New pictures of Michael...

These are the most recent pictures of Michael. He is now smiling a ton and so cute I can't stand it!! At his well check appointment he weighed 11 lbs. 5 oz.. He is 24 3/4 inches long. That means in 3 months he has grown almost 6 inches in length! WOW~~ we sure love him and he seems to be doing great. His pediatrician is going to run some tests just to double check a few things; Ultrasound of his brain, have the opthomologist look at his eyes, red cell count, and they will have a nurses follow-up clinic follow him over the next year or 2 and make sure he is meeting all of his growth milestones! He is defiantely well loved by all!!

"What's that thing called after a wedding???"

Friday was Julia's big graduation day from Kindergarten! It was such a cute program and Julia was very excited. They did sign language to the song, "What a Wonderful World". That was a special part of the program. Kindergarteners are so dang cute!! Julia kept saying..."And after the graduation we're having ummmmm a ummmm...what is that thing called after a wedding?" And I said, "A reception." and Julia said, "Yeah that, a reception, with cookies and lemonade!" Julia is sooo sassy and loving. It is going to be fun and quite a ride watching this darling independent girl grow up!!!

Memories of Grandma Folkman's jam...

I have loved making jam since I was a child going to my Grandma Folkman's house in Jerome, ID. I have such wonderful memories of watching my Grandma make raspberry jam from the raspberry patch that she had in her back yard. I would often get raspberries in Jerome while I was there, and then take them home and make jam. I have had the bug to make some jam the last month!! This last weekend I went to Visalia, CA to my cousin Joelle's wedding. (We had sooo much fun, I am going to post pitures in the next day or so!) When we were leaving Visalia, there was a strawberry stand on the side of the road...so I bought 2 flats and came home to make jam!! My friend Trina came over on Monday and we made strawberry freezer jam. Yummy!! From the 2 flats, we made 26 three cup rounds and 6 three cup squares. So here are a couple pictures. Not all of them are there because Trina had already taken her share home and I had given a few away when I took the pictures. I wish you could all have some!!

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Michael. He is definately bigger and looks older! He LOVES to watch the ceiling fan!!! He is completely taken with it!! When I need to get something done I lay him on the ottoman and let him look up at the fan and he is occupied and happy for a few minutes!! The other day Frank was holding him and he was looking at the fan, so Frank looked up at the fan and I snapped this picture. When I looked at the picture I immediately thought how much Michael looks like Frank!! This is a rare picture of Frank (Pat's dad) with one of his grandkids!!

Michael...He is a Blessing!!

yesterday was michael's blessing day. pat did the blessing and it was beautiful. all day i kept thinking how truly blessed we are to have him with us. things could have turned out very differently and i am thankful for him every day!! we all love him so much...at church it is musical chairs for michael as corey, patrick. emily, daniel, aubrey, and julia pass him around to hold him. he is wearing his white blessing sweater outfit in the pictures...i was worried it would be too small but it was actually a little too big. he is growing though...he weighs about 9 lbs. when people see him they comment on how much bigger he is. i just love him!!!

"You are my sunshine!"

Corey and I went to Babies R Us to get a couple of things and at the check out we saw these cute sunglasses. They were too big for Michael, but we decided to take his picture with them on. He looked so cute that I had to share this picture with you. Michael is doing great! He is just over 8 lbs. now! So, he is gaining weight which is wonderful...except for the fact that he is gaining from formula and not from breast milk. Little stinker...I really wish he would have stuck with the breast feeding! TOO much work...the bottle is so much easier!! It has been very sad and disappointing to me that he won't nurse, but as long as he is gaining weight and doing well that is what matters!!

My "big boy" Michael...

I took Michael to the pediatrician today. He weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. That means that he has gained 6 oz. in the last 7 days. Yeah!! The week prior he had only gained 2 oz. So, the pediatrician was happy with that. He will be a month old on April 7th. He looks a little bit bigger...he loves the formula supplements. He sleeps so well when he has the bottle of formula. He will sleep at night for 4-5 hours. So, night time is the perfect time to give him a bottle because he sleeps soooo well! We adore Michael and he is getting lots of love...he is definately not lacking in the attention department!!