Birthday Cake

Last post of the day!  If you have not already done so, scroll down to view the other "birthday posts" that I have put up today.

First birthday cake is always so much fun, and Micah certainly enjoyed his!  BTW, I am so proud...I took all of these photos by myself!

Yummy birthday cupcakes made by Linny.

He is not really sure what to do at this point.

Notice that he started with the bottom!!!

Oops!  Now how should I get that off?

I'll never use a napkin again!

If I smile may I have another?

What a happy end to a happy birthday!

Micah Joseph Givens

To Micah...my unexpected blessing from God,
I can't believe that it has been one year already. I will never be able to put into words what a joy that it has been to have you in our lives this past year. I knew as soon as I saw your first smile that you were going to be a charmer.
This year you have learned how to roll, learned how to crawl, and learned how to pull up to a standing position. You still have no desire to walk, but that is fine with me. I love seeing your cute little self crawling cross the floor faster than most people can run.

I love the fact that you were a cuddly baby and still are the cuddliest of all of my boys. Your chubby little arms wrapped around my neck has to be one of the best feelings on earth. I look forward to watching you grow this next year.
Happy Birthday to my beautiful blue eyed baby boy!
Mommy loves you!!

Circus Fun

Instead of a traditional 1st birthday party we decided to take the family and a few friends to the circus to celebrate Micah's big day. The kids (and adults) had a great time and thankfully my Mom took lots of pictures. I had great intentions of taking pictures. I brought my camera and even figured out how to turn it on, only to realize that the internal memory was full and I had forgotten my memory card. I could not decide which pictures I wanted to include here, so I made a slide show of all of the favorites. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Micah!

:(

My baby is growing up and it is so bittersweet. I have been trying to write this post for a long time now, but it has just been too hard. I know that Micah is thriving and for that I am grateful, but the thought of no longer having a baby in the house is a little sad for me. He is turning one Saturday and that means time to wean. He is doing great with the weaning. I on the other hand am having a difficult time. Not only is it physically painful and an inconvenience, it is also wreaking havoc on my emotions. I am going into this knowing that this very well may be the last baby that I ever nurse. It is possible that I will never again know that feeling that I am providing every need for a baby.
Don't get me wrong, by no means am I saying that our family is complete. I have been very vocal about the fact that I would like another baby. Joe on the other hand is not quite there yet. I don't think that a baby is really something that one spouse should deliberately surprise the other spouse with. Joe has perfectly valid reasons why we should not have another baby right now and I can't say that I disagree with any of them. However, as much as I may agree with his reasoning, that does not change my desire.
We have decided to wait for a year and then discuss having another baby. I know full well that he may still feel the same way in a year and after one year I may have changed my mind. I think that is why I am having such a hard time with Micah turning one. I have been in "baby mode" for so long now that I don't really know what it is going to be like to not have a baby in the house.
I will enjoy longer periods of sleep, but boy will I miss those middle of the night feeding and cuddling sessions. I am going to enjoy watching Micah take his first step, but I know that I will miss the sound of him crawling through the house at top speed. My baby is growing up and it is so bittersweet.

A, B, C, D, E

I love my husband. I despise chickens. My husband wanted chickens. My husband lost his ever loving mind and bought two hens and a rooster at the auction yesterday. I lost my mind and allowed my husband to live after he bought said chickens. After seeing me not go completely ballistic at him buying three chickens, my husband then turned around and bought two more hens. I then threatened my husbands life and he quit buying.
We now have a chicken coop IN OUR BACKYARD!! I decided that I may as well figure out a way to deal with it since I love my husband. That is not to say that I no longer despise chickens. I still believe that they are disgustingly frightening birds whose only desire in life is to smother me with their feathers so they can then peck my eyes out. However, in order to try and make them seem a little more personable, I gave each of them a biblical name. The hens are Anna, Beulah, Delilah, and Esther. The rooster is Canaan.
I have to admit that they are pretty from a distance, but the first time they escape from that pen, I am sicking the dog on them!

Assumptions

Late last night I heard Noah moaning and groaning in his sleep. I got up to check on him only to find him tossing and turning in bed saying that he did not feel good. I gave him a dose of Pepto and left to go get the thermometer. When I got back to check his temperature I asked him if he was feeling any better. His reply?

"Huh uh, my ears still hurt"

So the lesson for the day is two fold...don't assume you know what is wrong with your child without asking and Pepto does not work for an earache. At least I did not have to call poison control this time!

Way Back When-sday

Can he really be turning one next week?

Where oh where has the time gone?

More Snow

I love this photo. And while I would love to take credit for it, I can not. Mom snapped this picture outside her front door Saturday morning when the snow was fresh.

Snow Man

We built a snow man Saturday morning. It was hard work, my hands were frezing, and he looked pitiful. I let the boys tackle him without even taking a picture. I decided that we did not have enough yankee blood in us to do a snow man justice. Linny however, is a transplanted yankee and Dad sent us this picture of her snowman.

Great job Linny! In fifteen years when it snows again, you can teach us how to do that. Until then, I think we will stick with sand castles and mud pies.

Snow Day

SNOW IN THE SOUTH!!!

This is the oak tree in the front yard...covered in ice.

A happy two year old, cheesing for the camera.

Jonah's first ever snow angel!


Noah rolling in the snow. How much happier can you get than that?

I guess pretending to be a dog and crawling through the snow is pretty cool as well.

We woke Micah from a nap and plopped him in the snow just so I could get a picture. He was not dressed for the cold and was not happy to be there. He did not suffer long, we grabbed him up quick and wrapped him back up in his blankie.

I knew that four inches of snow would be lots of fun, but I had no idea that four inches of snow would cause so many headaches! Our four inches of soft fluffy white stuff meant that we were without power and water for nearly twenty eight hours. We spent two nights sleeping on the floor in front of the fireplace just trying to stay warm. We gathered snow and melted it over the fire so that we would have water to flush the toilets.

I have to say that it was all worth it to see my children's faces when they woke up Saturday morning to a world covered in white.

The Greatest Gift

♪♫•*¨*•♫♪Praise God from whom all blessings flow♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸

¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts♪♫•*¨*•.

.•*¨*•♫♪Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸

¸.•*¨*•♫♪...♪A-men!!!.♫•*¨*•.¸.♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸

If you have not already heard the news...Noah asked Jesus into his heart today!!!!
We were on our way home from school, singing songs back and forth when Noah all of a sudden says, "Momma, I want to ask Jesus into my heart so that I can be a Christian." I asked him if he was sure and all of the other questions that let me know that he truly understood what he was doing. I did not want to have another juice and cookies conversion. After realizing that he truly was ready and understood what he wanted, I drove to Grammy and Pa's house so that we could all pray together.
I am brought to tears of joy to know that even through inevitable death, I will never be permanently separated from my child. Tonight I am full of peace, comfort, and unspeakable joy. All I can say is that God is good. Hallelujah!!!

Diets

We did not make a New Year's resolution to loose weight. Maybe we should have, but alas, we did not. We have however had a change in diet for the entire family that has resulted in a few shed pounds.
Jonah's new and very restrictive diet has changed the way that I cook, therefore changing the way that we eat, and helped Noah to lose six pounds in the past few weeks. (Yay Noah!!) Having to eliminate preservatives has forced us to eat at home and forced me to come up with creative ways to use fresh ingredients.
I just wish that the diet was doing Jonah some good as well. Unfortunately, he seems to be getting worse instead of better and we are going to have to see another gastroenterologist to have some more testing done. At this time, his symptoms seem to be pointing to Celiac Disease, but there are a whole host of other things that it could be as well. His pediatrician put him on another round of steroids this past week, and they seem to be helping his skin if nothing else.
Hopefully we will get an appointment with the specialist soon and get Jonah some much needed relief.