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

Maternity & Parenting Center

Cherry Blossom Weekend

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Let’s start off with a belated picture from Micah’s first seder:


After the seders last week, we were expecting some family time on Friday. Elliot’s parents, Steven, Jodi, Stephanie and Brian joined us Friday for breakfast. I made matzah brie, which is basically french toast made with matzah. You soak the matzah to soften it, mix some eggs through, then fry it up. You can serve it “savory” (with salt and/or cheese) or go the sweet route (cinnamon, sugar, syrup, chocolate . . . whatever floats your boat). I made a big giant vat of matzah brie, we put all the different toppings on the table, and we had a lovely breakfast. We were expecting Elliot’s other brother, Daniel, his wife Jody, and their son Ethan to join us on Friday. They called to say they would be here in an hour, so we waited. And waited. And waited. 1 1/2 hours later, they called to say they wouldn’t be joining us. We still don’t understand exactly what happened.

Once we got the green light, we stopped waiting, and took off to tour the area. It is a beautiful time of year here, with all the cherry blossom trees in bloom, so off to Kenwood we went! Kenwood is one of the oldest and prettiest neighborhoods in the air, and every street is lined with cherry blossom trees. We went to wander around and enjoy nature.











After touring Kenwood, we decided to take Roberta (Elliot’s mother) shopping for a new pair of shoes, so off to DSW we went. We all managed to buy a few pairs of shoes. When we came back, we enjoyed a late lunch of egg salad and matzah pizza. We relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, and around 6, my friend Tammy (and I was previously chastised for using the word “old” to describe our friendship) from college arrived to join us! (Long story short . . . I didn’t realize my in-laws planned to stay through until Saturday, so I invited Tammy down on Friday and their visits overlapped). Despite this little scheduling blip, we had a lovely dinner together – Tammy joined right in and we enjoyed leftovers from the previous night.

Saturday morning, my in-laws returned for lunch before their drive back home. I made tuna salad, we cooked up a few more matzah pizzas, and a “secret” family recipe that we call matzkes (it is basically a special sweet cheese mixture that you spread on the matzah and bake). My family matzkes were a hit! The family departed for home, but not before Poppy Ira had a chance to hang out with Micah:
After our family left, Tammy and I decided to go back to Kenwood. After a long, exhausting day, we spent a quiet evening at home. Elliot made fish and veggies for dinner (not that I ate the fish – I’m a vegetarian). Sunday, Tammy and I decided to adventure a bit – we took the metro downtown, checked out the cherry blossoms along the tidal basin (unfortunately, we were a few days too late – the cherry blossoms had passed their peak, and we saw tons of green foliage instead of pink flowers). After a short walk (the wind was blowing so hard that we were worried about Micah and cut the walk short . . . that is our story, and I am sticking to it!), we went to the American History Museum. It was the first time I had been since it was renovated.



We had a wonderful day, and Micah enjoyed his first trip downtown and first museum visit. We returned home around 5, and Tammy decided to head back home.

All in all, a wonderful weekend!

You’ve got the cutest little baby face

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Today, we will be presenting a photo essay. Micah in pictures. Here are a few of my favorite things:

Hanging out in my loungewear . . . like the slippers?

And the mullet shots (okay, it is part faux hawk). . .

business in the front. . . .

party in the back . . .


Look at that luscious hair!


Can you see my curls?



And let’s finish this off with an installment of Micah tv. Press the triangle on the lower left of each picture to watch the videos! Enjoy Micah chatting and playing:

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

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

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





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

Three Month Photo

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

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

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


Click here to see the other photos from the shoot.

Adventures in Traveling

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Happy Purim!

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Last night, Micah celebrated his first Purim! For those of you who are not familiar with this holiday, Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates our triumph over Haman, who attempted to massacre all of the Jews in Shushan, an ancient city in Persia. Each year, we read the Book of Esther (also known as the Megillah), which tells the story of Esther, and how she went to her husband, King Achashverosh (who did not know she was Jewish) to tell him of Haman’s plot and ask him to save her people. The King supported Esther, and ended up sentencing Haman to death for his murderous plot. Purim is a fun holiday – it is celebrated by dressing in costumes (often costumes of the characters from the Megillah) and eating hamentaschen (triangular shaped cookies filled with fruit jelly that represent the hat Haman wore). When the Megillah is recited, participants make noise, boo, and shake groggers (noisemakers) every time the name Haman is mentioned to prevent that terrible name from being heard.

Our synagogue put on quite a show – they took Billy Joel songs and rewrote them to tell the story of Purim. It was a wild event, and Micah was in awe of all the noise, people and costumes. We went over at 6:30 to go to the children’s service . . . unfortunately, the woman in charge did a horrible job. At 7:30, we headed over to the main service. Micah lasted about 1/2 hour before the stimulation became a bit much for him. I took him home, fed him, and off to sleep he went!

Here are a few pictures of us at Purim:




Don’t you just love that he has enough hair to wear a kippah? Oh . . . and I am definitely a bad mother . . . it never occurred to me to get a costume for Micah.

Picture Time

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Well, here is another picture post. I have so many good pictures of Micah from the last week or so that I had to share. My favorite picture, by far, is the last one . . . yesterday morning, we went in to wake Micah up at 9:00 am (yes, that is right. . . . he slept over 12 hours that night, and we had to go IN to wake him up to feed him), and I found him this way . . . on his side, arms broken out of the swaddle, paci in his mouth, and using the incline sleeper as just a pillow. I could see on my video monitor that he had slid down and broken out, but his head looked free of blanket and he was quiet, so I didn’t bother to go in and disturb him earlier. It took us another 10 minutes to wake him up! He was quite comfy and cozy. Enjoy.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s SUPER MICAH!!

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Part of our new bedtime routine is to swaddle Micah in the Halo SleepSack Swaddle. We were swaddling him in the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe, but he managed to get his arms out of the middle and kind of wrap it around his neck a few weeks ago, so we switched to a different swaddle for our own peace of mind. Well, the new swaddle is sort of a dress . . . with a cape on the back. Anyway, we couldn’t resist taking these pictures:



Here are some other adorable videos of our little Micah man this past week:



Oh, and as promised, here is my dog loving the playmat:

If I only knew . . .

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That my dog would love the playmat as much (if not more) than my son, I would have bought the playmat years ago! My cute little dog has figured out how to make the lights go off, and she lies on her back and hits at all the animals, and pulls them with her teeth. When we go out for a few hours, I come home and find her napping on the playmat. Every time Micah gets on the playmat, she joins him – to sit, to snuggle, to just roll around. The playmat is an endless source of fun! So, for you animal owners out there – feel free to go out and buy a playmat – I’m sure your pets will love it! Here are some photos of my babies – I’ll have to snap one when the dog is playing on the mat by herself! Maybe some video – she loves to start the music and hit all the toys while she lays on her back.