Meandering Musings of the Mundane

Walking!

2009-09-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Micah started walking! We knew it was coming for a while as he can now stand for as long as he wants and was only needing one finger to walk with Daddy or Mommy. Yesterday he also climbed onto the couch all by himself. One minute he was on the floor and when we looked again he was on the couch attacking the blinds. Well, so much for being able to take my eye off him. Anyway, here's a video we took of some of his first steps! The fact that it took a computer mouse to convince him to walk just goes to show who's son he is.

10 Months

2009-07-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I intended to blog at least when Micah reached 9 months but that just didn't happen. So here we are, 2 days until Micah is 10 months old. The time is passing way to fast! To give an update to those who haven't seen him in a bit: At 9 months Micah had grown from 18.1 pounds (75th percentile) to 20lbs 7 ounces (50th percentile). Although he lost some percentage points in weight he still remains in the 80th percentile with height (just over 28 inches). His head has thankfully gone down to the 80th percentile as well.

Micah started crawling a little after 8 months and started cruising 2 weeks after that. I was a little worried when he still wasn't babbling at his 9 month appointment but he finally started a little over a week ago. Although he is fairly shy around strangers and relectant to talk in front of them.

I finally gave Micah his first haircut when I could no longer deny that it was needed. He wasn't to thrilled with the whole hair cutting experience. Unfortunately, once his hair was cut Jimmy and I both agreed that it made him look kinda geeky. Oh well, I guess that's his genes coming through. Here are some before and after pictures:

Micah really likes the water! He splashes like crazy in the bath tub and soaks the whole room. And nothing is more fun then when mommy finally gets out the swimming pool for him to splash outdoors. Of the two pool pictures included, the more clothed one is at a slightly younger age. I kinda forgot to put on his swimsuit for the later one.

On the same day as he last played in the pool Micah helped mommy look through the ads that came in the mail. I think he just might be even more into that then me!

Micah is finally tending to sleep through the night! There are still the occasional rough times but they are becoming fewer and further between. Usually if he wakes up now he puts himself back to sleep quickly. Unfortunately he is like his mommy in that he's a light sleeper. Noise WILL wake this baby. But on the bright side he sleeps in all sorts of different positions like his daddy, so there are lots of great photo opportunities.

It has been a crazy summer filled with lots of family activities. During July we attended the Olsen reunion and later visited the park. Micah had a good time at the park but probably would have been happier if he wasn't so tired. Here's a picture of Micah's exciting reaction to seeing his first bald eagle:

We've also had fun trying out different recipes on our new grill. We even had a picnic in our backyard once!

Jimmy's been keeping busy with work, gardening, and trying to tame a lawn that grows way to fast. I have proven again how much of a clutz I am. I slipped going down some stairs and my foot met the gate at the bottom. After the epic battle I am sorry to announce that the gate won. Now I have five stiches in-between my toes and couldn't take Micah for a walk or to the pool. Well, that's a quick overview of the last three months. Ta-da! See ya later!

-Holly

6 Months

2009-04-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! Six months have already passed since we had Micah. I never knew before just how much a mother loves her child. Looking at it from the child to mother relationship is just not the same. For instance, I could spend long periods of time staring at Micah and wouldn't find it odd. On the other hand, as much as I love my mom, I would be hard pressed to even make a staring contest last more then 30 seconds. Anyway, I'm sure the info you're really looking for in this post has nothing to do with staring contests.

Micah had his 6 month check-up today (complete with the shots he loves so much) and to nobody's surprise he has grown again. So here we go: 4 months- 15 pounds 3 ounces (65th percentile), Now- 18.1 pounds (75th percentile). 4 months 25 inches (80th percentile), Now-26.8 inches (still 80th percentile). So not to drastic of changes with exception of his head which is now in the 90th percentile (up from the 60th). The doctor also gave me a prescription for a multi-vitamin with flouride in drop form so we'll probably pick that up at the pharmacy tomorrow.

Micah is now a super sitter and rarely falls over anymore. However, he still shows no interest in rolling and his attempts at crawling have resulted in just frustration. On the plus side, Micah is sleeping much better! We started using some techniques from the book Good Night, Sleep Tight and Micah is now a much better sleeper both at night and at naps. By the way Steph, thanks for the suggestion on a sleep book, if things end up not working out this way then I might hunt that book down. Anyway, Micah just woke up so I better go. But first the picture I promised of Micah eating squash:

-Holly

Tagged

2009-03-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

So my sister-in-law tagged me (well technically she tagged Jimmy but it's all the same thing). The tag is: Go to My Pictures and find the 6th photo in the 6th folder and show it to the world. This was actually a little tricky because Jimmy has folders within folders, etc. Still here it is:

Neither Jimmy or I know who this is. It just so happens that our sixth folder is a swing dance folder and this picture was taken by someone else of this at probably around 2 in the morning. Yeah for crazy late night dances!

I hereby tag Stephanie, Jen, and Cory! Dance on girls!

2009-03-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has really been a while since I last updated our blog! So, here it goes:
We have successfully moved into OUR HOUSE!!!! I love it! It really fits us well and will even fit us when we decide to expand our family. Micah has his own room but unfortunately he has recently taken a liking to Mom and Dad's bed. I think this may be due to two factors: 1- He is teething. That's right, he has two lovely little teeth poking out of his bottom gums. 2- He is starting to show separation anxiety. He wants Mom or Dad with him 24/7. If we try to set him down or leave the room when he's playing he immediately starts to give the most pitiful cries. Grrr, how do I get this child back in his bed and sleeping through the night! Or at least sleeping more then 1-2 hours before needing to nurse or be rocked.

Last week I took Micah to get his first professional pictures and I will be showing some of them through out this blog. Micah did so well! He smiled and looked at the camera with no big problems! So worth the money I spent. The most fun was while he was in the metal "bath". Micah thought it was a new toy and just had a blast with it. It was almost hard getting him to look at the camera because he just wanted to play with the big, shiny tub. As shown below:

Moving along. Jimmy has been selected by his work to take part in a program called sigma six (I think I got the name right, though it might be six sigma). It is apparently a lot of work but also a big resume builder. He seems pretty excited about it. Also, since he's been working there a year he got a raise, which I'm pretty excited about.

Micah has been eating his vegetables now for about a month and he really loves them. So far he has eaten- squash, peas, carrots, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I think I'll introduce fruits at six months.Next time I'll have to include a cute picture I took of him eating squash. Just to give you a hint it was necessary to strip him to just his diaper! Speaking of food, two days ago Micah kinda creeped (with our help) and we were so excited when he managed to reach his toy. Unfortunately, he wasn't aiming for the toy and was then in reach of daddy's dinner. Before we could stop him he had grabbed a handful of rice and chicken casserole. Luckily we managed to get it from him before he could try to eat it.

Hmmm, one more story I think. Last weekend Jimmy and I got the pleasure of playing peek-a-boo with Micah and for the first time he started playing it on his own. He would grab the blanket and pull it over himself and when Jimmy and I said "Where's Micah?" He would pull it down and smile! It was so cute! Anyway, I'll just finish with some more of Micah's spring pictures. See ya!
-Holly

4 Months!

2009-02-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Hmm... 4 months have already passed since Micah joined our family. It has gone really fast! Today Micah had his 4 month check-up, complete with shots. I think Micah may like his doctor because when the doctor smiled at him, Micah started laughing and kept it up for a good minute or more! Of course, Micah might have a different opinion after those various shots. I only got him to calm down by taking his to look at the waiting room fish. Anyway, I feel I should give an update as to how well he is growing so... At 2 months- about 11 pounds and in the 40th percentile; Now- 15 pounds 3 ounces and in the 65th percentile. At 2 months- 23 inches (70th percentile); Now- 25 inches (80th percentile). Yup, he's a big boy!

Today we decided to introduce Micah to rice cereal. He seemed less then thrilled about it as shown in the video below. Anyway, the movie is kinda long, watch what you want.

These are a few pictures that I found extra cute of Micah. Look how well he sits! Ok, so he can only sit with some support (i.e. the couch, someones hands, a knee, etc). He also has on occasion succeeded in getting to his knees during tummy-time. Of course, he doesn't really go anywhere yet, but that's besides the point. Well, it's time to go and make dinner. Have fun looking at the pictures!

- Holly

2009-01-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

Last night, we signed a contract to buy a house in Stansbury (I suppose you can assume I kept my job...). Here's the information on the property we're buying:

-Closing the deal on February 27th
-1600 sq. feet
-0.14 acres (kind of small, but normal for Stansbury)
-4 bedroom 2.5 bath
-Built in 2004
-$169,000
-Right next to the new High School track.

It's been tough for Holly to convince me we wanted the house. I gave in, eventually when I realized my misgivings were about spending a large sum of money I don't have and not about the house itself. I actually like the place. The only thing I may not like is the proximity of a high school.

Anyhoo, here are some more pictures of our little drool factory as I explain what else is going on in our lives.

So the little one is getting bigger and more active. Thursday night, he slept his first 8 hours straight. Unfortunately, I think it was a fluke, since he woke up again at 3am this morning. Normally, he's sleeping 5 hours before he gets hungry. So far, Holly's been really good about tasking care of him and letting her husband sleep... knock on wood...

Monday, he turns 4 months old. We're hoping to start him on some solids soon, pending approval of his pediatrician.

Well, that's about all I can think of that's at least a little interesting... unless you'd like the uninteresting stuff:

We are going to teach dance to the ward's youth two weeks from Tuesday.

Two more days until we can buy a TV.
Holly's currently reading "Persuasion" by Jane Austen.

Holly's also the ward choir director. We're working on a hymn medley of "Where Can I Turn For Peace" and "Our Savior's Love" arranged by Brandon. It's really a cool piece, but I'm not sure if our choir can do it justice. Come to think of it, we'll be moved out by then. I wonder how that will work out...

I'm still teaching the 5-year-old primary class. My co-teacher has

shown up twice this year. He's kind of a busy guy, I guess.

I'm wondering how I'm going to get our other car registered before Holly has to take Micah to the doctor for his 4-month checkup. We lost our safety inspection sheet and the place that did the inspection didn't register it with the UHP. They do, however, have record of me paying for one. They offered to re-inspect the car for free. Now, the tricky part how to get the car to the shop to get it inspected without someone

pulling us over for driving an un-registered vehicle...?

Anyhoo, I think I'm done. If you made it this far, I owe you a candy bar.

-J

More pictures of Micah

2009-01-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

Alright... it's been a while since our last [informative] post. Let's see... what's happened in the last two months? I've taken two business trips to Texas, Holly's been home 24/7 with the baby, and Micah has been eating, pooping, and crying. That about summarizes the last several weeks.

Last month, the company I work for announced it will be laying off around 10% of its workforce in January. Odds are, we'll be fine. We'll know what's going on within a week....

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS:

This year, we decided to come up with a plan to keep our resolutions. We made a calendar and gave ourselves a big reward if we keep it. Of course, the money we spend on the reward is our already, but we try not to think about that.

Alright. I'm having a hard time coming up with content for this article. Soooo, here are afew pictures.

This last picture (on the right) makes me laugh.

Anyhoo, 'til next time!

Christmas time!!!!

2009-01-15T20:32:00.000-08:00

This may be a bit late, but here are a few of the "cuter" Micah pictures taken around Christmas:

Happy Holidays!

Growing... a lot

2008-11-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Micah is now almost two months old and he has certainly grown a lot. It seems like he is heavier every time I pick him up. This is such a fun time to be at home with Micah since his personality is starting to show up! He loves to talk, stretch, and eat (especially eat). He now follows things with his eyes and in the mornings he'll delight mommy with a bunch of big smiles. Only in the mornings though, he's kinda grouchy the rest of the day.

He has also grown to enjoy bath time which he use to hate. And yes he likes to eat the nearby thumb of whoever is holding him up. However, as soon as you take him out of the bath he starts fussing (I think it's because he's cold). It looks like Micah inherited another trait from his father: very little patience. When Micah wants something (i.e. to eat, be picked up, have a diaper changed) he wants it five minutes ago.

A week ago Micah surprised me by rolling over from his tummy to his back (he has now done this a grand total of three times) and almost as amazing I actually managed to get the first two times on video! So, for your viewing enjoyment I have uploaded his very first time rolling over! I'm not sure if he enjoyed it (it certainly sounds like he didn't).

All of these neat things started happening in the past week or so. Poor Jimmy missed them since he was in Austin on a week long business trip. So he got to be surprised by how much his son changed in that little time. I was up visiting Jimmy's family during that week (my stay got extended due to car troubles). It was a very nice visit but unfortunately I didn't have his swing with me. He really likes his swing and it would have been helpful to have so that I didn't have to rock him all day. Oh well, it's a good workout anyway. Jimmy goes on another week long trip in December and I don't look forward to him being gone. I'll probably go see my mom this time. Anyway, I should go now as I still haven't packed for visiting family this Thanksgiving. I'll leave you all with a cute picture of Micah sleeping in his swing.

-Holly

More firsts

2008-10-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that first-time parents take a lot of pictures of their first child? I guess we're not so weird afterall.

Micah has reached the stage where if he's not sleeping or eating, he's pretty much crying. He's not JUST crying... He's whimpering, screaming, kicking, and generally inconsolable. When he's NOT crying, eating, or sleeping (which doesn't happen much), he gets "tummy time" (which he hates).

It's very rare when he's awake and looking around. The nice thing about when he's sleeping is we can get things done. The house hasn't been messier.

This weekend, we had a few more firsts:

First nail clipping
First day at church
First Halloween party
First party at all
First stroller ride (probably last of the year)

As I mentioned before, Micah had his first Halloween party.

We needed a costume.

Holly saw this little tiger costume a couple months ago. She couldn't resist. Unfortunately, we weren't sure how big he'd be so we bought it in a 0-3 month size.

As suggested, we have attached below a family picture.

At last, he's sleeping. Further proof that he's cutest when he's quiet.

Happy halloween!

--J

Suck your toe

2008-10-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

So I was just noticing that every one of our posts start with the word SO. So what? I suppose it adds an air of informality and familiarity. Think about it.

So I was thinking...
So the baby woke up in the middle of the night and...
So at work today...
So the doctor told me...

So a priest, a nun, and a rabbi...

See? It just works. However, for the sake of sanity, I'll try to change it up a little. That's okay. You're not reading this because of my literary genius. You're probably bored. I'm sure you'd like to read more about us and less about my meandering musings (take a gander at the title).

Fine. Micah had his 2-week checkup today. He's healthy. He's put on a little weight. He's grown a little. Right now, he's about in the 5oth percentile in weight and head size but he's in the 75th for length. It looks like he's gonna be tall and skinny.

Go figure.

I recorded another video of him today. We caught a brief smile-like face. He was probably filling his diaper, but I'm going to say he smiled. The picture to the left is one of the video frames.

Well, I guess that just about wraps it up for my day. All I do is work and take care of Micah and Holly. I suppose that isn't a horrible life.

I'll leave you with one more picture. I think it's very appropriate for the time of the year (late October).

BOO!

--J

A laugh and a smile

2008-10-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

So today Micah gave me a pleasant surprise. After his lunch he was sleeping in my arms while I read and I heard him laugh! It sounded almost like a whole bunch of hiccups really close together. At first I thought I must be mistaken but then he did it again and grinned. This is his first laugh and smile that I can say are actually those and not just wishful thinking on my part. I laid him down and ran to get the camera so I could take a video of these events but he didn't oblige me by repeating them. Oh well, I guess daddy will just have to hear his laugh another time.
-Holly

Ever changing... Is this good?

2008-10-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

So today we noticed Micah is still little. Still cute. Still helpless. Still stinky. However, he's still growing up. In the 9 days or so since he was born, we've had several firsts:

First cry

First poop

First barf

First blowout

First sneeze

First smile

You get the idea.

Today, he had another two firsts:

First laugh (sure, it was a short, kind of giggly laugh in his sleep, but it was still his first laugh. We haven't gotten him to repeat it yet)

First pee in the face (he's a boy. It's inevitable)

Yeah. I'm sure all of you who have male children are just shaking your heads and saying, "Little do you know... muah hah hah HAAAAAHHH!!!!"

Anydangways, Micah is still extremely cute... especially when he's not screaming. We have noticed that he usually cries when he's hungry or messy. Other than that, he's pretty even-tempered. I'm really glad he's photogenic, though. I'm counting on you being so taken by the cute little guy on the right that you'll miss the fact that I'm rambling.

I guess the main point I wanted to emphasize was the fact that he peed in his face today. Sure, it's common, but hey! He actually took it in good humor. He only complained when I tried to wipe his face off.

Oh well... not everyone can say they urinated in their own eye. Not even Micah... He can't talk.

So to finish off, here's a little video we recorded of him this evening:

--J

First post!

2008-10-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

So we never planned on getting a blog. When I say "We" I actually mean "I" (meaning Jimmy). I never saw the use for one. However, Holly has always wanted one... so here we are! Blogging!

I'm not exactly sure how to start a blog. Holly's not available. She's taking care of the baby. Hey! I'll talk about the baby.

His name is Micah James Suisse. Born at 10:36am on October 2nd 2008. 7 pounds (0 ounces) and 21 inches long. He was kind of a "conehead" when he was born, so when they measured him 5 days later, he was 19.7 inches long.

We've spent the last week feeding him, changing him, burping him, rocking him, comforting him, dressing him, cleaning him, and basically being parents. I'll tell you what. This little guy has run us ragged. At least he's one good looking young man (he gets that from me).

Anyhoo, unless you're some sort of weirdo who likes to read the posts of random people, we're going to assume you already know a little about us. So we're not going to delve too much into the past. Besides, our childhoods were kind of boring. Not much to say there.

I'll just mention we have roots in Cache Valley, Utah and we were married in December of 2005. We like to eat, sleep, play games, and when we feel up to it, dance. We don't have that many hobbies. But that's okay. We have a baby. He's our hobby.

I guess that about wraps it up for this post. If we can figure out how this all works, we'll probably post again.

--J