A pet for a day

Today I tried to be a good Samaritan...and it definitely did not work out like I thought it would! I was driving to my mother and father-in-laws to drop of the boys because I had a bridal shower. While I was stopped at a light on my way there, I noticed a dog running around in the intersection and in the road. Thankfully it was not a busy intersection, but the dog was still close to being hit by a number of cars. There were many people that stopped to avoid hitting the dog, but no one made any effort to stop and get it out of the road. So I'm conflicted...do I try to get this dog, or am I totally insane to try and help it? I couldn't just drive on, so I watched the dog for a bit and noticed that it was sitting almost every time it got by the driver's door. I decided that I would try to call the dog and see if it was obedient. It was, so I loaded it up in the back of my van (once I had the seats set up so that the dog couldn't get by my kids). I thought, how hard can this be? Look at the tags, mapquest the address at my in-laws, and bring the poor dog home. Boy, was I a little off.

The dog had a shock collar, but no tags. Nothing identifying on it at all. Lovely, now I have a dog, two kids, and I'm supposed to be at a bridal shower in 20 minutes. So, I did what every lovely daughter-in-law does (right?). I greeted Jason's parents with two boys and a dog and told them I'd be back in a few hours. Thanks mom and dad for not shaking your heads until after I left. They were good sports and helped me tie the dog to a tree.

I went to the shower and then went with my sister-in-law to get an extra collar and leash from their house. Then I went back to my in-laws and Jason and I walked the dog all around a couple of neighborhoods by where I had picked the dog up. Nobody recognized the dog. So now I'm thinking my good deed has really blown up. I don't want a dog at my house!! Granted, she was well behaved, but I still don't want a dog! Plus, someone was probably looking for her because she was obviously well cared for.

Jason and I ended up calling Animal Control and they came and picked the dog up. Of course, we had to give our temporary pet a name: she was dubbed "Mildred the white girl dog" by Ethan (I think Jason helped with the Mildred, but the rest was Ethan). What a day!

Where are his parents?

Have you ever said that phrase? Well, I said it about myself this past Sunday when we let Ethan run around and play in the 40 degree big lake. We took an impromptu trip to the beach when some friends called to invite us--it was 80+ degrees, so it was a great beach day! I thought Ethan would put one toe in the water and run back out. Well, I was wrong, and he and his buddy Caleb were in up to their knees. They had a riot! They ran back and forth in some pools that had formed on the shoreline, splashing and giggling.



We ended up pulling his shorts off just so that he would have some dry pants. Good thing I had some extra essential clothing items in the car!

Micah was also a little beach bum. He didn't like the feel of the sand at first. He tried to climb up Jason's leg to get his feet out of the sand. Once he was used to it, he had a great time playing. I only had to haul sand out of his mouth once!

4-year-old language

Ethan often has a funny way of saying things. There are many times when Jason and I laugh out loud, or even have to hide our laughter behind our hands. Today I laughed again with one of his usual words: behead. What does that mean, you ask? Well, he hears us use the words behind, before, and below. Naturally, other words must also have "be" in front of them. Behead and bepast (interpretation: ahead and past) are my favorite ones. Ethan uses them all the time and he doesn't quite follow when we try to tell them the "real" way to say the word. So, if Ethan ever tells you he is going "behead" of you, don't worry about losing your head, he's probably just going to run on by!

A busy day

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Micah and his surgery today. We are happy to report that all went as planned, and Micah did really well the whole day. We had to wake him up at 5:30 this morning (he seemed a bit puzzled since usually he's the one waking us up that early!) so we could be at the hospital by 5:45. Micah charmed all of the nurses, and was pretty cute in his hospital pajamas.

Our nerves were calmed (and our prayers answered) as the doctor prepared him for the anesthesia with a little extra medication. It made him a little...let's say "happy"...and we couldn't help but laugh at him while he had a semi-glazed look in his eyes and began singing a little song over and over. It made it much easier for Jason and I to hand him over to the doctors since he did not cry at all.

His surgery was done right on schedule and we were able to see him while he was waking up in the recovery area. That was some great cuddling time for mommy! We then went to our next recovery area where he had trouble keeping fluids down, but he had a great nap that kept him settled while the IV was still in. We were able to come home from the hospital by around 12:30 p.m. Jason, Micah, and I all took nice long naps!

Again, thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement. We really felt God's peace today and are now happy to be in the recovery phase!

Here are a few pictures from our day...


Micah in his hospital "gown". The pants were too big, so we just had him in the pajama top.


In the playroom/waiting room...Micah's probably thankful he's still in diapers...and wondering if anyone else feels a breeze!


In the recovery room, beginning to perk up a bit after a nap, but still pretty sleepy! His left arm is all wrapped up so he can't get at the IV site.

Please keep us in your prayers...

Our family would appreciate your prayers in the coming week as Micah is having outpatient surgery this Thursday, April 19. His surgery is similar to a hernia surgery and is one that he will be put totally under for. The surgery is scheduled for 7:30 am (which puts us at the hospital quite early!) and if all goes well we hope to be home around lunch time. Thankfully, Micah is oblivious to the whole process, so this is mainly stressful for mommy and daddy. Please pray that we will feel God's peace, especially during the hour surgery. I'm thankfull that we have the knowledge that even though we will not be in the operating room with Micah, God is there and will be holding him through the entire process. I'll try to post an update on how the surgery went sometime in the day or two following. Thanks for your support!

Afternoon on the town

It was finally nice enough...54 degrees...to be outside again! We decided to try out Micah's new bike helmet, so we loaded the boys into the bike trailer and went for a bike ride. I had a very pleasant ride since I didn't have to pull the boys. Jason a quite a workout! Ethan was thrilled to be out and about again, though his legs have gotten much longer since the last time he rode in the trailer! Micah was not too fond of his helmet, though he warmed up to it once he realized it meant a bike ride. I stuck his pacifier in so he didn't cry the whole time. :) Maybe next time we won't need to use the pacifier to have him be happy about the bike helmet.

A few more pictures

I couldn't resist adding these pictures from Micah's party. Thanks, Aunt Merridith, for the great shots! I figured these captured the cake-eating process perfectly...and the sugar coma that follows too much frosting!

The daily grind

Today when I returned from MOPS, I hurried to prepare the boys' lunch. I figured since Ethan was asking for food the whole way home, it was long past lunch time by the time we got home (I tried to sneak too many errands in after MOPS!). Here came my dilemma: I didn't have room on my counter to prepare lunch. I had to move a "pile" of stuff just to have room to put a plate down. I tried moving a pile to my island (thank goodness for a smooth surface cook top since it means more surface area to make piles!). Unfortunately, the piles on my island have left room for only one additional pile. OK, so maybe it's time to do some picking up. I thought about taking a picture just to enhance this post, but I decided I was too embarrassed to show how bad things have gotten! So, I thought I'd give a few examples instead of what my "piles" are and you can use your imagination to picture my mess:

1. Dishes--breakfast dishes and dishes from making muffins for MOPS

2. Dish drainer full of clean dishes...I know, put it in the sink for more space on the counter...but I needed to shake crumbs and junk into the sink where my garbage disposal is. :) Can't just put away the clean dishes!

3. Cereal boxes...have to offer options for breakfast!

4. Mail...plus a pile of junk mail and paper to recycle

5. Grocery list & coupons

6. One pile of clean little person laundry that I can't seem to pick up and walk to put it away. Hey, at least its clean!

7. More dishes...I think they multiplied.

8. Easter basket--this one I'm actually working hard at cleaning up. I contribute by eating one piece (OK, maybe two) every time I walk by it.

9. A few of Micah's birthday presents.

10. Paper airplanes

11. Confiscated toys...mostly items that are being used as bats or small items that Micah finds and tries to put in his mouth. We can still use chalk after it's been sucked on, right?

12. An empty basket that used to hold all of the lids to my Tupperware and misc. plastic containers. Big T and little t kindly emptied it out for me and I haven't gotten the motivation to fill it back up. At least the lids are all in a drawer instead of all over the floor...or piled on my counter!

13. Oh, and my telephone might be somewhere on there too.

14. I cannot admit anymore. :)

I know, I know. Quit blogging and clean up. Unfortunately, it's more fun to laugh about the mess while writing in my blog than clean it up. Hopefully this will motivate me!

Snow day in April?

I'm the Club Coordinator for the GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) club at my church. I just had to do something that I can't quite wrap my brain around. I cancelled our meeting tonight due to snow and bad road conditions...in April! I didn't even have to consider cancelling any meetings in the winter! Only in Michigan can we have snow days in April. I keep thinking about this day last year--April 11 was the day that we took Micah home from the hospital. No snow last year; I think it was in the 70's! Days like this make me wonder why I enjoy living in Michigan so much...maybe it's because I know it will probably be 80 next week. This type of weather definitely reminds me that God has a sense of humor!

Happy 1st Birthday, Micah!

This past Saturday we had a birthday party for Micah. Both sides of our family were able to come, and we had a great time. Micah opened his presents in usual one-year-old style. Mommy opened the presents while he played with the paper. He did enjoy taking the present out of the bag or box and then putting it back in! Big brother Ethan and his cousin, Rachel, also enjoyed helping Micah open his presents. We then gave Micah his smash cake--he desperately wanted the candle on the cake. He would have grabbed the flame if I didn't keep moving it away from him. Once we gave him the cake, he mostly ate the frosting. At one point he finally got a chunk of cake in his mouth and spit it out. Must not have been sweet enough for him! Overall, we all had lots of fun and I can't believe that Micah is a year old already!

Eat Cake...

I went out on a limb this year and baked and decorated the cakes for Micah's party all by myself! This is unique for me since I often have a lot of trouble making cakes (usually they are half the size they are supposed to be and I just make Jason bake it). I borrowed decorating tips from Olivia and actually had tons of fun decorating the cakes. I decided that the dog was appropriate because Micah loves any dog he sees. He always says "woof" and gets a silly look on his face. Anyway, I'll probably have to try my decorating skills another time (too bad Jason really doesn't like cake!).

A day to celebrate!

What a wonderful day we had today! We've been able to celebrate our risen Lord this Easter, and also are celebrating Micah's 1st birthday. It's been a busy day, but we've enjoyed it. We began our day with Ressurection Eggs and Easter baskets. Then we celebrated Easter with our church family and dinner at Jason's mom and dad's. Now we're home trying to recover from sugar comas from all our Easter candy.

We had a birthday party for Micah yesterday. It was a great opportunity to celebrate with our families. I'm planning to post some pictures from that soon.

The world is my jungle gym

Micah is a climber. Anything he can manuver to a climbing position is fair game for him. He pushed the clothes basket around until he could flip it over, then the fun really began! I was suprised at how sturdy the storage container was. We have a set of small chairs that I have to keep pushed under the table because I was tired of the "climb on and fall off" routine. Micah also has a toy that is supposed to be used for sitting and driving. Apparently that's for babies, since he would rather climb on the toy and stand on the seat. Alas, the days of black and blue foreheads are now in full swing. Hopefully I can keep him from climbing trees this summer!

Best Friends

Yesterday I heard "Mommy, can you take my picture with Puppy and Little Lamb?". I can't resist a picture like that! Puppy has been Ethan's sleeping buddy and companion since he was about 9 months old. For quite some time Puppy went everywhere that Ethan went. There was one night (and only one because Jason and I learned a lesson) where Puppy was left at Grandpa and Grandma's house. There was no sleeping and much weeping until daddy returned with Puppy. Now Puppy is mainly cuddled in bed, but he has definately been Ethan's friend the longest. We're so glad Uncle Steve and Aunt Jennie gave Puppy to Ethan when he was born!

Little Lamb (don't you love our creative names!) joined us this past year. Ethan had a story in MOPS about the Lost Lamb...and was able to take his own lamb home with him. Little Lamb is now great friends with Puppy. Both friends are tucked in Ethan's arms at bedtime, and that's where they stay for the night!

Big T and little t

Jason and I often say that we have big trouble and little trouble at our house. I'd say that this picture pretty much confirms it!

Ethan is an awsome big brother. He always wants to help spoon-feed Micah or hold his hands to walk him around. Our best mornings are those where Ethan greets Micah in his crib and we can listen to their chatter together. We can see that Micah adores his older brother since he always wants to play with whatever Ethan is playing. Who needs baby toys when you can drive trucks with Ethan? We definately have two special boys!

My turn

I'll admit it--I've been "lurking" among a number of blogs for a few months now. I finally decided that if I enjoyed checking everyone else's blogs, I should start one of my own. Then it took me a LONG time to think of a name for it. Who would have thought that a simple name would be so difficult to come up with! At least it took us longer to think of names for our children!

Here's the explanation for my blog's name: We have two boys that have wonderful blue eyes (though Ethan's are starting to be a bit more green). Not unusual by any means, but Jason has green eyes and I have brown eyes. Aren't brown eyes supposed to be dominant? At least once? Many people have commented on our boys' blue eyes. I often find myself saying "Apparently brown and green make blue". Hence the name.