False Pride

Just wanted to share a funny story.

Micah knows almost all of his capital letters, so he's always pointing them out when he sees them. He has a growth chart in his room with his name on it, and yesterday, we were in there and he was naming off all the letters on the chart. So he said, "M-I-C-A-H, Micah!" I was kind of shocked and amazed that my not-even-two-yet child could not only recognize letters, but he could actually read his name! Of course the thoughts that popped into my head were ones about how smart my kid is and how I must be an awesome parent and whatnot. Then Micah moved from the growth chart to reading the letters on my shirt. He read, "G-O, Micah!"

Oops. I learned two lessons yesterday: 1)I shouldn't jump to conclusions about my son's apparent cognitive development, and 2)Comparing my kid's abilities to other kids' is a dangerous path that leads to false pride. Ha! :)

Poor Sick Micah.

I feel very blessed to have such healthy kids. Aside from jaundice as newborns, I have only made visits to the doctor for well-baby checks--that is, until last week.

Wednesday night Micah started running a fever. He didn't seem to have any other symptoms, so I was just giving him ibuprofen and I figured it was teething. Thursday he started to lose his appetite, and Thursday night, he only slept for about an hour at a time. He'd wake up crying, and Josh and I took turns watching movies with him until he fell asleep again. Friday he refused to eat anything, even candy--that's when I knew something was wrong.

I took him to the doctor and they said it was hand, foot, and mouth disease. It's a virus that causes blisters in the cheeks and throat (and sometimes on the palms and soles of your feet, although he didn't have that). So he was absolutely miserable--couldn't eat, couldn't drink, wouldn't swallow medicine, wouldn't talk. It hurt him to swallow his saliva, so he'd just hold it in his mouth until something made his lips open, then he would drool like crazy. Saturday was the worst day, and today (Monday) was the first day he ate much of anything. It's really contagious, too, so we were keeping Eli in the basement and Micah in the living room and we sanitized everything. So far, Eli hasn't gotten it, so I hope we're past this. Yuck.

It's so tough to see your kids hurting, and even tougher when there's nothing you can do for them. We'd try to give him children's ibuprofen, but he refused it, and when we'd try to force in in his mouth he would spit it back out. And I'm sure he was hungry, but eating hurt worse than the hunger pains. Poor guy!

Once again, I would like to praise my heavenly Father for blessing me with kids that are generally healthy. It's something I don't take for granted! And if your kids ever get hand, foot, and mouth disease.....well, I'm sorry for them, and I feel your pain, too.

Trumpet lesson

This is Micah's first music lesson from Grandpa Headlee, the band director.

Two Become One

Last weekend, we had the privilege of participating in Josh's brother Matt's wedding. Josh was the officiant, Micah was the ring bearer, I sang a song, and Eli just looked cute. Honestly, I think being the mother of the ring bearer was more stressful than being the bride at my own wedding--at least when the ring bearer isn't even two years old yet and the wedding is right in the middle of nap time. But really, we had a great time.


Micah was much more interested in playing in the nursery than in posing for pictures. It was a bit of a fight to get him to leave his tie on, and we could only get him to stand in the pictures if Matt was holding a cup of M&M's. I don't think he smiled in any of them, but he still looked cute.



This is the best family picture we could get.Josh performed the ceremony. It was his first time to do a wedding, and he did a great job. It was cool to hear my husband give his thoughts on marriage in the charge to the couple. I picked a good one. :) Courtney, of course, looked absolutely beautiful, and Matt just kept grinning all day. We lucked out--Eli slept through the entire ceremony, so he was no trouble at all to the girls watching him in the nursery. Mr. and Mrs. Brown!

Okay, so we weren't sure what would happen when Micah had to walk down the aisle. He generally runs full-speed wherever he goes, and when he gets tired, he'll lay down on the floor/sidewalk/grass and just take a breather before getting up and running full-speed again. So we thought maybe we should practice:

During the actual ceremony, he walked with two little flower girls, so he walked really nicely and watched them dropping their petals. He went right up on stage and handed his pillow to Josh, then took off. I had to catch him and send him back to the nursery for the ceremony, which worked out well. Overall, I was proud of my little guy. He was such a trooper, even though he was really tired.

And now I have a new sister-in-law! Forever. :)

Have One!

Micah is saying more and more phrases now, instead of just words. One that's been cracking me up lately is, "Have one." He says it when he's sharing his goldfish or animal crackers or other snacks with me. The other thing he likes to share is whatever vegetable I put on his plate at dinner. And by "share," I mean that he says "Have one," and then holds out his green bean without ever taking a bite. I guess he doesn't mind giving all his veggies away.

I know this is late, but here are some pictures from June:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189443&id=506485788&l=1b9ba8462e

Enjoy!

Two-month photo shoot

When Micah was about two months old, I did an impromptu photo shoot in our living room using a white sheet thrown over the couch. Grandma Brown wanted me to take some pics of Eli at the same age, so we got out the sheet and did it again.

This next one was an imitation of one from Micah's photo shoot:

And here's Micah at two months:

Back to Eli:

I love this one:

And another of Micah for comparison:

I've got some cute little boys, eh?

Pictures!

Well, this is a rare occasion--both boys are sleeping! So I had the opportunity to post some pictures to facebook. Also, I don't think I posted the link to April's pictures, so I'll go ahead and do that now.

May pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=178364&id=506485788&l=e0ea42c826

April pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=170553&id=506485788&l=fc208069a6

What else is new? It's been so long since I've updated you on Micah..... He's 33 pounds now and about that many inches tall. We had to get him a bigger car seat. He loves counting and can make it to thirteen on his own (except he skips "11" every time). He can recognize all the numbers and about a dozen letters. Right now he's into playing basketball on his new hoop, playing with bubbles, getting the mail, and running. He loves to be outside, whether in the back yard or taking walks or whatever. I tried to get him to run through the sprinkler with me, but I think it will take some convincing.

Elijah is almost two months old. He's flashed a couple of smiles, but I'm still waiting for them to be consistent. He eats about every three hours and has one "big sleep" of about five or six hours every night. He's a pretty good baby, with a little bit of fussiness, but not much. His torso is long, like his brother's and dad's, so he's about to outgrow most of his 0-3 months clothes. He just keeps growing! He loves to be held, so I spend most of my time with him in my arms or on my lap.

I'm settling into a routine, I guess you could say, of having two kids. It's a lot more work! But each day gets easier, especially as Eli settles into a more predictable schedule. Life is good!