Merry Christmas!

Christmas is so much fun now! She was not to sure about the big man in the red suit, but at least she didn't cry :) Mica still does not really get into the whole present thing yet but she is having fun ripping up all the paper and does get excited to see a new toy. Next year she will know exactly what to do. But we are still having fun watching our little girl grow and play with family during the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone!

My new blanket

Don't you just love those cold winter days when you can relax and wrap yourself up in a warm blanket.

Happy Birthday!!!

It's a group effort

Awww dad. . . thanks for the help

I think she likes carrot cake :)

Well we finally made it. Mica turned a year old on the 8th. All day Steve and I just looked at each other and shook our heads - how on earth did we make such a wonderful beautiful baby? She is so full of energy and love. I know this journey we are on is just getting started but I cant say just how excited I am to see how she will grow and change and turn into her own person. Happy Birthday!!!!

So much to be thankful for!

Mmmmmmm turkey leg - Steve smoked a turkey before we left on our holiday trip.

Mica was not willing to smile for the Pier 39 picture :(

Bay area swings are fun too!

Mica had her first Thanks Giving in San Francisco! We went and visited our friends Chris and Kim who are about to have a little one of their own. It was so much fun to share our little girl with all our friends in the Bay area. Mica did not exactly enjoy the hours in the car but she did pretty well considering. Now that she can walk (run) she was frustrated that she could not move and groove all day. She is very happy to be home runnin free - sort of :) She gets mad when I shut all the doors to limit the destruction.

Crazy Hair

Mica's first pony tail! Honestly I think it took me about 10 min to get this thing in her hair. How do other moms do it? Thankfully she left it alone. I had visions of her just pulling it out as soon as I was done. At least we got some crazy/cute photos of it.

Tiggers are wonderful things

This has to be one of the best Halloweens ever! Dressing up the worlds cutest baby is better than a bag full of candy any day :) We didn't go out trick or treating this year . . . ah . . . cuz neither Mica nor mommy need the candy (I cant keep saying "but I just had a baby" since she will be a year old in a few weeks.) But we did go visit the grandparents so they could see her in her costume. The best photo is still to come. Mica and I went and had lunch with daddy who also dressed up for the day as Pooh! They were certainly the talk of the school all day. I am waiting for the photo of them together as soon as I get it I will share it with all of you in Blogland.

Move over Aunt Jemima

I just love baby hats!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch with our good friends, Travis and Michelle, who also have two beautiful girls. Mazie is only 4 mo older than Mica and Zuri will be 3 in November. They already have lots of fun together. I think we all know that in few years we are really going to have our hands full. However, today we just enjoyed one of the best fall days that Oregon has to offer. The sun was out, it wasn't too cold and the the best part - no rain!

Little Tongue

Mica had lots of fun playing with her friends at the high school before a volleyball game. The girls just love playing with her. By the looks of it she is going to be just like her daddy :)

Hey, has anyone seen my cookie?

Its moments like these that just make me smile. Wouldn't it be great if all we had to do to make someone smile is stick a cookie to our face?

I love the park!

Mica and I had so much fun at the park. I was a little unsure about putting her in the swing but she did just fine and really quite enjoyed it. It is a good outing for us as the park is about a mile away. It seems silly to load everything up in the car just to drive a mile away, so we like to hike it. However, mommy is going shopping for a new stroller this weekend. I can't complain too much because the one we use was given to us and it worked ok until she started growing in to a big girl. And this big girl has 4 teeth! the two on the top have just come through. All I can say is I hope she likes formula :)

Its just basil mom I promice!

No really, it is just basil. But I wonder what the neighbors must have thought. I'm sure as in any neighborhood there is that one that is peeking through the blinds at me wondering what it is that I'm doing. It must have been a curious sight to see me, baby in tow on my hip, at 8:30 in the morning (of course hair not done and well waring something that would get me nominated for What Not to Ware) hikin' it down to the corner of the street. I stop and wait for a car that is slowly turning down our road. The car stops and the window slides down. A man picks up a clear plastic bag filled with green goodies. I bend down and grab Mica's hand to make her wave hello - she will do it on her own but not when she is distracted with "goodies." I take the bag, blow a kiss and walk back to the house. The car pulls away and is gone again in an instant as if had never been there. OK I wish all the neighbors could read this post so they don't think I am as crazy as this makes me out to be. Truth be told it was just Steve giving a bag a basil that one of the other administrators had grown in their garden. Steve was out running between athletic fields and didn't have time to stop at the house so we met him half way. Ah well it makes for good neighborhood gossip anyway :) We like to keep them guessing.

Happy Dance

This was way too cute! I had to share it.

Chuck E Cheese

Who knew a 6 foot rat could be so fun? Mica (surprisingly) had a great time at her cousin Trevor's birthday party. I thought for sure she would burst into tears when she saw the huge rat coming our way. But to my amazement she laughed and thought it was funny. Maybe I was imposing my own fears of people crazy enough to dress as large vermin who walk around hugging anyone in their path. I can see one of my biggest challenges as a parent is going to be not imposing my own irrational fears on my child. Although, I don't think my fear of clowns is completely irrational :) Lets just say mommy wont be taking Mica to the circus anytime soon.

My First Tooth!

Last Saturday Mica's first tooth came through. It is not all the way up yet but it is a start. So far she has been pretty good and not too fussy. But it is just getting started and there are many more to come. Hopefully you can see the tiny white spec on the bottom of her gum. We are very excited about this new development.

Happy baby

What? Do I have something on my face?

Mica is such a big girl now, she thinks she can feed herself. Dinner time is a little more . . . hmmmm . . . challenging now that she thinks she needs to be holding the spoon. We usually start out with two spoons, one for me to feed her with and the other one for her to make a mess. She is no where near getting the food from the dish to her mouth on her own but she still likes to try. As you can see she gets it all over her hands and then rubs her face and well its just a big mess. Maybe she knows if she makes a big enough mess she will end up in the bath tub and get to splash around a little.

Look at me now!

Mica has been sitting up on her own for a few weeks now. I still have to sit with her because she gets so excited when she plays and her little arms go flying around. When the crazy arms start moving her big head can't keep up and she ends up teetering over on to her head. I have to say she recovers well, there are a few tears in the beginning but she shakes it off and wants to keep playing. So most of the time I sit behind her to avoid such an ordeal.

It has been a few days sense she has wanted to play because she has been really sick. Awww her first childhood illness. OK not one of my favorite milestones. She started getting really fussy and just not acting like herself so I took her to the doctor and they said she was fine and thought maybe she might be teething. Well the next day there were no teeth but she did have a fever. This can also be a sign of teeth working in, but she still did not have any to show me. The fever continued for the next day and I took her back to the doctor. I'm sure they know the sound of my voice at the doctors office and Mica's chart is labeled with a big florescent sicker noting "Crazy first time mom." After all the poking and prodding they do to young babies the doctor gave me a few options of possible illnesses. Who know babies were so complex? One of those options was Roseola, a common childhood virus that presents with a fever for 4 or 5 days and then when the fever breaks a big red rash covers the body. And that is what happened she had a fever for about 4 days and then poof red rash all over her tiny little body. It was very sad. She didn't want anyone to hold her but me and I was flattered for about 5 min until I discovered that I could not set her down anywhere or have Steve hold her without her bursting into tears, it was the most pathetic thing I have herd yet. Thankfully she is back to normal and daddy can hold is little girl again :)

Goodbye Swiss Sister

Last month Mica had to say goodbye to her Swiss sister. Celine was a foreign exchange student that was with us for almost a year. Mica had lots of fun playing with her and although she can't say it I'm sure she misses her. Hopefully someday we will be able to go visit her in Switzerland :)

This little piggy. . .

Ok , just for the record we won this in the school auction - the grill that is :) and it turns out it was a good thing (as long as it stays in the back yard where no one can see it.) Arnold is his name and he is a very good cook. Steve and Arnold made a brisket for fathers day that was yummy! Mica supervised the cooking. She had to inspect it before we turned it on. Not every little girl can say they have a huge pink pig on their back porch, especially one named Arnold.

Bath Time

Hands down this is one of best times of the day. When 7:00 pm rolls around she almost looks at me as if to say "mom lets get the rubber ducky and take a bath." We have made an attempt to start a schedule of events in the evening so that she can get used to going to bed at the same time. To my surprise it seems to work. Now, if I could only get her to stay asleep during the night. So for now we will just enjoy bath time splashing around and everybodys favorite part - the shampoo mohawk.

Starbucks Nation

This was too cute to pass up the photo opportunity. She decided to skip the cereal and go right to coffee. She is her father's daughter. Do you think the Venti was too big? Well she does have a big day of eating, playing and oh wait sleeping!!! Maybe next time we will just get the Tall.

*No babies were harmed in the making of this photo :) *

Feed me Mommy!

Yea! Mica is ready for a little more nourishment. Okay, the truth is I was planning on waiting until 6mo to give her anything else besides breast milk but at our last doctors appointment our doctor suggested that a little rice cereal might help her sleep longer at night. Hmmm it took about 5 min. to drive to the store and get a little cereal and baby food prune style. I am not sure she actually ingested any of the cereal the first night but the next day she managed to get a little prune in her tummy - I'll spare the details on how I know this for sure :) I have my fingers crossed that she actually eats some tonight because mommy wants to remember what its like to sleep for more than two hours at a time. But as sleep deprived as I am I would not trade her for anything.

Happy Easter

Mica's first Easter! She is still to little for any egg hunts or Easter baskets but its always a good time for pictures. We even convinced daddy to play along for a little while :) She is growing so fast I cant believe she is going to be 4 months old in just a few days. She can almost sit up now maybe by next month and we work on rolling over every night during tummy time but I think that will be a little while also. But she is really working her little hands. Now she can put things to her mouth and pull out the binky and sometimes she gets it back in on her own. The increase in drool and constant chewing make mommy a little nervous - teeth are coming soon.

Tulip Fields

We decided to take Mica to the tulip farm during spring break. It was one of the best days this year for playing out side. But you know how on outings you always for get something. Well Mica forgot to pack her smile. We were able to get a few cute pictures but I think we might have to go back sometime. Or wait until next year when she can stand on her own and maybe smile for us. We did enjoy walking through all the pretty flowers with our baby.

Eye, always look eye!

March Madness

My daddy told me I had to keep watching even though Duke lost. When mommy told me North Carolina and Oregon both were still in it I figured I should stick it out.