Outdoor fun!

Who knew lawnmowers could be so much fun? We were over at my parents' house the other day, helping dad cut a tree down that had been an eyesore for quite some time. (my brother started referring to this tree as the "poop tree" because it looked like it had little turds hanging from the branches!) :) Dad had purchased a cart to pull behind his lawnmower for just such an occasion, making carting the branches back to the pile in the backyard easier, as well as with the thought that carting grandkids around in it would be fun for everyone. And it is!

Aaron even got in on the riding...

When Micah saw how much fun that was, he had to have a turn too. I don't have any pictures of his first ride with daddy and Uncle Jim, but I got a short video...

And here's a shot of Micah and me in the cart... not the most comfortable ride in the world for me, but Micah loved it!

When we weren't outside going for rides in the lawnmower cart, we were inside playing with the "command center" Grannie Jannie invested in for play at their house. I tell you, whoever came up with the idea for the exersaucer was a genius! There are things to look at, play with, and chew on, all at an arm's reach away. Plus, we can step away for a second and know that Micah isn't going anywhere. :) Our "command center" has come in handy many times when I'm in desperate need of a shower and Micah isn't in nap mode just yet.

I don't know about any of you, but I think Micah is looking more and more like Aaron every day! (Which, in my opinion also means he's getting more and more handsome!) :) I took a few pictures of him in this outfit from "Uncle" Nino and got a few that I can just see Aaron in...

Micah got tired of the photo session after a little while and decided it was snuggle time with his lamb ~

And just for grins, here's a little video of playtime with the penguin from Uncle Jim. I LOVE the smile I got at the end ~

Micah's New Tricks ~

I'm not exactly sure how, but I managed to post this entry before anything was written or done with it. So, if you check our blog on a regular basis and saw a posting with half a title (actually, not even half... I posted it as I was trying to go back and change what I had typed) and nothing else, I apologize. Here's what I was trying to say ~

Micah has been learning all kinds of new tricks lately! He's gotten bigger, stronger, and LOUDER, and is an endless stream of entertainment and amusement! Diaper changing is now quite a challenge, as Micah has found his feet and now tries to pull them into his mouth whenever he's lying on his back... and he is working SO hard on figuring out how to sit up, which means he contracts his stomach muscles and pulls himself up on my arm when I'm trying to clean him up. Somehow, we manage to get it done, but life was so much simpler when he was less mobile! :)

Sitting up with the help of the boppy pillow ~

Sitting up on his own... kind of :)

Another trick that makes diaper changing interesting is ~ for some reason, Micah loves to try and see anything that is going on behind him. So, he'll be lying on his back, and basically arch his back and balance himself on the top of his head. I almost flipped him off of the changing table the other day when I picked his legs up to wipe him up and he arched his back and twisted! Yikes! That got my heart racing and made me realize I really have to start paying more attention to what I'm doing! :)

Demonstrating his new trick with the family watching

He also LOVES to be held so he is standing up, and can even hold himself up next to tables, couches, etc. Won't be long before he's doing that on his own, I'm sure! :)

I know I've said before that Micah has found his voice, but since then it has gotten about 100 times louder! He now screeches at the top of his lungs and makes all sorts of noises that turn anyone into a captivated audience. :) It's always a challenge to get a good video of Micah because any time the camera comes out, he's more interested in that then in doing whatever he was doing that got me to get the camera out in the first place. It seems to work better when one of us is keeping Micah distracted from realizing the camera is out. :) Here, he's demonstrating a bunch of his new tricks... talking, screeching, trying to get his feet into his mouth, and balancing on his head, to name a few ~

I could go on and on about the entertainment that is Micah, but I also wanted to post a few more pictures and videos from Mother's day and the weekend.

Here's my view of Micah playing with 2 of his 3 uncles ~

And here's what Uncle Jim got ~

Micah has some pretty goofy uncles! No doubt about that! :) And we love them all!

Aaron's family came down on Saturday to spend the day with Micah (well, all of us, but Micah was the main attraction) :) and Uncle Eric brought a slurpee with him, that Micah thought looked pretty good!

And Micah got to experience the toy boat in the nursery at church Saturday night. He thought that was pretty cool!

A few more random pictures ~

Tummy time with the mirror

Look at me, sitting up!

In the new swing at Auntie Tracy and Uncle Eric's ~

Playing with Uncle Eric ~

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

My first Mother's Day!

I think it's safe to say that my first Mother's day as a mom was incredible! Not only was I blessed to be able to celebrate the fact that I'm a mom and have a wonderful little boy, but we dedicated Micah in church that day, which made it even more special. We were surrounded by family and friends supporting us and celebrating with us as we dedicated Micah to the Lord. Some family wasn't able to be here for the dedication, so I had my brother record it... hopefully it uploads correctly. He recorded it on our video camera, rather than on our digital camera, and I've never uploaded videos this way before. :) It's a little on the long side, as blog videos go, but it's worth watching. Pastor Warren walked us through a responsive reading, where we committed to raising Micah in a way that recognizes that he is a gift from the Lord and keeps Christ at the center of our lives and child-rearing methods. The last statement is made by the congregation, committing to helping us to raise our kids to honor God. (It's kind of hard to understand what the parents are saying, so below the video, I posted the transcript of what was said and committed to.) I loved every second of the dedication, but my favorite part was the prayer at the end. I've been to child dedications before, and knew Pastor Warren would be praying for each of the families at the end, but he added a little something that I thought was very special. Rather than just standing at one end of the platform and praying, he walked behind each of the couples standing up there and placed his hands on our shoulders as he prayed for us and for our children. That was a tremendous blessing and added a special touch to the service. So without further adieu, here is Micah's dedication, Mother's Day, 2010.

PASTOR: Our God is the Creator and Sustainer of human life.

PARENTS: With great thanksgiving, we declare our children to be gifts from God.

PASTOR: Our God is the source of all blessing and every good gift.

PARENTS: We look to God alone for blessing upon our children.

PASTOR: Our God is the only hope for salvation, through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

PARENTS: Christ alone is our children's hope for salvation.

PASTOR: Our God is God alone and our true Father.

PARENTS: Gladly and without reservation, we, as parents, dedicate our children to the Lord.

PASTOR: Our God uses Christian parents powerfully in His work in their children.

PARENTS: We dedicate ourselves, as parents, to pray for our children, to teach them the Scriptures, and to live before them in faithfulness to the Lord.

PASTOR: Our God uses the local church powerfully in His work in children.

CONGREGATION: We dedicate ourselves, as a church, to teach the Gospel and to live in a manner worthy of Christ.

After the service, we invited family and friends over to Pops and Grannie Jannie's house for brunch. It was a beautiful day, and the celebration continued all afternoon! :) Micah did great, being passed around as much as he was. I think he feeds off of all the attention! :)

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first Mother's day! What a blessing to be surrounded by family and friends, and dedicating our son to the Lord.

Here's Micah in the outfit his Uncle Jim was baptized in as a baby. (the pants and shoes are new) Good thing we did the dedication when we did because the vest and onesie were a little snug! :)

On the screen at church

Pastor Warren praying for us and for Micah (my FAVORITE part of the service!)

With our friends and small group leaders, Steve and Heather, and their daughter Meghan, who was also dedicated that day

CAKE! :)

With friends and family at the "after-party"

Great Uncle Paul

Entertaining the Robinsons and the Kroepels

Mrs. Kroepel

Mr. Kroepel (aka "Fruit Loop") :)

Flying through the air with Uncle Eric

Making faces for Uncle Jim (I'll try to get the video of this uploaded soon)

Grandma K and his new favorite toy... a stuffed lamb that plays "Jesus Loves Me" :) Thanks, Kroepels! :)

Pops and the lamb

Family pics ~

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"

2 Corinthians 9:15

Fun times with daddy...

Micah sure loves his daddy! Aaron is really good at getting all of the details from the day out of Micah. They'll sit together and talk for ages about all that went on... sometimes I wonder where he comes up with this stuff, but it's very entertaining and makes for some good videos! Enjoy!

Monkey see, monkey do...

Rollin' rollin' rollin'...

MILESTONE ALERT ~ Micah has figured out how to roll over! As of April 28, 2010, he can now roll from his back to his front! :) :) Of course, once he gets onto his stomach, he gets upset because 1.) he has a hard time getting his arm out from underneath him, and 2.) he's still not a huge fan of tummy time and prefers being able to see what's going on around him, which is much easier when he's on his back. (Am I a terrible mommy because I leave him on his tummy for a while when he's fussing to see if he'll get himself worked up enough to figure out how to roll back over? It's VERY hard to keep myself from picking him up immediately when he starts fussing, but I restrain myself because I know he needs to have tummy time in order to strengthen his muscles) We've known Micah was close to rolling over for a while now, because he's been rolling onto his side a lot, and are thrilled to report that he has figured it out! :) Yea, Micah! :) We don't have this on video yet... and I'm guessing it'll be a difficult thing to really get on video... but here's a clip of Micah thinking about rolling over. He was more interested in his fists and the camera than rolling over at this point in time ~

Micah on his side (a new favorite position) ~

We got a great clip of Micah giggling the other day... Aaron was being silly and Micah just thought daddy was hilarious! Sometimes, we wonder what in the world he's finding so funny, but this time it was pretty obvious ~

We've noticed Micah putting anything he can get his hands on into his mouth lately, and when I asked the doctor if he could be teething already, she said no... that that is how babies experience new textures. Apparently, their sense of touch in their hands isn't very refined at this stage of life, so they "feel" better with their mouths. I thought this was interesting... I'm still not convinced that Micah isn't teething already (Aaron had teeth at 4 months old), but I don't feel anything different in his mouth, so I guess time will tell. Sometimes, Micah seems absolutely desperate to get something in his mouth... like this video will show... here, Micah is sitting on Pops' lap and from time to time would just attack his fingers. :)

More things in the mouth ~

It is so hard to believe Micah is 4 months old already! I was looking at some videos we took when we were in the hospital right after he was born, and continue to be amazed at the transformations that take place in this little guy every day! We've been taking pictures of Micah with this giant bear we got as a shower gift and he's rapidly gaining on the bear in terms of size. I know it won't be long before he's outgrown the bear... and probably the desire to sit still for a picture as well. :)

It's already becoming more challenging to get Micah to stay where I put him for the picture ~

Such a little man! :) And getting cuter by the minute!! :)

Hmmm....

It's hard to know what to write about when there's not a whole lot going on. Micah is getting stronger and more active every day, but hasn't quite reached any major milestones to report on. He's getting VERY close to rolling over, but hasn't quite figured out how to get his arm out of the way to do it completely. He is a very happy baby, so much so that we can't seem to go anywhere without someone stopping us to comment on how happy/adorable/precious/(pick an adjective) he is. :) We were in the Jewel the other day and were stopped 4 different times by people admiring Micah. He's a star! :)

He still loves his exer-saucer, and has started reaching out to play with the different things surrounding him...

And no matter where he is or what he's doing, he always has a smile for anyone who will pay attention to him ~

We've been working on doing more "tummy time" though he doesn't last too long on his belly. 5 minutes if we're lucky. He is definitely getting stronger though, and doesn't have any trouble holding his head up... when he wants to.

We have been taking Micah to Gymboree for a few weeks now, hoping to meet other families with kids close in age to Micah, and he absolutely LOVES it! Our class is at a perfect time for us... right after Micah eats, and before he's really ready for another nap. (the first week we were there, Micah did great all though the 45 minute class, and then promptly fell asleep in my arms as soon as we walked out the door!)

He gets some tummy time at Gymboree, and we work with him on developing other senses, like following objects with his eyes that are held over his head, listening as things are shaken around him, and just experiencing new things with other kids. He is usually all smiles during the class, and is very willing to "share", as our teacher puts it, by spitting up all over everything. :) Oh well... what can you do?

By far, his favorite things to do at Gymboree are bubbles and parachute time. They have these amazing bubbles that last forever! All three of us are pretty much covered in bubbles by the time the teacher is done blowing them! The kids lay on the parachute for bubble time and then get to lay under the parachute as we shake it over their heads. I think the bright colors really grab their attention and we get all kinds of smiles and noises from Micah during that time! :)

Tummy time ~ they put a mirror on the floor underneath the kids so they can still see what's going on around them... GENIUS!

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!

Parachute ~

Micah and "Gymbo" ~

Fun with a beach ball ~

"Pop! goes the Micah" ~

Not only has Micah been making friends in the grocery store and at Gymboree, he's also been able to meet some more family friends...

Micah meets the Migrins (Aaron's sister's in-laws) ~

Micah meets his other "Grandma Jan" ~

And "Grandpa Dan" ~

And when he's not busy making new friends and entertaining everyone with his smiles and silly antics, Micah is usually busy filling his drawers. (and by "drawers" I don't mean the ones that hold his clothes) :) We went over to my parents house the other day and when I took Micah out of his car seat, I had a nice surprise waiting for me. This was BY FAR the worst blowout yet, so naturally we took pictures. Hopefully, Micah will forgive me for posting them on our blog when he's older! (Aaron thinks Micah will be showing these pictures off to his friends, saying, "look what I did when I was a baby! COOL!" ... I hope not!)

It didn't look too bad at first...

... but looks can be deceiving!

By the time I got the onesie off of him, he was covered in poop up to his shoulder blades! YIKES! Needless to say, that onesie went straight into the garbage and Micah went straight into the tub!

But even after all of that, I wouldn't change one thing about my life! It is so much fun to watch Micah get stronger and discover things about himself and the world around him. We are so blessed to have him in our lives and I can't imagine life without him!