2 Thanksgivings!

This year we were blessed to have 2 wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations.  To see all of our Thanksgiving pictures, go here.

Thanksgiving #1 was here in Salina with the Young family.  We hosted the lunch at our house, since we have a lot of room, but didn't have to cook anything (yay!).  It was really great to have the whole family together!  Our house was full and loud and busy -- just like a good family gathering should be!  Ledger hasn't seen much of this family since he was a month old, so it was really fun to show off how much he has grown and changed.  We had a full spread of food, including turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, and Sweedish meatballs (Chris' favorite). 

Ledger with his Colorado cousins:
Brady, Chase, and Connor (left-to-right)

So after stuffing ourselves full of food, we packed our bags and got in the car to drive to Tulsa for Thanksgiving #2.  We arrived late, but the Powell family was willing to wait for us!  We sat down for a late Thanksgiving dinner at 8pm -- more excellent turkey, stuffing, twice-baked potatoes, and fabulous pumpkin pie and coconut cream pie!!  It was such a great day and we really enjoyed getting to be with our family for the holidays.

 

In keeping with tradition, Chris and I woke up at 4 a.m. and hit Wal-mart for "Black Friday" shopping.  We found some great deals and always enjoy the crazy chaos of the biggest shopping day of the year.  Afterwards, we came home to eat breakfast (pumpkin pancakes!) and take a little nap.  Then we packed up Ledger and drove to Muskogee to visit the Hensley family.  Ledger had never met his Great-Granny Mone or his Uncle Buddy.  It was really fun to see them all together!

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying our time with the Powell family.  We played a lot of cards and watched the OU vs OSU football game (Sooners win!).  It was a really enjoyable weekend.  Ledger really loved spending time with his Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh and BoomMa and BoomPa Powell. 

 

Really, this was a great holiday -- we spent a little time with ALL of our families.  Perfect.

 

Toe Surgery

So I finally forced Chris to see a podiatrist about his chronic ingrown toenail.  For the past few months, I have stepped on his "bad toe" a number of times and each time it causes him to double over in pain.  After talking with friends about it last weekend, I took the bull by the horns and called to schedule an appointment for him.  The secretary at the clinic has a daughter in Chris' class, so she really wanted to help get him in soon too -- she called us on Tuesday because someone canceled leaving a Wednesday afternoon appointment open... and we jumped on it!

The podiatrist said that the procedure would be a "slam dunk" and should take care of his problem for good.  Chris was very tough through the lidocaine nerve blocks (3 shots to the big toe -- ouch!) and then he was completely numb for the rest of the procedure.  It took about 15 minutes and then the doc wrapped it up, gave us after care instructions, and sent us on our way.

Aftercare is a little intense, with foot soaks twice daily and bandage wear for the first week.  A lot of our friends and family threatened that their similar procedures were very painful and they couldn't walk or wear a shoe for a few days.  Luckily, Chris hasn't been in much pain at all!

UPDATE: Chris has handled this whole thing very well, without complaint or much discomfort!  We had 2 family Thanksgivings and went "Black Friday" shopping completely without incident!

 

One Year Ago

One year ago, we finally got a glimpse of the heart beating within our little baby.  Amazing.  What a difference a year makes.

Milestone and a Smile

Today, Ledger pulled himself from a sitting position into a standing position all by himself!!  I tried to get a video, but of course he didn't want to perform for the camera.  This means he's really not safe in his bassinet anymore -- so I'm going to pack it up and send it over to Chris Green's house to await her little one's birth in April.  What a cool milestone!

And just in case you need a smile, you should check out this video of Ledger laughing.  There is nothing more soothing to the soul than the sound of baby laughter.

Saturday with Friends

On Saturday, we had Jarod, Briana, and Shawn over for the afternoon.  Jarod got ahold of a really tall ladder and the boys got our Christmas lights up for the year... even up on our high peak!  We are so fortunate to have great friends who are always willing to lend us a hand.

It is really fun to see how much all of the boys LOVE Ledger.  Since all of Ledger's aunts and uncles live far away, we are so happy that we have local "aunts and uncles" that all love him too.  I think this photo of all of the boys leaning over Ledger's crib to entertain him is just too cute.  You can't see it in the photo, but Ledger has a big smile on his face!

Somehow, I convinced our friends to go to the Salina "Parade of Lights" in downtown Salina for Ledger's first parade!  Unfortunately, the parade took a long time to get to us and it started getting really cold!  (Notice in the pictures below that silly Daddy is wearing shorts!)  After about an hour, I decided that it was just too cold for Ledger to be outside anymore, so we left before Santa showed up at the end of the parade.  Oh well.  At least we'll be better prepared next year!

 

Snuggles

OK, OK... I know how many "baby rules" this breaks... but Ledger LOVES to sleep on his side and snuggled up with his stuffed animals.  This picture is NOT posed -- he does this himself!  This morning he was acting sleepy so I laid him down in bed.  He immediately shut his eyes and rolled onto his side grasping for his stuffed dog.  When he finally got ahold of it, he snuggled it in close to him.  Seriously, isn't this adorable?  About 10 minutes after he falls asleep, I usually will go into his room and move the stuffed animals away from his face.

And while I'm on the subject of sleep... let me just brag on my baby for a minute.  He is GREAT at naps.  When he starts rubbing his little eyes and is ready for naptime, all you have to do is offer him a pacifier (right now he likes to put it in his mouth himself) and lay him down.  He closes his eyes and goes right to sleep -- no fussing.  He is wonderful at falling asleep without a fight.  Now if I could just get him to STAY asleep, we'll be in the clear! :)

Blast From the Past

Chris uncovered this little video clip this week.  You can see the tube still in Ledger's nose, so it was from the first week he was born.  In case you can't hear... Chris is saying "Cheese, cheese, cheese.  Please, please, please."  I have no idea why this is funny... but it cracks me up every time I see it.

Baby Care

This week is our second week with Ledger in a babies-only daycare.  I was very nervous about moving from our absolutely-ideal-in-home nanny, so I decided to wait a week before blogging about our new situation.  Our new babysitter's name is Connie and, so far, things are going very well.  There are 2 other babies at the day care -- both boys -- and Ledger LOVES hanging out with his little buddies.  I visit them at noon to nurse Ledger and I've enjoyed getting a chance to know Connie and see how she interacts with the babies.  I think we are truly lucky to have found a worthy replacement for Darlene.

Another Weekend Update

This was one of those really good, not too busy weekends.  Friday night, Grammie and Grandpa Michel invited us over for home-cooked pot roast -- one of Chris' favorite meals.  The food was good.  The company was better!  On Saturday morning, we drove to Beloit for Ledger's 6 month photo session with Stephanie Meier.  She took his 3-week photos and they turned out amazing.  When we arrived, Ledger was very cooperative and smiled a lot.  But we took a few photos outside in the chilly weather and then Ledger spit up -- after that, he wasn't too happy to pose for the paparazzi.  I am sure that Stephanie got some great photos, despite our son's lack of cooperation.  Saturday evening, the Simpsons came over and brought us dinner (Briana is a really good cook).  We spent the evening playing Scene It and Wii Fit Plus -- we really enjoyed ourselves.  You can tell we're really getting old because by 10pm, we were all ready for bed!  :)  Sunday we had our traditional lunch with the Michels and then came home to watch the Chiefs football game.  Oma and Papa Hensley came over for a little while in the afternoon to visit Ledger.

Overall, it was a nice slow weekend.  We will have a busy week getting our house ready to host the Michel family for Thanksgiving.  I can't believe the holidays are nearly here!

Here are some pictures of Ledger from the weekend:

 

We've Been Shot

Despite the controversy, Ledger had his H1N1 flu shot today.  Our county health department had a free clinic for priority groups, including children 6 months and up, so Ledger finally qualifies.  I know a lot of people are nervous about the flu vaccine, but I am a believer in vaccinations.  The little man took his shots like a champ -- he just barely fussed.  He'll have to get a 2nd dose of the vaccine in 4 weeks, and hopefully Chris and I can get our vaccines at that time too.

And if you're wondering why I used this picture... it's because I thought it was cute.  And isn't it AMAZING that he can get his feet in his mouth!?

The Iron Trap

We have continued to slowly start Ledger on solid baby foods.  He did well with carrots and then his willingness to eat declined as we tried squash, then peas, then green beans.  His mouth has become the "iron trap".  When he doesn't want to eat, he just clamps his lips and jaws shut and won't open them for anything.  I decided to try to bribe him to open his mouth by giving him a little applesauce.  But no!  He wouldn't eat that either.  He also wouldn't swallow down his baby Tylenol on his vaccination day.  He doesn't want us to feed him anything!

But we're not giving up.

We're continue to try to feed him.  This week, we are going to feed him at every evening meal.  Hopefully he'll just eventually give up and open his mouth.  But for now, we're going to wrestle the food in him one way or another.  Here is a picture of tonight's attempt with green beans.  Notice that he has them all over his face (including his forehead) and bib but not too much in his mouth!

A Beautiful Saturday

Today was a beautiful fall day.  Luckily, I haven't raked up all of our leaves, so we took the opportunity to get some wonderful pictures of our little boy playing in the leaves.  If you want to see all of the pictures, click here.

 

Ledger's Log: 6 Months!

Today is Ledger's half birthday -- he is 6 months old!!  We can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone!

Ledger weighs 17 pounds and 3.5 ounces and is 26 inches long.  These measurements put him in the 50th percentile, which means that he is right on track for his age.  He is wearing 6-9 month footie pajamas and just getting into 6-9 month clothes.  He is wearing size 3 diapers.

In the last month:

• Ledger has cut 2 teeth -- his bottom front teeth
  
• Ledger can sit up on his own.  He often will go from sitting to laying on his belly then roll over onto his back.
• We are occasionally eating baby foods and getting used to the different textures and tastes that solid foods bring with them.
• Ledger is great with his hands and can pick items up, switch hands, and even throw things already.  His fine motor control is continuing to develop and he can use his thumb and forefinger to pick up small items.
• Ledger has grown a lot of hair that is laying flat on his head.  It's hard to see in pictures because it's so fair... but believe me, he has hair!
• Ledger is laughing a lot more now and still smiles all the time.
• Ledger goes down pretty easily for naps and bedtime but is still waking up 2-3 times overnight to nurse.  He does very well on his current routine.

 We sure LOVE our little boy and I can't believe how he has changed our lives in such a short amount of time.

 

 

Hat Hair

I just had to post this picture.  :)

Tooth #2 Is Here

I got so caught up in writing all about our fun-filled weekend in Oklahoma, that I forgot to share the big news:

LEDGER HAS HIS 2nd TOOTH!

He was cutting it Saturday night and all the way home on Sunday -- which makes for a long car ride!  So now he has two little teeth poking out of his bottom gums.  They're easier to photograph now that they're a little bigger, so maybe tonight we'll get a picture of his little teeth.

And for those of you keeping track, tomorrow is Ledger's 6 Month Birthday!!!  I can hardly believe it myself.  We have to go into the doctor's office to get more vaccinations tomorrow morning, which stinks.  But to make matters worse, I am also trying to decide whether we should stand in line for the H1N1 vaccine tomorrow afternoon.  He'll finally be old enough to get it and they have a free public clinic tomorrow...  I guess we'll just play that one by ear.

Ledger's First Football Game

This weekend was another very busy weekend for the Michel family.  We spent the weekend with BoomMa and BoomPa Powell in Oklahoma.  On Saturday, we met the Perkins' in Norman to watch the OU vs. K-State football game.  BoomMa put together an amazing tailgate spread before the game.  Our family was truly a family divided.  The Perkins and I dressed in KSU purple.  The Powells and Chris and Ledger dressed in OU crimson (Chris cheered for KSU the whole time though).  We all walked through campus to see the beautiful Mums in the Oval and then walked through the craziness of Campus Corner.  We finally got to the stadium about an hour before kickoff.  Thank goodness we arrived early because our seats were in the 2nd row from the very top of the stadium and we had to walk up about a zillion ramps to get up there.  Mommy was very tired from carrying Ledger in that sling!!  The game started off looking like the Sooners were going to blow out the Cats... but in the 3rd and 4th quarters, the Wildcats made it a game pulling to within 5 points of the Sooners.  K-State lost, but it was a good game and a great game-day experience!  I'm posting some pictures below.

BoomMa and BoomPa Powell in their custom-made BOOM BABY t-shirts!

Daddy and Ledger in their OU gear.

Ledger with the Perkins' in their KSU gear.

Ledger and Mommy near the 'Mums in the Oval.

Mommy had to take off her purple sweatshirt because it was so hot (but I wore purple, I swear!).

Once the sun went down, it started to cool off.

 

Ledger did great through the whole game.  None of the loud fireworks or crowd noise seemed to upset him. Once he started getting tired, he had a lot of people trying to entertain him to keep him happy.

He finally did fall asleep though and slept through most of the 3rd and 4th quarters.  He really did wonderful at the game!  And luckily for Mommy, the walk back down the ramps at the end of the game were much easier than walking up! :)  We got back to Broken Arrow around 1:30 a.m. and we all crashed.  What an exhausting day!

On Sunday, we met Donna and Peyton and Carson for lunch.  It was Ledger's first time meeting his Oklahoma cousins!  Peyton was so great with Ledger and wanted to hold him and kept asking questions about him.  It was really awesome.  It was so great to see everybody.  Here are some pics of the boys together.

 

 

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend.  We're exhausted, but it was worth it.