New favorite activities

Stickers! First we put them all over our clothes...then we transfer them to our clothes for the next day...only after the second day of fashion do we put them on paper.

And....finger painting! We tried at Thanksgiving and it was a major no go to have stuff on our hands. Micah has gotten over it and loves to get messy! Hooray! One more thing to do on rainy winter days.

Our next challenge....to learn how to use scissors.

Rick's birthday

Rick was super-thrilled with his birthday this year:

breakfast in bed
Krispy Kreme donuts shared with his classmates at school
pizza & red wine dinner with friends
2 hours of StarCraft with a friend here and his brother-in-law

Really, what more could a guy in his 30s want?

Numbers

30 weeks – pregnant

1 week – left of formal language class

9 - number of the floor where my language class is - thankfully the elevator goes to the 8th floor

30 minutes – about how long I can lay or sit in one position

25 minutes – the length of our bus trip to school & about how much I can take before wanting to be sick

3 – bathroom breaks each night

2 – number of breakfasts I have each morning: baby takes the first one and leaves me starving again by 9

1 - number of nights we have tried letting Micah sleep in his 'toddler bed' - Rick removed the side of his crib and attached the low toddler side. Micah can now hop in his own bed. We'll see how he does!

Wake Up Part II

Morning routine...

It's hard to capture Micah's morning recitations through the door...but here is his joyful self after the door is opened!

Dangerous Games

This is what happens when you leave Dad and Lad alone to form their own entertainment.

Just hanging out...

 Snack time - note they are not making each other crazy!

Practicing our stacking skills. Thanks Grandma & Papa V!

 Looking for creative entertainment.

Checking out the cool rocks on mom & dad's new 'home decorating'.

Baby update!

Our first baby gift! Micah tried to put them on. Can anyone have such small feet? A classmate knitted them for us. How very sweet. Our baby is supposedly now the size of a butternut squash. I like that size. But I could be biased toward autumn vegetables.

Hobbies

 Well, seeing as I have so much free time between being a wife, mom, and student (read: heavy sarcasm), I thought I needed a hobby that was not TV. So, on a whim, I bought some colorful ikea frames that I must now fill. I've decided to attempt to paint some of the same animals that are on Micah's border. There are probably plagiarism laws about such things, but I don't plan on selling them. In fact, I sadly remember so little from my 8th grade painting class, that I made my first attempt with acrylic paints on computer paper. Questions then arose: why is this paint not drying EVER? and why is there a ring of oil around my cute little lion? Due to the input of a much wiser artistic friend, I have realized I must buck up and buy canvas. Thus, this morning's trip with Micah through three different art shops. Alas, the canvas does not fit inside the cute little frames I bought! So, I will attempt to use 'multi-purpose artist paper' and see if it works any better than computer paper. I know you artsy folks out there are shaking your heads...but you know that he won't like lions anymore in a year anyway!

A trip to the Aquarium!

 We decided to splurge and take Micah and Hugo to the aquarium. It took close to 90 min. to get there, but we thought it was well worth the adventure. The boys enjoyed seeing the different fish and just running around the mall. The dads really enjoyed the fish. And the moms enjoyed the trip to Ikea afterward! I liked the fish too.

 Nemo fish!

The great travesty of the day was that our most treasured sleep-animal became someone else's best friend after he was forgotten at our lunch table. This wouldn't be so terrible if we still had the back-up...but that one got left at the park a month ago. :( So we are currently racking our brains to figure out who will visit us or return the fastest so we can get a new sleep-dog asap.  I think Mom & Dad are currently more devastated than Micah....we fear the moment that he realizes his buddy is gone. He did have a minor search this afternoon, but he was quickly distracted by other toys. I didn't think I would have to explain love and loss this soon in my child's life. I'm not prepared for this!!

Otherwise, it was a delightful day. :)

Christmas 2010 photo accomplished!

Hooray!! We can now take down our decorations. We'll see if we actually do. :)

Pregnancy sleep - 27 weeks

So, do you remember playing with these things as a kid? I've decided this is how to most accurately describe how I feel when laying in bed at night. I try to sleep on my side, but just like the weighted punching bag that bounces right back up, I seem to roll right over onto my back...as if there were an extra 5 kg weight in there affecting my center of gravity. In the third trimester, we will have to try the pillow wedge method to keep me from rolling at night!

Please wait

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sleeping patterns

Perhaps hearing stories of his second cousin Jack, Micah has now decided that the best animals to take to bed with him are all of them. This is slightly disturbing to his parents who can't fathom how there is still room for him to sleep, but you will see from his delighted face that he has found a way. And loves it.

New sleep routine:
Read a few stories with Mom or Dad in the reading chair.
Attempt to carry as many animals as possible to the crib and ask (demand) that Mom & Dad bring the rest.
Arrange self amidst animals.
Tell Mom & Dad which blanket each of them should put on top of him and his animal posse.
Point to a cheek and say "Mom" = Mom, you need to give me a kiss here.
Point to a cheek and say "Dad" = Dad, you need to give me a kiss here.
Repeat.
Blow kisses to Mom & Dad.
Yell "Bye!" as they start to exit the room.

Christmas

 With all of the excitement of the past week and our last week of class for the month, I am just now getting to posting about Christmas. The above is the family service at church with all of the kids (except Micah) dressed like shepherds, angels, & wise men. Micah decided he was too cool for the shepherd costume Mom made out of a striped pillow case. He checked out the manger after the service was over.

 Christmas Eve we had two students spend the night. They are both here for a semester study-abroad. Micah enjoyed helping them open their stockings in the morning.

 He was of course delighted to open his own gifts as well. It was nice that the opening of the GREEN wrapping paper was as equally thrilling as seeing his own new toys. As he opened most of his gifts in front of grandparents on skype, Christmas morning was mostly about enjoying what the adults got. :) I know I'm an old married woman because I was most excited by the new stainless steel heavy-bottomed cooking pots Rick found for me.

 After a day of being lazy, eating monkey bread, egg casserole, veggies & hummus, watching The Santa Claus (Tim Allen), and chatting, we headed to the Hannah & Daniel's for Christmas dinner. Hannah cooked delicious Korean food - bulgogi, purple rice, kim chee, and a noodle dish that I didn't catch the name of. Micah happily provided the entertainment at the end of the evening by playing music on their Christmas village music box and showing everybody how to dance. He then caught some pre-bed practice rest with Daniel on their poof.

 Sunday, aka 'the day after', we enjoyed trying out the new toys - trains and trucks until we were just so exhausted we had to lay down to drive. (at 27 weeks prego, this is how I do most of my playing :) ).

PS - Where is the family Christmas photo?? Maybe if we leave our tree up long enough, Mom V can take a picture when she comes in April!