......“If anything can go wrong, it will.”
Mayla’s Law…
“I don’t care what the books say, I’m doing it different.”
And so goes our daily lives, different than what the books
say “the norm” should be. And we honestly don’t want it any other way. Except
sometimes when we have to de-”stankify” multiple outfits a day.
So we’ve been Stateside for a month and a week, and what
have we got to show for it? Not much good really. Seriously, I (Will) have been
sick three times and been to the ER once already. And not because I did
something stupid in the garage, but because I did something stupid in my
stomach. Let’s just say that 4 years at a Swiss University didn’t do much to
increase common sense, or maybe we should call it uncommon sense, since common
sense is really not so common. Beyond getting sick multiple times and being
sick for around 3 weeks(ish), I spend my time looking for jobs, hanging with my
girls, and building a car. Yeah, building a car. You know, like General Motors,
but I’m slower than the average union worker, don’t get paid anywhere near as
good, have to work in a cold garage, no coffee breaks (I don’t drink coffee
though so that’s my bad), inhaling fumes that may or may not be harmful
(outcome yet to be determined), and generally getting really dirty (this is
actually pretty cool). I did manage to go to a boat show (oh how I missed
these), went snowboarding in the “mountains” of Michigan (right, “mountains”),
went to a $10 Rock and Worship Jesus Music Concert (would have been cool to see
Breakthrough on that stage), went to a hockey game with my nephew, watched the
Super Bowl ‘live’, skipped the Daytona 500 live (although Big Redneck Mama was
there, live), watched my daughter all by myself and didn’t even kill her,
shoveled some snow, used Big Mama’s snow blower, walked to church in the
snow/in the street because the sidewalk was not cleared, had
lunches/brunches/and dinners with lots of friends, and spent oodles of time
with family, watching them love on my daughter. Even though there is no job at
the moment, I have to say that life is pretty good. In fact, there are not many
ways it can get much better, but if water-skiing were involved it would be…
Keri finds herself pretty busy these days. Mayla is on the
verge of individual mobility so she is forced to keep more than just her
peripheral vision focused on her. More often than not, she needs to keep a
sharp eye on Mayla, and as was discovered today, maybe even a close hand or
two. We are still pretty unhappy about the inability to walk much outside
because sidewalks are, for the most part, not cleared. Quite often I hear
complaints related to failed attempts at walking to the store. The failings
generally come at the hands of impassable sidewalks, even with our monster stroller
(you know, a stroller with BIG tires). Without asking her opinion, I would have
to say Keri has adjusted back to life in the States pretty well. She thoroughly
enjoys time of the second hand stores, or any store really, buying clothes for
Mayla or trinkets and things to make our stay in the in-laws basement more
pleasant. She has been to the gym on more than one occasion most recently
partaking in a “boot-camp” class that resulted in too much leg pain to even sit
and pee. TMI? In between shopping events, she even managed to get out for a
girls night, this is when I watched Mayla and didn’t kill her. The best part,
for me, of Keri being a mom is she was made for this role. Honestly God
designed Keri to be a mother, Mayla’s mother, and it is so nice to finally see
her in this role. Besides being the best wife in existence, arguably of course
and I will argue this until I’m blue in the face as well as everywhere else,
she is an incredible mother. She has a way with Mayla that makes me want to sit
back and watch the two of them interact, of course then I’m not exactly in the
mix so that doesn’t last too long. There is absolutely nothing I would rather
see Keri do.
So that is more or less the happenings with Keri and I. Now,
since you are really only continuing to read because you don’t want to miss
anything about Mayla, I guess I’ll start in with her update.
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| Yeah she is! |
Mayla is a trip, and not the kind we leave for today (we’re
going to California, enough with this cold), but according to
urbandictionary.com, a person who is really funny in a crazy way. Yeah, that’s
Mayla. She is a non-stop mountain of laughs (Swiss mountains, not Michigan…).
We both have said on multiple occasions that we could watch her all day; she is
so entertaining. She is also growing, and outgrowing most of her clothes. In
fact, we just bought some new PJ’s for her, 6-9 months and 9-12 months. One
wear of the 6-9 and she is on to the 9-12. Who designs clothes for these
infants that are too small, honestly????
Over the last couple weeks, Mayla has had her first teeth
come in which has been so funny. Is it wrong I keep laughing at my daughter?
Anyway, as most parents probably recall, those chunky little cheeks get all
rosey red when teeth start coming. Mayla was kind enough not to be too bothered
by them cutting in. We did attempt on a few occasions to give her Orajel but
she’ll have none of that yuckiness. Rumor we’ve heard is that most kids
typically enjoy the flavor, as Mayla would have it though, “good luck getting
that nastiness in my mouth peeps.” Something else that is humorous about Mayla
getting teeth, is her discovering she has teeth. Since a couple have come in,
she has started playing with them, using her lips. In doing so, she contorts
her face and lips to find out about these things, all the while making sucking
and puckering sounds. Super funny! We need to get a camera on her at all times
just so we don’t miss this stuff. Unfortunately that is not exactly possible,
but we’re trying to get as much of it as we can.
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| Everywhere, but in... |
Being that Mayla is rapidly approaching the 6 month old
mark, we have begun testing the waters with “semi” solid foods. We started out
with the traditional rice cereal, honestly doesn’t look like any cereal I’ll
ever eat. I mean seriously, can’t get some marshmallows up in there? Mayla
quickly realized there were no marshmallows and was very clear with us that
until she could have marshmallows, she wants NO CEREAL! We tried this for about
a week with no luck, I don’t think we managed to get a gram into her, before
going another route. Keri figured since she ate so many sweet potatoes during
pregnancy, the flavor would be familiar to Mayla and we’d have better luck.
Well, as Mayla would have it, I suspect all the adverse middle of the night
moving, kicking, punching, etc, etc, while in utero was her telling us she
didn’t really care for sweet potatoes because she sure wouldn’t let us get any
down her hatch. So, we gave that a try for two days and decided we’ll bag the
solids idea until we get back from California. Then it’s on to pizza and
cheeseburgers. We’ll get this girl to eat one way or another.
One of the funniest things to us about Mayla is that the
girl almost does not stop moving. In fact, as I’m trying to type, she is
sitting on my lap, nonstop moving her legs and feet under the laptop (kicking
it) and relentlessly trying to get up in the action on the keyboard. It’s
turned into a competition of whose reach is the longest. Normally I would think
I have that one in the bag, but this kid is determined and no matter how far
away I move the computer, she is coming for it; and given enough time, I think
she’ll get it. I think the only time she stops moving is when she’s going to
the bathroom… Like her daddy, she seems to need the focus. Even when she sleeps
she moves; more like flops around like a fish out of water. She is constant
activity and nonstop action. Funny and fun, for now. But as she begins to
discover the potential for movement on her own (crawling), this creates
movement in us in the way of fear and trembling as well as mad dashes coupled
with “Mayla, …”
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| Mayla loving all her cousin time. |
Something else about Mayla is she knows what she wants and
doesn’t want. And what she wants is to be in control and to be a part of
everything going on. She began showing this to us some weeks ago when we would
give her a nuggi and she would promptly take it and put it back in herself. As
if to say, “Umm, I can do it myself dad…” She also seems to want to be a
self-sufficient part of her bottle feedings by putting her hands on the bottle
and putting it in her mouth and taking it out at her discretion. At least we
know when she is hungry that way… When she is no longer hungry, she’ll either
(1) push the bottle away, or (2) hit the bottle away. I have to confess, it’s
pretty stinking adorable when she has her tiny little paws wrapped around a
bottle as big as her head.
So that is the quick and dirty of what’s happening here. As
I mentioned, we are leaving for California today and we are super pumped about
it. We are going to visit some wonderful friends and their 5-month-old son,
visit a ski boat manufacturer, and generally tool around a warmer climate than
what we have in Michigan. We are super excited about spending a week in warmth
although Michigan will probably have a heat wave and completely thaw while we
are gone, before freezing over again just before our return. As you have
probably extrapolated, we are really enjoying being back in the States and
being around family. Though no jobs have surfaced yet, we continue to trust the
Lord and His plan for us. We have no idea what is in store but we had a good
gig in die Schweiz and trust that whatever he has called us back here for, is
better than what we had there. So please continue praying for us as we walk
this path of mystery, and excitement. Shortly after we return from California
we will have a doctor appointment for Mayla and will excitedly share the
further development of our M&M (Miracle Mayla), and whatever the Lord may
do while there.
We wish you all many blessings and God’s joy and peace to
you.
Ciao!
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| Mayla and her friend, Cucci. |
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| Mayla's first ski vest, from the boat show. She MUST have a ski vest if she is going to ski this summer. |
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| I think that's a Michigan Mountain in the background. WHOA!!! Off to the sun... |
