Lazy Sunday afternoon

Last night was rough. Liam is officially a pacifier addict, and I can already tell that withdrawal is going to be tough when the time comes. He cried for it about every hour and a half last night. My theory is that it has something to do with his sleep cycle and waking when he's done with his cycle and realizing he doesn't have the pacifier in anymore. The problem, of course, is that I get up to put the pacifier back in, and my sleep is interrupted. It takes me five or ten minutes to fall back asleep, so I'm not finished with my sleep pattern when Liam is finished with his and crying for the pacifier yet again. I miss having a thumb-sucking infant. Say what you will about future dental bills, but ask me at 3 a.m. how much I would be willing to pay for a full night's sleep and it comes pretty close to what I imagine Micah's dental bills will be. So I was very tired today. My wonderful husband took Liam this afternoon so that I could rest. So did they, napping together on the couch. Then I went to check on Micah to see how (or if) his nap was going. Not in his bed... Not next to his cool new train table that he adores... Finally found him under the train table, thumb in mouth, sound asleep. I put him back in his bed and everybody slept. It was a good afternoon.

Rolling over

Liam is now rolling over! He goes both ways, but can't quite manage to do both in one full motion yet. And in the middle of the night, he tends to think that he's stuck on his stomach, even though he rolls to his back during the day, so we're now getting up a couple of times during the night just to put him back on his back or side. Soon he'll put it all together though and maybe then we'll go back to all sleeping through the night. Hey, Tim and I can dream! Here is a shot of Liam doing tummy time on Saturday. I don't think he's yet figured out that I take a lot of pictures, so he often has this, "huh?" look on his face, like I'm interrupting him. Micah, on the other hand, likes to be in pictures now because he likes to see himself on the camera screen after I take the picture. So he snuggled right up to his brother during my photo shoot with Liam. Later, he sort of smiled next to the lego tower he built all by himself.

Proud parental moment

This morning, I had one of my proudest moments yet as a parent. For lunch, I gave Micah a piece of fish, some peas and corn, and part of a pear. He recently started using ketchup, so I gave him a little ketchup on the side so that he could dip his fish in it. I sat next to him while he ate. Towards the end of lunch, I couldn't resist reading a few pages of my waiting People magazine. When I looked at Micah a few minutes later, he had the cup with the ketchup up to his face and he was trying to drink it. No joke. It literally almost brings tears to my eyes. I was so proud, I forgot to grab the camera and take a picture. As a passionate ketchup lover, I always dreamed that my children would inherit my love. It seems that at least one has. And no worries - we'll get Liam when he's old enough too!

Micah's first day of preschool

I think this is the last catch-up set of pictures I have to post. Micah had meet the teacher day, as I blogged about in an earlier post, but these are pictures from his actual first day there. He was pretty happy to go in! Ran right down the hallway, pulling his "blue bag" the whole way. No clinging for this kid. Once again, he ran right in and wanted to play. This time he headed for the puzzles. He loves his puzzles. Just another cute shot of Liam. There are so many of them lately! He's finally big enough to sit in the exersaucer and we're so grateful about it because now he can entertain himself a little while I do things like fix dinner. And take a shower. And clean up after them...

Vacation, Part III

These should be the last of some of the pictures from our vacation. This first shot of Micah on a bulldozer is priceless. Growing up, I thought my dad was pretty strict - in a good way, though. Now he lets his grandson play on heavy equipment in the neighbor's yard!! Not that I had any interest, but I never would have been able to do that in a million years. Micah LOVES all things trucks, and so he loved "riding" different machines all week that are being used to build houses in my parents' neighborhood. On our last night in PA, we went to a local park which, if you read this blog every so often, you know is another of Micah's favorite things to do. Check out the look of bliss on his face as he goes down the slide. Running up the ramp on the playground set. Are you noticing a theme in the playground pictures? Everything is blurry because he was moving so fast and didn't stop the whole time we were there! And running (again) for the tunnel.

Vacation, Part II

Micah, Chloe, and Thomas discovered the boat-shaped sandbox and all three couldn't stay away for most of the weekend. Driving a different kind of boat - told you he was power-hungry!!Playing it cool in Cliff's Jeep. Big boo-boo for Boo-Boo. :( The boo-boo is long gone, but he still points to his knee and says it every once in a while just for the sympathy. Hanging with my boy. Tim took Micah on the ATV, which both really loved. The Johnsons also have a wagon, which comes in handy when you're hauling kids and their paraphernalia back and forth to the lake. Here Chloe gives Micah, a fellow banana-lover, a bite from her fruit. I like to call this picture, "Wait - this water isn't nearly as warm as the Gulf. Get me out!!!"

Vacation, Part I

I did actually get a little time to go through the pictures tonight and am starting to catalog our trip. We began by flying into Pittsburgh and spending a few days there. We got to have dinner with our friends Sarah and Ross, who just had their first baby Samuel a couple of months ago, and our friends Dan and Martina, who are expecting their first baby in December. We hope we didn't dampen their enthusiasm with our crazy boys! Just a cute picture of Micah, trying on my sunglasses. Dan and Martina hang with Micah. Sarah and Sam, who had a crying match with Liam while we were there. We're not sure who won, but we know who lost! :) We spent Labor Day weekend at the Johnson family cottage. Going there and getting the chance to reconnect with some of our friends was the main impetus for the whole trip north. The cottage is within a short walking distance to the lake. Here's Chad and Katie's son Caleb all life-jacketed up for a boat ride. Micah and Thomas trying to high five each other. Chad's dad Clay let Micah "steer" the boat. After this time out on the boat, Micah kept asking to go back to the "big boat". We think he was a little power hungry. Pointing out other boats on the lake. "Boat" was his favorite word that weekend, I think. More to come!

Back from vacation!

We've been away for the last ten days, enjoying the much cooler weather of western Pennsylvania, and the company of family and friends. We returned yesterday evening to the sweltering heat of Florida, happy to be back to our lives and friends here, but struggling to adjust to the heat and humidity again. I'm looking forward to updating the blog very soon with pics and stories from our trip, not to mention Micah's first official day as a student at preschool, but unfortunately our internet router died while we were out of town. This is the second one in several months to "fry" on us. I'm a little frustrated because, if the pattern from last time repeats, we'll have to wait several days for Verizon to send us a new one. During that time, I won't have any internet access at home, save for Tim's Blackberry, which I just can't get used to using. Since I'm only rarely at work, so word from me for probably the next week. Hopefully we'll be back soon!