Blog Archives - December 2007

Well, December has flown by. Things were pretty busy, but they should slow down now for a while. My computer crashed so I've been working on one of the developer machines from work. It's taken me a while to get all my programs reinstalled and stuff, but I've finally been able to upload some new pictures of Michael.

On December 15th we went to The Picture People to get holiday portraits of Michael and his cousins, Joey and Ava. Talk about a disaster... We made an appointment for 5:00 and their web site promises pictures in 1 hour. 4 hours later we finally got out of there with three tired, hungry, cranky toddlers. Needless to say, we weren't real happy with the whole experience. I won't go into all the details, but we don't recommend going to The Picture People for holiday portraits. The pictures turned out nice, but the hassle wasn't worth the extra money. Last year we got more photos and much less hassle from Wal-Mart for a fraction of the cost. It'll be Wal-Mart next year.

Anyway, Christmas was a whole lot of fun this year. A lot of work like usual, but Mike was really into it so that made it all worth while. He doesn't quite understand unwrapping presents, but he definitely understood getting gifts. Once we unwrapped them he had a blast playing with them. His favorite gifts are the play house and push-jingle-cylinder toy from Santa, his Elmo couch from Grandma and Grandpa, and his drum set from Busia and Papa. He also loves the Elmo singing stocking from The Glidden Campus Florist, despite how much it annoys his parents, and all the other gifts he got from people. A big thanks to everyone!

So now we're off on the home stretch to 2008. I can't wait to see what the new year has in store for our little guy. 2007 has really been a fascinating year!

Well, another month has just flown by. November was an eventful month with birthdays, holidays, and illnesses. All three of us got a cold that lasted over two weeks. Mike had it mildest, just a stuffed up nose, and I had it the worst. We're all better now but that really took us out of commission for a while. It was almost three weeks before I was feeling normal again (or at least as normal as I ever feel).

Michael has been learning things at the speed of light lately. Actually, light is one of his newest (and currently favorite) word. He goes all around the house pointing at lights of all shapes and sizes saying lilgh and slight variations. He knows lights even when they're turned off and loves flipping switches to turn them on and off. Dimmers are a lot of fun, too. And now that we have a few Christmas lights up Michael is just thrilled.

Speaking of Christmas, last week we took Mike to Menards to see their holiday decorations (they put up a nice "winter wonderland" of decorated trees that you can walk through). Mike was overjoyed. He absolutely loved it! They also have a small play area where they have the play houses, ride-on toys, and other stuff set up. Mike spent over an hour playing with the toys and the other kids there. I never knew shopping at Menards could be so much fun. Or at least that kind of fun...

Michael also finds his toes (and then says toes in the most adorable voice). And he can find other people's toes, too. Even if they're covered in shoes or socks! And he's also learning where his hands and mouth are. "Show me your hands" elicits a round of clapping and "Where's your mouth?" results in him wiggling his fingers between his lips and going blrb-blar-blub. He also loves playing with the monkey he got from "The Mayor of the World" (Ed for those of you not in the know). He carries it around and if you ask him what a monkey says, he responds with, "Ooh Ooh". How cute! This past month has been just a whirlwind of learning. It's been so cool.

But then there's sad news, too. We decided to get rid of Hank. On the 29th I brought him to the shelter so he could be adopted by another family. Things just weren't working out with him and Michael. Generally he's a very good, easy going dog. But the problem is he has no room between "fine, play with my fur" and snap! Moxie gets up and leaves when she's had enough, but Hank just snaps. He tried to bite Mike last week and that's when we decided enough is enough. Like I said, he's usually a good dog but not around small kids who don't know limits yet. So I'm sure he'll be adopted quickly and he'll make some family very happy. We're all a bit sad, but it's for the best. And now that we don't have two dogs wrestling all the time Moxie is free to play more with Michael, which they both seem to love. So, we're sorry Hank, and we'll miss you.

We had a pretty incredible ice storm yesterday. Saturday, December 1st started out with snow but as the temperatures rose slightly that turned to sleet and freezing rain. After the storm was finished there was over a half inch of ice coating everything. It was very impressive. By morning everything was melting. I've uploaded a bunch of pictures. They don't quite do it justice, but they're impressive nonetheless.