We love Andrew!

Naomi and Gabe have been terrific with Andrew. They are gentle but attentive. Even Gabe, our tough guy who runs through the house growling and roaring , always stops to look in Andrew's eyes, stroke his cheek, poke his tummy, etc. Then he continues with his running and roaring.

In the pictures below, they were taking turns poking a pacifier in Andrew's mouth.
Naomi also used the stethoscope to check Andrew's vitals.

And what do we do when Mommy is busy with Andrew?
We sort beans or beads...

...and make yummy treats, like dirt cups. (This was for family night, and Naomi saw the idea in a kid-friendly cookbook given to us by Grandma Jones. Naomi was so very excited to make it, and although she likes all the ingredients separately, she didn't like the final product at all. Gabe, not being picky, finished his off and helped her out with hers.)

Gabe's antics

Gabe received this cape from Aunt Lori for Christmas. He's worn it off and on, but he put it on about a week ago and decided it should NEVER come off again.

And a couple days later, he decided to add the bike helmet to his ensemble. You can imagine how many indulgent smiles we get as he's running through a store with his cape trailing out behind him. He tends to let out squeals of delight as he runs, and it makes me grin every time!

The Little Man Himself

Andrew, 4 weeks old,
hanging out in the bouncy seat

Announcing...

Andrew Frederick Merrell
August 25, 2010
12:33 P.M.
9 lb. 5 oz.
22 inches

Chore charts

Some friends on Facebook requested pictures of chore charts I just barely made for the kids. Since I was uploading them anyway, I decided to stick them on here also. We're starting slowly with small "chores" (ie normal daily tasks) to get them used to it. Then the hard labor will start. Hehe.

The Nap Debate

Gabriel has opted to no longer nap. We (the parents) have fought hard the last few days to get him to nap, but it hasn't happened this week. SO...perhaps it's time to give up the fight.

Here's a picture from yesterday, when Matt told Gabe that if he laid on the couch for 5 minutes with his eyes closed, he could watch a movie. This is his version of "eyes closed". Cheeseball.

Today we didn't even attempt to have him nap. He had quiet time for a bit and then continued on with his day. This is our non-napping child at dinner-time.

And another shot...he was completely asleep and wobbling all over. It was hilarious!

BUT...it makes me think that he is NOT ready to stop napping.

Yep, still pregnant!

For those interested in the details, Val is still pregnant. The original due date was August 14 (which you will note has come and gone). At the 10-week ultrasound, they pushed the due date to August 21 (which is not approaching fast enough). We are very ready to have this baby!

We do not know if it's a boy or girl.
Naomi is adamant it's a girl and Gabe is just as adamant that it's a boy.

At a doctor's appointment today, Val was told she is dilated to a three. She is hoping this baby makes an appearance ASAP. If you want to see a picture of the belly, check out the zoo post below.

Trip to the Zoo

We had another not-so-hot morning, so we took a family trip to the zoo!

Gabe was thrilled with the peacocks this time around and basically chased one around for quite some time. Naomi was more reserved and kept cautioning Gabe to not get too close.

We happened to reach the children's learning center when they were having a storytime (didn't even know they did storytimes there!) about snakes. We cooled off from the heat, listened to snake stories, and even got to touch a ball constrictor.

The ball constrictor's name was Ted.

Both kids touched him without urging. In fact, the picture below is of Gabe's second round petting the snake because the camera wasn't handy the first time around.

Naomi's first day of preschool!

Naomi started preschool last week, and she is loving it! Last year she went to an in-home preschool with a class size of 5 kids and just two days a week. Now she's in a larger class and goes three days a week.

We forgot to snap some pictures before heading out the door in the morning. So here's one of us entering the building!

Naomi immediately found her chair and started playing with playdough while I dashed outside to get the camera.

And this is when she let me pull her away from the playdough fun to pose by a wall.

Fuzzy pictures, but at least we got a little documentation on the big occasion!!

Monsoon Season (and miscellaneous)

July and August are supposed to be monsoon season here in Arizona. And somehow...it doesn't seem to have come this year! We've gotten a few storms, but mostly they have petered out before they got to our area OR they completely jumped over us.

Here are Matt and the kids watching one of the few storms we HAVE gotten out the kids' bedroom window. There was some great lightning that night.

And onto the miscellaneous pics...

Naomi helping me mix colors into pudding to make frozen pudding pops...

Gabe and Eli scaling the bars at the zoo...this was an unexpected treat since the weather was quite a bit cooler than usual one morning, and so we visited the zoo with some friends! Unfortunately, Naomi got three fingers squished in a door and didn't calm down for awhile, so we made a hasty departure.

Gabriel showing one of his many bonks...this kid gets them ALL the time!

And I always love reading pictures!

Cow Appreciation Day

We love Chik-fil-A!

The food is inexpensive and of much better quality than other "cheap chicken" places we've tried. It's clean. And there is a cow present on a weekly basis which will put up with Naomi wanting to dance with it. A win-win for the whole family!

Cow Appreciation Day is a huge event at our house. The kids were excited to plan their costumes, helped cut out the spots (this year we just taped cow spots to their clothes instead of drawing the spots on), and they actually LEFT their spots on while we were in the restaurant. You would be amazed at how much excitement is generated by asking a 2 and 4 year old if they are ready to dress up like a cow!

Here we are, with the cow! (This is the girl version.) Since Matt wasn't interested in dressing up in spots, we went for lunch. Gabe also sported a cape, which isn't shown in the picture above.

And here you see Naomi's excitement at hanging out with the cow. Naomi followed it around and tried to distract it from playing with anyone else in the place.

When I was at the cash register, I heard employees talking about me. They were trying to decide if I qualified for just a sandwich or if I should get a whole meal (must be dressed head to toe in cow apparel to get a meal). They decided that, since I was wearing black and white flip flops, that counted. Plus I heard them say something along the lines of me being hugely pregnant and probably needing some beverage refreshment on a hot day. Haha!!

Merrell update

Since I'm awake at 3:00 A.M. (and have been for awhile), why not post an update on our blog?

Overall family update: we're moving to ATLANTA!!! Matt will be doing his post-doc at Emory University, and we are very excited to move onto this next stage of life! We do not yet have a set date for when we'll be leaving Tucson, but it currently looks like it may be in October (definitely not sooner).

Gabe: his bed has been moved into Naomi's room, turning it into the "big kid room". This transition has actually gone fairly well! He tends to stay awake longer at night and sings pretty loudly, but Naomi apparently is skilled at ignoring him and she conks right out at bedtime.

Naomi: she's counting the days until school starts again, and hopefully dance, too! Our social child accosts pretty much everybody on the street, telling them her name, age, and usually at least one other random fact or story (and it's almost always something they will find completely uninteresting!).

Val: 37 weeks pregnant and getting lots of comments about summer pregnancy in AZ! Besides the comments, I did get a compliment the other day while exercising at the gym (they were impressed I was still exercising at this point in my pregnancy). Little did they know that besides having the benefit of feeling MUCH better after exercising, going to the gym also provides an air-conditioned indoor play activity for my children. :) That's a pretty good incentive around here!

Matt: working hard at the lab here at the University of Arizona. Playing soccer on Fridays, although the season just ended. Keeps busy with projects and tasks thrust on him by Val.

Face painting and the rain!

With the heat, we needed some distraction. SO...we dug out the face painting crayons we had recently purchased and gave them a try!

And then we lucked out and got some rain!

While Naomi and Gabe sang and danced with umbrellas,
Matt grilled us up some yummy dinner. Hamburgers, bratwursts, and pineapple. (The kids, having a less developed sense of taste, preferred microwaved hot dogs.)

CLIFFORD SIGHTING!!

We've been waiting for this event for awhile! (Well, I have...I didn't tell the kids until this morning that we would be meeting Clifford, the BIG RED DOG!!)

The kids got to color some Clifford-themed pictures before storytime, then we listened to some Clifford books being read.

After marching around the bookstore in a parade, we got red balloons and waited in line to meet that most fabulous of all big red dogs!!

Naomi was thrilled! I was thrilled! Gabe was happy to have a balloon. :)

Summertime fun!

Water play in the backyard...

The aftermath of popsicles...

Budding photographer...

Naomi is thrilled to troop around the house with our camera and take pictures. And everything qualifies as subject matter. I've deleted so many pictures of toys, floors, walls, etc.!

Daddy doesn't approve quite so much of me handing off our camera to the 4 year old! This is the look he gives her when she's shooting away like crazy!

Naomi's Preschool Graduation

Naomi thoroughly enjoyed her preschool experience this year, and she "graduated" mid-May. The rest of the kids in her class will be going to kindergarten, but Naomi was a year younger and will thus be returning to preschool.

Here is a picture of her class (started out bigger but lost a few along the way to schedule changes and moving):

Here Naomi is preparing to recite her selected nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty

And here we applaud her recitation of Humpty Dumpty

The receiving of the diploma...

...the hug for Ms. Dana...

...and the offer to give the paper back if she can just keep coming to preschool. :)

This has been a terrific experience for Naomi - she really thrived in the environment and cannot comprehend why anyone would want a summer break! May she continue to enjoy her schooling this much throughout the years!!