Welcome Alec John

This afternoon our nephew Alec John Libutti was born. He is 9lbs 3oz and 23 inches! The Mommy, Brian's sister Cheryl, and baby are doing well. What excitement. You can check out the LIBUTTI BLOG for a pic of this little blue bundle of joy.

Our New Home

Things are very busy at the Davies house. We are making great progress with packing and relocating. Brian and I, however, are both exhausted. I don't think we have ever been more emotionally or physically fatigued, but the end is in sight. Our friends the Starks have been such a help with Kate, and I can actually say I feel like we will have everything ready for our move next Wednesday. On a fun note, Brian and I have gotten well under way in purchasing our first home. We are so excited about the beautiful colonial that's a mile north of church, 4 blocks from the grade school, 6 blocks from the actual Grays Lake, 8 blocks from the high school, a mile west of the cute downtown, and a half mile to the Metra stop. To say that it was a good time to buy your first home is an understatement. We got a great deal, and really feel blessed to be able to be in the middle of everything. Our move-in date will be in Mid-November, so until then we will be living with my parents. It is very wonderful of them to accommodate us, and after living away for years we are looking forward to the time together. By the way our adorable Kate turned 20 months today, but with the craziness here the documentation of her every move will have to take a back seat, at least for a little while.

Two, Five, Six, Seven

The other day Kate floored Brian and I when she started counting the number of puzzle pieces. "One, Two, Free, Four, Fi, Si, Seben," she said in the cutest voice imaginable. The most surprising thing is that neither Brian nor I have particularly worked with her on counting. We'll have to give the credit to either Mickey Mouse or our Mother's Helper, Caty. Either way her counting is cute and increasing. We can now make it up to ten, though our favorite sequence is two, five, six, seven, (note the omission of three and four) and if we ever get lost we start back at two. I think the way she says seven (seb- en) is particularly endearing.

That little number se-ben has certainly been stuck in our heads lately, because of Kate and a few other things. It has been seven years since Brian and I were married, seven years since Brian started the seminary, and seven years since we've lived in Chicago. Well, seven year later and we are headed back. Brian has accepted the call to be pastor of Lord of Glory Lutheran Church in Grayslake, IL. We are very excited, quite overwhelmed, and a little sad to leave our life in Michigan, but we really feel that this call is a great fit for us both in ministry and in family. We are very thankful for this wonderful call and what it means for us.

We've started the process of finding housing, moving states, packing our current house for our fifth move in seven years, and departing St. Peter. The people in Michigan have been very understanding. We are thankful for that, and the excitement of everyone in Chicago. We have a lot to do in the two weeks before our move date, but I'm sure we'll manage.

Our little girl has been great and even been better as of late at entertaining herself. Her favorite thing to do is to set up her figurines, count them, and put them back in the bag as we caught in the picture above. I am very very very thankful for those characters and our adorable little girl who gives me a mental break from our big to do list.

Talking, Drinking, and Other "Big Girl" Things

I caught our little girl chatting away the other day and got some good video. She has gotten so much more talkative in just the last two weeks! Kate is also one of the most people pleasing children I know. If you clap for her she will do just about anything. It is a great way to encourage new skills as you can see in our second video. Speaking of encouraging new skills, Kate has been showing quite the interest in potty training. The other day she ran into the bathroom, pointed at her potty seat, and shouted repeatedly, "Ah-Mo Potty." We put it on for her, sat her down, and to our amazement she actually went #1! We gave her great encouragement, attention, clapping, and praise. I'm not sure we are really ready for full blown potty training with all the current upheaval at our house, but I'm not discouraging anything.

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate Talking!

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate Drinking!