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

Maternity & Parenting Center

6 month checkup

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Micah had his 6 month appointment today (yes, I know it is nearly 2 weeks late!) and he did quite well. He was sitting in his diaper on the table ripping the paper cover to shreds when the doctor walked in – Micah flashed him a big grin then went back to his task of ultimate destruction. I probably should have taken a picture of our little guy – he was quite a sight. The doctor smiled, said that was a wonderful greeting (and the best he’d had all day), and then commented on Micah’s “mop of hair.”

Micah weighed in this morning at a whopping 15 lbs 8 ounces and measured 26 inches! My big boy is growing!! He is now in the 20th percentile for weight (making progress!) and about the same for height. Like his mommy, he has a tiny head – only the 10th percentile. We spent a long time talking to the doctor about food and eating, and I got answers to all 9 million of my questions. We were told he should not be eating any yogurt yet (or really any protein foods) until he is 9 months old because he just doesn’t need it yet. He said Micah should be at the lower end for formula/milk intake because he is small (big relief to hear!) and he thought 24-28 ounces a day should be more than enough (which is great, because that is about all he is getting). The doctor gave us estimates for about how many times a day and how much food he should be eating at each meal, and we are right in the target range. I have been so unsure as to whether I am feeding him the right amount, or too much, or not enough, but it seems I’ve been guessing correctly. We were told that most babies will take three meals a day by seven months, so we will watch and see when Micah is ready to add another meal each day.
The doctor increased Micah’s dosage of Zantac and checked out his congestion. Unfortunately, all of the congestion returned this week. The doctor seemed to think that kind of congestion is typical with infants, and unless it lasts more than a few weeks or he develops a cough/fever, he is not concerned at this time. It seems we are hitting all of the correct milestones, and we will go back again in three months for our next checkup and round of vaccinations.
The last part of our appointment was the immunizations – 2 shots and an oral vaccine. Micah LOVES the oral vaccine – he kept grabbing it and trying to guzzle it faster. Clearly, he has not developed good taste yet! I think Micah is like his Daddy – he’ll eat just about anything, with gusto. Micah did not even flinch for the first shot, but he started shrieking with the second shot – the nurse thinks maybe it burns since most babies cry when they get that shot. I immediately started nursing Micah, and he calmed back down again.

On a side note, there was a 2 week old baby at the doctor’s office today. I was a bit emotional – I looked at her, and I already felt a loss of sorts that Micah was no longer that little baby. I was nostalgic for the times he just curled up on my chest and slept all day and was such a tiny little thing. Of course, Elliot then reminded me how much more fun Micah is now that he has a personality and is gaining independence and how much easier things are now, and I know he is right. It is just hard to believe how quickly the time passed, and that I’m already missing my little baby.

He has been fine so far this afternoon. He took a nap and he was playful when he woke up. He did have a cranky patch, but I gave him a teething biscuit and that seemed to hit the spot and keep him quite busy.
In other news – Micah discovered his penis today! Yes, I did say penis, and I’m sure you did not see that announcement coming. We were changing his diaper at the doctor’s office, and Micah’s hands when straight on down there and grabbed a hold. That has to be some kind of male rite of passage, right? One day, when Micah can read and he reads this blog, I’m sure he will hate me for sharing this story.

Resolve’s Infertility Advocacy Day

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Resolve is an organization dedicated to addressing the needs and concerns of people who are faced with infertility. June 25 is Resolve’s Advocacy day, and hundreds of people will be descending on Congress to support legislation to help those facing infertility, including the Family Building Act of 2009 (H.R. 697). The Family Building Act amends the Public Health Service Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to require a group health plan that provides coverage for obstetrical services to include coverage for non-experimental treatment of infertility that is deemed appropriate by a participant or beneficiary and the treating physician. The bill would also require coverage for assisted reproductive technology only if certain conditions are met. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) will be introducing the Family Building Act to the Senate. This bill mirrors the House version of the bill.

What you can do:
  1. Send a letter/email thanking Senator Gillibrand for her initiative.
  2. Contact your Senator to either co-sponsor or support this bill.
  3. HR 697 has been assigned to committees. Contact the House Committee members directly to show their support. The 3 assigned committees are:
  4. If you haven’t already, contact your Representative to support HR 697 as well.

Daycare Decision

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We finally have a daycare decision/solution!! As you know, daycare has been a struggle for us. We currently have Micah in daycare one day a week at the Children in the Shoe (Towers) daycare. Nearly two weeks ago, we were offered a full-time spot in the Fall with our first-choice daycare, Wonders Daycare. I went in to speak to Children in the Shoe to see when Micah would be switched to the older room and if we could increase days in the Fall, and we were informed that it would be unlikely they would either move him or increase his hours until he was at least 15-18 months old. I was upset by that news, but relieved that it gave us an easy excuse to leave them. While we like Children in the Shoe, we have not been pleased with the current primary caretaker for Micah, and we actually prefer the other location (BCC).

We decided to go check out Wonders again before making a final decision, and we also found another daycare center with an open spot that was recommended by a friend – Family Academy. We went to visit both places, and we still felt that Wonders was still the best place for Micah (even though Family Academy is significantly less expensive). Our biggest hesitation was that the offer was for “full-time daycare” – we just were not sure if that was best for us. After learning that the daycare rates increased by nearly $200/month at Wonders since we initially went on the wait list, we became certain that we preferred a part-time slot.


Initially, we were told there were no part-time slots available. After some begging on our part and hard work on their part, we were told we could have a part-time slot, but it would be Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the one hand, I thought that might work out fine, and we could hire a babysitter to cover the other days as needed. However, I then remembered that Micah and I are enrolled in a class on Thursdays in the Fall, and we would have to skip out on daycare Thursday afternoons for 16 weeks to attend our class (a thought that really bothered me – who wants to pay for daycare and not use it??). We also continued to discuss whether we should just accept the full-time slot. Elliot and I discussed and debated, and we decided that we still preferred part-time over full-time, so we were all ready to accept Tuesdays and Thursdays.

When I called back to accept, I was told they might be able to work it out so that we can have Monday, Wednesday and Friday instead, but she needed a few more days to figure it out. Naturally we were confused about what to do. The problem with Monday, Wednesday and Friday is Federal holidays and vacation weekends – you have to pay for those days even when the daycare is closed or if you leave town and do not use them. After several changes of heart and a lot of trepidation, we committed today to daycare on Monday, Wednesday and Friday next year (beginning in September).

Micah will be in the junior toddler room, which includes fun activities like music, art and gym. They also provide a hot lunch and snacks everyday for the kids. Everyday, they go outside and play on the playground (as long as the weather isn’t too cold, too hot or too wet). He will be crawling around, playing with toys, and socializing with other children his age, and I am hoping it is a wonderful experience for him. I think we will do our best to limit how long he is there – at most, we will leave him there from 9:30 to 4:30 or *maybe* 5 on occasion.

I hope we made the right decision! We have to submit our registration form and fees, and then we are all set. Once we do that and lock down our spot, I think we will give our notice of termination to Children in the Shoe. We are still waiting to hear if they will have a spot in the junior toddler room at their BCC location, but I think this ship has sailed and it is time to switch providers.

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.

6 month photos

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Sorry I’ve been so quiet – I stopped taking my asthma medicine for a few days (okay, almost 1 week) to try and increase my milk supply. Well, naturally, my asthma acted up as did my sinuses, and now I have a nasty case of allergic sinusitis/bronchitis. I’m on antibiotics and feeling better, but I’m also feeling kind of stupid. I didn’t think a few days off would be a problem, and I was sure I could “catch it” before I got sick and get back on my meds, but I should have known better! By the time I realized things were getting bad, it was too late.

Anyway, here are the photos we had taken on Tuesday. Enjoy! Please excuse the big dark shadow on the profile picture – that was a scanning problem and I just don’t have the bandwidth to fix that now.










Baby Food – Take 2

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On Sunday night, I was inspired to make baby food for Micah. Elliot had purchased a variety of organic fruits and veggies, and I thought I would give it a try. I was excited to start with apples – I make homemade applesauce all the time, so I figured it would be a breeze. I peeled and chopped up the apples, added some water, and set it to cook. Fast forward….well, frankly I have no idea how long, because the next thing I remember is sitting on the couch and thinking “what is that smell? Who is cooking something?” That is right – I forgot I was making baby food. By the time I figured out what was cooking, the water had boiled out of the pot and the apples were all singed. I tried to salvage them… but they were no good. I was so mad at myself!

Luckily, I only used 4 apples. I cleaned out the very burnt pot, and started all over again. I peeled and chopped up 4 more apples, SET THE TIMER, and started them cooking, too. This time, the applesauce was perfect! Feeling confident, I decided to move on to bigger and better. I made a big vat of mixed vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots and corn). I also cooked up some pears, and pureed some mango. I made a few fruit combinations – apple mango, apple pear, and apple pear mango. I figured I could occasionally mix in some bananas when it is time to give them to Micah. Micah is now eating fruits – we added mango to the list on Monday with a banana mango oatmeal breakfast.

Unfortunately, I may have gotten too bold with all of my success. Once again, I had to push the limits – I decided to whip up a quick batch of zucchini, too. Naturally, I got distracted again. I checked on it and it was *almost* ready. I looked for the hand blender, cleaned it, checked again, and decided the zucchini needed another minute. While I was waiting, I decided to do some cleanup… which is where it all went wrong. I guess I got carried away on the cleanup, because by the time I checked the zucchini again, all the water had boiled off, and it, too, burned. I’m so sad – no zucchini for Micah! I need to pay better attention while I’m making things, or do a better job of setting the timer. After the zucchini debacle, I thought it best to call it quits. We still have an eggplant, peas, and green beans for me to cook another night. We’ll see how Micah likes my cooking!

Sing, sing a song!

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Lately, whenever I sing to Micah, he has been joining in and singing, too. Unfortunately, he does not yet get any of the words right, but he is definitely singing with me. It just makes my heart swell with love. He ooohs and aahs and pauses around the right times, but unfortunately, I think he is unable to carry a tune (just like his mommy).

The past two nights, he has been a bit “clingy” at bed time. I take him upstairs, nurse him, and while he is extra sleepy, I plop him in the crib and leave as is our routine. Normally, he drifts right off to sleep, but the past few nights, he woke up and started shrieking. I tried waiting a few minutes to see if it would pass, but no such luck – the noises kept escalating. Immediately, when I walked in his room, he gave me his big, giant, winning grin, as if to say “Mommy, I missed you!” He wanted to hold my hand and look at me, and he definitely wanted me to sing. At bedtime, I usually sing You are My Sunshine or The Rose. Saturday night, I started with You are My Sunshine two times, then went into The Rose three times. He started to cry and fuss whenever I stopped singing. The first few times through the songs, he sang along, too, before he finally dropped off to sleep. Again, Sunday night, he woke up when I tried leaving the room. I went back in to be greeted by his charming squeal, and he asked me to sing (well, he started to make the “singing” sounds) and it was clear he wanted his songs. I sang a few renditions of The Rose and as I began the verses, he smiled ever so sweetly at me, sang a bit more, then rolled over to his side, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and started to drift off to never-never-land. If I tried to stop, he took the thumb out and rolled over to give me a dirty look. Never mind that I had a CD playing in the background – he only had ears for Mommy’s horrible voice.

Oh, and did I mention that he and Nugget are having a love fest? She comes up every night to help put him to bed. He, in turn, cannot get enough of her. He squeals with joy every time he sees her, he rolls over to be close to her on the play mat, and when he SHOULD be eating dinner, he is busy looking through my glass table to locate Nugget underneath and smile at her. Did I mention yet how many times I’ve regretted purchasing that glass table over the past 10 years? Yeah – it is just as bad when Nugget sits underneath the table and longing looks up at us while we eat dinner.

Here is some adorable video of Micah screeching with delight on his playmat:

Six Months

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Micah turned six months old today!! Can you believe how the time is flying? Micah decided to sleep in until 9 in honor of his half birthday. We had a leisurely morning, and he did get to listen to a nice rendition of “Happy Half Birthday” from his Grammy and Goppy. We spent the afternoon lounging at the pool with Daddy. It was such a pleasant day – the weather was perfect, the sky was clear, and there was a nice breeze blowing. The pool was nice and warm, and Micah was all smiles.

While Mommy took some time to swim laps (FINALLY getting my act together and exercising again!!), Micah took a trip with Daddy to the store, and napped the entire time. We arrived home around 4:30 or so. We gave Micah a bath (this is the 2nd night we bathed Micah as he SAT in the bath tub!!) and I fed him some dinner (a little milk, some green beans, rice cereal and avocado). Daddy left for work, and Micah and I played for a few more hours before bedtime. Here are some pictures from Micah’s first time sitting in the bathtub (can you tell he likes to eat duck?):




This post seems like a good opportunity to review some of his recent milestones. Let’s start with food. Micah is eating really well – we have now tried peas, green beans, avocado, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. We added a second meal in the past few days because he was getting hungry in the evenings.

He is also sitting really well – still not reliable enough for me to walk away and leave him when he is sitting, but he is fairly sturdy – he can definitely chew on the hooves of his toy giraffe while he is sitting! He is still teething – those bottom two teeth are just dying to break through. After much waiting, he is rolling from back to front with some frequency – in his crib, on the floor, on the grass at a friend’s birthday bbq on Saturday, at playgroup, when he sees a toy he wants… I think he just likes to do things on his terms and in his own way. He is definitely passing objects from hand to hand, and he seems to be exploring the idea of crawling.

So, with that, happy half birthday, baby boy! I’d like to end with a few fun videos of Micah with his duck (press the triangle on the lower left corner to play!):

Busy Busy

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“Busy busy” applies both to my life and to Micah’s personality. I have been running at mach 5 for the past few weeks. I’ve been swamped conducting interview surveys for a project at work, and there have been so events happening in my personal life. This weekend, I had the Komen walk, my cousin Jodi’s wedding (which was BEAUTIFUL) and we went to a baseball game. Additionally, my niece has been in town since Saturday, and I’ve been trying to spend time with her while getting work done and breaking in a new babysitter.

The babysitter situation is going really well – Christin is so sweet with Micah, and it really frees me up to get my work done and even run the occasional errand. We also got a call that our first choice daycare has a full-time slot available for us as of August 31. Right after that, we found another daycare (recommended by a friend) that has a slot available mid-August, so we have to figure out if that is the right option for us. I love having Micah at home with me so I can see him on my breaks, but I have a feeling that as he gets older, he won’t let me get my work done once he realizes I’m in the other room. We are thinking of paying for the 5 days, and putting him there most days from 9 or 10 until 4. I will probably keep him home at least 1 day every week for mommy time, and we have a Thursday class together this Fall. I think I’d prefer to enroll him in a part-time 3 day a week daycare, but right now we don’t seem to have that option. We may try enrolling full-time and see if they will work with us to drop down to part-time.

Micah is also quite busy these days… he likes to be doing something all the time. He is very busy when he plays with his toys, or rolls on the floor. He is constantly grabbing and doing. He actually started using the jumperoo this week – we finally figured out how to lower it, and he is now fitting in it quite nicely. I thought I’d round off this post with some recent pictures of Micah busily playing in his exersaucer.




Here is a video for good measure (naturally, he stopped playing and demonstrating how busy he can be and started mugging for the video instead, but hey, he is just too cute I had to post it anyway) – press the triangle on the lower left to see the video!

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.