Michael Aaron and Madison and headed to Chili’s for another (and final [for this year]) birthday celebration. Since we were missing the birthday hat, we all donned Christmas hats instead, even Patrick!

Aren't we a handsome group?

With all that over, we are free to get on with Christmas, right? I promise, next post will be illness free!!!

Meghan's 30th Birthday

2009-12-11T09:05:00.000-06:00

The weekend of the 5th we began a long celebration of my 30th birthday. On Saturday, my Mom and Dad came down for the afternoon and for a yummy dinner at Alexander’s.

On Sunday, Ryan hosted a party for me, with friends coming over to hang out, watch some football, eat, and play a little Beatles Rock Band. It was a perfect day, casual and relaxed, and Ryan did pretty much all the work! I didn’t get a lot of pictures, but I did get a cute one of Patrick and his friend Henry:

Tuesday, my actual birthday, was a wonderful and strange day. First thing, Ryan got up and made me a hot breakfast croissant sandwich – yum! I headed to work, looking forward to a relaxing birthday dinner with my boys. I was very excited because after years of worry, Ryan finally had a doctor’s appointment to discuss his sleep/snoring issue and it happened to fall on my birthday. What a gift! I was thrilled when Ryan called after his appointment to tell me that the doctor referred him for and scheduled a sleep study in January. Hooray!

Anxious to get the issue under control, Ryan called the sleep center to see if he could get in sooner (say, this insurance year!) They confirmed that his appointment was the soonest available, but they would gladly add him to the long cancellation waiting list and would call if an appointment opened up.

A few short hours later, Ryan and I were back on the phone – the sleep clinic called and had a last-minute cancellation. Ryan was the first person to answer and was offered the spot for that night. After making sure that I wouldn’t be upset (not an unreasonable concern!) he accepted the spot.

So, the home cooked dinner and a relaxing evening with my hubby was replaced by a super quick celebration – which Ryan still made incredibly special. I received a bouquet of 30 gorgeous roses, a couple of wonderful gifts, and a cards from both Ryan and Patrick (Patrick signed his himself!) We ate a quick dinner of pretzel dogs before Ryan was headed to the hospital. I wasn’t thrilled to be spending my actual 30th birthday alone, but I had trying to get him in for a sleep study for years. It was bittersweet that it finally all came together on my birthday.

The best part? The sleep study quickly concluded what we had all suspected, that Ryan has severe sleep apnea. He will be receiving a CPAP machine to use in the near future. As soon as he does, I’ll post a picture! What a birthday gift!!

But wait, there’s more! Thursday night at our usual Guadalajara after bowling dinner, I got the whole sombrero on the head, whipped cream on the face treatment. (I’m sure there are pics of that somewhere, but I’m pleased to say I don’t have any.)

We’re not done with the birthday celebration quite yet, but there were a couple of things that happened in before the final celebration. In the interest of chronological accuracy, I’m going to skip that last one for now.

6 months

2009-12-05T09:00:00.009-06:00

Instead of a traditional list of accomplishments, in honor of this milestone birthday, we’re going to change things up a bit.

My beautiful son,

Happy 6 month birthday! I can hardly believe that I’ve been able to hold you in my arms for 6 months now. Your daddy and I love you so much more than you could ever imagine. You are such a handsome little dude, with fantastic hair that stikkumups in all different directions and seems to be a different color every day. Your beautiful eyes are darkening, but still have the most gorgeous blue in the center; they look very much like your daddy’s eyes. Your smile is infectious, and you are so generous with it. Everyone says you’re the happiest little dude, and they’re right. You love to laugh, and your big laugh is a hilarious guffaw-squeak noise. I can’t help but laugh every time you laugh.

You are a champion sitter and desperately want to figure out how to crawl. You lean forward and pound your fist on the floor as if to say “c’mon floor, help me out here!” When you get on your tummy, you scoot backwards, in what daddy and I call ‘lobstering.’ You’ll be moving forward in no time, little man.

You are a little daredevil! You love diving forward on to your face when you’re hanging out in mommy and daddy’s bed, and love being tossed into the air. It’s only a matter of time before you’re hanging from the ceiling fan! (Kidding!)

You are the best sleeper ever – an 11 hour night is pretty standard for you. You usually go to bed without a fight and most nights sleep straight through. Every once in a while you get into a few day phase of waking up around 4, but we can’t complain.

You love your cereal, although sometimes you love the reaction you get for spitting it back at us more.

I can’t begin to imagine what the next few months are going to be like, but I know that they’ll be an adventure. We’re so blessed to have you in our lives. We love you, pnut!

P.S. Dr. Sanjay says you’re growing like a champ! You’re up to 18 lb 3 oz and 26.5 in!

Look at those rolls!!

Hanging out with your brothers

Cap'n Cruddy Eye and the Busy, Busy Weekend

2009-12-04T06:00:00.005-06:00

Once Thanksgiving was over, we were FAR from done with our weekend. Friday morning, Grammy Dorothy, Patrick and I headed north for my dear friend Mara's wedding festivities while Ryan and Grandpa Phil stayed behind to work on the old house. Patrick was sniffley and had a little bit of a 'booger eye' thing happening, but we didn't worry too much. We headed straight to Mara's rehearsal and then to Grammy and Grandpa's to get Patrick settled in. Friday night, I headed back down to Rolling Meadows for the rehearsal dinner, while Patrick stayed with Grammy.

Saturday morning, I headed to Addison to get ready for the wedding with the other bridesmaids and Mara while a boogery Patrick stayed with Grammy. His eyes were a little more boogered, but again nothing too bad, and his cough seemed to be subsiding. Fast forward a few hours - the wedding is over, the pictures are being taken, and of course, my phone is being stored away with all the bridesmaid stuff. Unfortunately, this meant I missed my poor mother calling to tell me that Patrick had a fever. When I finally heard the message, I felt awful for not only leaving a sick baby home, but for not being there when mom called. I was a mess with worry. With no infant tylenol in the house, and no car mom was willing to put a car seat in, we were in a bit of a pickle (i love that saying!) until Super Aunt Pat swooped in to save the day with a trip to the store. Thanks again, Aunt Pat! Love you! With all under control, I was able to relax again and enjoy a bit of the reception. Congrats again, Mara and Adam!

Think the weekend was over? Oh, no.

Sunday morning, Grammy Dorothy, Patrick, and I packed up early and headed back to Clinton so P & I could get Ryan and head to Peoria. Unfortunately, at this point, Patrick's eyes were a goopy, globby, nasty mess. Ryan and I decided to make a quick stop at a Prompt Care on our way to P-town. During the 5.6 seconds the doctor spent in the room, he diagnosed Patrick with conjunctivitis (aka pinkeye). He gave us a gel to put in Patrick's eyes 4 times a day for the next week. Patrick loves them. [Dear reader, please sense dripping sarcasm when you read the previous sentence. Thank you.] We then made our way to have dinner with Grandma Triiish & Papa, Uncle Don, the Wilsons, the California Morges and the Decatur Morges. Once dinner was over, Ryan piled his exhausted wife and sick baby back in the car for the trip back home. Thanks to the pinkeye, Patrick couldn't return to daycare on Monday, so Mommy stayed home with him. (And then ended up home sick on Tuesday)

Although I didn't get a lot of pictures over the weekend, I did manage to get a couple of shots of Patrick's goopy eyes for posterity:

Cap'n Crusty Eye borrowed Grandma's spoon for teething

Don't I look AWESOME?

Don't worry folks, I didn't forget that Patrick turned 6 months old on Tuesday, but with battling a nasty cold as well as now my own case of pinkeye, I haven't felt up to posting. We head to see Dr. Sanjay today and I'll do a 6 month post complete with stats in the next day or so.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T19:44:00.010-06:00

Ryan and I have never suffered for lack of blessings, but this year in particular we have so much for which we are thankful. A beautiful son, an amazing new house, a generous and loving family, and tremendous friends are just a few we can name. Happy Thanksgiving indeed!!

This year, Ryan and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Although I was very nervous and admittedly downright pessimistic about our ability to "do" Thanksgiving, almost everything turned out great. Ryan made two fantastic turkeys (one roasted, one deep fried) and we had quite a spread of food. Making things even better was having Ryan's parents, all of Ryan's siblings and their families (minus one nephew - we missed you Matt!), as well as my Mom and Dad over. It was the most beautiful chaos I have ever seen!! I would go on, but I'm so exhausted that instead I'll just post some pictures.

Patrick helping Daddy and Mommy make stuffing!

Prettiest darn turkey!!

The full spread: Roast turkey, deep fried turkey, mashed potatoes, fried apples, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yifta, creamed onions, gravy, rolls, salad.

Naptime on Grandma Trish with Cousin Lillian.

Hanging out with Aunt Liz

Grandma Trish and Papa Mike with all but one of the grandkids (plus Liz and Kevin)

Patrick says "Papa Mike gave me some pumpkin pie crust and I LOVED it!"

Patrick with Grammy Dorothy and Grandpa Phil

The aftermath: Head Chef Ryan conked out with Guinness in hand.

Mommy and Patrick are pooped too!

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make our first Thanksgiving in our house a success! It was so much fun for us to host - hope everyone had a great time!

First Cereal

2009-11-16T05:57:00.008-06:00

After weeks of hesitation on Mommy's part, Patrick got to try cereal for the first time last night (and Mommy didn't even cry!!) He wasn't quite sure about it - more ended up on him than in him, but it was a good first attempt. It was an adventure trying to get the spoon past "the gates" - as soon as the spoon got close, Patrick would swoop his arms in and try to grab it. And when he was done, he was DONE. Mouth wouldn't open, started crying, etc. Eh, we'll keep trying! Here are a few pics:

Yummmmmmmmmm!

Ummmm, not so sure about this.

Quick, the gates are closing!!!

Happy little cereal eater!

Looking like a fighter pilot with all those straps!

5 months old

2009-11-05T06:00:00.002-06:00

Little dude is 5 months old! Patrick turned 5 months on Sunday - I cannot believe how fast time flies! The last month has been such a fun one, it is amazing how much of a little person he’s becoming! Patrick:

Is a very chatty monkey. Although we know better, sometimes we’d swear he says “Hi” when you say it to him.

LOVES animals. Daddy taught him to pet the cats, and he is very sweet to them. They are very tolerant of him. He is getting to know the doggies better too, and tolerates his foot cleanings from Guinness pretty well.

Still hates baths. We tried showers too, but he doesn’t like those any better. Boys!

Successfully switched to the medium flow nipples and can chug down 6 oz of bottled breast milk at a time.

Is VERY interested in what Mommy and Daddy are eating. Looks like we’re going to be trying cereal soon!

Started rolling and can roll from tummy to back like a champ. He will roll the other way once in a while, but much less often.

Has started getting a little wary of strangers. With people he is used to, he’s fine. But when he’s being held by someone he doesn’t know or see very often, especially when he’s tired, his little bottom lip goes out and he starts to cry.

We're having a little trouble adjusting to daylight savings time. We have tried to explain to him that when we "fall back" grownups like to use the extra hour for sleep, but he then explained to us that babies like to use that extra hour to play!

Trick or Treat!!!

2009-11-01T07:48:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was Patrick's first Halloween and first time Trick or Treating, and it was a so much fun! We joined Liz, Luke, and Annabelle for Trick or Treating in Peoria. Patrick was such a trooper being carried all over the neighborhood without any fussing at all. He was lucky to have his cousin Annabelle with him because Annabelle may just be the best Trick or Treater EVER. She was incredibly efficient and polite. She made it so much fun and had us cracking up all night. Thanks Liz, Luke, and Annabelle for a fun evening!

Ready to go:

Daddy and Monkey:

Gotta hold hands when crossing the street:

Patrick, Daddy, Uncle Luke and Cousin Annabelle:

Halloween Spooktacular

2009-10-26T20:11:00.006-05:00

This weekend was a fun one! It started with little man proving me wrong and rolling from tummy to back for the first time on Friday night! So exciting - since he prefers to be helped to stand, I was seriously starting to think he was never going to make any more progress rolling. He has been rolling to his side to sleep, but now when he's done with tummy time, he can just roll over and chill on his back. Silly little man.

Sunday, I had to be up in north for Mara's bridal shower and Patrick was going to a Halloween celebration with Grammy and Grandpa. I didn't want to put poor Patrick through too many hours in the car on one day, so we called Grammy and Grandpa P and asked if we could come stay on Saturday night and of course, they said yes. So, early Saturday afternoon Patrick and I started the drive north. Lucky for me, he slept the entire time!! We arrived at Grammy and Grandpa's early enough to get out of the car seat and play for a few minutes before heading to church. We went to 5 o'clock mass with them, where Patrick was a hilarious distraction - he had major gas (loud AND stinky!) and sang along with the congregation during all the songs. The only problem with the singing was he didn't actually stop when anyone else did.

Sunday we got a bit of time to relax before we headed back out to visit Great Aunt Pat at work and then run a few errands. We returned back to the house so I could get ready for the shower and Patrick could get his costume on and go to the party. Patrick didn't mind his costume and looked adorable, but was apparently very tired - he fell asleep a few minutes into the party and all the way through the trick or treating. Still, he looked cute. Here are a few of our little monkey:

After the party, I headed off to the bridal shower and little man stayed with Grammy and Grandpa, who were nice enough to watch him and then bring him to me at the end of the shower, saving me much time in the car. Unfortunately, Patrick was a bit overtired and decided that he wanted OUT of the car seat. Thus, I had a 3+ hour drive with a baby screaching for more than half the time. (I even stopped at Wendy's so I could get him out of the seat and try to calm him, but no such luck. I couldn't believe it - Wendy's always makes Ryan feel better!!) Still, we got home safe, which is all that matters. And, while we were gone Ryan and Papa Mike had done a ton of work on the house, which was so great to see. Overall a fantastic weekend.

Thanks to the Grandparents for all they do for us!!!

Great Grandma's Birthday

2009-10-20T20:45:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a little less eventful than last weekend, thankfully. On Saturday, Papa Mike came over to help Ryan get the garage doors working while Patrick and I went shopping in the morning. In the afternoon, Patrick decided that he didn't want to go down for a nap. Frustrated, I put Patrick in his new exersaucer to play while I prepped food for Sunday. After a few minutes of electronic noises and songs, there was silence. I turned around to find this:Patrick fell asleep playing - it was adorable. Unwilling to move him and thus wake him, I left him to sleep there (bad mommy!). When he woke up, he just resumed playing as if he hadn't slept at all, like he had been on pause. This kid cracks me up!

Sunday, we took a drive up to Aurora to celebrate (Great) Grandma Ruth's 91st birthday. Patrick had a great time meeting his Great Grandma, his great Aunts and great Uncle, and seeing many of his Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Here are a few pics:

Matthew, Patrick, and Sean

Lucy and Patrick

Four generations: Great Grandma Ruth, Patrick, Papa Mike, and Daddy

Punkin' Pickin'

2009-10-12T05:43:00.010-05:00

Hi all! Patrick here again. This weekend, Mommy and Daddy made me go pumpkin picking. We met my friend Henry and his Mommy and Daddy at the farm. I was crabby the ENTIRE time, refusing to give even one little smile. I didn't even like my first time on a teeter-totter, tolerating it for only a minute before screaming. Still, Mommy said I looked adorable in my blue striped bibs, and insisted on taking pictures of my crabby face. Here are a few:

"Daddy. I'm not so sure about this place":

"Really? Propping me up in front of pumpkins? Isn't that a bit cliche?"

Check out this that lip:

Mommy and me!:

Teeter-totter with Henry and his Mommy Leslie:

Hiding under my monkey blanket:

Pictures!!!

2009-10-04T15:17:00.012-05:00

Here are the pics I promised from the last 6 weeks:

Helping Daddy move dirt

Celebrating Daddy's birthday at Guadalajara

Talking with my friend Henry!

Buddies

Pooped from celebrating Daddy's birthday all weekend

Ready to walk the doggies with Mama.

cranky baby

Mama and her 2 little guys

Flying baby!!

Cuddling with Uncle Andy at dinner

Grandpa P carried me ALL over the Apple and Pork Festival

All tuckered out

Looking innocent, with the bib to match.

4 months!!

2009-10-03T09:45:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the timing of our move and the lack of internet that followed, we missed posting Patrick’s 3 month accomplishments. I promise I’ll get some pictures from the last 6 weeks posted, but in the meantime, here’s a little bit about our little man at 4 months!

Patrick at 4 months:

Can’t decide whether he likes or hates baths. Sometimes he’s a joy, sometimes he screams. Either way, he clearly prefers daddy’s baths to mommy’s.

Had his first round of shots and has his second round in a couple of weeks. He cried less than mommy did and calmed down faster.

Is a great eater, but isn’t quite ready to switch from the slow flow to the medium flow bottle nipples. We keep trying, but he drowns.

Is quite a talker – he loves to have long “conversations” with anyone who will talk with him. (And sometimes himself)

Is super smiley and has developed a “real” laugh, different from his baby giggles. His ‘real’ laugh only escapes once in a while and tends to surprise him.

He LOVES to travel in his Baby Bjorn. He is happy as a clam riding on Mommy or Daddy’s chest while we take family walks with the dogs. (He even rode in it all day when we went to the Apple and Pork Festival.)

Had another trip to the hospital. There were needles involved. Yes, he screamed. Yes, I cried. Better not to think too much about it.

Thinks his Daddy is the greatest guy EVER. His little face just lights up every time he sees Daddy. Or maybe he’s laughing at the hair :P

Falls asleep on his own with no problem and is starting to wake up happy (as opposed to screaming for food)

Has an incredible tolerance for a wet diaper. Probably not a good sign for eventual potty training!

Does not roll over. Shows no interest in it whatsoever. What the heck, kid?

Scoots around on his back like crazy while he sleeps. Every morning I find him all turned around and in a corner of his crib, many times with an arm or leg hanging out.

Chews on his hands all the time and drools like crazy. Do we have teeth in our near future?

Likes to watch his kittens. Also likes to watch TV, much to mommy’s dismay.

Can sit up from a reclined position.

Loves to stand up (while we hold his arms or hips) – he’s incredibly strong. Why am I starting to get the feeling we’re going to go from sitting to walking and skip crawling all together?

Yesterday, Patrick and I went to see the doctor for his 4 month appointment. (Poor daddy was sick and couldn't go with.) Our little growing champ is 15#6oz and 24.5 in long. Dr. has given us the go ahead to start rice cereal anytime, although I confess I'd rather wait until 6 mos. We'll see. We're not trying anything new until we get everyone back to relatively good health in this house.

Since Ryan is still sick, my only time to post is when little guy naps. If Patrick takes a decent nap this afternoon, I'll get some pics posted. Fingers crossed!!

Weekend fun!

2009-08-14T07:36:00.008-05:00

I don’t work on Fridays, so I got to spend that day with my boy. We started the day by getting my oil changed, with Patrick entertaining the other people in the waiting area with his smiles. After that we set up garbage service for the new house before heading to lunch with Daddy and his coworker Rufio. (Not his real name. The poor guy’s real name is Michael, but I jokingly told him I had too many Michaels in my life to keep track of another one. So he picked a new name. And he picked Rufio. Don’t ask me.)

Saturday morning, Patrick went with me to prompt care and was an absolute angel the entire time we were there. It was a long wait, but he sat patiently in his seat, not uttering a peep! I was so afraid he’d start crying right when the doctor came in to see me, but he was perfect. Once that was finally done, we headed out to the new house to see Daddy and wish Papa a happy birthday. Saturday night we had the best treat – Ryan came home early, early enough that I was able to grocery shop and make a home-cooked meal. I have been cooking so rarely lately that this was a huge treat for me. I also got some time to take pics of my baby on Sat - take a look at this handsome devil:

Sunday morning started off with some family cuddle time before we got out of bed to get ready for our day trip to Peoria to celebrate Aunt Liz, Uncle Luke, and Papa’s birthdays. Patrick did pretty good in the car and great at Grandma and Papas. He got really, really scared when his doggie 'cousin' Marley jumped on him, but once he calmed down from that, the rest of the day was great. Here are some pics:

Nap time on Grandma Triiish (check out the lip and the drool...classic!)

Chillin' with Uncle Luke

Cuddling with Aunt Ela and Gabriella

Getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday"

And you thought Ryan's hair couldn't get any goofier looking.

Annabelle helping Grandma with a diaper change - what a sweetheart!

We're really looking forward to this weekend. We're going to get to spend time with all the grandparents AND Aunt Liz, Uncle Luke and Annabelle as everyone descends on Clinton for a last minute "get the house done" push. Could a weekend get any better?

Back to Reality

2009-08-12T20:18:00.003-05:00

Last Monday, I went back to work and Patrick started day care. The first morning was a bit rough, to say the least. Since I start work so early, Ryan will be dropping Patrick at day care, but for the first day I arranged to go in late to work so that I could go with to drop Patrick off. I kept it somewhat together at the day care – until I hit the parking lot, where I fell apart. I got it together after a few minutes, but fell apart again about halfway to work. At work I was a trooper, only calling once to check on him, although I confess I worried all day. Work was a good distraction, with everyone welcoming me back and wanting to see pictures, which I was more than happy to share.

Tuesday got off to a rough start – I managed to get up on time and was making every attempt to get to work on time, but just as I was about to walk out the door, Patrick woke up hungry and crying. Although Ryan was there, I didn’t have the heart to leave my crying baby and stayed to feed him. On Wednesday I finally made it out the door on time, letting Ryan and Patrick start getting into their morning routine, and we’ve been a well-oiled machine since. We seemed to have settled in now, just in time to move and shake things up, of course!

Patrick has adapted really well to day care. As the littlest one there, there is never a shortage of people wanting to hold him and play with him, which of course is fine with him! He also loves watching the other babies in his room. I’m sure as he gets older, he’ll learn to love it even more.

I haven’t adapted quite as well. I love most everything about my job, and know that I’m very lucky for that. I work with some fantastic people and enjoy what I do. And still, nothing compares to my Patrick (sorry work!). It breaks my heart to leave him and I miss him every second of every day. I have tons of pictures on my desk, but on the rougher days I have to turn them because even looking at him makes me cry. People keep telling me it gets easier, and I hope that it will. I just wonder how people that hate their jobs do it - if it is this rough for someone that loves her job, I can’t imagine what it’s like if you don’t like your work. Geez.

After a rough week of adjusting to daycare / work, we had a fantastic weekend...but I'm so pooped today that i can't keep my eyes open to tell you about it. I'll update this tomorrow or Friday, with more pictures, I promise.

Happy 2 Month Birthday!

2009-08-01T08:52:00.001-05:00

The coolest dude around is 2 months old today.We had Patrick's 2 month appointment last Wednesday, and Daddy and the little man used the time waiting for Dr. to catch a little nap. At that appointment we found out that our little tank weighed in at 11lbs 10 oz.

We can't believe how much he's grown and how much he's changed. What are the biggest things we've noticed?

Patrick sleeps like a champ - at least 6 hours the first half of the night.
He loves to dance with daddy - he's quite good at the lawnmower and sprinkler!
He is getting very chatty, although he loves to talk to other people more than to his mommy and daddy. (VERY frustrating for mommy.)
He has the greatest smile and is particularly smile-y in the morning (where did he get that?)
He loves tummy time!
He is doing great at sitting in his bumbo:
He's moving all over the place in bed - we often wake up to find him scrunched down so far that he's 'wearing' his sleep positioner like big set of earmuffs.
He hates his vitamins. Mommy doesn't blame him, they smell terrible.
He is starting to enjoy his bath, or at least tolerate it. (Except when Mommy accidentally sprays him with cold water.)
He still has all his hair, and it still sticks up every which way.

That's it for now. Off to get ready. Grandma Dorothy is on her way down to play with Patrick while Mommy goes to a tupperware party. After that, we're going to take lunch out to Daddy and Grandpa Phil at the house and then take a ride out to the Carter's store - Mommy has a great coupon and little man is going through clothing sizes so quickly that we need more!

Mommy's Turn

2009-07-22T11:31:00.005-05:00

Ok, so Patrick had his say. Now I'll give you the scoop on our little guy. Patrick is an amazing little dude. Ryan and I are having so much fun with him. He has the greatest little smile and is a pretty happy baby most of the time.

He loves watching ceiling fans and adores his Daddy. He's been doing some major growing in the last week or s0 - I swear, the kid doubled in size practically over night. (Ok, so that's an exaggeration, but it feels like it!) I cried when I had to pack up his newborn clothes, my little man is growing up.

He's a really great sleeper and can sleep through anything, even his Dad's snoring. He's a great eater and is very strong. I can't wait to go to the doctor next week and see how much he's grown. I think it might be time for shots though, and I'm dreading that.

At Patrick's request and Jenny S's encouragement, I'm going to try to set aside some time to update this at least each week. When we move in here in just a few weeks I could have some trouble with internet access, but I'll do my best. Here are a few of my favorite pictures for now:

Hello Everyone!

2009-07-22T10:23:00.012-05:00

Hello everybody, my name is Patrick.

My mommy normally takes care of the blog posts, but she has been VERY slow getting this done, so I just decided to step up and take care of it. (Yes, I'm computer literate at 7 weeks...but the typing is hard with these tiny little hands!)

My first 7 weeks of life have been quite an adventure. Here's a recap.

I started out by arriving 3 weeks early. Unfortunately, that meant I had a little bit or jaundice to deal with. I ended up chillin' in the nursery for a few extra days, gettin' a funky suntan: Mommy and Daddy got to stay down the hall so they could be close to me. Mommy got to stay in her bed, but poor daddy had to sleep on this super comfy couch for the week: After I got a bit less yellow, Mommy and Daddy got to take me home...

where I could relax and play with my feline brothers and sisters:

After just a few days at home, I realized just how silly my Daddy and Mommy can be. Like the day they put me in a silly hat:

Or the day Grandpa P, Mommy, and Daddy wanted to find out how much I weighed and improvised a baby scale with a tile, a bowl, and a kitchen scale:

I also found out that my Daddy is working very hard to build me a house. They took me to see it right away and I got to hang out in my room:

Because of the new house, I also got to take my first trip to Home Depot when I was just a few days old and got to take many trips to Menards. Mommy couldn't resist taking a picture of my first Menards trip. Apparently she and Daddy shop there a bunch and find this to be a big occasion. I told you these people are weird. Here is my Daddy carrying me into Menards:

I also got to take my first trip out of Illinois when I was less than a month old to go to Wisconsin. (Where my Daddy was born!!) We were celebrating Great Aunt Gail and Great Uncle Don's 50th wedding anniversary. How cool is that? I got to meet all of my Great Aunt Gail and Great Uncle Don's family- there are a lot of them! It was a very fun party.

Since it was a special occasion, I had to wear a collared shirt (which Daddy promptly flipped up). I was wearing great plaid shorts too, but it turns out I was born without much of a butt, and even with diapers, they wouldn't stay on.

The best part was we got to see almost all of Daddy's family - I even got to meet my Uncle Dan and cousin Daniel from California. I missed seeing my Aunt Suzy and cousin Emily, but hopefully we'll get to see them very soon. I can't wait for my new cousin to be here! Here's my family on Daddy's side:

Other than that adventure, I mostly get to spend a lot of time at the new house Daddy is building - it is a very cool place and I can't wait to get moved in. Because of something silly called the "economy" my daddy got to stay home from work for two weeks, so we spent a lot of time working at the new house. I have a pack n play out there, and I love to be part of the action. My Grandpas have been working very hard to get my house ready for me to move into, and I'm so grateful for that. My Uncle Don put a ton of work into the house too, thank you Uncle Don. Uncle Luke and my Grandmas have also been a great help. My Mommy tells me all the time how blessed we are to have such a wonderful family. I wonder how I got so lucky to have these people as my relatives?

That's about all I can think of for now, and I'm starting to get hungry. I think I'm going to start letting Mommy know that I want some food. I'll make sure to let Mommy know that she has to be better about updating the blog. I think she'll listen to me, I'm kinda the boss around here now!! Love, Patrick

Welcome Patrick!

2009-06-04T16:36:00.003-05:00

Patrick Eugene Morge

June 1, 2009

7:11 p.m.

7 lbs. 1 oz.

19 inches

Just a couple of pics to start...more coming soon!

What a difference 2 months can make!!!

2009-04-24T07:59:00.007-05:00

It's like I snapped my fingers and suddenly 2 months have passed...here we are at the end of April, and things are moving so quickly - with the house and baby.

First off, the house is coming along wonderfully. Ryan has been working his booty off, as have the contractors and some wonderful family members. So much has been done! The interior framing is done, the roof is on, plumbing is complete, the electrical work very near complete, all the windows and doors, including the garage doors, are up. Also, the exterior wall insulation was started yesterday and will be done today and the siding is going up. Check it out: The drywall people are coming next week to start, which will really make it look as finished inside as it is out. Our cabinets are on order and out kitchen appliances have been delivered and are waiting off-site for installation. We're been really lucky, in that other than having some wonky-acting shingles and a certain cabinet/lighting place forgetting to place the order for our fireplace, things have been relatively smooth. (Relative to the insanity that normally seems to go with building.) The weather did slow us down a little, but we've gotten a lucky break in the last few days - lets hope it continues.

Since it is now staying light in the evening, I'm making every attempt to go out there as often as I can, although my ever-growing belly is making walking on the rock driveway a little treacherous.

Speaking of the ever-growing belly, baby is doing great. He's (oh yeah, did we ever oficially mention its a "he"?) a big baby, and although ultrasounds can be deceiving, appears to have a full head of crazy hair (although who knows if he'll still have that hair at birth). The u/s tech commented that from what we can see so far, this kid looks just like Ryan. Not a bad thing, in my opinion. I'm in the 'appointments every 2 weeks' phase of pregnancy, so I have another appt. this Monday morning. If anything new and exciting comes up, I'll post. I'll also try to get some interior house pictures up here soon - I'll definintely have some when the drywall starts going in.

I can't believe both the baby and the house will be "done" soon!

Looking like a house!

2009-02-21T09:24:00.013-06:00

It's looking more and more like a house every day. Let's catch you up!

Thanks to some serious wind, work was focused on the back of the house for a while. The first thing that went up was the back deck overhang:

Then they started covering it... (that's goofball framer Jeff posing up there.)

And when it was all covered, someone mentioned that the back of the house at that point looked a little like a newly-built Catholic church...so one of the framers (Jeff again) decided to put a cross up for us:

The weekend after that, Ryan, Papa, and Andy worked on the wiring, getting the boxes set where they need to be.

And soon after that, the rest of the boards on the roof as well as the front porch were going up:

And then, in what seemed like no time at all, the front porch was completed, the roof was papered, and the windows were in.

When Ryan and I stopped in yesterday we were just in time to watch the rest of the doors go in. Here's Trevor and Drew putting in the mudroom door:

Paul making a backing for the meter boxes:

Drew and Jeff carrying the front door. They were trying to navigate some really unsteady terrain and were afraid they were going to drop it - right before this picture was taken Jeff mumbled "Man, I really would prefer the homeowner not watch this!"

But in no time, the door was in place and looking wonderful!

As are the beautiful sliding glass doors that are on the back wall of the great room. Don't they look fabulous??

And here it stands now. Doors are in, windows are in, and its almost warm in there without the wind blowing through. Papa and Ryan are working today on getting some drywall up between the house and the garage, which will help even more. The plumber and HVAC people start doing their thing this coming week.

And on the baby front...
I saw the doctor on Monday and everything is looking fine. I had my belly measured for the first time and I'm right on track. Got to hear the little one's heartbeat again also, and its strong and perfect. I see the Dr. again in mid-march, and then start going every 2 weeks. Woohoo!

More soon!

Oh, and did I mention???

2009-02-02T17:50:00.007-06:00

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!

Ryan and I are anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child, due this summer. The details? Baby is due June 20th. We've had a couple of ultrasounds so far and everything is looking great - baby is quite adorable, if we do say so ourselves.

My health has been good so far - nothing out of the ordinary. A little morning sickness there, some heartburn here, but all in all, this has been a fun adventure. I'm blessed to be surrounded by so many awesome women who have already done this pregnancy thing and have offered me some great advice and wisdom on how to deal with the less fun aspects of pregnancy.

I'll keep updating this blog with both baby and house news as it becomes available. It'll be interesting to see which gets done first, the house or the baby! Oh, and we are working on getting the baby guess pool together; as soon as that is ready, we'll post it here. Some of you have already given your gender/date/weight guesses, and I want to make sure I work those in so that you don't have to reenter them. I'm also hoping to get some of the ultrasound pictures up here too, but that's a little trickier. I'm working on it!

P.S. - Thanks Ela for sending the pic. And thank to all of you who kept our little secret as long as you did, we really appreciate it.

Moving right along!

2009-01-31T17:22:00.007-06:00

When we last left this blog, the framing was done and the trusses were about to go up. There has been major progress made since then, check it out!

The garage was boarded up first and then in no time, the roof trusses started going up:

Then the garage trusses went up (I know they're professionals, but this makes me very nervous. If you met them, this would probably make you nervous too):
After which the trusses over the bonus room (aka Meghan's Room) and the boards on parts of the roof were added:

And because I love my room so much, even when filled with snow, here's an inside view:

And here we are now. The roof trusses are in place, the Tyvek is going up and the weather, for now, is cooperating.

Today, Ryan and Papa spent the day working on wiring the garage. I made a rare appearance to shiver and watch them work.

And that's about it for house news. Should have some more pictures next week as progress marches on. For those of you anxiously awaiting the post on the news you already know, it's coming, I promise. Have to get some little details finished. I'll have it posted tomorrow, and with any luck will also have some pictures.

From hole in the ground to whole lotta house!

2009-01-12T15:43:00.014-06:00

For as impatient as I am, it's amazing to me how quickly some of this stuff happens. And how quickly I get behind on updating the blog so that friends and family can see the house without having to trek out onto the ice covered country roads. But enough about that...you want to see the house!!!

In spite of some very uncooperative weather and a bunch of holiday and birthday time, a lot has happened at the house in the last few months.

When we last left this blog, the basement was poured. After that, came the basement framing:

Once that first floor was down, things really started moving. Before we knew it, the walls were going up! Trevor and his crew have worked hard, but so have the many wonderful family members who have devoted some of their precious free time to this effort. Here's one of the few pictures I have of family working, Papa Mike, Mike, and Ryan, building walls for Trevor to put up. (Excuse the dorky hats on Ryan and Papa. Even though they insisted they were fine, I was cold, so I bought them those hats and made them put them on.) More walls:

Ryan's awesome garage:

Soon after that, we were looking at the next floor going in:

And just this last week, the walls on the second floor have gone in. So now, you're all caught up. As of Sunday, this is the house.

From the front:

And the back:

Trevor had the walls/boards up on the garage before the weather turned this week. The snow, wind, and very bitter cold stopped progress this week, but with temps in the 30s and clear skies predicted for next week, things should be moving again soon.

Quick little side note since I'm the one writing this blog and I get to do things like this...

Ryan has been so amazing with this whole process, he spent most of his Christmas vacation at the house working with Trevor and the guys and putting his blood, sweat, and tears into the house. No, I mean literally. Look what happened:

Ok, so granted I took the picture after that had some time to heal, so it doesn't look that bad. But it has a great story. Yes, that's right, my dear husband got hit in the head with a 2X4. Apparently Trevor was picking up the board and didn't realize Ryan was behind him. It hit him in the face and landed on his chest, giving him that lovely scratch and an even lovelier bruise. Ryan has healed up nicely and has a great story to take with him from this process.

House update

2008-11-23T17:28:00.007-06:00

Wow, this update is long overdue. But since tomorrow is a big day in our construction timeline, I suppose I’d better catch everyone up. The power was just the beginning and the last 6 or so weeks have been crazy full of changes to the property. I suppose I could go back and figure out exactly what day everything happened, but really, who cares that much about the details!? (Hopefully no one, cuz I ain’t lookin’ it up!) Anyway, here’s the catch up…

First, the nice men came out and put in our septic tanks and field. (Note: I chose this picture because the dirt pile hides the ginormous piece of Deere equipment they brought in to do the job. Maybe they don’t know how it works in this family.)

Then, they dug us a giant hole:
Which, of course, Ryan had to climb into:
Then there were wall footings, rocks, and drainage stuff.

And while all that was going on, the nice men in the big red truck came and dug us a well. They hit water within 2 feet of where they thought they would, it is quality water and the pressure is great. Yeehaw!

And then, the wall frames appeared.
And were put in place a short time later
And the walls were poured

While those dried, the plumber came in and roughed in the basement plumbing, and when he was done, the concrete man was back to pour the floors

Hey, it looks like a real basement now! Ok, so the only way in and out is walking across 2X8s and then taking a ladder down, but who cares.

Here is the view from the top of one of the giant dirt piles:

Ryan looks very proud with what he has coordinated so far, as well he should be.

I think that’s about it for now. Over the weekend, the supplies were delivered for the framer, who is scheduled to start tomorrow. I'd have pictures, but they're still in the camera. And the camera is in the truck. And the truck is with Ryan, out at the new house. Hopefully I'll have more to add tomorrow. There is some rain in the early morning forecast, but we’re crossing our fingers. More soon!

Power

2008-10-14T17:22:00.006-05:00

Nothing too exciting to note... 2 weekends ago Ryan and I put up the temporary power pole (a few hour project that turned into an all weekend project!). When we went back last Friday, we found it all hooked up. So, technically, we have power! If only we had something to plug in...
I have no pictures of the hooked up power yet (not that they'd be all that exciting), but I do have some from the process of putting up this crazy thing.

Quikrete is our friend.

Maybe this wasn't the safest place to stand...but it worked!

With any luck, they'll be breaking ground this week. Imagine, if the weather holds, we'll have a hole in the ground before this weekend! More later!

Closing Complete

2008-10-03T21:04:00.003-05:00

Quick update: Done! We closed on the construction loan this afternoon. Tomorrow we head out to the property to set up the temporary power pole, and then as soon as the permits go through, excavation can begin. Cue the Jeopardy music as we wait...

End of Summer Recap and House News

2008-10-01T19:02:00.011-05:00

Wow. This summer just disappeared. August was a busy month, which probably had a lot to do with how it flew by. So, before we go on, a recap, with some pictures.

In August:

We attended a baby shower for our friends Brad and Meagin. Their beautiful baby girl Molly was born 2 weeks ago.
We met with the drilling people to choose the location of the well. Much to our disappointment, there was no divining rod involved. We were really hoping, but alas, there is definitely water anywhere we go on our property, so we just picked a spot.
Meghan attended the Illinois State Fair with her dad. They had so much fun – saw more food “on a stick” than you could ever imagine. (Cheesecake, pizza, alligator – you name it!) At Andy's suggestion, they watched the society horse show, which sounds weird, but is fascinating. Plus, no trip to the fair is complete without a visit to the Dairy Barn to see the butter cow and indulge in fresh cream puffs.

Delicious!!

We had a great weekend in Peoria – the West Coast contingent came to town, the men went golfing, the whole family gathered for 'formal' pictures, and we capped off the weekend with Gabriella’s baptism and party. It was so wonderful to get to see and spend time with the whole family and to see beautiful Gabby baptized into the Catholic Church. Dan, Sue, Daniel, Emily, Kevin, Ela, Gabriella – we miss you all and can’t wait to see you again!
We joined Mama, Papa, Mia, and Madison for the Obama-Biden rally in Springfield. Despite the oppressive heat, crazy crowds, lack of water, and Meghan spending most of the time in the medical area after nearly passing out, it was an amazing experience. It was a historic moment at a historic location, and we were there. So cool.

Obama watches as Biden speaks.

We completed the paperwork for our construction loan and began the month long jeopardy-music-finger-tapping wait.
Meghan's mom came down to Decatur for a visit and they had a great day of shopping in Clinton and Bloomington – always a good time.
We built a small shed on our new property with the assistance of Andy and James. Needless to say, the boys did most of the labor, but Meghan held her own, took lots of pictures and did the first aid run. First aid, you ask? Yes. In true do-it-yourself tradition, we had an injury. We’ll spare the details, but Ryan gave himself a really nasty cut on his ankle. Instead of going to the hospital, we chose to clean it with bottled water, bandage it, wrap it in tape, cover it with a sock and out Ryan back to work. The next day we did go to the doctor where we were told that he should have had stitches but it was too late. Doh. Hey, Ryan has a pretty scar to remember the weekend by.

Wrapping the ankle. Note the most important First Aid kit item: Miller Lite.

A job well done!

We attended one of Michael Aaron's JFL games. So much fun - for the players and the spectators.

Running for a touchdown!

September was a little more calm…

We celebrated Ryan’s birthday with a trip back to Peoria. (Who can resist Papa’s homemade pizza?)
We attended a wedding shower for our friends James and Andrea, after which Ryan celebrated James’ dwindling bachelorhood with the guys at the bachelor party. They saw Donnie Baker and then…it was a bachelor party, let’s leave it at that.
On the 25th, we found out that our loan was approved and the wheels were set in motion. Wheeee!!!!
Last weekend we headed to Mundelein to visit Mom and Dad P and to window shop and make decisions on housing materials.

Yesterday, James assisted us with picking the location of the new house. For most people, this would be a simple task. But for silly ol’ Meghan and her lack of vision, it required measurements, flags, paint, and Ryan pacing things out saying “Now, I’m in front of the bedroom.” “Ok, you’re in the kitchen” “This is the back porch.” Our neighbors probably think we’re bonkers.

And so we enter October.
This morning, Ryan met with the excavator and made a trip over to the county building. The septic and building permits are in process and the house is all staked out. Take a look.

I think that's our front door....

Friday we meet with the title company to close on the loan – very exciting. On Monday, we get our well.
The rest of the month will be exciting as well. Between both our baseball teams in the postseason, house stuff, a couple of milestone birthday parties and a wedding thrown in for good measure, this month will probably fly by.

Thanks for you patience on such a long entry. We'll work on keeping them more frequent and shorter. And hopefully before long we’ll have some house pictures with something in them!!!

It's Happening!!!

2008-09-25T20:37:00.008-05:00

OK, we know. It has been 2 months of no updates. We've done so much over the last 8 weeks and have a bunch of pictures to share. And we will, soon. But today's update is brief and exciting; we have happy news. This morning we received word that our file was approved. All we have to do now is the closing. Things are finally in motion! We anticipate the excavator will visit the property on Wednesday to map out the house and do some measurements. Real house-building activity! We're on our way!

Oh, and we have a culvert now. Wanna see? Thought so. Here it is:

More to come...

I promised prints, so here ya go!

2008-07-25T08:26:00.017-05:00

You've all been so patient listening to us talk about the land and the new house, either in person or in the blog, that I thought it was time that those of you who haven't seen the prints be subjected to the torture that those of you who have met with us in person have been through. Wait, did I say that? Shame on me!

Anyway, here are the prints of this dream house that Ryan and I have created. And of course, by "us" I mean Ryan did all the drawing and I scrunched my face up when I didn't like something. If you're like me, these prints will mean very little to you - I have no vision whatsoever and cannot see how this flat page translates to a real, 3 dimensional house. If you're like Ryan and so many of the people that have seen these, enjoy - you'll be able to picture this all in glorious 3-D. Tell me how it is, will ya?

Here is the front and back of the house. Well, technically the back and the front of the house. Can anyone guess how much it bugs someone in my line of work that he put the back of the house above the front of the house? Alas, the house: (Note: you can click on any of these pics for a larger view.)

Here are the sides of the house:
As you can tell, we have a problem with giant cats at the new house. Giant cats are very common out in the country. We'll learn to live with it.

(Special note to Poppa P - I had to rewrite that multiple times to get around the "miniature horse" phenomenon!)

Here is the first floor:
AAK! The giant cat got in the new house! SCRAM, giant cat!!

There, that's better:
No, that post near the entrance to the kitchen will not be there. (Whew!) Note the rockin' walk-in pantry, wrap-around porch and covered deck. Who is coming over for BBQ?

On to the second floor. Plenty of room for family and friends to come stay. See the "Bonus Room"? It's all mine. It's a little known fact (since I just made it up) that "Bonus" is a home building term that means "Meghan's." Look it up, I dare ya. Unless you've got better things to do. And I really hope you do.

(Don't worry, men. Ryan will have a barn all to himself.)

So that's the house. Oh, wait, I should probably give you a little color in this post, huh?? Ok, here are some of the views from the house. This picture was taken from the future location of our driveway, facing the nearest human neighbors. That's their barn.

This is the view to the other side:

Out the front of the house:

And off the back of our property:

MOOOOOOOOO!

And then it was July...

2008-07-18T19:13:00.011-05:00

I swear, it was like I woke up this morning and June was gone. And half of July. What happened? This summer is slipping away so quickly!

Quick recap: June was a quiet month. It included a trip to Arizona for Ryan:

a Kenny Loggins concert for me, and a serious sense of "old" for both of us as we celebrated our nephew Matthew’s 16th birthday.

July has been somewhat quiet so far as well. July 4th weekend included a visit from Mom and Dad P, and since then, its just been mostly new house stuff. Well, actually, we did have some excitement in the form of a basement slowly filling with water coming from the fireplace. It was a sight to see, water from a fireplace – very yin/yang. We were lucky – there was no damage to anything and only had to throw out a few little things that got in the path of the water. Ryan did some investigating, found the cause of the flood, fixed it, and we’ve been dry ever since.

Speaking of house stuff, here’s the story on the new house: We’re very close to having the prints completed – just a few small changes left to go. We’re gathering estimates and quotes like crazy, and although it’s a lot of work, it is also a lot of fun.

Anyway, here are some pics from the past month:

Mama, Liz, Annabelle and I stumbled upon this scene in the backyard and decided it was the Lamest Parade Ever. Really cute guys, but no music. No horses or elephants either. They could have at least thrown candy!

In all seriousness, the boys were trying to tow one tractor/lawnmower with another. All went well - until the rope broke. Don't worry boys, Annabelle knows when her assistance is needed.

Last weekend, we sat down with Walter and Papa before dinner at Mama and Papa’s to go over the prints.

Note: when planning a house, it is important to:

Talk to people who have done it before.
Hire trusted sub-contractors
Be flexible.
Drink beer.

If beer isn’t available, wine will do. Right, Walter?

After dinner, Walter's daughter (and Elzbieta's sister! Shoutout to our Seattle siblings!) Danuta brought her son Tomasz over to play with Annabelle. Annabelle knows a cute boy when she sees one and wastes no time grabbing his hand.

Ok, thats it for now. I have some images of the prints that I'm going to post later this weekend, for those of you that have heard about this house but would like to see what the beast may someday look like. Stay tuned!

Fun on "the land"

2008-05-24T08:22:00.013-05:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend!! A long weekend seems like a perfect time to get caught up on all the blog posts I've been neglecting.

The last 2 weeks have been mostly fun but not overwhelmingly eventful. Since the last post, we've made 2 trips to Peoria - one to celebrate Mother's day and one to visit the kitchen design place and then bug Walter for information/advice, and 2 trips to the "chicagoland area" - one for a Welcome Baby open house for my best friend Sammi's little guy Cooper and one for a wake. But that's not fun, so moving on...

The house stuff is going well. Ryan has been working hard to design/customize a beautiful home for us and it looks amazing on paper (computer monitor). He has also been making calls and appointments getting all the first steps out of the way. So far we (and by "we" I mostly mean "he") have met with the power people to discuss where all the stuff will go, have discussed all the details with the propane people, have met with the excavation guy (side note to the ladies: CUTIE!), have had soil samples taken (not once, but twice) and picked up the neverending forms from CEFCU for the new construction loan.

During all this, we also got a great new camera so that we can document the process of building our first home. Unfortunately, with nothing happening on the land just yet, our pets and family members have been the guinea pigs for us figuring out the camera settings. Oh, and thanks to an extremely generous friend, we now have photoshop, and have been having a ton of fun with that. (I am actually thinking about creating a second blogger site dedicated to photos, just so that family and friends who dont want to see 500 pictures of cows dont have to.)

Until next time, here are some random photos from the last couple of weeks:

"I hear what you're saying Uncle Ryan, I'm just not sure I agree."

Ryan, I know its called a "fainting couch," but I'm pretty sure they'll let you just sit on it.

"So, how long until they get tired of taking pictures of us?"

Hello from the land!

Ryan, stop laughing! What's wrong with my boots?

Landowners at last!

2008-05-05T17:26:00.000-05:00

Well, we've done it. Ryan and I are officially the owners of 2 acres of land in Clinton, IL. Nothing much to tell, the closing went smoothly, lots of papers to sign, you know the deal. We got to meet Merle's wife Helen (Merle is our real estate agent & new neighbor) and she seems like a really great lady. While Ryan and Merle talked farming and well digging, Helen gave Meghan the scoop on all the neighbors. Here are some pictures of the land from yesterday and today.

Mom and Dad P came down to visit yesterday with Seamus. Here's dad and Seamus standing in what will be our front yard (poor little Seamus almost gets lost in the grass!):

This is the view from the back corner of the land (that small orange spot out there is the Mustang):

After the closing, Merle was kind enough to indulge Meghan's request for a "SOLD" sign. Here he is wrestling with the sign:

Ryan steps in to help Merle attach the "SOLD" sign:

And here we are, the proud landowners (YAY!):

May already?

2008-05-03T09:16:00.000-05:00

Somehow I can hardly believe its May already. Time seems to be flying by, but at least spring is finally here.

The kittens are very happy that it is finally spring!!

Not a whole lot has happened since our last post. Aunt Pat is back in the hospital dealing with a bacterial thing. She's in fairly good spirits and keeping her sense of humor up. They hope to send her home in the next couple of days and we hope this will be the last of it. Your continued good thoughts and prayers, as always, are appreciated.

The babies Logan and Cooper are both doing wonderful, growing like weeds and keeping their mommies busy. Baby Gabriella will be joining the family any day now - she's due on May 11th, Mother's Day! Kevin and Elzbieta are very excited, and the rest of the family is anxiously awaiting her arrival.

It looks like Mom and Dad Pokryfke are finally going to get the "old" house sold here soon. As hard as it is to see my childhood home sold, I'm excited to see this finally happening with the housing market as it is. The closing is scheduled for mid-May, and even though there have been a few bumps in the road, everything appears to be on schedule. What a relief that will be to them.

As for us, things are going well. Ryan and I close on our land Monday afternoon. He's cool as a cucumber, but I'm a little nervous. Mama and Papa Morge came down last weekend and took a tour of the land with us. Mom and Big Poppa P are coming to visit tomorrow and get their tour of our lovely 2 acres.

Oh, and for your enjoyment...Mama Morge was kind enough to give us a preview of what Ryan and I are going to look like living on the "farm":

More soon!

April Showers...of blessings

2008-04-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

So, yeah, I've missed updating about a month. With any luck I'll have some time yet this weekend to update and add some pics, but in the meantime, here's a quick update on some of the bigger things that have happened.

My dear friend Rachel welcomed a baby boy (Logan Thomas) on March 21st. Both mommy and baby are doing wonderful.
I ran/walked my first official 5K race on March 29th, and even got a very cool medal for finishing. Next race: Race for the Cure Decatur, June 28th. Gonna run that one!
Yesterday (4/10) my bestest friend Sammi and her husband Brett welcomed their first child, a son, Cooper Dean. Mommy, daddy, and baby Cooper are all doing well, and "Aunt" Meghan can't wait to see them all!
My Aunt Pat had her surgery this morning, and the results were as good as they could be. The doctors removed her gall bladder and found the largest gallstone they've ever seen. When it came time to remove the other growth, much to the surgeon's shock, it simply peeled off!! It had it irritated, but not invaded the other organs. He said the other organs look like they were skinned, like when you skin your knee, but they should heal on their own. And they did mutiple frozen section pathology tests and found nothing malignant. They will be doing a full work up, but at this point, the news is very, very good. The doctor did comment of the outcome: "All I can say is someone must have been praying for this lady." Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and support during this completely insane time.
Ryan and I are nearly proud landowners. We put an offer on 2 acres of land today and it was accepted. (Thanks, Merle!) Pending financing, we will be living next to a cornfield and in front of a cow pasture before long. MOOOOOOOOOOOO!

More later....

March Madness

2008-03-07T10:01:00.000-06:00

Couple of things today...

Aunt Pat update:
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their love, support, and prayers. I want to apologize for the lack of updated information, but as some of you know, this has been a roller coaster couple of weeks. The ups, downs and uncertainties have been difficult to take, but the outpouring of support and well-wishes has helped everyone get through.

We have learned a lot these past few weeks about the medical world and why its called a “practice.” Sometimes, even doctors get it wrong…

After Aunt Pat’s surgery, the initial determination was made that the tumor found in her body was metastasized gall bladder cancer. However, when the initial biopsy results came back, there was no sign of cancerous cells. Huh? This prompted the doctors to do a needle biopsy of the gallbladder. Those results also came back with no signs of cancerous cells. We were stunned. And confused. It wasn’t bad news, it wasn’t necessarily good news. Heck, it was practically no news. All we knew was that there was a tumor in this poor woman that looked and acted like cancer, but didn’t appear to be cancer on a cellular level. Were the doctors wrong? Were the tests wrong?

The surgeon at Good Shepherd determined that her gallbladder had calcified, but he could offer no explanation for something that looks like cancer, acts like cancer, but doesn’t biopsy like cancer. Aunt Pat was transferred to Rush to be seen by one of the area’s leading gastrointestinal surgeons. He and his partner ordered additional tests, and began to do research. After 2 different scans came back clean, he determined that what Aunt Pat most likely has is a very rare inflammatory gallbladder disease that mimics and is very frequently initially diagnosed as a gallbladder carcinoma. Due to the hardened gallbladder, he is unwilling to rule out cancer completely, but scans of the rest of her body are clear. That’s the good news. The less good news is that this growth will still have to be removed. Because it has invaded some of the neighboring organs, the surgery will not be an easy one.

Aunt Pat will be returning home sometime next week and will spend a few weeks at home regaining her health and strength. Sometime in April, she will return to the hospital for additional and at that point the doctors will come up with a plan and schedule for surgery.
Until then, we will continue to wait, hope, and pray.

Now, less serious news. What we've been up to:
The last few weeks have been hectic for more reasons than those mentioned above.

The weekend of Feb 23rd, Ryan, Mr. "i never get sick", was very sick on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, I exhibited my superior gracefulness by falling in the kitchen, bruising my hip, hurting my wrist, and slamming my head against the floor. Kids, listen to mommy and daddy when they tell you not to run in the house.

The next weekend was no less eventful. Ryan came home sick again on Friday, but thankfully was feeling better by the time Saturday morning came around, since on Saturday, Mom and Dad Morge, Luke, Liz and Annabelle came to Decatur to celebrate Mom and Madison's birthday. The Peoria and Decatur Morges all attended Michael Aaron's basketball game (always very cute and much fun) and of course, Michael Aaron was a scoring machine! And he seemed to enjoy having a huge cheering section. After the game, we headed to Pastabilities for a really fun family dinner.

Sunday morning, I woke up with bad back pain - apparently i had hurt myself during my boot camp training on Saturday and had made things worse by picking up and carrying my sweet Annabelle around (worth it!) so i spent most of Sunday resting while Don and Ryan worked on the basement.

That's about it from us for now. I'll be heading to Indy on Saturday to visit Sammi and Brett, but beyond that, should be a low-key weekend. 'Bout time!!

Love y'all!

Prayers Needed

2008-02-26T11:42:00.000-06:00

I know, I promised a more upbeat entry this time. I lied.

As some of you may know, my Aunt Pat has been experiencing some major medical problems. After a trip to the emergency room with severe jaunice and fever, a scope was done which showed a mass on her gall bladder that we feared might be a tumor of some sort. This morning, my Aunt had surgery to determine the cause of her symptoms and identify the mass. The news after surgery was the worst case scenario. My aunt pat has gallbladder cancer, which has spread to her small bowel and possibly her liver. The extent of this tumor means that removing it is not an option. Chemotherapy and radiation may help to shrink the tumor to an operable size, but it is unlikely that they will help much, if at all.

At this time, I am asking for your thoughts and especially your prayers. Please keep my Aunt Pat in your prayers, pray for strength and comfort for her. Pray for her family, her husband Charlie and her kids John, Peter and his wife Vicky and their son Nathan, and Katie and her husband Jamie, that they may have the strength to support each other and their wife/mother at this extremely difficult time. And pray for us, her extended family, especially my mom and Aunt Marianne. I know that watching their sister go through this is especially difficult and stressful for them.
If prayer is not your thing, please just keep us in your thoughts.

Your love and prayers are greatly appreciated.
Love,
Meghan

A Decaturiffic Snow Day

2008-02-01T18:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday around 2:00, it started to snow. And kept snowing. And snowing. When it finally stopped around noon today, we were left with over 10 inches of the beautiful but messy white stuff. For those of you not living in Central Illinois, its pretty much shut down around here. It takes a lot to get them to shut down the State Farm corporate offices, but thousands of SF'ers got to go back to bed this morning.

Anyway, not the point of the story. While I don't work on Fridays and have been lucky enough to get to cuddle with my kittens while i curl up on the couch in my sweats, Ryan went to work. As we live on a non-essential roadway, we've yet to see a plow. And even with the sandbags in the F150, Ryan had trouble getting out of the driveway and up the street. I heard his tires spinning and peeked outside to check on him and saw our next door neighbor walking out to the truck. Without saying a word, he started pushing, and I watched as he pushed the truck up the worst part of the hill. Once Ryan got going and I settled back inside, I couldn't help but dwell for a little while on how lucky we are to live in such a friendly and wonderful neighborhood. Little did I know...

I confess, my morning included an indulgent little nap. When I woke up, I was still thinking about how great it was for our neighbor to do something nice for someone else, and I decided that it might be nice to shovel the driveway so that Ryan wouldn't have to do it when he got home. I bundled up in my adorable little cherry boots, winter coat and gloves and headed out to shovel. I watched car after car make their way along our snow covered street, each person waving a cheery hello. The snow was heavy and deep, but I was making progress. About half an hour into the shoveling, I saw a tan truck, one of the first that had driven by, pull up and park in front of the neighbor's house. I knew it wasnt the neighbor, but I had no clue who it was. Out of the truck emerged a tall man in tan coveralls. He grabbed a shovel out of his truck, walked over, and asked if he could help. Without waiting for an answer, he started to shovel. We talked as we worked - his name is John, he's currently unemployed, his mother lives in Waukegan and his sister lives down the street from us. She's a schoolteacher with two grown children. John had driven over to take his sister out to buy some salt, as his truck could handle the snow better than her car. He said that the first time he drove by, Jesus said to him of me "she might need some help". When he drove by the second time and I was still out working, he decided to listen and stop. When we had finished, I offered him a warm drink, to buy him lunch, anything I could think of. He refused. I begged him to let me do something for him, and he told me if I would have a wonderful day, that would be enough for him. When I thanked him for his help, he thanked me for letting him help, smiled, shook my hand, and was gone almost as fast as he had appeared.

I came back in the house to warm up and just haven't been able to stop thinking about the kindness of strangers in this town. True, Decatur lacks a lot. A decent mall and bookstore for example. But what it does have is wonderful people, generous and kind. The kind of people you can't find just anywhere. Sometimes I spend so much time wishing for the things that this part of Illinois doesn't have that I overlook the things it does. Maybe when Jesus told John that I "might need some help" he wasn't talking about the snow. Maybe he was talking about my perspective.

Decatur - it isn't all bad. :)

(Won't be so serious on the next one, I promise!)

Of Basements and Basketball

2008-01-28T14:39:00.000-06:00

Another weekend, another bunch of work done. And again, I can't take much credit. This past weekend Mama and Papa Morge, and Liz, Luke and Annabelle came down for a visit, and Don came over to help with the house. Saturday morning was spent attacking the basement, dissasembling the pool table and cleaning away. In the afternoon, we all took a break and went to Michael Aaron's basketball game - what a blast!! Michael shows as much hustle in b-ball as he did in soccer, he's such a great athlete. Here are some pics from the game:

Michael knows how important it is to stay hydrated :)

The best looking cheering section ever.

Uncle Ryan cuddles his Annabelle.

Once the game was over, and the supplies were purchased, it was back to work. The rest of Saturday night (with the exception of a dinner break) and Sunday was spent working on the cabinets/wall. When all was said and done, we had beautiful cabinets installed, including the gorgeous blue tile top. Check it out:

Checking for level on the cabinets.

Installing the countertop.

Pibblet surveys the action to make sure things are looking how HE wants them to.

Tiles are in and grouted - beautiful!

Thanks again to Mom and Dad P, Mom and Dad M, Liz, Luke, Annabelle and especially Don for all their hard work!!! You guys are doing more for us and this house than you could ever imagine. We love you all so much!!!

What a week...

2008-01-21T09:49:00.000-06:00

Hey, Meghan here. Last week started off with a bang, literally. That was the noise that the following jar of salsa made when it fell off the shelf in the pantry from about 5 feet up, landing on my toe, resulting in my first ever broken bone. (I can practically hear the sigh of relief from all the Morge kids, seeing that it wasnt a jar of Papa's salsa!)

Hey, I never claimed I wasn't clumsy! Anyway, despite the freezing temperatures, I spent most of last week without a shoe on my right foot. I was unable to stay on my feet for too long without the toe really starting to hurt, but thankfully it has improved, and I can finally put a shoe back on and walk without looking too gimpy.

Things improved greatly when over the weekend Mom and Big Poppa P came down for a visit to celebrate Mom's birthday. Mom and I did as much shopping as one can do with a broken toe, while the boys worked around the house. Thanks to the hard work of Poppa P, Ryan, and Don, the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad wallpaper is FINALLY gone from the bedroom. Here are the boys hard at work:

Ok, so maybe it wasn't ALL work - Ryan and Dad took a little Wii Lego Star Wars Break (nice hair, pops!):

Orlando

2007-12-30T08:30:00.000-06:00

We're home!!! We had a wonderful time in Orlando, and as Mom and Dad M hoped, made some incredible memories. We both enjoyed spending time with everyone; Ryan particularly had a great time with cousin Brian. I (Meghan) really enjoyed a week off work - my first vacation since our honeymoon - my first ever break from 'the Farm.' Here are some of our favorite pictures from the vacation:

The boys at Universal with their favorite x-men (x-women?) - Brian, Rogue, Luke, Ryan, Storm

Elizabeth and Annabelle having a very Merry Christmas at Universal.

Almost the whole crew on Christmas. Back row: Mike, Brian, Luke, Annabelle, Elizabeth, Aunt Paula, Mom, Dad, Jennifer. Middle row: Mia, Michael Aaron, Stephanie, Dan, Emily, Sue, Meghan, Ryan. Front row: Don, Madison, Daniel.

Uncle Ryan making sure that Annabelle (in her first mouse ears) has a good view of the parade.

Aunt Suzy with her two favorite Disney Princesses (Annabelle and Emily)

Ryan and Luke at Chef Mickey's.

The whole family!

Back Row: Dad, Don, Ryan, Kevin, Annabelle, Elizabeth, Daniel, Dan, Mike, Mom

Front Row: Meghan, Elzbieta, Luke, Sue, Emily, Michael Aaron, Mia, Madison, Matthew