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!