A New Fence

 - by Janelle

Matt and I have talked about installing a fence around our backyard for over a year.  We’ve had a few issues since we’ve lived here, and with Micah likely to be running around the yard in not TOO many months, we decided now was a good time to fence in the back yard.  Conveniently, our neighbors on both sides already have 6-ft privacy fences, so we just had to finish the fence on the front edge of the house and across the back of the lot.  (The garage covers half the back end of the lot, anyways!)

With the warm February and March that we had this year, the ground was pretty well thawed by the end of March, so we thought that would be a great time to get started on the project.

We spent quite a while discussing different options (sizes, styles, colors, latches, etc) and price checking.  Then, one lovely Saturday we went to Menards to pick up the supplies.  Micah was very helpful and cooperative.  He manned the cart as Matt and I found everything we needed.

The trip turned out to be quite a bit longer than we thought (who knew picking out wood and supplies could be so time consuming?) and he got tired, so he took a little nap out in the lumber yard.

The real adventure began when it finally came time to load the wood into the van.  We found that, in order to accommodate the 8ft boards, the passenger seat had to be pushed all the way forward, which meant almost no leg room in the front.  Micah also picked this time to get hungry.  Where’s a mother supposed to go to feed her kid in the lumber yard at Menards?  After I decided against climbing to the third tier of 2x4s for privacy, and ended up squished into the front passenger seat of the van as Matt kept on loading boards into the back.  I fed our child and watched the forklifts drive by.

When we finally got everything loaded, I was more thankful for Baloo than ever.  I’m telling you, this minivan has been the greatest vehicle ever!

The following weekend is when the real fun began!  Bright and early, Matt went and rented a stump grinder to take care of a few stumps that we have been planning to get rid of for a while now.  (One of them was in the way of the soon-to-be fence, so it had to get done before we could start construction.)

Let me tell you, this thing was a beast.  It even came with its own trailer.

Matt did a great job of wielding the power of this crazy machine and grinding those stumps until they were just holes in the ground filled with wood chips.

Jump ahead another weekend.  This was the big day.  Several of our family members came to help out.

My dad helped Matt get all of the posts level, correctly placed and at the right depth.

My brother-in-law, Moy, is a superstar at post-hole digging!  He can seriously do it in like 5 minutes flat.

It took me like half an hour to dig my ONE hole.  Although, they did give me the hard one…

Tim and Josh worked at installing all of the stringers nice and straight.

My WONDERFUL mother even came over to hang out with Micah and oversee the whole operation.

Even my dear sister, Minda, showed up to help.  She did great with the nail gun. 🙂

In one day, we put up almost the whole fence.  All that was left to do were two gates and a couple odd boards that had to be cut down with our friends’ table saw.  What a great crew!  We can’t even begin to express how much we appreciated all of the people who came to help with this project and also the people who lent us tools that made the construction possible.

For (parts of) the next TWO days, Moy and Matt worked hard to make us some sturdy and beautiful gates.  Here is a picture with just one board left to put up!  An extra special thanks goes out to Moy for helping Matt with this part of the project! Turns out, gates can be really tricky… but these guys got it all figured out and they turned out great!

After all was said and done, we were left with a wonderful fenced-in back yard.  I love the privacy we have back there now, and it will be so nice when Micah starts to run around.  Here’s the finished result.

Front - right side of house.

Front - left side of house (gate)

Back - fence with gate, and garage

Some grass seed, sunshine and rain later, our yard is starting to really look nice.  Hurrah!

Now, I will end this post with the obligatory cute picture of Micah, who was so cooperative throughout the whole construction process.  Here he is wearing Uncle Tim’s hat at the end of the day.

Six Months!

 - by Janelle

(I realize that Micah is actually 6.5 months by now, but I have made the decision to stop feeling “behind” and just share about where we’re at whenever I get around to posting. This may seem like common sense,  but I need to consciously give myself permission.)

Micah is half a year old already!  It’s so hard to believe how fast the time has gone by.  I think this beautiful weather makes it seem almost like summer already!

Our family has been having a lot of fun in the past month or so.  Micah has been changing so quickly, and learning things all the time!

One of the earlier things that we noticed was that he all of a sudden became more content on his tummy.  Tummy time has ALWAYS been a struggle, but we kept up with short periods of time and he finally seems to be turning a corner.  He still doesn’t necessarily “like” this time, but he’s better at tolerating it.  He kind of leans on one arm and plays with his toys, and then eventually rolls over onto his back.

One of the more hilarious things about Micah’s tummy time has always been what happens if you set him down with his hands by his sides.  His head is so heavy that, in order to pick it up, he has to stick his feet WAY up in the air to balance. Until recently, he would just sit there like a little teeter-totter until he got tired and gave up. Now, he’s getting better at pulling his hands up by his face now so he doesn’t have to do this strange maneuver to look at his toys.

Speaking of coordination and strength, Micah has finally started sitting up much more confidently.  Yay!  So much fun!

He does still tend to topple over occasionally, so I still try to stick the Boppy or something soft behind him unless I am right there with hands at the ready.  I think that he tends to fall over now more because he wants to reach for something than simply losing his balance  Still, even when I am right there, sometimes we have a little boo-boo.

We had Micah’s 6-month well-child visit to the doctor and found that his measurements are all still off (or at the very top of) the charts.  But, he’s proportional and healthy, so the doctor said that there is nothing to worry about. 🙂

Weight:  22 lb, 5 oz

Height: 28 inches

Head: 18.5 inches

The boy is growing like crazy.  He’s actually outgrowing a lot of his 12 month clothes!

When he reached the 22 lb mark Micah also outgrew his infant car seat.  I have been dreading this day for a while.  We have loved this seat.  It has been wonderfully convenient, warm and safe… Micah really seemed to enjoy being in there!

Alas, we didn’t want to exceed the 22 lb weight limit, (and he was close to the 29in height limit) so a few days before his appointment, installed Micah’s new “big boy” car seat.  Needless to say, it’s massive (but it has good ratings).  We got it on an AWESOME deal, so we’ve had it sitting around for several weeks.  Micah wasn’t sure what to think at first, but he seems to be getting used to it.  It’s one of those “convertible” seats that can be rear-facing, front-facing, or a booster, so hopefully we will be able to use it for a long time.

It’s a little less convenient because the whole thing stays in the car instead of “clicking” into a base.  Also, it’s quite a bit more difficult to move between cars (which we do on a somewhat regular basis because my mom watches him every-other Friday when I am at work).  But, all of us are adjusting and it’s not really so bad.

My biggest fear with the new seat was that I wouldn’t have anywhere to set Micah when I went places alone during the day.  I used to just carry him in his seat and set him down wherever.  Now, I tend to stick him in the stroller, which works most of the time. The only time it’s an issue is when I’m at the grocery store or something and don’t have anywhere to put items that I am going to purchase.  LUCKILY, Micah’s new sitting skill came at just the right time, and he has had a few adventures in shopping carts recently.

Micah really seemed to enjoy “hanging on for dear life” to the cart (even though he doesn’t look like it in the picture).  I don’t think he moved his hands the entire time we were in the store. 🙂

The other thing that Micah outgrew recently was his infant bathtub.  It has been great, but he was just too big for it.  I still don’t feel comfortable just setting him in the big tub quite yet, so we got a new one for the in-between time.  Plus, it’s inflatable so it works great for travelling!  Micah gave it a test ride on our bed before we used it for the first time in the bath.

For the first time, he really seems to enjoy bath time. He loves his ducky tub and his little rubber ducky to play with.

I could sit here and share pictures and stories of Micah for a LONG time, but I think this is enough for now.  It has been a pretty great last month or so, and I look forward to the upcoming days, weeks and months with great anticipation!  Being a mom is the best! 🙂

Cutie Pi

 - by Janelle

March 14  (3/14) happens to be one of my favorite days of the year – it’s Pi Day (as in 3.14)!!  This year, Micah celebrated his very first Pi Day!

He’s a Pi Day enthusiast already.  A boy after my own heart. 🙂

I realized the day before that Micah didn’t have anything festive to wear.  It was too late to try to order anything online, so I took a blank tshirt and made him one.  It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Also the night before, Matt and I prepared by making some delicious cake pops to share with our friends in honor of the special day.

To start the day off, I gave Micah a short lesson on Pi using his teething ring (which is close enough to a circle).

Oh, I see! So you are saying that the distance around the circle is approximately 3.14 times the distance across it? And that ratio is the same for any size circle? Mind boggling!

I figured it’s better to master the concept before attempting to teach him too many digits of Pi just quite yet.  All in good time.  There will be many more Pi Days to celebrate in his future.  I tell you, this boy is a genius in the making.

All that learning was tiring, so Micah decided to take a nap to rejuvenate himself for the rest of the day.

Later on, we dropped off some treats at Grandma’s work, and then headed home for dinner with Daddy and a Pi Day party!

That evening, we had an impromptu gathering of several other Pi (and pie) lovers at our house.  We dined on cake pops and delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie.  Yummy!

(By the way, it may not look as though I am sporting any Pi Day paraphernalia, but let me assure you, I am wearing my very special Pi earrings)

We attempted to teach Micah the formula for finding the volume of a sphere (4/3 π r^3) using his soccer ball, but he got a bit confused.  Maybe we will wait until next year for that one.

Huh? Can't we wait until I'm at least 2 for this one?

All in all, it was a really fun day.

It’s days like this that make me really miss being a teacher and sharing the joy of math with a class full of students (even though I am sure they all thought I was crazy).  Still, it’s fun to be able to celebrate fun days with Micah, Matt, and good friends.

Road Trip!

 - by Janelle

Over the river and through the woods…

…to Farmor and Farfar’s house we go!

Last weekend, we all went on an adventure: Micah’s first road trip.  Matt’s sister, Sandi, also came along with us.  After packing more stuff than I ever thought 4 people could need for a 4-day trip, we headed off to Michigan to visit Matt’s parents.

We weren’t sure how Micah would do with the 350+ mile trip, but he was a trooper.  We stopped a couple of times to feed/change him, but otherwise, he sat in his car seat and either slept or played the whole way there!  I was so impressed!

(Well, there as one slight hitch involving a VERY dirty diaper… but my ROCKSTAR husband took care of that like a pro.  Thank goodness there are changing tables in some restaurant men’s rooms.  What would a baby’s first road trip be without a car seat blowout and wardrobe change?)

We made the trip out there in about 8 hours, and were greeted by Farmor and Farfar Knutson!

Farmor

Farfar

The next few days were filled with many good conversations, laughs, games, meals, and fun times together.

Bananagrams!

Sunday afternoon, we went out to play in the freshly fallen snow in the back yard.  I had a snowsuit for Micah that I had picked up at a thrift store for cheap, but this is the first time we have had to use it.  Unfortunately, the booties that were supposed to attach to the suit were missing when we bought it, so we had to improvise.

Micah didn’t seem to mind the cold or the snow one bit!

He actually seemed very interested in the peculiar cold white substance all around us.

And he *may* have tried a little taste of it… 🙂  It was clean, I promise!

Then, he got to go sledding down the hill with Daddy!

Micah was tired, so I’m not sure how thrilled he was at the time, but we know there will be many other opportunities for sledding in the future.

It was so much fun to spend time with some of Matt’s family, even if it was only for a few days.  We drove around town a bit and even visited a really cool art exhibit.

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head home.

Due to an unfortunate missed turn (I was driving at the time… oops!), the trip home took us over 10 hours, but we still had a good time travelling together in Baloo (our minivan).

Micah slept most of the way again.  However, I think we were all very ready to be home by the time we rolled into our driveway that night.

Even though Micah won’t remember this particular trip, I know the rest of us all will… and I know he will have more trips to Farmor and Farfar’s house to look forward to in the future!

Little Hands

 - by Janelle

These little hands are getting progressively better at gripping, grabbing, shaking, and holding things.  One of Micah’s favorite things to grab these days is his pacifier (and pull it out of his mouth).  He hasn’t quite figured out how to get it back in yet, but he’s getting SO close!

Hey. What's up?

Ooh, what is this?

Maybe if I can just pry it out...

There. I got it! Interesting...

Oh yeah. I remember this thing! It's yummy.

Nom nom nom.

Hmmm... That didn't feel quite right.

I'll give it another try. Maybe this way...

Or this way?

Why are you being so difficult?

Oh well. Maybe I'll try again later, but for now these will work just fine.