taking a break

Just wanted to let you know I'll be taking a break from the blog to focus on our trip to Arkadelphia. I'll post pictures and info when we return. Here's a parting shot of Micah in the tub before Daddy gave him a much needed haircut. Doesn't he look like he's perplexed?

Cribz

Micah is just having a ball in his crib in this video. He loves playing in here, trying to pull up in the sides, playing with his musical "aquarium" and generally squealing with delight!

Sniffles

Here's a video of Micah during healthier times playing with his rings.

Both Dan and Micah are laid up with colds, which means that I've spent the day running between the crib and the bedroom! Luckily, we've got friends at the theatre who have agreed to watch Micah while they run the summer camp so I don't have to miss oodles of work. Poor guys. Micah's fever is gone and his spirits are up so I think he'll be all better soon. Dan will have a few more days to go, I think. Now, if I can keep from getting it before the big interview!

Happy Feet

Micah is just trying to pull up on anything within his reach! Here are some shots of him leaning on his bouncy chair--that's about all he thinks it's good for these days. He just loves to scoot around on one knee and a foot. It's so funny to watch him hobble-crawl around the wood floor!



In move news, we'll be visiting Arkadelphia this weekend and the early part of next week (blog hiatus, of course) to find housing, visit Micah's daycare and for my job interview at Henderson State U. It's a search committee interview, so I'll be faced with five people during one portion of it, not really looking forward to that! But, I think it's a great match for me, so I'm hoping for good things. I'll have to consult our resident expert on such interviews, Dan. We'll doing doing mock interviews on the way down!

Toys and Tool Time!

Often, I'll put Micah down in the crib when he's sleepy, but not fully asleep. Now that he's gotten the hang of this routine, he usually plays for awhile, then falls asleep on his own. Last night I heard him stirring around in the crib and then everything was quiet. I peeked in on him and this is what I found. Apparently, he was crawling around in there and just passed out cold, still on his hands and knees. I guess all that playing with toys during the day wore him out! He doesn't like sleeping wrapped up anymore, but he has to have that blankey in there with him.

Playing with the big boy toys.

Micah's not too sure how he feels about the noise level, but he sure does love banging on things.

Bathtime!

In this picture, Micah is displaying his bathtime buddy, Miss Duckie. He's getting way too big for his infant tub, so we're making the leap this week to the "big boy bath." Hope all goes well!

Move news: We've packed up a bunch more stuff and reserved our truck. It loads on July 29 (day after our 7th anniversary!) and our stuff will arrive in Arkadelphia on the 30th or 31st.

Pulling Up

I like the view from up here!

Micah is starting to pull up on his crib bars.

TV Junkie

Somebody help me find Sesame Street with this thing!

Micah's favorite "forbidden" toy is the remote. Sometimes we'll let him play with it--batteries removed, of course. But, then we've got to deal with the slobber afterwards! He's also partial to the telephone. I guess we'll have to get him one of those toy replicas they make for children with all those colored buttons he can push to his heart's content.

Happy Father's Day!

2 Hunks on a couch

Hope all you dads had a wonderful Father's Day! We had a great weekend. On Saturday, Dan had gone to Belk and used his gift card to buy some dress clothes for his new job! Sunday, we drove to Tupelo for a delicious brunch at Cracker Barrel and then to that mecca of all things baby, Babies R'Us, to pick out Micah's new car seat.

Job Update**

I'll be able to interview on Monday the 30th of June--we were planning to go out that weekend so it all works out well!

Jobs for me, Micah's progress, new baby

Well, I finally got a job interview in Arkadelphia! It's for a marketing position in the public relations dept at Henderson State U--the other U in Arkadelphia. Here's hoping! We're still working out a date for me to come, so I'll keep you posted. In other news, Micah has figured out how to go from belly or all fours to sitting :-) Pretty soon he'll be doing this (see video) without help! Here's a special shout out to our friends Julie and Mike Clawson who had baby #2, Aidan, yesterday. Woo hoo!

Gettin' Around

Here is a cute pair of videos showcasing Micah's new rolling over and scooting abilities. We're having a fun time watching him get into all sorts of positions.

Partytime

Micah's stage debut.

"Do you think I'll have this much hair someday?"
The above sketch was a gift from my coworkers--they threw me a goodbye party yesterday even though I'll still be around for a few weeks. It's a sketch of Micah! My coworker's husband is a fine artist and does these black and whites from photographs. This one is from the blog--he's in the jumperoo. Last Saturday, the theatre recognized us on the occasion of Dan's last show. In the top picture, you can see that we brought Micah to the show (the cast watched over him backstage so I could see the show, and he was great although awake the whole time!) and at the end, they had all three of us come up on the stage and presented Dan with a framed copy of the program that had been signed by the cast and crew! I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers. So this has been a party week. I just love this middle picture of Micah feeling Dan's hair. He loves the texture of it, so he'll just stand up there and run his fingers back and forth through it and giggle. And you can see he's pretty good at standing while holding on to things.

Mover and Shaker

Do you think we should mark this one "fragile"?
Happiness Is...a Toy in Each Hand

By request, here is a video of Micah scooting around on the wood floor. He's discover that he can move much faster on the smooth surface than the rugs and blankets, so whenever possible, he manuevers himself onto the floor.

Arkadelphia update

Good news! The daycare I really wanted for Micah just called today--they have an opening, which I told her we wanted to be held for us. Although I haven't seen this place yet (we're going to visit at the end of June), a professor in Dan's department just had a baby and is sending him there. She has done a lot of research for me on other places in town and just had wonderful things to say about this place and the woman who runs it. For one, they have the lowest baby-to-caretaker ratio in town, which is really important for babies as young as Micah. It takes a load off my mind to know he has a place to go and that it is my first choice, and it's affordable.

Food Follies

"Mmmm, can I have seconds?"
"Am I doing this right?"

Micah is having a good time with food! We're trying to get him used to foods he can mash in his mouth so we can move on to table food. I've also introduced a "sippy cup" this week so he can have a little juice. He's getting the hang of it!

Growing Up

This has been a big week for Micah. Up to a couple weeks ago, he's been unable or unwilling to tolerate much tummy time or roll over. Although most kids have mastered that skill by now, he just didn't seem interested, and since he's doing everything else on time, Doc said it was nothing to worry about. But almost every night this week whenever Micah wakes up or when we go in to check on him, he's been positioned on his tummy in the crib, usually on his hands and knees if he's awake. (We always put him on his back to sleep.) He's even tried to grab a hold of the crib bars and pull himself up from this position. Last night he woke up and I went in there and he was "scooting" around the crib (he only goes backward). He was giggling and clapping his hands like "Look what I can do, mom!" It's like now he's figured out what he can do, he just can't even sleep for practicing it all. Of course, we'll have to teach him that night-night time is not the time to be doing all of this! But it is awfully cute to see how proud of himself he is, even at 2:30 a.m. He also has adopted an array of new sounds. His latest effort is clicking his tongue. When we do this, he just thinks it's hilarious. Now he's trying to do it. He can only smack his lips right now, but it makes a simliar sound, and he likes that. We also made another important discovery--he enjoys beef! For awhile there I thought he'd be a vegetarian, the way he spit out that chicken.

Fresh Air

Everyone enjoys getting a little fresh air on a warm day--Micah is no exception. Here is a picture and a video of him in the jumperoo. He looks so serious! I'm trying to figure out how much solid food to feed him these days. I'm sure, like with most things, time will resolve my question.

Micah would like to thank Aunt Janice for sending him some very nice onesies for summertime! I was just saying how the snaps won't snap closed anymore on many of the 6-9 month ones we've got now. Now we're all set!

Scary monster

Micah started doing a new thing yesterday--we call it playing "scary monster." He sticks his fists and arms out and growls. He was just doing this off and on while playing with toys and in this video, while eating his lunch. I don't know if he's just expressing some pent up frustration or just having fun making a new noise :-) You can also see him whispering "da-da" in this one. He can also clap his own hands now. We had a great weekend with pretty nice weather and we able to make it to the park on Saturday and Sunday. We even put Micah in the "big-boy" stroller, without the infant car seat attachment. He has almost completely outgrown his car seat, so we'll be needing to replace that soon.

We spent last night trying to sort through the stuff we have and decide what will be on the chopping block for the garage sale. It feels good to be able to clear away some of the clutter. We really only have 6 weeks left before we need to have things pretty much ready to go--I can't believe it's so close!