Happy Birthday, Iain!

Now that it's Iain's 1st birthday, I'm finally getting the Christmas pictures posted. Maybe if we're lucky I'll have his birthday pictures up by Easter. ;)

Iain opening his first present:
...still...

Iain helping to open another present

Iain enjoying his present. Hey wrapping paper's part of it, right?

Iain wearing one of his Chirstmas presents. Guess which parent chose that outfit for him (I'll give you a hint, it wasn't me!) :)

What are socks for, anyway?

The newest addition to the Keiser family! Monica Elizabeth

Another one of Heidi's babies. You can check out her website at: novantiqua.com (yes, that's a shameless plug.) :)

My two favorite guys, hanging out at home.

This is what happens when you give a baby a bowl of Cheerios, in hopes that the giant size of the bowl will contain them sufficiently. I guess not. There may have been 2 that actually found their way into his stomach. ???

Who knew how fast a year could go? We're not officially celebrating Iain's birthday until Saturday, but I will definitely post those wonderful cake-filled pictures after that.

And our house...

We have our final inspection tomorrow morning. I know, most people only have 1 home inspections, but we're special. :) ...or maybe the city didn't get the water turned on in time for the first one. Anyway, here's to hoping that the winterizing worked and we won't walk into a flooded home. yikes!

If all is good, than we'll continue to move forward and hopefully close around March 6. The plan is to continue to live here at UST until Mark's job ends at the close of the school year. We'll use those couple of months to do work on the house, without having to live in construction. Hurray! :) Our plan for the house includes painting the entire first floor, knocking through a wall, reflooring the kitchen, painting the cabinets, refinishing existing hardwood, replacing windows, furnace and water heater...umm, what have I forgotten, oh yeah, and remodeling the bathroom.

Does that sound ambitious enough? :) Please keep us in your prayers!

Creative juices, where? I want some!

I can't come up with a creative title for this post, so I'm waiting until one hits me while I write this. This is our life, in random bullets:

- We had the most memorable and blessed Christmas with my family in MI. We were all together as a whole family for a couple of days, which was a completely unexpected God-designed surprise!

- Heidi and Kevin (and the rest of us) welcomed their first child, Monica Elizabeth, on January 4th. It was an absolutely amazing birth; I had the great privelege of being present!

- Mark has sent in his application to begin a Master's in Non-Profit Management. We are excited about this endeavor and what it means both for him and SPO.

- Iain has tooth #3 coming in for a landing (upper left) and a cold, both of which have provided me tasts of newborn nights for the last week. Fortunately, the last couple of nights have been better...

- Baby #2 looked perfect in the ultrasound. New due date is August 25. Heartbeat 142. I feel absolutely great albeit more tired than usual. I am on progesterone shots for this pregnancy again, but I just heard from the dr. that my levels look great and I'm already able to reduce the dose by half! Hurray!

- Particularly with baby #2 on the way, Mark and I have been house-hunting. We put in an offer on a house on Monday and we are now anxiously waiting to hear back... more to come...

- I don't know if ever my "blood will thicken" enough to withstand MN winters. They sure are beautiful from indoors: bright sunshine, snow-covered ground ... but the temps! Right now it's -7 (-28 if you factor in the windchill).

- I'm running out of ideas of what to feed Iain, oh to have a creative mind! His milk allergy prevents him from eating a lot of normal things, and I find myself in a rut of the same 3 foods, one of which he has now refused to continue eating. I WELCOME ideas! (he can gum soft chunks of meats/fruits, and does fine with Cheerios, if that gives you an idea of his chewing capacity).

- Iain is trying to learn to crawl. Every day brings him a little closer. He can get up on his hands and knees and even moves his knees a bit, but not his hands. I am both excited and terrified...the babyproofing!

- One of these days, hopefully before Iain's first birthday, I will post pictures of Iain's first Christmas, Baby #2's first pictures, and hopefully pictures of our new house (if/when it becomes ours).

Please keep our family in your prayers, for health/protection (for new baby), for wisdom and guidance (new house), for energy, joy and peace (for pregnant mom), for healing for Iain from his milk allergy, for endurance and wisdom (for Mark and his many responsibilities).

Announcing...

Baby Archibald #2!
Stay tuned for...
-First ultrasound 1/8/09
-Due date 8/23/09