Nine - and Ready to Rule the World

Nine very short years ago our lives were changed forever. Our little Micah, who is now NOT little and nine and way too big and able to rule a few small countries if we'd let her (but we won't - it'd be a dictatorship), was born. She is such a fun, happy, crazy, sweet, darling, snarky, sarcastic, sensitive, kind, wonderful little person. I had a great time taking photos of her baby pictures in the albums so that I could upload them here. Here are some favorites - they make me want to cry. Actually, I did cry. And then I gave her a big, fat hug.

Welcome to the world, darling baby!

Here she is, just minutes old, still wrapped in the blanket she was received in. She was very alert and looking all around her. Micah was 9 pounds, 13 ounces (amazing considering how skinny she is now) and 23 1/2 inches long. Her labor was a very short, wild ride - and I whined the whole way. Brad, my Mom, Michelle Freund (my most wonderful fabulous midwife in the world), Kelly Gonzales, and Pam Wilson were there for the triumphal entry. Jennifer McDaniel missed the show by about 5 minutes. She came with Curan who was three weeks old and we played "pass the babies" and compared how much longer and heavier Micah was than Curan and how much bigger her feet were.

Here she is, brand new with big brother who was very proud. This was her first morning.

brand new with her big sister. The beginning of a best friendship

She wasn't so sure about Elias....so we invited her to join the club - which is still in existence

Micah was super smiley right from the beginning. She smiled way earlier than we thought humanly possible and she's been smiling ever since. Here she is being a Daddy's girl...still is

Micah was always (was?) super busy. From the time she was tiny, her legs never stopped moving. She held them straight up in the air and kicked them around. She would put her legs up under the bar on this bouncy seat (see how she has them in the picture?) and push and she would send that bar hurtling across the room

I love this one...so cute and bright-eyed!

The gymnast nursing baby....remember what I said about those legs? This was typical.

These were her first steps by herself - she walked at 10 1/2 months

Dancing with her buddy, Elias.

We start 'em out reading young....she fell asleep many a days "reading" with books all over her bed

Just say it - she's yummy.

This was a photo taken for our kids' musical at church in San Diego.

don't you just want to pinch those cutiie-patootie dimply cheeks? I do....I did.

These were her very favorite jammies.

Always a big goofball

Elisha made a cake for her little sister this year. Isn't it great? AND, I didn't have to do it - which was even greater.

And here she is - in all her nine year old glory....and her new birthday hat.

Oh Happy Birthday, Micah. We love you so much.

What Bored Children Do When They Hijack the Camera

These are all lovely self portraits Micah took as she sat in the tractor freezing her patootie off - she was bored and she had nabbed the camera. She cracks herself up. Odd child!!

Happy Birthday, Micah

My sweet Micah turned 8 years old today - how do the years slip by so quickly? I hate that one day my little girlie that I love and snuggle and can't stand to be without, will run off and leave me. Micah is a dear, sweet, spunky, musical, hilarious, crazy, witty, totally fun-loving, compassionate, sarcastic, sensitive, affectionate, capable, take charge, fearless, dare-devil, dimple-sporting, cutie-patootie. Micah makes us laugh so hard - not because of funny little kid stuff she says, but becuase she has a great sense of humour. I thought that I would post some photos (digital ones - so sad that I cannot get all my film photos on here or I'd post some of her darling baby photos). I miss those pudgy cheeks.

She and her buddy, Elias. He takes good care of his little sister.

Drew's wedding. Love that face - goofball. In our family photos when she was three, she smiled and crossed her eyes - no one noticed until we got the photos back

Cute or what???

serious bedhead! How in the world did it get like that?

crazy bubby-girl

Nice outfit. That's a leotard on her head. That's what you get when you let a 2 year old get out the dress ups alone.

Her daddy calls her A.B. - Angelic Bubby. Doesn't she just look like an angel here? The rest of us have other substitutions for the A. part......like Amplified or Agro

Here is my baby, today at 8 years old. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of Micah. Happy Birthday, dear girl.

New Pianist

We have a new pianist in the family. She just started two weeks ago. She is so excited you wouldn't believe it. We HAD to start her - she played the piano all the time and she only knew one song, "Heart and Soul". After hearing it played 400,298 times in 98,434 variations we said ENOUGH. The girl needed to add to her repertoire. We never have to ask her to practice - she is all over it again and again and again....... So, after the first week I asked Rachel (ye olde fabulous piano teacher), in order to help us hang onto the small amount of remaining sanity we have, if she could please give Micah more than 1 song per week. At least now she had TWO songs to play 36,002 times that week. ;)

Fiesty

That's a good name for it. Micah is fiesty....totally. She is also really funny - sometimes because she is a kid and other times because she has a great sense of humor. She has cracked us up this week because of her fiestiness. First, we were in the car the other day and Isaiah was saying that he wanted to be either a writer, an engineer, or a chef (well-rounded individual with high expectations - nice.). Micah yells out "I'm going to be a sky diver". Hm. Nice occupation. Today, Brad and I were bantering about the fact that he only gets his birthday dinner once (I reminded him that I did make it twice last year) a year on his birthday. It is tuna noodle casserole - anyone need to know WHY he only gets it once a year?? Didn't think so. I responded, that I haven't had MY favorite dinner, lobster and artichokes, in over 15 years . Well, I HAVE had the artichoke part a number of times (not so much since leaving CA), but not the lobster part. Micah calls out, "I'd try the artichoke, but I don't know about the hamster". Brad pipes up and says, "Yeah, Micah, I wouldn't eat the hamster either". Then Elias walks through the kitchen and says, "I don't think I'd like the hamster OR the lobster". So, there you go. Hamster anyone?? I also got a story today about something that happened this weekend in Plains. The kids were playing in the barn loft (see photos in last post where Josiah is using a rope to climb up to a window!). They were capturing each other and tying each other up. They got Micah once, but they couldn't get her again. At one point, Josiah was trying to grab her; she kicked him in the shin (not so very lady-like!) and took off running through the loft with Josiah hot on her trail. As she was running, she pushed the doors open and LEAPED out the window and kept on running!!! The kids couldn't believe it - no big deal for a sky-diver-to-be, I guess! Crazy girl. Another thing....Micah LOVES Switchfoot - she has very specific musical tastes. She thinks Josh Groban sounds like a goat along with Mac Powell. She cannot stand Michael Buble' - how can one NOT like Michael Buble'....she makes groaning, dying noises when he comes on. Today she came waltzing in talking about the Switchfoot podcast she had just finished watching on the iPod - "...the one where John almost threw up when they gave him that gross egg/bird thing (balut) to eat onstage at a concert in Asia somewhere". She loves that one....she watches their podcasts all the time. I want to know why she isn't watching something like Veggie Tales. She is a little odd for a 7 year old.

Micah - the baby - turns 7!!

Oh, how did it happen?? Our little Micah turned 7 on Wednesday. Micah is a pistol and is always up for fun - she cracks us up. It isn't because she is little and says funny little kid stuff....Micah is witty and sarcastic and just plain funny.....and crazy.....and sarcastic (at 6! -yikes) She is also a big snuggler - she always wants to be sitting on a lap or smashed right up against someone. Micah is smart as a whip and is doing really well in school. She is also a girl that knows what she wants. Many times I have walked into a room to find her standing on a chair, hands on hips, bossing around her older brothers and sisters. They aren't the only one she tries to boss - "I am the mother, and you are not" is one of my most repeated lines.
Micah loves: reading, being read to, PINK, outfits that match, gum, listening to Jungle Jam and Friends, Remedy Drive, Switchfoot, her dolls, back scratches, and snacks.
She does NOT like: Isaiah scaring her, being alone, oatmeal (she'd rather die!), Michael Buble', Josh Groban (she says he sounds like a goat), Bono, and waking up in the morning.

She has been talking about her birthday for weeks and asking me each day how many more days she had to wait. On her special day we had homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast (she did NOT hate getting up on this morning), went bowling during the day and then had bison burgers for dinner (per her request). She had a great day and loves being 7 already (well, actually, I think she sees it as a necessary stepping stool for becoming 20!) We love our little Bubby Girl and look forward to seeing what God has in store for her life. She is a blessing to us.

The Return of Bitty Baby

Bitty Baby has been on vacation in San Diego for the past 3 months, along with many other items that decided to remain at the Curles' house when we came back to Montana...."the box" arrived yesterday. Micah was so excited that Bitty Baby was home that she didn't leave her side all day long.....she was pushed in the stroller, fed lunch and dinner (she arrived after breakfast), put down for countless naps and woken again, and in the evening we even had a tea party in her honor. Such festivities for a doll. Welcome home, Bitty Baby!

New Milestones

About two weeks ago, I tried teaching Micah to tie her shoes. We were going somewhere and she wanted to know, so I gave her the quick tutorial. She was frustrated with the push-the-shoestring-through-the-loop part, but I told her that we'd keep working on it. Two days later she put her feet up on the seat of the car and said "Look, I tied my shoes". I looked and they were tied. So I, being the kind of mother that has great faith in her children, asked "Who did that for you?" I was amazed when she answered that she indeed had done it herself and proceeded to show me just how she did it. WOW!! Too bad everyone isn't that easy. I think one of my kids (who will remain nameless), didn't get it figured out until, well...um, let's just say we have issues there.

Happy Birthday Micah

Micah, my baby, is six years old!! How can it be? Wow. What would we ever do without Micah? We definitely wouldn't laugh as much - she cracks us up all the time. Micah has a great sense of humor and she is so much fun to be around. She is as smart as a whip, ready to jump into anything, has no fear, and can be a little bit of a tom boy. I worry about her a little, because she has that dancing on tabletops kind of personality; she is kind of crazy. She bosses around her older siblings all the time (well, she tries) and she has a very tender heart. She cannot stand being in trouble for anything (but that doesn't seem to stop her) - one cross word and she falls apart. She has lots of nicknames - Bubby or Bubby Girl (Josiah made it up), Schmoopa, Stinky, and Magoo to name a few. Micah is in Kindergarten and enjoys school - she is doing really well in her reading and she loves math (which is more than I can say about the rest of these kids that live here!). Micah is as skinny as a rail - she always has been, and now she is getting really tall too. That girl of ours is a doll and we all adore her. We are so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bless us with her. We look forward to the future and watching her learn, grow, and become the woman that God created her to be. She fills our hearts and home with joy! :)

Bubby's a rock star!

All Thee Wanth for Chrithmath ith her two front teeth

Before

During

After

Micah lost two teeth in two days and now has a gap large enough to allow her toe to access it while her teeth are closed. I have been a very bad tooth fairy - so bad that when Micah lost her first tooth, I felt so much guilt that I tried to make up for it by giving EVERYONE $1 (lame tooth fairy - what's a buck when that fairy was on vacation for years!!). Micah scored and the tooth fairy actually did visit both nights. The second night, she couldn't find her tooth and was freaking out. I assured her that the tooth fairy would still come, but she wouldn't have any part of it. She said, " That is the way you're 'pose to do it. You have to have the fairy tooth. And the fairy has a magic bison she comes in on" A what???. So we called out the search and rescue party until we found the "fairy tooth". I had a harder time letting go of those baby teeth than she did. I cannot believe that my baby has lost her two front teeth!!

Micah the Biker

The other day, Josiah called me outside because Micah had picked up a bike, asked for helped getting on and peddled away. Last October, Josiah was trying to teach her to ride - she got it for a minute and then just could not stick with it and gave up out of frustration and that was the end of that until now. Today, however, was different; no lessons, nothing. She just decided to do it and then did (here's the video). How fun is that? No frustration, no crying, and no scraped up knees. You gotta love it. Now, how many other things would work that way - wait until they are ready and "poof" you just saved yourself all sorts of time and trouble. Maybe grammar is that way - all of a sudden they get it and don't ask for the 400th time in the same year (at lesson 75) - "what's a subject again?".