Hello, Sunshine!

We've missed you!

We had a gorgeous few days here. After a few days of fighting a stomach bug, we were glad to get out and enjoy it!

Our neighbor gave us her set of a bubble toys that her grandchildren had outgrown.

Remember these bubble pipes? I think they gone the way of candy cigarettes and Big League Chew, so as not to encourage tobacco use in children. I don't think Josiah even knows what a real pipe does, so this was just fun and easier for him than the wands.

But he did actually blow a few bubbles out this time. His first! It helped it was a windy day.

My sweet little ray of sunshine.

While Josiah was using his pipe, Micah kept trying to do some grass. Where have I gone wrong?

He tried to eat quite a few crunchy leaves as well.

Josiah also tried out the new scooter he got for Christmas. Our buddy Davis let him test-drive his first. I was about to keep it if he was going to put as much effort into it as he does his tricycle, but he did really well with it. It doesn't like going fast yet, and didn't play with it very much, but it's progress in my eyes.

Which ball is tastiest? Hmmm...

Micah - 8 Months

Micah turned eight months old on Valentine's Day. Boy, do we love this kid!

He's happy in all these pictures, but Micah has had a rough month. I mentioned he had an ear infection at his "well visit." The doctor also heard a wheeze as well. She prescribed an inhaler, but we waited to have it filled to see if it resolved on it's own. It definitely got worse and didn't improve with the inhaler. He was also way sleepier than normal and didn't have much of an appetite. The day he slept literally the entire day on my shoulder, we decided we should get him checked out.

After spending over 2.5 hours at the doctor's office, it turns out he had RSV (respiratory synctial virus), which means he needed nebulizer treatments. It's pretty scary for infants under six months, fairly scary for older infants, and normally not a big deal for older children. It took him a solid week to really recover.

Needless to say, we are really grateful to have our sweet, happy baby back! His smiles and giggles are almost addictive.

He's making new noises and faces, including a rousing motorboat impression.

No crawling yet, but he definitely gets around. He's fitting comfortably in 12 month clothes!

He's doing much better with solids! He's finally tolerating some baby food and loves puffs and bananas. I was truly starting to be concerned he'd never eat.

Sleeping. He's doing great at night, and normally nails one good nap per day, almost always in the afternoon. I can't seem to nail down a good morning nap for him, probably because we're very inconsistent. Oftentimes we're going out in the morning or driving Josiah to preschool. I have a hard time dedicating myself to this cause because the child is quite pleasant without a morning nap. When I do lay him down in the mornings, he cries for over an hour, and it seems counterproductive. He'll often squeeze in one around 11 or 12 so and then again at around 3. So it's not the norm, but as long as he's a happy content child, I might have to be content with it too!

Our Prayer Board

Part of our bedtime routine with Josiah is prayer at the end. We always ask him, "Who do you want to pray for tonight?" Almost every single night, he answers, "Mr. Steve and Mrs. Daria and Ethan" (our friends from our small group in Birmingham who are now serving in South Africa). We love praying for them, but we wanted a visible way for him to explore his options.



So here is our prayer board. It has several friends who are serving abroad and all four of our sponsored children. He loves pointing to the people he wants to pray for that night. We are so blessed that Josiah remembers most of these people. What a gift to get to expose him to what God is doing in the world.

On a side note, Josiah still asks Jonathan, "What else was it like in Haiti?" Jonathan's pretty much run out of things to tell him, but we are grateful that he gets to hear that there are people who don't live in houses or have running water.

The Boys in Blue

Sunday after church we headed to Chapel Hill to see the Tar Heels play Florida State. We decided to take the boys with us for their first basketball game.

Josiah did great! He cheered very enthusiastically for the first part of the first half. After a while he got a little bored, and it got loud for him (he kept covering his ears).

Micah did great too. He even napped on my shoulder! He did jump a few times when the crowd cheered.

Our Tar Heel family!

Book Avalanche

This is not an effort to show off my obviously stellar housekeeping skills, but to illustrate Josiah's love of books. We read three books at nap time and bed time, plus a Bible story for each as well. These books always get placed at the side of the bed, plus Josiah goes to retrieve some of his own after we tuck him in. So it starts to pile up!

I've been trying to point out a repetitive word in a few books and get Josiah to recognize it. He's very aware of me trying to teach him anything, and will point to every other word on the page in order to derail my efforts.
The other day though I wised up and offered a sticker if he could point to the word.
He pointed to it right away. "Egg. The one with two g's."

Sims Barbecue

When we first moved here, the Morgans recommended we check out a place called Sims Barbecue. It sounded like fun, so we checked it out when Pop and Nana came into town this weekend.

It did not disappoint! This place is one of kind! First off, you drive to the middle of nowhere. Pretty much a barn in a field down a dirt road. Then you pay for a barbecue buffet and sit yourself down on a wooden bench to enjoy. The food was OK, but the atmosphere was just amazing.

At the front is a true bluegrass band. For the first part of the evening, a local clogging group performs, but then they all change into casual gear and everyone just dances the night away.

Josiah loved it. He just ran around and tried to imitate the dancing he saw and do-si-do-ed with all the kiddos.

All the pictures are blurry, but you get the picture. Jonathan said, "This is a really interesting cultural experience. I just can't believe it's where I live."

Micah was pretty mesmerized, but eventually faded.

A few videos of Josiah kicking up his heels.

Micah's Dedication to the Lord

On Sunday, we dedicated Micah to the Lord and vowed before Trinity Fellowship that we would raise him in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dodd praying for Micah.

Jonathan opened a joke, "Well Micah hasn't accomplished much in his life yet." He did go on to recount Micah's time in the NICU and how it reminded us from the beginning that he is in God's hands, which are much better than ours.

Our verse for Micah is Micah 6:8:

"He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the LORD require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?"

Our family after the service.

And the video, for those interested.

Micah's 7-month Stats

I know, 7-month stats? We tried to get to his 6-month appointment. The first time my car battery was dead. Then because of the holidays it was three weeks until we could reschedule! Then that appointment got cancelled because of the snow. So alas, we finally made it on Friday.

Weight: 20 lbs. 13 oz. (75-90 percentile)

Height: 28.25 inches (75-90 percentile)

Head: 46 cm (90 percentile)

We received some counsel about what to do for his dry skin/persistent cradle cap, discussed solids and his need for more iron, yada yada, oh look, he has an ear infection. Serious? The child is too sweet for his own good. No fever. He might have been slightly less chipper than normal. Runny nose. Not sure how I'm going to tell when this kid is really in pain! Poor kid.

Growing Up Too Fast!

Micah is growing up awfully quick these days!

Um, close to crawling? Please say no!

He's definitely getting more mobile these days.

Finally getting some solids in this kid. He happened to like this flavor somewhat: apple/butternut squash. I also warmed it quite a bit, so that might be a factor.

Avocado in the mesh feeder. "Like" is a relative term; he didn't seem repulsed.

But he's digging the Cheerios and has had some success getting them in his mouth.

More sticky grasp than pincer grasp.

So proud of himself!

Mama's Little Helper

Micah has been helping out a lot around the house lately.

Doing the laundry.

With some "help" from brother (who never had the slightest interest in helping with laundry until I praised Micah for helping).

And rearranging Mama's plastic storage containers each night. I love that he's content, even excited, to play there at this phase.

More Snow!

Two weeks ago, we had another bout of winter weather. It's fun the first day, but I was going a little nuts by the end of the week. They closed schools all week, despite the fact the roads were very manageable by Wednesday.

Josiah enjoyed making footprints.

But this was his favorite: playing with our sandbox dump trucks in the snow (and creating a Thomas the Train narrative the whole time). It was one of my better mom-suggestions.