Micaiah Rais - 2 years

What a fun year Micaiah has had! So much as happened and he has grown so much! To start of the year we moved from Chattanooga to Augusta. Thankfully the move was pretty seamless for him. He learned to walk at 14 months. He became a big brother at 18 months. He was potty trained at 20 months. And he finished up the year by moving to a big boy bed at 24 months.

There are so many things that I want to remember about Micaiah at 2, this might be kind of lengthy.

*He fell out of the crib for the first time on August 15 of this year. He was visiting Mimi and Papa at the time.

*His favorite song is Happy Birthday. We sing it to everything! He pronounces it "Hap Buh Duh"

*He still loves trains, planes, playing outside, coloring, cooking (for real or in his play kitchen), giving kisses to Caeden, bathtime, and dogs, dogs, and more dogs, and Cookie Monster.

*He likes to help me make bread each week, and he can tell you all of the ingredients.

*One of his newest loves is school buses. The other day while driving he saw one. I hadn't seen it, and when I questioned him about the said bus, he replied "turn around!" That was the first time he has said that, so it made me chuckle.

*He still does not love his class at MOPS. Scott and I counted, and previous to MOPS, he has only been in someone else's care besides a family member seven times in 2 years. SEVEN. So it's no wonder he's a little freaked out by the concept. I still drop him off each time, and we are working on getting him more and more used to it.

*Just a few weeks before his second birthday he finally started stringing 2 and 3 words together and using multiple syllables! We weren't sure if that day would come.

*I love it when he talks about Mimi and Papa (who he only gets to see once or twice a month) and he'll say "see her" (or him, depending on which one he's talking about). When I tell him we can't see them today and that they live in Atlanta, he'll say "call her." So sweet.

*Micaiah is a major fussy foo in the mornings until he eats breakfast. I know there are other people this way, it's just new to me because I'm not one of them! Hopefully it's a quirk he'll outgrow. Or at least he better outgrow the fussing part of it.

*He knows all of his colors, can count to five, can finish words to the alphabet song, Thomas song, and almost any book that we regularly read.

*He calls Caeden "Cain" and himself "Cai". He knows that I am Ashley and Scott is daddy.

*Every night we ask Micaiah who he would like to pray for. He comes up with various people he knows and family members, but the one who almost always tops the list: Howard, from next door, who he calls "Hoooow"

*He refers to himself as "you" and me as "me". If I had a penny for every time he has said "hold you" we'd have a decent college fund started. He also frequently says "watch me" when he wants to watch ME do something.

We love our little boy and are so incredibly blessed to be his parents!

A Mary Spirit

I read Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver awhile back. It really resonated with me. This year Having a Mary Spirit, also by Joanna Weaver, was on my reading list. I am working my way through it right now, and can I just say, I love it! It seems very pertinent to where I'm at in life right now. Very fitting and exactly what I need. I can always tell when I like a book because I'll find 5 or 10 minutes here and there to read it whereas other books I'm not crazy about will take me 4 or 5 months to finish!

I just read a paragraph that I really liked and thought I'd share:

True faith requires obedience. It requires being willing to stake everything on God's love and faithfullness-and then doing what He asks. Even when we don't understand. Even when He demands that we give up the things we love the most. That's the kind of faith Abraham showed when he packed up his son and a load of firewood and headed for Mount Moriah...For though God promised Abraham that "through Isaac...your offspring will be reckoned", the greatest act of Abraham's faith was leaving the reckoning up to God. And it is the same for us. When we stop trying to manhandle our circumstances and start giving them to God, something incredible happens. God takes everything we give Him and begins to work on our behalf. Because we've chosen to believe and trust rather than doubt and fear, He makes all of it-the good and the bad-count for us rather than against us.

By the way, I'm changing the URL/address of the blog. Not because I'm not still trying to live simply with joy, but just because I want something simpler and easier to remember. And I like it better. It's not set up yet at ALL, but I'll go ahead and tell you that it's www.scottandashleywilliams@blogspot.com I'll post something here when it's officially all switched over.

A little of this and a little of that

So obviously I haven't written anything on the blog in a long time besides Caeden's monthly updates. Our lives are just so full (in a good way!) that I've had little time for it. Also my computer has been on the fritz so I have been sharing Scott's computer. That's not a problem, but it's just one more reason I don't do much of things such as blogging.

I did want to give a little update on what we've been doing around here lately though.

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*Scott and I have been doing a LOT of thinking and praying about where we're at in life, where we've been, and where we need to be. Ever since we moved in August of last year, we've been in a season of transition...and it's not over.

*Micaiah turned two! We had a fun time throwing him a party. One of his current loves is trains, so I made him a train cake. Recently, "Happy Birthday" is one of his favorite songs. We sing happy birthday to everything: Mama, Daddy, Caeden, 'Cai' (as he calls himself), grandparents, dogs, trees, candles, shorts...whatever happens to catch his eye.

*Caeden is now 6 months old. I cannot believe how fast his first year is flying by. Before we know it, he'll be running right alongside Micaiah.

*We've started him on solid foods now, and it has been so much fun. We are doing a "Baby-led weaning" style, which is basically letting the baby learn to self feed from the start, and as their abilities progress and they take in more and more solid food, they in turn take in less milk. Probably the best thing about it is that it is a really simple, no fuss, method. No purees, no adding only one food at a time, and no spoon feeding. We just offer him fresh, good food and let him have at it. It has been so fun to watch. He's not very proficient yet to say the least. Supposedly it takes about two months for the baby to actually consume decent amounts of food and realize that it fills the belly. It has been neat to watch him explore the different tastes and textures thus far.

*We are moving! We're just moving into some apartments in the area for 6 months while we continue to seek God and what he wants for us. This is so, so, so very exciting for us!!!

*Micaiah has said "lehdeleh" to mean "all done" since he was probably about 13 or 14 months old. I have no idea why he decided that is how he would say it, but we know what he means so we haven't worried about it. I just figured he would say it the right way eventually. Oftentimes lately he will shorten it: He'll say "leh roomtime" for "I'm all done with roomtime" or "leh pah" for "I'm all done with the potty." Well the other day I asked him if he could say "all done" and I walked him through each word. And he did! Perfectly! Who knew all I had to do was ask. :) He's a goober.

*I cut Caeden's nails the other night. It was time for bed, so I just left the clippings on his nightstand to get them later. The next day Micaiah was playing in the room while I changed Caeden and I heard a "whoooo whoooooo whooo." Then I heard a "keen up." Yes, Micaiah blew the nail clippings all onto the floor. I have learned my lesson.

*Still nothing has happened with our house. We're not really sure what God is doing with that. Maybe he wants us back in it. It's something we're pondering.

*I joined a MOPS group in the area and I've really been enjoying it. There are some playdates and fun field trips planned for the fall that should be really fun! Hopefully we can get Micaiah more used to being around other kids. It kind of freaks him out right now to have a bunch of other kids around without me there.

*Remember last year when I failed royally at preparing my heart and mind for Christmas? Well this year I've started thinking ahead early. I am adapting this simple countdown to use during Advent with the boys. I also just ordered this book to read during my quiet time. I've heard it recommended before, and it sounds like it's good stuff for the soul. It's hard to believe that the holiday season is just around the corner.

*The last little tidbit: Micaiah is now sleeping in a 'new bed' (as he calls it). Actually his crib just converts to a toddler bed. We tried doing this 4 months ago, but he was not ready. Maybe more accurately I was not ready for the training it would require. So we put the railing back up and waited. We tried again this past week and he has done great. He has done very well with going right to sleep, and waiting in the bed after he wakes up until someone comes to get him instead of getting out to play. Whew!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Caeden Elijah - 6 months

Weight: 15.14 pounds

Height: 27.5 inches

Eating: Nursing is still going well. We moved him to a true 4 hour schedule a few days before he turned 6 months. He nurses at 7:00/11:00/3:00/6:50.

Waketimes: The first waketime is an hour and a half to an hour and 15 minutes. The next one is 2 hours, and before the third nap is 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Sleeping: 2- 2 hour naps and a 30-60 minute catnap. Night sleep is good overall. He had 4 nights of mystery waking 2 weeks ago or so, but I just fed him and put him back to bed. He ate well then and again at the first feed of the day, so I'm thinking it was a growth spurt. He has also been waking earlier than my desired wakeup time by an hour or less for the last week. I am chalking that up to Wonder Week 26. He hasn't done it every single morning in the last week, but it is something we are working through.


New discoveries and other notes: He is not content to just lay on the floor and play in one spot. If he's going to be on the floor, he's going to be rolling. And rolling. And rolling. He is in constant motion. Right now as I'm typing this he has rolled into Scott's dresser and is batting it with his arm like he's trying to move it out of his way so he can keep going. He is a fiesty little guy, letting us know when something needs to change. He has an impeccable ability to cry as if his arm is being chopped off when really all that is the matter is he dropped a toy....or we change his diaper...or you sit down with him when he wants you to stand up. :)

Favorite toys: playgym, mobile, jumperoo, and the swing outside! He really like the foam letters that can stick to the walls in the bathtub. We did some experiementing and figured out the the Y is the easiest for him to hold and get to his mouth. Micaiah received some train tracks for his birthday, and I think that it is the first toy of his that Caeden can bother and mess up. Although right now he of course doesn't realize he's bothering Micaiah. But it's funny because whenever Micaiah is playing with his trians, Caeden will purposefullyly roll right over to the tracks and try to roll on top of them. It's like he wants to be right in the middle of playing with his brother...and I'm sure he does!

Caeden Elijah - 5 months

So I know I stink at blogging. The last post was about Caeden at 4 months, and now this post about him at 5 months is being posted almost a month late with nothing else inbetween. Oh well. Maybe blogging isn't for me. :) Nevertheless, here's his update!

Weight: 15 pounds (still!)

Height: TBD

Nursing: We moved him last week to a 3.5/4 hour routine which has been SO much better for him. He wasn’t eating so well on a 3 hour schedule there for the last few weeks. With this change he dropped down to 4 feeds a day. Nursing times are 7:00/10:30/2:30/6:30.

Waketimes: The first waketime is about 75 minutes. The other waketimes of the day are from 90 minutes and 2 hours, respectively.

Sleeping: 2.25 for the first nap, 2 hours for the second nap, and anywhere from 45 min to 1.5 hours for the third nap. Night sleep is still going well at 12 hours.

Something super sweet that happened this month is how drastically he changed how he feels about our pre-nap calm down routine. Starting from around 13 weeks old, he began to just SCREAM in protest when I was trying to do our wind down time before nap. It was not enjoyable or calming at all for either of us. Usually I just ended up plopping him in his bed and letting that be that. I don’t know why, but I had never thought to pray about the issue. However as soon as I did, the very next day it was like he was a different baby. God is so good. Now as soon as we walk into his room and turn on the sound machine, he lays his head on my chest and sucks his thumb. He always sticks his other arm straight up and rubs his hand back and forth on my shoulder. I just love it! It is such a special time of day now getting to cuddle with my little man.

New discoveries and other notes: He discovered that he can reach and play with his feet now. A few weeks ago he began waking up happily from naps and nighttime. It is such a nice sound to hear him waking up talking to himself rather than squalling. He also now has a thumb preference. He only sucks the left thumb, whereas he used to suck whichever one was closest. If he’s not sucking his thumb, then his right hand is in this mouth chewing on those fingers. During playtime he’s getting to where he much prefers sitting up somehow rather than lying down. He loves to watch Micaiah play. His eyes will lock onto him and he’ll follow wherever Micaiah goes. It’s hard to believe that one day soon they’ll be talking and playing together.

Favorite toys: playgym, mobile, and jumperoo. You also really love Sophie the giraffe and links. Anything you can chew, chew, chew, and chew!

"numping", splashing, and swishing

As much as we long for a home of our own, we sure are enjoying having a pool in the backyard! We took both boys out the other evening to play. My favorite thing is when Micaiah asks to 'nump' aka jump. He has grown more and more brave throughout the course of the summer. He started off not even wanting to get in the water!

pasty boy needs some sunlight

We've been working on not yelling inside, and so here he was discovering that it's ok to be loud outside. Each time he would do it he would love over at us to make sure we weren't going to be mad about it. :)

Nump!

Caeden Elijah - 4 months

Weight: 15 pounds (50th percentile)

Height: 26 inches (just over 90th percentile)

Nursing: All is well. I said last month that you started to eat faster. Well this month you *really* started to eat faster. So much so that I thought for a little while you were eating less. After a few days of worrying, I realized you are just eating quicker. You are super eater. Not so with a bottle though. The few bottles you’ve had take you about 30 minutes.
You nurse at 7:00/10:00/1:00/4:00/6:45.

Waketimes: The first waketime is about 55 minutes. The other waketimes of the day are anywhere from 65-75 minutes.

Sleeping: 3- two hour naps a day. 12 hours at night.

Dropping the 4th nap: At 14 weeks you all of a sudden stopped taking a solid 4th nap. You suddenly started taking a shorter nap and then you stopped sleeping for it at all, all within the span of a few days. At 15 weeks we extended the waketime before that nap. With that, you continued to take the nap for two more weeks until we dropped it altogether at 17 weeks. This will definitely make going out to dinner easier, as well as provide a larger time block in the evenings to get out of the house or take a walk.

Dropping the swaddle: 2 or 3 nights after you turned three months old, I tried to let you settle yourself in the night to break that habit I mentioned last month. It wasn’t happening, so when I went into your room I decided to take you out of the swaddle. You immediately relaxed. For the rest of that night and the nights that followed we left one arm out of your swaddle. That way you could get your thumb. From then on you have slept all night. We did that for a week and a half before leaving both arms out, so now you are swaddle free.

New discoveries and other notes: You just learned how to roll from back to tummy (July 27)! We are loving how you will smile and laugh at pretty much anyone who looks your way. We do not necessarily love the fact that you no longer enjoy sleeping in the car. I think the main reason you can’t is because Micaiah is so loud. It makes for a long trip to and from Atlanta!
　
Favorite toys: swing, playgym, and you just LOVE the mobile. However I cannot leave it hooked to the bed because you will just stare at it and not go to sleep. Your thumb is probably your most favorite thing to "do". It is constantly soaking wet. Right or left, day or night, asleep or awake, you love your thumb and are perfectly content to just lay on the floor with it in your mouth.