First quarter of 2013

So, I have once again failed at keeping the blog updated, so here is my attempt at catching things up from January to current time.  And for the record, I am sitting here with the computer to pay bills and balance the checkbook.  However, our bank's website is currently not responding, so you can thank them for this update. :)

January was an eventful month for us.  First of all, we found out that we were going to be having a baby girl!  We did a gender reveal cake at our Christmas celebration with my mom's family.  It was a lot of fun, and Cora Leigh is super excited.  She had already told us that she did not want another brother - she already had a brother! Of course, a three year old can't exactly understand that we don't get to pick, so it was a relief that we could just give her the news that she wanted.  :)

Another big thing that happened in January was Micah weaned himself from mommy.  I was fully prepared, even with the pregnancy to nurse Micah until he was at least a year old.  I nursed Cora Leigh until she was 15 months and never had to buy any formula.  However, with Micah, it just wasn't happening.  I had read that milk may taste different when you are pregnant, but early on, it did not seem to be a problem at all.  At one point, Micah got a virus that caused him to have ulcers in his throat.  That was when things started going downhill.  The ulcers were the only symptom, so all I knew is that my little boy with the big appetite suddenly did not want to eat, and he was getting really irritated any time I fed him.  A few days later, I took him to the doctor, and that's when they found the ulcers - no fever, no rash, no other symptoms.  That explained why his appetite had been so poor.  I wonder if during that time, my supply may have dropped to the point that I could not catch back up.  I was still happy to have given him all the benefits of mommy's milk up to that point.  He was 10.5 months old when he totally weaned from me and was on formula all the time.  And boy is it expensive!!  We're glad he's graduated to cow's milk now. :)

February was not a very eventful month...oh, yeah, except that Micah turned a year old!  And he started walking a few weeks before his birthday.  He is a busy, busy, baby! So we are busy trying to make sure he doesn't do something to hurt himself.  Here are a couple of pics of him on his big day:

He loves looking out the windows!!

We also had a really nice weather day in early February when we were able to go outside and enjoy the swing set in the back yard.  Micah really enjoys his swing now!

We had Micah's big 1st birthday party in early March.  He had such a good day!  He napped right up until party time, which was great.  We decided on a farm theme for his party.  When Cora Leigh turned 1, we chose a kitty themed party because her first word was "kitty."  Micah is not as verbal as his sister was, so we really haven't had a consistent first word yet.  However, he did make a cow sound, so that is why we went with the farm theme.  I had a lot of fun looking online at different ideas for decor and food!  Below is the link to my facebook photo album if you would like to see pics from the party:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101169821475310.1073741825.12924167&type=1&l=62abad1b90

We found out that Micah really likes baked beans and cake...well, mostly icing.  He also had a blast playing with the wrapping from the gifts.  He was fascinated with the garbage bag that Uncle Bryan had to put the wrapping paper in, and he kept trying to throw things in there.  He would take clothes out of a gift bag and try to throw them in the garbage bag or throw his cards in the garbage bag.  It was funny.  He also just loved walking around with his cards.  Once cake time came, he was ready.  I have never before seen a baby tear into a cake like he did.  At one point it looked like he was massaging it, squeezing it through his fingers.  By the time he was finished, the cake was obliterated.  It was impressive!

Other March happenings: we were able to pull off a surprise party for my sister, Mandy.  She is turning the big 3-0 tomorrow, but we surprised her a little early with a party.  I had the task of keeping her busy before the party, so I had asked her to help me find an Easter dress - no easy task for a pregnant lady.  Some folks were running late for the party, so we made a couple of extra last minute stops.  I know Mandy was wondering why I didn't just give it up!  I was able to find a dress at the last place we went, and when we arrived at the party, Mandy was totally surprised.  It was fun to see her so shocked, and great to be able to surround her with family and friends who love her to celebrate the occasion.  Lots of fun!

We also took Cora Leigh to the circus for the first time.  It started a little rocky with a little girl vomiting multiple times at the end of our row.  We are pretty sure she was supposed to be in the seats next to us, so we were glad it hit her while she was at the end of the aisle...however, just 3 seats separated us.  It. was. gross.  And it smelled.  And my sense of smell is pretty keen right now.  Not a good way to begin, but they did get it cleaned up within 5-10 minutes.  Cora Leigh kept her ears plugged the entire first half of the circus.  You could tell she was enjoying it, but she claimed it was too loud.  For whatever reason, the second half must not have seemed as loud to her, because she finally took her fingers out of her ears!  Overall, we all (Cora, Jeremy, and myself) had a great time.  The elephants were definitely the highlight of the show for Cora!

The only other happening we have had is we finally settled on a first name for our new baby girl!  We really struggled with this.  Cora Leigh's name has a lot of significance (family ties on both sides); we picked Micah because of the prophet and he has his daddy's middle name (Brandon); because of that, I really did not want to just pick a random name for baby 3.  That coupled with the fact that she was most unexpected, I wanted to be sure she knew that despite that she was very much wanted and loved.  I know I about drove Jeremy crazy, but we were finally able to find a name we both agreed on: Adia.  It's pronounced A-dee-ah, yes, just like the Sarah McLachlan song.  The name is Swahili, and it means "God's gift."  I could not think of a more appropriate meaning for this baby's name.  We also liked that it ended with an "ah" sound since the other two do as well.  So we know she will be Adia.  Now we just have to nail down a middle name!