Daily Micah Returns on January 3rd

We're traveling tomorrow to see my family, and in the spirit of taking a vacation from absolutely everything possible (which isn't a whole lot these days), we'll be taking a vacation from Daily Micah as well. Stay tuned for more exciting pictures and video, when Daily Micah returns on January 3rd.

Christ is Born!

Merry Christmas!


We hope and pray that you have a safe and blessed holiday.

Christ is born!

Daily Micah: Big Spoon

In the proud tradition of sword swallowers, I present Micah, eater of large spoons.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Phipps Conservatory

We went to Phipps Conservatory on Friday to see the Chihuly glass exhibit. It was spectacular. If you live in the area and haven't seen it, you should; it's open until February 24th.


What, a picture of us without Micah?


Phew, there he is.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Chins

Micah's cheeks aren't his only prominent facial feature. His chins are also rather pronounced. In fact, his "real" chin is actually rather tiny.


But you know, maybe the stuff around it isn't extra chin at all, but rather simply the expansion of cheek into other territory. Are Micah's cheeks imperialistic? You be the judge.

On a sad note, Micah will soon weigh too much for his jump and go. He's gotten much better at going, but still hasn't really jumped. He does bounce, however, which is a start.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Engineering Christmas Cookies, Part 2

After you make cookies, you have to play with the baby. It's a rule.

First, you have to compare cheeks. I'm sorry, Brian, but I think Micah's are still bigger.


Then you have to make him smile.

Daily Micah: Engineering Christmas Cookies, Part 1

We got together a while ago with our friends Brian and Robin to make Christmas cookies. It was a lot of fun, especially since Brian, Robin and I are engineers. What happens when engineers make Christmas cookies? Precision!


Micah is clearly still too young to appreciate the view, though judging by his cheeks you'd think he was already a cookie lover.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Pacified, Part 2

While pacifiers have really helped Micah deal with his need to chew on things, there are two disadvantages. First, you don't get to hear his voice as much. Micah can be quite chatty, and pacifiers just make it harder for him to speak his mind.


Second, pacifiers hide his mouth, so it can be harder to tell when he's smiling. Periodically, therefore, I remove the pacifier to check out what his little mouth is doing.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Eating again

Micah makes funny faces when he eats, and fortunately, we've been able to capture some of them.




Micah has triumphed over his tongue-thrust instinct, which makes eating less messy. Even though he is less messy, because he's so sweet, eating is no less fun.

Daily Micah: His Royal Shortness

Presenting, Micah, his royal shortness, upon his throne.

Daily Micah, Special Edition: Rolling! (Action Action News Flash Update Extreme!)

Micah hit a milestone today: he rolled from front to back! Watch, and be amazed!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: The High Seat

Micah has a high chair, or High Seat, if you will.


We've begun using it to feed Micah his gruel, as it is far more convenient than sitting him on our lap.


Of course, it isn't any less messy.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: You are very interesting from this angle

Micah's view of the world is changing. Mostly, his new view isn't level with the horizon.


In fact, he won't have it any other way. Lying on his back is boring, if not infuriating. Even reclining in his bouncy seat is aggravating: who wants to recline when you can balance precariously on the bottoms of your legs and your hands, and topple over from time to time?

Yay!

Today I fit into one of my old pairs of jeans! Woo! I've been able to zip them up in the past, but they were too tight to actually wear. Now I can wear them without them pressing into my abdomen! Yay! Micah is almost 5 months old. They say 9 months on and 9 months off. I still am not back to my original weight and lots of my old pants, skirts, and tights don't fit yet, but I am so happy!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Eating

I promised pictures, and so here are a few. There will be more of the eating sort in the next few days, I'm sure.

Micah began "eating" solids recently (recall the special news bulletin). He eats a mixture of breast milk and flaky rice cereal. It's essentially tasteless (yes, I've tried it; it's a little sweet, but I think that's mostly the breastmilk), but also essentially safe where allergic reactions are concerned. I don't think we're supposed to try him with anything else until he's six months old.


Micah has yet to conquer his tongue-thrust reflex, which makes eating messy. I'm convinced that more ends up on his face and bib than in his stomach. It doesn't help that he often enjoys "blowing bubbles" in his spoon. Hilarious, but even messier than normal, as little bits of rice cereal fly all over the place.


However, Micah understands the mechanics, and is eager to "help." So eager, that you have to fend off his hands with your free hand as you try to feed him. If he is too frequently thwarted with one hand, he's learned that he can try to "help" with the other, and give it a go from another angle.

Action Action News Flash Update Extreme!

Micah has decided that rolling is not for him. Instead, he prefers ... to sit!


At nearly five months old, Micah has still not rolled from back to front, or front to back, but he has figured out how to prop himself up with his arms while in a sitting position, and can stay that way without additional support for quite a while! His current goal is to get his feet in his mouth. Alas, his legs are still too short.

This is Sarina Meyer, reporting from Pittsburgh.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Light Up Night!

Light Up Night Christmas Festival at our church, Eastminster Presbyertian Church, was tonight, December 8th, 2007. This is the fourth year that has put on Light Up Night. It's the biggest event of the year for our church! On Light Up Night, we turn on the Christmas lights around the church, and have a live nativity with camels, goats, sheeps and baby cows, shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. There are carriage rides, free food, a drama, coral concert, and this year there was a parade that started at Whole Foods and ended at the church.


The parade included the camels, an entire band of bag pipers and drummers, a step team also with drummers, and a carriage pulling Joseph and a pregnant Mary. Expecting Mary and Joseph got off the carriage and came along side the Manger ... to find us! This year, Micah was baby Jesus #1 from 6-7pm.

Check the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tomorrow for a write-up; if I can find a link, I'll post it. This year, the mayor, in honor of Eastminster's service to the community, officially declared Dec. 8, 2007, Light Up Night!

P.S. Micah is sporting a hat that I wore as a baby. ;-)

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Cozy

Sometimes I just can't help myself. I mean, he couldn't do this to himself, right? Yes, I'm responsible ... and if he needs therapy for the things I put him through, then I'll be sure we can afford to pay for it.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Tummy + Tongue

Sometimes being on the tummy isn't so bad. This was one of those times.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Rollin' (well, not quite)

Micah has recently started trying to roll. Well, sort of. For days at a time, he appears to decide he isn't interested. When he wants to try, he can get on his side. He then flexes every muscle in his body to try to finish it off ... but then can't.

Anyway, we couldn't pick which of these pictures was the cutest, so you get the whole sequence, taken with about 3 seconds in between.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: On the floor

When you're essentially immobile, you spend a lot of time hanging out on the floor. At least, that's been Micah's experience. So he doesn't get lonely, we end up spending a lot of time on the floor, too.


For the record, my hair isn't this long anymore. I got it cut last Friday, but not before my stylist commented on my "afro."

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Pacified

Historically, Micah has reviled pacifiers, and no, I don't think reviled is too strong a word. Micah is generally laid back. However, in situations where (1) he knows what he likes and (2) you try to give him something different, look out.

So, all of a sudden he likes pacifiers. In fact, don't even think about trying to break him of his pacifier habit. He's taken to being very loud when he wants something that he doesn't have, and a (particular kind of) pacifier is the main object of his recent affections.


One nice thing is that you can just pull it out of his mouth without incurring his wrath. Withholding it for too long a period is what makes him upset. This is "one nice thing" because this way, if we want to see his smiling face or better hear his lovely voice, we can do so.

For a time.

Then, the pacifier must be restored, lest the bellowing ensue.

Sarina's Sermons

Sarina preached at our church, Eastminster Presbyterian Church, the last two Sundays in November. She preached a two-part series on Christ the King, and the first is now available online. Just select her sermon and click play!

Daily Micah: Lil Engineer, 2

Further evidence that Micah will be an engineer-- he's already interested in how things work.


When we put Micah in the Jump and Go these days, he spends some nontrivial amount of time looking up at what he is hanging from.

There wasn't a Daily Micah yesterday, the first day I missed in a month. Whoops!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Felt book

Our friend Becca made Micah a gorgeous felt book. The book is an acrostic, with each beautifully hand-stitched page depicting something that starts with one of the letters of his name.


What a cute face to go with such a cute book!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: A different side of Micah

Our pediatrician, Dr. Anderson of East Liberty Family Health Care Center says that babies hit middle age before they're toddlers: they go bald and develop a gut. Micah is no exception. You can't tell from the front, but Micah is losing his hair. And we have proof that can be produced for the benefit of future girlfriends.

Action Action News Flash Update Extreme!

Micah "ate" "solid" food for the first time today. By "ate" I mean lapped out of a spoon and on to his bib, and by "solid" I mean a little bit of rice cereal mixed with defrosted breast milk ... more like soup, really. Micah seemed to like it. Sarina tried it too. She said it was good.

We didn't get any pictures, but that's okay. You can wait. It builds character, you know.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Drinking (water) is so cool!

I've mentioned previously that Micah has taken an interest in the drinking of things (e.g., water, for the sake of clarity). Not that he's interested in drinking himself-- he's still a lapping kind of guy-- but rather that he is intrigued by the process when Sarina and I engage in it.


What's funny is the way he expresses his interest. When you pick up your glass, he fixes his eyes on it, and then tracks it all the way to your mouth and back down again. The funny comes in if he is sitting on your lap-- he cranes his neck and leans as far as necessary (sometimes very far) so as to not lose sight of the glass.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Apple Baby

Sometimes I ask for Micah's assistance with this or that with respect to my Ph.D. He's very insightful and articulate, you know?

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Say Cheese, Part 2

In a previous post I commented on how Micah has learned to smile for the camera. Sarina took a two pictures separated by five seconds that capture this very well.

"What's mom doing?"


"Oh, she has a camera!"

Daily Micah: Farmer Brown

I don't know why I think "Farmer Brown" when I see Micah in these pictures, but I do.






Be sure to vote in the new poll!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Going (if not jumping)

Micah has graduated to going (but not jumping) from not going (see a previous post).


It's a lot of fun watching Micah grow into his toys and watching how the way he interacts with them changes over time.

Daily Micah: The blinds!

The great thing about being a baby is being easily entertained. Everything (yes, everything) is new, amazing, and worth staring at. Even window blinds.


Micah trivia: in this picture he is wearing a pair of overalls that I wore when I was his size. I think he might look better in them, however.

Daily Micah: Cup, again

This is a cute picture, isn't it?



There's nothing in Micah's cup. He's been paying very close attention to us as we've been drinking things of late, and just like with the spoon, he's mimicking us. Micah doesn't really understand the purpose of a cup yet, I don't think ... he just likes chewing on and running his tongue over the edge of it.

It reminds me of a sweet little girl who I once helped drink from a cup. She hadn't yet worked out that her bottom lip had to act sort of like a seal ... the result was "Ooops! All wet! It's okay." Very cute.

We actually got Micah to lap milk out of a medicine cup at one point. He did it once, and made a royal mess. All subsequent attempts have failed. Micah is generally a very easy going baby ... but knows what he likes, and he's not afraid to tell us his opinion.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Lil Engineer

Parents, whether they know it or not, love to project onto their kids. Just so I don't feel left out, when I look at this picture I see Micah as an engineer. He's staring so intently at this cleverly designed toy: surely he's trying to figure out what it is about.


Or, maybe we just caught him between attempts at getting it in his mouth.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Turtles are tasty

Are you noticing a ... theme?

Micah is getting his chew on old-school style. This was one of my toys way back when!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Look Mom, no arms

Micah has this thing called a "Jump and Go." When we first put him in it, he didn't do much going. He just sort of sat there. In a cute sort of way, of course.


Because he's still sort of small for this thing, he puts his arms down inside to stabilize himself ... his arms just sort of disappear.