Working on his spiral...

Here's a video we took after lunch of Merrick throwing a football. He's throwing it AT people...not really TO them. :) Not sure what the war cry when he throws it is all about either.

Softball with the Aunties

Merrick was staying with the aunties today while I was at work. He loves being outside, and playing with any kind of ball. So he was in heaven when they took him outside to play softball. Here are a few pictures! Oh...and the random one is of him in the dryer...eating yogurt. Apparently yogurt tastes better when you eat it warm. Gross. :)

"Is that a family name?"

As you all may have noticed from our son's name, Merrick Wilder, I kind of have a flare for different *yet meaningful* names. Not sure where it comes from. I think I've always liked how different my name is, and that I never knew anyone else who had my name exactly. *I know some people give their little ones names that have you wondering if maybe that was the epidural talking. ;) I'm not talking about that different, but just unique enough to make you feel special.* I love to know the meaning of names...Merrick means "fame rule", and Wilder just sounded tough and masculine to us. I've been thinking about names again over the last week, since we found out we are having a little pink bundle this time around. I loved picking out Merrick's name, and took it very seriously. I didn't realize what a big responsibility it was, but how much fun it would be as well. I love his name, and can't imagine it being anything else. I'm not sure everyone is sold on my name-picking skills, though. Haha. People always ask me if I made it up, or if it's a family name. No to both of those. :) I think some people probably are cringing *ahem...my mother* wondering what we'll name this baby. (She tried to convince me right up until he was born to pick something else, but I think has finally grown to like it.) I already have a good idea, but am not settling just yet. ;) We have talked about keeping her name a secret until she is born...but I'm not sure about that yet either. We'll keep you posted. ;) In the mean-time I wanted to take a little poll and see how you would pick a name, just for fun. It's on the sidebar of my blog, so here goes!

*For those of you who might be reading this blogger post via Facebook (our blog uploads my posts as notes onto Facebook) if you click "View Original Post" at the bottom of this note you can go to our blog and look around/take the poll. Hope you'll do it; I'm curious to see how this turns out! :) Thanks for humoring me!

24 Hours of Prayer @ CBC

We did 24 hours of prayer this weekend at Concord. It was sort of a mini-revival type thing. We had services Saturday and Sunday night, and people signed up to pray for 24 hours straight, in 1 hour time slots. It was a great blessing to everyone who participated, and I hope will be a blessing to those who weren't able to as we continue to pray/grow as a church! Here are some pictures of the set-up of the prayer room. *Where those praying around the clock were stationed* The family photographer *myself* was sick the first night :( but I had Billy take some shots for me! :)

The Song Station...

Confession Station...Glorification/Creativity Station...Missions Station...Psalms Station...Listening Station...

These aren't quite all the stations, but most of them. It really was a great weekend! I hope that each of you had a great weekend as well. Some other news from around here is...Billy turned 23 on Saturday! Happy Birthday, stud! :) "Us 3" love you!

Deep & Wide

Merrick learned to do the motions for "Deep & Wide" at church...well sort of. :) He's trying at least! So cute!

She's a Lady

Yep it's official! I'm not outnumbered anymore! :) We had our 20 week ultrasound today, and they told us Merrick will have a sister this summer. We are both very excited, and are glad that we will have a boy and a girl now! I am looking forward to dressing someone up *in something besides camo or navy blue*, and painting someone's toenails. ;) Billy is very excited also, and has been wearing the "It's a Girl!" bracelet they gave us at the doctor's office all day. Haha. They told us at this point she was breech *definitely a dirty word around here, as I'm praying/begging God for a VBAC, but the Dr said at this point they are still flipping around constantly* I thought she was more still than Merrick, but they said that she's just fooling me. The placenta is in between my belly and her; I think they called it anterior. So I just haven't been able to feel her kicking quite as much, but she definitely is! Here are some pictures of our little lady...her first photo shoot. ;) We may be partial, but I think she's already a doll baby! :D

En Garde!

Boys will be boys. And leave it to MY two wild men to make any activity into some type of battle. Where were we when I took this? Simply shopping in Target. Why were they sword fighting in the middle of the store? I was looking at boring girl stuff and they found swords. (As if you NEED a reason to swordfight!) It doesn't take much to entertain them...a couple of styrofoam swords on the $ aisle will do just fine. As long as they let me shop in peace I don't mind. ;) Maybe this next baby will be of the "pink" gender and will happily go to the cosmetics with me and not complain about the mall. If not...I'm kinda getting used to flying debris while I'm shopping. ;)

Startin 'em early

It's hard to see from this (bad quality very dark) video, but Merrick has half of Ali's earphones and they are listening to music in the car on the way home from work today. He only tries to take a test bite once. Haha. He loves music, and dances all the time. I guess we should have expected as much, though, since Billy used to play Nickelback to Merrick inutero. ;)

Don't try this at home...

...unless your at Grandma's. So Merrick saw something he wanted on the kitchen table and decided to help himself. :) He climbed on the bench, then up onto the table, and then stood up and walked across the table. I was trying not to laugh...so he was *quickly and sternly* removed by Daddy. ;) But it was so ridiculous I had to take a picture!

Better Late than Never

So Billy and I were able to go out on a "date" for the first time in quite awhile. Our weekends are usually taken up with church activities, and Billy works/does homework most of the rest of our waking hours. :) My friend Ellen volunteered to keep Merrick for us so we could go out for Valentine's Day. *We are forever grateful...because we know how much of a handful he can be! haha* We decided to try somewhere new, and went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. It was REALLY good...everyone should try it. :) It's a really nice Chinese restaurant, and I think this was the first place I'd ever been where I actually LIKED the egg roles. *I've never been an egg roll fan* Anyway...when we got to the restaurant there was a really long wait, but being that we didn't have someone to chase around I don't think either one of us minded sitting down for longer than 5 seconds. We left stuffed, even though we ended up skipping the "Great Wall of Chocolate" (which is a very huge and chocolate piece of cake). Hope that everyone else had a great Valentine's Day/weekend, and got to spend time with the important people in your life!

A Chocolatey Holiday Can't Be Bad...

Here are some random shots from the Sweethearts' Dinner at church tonight. It was lots of fun, with lots of great food. Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day tomorrow! :)

Just a picture of our day

So here are a few shots of the daily happenings around here. This first shot is one of Merrick *the resident monkey* trying to climb onto our desk...This next photo is a picture of what happens when Merrick is left alone for .5 seconds...:)
And finally...Merrick *aka King Kong* is speaking his piece on the trunk in our bedroom.

Half-Way Point

Here are some pictures of my belly this month. Almost 20 weeks now. Half way there! :)

Here fishy fishy...

These pics were taken at Merrick's Doctors office. Obviously PRE-visit. ;) Our wild man will rather have 4 immunizations any day (which he bravely sat through today) than have to see his Dr. I think most people would choose a stethoscope anyday over a needle. Silly guy. ;) He's at 21.5 lbs...still the 10th percentile. I suppose being in constant motion doesn't help with weight gain. :)

The Outdoor Type

Here are a few shots I took today of Merrick playing outside. He definitely loves being out of the house. I'm not looking forward to the return of winter weather when he has to be cooped up again! :)

Miss Manners

As you can see from this picture...we are getting Merrick started early when it comes to using his manners. ;) This was his idea of entertaining the family at lunch just a bit ago. Somehow I don't think this will work on dates in the future. ;)

Ain't no screen door strong enough...

...to keep Merrick contained for very long. I had one of those "I'm the worst Mom in the world" moments this morning. Merrick and I have our little AM routine. We wake up, eat some breakfast, brush our teeth, attempt to keep Merrick out of things like the toilet and the kitchen cabinets, and go to the gym. This morning, however, Merrick had other plans. While I was getting ready to leave I noticed he sounded really far away. I assumed he was in the laundry room, but en route there I noticed my 15 month old had tried to leave for the Y without me. I was horrified, but decided no one would believe me unless I took a picture. :) So this shot was taken THROUGH our back door onto the deck. Merrick, at least wear your coat next time you run away from home...:)

Snow Day