Santa

Santa showed up at our ward dinner. He and Jarem had a friendly chat. But, when we gave Micah a chance, he wasn't so fond of him. :)

10 Months Old

 
For Micah's 10 month pictures, I wanted to try a Christmas pose that I saw on Pinterest.  He was not feeling very well, so I only got a few that were pretty good.  I didn't get that perfect one, but I still like them.

Micah is crawling now.  A couple of days after he started crawling, he was standing up next to things.  He loves hair, especially my hair.  One of the ways that I got him to go to sleep on the plane to Idaho was to softly tickle my hair over his face.  A couple of different times I have heard him choking on something only to find a long hair halfway down his throat.

9 Months Old

Random Pictures of Micah in October

He loves our phones

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Giving himself kisses in the mirror

Playing with the robot

Looking up at Dad while sharing his dinner

Lately when Micah wakes up in the morning, I bring him into bed with me and nurse him.  When he's done, we have some cuddle time in my bed.  It's one of my favorite parts of the day. :)

Jarem Being Goalie

Jarem really enjoys soccer and has become very aggressive in getting the ball.  He loves to play and gets nervous for the games.  He doesn't like being goalie because it's too much pressure.  One of the games, he was made goalie.  While he kept most of the goal attempts out, he did let one in.  He told me later that he felt like he let his whole team down because he let the other team score a goal while he was goalie.  I told him that he should also remember all the balls he kept out.  He was nervous about goalie after that.  

He seems to be the one of the smallest on his team.  Sometimes I wonder, "Is he really that small for his age, or are these guys just Amazons?"

Canning: What's Not to Love?

I've never enjoyed canning.  Let's face it, it's a LOT of work!  But, having been raised on home-canned foods, I really prefer them.  I mean, REALLY.  Especially fruits.  

Anyway, this past summer I was complaining to a friend about how I HAVE to can since I love the taste of canned peaches and pears so much.  She started telling me about how she LOVED canning.  She said she would buy a box of apples and set aside a day of the week that she wasn't too busy and look forward to it all week.  It was kind of "her" time to do something she really enjoyed.  

It got me thinking...  I guess her attitude rubbed off on me, because I started looking at canning in a whole different light.  I really enjoyed it.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I canned peaches, pears, applesauce and tomatoes with peppers and onions.  That's not to say it wasn't hard, but the rewards are so worth it!  I can actually say I felt like canning was a PLEASURE, and my attitude even rubbed off on Eric!  I especially enjoyed the pears.  They were perfectly ripe and the skins peeled off so smoothly.  It was a real joy.  Now, since I am posting this several months later, I can say that we have really enjoyed our home-canned pears, peaches, applesauce, and Rotel tomatoes!  Every time I get a jar to open, I feel a little bit of joy knowing that, "I did that!"

These pictures aren't necessarily in order.  We did the peaches in July.  The rest were done in October or early November.

We did peaches around July 28.  That night was crazy and I hadn't achieved the "love part" yet with these.  Eric and I started around 6-7pm on a Saturday night and were up most of the night.  Around 2am when we had 50 jars canned and still had a lot left, I started cutting them up and freezing them.  They have worked great for smoothies.

Micah wasn't cooperating very well that night either.  Usually he would go to bed and sleep all night, but I guess there was just too much noise cause he kept waking up.  So finally,  we brought him down in the swing to sleep.  That worked out fine until I took him out of his swing to put him in his bed.  That was a mistake!  He woke up and was wide awake!  I nursed him (which is usually guaranteed to get him to sleep), but nothing worked.  He was awake, and stayed awake for a long time after we were exhausted and finally ready for sleep.  We were up most of the night.  I felt like I was in a trance at church the next due to my lack of sleep.

It was kind of fun to learn that these apples may have come from the orchard in Washington where my sister works.

My sister, Melanie, got me hooked on bountiful baskets this past spring.  I would get one almost every week, which changed to every other week in the fall when they changed their offerings.  I have enjoyed SO much having fresh fruits and vegetables on hand most all the time.  I was excited when they offered these Washington apples for sale by the 40 lb box!

Honeycrisp Apples

Beautiful Applesauce

We bought this food strainer to help us out with the applesauce

Gorgeous Red Pears from Oregon

Pears finished!  My favorite part is looking at the finished product on my counter.

Skinned Tomatoes

My version of Rotel tomatoes (I thought they were going to be too spicy, but they are perfect!)

8 Months

My Favorite

Micah is now 8 months old.  The time is just flying by.  I took these pictures about 6 days after he turned 8 months since we were on vacation.    

Sleep

 Micah has been going through a difficult stage sleeping at  night this past month.  I nurse him before putting him to bed, but if he wakes up at all when I set him in bed and sees me leave the room (which most nights he does), he will scream and will not stop.  If I stay in his room and stand by his bed, he will just play and eventually fall asleep, and sometimes it takes awhile.  There's no sneaking out, cause he keeps checking to make sure I'm there.  If I try to leave, he will cry.  I tried to let him cry it out two different nights, and he cried for an hour both times without going to sleep.  I can't handle him crying that long.  Those are really the only times he has ever cried like that, so I think he is scared and I don't want him to feel scared and alone.  I'd rather just stand by his bed so he knows I'm there.  Sometimes I softly rub his cheeks and forehead to help him for to sleep faster.  He usually goes to bed around 7-7:30.  

Then once he goes to sleep, he has been waking up around 11 and again around 2-4am.  Once I nurse him, he will go back to sleep without a problem.  I hope he gets through this stage quickly, cause I'm ready to get some more sleep.  That said though, most of the time I really don't mind getting up in the night with him.  I consider it just a little extra bonding time that I get with him.  Since we had him so much later than the others, I consider him a "bonus round", and now that I know how quickly the time flies, I want to soak in every second.  I try to relish in the moment as often as possible. 

He's been doing awesome on his naps though.  He doesn't have any trouble going to sleep on his own with maybe only a little fuss when I lay him down. 

Teeth

I think his waking up in the night may be due to his teething.  He cut his first front tooth on his 8 month birthday and the second one a few days later, which bring his total tooth count to 5 (3 on bottom, 2 on top).  He is really good about not biting while nursing though.

Eating

He has been nursing really good and it has really become a good source of nutrition as well as a comfort thing for him.  I've been having a few breastfeeding complications, and I hope they get resolved soon so I can continue breastfeeding.  I'd like to make it to one year for him.  He is great at eating solids too.  He will eat almost any baby food I give him.  Even ones that my other babies didn't like, like peas.  He doesn't like to open his mouth very wide, so sometimes you have to just put the spoon up to his mouth and he will almost slurp it off the spoon and into his mouth.  It's kind of funny.

Milestones

He rolls all over now and sometimes he will try to get into a crawling position, but not much yet.  He sits well on his own.  He is starting to be interested in words and sounds.  He can say Tessa and Dad.  He loves to play with his toes and sometimes he will even bring them to his mouth to suck them.  He is a generally happy and delightful baby.  I can't express the joy that he brings into our home.

One of my favorites cause he grabs his feet like this all the time and I think it is adorable!

I could hardly keep him still for the pictures.  He was rolling all over.

Micah giving the bear kisses....so cute!

  

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