Moving On

Micah has taken up singing as his new hobby. D was holding him in church last night before he had to go up for choir and the piano was playing some hymn. I was talking to someone else, but happened to look over at D and Micah. M was mouthing something and Ryan was leaning into him to hear and D had a huge smile on his face. I inquired as to what was going on and they told me: Micah was singing. It was the cutest thing I've seen him do...that minute :). I kept him up for the singing part of the service and he didn't disappoint: Ry and Yana took turns holding him and every time we started singing, he'd join in. When we stopped, he stopped. Wish I had a camera. Music is a big part of our day, but he had yet to sing by himself. I'm always singing something to him (he starts swaying if he wants me to continue once I've ended the song), I put on hymns (now of the Christmas variety!) in the morning and something classical during the day. And of course Baby Einstein is chalk full of good music. D has started singing hymns to him during our family devotions, too. This is all made very easy by the extensive music collection D has compiled over the years. Just another way my man is so wonderful!

As if singing wasn't cute enough, we went over Mom and Dad's for quesadillas after church last night and Micah picked up my dad's cell phone to talk on. This is nothing new, but Ryan called the phone and he and Micah "talked" for quite a while. D was able to capture some of the conversation:

I'm joining the world of texting starting December 8th! We're uping our Family Plan to include that unlimited-calling-to-any-ten-people, a zillion minutes, and texting for all four lines (Dad, Mom, D, me) plan. Yay! Yana is so kindly lending me her old phone (she, Ry, Nick, and Kristina all have the iPhones now), which has a keyboard and will make texting that much easier :)

D had to work on Friday, but didn't have to go in until late. While there, he sent me a Google invite (nerdy, I know) to set up the Christmas tree the following evening. I accepted and after some errands and dinner at Moe's (yum!), we assembled the tree with Micah's "help." Let the Christmas festivities begin!

We had such a fun, relaxing (after dinner) Thanksgiving day. D videoed it all and made a time-lapse video out of it. I'll put it up in my Thanksgiving post. For now, Little Man is done amusing himself in his crib (which he does quite well, might I add. He'll be in there for up to 45 minutes talking and playing all on his own!) and D and I are ready for lunch!

Micah's been up to a lot lately. So I thought I'd share. Some of his new "things" are stacking cans, helping in the kitchen, turning on the TV and DVD player (to watch Baby Einstein), pointing out his head/hair, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, throat, belly/belly button, and knees, swaying so we'll sing to him, reading his Bible (after singing the B-I-B-L-E song fifty million times), making a noise to make us laugh, and tons of other little actions, reactions, gestures that he does throughout the day to communicate and interact with his little world. I'm loving this age! Since I should be party planning, compiling my Thanksgiving food shopping list, packaging books to send out, and the many other things on my To Do list, I'll post some pictures instead of narrating!

Say Thank You to a Soldier: http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html

A number of people have been saying how much Micah is looking more like David (people who previously thought otherwise). Which makes David very happy since all he's been hearing since M's birth is how much his child not only doesn't look like him, but how much he looks like Dad and Ryan!

My Man, The Romantic: Can I just tell you how great of a husband I have? Not only does he [willingly] put up with me on a daily basis, but he goes above and beyond his call of duty. Not only is he such a loving guy and regularly tells me how much I'm loved, he does other cools things, too. For example, he came home with these the other night:

Much better/more useful than flowers!

And he decided that I needed a computer in the kitchen to look up the hundreds of recipes I've sorted through and filed away on my oh-so-helpful Google Documents page and to be able to watch some of my shows while I work away. The microwave that came with the house used to occupy that space. Now it's up on Craigslist and we put the one we got as a wedding present in the dining room. I don't use it much at all anymore, but D still likes to have access to it. I like the new set up. Not bad for $50, huh?



In other news, I just finished packing two boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I think I have more packing the boxes than the children do opening them. Yes, I have that much fun.

We headed up to Boston around 1pm on Friday, with enough time to check into the hotel before D had to be at his 3:45pm conference (at Harvard, no less!). We made it there in enough time for D to check up in to the hotel and it's a good thing because I would have had a time of it. The hotel took up one big block and had at least three entrances to choose from, all the while trying to keep track of a toddler who had been strapped in for two hours. Actually, he was quite overwhelmed by the whole scene, too, so he wanted to be picked up and I gladly obliged!

During the checking-in process, D asked if we could be upgraded and the guy said we could be upgraded to the Towers for an extra $50, but D wanted a free upgrade option. D said, looking back, it would have been nice to have a two-room suite on the top floor of a huge hotel for an extra $50, but I thought our room was nice enough. We did get upgraded to a Luxury Room, but I think any of their rooms would have been just beautiful (It's on the list of Historic American Hotels). D brought our luggage up to the room and then he was off. M and I explored the hotel: climbing stairs, opening doors, swooshing decorative rocks off of planters, the usual hotel-exploring stuff. With a toddler. Then we headed up to the room because Little Man was still sick and needed a nap. I set up his pack 'n play in the bathroom and turned on the tub for some steam and he went down without a fuss. But he woke up too early only 45 minutes later and the following hour and a half was the most difficult on the trip. He was stuffed up, so I suctioned his nose, he was tired, so we read for a bit, he was hungry, so I fed him his favorite snack of raisins and cranberries, and then he was just antsy. That's when I packed him up and headed downstairs to wait for David. We still had a good half hour to go, but we managed to explore some empty rooms, a few stores, and even watched the cars go by outside from the sidewalk. Looking back, it was actually quite fun, but it was exhausting in the moment! He's not a very demanding child, so I'm glad we don't go through that on a daily basis!

Finally(!), D met us across the street at Maggiano's Little Italy where we enjoyed a very delicious Italian meal. While we were waiting for our table, M was flirting with one particular waitress. He kept giving her the crayons and paper another waitress had given him. And following her when she went to take care of her tables. And blowing her kisses. And don't think that everyone wasn't eating it all up. Because they were. He is unreal sometimes.

Back at the hotel, D was impressed with what our $89 got us. See:

After we put M to bed, we watched Numb3rs (one of our favorites!) and planned the next day.






Unfortunately, there was a big rainstorm on Saturday. Something they had been predicting. But it didn't stop us. I had told D that I wanted to go to Quincy Market for lunch before we left and he was determined to make that happened, downpour and all. I said a few times that we should just leave for home, but he was having none of it. Poor Micah didn't get his morning nap, so he was itching for some sleepytime, but too interested in the sights and sounds to calm down. We ended up parking a few blocks away from the Market and walking in the pounding rain (pushing a stroller and trying to hold one umbrella over the two of us) to some of the yummiest food in Boston. It's like a Farmer's Market of food and I ended up getting a bread bowl with soup in it and D ended up getting some delicious Indian fare that I nibbled from. M enjoyed the extra oyster crackers that the man gave me for him and some rice and whatever else he was able to get his little meaty hands on. We walked around the crowded market for just a bit (not easy with a massive stroller!) before braving the weather again. It was quite fun and I'm glad D persevered!





On the way up, I had asked D if he would mind stopping at Christmas Tree Shop in Manchester since it was on the way and I've been wanting to make my quarterly pilgrimage there anyway. Well, I had forgotten about it in the meantime, but fortunately for me, D remembered! Which he quickly regretted when he found out that I had forgotten. Anyway, we did stop and we were both glad we did because we found some things we've been needing for a good price...and D managed to get 20% off our entire order using a coupon we didn't have! He's just that good :).

By the time we got home, M was practically asking for a nap, so we put him down and promptly watched not one, but TWO, MI-5s :). By the way, Little Man is pretty much all better. No more cough (which I thought would linger for a few weeks), but still has a runny nose (he actually sits still for the suction bulb now...I just tell him we have to say bye-bye to some boogies and he's cool with it!). I'm so thankful it wasn't as nasty as it could have been (I guess Nick is the newest sick member of our family...even though he hasn't been around anyone sick!).

D's parents invited us to go to the Berkshires with them, to one of their new timeshare spots. D was able to take Wednesday through Friday off, so that meant we were able to go! We left during Micah's first naptime, around 10:30am, hoping he would sleep on the two-hour ride. He fell asleep (little stinker) the last five minutes. D hurriedly set up his pack 'n play and we laid him there where he stayed for a good two hours :). In the meantime, we got to look around the room (had one bedroom, a kitchen, and a little living room) and around the complex. It was a nice spot, fifteen hundred feet above sea level (that info courtesy of the GPS).

When M finally woke up, we brought him to the little playground where he enjoyed himself for about half an hour. He met a little girl there, whom he tried to keep track of, but she was bigger and faster than he was. And his shoe kept falling off. He square feet have trouble staying in rounded shoes. Anyway, D and I tagged-team him on the playground, since it's hard to keep up with the Little Man for extended periods of time.







All that exercise made us hungry, so we wound our way down the road to where John Harvard's awaited us. Dinner was very yummy and Micah sat through almost the entire thing. Then the lights, and plants, and fireplace proved too much to look at from a distance. He met some friends along the way from the back of the restaurant to the front, but mostly he was interested in everything he shouldn't be touching!

We went back to our apartment for a nice relaxing evening of Baby Einstein (part of Micah's bedtime routine), Drive Thru History, and MacGyver. D's parents were kind enough to let us have the one bedroom, so we setup the M's bed in there, too.

If you want some entertainment, tie a balloon to a belt loop on a pair of jeans that are on a toddler and watch the fun unfold. We had just finished shopping (and socializing) at Trader Joe's where they give out balloons to kiddos and I didn't want it flying away on him.

D was driving, so I was able to capture this video of Micah talking. I asked him if he could write a note to Daddy and I guess he's one of those people that talks while he writes! Notice how he'll say something and then chuckle. If only we knew what he was saying!

Our Little Man has some sort of flu. He had a temp, has a cough, and is so very cuddly that I almost feel bad for liking him like this! He's had these symptoms before and recovers quick enough, but it's never easy seeing your little guy sick. He's a really great sick baby, just requires extra cuddles, with no moodiness or crying (some whimpering every now and then).

His sickness comes in a long line of sickness in our family. Well just Ry and Mom, but everyone has been thrown off because we're used to seeing each other all the time and we haven't seen each other in almost a week (since Friday at my party). Micah feels it, he just has boring ol' Mom to play with. So anyway, wash your hands a lot. M could have gotten this anywhere: nursery, buffet place we were at on Sunday, the stores we run errands to...especially since he still likes to put stuff in his mouth. He seems to be on the mend, though, no more fever and eating like a champ (Daddy bought him some ice cream he's been chowing down). We're still going to Boston around noon tomorrow, so I'm sure that'll distract him from any lingering symptoms he might have. We're just praying we don't get anything. D said a lot of people have been out at work, so they implemented some cleaning policies in hopes of not spreading anything any further. Tis the season!

I'd say D did a great job booking our hotel:

My 28th birthday started the night before with dinner out at the Wood 'n Tap with David. We were on our way to a different restaurant in Hartford, but it was really traffic-y and I saw a billboard for Wood 'n Tap that said it was the next exit...and, well, that's how we ended up there. We had such a great time, that's nothing new, but we got D's meal for free, and that doesn't happen every time. The waitress mixed up his order, which wasn't a huge deal for us because we didn't have a 13-month-old anxious to get down and run around in the middle of dinner. I guess it was a bigger deal to them and it turned into a very good thing for us :). For dessert, we had dark chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joe's. Yum.

Since Mom and Dad had M for the night, we went home and watched another episode of MI-5 (I got D to watch another one with me the next night!) and then I got to sleep in the morning! That's when the fun really began: an entire day all to myself!!!! Wouldn't have given it a second thought a few years ago, but with a busy toddler underfoot, there's only so much you can do. That day, though, I spent as much time on my computer as I wanted to, went to a few stores (Mom gave me some money to buy some pants that fit me), ate Subway for lunch, and went clear across town to get a hot chocolate at my favorite hot chocolate spot before seeing my little munchkin again. Mom and Dad made a (very delicious) two-soup dinner for us (and Rita and Yana) before church. Perfect ending to a perfect day. I took some pictures along the way as evidence of how much can actually get accomplished without a child (who I missed every second!!) in tow.

The birthday festivities continued on into Friday when Mom had a party with extended family and fun games and a yummy dinner at her house. M enjoyed seeing everyone again and playing with his uncles and aunties and grandparents. He went to bed relatively easily, considering all the commotion downstairs, come to think of it. In the morning, we packed up our stuff and headed to breakfast :) another favorite of mine. D rounded off the evening with a very thorough foot rub (with lotion!). I very much enjoyed this birthday, not that I don't usually enjoy my birthdays, but last year's wasn't one of the best (in the midst of nursing a 7-week old who loved to eat...). Funny how this year I almost miss that time! Thank you to everyone who made my bday so special!

In other news, Micah can fly like a bird (flaps his arms. birds=new obsession), is learning where different facial features are, and is mimicking everything about everyone. D has a conference in Boston on Friday and wants us to go with him and make it an overnight adventure. Had to think about it. For about 0.0002 seconds. He just booked a room via Priceline where we got to name our own price. I'm picking him up around lunchtime and we'll head up then. Yay for fun, spontaneous weekend plans!

Is it weird that my 13-month old son and I just ate the exact same things for breakfast? Namely:

* a banana
* two eggs with chopped spinach
* a piece of buttered toast

I think I will officially ask D to up the food budget!

Uncle RyRy and Auntie Yana got this outfit for Little Man last Christmas. It was hard to believe then that he'd fit into it, but I almost missed the window. It looked a bit too cute (if not a bit too small...) to resist snapping a few pictures (ok, a ton, but I won't share all of them). I also wanted to get a few pictures of him in the leaves, since I have a few pictures of him "playing" with the leaves last year when he was 6 weeks old.

I was dropping M off at his G&G's for his overnight, so Grandpa joined us outside in the beautiful Fall weather...










Whenever Grandpa is in the vicinity, M is right next to him or being asked to be picked up by him (see him helping with the tires...and helping to bring the mail down to the mailbox...). Dad is one of the very few people M actually wants to be picked up by. Quite plainly, he adores his grandpa...and his grandpa adores him. And I was just glad that I was going out to dinner with my hubby in a few hours to begin the birthday festivities. More about that later.