What summer is all about ~

Now that it's the end of May, we seem to have skipped over spring and jumped right into summer. Not that we've seen the last of cold, dreary days, but we've had a few beautiful ones here and there and are starting to get a glimpse into what summer is really all about. :)

Splashing in the pool ~


Lazy mornings with daddy ~

And my personal favorite...

Corn on the cob!

Our aspiring photographer ~

While I realize these pictures are a little on the abstract side, I had to post them to show you what our aspiring photographer has an eye for these days. (they might also explain why some other pictures that have been posted lately look a little smudged... due to fingerprints on the lens!) :)

A thumb by our stairs :)

Our downstairs bathroom ~

Self portrait ~

Micah's foot ~

Fingerprints on the lens :)

Micah Doolittle...

For the past few weeks, Aaron and Micah have taken it upon themselves to feed the wildlife that we have running around our neighborhood. It's kind of cute to see the two of them outside sitting on the front step working together to fill the bird feeder every few days. Micah sure gets a kick out of it... though I'm pretty sure when he "helps" more of the birdseed ends up on the ground than in the actual feeder. :) One thing's for sure though... that makes the squirrels happy! Here are a few pictures of one happy squirrel saying thank you to Micah. I'm pretty sure they were somehow communicating about the amount of seed left on the ground, because both Micah and the squirrel sat there for quite a while just staring at each other. :) Who knows... Micah may just be the next Dr. Doolittle! :)

9 months can sure fly by!

Never in my life has 9 months gone by as fast as the last 9! Actually... I take that back. Ever since having Micah, I feel like life has been moving at "ludicrous speed", and we are getting alarmingly close to going to plaid. :) (for those of you who just read that last sentence and now know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I'm nuts... just watch the movie "Spaceballs"... I really haven't completely lost my mind!) :)

Now, here we are less than a week away from meeting our second child and I'm looking back on these past few months thinking, wow! that went by FAST! So, before our lives get turned completely upside down and I'm AWOL from blogger for a while as we get settled into being a family of 4, I thought I'd post a couple pictures to hold you over until I can work blogging back into my routine. :)

I feel bad for not doing more updates on how this pregnancy has been progressing... but at the same time, trying to keep up with Micah on a daily basis doesn't leave much time for updating our blog. I just hope that once this baby is born, I'll still be able to just sit and be amazed at the things he/she is learning and doing, like we did when Micah was first born. I know it will be different, having a 17-month-old running around as well, but this baby is no less of a miracle than Micah is, and my prayer is that we'll be able to enjoy every minute of this little life. :)

As I get towards the end of my pregnancies, I have the privilege (??) of getting to drive down to Evanston every week... and eventually twice a week... for non-stress tests, where they watch to see that baby's heartbeat is increasing after he/she moves and monitor any contractions I might be having; and a fluid check. While it's kind of a pain to have to drive almost an hour to Evanston a few times a week, I love being able to see our baby every time I go. These ultrasounds take less than 10 minutes, and most of the time there's not much to see because the technician is just focused on checking the level of amniotic fluid, but occasionally I'll get a technician who takes the time to look at the baby's face and print out a picture or two for baby's scrapbook. The down-side of a lot of these pictures is that they're hard to make out what they are. There's not a whole lot of room left in there for baby to move around in, and as the baby settles into the head-down position, it's harder and harder to get a decent picture of the face. These 3D pictures were from the end of April, and while I do have others I'll spare you from having to turn your head in all kinds of crazy directions to make them out. :) Once again, I'm amazed by the technology of the 3D ultrasound, and the detail you're able to see! And even more amazed by the Awesome God we serve, who has given me the blessing of being able to carry this baby... who we can't wait to meet!!!

This one cracks me up... looks like baby is holding his/her head and thinking, "what have I gotten myself into?" :)

T-minus 3 days until we meet this not-so-little one. (I'm scheduled for a repeat c-section because it looks like the baby will be at least 9 pounds!) We can't wait to share the news with you, but until then... any predictions on boy or girl?? :)

Here's a few belly shots to help you make your decision ~

Fun at the park ~

We have really been enjoying the nicer weather lately... though these past couple of days have left something to be desired. :) But Mother's Day weekend was gorgeous, and Aaron's parents were in town, so after church on Sunday we stopped at the park by our house for a little while to let Micah run around. Everyone had a good time... and I do mean everyone. :)

Enjoy the pictures ~

Micah and Grandpa K

See what I mean? Everyone had fun! :)

Micah and Grandma K

Rockin' on the motorcycle ~

Oooo... I wanna try that one!

Rockin' on the dinosaur ~

And back to the motorcycle with daddy ~

Micah's favorite park activity ~ the swings!

Micah with his paternal grandparents ~

First haircut!

On May 7, 2011, one week after he turned 16 months old, Micah got his first haircut! I wasn't brave enough to try and attempt this myself, so I took him to my cousin Traci, who has been cutting my hair for a while, and had her do the honors. :) It wasn't a drastic cut or anything... that wasn't really needed at this point in time... it just needed to be evened out a bit. Micah had been sporting a bit too much of a comb-over, in my opinion. :)

He really did great getting his hair cut. He had just woken up from a nap when Aaron brought him in for the cut, so he was perfectly content to sit on our laps and let Traci snip away.

And I did great too... didn't even shed any tears over my firstborn's first hair cut! We did save a little bit for his baby book, and of course took a few pictures to share with you. :) Our baby boy isn't such a baby anymore!

Touch-a-Truck festival

I think we have created a monster! :) A few weekends ago, the Kohl Children's Museum put on it's annual Touch-A-Truck festival, so Aaron and I thought Micah would get a kick out of seeing big trucks and machines up close... and he sure did! Not only did we get to walk around and see these big trucks and machines, but Micah got to climb around on them, sit in the drivers' seats and play. It was amazing! The weather was perfect for the event... sunny and warm... a bit windy, but overall a nice day.. and we had a lot of fun as a family. We realized, after standing in line to sit on a digger, that the biggest problem of the day was going to be getting Micah OFF of these trucks and machines! Unfortunately, being only 16 months old, the concept of taking turns hasn't quite been grasped yet. So, we found ourselves apologizing over and over again to the people behind us in line who witnessed us wrestling a very upset toddler out of the drivers' seats and off of various trucks. Incidentally, the concept of waiting in line hasn't been grasped yet either, so Aaron and I found ourselves taking turns waiting in the lines while the other one ran around after Micah. :) We found the best places to bring Micah were the trucks where kids could just run around on them... which, thankfully, there were quite a few of these there. :) We took quite a few pictures at this festival, so I'll just let them tell the story of the day. Enjoy!

Driving the digger ~

One of the many open trucks kids could just run around in... this one is a horse trailer ~

My personal favorite part of the festival ~ ;)

Is Micah going to follow in mommy's footsteps someday? :)

Checking out the sewer cleaner with daddy ~

Sitting on the backhoe while mommy waited in line to be able to sit in the driver's seat ~

I think daddy had as much fun as Micah did :)

Another open truck to run around in... this one is an ice cream truck ~

They even had a train to ride on!

The truck closest to daddy's heart ;)

Driving the skid steer ~ (which had quite a noisy horn!)

Driving the garbage truck, complete with hard hat ~

So focused ~

Daddy and Micah driving the roller truck ~

So, how have we created this monster, you ask? Well, ever since this truck festival, getting Micah out of our car has become quite a challenge. He now wants to run around inside our van, sit in the driver's seat, and play with all the knobs and buttons on the dashboard. It used to be that getting him in to the car was the challenge... which it still is... Micah has never been a huge fan of being confined to his car seat... but now we have the challenge of getting him in AND out of the car with every trip we take. But I still think we'll be going back to the truck festival next year. :)