Hiding

Love this boy and his off key singing.  So thankful he's enjoyed learning how to hide the word in his heart from an early age.

On the move

Micah loves to escape his play gym.  This day I caught him trying to get to his brother's scooter.  Don't miss the LOVE at the end of the video.  Big brother is sometimes a little too smothering with his affection.  I guess I'd rather have it this way than the other way around.

sooooo sleepy

We're experiencing something new with Calvin.  He's never been one of those kids who would fall asleep in strange places.  I guess technically he did do it once as a baby, but other than that it's new territory for us.  His nap free days are better for all of us most days, but some days, a nap is necessary.  When Mr. Grumpy Gills appears shortly after lunch I know it's a nap day, otherwise we'll never make it through the day without a million meltdowns. 

However sometimes he does this.

Or falls asleep mid puzzle

 Or while watching football, aka soccer, on a Saturday afternoon with daddy

I just love capturing the sweetness of a sleeping child. 

Here's one more I can't resist posting, this one is of him curled up with his favorite teddy bear in the morning.  It's a rare thing for him to sleep much later than me, I do savor those few minutes when they actually happen.  He has this strange radar, he knows when someone is awake and he'd hate to miss out on anything.



Moving on Up

@ Your 4 month birthday

 

• Weighed in at 16 lbs 6.4oz.
• And were 25.5 inches tall
• Are In love with your hands, and even like to share them with your mama.
• You figured out how to roll both ways the day before you turned 4 months.
• You learned a few new sounds, a fun little squeal and how to blow raspberries.
• You also love to pull things over your head, up to this point we were swaddling you with a blanket but that halted when you woke up screaming with the blanket over your face. So sleep was rough as you learned how to sleep soft taco style rather than burrito style. It was rough...but you learned.
• Your fingers are starting to work better and you're able to grab things you want.
• You also have quite the grip
• You still hate getting dressed
• You decided you like to splash in the bathtub and love trying catching your rubber ducky
• I wish you'd stay little forever my sweet little man.

@5 months

• Weighed in at 17 lbs. and 3.2 oz.
• Are 26 inches tall
• You're starting to sit up on your own, but still toppling over
• You're also starting to scoot, you now just need to figure out how to get that big belly off the ground
• You love your big brother, he is your source of entertainment, you LOVE it when he comes in the room.
• You're our little faucet, you drool constantly, we're convinced your teething
• You can roll quite well and escape your play gym almost every time we put you on it
• You love to sit, and have started sitting in your high chair
• You also love to pound on the table or high chair
• You've added baa baa to your babble
• You can even stick your tongue out, a trick your big brother taught you (he's pretty proud of that)
• Your love for your pacifier is dwindling as toys and your hands take precedent
• You're still waking up once at night to eat, sometimes twice, you like to eat
• Some days it's hard to tear myself away from playing with you to do housework or homework, as I know these days are flying by.
• You're loved more than you'll ever know.

Jesus Loves You

I just caught the end of Calvin singing to Micah the other day.  Micah just adores his big brother.  He immediately lights up when Calvin's in the same room.  Calvin does a great job at playing with Micah.  It's the sweetest thing in the world to listen to him play with his brother, I often hear him say "hey little buddy"  or "here you go" or "it's going to be okay, don't cry."  This just melts my heart.  He's a super helper and is great about getting things for his brother if I ask him. 
Calvin kindly shared all of his stuffed animals with Micah one day.  I guess we will need to work on how to share his toys.  Micah didn't seem to mind.

oh the things they say

This kid seriously cracks me up. He comes up with something hilarious daily. He woke up on Sunday and his first request was for "brefest" and his second request was if I could make him a shiny pirate hook. (Not something you usually hear first thing in the morning.) Later that afternoon I spent 30 minutes to not only make him a shiny hook, but he had a pirate hat and an eye patch to go along with it. The hat turned out a bit funny but he's in love with it so that's all that matters, it was well worth using some of my precious felt. He's been the happiest little pirate in the world the past few days.




*****

Marvin usually watches the sport channel here and we have a few different sports that are regulars on our channel than we had in America, like curling and biathlon but according to Calvin we also have:



Skiing down the hill

my personal favorite jumping in the water (diving)

and then there is skiing country



******

He also takes things quite literally. The other day he used the little boy’s room and he came out of the toilet room with his pants around his ankles and he was bouncing up and down shaking his little tush. When asked what he was doing he replied, "I'm shaking the hurt out, but it's not working."



******

Of all random things I've found here I stumbled upon plain marshmallows at a little kiosk behind our apartment, and of course they only had one package. So almost every day since we bought them, I've had this request for breakfast, lunch or dinner "Mom can we have hot chocolate with marshmallows for..... {Name your meal}. He's persistent but I love him.

Holding On

I was reminded of one of my favorite passages last week.  John 15.   It's been a favorite for so many reasons and this week it was an encouragement in a whole new way.

My computer time this week has been almost non existent, but I did sit down and check email one afternoon and Ann's post came through.  Her words were a gift and encouraged this tired mama's heart.
"Even out of comfort zones, every moment’s this gleaming gift, the Vine never letting us go."

The vine's not letting go, he will help me with the tremendous tasks that face me each day.  Recently it's been a struggle to get everything finished each day.  Most days I've gone to bed feeling like a failure, overwhelmed by the multitude of things on my plate and feeling as if I'm not doing any of them well.  I was reminded once again of how sweet our savior truly is.  I needed to be reminded that......

He will help me learn this language.
He will help me engage others about him.
He will help me love and care for my family.
He will help me with all the paperwork staring me down right now.

He's not letting go, and neither am I.

I'm clinging to him and praying that I will bear much fruit!

last week randomness

It snowed several times. I prefer snow over the mess that comes when it melts, so I'm hoping the colder temps stay a bit longer. Spring here is messy, and my least favorite season, thankfully it's a short season.

 

Our nanny cancelled again, this time it was her birthday (I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the "I'll never tell you no, thing." The rest of the week she couldn't work because there was too much sickness going around, I seriously was speechless.

 

We think we found a new nanny!

 

I made homemade pudding for the first time ever this weekend, it was so easy. Not sure why I haven't tried it until now.

 

Micah is doing better at napping this week, but I've made sure we've been home during his naps, being homebound has been tough. He still prefers to be nursed before naps, so we still have some work to do.

 

One family on our team left to go to the states for 6 months. It will be strange without them here. Calvin is already saying that he misses them; it may be a long 6 months for him.

 

I found butternut squash at a local supermarket. Squeal with delight!

 

I was able to hang out with a friend who I haven't seen in 3 ½ years. It was so much fun to reconnect with her.

 

We've had a few exciting things happen in our area recently, it's made us more aware of our surroundings. We're so thankful for our peaceful neighborhood.

 

The other day Marvin said, "Yeah it wasn't a big deal they only used grenade launchers." Oh my, has our world changed or what! We're definitely not in KS anymore.

 

It is just an AWESOME time (heavy sarcasm) to apply for a tourist visa to our city. Praying about how to best apply for my parents' visas which need to be done this week. (They already bought their tickets, so we're trying to figure out the best plan that would enable them to get a visa to come see us in April.)

 

I'm almost done ordering clothes for Calvin for next year. It really stresses me out ordering things I cannot pick up and see the sizing and check the quality. I've been thankful for ebay as I snagged a few great deals.

 

Marvin broke a bowl in half with a knife while cutting his ice cream, it was pretty awesome. (Our ice cream comes in plastic bags, thus the need to cut it.)

 

We've made the switch most days to no naps for Calvin, overall I'm enjoying having both kids in bed and asleep earlier (7:00 for Micah and Calvin generally falls asleep around 8:30). There is never enough time in the evenings to finish homework, and all the other things that must be done without kids around. Both boys rarely napped at the same time anyway so it wasn't that big of deal.

 

One of my best friends got married. I completely lost it after I talked to her on the phone a couple of weeks ago. I really wish I could have been there, but couldn't be happier for her.

 

I promise to post some pictures with my next post.