Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...and snow and snow!

I've heard stories about the great snowstorm of '67, and how there were drifts piled up as high as the rooftops in some places, but experiencing something somewhat close to it is quite incredible! We got hit with a massive snowstorm this week... so massive that UPS even shut down, and apparently that never happens! I think the final accumulation total was somewhere just over 20 inches... the 3rd biggest snowstorm the Chicago area has seen in its history!

Truth be told though, we enjoyed the snow... and the day off from work! :) We were thankful to be in a nice, warm house with my family, and not to have to worry about going anywhere anytime soon.

When my dad and Aaron headed outside to work on the driveway, Micah and I thought it'd be fun to go watch. Micah LOVES the snow! He definitely has "Yooper" blood in him! :) He threw an absolute fit when I tried to bring him inside... but because of his runny nose, staying outside indefinitely was not an option. The first time we went out, he wasn't too sure of the snow and wouldn't let me put him down. But every time after that, he was greatly enjoying himself and the cold, wet snow that was everywhere. :) I think the poor kid was frustrated because his "mittens" don't have thumb holes, so it's basically like having warm socks on your hands, which means picking up things is next to impossible. Micah tried to pick up some snow, with little success, but had no problem digging in the mounds that were piled up along the driveway. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from playing outside... it's enough of a challenge to keep up with Micah without worrying about capturing every picture perfect moment on camera. :) But, I'll post what I do have and hope you enjoy them! We should have plenty more opportunities to play in the snow a bit more before it all melts.... which, with the amount that's out there, probably won't be until June! Hopefully I'll be able to get more pictures then!

It's EVERYWHERE!

Aaron's work truck... our Rav 4 is out there somewhere!

The wind even blew the snow in under the garage door!

Have you ever seen so much snow!?! :)

Let's go outside and play!

Not too sure about the snow at first, but content in mom's arms ~

My dad was having a bit of a hard time plowing the driveway, which is understandable considering the sheer volume of the snow! and Aaron had the idea to use his work truck to create a path to get started plowing from. It was a good idea in theory, but when they tried to implement this plan it pretty much backfired. He hadn't driven his truck 10 feet when it was stuck, and dad ended up having to pull him out with his Envoy. Oh well!

Heave ho!

Watching daddy and pops get the truck un-stuck

The second (and third and fourth...) time outside was much more successful... and fun!





"Helping"


Aaron, hard at work ;)
Actually, he had done his fair share of shoveling the driveway and was taking a much needed (and deserved!) break. I'm just thankful he didn't injure his back more, since he was in a good deal of pain the night before!

And that's the snowstorm of 2011 report from the northwest suburbs! :) I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post at some point, but I hope you've enjoyed our winter wonderland! (hopefully, from the comfort and warmth of your own home!)

A fun weekend with friends

Last weekend, my college roommate, Kellie, came down from Grand Rapids with her boyfriend for a visit. We had a wonderful time catching up, and it was so much fun to get to meet Eric. Not that it matters, but our entire family approves of him! :) They came down Friday afternoon, and the fun began.
My parents graciously offered to watch Micah on Friday night so the four of us could have a nice dinner together. We went to a barbecue place in Algonquin, which no one had ever been to before, but Aaron had heard good things about the food and we're all fairly adventurous, so we decided to give it a shot. Overall, I'd say our impressions of the place were favorable! Not to mention the hostess at the front had on a Packers sweatshirt, which only added to our good impressions. :) It wasn't a restaurant where you sit down to order and sit and wait for your food to come... the menu is printed on the wall right up front, so after studying it for a few minutes (and asking our new-found Packers fan friend for her recommendations) we ordered and sat down. (I think that part... waiting... stays the same no matter where you go to eat) :) After an excellent meal and great adult conversation we headed back to my parents' house and watched "Grumpier Old Men". I think we all agreed that "Grumpy Old Men" was hilarious and also that there are very few sequels to movies that are as good, if not better than the original. "Grumpier Old Men" is one of those few! We had a great time laughing at Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau.

We didn't have anything too spectacular planned for Saturday, which turned out to be a good thing as Micah's rash was much worse and we thought we might have to take him to the doctor again. Thankfully, we didn't, and were able to take him to the Kohl Childrens Museum in Glenview for the afternoon. We ALL had a blast! For those of you who are local to the Chicago area (or planning a visit) and have young kids, you should definitely check out this museum!

By far, Micah's favorite exhibit was the Water Works room, where they had several different things to do. There were buttons to push, which made water squirt out from different hoses, little nets to fish balls out of the water, and boats to float as well. Needless to say, our little fish had a great time playing in the water! :)






He was soaked by the time we dragged him out of there, and when I say "dragged him out", I mean dragged him out... practically kicking and screaming! Thankfully, there was plenty more to see and explore, so it wasn't long before the Water Works area was forgotten about and we moved on to other fun things.

We got to make music and bang on some drums in the Music Makers exhibit


Micah and Kellie went "shopping" in the Dominick's exhibit... and Uncle Eric Migrin will be happy to know that Micah's first addition to his basket was a box of tacos! :)


Our little handyman got to try his hand at painting in the Hands on House exhibit


Micah took Kellie for a ride as he captained his own boat through the wetlands in the Nature Explorers exhibit...


...and he even got to dig in the "dirt" there too!


Micah helped clean up shop in the Potbelly Sandwich Works exhibit...


...and then decided he needed to clean himself up too :)


We explored the city in the City on the Move exhibit, and Micah had a great time sticking colored pegs into holes on a table...


Also in this exhibit was a train car that the kids could drive... and being the train fanatic that he is, Micah really enjoyed this!






One of the last exhibits we explored was the Car Care exhibit, where Micah and I went through the car wash and Micah took Aaron and me on a drive around town. :)

Aaron even got to experience what Micah does every day by strapping himself into a car seat!

Right now, the Traveling Exhibit Gallery has a huge Curious George exhibit. Apparently, this exhibit changes every 3-6 months, so we enjoyed exploring Curious George's world for a little while.

We even got a family picture taken with George in outer space ~

When I say we ALL had a blast at this museum, I'm not kidding. There were some exhibits, that I think the four of us "adults" enjoyed even more than Micah did! :)






Micah did greatly enjoy knocking Kellie and Eric's tower down shortly after this last picture was taken. :) And that pretty much sums up our Saturday! We had a nice dinner with my family that night, and played a game of Mexican Train after Micah had been put to bed.

On Sunday, we got up and went to church and had breakfast together before Kellie and Eric headed back to Grand Rapids, and Aaron, Micah and I headed to Lombard to watch the Packers/Bears game among friends... aka Packer fans. :) We had a great time visiting with Kellie and Eric and are so thankful they could come down for the weekend! Hopefully we'll get to spend more time together in the not-so-distant future... whether we make the trek to Michigan or they come back to Chicago. :) Thanks for visiting, Kellie and Eric! We hope you had as much fun as we did! :)

Sickness stinks!

The month of January has not been kind to our family. Micah has pretty much run the gamut in terms of all the illnesses he's been fighting, and as my full-time job is caring for him during the day, I've had my fair share of his bugs too. Thankfully, Aaron has managed to stay pretty healthy, though he's now fighting a nasty cold too. (hopefully he'll keep this one to himself!)

It all started with a double ear infection and pneumonia-sounding lungs in Micah. The amazing thing is that even though he was clearly sick, and in need of some medical attention, he was as happy a kid as ever! He didn't have a high fever, and wasn't acting too much different than usual, but we decided to take him to the doctor anyway just to be on the safe side. (that, and Grannie Jannie mentioned his breathing sounded shallow and she'd feel better if we took him in) :) Then, after about 9 days of amoxicillin, Micah developed a rash that looked very similar to one my sister had as a baby, when the family learned she was allergic to amoxicillin. So... back to the doctor we went. It was diagnosed as an amoxicillin allergy, so we stopped the medicine and started giving Micah Benadryl to help with the itching. 24 hours later, the rash had spread and looked worse than it had the day before, so once again, I was on the phone to the doctor's office. Thankfully, we were able to avoid a trip in to the office, thanks to the wonders of cell phones and technology. The nurse had me send her some pictures so she could show the doctor, and then the doctor called with her diagnosis... which turned out to be a virus (which I can't remember the name of) that starts out as a cold or ear infection, and culminates in this rash that can take up to 2 weeks to completely go away. It's not contagious, but it doesn't look pretty, and poor little Micah was quite itchy. We could tell when the Benadryl was wearing off because he would start scratching at the back of his neck and head like crazy! Thankfully, the Benadryl helped and we managed to survive yet another round of sickness... or so we thought!

Last week, we got the runs. I had been feeling pretty nauseous in the mornings again... it sort of felt like this pregnancy was going backwards and I was back in the 1st trimester with all the joys of morning sickness, because I would feel sick from about 6-10 a.m. and be fine after that. It doesn't seem to bother me on the weekends, which is nice, but makes me think maybe this "sickness" has more to do with my job than an actual bug I'm fighting. :) But since Micah doesn't work at UPS and has had diarrhea and basically no appetite for almost a week, I guess there is some bug being passed around. We're praying whatever we've been fighting is on its way out, never to return, but I'm not that naive. :) Right now, I'd just settle for being able to go a week without making a phone call to the doctor's office!

I didn't take any pictures of the latest round of sickness going around, but I did get a few of Micah covered in hives from that virus. I know he'll probably hate me for these later in life, but since he's not old enough to read this or protest to my sharing them, I'll deal with the consequences later. :) We appreciate your prayers for our family as we try to get (and stay) healthy! We hope everyone in your life is healthy and that these bugs bypass your family as we try to survive the rest of the winter months. Take care of yourselves! :)

Our splotchy little boy ~

Halfway there!

Where have the last 20 weeks gone?!? We had our 20 week ultrasound done this past Monday, (at which time I was actually at 21 weeks, but whatever) and that means we have passed the halfway point in this pregnancy already! I'm not sure if I would say it's been harder or easier the second time around. I suppose both are true... on the harder side, I was WAY more nauseous and sick this time, but on the easier side (and this could also fall on the harder side of the spectrum) I'm chasing around after a VERY active toddler who is in to everything, and keeping up with him left little time for thinking about how tired and nauseous I was feeling. Now that we're well into the second trimester, the nausea has passed for the most part, and my energy level is back up to "normal"... which by everyone else's standards might not seem normal, but when you're working a crazy shift at UPS and going on 5-7 hours of sleep each night, you kind of re-define "normal". :) All in all though, I feel good, and we're looking forward to meeting our little one in just a few short months!

We got a great report from the doctor doing the ultrasound. Since I'm diabetic, they do a level 2 ultrasound at 20 weeks, which means they take up to an hour or more looking at every square inch of the baby. (well... almost every square inch. Since we opted not to find out the sex, there wasn't too much studying of that area) :) It is absolutely amazing what they can see on an ultrasound! We got to see, and hear, the baby's heart beating... we also learned that while the heart has 4 chambers in it, only 3 are functioning while the baby is inside, because the 4th chamber is the one that sends the blood to the lungs for oxygen. And since there is no oxygen flowing at this point in the baby's development, that 4th chamber isn't needed yet. There is a small flap separating the 3rd and 4th chambers (yes, they probably have names, but since I'm not a doctor you'll have to deal with "3rd and 4th chambers") and when the baby is born and takes that first breath, the flap closes and creates the 4 chambers of the heart. Wow! and there are people who believe all this happens by chance!

We got to see the different parts of the baby's brain and spinal column... which is amazing in and of itself, as because the baby's skin is still so transparent, the ultrasound can basically see through it. The doctor did a bunch of measurements on different parts of the brain to see if there were signs of any chromosomal abnormalities or defects... there weren't, praise the Lord! ...and he also did measurements to see if the baby's size was on target with how big he/she should be at this stage of development. As best I can tell, the baby is right on track, and is VERY active! I feel movement throughout every day, and I never get tired of that feeling! There is nothing like it in the world! :) At this point, it's not painful yet, but I remember a few kicks from Micah that left me gasping for breath! :)

We got a bunch of great pictures of our baby, which I'll post at the end, and interestingly enough, my favorite pictures are the 3d ones the technician got. I've seen 3d ultrasound pictures before, and while they are amazing, they have always kind of freaked me out for some reason. I don't know if it's because the baby looks like it's made out of clay, or what, but we didn't get any 3d pictures of Micah and after getting a few of #2, I almost wish we had. :) It is incredible to see the baby's face in such detail! I don't know how people can see something like that and think the life growing inside of them isn't a person until he or she is born!

I love the profile pictures of the baby, and the ones of those little hands and feet. I've never struggled to believe the saying "the miracle of life", but seeing it forming inside of me just makes the phrase that much more true to me. This baby is a "miracle in the making", as a friend of mine commented on Facebook. We have an amazing and wonderful God, and having Him grow this life inside of me is indescribable! I cannot be more humbled by this experience or more thankful that this is the way God designed it. (even when I'm exhausted and feeling sick! It is SO worth it in the end!)

We only have about 18 more weeks to go! THAT is mind-blowing! :) Are we ready to have our world rocked again? Probably not. But God knows what He's doing, and He's walking this road with us... every step of the way! :) And we give Him thanks and praise for this blessing every single day!

6 weeks, 2 days ~
(the baby is the tiny blob on the right in the picture. the bigger circle-like thing is the yolk sack, which eventually becomes the placenta)

10 weeks ~

(baby's head is to the right and the butt is to the left)

21 weeks ~

Hand

Foot

Profile picture... head is to the left, belly to the right... and that's baby's hand/arm above the head

3D images ~

First smile? :)

A short video of the baby's heart beating ~

Amazing ~

I'm still having a hard time believing my baby is 1 already! My, how time flies! :) We had Micah to the doctor on Monday for his 12-month wellness check up, and he's a healthy little guy! (though, I don't know that I would use the word "little" to describe him anymore) He is 29 3/4 inches and weighs 23 pounds, 2 ounces. For those of you who are interested, he's in the 50% for height and 50-75% for weight. His head is 47 1/4 centimeters, which is 75%... I'm still not entirely sure why this measurement is important... I guess to make sure his brain is growing the way it should. :) But the bottom line is that Micah is healthy and right where he should be in all of his measurements.

He really started walking on Christmas eve... exactly one week before his 1st birthday... but had taken several steps prior to that. He just preferred crawling to walking as he was (and still is!) a super fast crawler and hadn't quite mastered the balance thing yet. But, now he seems to have made the transition to preferring walking over crawling. It cracks me up when he falls to the ground and gets back up again... he'll get to his hands and knees and walk his feet up under his hips, leaving his behind sticking straight up in the air. Then he stands up and takes off. :)

It also blows my mind to think of all the changes that have taken place in our little guy this past year. (I hope the amazement doesn't wear off with the next baby or other kids to come down the road! Our God is AWESOME!) He went from being completely dependent on Aaron and me for every little thing... from clean clothes and diapers, food, drink, even rolling over and getting from one place to another... to learning how to do some of these things for himself. Micah can now feed himself, and eats pretty much whatever Aaron and I are eating, and can drink from a sippy cup on his own. Rolling over is a piece of cake now, and it takes him an average of 5 seconds to get from the front door of our house to the back of the kitchen. (granted, we don't have a large house, but he's still really fast!) We're still working on the diaper thing... he's still dependent on us to change those. ;)

It is amazing how fascinated he is by everything... I have to remind myself that he's still fairly new to this earth and a lot of what he's experiencing, he's experiencing for the first time. I love when he sees something he's excited about and his eyes get big and he says, "ooo!" He now points to things and can get frustrated when we don't know exactly what he wants at a given moment. Generally though, he's a very happy and content little boy. Even as I'm writing this post, he's sitting on the floor in front of his toy box, pulling everything out and keeping himself occupied with the toys inside. :)

Micah has been going through a bit of a "mommy" stage, where if I'm around, no one else will do. Part of me loves being the center of his world right now, but there is a part of me that gets tired of having him constantly pulling on my leg or reaching for me from someone else's arms. I know at some point, I'll look back on these days and wish we could go back... most likely when he's in junior high and wants me to drop him off a block from his friend's house, and God forbid I try to give him a hug or a kiss! :) But that's all part of growing up, right? For now, I'll just be thankful that he's healthy, happy, and a part of our world. He is truly a blessing and watching him grow is such a privilege!

I LOVE being a mom! Yes, it's exhausting at times, especially when you combine little or no nap (for either of us) with my crazy work schedule and massive to-do list, but every minute is so completely worth it. I wouldn't trade my life for anything! I love my sweet 1-year old! More than a post on a blog could ever express! Thank you, God, for this amazing blessing!