Not walking quite yet

I'm alwasy stunned how fast time goes by. Squeakums took a couple of steps again today, but that was his first time in weeks. He doesn't seem eager to walk on his own. He can play and respond more to games like peek-a-boo or passing the ball back and forth. When he really wants to get somewhere fast, he ducks his head down while crawling...we think it's to decrease wind resistance! He also holds out to us small items that his picks up off the floor (a tiny piece of lint or a fallen cheerio, etc). He's still the sweetest thing around.

A new thing he's started doing, is laying his head down for a few seconds, on the floor or on a blanket, or on the bed (as in this picture).

His menu now includes new foods: tuna, monterey jack cheese, puffy stars, broccoli, and yam ALL by hand.

I, CallaLily, have devoted herself to raising up a greenhouse. I and another staffer took on this project with the director's permission, but with no budget. So we began asking local businesses for donations. The first coupe of places responded positively and fast. So we were thrilled. But then the responses have come slower and slower. So we have the fixings for a greenhouse-lumber and plastic sheeting, which BearHunter has been putting together. But we don't have the soil for the raised beds yet. A commercial greenhouse is offering herb and vegetable starts. So it's all exciting to see what we can accomplish without spending a single dollar. We'll see how God provides for the soil.

We parted with a few staff this week to do a sheetrock floating trip to Ouzinkie. We are still working on the house project there. This time a few extra workers from Homer joined them.

The other picture is of a local small business (cafe) that we helped out with some paintwork. He's a new owner and totally changed the colors inside and out of the building. They did a great paint job!

Two steps

Since we've been home baby's started standing for long periods on his own, meaning 15-20 seconds. Then Squeakums took his first steps yesterday, two of 'em during community worship time. I, mom, was sitting on the floor and he came crawling over to me, stood up in front of me, leaning on my legs, then with his arms out to me walked two steps toward me for a hug. He has mastered going down the stairs on his own, and has been eager to do it repeatedly today. Though he has taken one backwards tumble in the attempts. He recovers almost immediately from most falls. Next he has started climbing ladders!

With his top and bottom two teeth in, he is able to chew more solid foods. He has enjoyed pieces of cheese, rice, peas, shredded halibut, crackers, and cheerios by hand and also his fruit bag (peaches and apples in it so far).

Trip to California

Whoah, we're way overdue for a post. Sorry friends. I've been in California for the last two weeks helping my sister with her newborn baby girl. Squeakums has a cousin now! We were both at the hospital during the birth. But due to flu concerns Squeakums was too young to be in the actual room until the last day. So we slept in the waiting room, what an adventure with a ten month old. But we were glad to be in California for the birth, which happened only because my sister delivered over a week late. We also were able to zip over to my in-laws to visit the other aunt and grandparents for the weekend.
Many people we encounter in our travels remark how cute our baby is and what beautiful eyes he has. He is a great traveler, a very happy baby (in general).
Now that we're home again we're re-establishing his sleeping through the night, which went out the window for most of the trip. Without dad's support and not wanting to wake up our hosts it's easier to just nurse him through the night. We loved visisting family and seeing some friends at church, but it's good to be back in Alaska in our own room.

Anniversary Surprise

What an amazing surprise...for our anniversary (the weekend prior) BearHunter planned a weekend away! I was totally blown away, for one, that he pulled all the details together and secondly, that I had no clue.
Friday started out with breakfast in bed, chocolate chip pancakes reminding me of our engagement. Then he casually suggest we go on a walk for a "quiet time" together. That sounded good so I agreed. Then came the blindfold. We drove to a nearby B&B, owned by our friends, and he quietly led me down the steps to the door. "I've kidnapped you for the weekend" he whispers. I was gleefully astonished. He cleared my schedule as much as possible, God cleared the rest of it. We found a gift certificate for a dinner date in the room, and a special cake in the refrigerator. Wow, what a suprise blessing.
Squeakums is with us, though our host babysat him last night for while and tonight another friend will watch him while we go out for our dinner date. We've enjoyed the space to let him play on the floor while we sit on a couch or at a table nearby at this B&B. We don't have the luxury of much personal space where we live, so this is wonderful. He didn't sleep too well, but hopefully tonight that will be better. He has a bit of a stuffy nose, a possible cold or teething, waiting on tooth number three. He's 9 months old now, crawls well, climbs stairs, stands up and sits down. He's discovered a high pitched voice, in addition to his usual rumblings and we love listening to his self talk.

Ouzinkie

Our first trip to a native village finally happened! Our school did a short trip to the small island of Ouzinkie, near Kodiak. Before taking the tiny boat to our destination, we practiced putting on red lifesuits. If you have to abandon ship, these increase your chance of survival in cold water. It was pretty funny to see everyone struggle to get into these rubbery suits.

Squeakums did amazingly well on the overnight ferry to Kodiak, and sleeping in a new location. We brought a playpen to use as a crib, and threw some extra sheetrock under it for support.

Our primary work on Ouzinkie was to put insulation into a Baptist missionary home. We also began building relationships with people in the community. They call themselves Aleutiq, and are of Russian descent if I understand correctly.

We are enjoying the camaraderie with the new set of students. It will be sad to see them leave for outreach without us in April.