Micah Rolling Over

Micah just turned 4 months old on May 4th and he started rolling over that day.  He was 14 lbs. 12 ozs. at his appointment and 25 inches long.  He is doing well and we are all enjoying each new phase that he comes into.  Here's a video of him rolling over and the kids both announcing his new trick.

Happy Mothers Day

Hope you all had a nice mothers day celebrating your moms and wives and being celebrated as moms.  We had a good day.  Jim had to work this morning so the kids and I went to church and then McDonald's for lunch.  When Jim got home, we went to visit my dad and step mom and spent some time with them. We then  headed over to my moms for dinner.  It was a fun day.

I got a beautiful new bedroom set from Jim.  I have had my eye on it for several years now and we love it!  It is a dark wood sleigh bed, dresser and nightstand.  We have been married for 8 years this summer and our bedroom has always been a mosh posh of furniture so it's really nice to have matching bedroom pieces.  It got here a few days ago and it was a perfect gift for mothers day :)      

Skype

I don't know how many of you know about Skype or not, but we recently downloaded it after my parents told us about it.  Skype is basically a program that uses your internet connection to talk to other people just like you would over the phone.  But the only difference is it's FREE!  All you have to do is go to their website and download the program for free and you can talk to your family and friends... just as long as they have a skype username too.  Another thing that's nice about it is that if you have a webcam you can see the other person.  We have been talking with my parents via Skype and it's nice because they get to see our kids (and us!) live.  So, if any of you are interested check it out and let us know so that we can chat with you sometime!  The website is www.skype.com  

Update

Well, we haven't heard anything yet from our realtor about the 2nd showing yesterday.  We're not really sure what to think, but are thinking they probably would have made an offer right away if they were going to make one.  We are a little discouraged, but are trying to keep things in perspective and focus on all that we have to be thankful for.  We had a really nice day today as a family and as we sit and look at all of our blessings (especially these three) we trust that God knows what's best for us and that His timing is perfect.     

2nd Showing

This past Tuesday we had our first showing on our house since we lowered the price (also our first showing in 8 months).  It was a young couple and they are coming back Saturday with their parents for a second showing.  We have a reserved excitement, but are encouraged that we even got a showing with interest.  Our neighbors house has been for sale for two years and there are several  on our street that have been sitting for a long time.  There are some really nice houses not selling and we know it's just this horrible market right now.  If we do end up selling during this slump we will know it is only God opening up a door for us to move into something with more room for our growing family.  Please pray that this couple would buy and love this house as much as we have.  We'll keep you posted.

Spring Has Sprung

There is nothing better for a stay at home mom in Ohio (at least this stay at home mom) then warmer weather and sunshine after a long winter.  We have had some  beautiful days lately and we have been taking advantage of them to the fullest.  We have already had several lunch picnics, trips to playgrounds and long walks.  Jacob and Abbey have also spent a lot of time cruising in the jeep.  We are enjoying spring and look forward to the summer ahead.  

Talking With Micah

Experimenting With Our Mac Part II

After the kids were in bed tonight we were entertained by taking pictures of ourselves with the camera built into our computer.  

House Update

We haven't posted anything about our house lately so we thought we'd give you all an update. Unfortunately that phrase across our sign is not "SOLD", but we are praying that will be draped across our sign soon.  We just lowered our price.  It has been extremely slow and the market is really bad here right now, but we think this new price will help generate some buyers through our house these next few weeks.  We'll keep you posted.  There are several houses that we have our eye on right now so we know once we sell we will be in a great place since it's definitely a buyer's market.   

Experimenting with our Mac

Today I was playing around with a couple pictures using the iphoto program on our Mac.  You can do a lot of neat stuff like making the edges blurry on pictures and doing a lot with color and borders.  Here are a couple pictures of Micah that I was experimenting with.  He will be three months old on Friday.  He is really starting to get into a fun stage where he is responding to us so much more.  He is getting more active and playful and is so much fun to have around.

Children's Museum

On Monday I took the kids to the Cleveland Children's Museum.  They have a special exhibit going on right now called the Galapagos Island where they have a whole room full of sand with plastic turtles around and shovels and all sorts of stuff for the kids to explore with.  Jacob and Abbey had a blast "finding treasure", burying turtles and just playing in the sand.  We are trying to keep busy this week because Jim is away at a class for work.  He is an accident investigator for the police department and has to do a few weeks of classes each year to continue with his training.  My mom is staying with us to help out which has been nice, but we all really miss Jim and will be excited when Friday is here so things can be back to normal.  

Easter Weekend & Jim's 30th Birthday

We haven't posted anything new for a long time.  We have had a very busy weekend and actually a very busy past few weeks.  Friday night was Jim's surprise 30th birthday party (his actual birthday was Monday).  His parents came into town on Friday and at night Jim thought we were going to a family night fish n chips at my mom's condo club house.  We actually were going to his birthday party which has been an event that I have been planning for the last couple of months.  It turned out to be a fun time honoring Jim with family, friends, food and games.  Unfortunately we don't have any pictures to show for it (as of now) since I forgot to grab our camera on the way out the door.  It was a very stressful couple weeks with the "lies" to get everything done and even getting him there that evening.  We will hopefully get some copies of pictures from the evening to share sometime soon.  I put together a picture slide show of the last 30 years of Jim's life, that we watched the night of the party.  You can watch it by clicking on this link.

We had a nice Easter weekend.  Jim's parents stayed through the weekend and left on Monday.  We enjoyed our time with them.  The weekend went really fast though and we felt like they just got here and had to turn around and go home.  The kids weren't feeling well all weekend though and Saturday night they really seemed to get worse.  By Sunday morning they both were really sick (Jacob was worse than Abbey) so we decided to keep them home Sunday morning with Jim.  I went because I was teaching Sunday School that morning and Jim's parents came to church too.  It was disappointing that we couldn't all go to church as a family on Easter, but that's how it goes sometimes with little kids and sickness.  Easter evening we enjoyed a delicious meal at my mom's and Johns house and played some Bible Trivia.  We had a nice time.

Jacob and Abbey are still pretty sick.  They both have pink eye (we went to the doc Monday and got eye drops) and pretty bad colds.  So far Micah, Jim & I are fine.  We are really praying most of all that Micah doesn't get what they have.  He is so little still and it's hard enough seeing Jake & Abbey so sick.  Well, Happy late Easter to you all.  Hope you had a wonderful time celebrating our risen Savior :)  And.... Happy late 30th Birthday Jim!  You are very loved by many :)  Here are a couple pictures from our weekend.  

The Switch

Well, we made the big switch.  On Saturday we bought a Mac for the first time.  I've been wanting to switch to a Mac from a PC for a long time now and we finally did it.  I've heard so many great things about Macs, and I've had nothing but problems with PCs.  We bought a Mac Book (pictured above).  I'm still getting used to the differences from a PC.  I had a little trouble signing into the wireless, but I was able to eventually figure it out.  Hopefully this was a good investment and the computer will last us a long time!    

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

We are having our biggest storm of the season. It started yesterday afternoon and is still coming down strong. They are saying that in total we will get about 20 inches. Jim got an accident call out this morning (today is his day off) so had to shovel/snow blow his way out of the driveway at 8am. He is out there now for a second time today... trying to keep up with what's coming down. The kids and I are staying warm in the house, watching from the window. Jacob went out for about 10 minutes, but was ready to come in since the snow was coming down hard and hitting him in the face. We are a little jealous of the Larson's (Jim's sister and family) who live in Florida and friends of ours, the Gammons who are vacationing there now. I also have to mention our friends the Matheny's who live in North Carolina. They have been enjoying 75 degree weather lately. We are anxiously awaiting the news of the arrival of their first baby (any minute now :) You guys all enjoy while we are snowed in here :) We have to keep reminding ourselves that spring will be here soon (hopefully)... it's Cleveland so you never know!!

Micah is 2 Months Old

Micah turned 2 months old on the 4th. He had his doctors appointment yesterday and weighs 12lbs 1oz and is 23 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile for weight and length. We haven't posted much lately, but have had a few rough weeks with our little guy. He was having a lot of inconsolable crying and we started to get really concerned that something was wrong. It was more than the normal fussy period at night and he would often seem like he was in pain. I took him last week to see the doctor and the doctor prescribed zantac because he felt like Micah may have acid reflux from the way that I described what was going on. We have seen a 100% improvement in him. He is so much happier and more comfortable and eating better. We are so thankful that it seems like we figured out what is going on with him. It's sad for us to think that for the last four weeks he's been struggling with heartburn. He has been waking up this week cooing and smiling as opposed to screaming so it is a huge relief for all of us :)

True American Patriot

This is a video for those of you who don't know. Just press the small triangle to play it.

Campaign 2008

Even though I'm interested in politics, I've been trying to stay away from posting something about the Presidential race. But I just read a good article from World Magazine. Check it out if you have the time. I can't understand why anyone would ever vote for a man who actually voted AGAINST the ban on partial birth abortions.

Valentines Day

We had a nice Valentines Day. Jacob had school and took his valentines that he worked hard on this week. He cut hearts out of construction paper (pink and red for the girls & blue and green for the boys), taped on a candy and put stickers on them. I wrote who they were to and he wrote his name on each one. He enjoyed making them and when he got home he told us that his friends loved them.
We then decided to try to go out to dinner with the five of us. Our first attempt at a dinner out as a family of 5. We went to Red Robin and it was pretty successful. We were mostly worried about Micah being in his "fussy time", but he did good and was pretty distracted by all that was going on there. They had someone in a costume dressed up as a Robin. You'd think that would've been fun for the kids, but Abbey is terrified of anyone in costume, so she buried her head into Jim the whole dinner and wouldn't take a bite of food. She would occasionally peek out and if she saw the robin she would pull Jim's face down so she could be completely protected. We felt bad for her (we wouldn't have gone there if we knew they' d have that). Anyways, it was nice to get out of the house and be waited on and overall a pretty relaxing night for us :)

Hockeytown!

When I was in elementary school I loved recess. I loved going outside and playing, but I also loved it when it was raining and we couldn't go outside. I used to play hockey in the hallway with one of my friends, Jim Rebsamen. We each had a mini-stick and we would play one on one. It was a lot of fun. I've kept those sticks to this day and I've passed them on to Jacob. He recently saw me watching Philly Flyer highlights on the computer and he had a great idea that he and I should play hockey. So, we broke out the sticks, cleared out the kitchen, and faced-off! It was a lot of fun, but we didn't have any goals. So, I found some on the internet and they arrived today. I think I enjoy them more than Jacob does!

Micah - One Month Old

Micah has already been here a month. That time went really fast, but then again we can't imagine him not being here and we can hardly remember what life was like without him. He is doing well, but is having a very fussy period (understatement) starting at about 9:30 pm and lasting for about two hours. There is nothing that we can do to calm him down so we pretty much just walk around with him praying that he will settle down. We take turns and then eventually he poops himself out and falls asleep. At his last doctors appointment the doctor said it is really normal for babies to go through this and the rest of the day he is fairly content so we aren't too concerned about it. He is growing fast. He is already up to 9lbs. 15oz. Cooing some and even a few smiles the last couple of days. He's a joy to have around :)