O Christmas Tree...

Several Saturdays ago, our family went to get a tree from a Christmas tree farm connected to one of Adam's co-workers. We are so thankful for their generosity!! Since we didn't get a tree last year, this really was Michaela's first Christmas tree outing experience. She loved it. I realized how come I love the Christmas tree cutting day so much - I experience all of the reward, and all of the hard work is done by Adam! He just smiled when I observed this - apparently he had already noticed that fact.

Posing with our selected Christmas tree - notice their matching boots!

The face of pure excitement

More excitement as it appears the tree is coming home with us!

"My first Christmas" bootie ornaments from Grammy (we received them last year, but they are unappreciated by a 4-month-old)

Ta da!

From Baby's Point of View

Now, when I say "baby" I actually mean Michaela's baby doll, who, for lack of creativity and effort on the part of her parents, is largely called "baby doll." It's 9:00 am, and where is baby doll currently spending her time? In between being carted around in the arms of her loving, if not gentle, mommy Michaela, she is tucked into the green tupperware lettuce crisper that has been in Michaela's play drawer for months. Every morning (and sometimes several times during the day) the lettuce crisper is dumped upside down to empty it of unwelcome toy contents and carried to baby doll. Baby doll is placed in (right side up, thankfully) and then carried around. This morning, however, there is an extra special touch. Baby doll has been wrapped up cozily in my kitchen dishtowel (surreptitiously stolen from the oven door where it hangs) and then placed in the crisper. Of course, by the time I finish this post, Michaela's moved on to other things and I didn't get a photo to prove it, but just enjoy the mental picture. Happy Friday, all!

Giving Thanks for Family... and Heat

A bit about Thanksgiving...


Michaela is happy to be eating her 2nd, or 3rd, bite of chocolate!!



Our little family had planned to travel up to Adam's parents for a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving. Then, be prepared, everyone-- the warnings for Arctic Storm 2010 appeared on the news! As many of us predicted, nothing too wild and woolly actually materialized, and so we continued north, where things got considerably colder and snowier. Adam's parents told us that they didn't have power, which happens a lot to them so we didn't think it through. The difficulty specific to this storm, however, was that the tree across the street had actually fallen on their power lines out front. So when we arrived for family fun times, the temperature in their house was 56 degrees. By the time the power company had taken down the tree, fixed the power lines,  and the heat kicked on (24 hours later) the house was 50 degrees. Not terrible, but enough for Adam to walk around shrouded in a blanket the whole time. I still maintain the memories will not soon be forgotten: eating dinner by candlelight, sitting talking around the fire, drinking mugs of warm hot chocolate and cider to stay cozy, playing board games by daylight, and analyzing the tree on the power lines outside.



Michaela and super-cute cousin Greyson

 We tried not to ponder what prepping Thanksgiving dinner was going to be like if we only had the gas stovetop. It was the closest I've been to camping all year, and I savored nearly every minute (the toilet seats were pretty cold).


 

 Luckily, the power came on just in time to prepare desserts for the extended family dinner. As you can see, Michaela was loving the pumpkin pie. She tried and seemed to like most everything on my plate, but I'm pretty sure she ate almost an adult-size serving of dessert. Her mother's child! We had fun with the three second cousins being together: Cousin Sally's daughter is 2 1/2, Michaela at 15.5 months, and Greyson at 4.5 months. Greyson slept through Thanksgiving dinner, as apparently we weren't exciting enough for him. He'll take it all in next year, though, I'm sure.

So very much to be thankful for. 

Happy Belated!

The week before Thanksgiving I had the pleasure of lunch with friends (and housemates) Lisa, Mindy and Julia from college. We met at Red Robin, which is a nice middle ground considering we've all moved since our days at George Fox. Pictured with Michaela is my roommate from my freshman year (11 years ago!!!). Michaela loved playing with Julia, and even loved her more after she received some bites of the birthday ice cream sundae. The cute blonde head you see is Lisa's 18-month old daughter, also loving the ice cream. 

Ah, Julia... the times we had watching boys' tennis practice from our window (maybe that was just me), staying up too late watching "chick flicks" and sleeping through alarms - speaking of alarms there was the late-night fire drill - and many other good times. I'm glad to say that we've grown and changed since then, though. Congratulations on being the first one from our group to hit the big 30! May the Lord bless this year for you!





Mindy and I posing for a "matchy-matchy" photo



Clinically speaking

This morning was Michaela's 15-month appointment with her pediatrician. It warms my heart to see that she does not yet hate the doctor's office, or remember what shots are. Both the nurse and the doctor told Michaela what a good little patient she was being, although who doesn't behave when they have two whole tongue depressors all to themselves? Our doctor is also the mother to young children and knows just how to distract them and get the job done all at the same time. My favorite part of the morning was when the doctor walked in and Michaela was sitting on Adam's lap, wearing nothing but her yellow Bum Genius diaper and her pink fleece-lined boots. They are supposed to stay undressed after being weighed to wait for the doctor, but it's difficult to keep a toddler entertained on a lap when there is ground to be explored. Hence the boots made for walking.

Now for the stats: Michaela has yet to break the 20-pound mark. She weighed in at 19 pounds, 6 ounces, still sitting at the fifth percentile for children her age. Her height has also remained the same at the 50th percentile, and she is 30.5 inches tall. Poor thing had to get three shots today, and she cried crocodile tears. Thankfully by the time we walked out of the office all that was left were traces of tears - the actual waterworks were over. A mama's heart can only take so much!

Another interesting thing is that we are going to purchase a potty chair and introduce the idea of potty training. It seems crazy to me that she is big enough for this already! For about two weeks now Michaela has been pointing to her diaper and saying diaper when she thinks it is wet or dirty and needs to be changed. She has only been wrong once, though there are plenty of times she doesn't catch. I'm sure this will prove to be an entertaining journey, to say the least.

Well, that's all for now folks. Our little Puckett has once again been officially declared healthy and on track. Sometimes it's good for me to hear that from someone with letters behind their name.

15 Months!

So, maybe I couldn't resist another month-a-versary post. 15 months seems like kind of a big deal, say, compared with 13 months. Part of me just likes to write it down so I don't forget it as time flies by. 15 months ago right now, I was engaged in something I would rather not describe in this public forum, however, suffice it to say that she was born 15 months ago, 10 minutes from now.



All ready for swim lessons!

We think Michaela is getting to be at a really fun stage right now. She is walking all over the place and carts her "baby" with her everywhere. I am struggling with whether "baby doll" really needs to be up in the high chair with Michaela, sharing her squash and cereal. Michaela firmly believes she does. She is showing an affinity for music and for words with a beat (anyone read Sandra Boynton's books?) - she dances front and back and side to side, and also likes to tap out a few notes on the piano when the mood strikes. Michaela's first participation certificate is currently posted on the refrigerator door, a neon green testament to Michaela's completion of parent/child swim lessons (which she loved!)
The last week or so I've also gotten brave enough to try the ponytail options for Michaela. The astute observer may notice that she is not the only one getting used to these hairdos. I hope to be a pro soon.


The 1st ponytail



Doubles

Michaela is a little gal who thrives on her schedule. She gets up between 7 and 7:30 usually (though on the weekends Adam and I try to get her to nap in bed a little with us) and is ready to hit the sack about 7 in the evening. Her afternoon nap lasts about 1.5 hours. She also loves to read; before-nap books, after-nap books, after-dinner reading and playing with Daddy, before-bedtime books. As I type she is handing me "Goodnight Moon" and requesting a reading. We just finished reading something of the "hello kitty" variety. I am pretty thrilled to discover our local library has a section of baby books to lend, seeing how I can nearly quote backwards and forward the books we currently own. We hope to start attending the book babies group this week, too.


Dressed up as Rudy Fernandez for Halloween. She's having fun - really.



We'll get a more "official" update out once we see the doctor on Friday this week. Until then - Cheers!

Beach Bums

Last weekend was the long-awaited, much-anticipated weekend at the beach with friends. We did a similar deal like this last summer at Sunriver, however... this year we had three children that we didn't have last time we vacationed together. Talk about a change of pace! A little more planning, a lot more packing, and more discussions of naptime were the name of the game this time around. Also... a lot more rain, and some thunder and lightning, hail, and winds gusting up to 75 miles per hour. I love storms at the beach!

Enjoy the photo gallery of our weekend. I'm sure Kalina and Travis have some more group shots, and artistic food shots, etc., so keep an eye out for their post, too!

Josh and Travis playing NBA Jam on the Wii. I'm not sure why they felt the need to stand up while playing. Adam and I beat them good a couple of times.

Tillamook Cheese Factory! Posing with Kalina, Isaiah and the cow
(and a random guy in the background?)

Checking the cow for authenticity.

Lily loving her ice cream (or rather, her mom's ice cream). She is ready, just in case any should drop.

Michaela getting one of many bites of my ice cream. She was a little demanding about her need to get the good stuff. She doesn't realize she is lucky I shared any with her at all.

Bathing buddies - Michaela's first time sharing the bath.
She had a hard time respecting Isaiah's need for personal space. In all fairness, he was the one who got to sit next to the super-cool faucet. 

Pumpkins

It was a beautiful October day for Michaela's first trip to the pumpkin patch. Adam and our friend Josh may object to the word "patch" however, in favor of the term "pumpkin field." The farm we went to was very toddler-friendly, in that they had picked the pumpkins from wherever they were happily growing and moved them by the gigantic truckload to this nice grassy field where little children romp among them to select their favorites. I thought it was great - the kids stay cleaner, less work - but I think Adam thought something was lacking in authenticity. At any rate, we got to take a hayride behind a tractor, which was pretty fun. Michaela and her friend Lily enjoyed watching the other children on the hayride. The girls are seen below posing with the pumpkin...we managed to catch Michaela sitting still, and Lily is in the act of tasting the yummy grass that she was picking by the handful out of the field.

And last but not least - a family photo opportunity!  We look forward to next year when Michaela can really get into picking out her own pumpkin!

Raising a Rockstar

Sometimes, the cuteness rises to a whole new level.



Reading to Kenji. What you can't see is Kenji's expression when Michaela just crawled up next to her on the dog bed.



As promised... our Rockstar getting her ride ready to go.

So proud to be standing on her own.
(PS, have we mentioned she's walking now?!)

Happy Birthday Kenji!

Our lovable labrador turns 3 today. It's hard to believe it's been that long since we watched (via a webcam mounted in the breeder's living room) the little newborn puppies wriggling around next to their mommy. We got to visit Kenji before she came home with us, and hold her as just a little thing. In the years since, Adam and I have compared a new puppy to a newborn, and frankly, the newborn just might be easier to care for.

1) You put the newborn down in one location and they are still there when you return.

2) Babies wear diapers.

3) Newborns don't have teeth.

4) Newborn humans are supposed to consume all of your time, puppies aren't necessarily supposed to.

My food bowl is bigger than I am! (And this food bowl was later chewed to pieces.)

I love my bed! And I still sleep in this position!

But all in all, Kenji is a good girl. She loves to play fetch and swim, she lives to go for walks. We accidentally didn't close our fence gate all the way and she got out. When we returned, she was waiting for us on our front porch. We're glad she's part of our family!

Going for a car ride - first Christmas?

Where is that cat?!

Summer Funning

Out for a ride in the Bob stroller with her cool parents.
We love being able to walk to Bridgeport Village from our house!

At the Tualatin Crawfish Festival. I hadn't had a crawfish before, so we bought one but couldn't figure out how (or what) to eat on it. Good for a photo op, though.





Michaela is rather unfazed by Daddy's attempts to scare her with the crawfish. She prefers munching on the graham cracker.



The beach! Surf's up!

 

Digging a hole in the sand, and then testing its depth. I later fell in that same hole while holding Michaela. Not my proudest mommy moment - screaming and traumatized baby, shellshocked adult audience, nowhere near home... What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?





Nothing says "I love macaroni and cheese" like wearing it in your eyebrow.

 





My family, relaxed and watching the game on a Sunday afternoon. Finally Adam has a fellow fan (although like her mother, with a very short attention span for football).



Today the Zoo...

...Tomorrow the World!

While I have been significantly slacking on the blog front and have many events to catch up on, right now I'll just start with today. Michaela and I went on an adventure to the Zoo with our friends Sarah and Lily. Sarah and I were quite proud of ourselves for arriving early in the morning so that parking was not an issue (until the end of the day, when we were trying to leave and for the life of me I could not remember where I parked my car... the little "emergency/panic" button was not at all helpful, either... only silence.)

Just after entering the zoo, we posed for a "before" picture with the girls in their strollers and the mountain goats in the background. Notice Michaela is holding tightly to her ticket stub. So glad for free baby admission! I had hoped to make a coffee stop (since I'd run out of time for that before leaving the house) but decided to go caffeine-free after seeing the zoo cafe charged $5.25 for a small mocha. Really, is coffee with a view that much better?

In the next photo, Michaela enjoys the sea lion or polar bear exhibit (I can't remember which one). I figured out that Michaela really doesn't realize things are animals yet unless they are moving. But the animals in action she really got excited about. The polar bear was swimming, and Michaela yelled and pointed and kicked her feet. I think she thought that the other spectators weren't properly appreciating God's creation, or else maybe they hadn't noticed the giant white bear in the pool of water right next to them?

Next is another shot of the girls enjoying the zoo - I believe this is by the giraffes, but in order to get both the girls and the giraffes in the same pictures, I had to zoom out too much to see the kids, and frankly, I am hoping that most of you would rather see the girls. My apologies to the giraffe-lovers. This is post-snack and diaper-changing stop.

Sarah and Lily really enjoyed the tiger exhibit.

We were hoping to get "end of the day" pictures, but as I dropped Sarah and Lily off at their house, both girls began crying loudly that the car had stopped moving and we decided hustle would win out over not-so-cute pictures (crying red eyes and runny nose, anyone?) But all in all, it was a great adventure and we look forward to doing it again.

question to ponder

If, as I glibly informed my husband last night, I have taken a college course in nutrition and know what I'm doing when it comes to providing my daughter and my family with nourishment, why does nearly everything Michaela eats begin with "C"?

Carrots... cantaloupe... cream cheese... this was lunch today (plus blueberry bagel, but that ruins my hypothesis)

Other food favorites: cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, cheese ravioli (see a theme?), cereal, cheerios, corn, crackers (graham), chicken...

Fortunately for all, nutrition is based more on the food groups than on the alphabet.

Moving on Up

Well, it's happened. Yesterday, for the first time. Michaela decided she wanted to climb our stairs. She had good motivation, I suppose. She was at the bottom and I was at the top. Typically I can count on running upstairs for something and know that she will be waiting for me right at the bottom of the stairs when I come right back. Not so typical anymore. She took those stairs like they were nobody's business, as if she has been climbing stairs for months. She also wants to immediately turn around and climb right back down, but she hasn't quite caught on yet to the backing down the stairs method. So we might need to get another baby gate. The first one we bought was for Kenji.

So, now, in addition to walking with assistance and cruising along furniture and walls, we also have a climber, folks. Everyone, beware!

Birthday!!!

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Cousins with Papi and Grammy

Last Sunday we celebrated Michaela's first year of life with our family. It's hard to believe she's that big already. Everyone says that, but it's true. And when I say "big" I really mean "old" because we had Michaela's 12-month checkup on Tuesday and she only weighs 17 pounds, 10 ounces, which puts her in the 5th percentile of kiddos her age. On the height end of things, though, she is overachieving. She measured 29 1/4 inches which is in the 50th percentile. The doc commented that Michaela is "long and lean."

We were blessed to have family and friends join us at our worship service on Sunday morning to witness Michaela's dedication. It was so special to see how our church family and our family family gathered around to voice their support for Adam and I as we raise our daughter to follow the Lord.

Afterwards, we had the family over to celebrate with FOOD. Always a delight! Michaela's first cake experience was of a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting. She liked the frosting so much that after she finished her own cupcake, she tried taking a swipe off of mine as we posed for pictures.

Michaela also got to experience present-opening. The tissue paper was arguably the most interesting feature.

Practicing sitting on the musical push car.
The person doing the pushing, though, was not Michaela, but Uncle Dave!

And because everyone likes seeing pictures of themselves, here are a few of the family. We loved having you here for the day! Do you see yourself?