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Maternity & Parenting Center

Micah’s Schedule

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As we are preparing for the birth of Twoey, I decided to write out Micah’s schedule (and a food list, and a list of activities) for my parents to use as a guide for caring for Micah while I’m in labor (and at the hospital after her birth). Our current plan is that (depending on the time of day), my father will come to the house and care for Micah while my mom meets Elliot and me at the hospital. After Twoey has arrived, my Dad can bring Micah over to meet her. My parents will likely sleep at our house for the 2 nights we are at the hospital with the baby.

I think other parents always enjoy seeing others’ schedules, so here is our basic schedule. The ranges given are approximate – Micah usually wakes up anywhere from 8 – 8:30, but it can always be earlier or later at times.

8:00 am – 9:30 am Wake Up & Milk & Breakfast

  • Change diaper, bring bring downstairs to play, give sippy cup of milk (mix in 1.0 ml polyvisol vitamins), prepare & serve breakfast, get Micah dressed AFTER breakfast.

9:30 am

  • Sunday: Playtime/activities
  • Monday: Take to daycare
  • Tuesday: Playtime/activities (usually Kidville class, or free activity)
  • Wednesday: Take to daycare
  • Thursday: Take to Kidville class from 10:30 – 12:00
  • Friday: Take to daycare
  • Saturday: Playtime/activities

12:30 pm Lunch & Milk (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

1:00 pm Nap time (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

  • Can be flexible with this…no earlier than 12 or 12:30 because he will be grumpy in the evening, and no later than 2. He usually naps 2 ½ – 3 hrs.

4:00 pm Milk & Snack (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm* Playtime/activities (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

*5:30 pm – 6:00 pm pick up Micah from daycare

(Monday/Wednesday/Friday)

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Dinner & Milk

7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Playtime

8:00 pm – 8:30 pm Bath & Bedtime

  • Bath on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (and usually once over weekend).
  • Bedtime routine: Brush his teeth, take him to the bedroom, read him a book, put on his music, turn off the lights (leave fan on), rock and sing with him a bit, place him in the crib, close bedroom door and leave.

16 months

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I can’t believe it…Micah is 16 months old today!! He is talking up a storm (although not all of it is intelligible), and he is just so active. Currently, his favorite word is “uh-oh.” I chuckle as I hear him toddling around the house saying “uh-oh” over and over again. He is getting pretty good about saying “hi” and “bye-bye” and waving. He says “baby” all the time now, too. He definitely is starting to repeat words, and he is finally in the pointing stage.

It looks like Micah is trying to cut another 4 teeth, and the poor guy has been miserable with sore gums and a runny nose (I think he also has allergies). I love how he comes over to give me kisses all the time, and he has been quite vocal about what he wants and doesn’t want. He is just so loving all the time – he loves to cuddle and kiss, and he loves to be tickled and chased. He hates having his nose wiped, too. He has become a HUGE thumb sucker – all day long, and he will even suck two thumbs at once if he can! I wish he wouldn’t suck his thumb as often, but what can I do?

He loves having me read him books, and he is just so curious all the time. He likes to point at things in books, and he is starting to identify animals. He is starting to use a spoon to feed himself, but generally requires a bath after any attempts.

Micah loves bath time – he continually places his face in the water and blows bubbles. He has fun splashing in the water and playing with his toys and dumping water over his face and hands. I am hoping to enroll him in a swim class this Spring – I hope he’ll love the pool and swimming.

Micah still adores Elmo – I’m constantly amazed how Elmo can end any temper tantrum. We are definitely entering the terrible twos – temper tantrums and frustration outbursts are getting more and more common. Micah gets very stubborn, and he does not like it when I tell him no or make him stop doing something he is enjoying.

Recently, Micah has taken possession of the rocking reclining chair in the living room. He firmly believes this is “his” chair. We are not allowed to put anything on it anymore (he throws any objects he sees on it right on the floor). He likes to climb up on the chair and sit (by himself) and rock. He also likes to try standing while Mommy yells at him to sit down. He will also yell and throw a tantrum if someone else sits in “his” chair. Micah does not know this yet, but we plan to move that chair to his bedroom after the remodel (since we will be moving the glider into Twoey’s room).

This week, Micah figured out how to open the front screen door – we will be keeping that locked from now on! He is starting to get out of his stroller more and walk when we are out in public. I have not yet taught him to listen or stay close, so this is not a fun development for me.

Micah weighs about 20 lbs right now. He is still wearing size 12 months clothing (the 12-18 month sizes are still a bit large on him). I’d guess he is around 34 inches tall – he won’t be measured again until June. He is mostly still wearing a size 3 diaper, but once we run out of this box, we’ll just put him in the size 4 diapers. I believe he is hitting all of his milestones on target. It is hard to imagine that it has already been 16 months. I’m excited each day to see him grow and learn. Happy 16 months, my little man!

Just a Summary

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On Thursday, we had another busy day. I woke up with my tush still burning and itching from the progesterone shot I had gotten on Monday. This week has been the worst – I have been so uncomfortable, itchy, and in pain from the shot all week, and I kept thinking it would just go away if I waited another day or two. Upon inspection, I realized that I was having an allergic reaction to the shot. As I thought about it, I realized that this was my first shot from the new set of vials (originally, the pharmacy sent 4 vials, and last week they sent my next 4 vials). These new vials are a different color (yellow, and the prior vials were clear). I was concerned that perhaps they used a different oil and that was causing my allergic reaction. So, I decided to call the pharmacy and ask about the shot. Apparently, there is a new manufacturer of the shot, so the formulation is different but the oil used is the same. I was directed to call my nurse and speak with her.

I then called the nursing company who administers the shots each week. They informed me they are getting reports of many reactions – almost 50% of the people who are receiving them. I was told that in most cases, the reactions are limited to the welts and itching, but can progressively get worse with continued shots (although some people only react the first time). I tend to be extremely allergy-sensitive, so I immediately decide that I’m not willing to risk escalating allergic reactions. I asked if they could obtain the P17 from the prior manufacturer and was told they could not. My only choices are: 1) to continue with the shots and deal with the allergic reaction ; or 2) stop the shots.

I tried to call my maternal fetal medicine specialist, but the gatekeepers at his office made it impossible for me to speak to anyone. I called the midwife, and she agreed that it was reasonable (but unfortunate) to stop the shots now. We also discussed my contractions and my concern about them increasing (or continuing to go on untreated). I now have a prescription for terbutaline, and directions about how she suggests I take the medication. I guess we will see where things are on Thursday.

After my crazy morning, I took Micah to a “Mommy and Me” event at Congressional (where his Kidville class is scheduled). We got a balloon, signed up for some free things, ate a quick lunch – it was a fun morning. We then went to our class at 12:30, and Grampy surprised Micah with a visit in class. Micah was SOOO excited to see him – he started to scream and yell and ran over to him.

We did have one meltdown in class. Micah was nestled securely in his teacher Paige’s lap (he LOVES her) and I saw another child in the class try to go running by. I grabbed that child and plopped him on my lap during the music circle time, and then Micah spotted me sitting there with another child in my lap. He went ballistic! He started to yell and came running over ready to push/hit/smack/move the other child out of the way and off my lap. All I can say is “uh-oh” – Micah is in for a rude awakening if he thinks he can keep me all to himself all the time. I’ve never seen him be so possessive of me, but it is definitely starting to show.

Thursday night was our weekly “date night.” Once again, Elliot used the time for practical purposes, and ran to the baby stores. We returned a few items, bought a few items, and looked at baby furniture for Twoey. We think we might have picked out her bedroom set! There is a new line of furniture coming out through this store later this month. It is American-made, green (as in environmentally friendly), and very reasonably priced. We are just waiting for the floor samples to come in to make sure we like the way it looks in person, and we are all set! If not, then we may just buy the same exact set we got for Micah in a different color.

On Friday morning, I took Nugget to her follow-up appointment at the animal hospital. I had a long discussion with the doctor before we signed out last week, and she said this was just an xray and a blood draw, so I did not need to schedule an appointment. She placed a tech service order to allow me to drop by any time. Needless to say…I got there and they insisted I needed an appointment. The doctor I dealt with was nowhere to be seen. I had to deal with a condescending “case manager” who was solely interested in telling me they were right and the confusion was clearly my fault (can we say customer service was not their strong point?). I was so angry at the whole situation. Ultimately, the emergency doctor saw us and ordered the xray and bloodwork. The good news…Nugget looked good on examination, her lungs were clear, and her kidneys seem to be doing okay (her creatinine level was normal, but her BUN was *slightly* elevated). We do not need to go back again for another 3-4 months for a follow-up with the cardiologist.

On Friday late afternoon, we went to a Spring Fling Luau event at Kidville, which included a musical performance, open gym time, some art projects, and pizza. Micah was climbing on the slides, and he loved the musical performance, and he even spent some time putting stickers on the art project. He ate a few pieces of pizza and then we headed home for the night.

Saturday, Daddy and Micah went to services in the morning. The weather was beautiful, so in the afternoon, we set up the gym set that my parents’ bought him for his birthday outside. Micah spent a while playing basketball, climbing on the slide and running around outside. We then had Jen and Dave come over to meet us for dinner. We just ran out for Chinese food, and then spent a few hours relaxing and catching up. Unfortunately, we could not find a babysitter for the evening, but it was still a wonderful night.

Sunday, we decided to meet some friends at Butler’s Orchard for a bunny festival! Micah had SOOO much fun – he got to pet sheep, a bunny, baby chicks (well, he nearly smashed those), and play with some toys in hay. Then he sat on a wooden choo-choo train, rode John Deere tractor tricycles, played in a wooden house, watched some children on pony rides, took a hayride, went on the moonbounce…it was a day full of activity!! We got some amazing photos of Micah:













After all the activities, Micah was exhausted, so we took him home for his nap. We fed Micah dinner, and I decorated some cupcakes. After dinner, I headed out to an Indian restaurants with the cupcakes to help celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was a nice evening.

Yesterday was back to the grind – I had a meeting downtown today, so it was a busy day. The traffic was also awful because of the Nuclear Summit. Today, Micah’s daycare had a trip to a the Natural History Museum, so I decided to take Micah and join them instead of going to his Kidville class in the morning. He had a lot of fun – there were all kinds of animals to see and a butterfly exhibit! Unfortunately, the trip started late and Micah started to get grumpy partway through the trip. I had to leave a bit early to get back in time for my OB appointment, so they agreed to keep Micah to finish up the activities (and Elliot met them back at the daycare when they returned). I took a few pictures, but I’ll have to upload them another day.

My OB appointment was this afternoon – 30 weeks!! I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy is flying. We discussed my contractions, and the midwife was concerned about the number of contractions I”m having. She recommends that I start taking the terbutaline on a regular basis now, and she did a fetal fibronectin test (it can predict pre-term labor) just to be safe. Other than that, I’m measuring 29 weeks now, baby’s heartrate sounded great, and my sugars have all been normal. I picked up the booklet on the diet – I have to say, I could never eat that much food! They recommend something like 2400 calories a day, 12 ozs of protein, 10-15 veggies a day, 3 fruits….perhaps it would be easier if I wasn’t vegetarian, but the only way I can consume that many calories a day is if it includes a nice big vat of chocolate ice cream…and brownies…and I don’t think that is what they have in mind.

One last note…Micah (and his Daddy and I) wanted to wish his Poppy Ira a VERY happy birthday today!! We’re thinking of you, and can’t wait to see you.

Two Steps Behind

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It seems that lately I am always woefully behind in updating this blog. I think I’m just so overwhelmed with everything going on right now in my life that I cannot seem to stay on top of it all. In general, I would have to say that the past few weeks have been rough – filled with chaos, big decisions and stress. Luckily, all of this craziness is laced with good, but I’m having a hard time enjoying the high points right now.
I think to catch everyone up, I probably need to backtrack to my post on March 24. First, I’ll start with a cute story about Micah. I can’t remember now which night it was – I know that Elliot wasn’t home and I was putting Micah to bed by myself. I asked Micah if he was ready to go take a bath and go night night, and he immediately ran to the stairs. I opened the gate for him, and he climbed upstairs and made a beeline for my bedroom (where we bathe him). He walked around to my side of the bed and grabbed the video monitor (he loves to play with it). I unplugged it so he could have his toy, and then I watched him as he used the doggy steps by the bed to climb up onto the bed. He was just so cute as he sat and played and talked! He also really loves bath time – he plays with his toys, he laughs, and he sticks his face in the water. I should take a few pictures/videos soon.
Anyway, Thursday, March 25, was a typical Thursday. We got up at our regular time, I did some work, and then Elliot and I left a bit early to take my car to be detailed (we were getting ready to trade it in, so we wanted it to look nice). We dropped off the car on the way to taking Micah to his Kidville class, which worked out well. After class, we raced home so Micah could take a nap. I have to say, Micah has been so funny lately. When he is tired, if you ask him if he wants to go upstairs and go “night night,” he drops whatever he is doing, runs to the stairs and bangs on the gate. If you open the gate for him, he hastily climbs upstairs to his bedroom. It makes nap time and bed time so much easier!



Shortly thereafter, our architect showed up with the latest draft of our designs. The good news – he figured out how to give us the “bare minimum” of our request within the space/budget we had originally discussed. The “bad” news – he also showed us some designs with a slightly bigger budget that would give us everything we had hoped for (but more than we expected). Unfortunately, we are already a few weeks behind in the decision-making process, and this placed us even further behind. We could not give the architect the go-ahead to finalize the drawings until we know which design approach we want. Naturally, we need to know how the change in plans will affect our budget before we can make that decision. So, we were on hold until we could meet with our builder and discuss costs with him.
Thursday night was date night…and, once again, we decided that we needed to use our precious date time to go car shopping. This time, we headed to the Lexus dealership where we leased my car. We wanted to discuss the lease rates (and get a trade-in value on my car). Unfortunately, we felt we were low-balled a bit on the price for my car, but we really did get a great rate on the lease. After all the car shopping we had done, we decided that leasing the same vehicle again was likely our best bet. We were torn between leasing the 2010 RX 350 and the 2010 RX 450h (hybrid version). There was a definite price difference between the two – the 2010 version of my car would have lowered our monthly payments, but the 2010 hybrid version would increase them. Elliot felt strongly about switching to the hybrid version (he felt the $50+ per month in gas savings would make up for the increase in monthly payments). After our meeting, we decided to call it a night, and we headed home without even bothering with a date night dinner.
On Friday, I went to have my one hour glucose tolerance test done and then took my car to be appraised at Carmax (we were hoping to get a stronger offer to take to the dealership, but no such luck). Their offer was the same as the dealership, unfortunately. Elliot came and met me at Carmax after his meeting, and then we drove back to Lexus. While we were there, we met with the manager on the “certified pre-owned” side of the business. He had previously been a salesman who leased me all three of my prior vehicles, so I’ve known him for years. We talked him into increasing the trade-in offer on my car, and while we were there, we decided to look at the 2007 used (sorry – pre-owned) hybrids. The hybrids were in great shape, and the price was right. We test drove two of them, and we priced them both. It turns out, purchasing the 2007 hybrid would cost us less per month than leasing the new 2010 non-hybrid. We tentatively told the manager that we would like to get the 2007 used car. Unfortunately, our first choice (the less expensive option) had a deposit on it. The manager was kind, and he ended up lowering the price on the other vehicle to match the price of the first car we wanted. We test drove it, and asked him for a day to think about it.
We had a quiet evening at home on Friday night, and on Saturday I worked on decorating a cake for my friend Laurie’s bachelorette party. At some point, we did call the dealership and tell them that we wanted to buy the 2007 used hybrid, and asked them to hold it for us for pickup either on Sunday or Monday. I made a slightly…naughty…cake. It was designed to look like the chest of a male stripper, and I have to say, he was designed to do some stripping. After I finished the cake, I got dressed and ready for a night of festivities. I have to say…bachelorette parties are not quite the same while you are pregnant! We went out to dinner and had a 3 course meal at a fantastic restaurant. We did head out to one or two bars, but we mostly sat around talking at a table – our days of carousing seem to be long gone! Nearly all of the women there were married (and most of us had children). It was a fun evening, but I was completely exhausted by the end of the night.

After all the running around on Saturday, I wasn’t feeling well, and my contractions were getting much worse on Sunday. On Sunday, Elliot woke up early to cook Easter dinner for 1500 people at Martha’s Table. Normally, I would cook with him, but we did not have anyone to watch Micah, so I stayed behind this time. Micah and I had a fun day together. Micah has just been so cute – he plays with his toys, he laughs at himself, he chases Nugget, we cuddle together, and we read books. Especially Dr. Seuss’ The Foot Book (over and over and over….). By the time Elliot got home, I was exhausted and really not feeling well – I had to lay down for a few hours to deal with the contractions and nausea.
I also knew that Monday night was the first night of Passover – and our first Seder. Passover is the holiday that commemorates the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. We have a Seder (a special dinner) for the first two nights of Passover. At the Seder, we eat special foods to remember the journey out of Egypt and the hardships of slavery we suffered at the hands of Pharaoh. Our plan this year was to go to my parents’ house for the first Seder to celebrate with my parents, Jeremy, Jen, Paige and Peyton. We decided to postpone the second Seder until the third night because our oldest niece was flying in from a semester abroad in South Africa on Wednesday morning. By holding the second Seder until Wednesday night, Melissa would be able to celebrate with us.
When I could finally move again on Sunday night after my nap, I got up to start preparing the food I promised to make for dinner at my parents’. I started by making charoset – basically, it is a mixture of chopped apples, cinnamon, walnuts, and sweet wine, which is intended to symbolize the mortar used by the Jews when we were slaves in Egypt and building pyramids for Pharaoh. I decided I was too exhausted to do anything else, so I went to bed.
On Monday, I balanced getting my work done with cooking and getting another weekly progesterone shot in my ass! I have to say, I was quite impressed with myself – while drafting several documents and handling 3 conference calls, I managed to make a batch of kosher for passover brownies (no flour or leavening in them) and a broccoli souffle. In between calls and baking, I had my shot and got back to work. I got everything in the oven by early afternoon – just in time for the architect and the builder to arrive. We met with them for a few hours to discuss the status of the project. The builder was able to give us a price quote on expanding our project. We were pleasantly surprised that it was MUCH less money than we expected. Consequently, we decided that if we could secure the funds for the project, we felt it was worth the investment to do the expanded addition. So…that left us with a funding challenge. We had set our budget based on the current funds we had available. With the expanded project, we definitely need either a construction loan, or an increase in our home equity line of credit, or to sell my condo, or to refinance the house, and we just did not know whether that was reasonable. So, we told the architect and the builder we needed a few days to figure out the financing to decide whether we would go with the expanded project or if we would have to go with the original plan.
With that, we hastily hurried them out the door, grabbed our stuff, and dashed off to pick Micah up from daycare so we could get to my parents’ house in time for the Seder. After we grabbed Micah and made our way to the dealership…I realized I’d forgotten the charoset at home! I did all that work and promised my mother, then promptly left it at home. I felt terrible – she had to mix up a batch on the fly (as if she didn’t do enough work for the dinner). On our way to dinner, we decided to stop off at the dealership to pick up my “new” used car. Micah had a chance to dance to the music in the dealership.




We signed the paperwork, but it was taking too long. I started to get really annoyed, and the manager said they could finish things up and drop the car off at my parents’ house later that night. We decided to take them up on their offer and raced over to my parents’ house.
When we arrived at my parents’ house, we found our close friend Rayna there (who was in for the holiday) to visit us. Micah and his cousins showed off and played with Rayna for a bit, and then we started our dinner. The Seder actually went quite well. It was extremely short, but we decided to do a child-friendly version. We explained the story of Passover and did all the symbolic parts, and we sang a few children’s Passover songs. And then we ate…gefilte fish, an egg (to symbolize the start of new beginnings), brisket, turkey breast, broccoli souffle, and asparagus. We topped off our meal with brownies and mandel bread (kind of like biscotti, but made without flour for the holiday). Towards the end of the meal, the guys from the dealership showed up to drop off my car! We made sure everything was in order, and we drove my “new” used car home. I have to say, while I’m glad it is all done, I really hate that my “new” car looks EXACTLY like my old car. It kind of takes the “new” feeling away. It is a hybrid, so that is an improvement. I’m just glad the whole struggle/debate is done.
Tuesday was crazy again – I tried juggling Micah and work and preparing for Elliot’s family to arrive. The cleaning lady was here and I had to put everything in order and work with Elliot to prepare the dinner (and organize the kitchen and set the table….). Elliot made turkey loaf and meat loaf, and we prepared roasted potatoes and we served green beans with an Italian dressing on them. Tuesday night, Steven, Jodi, Brian and Stephanie arrived, and my parents joined us for dinner. After dinner, Steven and Jodi went to a hotel near the airport to stay, and the kids stayed with us for the night.


As I mentioned in my last post, things turned crazy on the home front that night – we rushed Nugget to the emergency room in the wee hours of the night Wednesday morning. Bright and early on Wednesday morning, Melissa landed. Somewhere during that time, I received a call from the doctors that I failed the one hour glucose test. I spent the day juggling visits to the vet emergency room, coordinating with family, and trying to cook a huge meal. Luckily, my mom had made extra briskets and chicken soup for us, so we just had to heat that up. Elliot made turkey, and I did the side dishes. Jodi helped me make a spinach souffle, matzah balls, an apple charlotte, and asparagus. Melissa had brought us a special gourmet vinegar from South Africa, so we used the vinegar in the dressing for the asparagus. Brian helped me make a second batch of brownies for dessert. Despite all the chaos, we managed to get everything finished and it tasted delicious. We were a bit disorganized (we were racing around trying to set the table, find the Hagaddahs, and put everything on the Seder plate). The Seder was not exactly smooth…but we managed. I cut out several of the dishes I had planned to make, but in the end, there was plenty of food and it all went well.
While it was wonderful to have everyone in town, I have to admit I wanted nothing more than to cancel the whole dinner and curl up in bed and cry. I realized as I was sitting down for dinner that I’d been in the same outfit for 48 hours. I didn’t even have the energy to go upstairs and change at that point. It was just a long and emotional day, and I have to say, I was a bit relieved when everyone left. I immediately drove back down to the vet hospital to sit with Nugget…and left Elliot with all the mess to clean up!
While I was visiting Nugget, she seemed okay – happy to see me, but still having difficulty breathing. They thought she was doing better and were hopeful that she would be released from the hospital in the morning. While I was there, she would not stay in her oxygen tent – she just wanted to be held. They gave her some food and she scarfed it up! The worst part of the evening…she peed all over me. Twice. The medicine she was on was intended to rid her body of fluids, and it made it difficult for her to control her bladder. It was awful, and she looked so embarrassed when it happened. So, after being in the same outfit for 48 hours, I ended up in a urine-soaked dirty outfit. Fitting end to the day, right?
I stayed with her about one hour…and watched a cat die. I was a mess – the poor cat had some kind of a bad reaction (possibly to a vaccine) and they kept working on him and working on him and trying to administer CPR, but they just couldn’t get him going again. The owner came back and the whole experience was awful. It actually reminded me of a visit there when Nugget was just a few years old…that time, I had rushed my neighbor to the hospital with her dog, who had collapsed while we were on a walk. His name was George, and he was a St. Bernard. He died that day on the same table while we watched through the glass door. That table loomed in front of me the entire time Nugget was in the hospital. I hope I never have to see her that way on that same table.
I finally got home around 11:00 pm…and crashed. I didn’t even bother to see if Elliot had cleaned up! I figured it did not matter if there was still food on the table…Nugget wasn’t home to steal it. On Thursday morning, we woke up to another crazy day. We had to go to my ultrasound and my OB appointment and pick Nugget up from the hospital. Since Elliot needed to get his car serviced, he left a bit before us to drop his car off and get a rental. While it was there, the “Dent guy” was going to give us an estimate on fixing the damage to the car, too.
I had carefully packed up my phone and everything I needed for Micah. On his way out the door, Elliot “accidentally” grabbed my phone. I was so angry! I didn’t notice it was gone until I was almost to my mom’s office. She was going to watch Micah for us while we went to the ultrasound, and I was supposed to call her when I got there so she could come down. I had planned on having her take Micah then quickly run over to the dealership to have a few things fixed on my car (naturally, it didn’t occur to Elliot to call my mom to tell her he had my phone). Elliot was supposed to meet me at the Lexus dealership, and then we were going to drive to the ultrasound together in his car. Since I couldn’t call my mom, I had to park the car – no easy task. The parking lot was packed, so I had to park illegally. I then needed to get the stroller out, and load Micah in, and gather all his stuff together. Naturally, the accessible entrance was all the way around the front of the building. It took forever to walk around to the front, go in the accessible entrance and take the elevator upstairs. I went to my mom’s office…and she wasn’t there. I then went to the front desk…and she wasn’t there. After finding someone who recognized me and begging to use their phone so that I could call my mom’s cell phone to tell her we were there, my mom showed up and found us! I handed off Micah, borrowed her phone to call (and yell) at Elliot. The whole thing set us back 20 minutes, so I was no longer able to go to the dealership, and Elliot had to meet me at the doctor’s office.
My appointment brought mixed news. My cervix shrunk another 2 mms, but Twoey was doing really well! She was moving great, and measuring about 27 weeks 6 days (I was 28 weeks 2 days). Once again, my regular doctor wasn’t there, so we had to see the other doctor. She really bugs me. She was totally unconcerned about the contractions, and kept saying that my cervix was good even though it keeps shrinking. I mentioned that the other doctor said he would get more aggressive about treating the contractions if my cervix dropped below 3.0, but she said she was not concerned unless my cervix was below 2.0. I again pointed out that the goal was to avoid bedrest, and she told me that I could take medicine for the contractions “if I wanted to.” Well…I’m not the doctor! I felt like it shouldn’t be my call. She wrote me a prescription and told me to do whatever I wanted. I was so frustrated! What I wanted was advice and an explanation, and this doctor just always seems to shrug everything off.
We went back to pick Micah up from my mom, and Elliot took my car and Micah to the dealership to fix a few problems while I drove down in the rental to pick up the dog. She was looking much better, and I was thrilled to be bringing her home. Elliot got home and put Micah down for his nap. I still had my OB appointment, and we decided that Elliot would stay behind with Micah and the dog while I went alone. My appointment went really well. We discussed the possible gestational diabetes (and I started to monitor my sugar levels). I have to meet with a nutritionist to talk about diet, but things look promising. So far, all of my sugar levels have been normal. We also discussed my frustration with the doctor, and the midwife said she felt that I should only take the medication when my contractions are particularly frequent/strong. I felt like she gave me some good guidance, and she said that if things start to feel like they are increasing in intensity on a regular basis (or seem to move back towards real labor) then I will go on the medicines permanently. But, for right now, the contractions are not sufficiently strong or regular to warrant aggressive medication, and while my cervix is shrinking, it is not currently shrinking at a rapid rate, so she felt we would do better to continue to wait it out a bit. She thinks I still have enough time to continue avoiding bedrest.
When I returned from my appointment, Rayna and Arleen stopped by for a brief visit. It was nice catching up with them, and they got to spend a bit of time with both Micah and Nugget. Thursday night, my mom came down for date night. We just did not feel like going out with everything going on, so my mom helped with feeding Micah and entertaining him, and she helped me bathe him and put him to bed. We made sure to give Nugget lots of love and attention, too. My mom left pretty early, but the extra help was such a relief. She offered to help pack up and freeze the leftovers, but the kitchen was still such a mess that we did not even know where to begin. Instead, she suggested that she and my father return on Friday night to eat some leftovers and help us clean everything up.
On Friday, we spent the day trying to get all of our work done while Micah was at daycare. I spent a lot of time cuddling Nugget, too. We also managed to get in touch with a mortgage broker, and it seems that we can easily refinance the mortgage on the house and get the money we need to do the expanded renovations. So, we gave the architect the go-ahead to start finalizing the plans. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back on schedule. I ran out for an hour in the afternoon to meet my friend Heather for lunch. I have to say, when 5:00 rolled around, I was so relieved that the week had ended.
My parents came over for dinner on Friday night. We ate some leftovers, and Elliot managed to get most of the dishes done (or at least in the sink). We were able to start putting things away and break down the extra table and chairs. My dad helped me put the plates and platters away, and my mom and Elliot cut the leftover brisket and meat loaf into single-sized portions for the freezer. We sent some brisket and soup home with my parents, and by the end of the night, we finally felt like we had control of the chaos.
On Saturday, we had a lazy morning. Elliot and Micah went to services, and I stayed home to do some more cleaning/organization and spend time with Nugget. After Micah woke up from his nap, we went out to meet Elliot’s cousin Dana for an early dinner (she and her husband and their 2 kids were in town unexpectedly for a quick visit). After dinner, we raced home to give Nugget her medication and put Micah to bed, and then I went out to meet my friend Niki and catch up with her for a few hours. I got home and worked with Elliot to finally finish the clean up from the prior week. We made sure everything that needed hand-washing was washed, and we put away all the platters. I wiped down the counters, and put everything back in its place. I straightened up the toys, and threw all the dirty dish towels down into the laundry room. I also set the table and prepared everything for our brunch the following morning (yes, that seemed like a good idea back when I set it up).
This morning, our friends Ellen and David (and their son Max) joined us for brunch at 11:30. Ellen is also pregnant, and due just a few weeks after me! We kept brunch nice and simple. I had cleared the buffet and cleaned up the kitchen, and did my best to control the toys in the living room. We made matzah brie (kind of like french toast, but made with matzah), an old family recipe that we call “matzkes” (which is just a sweetened farmers cheese broiled on some matzah), and some scrambled eggs. They stayed for a few hours, and the cleanup was nice and easy – I did all the dishes and we’ve got just about everything put back together again. I am hoping that our cleanup for the cleaning lady tomorrow night will be nice and simple now!
So, here is my “naked baby” running around tonight before bed.

I think I’ll conclude this post with a few photos – I finally got those “rock star photos” of Micah from our class field trip almost two weeks ago. How funny are these?









I still have to scan the ultrasound pictures from Thursday and post them, so I’ll be back with more pictures of Twoey soon!

Car Troubles, Daycare Woes, Renovations and Baby Update

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CAR TROUBLES

This is another long update…I’m woefully behind on my blogging activities. I thought I’d start off with an update about our car situation. The good news is, our “car troubles” are not mechanical. Three years ago, Elliot and I both needed new cars. Elliot had a 17 year old car that was falling apart (and unsafe for a family) and I had a leased vehicle that was reaching the end of the agreement. We did a lot of shopping and hunting and evaluations, and we decided to buy a Prius for Elliot and lease another vehicle for me. We wanted to have one smaller vehicle and one bigger vehicle, but we really did not know enough about our family-to-be to decide how BIG a second vehicle we needed. We decided to lease an SUV, and we got a great deal on a Lexus RX350.

So, here we are, three years later, and my lease is ending again at the end of the month. We have one child and one on the way, and we are fairly certain that our family will be “complete” once Twoey arrives. Elliot and I are back to car-shopping, but we do not seem to be on the same page this time. I tend to have a “mine” v. “yours” mentality about cars. I have a car and Elliot has a car, and we each primarily drive our own cars. When we go out as a family, we either take the car that makes the most sense, or we take the car of the person who will be driving. The bigger more comfortable car should be the one we use for family vacations. Elliot, however, has a different approach. He thinks the smaller more fuel efficient car (his) should be the primary car that we drive, and the bigger more comfortable car (mine) should only be driven when absolutely necessary. Elliot tends to bike and walk most places, and he has this knack for blocking my car into the driveway. As a result, I’m always the one driving his car, and I hardly ever get to drive my car. My car is 3 years old, and it has fewer than 12,000 miles on it!

Obviously, I want to get a car that I enjoy and DRIVE it. Elliot thinks we should get a minivan that mostly sits in the driveway and I should just drive his car unless he is using it (which would mean that sometimes I’d get stuck taking a big huge minivan into the city for meetings – I cringe when I envision trying to maneuver the minivan in a downtown garage). We’ve been looking at SUVs with a third row, minivans, and the same size SUV I am driving now. Most of the time, we do not need the space in a minivan. It would be nice if we could take my parents or friends out to dinner along with the kids in one car, or to have everyone together in one car for a vacation, or to possibly bring a babysitter with us on vacation. We will now be traveling with a double stroller, 2 pack-n-plays, and an assortment of other junk. We should be able to fit all of that in an SUV (without additional passengers). With all of that in mind, if we get the minivan, we will buy it, but if we get an SUV, we will likely lease again because we *may* want to get a minivan next time around.

Test driving is fun! My parents have helped out by babysitting Micah. On Sunday, we checked out three dealerships. We quickly stopped by the Volvo dealership to check out the Volvo XC90. We thought it was expensive, with limited features, and the third row would be impossible to access with two car seats strapped in the middle row. We decided to skip the test drive and we moved on to Honda. At Honda, we looked at the Pilot and the Odyssey. The Pilot (a 3 row SUV) was roomier than I expected. It would be possible to strap two car seats side-by-side in the middle row and leave the end seat open for a person to sit and access to the third row (although I am worried about the wisdom of putting the two kids so close together in the car – I have visions of Micah throwing his sippy cup at Twoey’s head, or reaching over and pinching her because he thinks it is funny). There are also latches in the back row, so it is safe to place a car seat in the third row if needed. The middle row slides forward and backward, and there was a fair amount of leg room for both the middle and third rows. Our biggest concern was that with the third row up, there was hardly any trunk space – we could never go on a trip with all three rows in use and fit in luggage, too. BUT, with the third seat flat, there was an amazing amount of trunk space. After examining the car, we took it for a test drive. The steering is power-assist and it feels a bit heavy. The car does feel much larger than I am accustomed to driving, but it was easy to park. I thought it was a bit sluggish on acceleration and definitely on the noisy side. All-in-all, it was better than I anticipated, but I’m still not sure that it is a car I want to be driving.

We then took a look at the Odyssey. I’m extremely hesitant about the concept of having a minivan right now, but I can absolutely see the benefits. The side door slides open and closed, and the seats were big, roomy and comfortable. The Odyssey only has room for two car seats in the middle row, and it is unlikely we would be able to fit a third person in between the car seats in the “mini” seat. If we leave the middle seat out, there is easy access to the third row, and easily room for 2-3 adults to sit in that third row. There are also latches for a third car seat in the rear row. Even with all three rows up and full, there is plenty of trunk space. The Odyssey was less noisy to drive than the Pilot, but felt like a huge boat to me and it was a bit difficult to park. The rear view mirror also seemed a bit small for the vehicle. We loved all the amenities, and I think it even handled a little better than the Pilot, but it, too, was a bit sluggish on acceleration.

Our next stop was at Toyota. Yes, I know a lot of people are worried about Toyota right now, but I’m not. I believe they are great and safe vehicles. As for the acceleration problem – well, I drove a 1984 Chevy Cavalier and it used to take off and accelerate without warning all the time, too. Not just my vehicle, but everyone I knew with the car. I feel like these issues have been going on in cars forever, and with the attention perhaps all vehicles will become safer. Chevy never admitted or fixed the problem, and I have to say I was relieved when my car was finally totaled in an accident. Okay – stepping off my soap box now :). We checked out the Highlander (SUV) and the Sienna (minivan). The Highlander handles nicely, but I did not think it offered anything better than my Lexus (which is essentially the same car). The third row was largely useless – it was small, it would be impossible to access with two car seats installed, and it left no trunk space when the seat was up. We quickly decided that the Highlander was not likely the right car for us. We then turned to the Sienna. It has some amazing amenities, and really had most of the same benefits as the Odyssey. The seats in the Odyssey looked more plush and comfortable than the Sienna. We LOVED the backup camera and the crash avoidance system, and it was loaded with all kinds of technology. It felt much smaller than the Odyssey when we were driving it, we thought the acceleration was a bit better, and the rear view mirror was a significant improvement over the Odyssey. There was also a storage pocket for the middle seat in the second row. Consequently, we decided that IF we get a minivan, we will likely get the Sienna over the Odyssey.

Last night was our date night, and before dinner, we went to test drive the Acura MDX. It is the luxury version of the Honda Pilot, but definitely smaller. We really liked the MDX – it handled well, it was loaded with amenities, and it was comfortable and spacious. We do think that, like all the other three row SUVs we have been trying, with two car seats installed, the third row is essentially rendered useless. In a pinch, we could pull out a car seat or try moving them next to one another to utilize the third row, but we would rarely actually do that. The MDX has more trunk space (with the third row flat) than my Lexus, and in theory we could utilize the third row when we need it. The biggest down side is the mileage – it is much worse than the Lexus without offering significant advantages.

We have a few other cars left to test drive. We are going to look at the Lexus 350 again and the hybrid version (the 450), and perhaps we’ll go look at the Mazda as well. Fuel efficiency is also key to Elliot, and pretty much all the cars we have looked at thus far are far less fuel efficient than my current Lexus. It may actually be worth it to us to sacrifice the moderate size advantage of the MDX for the fuel efficiency of the Lexus hybrid. So many decisions to make, and so little time! I really wish I knew what to do about the minivan v. SUV. If any of you out there have two kids and would like to give some advice/experiences, I’d love to hear it!

DAYCARE WOES

As you know, we’ve been struggling with how to handle child care with two children. Right now, Micah is in daycare three days each week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we try to balance the time between work and Micah. Most of the time, Micah wins that battle and very little work is accomplished (more so for me than for Elliot, but his work schedule is also affected). This has been a challenge trying to work full-time – we juggle our meetings, try to multi-task, we rely on my father and a babysitter to fill in hours for us on occasion, and we shift a significant amount of work to the evening hours. Next year, we planned to continue Micah in daycare three days a week, and he will also begin nursery school two mornings a week. I’m not sure how much additional time nursery school will give us for work – perhaps a few hours each on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

When we learned we were expecting a second baby, this threw a major wrench into our status quo. We decided to place Twoey on the wait list for the same daycare where we have Micah, and we began to discuss whether a nanny would make sense. Daycare here is EXTREMELY expensive. Full-time daycare for two children could easily cost more than most people make in a year, and is really not a reasonable option for us. Part-time daycare for two children would be a little more than half the cost of full-time, but Elliot is concerned about whether we can really sustain this schedule with our work (and with two kids). Our biggest problem is that we cannot figure out if we can find a nanny until we are much closer to a start date, but, unfortunately, we have to start making our choices now. Micah’s daycare requires us to commit to next year now. We have to sign an enrollment agreement for Micah by the end of this month, and once we sign that enrollment agreement, we are committed to next year. If we cancel any time from April through September 30, we forfeit our deposit (which is equal to a full month of daycare). If we cancel AFTER September 30, we can get our deposit back, but we must give 30 days written notice and pay for that final month (so we could give notice on October 1 and withdraw Micah from daycare as of November 1).

To add to our worry, we just got a call this week that Twoey has been accepted to daycare…as of September 1. We have to turn in our deposit and enrollment agreement for her as of March 31 (before she is even born!) to secure her spot. If I am not ready to send her to daycare in September, I have to pay to hold on to her spot (we were hoping to keep her out of daycare until January). So, we would be paying for four full months of daycare that we may not even use. If we cancel and pull them both out of daycare before September, it will cost us two deposits (the same as one month of daycare for two children).

While we are struggling with our decision about daycare, we are now revisiting the idea of a nanny (perhaps full-time). That would free up more hours for meetings and work, and I could also be more flexible with my down time – if I unexpectedly have a block of hours free on a Wednesday, I could choose to spend that time with one (or both) of the kids. My biggest fear is that we will pull Micah (and Twoey) out of daycare in favor of a nanny, but then we will not find a nanny situation that works for us and we will be…well, screwed!

When we checked into nannies the last time, we were concerned about the cost. A full-time nanny for one is significantly more than full-time daycare for one. However, a full-time nanny for two is about the same cost as a full-time nanny for one. There is a WIDE range of nanny rates. Nannies obtained through an agency are extremely well-qualified, but definitely out of our price range. Most of the other nannies in the area are quite expensive, but may be within the outer range of our budget. It is possible to find nannies who are less expensive, but many of them do not speak English well or may not be legal immigrants. We would love to find someone who is legal, speaks English well, and is wonderful with children. Even more, we would love to find someone who will work for a little less money than the going rate in our area. We would be willing to take fewer hours (maybe only 35) instead of the 45-50 most full-time nannies expect.

We have also considered getting an au pair. Au pairs are MUCH less expensive than in-home nannies, but they are young (usually 18 or 19) and they would have to live in the house with us. We are a bit uncomfortable with the idea of having a stranger live in our house with us, especially a teenage girl. Because of our living situation and restrictions on the age of the children au pairs are permitted to care for, we would likely not be able to get an au pair until January. I’ve heard a lot of drama stories about au pairs and the trouble they get into here in America and dating, and I’m just not sure I’m ready to be responsible for a teenager!

So…once again, we’re stressed about child care. Feel free to chime in and give opinions and suggestions!

RENOVATIONS

We have signed up with an architect and are now working on final plans to renovate our house. We are hoping to add a bedroom and an office upstairs, an office, a new living room and a new family room downstairs, and expand our basement. If all goes as planned, we hope to break ground in May and if everything is under cover, we *may* be able to move back to the house in September. The renovations will still be ongoing in the addition, but the work would be complete on the existing part of the house. I’m nervous about moving in May again, and we will have to move back only 4 or 5 months later with a newborn. What a mess!

TWOEY

This week, we had an appointment with the midwife and with the maternal fetal medicine specialist. I am 24 weeks pregnant now, and Twoey is doing great! She is growing right on target, and I’m hanging in there. I’m still dealing with morning sickness, and my weight is not increasing, but things are progressing well. My contractions have been a little better the past two weeks, and my cervix seems to be holding somewhat steady. It was 3.5-3.7 at 22 weeks, and it was in the 3.3-3.5 range at my last ultrasound.

We met with my primary doctor, and he would like to continue doing the cervical length checks every two weeks. He also thought that getting the P17 shots might not be a bad idea. He said he could not promise they would help, but they certainly couldn’t hurt. My insurance approved the shots and I am just waiting now for my first appointment. I’m extremely nervous – I’m nervous about the shots, I’m nervous about the pain, and I’m nervous about the side effects. I just wish I believed the shots would actually help.

So, here are the pictures we got from the ultrasound. The tech took most of the pictures in 3D, and we finally got a few good looks at her.

Flashing us a grin:

Some more face shots:





Sucking her thumb:

Showing her “girl” parts:

MICAH

Last, but certainly not least, is my update on Micah!! I’m amazed every day by how much he is growing and developing. He loves to play and laugh, and he just does such silly things all the time. He is not only walking everywhere, but he RUNS now, too. He is into everything, and just constantly busy. He spends most of his days trying to destroy the tupperware cabinet – walking through our house these days is like navigating a tupperware obstacle course. He talks all the time (although I understand very little of what he says). I love how he signs “more” and “all done” when we are feeding him. He is getting much better at communicating what he wants and I just love how happy and smiley he is all the time. He is such a wonderful child, and he brings joy to my life every moment of every day.

I have been working on trying to break out of our food rut and diversifying Micah’s meal options. Over the past few weeks, Micah has tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (he LOVES peanut butter), a cream cheese and jelly sandwich, a cream cheese and olive sandwich, fish sticks, a veggie hotdog, and cold cuts (turkey, chicken, bologna and corned beef). We have purchased arborio rice to make risotto (and then form them into cakes) and powdered mashed potatoes so we can make mashed potato cakes (I’ll mix in some veggies and cheese). We bought chicken fingers and some chicken tenders and fish so we can make more diverse dinner options for Micah. I have the ingredients for sweet and sour meatballs, and I plan to make that for him soon. We have tons of organic fruit leather for snacks, too. So far, he seems to be loving everything. I have even been trying to “spice” up some of our regular breakfasts. This week, I made apple blueberry cinnamon pancakes for Micah.

Apple Blueberry Cinnamon Pancakes:
Use a regular pancake mix – follow the instructions for mixing pancakes
Add 1/2 cup applesauce
Add 1/2 cup blueberries (can use fresh, frozen or dried)
Add 2 tsps cinnamon (or more for bigger batches)
Add 1 tsp vanilla
Mix and pour your pancakes on the griddle for cooking!

These were a big hit – Elliot loved them, too. We still serve the pancakes for Micah with yogurt and pureed fruit on top instead of syrup or honey, but maple syrup or honey would work great on top of these, too. I’ll have to do a picture post of Micah soon.

Last week, I met up with an old friend from high school, who happened to be in town with her new baby. We ended up shopping at the mall, and I went on my second shopping spree for baby clothing since Micah was born! I bought him a bunch of clothes on sale for the summer. The Children’s Place was running a HUGE sale – I got several shorts for about $4.80 each. I also bought him several things at Gymboree and there was a new store out of South Africa and I got him this adorable little track suit.

So…that is my update! Thanks for hanging in there.

Expanding Horizons

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The phrase “expanding horizons” has been at the forefront of my brain this week. Everyday, Micah is expanding his horizons – he is learning and exploring and growing and developing at an amazing rate.

On Monday, Micah, Elliot and I flew down to Orlando for my annual conference at the Caribe Royale – one full year after we took Micah on his first plane trip. This year was quite a different journey. We were lucky enough to take Micah’s car seat on the plane and put him in his own seat. He looked like such a big boy sitting in his car seat! We gave him some milk, cheese, crackers and applesauce, and Micah sat in his seat happily munching, clapping, laughing and chatting. During takeoff and our ascent, we ran into some fairly significant turbulence. At one point, the plane was thrown around quite a bit, and all I can say is how thankful I was that Micah was safely strapped into his car seat – I am certain he would have hit the roof of the plane during some of those bumps and drops had he not been securely seated.

For the entire trip, Micah was alert, awake, and quite active. Perhaps too active. In fact, he had a lot to say on the plane ride. He was practicing his high-pitched screech for all the passengers (one of his new tricks that drives my father insane – and probably all of those traveling on the plane with us). He felt the need to say “hi” and “bye” to the other passengers as well. After we happily ate and played a bit…Micah got antsy. After checking on the time, I realized that we were only 30 minutes into a 2 hour flight. Uh-oh!! Elliot took Micah for a quick walk up and down the aisle. When he returned, Micah was more interested in climbing on his car seat and smiling at the man sitting behind him than sitting in the car seat. We strapped him in over his objections, and then the fun began.

Micah was a bit cranky about being tied down and he was not afraid to express his displeasure. For the next 40 minutes or so, I was able to keep him quiet as long as I was singing to him. If I stopped singing for even a moment, the loud complaints started again. I then spent some time tickling and playing with Micah…which kept him happy, but laughing quite loudly and probably disturbing the passengers almost as much as his unhappy noises. We intermittently gave him his bottle of milk and plied him with food. While we were on the plane, Micah spotted Elliot’s cup of selzer water, and made it clear he wanted to drink from that cup. So, we let him try. While he did dribble a fair amount down his shirt, he was actually pretty adept at using the cup. Even funnier – he LOVED the selzer water! I thought he would hate the carbonation, but he could not drink enough of it. I think he easily drank 1/2-3/4 of a can all by himself. It was so funny to watch. Although the selzer water kept him occupied for the remaining part of the trip, he was clearly exhausted and ready for his nap. We finally made it to Orlando about 20 minutes late.

We moved quickly off the plane and over to the car rental place. Naturally, things did not go exactly as planned. The bank of elevators was broken and would not let us off on the first floor to get to the car rental. Elliot took the escalator up to check in, then I had to go back and sign the paperwork when he returned, and then we had to traipse all over the airport trying to find an alternate path via elevator back to the first floor so that we could get over to the garage and pick up our vehicle. After that ordeal, both Elliot and I were tired and frustrated and Micah was exhausted and desperate for his afternoon nap.

Our next challenge – installing the car seat. After doing a lot of calculation and consideration, we decided to buy a new but inexpensive car seat last week, specifically for traveling. We selected the Graco ComfortSport because it was inexpensive (normally $100, marked down to $80 because they were trying to deplete their stock of this color, and on a special sale for 20% off – so all told, the car seat cost us $65). This car seat is fairly easy to install, relatively lightweight, and comes with the EPS side-impact protection foam. We felt that it was a perfect seat that balanced safety against cost. We had researched renting a car seat, and we learned that the car seats cost about $15-$25 per day (so a 6 day rental would have cost us $90-$150). Additionally, many of the car seats offered by rental companies are not the best quality. With that information, we figured that this trip alone would cover the expense of the car seat.

Anyway, the day we bought the car seat, they showed us how to install it. I had asked Elliot to practice installing the seat before we left, just in case it presented any problems. I bet you see where I am heading with this. Yes, you guessed it – Elliot did NOT practice installing the car seat, and did not know how to properly install it when we arrived in Orlando. He would not read the directions and he would not listen to me as I explained to him what needed to be done. I was SOOO frustrated with him! We initially tried installing via the seatbelt method (as we had been shown) but Elliot did not understand how to make it tighter so the seat would not move, and I just did not have the strength to do it myself. After that, we switched to the “latch” method of installation. After watching Elliot struggle with the installation, I pointed out the obvious flaw in his installation method. Once he gave in and listened to me, we were able to hook the seat in fairly quickly and tighten it up…just over 1 hour after we first started the process. Poor, Micah – he was tired and cranky and just wanted to nap!!

We got in the car and headed to the hotel. Micah fell asleep immediately and napped during the ride home, while we checked in, and while Elliot unloaded the car. This year, we decided to stay in one of the “villas” as opposed to the regular rooms. The villas are quite nice – they come with 2 full bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a living room/dining room area, a kitchen and a screened in balcony. Having the kitchen is so much easier for feeding Micah meals, and the layout really does give him a fair amount of room to walk and play.

Our first night, we decided to head out to dinner. We intended to go to Olive Garden – quick, inexpensive, and we know Micah loves the food. Instead, we decided to stop at Golden Corral. I think Micah fell in love with that restaurant. I find it amusing, as Golden Corral is not exactly known for its high-quality atmosphere. Regardless, Micah loved the music playing – he danced and clapped along. The diversity of food options also worked for him – whatever he did not like, he threw on the floor, but there were 300 other options to try!

We did make a few new discoveries at the Golden Corral. First, Micah learned that he likes olives (much to my surprise – I guess he takes after mommy and not daddy) and hard boiled egg whites. We gave him beans and fruit (he was particularly fond of the canned pears and peaches, and he even ate craisins, papaya and melon (and he NEVER likes melon!)). He ate a few strawberries, grapes and pineapple as well. Unfortunately, he would not eat the macaroni and cheese or the meat and chicken, but he did eat a bit of potato. I did not have much luck getting him to eat broccoli.

For a few weeks now, Micah has been obsessed with ice cubes. He will crawl over to the freezer whenever it is open (we have a french-door refrigerator with a bottom drawer freezer) and he reaches in and grabs ice cubes from the icemaker. He loves to sit and play with them, suck on them, and generally make a big mess whenever he can. When he sees ice cubes in Elliot’s glass, he often will fuss and cry until Elliot gives him one. At the Golden Corral, Micah’s experience drinking from a cup on the plane and his ice cube obsession converged into a new experience! He saw mommy drinking water through a straw from a glass with ice, and he wanted it, too. I presented him with the straw and told him to suck, and much to my amazement, he was able to drink the water! He went to town drinking water from the straw. Naturally, Micah spotted ice cubes in the glass, so he also had to dip his hands into the glass while he was drinking and fish out the ice cubes for playing. I swear, his hands were so red and cold that I think he might have gotten frostbite! He played with that cup of water, drinking, splashing, and enjoying the straw, for over half an hour. We did have one minor crisis – Micah dropped the straw and became hysterical. Luckily, the waitress quickly brought us a new straw and order was restored. I felt terrible about the huge mess we left on the floor for the staff – I hope the nice big tip we left makes up for that!

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the villa to pick up some food for breakfast and lunch. Micah went to bed fairly easily, and slept well. On Tuesday, I woke up bright and early to attend my first all-day meeting. Elliot played “manny” all day and the two of them had a great time. At lunch time, Elliot and Micah came to visit me. Micah showed off for all of my colleagues, walking all over the place, flirting with the ladies, and generally looking adorable. We fed him lunch and then I went back to my meeting. We had dinner plans to meet up with some of my work colleagues for dinner at 6:30. Once again, Micah was charming and quite well behaved (albeit loud). We opted to eat dinner in the “fancy” restaurant (I do not think they are used to children there). Service was incredibly slow – we were seated at 7 but saw no food until after 8:00 pm. We loaded Micah up on bread, but he really did not get much of anything nutritional for dinner. By the time the food arrived, he was disinterested in the options and sick of sitting in the high chair – he felt it was time to walk. Elliot was only able to eat half of his meal before he had to excuse himself and take Micah back for bedtime.

Today was the all-day pre-conference I was co-teaching. It was an 8 hour day, and I was the lead for 4 hours. My day got off to a rough start – I had set the alarm for 6:00 am, but the first thing I heard this morning was Micah wailing…at 7:45 am! My pre-conference began at 8:00, so it was a crazy mad and disorganized dash out the door and off to my meeting. I was quite out of breath when I got there. Running while pregnant (and without breakfast or medications in me) was a BAD idea. Once I caught my breath, the pre-conference went quite well. I returned to the villa around 5:00 pm, only to find that Micah fell asleep for his afternoon nap at 4:15. Elliot and Micah spent time at the pool today and apparently had a wonderful time. Micah slept until after 7:00. We eventually woke him up, and the 3 of us ate dinner together at the dining room table – a real family dinner! Because he napped so late, it was almost 9:30 before he fell asleep tonight. He is currently sleeping soundly in the pack and play in the second bedroom. Micah also discovered his stroller tonight. This is our new MacLaren Volo (the lightweight umbrella stroller). We are loving it – GREAT for travel. Micah thinks it is a toy – he loves to climb in and out of it and push it all around. He has been trying to climb on chairs and couches and coffee tables everywhere, too. We have quite a climber on our hands!

Tomorrow I have two more presentations and a series of meetings. It will likely be another crazy day. We are trying to figure out our plans for tomorrow night, and if I can keep my schedule clear on Friday, we are hoping to do something fun with Micah during the day. I have a friend coming up for a visit on Friday afternoon, then on Saturday I have one more presentation before our flight out at 2:45. Let’s hope Micah falls asleep on the plane ride back!

It is hard to believe that another year has passed. I love to watch him now, exactly one year later, and see how much he has changed since our last journey down here. What a year this has been, with so many opportunities to expand his horizons! Over the past few weeks, we have been learning so much about Micah as he explores new things. He LOVES Clementines – he gobbles those little oranges up as fast as he can shove them in his mouth. He makes me laugh – if he sees us peeling one, he comes running right over to grab a section. No need to offer it up – he will snap it right out of our hands! If allowed, I think he would eat 2 or 3 Clementines on his own at any one sitting.

We’ve finally had some success getting Micah to switch to a sippy cup. He still prefers his bottle for comfort first thing in the morning and at bedtime (and if he is extremely tired or not feeling well), but I suspect we will be able to break him of that over the next few weeks. I still love how he snores when he sleeps, and how he can be actively playing with toys and he just needs to run over to me for a moment to give me a hug, snuggle his head down and suck his thumb for a moment before he returns to playing. I love watching him interact with his toys as he learns to use them more everyday. He loves to take all the different toys and stuff them inside other toys. We have a gumball machine, and we are constantly finding weebles, a polar bear and blocks stuffed in the top in addition to the gumballs that belong in there. The same goes for his choo-choo train that is meant to “spit” colored “ping-pong” balls – he prefers to stuff the caboose with blocks, legos and puzzle pieces. He makes me laugh as he waddles all over the house carrying his toys…or a dish towel…or puzzle pieces. I love his obsession with the phone and how he always pulls his socks off. I also love how Elmo is the center of his world – Sesame Street puts him in a stupor, but the moment he sees Elmo (and in particular, the Elmo’s World segment on Sesame Street), he begins clapping and smiling.

I guess I am feeling a bit nostalgic about Micah growing up. At the same time, I am so excited to continue watching him grow and learn. There will be so many more opportunities for him to continue to expand his horizons, and I hope I will continue to experience all of them.

On another note, my grandmother is still hanging in there. She is no longer really eating much of anything, and she is rarely awake and communicating anymore. Everyone is amazed that she has managed to hold on this long – unfortunately, I wish I knew if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I am glad that she has held on this long for me. I just hope she can be at peace and comfortable.

New Shoes

by

Yesterday was a fun day! It is so nice to be able to say that for a change. Micah had a bit of a rough night on Wednesday – it seems his top two teeth (that have been sitting just under the surface and visible for almost two months now) finally poked through! He woke up around 4:00 am crying, but quickly put himself back to sleep. At 5:30, he woke up crying again, so Elliot went in and gave him some Tylenol. Thankfully, he fell back to sleep again…and slept until 9:45!!

He woke up nice and cheery and cuddly. I gave him a bottle and made him French toast for breakfast. He really seems to love that. I put a touch of cinnamon and vanilla in the batter, and we used applesauce and organic strawberry jam to add a touch of flavor. Needless to say, naptime did not happen as planned at 10:30.

The architect arrived at 10:30. We sat down and discussed options, and I think we finally made a decision to go ahead with the renovations. I must admit – I’m not exactly thrilled about the decision. I would much prefer to just get rid of this house and move somewhere new. I think I’m about to go off on a tangent here and get away from the “fun” part of the day :).

If we renovate Elliot’s house, there are still a few basic problems. 1) The house is on an extremely small lot, and we will not have much of a backyard for our children (no swing set or jungle gym for them). 2) We cannot get all of the rooms we want. I could live with giving up some of those things if it was unreasonable, but for the money we have to spend, there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to get exactly what we want. 3) Even with the renovations, the rooms will be relatively small and our storage and closet space will be somewhat limited. 4) We will definitely not have a garage at this location (while not necessary, it really is something I prefer to have). 5) I think the current house is kind of ugly – and the renovations will not fix the “ugly” part for me. I also do not like that we are situated near a very busy street (dangerous for children and animals) without sidewalks. The street is narrow, so street parking for visitors is also a challenge. Our “view” also includes two very large apartment buildings and a fire house, which I feel are detractors from the “ambience.” Because of these shortcomings, I just am reluctant to renovate the house. Add to that, we’ll have to move 2 more times – and live in my condo (which is also too small) for another 6-9 months. We will have to be living in the condo with a new infant, and we’ll be moving with a baby that is a few months old. That is just a challenge in terms of space and exhaustion level. Did I mention that there are 40 steps to my front door at the condo? Imagine carrying an infant seat up and down that! And I’m worried about Micah falling down all those stairs, too.

As you may not know, if we decide to move, Elliot and I cannot agree on a location to live. Ironically, there is only a 3-4 mile difference between where he wants to live and where I want to live – and “compromise” does not seem feasible here (at least not for Elliot). Elliot insists on living within a few blocks of the metro (preferably the Bethesda metro) and wants the ability to bike downtown. That leaves us with a very small radius of “acceptable” and the homes are all quite small, on tiny lots, and very expensive. Any of the houses I want to live in that are in our price range are outside of Elliot’s desired living radius. I just can’t seem to convince Elliot to give in on any of his priorities and meet me halfway. He seems to think if he gives up any one of his priorities, then the living arrangement is unacceptable. It frustrates me, because he expects me to compromise on living environment, and he does not seem to think that is a significant compromise.

We went house hunting this past weekend – we saw one “perfect” house that I would love and he could manage the location (although not ideal for him), but it was absolutely outside our price range. We *might* be able to swing it with some fancy financial moves, but to me, it does not make sense to risk being that “house-poor” – what if we lose a job or have a family emergency? I just don’t want to worry that tragedy could cost us our house, too.

My proposal was to figure out how much it would cost us to stay, and figure out what house we could buy for the same amount of money. I suggested we add the cost of our current mortgage to the cost of the proposed renovations, and then add in the profit we would make by selling our house now. I suggested that total should be the maximum amount we should spend on any house (basically, we would be paying no more than the cost of renovating our existing house). Luckily, that gives us a pretty decent housing allowance – but not quite enough to get the house I think we need in the area Elliot wants to live. We are in a no-win situation! I just feel like I’m left without options – we have to do something to make room for Twoey, and if we wait any longer, we have a real problem. I think if I insist that we move, Elliot will be miserable and make me miserable. I’m hoping that if I give in here, perhaps he’ll be willing to move in 5 years and he’ll give me what I want (or be willing to compromise then). I just hope I’m making the right decision – because this process does not make me happy.

Okay – forgive my divergence! I’m now back to the “yesterday was fun” part of the post. After our meeting with the architect (and our long discussion that followed), we took Micah to his class at Kidville. Micah loves this class – called Run, Wiggle, Paint and Giggle! It is an hour long, and they have educational toys and “free play” time, followed by music/singing, then physical learning activities, then tactile/art time (they played with butcher paper). He loves to dance and play with the instruments. The hour passed quickly, and it was evident that Micah was exhausted without getting his morning nap. Unfortunately, we had one more errand to run – we needed to buy Micah shoes! Micah fell asleep on the way to the shoe store, but we woke him up and dragged him inside. We picked out a pair of these adorable brown suede walking shoes – they come up to his ankles. My little man has fairly small – but very WIDE – feet! He wore a size 4 double wide!! I love his adorable fat little feet :). By the way – many thanks to my parents, who paid for Micah’s first pair of shoes. I am fairly certain he’ll need one more pair, so we’ll go looking again over the next week. Baby shoes are more expensive than I expected, but it really is important to make sure they fit correctly. I’ve been shoving Micah’s feet into regular width shoes all this time, and that is not good for his feet or his walking development. Now that I have his shoe size and one properly fitting pair, I’ll go in search of a “bargain.”

We got home from shoe shopping and Micah took a nap. He only slept for about 1 hour, though – I had expected a much longer nap from him! Elliot went out to help the Red Cross deploy more support to Haiti while Micah was sleeping, but did not get home until Micah’s bed time. He went back out again around 10:00 pm and spent the night out working for Red Cross.

My grandmother seems to be holding her own. Yesterday was a good day, and I am hoping to get over there today and see her. I did not make it this morning yet – I fell down a flight of stairs last night and injured my ankle. Quite a good run of luck I’m having, huh?