6 Months Old Already?!?

Time flies by so quickly!  I can't believe Little Baby P. is already 6 months old!  We are half-way through his first year!  So so hard to believe!  Michael learns new skills and hones existing skills as each day passes, and it's so fun to watch his progress.  But at the same time, I'm wishing that I could slow down time just for a moment because it's slipping by too quickly. 

Our little happy bundle of joy!

 

Grandma Chips took this picture on the day Michael turned 6 months old (February 28).  Look at all his hair!  I call him "duck head" because his hair is as soft as a baby duck's hair.

 

Happy to be sitting on his own!

 

Such a sweet big boy!

 

This is how I was greeted when I walked into his room on Saturday morning.  He was up in crawling stance and ready for the day's fun to begin!

 

 

Saturday night:  Chillin' out with Dad and Uncle Bryan as they watched a hockey game.

 

Sunday morning on our way to church:  Daddy and Baby share a laugh.  So sweet.

 

In our "big boy" carseat on the way to the doctor's office this morning for our

6-month old check-up.

Michael's 6-month old check-up was today and I took off work to be with him the whole day.  He weighs 19 lbs 6 oz. and is 28 3/4 inches long!  He is in the 90th percentile for weight, the 97% percentile for height and 50% percentile for head-size.  Very proportionate little boy! 

Michael is the King of Baby Pilates and works very hard on strengthening his abs to help him sit up nice and tall.  He LOVES to sit up at home and play with his toys on his "I Spy" quilt that his GG made him.  However, he refused to show off his sitting skills to the doctor today. :(  In fact, he cried and made a fuss when he had to lay on the paper-covered table to be examined.  He knows that with the help of adults, he can apply pressure to his legs and feet and stand-up so that's what he was trying to show the doctor today instead.  He was refusing to bend at the hips to sit down.  But Aaron (who got to come with us today!) was able to get Michael to sit when the doctor briefly stepped out of the room. 

Michael received his set of vaccinations and we also opted to have him get a flu shot.  He is just now old enough to get one, and we figured it is a good idea to be prepared.  With the extra shot thrown in there, that meant he had to get four shots today! :(  Two in each thigh.  But, he has EXCELLENT little chunky thighs for that!  He was a champ with his rotovirus vaccine (given orally), and he let out some cries as he got his shots, but his Mommy, Daddy, and Chicco (his toy monkey) were all right beside him to comfort him. :)  He fell asleep on the way home and Aaron delivered him swiftly to his crib for a nap-- where he is at this moment. :) 

As we've ventured out further and further into the baby-food flavor realm, we've discovered that we have a Beechnut baby rather than a Gerber baby (although he is way totally cuter than the baby on the Gerber jars).  He seems to enjoy the consistency of the Beechnut foods moreso than the textures of the Gerber foods.  Beechnut food is actually a little cheaper than the Gerber brand, so Aaron & I are totally fine with this!  Michael will definitely still eat Gerber food and we still keep some on hand.  It's better for travelling since it comes in plastic containers rather than glass jars like the Beechbut brand does. 

We have added to our repertoire of baby food flavors to include:

• Apples, pears, bananas-- LOVE
• Oatmeal and apples-- LOVE
• Sweet potato and chicken--  LOVE

We have ready in our pantry:  mixed vegetables; sweet potato & turkey;  apricot, pears, bananas;  apples, peaches, kiwi; mixed cereal and apples;  etc.  These will be making their debut this week! 

Michael receives a early morning milk-feeding, then a bottle for breakfast, then a bottle and half a jar of baby food for lunch (either a fruit or a veggie), and a milk-feeding in the afternoon, then half a jar of baby food for dinner (either a fruit, a veggie, or a veggie/meat combo) and a milk-feeding. 

What We're Looking Forward To:

• Mom's Marketplace Consignment Sale!!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this consignment sale!  It happens twice a year in Prattville (in early fall, and in early spring).  I stocked up on some baby clothes back in the fall.  My only problem was that I hung out in the 9-month old baby clothes section and kept picking out clothes in only that size.  Fortunately, Michael is comfortably wearing 9-month old clothes right now, but I know it won't be long until he outgrows those!  So, this time I am planning to stock up in clothes from size 12-month and up-- at least enough clothes to get us to the fall consignment sale! 

I also plan to look for an exersaucer or  jump-a-roo to help entertain Michael during the evenings while Aaron & I tend to housework and chores (ie, making dinner and unloading/loading the dishwasher).  Michael is no longer content to sit for very long in his high-chair when his meal is over.  And since he wants to be so mobile, he doesn't stay satisfied in his swing for more than a few minutes now.  So I think that an exersaucer or a jump-a-roo that I could put in our dining area would help to keep him entertained as we finished up our daily tasks each evening. 

Aaron & I also plan to start running in the evenings after work.  Although we have a stroller for Michael, it is not a jogging stroller.  We have read reviews on jogging strollers, and we believe that it is a safer option to use one of them to put Michael in while we run instead of putting him in our regular stroller.  However, jogging strollers are pricy pieces of equipment!  I am always down for a good deal and I know for a fact that Mom's Marketplace had a great selection of jogging strollers at their fall sale.  I am hoping that I'll be able to find a jogging stroller at the Spring sale on the cheap.

This consignment sale is "season-specific" meaning there won't be any Halloween costumes or Christmas outfits at the spring sale.  So I'm excited to search for fun spring and summer items like an Easter outfit and a swimsuit! 

Today I plan to take 6-month pictures of Michael and I'll post them just as soon as I upload them! :)  I meant to do that this weekend, but I got too busy playing and hanging out with Michael and Aaron and Akuna!  :)  

So, check back soon to see our precious 6-month old in his "Easter outfit" that I'm sure he'll outgrow before Easter (hence why I want to find a replacement at the consignment sale!) :)

Much love!  _Reba



The Reason for the Absence & "First Things First"

It's been a long time in the making, but I am back up and running in the blog world.  I will actually probably be surprised if I have any readers left!  An absence of nearly two months is not normal, and it might have even been long enough for people to stop checking in!  Hopefully not.  I do like to have people read this blog and be able to catch up with us.  However, I will admit, sometimes it's intimidating to come up with a witty way to present the happenings of our lives and to include pictures in the blogs as well. 

Part of this is our set-up here at the house.  We're working with a laptop that has a mind of its own and sometimes will randomly shut down mid-blog post.  Yikes.  It's happened quite a few times.  That being said, sometimes I'd get a whole blog post written and I'd attempt to add pictures, and then the computer would freeze, the blog post would be lost and it would be sans pictures to top it all off.  This pattern becamse very frustrating to a busy mom who looks at a computer screen all day from Monday through Friday.  And when I come home from work, I really don't want to stare at another computer screen for hours while it makes up its mind as to whether or not it's going to behave. So, I started slacking on the frequency of my blog updates. 

And then, one of the most awful things that could ever happen to a camera-happy new-mom happened to me on January 7 of this year-- right before I was going to do a big blog post about Michael's first Christmas, first New Years, first rice cereal experience, and four-month checkup.  What was the awful thing?  I dropped my iPhone (ie, my camera) in the toilet. Although after my intial gasp of "I can't believe I did that nor can I believe that this is actually happening to me," I retrived my phone, but before I could remember how to shut it off (because I was in panic-mode), the phone turned itself off and I felt like I had been hit in the chest.  My baby's pictures-- from birth through four months-- were on that phone.  Pictures, videos, precious memories of my little boy were gone. 

No big deal, you say, because surely, like a good new mom, I would have updated my phone to have everything saved on the computer and the iCloud right?  Right?!? Wrong.  I was just thinking earlier that day "Ok, now, later today I will need to do the update on my phone so that all of my pictures/videos/contacts, etc will be saved on the iCloud."  I panicked. I freaked out. I cried.  My sweet husband tried to tell me it would be ok.  I bawled. He tried to tell me that there'd be a way to retireve the photos.  I crumpled into a ball on the couch.  He helped me up and into the kitchen where we put the phone in a ziploc sandwich bag filled with jasmine rice (hey, it was all we had).  I frantically looked up on Google "what to do when you drop your iPhone 4 in water."  The first piece of advice this website offered?  "Back up your iPhone to the iCloud and don't drop your phone in the toilet."  I cracked a small smile before tears filled my eyes again.  The author of that jovial web post did not have a four month old baby whose life photos were locked inside a water-logged iPhone.  But I kept reading the column anyway and found some helpful tips on how to salvage the phone.  

Fortunately, in December, Aaron upgraded his iPhone to a Windows phone, and he kept his iPhone to use as an iPod.  He was therefore able to call Verizon and get them to transfer my number to his old iPhone so I could use it as a phone.  I then had to function with a phone that had all of his Contacts, and pictures.  The phone was then registered with my number, and anytime someone texted me, I had to play the "guess who this person is" game based on the context of the text message. :)  I also had the privilege of taking lots of pictures of Michael to beef up the picture supply that was on this phone.  It was only a week or so ago that we were able to pull my original iPhone out of the rice bag, and pray that it had enough life left to download all of the photos and videos to iTunes. Aaron successfully downloaded all 1,800 pictures and nearly 100 videos to iTunes.  Yes, you read that right. 1,800 pictures.  1,200 of which were of my son.  Now you see why it was so imperative to me to salvage the photos! :)

You might be wondering why I would not be able to write a blog post during this time.  Honestly, it was because it made me too sad.  This blog is about Michael, and for Michael, (and any other future Petersen children that come along).  It was too sad to not be able to post any of the pictures I had planned on posting pre-iPhone-swim. But now that the photos are safely stored on my laptop and in the iCloud and on iTunes, I am able to feel more at ease about posting again. 

So, how am I going to tackle the feelings of finding a way to be witty and fun for the blog?  I'm going to try a new approach.  I'm going to write some or all posts to Michael.  I think this will help me feel more at ease with accounting for the monumental moments in his life thus far. So, here goes. 


Michael,

You are nearly six months old and I cannot believe it!  When you were first born, I thought that these days and months with you would go by super slow.  But that is not the case!  These months have zoomed right by us! 

You've experienced a lot of "first things" these last couple months. 

We went on our "first family vacation."  The day before Christmas Eve, we took a trip up to see Uncle Keith, Aunt Bethany, and cousin! It was the first time that we got to meet your cousin.  He is so cute!  You were very interested in him.  He was too brand-new to notice you too much during that trip, but he sure likes to smile at you now when we see him during his visits to Grampa Bill and Grandma Dana's house. Our first vacation was a success!  On the way up there, Grandma Dana sat in the back-seat with you. You napped for about 2 and a half hours of the 3 hour trip!  Fabulous!  We stayed overnight and had a very nice Christmas Eve lunch the next day with Uncle Bryan, Uncle Keith, Aunt Bethany, cousin, Grampa Bill, Grandma Dana, and Great Aunt Robyn.  On the way home that evening, you slept for about two hours.  We were able to get home just in time to start your bedtime routine. 

The next morning was your first Christmas!!! You weren't too sure what to think of your stocking.  In fact, you weren't too sure what to think of the whole Christmas decoration deal.  You liked to look at the Christmas tree without the Christmas lights turned on.  If we turned on the Christmas tree-lights while you were looking at the tree, you would cry. :(  However, you did like opening your gifts.  You thought tissue paper and wrapping paper were wonderful crinkly toys that were meant to be tasted!  Later on Christmas day, we went to Grandma Chips and Grandpa Randy's house.  That night, Grandma Dana, Grampa Bill, and Uncle Bryan came up to Grandma Chips' house and we all played games and ate dessert. You were asleep by this time because you had such a busy day. 

The next day was Grampa Bill's birthday and he and Grandma Dana and Uncle Bryan came over to our house for dinner.

Later on in the week, your Grandpa Mike came all the way from Washington state to visit with you!  He got to stay at our house for a few days. You really liked getting to spend time with him!  While Grandpa Mike was here, you tried rice cereal for the first time on January 1st!  Grandpa Mike got to help feed it to you.  You really enjoyed eating "big boy food."  But, it made your tummy kind of upset, so we didn't feed it to you after the second night. 

You had your first "belly laugh" on January 1st.  It was so sweet.  I was able to catch it on video.

At your four month check-up, you weighed 17 pounds, 3.5 ounces and were 25 3/4" long!  The doctor said we could start feeding you baby food as part of your dinner.  We were told to try yellow veggies, then green veggies, then fruits.  Baby food squash was the first baby food you tried.  You LOVED it!!! I totally took a "messy baby food face" picture.  :) 

So far, you have tried:

• squash  (LOVE)
• carrots  (LOVE)
• sweet potatoes (Did not like it at all the first time, but now you will eat them)
• green beans  (Like)
• peas   (Like)
• bananas  (Like-- when you tried them for the first time, you made such a funny face)
• applesauce (Like)
• pears  (Like)
• peaches  (Thumbs down.  Mommy and Daddy don't even like to feed these to you. Stinky!)
• prunes  (Tolerate.  Somehow, prunes always mean messier face and fingers.  And diapers)
• sweet potatoes & corn  (Really like)
• apple blueberry  (Really like)
• apples and cherries  (Like)
• pears with oatmeal and cinnamon  (LOVE)

 

Squash

 

Bananas

 

Prunes

 

Prunes

It's fun to feed baby food to you!  You say "Mmm!  Mmm!" and smile a lot. :)  We work on the sign language for "more" and you think it's so great when I move your hands to do the symbol.

You get half a container of baby food at lunch time, and half a container at dinnertime.  You totally know that sitting in your high-chair means you get to eat! That means, it no longer works as just a spare seat to put you in when Daddy and I need to run around the kitchen and do chores.  If you do not see food being put in a bowl for you when you are sitting in your high-chair, you start to get upset!  :)  We have to dance around the kitchen, and sing silly songs, or bop ourselves on the head with empty two-litre bottles (that's mainly your Daddy who does that) to make you giggle, laugh, and smile to forget that there's no food in front of you, or that you have finished up your food.  At your six-month check-up, we'll ask about when you're supposed to have "baby food meat."  I'm okay with holding off on this because I'm sure that "baby food meat" doesn't smell as nice as apple blueberry, etc.  :)

You now sleep on your tummy with your knees tucked up under you and your little baby booty in the air, with your left thumb in your mouth.  :) So sweet.

You have noticed Akuna for quite some time now, but recently, he has been the biggest motivator for getting HUGE amounts of laughter out of you!  If you see him playing with his doggie toys, you burst into giggles.  You try to call his name and it's the funniest thing.  It kind of sounds like an attempt at a screechy whistle/yell and you only do it when you can't see him.  When he appears in front of you again, your face lights up in a huge smile and you let out excited squeals.  You talk to Akuna quite a bit if he sits down right in front of your baby swing when you're in it.  You are more than willing to share your baby toys with him, but we prefer that you don't do that :)

 

Laughing at Akuna

You get a bath every night (schedule-permitting).  You sit in a little baby-bath seat.  You have just started splashing your legs in the water this week!  You are quite proud of yourself and we both get wet! 

 

You are nearly sleeping through the night!  Last night, you fell asleep at 8:00pm and woke up at 4:00am!  Woo-hoo!  That was a nice treat for me!  Usually, you wake up around 1:00am, and again at 4:00am or 5:00am right before I start getting ready for work.

You can sit up straight, but cannot quite get into that position on your own.  You are the master of baby Pilates, and will purposely lift your head and feet off the ground at the same time, with only your baby booty on the ground.  You want to sit up on your own so badly, and I know it won't be long before you can do it all on your own!  You roll over from back to tummy, and tummy to back.  This was something you just did one day and I was so surprised!  :)  I'm so proud of you and the milestones you've achieved!

 

"Who me?"

As a family, we made the decision to upgrade to a larger vehicle.  It was getting quite crowded trying to fit into our compact car.  You now have much more space to grow into since we've gotten an SUV.  You seem to enjoy the extra space. :)

You are so fun to be around!  I love holding you, cuddling you, reading stories, watching you play on your play mat, feeding baby food to you, bathing you, saying bedtime prayers, and being there when you wake up on weekends and off days.  You are such a joy.  We are very blessed to be your Mommy and Daddy!  I love you Little Baby P.   Love, your Mommy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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