The Rest of Breck

In my attempt to capture the entire trip without overwhelming you with pictures, I put the remaining 3 collages together.

The first is from a hike Christian and I did, sans Micah. We were grateful to be with family and took advantage of "eager" babysitters to spend some time together. Our hike consisted of more snow than normal, but well worth the trek through the 50 yards of snow to reach the lake at the top of the mountain. I even paid for it through a massive headache (which I attribute to altitude:)) but it was well worth it. The time spent together with Christian, exploring God's beautiful creation, was amazing.

The next collage is just some random pics during the week. Micah learned a few new tricks including "So big!" which you see him doing with my mom, as well as by himself. He also thoroughly enjoyed the beads that were thrown out during the July 4th parade and loved having all 5 sets around his neck. The scenic shots were from Christian, who decided to capture some of the serenity of Breckenridge.

Micah tricks learned this week: so big, shake your booty, snort like a pig, moo like a cow, "shhh" with finger to his mouth, and the resounding "Hi!!!" to anyone who will pay attention.

On the last night in Breckenridge my Aunt and Uncle (the reason we were out there to begin with!) decided to treat everyone to a super tasty and wonderfully scenic restaurant on top of a mountain: Der Fondue Chessel. We had to take 2 separate Gondolas to get to our food, and came to find out that because of the storm brewing (see picture in middle of the collage below) they shut down the gondolas within minutes of us arriving at the top. We had 5:30pm reservations (along with about 150 other people) and it turns out that our party and one other party were the only two to make it in time.

It was quite a night - and quite a memory maker! Micah had a bout with choking, and thankfully my mom gave him a few back blows and out came the apple culprits. It did, however, strike a chord with my biggest fear!, so I was a bit of a wreck for the remainder of the evening. The choking, coupled with the fact that the storm was getting worse and the gondolas were still shut off were making me a bit on edge.

Long story short, after some amazingly delicious food, we ended up being driven down the mountain by the chef of the restaurant! This had only happened 2 other times in the 80 years of the restaurants history, and it was a first for our actual chef. Forty-five minutes later we arrived at the base of the mountain and safely at our cars. Micah finally conked out 2 hours past his bedtime. Moral of the story? You can control nothing:) God is always in control! (This said because our reservation had been changed from 7pm to 5:30pm in an attempt to have Micah in bed as close to his bedtime as possible). What a memorable evening, albeit stressful at times, we are no worse for the wear and were able to have a great evening out with spectacular views. Thanks again Uncle Don and Aunt Elizabeth!

What a fun vacation we had. We look forward to many more down the road, no matter how few and far between. Family is one thing I never want to take for granted.

Rough Day

We probably had the most trying day as a parent so far, and I am so grateful that Christian was working from home today to help me though it. The day started out great - Micah sleeping in just a little later and then going for a nice 10 mile bike ride with my friend Kate. When we got back to her house (around 9:30am), Micah was walking around the driveway while I was putting all the gear back in my car. All of a sudden I hear him start crying (he was over by their front door) and I go over to see what's wrong. He started walking towards me, crying, and didn't realize there was a step, so down he tumbles just barely missing hitting his head on the concrete. As I run to pick him up, he starts screaming... I look him over and notice his right hand looks to be either scraped or blistered slightly, so I run it under some cold water. Apparently the front door can get pretty hot and it seems that Micah touched it for too long. At this point Micah is completely inconsolable! I don't know what else to do - he just seems to be melting down and not stopping. I decide to go back home to see if I can calm him there and he literally screams the entire 20 minute drive home. So awful...

Christian meets us in the driveway, takes Micah out of the car, and notices his hand looking red and swollen. We put his hand in cold water, put on some Baby Einstein, and for the first time in about 35 minutes, he stopped screaming. Christian does a quick search on burns and we realize he probably has a 2nd degree burn. After 20 minutes of soaking (and quietness from Micah) we take his hand out and examine it. The screaming starts instantaneously, and we notice his hand is even more swollen and blistered. Fear starts creeping in - but I try to keep it together and call the doctor. She scheduled us in immediately, and in the car we went for another treacherous 20 minutes and screaming, shaking, break your heart convulsing. This screaming continued in the waiting room, the examining room, and back in the car. Tears were streaming down my face the entire time at the doctor, and I was so grateful to have Christian by my side. The pain meds didn't seem to be helping and I didn't know what to do. But finally, finally, at about 11:45am Micah gave in to the sleep that swallowed him up after 2 hours of vocal chord exercising.

As the pictures show below, he fell asleep in my lap with his cream infused, gauze wrapped, little blistered hand in a big bucket of ice. After 45 minutes he awoke starving (and refusing to take his hand out of the bucket for lunch time) but the crying had finally ceased. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful (including an almost 3 hour nap - completely exhausted, I'm sure, from the drama that unfolded earlier in the day). Thank you Jesus for protecting our little boy and helping him - and Mom and Dad! - get through this painful experience.

Our little one handed boxer baby:)

Chipmunk Feeding

One of our first days in Breckenridge we took a trip out to feed the chipmunks. Wow - these were some fat little creatures!! I didn't actually sit still enough to have the chipmunks come and eat out of my hands, but I'm pretty sure everyone else there was able to experience that. Micah had a great time getting dirty, and the scenery was too beautiful to capture via pictures.

Again, click on the picture, and then click again (or right-click if you are a non-mac user and zoom) to blow up the picture. The downside of the collage making is that you can't see all the pictures well unless you zoom in...

4th of July, Breckenridge style.

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July this year! Micah had a blast at the parade, trying out his first taste of a Dum Dum sucker and hanging on the barriers while the parade traipsed by. We were even "that family" with our matching Old Navy flag shirts (despite some resistance from a certain sister of mine:)).

Also, please bear with me as I am trying a new tactic in my blogging, by adopting the idea of a collage to showcase many pictures without the long posts. I wanted to do this back when I did Micah's 1st birthday, but didn't give myself enough time to figure it out. I'm still practicing with the program, but here is my first attempt. For those of you who would like a bigger view, click on the picture and it should blow up.

Shake, shake, shake

Shake your booty!

Micah had a blast this past week hanging out in Breckenridge, Colorado. He learned so many new things...one of which was shaking his booty, taught to him by none other than his Nana Kay. :) More posts on Breckenridge to come, but I wanted to share this cute little video as a precursor. Enjoy.

13 months!

"Whoa, who are you!??!"

"Is this what I'm supposed to do Momma? I thought I was done with this silly game!"

"Well, I'm glad you found that funny."

"Wait, is that Daddy flying over your shoulder? He is one funny guy."

"I just have the best parents ever, don't you think Tigger?"

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"Here, I'll show you that you're part of the family now too."
(This is how he snuggles, as he's starting giving hugs.)

Well, I didn't plan on continuing the monthly photos, but after receiving such a wonderful gift from Cass we just had to do another month. Ironically, Cass was also the giver of Mickey, which Micah become close friends with throughout his first year of life:) Thanks Cass for helping our picture tradition continue!!

Monthly highlights:

• Micah has really become very steady on his feet this month!
  
• I thought about trying to go to one nap, but it failed miserably on my 2nd attempt, so we're keeping with the two naps for now.
• We have spent as much time outside as possible, and visited every park in the area, as well as the pool:)
  
• Micah is starting to have some temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way :(. I'm not sure the best way to handle this, and right now we can distract him pretty easily...but I'm praying for us in the future!
• He visited the petting zoo this month and had a good time, but was slightly scared (actually terrified!) by the woolly lambs.
• He started barking and meowing, at the right animal:)
  
• Micah began giving hugs this month, and I love it! It's so sweet to see him come up to me or Christian and rest his little head on us, even if just for a second.
  

Party time again!

Last weekend we were able to celebrate a fellow friend (Jackson Davis) turning one, and Micah had quite a great time at the party. They also had a great photographer capturing wonderful shots, and below are a couple of Micah that I stole:) Thanks ANew View Photography! Ironic that he refused to wear a hat at his own birthday party, but had no qualms doing it here - I think he was trying to show Jackson it wasn't so bad, haha. Jackson has just broken out in tears after Jason put the hat on him, so I look at it as Micah saying, "It's okay Jackson...see? It's not that bad being 1, I promise!"