First Thanksgiving

Today was Michael's first thanksgiving, and ours as new parents. What a true blessing it is to have him in our life, especially with the inital trial that we went through with him when he was born. Though we;ve experienced many trials this year as a family we still have been extrememly blessed and I'm truly grateful to God for all that he has blessed me and my family with.

This thanksgiving was a day of firsts ...
First thanksgiving for Michael
First thanksgiving as parents
First thanksgiving without family

Though it wasn't a complete lost, we still got to spend it together and also got to spend time with a new friend. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, potato rolls, stuffing, corn, and homemade apple pie yum yum (my first time making a pie, tasted oh so yummy). We did have one downside to the evening; right before we left we noticed some water dripping down from one of the cubboards so we went upstairs to see what was going on and low and behold we find the upstairs bathroom covered in about 2 inches of water ... dozen towels later and a shop vac to suck up all the water and we finally got it all cleaned up and the pipes fixed so the water would run through them properly (they got a bit frozen due to the extremem temperature drop the previous evening). Definitely a memorable thanksgiving :-)

Gosh it's been ages!

So since it's been so freakin' long I better add a few updates before pressing onward with the pictures.

1) School has started back up again and for poor Jay the work never ends

2) Michael is now 6 months old and he can ...
- Sit up compeltely unassisted
- Is trying to sit up on his own while lying down (work in progress)
- Trying to rock himself up onto all fours
- Jabbering nonstop
- Smiling and laughing constantly
- When not smiling/laughing he's whining and wishing to be held by mommy (sigh*)
- Absolutely LOVES eating solids (one that he really wishes to try but just can't yet is pizza ... goes to show you that he's certainly my son)
- Grabs at everything (he especially likes the feel of the cats fur)
- Sit up in the bathtub on his own now (makes washing his hair so much easier)
- Found his toes and now sucks on them
- Now has 2 bottom teeth (which are pretty darn sharp by the way)

3) I'm trying to get back into shape (work in progress) ... BYU-I holds some free exercise programs in the evenings that I've been trying to go to (Turbo kick and yoga are the 2 that I'll be doing)

4) Went apple picking for the first time after recently finding out that BYU-I orchards are opened to the public (did you know that they have over 100 different types of apples growing in their orchards! ... because we went so late in the season most of the trees were picked clean but the few apples that we did get were very delicious --- Michael even agreed)

Now ... Onto pictures ...

Michael enjoying the sweet nectar of a BYU-I apple



Future Linebacker

Newest pictures of our chubby guy

So Michael will be 4 months old next week (HOLY COW! time is flying by so fast) so I thought I'd add the newest pictures of our little chunky monkey ... Enjoy :-D

MOM! I'm naked!

Holding his bottle all by himself

Such a big boy siting up on his own

And they call it ... Puppy Love

Michael has this little dog, that his grammie Mangum got him, that hums "rock a bye baby" when you pull it's tail. He absolutely LOVES this little dog and will fall asleep while it plays its little song. This little pup has saved us many pouty fits and is a sure bet to crack a smile or laugh. Hope y'all enjoy the video :-)

Kitty Love

It's early morning and Michael is awake demanding his morning feed. I'm cold and still pretty tired so I do what I normally do if I want more sleep, go in, change his diaper, and bring him back to bed with me where he happily nurses next to me while Ilazily doze for a few extra minutes. Socrates and Bella, like usual are lounging about on different sides of the bed, completely relax and asleep. After Michael finishes his meal we both doze off for a short time, blissfully enjoying the warmth that the blankets offers us. After a short time I awake and look over at Michael when to my surprise I notice something different ... Socrates has decided to join us for a quick nap of his own. He's curled up directly behind Michael with the back of his head against the back of michael's head, completely sprawled out with both front paws drapped over Michael's side. It was pretty hillarious, Socrates puts up with Michael very well. One of those times I wished I had my camera. :-)

2 1/2 Months

Michael is getting pretty darn close to his 3 month mark (HOLY COW!) and he's growing like a weed, his baby blessing will be on the 11th of July. He's moving around constantly, has pretty much outgrown his swaddle blanket, and his hair is lightening up to a reddish/brown color. He found his fist and loves sucking on it every chance he gets (especially when I'm carrying him around in his sling/wrap) He also smiles every time he wakes up (granted it only lasts for a short time before the pouty face starts but its sure cute ... he also has the BEST pouty faces EVER! lol). He's all about movement, so I can't wait to get him into a bouncer swing. Well there's tons of stuff I could keep writing about but I need to get off the internet so I hope y'all enjoy his latest pictures.

Earthquake test

One thing about Michael that is always predicatable is that he absolutely LOVES movement. Bounce him around, take him for a car ride, swinging in his swing, or even being swung around while in his carseat, he doesn't care just keep him moving and he'll be completely happy and even give you a smile or two to show his appreciation.