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

Maternity & Parenting Center

Bedtime Routines

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From a sleep perspective, bedtime routines help establish predictability, calm our children, and create a relaxing environment that is conducive to the onset of sleep.  As a mom, I love having a bedtime routine with my children – I love the snuggle time, I love the one-on-one time, and I love kissing my children goodnight.  I also love that the routine induces cooperation from my often challenging 3 year old son, Micah – he knows he gets only one book, he knows that we sing a song, and then he knows I leave and it is time for bed.
What makes for a good bedtime routine?  Calming activities and consistency.  Calming activities can include a bath, a story, a massage, a song.  The what is less important – but the routine should be concise.  If it takes you 45 minutes to calm your child and put him/her to bed, consider editing down your activities.  The most critical part of a good bedtime routine is consistency.  Doing the same thing every single night starts to create positive sleep associations…your child knows that certain things will happen, and at the end of the activities, s/he will be going to sleep.  In time, the simple act of going through the bedtime routine starts to make your child feel sleepy!
Our routine is fairly simple – from start to finish, it takes about 10 minutes (a little longer on bath nights).  We go upstairs, we use the potty, we brush teeth, we put on pajamas, we take medicine, and then we read a story.  For my daughter, Maya (who is almost 1 1/2), we read the story together while sitting in her chair.  For my son, he lays in bed and I sit on the floor nearby and read to him.  After story time, the lights go off, and I sing a song.  We have three different bedtime songs…You are My Sunshine, The Rose, and Free to Be, You and Me.  My son usually tries to manipulate me into singing all three songs to him…I gave in once during a moment of weakness while he was sick, and he has pushed me to do it every night since then (for the past 3 months).  My solution?  I sing one verse of each song…so the total time isn’t any longer.  It is kind of like a “mash-up” from Glee (for all you Gleeks out there…), only I sing off-key and without any dancing.  I could break him of the habit in a few days, but I love that the songs mean so much to him. 
What amazes me most is how my son depends on the routine.  If I do something out of order, he tells me “No, Mommy, we brush teeth now,” or “Mommy, sit right there,” or “You turn off light now.”  He also loves to choose what book we read (tonight was Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, but Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Cat in the Hat, Put Me in the Zoo, Goodnight Moon, and Mama Loves Me are some of the other books that currently seem to be in rotation).  This week, Maya, too, has become a little particular about her routine.  She likes to hold her medicine bottle and play with it while I am changing her and putting her in her pajamas.  She insists on getting her lovey and her paci out of the crib to hold while we read a story.  We have been going and picking out books to read from Micah’s room (I still haven’t fully unpacked her room since our move a few weeks ago).  In the past, the story was always my pick, but currently, she seems obsessed with a Curious George ABC book.  She throws a fit if I try to read her any other book!  What makes me laugh most of all is Micah with the goodnight songs…he tells me what to sing, and in what order.  In fact, if I start to sing before he picks the song, he gets upset.  Some experts would say that I am the parent and I should control every aspect of the bedtime routine, but I find that giving Micah a degree of choice and control (that suits me) also calms him down and makes the bedtime routine go smoothly.
For me, the routine is not the difficult part…it is the stall tactics before bedtime that  truly test my patience!  Micah knows that if we start on the routine, bedtime is imminent.  So, he has to go to the bathroom one more time, or he suddenly gets hungry, or needs a drink of water, or he asks to brush his teeth.  I am extremely careful to pack in an extra few minutes of battling his stall tactics from the time I announce we are going up to bed.  When he starts with the stall tactics, I usually simply tell him no, or I give him one or two reasonable things…like a sip of water, or washing his hands.  I have, on occasion, threatened a time out if he continues stalling and I start counting backwards…although one time that backfired and he asked to go to time out instead of to bed.  Actually, for a week, Micah stood up during nap time and yelled “I want time out” – he thought it would get him out of napping!  Clever child, that one….
What are some of your favorite bedtime activities?

A break from the sad

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I’ve spent so much time lately blogging about the sad stuff on Caring Bridge that I have spent very little time focusing on Micah and Maya. I have to say, they are doing amazingly well! This time has been so hard on them – I’m gone so much, they have been dragged back and forth to the hospitals, and their routines have been interrupted. This week, our new nanny started, so Micah’s world is in a bit of upheaval.

So, here is an update on them. Micah is now 20 months old…his language skills are starting to explode, and he is an endless source of joy for me during a terrible time. He is definitely in the midst of the terrible twos – he is stubborn and difficult and throws many tempertantrums. He likes things the way he likes them, and he is not afraid to yell about it. He spends much of his time begging to watch “Elmo, peas.” His obsession with Elmo grows stronger with each passing day. He loves raisins, and insists on eating them from the bag. He sometimes likes to eat with a fork, and other times gets mad if we cut his food. Lately, he loves eating whole fruit…the whole apple, or the whole peach – no more “baby pieces” for Micah. He is starting to repeat lots of words – he uses words like keys, nice and mess. When he says “nice” he usually walks over and pets someone on the head. He also knows to point to his shirt or the floor when it is covered with food and say “mess.” He is full of love, hugs, and kisses, and will still respond and say “ME” with the most adorable expression on his face every time I ask “who’s cute?” He is finally starting to warm up to Maya – he calls her baby, and a few times he has even used her name. He tries to snuggle with her and give her kisses now and again…although he still occasionally bops her on the head or drops a remote on her. He can now point to and identify most of his family members, and he is very well versed in his body parts. I love how he says “mouth,” “nose,” “teeth” and “eyes.” I find it interesting that he can point to his head, ears, chin, hair, feet, hands, elbows and a few other parts, but he never uses those words. I am unsure how many teeth he has as he will not let me anywhere near his mouth to count them. I’d guess he has at least 12 by now, possibly more.

Maya is growing each day by leaps and bounds. Now that she is on Prevacid, she is a fairly easy-going baby (except for about 1/2 hour from 5:30-6:00 pm). She is at a great stage right now – she sits and smiles and chuckles and coos at me all day long. She will go anywhere, and will let anyone hold her. She is not particularly fond of the car, but she seems to be getting a little better. Her eyelashes are getting nice and long, and she is just truly a happy baby. She has been rolling over from belly to back since she was 5 weeks old. She has amazing head control, and I think she can sit unassisted for like 10-15 seconds at a time! I think Micah was 4 or 5 months old before he could do that. At her 2 month checkup, she weighed 10 lbs and measured 22 1/2 inches. She is still wearing newborn sized clothes, but should be in the 0-3 month size soon. Best of all – she is an amazing sleeper. She naps well all day, and she sleeps 10-12 hours a night! Our biggest challenge with her is feeding…she has a sucking/swallowing problem, which makes both nursing and bottle feeding a challenge. Her problem has been diagnosed as “disorganized sucking” – it is a problem most common in preemies who are born before their suck reflex has developed. In short, she has a very hard time figuring out how to suck properly. Her tongue is usually in the wrong place, and sometimes she chokes. She also has an overly strong gag reflex, so that makes everything a bit more difficult. Because of these challenges, she is unable to take a bottle (well, she has taken a bottle on a few occasions, but most of the time she cannot get organized and get the suck-swallow pattern together without choking on the bottle), and she spends a lot of time smacking up my nipples while she nurses. We just got her evaluated by the state program, and hope that they will be able to improve this issue for us.

It still talks!

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I’m sure you will all be happy to know that my pump still talks. Ever since the baby arrived, I have been fairly torn about whether or not I should pump. I struggled with milk supply when I had Micah, and one of the mistakes I made was letting things go too long before I began to pump. I swore that this time, I would not make that same mistake.

In the hospital, before we even arrived at our room, I requested a pump. I had everything set up and ready to go “just in case.” Much to my surprise, the baby latched really well at her first nursing session. She fell asleep for about 6 hours after that, but the lactation consultant said that they advise moms of preemies who will be exclusively pumping not to begin pumping until the 6 hour mark. She further suggested that if the baby latched well again and stayed on for 20-30 minutes, that she felt that I should hold off on pumping and only pump if the baby refused to latch or nurse.

Right at the 6 hour mark, we had another great nursing session. The baby continued to latch at least every 3 hours for 20-60 minutes each time. She had the requisite number of wet diapers (and stools, too), and by morning everyone was telling me how well she was nursing and how perfectly everything was going. In the back of my head, however, I kept wondering if it was just too good to be true. I mentioned my supply issues and my concerns, and most felt that if I were to face supply issues, it would likely not crop up for a little while as I should easily be able to meet the baby’s early demand…I just might start to fall behind later. It made sense to me, so I decided to trust the “experts.” Besides…I always hated pumping, and in the early days, you pump and pump and NOTHING comes out until after your milk starts to come in – who needs that frustration?

At the end of day two, I began to get nervous again. It was our first sign of trouble…salmon colored urine in the diapers. It is a sign that the baby is passing uric acid and not getting enough fluid. Once we saw that with Micah, everything went downhill quickly, so I was fairly concerned. We spoke to the nurse and to the doctor, and everyone pretty much told us it was “nothing” – just feed the baby more often. I asked about supplementing and I asked about pumping, and everyone felt that the baby was doing a great job on her own and I should just trust that it would be okay.

The salmon-colored diapers continued all day on Sunday (and even this morning). She is supposed to be passing 3 stools a day, and she has barely been doing one since Saturday (she did 3 on Friday, and then 1 on Saturday morning, 1 on Sunday morning and none since then). She is definitely hitting the requisite number of wet diapers, but I think my supply might be the issue. we called our pediatrician and we are going in later today for an appointment, but over the phone they said I should start supplementing.

So, this morning, after she nursed on one side, I bit the bullet…and got cozy with my pump. And yes, it still talks. I think it is still pretty salty, too. It started out telling me to “Let it go” and then it called me “Whacko.” When my pump switched to the faster pumping setting, it started to tell me to “back up” – since it was hurting, I decided the pump was asking me to turn down the tempo to a lower speed, and I happily obliged. Then it started to say “back hoe” – I’m thinking it was trying to make conversation about our upcoming renovations?

After all of that pumping…I barely got 5ccs. I hate pumping! I know that I did breastfeed shortly before pumping, and that the pump does not do as good a job getting the colostrum out, but I just find the whole process so discouraging! I ended up giving the baby all 5ccs, and I called the pediatrician to discuss her salmon-colored diapers. The pediatrician who had answered the phone read me the riot act about not supplementing yet, and how it was necessary and the baby would get sick and dehydrate…so after giving her the 5ccs, I caved and gave her another 10ccs of formula. I decided that maybe that would be all she would need to “get over the hump” and I would wait and see what they said at her doctor’s appointment.

At 2:30, we headed to her appointment. We saw a different doctor, and he thought she looked great and maybe put on an ounce or two. I was just thrilled she is no longer losing weight! We discussed the salmon-colored diapers, and he thought that it was not a big deal before my milk came in, especially since she was gaining weight. He thought her color looked good and everything else was perfect. Naturally, after our long discussion about her lack of normal urine, he checked her diaper and…you guessed it – a beautiful yellow-colored urine-filled diaper! The little stinker made me into a liar…or at least one of those crazy, hypochondriac parents. I am pleased to report she has had two more normal diapers since our appointment, so it looks like all the extra nursing (or perhaps the touch of formula this morning) did the trick. Now, we just need to get her pooping again…she has not pooped since about 5:00 am on Sunday morning. I’m sure when we have a nasty diaper, I’ll be regretting WISHING for more poop, but what else can I do? We will return to the doctor on Thursday for another weight check. Hopefully, she’ll continue to do well.

In the meantime, Micah shows absolutely NO INTEREST in his sister. I did manage to snap a few photos of him nearby – I’ll try to post them soon. We’ve been doing well during the days – she is nursing easily and so far I’m trying not to worry about my supply. Elliot and I have been trying to take turns caring for each of the kids, and my parents have come by a few times to help out with the baby. She seems to get very sleepy in the late afternoon/early evening, and then is wide awake from about 10:30 until 3:00 am. Last night, she just did not want to be put down, and I was exhausted – since Wednesday night, I had only had 5 hours of sleep – TOTAL. I finally just latched her on, propped myself up in bed, and the two of us took a 3 hour nap together that way. Yes, I know it is a bad idea to sleep in bed that way, but we needed our rest, and I just could not figure out another way to make it work because she wanted Mommy and no one else to hold her. Hopefully, tonight will be easier, but we shall see.

She has been nursing VERY frequently all day today. The little lady has such sensitive skin – she has completely scratched up her face with her fingernails, and every time she rubs up against something she gets these terrible abrasions/rashes that can last 3-12 hours.

Okay – that is our update for now!

It was a good night

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Okay – so after my slightly foul post, we actually had a nice evening, so I thought I would try and update with a little more positivity. Micah walked in from daycare screaming…because he was having so much fun on his new bike seat, and his Daddy made him get off the bike and take his new Mickey Mouse helmet off. After some tears (and a little music), Micah was all smiles again while he sat at the dinner table being entertained by Mommy and Daddy.

By 7:00, we were all finished with dinner. Micah played with his toys for a few minutes – he loves to sit on his riding toy and push himself around the room (and as he runs into toys in the way, he says “beep beep”). We decided it was time for our nightly walk (our recent tradition the past few weeks). I announced to Elliott hat Twoey wanted chocolate ice cream (ahhh…the best part of pregnancy – who can deny a baby anything?), so off to Ben & Jerry’s we walked. I decided to get a cup of 1/2 Chocolate Therapy and 1/2 Phish Food, and immediately Micah was whining and grabbing. He has only tried ice cream once or twice before, and he did not seem all that interested. Well, tonight he proved he is ABSOLUTELY and UNDENIABLY my son…he went to town on some serious chocolate ice cream! I had one of those little taster spoons for him, so I gave him a bit on the spoon. He scarfed it down immediately and said “MMMM.” He immediately reached out for more ice cream. Spoonful after spoonful, Micah kept eating the chocolate, and each and every bite was greeted with a resounding “MMMM.” I have to say, like his Mommy, he cried a bit when the ice cream was gone. He was very cute all covered in chocolate, and I’m certain I’ve got a chocoholic on my hands!

As we walked, I noticed that every time Micah saw a chair or a bench, he said “sit down.” I realized that while that is one of his favorite phrases recently, I think he is not just simply ordering everyone to sit, he actually thinks that chairs and benches are called “sit down.” We were laughing – it was just so cute! He also made sure to point out the trees, the birds (and tweet like birds), and all the different lights. His vocabulary is just growing exponentially every day!

On our way back, we were a little earlier than usual. I was just not feeling up to walking with all the contractions, and I really needed to head home. We arrived at the park around 7:45, and Elliot asked if I wanted to stop and sit on the bench and let Micah run around in the park for a little while. I said sure, but warned him we’d have trouble getting Micah to leave (and made him promise he’d deal with any tempertantrums) so off Micah ran to the slides. He was so cute as he climbed and laughed and yelled “sit down” at every bench and chair he saw. After 15-20 minutes, I told Elliot I needed to head back. We snagged Micah after one of his trips down the slide, and he was clearly not happy to be taken away from his fun. I got creative, and remembered that we passed by the basketball courts on the way in (and Micah loves basketball), so I asked Micah if he wanted to walk with me to the basketball. He clapped, grabbed my hand, and off we went to the basketball court. As we drew near, Micah spotted a basketball sitting on the grass…and off he ran to grab it. He walked with Elliot to the court, started bouncing the ball and trying to throw it in the basket. There were about 10-15 men shooting hoops on the court, and they were all so nice to clear out of the way and let him play for a few minutes. He was clapping and laughing and screaming “bah-ball” – I could see his grin from 30 feet away! A few of the guys were dribbling the ball and dunking it in the basket, and Micah was WOWED. He tried to dribble, too (well, he took the ball and banged it on the ground a few times) then did his imitation of a jump shot (lifting it over his head and picking up a leg while he dropped the ball and clapped for himself).

After another 5-7 minutes, we had to put an end to Micah’s basketball time and head home. Unfortunately, Micah was devastated…and had a complete and utter screaming meltdown. He would not let us put him in his stroller, and Elliot had to carry him home, shrieking and screaming. He was hysterical, and kept screaming “bah-ball.” Note to self…perhaps bed time is a bad time for basketball. He was just so devastated to be leaving, and we felt a little bad about the whole thing. We finally got home and he was still a mess when we walked through the door. We debated just bringing him upstairs for bath and bed kicking and screaming, but instead I thought that a quick tv program might be a better idea. I asked Micah if he’d like to watch tv, and he got quiet (well, those little hiccupy snivels were still left) and he looked at the tv. I told him he needed to stop crying, sit on the couch and say “please” and I’d put the tv on for him. He immediately ran over to the couch, climbed up and said “peez.” So, I put on an episode of Between the Lions and Micah was all cuddly, happy and content. Just after the episode, Micah happily went upstairs for bath time.

For the past few nights, after bath time, Micah loves to roll around in our bed, pull the covers and pillow around him as he snuggles in and declare “night-night.” I think he is starting to express his desire to sleep in a big bed! It isn’t going to happen any time soon, but it sure is cute.

So, while I’m still very uncomfortable and unhappy that Twoey has not yet declared her arrival…tonight was a wonderful night. I’m loving these last few precious moments as our family of three, with Micah as my only focus and attention. I will definitely miss this special time with him – and I’m so sad that my little boy is growing up so quickly before my eyes.

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.

No, no, no…Part 2

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Thought I’d share the video I captured tonight (by the way, you’ll notice at the end that he says “more” when he is “all done”):

By the way, Micah has recently been obsessed with making Elliot put on his bike helmet in the house…he had to keep it on all night tonight. We had someone come to our door, and Elliot had a conversation with her…it wasn’t until she left that I realized he had been wearing the bike helmet the entire time!

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!

Twoey’s 38 week appointments

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Today was appointment day…we took Twoey for her ultrasound and biophysical profile this morning, and she passed with flying colors! She was moving and breathing well, and we did get a few photos I will try to scan and share. Twoey has been very low – it used to be that her face was even with the placenta, but now she has descended so much that the placenta is even with her belly.

This afternoon, we met with the midwife. This was one of my favorite midwives, and today was her last day with the practice. So, she will definitely NOT be delivering Twoey. The good news is that the midwife who delivered Micah will be covering hospital hours over the next few weeks, so she may be delivering Twoey! I like one of the other two midwives on call – the third one is not so friendly, though.

As for my appointment, at 38 weeks, my belly is measuring 34 weeks…and shrinking. I haven’t put on any weight, and I’ve been having horrible nausea again. The contractions are pretty regular, but I don’t seem to be making any progress. I’m about 2 cm dilated and 70-80% effaced, so no real progress from last week. I’m pretty disappointed. She didn’t think it was a good time to strip my membranes – she did stretch my cervix to hope to stir things up. I had to be hooked up to the machines for an NST (non-stress test) and little Miss Twoey flunked at first. I had to stay hooked up a while longer – they eventually let me go (because she was being cooperative this morning), but all she wanted to do was sleep this afternoon.

I really hope things start to move – I’m so uncomfortable right now with all the contractions, and I’m starting to worry that I won’t go into labor on my own (side effect of those stupid progesterone shots I had to take). Inductions require needles, and I really don’t want to go that route. So…hope little Miss Twoey decides to make an appearance. My only thought is that she is holding out for June 15 – the one day I didn’t want her to arrive because it is my brother’s birthday, my parents’ anniversary, and every few years it is also Father’s Day!

We had a really good day with Micah today – he seems much less grumpy, he napped well, and he went to bed easily. Hopefully a good sign!

Still Here

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Well, I’m still here…hanging in there. I cannot believe little Miss Twoey has not made her arrival yet!! I’ve been having fairly regular contractions for the past several days, and they’ve been about 2 minutes apart for the last 24 hours or so. I’m having a fair amount of pain and discomfort, and frankly, I’m ready to get this show on the road! We are about as ready as we are going to get – house is clean and in order, the necessities are washed, the car seat is in the car, the hospital bag is packed, and we are probably about as on top of our work as we are going to get. I should probably do about another month worth of work before labor hits, but hey, I’ve actually accomplished more than I expected so far. Now…if we could just come up with a name for Twoey!

This week has been a little better. My mom seems to be regaining her strength, and I’m trying to move forward with everything in my life, too. Yesterday was a good day with Micah. He woke up at 3:15 am screaming again, but he was laying down the entire time, so I decided to see if he could put himself back to sleep. Luckily, he was only awake about 15 minutes and then slept until about 7:30 or so. Still not perfect, but it was progress! Of course, I felt like a horrible mom the entire time for not going in to comfort him, but he was just upset, not hysterical, and I had a feeling that going in to his room would just make it all worse and have him up all night. I just don’t want him to develop a 3:00 am wake up habit and think that is snuggle time with mommy and daddy.

I haven’t been spending as much time on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Micah since our babysitter, Christin, started a few weeks ago. It has been a great opportunity for me to get some things accomplished and take care of myself, but…I have been missing my Micah time! So, I decided to take the morning (perhaps one of my last with only 1 child) and spend some time with Micah. For our morning activity, I scheduled a haircut for Micah. We walked over there, got his hair cut, and then stopped off at a park to play. Christin helped with the chasing, but we had a fun time together! He gave me kisses, and he seemed fascinated by the other children. He saw one boy drinking water from a bottle, and he wanted one, too, so I gave him his milk. Then, the boy started to eat one of those sippy pouches of fruit. Luckily, I had one on hand, and Micah downed that, too. He then seemed ravenous, so I gave him a cheese stick. Unfortunately, he was still hungry and was searching through the bags for more food. I happened to remember that the restaurant across the street has a kids’ performer and lunch every Tuesday, so we popped across the street. We missed the performer, but we were able to join in for the lunch special. Micah ate pita and hummus and a few french fries (okay, the fries are not super healthy, but he did already eat cheese, fruit and veggies before this, and I gave him whole wheat pita and hummus).

After lunch, the three of us headed back home. We immediately put Micah down for his nap and I went back to getting some work done. I was having horrible contractions and struggling with nausea, so the afternoon was a bit rough for me. Normally, Micah sleeps about 2.5- 3 hours. Naturally, 50 minutes after we put him down for his nap, the screaming began! I had Christin go get him, and I could hear that he was in a horrible mood.

I came upstairs to help out for a bit…and he was just a mess. I took him and hugged him for a while, but he was still yelling. I am fairly certain this is teething pain, but this has been going on quite some time. I decided to give him some Tylenol, and then I administered the next best medication I know…Sesame Street. I usually hate to use tv as a soothing device, but sometimes….well, it works. I flipped on the tv, Micah put his thumb in his mouth and curled up on top of me. After a little while, I scooted away from Micah (and let Christin sneak in to cuddle with him). I decided to make him some popsicles (I did 2 yogurt/applesauce and 2 applesauce) because I thought perhaps the cold would help his gums. I then went back downstairs and went back to work. I told Christin she should take him outside after the show ended – either for a walk or to play “basketball.” I heard them go outside, and I could hear Micah screaming a bit. I checked on him – apparently, he wanted to sit and play in the bike trailer, and probably wanted to go for a ride. They stayed outside for about 30-40 minutes, and then Christin brought him in because it was so buggy outside. Micah was protesting loudly, but he brought his basketball inside. I came upstairs to play with them for a bit. I made a “basket” with my arms and showed Micah he could play that way. He actually giggled! Then I showed him how to bounce the ball, which is apparently hysterically funny. He spent the next 40 minutes throwing and bouncing the ball.

Christin left at 5:00, and Micah and I continued to play. He started to get grumpy again and he was banging on one of the cabinets, so I assumed that meant he was hungry. Lately, feeding him has been a challenge. I offered him a cracker and he threw it on the ground. I gave him a graham cracker, and he smashed that in his hands and screamed. I asked him if he wanted cheese, and he shook his head “NO.” I asked if he wanted strawberries – again, I got a no. I opened the cabinet again and Micah lunged for the bag of raisins. I tried to give him a few raisins, but he threw a fit because he wanted to hold the bag and take the raisins out himself. I decided it wasn’t worth the battle, so I let him have the bag of raisins. He sat on the floor happily munching on raisins for a while, but then started to get upset again. I offered him some cereal (we struggled over the box – he just wanted to dump cereal from the box on the floor), and then I decided that I would just feed him dinner because it was almost 6. I pulled out some turkey for him – and he was throwing it back at me before I even got it on his tray. I cleared that off and offered him some kidney beans…and again, those hit the floor. At this point, I got a bit frustrated. I put some fish sticks in to cook and I went in search of something for Micah to munch on while we waited. The cereal flew, crackers were smashed, and there was much yelling and screaming. I cut up a few strawberries, and Micah went to town on those.

A little after 6, Elliot walked through the door. Thankfully, he took over feeding our grumpy little bugger. He figured out that Micah did want the kidney beans – as long as he could eat them with a fork. Micah also ate a few fish sticks, followed up by a peach. In the end, he had a very good dinner. After dinner, Micah started to get cranky again, so Elliot took him on a walk. Christin returned around 7:30 (we had to go to a new student meeting at the preschool), and I warned her that Micah might be difficult at bedtime. Elliot returned with Micah and we took off for the preschool meeting. It went well – we met several other parents whose children will be in class with Micah next year (it turns out, I already know two of them), and we received copies of all the forms we need to fill out and submit in the next few months. When we got home, we learned that Micah went to bed immediately…and much to our amazement, he slept soundly until 8:15 this morning (and played quietly in bed until 8:30).

Today has been rather uneventful – I had a rough night dealing with all the contractions, but apparently it was not enough to send me into full labor. I’m still contracting and uncomfortable, but no need to run to the hospital yet. Micah is at daycare and I have been focusing on getting some last-minute work done. I also ran out and met my mom and dad for lunch.

About 10 minutes ago, they called today from the crematorium…Nugget’s remains should be ready today. I just cried all over again. I am still missing that little stinker!! We went out and bought one of those little surface brooms – we have a lot of mess we need to start cleaning. I’m not ready to have that box of her ashes here…I guess I’ll just have to face that soon enough.

Progress

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Today was a LONG day…Micah decided to wake up screaming at 5:00 am. Quite unusual for him, but his sleep habits lately have been a bit erratic. It is either from teething or because he senses some changes, but I have no idea! We tried bringing him into bed with us for a while, but Micah wanted to get up and play. By 6:00 or so, Elliot bit the bullet and agreed to let me sleep and bring Micah downstairs. I slept until about 8 and then joined them.

We took Micah to daycare after breakfast (and Micah was definitely difficult about breakfast again). It was a crazy day for me – we had a conference call for work at 11, and then I needed to go to my condo to wait for a cleaning service to clean the carpet and the HVAC repair guy to come and fix the broken AC. Luckily, the issue with the AC was fairly minor – apparently, one of the wires on the contact circuit burned out and just needed to be replaced. So, the AC is working again, the carpet is clean, and my condo is ready for sale! While we were waiting on the carpet cleaning, we had our architect come and meet us so we could review the bid from our contractor. We had a few questions we need to nail down, but we are in a good place, and we’ve okayed our architect to move forward and finalize things and start applying for permits!
When Micah got home from daycare, he wanted to play out back for a while – he was busy playing “basketball” – and he was just so cute!! He loves to throw the ball through the hoop and clap each and every time. We dragged him inside after 20 minutes to feed him dinner (I think Micah would live outside if he could). Unfortunately, he started to melt down while we tried to feed him dinner. He threw the chicken on the floor, and the cheerios, and he did not want to eat much fruit. He was just grumpy, and we were shocked that he refused the food. After a screaming fit, I decided that he was probably exhausted since he woke up at 5:00 am. We decided we would plop him in front of the tv to watch an episode of Word World before bed. At 7:45, Elliot took Micah upstairs for an early bath and bed. For the second night in a row, he screamed his head off at bedtime before crashing. I wish I knew what was going on with him!! Anyway, he has been sleeping soundly so far – I hope he is just exhausted and sleeps through the night tonight.
Things went pretty well for my mom today at her appointments. The good news is the gastroenterologist thinks he knows what is wrong and believes the issue is her stomach. The bad news is she has to go through several more tests to figure out how he wants to proceed with treating her, and it could be a bit of time before she really bounces back. She is having some other bloodwork done to see if there are any other crazy things going on that could be causing her exhaustion. Tomorrow she will go see her cardiologist and do a quick follow-up to make sure everything is in order. She has bloodwork and follow-up tests scheduled later this week, so hopefully she’ll get more answers and a plan of action by next week.
As for me…well, Twoey seems to be clawing her way out tonight. I’m having regular contractions and a lot of pain and pressure and tons of sharp stabbing pains. We’ll see if this is just another rough night or for real.