We're pretty much all settled in to the Argyle house. We've got a few finishing touches and straightening up of things to do yet, but we should be able to get the pictures hung this weekend. Aaron, Amy and Ella visited last week, and we had a lot of fun with them.

This week Becky started her new job, which she likes a lot. This is a good thing, because cutting down from all day with David to only 3 hours Mon-Fri would be miserable otherwise. It's at a law firm that works as a collections agency. She's working in the financial department keeping very busy! Adam is working in the IT department at Concordia Seminary again.

David seems to have done well with his transition to "Grandma daycare". Just as long as Grandma can keep from going insane when she's got all her grandkids over!

David got his first haircut today. He did a great job of sitting still for the most part, but close to the end he was getting very antsy. Bill Ebers, the church secretary's husband, cut David's hair. David also got to see their three goats, and he had a good time looking at them. Adam and I got to soak in their hottub for a little while before David got his haircut.

David is officially paid off. We no longer lease him, but own him, lol. We'd been waiting for Illinois Medicaid (the only insurance we could get David this past year) to pay off David's big hospital bill at St. John's Mercy. I thought to check the balance on that bill today, and IL Medicaid had paid it off in June.

David was rejected by private insurance again this year. His kidneys are still slightly abnormal, so the doctors can't completely clear him of any condition, so private insurance doesn't want him. The insurance offered through Concordia Seminary is way too expensive, so we hope to never have to go on it again. I can get on the small group at my new job, so they'd probably pick up David, but that would be like half my paycheck once a month, and we just wouldn't be able to afford that either. I applied on Missouri's website to get David Medicaid through them. I even called to make sure we won't be making too much money, and we're about in the middle of the range of income they allow, so we may have to pay a small premium on it. We'll have to see once the information comes in the mail. I haven't heard anything from them yet.

Just thought I'd let you all know the good news that we no longer have $2,000 looming over our heads!

David stands up everywhere now. He still has to hold on to something, but I'm sure he'll be getting his balance fairly soon. He stood up at the fridge earlier today and was able to reach some of the pictures we have on it. Looks like we'll need to get him some of those alphabet magnets soon.

We need to be working on packing. We're moving in two weeks! We have so much to pack, and still a lot of painting to do at the Our Redeemer house we'll be living in (we decided it needed a new indoor paint job). The clock is ticking!!

David is cruising everywhere he can and pulling up on everything. He found the staircase yesterday and I let him climb up the first flight of stairs. I was worried he'd go for the DVD and CD towers and make a gigantic mess, but he wanted to keep climbing. I tried to teach him to go down the stairs but he didn't quite catch on.

He got into the trashcan by the toilet today while I was in the shower. He left tissues and toilet paper rolls all over the floor.

The video of David giving his Grandma Filipek a kiss is now on the video link!

We've been lazy and haven't put the newest videos of David up yet. Well, I can't really say we've been lazy, just busy with other things! I've finally gotten all my laundry and dishes done (though we all know those are never really done, since you don't stop wearing clothes or eating), and have straightened up the things that had piled up on the table and the couch. Adam's been extremely busy with VBS, writing sermons, and general Chester ministry things.

David is working on another tooth, so yesterday he had a 100 degree temperature, and he was very clingy, crabby and tired. It was a very rough afternoon and evening for me because Adam had left for the Southern Illinois district youth gathering. I spent the rest of the evening reading in the bathtub after I had put David to bed. Thursday night he woke up at 3am crying, so I went and nursed him after giving him Tylenol and laying back down for a little while, since he would not go right back to sleep. Then he woke up again crying for a few minutes at 5:30am after finally falling back to sleep around 3:45am. It does get very hot up in his room since the A/C doesn't travel up there very well, but I'm sure he was just feeling terrible from the tooth, since I'm pretty sure it's a canine or a bicuspid. He's still missing the two outer incisors on the bottom, but they don't all come in in order anyway! He'll have a total of 7 teeth once this one breaks through.

We're having a great time visiting the Filipek family in Olathe, KS. We wish we could take a longer vacation, but unfortunately everything must come to an end at some point. David only took about two days to get used to everyone, and he's having a great time with his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin.

David has started crawling more on his hands and knees than the army crawl. He has also started pulling up to stand, and is doing this often, though he's not very good at doing so against smooth objects like a wall. He needs something to grip. He has also started giving open-mouth baby kisses. He did this for the first time on Sunday morning at church. He pulled Becky's face to him and gave her a kiss. He has also kissed Grandma Filipek in this way, so he must think she's a pretty special lady!