Too Cute

I just thought these pictures were too cute not to share. Micah loves "his" pumpkin :)

Growing Up

Literally. I measured Micah's height today...one year & one day from the first time I measured his height on his growth chart. He's grown a whopping 4 1/2 inches in that time! Probably more because I think I measured him with his shoes on that first time. It's amazing how much he's changed both physically & socially. He's not a baby anymore.

Ahhh Motherhood

So, for those of you with children, do you ever realize how much we worry about what our kids do in front of other parents...how much embarassment it can cause us? For example, on Sunday, our church had a picnic. There were several activities for the kids including bounce houses. One in particular was set up just for small children, and Micah took right to it. There was a small opening for the children to enter and parents were watching through the mesh netting all around the sides. Micah is jumping, I'm watching, all is well. He gets a little closer to me to show off, & I see that he has the biggest booger ever hanging out of his nose as well as snot coming out of the other nostril. There weren't many kids or parents around at that time and I couldn't get to him (remember the little tiny opening to get in? Seeming much smaller to me at this point) nor did I have a tissue so I'm trying to get him to come closer to me & softly telling him to wipe his nose on his sleeve. Gross, I know, but at least no one would be freaking out about the kid with a huge booger giving their kid the flu or something. Micah, of course, has no clue what I'm talking about & proceeds to lick snot from his face. I'm mortified, hoping no other parents are watching. At this point, I'm trying to coax him to come out of the bounce house so I can wipe his nose with something. No luck. You try telling a 2 year old to quit jumping & having fun so you can wipe his nose! Well, the booger stayed there until Micah was finally ready to come out & I was able to wipe it. If any other parents saw (how could they miss it?), they at least were courteous enough not to say anything.

This little story just reminds how I tend to think all other mothers have it together, & I'm the only one who can't keep my child from saying "I don't like that kid!" to a total stranger in the middle of Target! The truth is, it's a facade. I don't think any mother has it all together. For the one or two mothers out there who are always dressed to the nines as are their angel children who never say an unkind word or have boogers hanging from their face, well, you're just weird so there :)

Our Little Monkey

After dinner last night, we decided to make a family trip to Target to look at a few things for the house. Joe & I went to our room to get ready while Micah stayed in his room to play. His room is on the opposite side of the house. While Joe was finishing getting ready, I realized I hadn't heard Micah in a little while. Any parent knows that silence means trouble. I walk out of our room & hear a noise. Realizing the noise is running water, I make a mad dash for Micah's bathroom, fully expecting the worst. "It has to be the bathtub," I thought, thinking there was no way he could reach the sink as our counters are extra tall. When I peered into the bathroom, this is what I found.

Initially shocked, I screamed, "Oh my gosh Micah! What are you doing?" His reply--"I'm washing my socks." A perfectly logical response I suppose & I couldn't help laughing. I yelled for Joe to come check out our monkey of a child, and he was amazed that he even climbed onto the counter. After a good laughing fit, we did lecture Micah on pulling out all the tissues from the box & climbing on the counter when Mommy & Daddy aren't there. When I think of what could have happened, it's not so funny, but, thankfully, it was just a humorous situation. We've been letting him sit on the counter when we brush his teeth so I guess we'll have to stop that. Ironically, he's going to be a monkey for Halloween :)

Boy's Best Friend

Since Micah is temporarily an only child, Samson has become his best buddy when there are no other children to play with. He wants Samson to play with his toys, share his milk, share his food, wear his hat...whatever. However, Samson has also become Micah's outlet for bossiness. Since he can't tell us what to do, he resorts to telling Samson what to do. The funny thing is, it's all the same things we tell him...and to hear him talk, it makes me wonder how mean we really are! He'll tell Samson, "Go to your room right now!" or "You need to go to timeout!" Poor puppy!

Micah torturing Samson by trying to make him wear a hat :)

I don't know where children pick up the things they do. Micah loves to initiate contact with Samson, but if Samson comes close to him when he doesn't want him to, lately he has been saying, "No Samson! Don't eat me!" Samson has never attempted to bite Micah or even growled at him. This dog is getting a bad rap!

Innocence

Today, I got a glimpse of my son that simultaneously made me proud of him & slightly ashamed of myself. For the past few weeks, I have been going to a Bible study at my church on Wednesday mornings. It's specifically for moms & the curriculum focuses on parenting. Part of the curriculum is focused on scripture memory...a different verse each week. I'm good at memorizing, but I'm not so good at actually taking the time to memorize information. If you know me, I'm a chronic procrastinator. So, for the the first three weeks of this study, I have come home on Wednesday mornings, put my materials down, & pretty much forgotten about them until Tuesday evening. This has not been deliberate. I just don't think about it until Tuesday night when I'm going over what I have to do the next day.

Anyway, Micah & I ran a few errands this morning before Bible study, & I put my memory verse on the dash & was trying to memorize it quickly while at red lights. I was repeating it aloud when all of a sudden Micah pipes up in the back & says, "Mommy's talking to Jesus!" I just about cried because my focus wasn't on Jesus but on trying to memorize this verse so I could say it in front of my small group & not look like I didn't care. I've come to realize lately that there are a lot of things in my life that I need to work on in order to be a good example to my child, particularly as he gets older. I thank God for putting this sweet child in my arms & allowing me to care for him. He makes me want to be a better person.

Big Brother

A friend of mine embroidered this shirt for Micah & gave it to me at my baby shower a couple of weeks ago. Micah is going to be a wonderful big brother & I can't wait for him to meet his this little munchkin!

We Love Fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite season. The cooler weather, the beautiful colors, the chance to wear sweaters and boots...I look foward to it every year. After two straight weeks of rain, the clouds broke and what emerged was sunshine and cooler temperatures. The air conditioner was turned off, and the windows were open. On Saturday, we took full advantage of the arrival of fall & had lots of fun! We have a membership to the Memphis Zoo, and this Saturday they opened a new exhibit to members only and opened their gates earlier than normal to members only as well. We left around 7:00 that morning & headed to the zoo to see the new grizzly bears. We were expecting to see full grown grizzlies but they were actually cubs. So adorable!

The exhibit also has timber wolves & will eventually have elk as well. Micah loved seeing the animals. The temperature was in the upper 50s and there was NOBODY in the rest of the zoo as the main gates still had not opened to the general public. It was our best zoon trip yet! We did a little shopping before we left town since Memphis has many stores that aren't in Jackson. Then we headed home to watch a little football.

Later in the afternoon, we brought some dinner to a friend and her husband who have recently welcomed their first child into the world. I held the baby for quite a while. It was good for me as I had been getting nervous about forgetting how to do everything! :) After our visit, we set off to get fall decorations for the house. Pumpkins, hay bales, mums...it was difficult not to overspend! Micah loved the pumpkins & found a little one that he could carry himself. Of course, he would not put it down so we got it for him since it was only a couple of dollars & we weren't in the mood to endure the fit that would surely ensue!

After the decorations were purchased and set up, we set out again to find an outdoor fire pit. Joe has wanted one practically since we got married so we got one to enjoy these fall evenings. Joe set it up after dinner & lit the fire. It was past Micah's bed time & pretty dark by this point, but we had to let him stay up to enjoy his first s'more! While Joe set everything up, Micah wanted to play on his swingset. He had a blast playing in the dark! Then we pulled out the marshmallows and started roasting! Micah loves sweets so I had not doubt he would love s'mores and I was right :)

We had discussed camping out in the backyard but decided against it...a wise decision as it ended up raining that night anyway. All in all, this was one of the best and most memorable days we have had, & I can't wait to have more days like it!