Eat-Sleep-Love | Maryland DC & Virginia Sleep Coach, Baby Planner, Maternity & Child Consultant

Maternity & Parenting Center

Poll results and more about us!

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Well, after my mother shamed me for failing to post an update since MONDAY, I am doing my best to come up with something interesting to post. Elliot & I are sitting here, watching the end of an era on tv (the last episode of ER) while we listen to the beginning of a new era on the video monitor (Micah). Tonight, our tv is accompanied by the enjoyable sounds of The Beatles – the lullaby version. We have been playing music for Micah while he sleeps, and the sounds echo throughout the house over the monitor.

So, let me begin with the results of the poll from my last thread . . . overwhelmingly, most of you voted to cut his hair! We are still ambivalent. It is Jewish tradition to wait at least 1 year to cut a baby’s hair. Some even wait 3 years before a first hair cut. Can you imagine if we waited 3 years? Micah’s hair would probably be down to his cute little tush! We keep hoping his hair starts to curl up. If it was curly, we could definitely wait longer.

I have a hair appointment set up for me in 2 weeks. I have known my hairdresser, Willy, since I was 7 or 8 years old. Back then, Willy was training to cut hair, and she was the hair washer at the place where I got my haircut. She washed my hair for years, then eventually started cutting it. I won’t let anyone else touch my hair. The 2 times I did, it was a disaster. I’m hoping she’ll offer to give Micah his first haircut – I think she’d love to have that honor. So, we’ll see if we cut his hair in 2 weeks, or if I postpone it a bit longer.

Micah is doing really well. I think *fingers crossed* we are back on schedule with him. I believe we identified the source of the bedtime screaming issues – HUNGER. He must have been going through a growth spurt. With all the traveling, I think I must have missed the milk supply increase, so we are a bit behind the eight ball, so to speak. The past few nights, we’ve been increasing his food intake by giving him a bottle supplement of pumped breast milk before bed. This eliminated the screaming and bed time became easier. Yesterday, however, was a really rough day. I seemed to “run out” of milk mid-day. We had to give a bunch of bottle supplements, and I was worried about my supply. Luckily, the bottle supplements did the trick, and bedtime went smoothly. Today, I spent the day feeding him on schedule and pumping after each feeding session to try and increase my supply. It seems to have worked, and Micah was ready for bed by 8:00, happy as usual. I nursed him then topped him off with a bottle, and placed him in his crib. We had a few runs upstairs to pop in his paci (he gets restless and squeaks when his paci falls out before he is sound asleep), and then off to lala land he drifted.

Since I am on the subject of Micah sleeping, I will say he is pretty amazing. He moves ALL around the crib while he sleeps. About ten minutes ago, he had managed to turn 90 degrees . . . and now he is back to his vertical position. I am also amazed at how restless he gets. As Elliot says, he is more mobile asleep than awake. Sometimes he gets quite vocal and noisy, and I think he is awake. When I go running in to check on him, I realize he is sound asleep and desperately trying to gnaw his fist off. It is a good thing he doesn’t have any teeth yet. Some babies find their hands/fists comforting, but I have noticed that while Micah will suck on his hands, he never seems to be soothed by that. I carefully remove his fist and replace it with a paci, and it is magic! Micah instantly stops moving and fussing and sort of melts into a still, deep sleep. Who knew a pacifier could be such a wonderful thing!

In other news, we’ve been dealing with ants in the kitchen and our master bathroom. I HATE ants! We called an exterminator (Trey, who lived across the street from me when I was growing up) and he came today. Apparently, we have a special kind of ant (fragrant ants?) and they are living under the front porch. Ironically, these are the same ants at my parents’ house . . . coincidence? YOU decide! He sprayed all over outside, and so far, the ants seem to be gone. We may need to spray a few more times to keep them at bay, but for now, all is much improved.

I’ve been running around crazed all week – business meetings, classes with Micah, work to do, trying to find childcare, and meeting with contractors to discuss whether we should put a small addition on the house to give me an office. Micah’s Goppy (my dad) babysat Micah on his own for the first time for a few hours on Tuesday while Elliot and I were at meetings! It was quite a success, and perhaps we’ll be able to take advantage of Goppy’s babysitting services again. At one of our classes this week, we went to a pottery place (All Fired Up), and we decorated a tile with Micah’s name on it and his footprints. I will post a picture when I get it back next week. I can barely see straight this week! I wish I had our child care situation worked out – I’m still nervous about what we will be doing and how to proceed. I really need to have more time available and get more work done.

I don’t have any new pictures to post today. My “little” man is now 12 lbs! He is growing rapidly, and I’m afraid to admit that the arms and legs on his size 0-3 month clothes may be getting a bit short. I think it may be time to move him into the next size, and we are probably just another week or two away from size 2 diapers! I can’t believe how much he is growing. We have our final Baby & Me class on Monday. I am probably going to have to stop doing as many classes with him if I put him in daycare or get a nanny – which I suppose I have to do anyway since I need to get more work done during the day. In June, I hope to start swim lessons with him, and I’d like to sign up for a music class with a bunch of the other women from our Baby & Me class. We are planning to continue with a playgroup, so that should be fun.

Next week is another crazy week – Wednesday and Thursday night is the beginning of Passover, an 8 day holiday for us. The first two nights are marked by a special dinner known as a seder, and we will be hosting the 2nd seder at our house. Most of Elliot’s family will be coming to town to join us, and this is only the 2nd holiday we’ve hosted together. We are nervous about all the chaos, but also excited to spend time with the family. This will be the 2nd time Micah has met his Poppy Ira and Grandma Roberta. I’m hoping all goes smoothly and that Micah goes to bed easily even with all the commotion in the house. I think Elliot & I will be cooking for the next week. He went out tonight to pick up a turkey and some brisket so we can get started this weekend. I’ll give an update next week!

To cut, or not to cut . . . that is the question

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Well, ladies and gentlemen, there comes a time in every child’s life when parents must face that question . . . to cut, or not to cut. And I’m talking about hair. I never thought I’d be faced with this question at only 3 months of age, but Micah’s hair is growing wild. Part of me loves the wild mess, and if he was a girl, I’d let it keep growing for quite some time. His hair is already down to the bridge of his nose, and it is kind of touching his shoulders in the back. It is LONG. I had originally hoped to make it to his first birthday before cutting it, and I keep waiting to see if it will fall out, or start curling up (it is definitely curly when wet) but that just hasn’t happened yet. So . . . what do you think? Is it time for Micah to get a haircut? Is it crazy to try and wait until 6 months? Or should I let it go a while longer and see what happens?

To help you decide, here are a few pictures of Micah and his hair:





Now, with all of this information on hand, tell me what you think!

Update

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I don’t exactly have much of an update right now . . . we are still having bedtime challenges. Micah seems to do better when we induce a food coma, so I’ve been nursing him until I have nothing left, and then supplementing him with a bottle of breast milk when he still seems to want more. It has left me wondering if he is really just hungry . . . perhaps he is not getting enough milk off of me during the day. He is still gaining weight at an unbelievable pace, but yet . . . I think these meltdowns are more than just “normal” baby things. Maybe he is getting enough to stave off the hunger during the day, but when bedtime comes around, the cumulative hunger hits and he melts down. I’m not exactly sure what to do . . . I guess I either have to try supplementing during the day, or working on increasing my supply so he can get another 1/2 ounce or so a feeding (I think that is all it would take).

I did check with the doctor . . . who said he is gaining weight normally and not to worry about it. And yet . . . I know my boy. He doesn’t generally cry and get fussy, and when he does, it means something is wrong. Now, if I can just figure out what.

In other news, we are more than halfway through the renovations to my condo, and we should be ready to put it on the market in about 4 weeks. I can’t believe how smoothly that is going (and we STILL haven’t finished renovations on our house . . . did I mention I still hate my contractor?)

Bedtime still sucks

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For lack of a more appropriate and descriptive term, bedtime the past few nights . . . SUCKS. Tonight, Micah was being cute and playful. He started to get sleepy around 7:15, so we bathed him, lotioned him up, and got him ready for bed. He smiled, took his medicine, and eagerly awaited his bedtime “snack.” I nursed him, and he began to drift off to sleep. In fact, he was out cold before he finished nursing. I tried to wake him, but he would have none of it! So, I quietly transferred him into the crib, shut off all the lights, waited five minutes, then left the room.

Fast forward about 10 minutes. MASS HYSTERIA began again. I have no idea what woke him up, but he was hysterical. I went upstairs, nursed him some more, and put him back to sleep. I snuck back downstairs. . . . and five minutes later, he was crying. I sent Elliot upstairs to work his magic. He tried the paci, and then Micah became hysterical again. Elliot spent the next 10-15 minutes singing to Micah, and he finally crashed again. We placed him back in the crib, and so far, so good (with the exception of 2 more paci insertion trips up the stairs).

I don’t really understand it. Our entire trip to California, and ever since he was 8 weeks old, bedtime has been a joy! Since the night we returned home from California, bedtime has not been the same. It doesn’t matter that he is relaxed and tired, it still becomes a screaming session every night. Once we get beyond it, everything is fine, but the process is very draining. I wish I understood what is happening that makes Micah so hysterical at bedtime everynight now. I also wish I knew how to fix it.

Still talking . . . but a new message

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As you all may recall, my pump and I don’t exactly get along. Nevertheless, we’ve been operating under a truce for the past few months. Generally, I use it as little as possible, and when I do, it works as little as possible, producing only the bare minimum of milk. Many of you may also recall that my breast pump talks to me. For the most part, it has continued to mock me, but it occasionally has had neutral messages for our pumping sessions.

Well, a few weeks ago, my pump stopped articulating well. Seriously . . . I think it was talking, but I couldn’t understand it. I slowly realized that it was sick. Not just a passing cold, but perhaps terminally ill. I called up Medela, and after going through their rigmarole, they declared there was nothing wrong with my pump. I insisted that there was, and they agreed to send me out a new motor.

While we were out of town, the new pump arrived. I was supposed to open the box and re-package it with my old pump. UPS, however, in their infinite wisdom, delivered the pump one day . . . and picked it up for return the next day, before I even had a chance to get home and use it! Today, the new pump arrived (for the second time). I swapped out the parts, and here I am, pumping away.

I was excited to meet my new pump. I turned it on tonight, fully expecting a new dialogue. Several of my friends have informed me that their pumps say wonderful things like “you’re pretty” and “you go girl” while they pump. I was looking forward to this new conversation, and I eagerly awaited the message from my new pump. As expected, this pump also talks. It has spent the entire time repeating the phrase “Wacko” over and over again. Apparently, Medela sent me another pump in need of a serious attitude adjustment. I was hoping for a nicer pump this go around . . . any tips for improving communication with a pump?

Progress

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Well, today Micah woke up a bit late (9:00 am), so I was afraid he’d be off all day. I worked hard to cram in all of his feedings, and he got some naps (but probably not enough). I made sure that we took him upstairs to bed at 7:45, and I nursed him. It was clear he didn’t get quite enough to eat, so we gave him another 2 ounces by bottle. He still wasn’t ready to fall asleep on his own, so we rocked him to sleep. He was out by 8:25 – the right time, even if he needed a bit more coddling to fall asleep. I’m hoping he’ll get better each night, and in a few more days we’ll be back to “normal.”

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

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Finally . . . home at last! This has been a crazy week, and I’m so glad to be done with the traveling. Poor Micah has had it the roughest – I think he is all confused about the time zone. The past few nights, bedtime has been a bit of a disaster, which has been so frustrating. Since Micah was 8 weeks old, bedtime has been simple – we get ready for bed, we put Micah down, we run in once or twice to reinsert his paci, and he sleeps through the night.

Since Sunday night, however, Micah has been tired and exhausted. I’ve gotten him ready for bed while he smiles and coos, and I nurse him as he dozes off, and I go to put him to sleep . . . . at which point, he melts down. Shrieking, hollering, yelling, hysterics. For about an hour. The poor guy is just so over-tired, he can’t let himself go to sleep. Sunday night was tough, but the crying was minimal – he started to get upset, I made a “swing” out of my lap and swayed him back and forth until he fell asleep. It took close to 1 hour to get him to sleep, but it was relatively painless. Monday night, we were off to a great start. I tried putting him to sleep earlier, but once again, hysteria set in. This time, he was loud and sobbing. I tried the makeshift swing, but no joy. My mom tried rocking him, but no joy. We finally decided to try a food coma . . . I tried nursing him, but there was not much left, and it was not coming out fast enough for him, so we made him a bottle. He took about 1 ounce, and food coma finally took hold! After that, my mom was able to rock him and sing to him, and he drifted off to la-la land and slept through the night.

Tonight, my original plan was to give him his medicine on the plane, to nurse him while we waited for the bags, and then hope he fell asleep in the car on the way home and just put him straight to bed. Well . . . things did not quite work out as I had planned. We left for the airport a bit late, so I was about 1/2 hour late nursing him. That half hour proved to be critical – when we landed 10 minutes early and our bags were waiting for us as we came up to baggage claim, it was about 1/2 hour too early to nurse him again. We decided to head home and do the bedtime routine there. Elliot was picking us up . . . and it took him another 15 minutes to get to us. By the time we got home, Micah had hit over-tired again. We got him ready for bed, I nursed him . . . . and then the hysteria hit again. He screamed for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Elliot and I tag-teamed, singing, shaking, rocking. He would calm down, and then he would wake himself up and start screaming again. Around 9:30 I tried nursing him again while Elliot fixed up a bottle. By the time Elliot got upstairs with the bottle, Micah was sound asleep. Hopefully, he’ll sleep through the night, and tomorrow night will be better.

Three Month Photo

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With all the craziness going on, I neglected to post about Micah’s 3 month photo shoot. At our second month photo shoot, Micah arrived just in time for his feeding. We had to feed him, change his diaper, and basically waste an hour trying to get him in the right frame of mind. Ultimately, it worked – the February pictures were gorgeous! This month, I decided I could time things better. I knew Micah’s eating and sleeping schedule, and I was sure I could get him napping and get out the door in perfect time to wake up happy and content for the photos.

Silly me! Micah was hell bent on NOT napping (not really a shock, since we did decide to take his pictures on Friday the 13th). The feeding timing worked out perfectly, and Micah was finally crashing just in time to go in his carseat and drive to the mall. Except . . . Elliot was running late. So Micah sat in the carseat ready to sleep, but progressively got pissy that we weren’t going anywhere. We finally got out the door, and Micah fell asleep in the car. Unfortunately, because we only had 20 minutes until the photo session, his nap was cut short. Had we left on time, he would have had a nice long nap. Just my luck!

We went inside to take the pictures. Micah looked adorable in his outfit! The only problem . . . he wouldn’t smile. In fact, he kept crying any time we removed his paci. We had a hard time getting a good picture of him. In fact, we only were able to get one good picture – but what a winner!


Click here to see the other photos from the shoot.

Adventures in Traveling, Part 2

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Well, we finally made it back from LA, and Micah finally crashed at 10:30 on Saturday night. He slept until 7:00 am, and the day started off normally. I really thought that we were back on track, and I was so proud of Micah for switching back to East Coast time. Sunday afternoon, we headed back to the airport to fly to Atlanta. We got there in plenty of time, made it on the plane, and all was good.

Once again, Micah was a trooper. He napped well all morning, and he was happy and cooing on the airplane. I nursed him as we took off, and he was content the rest of the flight. We were able to bring his car seat on the plane with us, so he had some place to relax. We landed a bit early in Atlanta, and off we went to baggage claim. Our bags came out immediately, we stood in line to pick up our rental car, and the man driving the bus to the rental car facility was so nice – he helped us with our bags and getting Micah on the bus.

We arrived at the hotel a little after 5. Check-in went smoothly, and I fed Micah again while we unpacked. We then decided to head out for an early dinner. Our initial plan was to eat at a restaurant called Camille’s. My mom and I had eaten there together back in the early 90s when I was in college in Atlanta, and we were excited to return there. I called the restaurant to make sure they were open . . . only to discover that the restaurant had closed! We were disappointed, so we headed to Lettuce Souprise You instead. I spent many a day eating there during my college years. It was a nice, quick, filling meal, and we were able to drive around the Emory campus afterwards. We stopped at Publix to get some snacks and water, then came back to the hotel.

Micah was just getting sleepy as I came upstairs. He giggled and smiled as I changed him and put him in his pajamas. I gave him his medicine, and started to nurse him. About halfway through (just as he was beginning to fall asleep) there was a loud knock on the door. It was the concierge with our refrigerator. I had to pull Micah off, and he became hysterical. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. Micah became over-tired, and we never quite recovered. I tried putting him in the pack-n-play to sleep, and he became hysterical. Every time we calmed him down, something set him off again. I finally sat down on a chair, put my legs on the ottoman, bent my knees up, and made a seat for Micah against my thighs. I moved my legs back and forth just like his swing at home . . . and about 15 minutes later, he was sound asleep. We were able to transfer him to the pack-n-play, and there he sleeps . . . snoring quietly.

Wish us luck! We have 2 days here in Atlanta before we head home on Tuesday. We will be arriving at home just in time for bed. I’m hoping we can get Micah back on a schedule. I am a bit concerned about feeding him, though. A few ounces of the milk I had packed leaked, and I had to nurse him again around 9:00, so I don’t think I’ll be able to pump as much milk as I had planned to pump before going to sleep. I just hope we have enough to get through tomorrow!

Adventures in Traveling

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We had quite a week! On Monday, I was determined to get everything ready for our trip early. No last-minute scrambling and staying up all night because of my procrastination. I made Elliot promise he would also get everything together, and our goal was to be packed and ready to go by midnight. Although our flight was not until 1:15 the following afternoon, I was concerned about being ready because Micah and I had an activity planned for the morning – session #2 of our OnesiesDC program. Our activity for the day was a meeting with a relationship counselor and a photo session with a photographer. I was determined to time everything right so that Micah was wide awake and happy for his pictures (unlike our 3 month photo session disaster . . . but I digress). My plan was to wake up in the morning, be out the door by 10, and have Elliot pick us up after class so we could go straight to the airport. I figured if I was ready to go by midnight, I could go to sleep after pumping and have a relatively calm and easy morning for a change.

I was so impressed with myself! Before Micah went to bed, I pulled out all of his outfits, folded them, and gathered all of his other items. I also made a list of everything else that needed to be packed, for both of us. Shortly after Micah went to bed, I finished up my laundry. Right before sorting my outfits for packing, I detoured to the bathroom. While I was in there, all of the sudden I felt strange . . . and blood began to GUSH out of my nose and down my throat.

I called to Elliot, and we tried squeezing my nose, leaning back in a chair, ice on the bridge of my nose . . . everything. I called my mom, and she said I should go to the hospital. Like every mature adult, I realized she was correct. I also knew I had no time to go to the hospital, pack, and still make my trip. So, I decided that I was going to will the bleeding to stop and go about my business. It was a LONG night, but 2 1/2 hours later, I finally got the bleeding to stop. I was exhausted, and took a bit of a nap.

Naturally, it was 2:00 am when I woke up. I still had to pump, and because of the prior drama, I had not done any packing. It was 4:30 am before I finished everything . . . just in time for Micah to begin fussing. I didn’t get ANY sleep before he woke up at 7 ready to eat. I ended up finishing the packing, and we got out the door for our class at 10. Micah was refusing to nap all morning, and fell asleep just before we left. I knew he’d be a grump when I woke him up for the picture session. Luckily, I was wrong, and he was cute as can be. Elliot came to pick us up right at 11:15, and off we went to the airport.

The trip out to LA was uneventful . . . except my little guy refused to sleep. Seriously refused to sleep. He was awake for over 11 hours straight. He started to get a bit fussy at times because he was over-tired. When we arrived, we drove straight to Rayna’s house and headed out to dinner with Rayna and Stuart. Dinner was wonderful – we ate at a restaurant called Riva. Micah finally crashed during dinner – he had woken up at 7:00 am ET, and he napped 3 times for a total of maybe 20 minutes, and he went to bed at 8:30 pm PT (of course, despite my intention to keep him on East Coast time, he decided he preferred California time). I sure hope we have an easy time switching back!

Micah woke up the next day happy. We played, he napped, he was really quite wonderful! It turns out, Micah was not the source of my California drama. While we were there, we stayed the first 2 nights with Rayna, an old family friend of mine. We spent Wednesday shopping, and I left Micah with Elliot. Then we met my law school friend Leila and her daughter for lunch at the Brentwood Country Market, and Elliot and Micah joined us. After lunch, Elliot took Micah on a long walk back to Rayna’s house, and they hung out and relaxed by the pool with her dog.


While Elliot & Micah spent time together, Rayna and I went for a manicure/pedicure. We had just finished and paid, when all of the sudden . . . the blood came gushing again out of nowhere! I knew it meant I had to go see a doctor. The ladies at the shop were great – they were cleaning me off as the blood was gushing – I couldn’t believe how helpful they were! While we were deciding which hospital, Rayna suddenly remembered that she knew an ENT. Luckily, he was willing to see us. As we drove across town through terrible traffic, the bleeding stopped. Although I wondered if the doctor would think I was crazy, I decided to keep the appointment since this had already happened twice.

The ENT was wonderful! Dr. Raphael Nach. He was so sweet (and I loved his South African accent), and he immediately found the source of the bleed. He decided to irritate the spot so that he could confirm it. Unfortunately, it started gushing again. Dr. Nach was surprised by how much blood. He decided that it was bleeding too much to cauterize, and he numbed my nose so that he could pack it instead. Somehow, the numbing agent slowed down the bleeding, and I was able to get my nosebleed cauterized.

We decided to stay in that evening with Rayna, Brandon and Stuart and make dinner. Micah went to bed right on cue at 7:00 pm, and he didn’t make a single peep all night. We had a wonderful dinner (and we made smores sitting by an outdoor fire pit). The next morning, we woke up and headed off to my conference. Well, it took us 2 attempts to leave . . . Elliot forgot Micah’s bottle at the house, so we needed to turn around to get it.

When we got to the hotel, we were upgraded to a suite! I went to see the exhibits, and took a few meetings. Elliot also met with another consultant and took care of Micah. It was actually a productive day for me. I think I might have landed another client or two, so the conference was well worth the trip. The suite was perfect for us – it allowed us to put Micah to bed in one room while we watched tv in the other. We had a relaxing evening, then headed back to the airport in the morning.

The trip home was LONG. Micah was napping when we first arrived at the airport in LA:
He slept through security and while we waited for our flight. He woke up in time to nurse for takeoff, and then he dozed back off for another hour. He woke up as we were arriving in Denver. We had a 3 hour layover in Denver, which just made the whole trip even longer. Here is Micah playing at the airport in Denver:

Micah was a real trooper – and so good. He was smiling and laughing almost the entire time. He had 2 or 3 periods of fussiness on the last leg of the trip. He was just over-tired, and he needed his medicine, and we were having trouble getting him comfortable. I think he was also sick of being held/confined. We landed at midnight, and Micah was so sweet while we waited for our luggage:


We didn’t get home until almost 1:30 am. He slept most of the way home in the car, but woke up as we entered the house. I nursed him again, and he went straight back to sleep.

Micah slept soundly until I finally woke him at 9:45 this morning. I was afraid to wake him earlier since he had been so exhausted. His day has been all screwed up today . . . but he has still been cute and playful when he is awake. Today we tried him sitting in the Bumbo seat:

I tried putting him to bed at 8:30, but he really wouldn’t fall asleep. I ended up bringing him back downstairs and he chilled on the playmat and is now currently asleep in the swing. I’ll have to figure out how to get him upstairs and figure out if he needs to eat again. I’m hoping we can get him back on schedule by tomorrow. I think I’m going to wake him up by 8:00 am no matter what.

Tomorrow I’m off to Atlanta for work! Micah is becoming quite the traveler. My mom is joining Micah and me this time – I have 2 days of meetings. I’ll update when I can!