A Very Interesting Read

Jacob was really enjoying this book the other night so I thought I'd get some video of him "reading" it. Animal sounds alwasy get a laugh out of him and he loved "Old McDonald", of course.

Micah loves getting creative with whatever he can find. Here he decided to shave the chalk off of his chalk sticks using the edge of a plastic Easter egg and then use the shavings to make colorful designs on a paper towel, Where does he come up with this stuff?

Easter!

Gramma Lynn and Micah play with Mexican "confetti" eggs.

Micah and his granparents enjoy an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

Here are a few pictures taken during the grandparents' visit. I'm sorry to say we don't have any from Grammy and Pop Pop's visit (Dan had the camera in England while they were visiting) but I'll put some up later if they will share the ones they took with us. This is a busy time for us--Dan has rehearsals for the musical going up next weekend and the end of the school year is nearing. But I will try to keep up with some decent posts!

Long time no see

Well, I know the blog's been on hiatus for quite awhile. We've had several bouts with illness, visit from both sets of grandparents and are just now getting back to regular life, hence the break. We had a great time with Grammy and Pop Pop from Delaware before Easter where we celebrated Grammy's and Daddy's birthdays, visited the Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs and just had fun. Then we enjoyed our time with Gramma Lynn and Papa Rog from Wisconsin over Easter. Many Easter egg hunts were completed and Easter baskets were opened :-) Dan safely returned from his trip to England, and although he did get quite an awful virus while there, managed to recover and enjoy parts of that trip. Hopefully, he'll be returning for a longer visit in the next few years. I have included a  video of Jacob playing at his favorite new game, knocking down towers of blocks! If I can upload it I will also inlcude one of  the boys playing together. I am always worried that Micah, in his brotherly exuberance will get too rough with Jacob. It is probably a good thing that he never was a "tiny" baby and can hold his own quite nicely most of the time. But Jacob just loves a little roughing-up from Micah. I've tried to take a cautious backseat to some of this play just because I know that giant grin on Jacob's face when Micah's playing means he's just fine. Jacob's started packing away the solid food now so I think we're set for another growth spurt. I just hope he's the type of kid who can move to a toddler bed early. Because I don't know how much longer I'll be able to lift him up and over that crib rail! On the plus side, I've got some serious biceps.

Bathtime!

Here is a cute video on Jacob in the infant tub (don't worry, it's modest!). We had some work done on our shower this week so I had to bathe him in the baby tub for a night. He just loves to splash and play with the washcloth.

the face of an angel...

It's been kind of a crazy week. My grandfather passed away at the end of last week, so I've been thinking about him a lot. I'm sad that he has passed, but more than that, I am so thankful for the wonderful memories I have of time spent in Vermont visting him and my grandmother. They were both loving and generous people, and I'm proud to have known them. Grampy didn't get to meet Jacob, although I sent him pictures, but he did meet Micah when he was about 6 months old. Micah had a special place in his heart, that's for sure, and I know know Jacob would have too.

 Jacob's been to the doctor about three time in the last two weeks for wheezing and coughing. I took him back on Tuesday since he just didn't seem to be improving. Turns out, he has a double ear infection! Poor kid. Hopefully now that he's on an antibiotic, he'll start feeling better. We've been giving him breathing treatments around the clock. Thankfully, Mom and Dad are coming for a visit while Dan is in England this week so if I need help they will be around. Micah seems to be doing fine, despite the pollen everywhere. I hope he stays that way! Well, think of Dan as he's traveling. I hope he will love this experience of going to Europe and be able to make some good connections there.

Finally!

Who wouldn't want to smooch those cheeks?!

Jacob is sporting the long-haired look these days.

"Ok, so you distract her with cuteness, and I'll grab the cookies..."

Snuggle time!

"Um, yeah. What he said."

Well, I am risking a jinx by saying this, but I think we've finally turned the corner with Jacob sleeping at night! Since last Sunday night, he has slept through the night without needing us to come in and hold/feed him. A few weeks ago I began a campaign to help him get attached to a blankey and a lovey, things that helped Micah sleep better. I just left both in the crib. So he still wakes up at night but has been able to comfort himself using these things each night for the past week! Even with a cold and getting a tooth, he still has been fine. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to get a solid night's sleep! But I have to admit, I do miss those early-morning snuggles too :-) It is precious to go in there in the morning and find him with the blankey stuffed in one hand, fingers stuffed in his mouth, or to find him playing with the musical aquarium that he has figured out how to work on his own or the  teething toy I put in there. I was beginning to think we might be up at night for a long time to come, but I am hoping that he has just reached an age where he can now do some of these things on his own. Just over the last two weeks he has learned to do so much.

Micah had a very fun Sunday visiting with a new friend! On Friday we received a last-minute invitation to a birthday party for one of his classmates. His mom had to move the date of his party up unexpectedly and so she was handing out invites as I was picking up the boys. Since we didn't have anything going on and Dan could be home with Jacob, we decided to go. It turns out that Micah was the only child who showed up! The two boys had a great time playing in his backyard which was a kids' paradise complete with trampoline, play set and sandbox! They even had a petting zoo of sorts with all of their different pets. Anyway, it was a nice day for Micah and I enjoyed getting to meet this little boy's parents as well.

Dan will be starting rehearsals for the spring musical so we will be missing him in the evenings over the next month or so! It's a comedy called the Drowsy Chaperone and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Matters of the Heart

The Micah-monster strikes again!

Jacob is on his way to walking!

We had a smooth week, all things considered. We all survived Daddy's absence and were pleasantly surprised when he got to come home a day early! We spent time outside enjoying the beautiful weather we had this weekend. Jacob is busy cutting a new tooth on the bottom (still none on the top!). I took this video yesterday afternoon when the boys were playing together on the floor in the living room. I think they laugh in a similar way when they get all keyed up :-) Now that Jacob can move, he is constantly trying to pull up on anything and everything, especially if it means access to some of Micah's blocks. They are colorful, they a make a clicky noise and they are chewable. What more could he want? In the picture above, he is pulling up on an overturned plastic bin to reach the blue block sitting on the ground behind it. I think we're going to need a gate or something soon because a lot of these are too small for him to get his hands on safely. Bring out the jumbo blocks! Jacob is 9 months now. That is the same age Micah was when we moved to Arkansas. It's hard to imagine we've been here that long. Funny story from this week: We all know how abstract concepts are hard for little ones to grasp. At school, they are learning about the parts of the body, so Micah knows where the heart is and that we listen to it with a stethoscope, etc. We also talked with him about how Jesus can live in our hearts. Well, Micah and Dan were discussing this. Then they were horsing around and Micah had his hands around Dan's chest. He said, "Am I squishing Jesus?" What do you say to that? I think we just reassured him that Jesus was safe in there :-) I guess we are going to try a different approach to explaining what the heart is and what the "heart" is :-)

Learning

Micah's homework :-) He wrote the names in brown all by himself! (He forgot the "A" in the first one so he wanted to start over)

Jacob crawling!

Both boys are learning lots of new things right now. Micah is doing so well with writing his name and other letters and numbers. Since he has "homework" for the weekends, we get to see what he can do! His teacher says he is also very good at using the scissors when they are making projects at school and that's one of his favorite things to do at home too. Jacob is now crawling acorss the floor, trying to keep up with whatever Micah is doing! He's also going through a bit of separation anxiety, mostly at night, but he had a little trouble at the church nursery yesterday too. He's almost nine months, so that's to be expected. He's also learned another word: "Mama" :-) He's been able to say "Dada" for some time now, so I've been working on this one. It's funny how he imitates me, drawing out the "m" sound, just like I did when I was trying to teach him. "Mmmmma Mmmma." He knows that's the way to get me to come in and pick him up when he's wailing in the crib! It doesn't take kids long to learn these little things. Dan will be gone at a conference this week so it'll be me and the boys--wish me luck!