Visit Brett's personal travel blog for his adventures at http://theplacesivebeen.blogspot.com Curious about our past life in Togo, West Africa? visit http://emersonstogo.blogspot.com

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Take A Guess

Any guesses on what this is a picture of?
Does this help?
That's right, my child has learned how to put peanuts into the small spaces of "mega blocks".

It does't matter which side you prefer, he can put them in both. And yes, he thought of this all on his own.

FYI: This is post #250. Hope this makes you feel 250 times closer to us. ;)

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Fun With Caden

I've had requests to see more of Caden in his rainboots as well as more pictures of our dog...this is what I came up with. I wanted to post this at the highest quality, but our internet isn't that good. Thanks for eveyone's prayers during our time with Brett...things are going well.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

I Couldn't Resist

I've been waiting all day for this video to load correctly so I could share it with all of you. I've been teaching the cradle roll class for Caden and Caleb this summer and I'm seeing results from my teaching. Very exciting!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETT & USA

Our team celebrated the 4th of July early since everyone would be getting ready for their survey departure (they left early this morning). Brett's birthday is Saturday and unfortunately, his family will not be with him to celebrate the exact day so I surprised him with a cake at our "July 4th" celebration. Thank you to someone at GracePointe who sent us the Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix! I made my own icing (a first for me!) as well as decorated the cake (another first). It turned out super yummy! Don't feel too bad for Brett, this was already party #2 for him. His mom threw him a surprise party while we were visiting Nashville back in April and invited family and friends. Friendship, cake, and presents were all shared. A side note for those of you who have not looked at the calendar yet....Brett's birthday is 7-7-77.....this year it's on 07-07-07 and his is turning 30. Brett says he doesn't feel old yet, but when he can't do what he wants on the basketball court then he will acknowledge that he is getting old.

Cute 4th of July Little Boy Our Little Family





Sunday, July 01, 2007

Pretty Soon He's Gonna Want an Xbox

His favorite playlist right now is "Caden's Videos", which includes a heavy rotation of Little Einstein. It may be entertaining and educational, but somehow Caden's daddy never gets to listen to his iPod anymore...

Friday, June 29, 2007

Active Baby

Yesterday I was able to feel the baby moving with my hand on my belly. Later that evening, Brett was able to feel a tiny kick as well. So exciting! It is very different this time around knowing the baby is a boy. Some of you may not know that we did not find out if Caden was a boy or girl until his birth. During the pregnancy, that was a little difficult (clothing, room decor, etc), but when he was born my attitude about it all completely changed. I would have waited again, but being in Africa and not having access to all the baby stores we decided it was best to find out. I found myself feeling different about this baby last night as I said to Brett, "He usually kicks twice in the same place" as if he's already a little person with us and I'm learning his habits. I'm sure some of it is that this is my 2nd pregnancy, but I'm enjoying getting to know this little guy even before I meet him face to face.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

17 weeks and...

Here I am at 17 weeks...not a lot of change, but wearing more maternity clothes these days simply because they are more comfortable in this hot weather. However, they tend to hide my belly a little because there's still plenty of room in my tops for future growth.We returned yesterday from our trip south to the Baptist Hospital in Tsiko (cheek-o) for our prenatal exam, ultrasound, and tour of their facilities. We will be posting more about that experience on our Africa Blog next week. We were blessed to see our new little one on a portable ultrasound machine. We very clearly saw a head, eye sockets, arms, legs, spine, and a healthy beating heart.However, the visiting gynecologist that did the ultrasound for us has not done prenatal ultrasounds for awhile and he was not trained to do measurements on the machine. He did say that if he was betting man.....he would bet that











Brett feels like he saw boy "parts" very clearly before the computer's battery died on us...I'd say I'm 90% sure it's a boy. We'll be requesting another ultrasound at our next visit and hope to get a better picture (and technician). But till then, we're only looking at boy names....

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Our Little Fish

We enjoyed a special team swim day at the Hotel Kara Pool this weekend. Caden is learning to balance with his swim vest and even venturing away from Mom and Dad occasionally. He has finally figured out how to keep his mouth closed and head up so as to avoid inhaling water. We took a few short video clips and put them together for you to get a small glimpse of our little fish.

Friday, June 22, 2007

A House Full of Friends

It's great to have a living room that is packed, everyone fellowshipping and worshipping together. This past Wednesday we had our 6 teammates, 12 interns, and 2 former Togolese missionaries jammed into our living room. It was a great time, and we even got to Skype with some good friends back in the States, who shared with us all that they are going to have a baby! We'll let them remain anonymous here, just in case they're not ready for their news to hit the world wide web and our millions of readers. You know who you are, so congrats and we love you guys! We thank God for filling us up in this way...

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Baby's Moving

Just thought you'd all be interested to know that I have definitely felt the baby moving!
Keep your eyes on our blogs next week for the results of our ultrasound.

Rain Boots

I wish you all could see Caden walk in these rain boots. It's hilarious! He resembles someone walking on stilts. Obviously, the boots are too big for him but he doesn't seem to think so. He's ready to help Eric, our day guardian, in the yard as well as whatever the rainy season brings us.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Basketball Skills






Who needs Chuckie Cheese when you can have your own personal basketball toss game where the ball actually rolls back to you?!

Someday, I'll be able to beat my Daddy on the court!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Building Blocks


Building Blocks
Uploaded by emersonstogo
Brett found these unused building blocks while helping the interns clean out our team's schoolhouse. He washed them off and brought them home and Caden immediately began playing with them. He is trying SO hard to put them together himself but will often ask for "huh" which means "help". So cute!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Check Me Out

Like my new scrape? I got it from falling on some steps at the local hotel pool. I was so excited to see the parrot they have that I wasn't watching where I was going and completely fell down these two steps. I cried, but I'm o.k. now. This isn't the first time I've fallen this week. Earlier, I fell down some steps at our house. I really was trying to be careful that time and just lost my balance. Oh well, I guess these little bumps and bruises are what becoming a little boy is all about. It definitely won't slow me down any!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Sleepy, Sleepy Boy

We have now transitioned Caden to one nap a day. However, some days he barely makes it through lunch. Here's what we caught on video one day....hey, what parents don't have a story about their child falling asleep while eating lunch, right?!


Sleepy
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Monday, May 28, 2007

For the Grandparents...

...but the rest of you get to enjoy it too! On hot days in Togo, the only way to beat the heat is to be in the water. I may find myself "swimming" with Caden more often as my belly grows and my tolerance of the heat diminishes.

Making Pizza

Yes, this is another post about Caden helping in the kitchen. No, he does not help with every meal...but it sure does make for some good photos and blog posts, right?!


Making_Pizza
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Cooking with Caden

While Brett was in Accra, Caden and I decided to venture into the world of making cookies. Since I was by myself, I wasn't able to get any action shots of the process. Here's a few of the aftermath...

Our workspace.
Caden's first taste....mmmm, yummy!
Let the frosting begin.

Finished product.

Caden's taste of homemade frosting. He wasn't too sure what to do with it.

Friday, May 25, 2007

The World Is Shrinking....Again

We have faster internet again...and it seems to be faster than last time. The best part is the unlimited access we have through DSL. OK, it's more of a DSL lite....but we love it! It seems to be fast enough to run Skype, so call away friends and family (334) 239-3109. You can call us in Africa for whatever it would cost you to call Montgomery, Alabama. We haven't tried out the video feature of Skpe yet, but we'll let you know how it goes.