Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Luke 2

John to the World

"Let every heart, repair him room..."

Santa Hat Returns

Remember the very cute pictures of Josiah in his Santa hat on his first Christmas?
Here is a reminder:

And here's Micah...

A little jollier, I'd say.

I didn't think cheeks could get any chubbier than Josiah, but Micah may have outdone him. Of course Micah is 2 months older than Josiah was in his pictures.

My Talented Mimi

My Mimi made me this handsome smocked outfit for Christmas.

Didn't she do a good job?

I love it so much that I avoided spitting up on it for several hours.

And it's making me give the sweetest smiles.

Mama said she wasn't normally a big fan of smocked outfits for boys, but she's completely in love with this one (and me). I think my Mimi is very talented. I can't wait to give her a big kiss to thank her.

She also cross-stitched a new stocking for me. I chose my Uncle David's pattern so it would match my family's stockings.

Here are the rest of my family's. The intricacy is amazing (don't I have a good vocabulary for a 6-month-old?). She spent hours and hours and hours making these!

What a treasure!

Preschool Christmas Performance

Josiah had his first Christmas performance on Wednesday at his preschool's Birthday Party for Jesus. They made their t-shirts in class with their handprints.

The angels making their appearance.

Josiah stood stock still the whole time, staring into the audience, but not singing a word. It's pretty funny because he is always singing to us at home and even blasts out a tune at a restaurant or store. But he said he was too afraid to do it this time. But he was very well-behaved. Some of the other angels were er, less angelic.

After the performance in his classroom.

Sometimes he looks so grown-up it hurts a little.

This is a video only a grandparent could love, but feel free to peruse.

Micah at 6 Months

Half a year already! So blessed with our sweet little boy!

This cute giggle was out of focus because I can't get him to laugh and look through the viewfinder at the same time.

Having some crazy shadow light issues.

"Of course you need a fill flash, Mama. Don't you remember anything from your photojournalism degree?"

Going down, but happy about it.

Scratch near his eye. Poor kid. We try to keep an eye on his nails, but if he even gets the slightest edge, he'll scratch himself.

We started solids a week or so ago. He's not a fan of either the rice cereal or bananas, but I fed him pureed pumpkin today, and he seemed to really like it. Maybe he'll be a veggie-man?

He's doing much better with sleeping. Generally he's up once after we lay him down the first time, but before we go to bed (self-imposed dream feed?). Most nights lately he'll sleep until 6-7 a.m. A little crying-out is helping, but we haven't perfected everything yet.

His naps are much longer too, especially while Josiah's sleeping. His morning nap is dicey because we're normally out and about or the environment is not conducive to sleep (aka brother is really loud and fun).

The other thing that's been helping him sleep longer. We've laid him down on his tummy. *Gasp* He's pretty out of the danger zone for SIDS at this point, and he can flip over.

He's sitting up really well and enjoys more of his toys. He's like Josiah in that he loves paper and plastic things. Josiah used to play with my hair while nursing, and Micah does the same. That's a sweet Mommy-memory I'll hold onto forever. He also loves to yank my hair, and boy, is he strong. He actually pulled down the shower curtain rod the other day.

Still doesn't fall asleep in the car seat. He's not miserable there, but he doesn't just lull off to sleep like his brothers, so eventually he gets bored. We've had to get creative with car trips!

Overall he is still sweet, snuggly, smiley, easy-going kid. As long as he's not starving, he does great in the nursery and with strangers.

Live Nativity

Last Saturday, we drove out the Bethlehem to see the shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. And the star.
Yes, that's right. To Bethlehem.
Luckily it's only 20 minutes away.
Bethlehem, North Carolina.

Local churches in the area put together a really wonderful live nativity. You can drive through or - the more fun option in my opinion - you can don a costume they supply for you and walk through. In the picture above my cute little shepherd boy in front of the sign "Please do not enter the nativity without a costume. No exceptions." They even asked you not to use your cell phones to keep with the scene. Sounds silly, but it was actually really fun, and Josiah loved it.

My little headress made me happy I didn't live in the first century. Micah is in a sling inside my coat inside my outfit. So despite his dangling appearance, he was quite secure.

They had live animals: goats, a donkey and chickens. There were even some Roman soldiers on horseback calling people for the census.

Just an example of the look. This was the marketplace in Bethlehem. They had someone hammering metal at the blacksmith shop and handing out bread at the baker's. There were so many neat details that made it easier for kids to understand more about the Christmas story and the time when Jesus lived.

And they had free refreshments afterward. When I saw refreshments advertised I thought it would just be some store-bought cookies and hot chocolate mix. Oh no. They had homemade soup and sandwiches. Homemade desserts and homemade hot chocolate (it was so good).
By the way, Josiah insisted on staying in his costume, he liked it so much. I said he could stay in it while we ate.

That's what I liked about the whole experience. It was small town and quaint (in the best possible way), something the community really gathers around because of the town's namesake. Everyone was so kind and helpful, keeping in character, but in a warm way. I'm thinking this will be a family tradition in years to come.

Cousins in Greensboro

I'm way behind on the blogging, but I had to steal all these pictures from Amy because my camera, sadly, had memory issues this day.

We met at the Children's Museum in Greensboro. It was a really fun place, but unfortunately it was members only day. They still let us go in, but they closed at noon at we got there at 11 a.m. Wah, wah. It was fun for an hour though.

Climbing with Caleb

Josiah gave Mama a check-up. He's very thorough and very serious about being a doctor, just like Daddy.

He was giving me my medicine. When he gave me the shot, he told me, "Now this will just hurt for a minute."

After the museum, we went to Stamey's Barbecue! Yum. I'm glad Mrs. Sharon and Amy indulged my request because it brought back lots of memories and it was delicious. My family would always stop there on road trips to NC, many of which were at the holidays.

One of the main reasons we made the trip was so that we could get a picture of the boys in the cute Christmas outfits Mimi gave them. Josiah did a pretty good job holding Jacob, but we were all there to spot him and Micah, who is just a tad wobbly.

We went to the mall for pictures and the little play area worked pretty well.

Hard to say which one is the best, but no one was visibly upset, so I call it a success.

Hugs from Caleb.

This was too cute of Caleb. Mimi had lollipops as a reward. Josiah kept saying, "I did it. Can I please have my lollipop now?" They were all very accommodating on a nap-free day.

More cousin kisses.

Mattie's Birthday Party

Josiah got to go to our neighbor Mattie's birthday party on Saturday at one of the local gyms.

Playing musical hoops. Mattie turned 5 years old and the rest of the children were her classmates. Josiah looked so small!

Micah observing.

A moment of participation. Most of the time he just wandered around near the younger children's equipment.

He refused the trampoline, but I convinced him to try the foam pit. He didn't move from that spot, but he went in, so I'm counting a victory.

Birthday girl in the harness. The rest of the children threw foam blocks at her.

Enjoying the cupcake.

Mattie's granddaddy holding Micah.

First Solids

We gave Micah his first batch of rice cereal on Thursday.

At first he was excited that we willingly let him put something in his mouth.

But slowly he realized it didn't taste so good.

This is really not so great, Mama.

The little helper keeping company.

He got a few bites down, but then he just started spitting out the rest.

I made it with formula instead of Mama milk, so perhaps he didn't like the flavor.