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The emperor’s new shoes

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On Monday, I FINALLY managed to buy Micah a new pair of shoes. We bought his first pair back in January, and I have suspected for the past few weeks that they were a bit on the small side. Around here, there are two major places most people buy shoes – one is Stride Rite, and the other is Shoe Train. Unfortunately, with our schedule, it has been a challenge trying to find the time to get to either shoe store with Micah to have him measured and fitted again. I stopped by Stride Rite on my own last week to “scope out” the options and prices. Elliot and I also pulled a moron move on Sunday…we tried to go shoe shopping on Sunday afternoon (not really thinking that the stores would be closed for Easter Sunday). Needless to say, our Sunday outing was a failure.
I had forgotten that daycare was canceled on Monday for an administrative day. Originally, I had planned to either take Micah to a makeup class at Kidville or meet up with friends for a playdate. With everything that has been going on with Nugget, family visits and the renovations, I did not even remember that we had no daycare coverage for Monday. We woke up Monday and started getting Micah dressed and ready to go. I pulled out the school lunch menu to see if we needed to substitute any food for lunch (because of Passover), and there, written in black and white, “NO DAYCARE – ADMINISTRATIVE DAY.” I couldn’t believe I had totally blanked on the cancellation! Micah was even getting ready – he tried to take the diaper bag with him!
I knew that it was too late for me to take Micah to a morning makeup class at Kidville since most of the classes start at 10:00 am and it was already 9:15. Instead, I spent an hour or so playing with Micah and then sent him with his daddy to synagogue. While they were out, I worked on finishing the cleanup from the weekend, putting the house back in order, and took care of a few business phone calls. When they came home from synagogue, Micah took a nice long nap – over three hours!
I think we have now successfully transitioned to only one nap a day instead of two. We are still trying to figure out the perfect time to put him down in the afternoons. He tends to start getting sleepy and cranky around 11 or 11:30, but if we let him take his nap then, he gets pretty cranky in the evenings before bedtime. If we try keeping him awake until 1 or 1:30, he gets cranky mid-day, but he is in a great mood in the evenings before bed. Micah usually wakes up in the mornings between 8 and 8:30, and he goes to bed at night between 8 and 8:30. He likes to nap for about 3 hours, so ideally, 1:00 is the “halfway” point in the day. Hopefully, over the next few weeks he’ll get used to staying awake that long in the morning and we’ll find our ideal nap time. One nap a day really seems to free up our days and make scheduling MUCH easier!
Once Micah woke up from his afternoon nap (I think it was about 3:30 or 4), I decided to take Micah to Stride Rite. Online, they were having a great sale. Much to my disappointment, the online sale was not happening in the store. We did find two great pairs of shoes, and they were less expensive than last time around. I decided to buy him one pair of sneakers (white with blue and grey), and a pair of sandals. The sandals are a soft brown suede/leather with fairly covered toes and a few cutouts around the sides, tops and ankles. They seem so much more comfortable for him! I also had the representative check Micah’s current shoes to confirm if they still fit. It’s official…he has now outgrown his first pair of real shoes! The two new shoes we bought were a 5 wide. The sales clerk felt his feet were no longer extra wide (yay!! much easier for buying shoes (there are very few options available in extra wide), but wide shoes still generally require specialty stores).
When I got home, I checked out Stride Rite online. While they had a bunch of really cute shoes on sale (with free shipping if I bought two pairs), none of the shoes I liked came in Micah’s size. So, I gave up on bargain hunting for the day.
On Tuesday, we headed off to music class, and right after class I decided to stop off at Shoe Train to see if they were running a sale or had any less expensive options available for us. It was a mob scene there! I talked to the clerk and he said they were not running any sales. I quickly scanned the shelves, saw there was nothing less expensive available, so we just left. We got home, Micah took a nap and unfortunately, was rudely awoken prematurely by a loud banging from an unwanted solicitation at our front door. Once I got him calmed back down, Elliot and I decided to take him over to the park (since it was a GORGEOUS day outside). Micah ran around the park, used the swing, went up and down the slides, and played with a steering wheel. He had a blast! We brought him home nice and tired and he actually cooperated and took another 45 minute nap. Here are some photos of Micah enjoying himself at the park:
















And some video of Micah swinging:
The past two days, Micah has added another new word to his vocabulary: baby! I’m not yet sure he understands what it means, but he is saying it (and he did say it when watching Sesame Street and Elmo was talking to a baby). Sometimes, he even says it when he touches my belly. It is pretty cute. I bought him a book last week about being a big brother, so I think we need to work on reading that to him as often as we can. Someone also suggested I get him a doll to practice being gentle and to show him feeding/caring/helping with a baby, and I think that is a great idea, too. I cannot believe that Twoey could be here in another 6-7 weeks (and probably within the next 9 weeks).
This morning, Micah woke up a bit on the early side. I changed his diaper and decided to bring him downstairs for breakfast in just his diaper. I gave him his milk and set out his clothing for the day. He saw the brand new sneakers, and he started yelling and hitting them and throwing them. I started to worry that Micah was unhappy to see new shoes. I tried giving him the sneakers to hold and touch, but he seemed angry and frustrated. Then he started holding his feet up to me, and I realized he wanted to put his new sneakers on his feet! So I happily obliged and put on his clean socks and his brand new sneakers. That little stinker danced and bounced around the house in his diaper and brand new shoes. He was sooo funny!

Nugget is hanging in there, but we are having some issues with incontinence (because of her new medications). She has peed in the house two times so far, but our biggest issue is that she tends to pee when she sleeps (particularly overnight). Elliot thought he had a brilliant idea to solve this problem:

Yes, that is one of Micah’s pampers on the dog. Well, she woke me up at 5:00 am to go outside – and the diaper was missing, so I think Nugget has other plans.

Two Steps Behind

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




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

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




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


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

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









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

The ants are marching…again

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



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

New Shoes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’d rather strangle her than sing along

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My playgroup decided to join a “Singalong with Karen” class on Thursdays.  This session is only 4 sessions in July, and it really is perfect.  I got a note from the other mommies this weekend confirming which class, so I went online to sign up last night (I was told by the other girls they had contacted Karen, let her know we were joining as a group, and we were all set).  When I got to the website, it said that there was a $15 late fee for registering after May 15.  I sent Karen a note saying that I was part of the group that contacted her, and since she just confirmed that the 10:30 class would be age appropriate for our group, I was ready to sign up.  She very politely responded and told me that she had a late fee policy, and it was unfortunate I did not contact her sooner.

I couldn’t help myself.  The price per class session is about $15, so a $15 late fee is the cost of another session.  It isn’t that I cannot afford the $15, but the principle of it was irritating me.  I sent her another note, again explaining that I DID contact her earlier as I was part of a group who initially contacted her in April.  Here was her response:
Hi, Jessica!
I’m delighted that you would like to join us, and I have a wonnnnderful Sizzling Summer ’09 Session planned, too!  Everyone who you have named (except for one), is already is enrolled, and each enrolled individually (they rushed in their registrations).  It would be wonderful for the two of you to join us in our Thursday 10:30 class!

Please know that I always offer Early Bird Savings deadlines, and I’ve mentioned our next one is June 20th.  In fairness to everyone who has registered early to gain savings, I need to be consistent.  We still have room for you in our class, but there is a $15 late fee after May 15th.  (If it makes you feel better, I too am paying late fees for the camps I am placing my children in this summer, as I did not register them early on.)

I am holding your space through the end of this week to allow you ample time to mail in your summer registration.  As I’m sure you understand, I can only hold spaces for a few days.  Let me know if you have any other questions.  My best, 🙂 Karen


I have to say, I’m annoyed.  I understand she has a late fee policy, but I do think that in this instance, she should waive it.  Especially since I am certain that several of the girls in the group registered late, but did not pay the late fee.  So, in fairness she really should waive the fee this one time.  In this economy, most people/places are just happy to fill spaces in their classes!  And to risk someone not enrolling over a $15 fee is ridiculous!  Especially with the word of mouth we could create.
So, now I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.  I think the $15 fee is outrageous, but Karen is clearly not going to waive it.  All of our other friends are going to be in this class, and I think it will be good for Micah.  So, it is a choice between standing on principle or doing something because it will be good for Micah.  I’m probably stuck paying the $15 because I do want to have Micah participate with his playgroup, but I can assure you I’m going to do everything in my power to convince the ladies not to enroll in another one of these classes next session since Karen was so uncooperative about this.  There are so many other teachers and classes, and I think any of them would be a better choice.
What would you do?  Am I being ridiculous about her attitude towards the late fee?