Easter

When we woke up on Friday morning we had two unpleasant surprises: both of Alan's eyes were reddish pink and there was about 6 inches of wet snow on the ground. Here is a picture I took on our front porch:
It was kind of pretty but it made driving around a pain. But we had to drive to the doctors so away we went. The doc confirmed that he had pink eye and an ear infection and prescribed some antibiotics. After we picked up the medicine we headed home to spent a quiet day at the house. By that night Conner's eyes were starting to get goopy so we started him on antibiotics too. I feel like we have been sick with just about everything this winter. The next morning we dyed eggs.

The boys both had a lot of fun trying out the different colors. They also really liked coloring on the eggs with crayon first.

Me and the boys with the finished product

After nap time we headed outside to find the hidden eggs. About half the snow had melted and I really wanted to do it outside so that is where we went.

Alan was very fast and efficient. He figured out early that some of the eggs were the ones we had dyed and some of them were plastic ones with candy in them and he started just looking for the plastic ones.

Conner really got into the egg hunt this year and he got so excited when he found one.

I see one!

To explain the picture below: there was an egg sitting on the fence beside me and I told Conner to come look around me for an egg. He looked and looked but he couldn't find it. Finally he spotted it and this is his face when he saw it.

Opening up the eggs and eating the candy

Alan was so excited for the candy

Conner was pretty excited too

Then we found our baskets. Here is Reed pulling out the movie Tangled from his bag:

Micah enjoys playing with the plastic eggs

The boys helped Micah find his basket and Micah enjoyed chewing on anything he could get his hands on. He seemed especially intrigued with the green plastic grass. He would would wave fistfuls of it around and bring it to his mouth to feel and then wave it around again.

It was so fun to see Alan and Conner's excitement about everything this year. Happy Easter!

Family Visits

I am behind on my blogs so all this happened toward the beginning of April. My parents and Drew came to visit us the first weekend of April. We had fun watching conference, shopping, playing games and just hanging out.

Here is a picture of our 3 boys

Here is Drew holding Micah

The next weekend we went to visit Reed's parents. While we were there we also got to see Jacque and her boys and Austin and Mindy. It was so nice to visit with everyone.

Austin and Mindy showed the boys how to play horseshoes:

Go Alan Go!

The first night we stayed at Jacque's house. Alan was really excited to have a sleep over with James. Conner was excited to stay down with the big boys until about 2 in the morning when he came up and climbed in bed with us.

We had fun playing games, spending time outside, cooking in dutch ovens and just visiting.

Grandpa taking Baer and Conner on a tractor ride out at his house. I think all three of them loved it!

James, Conner and Alan playing outside

Conner wishing he was driving the tractor

Baer playing by the door

The roads were horrible going down but great on the way back. We are glad we went!

The amazing shrinking baby

This is a picture of Micah just before he turned 6 months

Last week I took Micah in for his 6 month well child check (he was almost 7 months). A nurse took all his measurements and then left. A couple minutes later she came back with another nurse who told me they were training new nurses and that she wanted to double check his measurements because they seemed wrong. After a couple of small alterations they left again. When the doctor came in she said that she was concerned because Micah hadn't gained any weight, in fact he had lost a couple of ounces. I said that he was somewhat active since he just started rolling over and he has been jumping in his jumper a lot, but he still shouldn't have been losing weight. So the doctor told me to feed him solid food 3 times a day (I was only doing that 1 or 2 time a day) and to come back in a couple of months so they could check him again. So here are his stats:
height: 28 inches (81%)
weight: 16 lbs 7 oz (17%)
head: 43.1 cm (19%)

So he dropped from the 73% in weight to the 17th percentile - not good news. We are working on fattening him up now!
In other news he started rolling from his back to his front at the beginning of April. He also got his 2 bottom teeth when he was about 5 1/2 months old. And Micah is finally sleeping through the night (most of the time). He goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 pm and sleeps until 6 or 6:30 am. He still sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night but Reed just goes in and tells him it is still night-night time and he goes right back to sleep (if I try to go in and do the same thing he throws a fit).

These pictures were taken last week. He doesn't look skinny to me but I guess looks can be deceiving

To get stitches or not to get stitches

That was the question we were asking ourselves on Friday night. Lets back up and I'll explain. We had decided to have a family party that night. Reed's work paid for him to have a $20 dinner so we decided to order pizza for the family. Then we decided to go swimming, since we haven't done that for a while. After dinner I went upstairs to pack up our swimming suits and towels. Alan and Conner followed me up and Alan hid in Micah's room behind the door. Conner peeked through the crack in the door and squealed when he saw Alan. Then he sprinted into the room but Alan started to push the door closed really hard. The door knob hit Conner right in the forehead and knocked him flat. It started to bleed right away so I took him into the bathroom and pressed a wash cloth to the cut. Conner was so concerned that there were a few drops of blood on the floor. Then he got mad that I was holding the washcloth on and he kept yelling "Let go of me!" Finally we got the bleeding stopped and looked at the cut. It was about a half of an inch long and not really, really deep so I decided he didn't need stitches. So we started watching a movie since swimming was out of the picture. Then Reed and I started wondering if it was going to leave a big scar right in the middle of his forehead. So we called a friend in the ward who is a doctor and has a reputation for being really good at stitching up wounds and asked what he thought. Reed took Conner over to his house so that he could look at him and he said it could go either way so he put some glue around the cut and put a bandage over it and pulled the cut closed. Now we just have to keep it dry for a week.

Here is Conner the next day at breakfast

I am thinking that with 3 active, rough and tumble boys that this might not be the last time we have to ask ourselves "should we take him to get stitches or not?"

A few of Alan's favorite things

Alan LOVES to create and make things. One day I was especially tired so I told Alan I was going to lay down for a little while (Conner and Micah were sleeping). When I came back down this is what Alan had made:
It is a house and car made out of lincoln logs and a ship that he made out of a piece of styrofoam. He used a pencil for a mast and he tore a piece of clear plastic from a wrapper and attached it to the pencil with a chip clip. It was pretty cool looking.
Alan LOVES to draw. He very rarely plays with his toys - during his free time he draws pictures. When his friends come over he wants to draw pictures with them. Once when I was flipping through the channels we saw a show where a guy was showing kids how to draw some different things. Alan was so excited, he ran and got a pencil and a piece of paper and then he sat through the whole show and tried to draw everything that the guy did. He has asked several times since then if that show is going to come on again. Lately he has been drawing arrows, spaceships, volcanoes, trucks and ships.

Alan is a great big brother to Micah - if Micah starts to fuss Alan will run and find one of his toys. He will also make funny faces to make Micah smile. He likes to hold him and just be around him in general.

1st Hair Cut

I finally buckled down and gave Micah a much needed trim on March 17th. I trimmed the hair around his ears and the back of his neck and I cut his bangs.

The before pictures:

It was pretty long

Micah's feelings during the hair cut:

The after photos:
Much better

I left his hair long on top mostly because I think it looks cute and because it is finally long enough that it will lay down if we comb it down right after his bath.

6 Months Already!

Micah is 6 months old already, where has the time gone? Here are some recent photos of him:


He loves standing in this thing:
He started to sit unsupported when he was 5 and a half months old but he was still tippy. By six months though he was sitting well by himself. He only falls over occasionally now.
He is a HUGE fan of his jolly jumper. He jumps non stop when we put him in it and when we take him out his legs just keep jumping whenever they touch a hard surface.
He got his first tooth (bottom front one) about a week before he was 6 months old. He spent the next few days with his tongue out - I think that new tooth felt weird. Now he loves to grab our fingers and stick them in his mouth and then chomp down as hard as he can - ouch!
He still can't roll over, although he is actually trying now. He can get his hips over but he hasn't figured out how to turn his shoulders over so he gets stuck half way and then he just cries. It has been fun to listen to him start to "talk" - he coos and squeals and makes his voice change pitch so it sounds like he is carrying on a conversation. We are still working on his sleep. He can sleep through the night but he usually doesn't. He usually wakes up once or twice but we just have to go in and tell him it is still night time and wrap him back up (he still likes being swaddled) and then he goes back to sleep. He gets up for the day between 6 and 6:30 am. His day time naps are getting better too - instead of sleeping for 30 minutes at a time he now sleeps for an hour to an hour and half most of the time. Hooray for Micah!