Looking back on Week 20

This week We were blessed this whole week with an amazing sight outside. The temperatures have all been below 20 C, so we were not able to go on walks this week. But the scenery was beautiful! Snow makes the winter worth while! :)
Mikael has been very fussy and fighting gasses again this week. Praise the Lord though that he is so super sweet about it!
Mikael started “rolling over” this week, but with our help. When we did his exercises ("hierdie kant toe, daardie kant toe") he pulled himself to his side and then got his bum over and whalla… he rolled. :)It was VERY exciting for mommy and daddy to see!! We are very proud of him.
It looks as if Mikael’s eyes are changing. His eyes have been crystal blue, and now it seems as if they are changing to beautiful green eyes :) In some light they still look crystal blue and in others a little green, so we will see. :)
He is holding his own weight when we put him in a standing position! He does not have balance at all yet, but mommy and Mikael do go for “walks” all around mommy and daddy’s bed :) He LOVES it!
Mikael is reaching and holding on to things more and more, especially mommy's hair! It is fun to see how he is getting more and more interactive with the people around him :)
Mommy and daddy noticed that Mikael has red cheeks this week… we searched online and asked his grandmothers and we all think it is teeth! Yippeee, they might be showing soon!!!
Mommy started online massage classes with a friend of hers in Kiev! It has been super fun to learn how to massage Mikael correctly and needless to say he LOVES it!!! :)

Looking back on Week 19

This week was not such a happy week for Mikael something is REALLY bothering him and we can’t really figure out what it is. We just continue to pray for him.
One thing that did make Mikael wiggle with laughter was the phrase, “Yes, we can”. Every time we said it to him he would absolutely crack up and start wiggling:) It was so fun to watch him!!
Mikael did not want to do his arm exercises this week, maybe something is hurting in his arms, maybe growth pains, who knows. Maybe someday he will be able to tell us :)
Also this week we were showered with SNOW again!!! We woke up on Sunday morning to an amazingly beautiful winter wonderland! Praise the Lord for the beauty of winter!
Mikael during his massage! He LOVES it!


Enjoying freedom! :)


Mikael in his beloved bath with his pappa


Mikael- our little rapper :)


Mikael intertwining his fingers together. He looks super smart when he does this!


Mikael smiling away!


"Yes we can!"

Looking back on Week 18

This week was a SUPER eventful week. On Monday he “turned” 4 months old! Wow, how time flies!
On Saturday we went to visit the winter camp. Everyone there LOVED meeting Mikael! He was so sweet as well and smiled at all the new faces. He LOVES new faces!
He has been waking up with BIG smiles and he is more than happy to just play in his bed when he wakes up, which has been fun!
Mikael is very interested in his hands and fingers and has started intertwining his fingers together. He looks super smart when he does this! Maybe next week mommy will catch him doing it with the camera! :)
Everything is now going straight to his mouth!! Apparently this is another way that little ones discover the world around them. I don’t know but if so he sure is an excellent explorer!!
We went to the doctor as well this week for his monthly check up and he has grown again! :)He now weighs 8.800kg (19.4 lb.) and is 69cm (27.2 in) long!!! He is in 9 month clothing now, anything smaller is just well… too small :)
Two days later we went back to the clinic to get a set of immunization done for him. (Here they first do a blood test to see if he is healthy enough and then you come back and do the shots) He did SUPER well. The doctor that gave him his shots was really very good with him and only one little tear escaped from his eyes!! He is so brave!!! Mommy and daddy’s hearts nearly burst when we saw the tear, but we recovered after Mikael gave us a great big smile!
Mikael is looking at.....

...his toys! Yip, that is his favorite "blue bear" and Mr. Bug :)

All smiles!!

Mikael with Charlene

Our very good friends, Ron and Charlene all the way from Flagstaff, AZ

Looking back on Week 17

This week was a difficult week because Mikael had tons of gasses :( But praise the Lord that ouma was here to help and that pappa came back on Monday!! Yipeeee!!!
Ouma left on Monday morning and we miss her so much already!!! (Missing Oupa too!!!)
Mikael started showing signs of teething this week, we could be wrong, but from what we can see and from what we have read, there might be a tooth on the way. He is very fussy, he is pulling at his ears, sticks everything into his month and gnawing on things. He has a little bit of a cough, has a running nose, is not sleeping well and drools out rivers. We try to help him as much as we can, and quiet amazingly even though we can tell that he is not feeling well he still smiles and is pretty content! Praise the Lord!!!
On Wednesday night late Mikael started, just out of no where, talking and talking and talking. He probably spoke for about 5-10 minutes non stop :) It was so cute!!!
Also Mikael is reaching out to grab on to things more this week. We were reading his activity book to him and you could see how he focuses on to something, in this case the yellow flower, and reaches out to grab it :) He LOVES being read to as well!! He is so intensively watching and listening to us when we read to him. :)
Today he also took his first bath with his pappa :) He is getting too heavy to hold up, so we decided to have one of us hold him in the bath :) It is tons of fun and Mikael enjoys bathing even more now :)

Looking back on Week 16

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
On Saturday pappa and Oupa left for Azerbaijan and that left mamma and ouma home with little Mikael...oooh did we have fun!!! See pictures :) But we missed them SOOO super much as well!!!
*This week Mikael wanted to be straight up in a sitting position basically all the time :) I guess he enjoys it :) He can also hold himself in a "gorilla" sitting position.
*Mikael started pulling faces :) It is so cute!!! One night Mikael pulled his lower lip down and when ouma or mamma copied him, he cracked up laughing :) It was a fun game :)
*Mikael is also VERY ticklish!!! Just all of a sudden out of no where while mamma was changing him on Saturday night he wiggled and giggled. It was so cute and SOOO much fun!!!! :)
*Mamma had to take all of Mikael teddy bears and toys out of his cot this week as Mikael started grabbing on to them, even in his sleep, and it wakes him up.
Mikael is growing so fast now, and developing so quickly!!! Praise the Lord that he is healthy, happy and that he is a VERY content baby!!!