11 months! Only 1 month left...

Really, really true! Micah's 11 months today, which means 1 month from now we will be celebrating his first birthday. I just can't believe how fast time has flown this past year and am looking forward to a fun summer with my sweet boy. I bought a pool pass for the summer, and am envisioning it getting a lot of use since Micah loves his bath so much! After a busy month and a half, it was nice to be a little more low key the second half of this month. This biggest highlight of the month was watching Micah put together how to climb down the stairs and start to stand by himself. Soon he will be walking on his own! Whether by a year or not, only time will tell, but sooner than later he'll be cruising around.

The last week or so has been challenging because I strongly believe Micah is teething (so far he only has the 2 bottom teeth) and he just was all out of sorts. Very needy, clingy, melting down at essentially everything, not going to bed easily and accompanied by hysterical crying...no teeth have popped through yet, but the last couple days have been worlds better, so I really pray he's overcoming some of that pain. Poor baby! Part of the growing pains, literally, right?

"Thanks Aunt Liza and Uncle Jeff for the shirt!"

"Ba!" (Pointing and saying "ba" is what happens when he's excited about anything!)

"What do you think of this, Momma?"

"Yea, me too! That was pretty funny, wasn't it?"

"Okay, I'll let you capture one good one..."

Things to remember:

• how you learned to climb down the stairs
• how you rediscovered your feet and love to bite your toes
• how you started putting the rings around the wooden stand
• how you have started standing on your own, but no steps yet!
• how you are scared of the grass and your bare feet or hands:)
• how you started feeding yourself via bottle and sippy cup
• how you flew internationally, with no passport - oops!
• how you love to shake your head no - cracks us up:)
• how you love to move all the chairs around in the kitchen, and have realized this month to duck your head so you don't hit it on the table
• how you love to dance to music - so cute to watch you bounce up and down
• how you start humming to yourself when you have your paci and are tired

One more month Micah, and you'll be one! Thank you for blessing us with your sweet smile and personality and for providing such joy to your dad and I. We love you baby!

Stair boy

I just have to record that Micah went down the stairs all by himself yesterday! We were hanging out at my friend Carrington's house, and I had followed him up the stairs so that he didn't fall coming back down. And lo and behold, here he comes, down by himself! I'm sure it's minor in the big picture, but wanted to make sure I at least put this accomplishment in writing:)

Easter - a time for celebration!

What a great day! If you're a Christian, this is one day to be celebrating. :) We have eternal life because of Christ dying on the cross for our sins...my sins. My husband's sins. My son's sins. What a blessing to serve such an amazing God who loves us so much that He sent His only son to die, so that we could have life.

We are still struggling with service times, Micah and nursery; today we attempted the 8:45, thinking he'd just go down a little late. Ten minutes in to service I was called to pick up Micah from nursery because he was melting down....and there went our Easter service without him. We tried to bring him in and after about 30 minutes he was done, so out we went to try and catch the rest of service on a TV monitor.

Even though we ended up at the other end of the church, essentially by ourselves watching the service on a screen, I was still touched and humbled as the story of the cross was told. One piece in particular that my church does is a testimony section where people share a sentence or two of how God has freed them, put it on a board (ex. "drug addiction" and "cancer") and then nail it to the cross. What a great visual reminder, accompanied by a song that touches me every time I hear it:

Overcome
(Desperation Band)

(Verse 1)
Seated above, enthroned in the Father's love
Destined to die, poured out for all mankind
God's only son, perfect and spotless Lamb
He never sinned but suffered as if He did

(Pre-Chorus)
All authority
Every victory is Yours

(Chorus)
Savior, worthy of honor and glory
Worthy of all our praise
You overcame
Jesus, awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name
You overcame

(Verse 2)
Power in hand, speaking the Father's plan
You're sending us out, light in this broken land

(Bridge)
We will overcome
By the blood of the Lamb
And the word of our testimony
Everyone overcome

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your son and eternal life for those that follow you!

After service we went home for a nice relaxing day and Micah decided he wanted to start standing unassisted during snack time. Please ignore the slightly annoying, proud mommy voice :) This boy is really wanting to start moving soon, I can just tell! I know you can't see his face in the first video, but he was just sooo proud of himself!

We had an amazing day, and even though it didn't go as planned, I'm learning more and more about flexibility. God has all in His hands, and I love that we serve a God who is bigger than anything we could ever imagine...including a little boy who is in separation anxiety mode and choosing to only nap once today, haha!

Easter: Small Group Style

Today, in celebration of the sun actually making an appearance, as well as our desire for spring to be here already!, we decided to have a pre-Easter small group brunch. All the prayer for a beautiful day paid off, because after severe thunderstorms the past week, we had a great day for the festivities! Food eating, cookie decorating and Easter egg hunting were all on the agenda for the day. I'm grateful for the group we are in and the friends Christian and I have formed, as well as the fun playmates for Micah...although I know he just wants to get up and go with all the big kids around...and I just want him to stay little for as long as possible!

If you can't tell here, Christian is falling back with laughter. Something must have been hilarious!

All the dads were hiding the eggs outside (above) while the kids are thoroughly enjoying the cookie decorating inside (below).

Micah spent the morning sleeping, and was ready to play when he woke up!

Time to find Easter eggs!!

"Momma, I just want to go find eggs like the big kids!"

"Egg!"

"What have we here?"

"Oh, thank you Momma! An egg!!"

"And it makes a fun noise when I shake it too!"

"Can I actually get it to fall out of this basket?"

"Maybe it's just better if I sit here in the grass."

"Yes, I think so...that way I can really enjoy my egg and make sure to not mix it up with the others around."

Most of the small group kids below. Yes, there are a lot of boys. Not all though! We have 2 girls to spice up the dress code:)

"Jed: Micah, this is your egg!"

"Micah: But I want to share with you:)"

Small group girls above. Couldn't get the boys to do the same thing, again.

Warning: Do not do this with any child but your own (if that!) :)

"What a great day I had! Thanks Miss Kate and family for hosting such a fun event!!"

Story Time

This past month Micah has really developed a love for reading! It makes me laugh when I think about it because the first few months of his life (which seems like forever ago, although I know he's not even a year old yet...though too close!!) Christian and I could hardly get him to look at a book, much less actually enjoy the story time we were trying to instill. Well, it's there now, and there are a couple of books in particular that he just loves!

"Momma, will you please read Good Night Gorilla to me?"

"Oh man, that gorilla is one funny dude!"

"Now, I want to see this part myself 'cause it's my favorite..."

"Here you go - thanks Momma!"

"Let me help you, this is how you turn the page."

"See? That wasn't so hard!"

"Alright, now what's next in the story?"

"Ooh, but I'm not done yet!"

"Okay, okay, I can listen to a different story instead."

"Thanks for reading to me Momma, but I'm done now."

"Now, what have we here?"