Jeff and Cyndi Day

Busy, Busy, Busy

2012-02-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

Work and school have completely taken over our lives. I spend my days with Michael, doing homework when he naps and after he goes to bed. Jeff goes to class Mondays and Wednesdays, staying after to do his homework, and working late every other day to make up for the hours he misses for school.

We had my little sisters over for the Superbowl. It was a lot of fun to hang out and we all ate too much food.

Michael is as cute as ever, if not cuter. He's at a very fun stage where he babbles at anyone who will listen and loves being the center of attention. Everything is a truck (even ceiling fans) and he signs at random things while making a honk-like noise.

I dug out his old walker for him to play with while I cleaned out a closet, only to have him climb in and unable to get out. He got pretty mad, especially when I ran to get the camera instead of pulling him out immediately:

He is hilarious and gets into everything:

The cats are especially unhappy about his new found curiosity and have found there are very few places they can call their own now:

Bath time is a blast. Michael is having more fun playing with his toys and tries to stick his duck to his belly with the suction from the squeaker on the bottom:

He also thinks the shower curtain is pretty dang cool. He can see me through it, but it's still solid enough to play peek-a-boo with:

Lastly, Michael has learned to take pictures with "his" camera. I think the results are hilarious, but we do get mostly up-the-nose shots:

Christmas and Catch-Up

2012-01-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

Forgive my absence from the blogging world. First I was lazy and then life got rough.

Christmas was a lot of fun. We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Day's house with family, subs, and Elf. Christmas morning we woke up at our leisure (when Michael woke us) and opened our gifts next to our tree with all the ornaments out of Michael's reach.

-Side note: Michael especially loved our Pluto ornament and would point at it every few hours yelling "Puppy! Puppy!". Some days, he'd do it when Jeff got home from work too, in case Daddy had forgotten we had the wonderful ornament while he was gone.

Michael got a lot of fun gifts, including one of those barking, flipping dogs.

It actually flips on non-carpeted surfaces.

For the first week or so, whenever we went downstairs he would start yelling "Puppy! Puppy!" in hopes that I'd turn it on while he ate breakfast. He was scared of it at first and would only touch it when it was turned off. Whenever it fell over he would dance around it saying "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" until one of his parents righted the poor thing.

Now he isn't scared of it at all, which means he'll grab its legs while it tries to run or flip. The poor puppy probably doesn't have much of a lifespan left.

More Christmas fun:

What Michael saw:

We also went to our nephew, Paxton's, blessing. Doesn't he have the cutest family?:

It was a lot of fun and we got to see even more family that wasn't able to make it for Christmas.

After the new year, my little sisters came to Utah. Katie came back because she just can't get enough of hanging out with me, and Amy came out to start her first semester at BYU.

Plus, my parents flew out to WA to buy a new truck and drove through UT on their way home and stayed with us for a few days so they could go to my niece, Abby's, baptism.

Unfortunately, Jeff and Michael were sick so we had to stay home. The illness continued to get worse until I took Michael to the doctors on Monday where we found out he had an ear infection and bronchitis. Highly contagious, the bronchitis hit Jeff and Michael before coming for me. At least this way we've been able to help each other out. Jeff has actually been amazing these last few days while I've been hit hard with fever and cough. He's been working half days while taking care of Michael and me.

To top things off, the semester has started and both Jeff and I are going to school this Spring. So much fun.

That's pretty much where we stand right now.

In closing, here's Michael from this morning, dancing to Little Einsteins. They do have a really catchy opening theme:

Compilation

2011-12-23T15:53:00.001-08:00

This post is a collection of a lot of stuff I've been meaning to blog about but just never got around to doing it.

Michael learns to say "Boo!":

Here's Michael scaring daddy. He only does it if we react, so Jeff's using the manliest reaction he can. Michael's a lot harder to hear, sorry.

Doesn't he look fabulous in stripes and plaid? Not everyone can pull that off.

There's another version of this game where he runs into the room, yells "Boo!", waits for a reaction and then runs back out. He goes back and forth for as long as you're willing to scream when he yells.

Michael loves to help his Mommy by swiffering the kitchen, reorganizing the lower portion of the pantry, and finding his own milk in the fridge:

While Michael loves to help his Mommy, he loves to copy anything his Daddy does. They are so stinking cute together:

Michael even has his own keyboard and mouse for when he sits on his Daddy's lap in the office:

Ever since Michael could crawl, he has loved "catching" Sadie (it would be more of a challenge if the silly cat would just run away):

The poor thing puts up with a lot, including us telling Michael multiple times a day "Do not step on the kitty!", which is why it is so funny to watch her follow him around the house and nudge him for attention:

My last bit of news is probably the best. We've been trying to teach Michael sign language for a while and it's finally paying off!

He knows More, Please, Thank You, Milk, Water, Cracker, Apple, Bird, Tree, and Truck.

We watch Signing Time almost every day and he loves watching other kids doing the signs. Jeff would like it noted that Signing Time was created by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman, daughter of Lex de Azevedo, the man who wrote the music for Saturday's Warrior and My Turn on Earth.

We're really excited for Christmas tomorrow and I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

I guess now that we've been home for well over a week it's time to post about our Thanksgiving trip to Colorado. It was a lot of fun and the food was amazing.

Michael was relatively good on the airplane to and from Denver. They were still the most stressful times of our trip, but Michael let us bribe him with food, toys, and books for most of the flights. And the reading light buttons above our seats. He just could not leave those alone. But turning the lights on and off kept him happy. That was the important thing.

We got to Colorado Tuesday morning and spent the first few days entertaining ourselves by playing with Ki and Tess:

And watching Signing Time with them:

And playing with the chickens. I had a lot of fun with the chickens too and took my turn feeding them, collecting eggs, and fending off Big Red attacks (a gorgeous, cranky, red rooster that hates people). He pretty much just runs into the back of your legs and puffs up. He can't do a whole lot when he's that small and doesn't have hands.

It took Michael a few minutes to warm up to the chickens, but after that I had to keep my eye on him. It seemed like every time I turned around Michael was running for Big Red and I had to jump in between them to keep Michael from trying to pet the murderous bird:

Here's a quick video of Michael laughing at the chickens and Tess looking adorable in her outfit:

Screecher is the rooster crowing in the video. He is a nice rooster that my family raised from a hatchling, soI don't have to stress about him pecking Michael's eyes out.

We also had a great time lounging in front of the fireplace. I forgot to get a picture, but it was glorious having a fire going almost the entire time.

Thanksgiving meal was amazing. Here's my dad carving the turkey (sorry about the lighting):

And here's my full plate:

Everything was delicious. Jeff was especially pleased at my first attempt at making cranberry sauce.

After lunch, my dad got out his tractor:

Michael wasn't too keen on it until Daddy got on and let him play with the steering wheel:

Then he was willing to sit with Grandpa:

We're really grateful we were able to go visit for so long. Happy late Thanksgiving!

Halloween... Finally

2011-11-10T19:50:00.000-08:00

Halloween used to be fun. It used to be one of my favorite holidays. I even used to be one of those annoying older kids trick-or-treating well beyond what was appropriate. In fact, I went trick-or-treating every year right up until I went off to college, long after having the ability to buy my own candy with my own money.

I guess I'm growing up, because I've decided that Halloween is a lot of work for very little payout. We definitely had fun, but it wasn't up to my usual Halloween standards. Maybe as Michael gets older it will get fun again.

In any case, we kicked off the Halloween season with Michael and I going to a local pumpkin patch with our neighbors. Everything was free and we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the free entertainment.

There was a corn pit which Michael did not like unless I was sitting in it with him on my lap. I'm still finding the occasional kernel from what was smuggled into the house in clothes, shoes, and diapers.

Michael's reaction to being placed in the corn pit:

We also went on a hayride:

And visited the petting zoo where we found a pig that could have easily eaten every kid there. Whole. Michael thought the pig was hilarious and didn't seem the least bit concerned that its fence was simply a decoration placed there to make us feel secure:

The only other animal Michael really liked was the kangaroo, but I wasn't able to get any pictures of him petting it since it was housed with a stupid, mean llama that kept trying to bite people and I needed both hands to keep Michael from getting nipped.

When we left, I bought a few pumpkins and ended up buying Michael's new best friend. He ran around with his tiny pumpkin in his hand and occasionally spiked it on the ground, I assume to show it he didn't need it in his life and it should be grateful for whatever attention he bestowed upon it before he abandoned it:

I was way more excited about Michael's puppy costume than he was, and we had to practice wearing it the week before so he wouldn't cry all Halloween night. But it was worth it. He was stinking cute as a puppy.

I was able to show him off at the ward Halloween party. That was the best thing about the party. I signed up to make a pie and cupcakes and kicked myself thoroughly for it when I had to spend the day actually making them. My chocolate cream pie didn't have time to set properly, and I didn't realize the cupcakes were for a cakewalk where the kids chose their prize, so I made pumpkin cinnamon cupcakes that tasted amazing but looked... unappetizing to children. It was frustrating. But at least I had the cutest kid there:

I invited my little sister, Katie, to come with us to our Trunk-or-Treat on Halloween night and take Michael around to other cars while I handed out candy:

We were done about 5 minutes after the trunk-or-treating started. They visited a few cars, but Michael quickly tired of it and Katie wasn't comfortable begging candy off strangers for a one year old who could care less. I was close to running out of candy by the time they got back and we decided to call it quits and save some candy for the actual trick-or-treaters. I shouldn't have bothered.

What happened to trick-or-treating etiquette? You only knock at doors that have the porch light on, right? That's how we signal to trick-or-treaters that we have candy to share if they say the magic words, right? Maybe they thought my neighbor's light meant my house had candy too. I don't know. I do know that I still had kids knocking and ringing my doorbell long after I ran out of candy and shut off my porch light. In the end, I made a sign stating I was "Out of Candy. Sorry", and hung it on my door. I don't think they caught the sarcasm in the "Sorry", but they left us alone and I was able to put Michael to bed.

Next year should be better. I think Michael might actually get excited about Halloween, I'll plan ahead and won't scramble for a costume the morning of, and I'm not going to volunteer to bring anything to the ward party.

Do As I'm Doing

2011-10-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Michael is getting bigger and wants to do more and more things on his own. Things he sees Mommy and Daddy doing every day. Things like vacuuming:

We finally got a new vacuum cleaner, and while I'm ecstatic that Michael is no longer terrified when I vacuum, I wish he was maybe a little scared. Now he refuses to get out of the way and wants to do the vacuuming for me. It's almost harder to get it done than before when I had to hold him.

He also loves to brush his teeth. Not only does he love it, but he thinks it's a privilege! Only good little boys get to brush their teeth with yummy toothpaste:

Michael especially loves to go outside. When Mommy and Daddy are tired, they take a seat on the porch and watch Michael run back and forth. When our little boy sees us sitting, he'll come running to sit next to us. He even has a preferred side to sit on. The left:

It also shouldn't shock anyone that we're starting him early on one of our favorite things- gaming. So far he's just really good at dying, but we're working on it:

Canning on her own

2011-09-24T08:20:00.001-07:00

Cyndi canned while her grandma was in town and enjoyed it. Inspired by her aunt and grandma (I suppose she's known a few other people who've canned here and there) she did this on her own last night. I think it is pretty awesome to see Cyndi embracing her homemaking.

I see deliciousness in my future.

Haircut

2011-09-09T15:51:00.001-07:00

Michael has been needing a haircut for a while, but I tend to put them off for as long as I can. They are, in general, bad experiences for both of us. This time, though, my friend agreed to help me and to teach me how to buzz Michael's hair. There was so much hair on the floor of her kitchen, it was hard to believe, but we took off over 2 inches in some areas.

Ready? It's a bit of a shock...

Before:

And after:

Doesn't he look thrilled?

What We Do For Fun

2011-09-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

Life has gone back to normal, leaving me not a whole lot to blog about. Jeff is working, Michael and I stay home, and I try to get things done during the day.

Lately, a typical day for us consists of...

Michael feeding himself breakfast and tossing what he doesn't want on the floor:

Some relaxing time, kicking back in our respective chairs:

Something to stimulate Michael's developing brain. Sometimes it's just a walk, reading books, or even just playing with the neighbor kids. But sometimes we do something especially fun, like...

Going to the splash park, which has fountains! Michael has a great time sticking his hand in them and spraying himself:

Or going to the aquarium up in Sandy where Michael loves to splash in the stingray pool (he once accidentally touched a stingray and really didn't like it. He's just there to splash in their poopy water), and watch the fish in the tiny tanks for small kids:

This picture is from the other side of that tank. He thought it was the coolest thing that he could see me and kept coming around to look at me and run back to the tank to look through the glass:

The last time we went, the penguins were playing and Michael loved them. He laughed and laughed at them as they jetted through the water, right past his face:

Then Jeff gets home and Michael usually drops whatever he's doing to greet him and spend some quality time with his Daddy:

Then dinner, bath and bed. Not terribly interesting, but that's life right now.

In closing, random pictures...

Eating fruit loops with a fork:

Michael recording his own height:

Michael's first sucker. I had one and let Michael hold it for a bit. He strutted back and forth across the downstairs sucking on it and holding it above his head as he ran:

This is a bad picture, but you get the general strutting image.

Vegas

2011-08-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, Adobe sent Jeff to a security conference, Black Hat, in Las Vegas and Michael and I were allowed to tag along. They set him up in Bally's, where Michael loved our view (we could see Paris's Eiffel Tower and pool, and half of the Bellagio fountains):

Black Hat kicked off with a party in a Caesar's Palace penthouse, where everything was Adobe. Jeff sent me a few pictures:

The view from the penthouse balcony (notice the Adobe logo on the glass):

And Adobe swag. Jeff was even able to bring back a couple of these golf balls:

The conference went from Tues to Thurs and, obviously, Michael and I were not invited. So, early Wed (earlier than I thought, since Michael had issues sleeping), Michael and I took the opportunity to head down to Mesa, AZ and visit Granny Veronin, whom Michael hadn't met yet.

We drove down, stopping at McDonald's on the way to keep Michael happy, and spent a day with my Granny and Uncle Matt. On Uncle Matt's birthday, no less. Lucky!

Here are Michael and Uncle Matt playing on their iPads:

And Michael and his Great Granny Veronin:

We had a really great time. I got to visit with family and see my Granny's new house, and Michael had fun playing with toys, going up and down stairs, and running around "talking" on my phone and eating cookies:

We spent the night at Granny's and headed back to Las Vegas the next afternoon.

We got back to Las Vegas around dinner time and crashed at our good friend's, the Klemms, house for a few hours before heading back to Bally's for some much needed sleep.

Check out was at 11am the next morning, so Michael and I found a Denny's for breakfast (Bally's didn't have a single buffet!) and drove by my old house on Sixshooter Dr:

On the way back to Springville, we stopped by Liz and Jon's and Michael played with his cousin Lucas (sorry Liz, I forgot to take pictures of Michael stealing your son's toys) and saw their awesome new house.

I know it wasn't really a vacation for Jeff, as he was stuck at the conference most of the time, but I had a blast taking a break from the "norm". Michael was surprisingly good for sitting through 23 hours of driving over a period of 4 days (Tues- 5.5 hrs, Wed- 6 hrs, Thurs- 6 hrs, and Fri- 5.5 hours) and teething the whole time (4 new molars, yay!). I'm so proud of my boy, but I doubt we'll be taking another road trip anytime soon.

Pioneer Day

2011-07-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks, we've mainly been dealing with illness. We all caught something and Michael has yet to shake it. Let's just say it makes for some... interesting diapers.

We celebrated Pioneer Day by hiking to the G in Pleasant Grove. In my case, I should say tried to climb to the G, because I made it just over halfway before having to turn back. I felt like I was going to die. In my defense, we were basically climbing up the mountain. No switchbacks or anything. My very kind sister-in-law, Brittney, hung back with me and didn't judge when we turned around. Jeff, on the other hand, made it all the way to the top while carrying Michael! Kudos for him, especially since I had the water. Thankfully, his family shared after I left him to die of dehydration.

After the hike, we regrouped at his parent's house for food and fireworks. I love a good sidewalk fireworks show, so I had a lot of fun putting one on for the kids. I think it went well, despite almost setting the neighbor's yard on fire. Michael seemed to enjoy cuddling with Grandma, and ended up falling asleep in her lap:

Michael is such a sweet boy and I feel so blessed to have him in my life but, in the last week, he has started expressing himself in ways I could do without. I know he hasn't been feeling well with teething and diarrhea, so I've been trying to be extra patient with him but it's hard.

Earlier this week, we were in the kitchen and Michael brushed by the trash can. Hearing the bag rustle, I turned and said "Michael, we don't play with the trash. It's gross". He gave me a look, glanced at the trash can, looked back at me, reached out and grabbed the trash can. What a butt.

He's also taken to letting me know he's ready to get out of his high chair by throwing all his remaining food on the floor, piece by piece.

It really doesn't help that he's gotten into this phase of walking like a drunk and falling every 10 feet or so. He's been doing so well walking that I think he's trying to multitask (like stare at the ceiling while walking) and it's not working out so well. And, since he isn't feeling well, he feels the need to cry and get comforted by Mom every time he falls. It starts to fray the nerves after a few times.

It's not all bad, though. Michael is still stinking adorable. He's been babbling more and is working hard at letting me know exactly what he wants with pointing and "talking". He can go up and down stairs (although I still feel the need to spot him) and he loves to put things away in an almost OCD manner.

Today has been especially fun. He was such a good boy at church and charmed everyone in our temple prep class by running around the room, laughing his head off and "talking" on my phone (it's a small class in a big room). He had a lot of fun playing with Daddy, he laughed at the rain, and danced while playing peek a boo. Then, Michael had his rubber ducky make fart noises in the tub, thinking it was the funniest thing ever. And it was.

Closing pictures that have nothing to do with the post:

He Puts the "Toddle" in "Toddler"

2011-07-15T19:07:00.001-07:00

Yup, our boy is officially a toddler!

After our vacation, where Michael spent a lot of time with Ki and Tess -who are close to his size, but run circles around him- our little boy decided it was about time he let go of the furniture and venture off on his own:

Here he is, strutting his stuff, while wearing an old car charger like a boa:

I get to laugh a lot with this kid around.

Even though he's pretty much gotten the hang of walking, he does still love to push things around. One day, I lowered his high chair so he could get a better grip on it and pulled it to the middle of the floor. When he saw his chair at his eye level, Michael screamed and toddled over as fast as he could, immediately shoving it into the nearest gate:

And then he found the buckles!:

Buckles are the most fascinating things in the world right now. After I unclip Michael from his car seat, he'll usually go straight for the clasps and try to buckle himself right back in.

In other news, I had a birthday! I turned 26 years old on the 12th, but didn't really celebrate then because we were all sick. We did go to Tucanos for lunch (I got to beat the tambourine when they brought out the drums) and then brought Jeff home early from work. He let me nap while he watched the boy and then grabbed take out for dinner so neither of us would have to cook. I still felt pretty spoiled and had a great time. Also, last night, he gave me my presents and tonight he's cooking dinner! Being sick turned out to be an okay thing, what with my birthday being drawn out for a week. :)

And now, random pictures of Michael...

Big hug from Daddy (awwwwww):

Michael found a window to the backyard, obviously put there just for his amusement:

Pouting after, "No! Michael, we do not eat the kitty food!":

And getting tickled by Daddy:

A lot:

Vacation

2011-07-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Bear with me, because this is going to be a long post with a lot of pictures.

For the 4th of July, our little family went on a road trip to Colorado Springs to visit my family and their awesome new house. We planned our vacation so that we could stop and visit a number of national parks on the way there and back. We even rented a car so we could have more elbow room and still bring our stroller and cooler and whatnot.

In an effort to make the trip more enjoyable for our boy, Michael was flipped around to face forward in his car seat:

We left early in the morning so we could make it to Goblin Valley before it got too hot and gross. We bought a hiking backpack for Michael so we could easily haul him around. He seemed pretty happy with it:

Before heading down into Goblin Valley:

Michael enjoyed the rocks, if not his hat:

Jeff certainly had fun climbing around:

My favorite formation was the gargoyle head. Can you see it?:

We also stopped by Dead Horse Point:

Point, get it? Hahaha! We're funny.

It was mind blowing and absolutely gorgeous. Jeff told me that a lot of supposedly Grand Canyon movie shots are actually Dead Horse. It makes sense. It was that amazing.

On our way to Cortez, CO, we called our hotel to let them know we'd be checking in late. It's a good thing we did, because it turns out they'd over-booked after losing our reservation and had no room for us. They had to find us another place to stay since it was their mess-up, so it was an interesting drive trying to talk to everyone with phone service going in and out. Thankfully, we did finally get another hotel and a good night's sleep. The next morning, we got an early start to Mesa Verde, stopping at almost every scenic viewpoint we could.

Even though we got there relatively early, we weren't able to get tickets for the Cliff Palace tour. Instead, we went to Balcony House. The tour wasn't as fun as we were hoping, but it certainly wasn't the tour guide's fault.

This picture was taken moments before Michael had a complete meltdown and refused to be comforted. Unfortunately, we were past the point of no return but still at the beginning of the tour. We still had to fight with him up ladders, through narrow halls, and haul him through a 12 ft long, 18 inch wide tunnel that was the only way out:

We tried to hang back and not ruin the tour for everyone else, but it was pretty miserable and embarrassing.

The cliff dwelling was pretty cool, though:

We had planned on staying in Mesa Verde for a few more hours and see more cliff dwellings, but after Michael's freak out we just left. Maybe it will be more enjoyable for him in a few years.

After Mesa Verde, it was a straight shot drive to Colorado Springs -7 hours of driving. We passed through a lot of fun, little towns and saw interesting things like cows and The Feed Store Church.

We finally made it to my family's house after many stops to McDonald's and parks so Michael could stretch and watch other kids play (a favorite past time). Ki and Tess were so happy to see Baby Michael and Michael loved all the attention he got. He played with his aunts and uncle and adored the new large deck:

Tess doted on him, helping him eat and drink and bringing him toys:

We all had a lot of fun with family, playing cards, eating good food, and just hanging out. For the fourth of July, we went up to the Air Force Academy to watch fireworks since CO has a mass fire ban. They were spectacular fireworks. Even Jeff, who enjoys fireworks about as much as he enjoys parades, had a good time.

Jeff and I also had a lot of fun spending time on my Dad's new shooting range. We both got a little better with our handguns and had a great time shooting my Dad's elk rifle and our shotgun.

Michael got some good quality time with his Grandpa Veronin, too:

We had originally planned on visiting a few more National Parks on the way home, but didn't want to risk another Michael freak out. Instead, we stopped by my Grandma and Grandpa Durney's house for a quick visit and made a quick stop at Flaming Gorge dam.

Michael wasn't feeling terribly social, but we did get a nice picture of my grandparents with their oldest great grandchild:

It's really good to be home again. We're hoping to make it a family tradition to take a road trip during Jeff's forced, paid vacation over the 4th of July. Hopefully Michael will get better in a year or two and we can spend more time exploring and hiking wherever looks interesting. And camping. That would be a lot of fun.

Fun Times

2011-06-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, we joined family in AF canyon to celebrate our Aunt Karen's birthday. We took dutch ovens and chips and salsa to a picnic spot (which we were lucky to find) near the river -which was running very fast and high.

While the other boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the river, Michael preferred to bring them onto his blanket and occasionally taste them:

We had a lot of fun talking and watching kids. Michael's favorite thing was the big, red wagon the Mortensen's brought. He and his cousins (once removed) rode around in it as often as possible.

Michael was perfectly happy just hanging out in the wagon until someone was willing to take him for a ride:

Lately, when I point the camera at him, Michael has been giving me this squinty-eyed, goofy grin. It's hilarious:

He looks so weird...

I brought Michael's car seat in to be cleaned, and it immediately became the newest coolest toy ever. He would climb in it and stash toys in the cup holder:

Michael has also been enjoying getting into awkward places and then crying pathetically when he can't get out easily:

He's such a silly boy who constantly keeps me on my toes:

Happy Father's Birthday Day!

2011-06-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Michael and I had a lot to prepare for last week. We celebrated Jeff's birthday on Thursday and Father's Day on Sunday. We had a lot of fun. I think Jeff even enjoyed himself.

We are so lucky to have Jeff in our lives. He's a wonderful father and husband, who works so hard so we can live comfortably. He always takes the time to play with his boy who loves his Daddy so much. He's so supportive of his wife and randomly does nice things like unload the dishwasher to make her life a little easier. We love Jeff and couldn't imagine our lives without him.

Daddy and Michael:

They are so cute together and I love watching them play. Jeff is quickly becoming Michael's favorite. I'm still a necessity whenever Michael is injured or ready for bed, but Daddy is the "fun" parent. And, now that I'm no longer needed to feed him, Michael and Daddy can spend lots of quality time together. I find I'm very much okay with this. :)

Not a whole lot else is going on here. Michael is still adorable and practices going up and down stairs whenever we give him the chance. He also still thinks the kitchen is the coolest place to be and has the best toys. Sometimes I'll help him drag things, like my pots, out to the living room where we can have some fun while not sitting in the middle of the kitchen:

Boxes are pretty awesome play things, too:

I don't know why I bother spending money on those plastic, so-called "toys" when trash and dishes work just as well...

Growing Up

2011-06-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Michael is getting to be such a big boy. He's getting smarter and getting into more trouble every day. He's finally started to realize how much fun it is to empty drawers or move things from one drawer to the next:

If I forget to put the stairs gate up in the morning or after naps, I'll look up suddenly and find Michael has disappeared, or else I'll hear yelling and thumps from Michael climbing and hitting the stairs. I was hoping to get a video of his awesome climbing skills, but he decided to "talk" to me instead:

But it's not just stairs that Michael loves to climb. In fact, his favorite things to climb are Mommy and Daddy (especially Daddy). If we're sitting on a couch, he'll beg to be picked up and set next to us so he can make his way around and over us. It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but Michael is sitting on his Daddy's shoulder, leaning against his head. He looks so comfy:

He's also starting to master the art of the chicken dance:

But the biggest news right now is that Michael is finally walking! He's not too keen on doing it on his own yet, but he loves it if we make a game out of it and have him walk to one of us for a toy or his blankie:

Katie came over for dinner last night and got in on the action:

In closing, some cute pictures:

Weaning the Boy

2011-05-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot new in our lives, except Jeff's job is insanely stressful right now. Michael and I do what we can to support him, although Michael's support mainly consists of clinging to his Daddy when he has to leave for work. He seems to understand when Jeff is about to walk out the door and crawls quickly to him and climbs up his leg, begging to be picked up. It's pretty cute to watch but makes it hard for Jeff to leave.

Beyond that, things are pretty normal around here. Our days consist of eating, and practicing eating on our own:

Sleeping:

And playing (and being a bad, little boy):

Although, to go along with feeding himself, Michael is down to nursing only once a day now. It's a little hard and he wasn't very happy with me when I cut his morning feeding out. Here's his second day of a "real" breakfast:

He's a little grumpier in the morning than he used to be, but we'll get use to it... eventually.

Like I said, there's not a whole lot new, so here are some fun, random pictures of the boy:

(doesn't he look spiffy in stripes and camo?)

Not Walking... Yet

2011-05-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I was waiting for Michael to walk so I could have something exciting to talk about. As it is, he's taken a few unofficial steps before diving at either his dad or myself, but no actual walking.

He does still love his little racer. All I have to do is aim it at an open area and he'll climb up and wander off, yelling and smiling.

We've taken it outside some, too, while the neighbor kids ride bikes. Our neighbors, who adore Michael and wish he was their little brother, enjoy pushing him around when he gets tired of walking:

The racer is a big hit overall, but every once in a while, Michael will switch back to his other "push toy":

Our big boy has been practicing eating with a spoon. After feeding him for a bit, I'll hand him his spoon and let him go at it on his own. It starts out okay:

But after a while it becomes too much of a hassle and he drops it in favor of a more hands-on method:

At least he's happy, and he's getting some practice feeding himself.

Also, this kid loves loves loves the camera. If I point it at him, more often than not he'll give me a great big grin. I wouldn't be shocked if "cheese" ends up being his first word.

It's His Party

2011-05-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Michael's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Day's house. We had cupcakes and sang to Michael.

Michael was a big fan of his cupcake:

So messy!

Michael's birthday gift didn't actually get here until today (I'll plan ahead better when he starts caring more). It's a push and ride toy we're hoping will help him want to learn to walk. I had to assemble before it was technically "kid friendly" but Michael was more than willing to help out:

Once I got the wheels on it, Michael fell in love. It took some convincing to get him off and let me finish putting it together:

But once it was done, off he went!

And, with it being a push and ride racer, I got to play too:

Happy Birthday Michael!

2011-04-29T07:57:00.001-07:00

It's mind boggling to think that Jeff and I have been parents for a year now. It's still weird that we have a kid at all, much less one that's a full year old.

He started out as this tiny, hairy baby:

That slept all the time (I do miss that but, then again, I enjoy being able to sleep through the night myself):

He grew into a happy, chub of flub:

He explored the small world he could reach:

And before we knew it, our boy was hitting milestone after milestone! He had teeth, he could sit:

Stand and crawl:

Cruise and get into everything (that's a milestone, right?):

He always wants what Mommy and Daddy have:

And, to be honest, he usually gets it.

Now he's our big, smart boy who's still amazing his Mommy every day with how intelligent he is:

Here's our clever boy making up his own peek-a-boo game. The pauses between closing and opening the door are him wedging his little fingers into the cracks to get enough of a hold.

In honor of Michael's birthday, I'm going to let him add a few words. Michael?

x szSZ tfgvb vxzfcvdesxvzcvdeczdxfcvdesxz dfcvg zz d c'/.vytc vm,bh,.m/buyjm,bnujmnvujm

And there you have it.

Happy Birthday Michael! We love you and I've got Rick Astley stuck in my head cos we're never gonna give you up, little boy! :D

Road Trip

2011-04-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

Last week, Jeff, Michael and I took a trip out to Colorado. Jeff needed a break from stressful work, and I'm always up for an excuse to visit my parents.

Unfortunately, the weather was against us. It seemed like we couldn't have planned a worse week to travel East. Not wanting to let a little snow and high wind deter us, we decided to drive I-80 through Wyoming for an easier trip.

With the promise of bad weather ahead, we took the drive slow and easy, stopping in Rock Springs, WY for the night when Jeff got tired. The next day (after a Terrible continental breakfast from Days Inn -they should be ashamed of themselves), we fully expected to get to Colorado Springs by early evening. Instead, when we reached Laramie, WY, we found all roads East closed down due to winter conditions and crashes.

After waiting on a standstill freeway (twice, because we are just that smart) we opted for a hotel room to wait it out. We all took a four hour nap and decided it would be easier just to leave in the morning. Even though the freeway was open by that point, it looked like the weather was going to clear up the next day. If we had a chance to drive in the sun, we were going to take it.

Finally, almost two full days after we started our trip, we made it to Colorado Springs. My family was very happy to see us.

My mom let us ditch Michael on her while we got the grand tour of their new house. It is absolutely amazing. Jeff and I were duly impressed. They should put up a picture tour on their blog the next time they're at a loss for a subject (hint hint). I'm excited that the next time we visit them, they'll be in that house. I'm not so excited for the dirt roads and hills we'll have to venture with our little car.

Michael loved playing with Ki and Tess again. Now that he can crawl everywhere, he's even more interesting than he was before. Tess kept running up to me to point out "baby Michael" as she followed him around the house. Ki did get a little jealous when Michael got too close to Amy. "My Amy", he told Michael, pushing his hands away from his favorite sister.

Unfortunately, with only a day and a half visit, we weren't able to find time to play shang hi rummy, but we did find time to visit the ER with our little boy. It sounds a lot worse than it really was. I had noticed Michael was a little hot earlier in the day, but it wasn't until evening that I felt the need to take a temperature. It was high enough the on call pediatrician thought I ought to take him in to an urgent care clinic, which were all closed. With us traveling the next day, we didn't want to take any chances and took him to our only other option, the emergency room.

They didn't know what was wrong with him. Maybe a virus. Basically all we could do was keep his fever under control with infant ibuprofen and tylenol.

We weren't looking forward to driving 10 hours with a sick baby, but what could we do? So we bid adieu to my family and started out. The good news is that we made the trip in less than a day. We did have to stop a lot to take care of a very cranky boy. Giving him medicine, trying to get him to eat, or letting the poor kid stretch his legs. Jeff and I switched off sitting in back trying to entertain him while he cried at us. My favorite part was when he slept.

To make a long, terrible trip short, we finally made it home. It took less than 12 hours and I only saw one deer. Thankfully, it was contemplating death from the other side of the railings.

I did bring my camera with me, but the only time I thought to get it out was when Jeff was bouncing Michael on the trampoline. I'm a little embarrassed that with everything that happened on the trip, this is all I've got, but you have to admit they're pretty cute pictures:

And a video!:

Michael and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Haircut

2011-04-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Michael's hair has always been a little long, and I've trimmed it a few times to keep it out of his eyes or from looking like a mullet. Finally, I decided it was time for an actual sit-the-boy-down-and-take-half-an-inch-off-the-top haircut. It was an experience, to say the least.

To start, here are some before pictures:

For the haircut, I set Michael in his walker in front of the tv, thinking this would keep him from moving around too much.

He lost interest in the tv within 5 minutes. From then on, he just wanted the scissors. Even putting Aladdin on only bought me a few extra minutes with the singing.

Here are a couple of during shots:

Doesn't he look so happy?

I got mostly done before Michael started twisting and crying so much I couldn't continue. It was time for bed and I figured I would just finish the next day. Then I had a thought. I have to give him a bath before bed, why don't I just finish the haircut in there?

Worst Idea Ever.

Michael, no longer restrained in even the loosest terms, crawled back and forth in the tub, standing and sitting, and overall just not letting me cut his hair in an orderly fashion. Having cut hair everywhere certainly didn't help. I tried to keep it from falling in the tub, but that wasn't going to happen. It got stuck to me and the boy and it was just miserable.

He thought it was kind of funny that mommy was chasing him with scissors as he raced across the tub:

I finally finished -or at least got to a point that it wasn't long anymore. I thought it looked a little like someone grabbed some hedge clippers and just started whacking whatever happened to look longer than the other hairs (which kind of is what I ended up doing), but the more I see it, the more okay I am with it. Although, I think next time I'm just going to buzz the kid.

The final look:

A Basket of Bounty

2011-04-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that I don't update often enough. I don't usually think about it unless something exciting has happened, or if it's gotten to an embarrassing length of time between posts (a month or so). But I can at least try to post cute pictures of Michael more often, which I always have on hand, and, let's be honest, everyone checks our post for the pictures anyway. ;)

Michael still loves eating solids. He'll sit in his highchair and demand a portion of whatever I'm snacking on. Often, I'll just distract him with a heaping helping of Marshmallow Mateys. The kid is smart. He always goes for the marshmallows first:

This week, we were finally able to participate in Bountiful Baskets -something we've been meaning to do for a long time, but never actually got around to signing up for. Once we did register, it took a few weeks for us to be able to find a pick up relatively close to our house. It's so popular, everything disappears within minutes of the site opening up. We got lucky this week and the site went down for a few hours, letting Jeff snag us a Springville basket.

It was a lot of fun. Jeff was even more excited than I was. He wanted us to get so much produce we'd have to force ourselves to eat it so it doesn't go bad. He pretty much got his wish. We got asparagus, apples, oranges, lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, a watermelon, strawberries, mangoes, and green beans. We were especially excited for the asparagus. It is so good grilled and drizzled with a little butter. Michael especially loved the strawberries:

The weather here is a little on the fritz. One day it will be beautiful and sunny, and the next we get hail, wind, and snow. On the nice days, I open the door and set up a gate for Michael. He loves the outdoors but hates to play on the dead grass, even with a blanket under him. This is a perfect setup, because he gets sunshine and enjoys watching kids play basketball and ride their bikes in the road. Meanwhile, I get to visit with my neighbor who sits on the porch while her kids play outside.

The boy is getting more and more comfortable standing, and is getting better at balancing every day. He'll let go of whatever he's holding onto and can stand on his own for a few seconds at a time. Then he inevitably loses his balance and falls down. It's very cool to watch. I'm sure walking is just around the corner. I wish I could catch a picture, but it only lasts for a few seconds, and I'm usually the thing he's holding onto.

In other, less happy, news, Michael is altering his sleep schedule. We use to get in three good naps during the day and then he'd go to bed around 9 or 10pm. Now, we're losing a nap. It's not that big of a deal to me. Three naps was great, but my day kind of revolved around them. The worst part is adjusting and trying to figure out what the new schedule is going to be. It's frustrating, to say the least. He'll stay up longer, but gets more upset if we're late for a nap. Also, bedtime has moved up to sometime between 7:30 and 9pm (depending on how he's feeling that particular day).

At least we still have a bedtime ritual, which helps him know when it's time to stay down til morning. It starts with a bath, then pjs, feeding, and a story or song while I walk with him in his room. It's one of my favorite times of day because he's usually really cuddly. There are times, of course, where I'm late putting him to bed or he's just really grumpy. I can't help but laugh at his angry face. I love it!

This was an especially bad night, because he was cranky and I had to wash his hair (I try to do it every other night, because he hates it so much):

He is so mad at mommy!:

And now she's making fun of his crazy hair:

Life is so hard for baby Michael!

Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah

2011-03-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Michael has finally discovered why mommy spends so much time in the kitchen. It has cupboards! They open and close and hold secret things Michael isn't allowed to touch. What could be better than playing with these magical doors with shiny knobs?

In all seriousness, I'm surprised it took Michael so long to discover cupboards. Not that I'm complaining. I've had the kitchen to myself for 10 months. Now it's only a matter of time before he gets tired of slamming them and decides to empty them. I guess it's time for more babyproofing and maybe even reorganizing the kitchen. I do have a gate I can use to keep him out, but I usually just close it if I'm dealing with raw meat. He's not too much trouble... yet.

Plus, he's so dang cute to watch.

Playing with cupboards is second only to playing with the dishwasher. If I unload the sharp knives quickly, Michael gets free reign with the silverware, which he then drags all over the kitchen. Since I've got a boy crawling everywhere, I'm keeping my kitchen cleaner and I can usually just rinse them and put them back in the dishwasher (yes, I could put them away, but then what would Michael play with?).

Yesterday, Michael and I were eating pasta, when Michael seemed to get upset that his hands were so dirty. At least, that's what I got from him staring at his hands and whining. I cleaned them, and gave Michael a fork to show him how he could eat and keep his hands clean.

In truth, I thought he'd just bang it around and entertain himself while I finished eating. It's still a win for me. Instead, he immediately grabbed the fork and shoved it in his mouth, only to be disappointed that there was no food on it. I spent the rest of that meal spearing pasta for the boy, while he fed himself. It was really fun to watch.

Here's a quick video:

Later on, he wanted to do the same thing with his spoon and baby food. It didn't work out quite as well, but it's so much fun that he wants to do it himself.

Such a happy, clever boy!

Anecdotes and Favorite Things

2011-03-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

Michael is a funny kid. It's a lot of fun to take him places, but he's rather shy around other people, so it's hard to show just how clever and hilarious he can be. Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's in a "stranger danger" phase or if he's simply very clingy. Either way, most of what anyone else sees is Michael hanging onto me for dear life. Not much personality. So, I've collected a couple of fun anecdotes from our daily lives to share.

___

Just yesterday, I decided that the crumbs embedded in the carpet were no longer safe for Michael to snack on and that it was finally time to vacuum again. Michael hates the vacuum cleaner. Some baby books recommend vacuuming to help calm your newborn if they're crying, but, for us, it resulted in a lot more crying and a serious dislike for vacuuming on all parts. It is not to be attempted here unless you're willing to put up with a very angry boy.

So, when I pulled out the vacuum this morning, Michael took one look at it and started crying. I was planning to just pop him in his walker and deal with the crying while I cleaned, but he crawled over to me and clung to my leg. It was too pathetic to ignore. As long as I held him, he was okay. He buried his face in my shoulder and grabbed my shirt, occasionally lifting his head to look down at the vacuum and whine, then he'd shove his face down again and concentrate on not letting go.

I finally had to pry him off so I could put the vacuum away. He acted like I was handing him off to the grim reaper instead of just setting him on the floor. Thankfully, it only took a few minutes and a singing hamster to calm him down and make him the forget about the scary vacuum cleaner.

___

One morning, I was applying mascara while holding Michael. He watched me, fascinated with the little pink tube. When I was done, I screwed it shut and handed it to him for further examination. Michael looked at the tube, and he looked at me. Then, holding the mascara sideways, he tried to jab me in the eye. I assume he was going for a spot I had missed, but lacked the necessary delicate touch.

Luckily, I had already put my glasses back on and no damage was done.

Michael enjoys grocery shopping, especially now that he can sit in the cart and look around (and yell at people). Last week, we were wandering at Maceys, when Michael started pushing and hitting my hands. I stopped the cart and removed my hands. Michael grabbed where they had been, looked up at me, and laughed. When he let go, I tried to push the cart again. He lunged at my hands and tried to shove them off the again. I let go, and he laughed. It turned into a game, where I was allowed to touch only metal on the cart, not the blue plastic on the handle. If I ever "forgot" and put my hands in the middle, he'd grab my hands and push them as hard as he could. When I let go, he'd grab the blue plastic and laugh up at me. It was easily my favorite shopping trip with the boy, to date.

In the morning, Jeff will hold Michael while he gets ready for the day. Michael loves to watch him brush his teeth and comb his hair. When daddy has to leave, I'll help Michael stand on the bed so he can watch Jeff walk to his car from the window. It's become tradition for Jeff to turn and wave to Michael before getting into his car. Michael thinks it's the greatest thing ever. He'll laugh and smack the window and watch the car pull away. He'll often knock his head into the window, trying to watch Jeff drive off. It's very cute to watch.

Here are just a few cute pictures of Michael encouraging me to blog. He's such a helpful boy:

Also, Michael's got your nose:

Continued

2011-03-01T12:05:00.001-08:00

Hooray for naps!

Now, to finish my 15 things. I promise to keep the rest shorter than number 1.

2. I use to have a lot of hobbies. Reading, playing outside, card games, writing, drawing, video games, puzzles. I've even tried my hand at photography and woodworking. Recently, they've turned into Michael, audio books, Michael, the occasional computer game, Michael, and cat naps.

3. I love to cook. I'm not calling it a hobby, because I rarely cook unless we need a meal or there's a special occasion. The funny thing is that I don't always follow the recipe. In fact, I almost never follow it as written. I tend to change amounts or add/remove ingredients. Jeff says he loves it and doesn't mind that I have yet to have two meals come out the same way.

4. I collect comics. If I had the money, I'd have a room full of them. My small collection is mostly Batman, as he is my favorite superhero of all time, but I also own some X-men, stuff written by Joss Whedon, and a random selection of other superheroes and writers.

5. I am terrified of zombies. Not kidding. I have nightmares of the joked about "Zombie Apocalypse". I get frightened reading about them, playing zombie video games, or even talking about them. Jeff once made me cry by pretending to be a zombie while I hid under the covers.

6. I can sew! I know this has come up before, but I am so glad my mother taught me to sew. I'm not great at it, but I have a sewing machine and I can use it. Just the other day I hemmed the curtains in Jeff's office so they didn't drag on his desk anymore. I've also patched our favorite quilt that's sadly falling apart. They're not big projects, but I'm proud of them and Jeff likes having a wife who can take care of things like that. He says it's cute.

7. Someday I will paint a mural on Michael's wall. I've been planning it since before he was born, but I've never gotten around to doing it. I want to have it done before 2012. Good luck to me.

8. Taking a break from me, Michael is crawling:

I'm such a mean mom to laugh at him, but did you see the crawling?! Hooray for Michael!

9. Despite number 1, I really am a good driver. I was something of a terror when I first started, and over the years I've had some run-ins with inanimate objects, but I've never hit another car. Also, my last accident was over 5 years ago, and my last speeding ticket was some time before that.

10. I'm getting laser eye surgery. I don't know exactly when , because I have to wait at least 90 days from when I stop breastfeeding Michael, but it will be relatively soon. Hopefully sometime this year.

11. I love my Michael boy. Yes, I'm running out of things to type, but I am half tempted to keep Michael an only child and just spoil the heck out of him. He's such a Momma's boy and I wouldn't mind being able to give him my undivided attention forever. Unfortunately for him, my desire for a bigger family (and babies) is much more tempting.

12. Writing things down helps me remember them , even if I lose the piece of paper. Otherwise, I have a very bad memory. Sometimes I have difficulty remembering what happened the day before or what I just said 5 minutes ago. It's kind of embarrassing.

13. My favorite physical things about myself are my hair, my smile, and my feet.

14. My favorite color is green.

15. My husband is amazing at his job. In fact, he is so good that at his last annual review, both of his bosses (one of whom is the VP of Engineering) congratulated him on doing so well. :)

15 Things

2011-03-01T09:16:00.001-08:00

A while ago, one of my sisters-in-law tagged me to post 15 things about myself. I've procrastinated as long as I could, but I finally have the time and nothing besides illness to blog about. I might cheat and post one or two things about my husband and son, since I'm having a hard time thinking of that may things about myself.

1. Let's start with a classic: my most embarrassing moment. When I was sixteen, I crashed a car into a fire hydrant.

I was driving home, and on my own street, when I saw a friend walking home from band practice. I turned to wave to her as I passed, and took the steering wheel with me. The next thing I knew, the car had stopped moving and the sidewalk was a lot closer than it had been a moment ago. I know there was an impact, but I don't quite remember it.

Bingo, our dog who had been in the backseat, leaped over me as soon as I opened my door. He raced down the street towards our house with his tail between his legs. Not surprisingly, he didn't like driving with me after that.

I slowly got out and reassured my friend that I was okay. Three out of four wheels were up on the curb, and the hood of the car resembled an accordion -if it had been smashed into a bright yellow fire hydrant. Neighbors started coming out of their houses. People I knew and saw almost every day, including the residents of the house the hydrant was in front of, one of which happened to be the boy I had a very large crush on. Someone called my mom, who drove up in our suburban. Her jaw dropped. It would have been funny if I hadn't just embarrassed myself in front of our entire neighborhood.

The car was totaled and the fire hydrant was stuck at a 45 degree angle. I learned something that day, though, besides don't turn to wave at friends while driving. Fire hydrants have a trap door in them that snap shut if something (say, a car) smashes into them. So all those scenes in movies with cars smashing into hydrants and geysers shooting out of them is just a load of Hollywood drama. Cool, huh? I could have done without the object lesson, myself.

The fire hydrant had to be reset, or whatever, so it could be used in case of a fire, and they were able to correct its awkward angle. They weren't able to make it look completely normal, though.

For years afterward, when we drove past the fire hydrant that stuck a foot out of the ground, everyone would say "Look, Cyndi, there's your fire hydrant!" Ha ha ha. Awesome.

We don't have a scanner, so here's a picture of my scrapbook page. I was suppose to make it pretty, but the story makes it cooler than any stickers ever will, so what's the point?

That story should count for at least 5 things.

I took too long with this and Michael has woken up from his nap. I'll end here for now and finish my 15 things the next time he falls asleep.

'Tis the Season

2011-02-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

Our poor little boy has RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

It started last Friday with a slight cough and a low grade fever. The cough got worse and the fever didn't go away, so we went to the doctor. Michael was just one of over a dozen sick babies they had seen with RSV recently. Since Michael is a bigger boy, his symptoms aren't as bad as they could have been. I've always loved having a chubby baby, and now that flub is keeping our boy out of the hospital.

He'll probably be contagious for at least 2 weeks, but his symptoms are already getting better. His breathing isn't labored, his fever is gone, and he's surprisingly active. He does occasionally wake up for night feedings (just in the last week) but, as he's suppose to drink as much as possible, I have no problem with it. Even that has lessened, so I don't think we'll have any issues going back to his normal sleep schedule once he's well.

He is still very clingy, has mood swings that put pregnant women to shame, and his coughs sound terrible, but he's going to bed easier and he's finally accepting his daddy again.

I can't wait for Michael to feel completely better and to go back to his adorable, dorky self again.

Taking Down Christmas

2011-02-08T12:40:00.001-08:00

I wish I was kidding.

We had friends over for the Superbowl, which meant I spent Saturday cleaning house, which finally gave me the motivation I needed to put away Christmas. Most of the cleaning involved wrapping and storing ornaments and shoving fake branches into my Christmas tree bin. Thankfully, I only had one run in with a spider and it was relatively small.

Here's our awesome tree. It looked a lot prettier decorated, but I love this tree:

I also had to put away the hand carved nativity set my dad bought in Israel. He bought one for each kid while on TDY back when I was about 8 years old and living in Florida. It's really cool to think that it's traveled and been in storage for about 17 years and comes out of its box looking so good (unfortunately, the stable broke, but it's fixable if I buy a wood clamp). It's gorgeous:

Michael was as helpful as a baby can be, which is to say that he cried and got in the way the whole time. He also didn't appreciate it when I tried to make him wear his santa hat:

No fun at all. At least, not until he "crawled" over to me, climbed up my sweater, and started laughing:

Which takes me to our little King of Cruising. Michael can pull himself up to standing all on his own and likes to make his way up and down the coffee table:

It's amazing how much he loves playing with his walker even when he's not sitting in it:

First stage of babyproofing our house, baby gate at the top of the stairs. It's the perfect height for our boy to stand next to, plus it has such fun textures for him to play with. That's why we got it, little boy, purely for your entertainment:

It's insane that he was just starting to push himself into a sitting position a few weeks ago. It probably won't be long before this kid is walking.

Last but not least, here's Michael's impression of his daddy:

Home Sweet Home

2011-01-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

While in Colorado, Michael and I celebrated Ki's birthday with the family by going to Chuck E Cheese's. Ki got a cool inflatable crown and a special birthday medallion. Dressed up Chuck E Cheese wasn't very enthusiastic, but the kids all had fun.

My favorite part was when the hostess and the mouse were singing Happy Birthday and Ki led all the kids away to dance in another part of the room. Chuck and the hostess didn't know what to do, so they just kept singing to the grown ups.

Ki got to play in the Ticket Blaster. Tera got to go in with him. They both seemed to have a lot of fun:

Tess was, of course, adorable. This is her saying "cheese":

Michael was very interested in the mechanical Chuck, who sang things like Justin Beiber's "Baby" and Plain White T's "1, 2, 3, 4":

He especially enjoyed driving the Chuck E Cheese car in the baby section, but only while it wasn't moving. It was really cute because he didn't want to stay sitting for it:

Happy late Birthday, Ki! It was a lot of fun!

Michael had a blast eating "real" food while we visited. He's decided he doesn't like Gerber's pureed stuff. He prefers fun foods, like whatever Mom happens to be eating:

He's also decided his new favorite thing is to stand up. Personally, I think he needs to get a little better at it before I can really support this new phase. Holding this fat boy up gets tiring after a little while. Thankfully, he's getting better at standing while holding on to things:

He can actually stay up for a little while. It's really neat to watch. We're still working on him pulling himself up, but he's getting better every day.

Ki and Tess were very sorry to see their favorite nephew leave. They even came upstairs to help Michael pack up his toys the day we left:

Like I said, the visit was a lot of fun, but I was very ready to go home. Jeff flew out on Saturday to help with the drive. Michael thought it would impress his dad if he showed off his lung capacity by yelling for a little while. Not in anger, just happy yelling. Very cute and impressive, but the napping was nicer.

We hit some snow, and we even almost hit a suicidal deer, but, despite these setbacks, we made it home safely around 1am on Sunday morning.

Our boy was surprisingly good for both trips. I'm not opposed to the idea of doing it again sometime. Unfortunately, it takes the poor kid a little while to recover afterwards. Michael's finally accepted that we are home and we're not going anywhere for a while, but it took a few days. We're very happy to be safe and home.

(guess what mommy was trying to eat that day...)

Colorado

2011-01-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

Michael and I drove out to visit my family in Colorado Springs for a week, and Ki and Tess are very happy to have baby Michael back in the house:

When Michael feels a little too loved, Tess tries to make Michael happy by kissing his hand, saying "Happy, happy", and giving him hugs. When that doesn't work, she just plays with his hair:

She really loves his hair:

Of course, he loves hers too:

Baby Michael really loves his smallest aunt. She'll laugh and yell "Baby" when he comes downstairs and he'll laugh at her even when she's not doing anything. They have a great time playing together:

Michael isn,t crawling yet, but he can easily get on his knees and rocks back and forth:

Lack of crawling does not keep him from getting around, though. I call this picture Escape from the Changing Pad:

Edit: I just got Michael after his morning nap, and guess who I found sitting up in bed!

He's Lucky He's Cute

2011-01-07T10:18:00.001-08:00

Remember back when I posted that Michael just had his second tooth break through? That was what, a week ago? Since then, he's had three more teeth peek out, the most recent of which just showed up this morning. That's right, Michael's gotten four new teeth in under two weeks. He now has two teeth on the bottom and three on the top and, I'll tell you what, our boy has been a terror. Graham crackers have been our saving grace. If he's unhappy and won't let anything distract him from his bad mood, we just pop him in his walker or high chair and give him some graham crackers. Infant ibuprofen certainly doesn't hurt either.

Here are some pictures of those bottom teeth:

I tried to get some pictures of the top teeth, but all you can see are two that are spread just far apart enough to make me suspect fangs...

Like I said, our boy is dang lucky he's cute, and we're ready for him to take a break on the teething. It's no fun for anyone.

The Tooth

2010-12-31T17:25:00.000-08:00

I mentioned before that Michael had his first tooth. Here's photographic proof:

Unfortunately, this picture is out of date as he just cut his second tooth earlier this week. He is a very cranky boy right now, and not in a very picture taking mood. Instead, here are some recent pictures of our boy being adorable.

In his new hat:

In his new highchair (a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Veronin):

First time sitting in a cart:

Just being a cutie butt boy:

Michael just turned 8 months old and has already passed 19 lbs. He loves to eat bread and fries but isn't such a fan of pureed veggies. Not even sweet potatoes. He can rock himself on his knees and commando crawls. He's starting his "stranger danger" phase and doesn't like to be held by anyone but mom and dad. He can almost push himself into a sitting position and loves to pull blankets off his head to play peek-a-boo. Our little boy is growing up and learning something new every day.

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Michael's first Christmas was spent in Colorado. He was wonderful for the flight out, even though we spent far too long in the airport. Our flight was delayed, although Delta didn't think that the information was important enough to be shared with its passengers. We finally got sick of waiting and talked to an employee who apologized and was kind enough to get us on another flight which left only 2 hours after our flight was suppose to. It was better than the 4 and a half hours we would have had to wait for our original plane.

Michael loved the Denver changing tables. They had mirrors! He even got to dance with his reflection:

We finally arrived in Colorado Springs where Ki and Tess were so happy to see us.

They really were excited to see us. They really, really love Michael -or "baby Michael", as they call him. I was "baby Michael mommy" and Jeff was "Jeff daddy". They are adorable children.

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary and both Mary and Katie's birthdays while in CO.

Michael enjoyed borrowing Tess's highchair and his Grandma Veronin got him an adorable santa hat to celebrate Christmas in.

Tess still used her highchair a lot and can apparently even sleep in it. It's amazing to me, and so stinking cute:

We took Michael on a walk with his uncle Ki to the park. Michael loves being outside, but he did miss the use of his fingers while wearing his mittens.

They both had a lot of fun swinging on the baby swings:

Every year for Christmas Eve, our family reenacts the nativity scene. This year, we had the babies do it. I shouldn't have been surprised at how hard it was to get them all to hold still long enough to take a picture, but we were able to get some really cute ones:

Christmas morning is always a blur, and I didn't take any pictures, but Michael was not interested in ripping opening gifts. He liked the discarded wrapping paper and ribbons and whatever Jeff and I were holding, but he did get the perfect gift from his Great Grandma Durney: a stuffed kitty. He giggles at it and loves to pull its tail and ears and it can't run away or scratch him.

He also got an adorable knit hat from his Aunt Jessi which unfortunately took a few tries to get right (she knit it while we were there). We continually underestimated the size of our fat boy's head, but it finally came out perfect.

It was a wonderful visit. We got to spend a lot of great time with sisters in the car to and from our Grandma's, Dad played Eternal Darkness to show us the HP Lovecraft-iness of it, we got to eat Mom's amazing homemade meals, and of course we played cards. Oh, and we all got sick. It was great.

It really was a lot of fun. I love going home.

On the flight back home, we got over halfway through the flight before Michael decided he wanted to be one of those babies. He was happily sitting on my tray table when, without warning, he freaked out. I don't know why, but he just suddenly started screaming. He wouldn't calm down. We walked up and down the airplane aisle (bumping people's elbows and constantly apologizing). Then, while I was desperately bouncing him on my lap, he started playing with his toes and cooing. It was the weirdest thing. One second screaming, the other second playing with his toes and as happy as can be. Needless to say, we were very grateful when we finally got off the plane. I think we might take a break from travelling for a bit.

Here's Michael loving the plane window, sitting next to his new kitty:

Merry Christmas everyone!

Late Thanksgiving

2010-12-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

This year Jeff, Michael and I stayed in Utah for Thanksgiving. Since a good portion of my extended family came to Utah to have Thanksgiving with my Aunt Karen, the Veronins braved the drive (beating the "blizzard") as well and stayed with us for Thanksgiving week. It was a little cramped in our three bedroom town home, but it was very much worth it. Ki, Tess, and Michael all loved playing with each other again and I always love seeing my family.

Unfortunately, I only took pictures with my phone, so they are almost all terribly fuzzy.

Thankfully, I got a decent one with Ki loving Michael:

Thanksgiving day, we went to the Day's where we measured Michael against some of his cousins, making us feel a bit better (he is still our little boy).

A little before the meal, one of Jeff's nephews, Braxton, came running upstairs. He had completely covered his hair in butter. He held his greasy hands out to his dad in a plea for him to clean them. Not the hair, just his hands. It was hilarious. Ah, the things we get to look forward to with small children.

After an amazingly fantastic meal, we played Bang! and chatted while some children (not Michael) slept. It was a long but very enjoyable day.

As per a kind of family tradition, my family went to the movies the day after Thanksgiving. Jeff, my grandpa, and I stayed with the small children since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn't exactly kid friendly. It was fun to watch them play together. Especially since Ki hasn't had too much experience playing with other kids his age.

It was a great holiday and I was sorry to see my family leave. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before we got to see them again...

New Sister and Aunt

2010-11-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

It's finally official! Tess is my little sister!

Jeff, Michael, and I flew out for her adoption on the 9th. I completely forgot to take airport or plane pictures, but the poor boy was exhausted in the car after the flight, considering he didn't nap at all on the plane. He loved looking out the window and gnawing on the cookies they served.

The adoption went really well. The judge just asked my parents if they had any qualms about adopting Tess (as she ran across the tables), and it was done. Then we took some pictures and went out to eat to celebrate. It was really nice to have to whole family together. Grandma even got a day off from her mission to come down and be with us. Michael was a bit fussy, but had an adorable outfit with a little tie and everything!

Jeff had to fly home after the adoption, but Michael and I hung out with the Veronins until Saturday. Michael loved it. My Mom has a lot more baby toys than I do and he absolutely loved the extra attention from Ki and Tess. Every morning when we came downstairs Ki and Tess would yell "Baby! Baby!" and run over to hug and kiss Michael.

(Yes, Mom, I stole this one from your blog. It's way cute.)

We had a lot of fun. We played cards (lots of cards -thanks Joe!), Mike got to know his Grandma and Grandpa Veronin better, and then I got to fly home alone with the boy.

Everything actually went really well. Michael was very good and happy and charmed everyone in the airport. He definitely enjoyed the airplane cookies again:

It was great until I stepped off the airplane and puked. I had had a migraine all morning and started feeling nauseated as we landed. I really thought I could hold it in. Thankfully, I was able to hand Michael to the nice lady standing next to me before I did it. It was so embarrassing, but people were very nice and helped me out, especially the woman holding Michael. He was asleep and just cuddling with her shoulder, so she was very willing to hold him as long as it took me to pull myself back together.

At least we're home now. Michael is happy to have his crib back, but I think he misses the extra attention from his aunt and uncle.

Last night, Michael had been feeling under the weather. He had a slight fever and a runny nose and kept pulling on his ear. I was really afraid the poor boy had gotten an ear infection, but this morning, he was chewing on my finger and I felt a tooth! It's just the very smallest edge, but it's broken through the gums and our boy has his first tooth! He is, unfortunately, still feeling a little unwell, but at least I know it's not an ear infection.

Hooray for Michael's tooth!

6 Months Older and Wiser Too...

2010-10-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

At Michael's 6 month appointment, he weighed in at 18 lbs, 2.5 oz. He's fallen in percentiles, now only in the 61st as opposed to the 72nd and, before that, the 90th, but not many babies can flaunt those thighs:

A while ago, we bought Michael a walker. When we first got it, he was on his tippy toes at the lowest setting. Now he's flat footed and can bounce himself in it. We weren't kidding about that growth spurt. He really seems to love it, and I can leave him in it while he entertains himself:

Our boy is also getting to be a pro at sitting up. He can't get himself into a sitting position yet, but he's working on his abs and can stay up for a long time on his own:

For Halloween, he was an adorable lion. This isn't the best picture but, as you can see, it has a lot of unnecessary padding. Then again, so does Michael:

We went to the Adobe Halloween party and met up with Jeff. It looks like Adobe is officially going to keep Omniture's Halloween tradition going. In fact, for the new office they're planning in Lehi, they intend to build it to make it easy to get the Halloween line in and out (or so I've heard).

So I always thought it was silly to have regular diapers and night time diapers. I thought it was just some diaper scheme to get you to spend more money. You know what we found out? Babies pee in their sleep. A lot. It reminds me of a frog's defense mechanism, like they're punishing you for putting them to bed. Of course, if I had really thought about it before, it would make complete sense. Especially for our baby boy who still wakes up to eat every few hours at night. In fact, sometimes even the "extra absorption" isn't enough and our poor boy wakes up wet. Fun times all around.

It can be interesting figuring out how to do normal chores during the day while Michael is awake (I could just put him down, yes, but this is more entertaining). Like when he helps me with laundry:

Michael is a silly boy who's getting more of a personality every day. He's a great time.

Oh! We took this video a while ago and kept meaning to share it. I love it!

Sleeping Boy

2010-10-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie post:

No, Michael isn't sleeping through the night yet. In fact, for the last few nights, he's been waking up every 2-3 hours to eat. I think he's going through a growth spurt.

I've been having fun taking quick pictures of Michael when he falls asleep. He's adorable and can sleep through almost anything, including a camera flash. :)

Here are some of my favorites:

Honda

2010-10-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

This morning, I opened a letter:

"Dear Customer:

Congratulations! We have received the final payment on your loan, and because we no longer retain you original loan contract, this letter serves as our acknowledgment that this debt has been paid in full. You will receive the release title in a separate mailing within seven business days."

We've paid off our Honda!

It's hard to express how happy we are about this. It's amazingly satisfying to have one less payment to make every month and a huge weight off our shoulders to have less debt.

Now, I don't know if anyone remembers what happened last time we paid off a car, but I don't think we'll be taking any winter road trips this year...

5 Months

2010-10-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Michael is 5 months old and a very social boy. Jeff loves to play with him in the morning, because that's generally when he's the happiest. He's usually greeted with smiles and raspberries when he goes to take Michael out of the crib.

Michael has been enjoying his crib a lot more and can happily stay in there on his own for a bit. Sometimes we come in to find him in weird positions with his legs sticking out of the sides of the crib.

As he gets better at rolling, I find him on his stomach a lot more often.

I also find him in awkward positions in his blue chair from trying to roll or arching his back so much he slides to the bottom.

(I feel a little guilty about this picture since I took it instead of immediately helping, but his cry wasn't pained, he was just really angry. Plus it was hilarious.)

My sister, Katie, and I took Michael to the pet store to look at fish the other day. I read that babies his age really love watching them swim around. Plus, I needed to get Sadie a new collar so I can toss the cats outside again.

It was a lot of fun, but I was a little disappointed at how few animals they had. Does anyone else remember the days when pet stores sold more than fish and hamsters? Where are the dogs and cats to go along with all the food and toys they stock? It would have been fun to see how Michael reacted to puppies.

Michael has been making it more and more worth it to keep him around. Jeff says that he can see how people would want more than one. Our boy is so smiley and active and can finally entertain himself for more than a minute. We love it.

Training

2010-09-28T08:50:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow, Michael will be five months old. For the last few nights, Jeff and I have been trying to train Michael to sleep through the night since he still wakes up twice to be fed. We tried making him cry it out in his crib. It was excruciating for everyone involved.
Yesterday I finally opened a book quite a few friends had recommended we read, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, in hopes of finding a better method. The author isn't fond of the Cry it Out method and feels parents should try other soothing methods first, as they should be building trust with their baby by going to them when needed. As for nighttime feedings, he says that babies may actually need one or two nightly feedings until they're 9 months old. Don't consider it a problem unless they try to play with you afterward. It's a matter of wants and needs. Does you baby just want your attention? If so, that's when you need to stop going to them. Michael always falls asleep directly after eating and I really don't mind him waking up twice during the night. It usually just lasts a few minutes. Last night, I determined that I would feed Michael when he cried, but he slept from 8:30pm to about 4:45am and only woke up that one time.
After just two nights of crying, Michael slept over 8 hours on his own. I don't know if we should go back to making him cry it out or if I should keep feeding him. Any thoughts?

Canning and Toes

2010-09-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last week, my aunt Karen and Grandma were kind enough to let me can with them. I've never done it before and found it fascinating. I also found it hot and tiring but, if they let me, I'll probably join them again next time. It was a lot of fun to spend the two days with just the three of us (and babies). We canned/bottled salsa and peaches. Aren't they beautiful?

I'm very proud! (I still owe you for the produce, Grandma. Sorry.)

Jeff is enjoying school more now that he's dropped two classes. No complaints from me. He gets home sooner at night and we get a tuition refund. He's also less stressed and has more energy to play with Michael. We have a much happier house.

Michael is working on sitting up and can balance himself for a few seconds without help. He can even pull himself into a sitting position if he's already partway there (like lying on a pillow), but then promptly falls over.
One of his favorite games is standing on our stomachs while we lie on the bed and being our "tall boy". It gets a grin every time (until I point a camera at him).

He's gained the ability to grab his feet and suck on his toes. It is so much fun to lay him on his changing table and just let him go at it. If he's on the floor, Michael will grab his feet and have a ball rolling onto his side.
He has rolled all the way onto his stomach but we haven't actually seen it happen. We've both gotten him out of his crib when he's crying on his stomach but had gone sleep on his back, and Jeff says he put the boy down on his stomach and a minute later he was on his back. I can't wait for proof that someone isn't just secretly pushing him over when we're not looking.

And his tongue! He's having a lot of fun sticking it out at us and blowing raspberries! It is by far my favorite thing he's learned to do.

And here's the boy eating his sock:

He's So Happy!

2010-09-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Instead of a ton of cute pictures of the boy, here are some cute videos! I tried to keep them short, so they're each less than a minute :)

Michael is 4 months old now. We went to his check up and found out he weighs 15 lbs 15 oz. Just under 16 lbs! It looks like I was a little ahead of myself switching him to size 3 diapers, but 2s just weren't cutting it. (Poo up the back is soooooo nasty. I know it will get worse, but I'll work my way up to it.)

Jeff is doing well in school although he's considerably more knowledgeable than some of his teachers, which can get frustrating for him. Night classes are hard, especially because Michael is usually asleep by the time he gets home. It's a shame because, as you can see from the above videos, they have a lot of fun playing together. The boy really loves his dad, and we all love the weekend when they get to spend more time together.

Also, I cut my hair. The hair stylist went a bit too short for my taste, but it works. The boy can not wind his hands in it anymore. It helps that my hair grows really fast, otherwise I might care a lot more.
Front:

Back:
And now here are just a few cute pictures of the boy:

Crib and Chew Toys

2010-08-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

We finally bought Michael a crib. He had been sleeping in the cradle we were borrowing from my uncle (who made it!), but we thought it might be time he was able to sleep flat on his back without me stressing about him rolling over and suffocating during the night (silly, yes, but I stress about a lot stupider things than that every day). It doesn't help that friends share their SIDS stories with me and make me even more paranoid.
I digress.
We bought the boy a crib. He seems to like it (at least he sleeps in it):

As I noted before, the boy is getting better with his hands, but along with his advanced dexterity, Michael is having fun exploring the world with his tongue. Everything he can get a grip on comes to his mouth. He sucks on his hands, our fingers, his elephant:

But especially these two links:

Unfortunately, they move around so much it's hard for him to keep them in his mouth, so he gets frustrated (and adorable):

So we bought him one of these:

He's not teething yet, but we thought he might like being able to chew on it. He loved it, but had some issues getting a good grip on it:

Today I am going to find him a skinnier chew toy that he can actually hold. The blue one is too heavy and thick for his inexperienced hands. We'll give him a few weeks on it.

He is getting more clever with his grabbing, though. Yesterday I was biting his stomach and came up sans these:

I might be looking into contacts soon. I'm also going to cut my hair so it isn't as easy for him to get a grip on. I'll let you know how that goes in the next post.

For Jeff and myself, I bought us a new shower curtain:

I'd put up a picture of ours, but I put it up backwards so we could look at it in the shower. What can I say? I like to learn while I shampoo.

All in all, things are going pretty well. We're still getting use to having a baby even though we've been parents for almost 4 months. It's a huge change and we're learning the hard way that we need to take care of each other as well as the baby and still need the occasional night to ourselves. It's quite a balancing act, but it's worth it.

In closing, heeeeeeeeeere's Michael!

Sick Days

2010-08-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

We are all sick. Michael started showing symptoms yesterday with a little coughing and nasal congestion, and he's been sleeping for most of the day today. Thankfully, his cough is better and he has no fever. I'm afraid his throat hurts (judging from my own symptoms) and I hate to let him cry for long. I may be imagining it, but it sounds painful. I'm very happy he's sleeping a lot. He seems happier every time he wakes up.

Michael has been a lot less frustrated lately because he is getting so much better at grabbing things:

and holding his head up during tummy time:

We bought Michael a playmat where he is entertained by colors and more fun animals to grab. He's learned to roll onto one side. He doesn't do it often, but he seems very pleased with himself when I catch him at it:

We love our smart boy. It is so much fun watching him grow. He has such a sweet smile and hilarious facial expressions:

but this next picture has got to be one of the absolute cutest pictures I have ever taken. Get ready for overwhelming adorable!:

Cheeks

2010-07-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone keeps telling us how cute Michael's cheeks are. I thought it would be fun to throw some confusion into that statement and make people specify which set of cheeks!

The boy got angry for some reason, so I eventually flipped him over and gave him a diaper. Then he had fun posing and playing with his towel/hand:

At some point I remembered that babies need clothes too, so I dressed him just in time for him to fall asleep:

Playing Catch-Up

2010-07-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

It's both easier and harder to post more often with baby Michael. Easier because we have interesting and adorable things to post about, and harder because it's difficult for me to spend enough time alone at my computer to type up a blog post uninterrupted.

I had a birthday (Happy Birthday to me!) and am now a quarter of a century old. It's weird. As a teenager, I imagined myself maybe married at 25 years old. I definitely didn't see myself as already being hitched for two and a half years and a mother for almost three months!

For my birthday, my insanely awesome husband got me a subscription to audible.com so I can listen to audio books while taking care of Michael. Did I mention that I'll be listening to them on my brand new laptop?! It's gorgeous. Jeff also got me a comic book (he knows me so well) and Phineas and Ferb dvds. It's so much fun to own those because Phineas and Ferb is the best cartoon on television right now. We highly recommend it to everyone. I can't wait for Michael to watch and love them too.

Speaking of the boy, he's getting bigger every day and learning new things. Everything he does is cute, even if he sometimes drives me crazy. How can I stay angry with those cheeks?

(and here's a side view of that awesome after-bath-hairstyle:)

He gives this look to his mobile a lot (yes, I'm very jealous). I call it his "smolder":
Because every time I see it, it reminds me of the Tangled trailer:

Anyway...
He still loves that elephant:

And he's learning to reach up and...

POW! Right in the kisser! Take that elephant! (It's hard to tell, but he really did just send it straight to the moon with that left hook.)

Remember when we had a double dose of cute cos Tess was visiting? She loved dancing with my kung fu hamster and she liked getting it as close as possible to her face.

Take 1:

Take 2:

Michael's Blessing

2010-07-09T10:05:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday was Michael's blessing. We enjoyed celebrating our little boy and introducing him to more friends and family and ate a lot of food. It was a long day for Michael but it was lot of fun to see everyone that was able to make it.

Here is the boy in his adorable blessing outfit made by his Grandma Day and booties made by his Great Grandma Durney:

Quick family photo:

Michael being cute with visiting Veronins:

Between the blessing and party, we stopped by the house to change clothes and our unhappy boy was hot stuff in this cute outfit:

I think he and our soon to be brother-in-law must have coordinated the night before:

(I translate Mike's smug face as "You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good." He puts Will Smith to shame.)

We had an extra dose of adorable in our house while my family visited with little Tess-a-Bess. Here she is waking Amy so we could go to IHOP:

She loved Michael:

Though he wasn't as sure about her:

He was in a better mood after he peed on his changing table cover and hung out with his animal friends:

And last but not least, here's Jeff's favorite sleeping pose:

Mike's Still Cute

2010-06-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had Michael's 2 month doctor's appointment. Anyone want to guess what our chubby boy weighs? 13 lbs 10 oz. 2 weeks ago, we went to the doctor's for his acid reflux and he had just passed 12 lbs. I'm scared to buy diapers at Costco even though size 2s go up to 18 lbs. I don't know if we'd be able to get through all of them in time. This kid is growing fast!
As for his acid reflux, the doc put him on some medication that he has to take first thing in the morning and then wait 20 minutes before getting fed. I was terrified of not being able to feed him for so long. Usually, if he's hungry, he wants food now. We got so lucky with our boy. He'll take his medicine and then hang out on his changing table for 15 minutes or so. He loves that thing, especially since we got him a mobile:

He really loves that blue elephant. I'm a little jealous since diaper changing time usually went something like this:

But I can't get too jealous since that thing can hold his attention for so long. It's a life saver.

Here's Michael, just being adorable with his new mittens (no more eye gouging for this baby):

Sleeping peacefully, wrapped up tight:

Just waking up and stretching:

And now wants food:

(even his angry faces are cute!)

Michael fell asleep with his hand between his face and my arm. We got a very detailed imprint, fingernails and everything!:

Also, we had a little (maybe too much) fun playing with Michael's hair:

(as you can see, it got a little too exciting for the boy)

A couple of announcements

2010-06-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm back at work I'm probably going to start doing boring blog posts again. Oh well, deal with it.

Michael's blessing will be the first Sunday in July and my dad will be giving the blessing. I think most of you have already heard about this, but I thought it might be worth mentioning again just in case.

Also, I'll be heading back to UVU this fall. I'm taking 12 credit hours in pursuit of a bachelor's degree in computer science. I'll still be working full time, but it's a point of shame for me that I did so badly in college, and it'll be slightly less embarrassing to get my degree before at least one of my little sisters.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-21T07:23:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick picture tribute to Jeff for his first Father's Day.

To a wonderful father and husband, Happy Father's Day!

(This outfit was a part of Jeff's Father's Day gifts)

Pleased As Punch

2010-06-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting day yesterday. Here is our boy, smug as can be as he hangs out on his changing table after a bath. This bath took three times as long as usual because someone decided to take multiple dumps in the water. Don't be weird, it was Michael. After the bath, I put him in a clean diaper that he immediately began to dirty (he actually started before the diaper was fully on). Hence the happy boy:

Earlier yesterday, he took a moment to poop on his poor daddy, and later that night, he proceeded to puke all over his mother. Most people would think twice before doing stuff like that to someone they had just met 6 weeks ago, but it's nice to see that Michael is so completely comfortable with us.

Now here are some quick pics of Michael being cute (and not spewing bodily fluids on his parents):

It Wasn't Bed Bugs

2010-06-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, after arriving home from a long and exhausting road trip, we discovered we had carpet beetles. They aren't dangerous, but they are pests that eat just about anything. I was just grateful they weren't bed bugs (one of my biggest fears). To treat for the beetles we had to get everything we could off the floor and remove all living creatures from the house so they could spray. This included the cats and Michael. So, that Saturday, I found myself in the car with this as my cargo:

2 angry cats and an unhappy baby. So much fun.
I took my noisy car load to visit the in-laws while Jeff stayed behind to supervise the carpet spraying. My less-than-pleased cats took a few minutes to sniff around before retreating under the couch to avoid any chance of me wanting to put them back in their travel cages:

Sadie emerged for a few minutes in time to encounter Lucy, the residential cat. They stared each other down from across the hall before withdrawing to their respective hiding spots and didn't reemerge until I chased Sadie and Taffy out from under the couch with a butterfly net to go back home.

Needless to say, after that we've been keeping our house a lot neater. In fact, Jeff spends a portion of his mornings cleaning the downstairs (while also watching Michael). He's an amazing help.

And now for some cute pictures of Michael. Here is his new favorite spot, his blue swing where he can stare at fish and blinds:

His usual sleeping pose:

Although he does still love to keep his fist next to his head:

Someone sucked too hard on his pacifier:

Michael has taken to being adorable on his changing table. He loves to smile at me while I get ready to change him:

We love our cute little boy. He turns 7 weeks old on Thursday (as Jeff turns 26)!

Music and the boy

2010-06-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

So, tonight for some reason the only thing that would calm Michael was music. I whipped out my blackberry and played him a selection. Songs he liked included:

Time To Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman - this is what calmed him down enough to give me and Cyndi back a little sanity
Whiskey Lullaby by Allison Kraus and Brad Paisley - by the end of this one he was calm and I was crying
Inside Out - all of it
Billy Joel's Piano Man - this one made Cyndi happy
Foo Fighter's Let It Die

Clearly he has good taste.

Who's a smiley boy?

2010-06-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

Can you guess? Can you guess who's a smiley boy?

That's right, it's Michael!

Yeah, me and Michael played this game this morning while he was feeling playful. I asked him in an ever-higher voice who was a smiley boy while playing with the red light on the camera, and these were the result. I'm not entirely sure whether he was smiling at me, contorting his face in embarrassment or just had gas, but it was adorable nonetheless.

Also, sorry about the poor light, but if I held the camera in front of my face then he would get distracted by that instead of being cute for me, and if he's not cute then he's not worth photographing. That's just science.

Edit: I've gone ahead and created a picasa album for all our pictures of Michael. Not all of them are cute, but at least they're all there. We'll still add pictures to the blog like we always have, this is just a place where you can see all of them whether we put the on the blog or not.

A Picture Heavy Month

2010-06-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

Michael is one month old. It's weird to think that we've had a baby for so long and yet so short a time. Our boy is constantly eating and we think (from a bathroom scale) that he's about 11 lbs. I estimate he has already gone through at least 350 diapers. Considering he's only 34 days old, that's approximately 10 diapers a day. He's lucky he's cute and we can't live without him.

For Memorial Day, we took a 4 day weekend to visit my family in Colorado. It was a long drive but the trip out there was pretty uneventful. Michael was an amazingly good boy and slept for most of it. He would wake up every hour and a half or so to be fed and changed but would pass right back out again on the on-ramp to the freeway.

We did stop at a windy scenic area to stretch our legs and give Mike a break:

We also stopped by the children's hospital in Denver to visit my dad and Ki. Michael finally met his Grandpa Veronin:

And my dad had a lot of fun holding his first grandson:

Ki was awake and interested in Michael. First impressions:

He said "baby" a lot and consented to having his picture taken with his nephew (P.S.-Ki's pathology came back clean! They got all the cancer!):

Michael making the rounds in the family with Grandma Veronin:

his Great Grandma Durney:

Aunt Mary:

Aunt Joe:

And Aunt Katie:

They even took an adorable nap together:

We also got to see how much Tess-a-Bess has grown!:

On the way home, we stopped at Goblin Valley. It was overcast and a perfect day to hike around for an hour with our little boy. Jeff carried him in our baby carrier:

We climbed around a bit:

And Michael slept, very content against his daddy:

We let Michael ride in the car in just his onesie and he seemed very pleased:

For a bit:

He reached his limit for the car seat about an hour before we got home. Music saved us that last hour, but everyone was exhausted and very cranky by the time we got home. I don't think we'll be taking another road trip anytime soon.

Here are some recent pictures of Michael that I love:

Fluffy hair after a bath:

His first fist bump:

Cuddling with daddy on the couch:

So dang cute!:

We love our little boy and we're so glad we were able to travel with him to see my family! Thank you Mom and Dad for letting us take your blue swing. Michael really loves it:

Happy Day!

2010-05-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ki's surgery yesterday went exceptionally well. The surgeons were able to remove the tumor without Ki needing a new liver. They did have to remove 75% of his liver, but it should be able to regenerate and grow back to its normal size in about 6 weeks, which is pretty amazing to me.

Ki spent the night in the ICU, but my dad thinks he should be able to move into a normal recovery room today. He was breathing on his own and his vitals were excellent last night.

It looks like all the cancer has been removed but we have to wait for the pathology report in a few days. Hopefully it will confirm a cancer-free Ki. If all goes well, he should be released from the hospital in about a week.

Dimples and Chins

2010-05-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

Finally, here is a picture of one of Michael's elusive, adorable dimples. It takes some time to get him to grimace to show them off since he doesn't really smile yet. You're welcome:

I know we've already mentioned that the boy is bulking up, but he didn't have three chins back then. He'll be four weeks old on Thursday and we half expect him to add yet another chin in celebration:

Our little boy had his first real bath (not just a sponge bath) and was pretty unhappy that mommy kept taking pictures instead of drying him off and getting warm clothes:

Supervised tummy-time turned into an adorable nap:

Forgive the dark picture, but I get this wide-eyed, tight-lipped "O" after most feedings and I think it's just the cutest thing:

On a quick, but important, side note:
My little brother, Ki, is going into surgery today to see if he actually needs a liver transplant. From what I understand, if he doesn't need one, they can just remove the tumor today. If he does need the transplant, they will close him back up and wait a few days with Ki at the top of the transplant list. If there still isn't a cadaver liver available then my little sister, Katie, will be giving Ki a piece of her liver.
There is a risk every time Ki goes under the knife, so please keep him in your prayers today.

Pictures! and Acid Reflux?

2010-05-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

Our boy is getting bigger. You can see that his face is fatter and that he's a few inches longer (remember, the top picture is mostly blanket).

The doctor has told us that Mike might have some acid reflux. Nothing's definite, but he's got a lot of gas. This is him on the changing table getting changed after burping up his past few feedings. What you can see is less than 1/3 of the total, the rest being on Cyndi and our covers.

Acid reflux - more like Gas-id reflux!

Some of you may have noticed that Cyndi's baby picture wasn't, strictly speaking, Cyndi. She's acquired this picture of a baby picture that's actually Cyndi this time. Notice how it's still summer. Since Cyndi was born in July this can't be more than a month or two old and she's got nearly as much hair as her mom.

The picture of Cyndi's sister Jessica as a baby puts the count at 6-2 in favor of the Veronins. To even things up a bit, here's a picture of my niece Kelsey holding the baby with Kimberly's help.

That's Kelsey's version of smiling for the camera.

The baby in green, which Cyndi absolutely loved.

The cats reacting to the baby. They're doing pretty well overall, they've never been aggressive towards him in any way, although they do take every opportunity to get affection from us that they can.

And finally, just a whole bunch of pictures that we haven't had a reason to post, probably won't have a reason to post, but are adorable and might interest some of our readers. Highlights include the chair that Karen gave us and is his favorite place to sleep. Highlights, unfortunately, do not include his ridiculously cute dimples.

Who's Your Daddy?

2010-05-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Just to show people how alike Michael is to his parents, here are some fun pictures:

This is Jeff as a newborn:

This is Cyndi as a newborn:

And these next two pictures are Michael as a newborn:

Let there be no doubt as to where our little boy comes from.

2 Weeks Old

2010-05-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Michael turned 2 weeks old yesterday. As you know, yesterday was also my first day alone with him. He was adorable, as always, but I didn't believe people when they kept telling me to take advantage of his naps to take one of my own. There's just so much to do and so much I can accomplish without having to hold or watch the boy.

I tried to take a shower while he was dead asleep. I could hear him crying after just a minute and rushed to get through the rest of my shower as fast as possible. I know it doesn't hurt him to cry for a few minutes, but it was heartbreaking to hear him shriek the way he was when I got out. He calmed down quickly but wouldn't let me out of his limited sight for a while. I should have just napped.

To make things easier for me while he worked, Jeff bought a baby carrier so I can have my hands free but keep Michael close by. Here's what he looks like from the top:

and the front:

Michael seemed very pleased with the setup.

We also had his 2 week doctor's appointment where we learned Michael has gained some weight. To put this into perspective, when he was born, Michael weighed 6 lbs 11 oz. When we were discharged from the hospital he only weighed 6 lbs 4 oz. Two days later he was up to 6 lbs 6 oz. At his two week appointment yesterday, he weighed 8 lbs 2 oz. I had to have the nurse repeat herself a few times before it really sunk in.

Our little boy has really bulked up!

Back to work!

2010-05-13T06:42:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday was my last day of paternity leave. 2 weeks is still pretty good, though. I've started taking the morning shift with Mike so that Cyndi can sleep in a little bit, but he's been drinking everything she pumps and then some. My informal estimate is that he's drinking 1.5 to 2 oz of milk every hour. We've started referring to feeding him as "reloading".

Edie taught me their version of the burrito wrap before she left, and this is my terrible approximation of it.

He really likes to have one of his hands free, so sometimes I won't re-wrap when he's gotten it. He's started growling at me when I'm wrapping him, which I think is hilarious now that I've confirmed it's not because I'm hurting him.

At my mom's suggestion, we've set up the easy chair in the office as a place for Cyndi to be able to sleep with the boy. Sometimes he just needs to be held to relax, and sometimes Mike needs it too *rimshot*. It's a great setup and I've started using it when it's my turn to watch him.

Finally, Cyndi's gotten after me for not putting any pictures of myself on the blog, so here's the most I'm willing to do.

He really does sleep better when someone's holding him, so I've taken to holding him in one arm while working on the computer with the other. You'll notice that Mike's not wearing even a onesie and that I'm wearing my shorts. No, it's not because I'm just going to or returning from a basketball game, it's because he's started leaking through everything. He pee'd all over me 4 times yesterday, and only 2 of them were while changing him. I think it's a territorial thing.

In which Cyndi's mom goes home and our boy's no longer yellow

2010-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Great news everybody: Mike's jaundice is gone! His score went down quite a bit with Wednesday's test, and then it went down even more yesterday. They said we don't have to do any more tests unless he starts looking yellow again!

Edie (Cyndi's mom) came out this weekend and stayed until Wednesday morning. It was a big help having her out here. She made this lovely quilt for Michael:

Here's a detail shot:

Now, when I say "made", I actually mean "finished", because this quilt's been a few years in the making. Each of the tiles is a different image and you're supposed to play "I Spy" with it. It's absolutely amazing.

Cyndi's dad was feeling under-represented in the blog because we got pictures of the boy with Grandma and Grandpa Day, so he made sure to have us take a picture of Edie with the boy.

I also took a few minutes this morning and got a photo of the baby with Grandpa Veronin. I think it turned out nice.

(They're playing airsoft)

And here's a picture of his aunt Amy holding the boy while playing the maid in "Once Upon a Mattress":

That puts the picture count at Veronins 3, Days 2.

And finally, I'm going to try to get some time off of work to extend Memorial Day weekend so that we can take the boy out to Colorado to visit the family. He's got another grandparent, a few aunts, and some great grandparents that he still needs to meet.

jaundice and more pics

2010-05-03T21:23:00.001-07:00

As some of you may have noticed, I'm posting this late at night. Right now it's my shift, I'm taking the baby and making sure that he only wakes his mother up when absolutely necessary. Cyndi's so exhausted she can hardly function, so here I am making sure that she only has to be awake long enough to feed the boy. This is approximately what he looks like right now.

His Grandma Veronin wrapped him up nice and tight, and he's been asleep for two and a half hours now. She's very good at this.

As some of you are aware, Mike's got a touch of the jaundice. I wish I could remember the numbers, but they put him on the borderline between high risk and medium risk. The last day we were in the hospital the nurses put him in a UV bed and we got these adorable pictures.

I wish that I had gotten one with the whole bed in the picture, but I didn't so y'all will have to deal. The second picture shows his preferred position when sucking on a pacifier. It works well to hold it in when he doesn't forget what he's doing and jerk it right out of his mouth.

These come from earlier today after I changed the boy and he fell asleep on the changing table. No worries on his bowels working correctly -- even though he's only 4 days old, he's pooing at a 8 day level. We're so proud. When we let him, he seems to prefer to sleep on his side with his hands in this general position. A lot of the time he'll have his hand under his head, which is very close to my preferred sleeping position.

Sorry about the upside-down perspective, but it was the best angle to show both of his hands.

Finally a picture showing how much Mike absolutely adores his mother (you'll notice the yellow skin -- that's the jaundice). One of the hardships with nursing him is that he'll be absolutely starving, but when Cyndi's holding him he prefers to cuddle with her. If Cyndi's in the room he'll usually spot her and be cute at her. It's enough to make a lesser man jealous.

You'll also notice that he's got a rockin' tan. There was a baby from Southern California that was asking him what his secret was, but he'll never tell.

More pictures

2010-04-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

First of all, a big apology to anybody that I forgot to notify last night. It was spotty, so if you didn't get notified it doesn't mean I love you any more or less, it just means that while I was going through my contact list and watching Mike in the nursery I didn't get your name for some reason.

My family visited last night and got some good pictures of him, and I snapped a picture on my cell phone while he was in the nursery.

Mike is getting checked out in the nursery. His hand is next to his mouth because he'd just tried to find his thumb. Not pictured is his other arm, which he was using to flex. It was adorable.

Cyndi showing him off for the camera.

Grandma and Grandpa Day visiting. He's my parents' ninth grandkid.

Introducing Michael Peter Day

2010-04-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

Michael Peter Day just minutes after being born. He was born around 4:46pm MST, 6lb 11oz, 19.5" baby boy whose birth is a good example of just how angry God was at Adam and Eve.

This is a video we made around 8:30. He still hasn't had a bath, but he's adorable and Cyndi's been spending a lot of time bonding with him. When she holds him she just looks at his face and stares at him.

He's been mostly sleeping, but when he's awake his eyes are wide open and he can't decide whether wants to sleep, look at his mother, eat, or suck on his thumb/sleeve. While he was getting his vitals checked he kept going for his thumb. After they put a shirt on him, he started sucking on his sleeve. Between the hair and the sucking of thumbs and sleeves, there's no doubt about his parentage.

This is Cyndi's nurse trying to arrange her tubes and hange a new bag. She was a very good nurse and we were very glad to have her.

We'd love to be visited tomorrow, just give me a phone call or text message and I'll give you the code and make sure that we don't overwhelm Cyndi or the baby with too many people.

And now for the story. We arrived at the hospital at 5am. Our first nurse only had 1 hour left on her shift, so she was in no mood to start labor. We waited until 6:20 before they started Pitosin.

For the next couple of hours Cyndi was having contractions and didn't hardly feel them at all. In fact, she was ready to take a nap and wanted to get the epidural early so that she didn't sleep through her window of opportunity.

This continued for the next few hours. Cyndi and I read, she played her DS, went in and out of consciousness, etc. Right around 3, Cyndi was at around a 7 and the epidural started wearing off. We got another doctor in to give her another dose, and it started kicking in over the next ten minutes. The nurse was having Cyndi lay on her side because Mike was coming out sideways and they were hoping to turn him.

Mike's heartbeat before now had fluctuated at points. For 10 minutes his heart rate would dip really badly during a contraction, but then go back to normal for a while. Cyndi and I were concerned but her nurse wasn't as much. 10 minutes after getting the second epidural shot Mike's heart rate started going down again. His normal heart rate would get down to 110 during a contraction, when it was fluctuating badly it would get down to 90 or so. At this point, his heart rate was dipping to 60. The nurse called her supervisor in and they started having Cyndi roll to try to get Mike's heart rate up again. No dice. They tried her left side, then her right side, then flat on her back, then they even had her get on all fours.

By this point there were five nurses and two doctors in the room waiting for Cyndi's OB to get here to deliver the baby. They had Cyndi stop pushing and the doctor was trying to keep Mike from getting pushed and his heart rate from going down. That finally worked and kept him happy and healthy until our doctor got here.

After that it was ten minutes until Mike was born. Everything's been kind of a whirlwind and restful at the same time. I went to the nursery with him while Cyndi went to sleep. Come to find out, the food tray came right after they took the boy to the nursery to check his vitals, and so she was still awake when he was done so she got to feed him right after eating some food herself.

We were visited by Emily, who's got a wedding all weekend, and my parents and brothers and sisters still living at home. It was a nice visit, perfectly timed so that we got a good visit with the family and they left right when Cyndi was ready for alone time again.

Everything's going well

2010-04-29T09:28:00.001-07:00

My gorgeous wife just got an epidural from one of her best friend's dad. She's very happy, everything's going great and she's getting ready to take a nap.

We got here around 5am, they didn't set up the IV until 6:20 (much to our dismay), and Cyndi got to figure out what contractions feel like. They didn't pain her at all, but she decided to get the epidural before she fell asleep. That's right, Cyndi was so comfortable in her pitosin-induced labor that she was falling asleep. She's amazing.

The room is bigger than our bedroom at home and our nurse is very friendly and competent. She's always greeting us with a smile and making Cyndi feel more comfortable. We've got a picture of her trying to sort out all of the lines going in and out of Cyndi. Fun time!

She's currently got 4 things running into her: a basic saline drip, an antibiotic because she's (apparently) got a mild strep infection, pitosin, and now her epidural line. Overall, the experience has been very laid back and positive. The hardest part's been the boredom which, all things considered, is a good sign.

Cyndi's nodding off now. Tonight we'll probably try to restrict our visitors to just family. I'll post tonight as soon as Cyndi has the baby and I can get a few pictures up and Cyndi's resting. If you want to visit just text or call me and I'll give you the code.