Reflecting on Mother's Day

My mom always jokes that I've wanted to be a mom since I was 2 years old. She might actually be telling the truth. I was always the little girl playing with dolls or Barbies or playing "house." It's not that I was a girly-girl, it's that I wanted to be the mom. I can't ever remember wanting to be something else. Even when I was thinking about a "career" it always had something to do with kids (pediatrician, preschool teacher, daycare worker, etc.). October 31, 2011 that dream came true. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Today is Mother's Day. My first. And I'm so excited to be able to celebrate this day along with so many other beautiful women across this nation. But today wouldn't be possible for me if it wasn't for my wonderful son, Micah. So, in honor of Mother's Day I want to write him a letter.

Micah, you are my world. Before you I didn't know what I was missing. I didn't know that there was a part of me that was created just to love you. You made me come alive in a way that I'd never known before. When I held you for the first time all I could think about was how much I love you and how I will do anything for you.

You are the sweetest little man. You have such an easy-going personality. You're constantly smiling at everybody, even when you're so tired. You're so independent, but you still need me. You can play by yourself for quite a while, but if I want to hold you and snuggle you don't mind. I love our snuggle time before you go to sleep. I hold you close and sing "Jesus Loves Me." You snuggle your head into my chest and just sit there, listening. You love music. Doesn't matter what kind, and it's even better if Mommy or Daddy are making fools out of themselves and dancing to the music. You also love to be outside. Going for walks is one of your favorite things, it's something we do almost every day. I love experiencing God's nature through your eyes. We try to point out the change in seasons to you and it just makes me so much more aware of this wonderful creation God has given us. Our days are full together. We have so much fun playing and singing, but my favorite is at night when you're asleep. When I walk into your bedroom to check on you, it's like everything else fades away. All the stress from the day is gone because there you are, so beautiful and peaceful. A reminder of the grace that God has shown me. Micah, without you I would not be a mom, my most treasured dream. Thank you for lighting up my life and filling my heart to overflowing. I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

Micah's First Easter

I know I'm a little late with this Easter post, but Micah was just so stinkin' cute in his Easter outfit that I had to post. Brad's Mom offered to buy Micah's Easter outfit. When Brad and his brothers were younger, his dad's mom always bought their Easter outfits and Pat thought that was so nice so she wanted to continue the tradition. We got this adorable outfit from Gymboree. Who says there aren't cute clothes for boys (not me anymore!)?



Easter was a very busy weekend for us. Brad had to work Saturday and Sunday morning until 3:00. I already posted about "The Great Diaper Change" that Micah and I participated in Saturday morning. After Brad got home from work on Saturday we headed over to his mom's house for Easter dinner with his family. His brother, Kevin, and his girlfriend, Mindy, were there, as well as his brother, Craig, and his wife, Jamie, and Jamie's mom and brother (we missed Doug and Carrie, though!). It was a delicious dinner. Grammy also got Micah a little Easter present. I think he enjoyed the wrapping more than the present itself!



Sunday morning, Micah and I got ready and headed off to church. Easter has always been my favorite holiday. I love what it means: the resurrection of Christ. He is not in the grave anymore. He's alive. He conquered death and sin so that I could live with him in eternity! That is so awesome. I don't have to do anything to receive this life, just trust him. I could never pay for my sins, the debt is too great. But Jesus paid for me. How awesome is that? Sometimes I just can't get over it! And now that I have a child, I realize even more what an amazing gift it truly is. Because more than anything I want Micah to grow up to love the Lord and serve him with his whole heart. To me, Micah is perfect, but I know that the truth is he has already been tainted by sin. And, just like me, he cannot pay the debt for his sin. It's too costly. And I can't do it for him, either. But I don't have to because Jesus did. Hallelujah! I am so thankful for my Savior and that empty grave! And I love going to church on Easter morning and celebrating that. I love the music, the bright colors, everyone cheerfully wishing you a "Happy Easter." Everyone together saying, "He is risen. He is risen, indeed." I just love it. And I'm so glad that I get to share this amazing day with my son.

Anyway, after church, Micah and I went to my parents' house for dinner with my family. Brad met us there after work. Micah got to spend some time with his cousins, whom he loves (have I mentioned that he has one more cousin on the way...on Brad's side of the family? So excited for another boy!).




We were out late again, but it was worth spending time with our families two nights in a row. And overall, Micah didn't do too bad with bedtime.

Since Brad was working Easter morning, I waited to give Micah his Easter basket. I should mention here that his Easter basket is not from the Easter bunny. Mommy and Daddy filled it with wonderful things that we knew Micah needed, things like some new toys, a few books, and a new Baby Einsteins video. We want Micah to know what this day is about, not think that it's about some Easter bunny coming to bring him gifts. As he gets older and has a better understanding we will incorporate other traditions as well, such as decorating and hunting for eggs, and telling the resurrection story. We're not completely sure what that will look like, but we do know that we want the day to be a celebration of life, not of gifts and candy. Regardless, it was fun watching him go through his basket this year. He obviously had no idea what was going on, but as he loves to grab things it seemed as though he was excited about taking things out of his basket. It was so much fun to watch him. And now we love watching how excited he gets when he's playing with his new toys. It was time for some real toys and he loves them!





Overall, a wonderful Easter. A great celebration of Jesus and wonderful time spent with family. We really couldn't ask for anything more.

April Dates

As I mentioned before, for our anniversary I made Brad a book of dates we could enjoy each month. One "staying in" date and one "going out" date. In April our "going out" date was Brad's choice. Being the ever-so original guy that he is, he chose dinner and a movie. Well, more accurately, lunch and a movie as we are cheap and we also still like to be the ones to put Micah to bed. So, we headed to Pizza Hut for lunch. We both love Pizza Hut wings and hadn't had them in a while. They were delicious, just as I remembered them! Then, we saw "Rio." That's right. "Rio." A kid's movie. No, it's not because we're obsessed with kids or because we were missing Micah so much that we thought it would help us not miss him. Since we don't watch TV we're really out of the loop as far as what movies are playing. We hadn't heard of any of the movies that were out and we got a lot of different recommendations. Not to mention, the online description of many of the movies just wasn't appealing. So we went with the safe bet: "Rio." Not a bad movie. Not their best, but I really enjoyed the upbeat music. After the movie, we had some time to kill so we headed to the creamery for some ice cream. One of our favorite things to do is get ice cream. And last year a Creamery opened here in town (it is literally right across the street from the apartment we used to live in...so glad we moved a little further away as there is no doubt we would have been there every night in the summer!) so it is one of our new favorite places to go for soft serve. All in all, a decent date.

Our "staying in" date was a Disney night. For our first anniversary, we went to DisneyWorld. It was my first time there every, and Brad's first time in years. We both loved it. I always ask Brad if we can go back. So, in order to help re-live that wonderful vacation we put on our Minnie and Mickey ears (bride and groom since we were celebrating our anniversary) and watched a Disney movie while looking through the scrapbook I started of our vacation. We chose to watch "The Princess Frog" since we had never seen it. I thought the movie was okay, but there were quite a few scary parts. Probably not a movie I would let my child see. We loved looking through the pictures of our trip and talking about when Micah will be old enough for us to take him. Of course, any time I get to talk about Disney I love it.

6 Months

I cannot believe my baby is 6 months old! He truly is the light of our lives. His personality is really starting to come out, and it is a great personality! Micah loves to smile at everything--he rarely cries or fusses. He's also a busy body. He's just like his mom and loves to be in the middle of everything and he wants it all. Micah can be very focused, but if he has the choice between three toys he wants all three of them RIGHT. NOW. However, he can play with the same toy for 30 minutes. He's constantly examining them, turing them around in his hands and popping them in his mouth. Speaking of his mouth, everything's going in there right now! That is definitely his favorite way to explore right now. If you hold him, it'll take about 2 seconds before he tries to stick your hand in his mouth. He's also drooling buckets. Seriously, it's gross. He's going through at least 3 bibs a day. He's better get those bottom teeth soon or I'm going to buy stock in bibs! So, what's new with Micah this month? I'm glad you asked!

*He had his first vegetable: sweet potatoes. He LOVED them. We steamed a sweet potato and gave it to him in strips and let him eat it himself. Not a lot made it into his mouth, but it was obvius that he liked them. He had them a couple more times that week, including once at my mom's on Easter. He's also had white potatoes and steamed broccoli. He wasn't sure about the broccoli's texture, but he didn't complain.

*Speaking of eating, we've started feeding Micah table food. We much prefer it to purees. He can have a little bit of whatever we're eating. He loves feeding himself. But because of his stomach problems I want to make sure that he's getting some food in his stomach, so we still give him some pureed fruit in the morning (sticking to those "p" fruits that are good for constipation!). However, he's really started fighting that and really wants to feed himself--he's pretty good with a spoon! I'm hoping that we'll be able to move exclusivey to baby led weaning this month and not have to worry about the constipation.

*Micah rolled back to tummy. He's done it a couple times, but he's still not really interested. He's definitely not rolling as a means to get to things. Instead, he scoots on his back.

*Micah had his first trip to Chicago. We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory to get pictures taken by MckMama. He loved looking at all of the beautiful flowers and did great for the pictures. Afterwards, we went to Ed Debevic's for lunch. He really enjoyed looking around at the restaurant and observing everything that was going on.

*We celebrated Micah's first Easter. He loved opening his Easter basket from Mommy and Daddy. But more about Easter later.

Well, I guess that's it for this month. Here are some pictures of Micah's sixth month:

 

The Great Cloth Diaper Change

On Saturday, Micah and I participated in The Great Cloth Diaper Change. It was cloth diapering's attempt at getting in the Guiness Book of World Records. People all around the world changed a cloth diaper at the exact same time. We attended the event at our favorite cloth diaper store, Cutie Poops and Bottoms. It was so much fun!

Micah and I had to pre-register in order to participate. When we got there, there were a bunch of raffles that we could register for. I even ended up winning a free month to Stroller Strides (which is awesome because I was already planning on joining this spring/summer)! Then, we made our way to the changing room where 74 other babies and their parent were waiting to get their diaper changed. It was so cool to be a part of, and it was awesome to see so many other cloth diapering families. I especially liked seeing so many people wearing their babies in different slings/carriers as that is something Micah and I really enjoy and we rarely see other people doing.

After the change, Micah go to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. He handled it very well and didn't cry at all. Then, we walked over to the fire engine and he got to sit inside the truck. He loved all the commotion! It was a great day, and I really hope that we get to participate again next year!

Baby Einsteins

We really don't like to let Micah watch TV (that's probably pretty obvious based on the fact that we ourselves barely watch TV). I never have it on during the day and when we're somewhere and they have it on we try to take him into another room. I could go on about why, but that's for another post. Anyway, every now and then we will let him watch a Baby Einstein video. Typically, we put these in before bed to help him wind down (this happens maybe a couple of times a month). The videos are basically a bunch of pictures/videos of kids' toys in actions set to some classical music. For example, it might have a little train set that just goes around and around the track for 30 seconds, then it switches to a wind up car that goes. Extremely boring for an adult. But entertaining/calming for a child (don't ask--I seriously don't get it). Brad and I bought Micah the Lullaby DVD for Easter. Last night, Micah was all wound up and fighting sleep so Brad decided to take him downstairs and watch the new DVD with him (I should also mention that we always sit with him and watch the videos...therefore he only gets about 10 minutes at a time because that's about all we can handle!). Here's what Micah looked like at the beginning of the movie:



Tired. Calm. Sitting nicely with Daddy.

While they were watching the video, I was in the scrapbook room on the computer. All of a sudden I heard Micah squealing. After about a minute, I went into the front room to find out what was going on and this is what I saw:



Little Man was loving the video! He was laughing and talking to the toys/animals. So much for putting him to sleep!

Anniversary

For our anniversary this year I wasn't sure what to get Brad. He's always so good about getting me a nice present. He likes to get something that coordinates with the traditional gift for that year. The first year is paper so he made me a photo book from Shutterfly. The second year is cotton so he let me buy a dress for our date to the ballet. The third year is leather. He bought me a leather Pandora bracelet and let me pick out the first couple charms. His gifts are always so thoughtful. I want to do the same for him, but it's a lot harder to buy for him than it is for me! Also, I knew that things were going to be different for us now that we have Micah. Our lives have changed so much and so has our relationship.

After having Micah for only two months I knew that our world revolved around him. We didn't want to leave him with anyone else. It was hard for us to make time for each other because we were so wrapped up in him. But we both know how important it is that we make each other a priority. Our marriage is a top priority for both of us, and we know that we have to work hard at keeping it that way. It's important that our children see how much we love each other and that we make time for each other. Brad and I always said once we had kids we would make sure to have regular date nights, but I knew that if we didn't make some sort of prior commitment that would be really difficult to keep to. So, for our anniversary I decided to make him a book of monthly dates. Each month has two dates: a "going out" date and a "staying in" date. Here's what we've done so far:

January's going out date was sledding and hot chocolate. Brad and I love to go sledding and drink hot chocolate afterwards. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough snow to go sledding in January,and when it came in February Brad had to work. So, we were unable to do that one. Our staying in date was a movie theme night. We watched "Eat, Pray, Love" and had italian food. Neither of us really loved the movie, but it was nice to just spend time on the couch together.

February's going out date was dinner at a brewery. Okay, I have to admit, we didn't start off so well on the whole "going out" thing. We never made it to a brewery. We went to Giordano's for Valentine's Day and with Brad's new work schedule we just never had the opportunity to go out for dinner again. However, we will make it to a brewery eventually. I swear. Our staying in date was a TV marathon. As I've mentioned before, Brad and I don't have TV channels, but we do have several TV shows on DVD. One of our favorites is LOST and we are so far behind (we own all of the seasons, but have not seen the last two)! So, one night we stayed up until about 3:00 in the morning watching LOST. I think we're about halfway through the season. So glad we did that because it really renewed our love for LOST. Now, when we have time at night we like to sit down and catch an episode or two so that we can catch up with the rest of the world!

Okay, March we did way better. When Brad was a kid he used to love going to watch the Chicago Wolves play. The Wolves are the amateur hockey team in Chicago. So, we got tickets and went to a game in March. My sister stayed home with Micah. We got lunch before the game (lunch without Micah was so weird!) and just enjoyed each other's company. The game was fun. We had pretty good seats and the Wolves were winning when we left (Mom can still only handle so much time away from Micah!). We both agreed that it was so nice to just be the two of us and it really helped affirm that we need to make it a priority to go out without Micah regularly. Our stay in date for March was to do a puzzle together. I have many memories of my grandma Biggy doing puzzles in her dining room when I was growing up. There was always a puzzle on the dining room table and every now and then I would stop and try to put a couple pieces in (I only had enough patience for one or two pieces). So, I asked my Aunt Tracy if she had any more of Grandma's puzzles and she gave us a couple. Brad picked a water-theme one and we set out to do a 1000-piece puzzle. Brad loved doing the puzzle! He had so much patience and really enjoyed picking out similar pieces and trying to find where they fit. I, on the other hand, lasted about 2 hours and then I was done. And I only lasted that long because we were working on the edge and I knew those pieces had to fit together. It took us almost the whole month of March to complete the puzzle. Every night Brad would work a little bit on the puzzle. I would add a piece of two and he would complete whole sections. It took up our whole coffee table and we were very thankful that Micah is not mobile enough to get at it yet! We had a great time doing it together and Brad discovered that he really enjoys doing puzzles!

We're both really looking forward to the rest of our dates. I'm hoping to write about each date after it happens now. Not only to inspire other people to make time for their marriage despite all of life's busyness, but also to give you ideas of fun things to do together (some completely free!).

Here are some pictures from our March dates:


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