Adam, Brook, Michaela & Josiah

Fantastic Four (Months)

2012-02-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

The rumor is out that Josiah celebrated his 4 month-a-versary with a trip to the doc. It's true. Our doctor said she thought Josiah and Michaela looked alike, which kind of surprised me, but she amended it by saying at least you can tell they're brother and sister.

Vital stats:
14 lbs., 14 ozs
26.25 inches long
several immunizations,
which this tough guy took like a champ

His weight gain has calmed down a little, as he's now back in the 50th percentile. However they had the nurse remeasure him because he measured at the 93rd percentile for height. They only adjusted him a slight 1/4 inch so he really just is tall. All other systems are go.

Likes: at 4 months, Josiah is getting the hang of bouncing in the Jumparoo. He can really get going. He likes being held, having his diaper changed, his sister, being tickled before he gets his jammies on at bedtime, watching TV (obviously we try to not let him), and watching water come out of the faucet (or in a glass).

Dislikes: being put down, being put in his carseat, vitamin D, socks

Take it or leave it: baths, tummy time, having fingernails clipped

Cake, Upside Down

2012-02-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

Some people have wish lists on Amazon.com. I have a different kind of wish list. It's more of a wish pile, actually. It's made up of recipes I have ripped out of newspapers, magazines, and taken from the free display stands at Williams Sonoma. The various dishes (homemade pork empanadas, bread that is a rip-off from Macaroni Grill, Bourbon Caramel Banana Creme Pie, seared haddock with citrus and avocado oil) embody the hopes and dreams I have for, mostly, more time. Some take more time to create, others promise they'll be so simple and delicious to prepare, I will be given more time as a result. I also see a desire to expose my family to more ethnic tastes, indulge myself in sweets, and alternatively, eat more healthily. Like many wish lists, these recipes have remained largely in the realm of the imagined.

Today, though, I finally made the cake that I have been really planning to make since we had my father-in-law in town on Monday. Turns out every day ran out of time. But today, Michaela was napping, and I thought that I could do most of it (ha, ha) while holding Josiah in the crook of my left arm. A little drool in the glaze never hurt anyone. Well, the cake is still in the oven so I can't describe the results (possibly a good thing), but one thing I know for sure. This ripped out page won't stay in the wish pile, nor will it migrate to the recipe box. It may be absolutely delicious (I hope so) but it is heading directly for the trash. At this stage of my life, any recipe that requires 3 mixing bowls, a saucepan, various whisks, electric beaters, pastry brush and vegetable peeler, making my own caramel (what? I thought it came out of a squeeze bottle!), cutting a circle of parchment paper on which I have traced the bottom of the pan, is just too much!! I had decided this before I got to the part about folding in the egg whites. And I just realized I forgot to set the timer to tell me when to "rotate the cake halfway through the baking time." Really? So, on second thought, after all this work the results had better be tasty - though I'm haunted by the fact that my caramel sauce became hardened the minute I poured it in the cake pan. It may be a crunchy pear upside down cake.

But I'll just chalk it up to the school of life, and enjoy another item on my wish list. Josiah is contentedly cooing on his play mat and talking to Mr. Cow, and Michaela is reading to herself from the Little House toddler book series. At the same time. Miracles do happen.

Inaugural Jump

2012-01-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

After months and months... dare I say years?... of hiding away in a bedroom closet, the Jumparoo made its reappearance today. What is a "Jumparoo"? you may ask. Well, it's a treat for the senses, mostly the senses of infants who can wiggle a little but not a lot. If they could wiggle too much, they might try to get away from the repetitive music it can play when turned on. Michaela loved jumping around in it when she was little, but she didn't start using it until she was 4 and a half months old, and she still couldn't quite touch the ground with her little feet so we had to put a phone book underneath her.

But Josiah has really seemed to enjoy sitting upright and looking around, and his head control is good, so I thought we would assemble the Jumparoo and give it a try. Turns out... why yes indeed!... his little toes already touch the ground! He really seemed to enjoy sitting up and exploring the colorful items within his sphere of influence. It bought me 30 minutes to make lunches for the rest of the family and then to eat my own. I'd call that a raging success. Thank you great-grandpa Puckett for the Jumparoo - the gift that keeps on giving!

Proof of his toes touching the carpet

Three Thriving Months!

2012-01-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

It is thanks to trying to get Josiah on a napping schedule (you know, where one naps more than a few minutes in their own crib) that I am able to go on this blogging extravaganza. Now that Josiah is 3 months, I am trying to monitor his sleeping and waking time so that I can figure out when to best put him down for naps on a schedule. It really kind of confused things this morning when he slept in until about 9:40. I REALLY want him to get into the habit of napping at the same time Michaela does. However, I refuse to complain too much since he is doing such a great job at sleeping at night. He goes down about 8:00 or 8:15 and then sleeps until 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning with only one, or two, nighttime awakenings. It's almost like he's not the same baby that gave us those nightmarish first couple of weeks, sleep-wise, that is. And possibly he's not. Folks at church tell us that he looks different every time they see him.

He continues to grow, though I haven't weighed him lately, he seems to have the cutest little baby chunk, which our skinny-minnie daughter never did. His hair also keeps growing at a rapid rate, though it's rubbing off in the back and on the sides. He tolerates "tummy time" a lot better than Michaela ever did. He seems to want to propel himself forward, using his feet and legs (booty up in the air), but he doesn't move his hands or arms, so he ends up doing a face plant. We think it's pretty amusing, but he does not seem to agree. He's getting quite enjoyable to be around, with a laugh when his tummy is tickled, and big grins for almost anyone who will give him the time of day. He's also discovered his tongue, sticking the tip out and gumming it for entertainment. He is also able to maneuver blankets into his mouth to be sucked on/chewed on. His world is growing bigger by the day!

Here are Michaela and Josiah, both at 3 months:

Breaking in a New Year

2012-01-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

In what we have happily been able to declare tradition - we rang out 2011 and toasted 2012 with our good friends the Morgans and the Sargents. This year it was our year to host the festivities, so we munched on appetizer-like goodies and tried to keep the kids from causing anyone else bodily harm until it was time for them to go to bed. We had the brilliant idea of putting Lily down in Michaela's room on the extra bed, but when Sarah went in to soothe Lily, Michaela was pretty sure that Sarah was there to chat with her about the day, so no one was getting any sleep. They went forward with the pack'n'play in the separate room plan. Maybe next year, girls, you'll get your slumber party. Isaiah slept like a champ on our guest bed, undisturbed by the games going on below.

Last year we had a picture of Travis and Kalina with all the kids -- ditto for this year.
I'm guessing they don't really want 4 kids?

Like I always suspected of adults when I was a kid, we waited until the kids were asleep to have the real fun - playing games and eating brownie sundaes. Thanks to a pot of caffeinated coffee (for most of them, who weren't pregnant or nursing) our group stayed up until midnight and beyond (barely beyond.) We shared the ups and downs we've experienced in this past year, and remembered again that always God is good. It is with hope and excitement that we look forward to the experiences of 2012.

A sneaky 30th birthday

2012-01-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

I would be remiss in my chronicling of family events if I didn't draw attention to the fact that my wonderful husband recently celebrated a birthday. I think he was probably just trying to sneak it in before the end of the year without any fanfare. But it is with pleasure I announce that Adam has left his roaring 20's behind and joined the 30-year-old club. We celebrated with his family coming down to visit and going out to dinner at ClaimJumper's, with the classic German Chocolate birthday cake, and a marathon game of Cities and Knights (Settlers of Catan). Happy Birthday!!!

You know you're getting old when the candles have to stand for decades, not years!

Celebrating Jesus' Birthday

2011-12-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful week of family time, food, and Christmas traditions. There was lots of cousin mischief to be had (but serious meltdowns we avoided by trying our best to adhere to napping and bedtime schedules. Abbey and I gave ourselves pats on the back for managing that to the best of our abilities.) It really is a fun time of year to celebrate but also everything takes on new meaning as we teach our children about Jesus' birth and how special it truly is. I've uploaded lots of photos (I have a husband and father-in-law who do a great job of capturing cute moments). You've been forewarned!

Michaela checking out a reindeer - that's right, a reindeer. The things they have in Washington!

Above-mentioned reindeer.

Michaela and I posing with Moses, the camel. Yep, a camel and reindeer.

This should have been our Christmas card photo.

Reclining on his new beanbag chair

Michaela is cuddling Josiah's new stuffed animal - enjoy it while you can, Michaela!

Four generations of Puckett men

Cousin Sally loving on Josiah

My mom helping Josiah show off his new hat

New outfits

New outfit!

A new generation of pictures on the stairs - Greyson and Michaela

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Two Tiny Months

2011-12-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Our littlest family member turned two months old yesterday. We had our well child visit today. Judging from the info we received there, Josiah may not be our tiniest family member for much longer. Any guesses on how much our little man weighs? He measured in at 23 inches long (53rd percentile) and at 12 pounds, 14 ounces (78th percentile)! I knew there was a reason he felt as if he was growing out of his 3-month-size clothes. I'm strangely proud of my chubby boy - good eaters are always welcome in this family!

I can't believe how time is flying! From the first couple weeks when Josiah didn't seem to think it necessary to open his little eyes, he now likes to take in everything - but especially lights and people's faces. He is also intrigued by the mirror on his play mat. He is becoming a smiley little guy - I tried to capture it in action and it doesn't quite accurately portray his grin, but is pretty stinking cute anyway. He also not only smiles but has been known to coo a bit, as well. Unfortunately for his parents, he doesn't seem to care whether he is "talking" to them or to toys hanging in his vicinity.

But sometimes he is shocked by what he sees... (and this was before he heard about all the shots he was going to have to get today...)

At this point he seemed to be mesmerized b y Michaela's foot.

After all that looking around, a boy's got to sleep!

Modeling for Daddy during lunchtime. Or else looking at the monkeys in the pack'n'play - it's hard to tell.

Josiah nurses about every 3 hours during the day, and has been going longer and longer during the night. Some nights he is a terror to get down and finally asleep, but he does have more of the good nights. Last night he had a 6-hour stretch followed by a 5-hour stretch. It was lovely, and we're hoping for more of the same in the coming month.

I did it!

2011-12-08T11:19:00.000-08:00

For the skeptics out there... mostly myself... I just wanted to say that it is indeed possible to push a two-year-old in a stroller while wearing your baby in a front-pack and taking your feisty 4-year-old black lab on a walk all at the same time. I wish I had a picture of me doing this as proof (looking harried and wide-eyed, no doubt) but alas, there were no extra hands. It was a sunny day and I really wanted everyone to get some exercise, so we made it work. However, I'm not sure that it will make it on the daily calendar of events. I'll keep you updated.

thanks for thanksgiving

2011-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

So as always I'm a little belated, so here's bit of info about our Thanksgiving. We spent it with some of my cousins, parents, and sister (and an assortment of other relations and non-relations) at family's in Mulino. We were pleased that it was only about a 40-minute drive from our house! So here is our day as documented in pictures.

First, Michaela waiting with her blankie in the carseat while I run into Starbucks on a morning coffee run for Adam and I.

Josiah also waiting (as viewed through the mirror on the backseat). Amazingly, he appears to be both awake and not crying - a rare combo. Properly fueled with our hot holiday beverages, we take off to Mulino.

After warming up a little bit, Michaela appears to be playing cards with my Aunt Karen (back turned) and Debbie - someone I'm pretty sure we're not related to, but who is very nice all the same.

Cuddle time with Nana!

Convincing my sister Bria to get in on the cuddling/picture action.

Adam and Josiah hanging out. We actually didn't hold our son all that much during the course of the day - many people wanted to get their little hands on him!

It's kind of hard to see, but this is Michaela eating her Thanksgiving pie and dropping her fork in the process. I had promised her she could eat as much pie as she wanted after she ate her dinner (knowing full well that she would eat as much as she did... about a half-piece of apple pie with whipped cream. And she ate mostly the whipped cream.) We enjoyed much delicious food - and there were 4 kinds of pie! A true celebration of plenty.

On the Friday following Thanksgiving, Adam (under Michaela's supervision) put up the Christmas lights out on the front of our house, and Josiah and I hit up the Fred Meyer sock sale - one of my newer traditions. While fixing dinner that evening and discussing what we would like to do and/or see during the Christmas season, we stumbled across the fact that Bridgeport Village was having their Christmas Tree Lighting that same evening. It was cold but clear so we decided to bundle up the kids and take in the sights.

I'm pretty sure Josiah didn't open his eyes the entire evening. But why bother when you're essentially wrapped in a sleeping bag and being carried around by your mama?

Michaela had a hard time waiting for the Christmas tree lights to come on and the concept of Santa arriving was fairly vague to her. But we did enjoy free cupcakes passed out by Sweetest Thing Cupcakes, so she was on something of a sugar high.

It was a fun adventure and we may make it a family tradition as long as we're in town on Thanksgiving weekend.

1 month, 16 months, 27 months

2011-11-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

Josiah & Grammy - one month

Josiah enjoys the motion of the swing

And so it goes... our children and their cousin Greyson all share the same birth day - the 8th - so they all have "monthaversaries" on the same day. I wouldn't normally celebrate a "monthaversary" after the age of 2, but it's really not fair to Michaela that Josiah and Greyson get to celebrate, and she doesn't.

Josiah turned one month old. Time seems to be flying by... and as far as developmental milestones go, he continues to eat, sleep, make dirty diapers, grunt, and cry. He also engages in some eye-opening exercises, and a few neck raises. We sometimes call him "wiggles" because when he is awake, he can be very squirmy and difficult to hold, threatening to jump out of your arms. He's completely grown out of newborn size clothes and is well into the 3-month size. I'm speculating that at the rate he is going, he will be out of the 0-3 month clothes a bit before his 3-month birthday.

Getting cuddle time with Great-Grandpa

We spent a few days this week up at Adam's parents, enjoying Grammy's back-up support while Adam was out of town, and playing with cousin Greyson. Michaela's missed 2 consecutive days of napping, which really wasn't good for anyone involved, but we did get to do some fun things. Michaela also had the milestone this week of sleeping on a big girl bed with no rails! I sat downstairs after I'd put her to bed, listening for a sickening thump on the floor and hoping I hadn't made some terrible mistake, but it turns out she slept like a rock and didn't once get out of bed involuntarily (several times voluntarily, however.)

Our fun activities included:

playing in the leaves while Grammy had a doctor's appointment

Letting Grammy do Michaela's hair (oh, so that's how I do it!)

Modeling a new jacket from G-Grandpa

Going out for frozen yogurt and wearing it on our faces

and hoping there's still more frozen yogurt in there!

And sleeping in the car seat at the frozen yogurt shop.

Playing at the playground

And crying in the car seat while others play at the playground.

Fall!

2011-11-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Much more than Halloween treats, I love fall in general. The crisp mornings, the colorful leaves, chipmunks running along our back fence as they gather enough food for the winter. Now that we have kids, it doesn't seem like fall is complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch. "Patch" might not be descriptive of the place we went last weekend, but there were pumpkins. And goats. And ponies that children could ride for $6 a pop. You won't find any pictures of us engaging in that activity here. But we did buy some of the farm-fresh pumpkin (or were they apple-cinnamon?) donuts. Yumm!

We went with some families from our church to Lee Farms in Tualatin. It was a sunny afternoon and a great excuse to get out of the house.

Not into posing with the pumpkin pile.

Pondering her next mischief.

"I have conquered this pumpkin!"

We're pretty sure this is our first family photo with Josiah. It was his 3 week birthday.

Trying to reach the pedals was a challenge.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

2011-11-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

Because she was trick-or-treating, of course!

And, after hitting a few houses in our cul-de-sac, finally enjoying the spoils...

P.S. - Josiah spent his first halloween evening strapped to my chest in the Moby carrier, sound asleep. He was unimpressed by the lights, sounds, and sweets. Give him a few years.

First Bath

2011-10-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

You know, they say baths are supposed to be soothing...

post-bath-trauma stupor

faux hawk

comb-over

Two Week Check-In

2011-10-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

For one of my first "mega-mom-moments" I took Michaela and Josiah all by myself to Josiah's two-week doctor's appointment. My analysis: parenting two young ones is totally doable, it just takes about 3 time the time it takes to have one child. The math doesn't somehow pan out, but that's how it is. It's a good thing we started preparing to leave for the appointment a good 40 minutes ahead of schedule, because even so, we were about 2 minutes late to the appointment. (The doctor was significantly later than that, but apparently there's nothing we as parents and/or patients can do about that particular issue.)

Michaela had been going to my OB appointments with me toward the end of my pregnancy, and she does very well at the doctor's office. Give her a snack and a sticker, and she's a happy girl. Josiah, on the other hand, was not a big fan of having to be the one getting naked, weighed, and measured. But it was worth it. We knew Josiah has been eating like a champ, but at his two week appointment he was a full pound over birth weight, weighing in at 9 pounds, 3 ounces, and measuring 21 inches long (growth of 1/2"). This puts him in the 66th percentile for height and the 67th for weight. The doctor said that - should this actually happen! - if Josiah sleeps for 6 hours at night, I should let him without worrying about waking him up and feeding him, because he is obviously growing well.

Here are some cutie-patootie pics from week 2...

All our baby dolls

Michaela's first time 'holding' Josiah

Hanging out

Never a big fan of getting strapped into the car seat

but a fairly big fan of sleeping in it.

Our Baby is Born!

2011-10-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

A week ago this morning our son Josiah Adam entered the world. Happy One Week Birthday Josiah!!! (Having two children seems to keep us significantly more busy than one, as this is the first we've had time to blog about our new son.)

Josiah came blasting into the world at a much faster pace than his older sister did. I spent 20 hours in labor with Michaela. With Josiah, I labored at home for about 4 hours, and then checked into the hospital at 1:15 am on Saturday. Josiah was born at 3:54 a.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. It was really an amazing experience and I still can't believe that 9-10 months of pregnancy resulted in such an adorable little guy. It feels surreal to be the parents to two children, but Adam and I are so thankful to the Lord for a healthy delivery and for bringing us all together.

Yes, folks, we have a Timbers fan!

A tired Daddy and a cozy baby. On a not-so-comfy hospital couch.

Michaela holding her new baby doll, and Grammy holding her new baby doll.

Loving the hair, anyone?

All dressed in new duds to go home.

Enter - the carseat. May it be a long and pleasant relationship.

39 weeks (and then some)

2011-10-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

As I've been putting it off, I realize it's a little more difficult posting a picture of one's pregnant self online than I would have thought. But we had to take one to document for posterity - specifically, the posterity that continues to grow inside, in spite of all encouragement to the contrary. We're all ready to meet our little guy, and are having a hard time being patient. However, we know that he will join us in God's good timing, so there's no need to rush! And I haven't resorted to doing jumping jacks yet...

Baby Shower

2011-10-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago my wonderful sister-in-law hosted a baby shower and luncheon for me and little baby-guy-to-be. Some were worried that the baby might have arrived by then (I was 37 1/2 weeks) but I was confident in my procrastination ability and it went off without a hitch. It was great fun to have the women of the family over and use china teacups and eat a delicious lunch. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the pretty table, or the baby-blue gift bags, or the gifts themselves, but we do have pictures of the little munchkins who tagged along to this event. They took a while to warm up to each other, but then as the novelty and hysteria of no-naptime kicked in, they became more interested in playing with each other.

I tried to sneak up on them and catch them playing unawares. My nephew Greyson and Michaela may be negotiating over whose turn it is to touch the singing caterpillar, while Michaela's second cousin Jenevieve (Adam's cousin Sally's daughter) explores toys the others had left behind.

Then they figured out I was holding the camera. I asked Jenevieve what she was doing under the table, and this is how the other two responded:

And thus ends all chances of getting a posed picture...

Thanks to all who came to party!

Our Garden Bounty

2011-10-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

After last summer's disappointment and overabundance of green tomatoes (which I never managed to fry), this summer's gardening experience has really been a delight. I've been harvesting carrots off and on, and have a few small red potatoes (when I sampled one plant last week... more to come this week), but the kingpins of the garden this year have been the tomatoes.

Yummy!!!!

why do we have a stroller, again?

2011-09-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, we invested in part-ownership of an Oregon Zoo pass. We have been getting some pretty good use out of it, of which I am quite proud. Sometime this summer (do you appreciate the attention to detail?) Michaela and I went to the zoo with friends Sarah and Lily and Kalina and Isaiah. We also met a new friend of Sarah's and her son. So it was crazy day at the zoo. For case in point of craziness, see below:

Look at Lily's cute little face... you won't believe what comes next!

Lily is pooped on by a Zoo Bird!

So, the kids all started out the day in their strollers. And after placating them with snacks didn't work any more, they had to get out. Plus, when you're 3 feet tall, it's really hard to see the animal exhibits from that low vantage point.

But I was so relieved to see that the strollers did get some use throughout the day.

Michaela's doll "Tiny" riding in Lily's stroller

Lily's baby doll(s), riding in Michaela's stroller.

And if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure one of the girls was trying to crawl into Isaiah's stroller at one point, because of course, he wasn't riding in his, either. Share and share alike, I guess!

Big Girl Room

2011-09-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

For much of the month of July (prior to our vacation and then a little bit upon our return) we spent a lot of time working on creating a big girl bedroom for Michaela. I wanted to have her moved out of the crib and nursery for several months before her little brother arrives on the scene. So, after purchasing bunk beds for a stellar deal online, repurposing and repainting some other existing furniture, and lots of organizing and convincing Michaela this was a good idea, we had her moved into her Big Girl Room just before her second birthday. Here is the proof:

The sleeping bed, with rails

The reading bed, with room for all the stuffed animals

Adam used to use this dresser. One of several things he had to give up as a father.

My dad built this shelf in high school... repainted 50 years later...

And... what allows Michaela to climb in and out of bed "all by self"

good ol' summertime

2011-09-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

August, in summary...

Playtime at the park (not pictured, Adam and I enjoying our morning coffee)

Popsicles with Daddy in the back of the truck (taking a break from tricycling and shoveling gravel, respectively)

Enjoying fresh produce from our garden - look at the size of this green pepper!!

Playing with cousins Greyson and CJ- (please note the baby doll that shows up with Michaela in every subsequent picture)

......feeding the donkeys (and eating any leftover crackers)

...feeding the chickens while Grammy helps Greyson

...exploring the "jungle" with Genevieve-

Fun times!!!

Happy Birthday Cake!

2011-08-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

Our tiny baby turned 2 years old on Monday! Unbelievable. It seems like she shouldn't have changed that much from the little munchkin we met in August 2009. And yet...

Michaela had her doctor's appointment yesterday, and now weighs 26 pounds (40th percentile) and is 34 inches tall (60th percentile). She stood on the scale like a big girl to get weighed, and attended the appointment wearing her Minnie Mouse "big girl" panties, because she is doing quite well on her potty training (contrary to what she displayed during the excitement of her birthday party).

She loves to talk, and surprises me with new words every day. The longest string of words put together occurred this week, when she kept saying/singing "Happy Birthday to you." We have moved her into her "big girl bedroom over the past week, and she is sleeping in a twin bed with rails and doing fine now. She is even starting to refer to it as her "own."

I don't know where she's seen someone do that...

With gusto!

Really Papi? Did you have to ask her to show you her bite??

What does this toy do? Anyone?

Greyson coming to assist

Checking out the Mr. Potato Head toys

Daddy helping her ride her new bouncy horse - "Rody"

We had all sorts of fun family over for a party on Saturday. We barbecued, and ate cake (see above), Michaela opened presents, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Perhaps everyone but poor, tired, little cousin Greyson had a great time.

"Here Greyson, want to see what I have?"

"Try looking at it up close!"

a little vacation

2011-08-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

Adam and I had the pleasure of taking a get-away, no-daughter-allowed vacation at the end of July. It was a little weird leaving Michaela with Nana for several nights (we've only been away from her for one night at a time before) but I knew I had to grab the chance before baby #2 comes (for those of you who didn't know... this is the announcement!) and we don't have the opportunity for another 18 months.

So with that as the backdrop, Adam and I packed as little luggage as we could and headed off for Maui. It was the first time to Hawaii for both of us, and we loved it, though we could have done without the sky-high prices of everything. But I guess that's the price of paradise.

We didn't do a whole lot, but it was relaxing and a wonderful change of pace. I think our favorite day was the day we drive the road to Hana. At the end we visited a beach recommended by a local to eat our picnic box lunch, and it was truly spectacular. Enjoy the photos!

The beach where we ate our lunch on the far east side of the island.

A cheeseburger at the original 'Cheeseburger in Paradise'

The view from said cheeseburger stand

Our hotel was located on Ka'anapali Beach, one of the best touristy beaches in Maui. At the far end was Black Rock(s?). The following photo sequence details Adam conquering the Black Rock like a local. I was just trying not to drop the camera in the ocean, so pardon the blurry details.

After swimming out, he climbs up the lava rock

At the top, conversing with locals and checking on technique

Taking the plunge! (Don't worry, he survived.)

The last morning at our hotel, we received kukui nut leis in farewell.

The Three Musketeers

2011-08-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

From the 4th of July... Michaela and her buds...

Cousins!

2011-06-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Last week Adam was out of town for business. All week. It was looming large in my mind when my sister-in-law graciously agreed to undertake the long drive south and spend several days with Michaela and me. This meant lots of mommy talk and lots of fun times for little cousins. After nearly 3 full days with Greyson, Michaela still insisted on calling him "Baby." But she did have a fun time showing him the ropes at the neighborhood park and feeding him cheerios when her mom and aunt weren't looking. I was impressed with her ability to sleep through his screaming fit on the way home from the zoo. It's good preparation for big-sisterhood, I guess.

G-man loving his first time in the swings

This is really a decent picture of the two of them. It's practically impossible to get them both smiling (or even looking in the general direction of the camera) at the same time.

Tandem sliding

After a long day at the zoo, it was group bath time. Lots of splashes all around.

Go Portland Timbers!!!

2011-06-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Almost exactly marking the end of tax season was the beginning of another, much more exciting season: Portland's first major league soccer season. We've had season tickets in the past, and we decided to do that again this year, though we had to downgrade our seats just a little bit from what they were before, in the good ol' cheaper days. PGE Park was renovated and given a facelift, and renamed Jeld-Wen Field. Adam and I have booked my mom as a babysitter all season long, and look forward to the games as our date nights. We get to go and have a dinner with just the two of us (I don't have to cut food up into little tiny pieces and blow on them until they're cold!) and then we go and yell at the refs when they make bad calls. It's very cathartic.

The view from our seats, across at the new roof and stands.

The wildly crazy (I'm talking streamers, flags, trumpets, and smoke bombs) Timbers Army sits to our left.

Special Every Days

2011-06-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since you've heard from us. Maybe that's because life has been seeming so... everyday. Every day. Many of these ordinary days I forget to document with a camera. And it doesn't help that it feels like summer may never arrive. Granted, we've been getting a few teaser days of sunshine and warmth interspersed amongst the rest. But if you want to feel good about the future, don't check the extended forecast.

So here's what we've been up to lately. Michaela is a big 22-month-old now, and words are pouring out of her left and right. She learns and says new words every day. She also gets increasingly frustrated when we don't understand what she's saying (how do 'cracker', 'towel', 'Tyler' and 'tired' all sound the same???). For some reason I also don't understand, she is insisting on calling the dog 'Tigra' which is the cat's name. She calls the cat by the correct name, as well, so things can get a little confusing. Michaela also loves to play outside. These photos were taken on a Sunday afternoon adventure at a neighborhood park. It's funny how checking out and evaluating new playgrounds has become a family hobby.

She loves to swing high!

Cresting the top of a (small) play structure

Michaela also loves to color and play with her dolls (diapering, feeding, rocking, and putting them to sleep). The picture below is from Easter when she got to sit down and color with Papi. The trouble with coloring with Michaela is that she likes to draw on your picture, which can be devastating for a perfect colorer like myself.

The week preceding Easter was spent working on building a deck in our backyard. After backbreaking labor by many people - two of Michaela's grandpas, her Daddy, her Uncle Dave, with supervision by Aunt Abbey and myself - the deck is done! We're very pleased with our results and have already had a couple of BBQ's outside on the deck. Ahhh...

Lastly, my wonderful husband put a lot of work into what was supposedly "my" project - our raised beds for our vegetable garden. They are beautiful and now they are growing little green produces, which I don't know yet when I am supposed to harvest because this is my first attempt at a garden. But I'm very excited, nonetheless.

Potato plants. I didn't know what potato plants would look like. What a city girl!

What you can't see in the center are little carrot sprouts; on the right, bell and jalapeno peppers.

Tomatoes and crazy wild snap peas. I'm so excited to eat them! (Not pictured: lettuce)

20 Months!

2011-04-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Michaela's 20-month-a-versary yesterday with a fun visit with friends. The photos may not reflect it because it was nearly impossible to get any two of the three children - ages 14 months, 20 months, and 28 months, in the same place at the same time. So like any self-respecting parent, I focused on taking photos of my own kid. Anyway, we had a very fun time playing with Lily and Isaiah (and Sarah and Kalina). We went to a park and took in as much vitamin D as we could - swinging on a big kid swing (and kneeing Isaiah in the head when he got too close - sorry!) going down the tandem slide with Lily, and generally running around in the bark chips. Good times.

Kalina helping Lily try the monkey bars

Isaiah is not so keen on trying the monkey bars and tries to jump down

Michaela checking out the curvy slide compared to the straight slide

After all that exercise we needed some food, so we walked to lunch at Wendy's - possibly Michaela's first lunch at a fast food restaurant, at least that I remember. While my daughter loved to eat the french fries, dipped in both ketchup and ranch, she refused to eat the pieces I had broken up for her into bite size, and only ate the whole ones. After a whopping two chicken nuggets and a mandarin orange brought from home, she was full. Oh, except for the bites of frosty I grudgingly shared. Add to that a walk back to Kalina's house in the sunshine, and it was a delightful celebration day. Thanks friends!

Ode to Joy

2011-04-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some days in this rainy, rainy spring it has been challenging for me to look on the bright side (I mean, really, I could barely even see, it was so dark outside). So one day recently when we had a sunny afternoon for a walk I wanted to document the signs of spring that I could see. They bring joy to my heart and I wanted to post them so that, in case we don't get another sunny day this spring, I can look back on them and enjoy the beauty, and persistent hopefulness - these plants know spring is coming- of God's creation.

These are actually my flowers, newly planted last fall in our front yard.

Baby blueberry plant, one of eight, planted along our front fence. We may have fruit in like 5 years.

Learning to take time and smell the flowers (with our nose, not our fingers)

adventures at home and abroad

2011-04-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

Michaela and I have been spending a lot of time at home lately, considering the weather and Adam's super busy work schedule. Michaela recently has been enjoying the aprons Grammy made her. She prefers wearing them both at once. And she also demands that I wear my apron the same time she has hers on. Unfortunately, I do not look as cute as she does.

On the one sunny day we had on "spring break" week - which really means nothing to us at this point - Michaela and I went to the Sherwood wildlife refuge and went for a walk. She probably walked 3/4 of a mile all under her own power (and at a very slow speed for me!) As much fun as the walk was, and looking at the birds and playing in the gravel, the most fun by far was weaving in and out of the bicycle rack at the head of the trail. Who knew we didn't even need to leave the parking lot?!

safety first?

2011-04-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Grab the camera, take a photo, all the while saying, "Michaela, I don't think that's too safe."

freezin' in central oregon

2011-03-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

At the end of February (yes, I'm still a month behind in blogging cool things that we have done, perhaps that's because we're so bogged down with the uncool things we're doing... staying inside because everything is constantly rainy, gray and muddy) we took a break from the mundane and went to Black Butte with my parents. Poor Adam, unfortunately, had to work, but Michaela and I took off on a great adventure. Michaela hadn't really seen snow before, and there was plenty of it. It was also the coldest I have ever been - the last morning there the thermometer read 10 below zero when I got up in the morning. But the snow was a nice change from the rain - at least I thought so, don't think Michaela was so sure. These are the only pictures we got of her in the snow because this was the only time she allowed us to take her outside and play in the snow.

But she did enjoy looking at the snow on the deck through the window.

We really didn't do much of anything while we were there, besides snowshoe a little, and venture into Sisters (which is really dead midweek in February) and have a yummy yummy donut at the famed Sisters Bakery. We took this picture for Adam to show him what he was missing.

And oh yes! The purpose for our entire trip was to go to my cousin Janae's baby shower. We got to spend time with her the day before, and then go over again for the shower on Saturday morning. I am so excited to find out whether Janae and Mark are going to be having a little guy or a little gal as an addition to their family. Michaela had fun with Nana but wasn't sure about the other 25 people who were at the shower. She did eat her weight in blueberry muffins, though, and slept much of the trip home, completely exhausted from her big day.

Checking out Aunt Karen's pantry, Bella in tow

Children's Museum

2011-03-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

In the drizzly days of January, Sarah and I decided to fight off the post-Christmas blues and take our girls to the Children's Museum for the day. Even for such little girls, it was great fun! It was hard to get pictures of Lily and Michaela together, since they (especially Michaela) were constantly moving on to check out something else. And since we used a free pass from the public library and it cost us nothing but gas money to go, we'll definitely go again! It certainly wore out the kids, possibly us moms as well. Enjoy the photos!

Lily - a fisherwoman

Going in? Coming out!

All the attractions with water were the best, as far as these girls were concerned.

Looking sharp in her full-body smock

We probably should have spent the entire day in the water room, because nothing else was quite as interesting.

18 months, 13 days

2011-02-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

That's how long it's been since Michaela joined the family. Here's some info about what our little toddler is up to these days. At her 18-month medical appointment, Michaela was declared to be a healthy little gal. She weighs 21.5 pounds (10th percentile for her age) and is 32.75 inches tall (75th percentile). She got one vaccination, but luckily doesn't have to get another one until her 2-year appointment! That will be the longest stint she will have gone without an immunization. The doctor expects Michaela's verbal development to skyrocket over the next few months and encouraged us to try to get her to say words out loud which she currently uses hand signs for (like "please," "thank you," and "more"). Words she does have in her vocabulary right now: Mama, Dada, blanket, milk, more, up (pronounced "bup"), doggie, book, bye-bye, and a very mangled attempt at banana. She understands nearly everything we say, though, and I find it incredible on a daily basis. I had to ask the pediatrician about the 3 'P's at this appointment - peanut butter? potty training? and pillow? The answer was yes to the peanut butter, since we don't have any peanut allergies in the family that we know of. As of now, Michaela doesn't seem to like peanut butter, a great disappointment to her mother. Potty training... the doctor says Michaela is still really young and just said to do all the things I have been doing - sitting her on her potty chair, both clothed and without a diaper on, and waiting for her to do her thing. And Michaela is way past the risk of SIDS now so when I find a small pillow that I like, we'll put it in her crib. Lately I've noticed she's been wadding up one of her blankets and laying her head on it. Hmm.

Using a spoon to feed herself Malt-O-Meal... a work in progress

With cousin Genevieve at Playdate PDX - a fun indoor park!

Unfortunately her 18-month check-up was bookended by ear infections. One at the end of January, and one on the mend now. It was a scary time for Adam and I as we tried to figure out why Michaela was running a fever, was so lethargic and yet cranky, and wasn't sleeping for any length of time at night. The first time I took her to the doctor, she just had fluid in her ears, but it wasn't infected, however after the course of a weekend (during which poor Abbey, Dave and Greyson were visiting) Michaela had developed a double ear infection. Conveniently she loves the pink color and bubble gum flavor of the antibiotic. Then about a week or so after her last one cleared up we awoke to her crying and running a fever in the middle of the night... again. So I gave her a day and when it didn't seem to get better, off we went to the Children's Clinic and it was confirmed - yup, an icky ear infection. So we're 4 days into this next run of antibiotics, and she's getting close to feeling better again, for which I am very grateful. We have, however, gone through an entire bottle of children's ibuprofen.

But back to happier things... here are some other funny things Michaela's been up to lately:

-- coloring in her coloring book, just a little scribble on each page

-- closing doors (say on me while I'm in the laundry room) and then knocking on them. She also likes to close herself in a room (i.e., the bathroom) and then knock

-- she's into talking on the phone - but only fake phones. Just today she was talking into the calculator.

-- diapering her baby dolls. Actually, I do the diapering, and she does the undiapering. Multiple times per day.

-- climbing backwards down our staircase all by herself. However, it's so much more entertaining if she's also carrying one or two items in her hands.

-- dancing with her index finger pointed up to "This Little Light of Mine"

-- going down slides; the small one in the church nursery she goes down on her bottom, but the big one at the park she can go down feet first on her tummy

-- and of course... READING! We read and read and read and read and read...

Michaela, Isaiah and Lily at Lily's first birthday!!

Family Photos

2011-02-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

At the end of the year, Adam's friend Kyle was in town with his wife to visit family, and they kindly stopped by to see us and to take some family photos. We enjoyed catching up with Kyle and Haley, and also enjoyed sharing a meal with them at Chipotle.

Is it 2011 already?

2011-02-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

As the approximately 3 of you who read this blog may have noticed, it has been an embarrassingly long time since I last posted the doings of Team Puckett. I'm not really sure what has happened, except that I started using naptime for something other than writing a blog post. I started out reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as cultural enrichment, and it turns out that I am really enjoying them. I only have about 100 pages left to go in the entire story, so please no one ruin it for me! So yes, naptime for Michaela has been decadent reading time for me. Hopefully in days to come you will get to see some of the exciting things we have been up to in these cold and rainy first weeks of the year.

O Christmas Tree...

2010-12-20T08:14:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-11-30T15:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-11-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

...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

2010-08-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-08-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

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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?

Among the first few assisted steps...

2010-08-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Playdates!

2010-08-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get together with friends Sarah and Kalina and their little ones on a weekly (or so) basis. The kids don't really play together yet, but then, are playdates really for the kids?

Lily is tired and sleeping after a long morning's playdate.

Sarah and Lily at the last playdate in the old house. Lily thinks checking out Michaela is a serious job.

Crazy eyes = swinging fun! And Isaiah is right next to her having a ball.

Playing with Isaiah's toys is SOOOO much more fun than playing with your own toys.

When you're just crawling, it's really hard to keep up with your friend who is walking.
And walking away from you at that.

However, you do have the upper hand when your other friend is barely rolling!

We are looking forward to watching our kiddos grow up together!

photos galore

2010-08-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Since the move, it's taken me 6 weeks to find the time and the device to download pictures from my camera. There was a more labor-intensive method to get the other pictures off that you have seen in that time (or else Adam posted) but here are many pictures to make up for lost time. Maybe it'll help you get a taste for life in our shoes.

Fun at the Timbers game - shirt says "50% mom, 50% dad, 100% Timbers Fan"

Super-tired after the Timbers game

At Aunt Abbey's baby shower... playing with Hayden and using the box as a drum.

Strangely, I got no pictures of Abbey at her baby shower.

Some days are just like that.

I'd moved Michaela's baby bathtub out of her bathroom into ours because she had outgrown it. Apparently she's smart enough to know what it's for, and to get herself in it while Mama does her makeup.

Learning to play the piano - she doesn't look happy, but she likes to listen to the piano, at least!

Fashion forward

At the Twin Rocks 'Party on the Parkway' petting zoo. There was no petting involved.

Supervising Daddy while he replaces the leaky faucet on our new kitchen sink.
Michaela may have learned upon close observation that plumbing is not her Daddy's favorite hobby.

Someone told me when Michaela was born that I should make sure to get pictures of her crying. Check.

Pulling herself upon the windowsill while also trying to "sneak up on" the cat.
The cat is trying to "sneak up on" some birds in the tree outside.

Working the ottoman and the couch. Two excellent support systems.

Practicing pulling herself up.. on Daddy's electronics and attempting to
stick her hand in the VCR (yes, we still have one of those).

I LOVE holding Mama's yellow mug and wish I could drink the tea that's in it (or used to be in it).
I also love showing off my big teeth.

Visiting Grandpa -

- and Ita!

Kenji and the Chipmunk

2010-07-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted a whole lot about our new house and we promise that someday we will get some pictures up of the new place. But for now, we wanted to share a short video of the wildlife in our back yard that seem to have zero fear of our dog, Kenji. This video was taken a couple days after we moved in.

93 Degrees and Keeping Cool

2010-07-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

The thermometer reads 93 degrees, but for at least one of us, it ain't no thing. Brook headed towards Fred Meyer this afternoon and came home with this gem of a purchase...and from the looks of this video, Michaela couldn't be happier.

Beach Trip

2010-07-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Michaela to the Oregon Coast for the first time. Enjoy the photos.

I don't know where we are going, but I think it's going to be fun.

Michaela is plotting her sand castle building attempt.

The ground has been broken for the building of the sand castle.

What is this stuff??? It's kind of dirty!/

But then again, being dirty is so much fun.

p.s.

2010-07-09T20:15:00.001-07:00

After re-reading my last post, I just realized I left out something very important. Michaela now sleeps 12 hours through the night!!! Maybe we were overdue in making this happen, who can say? However, I can say that Adam and I are doing much better in the sleep department. We had to sit through two nights of slowly decreasing screams at 3 am, but by night number 3, she slept like a little angel, and so did I. Not to say there wasn't a setback when she came down with a bug the following week and I fed her at midnight out of pity and motherly concern, but once she was fit as a fiddle we were back on the fasting at night, and all the happier for it.

Example of Michaela asleep. The wait at the hospital was obviously quite grueling.

Getting to taste a yummy sample of Daddy's Blizzard.

the eleventh month-a-versary

2010-07-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

This will most likely be my last "monthaversary" post, as 12 months equals an actual birthday (I can't believe that!) This has been a busy month in the life of Michaela and the family. In addition to moving into a new home and all that entailed, we have had play dates with friends, bought and frozen pints and quarts of fresh, local strawberries to be eaten during the winter, purchased a quarter of beef from some friends in Newberg and tucked that away in the freezer, took notice of the fact that our 6th wedding anniversary happened - actual celebration to occur later in July!, tackled the backyard overgrowth with a reciprocal saw (Michaela did not partake in that activity), hosted visits from Adam's parents and Adam's sister and brother-in-law, and gone to several Timbers games. We had a great time at the most recent game, as Michaela busted out a new talent - cheering for the home team. She noticed that everyone around her was clapping, and realized that she should probably be doing the same. So she clapped loudly and yelled a bit. This made the folks behind us laugh and engage her more, and she was off. She had a great time at the game and slept very well that night.

As far as developmental updates, Michaela continues to jabber in a language unbeknownst to us. She says dada and mama and I think she is making efforts to identify the dog and cat. She can push herself up to a standing position and is able to balance herself flat-footed when assisted by one of us. Her favorite activity is wrestling with the dog, who handles it with good grace I didn't know she had. Michaela's favorite toy seems to be the vacuum cleaner. She follows me around with enthusiasm while I clean and tries to grab on to the head of the vacuum - not in the least bit helpful. With the motivation of having Michaela be able to eat her birthday cake in a month, I have been trying to introduce her to more and more foods - wheat, blueberries, beef & ham (pureed and in a can, reminiscent of SPAM), cheese cubes and more.

But by far the most exciting event occurred exactly on Michaela's 11-month milestone. We welcomed her first cousin into the world!! Just over a week early by typical measure, but exactly right in God's timing, Abbey and Dave's first son was born on July 8. Greyson Isaac is a handsome little guy (and I mean little, he makes Michaela look so grown up!) with a thatch of black hair and a winsome expression when he is awake.

Michaela has acknowledged his presence but mostly found intriguing how many of the adults were gathered around this little blanket bundle who didn't even move. We've been reassuring her that he will make a wonderful playmate in just a few months' time. Congratulations to the new parents and the thrilled-to-pieces grandparents. Adam and I are pretty pleased to be called uncle and aunt... or whatever similar words eventually come out of Greyson's little mouth.

This New House

2010-06-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

To me, what has seemed like an eternal silence on the blog has probably gone unnoticed by most of you. In the intervening days, our little family has been all abustle. For the past many months we have had our house on the market, and when it finally sold it came as somewhat of a surprise. We jumped into house-hunting gear and looked and looked and looked until we found the perfect one. After days of signing, waiting, appraising, inspecting, waiting some more, signing some more, we were finally able to close on both houses and move in to our new home a week ago tonight. As I type, I'm watching Michaela pull old Calvin and Hobbes comic books off of the second-lowest shelf of our bookcase in the living room. I just put those books there last night. That is pretty much par for the course of how my packing and Michaela's "helping" has gone the last few weeks. To be honest, I kind of feel lucky the books had a home there for 24 hours. Many thanks to the family and friends who came to help - for long or for short times - on baby patrol 2010. We wouldn't be moved in without you!! We're very excited to be in our new home and glad for Kenji to have a bigger backyard to run around in. After she calmed down, she has spent a good amount of time chasing chipmunks and birds that used to call this backyard their home. Tigra spent the first two days on the very top shelf of our master bedroom closet, not coming down for anything. I had to carry her down to her litter box on night two to make sure her body systems weren't shutting down. On day 3 we moved our clothes into our closet and Tigra had to step out into the big world. She seems to be liking it quite a bit, and is exploring all the nooks and crannies. We look forward to many visitors, and I hope to get some pics of the new house on the blog here in the next few days.

Promise of a Pie

2010-06-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

It all began this last winter when I was a new mother, housebound much of the time, and reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I was struck by the ideas of eating only foods that were grown or produced locally, and learning how to do so even in the middle of winter. Unfortunately, I wanted to begin by putting a garden in my backyard immediately, but it was January. Eating local produce in January apparently required getting ready for winter the summer before, so I had to put off my plan of implementation. This spring, however, we are taking some baby steps toward eating locally. We are taking our Saturday mornings to check out the local farmer's markets and compare for price, variety, and general fun-ness. Adam has graciously agreed to accompany me on these excursions, and on the first one to the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market, I told him that most likely the only things in season yet would be rhubarb, lettuce, and if we were lucky - strawberries.

If the above items were available, I promised him a strawberry-rhubarb pie, which I have never made before. This also required a little sacrifice on my part, too, because I try to get out of making a double-crust pie whenever I can by making meringue pies, or suggesting the pie was meant to be eaten with a crumb topping. Adam has begun to see through my ruse.

See for yourself the beautiful berries we found, which made for a tasty spring pie. It just may be a new family favorite. If I can make it with a crumb topping.

#1 Dominance

2010-06-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Kalina...This picture is especially for you. Although, it looks like we still need to work on the #1 Dominace sign so that it isn't confused with "loser." Then again, maybe Michaela knows exactly what she is doing.

Crawling Update

2010-05-21T17:00:00.002-07:00

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

2010-05-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Since I happen to have a free minute while Michaela finishes her morning nap, I thought I would finally share a little about our trip to visit my Grandpa and Uncle Dan in Kansas. We (our little family and my mom) went for just a couple of days at the beginning of May, and found the weather there to be a good 20 degrees warmer and sunnier, and just generally nicer, than home. It was a good weekend to be in Kansas. I mentioned earlier that Michaela did pretty well on the flights. She loved having her Daddy at her beck and call to play with her, though even she, little as she is, wished she had more leg room. She just might be a world-traveler-in-training.

Left- Michaela still peppy (and trying to take her sock off) as we wait at Portland Airport). Below- Adam and I also still peppy - and caffeinating for the day ahead.

We landed in the Tulsa airport on a Saturday night and just drove to Bartlesville, OK, where our hotel was, got some dinner and went right to our hotel. Adam and I tested out the pool and hot tub, but Michaela wanted nothing to do with the pool when Nana tried to get her to dip her toes in. I blame that more on the day of travel than on predicting a dislike of swimming - especially when considering the amount of splashing that occurs during Michaela's baths these days. Though none of us got any amount of good sleep that night because Michaela was awake, crying, and inconsolable between 1:45 am and 4:30 am, we awoke nonetheless the next morning and crossed the border into Kansas to meet Grandpa at his home and head from there over to church. Uncle Dan is a pastor to three small congregations in the area, and preaches at each of them consecutively on a Sunday morning. We hit the middle service, and really enjoyed hearing Grandpa play the piano for congregational singing and listening to Uncle Dan preach. Michaela enjoyed the service because there were chairs rather than pews, and she got put down to scoot around on the floor. Also, the hymnals had little colored strings in them (to be used for marking pages of different hymns) but Michaela thought they were just for her entertainment.

That afternoon we enjoyed lunch/brunch at a local diner and an afternoon of conversation and catching up. Grandpa made dinner for us that night - we felt like honored guests! On Monday we went on a driving tour of Caney (doesn't take long!) and then went out to see the Little House on the Prairie. Considering that several years of my childhood were given to dressing like Laura Ingalls and playing pioneer, the cabin is always a big hit. But the big event of the day was yet to come. Did you know there is a brand new Super Wal-Mart in that corner of Kansas?! Yes, it's true! So we went there to get some photos developed and just soak in the ambiance. But really, the big event was eating at Braum's, a wonderful burgers and fries kind of restaurant with AMAZING ice cream delights. Adam and I have long joked that our relationship is built on ice cream, so this was a special moment for us to share with family.

We learned more about the Carr family tree from Uncle Dan, the family's resident historian, and ate one more meal together before saying our goodbyes. It was a short visit, but great for Grandpa to get to meet his grandson-in-law and his new great-granddaughter.

Nine Neat-O Months

2010-05-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

Whew! Life has been speeding up around us and so I will get back to the details on our Kansas trip in my next post. For those of you in the know, however, you recall that Michaela turned 9 months old over the weekend. We were spending the weekend with Adam's family up in Washington as we always do this time of year. It's a time of birthdays and Mother's Day (this year being my first one - it turns out it's a pretty sweet deal to be a mom!) Thanks to my super-sweet daughter and thoughtful husband!

Michaela posing in the family rocking chair (Daddy has a photo in it, as does Papi - when they were smaller, of course)

While we were up in Seabeck, Michaela did her first real crawling, and since that was on her 9-month-birthday we'll chalk it up to her accomplishments during month #9. She weighs 16 pounds, 10 ounces and is 27 inches long. That puts her on the small side, but the doctor says this is common and perfectly fine for breastfed babies. She also flew on her first airplane, which was more or less a success. Her ears didn't seem to bother her and she was so into the other people and chewing on things that the time went by pretty quickly. Her first hotel stay after said airplane ride, however, was really rough for all concerned. Michaela woke up at 1:45 am to eat, and was unable to go back to sleep until about 4 am. We were loathe to let her "cry it out" in a hotel, envisioning angry phone calls to the front desk, so she finally fell asleep on Nana's shoulder and we all got a little more shut-eye.

During our weekend with the Puckett/St. Clair clan, we visited the Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle). Now, Michaela knows all about zoos because we took her to the Oregon Zoo when she was just 4 or 5 weeks old. This time she was a pro. She kicked back in the stroller we borrowed from Aunt Abbey because we had forgotten our own (we received many compliments on its "zoo-appropriate" pattern) and took in the view. I'm pretty sure she saw about zero animals, as she was so involved in watching the people and children cruising by. She also experienced her first sunblock (as the photo reminds me) and didn't seem to mind a bit. After a couple of hours hanging with the animals, both Michaela and Abbey needed a nap. Luckily it was time to head back home and get a wonderful dinner on the table. Lots of good food and good company made this weekend a great one!

Kansas Pictures

2010-05-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a quick trip to Kansas to visit Brook's grandfather and uncle. Since Brook is the better writer, I will let her tell you about the trip, but I wanted to get some pictures up on the blog to share.

Michaela helping Mom pack her bag.

Grandpa Carr's House in Caney, KS.

Left: Michaela enjoying the swings at a park just across the street from Grandpa Carr's house. Right: Brook, Grandpa Carr, and Bev taking a stroll through the family photo albums.

Uncle Dan, Brook, Michaela, Grandpa Carr and Bev (Four Generations)

Little House on the Praire Visit.

bathing suit

2010-04-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day to be this mama and baby. Fussiness, lack of sleep, four (yes, count them -- 4) dirty diapers. After the last especially dirty one, bath time came early. Michaela loves her baths now, so that's not a problem. The problem was with parental focus. Filled the tub... added the toys.. checked the water temp... took off Michaela's diaper and plunked her in... then I decided I should probably take off her socks, too.
Ooops!

Learning to crawl or learning to do the seal dance?

2010-04-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Sayonara Tax Season...Hello Long Weekends

2010-04-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

After months of never ending work, it is finally time to play. And what better way to kick off the season than with a four day weekend. We went hiking in the Columbia Gorge, went to the season opening Timbers soccer game, watched a Blazer playoff win, played Wii, and my personal favorite, rolled around on the floor with Michaela.

Enjoying a Saturday hike in the woods. A special thank you to the Magee family for the great child carrier.

A panoramic shot of the view from the top of our hike.

Michaela just hanging out and relaxing.

Oh, the elegance of an eight-month-old

2010-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Time to chronicle the developmental excitement of the last month of our lives. Granted, I'm one day late (Michaela's month-a-versary was yesterday) but I've come to accept that much about my life happens more slowly and not on time compared to our pre-baby days.
Michaela is getting to be such a big girl these days! She is interested in the camera, and already strikes a pose when it makes an appearance. As I mentioned in the last post, she may not be crawling yet, but she is working on other things, like waving, clapping (we haven't yet determined if she's got rhythm) and pinching. I have figured out that is where the term "pincer grasp" comes from. She's definitely got one, and practices most of the time on my bare skin!

One of my challenges is to make sure Michaela wears all the cute clothes she has been given by her loving family and friends. With the rate she grows, we try to make sure she gets at least a few wears in something before she outgrows it! The tag in the picture above is from a new pair of Michaela's pants. Really is this necessary? I would hope my child's pants, not to mention my child's leg and entire body, are kept away from fire altogether!

Michaela's added more foods to her diet (carrots, bananas or barley cereal, anyone?) and it seems to be keeping her feisty. Her latest trick when playing on the floor is to roll towards the unsuspecting (oftentimes sleeping) dog and begin to play with her paws. Kenji awakes all afluster and begins licking the closest moving thing. Kenji tries to be good, but I think Michaela enjoys seeing if she can get the dog in trouble.

Stay tuned.. in month nine we are hoping to undertake Michaela's first airplane flight and her first trip to the beach!

He is Risen!

2010-04-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter Sunday attending church at Adam's grandparents' church in Rose Valley, and then joining family and more family at their house afterward for a delicious dinner. Michaela really enjoyed her time there, since she was always the center of someone's attention, and she also got to play with her cousin Genevieve. We were hoping Genevieve would teach Michaela to crawl, but it doesn't seem like it rubbed off on her yet. I'm not all that disappointed, really, considering I will be the one spending most of my time running after Michaela the minute she learns to navigate quickly in any direction she chooses.

Michaela "reading" her very first Easter card from Great-Grandpa Carr

hanging out with Aunt Abbey

laughing with Papi

very first shoes! (the white ones)

love the camera! love the camera!

some days...

2010-03-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Michaela gets really wrapped up in her work.

family time

2010-03-26T10:55:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a while since we've put up a post on the ol' blog. So hopefully today we can make up for some of that. Over the past several weeks we have been blessed to have family and friends come visit us. It's pretty necessary for them to come to us, because during busy tax season, we really don't go anywhere too far away. [For those of you keeping track, there are less than 3 weeks left of tax season, also meaning you have less than 3 weeks to file your taxes!]

Several weeks ago, we were visited by Abbey and Dave and their little baby-yet-to-be-named. He is also a little-baby-yet-to-be-born, so it's all right that he doesn't have a name yet, I guess. Coinciding with their visit, Michaela was going through a little stage of not wanting to eat any solid food. After mama took a shot at feeding Michaela, Aunt Abbey and Uncle Dave gathered 'round to try their hand. In spite of all the tricks in the book, Michaela would not be fooled into eating her peas... or anything else for that matter.

I mean, really, look at that face - nothing's going to get by her!

During this spring break week, my cousin Chari came to visit from the east coast, and a variety of female cousins and aunts got together for a fun afternoon and evening. One of the highlights of the day was watching Nadine and Chari herd sheep. The dog Chari was using to assist in herding I swear had to weigh as much as she did. (Below: Nadine, Chari, Michaela, Brook, Elise, Janae, Karen)

What you won't see from the pictures is that they live on a kind of farm, complete with a flock of sheep and newly born lambs. I am a little embarrassed to admit I had never (in recent memory, at least) held or petted an actual lamb. With Chari's help corralling the poor defenseless creatures, I got to do both. They are really adorable, if a little bit smelly. A little tangent about the mama sheep - it seemed at least 3/4 of the sheep had no mothering instincts at all! Those little lambs we corralled and held? No mama came looking for them, or baaahed for them. In fact, when we got several all stuck in a corner of the fence, the ewes jumped over their young to get away from us scary people, and left the babies to fend for themselves. The social worker in me really wanted to have a sit down conversation with these mothers and develop a plan for better parenting!

When we weren't with family, Michaela and I also hung out with friends. Michaela is checking out her friend Lily's cool blanket. At this age I think she appreciates it much more than Lily does. Thanks for sharing, Lily!

And lastly, what is our favorite family activity on a nice spring day? Going for a walk wearing a cute sun hat, of course! We took this photo to document for Grammy, who purchased the hat for Michaela quite some time ago.

Happy Friday All!!!

Seven is the perfect number

2010-03-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

As Michaela turns 7 months old today, I am nearly too tired to write this. As perfect as the number 7 is referenced in the Bible, Michaela finds herself in more of a perfect storm - teething, becoming increasingly mobile (no, not crawling yet, but she does roll into the walls - no matter how far away they are originally), and the dirty diapers that accompany the onset of solid foods.

Every day is an adventure, and we're loving it. She is sitting up on her own (and tumbling over on her own), saying "dadadada," and sports a little tooth nub on her bottom gum. We've added a couple more foods to her diet, and Adam is proud that she ate an entire baby-size serving the first time she tried applesauce. He's the one who fed her, and assumes he now holds a household record. Showing true maturity, Michaela now also enjoys a good bath, splashing around and gamely trying to eat the washcloth. Lastly, Kenji and Michaela are starting to play together (a bit more than I'd like, honestly). While Michaela plays on the floor, Kenji licks her toes, legs, hands, and gets in a good face-lick, too, usually before I can scold her. Michaela laughs hilariously. It's going to be great watching them grow up together.

sunny days

2010-02-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

With this being busy season for Adam at work, we try to take advantage of the time we do get to spend together. We were blessed this last weekend with some absolutely gorgeous, sunny days that are rather elusive this time of year. On Saturday afternoon we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the wildlife refuge just down the road, I think it's technically in Tualatin. If we were real "birders" I'm sure I'd be able to tell you what kinds of birds we saw. Unfortunately, to me they are merely big birds, little birds, big-beaked birds, etc. Kenji was sad that she couldn't come, as she definitely would have disturbed the wildlife.

On Sunday, we took an excursion that Kenji was also allowed to come along on. (In case you were wondering, the cat never comes on trips - she hates the car. She also prefers having the house to herself, we're pretty sure.) We explored Lee Falls, apparently an infrequently trafficked attraction, considering there were no signs anywhere and we had to rely on an older guide book and some locals to point us in the right direction. But it was a great day and was worth the trip. Credit for the beautiful photos goes to my talented husband.

Food, glorious food!

2010-02-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

We continue this adventure that is food. We've told Michaela that if she's her mother's daughter, she will love to eat. I think the jury is still out on this. As of today, she has now tasted rice cereal, sweet potatoes, and avocado. I think her favorite is sweet potato, for now.

How come it's not polite for us to look like this when we eat?

Half-Year Birthday

2010-02-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, can you believe it?! Michaela turned 6 months old on Monday. Adam and I certainly have a hard time believing Michaela is that old, and yet on the other hand, it is hard to imagine our lives without her in our family. We have been greatly blessed through her.

Michaela's physical revealed all systems are go. She weighs 14 pounds, 12 ounces (25th percentile) and is 26 inches tall (55th percentile). She demonstrated for the doctor her ability to "fake cough" and tried to listen to her own heart with the stethoscope. The doctor gave us the go-ahead to start feeding Michaela solid foods. Rice cereal, here we come! Michaela later showed us the face of shock, pain and betrayal when she received her next round of vaccinations. Poor thing. Adam always makes me hold her hands and console her because he doesn't want to be associated anywhere near the scene of the crime. Thankfully, though, she didn't seem adversely affected by the shots (emotionally or otherwise) and behaved normally the rest of the day.

To celebrate her six-month-a-versary, we went to visit her new friend Lillian (pictured above with her proud mommy Sarah). Lillian was so excited to meet Michaela that she entered the world a few weeks early. She was four days old when we got to see her and I got to hold her. Weighing in at not quite six pounds, baby Lily made Michaela feel like a heavyweight champ! I will narrate the photos in case they don't speak for themselves.

#1 - Michaela thinks - Oh, how fun! A playmate! Lillian thinks - Hungry!!!

#2 - Michaela thinks - I can almost reach her... there, got her! Victory!

#3 - Lillian thinks - Owie! Where's my mommy?!? Michaela ponders the satisfaction of a job well done.

Michaela's First Food

2010-02-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

New photos

2010-01-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

The Great Sock Houdini

2010-01-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

For many months now Michaela has been amazing us with her ability to extract her feet from any type of sock we see fit to put on her. This was funnier in the summer when the weather was warm. Now, however, at the end of January, it's becoming one of the first Mommy v. Michaela showdowns. We have been taking some walks on these past days when it hasn't been raining, though it has been overcast and chilly, or sometimes sunny and chilly. Either way, I put Michaela in a hat or jacket with a hood, cozy clothes, and fuzzy socks for her feet. And off we go. The trouble with the way the stroller is set up is that I can be walking merrily along and not see Michaela's feet, because they are tucked up under the edge of the stroller canopy. When I stop to check and see, though, there her feet are - bare and cold. She still seems to be a happy camper! Perhaps what makes this so thrilling to Michaela and aggravating to me is that a baby is like a magnet for adult women of any age - and sometimes men. So anyone we pass on our walk has to stop and coo. Then they are exposed to my bad parenting as they see Michaela wiggling her bare toes in greeting - and me apparently completely oblivious. Please don't call children's services. It is for all these reasons above that I am a big fan of footed pajamas. It's really tough to get bare feet in those!

Mommy is afraid I might get cold...

2010-01-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

All ready for a winter's day walk

Five Fabulous Months

2010-01-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Michaela turned 5 months old yesterday. By all appearances she seems pretty pleased with what she has learned, explored and experienced. She has mastered the tricky art of rolling from her back to her tummy, and can occasionally find herself frustrated enough to roll back (after she yells about her situation for a while).

She discovered feet! Her feet. It's so cool how they come with toes attached. Sometimes she has also found that things magically become attached to her feet. See how one of her toys, "Mr. Rooster," also doing double duty as an anklet. (You may have to turn your head sideways to view this, since I neglected to rotate the photo before posting it.

During Christmas vacation, Adam had the chance to spend some extra fun times with his daughter. One important session was Adam teaching her how to be a "Super Baby."

She watched carefully to note how one blows out birthday candles. Should come in handy in the future.

Wow! My own high chair! Pretty neat except all it's used for is to let Michaela sit at table height while Adam and I eat dinner, since she's not eating any solids yet.

Michaela loves discovering new expressions and sounds! This involved grimacing a lot while blowing saliva bubbles and making gutteral noises.

Happy 60th Birthday Bev!

2010-01-03T19:46:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day Reflections

2010-01-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day is a great day.

The television is on. Hockey is getting ready to be played in Fenway Park, the Capital One Bowl game has kicked off, and the Ducks will be hitting the gridiron in the grand daddy of them all later this afternoon.

But New Year's day is great beyond all the sporting reasons. It's a great day to reflect on the past year. To think about the year that has been and all the blessings that God has given us.

Yet, reading the newspaper, it is easy to forget that we are blessed! Look at some of this morning's headlines:

"2009 started with hope but quickly turned to shambles"

"Keeping it real in the year ahead: Onward we now go, out of the decade of illusion, and disillusionment and into the new normal of the Two-Thousand-Teens."

"Recovery for Oregon elusive"

Living in the most powerful empire the world has ever seen, I think it is easy for us to forget just how blessed we are.

Check out some of these stats (taken from Rob Bell's book Jesus Wants to Save Christians):

America controls nearly 20% of the world's wealth. There are around 6 billion people in the world, and there are roughly 300 million people in the US. That makes America less than 5% of the world's population. And this 5% owns 20% of the world's wealth.
One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water, while the average American uses 400 to 600 liters of water a day.
Every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world a child under age 5 dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14% of the food we purchase.
Nearly 1 billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day.
Another 2.5 billion people in the world live on less than two American dollars a day.
More than half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.
40% of people in the world lack basic sanitation, while 49 million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.
1.6 billion people in the world have no electricity.
Nearly 1 billion people in the world cannot read or sign their name.
Nearly 100 million children are denied basic education.
By far, most of the people in the world do not own a car. One third of American families own three cars.
One in Seven children worldwide (158 million) has to go to work every day just to survive.
Four out of five American adults are high school graduates.
Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods.

Human history has never witnessed the abundance that we consider normal. America is the wealthiest nation in the history of humanity. We have more resources than any group of people anywhere at any time has ever had.

God bless America?

God has. And we should be very, very grateful.

So this is what I sit here on my couch and reflect on this New Year's day. I reflect on God's faithfulness to me, my family, my state and my country. And it is here that I publically announce my thankfulness for:

My beautiful wife and the celebration of 5 years of marriage
My brand new bundle of joy daughter
Health
Roof over my head
Food on my table
Family and friends
Medical knowledge of quadruple bypass heart surgeries (Tom's heart surgery)
God's gift of miracle conceptions (Abbey & Dave)
Employment & the opportunity for Brook to stay home and raise our daughter

I am so grateful for God's blessing and abundance. For me and my family, it is our prayer that during 2010 we do not forget the blessings God has provided us and that we can use our blessings to bless those who need it the most.

Wishing you a happy New Year!

A week of Christmas

2009-12-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

Our adventures started on Monday (probably should insert a photo of the packed-full Hyundai, if I had one) as we loaded up our vehicle, dog, and child and headed North to Seabeck. Over the mountains and through the woods, to Grammy's house we went.

We enjoyed lots of food! As you can see to the left, Dave cooked up a great-tasting turkey for dinner. On another night, we made lots of Thai food: Drunken noodles, Pad Thai, and homemade PF Changs lettuce wraps.

The game closet got cleaned out as we explored each and every game held deep within. A stimulating game of Outburst, a tense game of Jenga, Tribond, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Headbanz.

Michaela found the entire week to be very amusing! Which then made her very tired. Luckily, there was always coffee to keep us awake.

On Wednesday night, we all loaded into the Tahoe and headed to Tacoma and Point Defiance to take in Zoo Lights. Michaela especially enjoyed her early Christmas present (notice the blue snow suit).

At last Christmas Eve morning arrived. With mom in her kerchief and I in my cap, we went down the stairs to see what Santa had left. Michaela enjoyed her first Christmas present from Aunt Abbey and Uncle Dave.

As is our tradition, we joined Mimi and Papa for Christmas Eve's Vesper Service at Rose Valley Friends Church. The service was lovely, the lasagna was better, but best of all was family together.

Back to the car and south we went, to Nana and Grandpa's house where Christmas day we spent. We ate a traditional meal of roast beef and cranberry steam pudding and played a scintillating game of speed scrabble and dominoes. Thus finished our Christmas week of celebrating Jesus' birth.

Sweet Naptime

2009-12-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Michaela was showing off her moves - see, she almost rolled all the way over!

Today Kenji decided naptime is better with a buddy.