Sign language

So ... it's been a while. How are you? We're fine. Busy, but fine. You know, we should catch up sometime. Now isn't a great time, but I have a special treat for you. We have a little video of Micah doing some sign language. I think you'll probably enjoy it.


Versatile Micah, proving that if you're coughing so hard you can't speak, you can still ask nicely for milk and cookies from Daddy if you know sign language.

Robeez Season of Giving

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that Robeez, our favorite brand of baby shoes, is donating products to Kids in Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) based on easy things that we can do, like sending e-cards or posting on our blogs about it. This is an easy way to make a difference. See details here.

Thanks, Ian!

Micah, in general, displays fantastic manners: he shares, puts things away when he's done with them, says please and thank you (in sign language). Of course, he is one, and he's a boy. He also has a close friend Ian (7) who can teach him things he might not otherwise learn at home. For example, hilarious hand noises. Thanks, Ian!

Eating with a Spoon

Hello Everyone! We're back! I survived retaking two of the PC(USA) ordination exams and Brett passed his proposal. Brett is now in the middle of writing a paper for submission to DATE (a conference) and preparing for SRC TECHCON (another conference, in Austin, TX and we're all going). I am recovering from the craziness of the last month...whew!

We thought we'd update you with the latest and greatest in Micah's life tonight since we've been away for so long. Micah is now successfully and messily eating with a spoon. It is still just a new fun activity more than an eating process, but we are both impressed with his dexterity. He is also babbling up a storm. He'll rattle off whole sentences of babble very earnestly, looking you right in the eye. It's so hilarious and cute! The following capture both of these things.

This picture is Micah's I-live-in-the-'hood-and-I-eat-from-a-spoon picture.


Here's a video of dinner tonight. :-)

B-day Party

Micah is ONE (as of 07/17/08)! I can't believe that we have a one-year-old. We threw a small party for Micah's b-day a week late. We wish we could have invited everyone we know and love, but we just didn't want to overwhelm Micah. Here are some pictures of the event, courtesy of Bethany Lomelino (formerly Sunquist).

Micah's cake was SO GOOD! Peggar Dixon made it. If you live in the Pittsburgh area and need cakes (or food for any event) she is the person to contact. When I was little my Mom decorated my cakes for my birthday. I drew the cow on Micah's smash cake.


Micah ate his cake with reckless abandon! He finished off almost the whole first layer. Amazingly, he went to bed at the normal time that night and fell asleep right away.


Here is a family pic. :-)


Happy Birthday Micah!

On another note, which will be very sad for most of you, we are going to take a break from posting until the end of August. We are going out of town, then Brett's proposal defense is happening on August 18th, then I take my (hopefully) last two ordination exams starting the end of that same week. There's just too much going on to keep up with the blog! We will miss you all, but don't worry...we'll be back!

Flashback filler: Look at the mess I made!

As Micah's mobility has increased, so has his capacity to make a royal mess. Here's a look back at the beginning, when he was just beginning to hone his make-making abilities.


At least there is a strong indication that Micah will be a voracious reader.

Flashback filler: I see you!

Micah discovered some time ago that he can look through objects at other objects. I'm sure there's probably a fancy name for this. I refer to this behavior as simply cute.

Flashback filler: A baby in motion

Soooooo there wasn't a post on Friday, nor one on Monday! Sorry. There nearly wasn't a post today, either. Our lives are a little busy. Is that surprising? Anyway, here's a picture from a while back to fill in the space until we can start pictures from "up north" and, of course, Micah's first birthday!

When this picture was taken, Micah didn't know how to crawl. He could pull himself up on things, but didn't know very well how to move (cruise) in that position. One day, Sarina sat him down in the middle of the living room, because she needed to go and do something in the hall or bathroom, thinking that Micah would be fine sitting there.

All of a sudden, Sarina heard an "uuuuUUUH" noise, and turning around, saw this:


So ended the days of putting Micah down someplace with any expectation that he would stay there: Micah had most likely scooted (half-crawled) across the carpet, pulled himself up on an end table, and cruised along the wall around the corner into the hallway.

Micah now crawls very, very fast. He's also pretty close to walking: he's willing to take both of his hands off of support to turn, and such. He's testing his balance, and falling a lot as a result. We're having a lot of fun, but I think we're probably also more tired. If that's possible.

The OC, Part 10

With this post, we conclude our pictures from the OC. This post is mostly made up of pictures that I couldn't figure out how to otherwise group.

Out on a walk, Clara wanted to push Micah's stroller.


Jeremy and I, however, got stuck pushing back up the hill.


Two serious moms hard at work (100% of moms featured in this post love Apple laptops).

The whole gang.

The OC, Part 9

Micah and Ruthie in particular spent a lot of time together, since they enjoyed playing with the same sort of things. You know, Micah liked to chew on plastic corn, and Ruthie liked to play with plastic pots.


Micah also liked playing with this farm. A lot. Every morning. More on the significance of this later.


Anyway, before long it really seemed that Ruthie and Micah went everywhere together. They sat on the floor for drinks.


They were held or carried by the same person at the same time.




This was a bit of a challenge, of course. Who needs hand weights with these two around? Anyway. Micah loved the barn so much, that he invited Ruthie along once. It was a pajama-paci-date.

Could it be, love?

The OC, Part 8

The three amigos spent a lot of time together, and played quite well.


Micah didn't get the memo that a picture was being taken.


And of course, they spent some time at the pool.


I love this picture. Somehow, this captures what life was like on our visit: packed full, everyone looking (or going) in a different direction, and mostly smiles on faces.

The OC, Part 7

So I was a little delinquent with posts last week. To make up for it, we're going to finish off the OC pictures with a little OC marathon, Monday through Thursday. Hopefully we'll see pictures our trip to Northern WI starting on Friday.

Clara got her whole own movie, so to make things fair Ruthie is getting her own mini-photo shoot. Cute tongue, eh?


Ruthie is infrequently separated from two very important things: Hannah, and one of her many pacifiers.


If you can peel her away from both of these things, there's something you should know: she is absolutely not ticklish in her neck, and really doesn't like it if you try.


There are a lot of cute pictures for us to get through before we can move on, so really you're getting two posts for the price of one today. Nice deal, eh? The next three pictures are from a trip to feed the ducks.

Here's Micah feeding the ducks.


When he was awake, given bread to feed the ducks he preferred to feed himself.

Clara, on the other hand, demonstrates perfect duck-feeding form.


No trip to feed the ducks is perfect without some time in the swings.

The OC, Part 6

We got back from Wisconsin late last night, at 11:50 PM. Micah had a good flight, and he kept us very busy. This is the first time he's really been aware of his surroundings on a flight, even more so than when we left for Wisconsin. He waved to the people around us, and was entranced by the view from our window.

Anyway, since we returned so late, I've had little time to put together a post for today. Here's one picture to remind you of where we were with our pictures, with more to come in the coming days.

There's something about Micah in this picture that just says welcome to my home.


Don't try to go in, though. That's not why he opened the door. As you'll recall from the movie, he opened to door so he could shut it again.

Update from Iron County

So we're on another trip right now. We actually left last Saturday, and are now in Iron County, Wisconsin with my family. As you're reading this, hopefully we're fishing or swimming or something. And hopefully Micah isn't falling in the lake. And if he is falling in the lake, hopefully (1) he has his life jacket on, (2) someone is there to catch him, and (3) someone else is taking a picture.

Anyway, we're back this coming weekend, and we'll finish up OC pictures and start some at the beginning of next week.

Oh, and I finished writing my dissertation proposal the Friday before we left, so one thing I'm definitely not doing as you read this is worry about that. Which is nice.