fantastic fall fun with friends who feel like family

Last weekend, Jessica invited all of the daycare kiddos and their families over to her house for a fall get-together, complete with pumpkin painting, a bonfire, amazing foods, and lots of laughs.  Micah and I had a fantastic time, as I'm sure all the other families did.  Here are the memories we shared:

 Hunter and Graden carving pumpkins

Paige: Ummm......I'm kinda stuck.  Micah: Hey, check out this thing in the grass!  

 Hey, everybody, look.  Paige is stuck.  Just so you know. 

 Hey Paige, are you still stuck?  Do you need help?

 Yep.  Look.  She's still stuck.  She might need help.

What Paige's thinking: Micah's no help.  What Micah's thinking: I helped Paige!

 Off to go play golf.  'Scuse us!

 Bye, everybody!

This is the life, being driven around by a beautiful girl.

 What?  I'm eating.

 Suh-weet!  Check out how far this stretches!

 The famous Henry looking cute as always

Paige and Micah hiding in the bushes in the corner.....someone should keep an eye on those two!

Jessica and Henry

Who said I can't put my whole hand in my mouth?

Is there a problem?

 The pumpkin carving masters are done and ready to light it up

 A rare treat - a smile actually captured on camera!

 Maybe...if Henry isn't looking....that cookie could be MINE!

 Best buds

 Rye-yee has the greatest smile!

 This, folks, is how you spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E.  (Oh SO cute together though!)

 More best buds

 One smile out of two ain't bad....

Daddy's boy

Leave it there - I might want to eat that part later.

picture frenzy

Here are the pictures from my actual birthday in September!  I had a blast celebrating with my daycare family! 

Awww, check out my very own birthday message!

 My Elmo balloon bouquet that my godmommy "Shell" (Michelle) surprised me with!  She dropped it off for Mommy and Daddy since they had to work.

 Cool, a blue thing!  Never mind the 5 gigantic Elmo balloons above my head.....

 Sharing my balloons with my bff Henry

 A smile for a great day

 Chowing down on some cupcakes Mommy made for us.  Notice how smart Jessica was to feed us outside!!!!

 CHEESE!

 Don't mind me, I'm just gonna have a bite.

 Mommy thinks I have a bit of a crush on "P", as I call her - her real name is Paige!  Don't I have FABULOUS taste????

 NUM, NUM, NUM.  Mommy says I have a big mouth!

 Wait, I found a bit more I can shove in there....

 Mommy might frame this one, she loves it so much!

 What?  Do I have something on my face?

 Well, see, I was saving that for later....

Maybe I missed a few crumbs....

coming up for air

My sister Kim, also lovingly known as the blogging nazi, has called requesting updates on Micah.  She has emailed.  She has texted.  There may even be some hate mail from her in my mailbox, but I wouldn't know - because I usually don't take the time to check that either!

News and pictures are way past due, though.  Micah is alive and well and into so......so......so.......many different things.

Daycare
Over the summer, he had his adenoids taken out and another set of tubes put in his ears.  The ENT thought this would maybe help with him not getting sick so often.  She also suggested that we try to find a smaller daycare, one with fewer kids and ultimately, fewer sets of germs.  Finding someone to take care of the most precious thing in your life is never an easy job, but we set out to do it.  (For the THIRD time.)  We struck gold when we found the Hudsons!  They live not far from us and have become near and dear to our hearts in the short time we've been with them.  They all have real names, but instead of changing them for the sake of privacy, Micah has changed them because.....well......he's 2.  Jessica, AKA "Cecca", has two little cuties named Hunter - or "Huh-teh" - and Henry.  Henry has a variety of names - the French version, "On-ree", and then "Hen-wee" or "Hen-yee", just to name a few.  Graden is the daddy, and Micah butchers his name so badly right now I won't even try to resurrect it.  Hunter is a kindergartner this year and is home in the mornings and afternoons, but Henry is there all day.  He is Micah's new "favorite" thing in life.  They are like two little peas in a pod, and oh so adorable together.  He is also in love with his other daycare friends - "Rye-yee", "P" (Paige), "Yanna" (Leona), "Kakee", and "Hara" (Zahara).  Micah spends every moment he is NOT at daycare talking about "Cecca" and "hen-wee" and the rest of his friends.  I couldn't have dreamed of finding a more perfect spot for him and I am so thankful for the Hudsons and the important role they play in Micah's life.  I see a lifelong friendship ahead of us! 

Birthday
He celebrated his 2nd birthday back on September 22nd and we threw him a small party on the 25th, with just a few family members and close friends.  Grandma from Iowa was able to join us, as was Great-Grandma, cousin Brayden, godfamily Chad and Michelle and Alyssa and Kenzie, and Nana and Papa from here in Omaha.  While we wish we could've had Grandma and Grandpa from California, we know they were thinking of him and celebrating in spirit.  It was a beautiful fall day, full of family and fun times together.  He opened up new puzzles and books, clothes, a beautiful handmade blanket and pillowcase for his new toddler pillow, a "mimmy" (Mickey) chair, a play kitchen, Iowa gear, Mr. Potato Head, a magna doodle, a little people car wash, new mini Sesame Street books, and "choo-choo" bathtub squirters, and a few savings bonds.  (Grandmas, his college fund says THANK YOU!)  He was a spoiled little boy!  Ice cream cake and a sugar coma rounded off his special day, and we were thankful for a quiet celebration far from the hospital walls that we saw last year on his first birthday.

Growth
He is a growing boy!  At his 2-year-checkup, he weighed in at 25 pounds, 4 oz and was 34 inches tall.  He is still small percentile-wise, but he sure feels heavier each time I picked him up.  His large and small motor development was right on track.  I had concerns at his 18-month checkup about his speech, specifically how many words he did or did not have.  But the pediatrician seemed happy with his speech development and we decided against a speech evaluation.  Since then, he has been back to the doctor once and now weighs in at 27 lbs, 4 ounces.  2 pounds in a month - what a porker!  He is a typical two-year-old eater.  We offer him what we are having for dinner and some nights he eats it, some nights he doesn't.  He loves "noo-noos" (noodles), "jeddo" (yogurt, applesauce, and jello), "joo" (juice), and "cay" (cake).  I know, once again, parent of the year.   Those are the foods he ASKS for, but not necessarily what he gets.  He and his daddy are going to start getting a daily dose of veggies when I start using my new secret weapons in my recipes!  They won't know what hit them.  Suckers......

I have tons of stories of things Micah has done and said in the past two months, and I regret not posting more often to capture those.  Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for loaning him to us to be part of our family.  We are still as smitten as the day he was born.  Here's to two wonderful years and many, many more! 

These are the words we listen to every night before bed, and they are very near and dear to my heart, because they describe perfectly how I feel about Micah and Dan:

Seems to me that God above,
Created you for me to love.
He picked you out from all the rest
Because He knew I'd love you best. 

(PS - yes, Kim, there are pictures coming.  I'll put those in a separate post.)

and the winner is.....

I think I deserve one.  (A parenting award, that is.) 

I mean, who takes a 23-month-old to Target AFTER she has woken said child up from a not long enough nap, taken him away from daycare where he would rather play "ow-side" than come with me, at 5:00 on a weekday when it's probably time for dinner and not shopping?

Only someone who is up for the parenting award of the century.

I read all those parenting books before Micah was born.  I had worked out in my head exactly how I was going to navigate all the "rough waters" that only those Target trips can bring, long before the trips ever occurred. And I was pretty sure that "my child" would never do that because, all in all, he IS a pretty mild-mannered kid and doesn't usually tend toward extremes.  I had seen other parents with their children in the store.  You know the ones.  They scream.  They cry.  They tantrum.  They throw things from the cart.

And sometimes the kids are really naughty, too.

I walked in the door of Target holding him in my arms.  As SOON as he saw the carts lined up, he started the whining and the "no! no! no!" not quite screaming, but not softly by any means.  A woman had walked in beside me.  Childless.  On her cell phone.  I started to put Micah in the cart, and he realized that I wasn't kidding about having to sit there, and he arched his little back, stiffened his body, and spread his legs wide apart so that they wouldn't go anywhere near the leg openings.  He was stretched to his full 30-something inch length.  And the screams came.  And THEN, the woman who walked in with me said, very clearly, into her phone, "No. That's not MINE."  And then she walked away. 

Oh. My. Word.  It's a good thing I had a rigid toddler in my arms. Someone hold me back. 

So I did what any parenting award nominee would do.  I leaned forward and I whispered in his ear in my quietest and not-so-nicest voice, and I said something to the effect of: "You sit down and you sit down NOW or I will NOT be going over to the snack bar area and asking that Target worker if I can fill up your sippy cup with clean ice water."  And then I :gently: bent his little knees and wriggled him into the cart seat.

Screams died down to cries. I did go over to the snack bar as promised.  I did fill up the sippy cup with clean ice water.  I did hand it to him.  And he promptly chucked it down on the floor.  The rest of our trip was a blur, but it went something like this. 

We headed over to the pharmacy.  That was all we were there to do, pick up a prescription.  (And I'm well aware that it's against the law to leave a child in his carseat alone even when he's sleeping soundly and you're only running in for THREE MINUTES and I would never, ever do that but sometimes that would just be so. much. easier.  I'm just sayin'.)  He yelled at the pharmacist when I asked for his medicine and she held it up.  He kept telling her "that's MINE!  that's MINE!".  Too bad he wasn't excited about "his" medicine when it came time to take it.  While we waited for her to flavor it, we went and just looked around.  By that time, he was so over the sitting in the cart thing.  And instead of listening to him whine and say "ow" (out) repeatedly with the puppy dog face, it was easier for me to pick him up and carry him.  So I pushed the cart with both hands while he sat balanced on my forearm and held onto my neck.  (Reason number TWO why I deserve this award.)

That holding him thing only lasted about 2 minutes.  I set him down in the pharmacy aisles and immediately, he took off, chattering the whole time.  I wasn't too worried about where he was.  I figured I could always follow the sound of his voice since he NEVER STOPS TALKING.  He would go up one aisle and I would follow him.  As soon as he saw me, he took off running down another aisle.  I'm not stupid.  I know how this game works.  So I would go backwards and try to cut him off by coming around the other end of the aisle.  He LOVED that game.  He would hide behind the endcap and just laugh and giggle and say something that I know was supposed to mean "peek-a-boo".  He peeked his little face around the endcap and just giggled at me.  It was kinda hard at that point to be exasperated anymore.

Once we had our medicine, we were ready to go.  Well, I was.  Micah had found lots of things he thought we needed to buy.  Hello Kitty band-aids.  "Tikki".  (cookie - which was really a granola bar)  "Eye."  A box of fruit snacks with Cookie Monster on the front - he is totally in love with Cookie Monster's big googly eyes, and he always identifies him by saying "eye".  We made it out with none of the above and back to the car.  And that's when he realized that he had to go in his carseat, and we started all over again.

See paragraph at the beginning in reference to the shopping cart.

So 'scuse me while I go finish up my acceptance speech for the parenting award that is waiting for me to rightfully claim it.  I do think I totally earned it that day.

Those were some fine, fine parenting moments, dontcha think?

summer, please slow down

July 24th.  When did that happen?  Didn't school JUST get out? 

Did we skip June this year? 

It has been far from a slow, snail-paced summer.  Our little family has been busy, busy, busy and we have less than two weeks to spend together :pass the Kleenex: before we have to head back to the "real world" of work and daycare. 

Since everybody swears to me that June DID exist, then we must've participated in it.  In my defense, school didn't even get OUT until June 4th.  That is so LATE!  I'm just sayin'. 

Back to June.  Oh yeah, that was the month where we....

*spent a wonderfully relaxing week at Mahoney State Park celebrating Micah's Papa's retirement from Union Pacific after 30 alot years

*traveled to Denver for Micah's Aunt Nicolle's wedding, where he got to dress up in his fancy-pants clothes with his daddy and help celebrate her new life together with his now Uncle Matt

*had a week home with Daddy so Mommy could finish up one of her last 2 graduate courses

*took Micah for his adenoid surgery in hopes of helping his little nose function better

*got to have LOTS of visitors at our house!  Grandma and "Poppy" came to visit from California for two weeks, Uncle Jon and cousin Joseph were here, along with Auntie Kat and Uncle Eric and cousins Gavin and Caleb, and even Auntie Kim and Uncle Aaron got to join us.  13 people in our 1500 square foot house.  There may not have been a lot of room, but there was a lot of laughter, love, and memories made. 

And, then July walked in the door and kicked June out on its tail.  What did we do then? 

We relaxed.......

Riiiiiiight.  Maybe you weren't listening closely when I explained what June was like.....July has been no better! 

Well, this month we have....

*spent the 4th of July weekend in Kansas City for a family reunion with the King side of the family (hence why all of the above-mentioned people were actually in town)

*had playdates with our good friends Megan and Carson, Crissy and Kylee, Missy and Logan, and Megan and Seamus at the movies, the splash station and gymnastics

*spent ANOTHER week with Daddy while Mommy took her very last class of her graduate program

*spent a weekend in Sioux City for a family reunion with the Allan side of the family

And here we find ourselves, heading into the last full week of summer.  Why?  Why does it have to go so fast?

i got nothin'

I don't have anything brilliant to share with you. 

My brainpower right now is reserved for the last 12 HOURS of my graduate program.  All circuits are firing and preparing to finish what has taken 6 years of my life. 

So I got nothin'. 

Except for some (what I would call) ADORABLE pictures of Micah.  Really they're just pictures of some of our fun summer adventures, but I just happen to think he's the cutest thing around.  (It's okay, if you're a friend of mine with a little one, you can totally disagree and I TOTALLY GET IT.)

Don't mind me while I drool over my firstborn....

Check out my jumping skills!  I know, I'm already fielding calls from the Olympic committee....I don't want anybody to see my face or the paparazzi will come in droves!

Who put this in my way?

You can run, but you can't hide!

And take THAT - it's a kiss.  Or a bite.  Or simply an easy way to pick up toddler germs.

Okay, I'm done now.  What do we do next?

Yep, I can finally do it all by myself!

See?  Yay me!

owie, mama

Before surgery

Playing in the playroom while I wait in my stylin' surgery jammies

After surgery.  They gave me medicine to make me sleep because I was pretty upset when I got back to mommy and daddy.  I was angry about the tube they put down my throat to help me breathe.....the IV they stuck in my hand.....and everything else they did to me. 

Using my crib at the hospital - Mommy and Daddy said might as well use it, we're paying for it!

Look what they did to my hand!  At least I got a bear for the other hand.

Hanging out waiting for recovery to be over so I can go home to my OWN bed!