February

Well, its been a long slow cold month, considering it isn't even over. Adam's been working a crazy schedule that requires waking up at 3:30 am and sometime not getting home unil 7 pm, and I just learned today that his schedule for 5 weeks after spring break is going to be even worse, leaving me to do both the daycare drop-off and pick-up. I've been nursing a sore back for the last month, too, making it painful for me to lift this increasingly heavy little boy, and especially gett in and out of the car. But things are looking up; looks like Micah will be walking in no time:

It was snowing today; a nice light snow that would have made for lovely cross-country skiing, if my back had been up for it. At least we got out for a walk. We haven't really taken Micah outside much this winter. He's had a cough on and off for the last few weeks, and quite honestly it seemed easier to just hang out with him inside. But it was fun to take him out; he's such a serious guy! Just looked around, taking in the new sites, the snowflakes, the cheek-numbing temperature. Here's my new favorite pic of both my boys.

Last thursday was "crazy hair" day for the older kids at Micah's daycare, but when he woke up, he had crazy hair and begged me to let him go to school that way. Can't argue with a guy sporting a fauxhalk, can I???

One more fauxhalk picture.

I resisted the urge to take more "messy face from new foods" photo, but we're all slowly getting the hang of solid foods. Micah's repetoire now includes: sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, brocolli, green beans, peas, avocado, yogurt, bananas, and peaches (not in season so I'm dicing up frozen organic peaches which aren't very sweet.) Next up this week: silken tofu and then potatoes. So far he doesn't not like anything; just seems to take it all in stride. One thing he really seems to love: water! We live in a very dry climate, but it is easy to forget that babies need water as much as grown-ups do.

Sign language for water: thumb holds down pinkie and first three fingers held up to the lips. Today I had a fun sign language surprise. I've been doing "all done" when feeding Micah (hands held up chest level and waved to show front and back), and today when I did that, he held his own hands up and looked at them. Probably means nothing, but it was a nice positive reinforcement for me to remember to keep using signs.

A big fat sloppy kiss

Well, I've experienced a few of those in my lifetime, but not quite like the one I got from Micah the other day. Because his cheeks are so damn yummy, I'm always fake-nibbling and kissing them.... and now that Micah has discovered the concept of putting things in his mouth, he's reciprocating! I'm not entirely sure he's doing it on purpose, but even if he does have another cold, I let him plant a wet one right on my cheek. (Putting mommy's nose in your mouth, while also cute, is less acceptable.)

I just realized we haven't taken any photos in February.....time to get out the camera! If for no other reason than the fact that I have a new haircut and new sparkly earings from my sweetie, and our little baby is turning into a little boy faster than you can say "Passage to India."

Can I just say....

..... you guys (my regular readers, and you know who you are!) rock my world. How wonderful to be able to take something so deeply personal, something that I labored over in private for months and months, share it with all of you, and get so much lovely feedback.... all in a matter of hours! I always appreciate when people leave me comments, but I wanted to tell you that this was especially welcomed.
Jon, to answer your question, the album was created using a surprisingly powerful but easy-to-use program called Scrapbook Max, and all of the "elements" (paper, do-dads, picture frames, etc.) were downloaded for free (yes, you will definitely need an extra hard drive if you get into this hobby seriously, and after all the technical delays I experienced over the last two days, you will also need a computer with some serious horsepower. I intend to treat myself to one, along with some photo editing software.....Hey, if you can't show yourself the love on Valentine's day, when can you?) If anyone has more questions, feel free to e-mail me at stephaniekb@mindspring.com.)

Micah's Conception/Birth Story Book

The post below includes the scrapbook I finally finished to tell Micah the story of his conception and birth in India. I am not exagerating when I say that the scrapbook took longer than the pregnancy! It took me a while to get the right tone and design for it. When I started, we didn't know his gender, so I tried to pick a gender-neutral color theme, and not have it look tooo kitchy-kitchy. This is my first big all-digital project, and I'm pretty proud of it (but need to bet a new computer before I do something this big again!)

The text in the scrapbook will be too small for you to read, but much of it was pulled from entries to this blog.

Thanks, Mom, for teaching me to scrapbook before the word even existed!

Baby Masala Final

Click here to view this photo book larger