Micah's New Year's Resolutions

1. Stop sleeping in my car seat at night.
2. Stop eating 4 times a night.
3. Stop making Mom wake up every 30 minutes all night long.

Tu Cumpleanos Es Mi Cumpleanos

You know the saying "mi casa es tu casa"? Well, when it comes to my 6-year-old, Hannah, it's tu cumpleanos es mi cumpleanos. Olivia just celebrated her 4th birthday, and it sure ended up feeling a good bit like Hannah's birthday. A year or so ago, I taught Hannah the art of negotiation. I was quite proud of myself when I saw the concept click and glee shine from her eyes with the realization that she can get what she wants with persuasion instead of force. Her first victory was to convince Olivia (on Olivia's 3rd birthday) that she should trade coloring books. In exchange for Olivia's brand new Disney Princess coloring book, Hannah would give Olivia a priceless coloring book in which Hannah had already colored every page. I was disturbed but impressed when Olivia ended up making the trade and feeling like she had just gotten the deal of the century. This year, Hannah convinced Olivia to allow her to blow out the candles and unwrap the presents. Danilo and I stepped in to prevent this usurpation. But after the birthday, I had to intercede countless times to re-establish that this new thing or that new thing belongs to Olivia and not Hannah. And it's not that Olivia is a complete pushover. She is generally a kind child, that is true, but she's also pretty stubborn. Hannah just has a way. She's pretty good with a highlighter too, so perhaps she should become a lawyer.

Here are a couple of recent pictures:

The lapse in my blog entries is a sure indicator that I'm back to work. I only have a quick minute, but wanted to share a website that I'm pretty excited about. If you (like me) do your shopping on line, you really should check out www.retailmenot.com. It has on-line coupon codes (giving you everything from free shipping, to discounts to free samples) for many websites. I have used the codes with success. Enjoy!

Micah smiles (a lot)

Just a quick post to share a few recent pictures of Micah. While I'm of course biased, I must say that he's a handsome young man. There's something about his smile that makes your heart happy. I couldn't resist taking a few shots of him that can be used for future teasing. The one with him in the tiara and a propped bottle is all Hannah and Olivia's doing. I was rushing around trying to get ready for church and found him like that (with Hannah and Olivia close at hand). Despite the Sunday-morning frenzy, I had to stop and have a good laugh.

Halloween in the Desert

In Arizona, October is like Spring. It brings everyone out of hibernation. For Halloween, all the neighbors decorate their homes and then have parties on their driveways and in the street. For us, Halloween means pulling the "pumpkin man" out of storage. The pumpkin man is tacky, but we love him. I remember driving up to our house as I returned from work at Halloween time a number of years ago and, upon seeing this large blowup creature, being horrified that we (all Danilo's doing) were displaying such a monstrosity. But he has grown on me over the years, and now Danilo and I both associate the start of the holidays with the installation of the pumpkin man. Who knew it would bring our children -- as well as countless children who (I'm not joking) come to see the pumpkin man and even have their pictures taken in front of it -- such joy?

This year, Hannah and Olivia were both ballerinas (I couldn't believe my good luck, when they agreed to wear ballet outfits that we already owned for costumes!), and Micah was a pumpkin.

Here's a picture of me with my little pumpkin:

At Hannah's school, they had a Fall Harvest Festival (no "Halloween" celebration), and all the kids brought jack-o-lanterns to display -- there were hundreds of them all glowing and lined up so that you could walk along a path and see them. Here is Hannah's "winking" pumpkin.

Life with Micah, etc.

I decided to try creating a blog, and discovering how easy it is, have decided to trash our old webpage.


We are enjoying autumn Arizona style, which unfortunately lacks all the crisp coolness of the Ohio autumns I remember, but is pure heaven nonetheless. Micah, the girls and I have been taking full advantage by leaving our indoor confinement and returning to the parks, our bikes and our lawn chairs (which we set up on the driveway). I have been running every day for the past couple of months, both because running is the best part of my day, and because I'm trying mightily to lose the baby weight. I still have 7 or 8 pounds to go, and my, that fat is stubborn!! Micah loves to come along in his jogging stroller. My other weapon against the bulge is the Wii Fit that Danilo got me for my birthday. He was skeptical when I asked for it (required him also to buy me a Wii), because we really don't play video games. But after watching me on the Wii Fit for a couple of days, he has now started up himself, as has Hannah. It's great fun.


Today, I'm breathing a sigh of relief, because I now have the annual Primary Program behind me. So much work and anxiety, but I'm happy to report that it came together and a good time was had by all. It was a Primary miracle, as usual. What I mean by that, is that all the practices were somewhat disastrous, but somehow the kids pull it together, and it ends up being great. Hannah even delivered two speaking parts on her own without help (including saying "I am a child of God" in Russian). Talk about miracle! Both Hannah and Olivia did a great job, singing all of the songs very well.


As for Micah, he continues to grow at what appears to me to be an amazing rate, and has now developed wonderfully squishy amounts of baby chub on his legs. He is a great smiler. You know that kind of smile that starts small and crescendos into a grin that lights up and transforms the whole face? That's the kind of smile Micah has. We can even get what sounds like a laugh out of him sometimes. Here are a couple of recent pictures and a video clip.

Hannah and Olivia love to take care of him and do a good job, although they can't help administering their girly treatments. They watched him for me yesterday while I was getting ready for church, and their "care" involved washing his skin with baby wipes, applying floral scented lotion, and styling his hair "handsome," as Olivia described it. At least they didn't give him the "glitter" treatment this time!