The Mergenthaler Family

Get ready for a lot of pictures!!  I thought that since I didn't really post anything during Brooklyn's first year, you all deserved her life in review.       It seems like Brooklyn turned into a toddler overnight (even though she's not actually "toddling" yet).  She is a big part of our family and we are so blessed to have this little angel to hug, love, and play with.  We just love her!

I am working on a post about our newest 1-year old, but in the mean time, let's have a little laugh at Sean's word choices again.  This morning, for breakfast, Sean asked if he could have woodchucks. I'm sure after the "robin" post you're wondering what that means. Sean likes Corn Chex. I have no idea how that transformed into "Woodchucks," but there it is! Here is a list of some of the ways he used this new word. "I want to eat woodchucks like Ricky." "How come the woodchucks are gone?  I think you have more hiding in the laundry room." "Don't put sugar on my woodchucks. I like them just how they are." "Don't let Emily make her snack with woodchucks. Then I can't have woodchucks for breakfast." "My woodchucks are getting squishy," After I corrected him and explained the cereal was called Chex, he didn't change.  Oh well, who doesn't like a little woodchuck for breakfast?

Kids really do say and do some funny things. Our neighbor's house was broken into a while back and since then, Sean has been a little worried about "robins."  When he first brought up his fear of robins, I was confused and taken aback. He said,"I see a robin outside our house. I am going to get him before he comes in."  It's winter time, so we don't see many birds--especially robins who usually come out in spring. It didn't take much more questioning on my part to discover that he was actually talking about robbers . Today, Sean wanted to go out in the woods and get a stick to play with. Since it was a balmy 20 degrees, I decided to let him outside for a bit. Before he walked out the door, he said "Do you see any robins?  I don't. I think it's safe to go. I will get a good stick to beat the robins with."   Last week while he was in the bath, Sean told me about all of his special powers. He told me Jesus gave him thes...

It has been 8 days since Ricky's big fall. He has been home from the hospital for 4 days.  The past few days, he has been fairly active. He is stiff and sore in the morning. Once his Tylenol kicks in, he feels better. He is up and about most of the day but is worn out by dinner time.  Yesterday, he played with friends and I think he overdid it a little because he was camped out on the couch by 3 pm. The doctor said I could send Ricky back to school whenever we felt ready. I think it's a matter of how he is doing with the pain and how well he can handle being in a desk. I kept him home today and probably tomorrow too. He still complains of pain when his medicine runs out and he needs a dose every 4-6 hours. Today, his foot was bothering him a lot.  He just couldn't be comfortable at the table and complained when walking around too. He feels best reclined on the couch, but isn't the personality type to stay put for long. So, we began "home" school today. It'...

After four nights in the hospital, all of us were ready for the adventure to end. We were hopeful in the morning that after the ok from the neurosurgeon, we would be released. The neurosurgeon said OK, but then somebody brought up a concern about Ricky having a fever.  Around 11 am, the nurse said, "It looks like you might  be able to check out today, but they want to wait until Ricky has been 24 hours without a fever, so it looks like you may  be out later this evening."   We teach our children to be respectful and kind--especially when people are trying to help us, but I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes and sighing, "That's ridiculous." We set out to proving to anybody near our room that Ricky was well enough to be out. It helped that Andrew stayed behind to play with him while we waited. They were kind of rambunctious.  They played games and made jokes. I made Ricky take a shower and brush his teeth. We went for multiple walks. When the nurse cam...