Counting Blessings

The Berries are having a blast getting moved into the new house and spending time with each other and with visiting family. We have had visitors from North Augusta, North Carolina, Tennessee and even Vermont. We are very blessed to have such good friends and family who have helped us unpack and fix things around the house and visit and hang out and cook and go to the beach and stuff because stuff is important and everyone should do it. We have made various home improvements including installing a new kitchen faucet and Ward is on his way to becoming a regular handyman. Sarah is on her way to becoming a regular super-mom. Actually, she already is a regular super-mom. What comes after that? In any case, it is nice for us to be able to do all of this together in one home.

We’ve had lots of visitors. People from Ward’s work came over before we actually moved in and helped us paint. “Dindin” (Sarah’s brother Dylan) came from North Augusta with us when we moved in and helped us unpack and watched the kids for us – a lot. People from our new church have come over several times to help unpack and bring us dinner. “Papaw” and “Nana-B” (Ward’s Dad and Joanie) visited from Tennessee. Joanie taught the boys to say “Awesome!” They say it a lot. Allen came from North Augusta. Ward’s-Daddy-Bill and Allen helped us put up shelves and permanent baby gates. “Pampa” and “Cubby” (Sarah’s dad and brother Kevin) came down from Vermont for about a week. “Kuncle” and “Zee” (Sarah’s brother Bret and his girlfriend Lindsey) came too. Pampa and Cubby helped Ward drill holes in the office desk (that was lots of fun!) to route the power cables for the computer. They also helped with yard work, fixed bath tub holes, and light switches, and the garage door and grilled out cheese burgers, though this caused Ward a great deal of distress as he was still recovering from having had all four wisdom teeth pulled and was incapable of partaking in the great bounty of beef that was provided that evening. L “Monga and Papa” (Ward’s mom and Larry) came to visit for a day. “Nini”, Michael, and Jonathan (Sarah’s mom and Sarah’s two nephews) went to the beach with us. Wyatt and Ethan had lots of fun in the waves. It was their first beach trip and they were very excited about all the “Waka” – Water.

We haven’t been to the zoo yet so we do not have zoo pictures, and the camera malfunctioned at the beach due to salt water (apparently salt water and cameras don't mix – who knew), but we do have a few random pictures from around the house for your viewing enjoyment.

Acknowledgments: Baby talk courtesy of Wyatt and Ethan Berry of the Berry Patch. Translations courtesy of the Berry Blog. This message was brought to you in part by Peanut Butter – a delicious staple nourishment for little Berries everywhere. Eat some Peanut Butter today.

-sward

Woosh

Well, life has been busy, and after so much busyness we have not had a chance to get on here since May. That sounds more like Crazyness than Busyness. There is just a line somewhere that we crossed where busy was crazy, coffee was crack, T.V. was outcast, Ward was gone and Sarah was too (from her mind, at least). It seems we went to bed in May and woke in July where the time we missed was a blur and things seemed to settle around us in odd places as if falling out of the sky, loosed from a tornado. No, we are not in Kansas. Neither are we in North Augusta. We are in Charleston, in a new house, with a new baby, attending a new church, starting new classes at school, and in the middle of changing jobs. I suppose this will sound more whiney than witty. We are too exhausted to be witty. There are too many things to write about to fit in this one blog this one night that we are too tired to write. I suppose we shall have to give a better update in the near future. We just wanted to let you all know that we are still alive and we are still writing this blog and the tornado has finally gone. Perhaps now, in the aftermath, we will be able to post more regularly. Lord knows we will have plenty to write about.

BTW, in case you do not already know, our daughter's name is Sylvia Dawn Berry and she is the sweetest, most beautiful, well-behaved, good-smelling baby you ever met. Except when she poops. When she poops she is none of these things, but we love her just the same.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Due to Grammie's illness which kept her in the hospital last weekend, we did not make it to the zoo, nor will we be going this weekend since Ward has drill. Since we didn't get great photos of our kids pointing fingers at apes and elephants, we will dig up some other pictures from our collection to post here. Hopefully, we will get to go to the zoo soon. We want to see finger pointing and animal noises! And we know you do too.

House: 138 Cotillion Crescent will not come quietly, no. We are going to have to try a new tactic to acquire this home. It is stealthy and agile, dodging our attempts, and it is oh so very sly. A good bum-rushing may do the trick. We will try that next. As for now, our closing has been postponed and the bottom line is that we really do not know for how long. We will know more next week. Perhaps if we employed a certain and very special set of skills learnt by way of hunting Snipe, we might (yes, we spelled "learnt" that way on purpose) be successful in capturing the elusive home we pursue. Keep your toes crossed.

Pregnancy: Is going well. Sward suffers the occasional mood-swing, but that is normal. Right? Our daughter kicks Sarah. Sarah kicks Ward. Ward kicks privates. No, not those privates. We are referring to the privates he works with, privates in the Army, and he doesn't actually "kick" them but sort of whines to them and everyone else who sort of listens while they do something else and pay him no attention, which also is normal. Right? We are still debating names. May is a good name. She will be May Berry and we will name our next son Andy.

This is Sward signing off. See you next week.

Update

Let us first begin with an administrative note right here now upfront while we are thinking about it and before it either slips out of our minds or rather before and most likely you have diverted your attention elsewhere that is much more interesting and filled with funness. Also therefore as such; if you read our blogs please post comments so we know you were here. Also also therefore, if you include your email address in your first comment we will add you to our distribution list and send you an email notification whenever we post new blogs, pictures, or videos. Do not fear, worry, or be horrified in any way however, for we will not flood your in-box with notifications as these notifications are sent manually by the “The Berry Patch” staff (either Ward or Sarah) and will be emailed no more than once a week and on special/certain occasions for which you would be happy to receive such notification anyway.

Okay, moving right along to Updates:

1. House – 138 Cotillion Crescent, Summerville, SC 29483 hopefully will be our new address in approximately 12 days exactly (that’s May 17th). Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise. Stay tuned here for further developments on said property. You can see pictures of the house at: http://www.thecassinagroup.com/ListingPhotos.aspx?listingid=5540352

2. ZOO – The Berry Patch is planning a trip to Riverbank’s Zoo on Saturday of this week. We will be posting a blog about our zoo trip soon after which should have many pictures and possibly some video of the twins pointing at animals and making animal noises. (P.S. Did you know that bunnies make a noise? Next time you see Wyatt and Ethan ask them what a bunny says.)

Love you all. Check back with us soon. (and leave comments!)

-Sward

Hatching a Plan

I suppose since I went through the trouble of setting up this blog that I should start it off with a post. I also suppose that some explanation is in order to answer the following if-then question: "If we already have myspace and facebook and twitter and mobile texting and instant messaging and googling and emailing and etc etc, then... what do we need a blog for?" I also also suppose that I've just discovered a topic for my first post. It boils down to this: I like myspace. Sarah hates it. Sarah likes facebook. I hate it. And we have separate accounts for each of the aforementioned social networking utilities. As a result our family members (especially grandparents and great grandparents) who want to keep up with berry patch goings on are forced to fish through multiple pages of myspace and facebook to find pictures, wall postings, blogs, and videos of their favorite grandchildren. :D (secretly, I know they are your favorite, but don't worry, I won't tell anyone) I propose a solution. Introducing the all-new bright and shiny, fun and witty, one and only official Berry Patch web-space. It slices, it dices, it's your one-stop, no-hassle location for keeping up with all the latest and greatest Berry Patch goings on. So bookmark this page now! Follow us on your various social-networking apparati, widgets, gidgets, and gizmos. And remember, this isn't just for grandparents, it's for all you other people too! Cheers!