Month Eleven

This is such a fun month! Micah has been doing lots of new and amazing things. He has been walking for a while now, first using the Winnie the Pooh walker and then on his own. He was getting to his feet by holding on to something like a table, a wall or his beloved ball, but now he is getting to his feet all by himself. His first word, where we actually know what he's saying and what he means, is "Ba" for his (as I've said) BELOVED ball. Just today we were reading through a book that we haven't looked at before and one of the pictures in the book showed Piglet playing with a ball, and the first thing he said when he saw the page was "BA!!" He has also been doing well with the few sign language words he knows - he does "more" and "milk/drink/bottle". I must say it's nice to have communication rather than screaming! He knows some of things around the house that he is not supposed to touch, and if he sees it and goes near it he starts shaking his head. He stops when his ball rolls near the fireplace because he knows he is not allowed to touch it. Man, could this baby be any easier!??

It has been a little adjustment because for the last number of weeks he has not been taking his morning nap. He has gone down to just one nap per day, and for most kids that means a 2-4 hour nap in the afternoon, but for Micah? Not a chance! Sleep is for wimps! He sleeps about 1 hour and he's good for the whole day. It's nice because he is very content when I drag him all around town. He also plays really well on his own. However, there is the odd time that I want to do something on my own... like clean or cook or blog or maybe use the bathroom... but I don't get much free time. Like I said though, he does play REALLY well on his own, so I can leave him in his corner of toys, or let him chase his ball all over the house while I quickly take a moment to get something done.

Right now he's playing in the bonus room with a basket full of clean and folded laundry, which I highly doubt is folded anymore. I went in a few minutes ago to check on him and this is how I found my little frat boy:

Micah is walking!

Date Night

David and I got to go on a date on Saturday night. It was wonderful, except that it ended with work…. But that’s the life of being married to a computer guy. So I deal with it. And I'm okay with it.

We dropped Micah off at his grandparent’s house, had a nice, quick dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Gig Harbor, and then saw a movie: The Bourne Ultimatum. We love the Bourne series, so we were happy we could finally see it. Although I love the movies and am always very entertained with the action, this third movie was slightly less believable and seemed to end too quickly in my opinion.

Now, maybe you are able to escape with a slight limp and 3 tiny scratches on your face after driving off a building, getting pounded multiple times from every direction, and driving the car up on its side, sandwiching it between two heavy pieces of metal by wrapping your arms up in the passenger seat belt. Me? I don’t think I’d be able to walk away as easily. I also don’t think I’d be able to track 80 cameras for two people, making sure I’m never in view of the camera, nor is the person I’m on the phone with, meanwhile, showing up out of nowhere to take out 3 or more armed men with my bare hands. Then again, I’m not a government-trained assassin, aka Jason Bourne.

This isn’t to say we don’t love the movies. We do! They are exhilarating from start to finish. Let me just say that I’m glad I don’t know anyone like Jason Bourne! But he sure is a cool person to watch on screen!

The Source

This is an amazing book. I read this when my son was 7-8 months old, so when I came to the part where the people of Makor were sacrificing 6 month old first-born sons to the fiery god in order to have increased fertility in their land and their women, I had tears in my eyes. I was overwhelmed with love for my son and with thankfulness for the society we live in. I am so thankful the God I serve doesn’t ask for me to sacrifice my firstborn son. I am not sure I could do it. The women surely did not want to do it, as told of one of the women we were following. She had been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for 2 years, while all the other women around her were having children. When she finally did give birth, she was made by her husband to watch her child being rolled down the stone into the fire, and she was ordered not to utter a sound.

The book made me realize how passionate the Jews are for their unchanging religion and how they do not conform to whatever pressures the world throws at them. They have endured more pain and hardships than I can even imagine. The author, James Michener, wrote amazingly believable stories of people in each significant time period in history. The Crusades disgusted me that so-called Christians thought they had the right to brutally execute Jews because they did not believe the same about Jesus as the Christians. I had not remembered learning anything about the Spanish Inquisition – where Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or be tortured and executed. I think it is amazing how many Jews stood up for their faith and did not denounce others. Under that kind of pressure, I only hope that I would have that kind of strength.

I am so glad that I read this book. It was long, but a marvelous way to learn and understand history from cavemen times to now.

Summer Travels

I think we are done with our travels for the summer. We were going to drive up to Vancouver this past weekend, but we ended up staying here because there were a number of things happening that we wanted to be here for. We went to a pig roast at a friend's house out in the boonies on Saturday. Our friends, along with her parents, bought a very large property and fixed up a 'triple-wide' to make it their own. The home is atop a triple-wide garage, hence the name. Her parents live in an attached mobile home on the same property, while they build their house a mile down the road. They have horses so some went for rides, while the rest of us went on the hay rides around their property.

Sunday we celebrated Micah's little friend Drew's first birthday. He was really cute with his blue pointed 1st Birthday hat. He picked cautiously at his huge piece of chocolate birthday cake and didn't eat very much, but still made enough of a mess of himself so people could get those cherished photos. Unfortunately, we didn't have our camera with us.

We had been to Chelan with David's family for a nice, relaxing week at his parent's condo. David's aunt and uncle with their two grown kids and their jetski were there just for the weekend, but David's parents and us stayed for the rest of the week. It was nice and quiet and everyone could do whatever they wanted. The lake was beautiful and the weather perfect. Micah had lots of fun playing in the sand and 'swimming' in the pool. On our way home from Chelan we stopped at Leavenworth for some good ol' fashioned German festivities... and lunch.

Crazy, busy week!

Last week I was in Ontario visiting family. It was SO good seeing everyone again. It had been since Christmas, which isn't a very long time for me, but in terms of Micah's short life so far, it is an extremely long time! He's grown and changed so much since Christmas, when he was only 3 months old. He's now crawling FAST and standing up by holding on to things and walking along furniture or with the help of others. He's eating solid foods, laughing and imitating funny faces. He claps, waves, and loves to be chased! He's so much fun!

On the day before I left I had a number of errands to run, and my first stop was at the bank to get Canadian currency. While I was in the bank, the person parked next to me tried to pull out of his spot but hit my car. It was actually a pretty bad ding - my mirror was only hanging on by the cable, and the door was smashed so bad that I couldn't open the handle! Thankfully, the man stuck around to give me his information, but I didn't do the rest of my errands until I could take our other car.
I was very nervous to fly on my own with Micah. Not so much nervous on how Micah would do, but more on the fact that I had to take everything with me and wondering how I'd be able to do it. The car seat Micah now sits in is like a little luxury throne and weighs about as much. So I had that strapped to my back, thanks to David's sister's backpack made especially for the seat. Then I had Micah in the stroller, a backpack diaper bag around the handles of the stroller, and I had to wheel my suitcase behind me with one hand and push the stroller in front of me with the other. I was lucky I didn't turn quickly and take off any small children's heads!

Micah did really well on the plane rides. He drank a bottle or ate during the ascent and descent so his ears didn't bother him. He slept for a couple of hours and played with small toys or books when he was awake. The tricky part was changing him in those tiny airplane bathrooms (especially when they don't have a changing table), and then using the toilet myself. It takes talent, I must say!

I think it will have to be another post for what happened during the week. There was usually multiple things planned for each day during the week, and I have pictures from almost everything! It was a wonderful week. I know Grandma and Grandpa loved seeing their grandson... and Micah loved being spoiled!

Color Footage of Tacoma Narrows

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Sunday was a monumental day in the Puget Sound. Do you remember Galloping Gertie? I remember learning about it in high school and seeing footage of a bridge that was so poorly constructed that it twisted and turned until it fell just months after it was built. This was back in the 1940s to connect Gig Harbor with Tacoma. Over a year later a new bridge was built and still stands today... along with a second bridge that has just been completed. They opened it to the public on Sunday so we could walk across. We had to go and walk the mile across the Narrows so we could say we did it! Micah even "walked the bridge" with a little help!

Seaside, OR

We recently went on vacation down to the Oregon coast. It is a great little town, perfect for a little getaway - not too far and lots to do. The weather was perfect, not too hot, sometimes a little windy, but it did not rain. We left on Saturday and rented a house from Saturday until the following Friday, right over the fourth of July. They always put on a great fireworks show on the fourth, and lots of people do their own fireworks show right on the beach. We were there a couple years ago and had seen everyone doing their own fireworks, but we learned this year that it was illegal now to light off anything that goes in the air. However, many people disregarded the new rule and did their own shows. Micah did great for his first fireworks! He loved seeing all the lights even though it was way past his bedtime and we had to wake him to go out.

We had gone to Seaside with some friends of ours. We walked along the promenade and along the beach, went downtown to get ice cream, to play bumper cars and arcades, we took the babies on a tiny little train ride and on the carousel, we shopped at the little shops and at the outlet malls, we played lots of games and watched some movies. There was so much to do that we all felt like we could have stayed for another whole week!

On Friday we left Seaside and went to Portland for lunch with some friends and then down to Salem for dinner with other friends. We thought about driving home that night, but made it to Vancouver, WA and then spent the night at a lodge and drove the rest of the way on Saturday.

This is Grace, Micah's little girlfriend in Salem. They had their first awkward date at 8 weeks. He's already trying to hold her hand!

Taking a little nap before the excitement of the fireworks.

Micah really liked the ocean and the sand.

Train ride!

Playing in the house

Waiting patiently for dinner

A little bike ride

Kara, Kate and Drew went on the Carousel...

...while Micah watched from the stroller.

Happy Anniversary!

Today we are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. I am so thankful for a wonderful, caring, thoughtful, loving husband! To celebrate, David barbecued some yummy New York Tip steaks and corn on the cob for dinner tonight. We got the steaks at the new market that our friends just opened up in Gig Harbor, called Harbor Greens. Today was the grand opening of the market, and we are very excited for them! Everything looked great! I know they have been working extremely hard this week trying to get everything set up. I think the grand opening was a success. It seemed to be busy all day long.

Tomorrow we are heading to Seaside, Oregon for a week-long vacation. We have rented a house with some friends of ours. It will be great to get away and relax at the ocean. We are hoping for some good weather, and a fun Fourth of July!

Here are some more pictures...

He finally has a little bit of hair so I can style it!

What, do I have something on my face?

Mmmm, I love strawberries and blueberries. They are the messiest!

Been a while...

It's been a while since I have posted anything, so I figured I better at least get some pictures up. I have been reading "The Source" by James Michener and I am really enjoying it. I have lots of thoughts about it that I should post soon because I'm beginning to forget some of the earlier thoughts. It is a fiction novel that goes through the whole history of the Jews. I am learning a lot, and am extremely thankful to be living in a civilized culture! Anyway, that can be a post for another time.

We recently celebrated David's birthday and the next weekend, Father's day. Both times we had David's family here for dinner. Also, David's dad was inducted into the Washington State hall of fame for his many years as a swim coach. There was a dinner to attend and a ceremony for all the inductees. It was quite an honor for him!