One Year Later: How We Told

I know most of you won’t read this until at least tomorrow, which will be December 23, 2012.  Just one year ago, our worlds totally changed.

Aaron and I had been earnestly praying and yearning for a baby.  We endured eight months of seeing each other every other weekend due to Aaron’s out of town work that kept him away for 11 days in each trip.  He only got to come home for 3 days at a time in between the 11 day stretches.  That separation was incredibly difficult, and we were beyond thrilled when he got the news one week before Thanksgiving that he would get to come home for good!  On December 22, I dared to take a pregnancy test in the afternoon after we got home from work.  I knew that pregnancy test results were the most accurate in the morning, but I couldn’t wait!  I took the test and was beside myself with joy when the word “Pregnant” appeared.  I tried to maintain a “normal” face as I returned to the Man Room (the room in our home that’s painted in Detroit Red Wings colors and has Aaron’s RC cars and dome hockey table in it) to continue our game of dome hockey.  Aaron was going to be off of work the next day, and I planned to leave work a little early to go get a doctor’s confirmation on the pregnancy before I told anyone—this is the way Aaron and I planned it.  We wanted doctor confirmation before anyone knew—even Aaron!  That evening, we went to “the neighborhood” (the place my parents and his mom and Randy live) to eat dinner.  On the drive over there, I wrote a special note on my phone’s “Notepad.”  Here is what I said:

“I’ve been wondering if I am, and today I took a test that settled some of my questions. …I’m going to the doctor’s tomorrow and get it confirmed :) 

Dear God,

Thank you for this miracle!  Please keep us safe on this journey. 

Love, Reba

 

Dear Baby,

How we’ve prayed for you so! I am so excited to carry you near my heart.  I am going to strive to be the best mommy possible.  After you & I go to the doctors tomorrow, we will tell your daddy and he will be so thrilled!  I love you so much!  My soul doth magnify the Lord!

Love, your mommy”

So, when we returned to our home, Aaron decided he was going to stay up all night and play xbox online with friends.  I went ahead to bed.  When I woke up in the middle of the night, I took another pregnancy test (well, they come in 2 packs, so I figured I might as well use both to be sure!) :)  This test said “Pregnant” as well!  I was so so thrilled and I could hardly go back to sleep.  At work, I was chomping at the bit to leave early so I could go to the doctor’s office.

 When I got to the doctor’s office, I took their pregnancy test and waited as patiently as I could for the results.  The nurse looked at the little test stick and said “Yep, you’re pregnant. Yay!!!”  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get home and tell Aaron.  I knew that my little brother would be coming over later that day to play some video games before we went back over to the neighborhood for dinner (we go there a lot… it’s fun!) :) I made it home before my brother got there and I raced down the hallway to prepare how I was going to tell Aaron the big news.  You see, several months prior, I bought a teeny tiney onesie that said “I’m told I’m a Red Wings fan.”  So, I pulled it out of its hiding place in my nightstand drawer, and called out to Aaron (who was in the living room)  “Hey, can you come here and look at my new outfit?”  When he walked in the room, I held up the onesie.  A huge grin lit up his face and he said “We’re pregnant?”  I nodded and he began to cry.  We hugged and kissed and thanked God.  We quickly thought of a couple different ways to tell our families.  When Bryan arrived to play video games, I ran to the grocery store and bought 2 yellow pacifiers.  Back at my house, I put each one in a little gift bag with tissue paper. 

At dinnertime, we began our trek to the neighborhood.  We stopped down the hill at my parents’ house first since we’d be eating dinner with Aaron’s mom and Randy just a few minutes later.  So, we had my mom and dad sit on the couch and handed my dad the gift bag.  We said “This is an early Christmas gift—something for you to have for your home.”  Dad reached in the bag, pulled out the pacifier, gasped and started crying, and looked at Mom.  Mom then nodded back at him and began crying too.  So, I think we were all crying at this point, but managed to get out some sentimental words. :)  Dad prayed for us and for “this new little life growing inside” of me.  Aaron and I made our way up to his mom’s house with the other gift bag. 

We had his mom, Randy, and Randy’s mom, sit on the couch and we handed his mom the gift bag.  She pulls out the pacifier and says “Really?”  Aaron nods and then everyone started crying and hugging. Randy’s mom took a picture of Claudia holding the pacifier with Aaron, myself, and Randy standing with her.  She still has the picture displayed in a curio cabinet in the piano room at her home.  I like to walk into the room and look at that picture and then think of Michael and how fast time goes by!  :)

 On our way to pick up pizza that night, Aaron and I called his dad to share the news with him.  We then called my older brother and his wife.  Once Aaron and I got home later that night, we called his uncle, aunt, and cousins.  The next morning—yep, Christmas Eve—we called our grandparents to tell them they’d be “Great-Grandparents.”  All of them laughed with joy.  We called some of my Aunts that day to tell them, they laughed for joy as well.  It was so nice to be enveloped in such joy!!!

 

I think back to those days often, with fond memories of how fun it was to plan out how to tell Aaron, and our parents that we were going to have a baby!  It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since that time.  I’m sure in 15 minutes, I’ll be posting again and it will be December 22, 2013!  Time surely has a way of slipping by very quickly when there’s a baby to gaze at and love on! :)

 

Shortly after I told Aaron that we were going to be parents, he hung up the onesie in the Man Room. 

When I was in my last few weeks of pregnancy, I held up the onesie along with the Auburn beanie and soccer-ball patterned socks to show the outfit Michael would come home from the hospital in.

 

 

And, of course, we have a picture of our sweet “little” babe wearing the onesie and the other outfit items, on the day we came home from the hospital.



It’s so fun to see how little he looks!

 

*** Present Day ***

:)

Today, finally, we got a Christmas craft done!  Yay yay yay! 

This morning, we did some "fun shopping" to get craft supplies.  Michael was so tuckered out, that he fell asleep on the way home.  We brought him inside in his carrier, and decided to do one of the craft projects while he was sleeping.  Aaron quickly grabbed the paint, sponge brush, paper towels, canvas board, and Johnson's Hand and Face Wipes. 

We slid off Michael's socks and booties.  I sponged green paint on his left foot and Aaron held the canvas on it.  Of course, Michael curled his toes, so we have a partial left footprint.  So, I wiped off the paint with the Johnson's Hand and Face Wipes, before it had time to stain his foot.  After all, I don't want him to have little Grinch-y green feet on Christmas! :)  With the left foot clean, we got started on the right foot.  I sponged paint on it, and Aaron held the canvas on it.  Michael started squirming and slid his foot while we were trying to take his foot off of the canvas.  So, the right footprint is a little messy.  But, these things don't bother me in the least because it shows that Michael is an active little guy even when he sleeps! :)

Here is a picture of our finished product:

 

 

I drew the heart and wrote the words with paint pens.  I am very happy with how it turned out! :)

Here's the star of the show with his masterpiece:

 

 

We will be attempting to do hand-print ornaments sometime soon.  I already know they'll probably look like smudges since Michael is bound to curl his fingers into a fist or slide them around once his hand is on the ornament.  But, it's the thought that counts, right?  And I'm sure, years from now, I'll look back on these First Christmas items with pure joy and remember my precious squirmy son whom I absolutely love to pieces. 

 

Well, our home is all decorated for Christmas!!!  Although, I have to say, that I was eyeing some super cute Christmas decor at Hobby Lobby today, and will definitely be making a trip back there to partake of the after-Christmas sales and clearances! :) 

 

Here is our awesome tree (yes, it leans, but I think it's kinda great):

 

 

Here's the glitzy glamorous lit up version:

 

Cozy, right?

 

Here are two of Michael's ornaments:

 

This one is from Grandma Chips.

 

This one is from Grandma Dana and Grampa Bill.

 

And of course, as promised, here are some Christmas pictures of Michael:

 

 

 

Here are some family pictures:

 

 

Michael is a doll.  I mean, how can you not love this face:

My heart is so full of love for this little chunky sweetness that I can't contain myself:  I am so blessed to be a mommy.  Michael is an awesome baby and if you were to ask me to pick a favorite day with him, I'll say "everyday."  Everyday is my favorite.  Everyday is better than the day before.  The love grows everyday.  The milestones come everyday.  The joy seeps out more and more everyday.  Every. Single. Day.  I love this little kid.  I'm blessed that he (without words) calls me Mommy.  :)  

Until next time! Much love, Reba

3 Months: Quirks and Perks

On November 28, Michael turned 3 months old!  Time flies when you're having fun!

Every day gets easier and easier to care for this sweet little babe.  We are learning more about his personality and patterns every single day.   He is a happy happy baby and it's so fun to be his Mommy! 

This month, I’m throwing in some “quirks” (things we’re not fond of) and “perks” (things that make the quirks a little better) we’ve experienced as of late.

 

Michael:

-the teething process has begun

·         Quirk: random sessions of scream cries

·         Perk: Michael still isn’t sleeping through the night, so we might as well battle both of these issues at once—teething discomfort, and incomplete nights of sleep.  Overall, Michael is still a super sweet baby, and that is the ultimate perk.

-Photo Book

·         Perk!  No quirks here!  I received a coupon for a free photo book from Shutterfly.  This sight is totally cool, and the discounts you can get are great!  Three years ago, I made a free book documenting our wedding day and it turned out fabulously!  So, I was super excited to receive another coupon so I could make Michael a book.  What made it even easier?  The fact that our baby is so photogenic!  I used about 50 pictures to document Michael’s life (to include 2 ultrasound pictures, and 2 pictures of me carrying our little boy during pregnancy).  I added in special Bible verses and captions.  There is even a “Grandparent page” where I compiled a photo of each of Michael’s grandparents holding him.  This book will be a great momento for Michael to treasure as he grows.

 

Me:

-Super tired

·         Quirk, obviously.  The 1:00 hour rolls around in the afternoon and I catch myself nodding off.  At work, being drowsy is not ideal.  So, what’s the perk?

·         Perk:  S’mores coffee creamer!  My husband is the bomb.com for finding this gem in the grocery store.  With the addition of this chocolate-y marshmallow-y goodness, I have begun to have a cup of coffee in the mornings.  Just a tad (and by tad, I mean a few several generous swirls around the cup) of this creamer in the morning cup-o-joe fuels me up!  Now I feel like the perky (no pun intended) Mommy I’m supposed to be!

 

Aaron:

-Working late

·         Quirk:  It’s never fun to be apart from Aaron.  He is such an amazing hard worker with a work ethic that puts the Energizer bunny to shame—he keeps going and going, and giving it 100% throughout it all.  His job has caused there to be some late nights, and Aaron gives it his all every day. 

·         Perk:  Overtime pay!  Although having a husband who is an outstanding employee to his company is satisfaction to me in and of itself, I must admit that it’s nice for him to see a little financial reward for his efforts.  Another perk?  The long days are currently behind us and we get to ride to work together again!

 

Family Activities:

·         The Christmas Tree is Up and Decorated!!! Aaron and I picked some of our favorite ornaments from our collection (if we were to put every ornament on, our poor little tree would tumble over) and adorned our tree.  Michael seems to like to look at the lights if you hold him and walk over to the tree.  However, one day he was sitting in his swing, looking at the tree and the lights were unplugged.  We went over to plug in the lights, and he burst into tears!  He takes after his mommy and doesn’t do change well. 

·         Instead of purchasing a vehicle, Aaron and I decided that our Christmas gift to each other would be a new mattress.  Getting another vehicle was not a necessity, but a new mattress quickly became a need. Our old mattress was really doing a number on Aaron’s back, so we invested in a new mattress guaranteed to relieve back pain.  We are able to each adjust our own sides of the bed to our liking, so he chose a setting that was a little firmer than he had been used to.  Last night was our first night to try it out, and he woke up without back pain!  I chose a setting that was softer than the mattress we had before.  It took me a while to get used to the feeling of a different kind of mattress. I kinda felt like I was sleeping in a weird hammock/water bed.  It’ll take me a little while to get used to it.  Of course, I know I can change the setting, but I’m waiting a couple nights (as the representative suggested) to get used to the current setting.

 

I keep promising a post full of Christmas creativeness, and it’s still coming, I promise!  Aaron and I get home around 3:30 on most days, and Michael’s bedtime is at 6:00pm.  So, we roughly get two and a half hours with our little guy before it’s off to Baby Dreamland for him.  Therefore, our afternoons are very precious and protected in order to spend time with our little man.  That means that our weekends become our running around days.  So, any shopping trips to pick up some crafty supplies must wait until Saturday.  Hopefully, this Saturday, Michael and I will make it out to Hobby Lobby to get our supplies.

 

My next post will include a picture of our Christmas tree, and hopefully some Christmas pictures of Michael and Akuna.  I plan to do an array of photos of Michael in Christmas outfits or in a Christmas-like setting for our photo Christmas card this year.  

 

The Christmas season thus far has been so much fun!  After Michael is all snuggled in bed, Aaron and I cozy up on our couch and watch Christmas movies while we eat our dinner.  It’s such a blessing to be able to spend quality time with my spouse in the evenings. 

 

In the next post, expect to see:

·         A photo of our Christmas tree

·         Some more pictures of Michael (of course)

·         Christmas crafts (fingers crossed!)

 

 

Until next time, enjoy these pictures of Michael that I took on the day he turned 3 Months Old:   

 

Much love, Reba

Michael's First Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was such a fun day as we celebrated Thanksgiving!  We are very aware that we are truly blessed, and this year it was even more evident.  Last year on this very week, Aaron returned home from a 8 month stint for work out of state.  We counted our blessings that he was finally home, and we prayed for a baby. 

Well, here we are one year later and we have a feisty, adorable, little boy who brings more joy and laughter to our lives than we thought possible.  Although it is much harder being a parent than I ever thought it could be, I wouldn't trade it in.  I prayed so much for a child during the year 2011.  I am ever ever thankful that God granted my request and blessed us with a happy healthy child.  For us, 2012 has zipped by!  (I'm sure if you were to ask me in February, or April, or at any other point along in the pregnancy, if I thought the year was going fast, I would've said "not fast enough").  But now, I'm finding myself wishing to slow down time just for a moment.  Michael is growing up so fast and I'm equally loving it and grieving it.  It's so fun to have Michael interact with us more and more each day, but I know he'll be grown before we know it.  So I'm trying to soak in all the baby-ness and newness he brings into our world each day.

As promised, here is Michael in his Thanksgiving hat:

 

How can you resist that chubby cuteness?  Impossible, I tell ya. Plain impossible.

 

Here's a better view of the top of the hat.  Aaron and I sometimes now refer to Michael as our little Turkeyhead baby.

 

Michael shows off his coolness to his Daddy

 

Mommy and Michael enjoy the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade befor heading over to the grandparents' house.

 

On Wednesday evening before we went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving (yes, we were that family who waited til the last minute and had to battle the crowds) we put Michael in his high-chair for the first time!  Obviously, he LOVED it!  I think he likes being on the same eye-level as we adults. :)  We sat him in it on Thanksgiving morning as we ran around the kitchen preparing side dishes.  Although he won't get to try out any baby cereal until after his 4 month appointment, I like being able to put him in this chair and give him some toys to grab at on his tray.

 

Here's our sweet "Christmas spirit" baby and Daddy.  We had to do  part of Michael's Christmas photo shoot early since he probably won't be able to fit into his Christmas outfit at Christmastime. 

 

 

Here in the southeast, although we've had some pretty crisp cool days, yesterday proved to be summer-ish weather.  Boo.  So, Michael spent most of his first Thanksgiving dressed in only a diaper, and sitting in his high-chair at his Nana's house while food was prepared.  He sported his Turkey hat in the morning, and conked out in his bouncy seat between Aaron and myself while we enjoyed a wonderful dinner.  Nearly falling asleep in my arms while his bath was being prepared, Michael had a relaxing end to his busy day.  We snuggled him up in his striped baseball-playing giraffe footie and brought him home to his cozy bassinet. 

 

As always, Michael continues to melt our hearts and makes us yearn to be the very best parents we can be!

 

 

To give you an idea of what Michael is up to these days, I've compiled a short list of some of his favorite activities:

 

• Putting the fingers of his left hand in his mouth.  (It's rare to see him stick his right hand fingers in his mouth)
• Blowing raspberries and bubbles!  He LOVES to do this as his response in conversations.
• Daytime naps while being held or in his swing.  This is relatively new.  I used to be able to put him in his bassinet during daytime naps, but no longer!  Unless he is super tired, he prefers to be held or in his swing for daytime naps.
• Grabbing at toys
• Staring at his feet
• Tummytime....ha! NOT.  Michael despises this activity.  You have to kind of trick him into it either by laying down and propping him up on your shins so he can see your face, or by holding him like he's flying.  Hopefully, he'll do better at tummytime on the playmat and baby quilt.  I don't fault the little guy, though.  He's got a lot more weight to lift up off the ground! :)

 

New Product I LOVE LOVE LOVE:

• Johnson's Hand and Face Wipes

Target.com

 

 

These wipes are so fabulous!  They contain no alcohol, so they are safe for wiping off little baby hands, faces, and neck rolls (of which Michael has a-plenty).  They also smell wonderful, like Johnsons&Johnsons baby products.  These are now a diaper bag staple, but I don't just use them on the go.  Michael's diaper bag resides in our living room unless it's time for a road trip-- so sometimes, I snag a one or two to wipe down our little guy's face or his hand after it's made it's way to his mouth.  This way, it's quicker and smells better than grabbing a paper towel.

 

 

Future Family Activities that we look forward to doing this weekend

 

• Having GG and Popa over for dinner tonight.
• Home Alone marathon (we have both Home Alone 1 and Home Alone 2 on DVD and I'm so excited to begin our Christmas movie festivities today!)  (By the way, "Home Alone 3" and "Home Alone 4" do not count to me as real Home Alone movies, therefore, they will not be watched as part of this marathon).
• Potential vehicle shopping (to find something bigger to accomodate our growing family).  When we bought our compact car, it totally worked for us at the time.  The space was adequate, the gas mileage was fantastic, and we liked the look.  So now, although the gas mileage is still out of this world, and although the car still looks super sleek and cool, the size has become a major factor for us.  We need a vehicle in which we can properly have the car seat fit in the exact way that it should, and we'd like a vehicle in which we do not have to decide between stroller or Costco trip.  We'd like to have enough space to always keep the stroller in the vehicle, and still be able to go to Costco (or even Winn Dixie for that matter).

 

Michael and I have not made it to Hobby Lobby yet to buy supplies for our Christmas crafts.  And I don't think Black Friday is the day to accomplish this.  That's what Saturdays are for.  :)   I will definitely post about our progress though, and of course, I'll include pictures along the way. :)

 

Until next time!  Much love, Reba

 



Back in the Saddle Again

Welp, I got on the lonely train and debated whether or not to continue this blog.  It seemed that now that my little one has arrived, it’s not as much fun for people to read about the ins and outs of our lives.  But, just recently, I’ve had a few people ask for the blog to continue.   One said that even if no one else reads it, she finds joy in it and it’s a good history for Michael.  Well, that was enough to spark interest again for me.  I will do anything for my little boy, and if this is a good history of his early days, then the blog writing will continue!

As I promised (two weeks ago… sorry), I will share the news of the 2 Month doctor appointment.  Michael weighed nearly 14 and a half pounds.  He was 24 and a quarter inches long.  He’s even bigger now, of course, because that’s what babies do best—they grow.  And grow. And grow.

I am one proud Mommy.  Michael is such a joy!

 I bought him a super cute Thanksgiving hat and I will post pictures soon of him wearing it.  At that time I will also bring you more up to speed with our daily activities. :)  Michael and I plan on doing some Christmas crafts... I'm sure he'll love it.  I'll be sure to snap some pics of us in action. In addition, I plan on spending some time entertaining Michael by cleaning and organizing our home.  I'm incredibly curious to see if I can make it as a minimalist.  Less is more, and that mainly means less clutter to keep track of.  That way, I'll have more time to spend with our little cutie patootie.

 

Until my next post (which will hopefully be full of creativeness and cuteness), here are some pictures of our smiley lil guy!

 

Enjoying Daddy's goofiness before bath time

 

Sweet boy for Grandma Chips  (This is one of my favorite pictures of all time)

 

Being a little ham in the kitchen with Mommy

 

So fun to help Mommy in the kitchen on Saturday morning!

 

Michael LOVES putting his fingers in his mouth!  I treated him to a chilled teether this past week and he thought it was the bomb!  :)  It's SO much fun to be his Mommy!

 

 

 

Thanks for catching up with us.  Check back soon for an updated post to include the Thanksgiving hat, and the start of Christmas crafts!  Much love, Reba

What We Like: Months 1 & 2

I can't believe Michael is 9 weeks old today.  During the course of these 9 weeks, we have found certain products that have been pretty useful to us.  Here are some of the things we like:


Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitor:

From the start, we've used the Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitor.  It's so helpful to know that we will be alerted if there's no movement in the bassinet.

 

 

 

Pampers Swaddlers:

 

Pampers Swaddlers are still our favorite.  Target Up & Up diapers also fit Michael now and he has been making use of them before we break open our boxes of size 3 diapers-- yep, you read that right:  My 2 month old is in size 3 diapers! We used Newborn size diapers for one week.  Then Michael was in Size 1 diapers from Week 1 until the end of Week 7.  We used size 2 diapers for Michael for just a week.  I coulda shoulda transferred Michael into size 2 diapers earlier, but what's done is done.  I could see a notable difference from the beginning of that week to the end of that week.  He really did manage to grow right on out of them.  Fortunately, I didn't dig into any of the boxes of size 2 diapers that we have.  So, those can now be exchanged for size 3 diapers.  Hopefully, he'll spend a while in size 3.



 

 

Dr. Brown's Bottles-- 4 oz. and 8 oz.:

 

These are just the ticket.  I desperately wanted Michael to like the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottles.  Mainly because they consist of a bottle, a nipple, and the nipple collar.  This means easy to wash.  The Dr. Brown's bottles consist of the bottle, the nipple, the nipple collar, the vent tube, and the valve.  These take a long time to wash!  However, Michael would not have anything to do with the Tommee Tippee bottles.  It took him 20 minutes to drink an ounce of milk.  After realizing that little progress was being made during that feeding, I poured the rest of the milk into a Dr. Brown's bottle and he began freely drinking.  He doesn't even take his mouth off of the bottle while he's eating.  

 

Michael had steadily been taking 4 oz at a feeding, but he has made the switch to 5 oz per feeding now.  That meant, I was filling the size 4 oz bottles, and then putting one extra ounce in a tiny bottle to be added once Michael had finished the original 4 ounces.  You can imagine the frustration a baby might have while you have to pause his feeding to pour another ounce of milk into the bottle. So, I had to upgrade from a size 4oz. bottle to a size 8 oz. bottle.   The 8 oz bottles are great!



 

 

Stroller strap:

 

This feature on my diaper bag is amazing!  On each side of the diaper bag, there is a locking-loop.  I can attach this loop to my stroller handle... or to the handle of shopping carts.  It makes the diaper bag so easily accessible and that is so nice. 

 

 

Dr. Brown's Pacifiers:

 

Michael is not a huge pacifier fan, but when he does want to take one, (usually during daytime naps), he does best with Dr. Brown's pacifiers. 

Sassy Go-go bugs:

These cool little felt toys hang from Michael's car-seat carrier handle.  They each make a sound (the red bug crinkles, the orange bug jingles, and the yellow bug rattles.  As Michael is pushed around in shopping carts, the car-seat carrier jiggles some and this makes the bugs sound their sounds.  These can be quite entertaining for Michael to watch, or they can act as white noise and lull him to sleep as we enjoy our shopping adventures.

 

 

Fisher-Price Space Saver Seat-n-Swing Luv U Zoo:

 

Yep, we're still loving the swing!  

 

 

Fisher-Price Musical Mobile Gym Luv U Zoo:

 

Michael works hard to bat the hanging rattles and toys.  He also sometimes does tummy-time by laying on the soft mat of this gym.  This gym has a mobile and lights with songs.  Michael LOVES music and I sing along to the tunes I recognize, and I make up words for the songs I don't know... Michael thinks it's great!  He's so proud of himself when his hand connects with the rattle, which he is attempting to hit here:

 



 

 

 

Twilight Turtle:

 

As I've referenced multiple times before, we LOVE the Twilight Turtle!  It plays a crucial role in our bedtime routine by casting a soft glow on the walls and ceiling, and acts as a night-light.  We do our middle of the night and early morning feedings by the light of the turtle.  This keeps Michael from getting over-stimulated. 

 

Extra-large swaddle blanket:

Michael, as you know, grows very quickly.  He is now making use of the extra-large swaddle blanket sewn by Great Grammie.  As you can see, he stays nice and cozy during sleep times.

 

 

 

Mittens:

 

Michael scratches his face no matter how many times I cut his nails.  So, at nighttime, we put baby-mittens on his hands to keep him from scraping the baby-soft skin on his face.  This also serves double duty because it keeps his little hands extra warm, now that the cooler temperatures have arrived in the South East. 

 

 

Bumbo seat:

 

Michael does very well in his Bumbo seat.  We tried it out for the first time the other day.  It helps him learn to strengthen his neck muscles to support his head. 

 

 

 



Thanks for catching up with us and taking the time to learn about some of Michael's favorite things!  Tomorrow, Michael goes to the doctor for his 2 month appointment.  I will share the update this weekend!  Much love, Reba