7 months old!

Seven months have gone by fast! Gabriel is now almost 18 pounds and 28 inches long. He is babbling a lot and experimenting with his voice. He's a pro at rolling over both ways and seems like he's starting to think about crawling. He gets frustrated if he wants something that's out of his reach. He can sit up for a few moments before toppling over. He's generally a happy baby. He giggles and smiles easily. He has two teeth on the bottom and maybe teething again. He wants to put everything in his mouth. He has a little bit of a cold right now that was probably passed to him from Micah by a toy or something. Micah has been sick since last Friday and just went back to school today for the first time this week. We had snow and ice on Tuesday and Wednesday so he wouldn't have gone either of those days, but he was sick anyway.

Micah is drinking from a cup!

Just after the new year we decided to try and see if Micah could drink out of a cup without spilling too much. One of the reasons is because all the other kids at his new school drink out of a cup and so we thought it was time for Micah to learn how. He has been drinking out of a cup with a straw for the past couple of years. At first he spilled quite a bit and didn't seem to understand that he needed to hold his head back to get more liquid. He is now doing so much better. We really try and praise him for not spilling and say "Try not to spill." Every now and then he accidentally or purposely knocks his cup over. He loves to play in water, but we're trying to teach him that it's not okay to play in or with his drink. We are so proud of him! He still needs some work on using utensils to eat. He can do it, but I think it's just easier for him to use his hands. So we and the workers at school are working on this.

25 Things

This is something that's going around on Facebook, a way to get to know people in your life a little better. Probably a lot of people who read this know most of this about me (all 3 of you...just kidding), but it was a fun challenge to try and think of 25 random things about me.


25 Random Things About Me

1. I was a runt when I was born, under 5 pounds and so little that my mom dressed me in doll clothes (guess they didn’t have preemie clothes back then). I had a collapsed lung and was on breathing machines for about 3 weeks. My parents said they weren’t sure I would make it.
2. I am a fan of Elvis and have collected some memorabilia but only have 2 Cds of his and I don’t care for his movies.
3. I love to play and watch basketball more than any sport. I can see myself still playing when I have the opportunity even into my 70s or 80s.
4. I love being outdoors and doing almost anything recreational that involves being outdoors.
5. I hate stepping in any amount of water in socks, so much so that I will take my socks off if it happens and put on a different pair.
6. I love traveling but have only been to 6 countries. It’s one of my life goals to travel to all 50 states; so far I’ve been to 32.
7. I have always been a procrastinator and can be spontaneous. I married a man who is not spontaneous in the least. He says he likes to plan his spontaneity.
8. I love different types of music but mostly listen to Christian worship and smooth jazz.
9. I love coffee more than any drink, but I limit myself to about 1 large cup of caffeinated a day. I don’t mind decaffeinated. I’ll admit that I have become a coffee snob after living in California.
10. I love to read and would choose it over TV almost any day.
11. I have very fast labors. First son was born an hour and a half after admitted to the hospital. Second son was born 30 minutes after being admitted to the hospital.
12. I loathed running in high school during basketball practice, but took up running for exercise in 1994. I’ve since run 2 marathons and 1 half marathon and am training for another.
13. When I am reading a magazine that I own, I have to read it from page one to the end, I don’t skip around. If I’m waiting in line at a store, it’s a different story.
14. I am good at doing impersonations and voices and I enjoy acting.
15. I love sports and enjoy watching some sports on TV. I would rather watch Sportscenter on ESPN any day than something on HGTV.
16. I love going out to eat breakfast, especially to places that make gourmet type breakfasts.
17. I have ridden a camel and an elephant. Camel riding is overrated; riding an elephant is way more fun.
18. I have climbed Mt. Sinai in Egypt in a skirt and sandals in the dark at about 4 in the morning. We were trying to get to the top before sunrise. We made it and I had bruises from tripping and falling. I didn’t take pants because I didn’t think about it.
19. I have had lots of varied jobs: pizza place, cleaning houses, medical records coordinator at a hospital, school bus driver, youth intern at a church, elementary school P.E. teacher, bank teller, barista at Starbucks, teacher’s aide, Lifeway bookstore salesperson, associate for a printing company, summer day camp worker for The Salvation Army, sales associate at The Container Store, and presently now a stay at home Mom. My favorites were the ones involving working with kids, which of course include my own kids!
20. Having lived in the San Francisco bay area for the last 8 years and San Francisco itself for 2 of those years, it will always be one of my favorite cities. You’re singing Tony Bennett now aren’t you?
21. Being 6’1, I always prayed for my husband to be at least as tall as I and maybe taller. He’s 6’7.
22. I love God’s word; love to read it, study it, and teach it as I have opportunity.
23. I used to get into things and be mischievous when I was a kid; my grandmother called me “Pilfering Pete.”
24. I let papers pile up in one spot for weeks at a time until I can’t stand it any longer and have to go through them.
25. I usually give more details than necessary whether talking or writing, thus the reason for my lengthy answers in this list!

Micah's new school update

We enjoyed visiting our families over the holidays and I’ll write about that a little later. I know many are wondering how Micah is doing at Kids First. Overall, he’s doing very well. He started last week going only 2 hours the first day and gradually increasing the time a little each day until he went a full day on Friday. They do this so that the child, teachers, and other students can all adjust. He has seemed to adapt well so far. He has only been upset once and that was one day this week. I think one of the major adjustments is nap time. They have an hour and a half nap time in which each student has a cot to lie on. The rule is, you must stay on your cot and be quiet even if you aren’t going to take a nap. When they first told me this I thought about saying “Good luck with that.” I didn’t say that but just told them that might take a while. Micah is hard to contain at times and he’s very strong and strong-willed.

Micah usually eats the breakfast provided even though he’s had breakfast here. He’s an early riser so by the time we get to school it has usually been at least two hours since eating here. So far, he isn’t eating the lunch very well. It’s all food from one of the local hospital systems here. The teacher told me that it’s pretty typical for kids to not eat the food (lunch) for a while.
He is being evaluated by all the therapists there and will hopefully start getting some of his speech and physical therapy soon.

I had to include a couple of pictures taken over the holidays. Micah found much delight in playing in the dirt in Grandma and Grandpa Womack’s backyard. I’ll write again soon and post more pictures.