Kristin's Wedding

This weekend we went as a family to my dear friend Kristin's wedding in Latah, Washington, South of Spokane.  Above is a picture of Lori (Saylor) Schlunegger, me, Kristin (Olson) Vincent, and Crystal (Isaac) Sill.  We were housemates during our Senior year at Whitworth.  It was so great to see these ladies again!  I really wish we could have spent more time together, but it was still wonderful.

 

 We left home at 7:45 on Friday morning.  At 9:00 we stopped at Snoqualmie Pass . . . not by choice.  I-90 had been shut down for rock blasting from 8:00 to 10:00, and there was traffic backed up for miles.  Fortunately, we needed to stop and eat around that time, anyway, so it wasn't a waste of too much time.  We took a little walk through a neighborhood of new mountain chalets.

 After five(?) stops and eight hours, we arrived at Latah Country Bible Church for Kristin's wedding rehearsal.  The rehearsal was actually kind of humorous.  While Nathan was out changing Micah's diaper, I took Levi up to the front of the church to stand with me while I sang my songs.  He was very well behaved . . . until he absolutely needed to be.  I was holding him on my hip at the beginning of my first song, but I had to set him down because he wanted to play with the microphone.  Then he started walking towards the bride and groom to do I don't know what.  I grabbed his hand, and he threw himself on the floor.  Then he stood up and walked the other way; however, the candelabra was right there, so he thought he'd see what happened when he shook it.  I saved it from hitting the floor, and then he sat down and started whining.  The wedding coordinator had made it up to the front by that time and was trying to convince Levi to go with her.  Of course, Levi was going to do no such thing, but she did succeed in getting him to freeze in one place.  Mind you, this entire time I'm singing a song and frantically looking for Nathan.  Thank the Lord this didn't happen during the wedding!  I wouldn't want to end up on America's Funniest Home Videos.

After rehearsal we attended the rehearsal dinner at The Harvester in Spangle.  By the way, my first real teaching job was in the Liberty School District in Spangle, so it was fun to see familiar territory again.  Next we headed to our hotel in downtown Spokane.  Levi was absolutely thrilled to have his own queen-sized bed for the night.

 On Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel and then went to Riverfront Park to play.  They have a giant Radio Flyer wagon that is a slide.  Levi loved it!

 And I love the garbage goat.  There is a big vacuum inside of him, and he will suck up trash.  How fun is that!?!

 When I sat down to feed Micah, Nathan and Levi played with bubbles.

 Lori had stayed with our other friend Lisa (Beal) Hoxley, and they met us at the park and joined us for lunch.

The wedding was lovely!

The reception was hosted by a church member with an absolutely gorgeous yard.

 When Kristin tossed her bouquet, her friend Horte from Mexico caught it.  Horte is in her forties and has never been married.  She is a sassy gal, so it was fun to see her catch the flowers.

Leon and Kristin Vincent cutting the cake.

We left the reception kind of early at 5:45 to head home.  With four stops, we made it home just before midnight.  The boys were much less happy this time, but we all survived.

Five Months Old

Micah is five months old, and he is so much fun!  He's smiley and really interested in other people.  He is getting much better at handling his toys.  Today he even managed to grab his own foot and stick it in his mouth.  As Nathan pointed out, this is just the beginning of many years of putting his foot in his mouth.

Check out those baby blues!

Precious!  Need I say more?

Random photos

Levi wanted Micah to play the trombone.  We're not sure about Micah's future
instrument inclinations.  He doesn't really seem like a low brass kind of a kid. . . .

I took ten pictures, and this was the best one of the four cousins.  It's so bad it's funny!

Exersaucer

Micah finally got to play in the Exersaucer this weekend.  He didn't quite know what to make of it at first, but he's really beginning to enjoy looking at and touching the farm animals.

Levi is teaching Micah the names of the animals

Navel gazing

Motherhood is sweet

Micah's activity level has really taken off during the past few days.  He is reaching for things and successfully grasping them.  He can reach out and touch my face.  What makes me laugh is how eagerly he tries to get items into his mouth.  He'll stare at something, open his mouth wide, and his whole body quivers.  Then he'll reach out his hands and swipe at the toy, usually missing, but he lands his fist right in his mouth and bites it with a vengeance.  It's great to see him working so hard, but I feel bad that he usually just gets his fist!  It's pretty cute, though.

And today Levi made my heart go pitter-pat.  After his nap, he turned on his Raffi CD, sat on his bed, and just listened to most of it.  Later on, I was absent-mindedly singing one of the songs: "All I really need is a song in heart and love in my family."  I asked Levi if there was love in his family, and he said, "Yeah."  I elaborated: "Mommy and Daddy love Levi.  Mommy and Daddy love Micah.  Micah loves Levi.  Does Levi love Micah?"  "Yeah."  "Does Levi love Mommy?"  "Yeah."  "Does Levi love Daddy?"  "Yeah."  And then a minute later he finished with, "Levi loves Mommy."  I cried.

I may spend my days stepping over toys, getting spit up on, and cleaning up all manner of messes.  I may spend my nights trying, unsuccessfully, to get caught up on all the other little things that need doing.  But motherhood is sweet.

Four Months Old

Micah is four months old now, and I think he is such a cutie!  He has had some rough days lately--messed up schedule due to Choral Union events--so he isn't always happy, but when he smiles he absolutely lights up a room.  He went to his four-month check-up on Monday, and he is a perfectly healthy boy.  He weighed 14 pounds, 8.5 ounces (about 50th percentile), measured 25.5 inches long (about 60th percentile), and his head circumference was 41 cm. (about 25th percentile).  He's not quite as hefty as Levi was at this age, so maybe Micah will take after Nathan's side of the family.

 

Last week Micah really started enjoying standing up.  He can support his own weight for several minutes at a time.  Just this morning he turned over from back to front!  Below is a picture to document that milestone.

 

Micah is also getting better at grapsing objects.  We discovered that these plastic maracas are easy for him to hold.  Levi thinks it's just great to take turns holding and shaking them.  The boys are interested in each other and are starting to be able to play together!

Nothing Much

Levi sits in his reading chair and peruses--not the newspaper--his 1998 Sesame Street calendar

Love the bike helmet!  Let's try riding the bike sometime!

At Bob's surprise 70th birthday party, Levi spent a lot of time with Marie discussing her string of white beads and the red beads he got out of the pinata.  It was so sweet!  Oh, and, doesn't every 70-year-old need a pinata at his birthday party?!?!

Auntie Ann was visiting again.  So fun!

Levi loves GG's new place!  Every time we go to visit, he pushes the buttons to open the front door and elevator, he examines the fish in the aquarium, he points out the machines in the common laundry room, and he plays with all of GG's toys.  Here the two of them are playing with tiny Noah's Ark animals.

Today I took the boys to DeCoursey park.  We walked around the duck pond, Levi on foot and Micah in the Bjorn, then Levi played at the playground.  Later in the afternoon, the boys helped me make a cherry pie.  (Again, Levi was on foot, and Micah was in the Bjorn.)  I was proud of Levi for only eating one sugar-coated cherry and just the leftover scraps of pastry.  This was probably the most successful cooking project we've ever done together.  Well . . . the process was good, and the clean-up was easy.  The actual final product was pretty bad!  I've never made a cherry pie--or even, I think, a double-crust pie--and the filling came out ridicously soupy.  Oh well!  Live and learn!