Moving On

On Tuesday, September 15th, one year to the day that Micah Andrew was pulled into this world, we had a mini-party at our house. Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Yana, and Nick were all present (Kristina was working...she had taken Saturday off especially to be at Micah's party, what a great auntie!! and D's parents were away) to eat the brownie-turned-cake I made from Trader Joe's. I set out some other snacks, too, since my family can eat :).

At exactly 7:49pm, we all sang Happy Birthday to M, who again was awed and puzzled at this funny little tradition. So funny was his reaction, that we all sang it again and enjoyed seeing his reaction a second time. It's the little things... Anyway, it was a quick visit since I had everyone over around 6:30pm and 8ish is M's bedtime. But it was nice to celebrate on his actual birthday and reminisce about what was going on the previous year at that time with people who were there.

Dad suggested we get a new boiler because the one we have is the one that was originally installed with the house. In the 1950s. He said we could do it for a good price because he'd be doing the majority of the work (he's such a handy guy, in case you haven't noticed). Basically it'd pay for itself in the next five years we're here because when we sell the house, people would see the [desperate] need for a new boiler and take it off the price they'd be willing to pay. So by doing it now for less, we'd save money and reap the benefits of a more efficient boiler. Then David had the awesome idea of converting from oil the natural gas. Dad took that idea and ran with it. He contact the gas company, hounded the guy, got them to install the pipe for free, ordered the new boiler, etc. Have I mentioned how awesome he is yet? He is. He's an old pro at this conversion thing, so I trust his expertise. He did this at Ryan's house last year and is the midst of finishing up the same thing at Rita's house. This guy can't sit still, is what I think it comes down to! So now we have all this loud trucks on the side of our house digging up the street, digging up our lawn, installing all these lines in preparation for the new boiler. The policeman overseeing the work the first day (we're on day three at this point!) was a guy from our church. Small world.

I went to the OBGYN yesterday. It's a different practice than the one I was going to when I was pregnant. This is the one that Yana goes to, because this guy is a certified homeopathic doctor as well as a board certified OBGYN. I was impressed with the entire visit, from beginning to end. Well not impressed with exam part, but who ever is? The office was so well organized, the patient rooms were beautiful, I talked with the dr in his office before and after the exam...everything was just so relaxed! Another thing that was relaxing? The fact that I'm six pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight! I was surprised actually. I don't keep track of my weight at all (D is confused with the fact that we don't have a scale!), so the only time I'm weighed is at these yearly appointments. I was happy, though, because I feel great since starting our new way of eating and now I know it works because I'm always full, but I'm losing the unnecessary weight! Mom said that I should stop losing the pounds (I'm not trying to) and I kind of agree with her because most of my pants are too big for me now...oops! I think I've hit my optimum weight, though, so maybe a shopping spree is in my near future?! :)

We went to a wedding on Saturday. The son of one of our family friends got married, so the eight of us were invited. It was a fun family outing. Micah went to the ceremony, but we dropped him at Mom and Dad's where my aunt and cousin were more-than-ready to watch him for the evening. The reception was held at the Simsbury Inn (my uncle had his reception there almost twenty years ago) and needless to say everything was first class. Here are some pictures:

Date Night is this Friday night :). It's D turn to decide where we're going, although he has asked me numerous times where I want to go. We have a pile of coupons to places where we would like to go, so I'm sure we'll be sifting through those tonight. Micah will enjoy Grammy and Grandpa's house, when does he not? Pretty much anything goes at G&Gs (typical grandparents!) and they are so good about getting down and playing with him or doing things he likes to do (for example, playing in the car).

Okay, I guess I'll do another paragraph about Micah! So, the car. It's his newly found play toy and I think it's because he's facing forward in his carseat now. He gets to see all this cool stuff and when he's unrestrained, he wants to get at it. The other day, we were over Mom and Dad's and so were Ry and Yana. That means he had four cars to tour...and don't think he didn't. He went to each and every car, made his "struggling to get this open" sound (to which someone promptly opened the door), climbed in, and started "driving." Sounds dangerous, I know, but when you're watching him, it's not. His maximum playtime in there is about five minutes, then the watcher usually gets bored of sitting in there and tries to redirect him. Doesn't always work smoothly, but he gets the idea when car door is shut and you say, "All done!" It's fun watching him explore real life things and processing everything, every second.

Micah had no idea what was going on, but the rest of us were busily setting up for his first birthday party at my parents' house a few Saturdays ago. The theme of the party was trains, so the decorations followed that and so did Micah's outfit. The conductor hat didn't stay on very long, but we managed a few pictures!

Let's see, where to start? Here, look at some pictures and then I'll narrate...




There's his outfit. He looked too cute walking around looking like a conductor the whole party. I put a few boxes together to make a train for the kids. Kids love boxes, for some reason, but they're cheap and easy to play with, so you won't find me complaining.








The decorations were just enough to make it look like a party, but not enough that we had to spend mountains of time putting them up. What I didn't make, I got at the Dollar Store, just how I like it: cheap and easy. I made the Month-Old Train of all the pictures I took at his month-old birthdays. I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but the food table had a train track around it. I made it by cutting strips of black construction paper and gluing them to the tablecloth. Then we set up food trains like the Chip Train, the Veggie Train, etc. I put out his baby book, D made up a picture slideshow on his Mac, Dad compiled some other pictures and put them on the digital photo frame. I found a picture frame from Baby Gund for $3 that sings Happy Birthday whenever anyone walks in front of it. In the future, I'm going to put it out a week before the birthday person's bday with a picture of him/her from that year. Mom had the idea to put out my belly pictures that she made for my baby shower and add a newborn picture of M. And we put up a few balloons here and there. Oh, and I bought little plants for everyone to take home with them, but they were part of the decorations, too. Took me back to my kindergarten teacher days. I loved it :). I'm not much for store-bought decorations, I always had the kids make things to decorate our classroom with for the different holidays.






The being-self-conscious-of-people-singing-Happy-Birthday-to-you starts so early. Micah's reaction to 30 people singing and staring at him was kind of funny. First, he looked at each and every person with a perplexed expression on his face. Then, he randomly started blowing kisses to everyone (which he has never done before). And then he plastered that self-conscious smile on his face until his daddy took him in for The Blow. Of course he didn't blow the candle out because when you ask him to blow, he scrunches his face and sniffs IN very forcefully. Anyway, it was a fun experience. The present-opening time was interesting. He was in desperate need of a nap, but everyone, per usual, was very generous so there were tons of presents to open. The first one that he saw was a little wooden wagon my grandma's sister (M's great-great aunt) gave him and that was all he needed. He wheeled that into his playroom where the other kids were and there he happily stayed until we retrieved him to open a few more gifts. He got a lot of wooden puzzles, some clothing, a few other toys, and some books that he's loving. Uncle Ry and Auntie Yana got him a wooden train from Melissa and Doug that both he and his daddy like to play with! After presents, he went down for a two-hour nap. Great way to end his first birthday party experience!


I wasn't about to spend $15-$20 on a junk-filled store-bought cake, so I made a gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting for our little man. I had been toying with the idea of a cake mold, but then you have to frost it and make it look all pretty which was going to be way too time-and-money-consuming. So I bought an alphabet train set that can be used post-party and spelled out his name. I had originally intended to put the train on the cake, but found it worked better to put tracks around the cake and put the train there. I also set out peaches and whipped cream to go with the cake.



This is M having his cake the next day because he went straight for a nap!



My aunt bought chalk for M, so adults and kids alike had fun playing with it on the driveway. And I bought a paintable wooden train photo frame as a craft for the kids. His cousins Ari and Aiden and Ana are busily working on theirs. Anie painted one for M, since I can only imagine what would happen if he and paint got together!

Other observations: M was constantly eating for the entire two hours of the party. People kept handing him food...and he kept eating it!

D was such a big help. Dads don't usually get involved in party-planning, but he was an active participate and a huge help in the party prep.

Mom and Dad are awesome, as always. They, too, helped from beginning to end. Not sure if there are any other parents as supportive as mine, but I hope other kids are as blessed as the six of us (well, seven including Micah...well, eight including Micah's cousin...)!

I had family back over on Tuesday night, Micah's actual birthday, for some cake and snacks. I'll post about that later...

A few Saturdays ago, Mom and Dad were toying with the idea to go to Sturbridge Village and called to see if D, Micah, and I wanted to go (this was before we went on Thursday). It was such a nice day, so we were tempted, but Micah was in the middle of his first nap and M&D wanted to go right then, so we said no. A few minutes later, Mom called back and said that they wanted to take Micah to a nearby park when he woke up if it was okay with us. It sounded like great fun, especially since this would have been his first time at a park. Just before we left, Mom called to say that Ry and Yana wanted to come along, too (It should be noted that Micah has some of the best aunties and uncles in the world who are always coming to visit and spend time with him and doing fun stuff with him...he loves it!). So this is how all the following pictures came to be taken.









If you couldn't tell from the pictures, Micah thoroughly enjoyed his park outing. Everyone commented at separate times how funny it was to see six adults gathered around this one toddler. It would almost be embarrassing, if it wasn't so heartwarming. You can call M a lot of things, but unloved certainly is not one of them!

Next up, Micah's First Birthday Party pictures...

Lots of memories come with this date. I wrote about the birth experience last year, so I won't again this year, but there are a few things I still vividly remember:

* David always being there, being so supportive and helpful.
* Being wheeled into my room after the C-section and seeing a sea of family.
* One of the doctor's commenting, "Were all those people here for you?" "Well, more the baby," I replied. She was shocked.
* The faces on my family when they told me how they found out he was a boy.
* Making a mental note to never find out the gender of our babies. Too much fun anticipating with everyone and finding out at the birth.
* Everyone commenting on his size (to which I added, "See, I knew he should have been born weeks ago...")
* It's no lie when I tell you that we had a steady stream of visitors the entire four days I was in the hospital. When one left, another came. It was fun and exhausting.
* Not believing that this little swaddled package was our responsiblity. Forever.
* Trying to get the hang of nursing. In hind sight, we caught on rather quickly. Which was good because that's all Micah seemed to do
* A nurse handing me Micah after he was cleaned up and telling me to try to get him to nurse 10 minutes on each side
* The expression on her face when I told her that he did. I should have known right then I was in for trouble!
* The nurse wheeling M into our room every 3 hours so I could nurse him
* D sharing my hospital bed until the first feeding
* Yummy hospital food
* Unwrapping M to see his [huge] little body
* The three of us snuggling together, amazed at how he was just inside me and now he was in our arms
* Pictures
* Mom always helping me. Everyone was so focused on the baby (rightly so!), but Mom made sure I was comfy, had what I needed, made sure D and I got some time together, the list goes on
* taking M home
* I didn't fill any pain medication prescriptions when I got home, so M didn't have any more in his body making him relaxed and groggy, thus experiencing an entirely different infant than in the hospital!
* Not a great sleeper, always eating, wanting to be held out, loving the outdoors, a toddler in an infant body...worth every second of it

I've said this from the beginning, but now I know it's true: Micah was born older than his physical age. He was very alert and in tune with what was going on around him, knew what he wanted, how he wanted it, and he wanted to be in control of his body so he could do what he needed to do. Obviously that doesn't happen until you progress through stages, so he was a tough baby. Keeping that in mind helped me handle him, though, that and unending support from family! He was born able to hold his head up and has progressed quickly through the various stages, both physically and mentally. I still say I don't know where he came from, but we are very blessed to have him here with us. He's a special little man and we always pray for wisdom in our journey through this life with him. Thank you to everyone who has been such a support and encouragement to us throughout this year. And for everyone who has chosen to be such a big part of Micah's life. It takes a lot of time and effort and it's very much noticed and appreciated. Maybe he doesn't know it yet, but he's part of the best family I know. We love you!

Now that my parents are empty-nesters (although I think in name only because at least of of us is over most of the time, most of the time two or more are over there visiting because Mom and Dad are just that fun to be around. Yes, Dad, too. People don't believe us when we say that Dad is a fun and funny guy, but we are not lying!), they have taken to going on day trips here and there. I'll get a call mid-morning from Mom and she'll end it with something like, "Dad and I are on our way to (some place within an hour home), we're going to (insert a list of things, which usually includes eating, here). We'll be back by such and such a time if you want to stop by with the baby." It's cute, the whole day trip thing. Dad usually iniates it, Mom would just as well stay home, but they both have a good time. All that to say that one of these day trips found them at Old Sturbridge Village in MA a few weeks ago. We've all been there many times, but it's a fun place to revisit once in a while. Especially when they have this visit within 10 days for free admission and 25% off guests deal. Mom wanted all of us to go up for Labor Day, but no one seemed that interested. Then on Thursday, Mom and Dad randomly stopped over in the morning (literally for 2 minutes to say hi to Micah on their way to an errand...) and mentioned they might be going to OSV. I told them to let me know if they were going because I'd be interested in taking Little Man since Mom told me about the cool play area they had for kids, besides the fact that it was a perfectly gorgeous late summer/early fall type of outdoors day! They called not long after and said to be over by a certain time because they were going.

So we all piled in the car and arrived in just under 45 minutes and just as Micah woke up from his morning nap. He was ready and rearing to go and was amused by the play area for a bit, but I think he sensed bigger and better was out there somewhere. We tucked him in this stroller and headed out into the 1830's style town for an afternoon of historical fun. Micah enjoyed all the real life animals...and the dirt roads...and the river that he was throwing rocks into (or at least Dad was trying to make him throw rocks into!). Everything interested him, so it was fun to see things through his eyes. Mom and Dad were having so much fun showing him around. Mom took charge of M a few times while Dad and I went into various homes or businesses to see what they had to offer. Our favorite was the Potter's House. Dad's thinking of getting a wheel and I hope he does because I'd definitely ask to use it. I took Pottery in high school and absolutely loved it. The day was perfect, which made the experience all the more fun. And Micah was very well-behaved, which is nothing new, but who knows when toddlers will decide to melt down.

I made a book of the animals that we saw for Little Man. The one animal that he did pet was a pig. Are pigs even supposed to be pet? Well the thing was near enough to touch, so we both pet the animal. Micah also chased a rooster and waved to some geese. He watched the sheep eat grass and some turkeys stare back at him.

All in all it was a great trip for Micah to experience because he could walk around without getting into too much trouble, see some live animals, and be outdoors on such an awesome day. I'm sure this is just the first of many trips like this and I'm looking forward to the others!

As our move towards a more healthy way of living continues, different areas of our lives keep coming under scrutiny. I don't think you could ever categorize us as people who live carelessly, but I am always looking for ways to live cheaper, healthier, and more earth-friendly (hence the gDiaper switch, which is working out awesomely, by the way!). To be completely honest, however, if there is a cheaper, but not-as-earth-friendly option available, more than likely I will go with the cheaper option. I want to be a good steward of the earth God gave us, but money is a big consideration. Anyway, all that to say that I am going to be transitioning most, if not all, of Micah's toys to wooden ones. For lots of different reasons, not one in particular:

* If you've spent any sort of time with our little man (a nanosecond...), you'd know that he doesn't like toys much anyway. He'd rather be playing with what you have or some real life utensil, which I really like. Kids learn through play and if they're surrounded by a bunch of plastic-y, no imagination needed, how-fast-can-I-lose-interest-in-this-type-of-toy, they're probably not learning much. This was a big issue with me when I was teaching. I always wanted to be able to connect what was happening in our nothing-like-the-real-world classroom to what was really going on outside. Hence the innumerable amount of field trips we went on :). The point of parenting and teaching is to get your kids ready for life and, in my opinion, you can never start too early!

* Batteries. By the time you buy a pack of batteries, you can buy these cool wooden blocks that'll last much longer and be less likely to seep out in the landfill and end up in your drinking water or the soil your food is grown in!

* The making-of-plastic process includes lots of toxins. And they don't just magically disappear when you buy the end product at the store. And plastics take petroleum to make. I don't think the Middle Eastern oil-rich countries need any more money. Certainly not my money....

* I was reading somewhere that toys made for one purpose easily bore children because they don't take imagination to use. So then you have to get more boring toys to hold children's interest for a bit longer and, well, you can see a cycle beginning to form. If you get more open-end toys that can be used for a variety of things, then you have a ten-in-one type of toy that will hold interest and spark imagination.

* When I took M to the library yesterday, they had a variety of toys, both wooden and plastic. He took out a red plastic Lego car and drove that around (making vroom-ing noise and all!) for a few seconds. Until he discovered this:
He played with this until we left.

I've found a few wooden toys at Once Upon A Child for a great price. AC Moore has some and with their weekly 50% and 40% off coupons, I'll be getting some there. Many of these toys are made by Melissa and Doug. They have a bunch of clever little toy ideas that have made it one my List of Wooden Toys to Buy. The good thing about these is that they aren't one-and-done toys like most of the ones Micah has now. I'll have to store a lot of these baby toys, but these wooden ones can be used now and when I start homeschooling. Trick is to just rotate so they'll be new every few months ;). I'm looking into a Montessori-based way of learning and teaching (for years down the road...), at least for M because he likes to discover things on his own, and these are perfect for that. At the rate Micah learns, I need fun and engaging toys that'll hold his interest...and I think I've found them. Yay!