Good-bye Jumper...

...Hello Living Room!!!

Since Micah is (finally) outgrowing his jumper, it was time to put it away.

He'd rather sit under it, than IN it.

And he would rather be standing on his own than in the jumper!
Hey! I'm not complaining! I LOVE having so much space back in my living room.

Vancouver Aquarium Part 3

Joel and Dan watching the dolphin show

Dolphins!

Watching the show

Finally! Touching the starfish!

Belugas

Woah! Look at that whale!

Vancouver Aquarium Part 2

Joel staring up at the fish in the tank.

A beautiful butterfly in the Tropics.

Joel in the touch tank. He really didn't like touching the fish, but he loved playing in the water.

While Joel was playing in the touch tank, Micah was off to stare at more fish. He just crawled his way over there all by himself.

More touch tanks with no touching!

Awww! Aren't they cute!

Vancouver Aquarium Part 1

Last weekend, my mom took us to the Vancouver Aquarium (It was a Christmas gift from two very beautiful young men...pictured above and below!!!!)

As you can tell, Joel was thrilled. Yep, that face is the poster for excitement! Is anyone else sensing a theme from that boy? He doesn't smile when he's excited.

Micah was mesmerized by the lights and the fish.

He was overdue for a nap, but had his eyes peeled. You could tell he was forcing his eyes to stay open so that he could absorb everything that was going on.

This is Joel tickling the fish. It was one of the ways my mom helped him get over his fear of fish. He LOVED tickling the fish.

Micah and the sting ray (which is on the bottom of the picture.)

The Many faces of Micah

What? I didn't do it! 

ARG!

If looks could kill....

The sickly cry (and yes, that is a snot bubble...gross!)

 

This is Micah.

This is Micah on drugs. Ha Ha!

Burnaby Village Museum

A few weeks ago, we took the boys to Burnaby Village Museum. They have a vintage carousel there and we took Joel on it. Micah slept the whole time.

This is Joel's face of excitement. Can you see it in there? He is having the time of his life.

He wanted to go again and again. Can you tell?

Really, no sarcasm here. He was LOVING every minute of it.

We all took turns riding the horses and holding Joel. Three times that boy rode a horse....

...we took about 100 pictures....

...and this is the ONLY one of him smiling.
I really should have posted the picture of "post-carousel" Joel. Except he was screaming and it was blurry. He was NOT happy to be leaving.
 

Our Lives: At this Moment (with pics)

Numerous syringes in the dish rack after cleaning 

Box of medicine for beside the bed

 New boxes of meds (cuz you don't wanna run out)

The Med Schedule for Micah. Gotta keep it straight so we don't overdose him...or miss a medication.

Gingerbread Men

There is nothing quite like a 2 year old around candy.

But Joel even listened to the command, "Don't eat any candy!"

But decorating is a rather serious job (you know, dumping as much candy onto the cookie as possible, while your mom takes half of it off and tells you to wait for the next cookie. Spread out the love man).

Oh so yummy! (and he hasn't even had one bite yet!)

Ahhhh! The taste of delicious gingerbread. So good.

And apparently Micah got a taste somehow. We only discovered his lips in red and green later. Perhaps Joel was sharing again!

A (Hell of a) Night in Our Lives

7:00pm: Get boys ready for bed

7:30pm: Micah falls asleep, Joel spends the next half hour getting in and out of bed until he finally falls asleep around 8pm.

8pm: Joel falls asleep

8:15pm: Micah wakes up. Dang that third nap! He's in that transition stage between 2 and 3 naps. Some days he doesn't need it, some days he does. And when he does need it and doesn't get it, he ends up waking up around 8. Yikes! Play with Micah. Feed him. Try put him to bed. He is cranky!

10:30pm: Micah finally goes to sleep. He doesn't want to be put down. I assume that because he's getting another 4 teeth (including a molar) that he is in pain. Tylenol doesn't seem to do much at this point in time. Dan and I crawl into bed as soon as possible.

11:30pm: Micah wakes up screaming. Calm him. Try to feed him (doesn't want to). Rock him to sleep. Try to put him down. Cries. Calm him. Rock him. Sleep. Put down. Pat furiously. Sleeping! That was only half an hour of work!

12:30am: Micah wakes up again! Do the whole calm his cries, attempt to feed, rock to sleep, put down, cries, rock to sleep, put down, pat furiously, cries, calm, rock to sleep, put down, sleep "dance" again.

1:30am: Micah awake. Do the whole "dance" with Micah again. He is just screaming in pain. Try more Tylenol. Try gripe water (his tummy is upset). Farts. Start the dance again. Falls asleep at 2:10am.

2:30am: Screaming Micah. Crying Amanda. Frustrated Dan. Sleeping Joel. Discussion about going to hospital ensues. Can't carry conversation over screams.

3am: Sleep.

3:30am: Crying again. Can't we catch a break?!  Micah sleeps "better" on someone and doesn't want to be put down. Crib=crying. Conversation about who should sleep with Micah on top of them. Amanda can't hold him or she'll get clogged milk ducts and that is PAINFUL! Micah doesn't like Dan. Crib it is. Its now 3:45am.

4:30am: Can you guess? Gee kid! Are you predictable or what?? Micah crying AGAIN! Do the 'get that kid to sleep' dance.

5am: Finally decide that more Tylenol can't hurt. And perhaps a two by four. (kidding!) Finally falls asleep at 5:10am. Longest stretch of sleep yet!

7am: Joel wakes up! Happy as a lark! (perhaps that because he slept the whole night...that's right! My "non-sleeper" slept the whole night!!!!) Dan and I make a deal. I'll sleep till 9am and then get up and get dressed and take the kids to the gym at 10am. At that point Dan can go back to sleep till we get home at noon. Then we both sleep during nap time.

7:10am: Micah wakes up. Feed Micah (finally!!!!) and pump out excess (I was bursting). Amanda sleeps, boys go to living room to play.

8:30am: Micah screaming because he is hungry and tired. Feed him and he falls asleep half way through feed. (so much for sleeping till 9!)

9am: Make doctors appointment for Micah

10am: Take boys to gym. Dan sleeps.

12 noon: Joel to bed. Micah to doctors. Micah has an ear infection. He's got a viral rash due to his cold. He's getting 4 teeth. The perfect storm. Now he is on so many medications that we have a chart on our fridge to keep them all straight. Micah finally falls asleep and sleeps the longest stretch in 24 hours....yep two and half hours! Woo hoo!