Moving On

It was one of "those" weekends, fun but busy. We had a date-night-in on Friday night because there wasn't Men's or Ladies' Night this week. After we put Micah to bed (which now consists of saying goodnight to him and laying him down in the corner of his crib and walking out of the room. The awesome part: he goes right to sleep, no fussing, no crying, no hysterics. This is one happy mommy, let me tell you!), we cuddled up on the couch and watched a movie. Very fun, very relaxing, very much needed after a busy week.

Saturday morning found me at yet another Once Upon a Child sale. I skipped the last one because I already had been a few weeks prior. However, when I read the Grab Bag Event notice that was recently emailed to me, it was just too good to pass up. For this sale, you were able to stuff a certain-sized bag (that they provided) with however many items you could fit...all for $20. I put Micah down for his morning nap and left him with D to do my scavenging. I was mainly looking for next summer stuff, but I was able to find some winter stuff for this year, some more summer stuff for this year, a few newborn/infant boy items for whoever, and I even dipped into the newborn/infant girl section because I had room that I wanted to fill in my bag. The verdict: I bought 80 pieces of clothing for $20, yep all 80 items were stuffed into that medium-sized shopping bag. It was packed so tightly that the cashier had to put all the clothing in both a large bag and a medium bag for me to carry out. I "saved" $278, it's not like I would have spent that kind of money on clothing, but that's how they calculated it after scanning each and every item! Somehow they calculated the cost of each item and that ranged from $0.07 to $0.58. I know, I was getting a little wild with the $0.58...I just couldn't help myself! I also bought two Melissa and Doug puzzles for $3 total, so really I spent just over $23. I'd say it was quite the deal and am really grateful for D letting me spend the morning out and about and watching Little Man so I could get those deals.

And as if that wasn't enough fun, on the way to D's parents' house for dinner that night, we passed quite the pile of stuff on the side of the road. Being curious, D turned the car around and we noticed a "FREE" sign next to the pile. I guess it was stuff left over from a tag sale some people had that day. We sifted through the items and came away with: a carseat and snap-and-go stroller (I wanted this type of stroller, but didn't want to spring for it!), a set of Thirsty Stone coasters, a pull-along sled, a few board books, a nice trash can (that matches two little wire baskets I recently bought), a ceramic pot (for cooking soup/chili?), an old accounting calculator (you know, the type that prints out what you type), and I think that covers it. Dad says that's the way to do it: go around after the tag sales are over and get the stuff for free when it's officially "junk." Have I mentioned how much I enjoy good deals?

That's all for the deal part. Today, I had a bridal shower to go to in between church. It was really fun because we ate this delicious lunch at the place Nick and Kristina had their wedding reception last year and because Mom, Yana, and Kristina were there, too. We always have fun together. That meant that our men were on their own for lunch, so Dad and Gma Fus made some turkey burgers for D and Ryan and they all hung out together. Micah? Well he fell asleep on the way to my parents' house from church and stayed that way for two entire hours. When he woke up, he was happy to entertain some of his favorite people. By the time we got home, it was time for church again. Fun, but busy.

Just a few shots of my in-full-swing garden that I took yesterday:

I'm in the midst of starting an indoor herb garden that I'll be able to keep up throughout the winter. There's nothing like fresh herbs! I also have plans for a windowsill salad box, meaning you grow difference types of lettuce in a windowsill planter. Nothing like fresh anything, I guess!

Things that get me excited:

Open Air Market - August 23, 2009
The Wadsworth Mansion is hosting our seventh annual Open Air Market and Festival on Sunday August 23, 2009. The Festival will be open to the public from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. rain or shine. The event is free. The historic Mansion will transform its 700 foot vista into a marketplace and festival where a variety of vendors will gather to sell their Connecticut grown or made products. One can stroll from tent to tent purchasing fresh produce, fruit, herbs, breads and prepared foods. Local artisans, such as potters, painters, and jewelers have been invited to sell their work. Visitors will be encouraged to lounge on the lawn with lunch and listen to live music performed on the patio. Families can bring their children and spend the day. It will be a day to discover the Wadsworth Mansion, enjoy music and art, and experience the tradition of shopping at an open-air market.

I found this in my Inbox this morning from The World's Greatest Guy. Not only did he somehow find this information out, but he took the time to send it to me knowing full well that he will be dragged asked if it's possible that we could go. He's just wonderful.

Things that get Micah excited:

Breakfast. Lunch. Snacks. Dinner. This kid can eat. I'll just give you a quick menu of today's breakfast: handful of Cheerios, an entire banana, one pancake, small handful of blueberries, and whatever he managed to scrape off of this mango pit. That's one thing he's never been accused of: being a bad eater!


Things that make grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, aunties, and uncles excited:

Micah's Newest Tricks: (Let me note here that yes, he is playing in the bathtub. I purchased a rubber mat for the bottom of it this week because my child's favorite spot to play happens to be one of the more dangerous spots in the house. Right on par for Micah...)

I couldn't get him to do another trick of his, saying "car." Only he doesn't actually say the word. He'll hold up his arm like he's waving to cars because ever since he was little, he's loved to watch cars go by and we always tell him to say "hi, car" or "bye, car." I guess he translated that action into the word for "car." Oops.

Tag Saling: D and I dropped Micah off at my parents' on Saturday morning for a few hours of tag saling. We haven't been in a while for various reasons, including we didn't want to accumulate too many things in our apartment and then I was very pregnant during prime tag saling season last year. We didn't find as many tag sales as I would have liked, but we got some great deals on the ones we did find. See our loot? That's a bread machine on the right and I got it for $9 and already made some soaked whole wheat bread in it for D's lunches. We went to bed around 12am, but I didn't want the bread to bake and be ready until 6:30am, so I put it on a timer and D got it out this morning. I found a recipe for Bread Machine Granola, so I'll be doing that at some point today, too. The desk we got for $10, the booster seat for $2. I love tag saling.

Basement: Here's a video tour of our nearly-completed basement. I had intended to take some still photos, but it was on video mode when I pressed the button, so I decided to just go with it! We haven't finished the ceiling and probably won't until we're ready to move. The only thing that needed to be done is the trim and Dad'll be over at some point this week to install it. We still have to urethane the poles and the railing, but that'll be done this week, too. By the way, Dad made that railing (actually there are technically two railings and he made them both); he's a wonderful craftsman, wouldn't you say?


We're planning on bringing the pull-out couch down here and buying another couch for the living room. Mom had the good idea of imbedding a TV into one of the walls for space purposes, so that's a maybe. And I would like the wall that is on an angle near the door to be a shelving wall, covered top to bottom with square cubbies. D said he'll take me to IKEA one of these days. Other than that, they'll be lots of books, toys, and whatever else is needed to make it a fun playroom for Micah, his cousins, and anybody else who wants to play down there!

This time last year: I could barely breath in the sweltering heat that this summer has yet to bring. Which means that we should have waited to have a baby til this year. If one goes by weather when planning a baby, which we will hopefully take into consideration next time around! Ahh, memories:

Micah: is his usual active self. Still has a lingering cough, which I don't like. Last night I put him on the "big boy" side of the nursery with one of those pushing-walker toys. He took off at full-speed and as I was leaving I heard, "It's okay, Max, he didn't mean to do that." Micah managed to plow into a two-year-old five seconds into nurserytime. An all-time record, I'd say...

D and I went on our five-year anniversary outing last Friday night and it was wonderful!! M and I trekked on over to my parents' house mid-afternoon to hang out with everyone there. I think he might have gone swimming at some point, too. Ladies' and Men's Nights were both at my parents' house that week for some reason (usually they're in separate houses), so everyone started to gather there around dinnertime...much to Micah's delight! D met us over there after work and after hanging out a bit (dinner wasn't until 8pm), we kissed our son (who couldn't have been more disinterested in our departure because of all the people there to entertain him...or there for him to entertain, I'm never sure which!) goodbye for the night (he was spending his first night apart from us at his G&G's) and headed out to Hot Tomato in Hartford (the spot of our first date).

Dinner was so yummy: we shared our dishes and had non-baby conversations. I got this spaghetti squash and veggie dish. It was the coolest thing, D took a cell phone picture of it. It's squash that looks exactly like spaghetti (which means your mind makes it taste as such) covered in roasted veggies and their homemade tomato sauce. D had a great dish, too: chicken gnocchi with a delicious pesto. Towards the end of dinner, D asked me where I wanted to go for dessert and with our options dwindling (it was past 9pm), I opted for Big Y. Because their donuts are unbelieveably-out-of-this-world tasty. So that's what we did. And we enjoyed every single oh-so-bad-for-you bite!

By the time we got home, we were ready for the movie D set up for us to watch. With the knowledge that we could sleep in the next morning, we watched it all even though we were dead tired. We ended up waking around 9:30ish and were at Mom and Dad's by 10am because we missed our little man. Can't say the same about him, though, as he was excellent for them and didn't ask after us once. Mom said the guys and the girls took turns watching him throughout the evening until Mom put him to bed around 9:45pm (he had a late nap, so he was wired!). He slept through til the next morning when Mom and Dad got up with him and fed him, etc. I was so happy that he was such a good boy!! He was so good, in fact, that Mom offered to take him overnight once a month for us...which we readily took her up on!

After some tea, Dad and D promptly went to Lowe's to get our carpet and spent the next few hours installing it (it looks PERFECT!)...thus ending our overnight date!

***

In other news, changing our eating is progressing nicely. I'm learning that it's not about what you don't eat, it's about what you should be eating. Many people think that if they cut this or that out of their diet, they'll be more healthy, but that's only half of it. You then have to replace it with the things that are healthy for you like a wide variety of grains (wheat, barley, oats, spelt, millet, quinoa, etc), legumes, LOTS of fruits and veggies, nuts and seed, and eggs. A good quote I read: You should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. Of course with our busy schedules, it's not always easy to do, but there you have it.

And the best part: dessert! Jesus ate fruits for dessert, which are really good, but I've found some awesome recipes that use natural sugars (evaporated cane juice) and other substitutes that make them more healthy. The few that I've made haven't killed anyone and people have enjoyed them. I told Dad that I'd make him some ice cream sandwiches because he was eating those gross store-bought ones. There's a healthy(er) recipe for just about everything, I'm finding! Oh and I made my own butter the other day by throwing some heavy cream in the stand mixer and letting it whisk for 20 minutes. Mom, Grandma Fus, and Yana are talking about giving it a try. Again, it didn't kill anyone who had it and people liked it. I don't know how much I'll be doing that, but it was fun (you get some buttermilk out of the deal, too).

Another change that I've made is trying to buy more locally. I'm buying some eggs from a guy at church, honey from people down the street from my parents (I guess eating local honey helps with allergies...not that we have any...the honey just tastes 1000x better!), and I found a fruits and veggie stand near my grandparents that is open year-round with amazing prices. M and I went on a farm stand hunt (well, M in body, he was asleep most of the time) on Tuesday and the one I like was the third stop out of three (figures!).

Ok, enough about that. D is working from 7:30-5pm everyday and enjoying it. He went out to dinner with all of his new coworkers last night to some Thai restaurant. Cute. And he's loving his new MacBookPro. You should see us at night: side-by-side with our laptops typing/reading away until bedtime. Not the most romantic of scenes, but we have lots of fun :).

And Micah woke up from his afternoon nap on Tuesday with a nasty little cough. I'm hoping it doesn't develop into anything serious, his past coughs haven't sounded like this. Poor guy, it hasn't stopped him, though. He'll cough in his sleep, but not wake up, thank goodness! I'm sure he'll be better soon, but summer sicknesses are so not fun!

This child is on the go from the moment he wakes up until whenever you put him to sleep. He won't quit, ever. Even if he's tired. And he's always exploring because everything is new to him and everything interests him. He helps me clean with the dustbuster, the broom, the mop. He helps me empty the dishwasher, he helps me fold clothes, he helps me cook. And by help I mean hinder me from making any real progress on completing these tasks, but looking oh-so-cute in the process. Here are a few videos of Micah doing whatever Micah does on a given day:

That's all for now! Off to get things done while the little mover is asleep!

I figured I should get Micah's nine-month-old post up before he turns ten months next week!

As you can probably tell from the above pictures, he is quite the ham. It's this month that he grew out of babyhood and entered toddlerhood. I can't get over how big he is looking and acting lately; it actually saddens me.

We went to the doctor's the other day and he is now 29 1/4" long and weighs 21 pounds, 4 ounces. He grew about two inches and gained about two pounds in three months. I'm not at all surprised by those numbers: he eats a lot and gets around even more.

During this month he:
* stood up by himself (recently, he took his first step and a few more steps in the proceeding days).

* became A LOT more vocal with the b, d, and some gutteral sounds (he added the g sound last week).

* learned how to fake smile and although he doesn't do it anymore, he was pulling it out quite a bit during this month. It was painfully obvious that he wasn't willing to put forth the effort for a real smile. So of course I would always have to burst into a lengthy explanation, which never helped matters!

* learned how to drink out of a straw. I had to buy him a straw sippy cup because his other one was too "babyish" for him.

* ate Cheerios for the first time and LOVED them. I was glad I didn't have to buy those puff things anymore!

* found his thumb. And what a find! This left thumb of his worked wonders in the calming-down area. At the times he would have been fussy or way-too-active, he now sticks his thumb in his mouth (he just added playing with his hair to the routine) and is, gasp, calm. This transformation is amazing and everyone comments on it. He actually, for the first time, calmly fell asleep on my mom when she was putting him to sleep. He usually sucks on it when he's tired or is being held. He doesn't do it in his sleep, which is nice. It's truly a Godsend and I'm enjoying every single second of it.

* has a few favorite games: clearing off tables and the "I'm going to get you!" game. He's still liking everything that's not a toy, even though he has 1,977,576 toys all over my house, Grandma's house, and Uncle Ryan and Auntie Yana's house.

* loves to read. He likes when David reads to him. They'll read at least four books at a time. Micah definitely has his favorites that he wants you to read over and over and over and over to him. At this rate, he'll get through all his books in the next ten years. You can tell if he likes a book because he'll sit back and put his thumb in his mouth. If he doesn't like a book, he'll get off your lap and go pick one he likes!

* has some OCD tendencies (like his Daddy), as in having to hold something in his hand a certain way every time. Or eating his rice-puff snack a certain way every time. Or taking the same route around my parents' house, doing the same thing to the same objects in his path. It's quite funny to behold.

* is eating great. I added cheese and chicken and regular green beans and pasta to his repetoire. He's eating a lot more table food and I'm certainly not pureeing much of anything anymore. I just recently started cutting up the avocados because Mr. I Can Do It Myself needs to feed himself. He's such a great eater and it always willing to try new things.

* continually gets comments on how strong he is. And he is. I don't know why he's this strong, but he's been able to hold his head up since birth (kinda weird having your two-day old son turn and look you in the eyes!). I blame it on the fish oil pills I took and tell David that I'm not going to take them next time, rather replace them with something a lot less healthy. Jokingly, of course.

* took a road trip to PA. He is a great traveler, but I still don't like having him cooped up for long periods of time. Then he doesn't sleep as well. Which means I don't sleep as well :). Four hours was plenty long enough and am glad we don't live that far away anymore!!

* is obsessed with dogs. He'll say "dog" when he sees one in real life or in a picture. Uncle Nick and Auntie Kristina have two dogs that he really enjoys watching. So now he has a few dog books that I found on clearance and will sit and flip through them, while narrating, "Daaa!" in a high-pitched voice.

* continues to be an awesome sleeper. He takes a 2 to 2 1/2-hour morning nap and a one-hour afternoon nap before going to bed from about 7:30pm to about 7:00am (this has recently changed to 9:00pm to 8:30am, which I like...a lot!).

* plays by himself a lot more, as long as someone is in the room. I'm actually able to get things done while he's awake now :) This whole moving-on-his-own thing is all he has wanted to do since birth and now that he can, he's such an easy baby.

* is a wonderful little guy who we thoroughly enjoy being around and sharing with everyone. I can't count the number of times we're dropped in on by family and both he and I (D's usually working!) love it. I also can't count the number of times I call up Mom or Ry and ask if I can drop him by while I run a quick errand. It's a big help to me (although I usually bring him with me because he's such a good boy in the stroller) and I know he enjoys it and I know whoever is watching him enjoys the time together!



I think that about covers it. Obviously, I'll be posting a ten-month-old post (relatively) soon. This eating-more-healthy thing is very time consuming to learn about, but we've made a lot of little changes and I am so pleased about where we're going with all of this. David said I can get a grain mill and I found a few places that sell things in bulk for a mere fraction of the cost in stores. I thought eating healthy was expensive, but it's not if you do it right. But that's another story for another day. Today was our five-year anniversary (where did those years go!?!) and we're celebrating tomorrow :). I'll leave you with these:

My garden: is flourishing despite the torrential downpours we've been experiencing on a weekly (daily...) basis.


How many: Cheerios didn't quite make it into Micah's mouth (notice the one on the back of the thumb-sucking hand)?

I haven't been into blogging much lately, sorry for so few updates on our little man. He's turning into such a big boy, learning and doing new things every day. He took his first step on Monday :(. David, Nick, and I were there to witness it.

Also, David had been home, too, which was a wonderful distraction. He started Radiology yesterday and is just on cloud nine doing what he loves to do. Our five-year anniversary is coming up next week and we have a special night planned. Next Friday, we're going to the restaurant where we had our first date for a very late dinner (8:30pm reservations!!) and Micah will be sleeping over Grandma and Grandpa's house all by himself for the first time. He doesn't need to nurse right away in the mornings anymore, so we'll get up at our leisure and head over there mid-morning. I'm excited all over again just writing about it! :)

We have an awesome morning routine going, speaking of mornings. Micah gets up around 7:15am and D, who is up and about, gets him, changes his diaper, and hangs out with him until he has to leave. Then he gives him to me. We all benefit from this little arrangement (they get to spend time together, I get to sleep), so the day starts off just great!

Now for the beach: It was perfect weather this weekend and it was supposed to be rainy the rest of the week, so we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to the beach. We packed up and headed out while Micah was in the middle of his afternoon nap (in his carseat, since that's where he fell asleep!). The sun was bright and the wind was breezy, couldn't as for a more perfect combo. Micah woke up a little before we arrived at Hammonasett Beach and was easily entertained. After trucking all of our stuff to the sand, D set up our nifty beach tent, although a beach umbrella would have probably been better. Why? Because Micah liked the sand so much that he was either sitting outside the tent or sitting in the tent and bringing the sand inside. He wasn't that enamored with the water, I think the crashing waves were too loud for him, but he enjoyed splashing in it if we were holding him. We took turns entertaining him, which was easy to do. It was such a leisurely time, I didn't want to leave. However, it was dinnertime and we're not known to miss a meal, so we headed out to a local restaurant. Micah has found his voice as of late and used it quite loudly in the restaurant. He wasn't grouchy or complaining or whining, he was simply "talking" -- a few octaves above acceptable. That's when we started stuffing food in his mouth, which he loved because he doesn't like "baby" food anymore. He wants to feed himself whatever we're eating. We don't have a big vacation planned for this summer, too much going on, but these day trips and overnighters are just plain wonderful. Here are some pictures:

I've been holding off: on Micah's nine-month post because he has a doctor's appointment this week and she'll tell us the official height and weight (and give him some shots!).

David: is on a mini-vacation until Wednesday when he officially becomes a Radiologist! And a rather handsome one at that. A little aside, he was letting his hair go...not on purpose...and it got rather long. And he didn't gel it. He looked like he was thirteen, in a cute sort of way. Without sounding weird. I gave him a haircut outside on Saturday since it was so long and didn't want to clean up after all that hair. He's back to looking like his 29-year-old hot self again!

The basement: just needs the carpet that's waiting to be picked up at Lowe's installed. Dad and David are planning on doing it in the next few days, after some little things are wrapped up. I'm so excited that this project will be completed, it's nice and cool down there...and there'll be lots of room for our little man to do his thing. Although he does his thing just about anywhere and enjoys himself, so it won't be such a big deal for him...we'll enjoy the extra space.

David (again): got a MacBookPro this weekend. He has a very generous stipend from his new job, so he's well on his way to spending it! He got a discount and got a free iPod Touch out of the deal. He's awesome about getting good deals! Needless to say, he's very much enjoying his new "toy!"

Healthy Living: I'm well on my way into digging through PILES of info on living/eating more healthy. There's a balance that I don't want to tip, but there's a lot to eating what God intended our bodies to survive and thrive on. The Internet is such a great resource and there are a few really good blogs that I've learned so much from already. I'm slowly incorporating things into our meals and into our life so as not to get overwhelmed or shocked. It's turning out not to be as expensive as I once thought. The foods we're eating fill us up and we're not eating as much to keep us full. I'm also learning how to freeze/keep different things so they last longer.

Micah: is at a really fun age. I've enjoyed him more this last month than I ever have. He has such the personality, is able to play on his own for a while, responds to looks/words/actions, and is just an all-around happy little man. He still has his "things" like not wanting to be held, always wanting mommy, blowing raspberries when he doesn't want a certain food because he'd rather have what you're eating, etc. Overall, he's just plain fun and I'm enjoying having all sorts of fun with him!

Not to be confused with high school graduation, college graduation, or med school graduation, this was David's graduation from internship. It was mainly for the third-year residents who finished their stint in Internal Medicine and would be moving on in their medical career. They lumped in the Interns who were only doing a year of medicine and then moving on to something else (aka David) since they were officially ending Internal Med (there were only five who fit into this category). It was nice meeting some of the people David had call with and some of the residents whom he had worked with during his rotations. The whole "putting a face to a name" thing.

As you can see from the pictures, D's parents and grandma were able to make it. D liked that they were able to come. My parents (and eventually Uncle Ry-Ry, Auntie Yana, Uncle Nicky-Nick, and Auntie Kristina joined in the babysitting duty) watched Micah for us. The graduation included hors d'oeuvres before the ceremony and they were yummy! The ceremony itself, though advertised as an hour-long affair, turned into a rather length production. I had to get home, feed Micah, eat, and get ready in time for church, so I texted D and told him I had to leave at 5:30pm. Fortunately, he was called up for his "diploma" just before that and all of us left around 5:30pm. Later that night, D met his friends at a restaurant in Hartford and celebrated the end of thirty-hour-long calls!

The next night found us at a picnic put on by the residency program at a local Club. It's a really nice spot in town and they always have great food. We were there in a more formal setting in December for the residents' Christmas party. We invited my parents along because we enjoy their company and as a thank-you for watching Little Man the night before. That was the first time Micah had chicken, actually. And he loved it...no surprise there. We had a good time being outdoors and socializing with a few people before heading home. Sorry, no pictures of that. I've been really bad about pictures lately, but rest assured that Micah is as cute as ever. He's growing up so quickly and learning new things all the day, but that will all be included in his upcoming nine-month post.

I thought David's vacation would be a semi-vacation for me too, boy was I wrong! D's brother Steve and his family were up visiting as was his grandma from Iran, so we spent a good portion of the beginning of the week with them. Monday morning (D was post-call on his first day of vacation!) turned into a summer-clothes shopping spree for Little Man with my sister-in-law Eden and D's mom. I didn't know D's mom was going to be there, but she entertained Micah while I was perusing the 9-12 month racks. At some point she informed me that she would be buying all the clothes I was picking out. Way generous...thank you, Gramma and Grampa!

Monday afternoon found us at a local kid's museum with Micah's cousins Ari and Lyvi and a few of Ari's friends. They had a room just for 1, 2, and 3-year olds which Micah enjoyed. The other rooms were really neat and creative, but too old for him. I'm sure we'll be headed there again in another year. It was a fun family outing. We have pictures to prove it:





We had very yummy Persian dinners both Monday and Tuesday night courtesy of D's grandma. I've almost finished reading What Would Jesus Eat? and a lot of what Jesus ate is still found in Middle Eastern cooking today. Needless to say, Jesus would consume very little of what most Americans eat today. Anyway, D's mom brought us all to an Afghanistan restaurant one day for lunch where we had more yummy and healthy food.

(Aside: We managed to put in a few hours working on the basement one night, too.)

Towards the end of David's vacation week, we packed up the Volvo and headed south...to PA. We've been planning on visiting our friends there since Micah was born, but the time was never right until now. We left an hour before Micah's bedtime, so I sat in the back with him for the first half an hour holding up the portable DVD player that was playing a Baby Einstein video. He appreicated the effort however, staying back there after the DVD was distracting Micah from falling asleep, so I crawled up front with David. It was just like old times (after Micah fell asleep). We arrived in PA around 11:15pm (we made really good time) and M promptly woke up when the interior lights shone in his eyes. It took a while for him to get back to sleep since he was in a new place that he wanted to explore and because he already had a good amount of sleep behind him. After he was down, D and I visited with our hosts past midnight, the first time I've voluntarily seen 12am since giving birth.

And then Micah was up promptly at 5:30 the next morning. I told D that this little phenomenon would happen and I don't think he believed me (mind you, we slept in the same room with our little man). This was a big reason for me not wanting to go on vacation, but D really wanted to and this is the reason that he was the one who got up with Micah each (early) morning. Friday started off at my old work. He wowed all the ladies there with whatever he does to wow anyone. He even got into red paint that was supposed to be drying nicely on a kindergarten project. D kept him occupied while I quickly caught up with everyone. It was great seeing everyone again and fulfilling my promise that I'd be back to show them our baby. From there, we went to the local mall which conveniently had a Chick-fil-a in it. We LOVE Chick-fil-a and there aren't any where we live now, so of course we had to have lunch there. We walked around the mall after that and showed Micah what it looked like from outside the belly (he mall-walked a lot when he was in utero).

We had time to kill before we had to go back to my old work to see my old kindergarten kids (they were in school in the morning), so D and Micah took a very long nap while I read. It was raining, too, which made it all the more cozy. Upon our return to my work, I was mobbed. D told me he had never seen anything like that before. And I was holding Micah. Of course it didn't bother him because he loved seeing all the kids and everything else that was going on, being a busybody and all. I was handed a mountain of refrigerator-worthy pictures and had a few songs sung to me and visited with a few parents before we had to head out. It was cute, I missed them.

Dinner that night was really fun because our hosts invited some of our mutual friends over so we could visit with everyone at once. A few of them have kids, so Micah enjoyed playing with them...



...and that poor cat. The friends we stayed with have a cat and of course Micah, being the fearless brute he is, attacked her at every given chance. Sorry, Dori!

The next morning, Saturday, Micah had a playdate with one of my old co-workers little guy. She gave birth ten days after me, so it's been neat staying in touch and swapping baby stories. Micah slept the first part of our visit (he took all but one nap in the carseat while we were in PA!), but that just gave him more energy to play with his new friend. They did really well together. Micah loved all the new toys and wanted to play with all of them. At the same time. Every toy I gave to his friend (because Micah took the previous one), he wanted it, too. So we had a little lesson on sharing. He's never really had to share before, being the only child and the only grandchild and nephew on my side. Everyone gives him things he shouldn't have but never takes anything (gasp!) away. Anyway, he moved on and they played nicely together until our visit ended. (Yes, that is my child you see UNDER the rocking chair...)




From our visit, we went into the city to have lunch at a Persian restaurant. We went there for Valentine's Day last year and really enjoyed ourselves. Micah was napping again and slept through most of our lunch, which was just fine with us. The city was crowded that day, so we didn't drive around to see our old favorite places, but that's ok because we got back to the house just in time for Micah to eat and play some before he and I headed out again. This friend and I usually met for dinners once a month and she had her baby exactly three months after I had Micah. We met at the local mall and walked our little men around in their strollers while we caught up. I missed her, it was great seeing her again and meeting her baby. We left the mall with enough time to pick up David and head across the river to Jersey.

My dad's mom's sister, Auntie Jo, lives there and we always like catching up with her. She's lots of fun. D stayed at her place while he was interviewing at Temple Med those many years ago. The funny part: she wasn't there when he stayed over. She never met him before, but she told him where she hid the key and he had the place all to himself! We love our Auntie Jo. She met Micah for the first time and couldn't believe how active he was...and that was near his bedtime so he wasn't in full gear (thankfully!). We had tea and fruit and nuts and a great time socializing before we had to leave for M's bedtime. He fell asleep on the way back to PA. D and I followed his lead shortly after arriving back at the house. We were, quite simply, exhausted.

Sunday morning we packed up our stuff before church so we didn't have to waste time backtracking. I didn't realize how much I missed our PA church until we were there again. We got to introduce Micah to some more people and caught up with them before heading out to lunch. We were going to eat and run (to see one last friend before heading north), so we didn't ask anyone to Qdoba with us, but some friends ended up meeting us there anyway. One of the little girls is 3 1/2 years old and she was such a big help with Micah! She actually fed him his lunch while D and I ate!! Micah was fascinated with her and ate very well. Of all the "little kid" interactions Micah has had, she was by far the best to him. She had played with him on Friday night, too, and was just so sweet and caring to him, it was very cute to see!

After saying another goodbye, we headed to our old-old apartment complex on the outskirts of Philly. D's friend from Ruby Tuesday lives there and we stopped by to say hi and bye to him. Micah was squirmy from being stuck in a carseat (he slept through most of church in his carseat) or a highchair for most of the day, so I took him outside and let him crawl around on the grass. When D was done visiting, we went across the way to the Wildlife Preserve to let Micah release more of his energy. We were going to walk on a trail there, but stumbled across a visitor's building that had a room for kids. So he played there for a while, was nursed, and then strolled back to the car for the ride home. I thought it was going to be a tough ride since he would be awake for most of the time, and it certainly wasn't as easy as when he was asleep on the ride down, but I kept him entertained. He took two naps and we stopped two times to change his diaper and let him crawl around. We made it home around 7pm when Uncle Ryan and Auntie Yana stopped by on their way home from church. I think Micah was glad to finally see familiar faces again!!

So that was our vacation that wasn't really a vacation. I should be more specific: it was a vacation that wasn't really a restful vacation. We got a lot accomplished and we had lots of fun doing it, but didn't get a lot of rest. Micah, I am happy to report, is back to his old sleeping self since it's just boring ol' Mom and Dad in our boring ol' house. Yay! Now D's on a Derm[atology] rotation and it just might able to be classified as a vacation (comparatively speaking). He doesn't get up until 7am (good for him), he gets Micah and is still able to do his morning routine (good for me and good for Micah), and he gets home before 5pm (great for all of us). The hard year is behind us and we're thoroughly enjoying this thing called [a relatively normal] life!