Murphy’s Law…

......“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.

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.

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, …”

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!

Mayla and her friend, Cucci.

Mayla's first ski vest, from the boat show. She MUST have a ski vest if she is going to ski this summer.

I think that's a Michigan Mountain in the background. WHOA!!! Off to the sun...