Catching up...

Well, once again time has gotten away from me and I'm trying to get caught up while Micah takes a nap. It's amazing how busy things get around the house now that Micah is crawling and getting in to everything! Excuses aside though, we've had a fun couple of weeks.

Being entertained by Uncle Jim ~

Our silly little guy gets himself into the most amusing places ~

We went up to Lake Geneva at the end of August to meet up with Aaron's friend Joe, who was in town on business from Texas. We had a great dinner with him at Popeye's and really enjoyed catching up with him and introducing Micah to him.

Sitting on daddy's shoulders, waiting to see 'Uncle' Joe ~

Meeting 'Uncle' Joe ~

The boys ~

I know you can't hear this, but Micah just woke up... so ends this session of blog-updating. :) Until next time...

Micah the entertainer...

There is never a dull moment around our house anymore. Micah has been keeping us more than entertained lately, with his crawling, babbling, bubble blowing, and whatever else he can find to amuse himself (and us!) with. He is such a joy and so much fun to watch as he learns and discovers new things.
First ~ crawling. It didn't take Micah long to get the hang of crawling. He'd been rocking on his hands and knees for a few days and just decided to go for it... and now there is no stopping him! He seems to have given up the typical method of crawling (on hands and knees) and has started doing what his cousin Luke used to do, which is hands, one knee and one leg straight out to the side. With Luke, we called it the peg-leg crawl, and that name seems to work for Micah's method of transportation too. :)

Here's our little peg-leg, on the move!

In addition to mastering crawling, Micah is now getting very good at pulling himself up on the furniture, our legs, or whatever he can get a hold of. He absolutely LOVES standing up, which makes mommy nervous... am I really ready for him to be walking? :) I don't think that will be happening immediately, but it won't be long. I was working at the computer the other day and turned around to see this ~


Yikes! Looks like it's time to be putting child locks on those doors and installing other child-proofing things around the house. :) We just got some safety gates, and I think these will keep him off of the stairs and out of other places he shouldn't be, but only time will tell. These days, anything in his path is merely a speed bump that he needs to climb over to get to wherever he wants to go, Aaron and I included.

"If you think you're going to stop me, daddy, you've got another think coming! Here I go!" :)

Here's Micah with Uncle Jim in their matching shoes ~

As I mentioned before, Micah is into EVERYTHING and ANYTHING he can get his hands (and mouth) on! And as he's mastered crawling, peg-leg or not, he can get to anything and everything in record time. I walked away from him for 30 seconds last week only to come back and wonder where he had gone. I found him a second later, under the desk, making a mad dash for the outlet and all the cords we've got under there. Needless to say, daddy got that area child-proofed as soon as he got home from work! :) Here are a few of Micah's new favorite spots ~

Under his Jumperoo ~


Under the table/chairs at Grannie and Pops' house ~


Under the table/chairs at Uncle Eric and Aunt Tracy's ~ (no doubt, in an effort to get to Emma)


Under the footrest of daddy's favorite chair ~

What a kid! He keeps us busy, there's no doubt about that! :) And we LOVE every minute of it! Not only does Micah keep us busy chasing after him... usually saying, "no" to something he's trying to get to or already has and is trying to put in his mouth... he keeps us laughing... hard. :)

With the faces he makes at mealtimes ~

Concentrating so hard ~

With the faces he makes anytime ~

With the positions he manages to get himself into ~


With the things done to him that he hams up ~

Beckie put the diaper on his head ~

Upside down baby ~

Daddy pulls his lower lip in when he's concentrating... looks like Micah's following in his footsteps

Using daddy's ears to steer... "go this way, daddy!"

Balancing a ring on his head ~

My goofy boys ~

With the ways he amuses himself ~

He's a man after dad's heart... going after the Coke already!

Poor Cheena thought she was safe up on Pops' lap

And most recently, with the noises he makes ~

Popping ~

Blowing raspberries ~

Screeching ~

Micah pulled out all of his tricks for this one... his latest thing has been to scrunch up his face and breathe through his nose really fast. He had quite a captive (and VERY amused) audience as we were finishing up dinner.

Micah the entertainer ~

That's our little entertainer! He can be quite the character! Seems to me we're in for a wild ride as Micah grows and comes up with new ways to entertain. There's no shortage of material from other members of the family either... thanks to his aunts and uncles, especially, I have no doubt that Micah will learn well!

Mmm, mmm, good... or something like that

Mealtimes have never been more entertaining around our house! Now that Micah is eating solid foods, Aaron and I get quite a kick out of his reactions to the new tastes and textures. I've gotten pretty good at feeding him with one hand and having the camera in the other to capture some of his expressions, but to be honest, the pictures don't do it justice. Anyone who has ever given a baby his or her first taste of anything can attest to the fact that babies make some priceless faces! :) So far, Micah has had carrots, potatoes, applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes, and squash. If I had to rank them in order of favorite to least favorite, I think it would go ~ bananas, applesauce, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash and potatoes. The squash and potatoes are tied for last place on that list. :) He's also had rice cereal and oatmeal, which rank somewhere in the middle... he seemed to really like them at first, but now that there are other things on his menu, he could take them or leave them. He definitely seems to prefer them more when they're mixed with something else... like oatmeal and bananas, for example.

Even though the pictures don't completely capture the amusement we experience at mealtimes, they'll give you an idea of what we get. Use your imagination... or, if you're ever in town, stop by for dinner... but you might want to bring a drop cloth. :)

Rice cereal ~

Carrots ~

Applesauce ~

Squash ~

I knew better than to try and take a video when I was feeding him by myself, but when we're all at the dinner table, one can feed Micah while the other documents the meal on video. :)

This is Micah's first experience with squash, and needless to say, he was not a fan.

Yes, we have been very entertained during mealtimes at our house. Sometimes, it goes really well and we can't seem to shovel the food in fast enough... other times it turns into a battle of wills, which I'm sorry to say, Micah has been winning so far. But we're just getting started, and the kid is definitely not starving, so I think we're doing okay. :)

So much to discover!

Well, it's official! Micah is mobile! He seems to have the crawling thing down and is able to move around the room pretty quickly... especially when he sees something he really wants! :) Now that he is able to get around on his own, there are many things for him to discover around the house, and believe me, he is discovering all of them! Our next big project will be child-proofing the house so that he can discover things safely and with a lesser risk of injuring himself in the process.

At first, crawling was somewhat frustrating for him, as this video will show. He wanted to get to something and knew he could do it, but would either get tired or frustrated along the way and start fussing. Usually, he'd move a few inches and then just dive for whatever object he was in pursuit of and end up on his tummy. :)

It didn't take long for Micah to really get the hang of crawling. That last video was taken on the 24th, and this next one was taken the very next day... what can I say? Our son is brilliant! :)

Like I said, Micah is discovering all sorts of new things as he moves around... I think I was most amused by the fact that he has all sorts of toys lying around the house, and what does he find to play with? The diaper supply on the shelf. Go figure! I think he would have climbed onto the shelf, had I not put the camera away and moved him back to his pile of toys. :)



We bought a few rubbermaid bins to store things in, and they've been sitting on the floor of our living room for a few days. Micah had been crawling over to these bins and hitting them with his hands, so I plopped him in them for some fun pictures...



He's also discovered the rocking giraffe Uncle Eric and Aunt Tracy gave him for Christmas, and went for a ride the other night.

Checking the giraffe out ~

Quite a difference from his first ride, wouldn't you say?

And one more picture of our little island man ~

I LOVE being a mom!! :) Especially mom to such a wonderful little boy! :) Life is Good!

There aren't always words....

Sometimes, there just aren't words to describe my goofy family...

... but at least they're entertaining! :)

Good friends...

Good friendships are one of God's most incredible blessings! And we have been blessed in abundance! :) Just this past month, we have gotten to see two families that live out of state... actually, one is out of state, the other is out of country!... and had wonderful visits with both of them. We left these friends praising God for them and looking forward to seeing them again soon, hopefully. :)

The Huber family (missionaries in Ireland) Here's Micah, and Ella ~

Micah and Asher ~

Micah and Karen ~

Micah and Jack Becksvoort, the son of some friends from Calvin College~



We met Dave. Kathryn and Jack for breakfast the next day and enjoyed a nice, though somewhat noisy, meal together ~

A few videos of the boys ~

We were also able to get together with the Gruthusen family, who Aaron has known for almost 10 years. Dave is the pastor who married us, and unfortunately we didn't get the camera out until the very end of our visit with them. Fortunately, we got a few good pictures with the kids...

Jordan, Talia, and Tyler with Micah ~

Talia really seemed to like Micah... and I know the feeling was mutual :)

Aaron, Micah, and me with the Gruthusen kids ~

Good friends are an incredible blessing, and another one of God's indescribable gifts!