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Maternity & Parenting Center

Father’s Day

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We had a very nice (but kind of mellow) Father’s Day yesterday. It was a bit hectic because we had people coming over…and I probably should have done more to make the day extra special for Elliot, but I just don’t have the energy right now. I had gotten Elliot a card from Micah and one from me. Micah made his Daddy a tie-dyed t-shirt in daycare, so that was his gift to his Daddy. I also had ordered Elliot a new “jump seat” for the bike for Micah. We have a bike trailer, but now that Micah is older, I thought Elliot might find it easier to transport Micah in the seat instead of the trailer (he bikes him to daycare 3x/week and they run errands together). I also ordered a few other “odds and ends” he needed for his bike.

Because Elliot is particular about his bike, I ruined the surprise gift about a week or two ago so he could investigate my gift and see if he thought it was the best option for his bike. Naturally, he had other ideas, so he asked if we could order a different seat. That seat arrived last week…and long story short, Elliot wasn’t so thrilled with the seat. After doing more research, he concluded that I might have actually identified a better option! We re-ordered that seat, and it just arrived today. Elliot spent this afternoon attaching it, and we should know in a bit if he likes this seat better. I hope he likes his gift…but I feel badly that there was no Father’s Day gift-opening surprise for him.

Elliot doesn’t know this, but I had planned to order him some personalized gifts with pictures of Twoey for Father’s Day as well…but she has not been so cooperative. I’m also now missing all the Father’s Day sales and free shipping on items, but, hey, I guess that will just have to do. Once she arrives, I’ll complete his gift with something from Twoey (and perhaps a nice picture of the three of them together).

We did not have any big plans for Father’s Day (mostly because we were afraid to plan anything with my supposedly impending labor). Jeremy, Jen, Paige and Peyton decided to come down to our house, and my parents came over, too. We had my parents’ anniversary to celebrate, my brother’s birthday AND Father’s Day that all deserved some attention. Unfortunately, I just did not have it in me to bake a cake, nor did any of us feel like doing any real cooking.

Instead, I pre-ordered a dozen bagels on Saturday, and Elliot, Micah and I walked over to pick them up in the morning. Round trip, the walk was almost 2 miles. I was hoping the effort would send me into labor…but as you can see, I’m still here. When we got home, we threw together some egg salad and some tuna fish. Everyone arrived around 12 (it was later than we had originally planned because my brother had a slight scare…they thought their dog ran away…turned out, she was just stuck and hiding under a bed). Anyway, we all sat down to a light lunch together. The kids were so cute playing together – Micah was running loops around the house being chased by his cousins, and they were all happily screaming together. Micah was also busy ordering everyone to “sit down” – his new favorite phrase. We all gave my father a Keurig coffee maker and some accessories. I just gave my brother a card for his birthday, and a card to my parents for their anniversary. My brother and I felt a little bad that we did not have anything special for their anniversary…we’ll have to come up with something later this year when things calm back down again.

Anyway, my mom is still quite exhausted – she was upstairs napping for a bit while the kids played together. I love watching Micah interact with his cousins! Everyone left around 2:30, and we put Micah down for his afternoon nap. He only slept about 2 hours…but it seemed to be enough. When he woke up, we played for a few hours, and then Elliot grilled some burgers for them for dinner. Micah gobbled up about 1/2 a burger and some strawberries. He was very cute. The little monkey has been climbing INTO his high chair lately – we have to really watch him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.

After dinner, we decided to go on another walk. We ended up walking another 2-2.5 miles and stopping at the grocery store. It was a nice long walk, and we got back just in time to give Micah a quick bath and put him to bed.

I haven’t felt much like blogging lately…I’m kind of miserable from all the contractions, and I cannot believe little Miss Twoey has refused to make her appearance yet. I never wanted to be one of those women who complained about still being pregnant…but this is not fun, especially with the contractions and the prior expectation of pre-term labor. I’m now officially worried that they will have to induce me, and that would involve needles. Perhaps worried is an understatement…my needle phobia has started to kick into high gear, and panic is beginning to reign every time I think about when/if this baby is going to show up.

Things have been MUCH better with Micah since he has been on the Zantac…no more night wakings, and his grump factor has gone way down. We have only been giving him the Zantac at night, but I’m wondering if we should consider a daytime dosage, too.

Wish I had more to add…I’ll post again when I have more updates. I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday and another ultrasound later this week. Keep your fingers crossed I can miss those appointments!

Anyway, just wanted to wish a very Happy Father’s Day to Elliot, to my father, and to Poppy Ira! You are all very much loved and appreciated as fathers.

18 months

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Wow – I cannot believe how the last 18 months have flown by – my little man is now 18 months old!! Each and every day, he amazes me. I do have to say, I was certain he’d be a big brother already…perhaps soon!

We have not weighed or measured Micah in a while – I’d guess he is around 22 lbs right now, and maybe 34-35 inches tall. He is wearing 18 months (or 12-18 months) clothing and a size 5W shoes. We are still having issues keeping his pants on his skinny tush – so far, we can only wear the shorts that have adjustable tabs in the waist. We have not set up his 18 month checkup yet – I assumed that Twoey would be here, and we’d just bring Micah in at the same time we brought Twoey in for one of her appointments, so we will not have his stats for a little while still.

As for milestones, his language skills are increasing each and every day. He is repeating more words, and he seems to be using more and more words to communicate. He is even stringing a few words together (like “sit down” and “get out”). He does seem to be confusing a few words lately – apparently, “more” and “all done” seem to be synonymous. He also seems to be calling lots of people “Mommy” lately – it seems to be his word when he wants comfort from any person. He is also so loving and sweet – I just love how he gives hugs and kisses all the time.

Physically, he is very strong and seems to be developing as he should. He climbs on and off furniture and loves to sit on grownup chairs. He loves to play catch and throw his basketball. He loves using all of his different toys, and he runs around the house. He keeps trying to walk down stairs (I don’t think he is *quite* ready for that yet, though). He seems to do pretty well with some of the smaller steps (like the one leading out of our house). He LOVES to be outside, and he does everything he can to spend as much time as possible outdoors.

Here is some video I took a few days before Nugget died – we had a “playdate” with one of my best friend’s dog, Bentley. Micah was showing off his reading/talking skills and loving on Bentley:

We are still having a big challenge with eating – he gets very stubborn and picky at meal time. It is a big guessing game – what he will eat, how he will eat it, etc. One minute he’ll eat something and the next minute he is throwing it. Sometimes all it takes is handing him a fork, or putting some dipping sauce down for him. Other times, we have to get entirely different food for him. Lately, he wants to do things himself with food – sandwiches need to be whole, he wants the whole banana and the whole piece of chicken. He likes to hold the bag of raisins and eat directly out of that (or the cereal box or the cracker box). Often, I try to insist that he eat from his tray, but sometimes, it is just easier to give in to him. Sometimes, he just wants to eat out of a bowl or a plate like a “big boy.” We never know if he’ll eat a ton or practically nothing!

His sleeping habits are improving…he has been napping better and sleeping later again, but we’ve had a few mornings when he wakes up extra early. I think it is still related to teething (and his new bug bites) that are bothering him. Unfortunately, he has been a bit challenging to put down most nights and for naps – he has been crying a bit more lately. Luckily, he usually doesn’t cry that long, but I wish he wouldn’t get so upset!

As I mentioned, Micah seems to be plagued with some bug bites this week. He had a spider bite on his arm about 1 month ago, but this was different. On Thursday night, I noticed a small red bump on his leg when we were getting him ready for bed. I didn’t think much about it – it was fairly small and I figured it was no big deal. I checked it out in the morning before he left for daycare, and told Elliot to ask the daycare to keep an eye on it. On Friday night when we were bathing him and getting him ready for bed, the small red bump had turned into this:



It was very blistery – tons of tiny little blisters. I started to wonder if it was poison ivy or a spider bite. It did not look infected and it did not seem to be bothering Micah, so I cleaned it off with hydrogen peroxide, put some caladryl on it, and kept it covered. We also gave him some benadryl to help with the swelling and itching. I also noticed a small red bump on the bridge of his nose. When we woke up on Saturday morning, the bite on his leg looked much better. The bump on the bridge of his nose was more swollen – according to Elliot, he looked a bit like a Klingon from Star Trek! I called the doctor to see if we should bring him in to the office. She said that as long as his eye was not irritated and while the mark on his leg was not looking infected, streaking, or expanding in size, we should just keep doing what we were doing. We kept the bite on his leg covered and cleaned, and we did not pay too much attention to the bite on his nose. Micah went to services with his Daddy in the morning, took a VERY short nap, then we all went to the pool to play. After pool time, we visited my parents for dinner – my mom hadn’t see Micah in almost 1 month! I think this is the longest stretch she’d ever gone. We had a good night, and left after a few hours.

Sunday morning when Micah woke up, his left eye was practically swollen shut! I couldn’t tell if the bite from his nose was causing the swelling or if it was a new bite, but it looked terrible. We debated taking him to the emergency room, but his eye looked clear and he did not seem to be in any discomfort. We took some benadryl cream and put it on his eye. Elliot took him out for a few hours, and my dad came by and picked me up. Elliot, Micah, me, Jeremy, Jen, Paige and Peyton all met up around lunch time at my parents’ house to visit my mom. She is doing better, but still so wiped out. Micah spent the afternoon trying to talk to his cousins and chasing them around the house. They were so cute playing together!! I was actually impressed at how well he was playing and interacting with them. He kept trying to communicate with them, too. At one point, the kids were VERY quiet – I got worried something was wrong. I found them in the other room, with Paige showing Micah how to play with this set of nesting dolls. It was so cute to see them together! Peyton asked me where Nugget was…that was a tough conversation for me. She did not understand and kept asking why Nugget was gone. Over the course of the day, Micah’s eye improved dramatically. I think the cream helped, and the extra dosage of Benadryl at naptime probably didn’t hurt either.

Tonight, after dinner, Micah, Elliot and I went on a long walk into Bethesda (and I decided to stop at Ben & Jerry’s). I think I discovered where Micah is getting all of his bites – on his nightly evening walk! We are going to have to start covering him in the organic bug spray we have. I was hoping to kick things up on the walk and get this labor on the road. Well, it worked – I am contracting like crazy and I barely made it home. I’m sure it will stall out again, but I’m getting pretty fed up! I’m starting to worry I’ll end up OVERDUE after all of this! My system is still a mess, and I’m feeling terrible. I’m not sure this baby is EVER going to come out!!

I think I mentioned before that with Nugget gone, our house has been a mess. We counted on her to do a lot of our vacuuming. Well, we invested in a lightweight vacuum we are now using on a regular basis to clean up after ourselves. The first day we used it, Micah fell in love – he came running over, took control of the vacuum, and went to work. So, there is a new housekeeper in town!

The times they are a-changin’….

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I know I always say this, but I’m constantly amazed by how much things change from week to week. It has been nearly 2 weeks since my last substantive post…and while not much has been going on, so much has changed. Funny how that is…I’ve had all these little nothings I’ve wanted to post, but nothing really interesting to write about, so I keep postponing the blog entries.

Overall, my last two weeks have been relatively uneventful…I’ve been cramming my work week into 3 full days plus afternoon nap time the other two days. I lost a lot of time while Micah was sick, and I do feel that I am quickly running out of time before Twoey arrives. We are desperately trying to wrap up the final plans for the renovation (I’ve been meaning to post a draft of the plans and talk about all that insanity) and file for our permits. Once again, we are already behind schedule and the budget keeps ballooning. We got a nasty bout of sticker shock at our last meeting, so we are now trying to figure out how to reduce the costs without scaling back the scope of the project.

Micah, however, is changing rapidly by the moment. His vocabulary seems to be increasing by leaps and bounds. He repeats words, says thank you, get down (to the dog), car, vroom, tree, doggy, milk and a few other things. He has been amazing us in other ways lately, too. After refusing to eat any pasta (or rice) for months and months…he started to eat spaghetti! They told us he ate 4 bowls at daycare, and we did not believe them. We took him out for dinner at a chili place, and we ordered a spaghetti chili for dinner that he scarfed down! This weekend, my nieces Paige and Peyton were in town and we served Macaroni and cheese for dinner…and Micah couldn’t gobble it down fast enough! So, apparently pasta is now an option again. I also made him rice to serve with dinner last night, and he ate that, too. I’m excited because it means we have more options for meals now, and it will be easier to stop for lunch and dinner in restaurants if we can serve him pasta. Here is a picture of Micah playing with Paige and Peyton at Bethesda’s Celebrate Mama event we took them to – they were dancing and playing while the Kidville Little Maestros performed:

Micah currently has a strawberry obsession. I think, if we let him, he’d eat strawberries until he exploded! We bought a huge flat of strawberries to make strawberry jam, and every time Micah saw it, he insisted on eating more strawberries. I think he ate several pounds of strawberries all on his own!

It was only a month ago that I posted about how Micah would walk to the gate and climb upstairs at bedtime when we asked him if he wanted to go upstairs and go night-night. Now, Micah’s response to that question (and almost everything else) is to shake his head no. Do you want to go night-night? No. Do you want to go sit in your chair and eat dinner? No. Do you want to play outside? No. I think no is his default response to everything now. Sometimes, I admit I ask questions just because it makes me laugh when he shakes his head no!

Micah has found a new obsession…shoes and hats. He loves to put our shoes on and try to walk around the house. Sometimes, he brings his own shoes over to us (while we are sitting inside) and insists that we put his shoes on his feet, too. I can’t tell you how often he walks around in pajamas and shoes, or a diaper and shoes. He also LOVES his Daddy’s bike helmet, and is constantly trying to wear that, too.




On April 24, Elliot and I went to our friends Laurie and Jeff’s wedding. Actually, I set them up at our wedding! The wedding was just beautiful – I only wish I felt more up to dancing. I kept trying to get out there and enjoy myself, but the contractions would get a bit strong and make me nervous. Nevertheless, the wedding was beautiful and we had an amazing time. Luckily, Micah was able to spend the night with his Grammy and Grampy while we were at the wedding. They had tons of fun together, and Micah did really well sleeping at their house. They ate pancakes for breakfast, and we picked Micah up right around lunch time. We decided to run over to Heather’s house to visit her new puppy – only 9 weeks old! He is a cav-chon (a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Bichon mix). He was so cute and sweet – only 2.5 lbs! He was bouncing all over, and Micah was IN LOVE with him. He had no fear – he loved the dog jumping in his face and kissing him, and didn’t even worry about the little nipping.

Micah seems to have 2 new teeth…one on the bottom left, next to his bottom 2 teeth, and one on the top left…I think it is the bicuspid. He has at least another 4-6 teeth trying to break through. This has made for a few rough nights – teething definitely causes Micah to wake up and fuss. Friday night he was up from 1:15 until 4:00 am, but he has been better since then. Unfortunately, he woke up on Saturday morning with two spider bites – one on his cheek, and one on his arm. It looks like a spider walked across while he was sucking his thumb and bit him twice. It is kind of nasty and bubbled up, but so far, it appears infection-free. We have been wiping them down with hydrogen peroxide at night and dabbing them with neosporin. We’ve also given him benadryl at night to help with the itching and swelling, and it seems to be working.

We are having some issues with Micah and aggression lately. The good news is we had a playgroup here on Sunday with a whole bunch of women I met through the breastfeeding support group I attended after Micah was born, and it seems we are all struggling with the same issue. Micah has a tendency to get territorial around toys – he will scream loudly if others get too close and he thinks they will take them away, and he has even been known to push to protect his toys. We try our best to reprimand him and teach him to share, but I just don’t feel like he is learning yet. He usually does not walk over and steal something from other children…normally, he’ll watch and wait and grab it when they drop it or turn their backs. But, I do get embarassed when he yells at other children in class. Here is our little playgroup:

Micah has also become obsessed with climbing on the chairs and looking out the window. He can easily get himself on and off the couches and chairs in the living room, but we still worry that he likes to stand and jump on them (and does not listen when we tell him to sit). He loves to bounce on the chairs and bury himself in the pillows – I just wish he would develop safety awareness!

As the weather has gotten warmer, I’ve slowly been bringing out Micah’s summer clothes. I purchased everything for the summer in size 12-18 months, but the clothing is pretty large on him. Actually, in terms of length, the size isn’t bad, but he is just so skinny that all the bottoms fall off of him! We did recently discover that many of his shorts have tabs in the pants that allow us to cinch them in – this has been our saving grace!

Last week, I had another appointment with my midwife and the maternal fetal medicine specialist. I have to say, I’m feeling far more uncomfortable this pregnancy than I did with Micah. I just feel…stuffed all the time now, and Twoey is definitely sitting on my bladder these days. My belly was measuring perfectly – exactly 32 weeks – and her heart rate has been great. She is head down and starting to engage, so we are definitely on the right track. Twoey measured 32 weeks in size, and estimated her weight at 4 lbs 2 ounces (I found that shocking – that is 1/2 lb larger than Micah was at the same time!!). I think, however, their estimates may be off – her head has already dropped a bit, so the fluid levels were a lower around her head which can affect their measurements. They also seemed to think her head was measuring larger than the rest of her body, so it was most likely a bit inaccurate. Her arms/legs/belly were all measuring a week or two small…which seems a bit more normal to me (since I was a small baby and Micah was so small). I guess we’ll see what the next growth ultrasound says! My cervix seems to be holding steady…shocking, but true. The contractions are still there, but we seem to be keeping them under control. I lost 2 lbs since my 30 week appointments, so still no weight gain of any kind. Now that I’m planning for Twoey’s early arrival…I’ll probably end up 42 weeks pregnant and needing to be induced. I’m definitely feeling anxious about things…I have no idea when we are moving, and whether we will be here or in the condo when she is born. Because we do not have a final room together, my need to nest is being thwarted…I have nothing to get organized! So, instead I seem to be obsessing about furniture and paint colors for the finished house.

I guess my final update is about names for Twoey…no, we do not plan on sharing her name before she is born. Not that it matters…the only name we really have so far is Twoey! We are VERY stuck on names this time. Ironically, we just came up with a name we like for a boy…and we’re having a girl. We did this the last time, too. We just can’t seem to find that “perfect” name that resonates with us. I have a feeling this baby may be Twoey for the rest of her life!

The ants are marching…again

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Once again, the week has just flown by! I originally planned on posting again last Wednesday night, but seem to have gotten waylaid by life. So, today’s post will be a nice “catch you up” post again.
Let’s start with last Wednesday night…when I discovered ants. Yes, ants. Everywhere in Micah’s bedroom. It was disgusting! They were swarming on the floor near his crib, and around the ottoman, and they even made it all the way up to Micah’s changing table. We took out the organic ant spray (made from mint oil) and we sprayed everything down. I was creeped out by the thought of Micah sleeping in a room with all those ants, but I hoped the spray would keep them at bay. I came downstairs after we put Micah to bed to do a complete survey of the house to search for more ants. I was relieved to see that there were no ants in any of the trouble spots from last year…however, the ants were swarming in the living room corner where we keep most of Micah’s toys. We took out the mint oil spray and gave the region a bath.
Thursday morning, we called Trey, the exterminator, bright and early. Lucky for us, he was able to come see us later that day. Micah and I left for class at noon and stayed away for a few hours while he set out to conquer our ants. He managed to treat the problem outside, and told us we should expect the problem to dissipate quickly.
Thursday night was date night. My mom arrived around 5:30, and Elliot and I decided we needed another practical errand-running night. We decided to go check out the Mazda car dealership to test drive the Mazda 5 and the CX9. I have to say, we really liked the CX9. It is loaded with features, very comfortable, and a smooth ride. Our only concerns, however, were the mileage (it has the lowest mpg of any 3 row SUV we have test driven so far), and like the other 3 row SUVs, we would not be able to access the third row with two car seats installed. Mazda also does not offer any decent lease deals on the CX9, so leasing the vehicle is expensive (although it is priced well for purchasing). We just do not think we want to commit to buying the CX9 with such low gas mileage – we feel confident there will be better options over the next few years, and do not want to be locked into this car long-term. We also test drove the Mazda 5. It is an interesting vehicle – it looks more like a mini minivan (kind of a cross between a minivan and a station wagon). Because the middle row only has two captains chairs (and a sliding door entry), there is access to the two rear seats even with two car seats. The gas mileage is great, but the car is fairly stripped down – no electric seats or any of the amenities I am looking for in a vehicle. The price was really good, so Elliot and I did discuss if it made sense to replace his Prius with the Mazda 5. For now, we think we are going to hold off on doing that, but we definitely think the Mazda 5 is an interesting option for a family vehicle.
After our car adventures, Elliot and I had a quick dinner at the Golden Bull. Nothing fancy, but they do have a great salad bar there. We were home by 10:30. I did a quick canvas for ants, and I mostly only saw dead ants (eww!). I cleaned up the carnage, but I was relieved that Trey managed to tackle our problem.
Friday was a busy work day for me. I think the day passed before I even had a chance to blink! Elliot picked Micah up from daycare around 5:30. We quickly fed him dinner and the two of them went off to services. They got home around 7:30 pm…just in time for us to give Micah his bath and put him to bed. After our long week, Elliot and I were exhausted, so we had a wild evening…we curled up on the couch to watch tv, and fell asleep ridiculously early!
I woke up early Saturday morning and had to scoot out early to help run a training session. Elliot kept Micah occupied for the day while I worked. I got home around 2:30 or so, and Micah was asleep. When he woke up after a nice LONG nap, we played together. The weather was so beautiful that when Elliot suggested that we all take a quick bike ride around the block, I instantly agreed! Elliot bought me a new bike for my birthday last summer. The original bike he purchased was a little too tall for me, so we ended up ordering a different bike. We did not pick that up until late October/early November. Since I had just found out I was pregnant and we were uncertain if the pregnancy was going to hold, I never got a chance to ride my new bike before the bad weather hit. So, around 4:30 pm, Elliot hooked the bike trailer up to his bike, we loaded Micah inside, and the three of us took off for a bit of an adventure.
I should have known that Elliot and I would not think of a “quick ride around the block” the same way. I expected to head over to the local bike path and do a quick loop and come back. Elliot thought we should head down to Bethesda and bike past the stores. I followed his lead…we went down the street, through the park, down by the restaurants and back out to the main road. I expected us to head up the road and back towards home, but Elliot had other plans in mind. We kept going…and going…and going. A number of times I reminded him that I was pregnant and not in the best of shape and suggested we should head back home. But, Elliot said it was just a short trip and we should keep going. We ended up biking over a mile to the Barnes and Noble, and we sat outside for a bit to catch our breath (okay, so I could catch my breath). We then started the long trek back home…uphill. I can only say that I definitely overdid it. By the time I got home, the contractions were going crazy. I know it was only a 2 or 2 1/2 mile bike ride, but that might not have been the smartest thing at 27 weeks pregnant when dealing with pre-term contractions.
I drank lots of water, lay down, and started popping the Indocin to control the contractions. I felt a little better after an hour or two, but the contractions continued strongly all night. Elliot decided to run to the store while I put Micah to bed – there was a huge sale at Toys R Us on Pampers (for every 2 packages we purchased, we got a $20 gift card, plus Elliot had $5 off coupons for each box of Pampers). I think Elliot might have bought out the store – he brought home 6 jumbo packages of diapers!! I crashed pretty early because I was so exhausted and uncomfortable.
I had no idea when I woke up on Sunday that it would be a completely packed day. My morning started off when Micah woke up at his usual time. I made him a yummy breakfast of pumpkin pancakes, and we spent some time playing and watching Sesame Street. My contractions were still going pretty strong, so I popped some more Indocin and tried to drink a lot of water. I got a call from my friend Heather, and we decided we would meet and catch up a bit. I put Micah down for his nap around 11:45, and Heather showed up at noon. We decided to walk into Bethesda for lunch. The weather was gorgeous, and we went to an organic salad place for lunch. We chatted, we caught up, and then we picked up a half dozen cupcakes to bring home. Yummy! I picked up a cookies and cream cupcake, and chocolate peanut butter and a triple chocolate cupcake. Heather got a chocolate peanut butter, a red velvet, and a cookies and cream cupcake. Unfortunately, the cupcakes melted a bit on the walk home. Once again, my contractions started to kick it into high gear – perhaps a 2+ mile walk on the heels of my bike ride was a bad idea?
Micah did not wake up until a little after I got home. He played and flirted with Heather a bit before she left, and we waited for our friends Jen and Max to arrive for our play date! They showed up around 5:00, and we walked over to the neighborhood park. The boys played on the swings and the slide and had a fantastic time. Micah was so funny – he loved the swings, he enjoyed eating some sticks and dirt, and then he figured out how the slide worked. I was so amazed by my little boy – he figured out how to climb the stairs, run over to the slide (where Daddy was waiting to reposition him to safely go down the slide on his belly) and I would catch him at the bottom (this slide is a “big kids” slide that ends a few feet above the ground – Micah was like a little torpedo hurtling down that slide!). What amazed me was that after the first time or two of trying to climb back up the slide, Micah knew to run around to the back of the jungle gym and climb the stairs to slide down again. Unfortunately, Micah was having so much fun that he threw a tempertantrum when we told him it was time to leave and bundled him back up into the stroller.
We got home in time for dinner and a little more playtime with Max. Shortly thereafter, we got Micah ready for bed. I think Elliot and I crashed on the couch early again. My contractions were pretty intense, so I tried to relax, hydrate, and take more medication.
Monday morning, we were back to the grind. Micah went to daycare bright and early (and tried to carry his own lunch bag to school):



I had a full day of work (and attempted bedrest) ahead of me while I tried to get the contractions back under control. My home health nurse arrived in the afternoon to give me another shot. I really hate these shots, and my butt just hurts!! I wish I knew if they were helping at all. I then had to go see my cardiologist for my annual appointment. I got home in time to put in a few more hours of work before Micah came home.
I have to say, Micah has just been absolutely adorable lately. I mean, that kid is cute all the time, but sometimes he is just so beyond adorable I don’t even know what to say! Lately, after bath time when I comb out his hair, Micah has been stealing the comb from me…so he can comb my hair! He sits and laughs and smiles while he combs my hair, and I have to say, I love it! He has also adopted a new phrase…”Uh oh.” Micah LOVES to say “uh oh” now, and it just makes me laugh.
Tuesday was another good day. We woke up at our usual time, then quickly headed off to our music class. Micah seemed a bit out of sorts – a tad on the tired and shy side, and he really did not feel like participating in class (except for the bubbles segment). Micah loves to chase the bubbles and pop them (and he says “bubbles” over and over again). Right after class, we loaded into the car and headed north to visit Aunt Jen and cousins Paige and Peyton. It took us about an hour to get up there, and we decided to meet them at the Olive Garden. The kids were great. They ate bread sticks, we ordered the three kids pizza and chicken fingers to share, and we munched on soup and salad. Micah was not much in the mood to eat. He had a piece or two of pizza and a bit of chicken and a few beans from my soup. He mostly just threw the food on the floor. After lunch, we went back to their house. The kids played together in a toy house, and they played with bubbles (well, Micah mostly spilled the bubbles while he tried to make bubbles). We finally dragged them inside, and they spent the day playing together. Unfortunately, cousin Paige was not happy with Micah’s idea of sharing. She kept building a stack of blocks and he would knock them over, much to her annoyance. Peyton, on the other hand, enjoyed stacking the blocks for Micah to knock over. The kids ate snack food together, and around 3:30 we hopped in the car to head home.
Elliot gave me a bit of a break in the evening while he fed Micah dinner. We played for a while longer after dinner and before bed. Once again, Micah went to sleep quickly and easily. We, of course, fell asleep on the couch again.
Micah woke up right on time again this morning. We gave him some breakfast, got him dressed, and went to meet his daycare class for his first field trip! Now that they are older, they will be going on a field trip once each month. The first field trip was to the Playseum. I’ve been meaning to take Micah there for quite some time, but this was our first trip. It was actually a wonderful experience! It is a series of rooms with all interactive activities. There is a fire truck and a pickup truck for the kids to drive, and a grocery store complete with carts, fake food and a cash register, a dress up room, a beauty parlor, a sandbox area, an ice cream shop, an animal room (with birds and bunnies the kids can touch!) and so much more. Micah was not so sure about the bunnies – he seemed intrigued and even tried to touch them a few times, but he was kind of shy. It amazes me…he goes NUT for every kind of dog, regardless of size, but cute little bunnies make him a bit nervous? He seemed to smile at how soft they were, but he just did not know exactly what to make of them. There are a also a number of rooms with activities…art activities, baking activities, cupcake decorating, etc. Micah decorated a tree today, and then they went into the back “music stage” room for a story hour.
Well, Micah fell in love in the music room, and he became my little “rock star.” First, Micah saw a guitar. He walked over to the guitar, picked it up, and tried to play. Then, he noticed the strap and put the guitar around his neck. I think, if I had allowed it, he would STILL have the guitar around his body! He spent the next half an hour playing the guitar, and the drum set, and the piano. My little man is definitely a musician…and he has rock star hair to boot! We are definitely going to have to buy him a guitar. After several hours of fun at the Playseum (and a handful of tears because mommy ripped him away from his music stage and guitar), Micah headed off to daycare with his class and I came home to get some work finished. It was actually a fun morning, and I loved seeing Micah on a field trip. I have a feeling we’ll return to the Playseum again. Elliot and I were terrible parents and forgot to bring the camera. A few of the other parents took some photos – hopefully, they’ll send us copies soon and we can post them for you to see our little rock star!
Tonight, I took some video of Micah eating dinner. I always swore I would never post anything that included any hint of my awful singing voice, but I just had to show you how cute Micah is. He started to sign the Itsy Bitsy Spider tonight, so I quickly grabbed the camera and tried to tape him. Naturally, he started to smile for the camera and got a bit shy. But, he did a few of the signs, and he signed more, and then he finished off the video by saying “bye bye!”
In other news, Micah has also been a bit obsessed with books lately, which is a wonderful new development. He keeps bringing me books to read to him – particularly the ladybug book, and his all-time favorite, Dr. Seuss’ The Foot Book. I think I’ve read that book to him over a thousand times now, and I am certain I have it memorized. But, I love that HE loves the book and wants me to read to him. He has started pointing at things in the book, and I like that he picks out the books he wants to hear and comes over to me and climbs into my lap. How sweet is that?
Micah has been fixated on a few new toys (thanks to Aunt Jen and cousins Paige and Peyton for the hand-me-downs). He has one of those popper “lawnmowers” and he loves to push it all over the place. He also has a new cash register that he finally knows how to work. It is actually a fairly complicated toy. There are three different colored coins (yellow, orange and red), each marked a different denomination. The coins must be inserted into the corresponding color slots at the top of the register, and you have to pull the lever to drop the coins down. Then, you have to push a second lever to either send the engaged coins out the side of the register as change or into the drawer for a sale. If you want to open the drawer, you have to turn the handle on the side. Micah has consistently figured out how to insert the red coins and he knows how to push the sale and change levers. He still can get a bit frustrated when the yellow and orange coins do not fit into the red slot, but I think he’ll master the process in another few days.
We finally have weaned Micah from his bottles…and from the Zantac! He is now officially Zantac-free, and he seems to be handling it just fine. Tonight I managed to videotape Micah doing the motions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider (well, some of them…after doing 3 renditions before I turned on the video, he suddenly became more interested in eating dinner and smiling for the camera, but he did finish off the recording by saying “bye bye!”).
By the way, did any of you watch the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution special? It was pretty horrifying to see what all these people were eating there, and even worse to see how resistant they were to serving good food to the children. It got me questioning whether I’m serving Micah enough good foods. Micah gets a good assortment of healthy and organic fruits and vegetables. We try to only give him whole grain breads, but we do serve him some processed foods (crackers, luncheon meats, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, soy nuggets, veggie burgers). We do give him fresh-made food most of the time (and I make his hamburgers and turkey burgers from organic meats and veggies). I should be better about cooking full dinners – making more meals from chicken or beef, or even making and freezing my own chicken nuggets from scratch, or the fish sticks. I guess I am going to try and get motivated to make more good food for Micah – and try to only use frozen food that I make from scratch instead of the occasional pre-packaged (albeit organic) foods.
One last note…I’m officially in the third trimester! I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy is flying. I’m now 27 weeks pregnant, and hoping this last trimester goes well for us. I have my gestational diabetes test on Friday (I’m SOOO not looking forward to that) and I have another progesterone shot on Monday, an OB appointment next week, and a cervical length check and growth scan after that. Not to mention that it is Passover next week, so we have family coming in to celebrate. I’m still dealing with contractions and nausea, but hoping that we get good news at our next scan. Twoey is definitely getting bigger and stronger – she has been kicking and bouncing and rolling all over the place. I got a few belly shots this week – unfortunately, they are pretty dark.

I Saw Micah Kissing…

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Sometimes, there are moments that I could just scoop Micah up into my arms and squeeze him tightly and kiss him forever because I cannot get over how adorable he is – the simplest things just make my heart swell. I just want to take those moments and bask in them forever, but it seems they have a way of passing in a heartbeat. We had one of those moments last night.

I was sitting on the couch with Elliot and Micah was busy playing. I got up to walk into the kitchen to grab something to eat, and all of the sudden, I heard this noise. It kind of sounded like kissing, but I thought it could have been sucking, too. I walked back to the living room, peeked around the corner, and there was Micah, his hands firmly grasping his Elmo doll and holding it nose-to-nose in front of his face, kissing Elmo squarely on his mouth. I just about died – it has to be one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen! I asked Micah if he was giving Elmo kisses, and he smiled at me before he resumed kissing and hugging Elmo. Micah spent the better part of the next 20 minutes kissing Elmo. It’s official…Micah is in love with Elmo, and I can’t say I heard Elmo complaining.

In other news, Micah is 15 months old today!! I can’t imagine where the time has gone. Micah is running now, not just walking. He climbs into everything (and is especially fond of standing in tupperware containers). I wish I could grab a picture of that, but he just doesn’t sit still long enough. He loves to play his kazoo, and he now has 6 teeth all broken through (and it looks like another 2-4 on the way). He recently discovered his long eyelashes – sometimes he just sits there and yanks on them. It makes me laugh – I can’t imagine that it doesn’t drive him nuts.

Micah has been getting picky about eating the last week or so – I’m not sure if it is a phase or because of the teething. Some days, we can barely get him to eat anything at all, and other days he’ll eat a ton of food. We’ve also noticed that he is refusing to eat several “reliable” favorites – like bananas. He will still eat the freeze dried bananas, so it may just be a texture/teething thing. He still loves oranges, peaches, apple sauce, strawberries and grapes. We have been working on expanding Micah’s food horizons – he now eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cream cheese and jelly, and cream cheese and olives. We’ve been trying to give him more lunch meats/deli slices, and he seems to love fish sticks. I have not been experimenting as much as I planned with chicken (he is kind of hit or miss about eating that). We did try giving him sweet and sour meatballs, and he seemed to like it, but he has been a little less willing to eat melted cheese sandwiches and pizza this week, but cheese sticks are at the top of the list. He also loves crackers – Wheat Thins, Cheez-Its, graham crackers, etc. We still haven’t tried the mashed potato croquettes or risotto cakes, but we have the ingredients ready to go.

Micah is just over 20 lbs now (still a tiny little thing) but I think he is quite tall (considering his weight) – perhaps 33 inches or more! We have our 15 month checkup on Tuesday, so I’ll have the official stats then. I think he will get his MMR vaccine at this visit, and perhaps chicken pox as well (we did not give him the chicken pox vaccine last time). I have read in some places that the chicken pox vaccine is not safe to give to anyone in a household with a pregnant woman – I need to verify that before we make our decision, but if it is safe for me, we will likely give him that vaccine as well. My little guy is still only in the 12 month (or 6-12 month) size. We have several outfits in the 6-9 month size I have not completely pulled from his closet, but those are definitely starting to get a little short in the sleeves. There are a few things he can “get away” with wearing in the 12-18 month (or 18 month) size, but they are still pretty big on him. I have purchased him all 12-18 month (or 18 month) sized clothing for the summer – I think that should be the right size.

As for talking – Micah has a number of words, and he is beginning to mimic us more often now. He regularly says hi, bye, mama, dada (or dad), nuh-nuh (for the dog), night night, ball and bubble. He signs more, all done and milk, and he will say (on occasion) Elmo, Big Bird, bang, uh oh, and a few other words. He seems to understand a lot of language – he’ll bring me things when I say “bring that to mommy,” and he will go pick up certain toys that I mention by name. He is starting to know his body parts, but he does not always respond (sometimes he prefers to smile at me with an expression that says “Mommy, you need to learn that I do not perform on command.” He knows to clap and to wave in response to those words, and he likes to play the “belly drum.” He does know where his head and nose are, and I think he understands the word hand, too. He is so curious about everything – he inspects and investigates everything, and he is always trying to climb onto or into anything he can.

So, in honor of Micah’s 15 months, here are some pictures:

Playing the Kazoo and clapping:


Stealing Daddy’s tie…






Fun with tupperware:

And some video for good measure:

Just a few photos from the last snow storm:





And a weekend visit and a trip to Kidville with Uncle Jeremy, Paige and Peyton:










Simchat Torah

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This time of year is packed full of Jewish holidays. It starts off with Rosh Hashanah (New Years), followed by Yom Kippur, then Sukkot, the celebration of the harvest (you build an open-top hut and are supposed to dine outside under the stars and enjoy the harvest). Tonight was the start of another special holiday called “Simchat Torah,” which means rejoicing of the Torah. “Torah” is the Hebrew word for the bible, which includes the 5 books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is what many Christians refer to as the “Old Testament.” The holiday marks the completion of reading the Torah from start to finish, and starting all over again. In synagogue, the final chapter of Deuteronomy is read, and then the first chapter of Genesis is started.

This is considered one of the two most festive holidays during the year. Tonight, we went to the synagogue to celebrate. It is tradition to bring all the different Torahs out of the ark (the place where they are stored) and march them around the synagogue while singing and dancing. We circle the Torahs around the room 7 times (called 7 hakafot, the Hebrew word that means circles). There is a prayer that is sung while each circle happens, and then everyone breaks out with additional singing and dancing for 5-10 minutes before the next circle. Everyone can take a turn holding the Torahs, and there are usually little mini-Torahs for children to carry (and stuffed toy Torahs).

My nieces Paige and Peyton happened to be in town staying with my parents, so all of us went to synagogue together. We had a stuffed Torah (think stuffed animal, but a Torah), and they all took turns carrying it around. Elliot carried Micah in the baby bjorn, and we danced and sang and my nieces ran around. They had flags to wave, and they were handing out candy, and there were shots of vodka and gin for the adults. Kids were running all over the place laughing and playing and dancing and twirling, and it truly was a wonderful evening!

Last year at this time, I was pregnant with Micah. I had just been placed on bedrest, and was unable to go to synagogue to join the festivities. It was so much fun to bring Micah with us this year! He was grinning from ear to ear, he held a flag in his hand the whole night and flapped it up and down, and he was “singing” along with everyone. He loves to make singing noises and he would intermittently squeal with delight. I was amazed he had such a good time – it was after his bedtime, but we got him to take a very late nap today and he seemed to do just fine.

So, chag sameach! (That means happy holiday!) This holiday is the conclusion of our Fall celebrations…next holiday, Chanukah!

The off switch is in the tushy

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We’ve had a rough couple of days – Micah woke up a few times this week at 11:00 pm, and has insisted on being cuddled for a little while. Since we missed him, we have humored him a bit. Unfortunately, the minute we separate from him, he wakes up and starts crying again. Rather than pick him back up, we’ve started “potching his tushy” – lightly patting his bottom while he falls asleep. I cannot for the life of me figure out how this is comforting, or even desirable, but Micah seems to love it. I think I would deck anyone who did that to me. Unfortunately, Micah’s “off” switch is apparently in his tush – he only stays asleep and still while someone is patting his bottom! Elliot and I have each taken turns, and the process can go on forever. The minute we stop, his cute little head pops up, he takes a hand and reaches around to his own tush and starts potching it, or he reaches out to our hand to grab it and pull it back or to pat it – clearly indicating that the patting must resume.

Today was particularly harsh – Micah woke up crying at 5:00 am. I guess he must have been hungry. I went in to comfort him, but all he wanted was to crawl into my arms. I tried to take him back into our bed to see if snuggling would put him to sleep, but no such luck. I finally had Elliot make a bottle, and he guzzled all of it right down, but still no sleep (at least for Micah – Elliot fell right back to sleep). Micah stayed awake until 10:30 am before taking a nap! Of course, that messed up our whole schedule. Today was the second day of Rosh Hashana, and we were supposed to go back to synagogue for services. I sent Elliot over while Micah napped, and told him we would join him as soon as we could. Micah slept until after 12, and when he woke up, I quickly gave him a bottle and lunch and we ran over to services. We arrived just in time…for it to end. Oh well – next year we’ll try again.

Anyway, Micah took a great nap this afternoon, but he was a bit tough to put to bed. He just woke up a few moments ago, I spent 40 minutes potching his tush, and I hope he is down for the night. Let’s hope he sleeps until at least 7:30 tomorrow!

We’ve actually had a great holiday – we had dinner with my family on Friday night, and Micah got to spend time with his Aunt Jen, Uncle Jeremy and cousins Paige and Peyton. My friends Heather and Brad also joined our celebration. On Saturday, Micah slept late (until 9:00), and he fell asleep in the stroller on our way to synagogue. He was pretty good during services, although he felt the need to sing along – much to the chagrin of some of the people there. Overall, he was very well-behaved, and I was impressed he was able to stay as long as he did. He took another nap for about 30 minutes before we left services, and he drank his bottle on the walk home. He had a big lunch, and then we went back to my parents’ house for dinner. We actually took some time that afternoon to visit one of my parents’ neighbors, Arleen and Lorin – close family friends who were like second parents to me growing up. Their daughter Rayna was in town, and her grandmother Della was there, too, and everyone was thrilled to spend some time with Micah.

Tomorrow is Micah’s 9 month appointment, and we are back to the work/daycare grindstone. What a crazy week! I have to leave for Orlando on Tuesday, and I’ll be gone until Thursday. I hope Elliot can handle the time alone with Micah!

Catching up

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Once again, I am WAY behind on updates. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I just cannot seem to find the time to blog. I guess I should pick back up with an update on my brother – he got out of the hospital on Friday, July 24, and immediately drove out of town to go to a Dave Matthews Band concert in Hershey. Paige and Peyton came to stay at my parents’ house, and we had a great time. On Friday, we took the girls to a singing story hour and playspace time at Kidville. Kidville is this wonderful play and learning place for children. They offer all kinds of music, gym, education, art and language development classes. All summer, they have been sponsoring free story times and playspace events (almost every week), and Little Maestro Concert, pizza and playspace events. Micah loves going (we are enrolled in a class there this Fall), and it seemed like a perefect thing for Paige and Peyton. They had such a good time!

Saturday was a day at the pool – another fun day with the girls. They pushed Micah around in his floaty, played with toys, and it was a wonderful afternoon! I’m amazed by how much Micah is developing – he now prefers to “walk” around the pool in his floaty – feet on the ground and standing tall. Saturday night, Elliot and I went over to Niki and Eric’s house for dinner and hanging out. We picked up Indian food along they way. It was the first time in a few months we tried putting Micah to bed while we were out, and it was a smashing success! He fell asleep in their pack and play, transferred easily to his car seat, and did not wake up when we transferred him into the crib!

On Sunday, my cousin Trenna arrived with her 4 year old son Zander for a week-long visit. We all gathered at my parents’ house on Sunday afternoon/evening for dinner and catching up. Micah went to bed in the pack and play, and again transferred easily back home. On Monday, I did not get to spend any time with Trenna and Zander – they went downtown with my father to do a bit of sightseeing. Zander loves the movie Night at the Museum, so they spent the day visiting all the museums and following a map of movie highlights. My babysitter Christin was with us all day, and I tried to get some work done. I had mah jong on Monday night, so Trenna and I made plans to meet on Tuesday. She was hoping to take Zander to the zoo. They were predicting rain most of the week, so she decided to just take him down on the first clear day. Tuesday brought some oppressive heat, and I was totally stressed about work and worried about exposing Micah to the heat. I needed to give a webinar in the afternoon, and I did not think I could go out and get back in sufficient time to do my work. Unfortunately, I bailed on the trip to the zoo, so Trenna and Zander had to go alone. When they returned, Elliot made dinner for us. We ate together and Micah and Zander played. It was so sweet to see the boys hanging out together – Micah was totally enamored of his big cousin! While Trenna was here, I began working on my shoe cake for my friend Jamie’s birthday.

On Wednesday, we hosted playgroup at our house. I got a bit of work done in the early morning and in the afternoon, then went off to my parents’ house for dinner. Once again, Micah fell asleep in the pack and play and transferred without any difficulty. This new discovery has completely freed us! We now know we can go out a bit more at night and bring Micah along. When we got home Thursday night, I finished making the shoe for my cake.

Thursday, Micah went to Christin’s house for the day while I worked and decorated a cake. I got all dressed up and went out for dinner with my friends, and we had a blast! It was our first real girls’ night out without babies and husbands, and it was just a fun evening – lots of laughter, a little too much wine, and some good food.

On Friday, Trenna, Zander, Micah and I drove to see Jen, Jeremy and the girls in Baltimore. We went to a pirate story hour in Fells Point, then took a ferry ride across to Tide Point to visit my brother’s office and have lunch with him. We got back to our house just in time to attend a Little Maestros concert and playspace event at Kidville. Once again, Zander and Micah had a great time! Zander loved the music, so I bought him a CD so he could remember this trip. After the concert, we went for dinner at my parents’ house again, and spent the rest of the evening together.

Saturday was another pool day with the kids. It was a beautiful, fun, relaxing day. We went out for dinner at Noodles & Company, ran a few errands, then called it a night. I spent most of Sunday recuperating from my week.

Monday and Tuesday I was back to the grindstone with work. Christin was out of town, so her friend Lauren came to babysit Micah. She was great, and she will be available in the Fall to cover Tuesdays and Thursdays when Micah is not in daycare.

In the middle of all the insanity the past few weeks, we bought a new coffee table! It is just a basic one from Crate & Barrel, made of wood, two drawers and an open shelf on the bottom. Micah loves to try and crawl onto the shelf, and today he managed to pull the stack of papers off the shelf. He loves to use the shelf for pushing up – it might become his favorite hiding space in the very near future. We did have one emergency bath today – the babysitter was changing Micah’s diaper, and he had a double pee explosion, sans diaper. He needed a bath because he managed to pee all over his hair!

What else can I say? Micah turns 8 months old in 10 days!! He is growing every day by leaps and bounds. Sometimes, I think he is saying “hi.” He is definitely a crazy waving machine, and he even knows it means “hi.” Every time he sees someone new or a familiar face, he breaks into a big grin and starts waving like crazy. Micah uses his entire arm to wave – it kind of looks like he is trying to fly away. I really do need to catch some video of that this week! He is standing all the time now, and getting pretty close to pulling himself up. He is going to be all kinds of trouble as he grows. He definitely has a stubborn streak (wonder where he gets that from?), and he seems to grab and get into everything. He is now sticking his hand out of the crib and stealing stuff off the night table. I either need to clear the night table or move it. Changing his diaper is an exercise in dexterity – he is definitely a moving, rolling target. He loves to eat, and he now enjoys three big meals each day. He also gets a snack in the afternoons – he loves MumMums and cereal or puffs. He is just now starting to get the hang of picking up small pieces of food and putting them in his mouth. We’ve slowly started to try some chunkier food, and he has been handling it all well. He is slowly learning to play “So Big” and he is army crawling/rolling/pivoting all over the place. He is desperately trying to crawl. He likes to move from a sit to all fours, he usually does one crawl, and then he collapses to his belly.

We just started changing his closet over to the 6-9 months size. My little guy is finally outgrowing his 3-6 month clothing. I have a feeling we won’t be in these clothes too long – he’ll be ready to move up to 12 months within two months, I would guess.

As for weaning…well, that is not going quite as quickly as I expected (which is totally my fault). Micah is down to nursing about 4 times a day (sometimes 5). I no longer pump at night before bed, but frankly, giving him a bottle and pumping is much more hassle than nursing him when we are both at home. At this rate, I probably won’t really commit to weaning him until he is in daycare 3 days a week. I am hoping to be able to quickly drop the pumping session at that point, start using up my freezer stash of milk, then slowly switch over to formula. I’m not sure when/how I will drop the morning and night nursing sessions, but he needs to be willing to take the bottle for all of his meals by mid-September as I am going to be in Atlanta for work for 4 days, and I have decided to leave him behind with my parents (since Elliot will be attending the conference, too). I guess that week will be a good time to begin cutting back on the pumping.

As for my diet – well, let’s just say “what diet?” I fell off the wagon, and hard. I think I started to diet prematurely – it was causing issues with my milk supply, and while I was thrilled about that at first, Micah was quite unhappy and dissatisfied, and it made him grumpy and unwilling to take a bottle. I added some carbs back in to help the supply, and Micah finally seemed contented, and he is back to taking his bottle. But once the carbs started sneaking in, it was all downhill!
Okay – I’ll have to add some more descriptive pictures and video when I have some free time. I will do my best to stay on top of blogging this week!

Father’s Day… bittersweet

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Happy Father’s Day! This year, we celebrated Elliot’s first Father’s Day. In honor of the big day, I bought Elliot a bike trailer so he can take Micah on his bike with him to daycare or on errands. He tried it out last week, and both of them seemed to love it.


Just a little video of the first ride in the trailer:


Before I get into the details of our celebration, I do want to take the time to say what an incredible father Elliot is. He is such a loving man – he is so gentle with Micah, changes his diapers (whenever possible, I let him change ALL the dirty ones), feeds him – whatever Micah needs. He has been doing Micah’s laundry most of the time the past 6 months. They take naps together, and he makes time to play with him. Elliot takes him to daycare, shares in the feeding, and they go to synagogue together every Friday night and Saturday morning – their weekly Daddy/son outing. Micah plays “secretary” for Daddy sometimes when he is working. Elliot takes the time to talk to him, and he is very willing to do whatever is needed to care for him. Elliot comes to every doctor’s appointment, too – he doesn’t miss out on anything! Elliot makes up songs all the time so he can sing to Micah (his favorite seems to be “What’s the matter baby boy?”), and Micah just lights up whenever he sees his Daddy. Elliot helps put him to bed every night (he takes him upstairs, dresses him for bed, reads him a book, gives him his medicine and then I go upstairs to nurse Micah), and he isn’t afraid to be alone with Micah, give him a bath by himself, or put him to bed alone when I go out. It is apparent to anyone who sees the two of them together how much they adore each other. Happy Father’s Day, Elliot – we love you!
We decided to celebrate Father’s Day with both of our families this year. We drove up to New Jersey to visit Elliot’s family on Friday. Our oldest niece, Melissa, was home from college, and she had not seen Micah since he was 8 days old! We arrived on Friday afternoon, and hung out with Brian and Stephanie and Aunt Jodi (Melissa was out and about, and Uncle Steven was still at work). Micah was showing off – he rolled over from front to back AND back to front over and over again, and then he sat and played with his gumball machine without falling over! Unfortunately, Micah was not cooperative at bedtime. He cried and cried for almost 1 hour, but I finally got him asleep in the pack-n-play in Brian’s room around 8:30. We had chinese food for dinner, and then the fun began. Brian has discovered baking, so the two of us decided to run to the store (with Stephanie) to get a few supplies to make strawberry pie. We whipped up two of those and then called it a night. Here is some video of Micah showing off (and you’ll hear the conversation we had planning the trip to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make a strawberry pie):

The next morning, Micah woke up at 7 am, but fell back asleep after nursing until 9:30 am. He ate his breakfast, played with his cousins, and then we waited for his other Aunt Jody, Uncle Dan cousin Ethan, Poppy Ira and Grandma Roberta to arrive. When everyone arrived, Micah showed off all of his tricks and we gave his Poppy Ira his Father’s Day gift…a framed photo of Micah. We all headed out to the mall to have a “cousins” photo taken for Father’s Day. The photo was really cute! We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, then back to the house for cake and pie.



Here is some video for good measure:
Micah had another rough night falling asleep, but he slept until 8:30 Sunday morning. We were out the door by 9:30, and arrived at Jen and Jeremy’s house for brunch around 12:15. We had blintzes, quiche and strawberry pie for dessert. Micah played with his cousins Paige and Peyton and showed off his tricks again. We also gave my parents a framed photo of Micah – a trilogy of close-up shots of his face. After spending a few hours together, we headed home around 3:00. What a long (but fun) weekend!
I thought I would also take this time to thank my own father for being a wonderful Daddy. You were always there for me, without hesitation. When I waited until the last minute and you had to run all over creation picking things up and turning things in for me so I didn’t miss an important deadline, you did it, without grumbling. You came to my swim meets and dance recitals and gymnastics events. You even came to a mother/daughter even with me once when mom couldn’t be there. You took me to see shows and spent time with me. You made me go shopping with you sometimes – I still can’t forgive you for that, but I’ll let it slide. You drove my carpool, embarassed me in front of my friends, but most importantly, you’ve always been there to love and support me, without hesitation. I may not tell you often enough, but I love you, and I appreciate the person you are – there are few men in this world who are as good as you are, and you taught me to set the bar high and expect more from men. Thank you, Dad, for all you do for our family!
Despite all the wonderful things we have to celebrate, Father’s Day is also bittersweet – one year ago on Father’s Day, I entered my 2nd trimester and we sent out a note announcing my pregnancy. The next morning, I sent out a second note to family and friends announcing the death of my grandmother. What a crazy year…we miss you, Grandma “Cookie,” and we think of you often. I’m sorry you never had the chance to meet Micah – I know how time with your family and all the little babies brought you such joy.

The Butterfly has landed

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My niece Peyton is staying at my parents’ house this week while my brother and SIL are on vacation. This was a wonderful trip for us, because we’ve never been able to spend any time alone with Peyton before. You see, Peyton is the younger sister, and she usually comes to us with her big sister in tow.

On her own, she is much more chatty than with her sister around. She gets into everything, loves to climb and is always very busy. She is quite sweet, although she has just discovered the word “NO.” She likes to lean back as if she is throwing a tantrum, scrunch up her face, and scream “NNNNNNNOOOOO!” Luckily, right after she shouts no, she proceeds to engage in whatever we asked her to do. She is a great sleeper, and so kind to Micah. She hates to be restrained – after 5 minutes in her car seat, she starts to shout “out!”

We went for dinner with them on Monday night, and Peyton was busy feeding Micah his bottle. They were so cute together. She loves to call him “baby” and she is always trying to climb into his car seat. She even made sure to give him lots of kisses.


On Monday, my mom and I took her to see a butterfly exhibit at the botanical gardens. We were not sure if she was old enough to appreciate it, but to our great surprise, she LOVED it! She was running around, squealing at the butterflies, pointing at them, and very entertained for over an hour. The exhibit was in a greenhouse, and the butterflies flew all around us. They often landed on our shoulders and hair, and it was such a wonderful experience. Some of them had such gorgeous colors – some were cobalt blue and black, others were lime green and brown. I loved all the vibrant colors. They had coccoons on display as well, and some were hatching.







Tuesday, I brought Peyton with me to playgroup. I learned that she loves egg salad (I think she devoured the entire bowl) and watermelon. She kept begging for more of both. I also learned that she calls The Itsy Bitsy Spider by the name “Up Down” (you know… the itsy bitsy spider went UP the water spout. DOWN came the rain). She sings along, but mostly sings “Up Down” and likes to repeat it over and over again.

We have a few more activities planned before she heads home on Thursday.