April Highlights

Micah and cousins Jacob and Matthew. You can definitely see the family resembolence!

Adam's favorite activity in the whole wide world -- horsing around with his nephews -- just got even better with a little Micah on top.

How can someone be so adorable and so messy at the same time???

Another month speeding by; can't believe Micah's nearly 9 months old already! This month featured a trip to Sacramento to visit Adam's sister and her family. As you can see in the top picture, the cousins had a great time together, and we couldn't get over how much Micah and his cousins look alike. Travelling with Micah wasn't quite as easy as it was just three months ago. The pressure adjustment in the airplane bothered him a little more, and he had a harder time sleeping on our laps (and was definitely much heavier for us to hold for 2 hours!) Still, we really have no business in the world complaining. He slept well and was very adaptable to all the strange situations we put him in (hello, washing machine as changing table and bathtub in the sink!)

Upon arriving back at our home airport, I said goodbye to Adam and Micah and boarded another plane in the opposite direction, to Boston for a business trip. There were a few tears at the airport -- from me for being away from my boys for a week, and from Adam knowing that he was on his own for a week! We both managed well. Micah and daddy had a good time together, and daycare took a lot of the pressure off Adam. I had a wonderful time in Boston, hanging out with friends, eating out, and staying up too late. It is all too easy for me to slip into my "carefree single girl" mode while in Boston and almost forget I have a baby and husband at home! One duty I did have in Boston was to clean out my condo basement in preparation for its sale in June. That was a very sad day, since I've owned the condo for 17 years and lived there for 14. I had to keep reminding myself that sometimes we have to open our hands and let go of things, even if they are very precious or served a useful purpose at one point, so that new and wonderful things can come into our lives.



Coming back home provided some contrast to that sadness, though. The look in Micah's eyes when he saw me back again, and the sweet hugs and cuddles I got, made up for it. (Of course, when I took him to daycare the next day and saw him give his caregivers the same hugs, I was a bit disappointed, but am so happy that he feels so secure there and has a great relationship with the caregivers.)

Next up on our agenda is starting to plan our summer schedule of camping trips, travel, house projects, and anniversary celebration. And before you know it, we'll be planning a birthday party, too!

Whew!

It has been a busy few weeks here, with Passover, a visit from my sister and her family, and now getting ready to take Micah to meet his cousins on Adam's side of the family in California. Micah's been a gem -- he even sang and danced to the 4 questions at our Passover seder (with Grandma acting as a ventrolquist!) He managed to sit on grandma's lap for the whole first part of the seder, even if he does look bored in this photo:

on Easter, we were invited to some friends' house, and discovered that there is definitely a boy-gene that controls interest in cars. Micah just immediately knew what to do with our friends' son's car collection! Just in the last week or two, he's started a hilarious new thing where he suddenly vibrates with excitement or emotion. It starts out like a little Indian head wiggle, and then passes through his entire body. Maybe he's doing the snake dance that his daddy does so well? It is fun when he's excited, but when he's hungry or needing attention and does it, it is heart-rending.

And here are some photos of the latest skills we're working on with Micah: Crawling and walking. Don't think we're making much progress on crawling; we had to put him in the crawling position to take this picture, and he didn't like it much. Standing is much better, and he's started to try to bounce when he's standing, so we have to be on our guard to make sure we're holding him up, otherwise he'd just land with a big kersplat.

Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and of course all the children are above average.