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Maternity & Parenting Center

Traveling, Parties & Computer Issues, Oh My!

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Well, I’m back from Minneapolis. It was an exhausting, whirlwind trip. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30 pm – but, of course, nothing goes as planned. We sat on the tarmac for over an hour due to “computer” problems. Eventually, they fixed the issue and we took off over one hour late. I arrived in Minneapolis around 10:00 pm, and went and checked into the hotel.
I have to say, I’ve been dreading this trip – the client has postponed the trip several times, and they have been difficult about the work product. I initially sent a draft script in June, but heard nothing back until October – when they asked me to completely re-write the entire thing! I had no time blocked off for that, and the request really annoyed me. I understand that they are the client, but it truly showed no respect for my time. I was traveling, but managed to get another draft done. I then learned that they expected me to videotape the entire piece without using a teleprompter! I was supposed to “wing it” but stick to the script. Yeah, right.
On the day of the taping, I got there and we did a trial run. I was reading from my notes, but needless to say, it did not look good on camera to have me looking down. The “interviewer” for the segment complained and requested that I be given a teleprompter. Thankfully, that all worked out well! I only wish the decision had been made beforehand – there are a number of changes I would have made to the script if I had known they were going to let me use a teleprompter. I’m dreading seeing myself on video.
My journey home was uneventful. Micah was asleep, and I was simply exhausted. I crashed pretty early, as I had a busy day planned the following day.
This morning, Micah woke up at 8 when the phone rang – because Elliot apparently forgot the phone extension in Micah’s bedroom. We fed him breakfast, and I had to decorate a cake for a birthday party. Thankfully, Elliot baked the cake while I was out of town. I just printed out an edible image and slapped it on the cake – nice and simple. In the meantime, Elliot took Micah for his 10 month photos (a little late). I have been terrible about giving monthly birthday updates lately! We do not have pictures yet – due to our tight schedule today, Elliot did not stay and pick out the photos, so I’ll take care of that later this week.
After picture time, I took Micah up to playgroup to celebrate Joseph’s birthday. The kids had a great time – playing in a ball pit and crawling around. Here are a few fun pictures of our babies:



We still have a lot more to do this week. I’ve got a ton of work, and Micah is back to daycare (and all the swine flu circulating there). We’ve got class on Thursday, and I have a bunch of meetings on Friday. Thursday night, Elliot and I are going out to a very nice dinner for date night. We’re also meeting with the architect to discuss house renovations. Wish us luck!

Oh, oh, oh, I’m on fire!

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I don’t even know where to begin with this post. Micah has been sick and running a high fever, so all kinds of songs with heat/fire in the title were running through my head as I tried to title this post. As you can see, I finally settled on one. I keep thinking I should treat this post like one of my power point presentations at a conference – pick a theme and use the metaphor throughout the post…but I think that would be inappropriate with Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics. Perhaps I should have picked a different title – although the other two songs I considered tend to use a sexual meaning for fire as well. (Fire – Pointer Sisters: “Cause when we kiss….ooh, ooh, fire.”; Hot, Hot, Hot – Buster Poindexter: “Party people all around me feeling hot hot hot.”)

Oh well…perhaps I’ll have to skip the song metaphor approach. Maybe I’ll just take a dictionary approach instead? I went to dictionary.com and looked up some key definitions for “fire.” I think this could work as a theme, so….

Fire away (verb phrase): to begin to talk and continue without slackening.

Another insane week for me. I woke up on Tuesday pretty early with Micah, gave him his bottle, and played with him. I finally bundled him off to his nap while I did my best to pack in a hurry and straighten the house up so the cleaning lady could clean. When Micah woke up, I took him to his class (which he loved) and then ran him over to Laura’s house. I hated to leave him like that, but he seemed perfectly content to stay and play. I ran home, grabbed my bags and headed to the airport.

I arrived at the airport in plenty of time, made my plane with no problems, and then landed in Orlando on time. My friend Tammy, who lives in Miami, drove up to meet me, and she picked me up at the airport.

Fire (noun): burning passion; excitement or enthusiasm; ardor

We checked into the hotel, and headed out to a wonderful dinner. At dinner, we had some good discussions – we talked a lot about work, and it made me remember how we were back in college – full of enthusiasm (fire in our bellies) and ready to embrace life and work and what was ahead. I think my enthusiasm and ardor has ebbed over the years – or perhaps it has been redirected. I love what I do for a living, and I love how I help people, but it is no longer my first priority. For more than ten years, my job was my first priority. I cannot imagine living that way ever again. Tammy is still at a point in her life when her job is her top priority. In some ways, I envy that – I did not have that kind of passion to stay on that career path I was on ten years ago, and sometimes I wonder what my life would look like today if I had stayed on that path.

We ate far too much, but it was so nice to relax and catch up with a friend. After dinner, we wandered around Downtown Disney. I dragged her over to my favorite candy shop there, and we each bought a chocolate caramel apple. I LOVE these apples – mine was a green apple, dipped in caramel, chocolate on top of that, rolled in oreo cookie. A little slice of heaven! Did I mention that Tammy is my diet buddy? Yeah, we were NOT such good influences on each other this trip.

Fire (noun): strength, as of an alcoholic beverage.

I called Elliot after dinner to check on my two boys. Unfortunately, the news was not so good – Micah would not go to sleep and he was waking up every 10 minutes and crying. I tried giving Elliot a few tips, and I felt a little guilty that his first night as a “single dad” was so rough. Elliot was trying everything, but nothing seemed to have enough fire to make Micah feel better. He gave him some Tylenol, tried some Mylanta, and lots of good old fashioned cuddling. When I finally said good night to Elliot for the last time at 2:00 am, Micah had just gone back to sleep.

Fire (noun): fever or inflammation.

My biggest fear this trip was that Elliot would fall asleep and not hear Micah cry out during the night. I was very proud of him, though, because he really did manage to tune in (which now just irritates me that he doesn’t do that at other times, but I digress). Micah woke up one more time during the night Tuesday, but then he slept until almost 9:00 am. When Micah finally woke up Wednesday morning, Elliot realized he was running a fever. This is when I started to worry – Elliot had planned to have Micah in daycare, and fever meant no daycare. He called the doctor, and the doctor thought it was likely just a reaction to the flu shot he had on Monday. He was told to monitor the temp, give him Tylenol, and bring him in if the fever was not gone in 24 hours.

Fire (verb): to inspire.

Meanwhile, back in Orlando, I had a busy conference day trying to arrange everything. I was in touch with my parents and coordinating help for Elliot with Micah. I attended conference sessions, and visited the exhibit hall, and met with all the different exhibitors. It was actually a productive conference for me – I found a bunch of resources for my client, made some good contacts, and flagged a few issues for my client we had not previously considered. I was kind of excited about the prospects for our project, and all fired up with ideas for my client.

I made it back to the room around 5:30 and checked in with Elliot. Unfortunately, Micah was not doing any better. Despite my worries about my little guy at home, Tammy and I went out for dinner. Dinner was inspiring – we had an INCREDIBLE meal at Portobello in Downtown Disney. I was surprised to have such a delicious dinner there. The meal started off with roasted garlic and bread. We ordered fried risotto croquettes filled with mozzarella cheese to share, and we each had a glass of wine. I ordered a red Italian “drinking” wine – it was subtle and matched my meal perfectly. My main course was a delicious ravioli with perhaps the best marinara sauce I’ve ever had – rich flavors, tangy, light, not sweetened, and laced with garlic. I ate the entire dish because I wanted more sauce! We topped off our decadent extravaganza with a piece chocolate cake that we shared. From start to finish, dinner was divine!

Fire (noun): A state, process or instance of combustion in which fuel or other material is ignited and combined with oxygen, giving off light, heat, and flame.

We spent the remainder of the evening wandering around the shops, picking up presents for family members, and having a pleasant evening – although I think my credit card was on fire from my purchases. We talked about staying for Disney’s nightly fireworks/New Year’s celebration on Pleasure Island, but we decided to call it a night earlier. When we got back to the hotel, I had a bit more work to finish before bedtime.

The next morning, Micah’s fever was over 102 degrees. Elliot called the doctor and arranged to take him in for an appointment. As I suspected, the doctors had no idea what was wrong, told us to give him Tylenol and come back on Friday or Saturday if he did not improve. In Orlando, I did a bit of work sorting through my contacts from the conference, headed to one last meeting for the trip, and then enjoyed some fun time with Tammy before my flight home. We grabbed breakfast at IHOP, got a manicure/pedicure, then stopped off at the outlets. I had no intention of shopping, but I couldn’t resist. I bought a cute sweater from Ann Taylor Loft and I ended up buying two outfits from Michael Kors – a dress and a skirt. I was actually surprised because I usually don’t buy labels like that. The clothes were well-made, reasonably priced, and fit well. I really needed the clothes – I am now planning to wear the outfits for Yom Kippur and my upcoming business trips, so I do think it was money well spent. I also bought everything on sale at insanely reasonable prices!

Fire (verb): to hurl, throw.

I got to the airport in plenty of time…unfortunately, my flight was delayed by an hour. I was inflamed – I cannot stand that the flights are always delayed! All I wanted to do was hurl something at the airline attendants, but I figured that would only get me banned from the flight (and possibly placed on the do not fly list), so I buried the urge. Why does that always happen when I’m so anxious to get home? As I sat and steamed at the airport, my mom was spending time with Micah. My plane took off quite late, and I finally landed a little after 7. Try as they might, they just couldn’t keep my little man awake. He had another rough night, so I did get to go in around 12 and cuddle him back to sleep. I missed my little man terribly! I brought back a great surprise for Elliot, too – his very own chocolate/caramel/peanut butter cup apple, a chocolate peanut butter pretzel, and a chocolate caramel pretzel! He was kind enough to share, and it was delicious.

On Friday, Micah’s fever climbed to 102.5, so we decided to take him back to the doctor. They did a nasal swab, checked his ears and chest, and everything came back negative. By Friday evening, his fever hit 103.5. I called the doctor again, and she suggested I give him motrin in addition to the Tylenol. She said to wait an hour, but if it didn’t go down, I should take him to the emergency room. One hour later…his temperature dropped! He finally stopped crying and we were able to put him to sleep. He woke up again at 4:00 am, we gave him more medicine and brought him into bed with us and he slept until 8:00 am.

Fire (noun): severe trial or trouble; ordeal.

Today was a particularly rough day (under fire). Elliot had to work, so he was gone all day. Micah wouldn’t eat much, but the motrin and Tylenol kept his fever lower. He had several crying sessions during the day, and he was very clingy/needy. I called the doctor, and she said I could bring him in for a chest xray and blood work. Since he isn’t coughing, I decided not to bring him in for the chest xray. She said blood work wouldn’t tell her much either, so I decided to hold off on that as well.

Micah did not nap well in the morning, he barely ate anything for lunch, and when he finally fell asleep for his afternoon nap, he woke up one hour later crying. I brought him downstairs and he curled up on my chest and fell back asleep – for three more hours! He woke up crying around 5:00, and I quickly gave him his medicine and a bottle. He finally started to feel better, and he had a few hours happy and smiling before bed time. It is now 11:40, and he has woken up and cried a few times, but he has quickly fallen back to sleep each time. Here is hoping he actually sleeps through the night tonight!

Fire (verb): to dismiss from a job.

I have so much work to do in the upcoming weeks – I have a few conference calls this week to debrief about my last two trips. I have promised people information, and I have work proposals to write. I need to get myself in gear because I’d hate to risk any of my clients.

So – I made the theme work? It was a rough fit, but it was a challenge!

9 month checkup

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Yesterday was Micah’s 9 month checkup! He is doing really well – he weighed 17 lbs 13 ozs (still a little guy) and he measured around 28.5 inches. That puts him in the 10th percentile for weight (at least he is consistent!) and somewhere between the 40th and 90th percentile for height. Actually, they measured him 3 times and got 3 different heights – 27.5, 28.5 and 29. That little guy can squirm!! Developmentally, he is hitting all of his milestones right on target, and all is well. We talked about food and growth, and then my poor little guy needed a blood test (he didn’t mind the prick on his finger, but WOW did he hate the fact that the lady was squeezing his finger to get the blood out) and two vaccinations (flu and his final Hepatitis B shot). He needs to go back in 30 days for another flu vaccination. We also had them culture his nose because it has been dripping for one month. All-in-all, a good checkup!

He went to daycare after the appointment and did just fine all day. I’m off on another business trip – I leave this afternoon and will be back on Thursday. I’m so sad to leave my little guy again, and a bit scared that this is the first time I’m leaving him overnight with his Daddy (alone). My biggest fear is that Elliot won’t wake up if Micah cries – he just doesn’t hear things at all. I think he would sleep through World War III if it happened while he was sleeping. Wish us luck!

Grab Happy

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A friend of mine recently said she was told to “grab happy” wherever she could get it. This was said to her in the context of her struggle with infertility, but I have to say, it really resonates with me. Life is so short, and we all spend so much time stressing and worrying. We all need to focus on trying to “grab happy” wherever we get it.

I think I need to renew my efforts to “grab happy.” I have so much happiness in my life right now – a wonderful family, a good job, and amazing friends. Sometimes, I wonder if I truly appreciate all that happiness and hold on to it. My goal is to “grab happy” in the small moments – the beautiful Micah smiles, the cute little snuggles from my dog, and the beautiful rose bush Elliot brought home on my birthday.

Today, I am posting from an airplane far above on my way back home from 4 days in Atlanta (isn’t technology wonderful?). It was a long week at the conference, and I’ve been missing the Micah man terribly. As we were going to the airport, we learned our flight home was canceled. I went through the usual emotions, but after standing in a very long line, a wonderful woman re-booked us on a flight home to an alternate airport. We are actually arriving 20 minutes earlier than planned. So, today I am grabbing happy in the thought that soon I will be on solid ground, snuggling my little man andputting him to bed.

Repetition is a good thing

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I learned one important thing today . . . singing the same song over and over to your child has its benefits. Since the day Micah was born, there have been 2 songs that I sing to him when I soothe him – You are my Sunshine and The Rose. We sing other songs for fun, but those have been our soothing songs. I will sing them over and over when I am putting him down or comforting him when he cries. What I learned today is that he recognizes the songs. I barely had to begin singing You are my Sunshine on the plane today and he started to calm down. The flip side is he started screaming again every time I stopped, but I digress.

This morning, Micah woke up around 7, happy and chatting once again. I fed him and then got myself packed and ready for my meetings. Elliot joined us for one meeting (I brought him in as a consultant on an Emergency Preparedness project for this client), so Micah came to our meeting for a bit. He was a really good boy – he hung out in his stroller and played, smiled, and laughed. He also wanted to talk a bit in the meeting since his Daddy and I were speaking. Everyone kept telling us what a wonderful baby he is. Here are some photos of us at the meeting together:


We headed to the airport around 3:30. We made it to the gate in plenty of time. Once again, it was a packed flight, so Micah had to sit on my lap. We got on the plane, and he was a bit fussy. I nursed him, and he fell asleep just before takeoff. He slept for the first part of the flight, but we hit some turbulence, we changed altitude and Micah woke up crying. I think his ears were bothering him. I brought Micah close and began to sing to him, and he quickly calmed down. Within a few minutes, Micah was chatting and smiling again. I passed him to his Daddy, and they bounced, and played flying baby, and took a walk around the plane.

Towards the end of the flight, Micah got fussy again. I’m not sure if it was his ears, or if his reflux was the problem, or perhaps those possible teeth cutting through, but he was miserable most of the last half hour. I sang him to sleep and he cuddled close to me – as long as I was rocking and singing, he was quiet. Right when we landed, he started getting hysterical – exactly 12 hours after he took his last dose of Zantac. As soon as we got off the plane, I gave him his medicine and changed his diaper. We went to the parking garage, and I nursed him while we waited for Elliot to get the car. Elliot decided to capture the moment . . . this is me nursing Micah while I sat in a wheelchair in the parking garage:

As soon as we got in the car and started driving, Micah got upset again. I was leaning backwards, holding his hand, and keeping his paci in his mouth. About 10 minutes into the trip home, he fell asleep. We managed to get him in the house and into the crib without waking him up. He is still sound asleep right now!

Here are a few fun pictures of Micah – he is sitting in a real high chair for dinner at his Aunt Jen and Uncle Jeremy’s house, and playing in his new exersaucer loaned to us by his Aunt Jen and Uncle Jeremy. Can you believe what a big boy Micah is becoming?


My very noisy baby

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The Micah man (one of my nicknames for him) had a great day today with his Daddy (and I was just excited that I managed to pump as much as he was eating!). I think his Daddy was a bit exhausted by the end of the day, and perhaps came to a new appreciation of how hard it really is for me most days, and how impossible it is to get much work done. Apparently, from when I left around 9 am until lunchtime, Micah was mostly wide awake and playing and chatting.

My boys came and joined me for lunch, and Micah was a huge hit (as always). He was sweet and smiling and just . . . charming. His nose is still pretty leaky, and he has been sneezing, but I still do not think he is sick – no fever, everything is still running clear. It is probably allergies (even though the doctors tell you that babies do not get environmental allergies until they are two). May I digress for a second? That theory is a lot of crap to me. If babies can develop allergies to food under 1 year of age, they can certainly develop allergies to the environment. I understand the doctors do not want to diagnose or treat it that young, but let’s be honest here. His sneezing and coughing worsens when my allergies worsen – clearly there is a connection. The vet gave me the same story when Nugget was a puppy – she sneezed and coughed and itched, and I said it was allergies. She did it seasonally for 2 years, and after her 2nd birthday, they suddenly said “now she has allergies.” Let’s just hope the stuffiness doesn’t give Micah an ear infection this plane trip. He was a little unhappy with the pressure the last flight.

Okay – stepping off my soapbox, and returning to the regularly scheduled topic . . . Micah! After lunch, Micah and Daddy went on a few walks, and played with toys, and overall had a wonderful day together. After I returned from my conference, we decided to head out to dinner. We went to a little restaurant that I remembered from my days at Emory called La Fonda. We had a wonderful meal (I ordered vegetable paella) and we drank some sangria. At the end of the meal, Micah was getting tired and hungry. I nursed him and hoped he would fall asleep in his carseat so we could go visit another old “haunt” from my college years . . . Cafe Intermezzo. For those of you who have never been, it is a chichi coffee place in Buckhead. The outside heated patio was built around existing trees. They play French and Italian language lessons in the bathroom. They take you on a “tour” of the desserts. It is the kind of place that you can show up to in a fancy evening gown or in your sweats while studying for exams, and both outfits somehow “fit.”

We started the drive over to Buckhead, and Micah started to get really upset. We decided to pull into the Cafe Intermezzo parking lot, and I tried nursing Micah again while Elliot ran inside and checked out the place and picked up a slice of cake for us. Micah was really fussing, and refused to eat. I then thought he was getting hot, so I walked him around out in the fresh air, and he seemed to calm back down. When Elliot returned (with chocolate peanut butter cake!), we strapped Micah back in his carseat, and went to drive around Buckhead so I could reminisce about my college years. At this point, we were out past Micah’s normal bed time, but we expected that he would fall asleep while we drove. A few blocks into the drive . . . Micah began to fuss and cry. We turned around immediately and headed back towards the hotel. It took me another few minutes to realize why Micah was so upset – I was a bad Mommy and I forgot to give him his Zantac (we were only 20 minutes late with his dosage)! Luckily, we had some Mylanta in the car, so I gave him a bit to tide him over until we got back to the room. Not surprisingly, that did the trick, and my happy baby returned.

We brought him up to the room, got him into his pajamas, gave him his Zantac, and I tried nursing him again. He nursed to sleep, and I transferred him into the crib . . . and he woke up. I nursed him some more and sang to him – and he sat there smiling and chatting. I moved him back into the crib, and he spent the next 35 minutes playing with his feet, rolling around, and chatting very loudly. I can’t believe how much how much my little guy likes to talk! I have no idea what he was talking to, but boy did he have a lot to say! He giggled, and squawked, and made gutteral noises. I wish I knew what language he spoke. I think maybe Wookie . . . he has these gutteral growling sounds he makes that remind me of Chewbacca. Elliot insists that the language does not sound like anything from Star Trek. I’m a little worried that he can be that definitive about Star Trek languages. (Elliot is sitting here insisting that he is only certain it wasn’t Klingon, he cannot vouch for other languages). After a while, Micah just suddenly got quiet and fell asleep. My very noisy baby finally passed out around 10:00 pm.

One last note . . . Micah is officially a serious thumbsucker. I am not exactly sure how this happened – he was very happily a paci baby until a few weeks ago. He found his thumb one day, and it has been true love ever since. The nice thing is he does not need us to come in and reinsert the paci when it falls out, but the bad news is he sticks his thumb in his mouth while he is asleep – I hope he outgrows it, because that is going to be a nasty habit to break.

We fly back home tomorrow – wish us a good flight back, and let’s hope this flight is not as miserable for Micah as the trip out. We are landing around 7 pm, and we are hoping to remember to give him his Zantac, nurse him, and put him to bed in his carseat. With any luck, we’ll get him home and in bed without interrupting his sleep.

Oh, and we think Micah might actually be getting ready to cut teeth! It looks like there is a white raised patch on his lower gums – we think the 2 front teeth are not too far off!

New attitude?

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I woke up this morning in Atlanta, here for a conference. Micah was a good boy last night . . . he went to bed around 8:30, and he slept really well. He did not quite enjoy the flight as much as our previous flights. He had several short crying sessions, and his ears seemed to bother him. He has been quite congested, so it is possible that the congestion was the culprit. Around 4:30 or 5 this morning, he woke up talking. He was so cheery, and he just rolled around in the crib and chatted. He didn’t sound hungry at all, but after about 30 minutes, I decided to pick him up and feed him. He ate well, then fell back asleep.

I got up and showered, and at 8:30, I decided to pump again (rather than wake Micah). This time, I was pumping and dressing/applying makeup. Surprisingly, my pump appears to be a morning pump (and for those of you who know me, you know I am NOT a morning person). This morning, the pump did start off mocking me with its usual chorus of “wacko.” The mantra slowly morphed into “get a clue.” Then . . . perhaps just to mock me with morning cheer, the pump said a few nice things to me, such as “radical,” “way to go,” and “go for it!” I was so touched that maybe my pump is starting to like me . . . until it decided to call me a “ho’ bag.” This disturbed me . . . my pump has always been snide, but it descended today into name calling. I must also say there was a brief chorus of “asshole” before the pump remembered it was trying to be nice to me, and went back to singing “ragu” and “get it going.” All-in-all, a decidedly improved attitude, and I will forgive it for its brief rudeness today.

Micah will be hanging out with Elliot today – I hope they have a fun day together while I sit here in meetings all day. And, yes, I should be paying attention, not blogging. Back to work . . . .

Video Sunday

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I’ve decided to declare today Video Sunday. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I will post way too much Micah video! Our little guy is chatting (okay, the rest of you would call it babbling) and laughing now, and he can sit on his own in the Bumbo seat! As a reminder, click on the triangle on the bottom left corner of the images to make each of the videos play.

Micah on the plane back from LA:

Micah playing at the Denver Airport:

Micah laughing at home:

Micah playing on the playmat:

Micah in the Bumbo:

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

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Finally . . . home at last! This has been a crazy week, and I’m so glad to be done with the traveling. Poor Micah has had it the roughest – I think he is all confused about the time zone. The past few nights, bedtime has been a bit of a disaster, which has been so frustrating. Since Micah was 8 weeks old, bedtime has been simple – we get ready for bed, we put Micah down, we run in once or twice to reinsert his paci, and he sleeps through the night.

Since Sunday night, however, Micah has been tired and exhausted. I’ve gotten him ready for bed while he smiles and coos, and I nurse him as he dozes off, and I go to put him to sleep . . . . at which point, he melts down. Shrieking, hollering, yelling, hysterics. For about an hour. The poor guy is just so over-tired, he can’t let himself go to sleep. Sunday night was tough, but the crying was minimal – he started to get upset, I made a “swing” out of my lap and swayed him back and forth until he fell asleep. It took close to 1 hour to get him to sleep, but it was relatively painless. Monday night, we were off to a great start. I tried putting him to sleep earlier, but once again, hysteria set in. This time, he was loud and sobbing. I tried the makeshift swing, but no joy. My mom tried rocking him, but no joy. We finally decided to try a food coma . . . I tried nursing him, but there was not much left, and it was not coming out fast enough for him, so we made him a bottle. He took about 1 ounce, and food coma finally took hold! After that, my mom was able to rock him and sing to him, and he drifted off to la-la land and slept through the night.

Tonight, my original plan was to give him his medicine on the plane, to nurse him while we waited for the bags, and then hope he fell asleep in the car on the way home and just put him straight to bed. Well . . . things did not quite work out as I had planned. We left for the airport a bit late, so I was about 1/2 hour late nursing him. That half hour proved to be critical – when we landed 10 minutes early and our bags were waiting for us as we came up to baggage claim, it was about 1/2 hour too early to nurse him again. We decided to head home and do the bedtime routine there. Elliot was picking us up . . . and it took him another 15 minutes to get to us. By the time we got home, Micah had hit over-tired again. We got him ready for bed, I nursed him . . . . and then the hysteria hit again. He screamed for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Elliot and I tag-teamed, singing, shaking, rocking. He would calm down, and then he would wake himself up and start screaming again. Around 9:30 I tried nursing him again while Elliot fixed up a bottle. By the time Elliot got upstairs with the bottle, Micah was sound asleep. Hopefully, he’ll sleep through the night, and tomorrow night will be better.

Adventures in Traveling, Part 2

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Well, we finally made it back from LA, and Micah finally crashed at 10:30 on Saturday night. He slept until 7:00 am, and the day started off normally. I really thought that we were back on track, and I was so proud of Micah for switching back to East Coast time. Sunday afternoon, we headed back to the airport to fly to Atlanta. We got there in plenty of time, made it on the plane, and all was good.

Once again, Micah was a trooper. He napped well all morning, and he was happy and cooing on the airplane. I nursed him as we took off, and he was content the rest of the flight. We were able to bring his car seat on the plane with us, so he had some place to relax. We landed a bit early in Atlanta, and off we went to baggage claim. Our bags came out immediately, we stood in line to pick up our rental car, and the man driving the bus to the rental car facility was so nice – he helped us with our bags and getting Micah on the bus.

We arrived at the hotel a little after 5. Check-in went smoothly, and I fed Micah again while we unpacked. We then decided to head out for an early dinner. Our initial plan was to eat at a restaurant called Camille’s. My mom and I had eaten there together back in the early 90s when I was in college in Atlanta, and we were excited to return there. I called the restaurant to make sure they were open . . . only to discover that the restaurant had closed! We were disappointed, so we headed to Lettuce Souprise You instead. I spent many a day eating there during my college years. It was a nice, quick, filling meal, and we were able to drive around the Emory campus afterwards. We stopped at Publix to get some snacks and water, then came back to the hotel.

Micah was just getting sleepy as I came upstairs. He giggled and smiled as I changed him and put him in his pajamas. I gave him his medicine, and started to nurse him. About halfway through (just as he was beginning to fall asleep) there was a loud knock on the door. It was the concierge with our refrigerator. I had to pull Micah off, and he became hysterical. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. Micah became over-tired, and we never quite recovered. I tried putting him in the pack-n-play to sleep, and he became hysterical. Every time we calmed him down, something set him off again. I finally sat down on a chair, put my legs on the ottoman, bent my knees up, and made a seat for Micah against my thighs. I moved my legs back and forth just like his swing at home . . . and about 15 minutes later, he was sound asleep. We were able to transfer him to the pack-n-play, and there he sleeps . . . snoring quietly.

Wish us luck! We have 2 days here in Atlanta before we head home on Tuesday. We will be arriving at home just in time for bed. I’m hoping we can get Micah back on a schedule. I am a bit concerned about feeding him, though. A few ounces of the milk I had packed leaked, and I had to nurse him again around 9:00, so I don’t think I’ll be able to pump as much milk as I had planned to pump before going to sleep. I just hope we have enough to get through tomorrow!