Family Pictures

Just giving credit where credit is due: all these gorgeous pictures were taken by the incredibly talented Krystal (we were her first photo shoot EVER). I waited to post them until I could surprise my mom with them as her late Mother's Day gift. So if you live around here and need a photographer, Krystal is the way to go (even if she tries to be all humble and tell you she's not professional).

A New Blog

Just wanted to let everyone know that Scott & Mary have finally jumped on the bandwagon. Their blog is smbear.blogspot.com and features the adorable Rebekah (and lots of high-pitched Scott voices). Enjoy!

Thoughts on a Missing Wedding Ring

I love my wedding ring (as I should, considering I picked it out). It's gorgeous, and, since it was recently re-dipped, is nice and shiny. And I intend to keep it that way. Thus, to prevent scratching and general grody-ness, I take my ring off when I'm cooking or cleaning. Which means that I'm not wearing it very often (don't worry--I still have my band on so I don't look like an unwed mother).

As I was leaving for church this morning, I rushed over to the counter where it usually hangs out. It wasn't there. I was a little concerned, but was running late (as usual) and figured it was upstairs on my nightstand.

It wasn't. And it wasn't on the floor. Or behind the microwave. Or in the bottomless pit I call a purse.

At this point my mind started doing some strange things to me. I'm a fairly rational person, but I think I've seen too much television in my almost-24 years because I rapidly concocted the following scenarios:

Irrational Scenario #1:
Somehow my ring made it into the prize basket (okay, prize Wal-Mart bag) for my piano students. One of the girls must have chosen it as her prize, not realizing it wasn't a toy. And somehow she managed to get it home without either me or her mother realizing what it was (which is totally unlikey considering I watch the kids like a hawk while they're choosing prizes--mostly because I vividly remember stealing a prize from my teacher. Shame, shame.).

Irrational Scenario #2:
Someone broke into our house. They quickly realized that my crappy lappy wasn't worth stealing, so they grabbed the only other portable valuable in the house--my ring. That's right--the ONLY thing they stole in our entire house was my ring.

Irrational Scenario #3:
Marah (my little sister who's living with us this summer) has a recently acquired boyfriend who conviently lives just an hour and a half away in Virginia. He was up visiting that day, and the last memory I have of my ring is when I showed it to him and Marah after I found it in the dryer (I swear I don't usually do this). Sure, he seemed like a nice kid and he leaves on his mission in a week, but how do I know he's not a recovering kleptomaniac? Maybe he just couldn't resist that one, little ring. He snatched it, sold it, and will send a repentant letter to Marah in a few months confessing his crime (but the ring will be long gone).

The rational part of me was persistantly telling me that this was totally ridiculous and that I would regret thinking these things, but I couldn't restrain myself.

Of course, I found it not too long after this (in my pants pocket, duh). So I guess this is my way of making resistution--I confess my ridiculous accusations and swear I won't do this again. And Kevin, I promise this will all be really funny when you come home in two years and marry Marah. "Hey, remember that one day when you thought I was a klepto...?"

Seth at 10 months

Are there really only two months left until my baby turns one? Where has the time gone? A friend in my ward told me that after 6 months the time just flies. She's right.

This has been a pretty exciting month for Seth. He's still not crawling, but at this point he may just skip it and go straight to walking.
Seth's accomplishments this month include:

*Almost getting his walker down the stairs (I caught him when there was one wheel over the edge)

*Insisting that he must stand whenever there is a table, couch or ottoman he can hold on to and walk around

*Discovering that he does, in fact, possess the coveted Mikesell tongue (which appears when one is concentrating particularly hard)

*Rolling over BOTH WAYS! And we never had to go to baby physical therapy--he did it all on his own!

*Recognizing the word 'light'--he'll immediately look for a light when you say the word

*Eating grown-up food basically all the time. He's way done with the pureed stuff

*He can go from sitting to his knees to his belly (as long as his feet don't get stuck because he sits with his ankles crossed). But no, he won't stay on his knees or try to crawl

*He's a pro in his walker. When it gets stuck he knows just how to shove it in order to get free

*Sometimes, on rare occasions, he will let go of the couch and stand independently for a few seconds. Once or twice he's even gone from standing alone to sitting with no problems

*Still has absolutely no fear of strangers. And still loves his Daddy best of all

*Babbles "da-da-da-dad" when happy, "na-na-na-nyah" when whining, and various strange noises at other times. Still no "ma-ma-ma", despite all my promptings

*Thinks that he needs to investigate the stroller wheels at all times. This is especially difficult when we're on a walk and the wheels are moving

*Loves, loves, LOVES the swings. If we walk past the playground in our cul-de-sac, he gets so excited. And if you pass by without stopping, he'll whine and crane his neck around to see the swings. We finally bought him his own swing for the back porch, and he is one content little monkey

*Went on his third (and worst) plane flight. Jon swears we're never flying with him again

*Finally cut those two blasted top teeth, after a month or so of pain, whining, and not sleeping. Grand Tooth Total: 4--two top, two bottom (which he grinds occasionally--gives me the jeebies)

*New favorite food: bread, or anything bread-related (pancakes, rolls, biscuits, crepes, etc.)

*I can pretty much count on him sleeping from 8:30 pm to 6am straight, then he wakes up to nurse and sleeps until 8:30am. Wonderful, wonderful

*He is almost as excited to see the ceiling fan as he is to see his dad

*I have to watch him at the grocery store now--if I get the cart too close to the shelf, he'll grab for things

*Throws tantrums occasionally when we close the door at night after we've put him down. They usually only last a minute or two, but they're impressive

*Asserting his independence in whatever forms he can think of--squirming in his carseat, pushing us away when he doesn't want to be held, rejecting food, poo-sploding when he doesn't like his outfit...

I just love this little man. He's getting to be so much fun, and I love watching his personality develop (even if it is a stubborn one). Being a mom is the greatest job in the world.

Things I probably shouldn't let my son do (but I do anyway)

#1: Eat dirt.
I took him out on our deck to check on our newly planted chives and tomato. Next thing I knew, he had taken a big chomp of chive-dirt. I figured this is a childhood rite-of-passage--all of us ate dirt at some point or another--so I let him chomp away on his clump of dirt. Unfortunately, now every time we go outside he thinks he has a right to dig in the chives and eat the dirt...

#2 Play with Easter candy and/or nuts.This is actually a series. We begin with the picture above, which is how this whole chain of events started. First, he loved to dig in the eggs. Then, an egg or two fell out and he liked how it sounded. Then he started intentionally dropping the eggs on the island. The grand finale involved pitching them off the island and onto the floor. Obviously, this made a giant mess:I tried to contain it, but it just didn't have that lovely "candy hitting Pergo" sound that Seth loves so much:Finally Jon had the clever idea to use the base of Seth's Jumperoo as a containment ring. It seemed to satisfy him (by this point the Easter candy had been replaced by nuts and golf balls):Unfortunately, now he thinks all nuts are made just for him to throw on the floor, even if we're at Grandpa & Grandma's:And yes, he did try to eat some of the candy. Generally I'd catch him before he swallowed, but I pretty sure he got a few jelly beans down, and I know he's enjoyed a few Robin's Eggs (I'll find pink or blue drool down his front). Luckily the nuts are too big for him to fit in his mouth--though that doesn't stop him from trying.

#3 Put his hands in other people's mouths.My only explanation is that he's really into teeth right now.

#4 Be immodest.We usually don't have this problem, thanks to onesies...

#5 Get a tattoo.See that adorable skull and crossbones on his chubby thigh? It's a good thing Aunt Kenna decided to slap that on AFTER Seth saw the Mikesell grandparents. Otherwise, that thing would have been scrubbed off the second Grandma laid eyes on it.

If he's this much fun now, I can only imagine what life will be like once he's mobile...

A Visit from the Bloods

April 17-19, 2009

Now that we have an adorable grandson, we can actually get Jon's family out to visit for reasons besides bringing us furniture and/or moving us into a house. :) The Bloods were kind enough to sacrifice part of their Spring Break to come visit. We managed to fit them all in quite nicely--Timmy, James, Jacob & Joanna in the basement, Mom & Dad upstairs (on our brand new, REAL mattress!).

Seth loved every minute of the visit--he was more than happy to be the constant center of his aunt & uncles' attention. They were all so good with him--I wish I could give him that kind of entertainment every day. He gets so bored with just plain old Mom every day, all day...

And, because we haven't found a better place to take our family when they come visit, we hauled the Bloods up to Kilgore Falls for some hiking. Somehow Jon pawned Seth off on Timmy (thanks for being a good sport, Timmy). It ended up being a really nice day, and we had a good time hiking all around the falls (and through the water a few times). Of course, not all of us wanted to hike up to the falls.

This is Jakey, who spent the entire time wandering by himself at the base of the falls instead of climbing up top with the rest of us:And this is Mom & Dad Blood, who were apparently more worried about keeping an eye on the wandering Jakey than about their other three children who were running across the top of the waterfall with their grandson strapped to their back:Amazingly, no one fell in, and the only disappointment was Jakey's--he wanted to swim but didn't have a suit (we thought it would be way too cold--he disagreed).

We spent the rest of their visit just hanging out. Per the status quo, Jakey wouldn't eat a single thing I cooked. Luckily I was smart enough to buy cucumbers for him to eat the way most people eat bananas.

Seth loved his Grandpa & Grandma. Grandma had him in a giggle fit on the couch, and Grandpa's mustache was a source of endless entertainment. Seth concentrated very hard on removing it from Grandpa's face......but finally settled on stealing his watch, instead. We (Seth especially) really enjoyed having them here and are looking forward to our vacation to see them at the end of July--especially since the garden will be ripe for picking when we show up. Mmmm...Dad Blood's tomatoes...

Back on Board

Has it really been over a month since my last post? I would call myself a slacker, except that I can honestly say I wasn't slacking--I was BUSY! I swear! Now begins the joyful process of catching up...

Let's see how much I can get done before Monster Man wakes up from his nap...