Let me out!

Since Devin has been mobile, he is into EVERYTHING! This should be old news for all parents out there...but it's really kinda new for us! Aiden had no desire to get into much as a baby. He didn't crawl until 10 months, and was soon walking after that. He really didn't put much in his mouth, and was content playing with us, his friends, or his toys. Devin is the opposite. He has been crawling for a few months now, wants to put everything in his mouth, and explore as much as he can get to before we pull him away! :) Granted in our other house when we had Aiden, we didn't have any stairs-although the house I nannied at did. He learned to manage the stairs quickly after he was mobile, but he was also much older than Devin at the time. So this is the first time we have had to use the baby gate. We try to let him have as much freedom as possible, and make the house safe for him to explore, but he seems to find the one thing he shouldn't have ;) I just thought this was so cute between Micah and Devin on the stairs...it was sweet because Devin really wanted Daddy to be able to get on his side.

"Here Daddy, I'll let you in!"

And yes, Devin has been pulling himself up on the furniture, and cruising along the bottom stair and fireplace. He's starting to figure out how to walk along the tables and couches, but hasn't quite gotten it yet...

Aiden requested to have his picture taken :)

Look at the lungs on that kid! He can blow balloons up!

HA! It's more like check out those teeth-he wants to chew everything! Luckily it hasn't popped yet...

He's such a happy baby!

Mission Trip

As many of you know, Micah has been on quite a few medical mission trips these past few years. He started his first year of medical school going to Honduras, and has gone on one every year since. He goes with GHO (Global Health Outreach) through the CMDA (Christian Medical and Dental Association). This past trip marked his 6th mission, his 3rd to Nicaragua. I was supposed to go the year we got married, but lo and behold I was pregnant with Aiden, and waited until the following year to go. It was their last trip to Honduras, and the next was the first ever to Nicaragua. We had a wonderful experience, and I got to see first hand why Micah is so passionate about going. But it was hard to leave Aiden so young (he was only 5 months). I haven't been on another trip yet, but will probably in the next few years. It's too hard for me to leave the kids knowing both of their parents would be out of the country.
So here are some pictures from Micah's latest adventure :)

Every morning you start out at breakfast with a review for the day, prayer, and singing. It's always nice to have some good musicians on the trip :)

Here is the clinic set up in a school

Here is the MMU (mobile medical unit) where they do some more of the major surgeries. Some years they have an anesthesiologist with them so they can totally put people under and do hernia repairs etc. Most of the time it's all local anesthetics. They do some other minor surgeries in the clinic-removing cysts and other lumps and bumps-and try to keep it as sterile as possible, but the MMU is the most sterile environment for the more serious cases that they can handle.

Here Micah is putting a cast on a little tyke...

All Better!

The doctors and nurses are there to lend their skills to those in need, but they are also there to talk to the people about God and their beliefs. They lend an ear to those who need it, and pray with those who want to.

It's not all work and no play...they have a good time with all the locals...and the translaters become fast friends. Usually it's soccer they play, and the Americans always get a good butt-whooping :)

In Nicaragua they have a large Dump...and people live in it. Every year the team goes and makes a trip to the Dump and participates in one of the church services held there. It's hard to believe that people live in these conditions. A few of the doctors noticed kids playing with hypodermic needles, and had to quickly explain to them why it was so dangerous. It really makes a person stop and think of all the things we have and take for granted...

That haze you see is really there all the time from all the fires to burn the trast. And it smells terrible.

Micah on top of the dump

Putting the animals to work-but look how skinny that bull is...

They were right along the ocean...and thought it was a good idea for a swim. Ummm-yeah, that didn't go so well. As Micah puts it "It got a little hairy out there..." I could have killed him when he got back!

Then they got to see the other side of this beautiful country. From rags to riches! Just like any part of the world it has its good sides and rough sides.

The last day they got to do some fun activities: zip lining, shopping, or boat tours. Micah had already done the zip lining in a previous year, so he went on the boat tour. I guess they went to some monkey island, and some of the tour guides were encouraging the monkeys on the boats. Micah luckily voiced his opposition to having a monkey aboard their boat, and the guide respected his wishes and refrained from going to the island-but they still got some pictures!

Micah had a wonderful trip and is all ready to go again next year. I myself need the year to accept that he wants to go and will be gone again. I admit it is hard to have him gone. I know it's only a week, and they are doing wonderful things out there. I think it's just hard to have virtually no communication with him and have him so far away. I am so afraid something terrible might happen and I wouldn't have any way of getting to him, or him having a hard time coming back if we needed him. After so many trips the anxiety never goes away. But it's so rewarding when he gets back, and we are so proud of everything he does! It is definately an experience I encourage anyone to make at least once. It puts a lot of things into percpective...
We love you Micah and we are so proud of you! I know you have touched so many people in more ways than you can know. It's good to have you home :)

Practicing Church

I don't know if this is a struggle for many of you out there...but sometimes it is for me! Aiden seems to have a hard time sitting still in church. Part of it is because I can't hold him much anymore because I have Devin, and I know sometimes he just wants Mommy to hold him. But Devin is too big to bring him in his carseat, and too little to let him sit on his own. And now that he's mobile, it's hard to get him to sit and be content for the full service. So when you add a whiney toddler to that mix, minus a husband because he's on call-it gets frustrating really quickly. Now I will say that Aiden is not "that" child in church (well maybe once). But I have a pretty short tolerance for behaving in church, and will not hesitate to take him out for a timeout. However I am strongly against putting my kids in the child care or "cry room" when we go. Then they'll NEVER learn! I also don't allow toys, and really try to limit any food or drink. So I guess I'm setting myself up for a hard time, but it's what my parents did and we turned out fine!
But anyway when we went this past weekend, it was just so hard for me, and I got so fed up. I did have a few mom's stop by afterwards and commend me for even bringing them in the first place...but I just want a pleasent and enriching experience. So when we got home I had Aiden "practice church". I wanted to see if he was physically capable of sitting and standing still for extended periods of time. And I wanted to see if the method I used for potty training would work here as well. If he had an accident, we would have to go and practice going to the potty over and over. The reasoning is that practicing is not fun, and if you have an accident that means we have to pracitice again. Aiden had caught on to this pretty fast, so it worked for him. We'll see if this works for church then too! I had him sit for 3 min, stand for 3 min, sit for 4 min, stand for 4 min...etc until he got to 6 minutes. He did great-so I'm thinking "no excuses now!"
It was pretty cute though watching him sit and stand with his hands folded...so I snuck a few pictures ;)
I'll keep you posted if it worked or not...and if anyone has any advice I'm certainly open to it!

Fun weekend

We had an eventful weekend! Micah had his golden birthday on the 28th! Unfortunately he was on call, and had a busy one at that. He was able to sneak away for an hour to go out for lunch with us, and that was it :( The boys and I made him a cheesecake and wrapped up his presents and waited until bedtime. I had to give him a call to find out if he could come home at all-and the equipment rep answered his phone for him in the OR...so that was a big fat "not going to make it-you better put the kids to bed" phone call. He didn't come home until after 1:30am. Then that morning we had to high tail it out to our parent's for Larry and Sandy's 30th anniversary party! They reached that big milestone on March 3rd...but with scheduling conflicts had to hold off the party until now. She wore her wedding dress!! I hope I can still fit in mine in 30 years! And she rented Larry a 70's style tux so they looked just like their wedding photo...it was so awesome. Being that it was a Sunday we couldn't stay late, and had to leave the party early so we can get home at a reasonable 10:30pm...and we still had to do Cake and presents to celebrate Micah's birthday. It was a looooong night and we were grateful when the kids were finally in bed. I forgot my camera, even though I was sure it was in my purse...so this is one of the only photos I have of the happy couple so far. But she had a photographer there, so many pictures were taken and I can't wait to see them all :)

What an inspiration!
And I'm happy to say that My parents will be celebrating their 32nd anniversary in May! Micah and I are so lucky to have 2 shining examples of what commitment and true love really means...

Happy Birthday Micah!

Spring is almost here!

I am sure I'm not alone when I say that I can't wait for it to really be spring! We have definitely had some really nice days-but now they are telling me it might snow this weekend! grrr.... Of course we have taken advantage of the nicer weather and have spent some time outside with the kids. I was gone last Saturday and Micah's family came into town-so they had some fun in the sun:

My children are such goobers :)

My good friend Laura had her baby this past Tuesday, and we got to watch James and Ally for the day. The kids had a lot of fun together, and I particularly enjoyed the "quiet time" they took while Devin napped :)

Later that night we got to take the kids to the hospital to meet their new sister, Grace Anne, and give her the picture frames and birthday cake they made. Such a beautiful family!

Rachel and Adam also came with us, and they got to practice being parents with Devin :)

It's been a fun and busy week. I've got spring fever! Babies being born, the trees and flowers are starting to bud, the days are getting longer...I love it! The only thing I'm not a fan of is the switching of clothes and closets, the grass that needs to be raked, and the dreaded spring cleaning...All that nesting I did with Devin could really come in handy about now!
Happy Spring Everyone!

busy week

I felt like I was doing so well updating the blog-and now have slacked off again! It was a busy week while Micah was away. We spent the first weekend with our families and drove back Monday night to attend a choir concert. My old college choir was on tour in our area, and we hosted a few girls for the night. We went about our week as normal, but it was hard not having Micah around. We picked him back up Sunday and got back home pretty late. This past week we have been trying to get things back in order since he came home. And I am trying to get the boys' closets ready for their spring and summer clothes. It's a lot of laundry and organizing! I had a lot of fun shopping with my friend Laura who is having her baby tomorrow!! We got most of everything we needed to get our kids ready for the spring time. And since the weather has been getting better we have been spending a lot of time outside-I love it! This past Saturday I was able to go back to my college and celebrate my choral director's 25 years at the college. It was so much fun because I got to stay with Anneliese who was one of my bridesmaids, and have a night to just relax without the boys. It was Micah's first night without my help, but his parents and brother were in town-so he had some help :)
I'm still at that point where I have a lot of organizing and cleaning to do, and I'm hoping to get it all finished this week...including our taxes...
Many of you know I am a procrastinator, but Micah is going to help give me the push to get those done now!
We have some pictures to post, and I'm hoping to get to that very soon. I'll be sure to include some of Nicaragua with a little commentary from Micah-check back soon!

Missing Daddy

Micah left for Nicaragua on Saturday for his medical mission trip. I was able to go back and visit our families over the weekend after he left, and Sandy took these cute photos of the boys and I. We are so very proud of Micah and the work he is doing out there-but we miss him so much! We can't wait for him to come home safe and sound. Hopefully he'll be able to check this sometime while he's gone if they have internet access. So this one's for you baby!

We love you and miss you Daddy!

I know you love me :)

Look who's standing up!

So I go into get Devin up from his nap yesterday because I heard the mobile playing a little-and thinking to myself "hmmm...." And this is how I found him! The little stink pot pulled himself up! I knew this was coming quickly-and he has yet to pull himself to stand up on anything downstairs besides the fireplace-but it's sure to happen soon. Looks like I need to lower the mattress :) Oh he's getting so big!!