The Bean Turns One

Micah is one! Hip hip hooray! My little baby boy is one! His birthday was July 13. The year has gone by so fast. I feel like I was just pregnant with him. Maybe because I am pregnant again. Hmm.

Anyway, the last year has been wonderful, horrible, fun, exasperating, sleep-deprived, joyful, depressing, and so incredibly great. Being Micah's mom has really shaken me to the core. After being a mom to Wyatt for two years, I felt foolishly confident that I was a pretty decent parent, and that I could handle another baby, easy. And then Micah burst onto the scene. From his colicky first months, to his never-ending vomit, Micah has tested me and pushed me and forced me to grow. Parenting Wyatt was easy. Anyone could do it. But parenting Micah has not been easy for me. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. AND I AM SO THANKFUL FOR IT. Micah has (to paraphrase a stupid cliche) made me a better mom, a better woman, and a better person. Although he makes me lose it regularly, he has made me more patient. And even though sometimes it has been hard to do so, he has made me more loving. He has made me earn my stripes, and now I can't imagine living a minute without him. He has strengthened my testimony and my faith. I understand my Heavenly Father's love for me more than ever. Thank you Micah, for coming here to me, and letting me be your mom.

Having said all that, the last month or so has really been great. Micah is having FAR fewer meltdowns, has been less clingy, more affectionate, less demanding, and all around just easier to deal with. He is still army-crawling everywhere (I think it will be a few more months before he is walking), but can get where he wants to go, and I think that has made him a much happier person. He has been quite jolly lately. We finally started him on reflux medicine, so the barfing has been reduced by 90 percent. He plays by himself now once in awhile, and he will play with Wyatt when Wyatt allows it. He is still the sweatiest kid on the block. When I am in long sleeves and pants, he is in his diaper. Sweating. He loves to eat. I'm pretty sure he is eating more than Wyatt these days. He is super giggly and ticklish, and I can't resist tickling him at every possible opportunity. He will cuddle with me occasionally now. My absolute favorite thing he does is the minute we walk into his room for bed or nap, he immediately clunks his head on my shoulder and snuggles into my neck. He likes to clap his hands, and dance. He gets cuter by the minute, and funnier too. He makes hilarious faces, and is a ham for the camera. Wyatt always says, "he's a cute baby, mom." He says mama, dada, and dog.

Micah is my dramatic diva (divo??), and maybe that's why I love him so much. As upset and hysterical as he can get, he will reach the same extremes in his happiness, silliness, and joy. He has brought so much spice and life into our home. He is fun and crazy. He is perfect in every way.

Stats at his one year appointment:

Height: 30.5 in; 70%

Weight: 21 lbs, 15 oz; 39%

Head: 19.25 in; 97.5% (I know. Its huge. He gets it from his dad.)

Birthday morning. Something else I love about Micah: he has AWESOME hair.

Trying to get the ENTIRE cupcake in his mouth in the first bite.

Delicious.

Wyatt "helping" Micah open his presents.

Micah gives up.

Micah decides to just go for what he really wants: to eat this toy.

These are just some of my favorite Micah pictures from the last few months:

Happy birthday beautiful baby boy!

PTM: Part Dos

The fun in Utah continued for a second week. We headed up to Bear Lake for a Smith family reunion (Jake's mom's family). The weather was beautiful, the lake was warm, and it was nice that Jake finally took a few days off work to RELAX. We had a great time with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, babies...lots of family, lots of fun!

Wyatt didn't want to get in the water at first, until he realized it was like a huge bathtub. He spent the next four hours in the following position:

Micah just hated the water. Period. Here he is trying to keep any part of his body from coming in contact with water:

Wyatt catching some rays with mom. Don't worry, we're both slathered in block.

Jake takes a turn trying to convince Micah to enjoy the water. Still not gonna happen.

One of the days we were up there, we went to the Minnetonka Caves. They were super cool. And super cool.

Its hard to take a picture in a cave. Flash only goes so far. Here's our best effort. The kids' faces are awesome.

Our happy family:

After Bear Lake, we headed to our foggy home by the sea.

The drive sucked.

Pilgrimage to Mecca. Part One.

After Wyatt's birthday, we headed up to Utah to see some family and get caught up on our Vitamin D requirements. On the drive up, we broke up the drive and stayed overnight in Squaw Valley at Lake Tahoe. It was absolutely beautiful there. We are planning a longer trip soon.

We then stayed with my sister Heather and her family for a week. My parents were there the same time, so it was nice to all be together. The first night, we went to Provo Canyon for a picnic. Micah HATED the grass, and insisted Grandpa hold him the entire time. The other kids are practicing their hill rolling. This is an action shot. No, really:

I couldn't believe Wyatt was being so brave and climbing up this rock wall by himself! In his flips!
At the top. I guess he really wanted to be like his big kid cousins, Hinckley and Halle.

Later that week, we went to American Fork Canyon for a hot dogs (or hock dogs, as Wyatt calls them) and marshmallows cooked in the campfire. I had to get all paparazzi for this picture. If Wyatt sees me with a camera, he either refuses to look at me or he starts scowling and glaring. I don't get it. He is such a happy, smiley kid, but you would never know it by looking at pictures. Anyway, I like that he is smiling here.

And the ever adorable Micah. Haven't posted too many pictures of him lately. Here he is hanging out in the backpack. He really likes it in there.

Other things we did that I didn't get pictures of...we went swimming at the Lehi Legacy Center. The boys were not fans of the pool. We spent a day at Temple Square and the Conference Center. We also got to see some friends and family while there. It was so nice to spend time with several old roommates, my cousin Kathryn, and Jake's brother Tyson and his wife Taylor. It really made me miss living in Utah!

Wyatt Turns Three!

Wyatt's third birthday was June 20. He has grown so much in the last year. He is all legs now! I'm not feeling super verbose, so my thoughts are kind of disjointed. But here are a few of the things that Wyatt has been up to in the last year:

He loves to sing! At any given moment, he can usually be heard singing, both real and made up songs. He has also been singing songs he hears on the radio, and particularly loves the Black Eyed Peas song, "I Gotta Feeling."

He still loves cars and trains and airplanes and helicopters (holla-hoppers) and motorcycles and boats.

He loves to play with his friends and to boss around Micah and Lucy. He had a hard time adjusting to the birth of his baby brother, but in the last few months, Wyatt has been asking to play with Micah and even climbs in Micah's crib now to hang out (I have mixed feelings about this).

Life is one big game of pretend, mostly animals, but also monsters and ghosts.

Wyatt loves nursery, and when I ask him what he learned about, he always tells me "trains!" So I prompt him, "did you learn about Jesus/families/prayer?" to which he says "and trains!"

Wyatt loves to go to the beach and make tracks and roads in the sand for his trains and cars. He will go on the tidepools for about 30 seconds and then start in on the construction work.

Wyatt is still my sweet little happy head, always asking for snuggles and hugs. Wyatt makes parenting easy, and I am so thankful to have him in our family!

We love you Wyatt!!!

Rare Sunny Day

Back in early June, the temperature hit 70 degrees, and the sun was shining, so we walked down to the beach.

Grandparents Visit - May

My parents came to visit over Memorial Day weekend. We spent the weekend eating seafood, went to the beach and the tide-pools, and hung out in the city. We took the kids to the Maritime Museum, which has some old boats that you can tour. Its a lot cooler than it sounds. Wyatt loved it, and so did I. We had beautiful weather, lots of sunshine. After two months of foggy, cloudy, cold weather, its hard to remember that it can be sunny here!

Enjoying clam chowder, sourdough bread, calamari, and crab something or other. Grandpa is drawing happy spiders, Grandma is making "What About Bob" type food-enjoyment noises. "Mmmm. MMMMMM. Are these clams hand-shucked?":

And later, enjoying Ghirardelli ice cream. Wyatt opening wide:

On the boats at the Maritime Museum:

Fisherman's Wharf:

On the way to the tidepools, my dad posing by one of the tsunami signs that he finds really funny:

Food! Glorious Food! Or in other words...I'm pregnant.

I have been a crap blogger lately. Sorry. I am pregnant, and that's my excuse for, well, everything. A lot of fun things have happened around here, and maybe I'll get around to blogging about all of that later. But for now, I have more important matters to discuss. Like food. And how delicious it is. And how no matter how much I eat, I just cannot seem to get enough. I'm thinking about making Bug's Life into a food blog, since that's really the only thing I care about these days.

The weird thing about pregnancy, at least during the first trimester, is that I feel completely nauseated and ravenous at the same time. The last few months the nausea has been winning, and I have been spending most of my time hanging around the toilet. This has been my sickest pregnancy, but I think we have turned the corner in that department. I am feeling much better these days. As my first trimester is coming to a close, the nausea is waning, and the ravenous feeling is taking over. Taking over my life.

So let's talk about food. Specifically, BLT's. With avocado. Wow. Their goodness is just beyond words. I don't want to tell you how many BLT's I've eaten in the last few days. Let's just say this: I've had more BLTs in the last week than I have in the 5 years prior. Bacon sandwich!! Yum. And potato salad! I don't even really like potato salad (mayonnaise skeeves me out), but I had it for breakfast this morning. What? There were eggs in it. That makes it a great breakfast food. Oooh, and pickles. It's such a cliche, but I think I ate an entire jar last week.

Jake told me last night that he is on a diet. "Why??" I asked. "Because I always gain weight when you are pregnant," he replied. "All the usual healthy eating goes out the window, and you eat like..." I could see he couldn't think of a good comparison so I helped him out, "A trucker." "Yes. You eat like a trucker." Jake is both repulsed and fascinated by my pregnancy appetite. As am I. I really don't understand how it happens. Science says you need an extra 300 calories a day to support a healthy pregnancy. I feel like I eat an extra 3000. I never feel full. I usually stop eating when the food is gone or I start thinking "Erin, time to call it quits. This is more than any one person should ever eat. So let's stop. Stop. No seriously. Put the food down! STOP!"

All I think about is food. I'm thinking about what I just ate, what I am going to eat next, WHEN I am going to eat next, how I am going to get around having to cook what I am going to eat next (I HATE cooking when I am pregnant. It makes me sick. Go figure.), as well as all the other things I could be eating, or have eaten in the past, or things that I like to eat. It grosses me out how much I think about food.

The other thing is that I crave food that you couldn't pay me to eat if I wasn't pregnant. In my non-pregnant life, I don't really like meat, other than seafood. Now? I dream about meatball subs and bacon cheeseburgers. Fast food? Never touch the stuff. Yet I've had McDonalds three times in the last two weeks. And I think I had Taco Bell bean burritos twice a week through the entire first trimester. Oh, and the aforementioned BLTs and potato salad.

And no, there is no good reason why I don't gain 100 pounds during my pregnancies. Its a medical marvel. I just gain a normal amount of weight. It really amazes me. Our bodies are going to do what they want to do. This being my third pregnancy, I'm just enjoying the food, and not worrying about the weight gain. No sense stressing and panicking about it.

So there you go. That's why I haven't been blogging. I've been too busy. Between the planning, the eating, and the watching of Man vs. Food marathons (Adam Richman is going to be my next husband. I love a man who loves food...that's how I picked my first husband.), I just don't have time for much else. Now if you'll excuse me, I hear some Krispy Kremes calling my name...