My new toy

Mom and Dad bought me a new toy that I can practice standing up at! It is really fun to play with, though I would still rather stand up to the coffee table and bang on it! There is all kinds of fun stuff on it and I am really glad Mom and Dad picked out this toy for me! You should have seen them at Babies R Us looking at all the toys...

I like this toy!!


but nothing beats a block...

I love to stand!

This is how I snuggle with my teddy bear...and the cat!

Demani's first baseball game and more!

Standing in my crib!!!

At the park


I LOVE BANANAS!

It's September already!! Oh my! I guess time flies when you are having fun! Demani went to his first baseball game last week! The experience included his first french fry, mascots, souvenirs, a program, and mommy dropping her hot dog laced with ketchup on an unsuspecting man in front of their seats! Ahh, there's nothing like a ball game! We saw the Binghamton Mets play the Akron Aeros. My parents and my sister Tiff were in for the weekend. It was a great time by all!

Demani is going full throttle these days! His personality is coming out - he's quite the little guy! He lets you know when he doesn't appreciate you taking something from him! He is pulling up to furniture, his crib, you name it! He is loving bananas these days! And rice cakes! He loves to play with his toys and he enjoys going on walks with mom and dad.

I signed up for MOPS (MOthers of Preschoolers) and that starts next week. I am looking forward to it. We are beginning to really settle in and feel a bit more relaxed and at peace with life in NY.
watching the baseball game

The 3 of us at the game!
My first fry! At Apple Hills again :)

Picture Mojo Returns

My picture mojo is slowly returning. The camera still doesn't always cooperate but I am figuring out how to work with it...most of the time.

Here are some favs from the last couple of days. Yeah, I am getting picture happy again!

My first try of pasta - just a little over dramatic!!!

Cutest thing you've ever seen in a diaper :) I know, I know, I am a little biased!

Demani has the typical crawling position down but hasn't figured out how to put it all together, he prefers to get around in his own way :)

Demani's decided to help dad out with some filing. I don't think Mathwon is ready for Demani's kind of help quite yet....

Play time with dad. As much as Demani loves his mommy when dad comes in the door you better not stand in the way of Demani being in dad's arms. Demani turns towards the door when he hears the keys in the door and immediately gets this gigantic smile on his face. As soon as Mathwon is in the door Demani insists on being picked up-but only by Mathwon. It's pretty cute! And Mathwon just eats it up!

We are slowly adjusting to life in NY. We both have good days and sad days. God is good all the time! We miss you all!

Vacation

We took a few days to explore our new surroundings during our vacation. We drove to Ithaca, NY, which is just a beautiful area. We will go back sometime when it isn't move-in weekend at Cornell! We also went to see Taughannock Falls - which was a wonder of rock, wood, and water. We walked with a tour guide and she was great, though the one girl that was with us made us want to ditch the tour! She was a prepubescent, know-it-all of the truest sense. All we could do was laugh and make sure we didn't have to walk back to the beginning of the trail with her! The falls and the surrounding landscape made us aware of our smallness and the greatness of God's grandeur. The tour made me realize I have to learn all I can about what Creationism says about the creation of these falls so that I can speak truth to Demani. Here's some pics from the falls.

There are seven parks around our area that have carousels. The man behind these carousels was turned away from a carousel as a child because he didn't have money to ride and so the carousels are free! We visited Recreation Park yesterday and had a fabulous time together. We had a little picnic and just enjoyed the sunshine and being together. It was very relaxing. Demani tried his puffs and actually enjoyed them! He was sooo cute! Demani had his first carousel ride, I am not so sure what he thought about it though. Mathwon and I were a little queasy by the time we jumped off our horses...

This morning we hung out with our new friends back at Apple Hill for breakfast and we are going to have dinner at their place this evening. Being able to just chat with people and share your experiences with each other has given us a boost. We still get homesick though.... :)

God is good!

We are seeing evidence of God everywhere we turn! We are trying out a church and they are going through a series about recognizing God's presence with us each moment of the day. One of the exercises is thanking God for his blessings. And we are thankful.

This week we are on vacation, for the most part anyway. We are going to check out some nearby towns - we'll let you know what we find! Yesterday we went to Apple Hills. It was a cute place out in the country and we enjoyed great food and friendly people! We actually ran into our neighbors there! Here is Mathwon and Demani at Apple Hills.

Last night we hooked up with some people that are also new to the area. We had a great time just connecting with them and getting to know them. It was actually the first time we had all met and there was never an awkward moment! They have a little boy who is five days younger than Demani....and they live 5 minutes away from us!!!

God is good.

Amen!

Pics

I have been having camera issues so I don't have a lot of good pics. I am going to have to get out the instructions for the camera! We are settling in and still unpacking and figuring out where to put things. Our new place is a blessing - we loaded the basement to capacity! I don't think there are too many nice, spacious apartments with basements around...We are thankful!

One of the hazards of moving are flys in the house. Here are the fly hunters we hired.


Here is a pic of Demani in the smallest pool I've seen! It was just perfect for him! And he loved it! This is at our neighbor's house in MI last week. It was soooo hot last week, here in NY too!

We visited a church on Sunday. We will go back and visit again and likely look at a couple more.

Love from NY!

We made it!

We arrived safe and sound into Binghamton last night. Demani was amazing, I don't think he cried once in the car! Panda, on the other hand, was more of a challenge! I'll post more later! Just wanted to let you know we made it!