Home Remodeling

So very greatful for my father in law.  Mr. Robert Jones is truly a saint!  I've never seen a guy work as hard as him and for absolutely nothing.  He wouldn't even stop for a meal today!  And poor Jose is on vacation and worked just as hard.  He wouldn't even accept payment for his work..  We'll have to fingure out another way to thank him I guess. These guys are the reason why our bathroom reno was comlete in less than 11 hours.  I use to pride myself on being a "do it yourself kinda girl" but it's just so hard with a toddler and carrying a baby!  Seriously I can't do all I'd like to and really shouldn't for safety.  There a few final details to finish, but the bathroom is complete and we're so very thankful for Bob and Jose.  They do great work!  New vanity, countertop, and a double sink!  Yes! No more fighting over one sink when brushing our teeth!  It looks so nice I don't think I'll want to move.  It's sad but soon we will outgrow this 1,000 sq ft home.  It's been quite the project home and as much as I complain, I did enjoy doing some of the work. I think Bob takes the prize for MVP though :)

Flutter, flutter

So I felt the baby move for the first time tonight!  It's so hard to tell early in pregnancy, but I'm sure of it!  I was washing dishes and felt that little flutter in my stomach.  It's funny how you forget these things.  I didn't feel Micah until I was nearly 20 weeks but I hear you're more in tune to all the happenings of pregnancy the second time around.  Now that the morning sickness is gone, I think I'm going to enjoy the second trimester.  It's just harder keeping up with a 20 month old.  Somedays he's more than I can lift and I don't remember my back hurting like this the first time until I was nearly full term!  Good thing that boy is walking now and he's so good to hold my hand.  It makes me sad to think of a day when he'll be too old to hold my hand.  They grow up just way too fast!

The Sweetest Sound

So this week has been rough.  Emotions all over the place for all of us.  Micah is teething and just unbearable sometimes, Nathan is sleep deprived because of Micah's new teeth, and I'm just a basketcase with all of these pregnancy hormones with two very unhappy boys, both yelling and screaming at the same time.  I had my 3rd OB appointment a few days ago.  Nathan hadn't slept because Micah was cranky and then I had to leave for my appointment.  I cried all the way into the appointment and was 20 min late.  I got that "so you know your late, right?" look when I checked in.  I know it, I give that look to my late veterans!  I'm sure she could tell I was just a mess.  I made it into the exam room and Dr. Luan is always quick to get you in and out but takes time to answer any questions.  He listed for the heartbeat and immediately found it at 150-155 beats per minute.  I couldn't help but smile at that point.  It was probably the first time I smiled all day.  I came home to a sleeping child and a happy husband.  Next visit we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl!  So excited are we!  Mark your calendars for Janurary 12th.  Now just to figure out a clever way to tell everyone....hmmmm

Some Little Monkey is Going to Be a Big Brother

Written 9/24/11 - It's true!  A few days ago I took not only one but 3 pregnancy tests. And you guessed it, they all came back positive!  The first two had such a faint blue line that I didn't believe it. Nathan even asked "what do these lines mean" and I said, "I don't think we're pregnant".  I guess I'm the 1 out of 4 that incorrectly reads a pregnancy test :)  I calmly went through the next day like no other and picked up a digital test that would read "pregnant" or "not pregnant".  I couldn't believe it!  I covered the reading and revealed it with Nathan right there.  We are so excited for Micah to have a little brother or sister!  We were hoping for another addition to our family, but weren't sure what would be the best timing. Our life has been so hectic these last few years with Nathan in residency.  I was beginning to think there would never be a "good time".  We decided right after Micah turned 1 that it might be a good time to start trying for a little brother/sister.  So we had about 2-3 months of "trying" before we would have to put a halt to our efforts.  My OB said that it wouldn't be wise to transfer care or insurance after 32 weeks.  This means we'd have to have a baby before June 30th and guess what?  Looks like we're due to end of May or beginning of June.  Still not quite sure of the exact date.  I figure I could be anywhere between 4-6 weeks now.  Looks like God's time is just perfect!  Micah will be such a good big brother.  He's so helpful and always loving on Champ our dog. I can't imagine how sweet he'll be to a little baby sister or brother.

Sometimes you just gotta dance!

So I don't really know why, but today was a very trying, emotional day.  I'm not gonna lie, I cried a little.  But then I thought, "how did I used to handle stress" like before family.  So I did some unhealthy ways of coping with stress that will go unmentioned, but I know I had other methods of de-stressing.  I would exercise or even better yet DANCE.  Well after making sure the blinds were drawn of course. No free shows here....lol. I'm sure the neighbors would think I was crazy if they cold see in!   I'd blare my favorite music and just dance.  I didn't worry about my rhythem or how I looked.  It was mostly goofy moves that I would never do in front of anyone, but I would dance until I got tired and laughed myself into a better mood.  And that's just what I did tonight! 

Word of the day..."no"

So Micah has learned the word "no".  I knew this day would come but a sick 15mo old with an attitude was not on my agenda for this weekend.  We had a fun family weekend planned with Aunt Jen, Uncle Matthew and cousin Noah coming into town.  Our plans were changed quickly when Micah spiked a fever of 104.3.  It's taken Motrin and Tylenol ever 3 hours to keep it down.  Not sure what he's got but Nathan came down with it too.  So soon our fun weekend of heading to the zoo, going to the Chiefs game, and swimming at Splashdown turned into cuddling on the couch and lots of soup.  I started to feel crummy this morning with a sore throat and body aches but feel better after sleeping most of the day.  So thankful that Micah took a 4 hr nap today!  We both needed it. 

Micah's been using more and more words and it's so cute!  I knew his vocabulary would take off when he went to the toddler room at school.  His favorite word of all is "no".  He used it many times today.  Want to eat... "no".  Take this medicine..."no". Drink your milk...."no".  It's kinda cute because he says it so clearly and uses it in context. He'll shake his head back and forth and say "no, no, no".
 I see this getting old really soon.

Time Out!

So it's come to the time to discipline our sweet little boy.  Ok, maybe we should have started this sooner but give us a break!  We're new at this :)  We've had food throwing issues since Micah cold pick food up.  He's just so stinkin cute when he throws it, Champ runs to get it, and then Micah laughs hysterically!  Last night we finally said we have to do something.  Other parents say their child went through this phase for a week.  We're going on 6mo!  So out came the "naughty chair" (maybe I've been watching too much super nanny).  We tried a restrained time out per the doctor and that failed miserably. So now we're just doing a chair in the corner and 1 min in time out.  The first time last night Micah thought it was a game.  He kinda squirmed and giggled for a few seconds and then tried to get down.  Right back on the chair he went.  We did this for 1 min all the while I looked away and payed no attention to the fit he continued to throw.  It's so hard when all you want to do is cuddle him until he stops crying!  But I did it and after 1 min he could get up and play again.  And a second time he threw his goldfish crackers to Champ.  Back to the chair we went.  This time he cried for a solid minute.  Back down and then back to the chair we went for a third time after the fishes went flying.  This time the tears were really flowing and I wasn't sure we were making any progress.  Tonight went a little better.  He only threw food once and then his cup of milk.  One time out was had, and hopefully he'll figure out soon that it's not nice to throw his food. 

Got Milk?

Got Milk?  Micah does....in his tummy :)  Big boy drank 5oz of milk from a cup tonight and didn't put up a fight!  Dr. Beaty was right!  We starved it out of him and he finally gave into his thirst.  I was a little worried when he'd gone 20hrs with nothing to drink but he eventually gave in.  I asked that his school to only offer milk with meals and then water for an afternoon snack instead of juice. They said he even drank from one of their cups instead of his preferred cup.  I sure hope that we're moving in the right direction!

Moo (micah moo) is growing up too fast!  He is so very independent in everything he does.  Little stink won't let you feed him yogurt or applesauce from a spoon, but he's not so good with it himself.  He slops it everywhere!  We went out for breakfast a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure he slopped applesause in the lady's hair behind us.  Guess we can't take him anywhere these days!  I just keep telling myself that he's learning and that's why my floor is always covered with goop.  So glad we have Champ on those days!

He's even growing up at school!  Micah just graduated to the Toddler I room!  I'm so proud of him and so excited for all the fun arts and crafts that he will bring home.  He slept on a cot in a room of 15 other toddlers for nearly an hour.  Kind of a short nap but hopefully he'll nap the full 2 hours at some point.  There are so many fun things to do at PALS.  He just loves it!  They have an awesome playground, so many fun new toys, a ton of friends to play with, and the best teachers ever!  We've really had a great experience there and I recommend it to everyone that is looking for childcare! 

15 month Well Check

Today was a busy day!  Micah and I both had well check appointments.  Micah checked in at 21 lb 9oz.  He's at the 12 percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height.  We may not have a football player, but he could still be an all star at baseball.  Dr. Beaty said it's time to do away with the bottles.  We've tried this before and looks like we're going cold turkey this time.  No more "ba ba's" for Micah.  Bedtime was rough tonight.  I offered the cup of milk over and over and he just cried more and more.  Finally he cried himself to sleep.  Dr. Beaty says that "thirst will eventually take over" and to not offer anything but milk for 24hr.  If he doesn't take it after 24hr then offer some water and go back to the milk.  I hope he gives in soon!

We also talked about disciplining and I'm at my whits end with the food throwing.  It was cute at first but has gotten old quick.  He suggested "restrained time outs" where you restrain them from hurting themselves and hold them until they give up.  He said to expect to restrain him for 10-15min.  We did this and then he went right back to the food throwing.   Good thing he's cute!

On the search

So we're back at it with searching for jobs.  Didn't we just do this? Oh right, we did 2 years ago when looking for a residency!  I thought this time would be easier, but it's not.  We matched in basically a lottery to find out where we would end up for residency.  Now we're the ones that have to figure out what would be the best job and where the best place to raise our family would be.  With residency we said, "we can live anywhere for 3 years".  But this time there are so many more factors involved.  We have Micah and we'd like to live in a place that's safe with great school districts.  We want to be closer to family.  Four hours is just too far.  The pay/benefits are different everywhere and they all have different amounts of contracted hours each month.  Some are 12x 12hr shifts, others 20x 8hrs, and others are a mix of both.  Some are large hospitals with residents, others are slow paced rural hospitals, and still others are a mix of both.  I'm pushing for less working days, and a place with a great school district!  Oh yeah, and fun things for us to do as a family :)

Life as a resident/physicians spouse is stressful enough and you just can't explain it well enough for anyone else to understand.  I feel like the only people that could understand this are spouses living it.  Long hours and nights by yourself, getting uprooted from your job and friends to follow your husband to residency and on to other jobs, single parenting but yet still married, trying to tiptoe around the house at 10:00am because it's your husband's 3am while a screaming 15mo old just doesn't understand why he can't play with daddy,  and finally student loans out the whazoo and poor pay per hour as a resident!  Seriously, some people flip burgers for more than my husband makes per hour and he's saving lives!  I personally think that should be worth more, but I don't make the rules.  It's just tough and now the thought of moving is just overwhelming! 

The good thing is that we're praying and seeking God's direction in where to go from here.  He's never led us astray before and we know that he'll provide for us!

Day at the Zoo

Me and Micah Moo just love the Zoo!  One of the many things I will miss if we end up taking a job somewhere other than Peoria.  It's not a huge zoo, but I'm surprised at how many animals they have.  We saw the sea loin, tigers, loins, rhinos, monkeys, giraffes, and so many more animals!  We particularly like the new Africa exhibit and today we watched at the giraffes were let out.  Micah points at the animals and calls all of them "du"  which either means "dog" or "duck". 

Snack Time!

Another fun outing that we just discovered is the East Peoria Farm Park.  It's only a few minutes from our house and we had so much fun visiting there on Father's Day.  It's this cute little farm area that has geese, ducks, fish, goats, a horse, donkey, cow, and chickens.   For $0.50 we bought a feeding cone and had a blast feeding all the animals!  Micah loved watching the ducks and goldfish come up to feed.  We will definitely be making more trips to this park!

Do you ever stop worrying about your child?

So they say, "a little knowledge can be dangerous". Well, being married to a doctor only makes that worse. In medical school they call it "medical student syndrome" when the students think they have what condition they're reading about. The same is true when they have a family and start assessing their children. I always wondered what kind of dad Nathan would be. Would he be overprotective knowing the things that could happen? Would he blow things off thinking "I've seen worse"? Would he worry about every cough, cold, bump or bruise? I think it's a little of everything. Nathan has great intuition when dealing with his patients and the same is true with his son. I'm the one that worries about everything. Nathan will say, "well it could be this, or this, or this" and then I start to worry and research everything it "could be".

We did noticed some weird behavior in Micah a few weeks ago. He wasn't his usual smiley, happy self. He was distant, distracted easily, and seemed to be playing in his own little world. This started right around 1yr when he was into everything and wanted to do everything himself. He would explore things and be oblivious to anything going on around him. We were backing out of the driveway when I looked back and he was doing this weird staring thing. I call his name many times and he wouldn't look at me. He just stared straight ahead. Finally, i grabbed his foot and shook it like crazy to get his attention. He snapped out of it, but it had us concerned. Nathan asked "well does he ever look when you call his name". My answer was no, he really doesn't. Not a good thing. This is one of the first signs of autism in young children. Nathan even went over to Micah's day care and observed him playing and other children his age. The other children were wanting to play with Nathan but Micah was still in his own little world and could care less that daddy was there to see him. Many of the children even looked to the call of Micah's name but Micah never acknowledged him. Now we were even more concerned. We prayed a lot about it and called his pediatrician to schedule an appointment. We worked with him daily to try to get him to make and keep eye contact. After a week it was like we had a new child. We were a little embarrassed when the doctor came in the room and Micah walked up to him with open arms as to say "pick me up". Dr. Beaty did and laughed. He said we need not worry about his social skills at this time, but that this is only a slice in time and he can't speak for what the future holds. We were happy with this and consider it an answered prayer!

Chief Resident Interviews

Nathan interviewed for Chief Resident today.  We were looking through his clothes last night for the perfect outfit but there was no Wal-Mart suit to be found in our closet.  This will be a longstanding joke with us and the OSF emergency medicine residency.  When Nathan intereviewed here nearly 2 1/2 years ago he lost his suit to interview in. He few in from another interview in MI and the flight attendent made him planeside check his bag because it wouldn't fit in the overhead compartment.  She said, "things never get lost when we plane side check them".  Well at 11:00pm we were at Wal-Mart on North Allen rd in Peoria searching for something that was appropriate for an interview.  Nathan didn't even have dress shoes, socks or clean underwear.  He didn't want to buy anything he didn't need so we left with only a suit. Did you know that Walmart carries suits?  The pants were 2 inches too short and the jacket was definitely not a good fit.  Tags and all, my husband Nathan went to his residency interview.  Two months later we found out that he landed the job.  I think he should have wore tennis shoes and a cheap Walmart suit today too for good luck.  Too bad we returned it after the first interview. 

First Haircut

Micah has wavy hair which is just about the only thing he got from his mama.  I really didn't want to cut it.  He had these cute little curls in the back and I knew that if I cut it they would never grow back the same.  Nathan really wanted to cut it but I just couldn't.  Last week I realized that it was starting to look a little scraggly and kinda mulletish.  Yesterday we went to Salon True and had my friend Cassi trim his hair.  Not only is he acting like a big boy but now he looks like one too!  He did so well too and sat quietly on my lap for a haircut.  We even have a little certificate and I had to keep the curls! 

First Steps

Such a year of firsts!  Micah took his first real steps on April 1st.  No it's not an April Fool's trick.  He really did!  And even better Nathan and I were both there to see it!  He's turning into such a BIG boy!  I guess I'll have to baby proof the house another 2 feet higher.  Once I mastered the crawling he goes and grows up even more.  I just want to keep him my little baby forever. 

He's trying to be more independent each day.  I don't know that you'd call him a strong willed child just yet, but I think he's working on it.  He doesn't like to have his diaper changed, be fed food or bottles, or get dressed.  He put up the biggest fights and thrown some major temper tantrums.  I thought we wouldn't hit this stage for another year when we got to those terrible two's.  I must be hard to not be able to tell someone what you want or need.  Wouldn't it be great if babies came into the world saying "mommy I'm hungry, Momy I'm poopy, Mommy I want to sleep".  Parenting would be a piece of cake!

Getting some toofers!

Teething is never fun. I thought Micah was never going to get a tooth and he waited until about 10 months for one to pop through.  He's really efficient through and has been getting them in multiples.  He's got two teeth on the bottom, and man are they sharp!  He also has 2 center top teeth coming in and another one just to the right. He's been quite the tropper though it all for the most part.  We've done tylenol a couple of times but for the most part he's been ok.  (knock on wood).  He's been wanting his pacifier a lot more lately which may be a problem in the future.  I play to say buh-bye to "pacikins" at 15mo when Micah moves up to the toddler room but Micah may have other plans.  He never wanted his pacifier except for bed until about 8mo and he's been chewing on it ever since.  I kinda worry that it will delay his language development because he can't make sounds when he's sucking on it all day.  I haven't read anything about this, just a hunch.  He's starting to mimic sounds and sylables but doesn't quite have the words down yet.  He'll say "cah" for "champ" and babbles "ba-ba-ba" all the time but I don't really think this is related to anything.  He's such a chatter box!  We just love him to pieces!

Quality Family Time

I never thought that we 6am would be my favorite time of day.  Nathan's been on nights working 5pm-5am and he usually gets home right when Micah and I are starting our day.  This morning Micah woke especially early.  At 5:10 he was standing in his crib screaming and jumping on the bed.  The little stink only at 3oz before bed and I knew he would be up early and hungry.  We did a bottle and then I was ready to go back to bed.  Micah had different plans.  We tried rocking and he screamed.  We tried swaying and he screamed.  Finally I laid him in his crib and he continued to scream.  Daddy came to the rescue!  Micah was ready to play and wanted no part of going back to sleep.  Nathan played with Micah while I got ready and they even kept me company while I took a shower.  Micah really loves pulling on the shower curtain.  They played ball in the living room and Micah can actually roll the ball back to you and catch it when you roll it to him.  He's learning so much each day!  This afternoon I picked him up from daycare and he was just standing all by himself with nothing around him!  He had a rolling toy that he was walking with but had moved it aside and was doing it all by himself.  I'd never seen him stand so long without holding on to anything!  It was like he was thinking about taking a step but just couldn't get that far.  It won't be very long now!

In Need of a Vacation

We are all in need of some time off and away from here!  Nathan's been studying like crazy for his yearly inservice exam.  He will take this exam each year in residency but this year it's particularly important that he pass because that means we get a new car!  No, that's not the reward for passing, too bad though.  If he passes he can "moonlight" at other ER's and make some pretty good money that we hope to use for a car payment.  Keep your fingers crossed!  Our cars are about on their last leg.  The Blazer is 11 years old and my Taurus just celebrated her 10th birthday.  The Blazer is going back into the shop on Wednesday because it nearly died as I was coming up the hill towards our house.  We said we'd drive these cars into the ground and I think they're there!

The stress of residency is wearing on all of us.  Nathan is working 60-80hr weeks, I work PT at 20hrs per wk, and Micah is in daycare 3 days a week.  I am so ready for this chapter of our lives to be over and a new door to open.  Nathan's going to start submitting his CV once this exam is over and we will hopefully know where he'll be working by the fall or winter of this year.  It can't get here soon enough!  Right now I'm thinking palm trees and sand!  We always wanted to stay close to family but the state of IL passed a law that will greatly affect Nathan's job as an ER doctor.  The law states that the insurance company can pay whatever they want to a physician who is "out of network" for the patient.  Private practice doctors can refuse to treat someone out of network, but an ER physician cannot refuse care.  So it looks like sunshine and palm trees is where we will be.  Anyone is welcome to come visit!  :) 

Momma Jones-Top Chef

So I chose to make all my own baby food, and its been way easier than expected!  I feel like I make a better baby food than even Gerber, and I should know because I've tasted it all!  I won't serve my son anything that I wouldn't eat myself, and I wouldn't touch some of the store bought foods.  I do have to admit, we used them traveling over the Christmas holiday.  I just couldn't pack anything more into our car!

So here are the steps in making homemade (with love) baby food!

1. Pick a single fruit, vegetable or a combination (remember to follow the 4 day rule with introducing new foods). 

2. Boil, steam or bake the selected items.  If boiling reserve the water for later and use a small amount to prevent too many nutrients from leaching into the water.  I prefer to bake sweet potatoes, and squash but I've also had luck with using the microwave for pumpkin. Who would have thought you could microwave a pumpkin! 
3.  Get out your blender and blend away!  I prefer the blender over the food processor.  I used the Magic Bullet blender to start and then realized it had BPA in it.  Also, it didn't get the food to the right consistency.  I found chunks in some vegetables that I processed the heck out of!  Use a mesh strainer to strain large particles to get a nectar thick puree.  Adjust as baby becomes better with solid foods and more textures. 
4.  Let the puree cool and pour into ice cube trays.  There are all types of fancy baby food making devices and storage containers, but I found that my dollar store ice cube trays worked just as well.  Each cube is ~1oz.  This also saves on waste when you can get out just one cube at a time until baby is full. 
5.   Wrap trays with cellophane wrap and label.  I would make multiple combinations at once and you'd be surprised at how close chicken/sweet potatoes and peach/pear look alike. 
6. Freeze overnight, remove from trays, and store in a labeled freezer back with the contents and date clearly written on the bag.  I try to use the purees within 1mo of making. 

This website was extremely thorough and had lots of great recipes for homemade baby foods!

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Some of our favorites were:
Pumpkin peach
Squash and sweet potatoes

Blueberry banana (although the acidity really did a number on Micah's bottom.  No more berries for this lil guy!)

Peach, squash and cinnamon

Apple cinnamon

Chicken and apples
Carrots and apples

Micah's almost done with the purees.  He does a fairly decent job with eating a variety of finger foods.  He's really turned his nose up to the spoon and I feel he is telling me that he's done with the mush and ready for the real stuff.  Some of his favorite finger foods include bananas, pears, stewed apples, peaches, peas (hated the green purees though), green beans, cheese, wheat bread, cheerios, and graham crackers.  He still hasn't really liked many meats and wont eat anything solid from a spoon regardless of what it is.  I can feed him a pea on a spoon and he spits it out.  I put it in his mouth with my finger and he gobbles it right up.  What a silly boy!

Cloth Diapering

So we chose to do cloth diapers for the primary reason of saving money.  I did all the research and talked with many other cloth diapering mommas.  I chatted for hours with a lovely lady in Bloomington with a cloth diapering store and she answered all my questions and helped me determine a diaper that would work well for us and those caring for Micah.  Micah is in daycare 3 days a week so this had to be something that anybody could figure out.  Ms. Nancy cares for him most of the time but there are times when other teachers sub throughout the day.  We chose the BumGenius 3.0's with hook and loop (Velcro) closures.  These diapers should get him from 8lbs to 35lbs and I really hope he's potty trained before hitting 30-35 lbs (he's a small guy to start).  These work well for us.  There are quite bulky on a little baby and looking back I kinda wished we would have done a small sized diper until he reached 15lbs or so.  They fit him quite well now that he's bigger.  Cotton Babies is the manufacturer of these diapers and they've been great to work with.  I had problems with the Velcro pulling away from the diaper and there was no way to fix it.  They are replacing 9 diapers and mailing new ones with the snap closures.  What a great company!

I  had a few people who thought we were crazy for doing cloth diapers, but I hope we've proved them wrong.  It's just an extra load of dipes every other day and it's a small price to pay to save thousands of dipes from going to the landfill.  Another bonus is that they should save us some cash.  I don't really know that we've saved as much as we should have.  I tend to spray the heck out of them before they go into the We paid about $350 for 18 diapers in the beginning, but I've since added to our collection.  Just today I received a super cute fire truck cloth diaper by Rumparooz!  It was like Christmas opening it! Funny how I used to get this excited over a new purse or a pair of shoes, not its cloth diapers for my baby's bottom :)   We've also tried Thirsties Duo diaper, BumGenius Flips, and FuziBunz.  All of these are one size diapers except for the Thirsties which have a size 1 and 2 to keep baby diapered from 8-15#.  The Flips have disposable biodegradable inserts which are great for the diaper bag, when I forget to put the diapers in the dryer, and some smaller outfits (again most of these cloth diapers are bulky). The flip insert is a cross between modern diapers and the prefold/cover diapers.   My only beef with these is that the Poo runs off the diaper right on the cover and I have to change the whole thing anyway which defeats the point of "flipping" out the insert and replacing it with a new one.  The Thirsties Duo diapers are a cute print but they still seem really big on Micah.  They should fit 18-40# and Micah is 18.5#.  The FuzziBunz are very trim but have a ton of snaps in odd places.  I've only used this diaper once and I'm sure I'll figure out the perfect fit soon.  I wish I would have tried a variety of cloth diapers before settling on one brand.  I do like the BG 3.0's but I wonder if my choice would have been different if I'd tried other cloth diapers as well.  The hook and loop closure is great for daycare, dad, or the baby sitter but I think I prefer the snaps because of less laundry care and less wear and tear on the diaper.  And I've had a heck of a time with the hook and loop closures making a chain of diapers in the wash! 

The Blizzard of 2011



Snow, snow and more snow!  I've never seen this much snow!  We got it dumped on us!  I woke on Tuesday the 1st and was sad when I saw no snow on the ground.  We were projected to get 12-20 inches and I was hoping to have a snow day off of work.  I took Micah to daycare and went on to work. It started in at about noon and by 1pm we had 3 inches of snow on the ground.  Everyone at the VA clinic was in a panic.  The pharmacy and lab both shut down.  There were no veterans in the clinic and us two dietitians were getting out of there.  Our Chief wanted one of us to stay until 2:00 so I offered to stay.  I booked it out of there at 2:15 and got to PALS (Micah's daycare) just as they were calling parents to pick up their children.  Most of then had already gone home and Micah was one of the last two waiting for a ride.  We heading home and he cried the whole way!  I don't know if he could tell that I was anxious or what the deal was.  I sometimes reach back and hand him his paci but this was not the day to do that.  I was white knuckled and my eyes were on the road.  I'll have to admit there were a few tears on my part too.  We were both scared.  I could barely see the road with all the drifts and even with 4WD I didn't feel safe on the road.  We got home and camped out for the next day.  Nathan went into work at noon and was told to bring an extra change of clothes.  He was planning on staying the night until 11pm rolled around.  He called and said "I think I'm going to drive home"  and I was like "NO DEFINITELY NOT".  The interstates were closed and they enacted the IL National Guard for this storm.  I didn't want him anywhere on that road.  I'd fallen asleep on the couch and woke up at 1am to the garage door opening.  I said "are you ok"  he said yes, then I said "well then I'm going to strangle you!"  So glad he was home safe and sound but not happy about him driving our Taurus in 18 inches of snow!  I was not getting out to get him if he got stuck, that's for sure. 



Diggin through 3 ft of snow!



Poor buddy Champ.  Can't even get to his house.

Champ enjoyed the snow too.  He didn't quite know what to do when we opened the back door and he was staring at a snow drift taller than him.  He tried to turn around and I was like, you go now or you don't go all night.  He dug through the drift and did his business.  He kinda hopped around in the snow like a bunny rabbit.  He loved it!

"Get me out of this house!  I wanna play in the snow!"



"Guess I'll just raid the fridge.  Good thing Mom when to the store before the storm"



On Lockdown

So it's been a really rough week.  It started off last weekend with Nathan off on vacation.  This sounds like it would be great with lots of time to hang out as a family.  Unfortunately it means that he's studying for his big Inservice Exam (yearly residency exams) and we're supposed to be quiet.  Can somebody tell me how to keep a 9.5mo old quiet?  It's so stinkin cold, 7 degrees below zero today, that we can't go outside and play and I'm hesitant to take Micah out to run errands when it's this cold.  Our house is pretty small and Micah doesn't stay entertained in one place for too long.  Please pray that he passes his exam on February 23rd!  If he does he can "moonlight" and make some extra cash working at other hospitals a day or so each month.  I'm hoping this will be our car payment :)  Nathans not so sold on this though. 

We were also on lockdown for bacterial meningitis.  Nathan had a 1 year old girl that was sick with N/V and diarrhea.  He admitted her on Thursday night and was called at home on Saturday morning to go to the hospital and get treated.  Apparently they treat everyone who was in contact with her for more than 10 min.  It's that contagious!  The good thing is that Nathan came home with blood on a pair of scrubs from that night and I made him wash them as soon as he steped in the door.  Micah's in a large daycare and I'd hate to bring something like that there.  Symptoms usually present within 1-2 days so by Sunday we figured that we were all in the clear.  I'll still probably always think that a headache is meningitis after that scare. 

New Christmas Traditions

So I meant to post this a long time ago...oops! This was Micah's first Christmas and I wanted to start a few family traditions.  I can still remember things from my childhood Christmas's like going out to cut down a real Christmas tree and piling in our little blue truck.  It only had 3 seatbelts but we managed to stuff 4 of us in there and strap the tree into the back.  We would always go to Midnight mass and crash just as soon as we got home from church.  At the crack of dawn we were up and waking everyone else up to open presents.  Lets hope that Micah lets us sleep in a little later when he gets old enough to figure out this whole Christmas thing. 

We did a lot of fun things this holiday season.  Micah and I made a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake to celebrate Christmas.  It wasn't the prettiest cake but it was pretty tasty.  I accidentally left the cake within Micah's reach and he had a great time playing in the frosting.

What is this sticky stuff?

Look Ma!  I helped decorate too!



I wish mom would let me eat this!  Guess I have to wait a few months.


We also bought a few Christmas ornaments for Micah.  I would like to buy one ornament each year so that he will have a fully decorated tree when he has his own family.  This year we started a new series of Hallmark ornaments that was titled "a decade of frosty fun".  This year it was a frosty with the year 2010.  I'm hoping that it will just be frosty ornaments for the next 9 years and not include the date but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  And of course we have a "baby's first Christmas" ornament too. 



We took a day to get pictures with Santa and hopefully we can continue this until Micah figures out the whole Santa thing.  These traditions are ones I hope to keep for many years and add to them as the years go on and our family grows.

A day in the life of Micah

What a little joy our Micah is.  He's so busy and into everything!  I've really had to put my "mom eyes" on and try to figure out what he could possibly get into before he does.  Some things just can't be baby proofed.  Some of micah's favorite things to get into are the dog bowls (he loves bathing in Champ's water bowls),  the dog toys, the tupperware drawer, the pots and pan cabinet, the lazy susan (can't figure out how to baby proof this but something must be done), the DVD's, the air vent in the hall (he strums the vent like a guitar), and the computer or any part of it (he loves the keyboard).  It's taken most of my energy to keep him out of trouble!  As soon as I master this crawling thing, he's going to start walking and we'll have a whole other set of problems to deal with.  

I thought I would give you an idea of our daily routine.  I find that routines are best for all of us.  Well except for Nathan, he hates schedules and works CRAZY hours.  Micah and I work best when we've got a system worked out.  Our day usually goes as follows.

6:30am - Up and at em!  No matter what time he goes to bed, he's always up at 6:30
6:35am - diaper change and bottle
7:00am - Off to school or off to play
7:30am - breakfast consisting of cereal, fruit and yogurt (he really eats better than we do)
8:00am - poopy diaper #1
9:00am - Snack time (dry cereal, bananas with cheerio and graham cracker dust)
9:30am - 2nd bottle
9:35am - 2nd poopy diaper
9:45am - Nap time (with any luck he'll be asleep for1-2hr)
11:30am - Up from a nap
11:40am - Diaper change
12:00pm - Lunch time! Yummy! (vegetables, fruit, grain)
12:30pm - Time to play and maybe read a book
1:00pm - 3rd bottle
1:15pm - Play time (he loves the jumparroo but almost too big for it, this will be a sad day)
1:40pm - 3rd poopy diaper (yes i said 3, but wait there's more)
2:00pm - Snack time
2:30pm - Nap time!
4:00pm - Up from nap and time for 4th bottle & 4th poopy diaper
5:30pm - Dinner time (protein, vegetables, dairy, grain)
6:00pm - bathtime, diaper free time (he needs this from all his poopin), and a bedtime book
7:00pm - 5th Bottle
7:30pm - Nighty, Night Micah!

Wow!  I never realized that we did all this until I wrote it out.  I'm exausted just looking at it and it's not even 9:00am!  Looks like we've got a busy day ahead of us. 

Obviously the diapers are not scheduled but everything else is pretty close.  He never sleeps past 7:00am.  My days of sleeping in ended on April 21st of 2010. I take full advantage of nap times to get things done around the house.  It's impossible to do even dishes when Micah wants to play.  I'd rather play with him than do anything else!