Moving On

And what does winning mean? We don't have to make our January 2009 mortgage payment to our mortgage company...it'll be "on the house!"

This is the email D received just today: "CONGRATULATIONS, your entry for the On the House Contest was one of 500 chosen. We'll be making your January ING DIRECT Mortgage payment. We will automatically post the payment on January 5th. Feel free to log in to ingdirect.com the next day to see for yourself.

We had a great turnout for our On the House Contest, with 5,445 Customers entering for a chance to have their January payment "on the house". We received heartfelt, personal stories and appreciate the time you took to tell yours.

To view a list of our selections, visit onthehousecontest.com. And thanks again for sharing your story."

We can't quite locate David's winning entry, but if we do, and he gives me permission, I will post it here. Here is the email D received back in October about the contest: 500 Customers will get a mortgage payment "On the House." It's not easy out there these days. And we know it. So, our Customer contest couldn't be more timely. Our "On the House" contest will pick 500 ING DIRECT Mortgage Customers to get a free January mortgage payment - no matter how much you owe! To enter, just tell us in 250 words or less why you think you deserve to get a financial break. Maybe you're going through tough times. Or you can't seem to make ends meet and need this payment just to get by. Doesn't matter - we want to hear about it. We appreciate your confidence in ING DIRECT and now it's our turn to return the favor.

Not only is he a great doctor, he's obviously quite good with words, too!! I'm so proud of you, David!!

This ornament is hanging on my parents' tree. I thought it was so cool. Mom had to order it off the Internet because the mall kiosks didn't sell a nine-person ornament. This year Yana, Kristina, and Micah were added to our family!

And this is our first full-sized Christmas tree that fits oh-so-nicely in our new living room. I was originally going to just keep our tabletop tree for one more year for two reasons: a) we just moved in and I didn't really want to shift things around when we just got things all set in their places and b) I didn't want to pay full price for a tree when, in just a few short weeks, they will be selling at severely discounted prices. Well, D's mom knew this and offered us their tree since they would be downsizing, which was extremely thoughtful and we were really excited about having a full-sized tree. We didn't exactly end up with their tree (and it actually worked out because now that I think about it, it would have been way too big), but their generosity allowed us to get this tree. We also got some jingle bell ornaments to supplement the ornaments we already have and D picked out these really cool lights that have different settings. For example, only the red lights will show for a few seconds, then only the blue lights, then only the green ones. And there is a fast flickering mode and a chasing mode, amongst others. D has really been enjoying them, which is quite cute (he's on vacation this week, so he changes up the modes every few hours...).


And these are our Baby's First Christmas ornaments that our parents each gave to us this year to go along with...


...Micah's Baby's First Christmas ornament. I found this on ebay. It actually came with another similarly-themed, but differently-styled ornament, both for .99 cents plus a few dollars shipping. There were other cute ornaments that I would probably have preferred, but you can't beat the price, especially for two. And the boy has Micah's hair color and is holding a teddy bear...and teddies are the theme of Micah's room. So anyway, it all worked out and both ornaments are up on our new tree in our new living room in our new house!

This is why I don't want to go to a professional studio for Micah's pictures:


Ry took this picture with Dad's new camera and it came out amazingly well. All for free :). Here are some more pictures from the shoot:

Oops, almost forgot to mention--that dapper looking outfit he has on? An early Christmas gift from his Auntie Yana and Uncle Ryan. He looks so old in it :(, but quite handsome! Thank you, Auntie and Uncle, you sure know how to dress me!!

This dude was up for six hours straight on Friday, so you can probably imagine his miserable state by the fourth, fifth, and sixth hours. Daddy won, though, and soon Micah was fast asleep. So asleep, in fact that he was snoring...loudly...

Just realized that I didn't blog about our first Thanksgiving as a family of three. I guess I should do that before Micah's first Christmas comes and goes. Ok, that's now added to the long list known as "To Do."

Anyway, Micah's newest thing is watching TV. I know, I know...bad Mommy. However, it keeps him mesmorized and entertained for a good twenty minutes, if not longer. Do you know how much I can get done in 20 minutes these days (including a power nap)?? And he really does watch it. He doesn't care about content, he'll watch the Today Show just as quickly as he'll watch CPTV Kids. It's the movement and lights and sound that he's really attracted to. The other day he was in his bouncy seat in front of the big screen while I was getting ready and he started talking to the kids on the screen, which was a first.

Watching the tube with Uncle Ryan



I'll do a three-month update at some point, but he's getting so big. I think he thinks he's bigger than he actually is, which makes it hard to keep him entertained. The other day he went six hours without a much-needed nap...SIX HOURS! And he likes to be entertained. Fortunately he's very easily entertained by talking or playing or tickling and when I need to do things, I'll plop him in his bouncy seat for his self-amusing time. Speaking of the little guy, I hear him waking up, so I guess that's all for now!

This video is hot off the memory card as of this morning. I'm not sure what put him in this mood, possibly the five-minute-but-should-have-been-at-least-thirty-minute nap he (didn't have) had. Anyway, he was in full attack mode and it was quite funny! He's beginning to anticipate things now, like when you're going to tickle him (he laughs now, too!), and starts to respond ahead of time. He's so smart, just like his daddy!

Behold my nerdy son. I guess it was inevitable, having David as his daddy and all, but I didn't think it would start so soon...





These glasses belonged on my Build-a-Bear bunny that was given to me years and years ago, but somehow they migrated to my son's face. Mom cracks up everytime she sees the glasses on him, so guess who keeps putting them on? You have to admit, though, he was really workin' them in the above pictures. Just a few more pictures to add to the, "I can't believe you made me wear that, Mom!" pile.

Mom had us take this picture because she has one of herself, her mom, her mom's mom, and me taken back in 1982. All four generations. Obviously her mom's mom (Nana) has passed, but since the birth of Micah, we again have four generations alive in our family. So there you see my grandma, my mom, my son, and me!

I made my first Crock Pot dessert last night and I have to say it wasn't half bad. I've always been hesitant to try it because when I think "Crock Pot," I don't think dessert. Just the opposite, actually. But when I was over my parents' house the other day, I saw Sandra Lee on the Food Network (they have cable, we don't) make this Cherry and Pear Buckle. It is SO easy and it tastes like a crumble type of dessert.

My grandparents and parents, and of course D, were my guinea pigs (miss you, Dougie!) and they seemed to enjoy it. With a baby and a house to look after, I will probably be making more of these oh-so-easy slow cooker desserts!

How many hours are between 9:30pm and 7:15am?? Never mind. I'll do the math for you: 9 hours and 45 minutes. That, my family and friends, is how long our little Micah-man slept last night!!!! Now, I'm not expecting him to do this every single night from here on out, but now I know it can be done. Of course, I had D go check on him a few times to see if he was still alive and well (if I go in there, he wakes up minutes later), and he was! :) I am, as you can imagine, one very excited mommy!

Tonight was Set Up The Tree night at my parents' house. Most of us were enthusiastically participating in the tradition...


...and some of us were not.


In case you needed closer up view of the grinch, I mean Micah...

Micah had his two-month well-visit yesterday :(. D was post call, so he was able to come with me, which was great because our little man got three shots. Two in his left leg and one in his right. Thus the sad face. He screamed a cry we had never heard before, which would be not be a good thing if we had heard it before because it would have meant we were inflicting extreme pain on him. But he survived and is no worse for wear. Well, sort of. He was up for three hours during the night with a stuffy nose and probably some sort of soreness. We gave him another dose of Tylenol and just cuddled him...after suctioning his nose a few times (he wasn't a big fan of that). I guess technically he only woke up once, though, which is a first. He went to bed around 7pm, shortly after D's family arrived, and slept until 1am. After he went back to bed around 4am, he slept until 8:30am. He's been very sleepy all day today, so I'm very interested to see what the night brings. It's his first little cold, so I don't know what to expect, but he's getting a lot of cuddle time in :).

Quite obviously things have been very busy here. We moved in on Micah's two-month birthday and are still sorting through boxes and getting settled in. D is back on a call month, so that adds to the hecticness. When he's overnight at the hospital, Micah and I sleep over my parents' house. It's much more fun than being by ourselves. Micah got his Baby Einstein play gym finally and is thoroughly enjoying the lights and music and all the hanging things. I got him his first batch of Dr. Seuss books from eBay...I think there are 15 in all. I'm going to try and get him one Dr. Seuss book a month until we have all the ones that I like. Oh, and I found the most adorable baby/kids store: Janie and Jack. It's one of those [expensive] stores that only have a few outfits for each gender at a time, so I won't be buying anything full-price, but they have a clearance rack and sometimes a sale on the clearance items. One of our friends from PA had sent him a 0-3 month outfit, which I had to exchange because the only time he fit into 0-3 month clothing was in utero, so I went to the store and that's how I fell in love with it. The girls clothing are absolutely beautiful, but that doesn't help us right now. Anyway, that's a brief update. My life is spent trying to get things done in between M's feedings and [very brief] naptimes.

Here are some pictures from the past month: