2012 Wrap Up

This year was a big year for the Michel family.  We spent January and February getting ready for the arrival of our new family member by painting, doing some home improvement projects,  building a fence, and generally spending fun time as a family of three.  After some debate, we elected to have our second child by ceasarian section and scheduled it for March 20th -- the first day of spring.  We had planned on naming him Rhodes, but some hesitation in the last month led us to go into his birth without having a name fully picked out.  On March 20th, Locke Steven Michel was born at 7:37 a.m. weighing in at 8 pounds 15 ounces making us a family of four.  Less than a week after our baby was born, we elected to put our home on the market and began looking in earnest for a new house in the school district we wanted.  We spent the month of April having open houses to sell our house and bonding as a family.  Chris interviewed and got a new job as a school counselor at Schilling elementary school starting fall of 2012.  We also went to KC and went to the zoo and aquarium with the Perkins family.  In May, we had Locke baptized and a celebrated Ledger's third birthday.  I went back to work at the beginning of May and the wonderful Grandma Darlene stayed home with Locke for most of the month until Chris finished with his school year.  In June, we enjoyed another river festival, sold our house, bought a new house, and went to Colorado for our Michel family vacation (and that was all in one weekend!!).  We spent the end of June and all of July moving into our new home and learning to live with a newly cantankerous three year old.  We had a pretty significant drought this summer, so our lake was too dry to spend much time in the water.  In August, we built a fence at our new house (that's 2 fences in less than 6 months, in case you're counting) and put up a shed -- thank goodness for the help from our friends and family.  Chris started his new counseling job at Schilling, Locke and Ledger started back to child care with Grandma Jamie, and Ledger started his first year of preschool at Four Seasons.  September started a very busy fall season which included a trip to Lego land in Kansas City and the OU/KSU football game in Norman.  In October, Locke cut his first tooth and began eating some of his first solids.  After months of trying without success, Ledger finally pooped in the potty (YAY!) and by the end of the month, was completely potty trained!  We dressed as a family of Jack Sparrows for Halloween and Daddy and Ledger even won a costume contest prize for best couple!  In November, Locke started pulling up on furniture and becoming more and more mobile.  We did double duty Thanksgiving again starting out with Michel family dinner at our house and then heading to KC for Thanksgiving with the Perkins and Powell families.  December was busy and filled with family!  We loved having Christmas in Oklahoma as well as multiple Christmas celebrations in Salina and Lindsborg.  The Michel family celebrated New Year's Eve at home as a family and are looking forward to a wonderful 2013!

Hensley and Michel Christmas Fun

This year we celebrated our first Christmas in our new home.  We especially love our fireplace and mantle and how cozy our house felt when it was fully decorated with our Swedish Tomtees, lights, and Christmas tree.

We celebrated Christmas with the Perkins and Hensley families on December 23rd.  (The Guy family was struck with the "crud" and couldn't join us this year.)  Ledger loved opening his presents and Locke enjoyed watching the action and trying to eat the wrapping paper.  Neither Chris or Josh was feeling particularly great, so after gifts were open, we played some cards and watched football while the kids played with their toys.  Until Oma got out the disc guns and all-out-WAR broke out!

Shots fired!!

Josh using Emily as a human shield.

Ledger and Josh team up to pelt Oma with discs.

Ledger got this bouncy horse and was so cute hopping around the house on it!

Doodah got Ledger this "build it yourself" airplane kit and showed Ledger how to disassemble and reassemble it using the toy screwdriver and wrench.  After one lesson, Ledger was busy taking the plane apart and then putting it back together by himself!

On Christmas Eve, we headed over to the Michel's house and enjoyed a soup lunch before opening our presents.  Chris read the Christmas story from the Bible while holding Locke... it was so sweet.  Ledger and Locke both got some (much needed) winter clothes and some fun toys.  Ledger especially loved getting to play with aunt Jaime and Locke enjoyed cruising around the living room using presents as his stabilizer!  For dinner, we had a full holiday spread with baked chicken, potatoes and gravy, and bread.  Yum!!

Conquering the mountain of presents!

Grammie and Ledger reading together.

Ledger's new stocking.

Locke's new stocking.

Santa baby.

At home on Christmas morning, Ledger was thrilled to see that Santa had finished off the cookies and milk we left for him.  Santa also left a big pile of presents under the Christmas tree and filled our stockings!!  We dove right in and started opening!!

Ledger has been wanting a play kitchen for a while.  Santa definitely delivered this year!

Ledger loves to play dress up!  For Christmas, Santa brought him a few new costumes!

We spent the afternoon eating lunch at Tracy's house with all of my extended family. While we were there, we got a special visit from the big man... SANTA!!

Kinley not-so-happy about Santa's visit...

Ledger gave Santa an earful about how he'd been a good boy this year.

Locke wasn't scared, but wasn't entirely sure either...

Santa brought Locke these fun stacking rings...

... and candy canes for all of us.

Kinley wanted to share Locke's stacking rings.

Locke: 9 Months

Today, Locke is 9 months old!!  A lot has happened over the last month.

• At our check-up today, he weighed in at 21 pounds, 15 ounces (55th percentile), which means that he has definitely outgrown our infant carrier!   
• He cut two top teeth, bringing his total number of teeth to 4.  
• He moved into his own bedroom and crib.  His sleeping habits haven't changed too much... he still wakes up 2 or 3 times at night wanting to be fed and rocked to sleep.  Maybe after the holidays we will try the cry it out method to get him to sleep through the night.  Maybe.  
• Locke is also becoming more and more mobile.  He can sit up on his own and just recently learned how to pull up to a stand using the furniture.  He cruises slowly around to get to whatever his little heart desires.  As you can imagine, that makes him harder to keep tabs on!! :)  
• He has been recently upgraded to size 4 diapers -- the size 3s just can't contain the explosive stools that he is having now.   Locke is wearing 12 month clothes, which makes our plan to use hand-me-downs a little more complicated...
• Locke is eating more and more table food.  He especially loves soups and noodles.  He will even slurp the noodles.  lol
• Just this week we had our first issue with fever, but a few days of acetaminophen/ibuprofen, Locke seemed to settle down.  At our doctor's appointment, the pediatrician noticed that Locke had a "pink" ear on one side so we are going to start a little antibiotics to keep it from becoming a full blown infection.