Moving On

My belly at 11 weeks. First one is with M, the second one is now. Angles are different, but you can still get the general idea.

Lots of little things going on here and there. I really should dedicate an entire post to Micah, he's growing up so quickly and changing so much. I enjoy his company and watching him learn and say new things. He's quite the conversationalist--with anyone and everyone. People are so gracious in the stores, going along with his stream of nonsensical words, nodding, and responding. It's fun to see that side of people, too, one that only a little one can bring out! He's such a little mimicker, too...of words, but especially of sounds and noises. I decided to extend his First Year calendar into a however-many-years-I-keep-it-up-calendar. It's something I will easily be able to do for however many kids we end up having, and it's a great replacement for a baby book that I'd probably never get around to doing (he has one for all his pre-birth and birth stuff, but then the calendar took over). I hang the calendar (that I got for $1) on fridge and write a snippet of something we did that day or a new word or sound that he said or anything that I think he might find interesting in years to come. It's working out great so far!

Another Micah project I have in the works is printing out some pictures of our baby in utero and putting them up on the fridge. Not sure if it'll help him make the connection, but it might since he's a smart one. I have a list of big brother books I want to check out from the library, too, so maybe that'll help. He's already fascinated with his little cousin Brea-Brea so this very well might be a waste of time, but you never know what will click when with toddlers. We're also making a baby collage by cutting out pictures of babies (and I might dig up a few family members' baby pictures for him to see), but Dad had a better idea: have the babies be with a big brother-type figure. Anyway, just trying to introduce him to the world of babies a few different ways.

Yet another thing we're working on (M and me) is starting the seedlings for our garden. We bought some seeds from the dollar store and the food store (and I have some basil seeds from my basil plant Rita gave me last year) that we're going to start sprouting in egg cartons. All you have to do it cut an X in the bottom of each egg holder, fill with soil, plant seeds, water until sprouts appear, and then plant in the garden. The egg carton is biodegradable, so you plant that right into the ground. Last year I got a late start (in May) in my garden because I didn't know this sprout-indoors secret.

Last night Mom had another one of her haircutting parties. There had to be at least twenty people there, some husbands included. A few people from our church were there and they had kids M's age, so he was a happy man. He did so well sharing all of the toys at Grammy's house (I never call them his, I just say "the toys" in hopes of lessening the greediness...don't know if it works or not, but it's worth a try!). I only heard a few "no, no"s when someone went near something he had and he was promptly corrected by Daddy or me. It's hard to teach a first child to share because most of the time they aren't around people who care to share their toys. Over the past few months I've been pretending I want a few of his toys as he was playing with them and used those times to teach sharing. Being in the church nursery three times a week also helps, I'm sure! All that to say that he had a great time with friends and I did, too! Mom always outdoes herself with the food she makes and since she's cooking healthier like us, it's always that much more yummy to eat! Last night she made crockpot orange chicken and brown rice along with some very tasty desserts. People filled in the rest: veggie platter, cheese and cracker platter, salad, rolls, and drinks. I didn't get anything done to my hair (Dad had recently cut it and did a great job), but Mom said people liked the results, so I'm sure there'll be another one in the near future.

D is on call for Easter, otherwise we'd all have matching outfits. Mom bought Micah and Brea matching outfits for the occasion and I have a dress that matches M's suit. I can't wait to see them together, they're going to look too adorable! Since Easter isn't all about new outfits, I'm reading a portion of the Easter story each day to M. I'm sure he isn't getting a lot of it, but again, you never know how much they understand. I won't be doing egg-dying with my kids, since bunnies and candy and eggs are not what Easter is all about, but there are a few other fun activities we will be doing (Easter cookies, Resurrection eggs, and I think I will do baskets, but with cross-centered items, not meaningless junk that gets thrown out in a week). We'll do egg dying on the first day of Spring, along with eating our free Rita's Water Ice, so no one is confused as to what Easter really means.

M had such a good time feeding these geese and ducks a few weeks ago. I'm sure it'll become a habit in the summer when it's warmer and less windy!



Alright, it's time to go scrounge up meal #14 of the day. I'm eating us out of house and home, rather, this baby is making me eat us out of house and home. Amazing pregnancies can be so different. With M, I ate only the suggested extra granola bar a day for the first two semesters. But this one...I should keep a food journal. I think I'd surprise myself!

In anticipation of this baby, as well as in consideration of my back (which has been pulled or twisted a few times since bending in the car to put my larger-than-average son in and out of his infant carseat) we took the plunge and bought a van. Not just any van: a Grand Caravan van. So there is no mistaking that what I am driving is indeed a van. I'm so not a van person. I thought I'd be able to survive any number of kids in a Volvo, but if you've seen my Volvo, it looks like I already have any number of kids, not the one that I do have. Vans just seem so cliche, but now I know why: they are very functional and they support back health. We've been in the market for a used one (we never buy new) for a few weeks, but at Nick's going away party on Saturday, Dad found out that a friend of the family was selling his 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan. We test drove it that night (on our way back from free Rita's water ice, yum! Not to be confused with free Ben & Jerry's ice cream yesterday, which was also, yum!) and decided to buy it for a great price. I've had to take M out to the van for a few tours and of course he's loving it. He loves to play in any car, but this one he can actually walk around in and climb on the back seats and stand on them. So I just try to look casual sitting in a parked van in my own driveway for minutes on end...




I got the van officially registered today and transferred the necessary equipment from the Volvo to the van, including M's carseat. As I was strapping it in, he climbed in and asked to be buckled, so I asked him, "Where do you want to go, Micah?" Without pause he said, "Grpa." You can imagine the tears when I pulled him out and told him "nap" instead. Ironically enough, Grpa stopped by, but M was still napping! Anyway, we're off to Grpa's now that I hear him chattering (he wakes up with a burst of conversation, it's quite funny to hear!).

I am here to attest to the fact that dollar store pregnancy tests do, in fact, work. D went to the store and got two (when he went to get M some play glasses, matter of fact…see nerdy picture a few blog posts ago…) on Valentine’s Day because he wanted me to take a test and I said I would as long as it was from the dollar store.


It came out very positive (changed in a few seconds instead of the recommended three minutes) and I’ve been feeling not-so-well since a few days later. Which leads me to believe that I am carrying a girl (or multiples, my mother hopes and prays…) because this pregnancy is so different than M’s. I’m going with the idea that M gave me an easy time in utero and a hard time sleeping for six months afterwards, so this baby is giving me a hard time now and will be an angel baby (like cousin Breana!!) on the outside. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. D has been absolutely wonderful, per usual, and is super excited about this baby even though it will mean more responsibility at home and at work (next year's residency schedule is a bit more demanding than this year).

Now I’m just praying for a relatively mild summer, like last summer, so my big belly and I will be relatively comfortable. It’s nice that I don’t have to buy an entirely new maternity wardrobe, although I borrowed a lot from a friend’s daughter in PA (which I obviously had to give back), so I might add a few new pieces here and there.

Here’s what we know so far: I’m ten weeks and two days along and am due around October 16th. We went to the doctor today for our first visit and she confirmed all this. However, since I had a C-section for M and want another one for this baby, they schedule it about a week before the due date. Mom said I should ask for October 10th, you know, 10-10-2010. It’s a Sunday, so I probably won’t be able to do it, but I’m thinking end of September-ish sounds even better. I like big babies, but not having to carry him/her around any longer than necessary is very appealing. Especially since I’m already showing…quite noticeably. The doctor was also able to find baby's heartbeat and it was strong in the 160s. We aren’t going to find out if s/he is a boy or girl, surprises are fun and I have plenty of neutral clothing for the first few weeks. We don’t have a preference, although D said it’d be nice to have a girl. I like having a boy, so I wouldn’t mind another one, but again it’s already decided and we’ll be happy with either! We're very excited about welcoming another little one :)!

If all goes according to plan, Micah will have a new cousin exactly 18 months after he was born...today, March 15th! Yana is being induced today at the hospital where D works as I write this (told him he can't sneak up to see the baby before me if she arrives during work hours!!). We are so excited to welcome her into our growing family and can't wait to see what she looks like and hold her and all the fun things that go along with having a baby (including being able to give her back to her mommy and daddy and get a good night's sleep!). Yana wants to go all natural, so please pray all goes well with that and our little girl is born safe and healthy...and soon! Ry and Yana have been such a great and involved uncle and auntie pair with M, so we all know what wonderful parents they will be! I'll post an update as soon as I know anything!!

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Breana London was born early this morning, March 16th, at 3:29am at 8.5 pounds and 21" long. Got that info from Mom via text around 4:30am since she was there to witness the birth! Ry sent me a picture this morning and her eyes were WIDE open. Can't wait to see her in person, although I think D might beat me there :(. M has a doctor's appointment and then it's naptime right at the beginning of visiting hours! I won't be posting a picture here, so contact Ry or Yana...or Mom or Dad...if you would like to see M's first cousin on his mommy's side!

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M and I followed Dad and Mom to the hospital before M's doctor's appointment around noontime, so we did get to see Breana today!!!!! I admit that I hogged her almost the entire time I was there (about 40 minutes), but I couldn't help it. She is such an adorable, quite, cute, cuddly little girl with a TON of dark hair. She looks totally like Yana's side of the family face on, but somehow she has Ryan's profile. M saw her and said "Hi BeeBee" but didn't pay her much mind after that, which was nice and odd. Nice because I got to hold Breana without interruption and odd because I thought he'd mind me holding another baby. He loves her already! Can't wait to hog, I mean hold, her in the days and weeks to come. Oh yes, D was able to tear himself away from his work and visit while we were there. I let him hold the baby for a good minute. I was feeling generous. We are heading up to Boston for a few days tomorrow (D's on vacation until Monday), so I had better start packing. Maybe we can sneak in another visit to the hospital on our way up there tomorrow...we have to pass right by it...

I think J.Timothy's proved to be a success in the way of coordinating the schedules of eight very busy people. Everyone was there: Dad, Mom, D, Micah, Ry, Yana, Nick, Kristina, and me. They did end up letting us have the room downstairs with the fireplace and we had it all to ourselves (which M loved because he got to visit every table and sit in the seats like a big boy...). We ate and talked and talked and ate until it was more than time to go. D and I had everyone back to our house for dessert. I made Lava Cakes from scratch since I knew Mom (and many others!) were big fans of them. They were so rich that I could only finish a little more than half of mine. Oh so yummy! Here is the YouTube video recipe I used to make these creations: Lava Cakes.



We've been keeping really busy, especially with all the coverage of the Olympics. D has been a good sport (ha, pun not intended) and has been watching the primetime coverage with me until he can't bear it anymore. At which point he turns to his computer for rescuing. He's also in the midst of those 12-hour work days which he has to do two or three times a week. Not fun, but not as bad as overnight calls!! M has been recovering from his bad cough for awhile now. D thinks he probably had bronchitis and it wouldn't surprise me. His sleeping was thrown off for a good week, poor guy, but now we're back on schedule and enjoying it. He's doing really well with his one three-(sometimes four!)-hour nap.

M is fascinated with glasses; Grammy and Grampa's, mine and D's, his aunties'. Small problem, though: he's not allowed to touch them. So D solved that problem and picked up two pairs for him at the dollar store. He loves them and wears them quite well :) I told him with his genes, he just might get his wish in the not too distant future...

D surprised me with a huge bunch of red tulips and my favorite dessert of dark chocolate covered almonds a few days before Valentine's Day. He said they were mostly because he missed me that week (he had worked three twelve-hour day), but it was convenient that Valentine's Day was just around the corner. He's wonderful. I made him some heart-shaped brownies and gave him a half an hour massage for his VDay gifts. Even better is that I feel loved every day, not just on Valentine's Day :).

Saturday was National Pretzel Day at Auntie Anne's, so we each got a pretzel at the mall for lunch. M ate all of his, except the two bites I took. I was kind of hoping I'd get half of his, too, but I should have known! Our little man was multitasking at the mall: eating and flirting. He flirts like an expert and I'm not sure why he knows how to do it so well, but I'm keeping a closer eye on him these days. It doesn't help that e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. tell him how cute and handsome he is. It's going straight to his head...but that's what I'm here for :). Schmoozing does not work on me, though he has tried numerous times! He's such a ham...

Mom scolded me for not updating my blog more often. Too many other things to do, but I come up with some really good blog posts…in my head…right before falling asleep. Oh well.

Instead of blogging, I’ve entered the world of getting-things-for-free or getting coupons that make things almost free. I subscribe to at least five “money-saving” blogs and get at least five to seven emails a day from them. That takes time, you know! Speaking of savings, Once Upon a Child is having their $20 bag sale. Fit as much as you can in a bag and it’s yours for $20. Last year I walked out with a big bag and the medium-sized bag they give to fill because the girl just couldn’t cram everything I got back in the bag I filled. Yana and I are planning to go tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it! I’ll have to remember to tell Yana my roll-the-clothes strategy. It works well!

And I’ve been back into my food blogs lately. We’ve been keeping up our whole foods eating, but I needed new, yummy recipes to add to my stash. I made this creamy potato soup last night with the flounder we had and it was delish. M ate an entire bowl himself. Which isn’t saying much. Because he eats a massive amount of food all the time. But still, I enjoyed that he enjoyed his bowl of soup.

Speaking of Micah’s massive-eating skills, Mom and Dad took everyone (minus D, because apparently he’s the only one working on Wednesday mornings!) out to breakfast for Ry’s 26th birthday on Wednesday. We go to this place where two eggs, homefries, and toast are $1.50 (used to be $0.99, but inflation…). I ordered M the same meal as me (two eggs scrambled well done with wheat toast, in case you were wondering!) and he ate all the eggs, one and a half pieces of toast, and at least the four handfuls of homefries that I saw. Dad was amazed that he was eating so well. Why, I’m not sure because we eat over there quiet often and Dad has commented on the size of their food bill with only the two of them living there!

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics are just ONE WEEK away!!!!! Dad says he becomes an Olympic widow because Mom is obsessed with them. That’s not far from the truth. I might have to camp out over there myself because they get all these channels that have the various competitions on all day. I’m sure M will find them fascinating, too. He likes to watch woodworking videos with Grandpa and home improvements shows with Gpa and Grammy. Cartoons? Don’t think he knows they exist!

Mom and Dad’s 30th anniversary (whoa!) is coming up on Monday and all of their kids and grandkids are taking them out to J. Timothy’s on Tuesday night. They went there on their fifth anniversary while my grandparents watched Ry and me, so we thought it’d be fun to take them there these twenty-five years later. I tentatively reserved a room they have downstairs which has a fireplace in it. We’ll see if they have enough staff to make it possible because they usually only open it up on the weekends.

Micah is a little actor. Reminds me of my brother Nick. Dramatic and plays to the crowd. He’s also very goofy and will burst into a fit of giggles for the silliest reason. Last night it was because D was letting him turn the bathroom lights on and off and making it a funny noise to go along with it. I never heard him laugh so hard! We’re also making a conscious effort to teach sharing. It’s not something that comes naturally (to adults, even!) and when he’s around others, I’d like him to think of them first, so I’m starting on this character development now. I’m reading a book called Shepherding a Child’s Heart and it talks about addressing the heart attitude, not just the physical manifestations of the heart. Fascinating stuff. Charlotte Mason, whose teaching philosophy I really admire and hope to borrow from when homeschooling, has a list of more than 50 habits that children should exhibit and that parents can teach. Sharing is one of them, as are obedience, cleanliness, respect, etc. Poor kid doesn’t know what he’s in for! We’re making him “say” a lot words now instead of just pointing or grunting. For some reason his “please” is “daaa,” even though he can do the /p/ sound when prompted. It’s fun to hear him pronounce different things. His newest love is my Magic Bullet mixer. He’s fascinated with the noise it makes and how it spins whatever is inside around and around. He was doing pretend play with the little jungle animals I got him (noises and all!), until he remembered the mixer and then played with that during the rest of dinner prep. Overall, he’s such a joy to be around and watch. You know your kid can’t be too, too bad (although he can be!) when your mom and your brother both call this morning to ask if he could hang out (and me, too, I think).

Movie recommendation: D and I got a $5 credit to Amazon On Demand somewhere and we decided to use $3.99 of it last night and “rent” Whiteout. Wow, what a good movie! I was tense and on the edge of my seat most of the time; not something you want to be before bed. But it was worth it!

I invited Mom to Swagbucks because I was telling her about the ten dollars I got to Amazon.com just by using the Swagbucks search feature and she wanted in. Now every time a Swagbuck pops up on her computer screen she gets all excited. Embarrassing, I know.

Tonight is Ry’s bday party at Mom’s house and the rest of the month is filled with other fun activities. Mom sent out a mass text to everyone the other week with a list of events going on. Basically a where to be and when kind of thing. I went straight to my Google Calendar and added them :). D showed me that feature a year ago and I haven’t looked back since. Ok I think this is long enough! M is in the middle of his three or four hour nap, so I’ve got to get some things done!

All is well here in our household. I've seemed to arrive at some sort of settled-in feeling and am thoroughly enjoying it. I have a list of basically the same five things I/we do each morning for our morning routine, which mainly involved dishes and cleaning up the house before it gets messy again. I've always been known to try to do too much, but recently I've been realizing that I'd do all these chores at the expense of spending quality time with M. Sure, he'd always be around me and even helping me, but it wasn't quality time that I'd like him to remember. So I've cut my list down to five important things that must get done that day and that's it. And it's working out great. It's much more relaxing and I don't run around like a crazy woman trying to get bits and pieces of things done throughout the day.

In other news, M is now down to one nap :) and I'm loving it! I've been pushing him until 1pm (he could probably go down by 12pm) and he'll sleep at least until 4pm. Or for about three hours in and around that time period. I sit and rock with him while I sing and sometimes he'll fall asleep, but most of the time he'll just suck his thumb and play with my hair. After he's that relaxed, I'll put him down and that's it. We used to watch Baby Einstein before nap to transition him from go.go.go play to bedtime, but this routine seems to be working out just fine. I love sitting and cuddling with him because that's the only time it can happen (he'll sit and read nicely on our laps, but he's still moving, talking, etc.).

Goodwill has awesome secondhand books. I'll pop in every now and then and get 5 to 10 of them for Little Man. Most of the time they are $0.99 and then they have different color tickets that are half off certain weeks. I'm kind of picky about which ones I buy and I'll always wipe them down when we get home, but other than that, I prefer secondhand because new ones will look like that in a matter of a few readings. I haven't counted how many children's books we have, but if I did it would probably take me a while because I'd say we have at least 250, probably more like 300. I just rotate them around the house. My newest thing is baskets, so M now has two book baskets in the living room. I filled his wagon that he got for his birthday with the bigger books that wouldn't fit in the baskets. When we want to read, he'll haul a basket to the middle of the living room floor and we'll go through whatever ones he picks out to read. For all his boyness and brutishness, he's a lover of books...yay!

I have to spend $500 in groceries by March 6th. I think I can do it, but I don't spend nearly that much in a month and a half, so I'm going to stock up on items that'll last the year. Like olive oil, dishwasher detergent, whole chickens, soap, etc. The reason? Our awesome bank (not to be confused with our awesome mortgage company) sent an email saying that they're giving us $10 for every $100 we spend in groceries by the sixth of March. That's a very agreeable 10% back on groceries! Mom gave me a list of things to get for her while we were at Trader Joe's, so she's helping us reach our "goal." (She pays us back).

Oh, and I've been doing Swaybucks for a bit now and earned a $5 gift card to Amazon.com. I'm only 9 swagbucks away from earning another one :). I just set them as my search engine (although they use google, amongst others). So I just search the Internet like I always would and sometimes it'll pop up that I won 1 swagbuck or 5 or 10...those are much more rare! Anyway, can't beat getting something for nothing!

I should end with how very wonderful my husband is. Because he is. We had an awesome Date Night the other night, he makes everything that much more fun (and, we heard, Grams, Gpa, Grandma Rita, Uncle RyRy, and Auntie Yana enjoyed their time with Little Man).

Last week: was one of the busiest weeks in a while. Not sure why, but we were out and about every single day. On Tuesday, I brought M along with me on errands and we stopped at seven stores. He was a perfect angel the entire time and met a lot of new people. I like taking him with me on most errand-runs because it lets him interact with the world on a very basic level. He gets to see how things work and what other people do and all that cool-to-a-toddler stuff. A different day that week, though, I did drop him at Mom's while I hit another seven stores in 40 minutes. That just can't be done with a toddler!

On Thursday: Yana and I visited Once Upon A Child for another one of their sales. This one was the ten for $10 sale so I got M some 3T stuff for next winter, even though he's only 16 months (this week!). The child grows like a weed! Anyway, this is the sale that comes after the 50, 60, 70% off (depending on what time you go) sale and before the stuff-everything-you-can-in-a-bag for $20 sale.

When you ask M: to say, "Mommy," he says, "Daddy." He gets the joke now, so he'll do it with a coy smile. He says "Daddy" so clearly and with every syllable. He knows who Daddy is, but he'll call me and Grandpa "Daddy," too. Guess it's just easier for him. D is loving it, though!

Animals: are M's new obsession. He can identify (by pointing to them) quite a few, make the sounds they make, and "read" animal books. He loves watching the animal DVDs from Baby Einstein. D has some vacation days coming up in the next few months, so I'm hoping it's warm enough to visit a zoo or at least another aquarium. It's fun to see what interests him and then facilitate that interest. Much better than learning those arbitrary numbers and letters!

Speaking of days off: D took Friday off and we're taking advantage of it by turning it into a Date Night :). We're probably going to go see Avatar in 3D and hopefully eat at Red Robin (they keep the coupons coming in the Inbox!). I bought some dark chocolate and Mom picked up some dried apricots for me so I'm hoping to make chocolate-covered apricots for dessert. YUM! D was on call this weekend from 8am until 8pm both days. He didn't end up getting home until after 9pm both days. We missed him!

Saturday: we were busy all day with Yana's baby shower at Mom's house. She and Rita did an awesome job putting everything together. Yana got a lot of nice stuff and should be all set to welcome our new niece in a few short months. I got her some gadgets and tools to make her own baby food and a bag full of things to make her hospital stay more comfy. M had so much fun being entertained and entertaining everyone there. Of course he missed his nap because he knew there were people downstairs to interact with and food to gobble up. At least he wasn't being bad, quite the opposite! Made the day go by quickly and I got to end the night with MI-5 and my hubby. Anything better? I think not.

Tomorrow: M and I are fulfilling our Christmas gift to Mom. D is probably glad he's working, but he's sponsoring the outing so he's doing his part! Since Mom will undoubtedly be reading this and since she has been pestering, I mean bugging, I mean asking, me what exactly are in the plans (it's a surprise) I won't say anymore! But it promises to be a fun day :) and a chance to spoil her like she spoils us!

Yesterday: was the seventh anniversary of our first date. We're not into celebrating every little milestone in our life, so as we were lounging in bed on our laptops, D looks over at me and says, "Oh, today was the day we had our first date." "Oh yeah, you're right," I responded. Then we went into how long seven years ago was and so on until we fell asleep. Kind of romantic...

Great movie: Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt. We rented this on Monday since D signed up for Redbox (they have two in the Stop & Shop down the street) and they email you a free-rental coupon the first Monday of every month. As we were pulling into the parking lot, I told him another free-rental code that I had read on a blog. I didn't know if he'd try it or not, but he came out with Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt and G-Force (that guinea pig movie, reminder of Dougie may he RIP). Anyway, after Little Man was all tucked in, we started the movie and I was hooked from the beginning. You have to watch it, but I will say that we watched the last five minutes twice...

Great recipe: Pop-Up Pancakes. They really do pop up out of the muffin pan! We had these for dinner on Wednesday night (tweaked the recipe to make it a bit healthier) and D said I'll have to make them again. I had some of the leftovers for breakfast this morning and they were just as yummy (toasted) the second time. I unfroze strawberries from the end of summer and set out the blackberry jelly we have. Very yummy.

Still loving: Paperbackswap.com. I must have shipped at least 40 books out and have received about 30. Not sure how it calculates it, but it says I've saved $117.50 by swapping books instead of buying new. I believe it. Most of the time, I just reuse the packaging from the books that were sent to me. You know, in the spirit of saving landfills and my money.

Just ordered: 25 pounds of soft, white, winter wheat berries and 25 pounds of kamut berries from Whole Foods. I get a 10% discount for ordering in bulk. I'll be putting my grain mill to good use with all those berries! I found a food dehydrator on clearance at Target for $37, which is an insanely good price. Still on my To Get list: water purifying system, popcorn machine, and ice cream maker.

Micah: has been up to a lot lately, per usual. He now directs with our music leader in church. It's too cute. He enjoys music (a big part of his day), so I'll keep him upstairs in church while we sing from time to time. He just started directing this week.

He does a lot of mimicking of actions and words. You have to prompt him to get him to repeat the word, but he'll copy whatever you're doing without missing a beat.

He's all about doing whatever I'm doing, so I started putting him to work a few months ago. His "chore" is to empty the silverware part of the dishwasher. He also vacuums (with the DustBuster-on-a-stick contraption), wipes up his part of the table, washes his face, brushes his teeth, brushes his hair, and is really good about picking up after himself. Hopefully all these good habits will all stick around for a while.

He's still a great eater, he was eating for about three hours the other day. He had a pretty good lunch here and then we stopped at Mom and Dad's and of course he acted like he hadn't eaten in days, so he was munching on whatever was handed to him. He never said no. Granted, he wasn't being offered a hamburger every ten seconds, but you think he would have filled up at some point. He's on the go from the time his feet hit the ground until I plop him in bed for nap/bedtime, so I guess he needs the energy.

I took him to his fifteen-month check-up right before the New Year and he weighs 25 pounds and is 30-something inches tall. Forgot to remember that number, but Mom started a tape-on-the-doorjam growth chart at her house and D just measured him, so his 15-month old height is well documented. He's 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Going to be tall and skinny like his grandpa, which is fitting I guess because he looks like him and wants to be doing whatever grandpa is doing all day, every day. Two things the doctor mentioned to me that I found interesting: don't let him sit in a W (where you're on your knees, but pop the bottom half of your legs out to the side) because it could affect how his legs grow and thus affect walking. This kid is running, so I don't fear that, and he doesn't sit like that (can't remember last time he sat...), but it was an interesting point. And then she saw him pointing at something and said, "Oh good, he's pointing, we look for that because autistic children don't point." Again, interesting. He got his chicken pox and pnemonia vaccine at that visit, so he wasn't happy. For 0.02 seconds until it was over and then he was fine for the rest of the day.

I'm starting to do purposeful activities with him now that he's so interested in everything. We'll do a puzzle, build with LEGOs, play hide and seek, read (lots of) books, singing song with hand motions, etc. I want to get into hands-on activities as he gets older. I heard a few parents of young kids mentioning how they're teaching ABCs at this age, which is totally pointless. Numbers and letters are still so arbitrary and they have no idea how to use them yet. Poor kids. Doing is much more fun and useful, at any age, but especially this one! Speaking of doing, we were at Ryan and Yana's yesterday and Ry had a half-built computer out and on Micah-level. Guess who was completely fascinated and engrossed in "fixing" that computer for at least 40 minutes? Yep, Micah. Mom said she'll gather some old computer stuff Dad has and let him "fix" those. Toys are completely lost on this kid.

The good stuff:

Well, we managed to eat at home one night last week. And that's when we introduced Micah to salmon. He loved it...and ate almost half of my piece! Other things that Micah's been enjoying, while we're on the topic: okra, pecans, cucumbers, and Christmas cookies :).

Last week was one of the busier ones around here. My house is evidence of that fact: loads of laundry piling up, dishes in the sink (which happens, busy or not :/), sunroom being overrun with "stuff" that needs to find a home. All things that will continue to take a back seat to the Christmas festivities that are now in full swing.

Monday night we went out to eat with a friend before she headed home for Christmas. Tuesday we had a birthday dinner for my mom's mom who shares a birthday month with David. Wednesday was church. Thursday found us all at Ruby Tuesday near my grandparents' for another birthday dinner for Grammy. Micah found his way to the salad bar a few times and pointed to the food items he wanted. We usually get the salad bar there so we don't have to share our meals with Little Man (because he'd eat half the food!). And then Friday was Party Day. I ordered to huge party pizzas from Big Y for the party and all but a few pieces went.

I decorated with the LEGO theme in mind. A few months ago I asked D what toy he enjoyed playing with as a child and after much thought he decided on LEGOs. He didn't know it at the time, but I wanted to plan his 30th birthday party around it. I made a homemade brownie cake in the shape of a LEGO block (rectangle with six cupcakes on top), had a bunch of LEGOs out for people to play with (only Nick did!), bought some candy that looked like LEGOs from the mall and used it as the prize in the guess-how-many-LEGOs-are-in-the-bowl game (D officially won, but his dad was closer but went over...we gave the prize to his dad because I had reserved some of the prize candy for D), and hung up LEGO facts all over the living room. And there you have a LEGO party. It was a lot of fun and I know D was so happy to have everyone there celebrating a big birthday with him!

I have yet: to acquire those Christmas photos from Dad's camera, but things are starting to settle down again (for a bit, at least!) so I should remember to get them this week.

Saturday: was Mom's big 5-0. She's not big on surprise and/or big parties, so she opted for a dinner with all her kids and grandkids. After a flurry of texting here and there, we managed to pull it off. We all made/brought different food favorites of Mom's and I think we were successful at pleasing her (which is never hard to do, she's such an awesome mommy!!!). The cake was on my To Bring list, and since we've had tons of junk swirling around the past month and I know Mom isn't a big fan of junky leftovers, I went to Big Y and bought ten of Mom's favorite donuts (chocolate-covered) and stuck some "I heart MOM" candles in hers and called it a cake. Big success, for me (cheap and easy) and everyone else, too (oh-so-yummy!!). Anyway, Happy Birthday to The Best Mom Ever! You're a blessing and who I want to be like when I grow up :). I could list all your wonderful qualities, but then everyone would be jealous you're not their mom! ;). Love you!

ING: is the best mortgage company, in my humble opinion. Not sure if i mentioned it before, but we were recently blessed to have $100 knocked off our monthly mortgage payment!! ING offers this option to remortgage without going through all the remortgaging hassle/expense. D knows all the terms and details (but don't ask him unless you want to hear ALL about it!), but the bottom line: for a small fee, we reduced our mortgage payment by what will eventually add up to a significant amount. And who couldn't use an extra $100 per month, especially when a child who eats like mine?! And, if you'll remember, this time last year D won an essay contest in which ING paid our January mortgage. See? ING is the best mortgage company!

I made these ornaments for both grandparents and for us: It's Micah's [massive] handprint turned into snowmen. He wasn't too keen on the paint-on-the-hand part, but D and I managed to get three good prints.


My Adventuring through the Bible: is going well. I'm ahead of schedule, actually, because I know I'll miss some days here and there throughout the year. My goal is to read from Genesis to Revelation this year, along with some supplemental books that explain rituals, traditions, the time periods, etc. to make what I'm reading more understandable. Next year, I plan to read through the bible chronologically. And the year after that, I want to read a passage from the Old Testament, from the New Testament, a Psalm, and a Proverb each day. They have an actual Bible set up like that, but I just printed out the passages online :). Another tool I'm using to help me on my journey is YouVersion.com. You can choose a reading plan and track your progress AND they have audio versions of the Bible for free :). You can read along as they read, which will help with staying on track.

New Year's Eve/Day: were a nice ending to one year and beginning of another. We had dinner over Mom and Dad's, but D didn't want to spend the night, so we went home around 9:30ish. M went right to sleep and we watch an MI-5 episode, on my recommendation of course. I'm officially addicted to that show, which is okay because all the other shows we watch have been on hiatus. Netflix doesn't have the Watch It Now feature for the remaining seasons, but I found a website where you can watch them for free (along with a ton of other shows!). If you're not a paying member (which we're not) then you can watch 72 minutes before being cut off for an hour (which I don't mind because the episodes are 59 minutes long). D's happy with that limit :). I like watching shows on the computer better because there aren't any commercials and you can watch them/pause them whenever you want. But I digress... After MI-5, D had to watch Scrubs and that brought us to The Ball Drop when we promptly kissed and then headed to bed. M didn't get up until after 9 the next morning (big thank you to him), so we rolled out of bed and did some errands before heading to breakfast at Denny's. They now have chicken sausage, turkey bacon, and whole wheat pancakes, which made us very happy people. We didn't get the bacon, but the other two were excellent. After M's nap, we headed over D's parents' home to hang out for a bit and eat lots of dessert before heading back home for another of M's naps.

One of those above-mentioned errands: was to Toys R Us to buy diapers. Not just any diapers. Earth's Best Chlorine Free (and a lot of other stuff free...) disposable diapers. The good stuff. For $5 a jumbo pack. No, that wasn't a typo, $5 a pack. And I had a coupon for $1.50 off one pack, so that one wase only $3.50. Slightly embarrassing, but not enough to stop me from doing it! I'm not sure what possessed them to put those diapers on sale for that little, but I wasn't questioning anyone about it. We very nearly cleared them out (you were only allowed three per customer, but the guy ended up not caring, so we got 9 packs altogether). I even asked them to check in the back for more and fortunately they did have more in the size I wanted! I told Yana about it and she and Ry went the next day and managed an even better deal: ten packs for $40 plus two free packages of wipes! I got the tip from a money-saving blog I follow...and what a tip it was!

Another great deal Mom, Yana, and I chased down this weekend: makeup. The organic makeup we use isn't a great deal more expensive than your average chemical-laden type (actually, it's much cheaper than some of the more expensive brands), but it was on sale last week (and this week, too, I believe) at CVS for $1.99-$3.75, depending on what you get! The eyeliner and lip gloss were $1.99 and the powder and blush were $3.75 (you save anywhere from $6 to $10 off the regular price!). Craziness. And I saw that one of them had a $3 off coupon stuck onto it, so I pulled it off and gave it to the cashier. It worked. So I got an eyeliner and half of a lip gloss for free. Can't beat that!

Now I had better get back to my de-cluttering extravaganza. I have a long way to go...