9 pounds, 13 ounces, 22 inches long
Instead of losing some weight like most babies do after birth and then working to gain it back, he just gained another pound right away, as if he'd grown all he could inside me and was ready to get to what his true birth weight should have been (during that pregnancy, they kept checking me to see if I was carrying twins)
1 1/2 months old - Michael LOVES being in water
Michael slept A LOT his first few months, not through the night, just A LOT of naps which added up to about 20 hours a day. When Michael woke up, he'd make a very polite sound once to let me know he was awake. If I didn't get him within a minute or two, he'd make another noise a little louder, still very polite, no crying or screaming. If I couldn't pick him up or he couldn't hear my voice within a few minutes, he'd start making a little more noise but unless it was dark, or he was in pain or REALLY hungry, he didn't really cry, never for hours on end like I'd heard other parents talk about. He was a pretty content baby. He liked being held and carried around and he wanted to be able to see things. He also liked the motion of being in a car or in his swing.
2 1/2 months old
After the first few months, Michael switched from almost constantly sleeping to hardly ever sleeping. He needed about 5-6 hours a day and if he slept during a car ride, that used up some of those hours and just meant he'd sleep that much less that night. As time went on, I also noticed he didn't want to go to sleep in the evening. If I tried "just putting him in his crib at bedtime/naptime", he couldn't fall asleep (just like my mom who couldn't fall asleep either at bedtime or naptime as a baby/toddler) and Michael would just get out (just like my dad who escaped from anything they put him in when he was a baby/toddler). And Michael wandered and explored so it was useless and dangerous. Michael has a very hard time falling asleep at night, and prefers to sleep from about 3:00AM to 10:00AM which you can just imagine how difficult that made life for his morning-person-extremely-cranky-if-I-have-to stay-up-late mother, and for school. During the daylight hours though, if he's sitting still (in the car, at school or church, resting on a hiking trail, waiting in line, etc), he can fall asleep instantly.
2 years old
(Michael konks out in the morning sunlight - but he's WIDE awake at night)
4 months old
Aunt Nila made him a beautiful little old fashion looking smocked outfit, but Michael outgrew it almost immediately, and I could not squeeze him into it for his blessing in June. So I designed and made Michael a similar old fashion type outfit and myself a matching nursing dress. (These, his Christmas outfit, and a dress for Louise, were the last major clothing items I designed and actually completed until Michael and Nathan were much older.)
5 months old
Michael learned most of his gross and fine motor skills early. He loved rolling over, lifting his head like a turtle and being able to look around. He could hold a pencil correctly and make careful marks on paper even before he could walk. He sat completely on his own at 5 months. He scooted himself around the floor on his hands and knees and tummy (sort of army man style). At 9 months, he was standing alone and one day he suddenly took a few steps. I clapped and cheered for him, quickly sat him down, and told him, "Oh! Look what you can do! Now be nice to Mommy and don't do that anymore for a few more months please." He only gave me another month though.
10 months old
He also developed and grew ahead of schedule. He was usually in the 90/95 in height and weight and looked like a football player. One day he was sleepy and I was carrying him in a store while trying to get my shopping done (infant car seats WITH carrying handles were still new back then and he outgrew that type right away anyway). An older woman saw me struggling to carry him with how heavy he was, and his long arms and legs dangling as I tried to reach things, and that he looked like he was waking up. She thought she was helping by suggesting I make him walk, he was too old to carry. A little surprised she'd even say that (forgetting the average size of babies and toddlers, and just thinking she must be one of those who thinks you have to wean and pottytrain newborns and teach them to walk and read by 6 months) I said, "he can't walk yet." Her expression changed and she kindly asked if there was something wrong with his legs, as she looked at him closer. "No," I said (now just thinking that she had no experience with real children, didn't she know infants can't walk) "He's only 4 months old." Her face changed again, "He's HUGE" she said stunned, she kind of apologized and went on her way. I'd gotten so used to his size and weight, and I hadn't realized others thought he was 2 or 3 years old. Michael also started teething early, at 2 months, and had all his front teeth by 12 months. People often thought he was MUCH older than he was and gave him big people food (like carrot sticks) which he didn't have the molars to chew yet, and I'd have to fish out chucks he'd broken off with his front teeth before he choked on them. By his 12 month check-up, he was almost 30 pounds and 30 inches tall. And his eyes had decided to turn and stay hazel (green-brown) and his hair was blond, almost white in the summers. His hair also grew fast, still does, and he had already had several haircuts by his first birthday.
2 months old
(this Easter basket is 2 1/2 feet wide and about that tall)
1 year old
(this cute little outfit is size 4T)
He was a very careful baby and intelligent and comprehending. I could take him to the stove and point to the burners and explain it got hot, "owies!" and he wouldn't touch it. Same with tall staircases, the street, electrical outlets, etc. I'd point it out, explain how it was dangerous, and he'd look at it real thoughtful, seem to come to a decision, and then just leave it alone. Once he figured out a machine or tool or gadget could do something cool though, the wondrous possibilities of taking it apart, or playing with it, or just chewing on it, seemed to outweigh any natural practical caution he had. His favorite was dishwashers, he wanted so desperately to climb into dishwashers.
9 months old
2 years old
He was very early in most areas but a late bloomer in a few areas, such as speech. He could only say a few words clearly enough for others to understand him and he made up his own sort of sign language to talk to me. He was not shy at all and "talked" to everyone. He babbled and signaled to store clerks and people we passed when we went for walks (in one town, we lived within a mile and a half of almost everything and the kids and I walked most of the time) and he would "tell" everyone we passed where we were going, what we were doing and he'd "invite" everyone to come with us. When he was exactly 30 months old though, he suddenly spoke a whole paragraph, in clear English about something technical. I just stood there and stared at him, amazed. I wish so much I had written it down, but like so many other things, I thought I'd remember but I don't, not specifically. I love hearing Michael talk, even when I have no clue what he's saying, when it goes over my head, when it's full of technical and scientific mumbo-jumbo. He has a very calming and patient voice, like my dad, I love just listening to them. They are both very patient with me and willing to explain, I'm just not that excited to truly understand the intricate inner workings of computers and motors, I just want the basic level lesson and I like calling things the "whats-ya-ma-call-it" or "do-hickey" or "thing-a ma-bob" and using apparently the wrong tool for the wrong job. I love our discussions on history and philosophy though.
Michael 2 years old, Nathan 6 months old
Michael is an awesome big brother. He is so patient and giving with little kids. When Nathan was born, Michael was his protector, telling everyone "SHHH!" if Nathan was sleeping, and bringing him toys when he was awake, and pointing out dangers to Nathan when he became mobile just as I had done with him. He adored Nathan, until the day Nathan walked, and then they had a tough few months. Before that, kind and generous Michael chose what Nathan could have and kept things he wasn't ready to share out of his baby brother's reach. When Nathan, only 20 months younger, started walking, and running, and climbing, and getting and choosing what he wanted for himself, Michael's things were no longer safe and things got intense as two nonverbal boys "informed" each other of how things were going to be! They settled into some sort of deal between them (and my constant insistence that they play nice and share) and they were best buds. They played so cute together. Later, Jessica came along and they were SO sweet to her, until she became mobile anyway, same with Jacob. Still, Michael is incredibly patient with small children and will be a great dad someday.
Michael 2 1/2 years old, Nathan 14 months old, Peter 8 1/2 years old
We lived on the Northern California Coast when Michael and Nathan were little and although they had experienced being bundled up in snowsuits to watch Independence Day fireworks in thick heavy fog (kind-of defeats the purpose except for showing patriotism and watching the fog turn pretty colors anyway), and chronic ear infections from the cold and foggy winters, they had not experienced real snow. At Christmas time in the mall, there was this fluffy ripped tissue paper stuff decorating everything and I guess that's what Michael thought snow actually was. When we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa just after Christmas, I bundled them up (in female cousins' hand-me-down snow clothes) and took them out to play and sled with Uncle Peter. Michael grabbed some snow examining it and tasting it and looked up up me surprised. "It's WET!" he cried. "Cold," he added in amazement, his little scientist's wheels spinning in his head. I guess that was the beginning of his love of snow. Later, when we were back home, I was vacuuming in another room and when I finished, I went in the kitchen to find Michael and Nathan in front of the pantry in "snow."
Actually it was flour, TONS of flour, everywhere, on them, in their eyelashes and hair, falling in Nathan's diaper, all over the floor, Nathan was making partial snow angels as his legs swung back and forth in it, but Michael, standing over him, just happily said, "It snowed," as if that were the best news ever and I would be SO grateful for such a miracle to happen in my kitchen.
Michael wanted to be a scientist and a Scout leader and an astronaut or a pilot and a kids' soccer coach and a fireman and a teacher and an inventor and a dad and a mountain climber and a missionary and a race car driver and ... He had lots of plans and new ways of doing things and got so involved and excited about his future. Everyday he added new things he wanted to do - actually he wanted to do most of them right when he thought of them but I, his mean boring mom, wouldn't let him take off on his own yet and said he had to be a kid first and then he could do all those cool things, some he'd get to do when he was a bigger kid, some (like driving and going in rockets and climbing mountains and dating) he had to wait until he was 30 - just kidding, kind of, actually he started the mountain climbing at 11 years old. He'd talk about all these things he was going to do and sometimes he'd suddenly stop and look at me and ask if he could do ALL of it. I always told him he could ALL the things he wanted but maybe not at the same time, he could do some as a young man, some as a dad, some as a grandpa, and some he could do his whole life. He'd think about that and then keep right on planning.
3 years old
He also had cute ideas of what some of these things actually meant based on his own life experiences and what he'd seen in movies. For example, one time when he was 3 and was talking about where he'd go on his mission I asked him, "what does a missionary do?" and he said, "they shake hands and they eat dinner and they have candy in their pockets." Well, from his experience up to that time, that was what they do. I couple years later when I asked him again he said, "missionaries tell people about Jesus and the scriptures and they like dessert." He and Nathan loved being around missionaries, and not just for the candy some of them seemed to have bottomless pockets of. The boys asked them lots of questions about where they were from and liked to hear about other places in the world, and they had sweet spiritual discussions too talking about their Primary class lessons. And as the boys have grown older, they also always seem to end up in riddle or magic trick or double-jointedness contests with the elders.
Michael 3 years old, Nathan 1 year old
Michael was always drawing or designing something - motors, vehicles, electrical things, computers, gadgets, etc. When he was 4 years old, he drew out in GREAT DETAIL a space station on a large sheet of paper. He worked on it for days, and told me how it all worked, how he would build it, how it stayed in space and wouldn't fall. He showed me where the greenhouses were to grow it's own food, the living quarters, the school for the kids, the laboratories for himself and other scientists, the docking bays for the shuttles to bring people to his space station, and he showed me my apartment where I could stay when I came to visit him.
Michael 4 years old, Nathan 2 years old
exploring near our high desert home BEFORE the snakes woke up from hybernation
Michael takes very good care of me. One day when he was about 4 and Nathan was 3 and I felt awful (women troubles, plus a cold) he put me to bed, took my temperature with his Little Tikes doctor kit and declared me "dead" and told me to rest. I happily agreed. He and Nathan took off down the hall and I dealt with my cramps and my sniffles and my clogged head and sore throat and feeling "dead." In that house if water was turned on anywhere, including the hose faucets on the outside walls, you could hear the water flowing in the pipes everywhere in the house. Many times the boys would sneak outside and sneak to turn on the hose to do something they thought was wonderful and I knew was only messy and destructive, and they thought I was magic because as soon as they turned on the hose, I could tell and I'd holler out, "Turn OFF that water!" and ruin their fun. Well on that day when I felt so yucky, I heard that sound of water running in the pipes, and tried to tell them to turn it off but my voice and legs weren't cooperating to order the boys to stop or to get to them quickly to stop them. I finally got down the short hallway and to the kitchen where -
- Michael, clothes pretty wet, stood on a fabric covered chair, very wet, near the sink holding a stiff plastic vacuum extension piece to the faucet which was turned on full blast and water poured through the tube as Michael tried to aim it toward
- the huge metal bowl on the floor which Nathan, extremely soaked, was trying to position just right to catch the rushing flow of water, said bowl had quite a bit of water in it but also some BIG globs of yellow and red and white and blue and other colors beginning to blend together in the water
- the fridge door was wide open (I actually had a lock on it ALL the time when they were a little younger but had relaxed - too soon - about locking it as they got "more mature") and the door shelves were empty
- on the floor, surrounding Nathan and the bowl and Michael's chair, were the pretty empty bottles and jars of every condiment we had, ketchup, BBQ sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, pickle relish, salad dressings, soy sauce, etc. plus a milk carton, plus some veggies scattered around, plus the blue Dawn dish soap, plus globs of various condiments smearing into each other, PLUS a good inch of water on our slightly sloped floor rushing toward the doorway and the living room carpet
- which is the only thing my quick view didn't really see and take into account as I stepped off said carpet and rushed to turn off the water and slipped on the WET floor and hydroplaned across to the sink, slamming my hips, knees, legs and especially toes as I reached out and pushed down on the faucet handle stopping the gushing flow, and I then looked about me in - flabergastedness (I bet Einstein and Edison's mothers know exactly what that feels like)
- as Michael and Nathan looked at me like "why did you do that?" and Michael happily told me, "we're making soup for you - to make you all better."
- oh, those sweet boys, those sweet, destructive, the world always comes crashing down around them boys, with Michael as the ring leader of good deeds which will drive his mother to the loony bin and Nathan as his willing accomplice, and I got them all cleaned up, and after about 2 hours got the kitchen all cleaned up and most of the water out of the carpet and ready, I guess, for the next well intended disaster. (dish soap! - they put dish soap in my soup?!?)
5 years old - this is my favorite picture, just look at that face, pure innocence and wonder and joy, this was BEFORE Michael and school became such enemies.
6 years old
Michael 6 1/2 years old, Nathan 5 years old, Jessica 4 months old
8 years old
Michael was SO excited to be old enough to be in Scouts but after his first few den meetings (at an awesome lady's house who made it so fun for the boys) he seemed discouraged and wasn't excited anymore. I asked him why and he said, "I thought we'd get to do stuff." "You do," I said, "you practice knots tying eachother and her furniture up and you've made some cool things--" "but I thought we were going to DO things, we never climb mountains or fly planes or shoot arrows or other stuff like in the stories." I realized I'd done too good of a job reading him true stories of real Scouts (older Scouts working on their Eagles) doing some incredible things, and he was disappointed that they sat in a kitchen and made things and didn't go anywhere. But they were only 8 year olds and it was winter and cold and snowing! I told him he'd get to do some of those things as he got older. He wasn't happy about having to wait, but he was excited again. That summer at day camp, he got to shoot arrows at hay bales, a few years later he was mountain climbing and semi-roughing-it in the wilderness, soon after that he got to work with knives and fire on his own (closely supervised!) He's had some awesome leaders (who have somehow kept track of my wandering boy and brought him safely back each time) and he's done some pretty cool stuff in his Scout career - and he still has his Eagle project ahead. At only 11 years old, his troupe nicknamed him "Pyro" - his fascination with fire/flames. He's also acquired the nickname "Otter" because of his LOVE of being in the water, no matter how COLD and even if they only have a few minutes and even if the sun's going done and there's no chance of drying and warming up - if there's a body of water, he's IN it.
Michael 8 1/2 years old, Nathan 7 years old, Jessica 2 years old, Jacob 7 months old
He passed me in shoe size a long time ago and then passed me in height too. I now have to look up to see him. Michael loves to learn, to build, to create, to experiment (keep him away from your microwave), to read, to ride his bike, swim, be in snow, and to study things. He's working toward his Eagle and his Duty to God Award. He is probably the most stubborn person on the planet, but he also has one of the strongest testimonies of Christ and the gospel and he is an incredible person, so bright, so kind - except when he torments his mother by not wearing a coat or shoes in a blizzard. I love you Michael, Happy Birthday!
10 years old
11 years old
climbing Mt Whitney with Grandpa Jim
and Uncle Peter and Nathan
Heleman's Warriors
Cross Country
Flag Football
almost 15 years old
