Imanuel is (-as of Saturday-) 17 months old.   I’ve heard that 18 months is the magical potty-training month and so Israel and I have been doing as much prepping as we can to get Imanuel ready.  As of now, he’ll always notify us when he’s pooping by saying, “poo-poo” in a slightly strained voice and cheeks reddening.  The peeing situation is bit more challenging.  I’ve been letting him run around on the back deck in his birthday suit to get him more in touch with how he expels his waste.  The first few times he peed without a diaper on, he was quite shocked with what he saw (and what was actually happening).  It was kind of funny.  Anyhow, we’ve also been taking us with him to the bathroom and he’s well-aware of what the toilet (and tissue roll) are used for.  He loves sitting on his own potty seat and a few times he’s gone #2 on it- with a diaper, of course.  Today he actually sat on it bare-bottom while I gave him some toddler cookies (which he LOVES).  I know he had to go #2 because he told me, but on the potty he couldn’t perform.  I wasn’t surprised.  Anyway, at least he sat on there for a good 5 minutes or so.   I’m happy with his progress.  Any tips on making this a swift and productive journey, please let me know!
People think I’m crazy, but I’m still trying to see if we can get Imanuel potty trained before the next baby comes.  He will be about 21 months when that happens…and hopefully he doesn’t regress like the older siblings tend to do.
           

He is already trying to fit himself back into his old bouncer…

Something exciting that happened a few days ago was I finally saw my first buck.  All of the dozens of deer that I’ve seen up here have been females (and maybe males, but I never saw antlers to prove it).  Bucks tend to be super shy and cautious so they are really hard to spot.  The females are the ones you’ll see munching on vegetation on the side of the road while cars are zooming by.  So, when two deer were munching under our ripe apple tree and I saw that one had little antlers, I grabbed my camera to take pictures.  It was difficult because Bentley was barking like crazy, the baby was sleeping, it was getting dark outside, and I had to take the picture through a window and screen.  I had to take it quickly before Bentley either scared away the deer or woke up the baby.  The result was a blurry picture that I’m not too proud of.  But at least you can see the little antlers. 

The apples are tart and yummy.  Imanuel always wants to go outside to pick some apples to eat.  He even likes the ones that ar en’t ripe! 

One final thing that is worth mentioning is that we’ve adopted a new member to our household.  I believe it is a female (which is exciting to me).  She is our faithful bug-catcher that lives right outside the middle pane of our bay window.  Imanuel has named her, “Bitsy”.  I think you’ve guessed it.  She’s a huge, patterned spider that first found her home on our front porch, (then Israel destroyed her web because people kept almost walking into it) and then relocated to where she is now.  I’m going to have to do some more research to see what type of spider she is.  She’s a very good hunter (-caught and ate a moth a couple days ago).  Imanuel is particularly thrilled by “Bitsy” and consistently requests that we sing her song whenever he notices her.  (Her song being “The Itsy, Bitsy Spider”, naturally.) 

Imanuel checking up on Bitsy (close to the top of the window in dead center).  That’s where we can usually find her.

A close up of her on her web.  Picture is facing her belly.

The weather has cooled down – Thank God.  On the hot days, Imanuel’s favorite treat is ice.  I turn it into snow with our trusty snow shaver.  (Don’t tell him you’re supposed to put flavored/colored sugar syrup on top!)

So, I kept telling Israel that we needed to make a post about the new baby, but he thought it would be HILARIOUS for us to just announce the birth of our child in November – especially considering that we’re way up here and no one can see me growing.  Anyhow, he’s at ASI telling the world, and telling them now that we’re expecting.  If the Lord tarries and the kids grow up to read this xanga, this one will feel left out since I haven’t posted much about this pregnancy.  So, this is to our second boy.  “In the womb, you’ve treated me much better than your big brother Imanuel!”  And, to answer my brother’s question, there are no pictures of me because I’ve ballooned so dramatically that my doctor even asked me if I would want to be referred to a dietician.  Okay, it’s not that bad, but that conversation did happen…

Anyhow, right now, the Imanuel is playing with his Sabbath felts and I’m waiting for 3ABN to load up so that by the time I start watching what’s been loaded, there won’t be any stops or delays during church.  We didn’t have church service here in Houghton because of the U.P. Campmeeting that’s going on right now at Camp Sagola.  And, after Imanuel woke up 3 times last night (probably due to indigestion – late dinner and a combination of bad dreams), I didn’t feel up to driving all the way over there for the day.  So, we’re having church at home.  We’re planning on watching ASI’s church service on www.3abn.org.  Israel will be giving a report during offertory and Chester Clark will be speaking so we’re excited about that.  (We just have to wait for it to load!!)

So, hopefully this killed some time.  I’m so thankful that it is the Sabbath.  The weather outside is absolutely perfect and after “church”, I think I might take the boys (all 3 of them) to the park to enjoy some of God’s creation.  

That is the ASI National Convention theme.  And I’m taking it seriously.  We are thrilled to announce the soon-to-be fourth member of our family.  Let’s pray for him.  He’s coming in November. 

PS:  We were conducting an experiment to see how long we could keep this news a secret.  But ASI has forced us to disclose this information.  So, we are telling the world, and telling them now. 

A few weeks ago, we gave Imanuel his first haircut with clippers.  Surprisingly, he thought it was fun.  🙂  Anyhow, here are some pictures from before and after.  The first pictures are from early June and the last ones are from just a few days ago. 

Hiding between the couches

A rare picture of all our pets together (and Imanuel’s head).

Imanuel stuffing his face with grapes.  He’s been on a grape kick for a few months now.  I’ve resorted to washing a bunch at a time so I can just pull them out.  Even now as he’s looking at these pictures, he keeps saying, “UVAS!  UVAS!”

Notice the nappy hair

Israel in his new office in the basement

After the haircut!

Imanuel loves sitting in the front seat and pretending to drive.

Israel got a trim too.

This picture looks so funny to me…I don’t know if it’s because his head looks so round and chubby.

In this picture, he’s saying, “open!  please!” and I kept taking pictures of him.  Israel’s glasses case has become one of his new favorite toys.  And, check out his farmer’s tan on his arm. 

It’s so fun to see how Imanuel tries to utilize all of his words and signs to communicate.  Just today, I was on the computer and Imanuel comes over to me and says, “Mama…mama…(he points at Bentley)…bba bba (which is his word for food)…uvas…uvas”.  I didn’t get what he was saying at first, but then when I went over to Bentley (he pulled my hand over to him), I realized that Bentley had stolen one of Imanuel’s grapes and was trying to eat it.   Both Bentley and Imanuel are fierce defenders of their own food.  (Of course for Imanuel, it has to be food that he likes.)

His newest phrase that we’re trying to teach him is “no, thank you”.  He started saying “no” recently and he already knew how to say “thank you”.  Finally after a couple weeks, he’ll now say “no! … thank you!”  when he doesn’t want something (like a certain type of food etc.)  But, he’s learned to use that phrase on other aspects too.  For example, I’ll tell him that it’s time for a nap and he’ll say, “no! …thank you!”.  But thankfully, he’s quite compliant still. 

Copy-cat.  Imanuel is starting to try to discipline Bentley like we do.  If Bentley puts his paws on the table, he’ll tell him “Down!”  Or if he’s trying to get at some food in Imanuel’s hand, Imanuel will say, “No, no no!” while shaking his finger at him.  When Bentley is bullying the cats, Imanuel will bring it to our attention by saying “Bentley” and pointing.  And, whenever Bentley’s food bowl is empty, he’ll bring it to me and say, “Bba bba”.  He’ll then come with me to put more food in his bowl and he wants to be the one to carry it back to where Bentley eats.  It’s crazy to see the transition to where now Imanuel feels dominant over Bentley even though Bentley is so much stronger and older than he is. 

Anyhow, life is exciting.  Except for the weather.  We don’t have AC and last week we almost melted.  I never thought I’d say this, especially living up near the arctic circle, but I can’t wait for the weather to cool down!

It’s been a while since we updated our xanga page.  So many things have happened since Memorial Day so hopefully within the next few weeks we’ll find time to include the many memories that we want to remember.  Right now, we have a satellite team of magabookers up here.  Remember to pray for them!  They are a real blessing to us because we’re planning on having an evangelistic series here in October so all of the Bible study interests will be followed up to prepare for that. 

The past couple months have been full of traveling.  We had two weeks that we spent down state for Camp Pitch and MI Campmeeting.  Then we flew from Detroit to California where Israel spoke at CAM.  Imanuel and I went along for fun so we had a nice time spending time with our family over there.  Then we came back, drove back up home for a few days, then drove right back down for CAMPUS leads.  We spent a lot of time traveling so it’s really nice to be back home.  I think the pets think so too.

Bentley has a new friend.  One of our neighbors just got a new puppy and the other day he discovered that Bentley lives next door.  His name is Duncan.  He treks through the couple hundred yards of tall grass that separate us a few times a day to come and visit Bentley.  Bentley’s tick problem (yes, he had a major problem) has seemed to go away ever since we bought a riding lawn mower.  Israel cuts our grass so low to the ground that just about no living thing could live in it.  Our grass almost burned to death were it not for all that rain that came recently.  But at least we don’t have a tick problem anymore. 

Imanuel has become very chatty this past month.  His vocabulary has increased so rapidly that it seems as though every day he picks up a few more words.  His favorites at the moment are “hello”, “ball”, “GOOOOAL!”, “amen”, “apple”, “please”, “thank you”, and “mama”.   Despite all of the caution we’ve been given about him beginning to walk, I personally think it’s so much easier and convenient now!  He is in such a fun stage right now.  He loves to laugh and he’s just so silly.  Anyway, we’ve also begun potty-training so we would like to solicit all of your prayers. 

***

Right after Petoskey (beginning of June), my older sister, Julie came up to visit with us for a couple weeks.  She skipped out on her med school graduation to come to Michigan.  So, as her graduation present for becoming a doctor, she cleaned/rearranged/organized our entire house.  No kidding, it was her idea!  I felt like we were on TLC’s show “Clean Sweep”.  Our house is so clean and organized.  I don’t know why she decided to become a doctor.    Imanuel really took to her and learned many new things.  He invented his own sign for “smoothie”, he learned to say “imo”, he learned how to tell Bentley to “shhh” when he barks, and he learned how to lick his fingers after eating.  We were able to take her to a couple nice scenic UP places as you’ll see in the pictures.  But it was fun just hanging out and relaxing (when we weren’t cleaning or rearranging furniture).  Here are some pics from her visit:

Hopefully there will be more to come in the near future…

 DKAY went up north to Dr. Frank & Melinda’s vacation house  for Memorial Day weekend and they invited us to go too (except we had to go down south).    We had so much fun!  We couldn’t have asked for better weather.  It had been a while since I stayed up so late but the crazy games and fun conversation was completely worth it.  Thanks Sunny for organizing the event, Angela for making the yummy food, the kids for socializing with Imanuel (-he needed it), and most importantly the Kim family for hosting us!   We brought our camera but there were several people who took pictures.  Here are some of the pics:

DKAY, let me know if any of you want any pics and I can email or burn you copies! 

Imanuel is now 14 and a half months.  He really is a lot of fun at this stage because first of all, he can walk on his own so he’s in exploration mode, but at the same time, he knows how to obey so he doesn’t get into too much trouble.    (The worst things he’s done so far are calling Mark Finley’s cell phone, digging up a bunch of dirt from one of our plants and, he and Bentley were playing with a wasp that was crawling on our floor and he grabbed it and got a little sting.)  He’s pretty good about not touching things that he’s not supposed to and it is a joy to see him obey.  On the flip side, it is quite heart-breaking when he chooses not to.  He’s become a little chatterbox too.   His speaking vocabulary has literally doubled in the past week or so. 
These are some of his new words that he says:
– ball
– flower
– bird
– cat
– Chance (orange cat)
– Aroe (gray/white cat)
– “bread” in Korean/Spanish
– “orange” in Spanish
– Mama (- FINALLY)
He still uses his signs too so he’ll speak/sign sentences saying nouns and adding signs like “please”, “eat”, or “give to me”.
He loves birds- particulary seagulls which fly around our house from time to time.   I think it’s because they are so big and not afraid of humans.  He and Juan will need to go birding sometime together.  
Imanuel has also improved on his animal sounds.  He can now “baa” like a sheep and “meow” like a cat in addition to the roaring like a lion.  He can also pucker his lips like a fish!  (Poor Nemo didn’t live to see this day…)
I think the cutest thing that Imanuel has gotten into (-thanks to Israel) is that he loves kissing!  He even likes kissing Bentley and Aroe!  Chance always runs away by this point.  When Sikhu was over and he was kissing her good night, he didn’t want to stop!  HAHA.  Israel had to intervene.  Anyway, so that’s been fun. 
So yeah, now is definitely a fun time.   Especially now that the weather is warmer and we can go outside, Imanuel loves walking on the back deck, blowing dandelion seeds, picking up rocks/pine cones, seeing flowers etc.  The only down-side is the bugs.  There are LOTS of bugs here.
So anyway, that’s our update for now.

Here are some pics from the past month or so:

Uncle Sebastien came up to visit for a week!  (Notice the progression of Sebastien’s smile 🙂

His new thing is sitting in boxes or laundry baskets (when they’re filled)

Auntie Sikhu and Imanuel

Israel and Imanuel looking at the tulips in our front yard

Imanuel in his car seat before going into town

Picture of his 3rd haircut (he wasn’t a happy camper)

Imanuel smelling the peony at his grandparents’ house

Hugging his baby mickey that Uncle Steve got for him from Disney World.  Thank you, Uncle Steve!

NEWEST UPDATE:
Our family has decided (as a means to provide further income for the home) to open up our backyard for U-PICK Goh-Sah-Ree (AKA:  baby fern).  There is an over-abundance of this organic-grown-in-the-wild edible plant and we’re thinking that for you Koreans out there, it’s a perfect opportunity to come pick some within the safety of private property (w/out the risk of getting stopped by the police- as is a common occurrance when our moms would make us pick them on city/state property).   I must admit that as I was out picking some today, it was a refreshing feeling not worrying about being a spectacle to the public eye and not feeling like an immigrant who is desperate for food.  For you non-Koreans, this may also be the perfect opportunity for you to get acquainted with this baby edible plant.  Think of it as preparation for the time of trouble when there may be times when food is not readily accessible.    So, the invitation is open, but act quickly because within the next couple weeks, the baby plants will blossom into adult ferns and will no longer be edible (I don’t think).     

The Obituary:
Yesterday, May 2nd, 2007 at approximately noon, Judy found Bentley’s elder brother (right above him), Nehemiah (aka Nemo), our family fish, lifeless on the bottom of his turquoise 2 gallon tank.  The cause of his death is unknown.  He is survived by 3 other pets, Aroe, Chance, and Bentley and of course their owners.

It was Judy and Imanuel’s ritual to feed the fish every day before Imanuel went down for his first nap.  Nemo initially belonged to Israel (-he was a gift from Judy), but Israel gave the fish to Imanuel and the two of them were roommates since we moved up to Houghton.  It was Imanuel’s first fish and will most likely be his last.  Nemo was a good fish and this fall would have been his 3rd year with us.  He was a Betta aka: Japanese
Fighting Fish and was different shades of maroon in color. 

Today Israel will perform the funeral service and Nehemiah will be laid to rest in a porcelain watery grave (and not to raise up to life anew – potentially EVER).  This is the first death in the Ramos immediate household and we are sad, but we trust that even in this, the Lord knew this was the best time for Nemo to go.  

So, the past few weeks, Imanuel has slowly but surely started saying words.  It’s been quite exciting and funny at the same time.  I believe his first official word was “daddy” – (meaning the first word where he was able to use in the correct context).  His second word was “Bentley” which he confidently pronounces “Bet-ty”.  He probably uses that word the most frequently now-a-days.  He says “mama” rarely, but sometimes.  His newest words are “mool” (Korean word for water), “banana” (or more like “nana”), sometimes he says “oo-yoo” (Korean word for milk), and just today, Sebastien taught him how to say “amen”.  It was a proud moment. 
He will roar like a lion too (if that counts for anything).
It’s getting fun because Imanuel is getting into the stage where he will actually try to copy the word you are saying.  He tries to say “Jesus”, but that one’s a little hard for him to pronounce.  He’ll try any word though.  It’s cute.  A lot of words end up sounding very similar to “nana” (or “banana”).  He likes that word…and loves the fruit.
Thanks to Sebastien, Israel is now obsessed with google.  He is as we speak creating his google homepage with his google calendar and google weather and connecting with other people’s google pages.  The very next post you read by him will most likely be about google, just as a heads up.   “It’s ridiculous.  Just ridiculous.  That’s all I gotta say, bro.”  Quote by Israel Ramos on how amazingly awesome google is.
Well, I’m off to bed.  Alanna and Sikhu should be arriving home tonight and so it’ll be nice to see them tomorrow.  G’nite!

Imanuel started walking today!  We were visiting his “great-grandparents” from church and he just started walking around their house like it was nothing.  Israel was at the U.P. Men of Faith so he missed it.  Anyway, when we came home, he continued walking around the house like he was an old pro.  I could not believe it.   It was just like that.  Yesterday he was walking maybe 5-7 steps between furniture, and today he’s walking around our whole house, standing on his own, and he even turned around.  All I gotta say is that I prayed this Sabbath would be a blessing and it sure was…in more ways than one!