the santa clause dilemma

I'm not sure why this popped into my head now, being that it's February and all, but I was thinking about what I will someday tell Seth about Santa. I am kind of leaning away from telling him that Santa is real, and that he came down the chimney and left these gifts for you, and ate the cookies that were there, etc. I don't want to be weird about it, but I just don't feel like telling him that something is real when it's not. Then when he inevitibly finds out that I tricked him, will he believe other things that I tell him about are real? Why can't Santa just be a fun story? I would think that by the time he could comprehend a story about Santa, you might as well tell him the real meaning of Christmas. Any thoughts??

9 months

Seth turned 9 months today!!

Results from his 9 month check-up:

• Weight - 20 pounds 1 ounce (45%)
• Length - 29 1/2 inches (90%)
• Head Circumference - 18 3/4 inches (90%)

Next visit will be at 12 months!!!

figures

We have been trying to let Seth "cry it out" for the past week now and he has slept through only one night. Some nights have been better than others but last night was not so good. (well not all to blame on Seth) Seth woke me up about 3:15 or so and I went to his room and laid him back down, pulled his blanket over him and came back to bed only to hear him cry just as I pulled my covers over. We left him cry a bit and then I went back in. I did this again a little while later. Then Ted took a turn and when he came back all was quiet (from Seth's room at least) and we were thrilled! He had finally fallen to sleep by 4am but Ted and I couldn't sleep. There was whistling of the windows, banging of who knows what, roaring of tractor trailers, glass crashing together as the garbage men emptied our recycling bin, the garbage truck smashing the trash in its grips, more traffic, our recycling bin sliding across the driveway and a bag of our trash following close behind it, (guess they missed that one in the dark) and you name it every sound you can think of that comes with 45mph winds. Plus our hearts beating and stomachs churning at every sound while we hoped our roof wouldn't fly off again. We couldn't sleep eventhough the one person who had kept us up repeatedly was sound asleep! Go figure.


Here are the photos of our apt. roof 1/2 gone:
(you can see why we were nervous about this happening again)

And he's off....

Seth started crawling this past Saturday. Check out the video to see!

why do babies need teeth anyway?

I am confident I can count the number of nights Seth sleeps straight through in any given month with the fingers on just one hand. Without using my thumb. The recent culprit seems to be teething, and you have to feel bad for the little guy, when he's teething it's like his whole head fills up with fluid. His eyes water, his nose runs, he drools like a maniac, gets ear infections, and has other cold-like symptoms. And of course, all this comes along with some pretty short spans of sleep at night. Usually it lasts for about two weeks until a little tooth pops through, and then all of a sudden he turns into fun, happy, I can sleep at night Seth, for a couple days until the next one starts. And then two more weeks for that tooth to come in. Four down and a whole mouth to go! Please pray for our sanity :)

fun with paint!

house for auction

So, we have been looking around for a house but been having a difficult time finding something we not only like but can afford. Often what we've found in our price range is a 1/2 double house in Ephrata with no off-street parking or a row home in Lancaster with no off-street parking and maybe a yard but maybe not. Ideally, I would love to have a single, 2 story, 2 car garage, with a yard, fireplace, 1.5-2 bath, some hardwood floors, and laundry on the 1st floor. However, we will probably have to wait for those things until we would purchase a 2nd house, and that is fine, I am ok with that. Well, we have come across a house that is going for auction on March 7th. We went and took a look at it and would love to have it if it would go for what we can afford. It is a single, 1 and 1/2 story, with a nice size yard, a 1 car detatched garage, hardwood floors, laundry in the basement, 1 bath, and possibly 4 bedroom. The bathroom is a little tight, a few windows would need replacing, the hardwood floors refinished, new paint, new kitchen appliances, and an update to 200 amps. Overall, it has potential. It is in a nice town, off the busy street. Ted's parents would be 2-3 minutes down the road (nice for babysitting) My parents still would be 1 and 1/2 hours away (but that's ok for now since Ted's job is here) I spoke with the auctioneer and he told me what the people would like for the house which is too high for us but he said that he told them he thought what they wanted was high and they would first have to start lower. Well, the lower price would be just probably at the top of our range. Who knows what will happen since it is an auction. I am excited but am very cautious (or trying to be) about getting my hopes up. Anyway, all of that to say if you have the time we would love if you could keep this in your prayers. We know that God can work miracles and it will take one for us to get this house! If it isn't the house for us then that is ok too, we know that there is one out there waiting to be a home for our family, we just can't wait to meet it!!