Review for CNS Stores Coming Soon

Following in the footsteps of the Mikes, I am excited to announce an upcoming review for CSN Stores. With a toddler in the house, I anticipate that we'll be needing some new furniture, perhaps even a coffee table. I plan on spending hours looking over the 200 different websites that make up CSN Stores. The products at CSN Stores are endless! Disclosure: I will be receiving an item of my choice valued at $35 or less so that I may conduct an honest review of CSN Stores products and service. You might remember that the Mikes reviewed a very cute play mat for one of the girl's bedrooms.

I'm Faklempt!

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Milestones and Frustrations

It has been an interesting, challenging, tiring, and thrilling time here in the Kingdom of Micah. (Stick with me while I vent and I'll reward you with some photos at the end!) We transitioned to a new daycare a few weeks ago -- a big center that comes highly rated by our local quality agency. He's one of the youngest children in his new room -- everyone else is walking and a bit more verbal -- and in the new room (and all toddler rooms) they only offer one nap a day compared to the two and sometimes 3 he was taking at the old daycare. So we probably bit off a bit more than Micah could handle, though, by also trying to transition him to cow's milk from formula at the same time. He had no problem at all getting used to new caregivers and a new room; there was no sign of separation anxiety at all.

BUT.... and this is a big but, he's had some, er, intestinal adjustments ever since all these transitions started.... and each time it happens, daycare calls us to take him home. They have a very very strict policy for sick kids and draw the line at one diarrhea incident, after which he can't return for at least 24 hours. So far they've sent him home I think 3 or 4 times, despite my obtaining notes from our doctor stating that the symptoms in question are being caused by the milk transition, not a contagious disease. I am so lucky to have a job that understands my need to be flexible for my family, and I certainly enjoy spending time with Micah, but after having a very healthy and playful kid home with me for 6 or so days while I'm paying VERY good money to the daycare, I was NOT feeling the love for this new daycare, which is supposed to be inculcating my kid with a values-based education, but was not making me feel kindly towards them.
Today was a nice milestone where he was at the daycare for two continuous days, but only because I took him in late so that he could get the messy business done at home instead of at school. Gross for me, but the rest of the day was phone-call free, at least until they called to tell me that he'd lost his balance and hit his forehead.


No, that does not mean Micah is walking. He stands up well and is balancing without holding onto things for longer and longer stretches, can lower himself down with the grace of a yogi, and has an amazing amount of proprioseption, but is showing no interest at all in walking. That's OK with me -- even though he's heavy, I'm still enjoying carrying him on my hip like a little gorilla baby. Daddy is eager for him to walk, but daddy hasn't the faintest idea of how much trouble that will bring. Even without walking, he's getting into more and more trouble: climbing up onto surfaces not meant to bear his weight, doing pull-ups to reach something on top of our TV cabinet, opening kitchen cabinets to explore what's in. It is going to be a busy time here as we scramble to stay ahead of him!

And below, the promised reward photos from our recent vacation to Massachusetts!

Unimpressed as we take Micah to the spot where we got married a million (I mean 3) years ago...

OK, not a Massachusetts phone..... a trip to our local JCC pool where we met up with a good friend and her newborn baby.

Cute pre-haircut photo that I staged to illustrate the Q page of Micah's ABC book. This is the only photo I had to stage for the purpose of the book!

Micah was not exactly the best company at our long-awaited vacation lobster dinner. Our staging this photo caused quite a few laughs at the surrounding tables.

Ooops I did it again

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that Adam had told me that I was in charge of no haircuts? Well, unfortunately, I just couldn't leave well enough alone. Fresh off a frustrating week in which Micah was banned from daycare not once, but twice due to explosive bodily fluids caused by the transition to milk, I had a little extra time on my hands on Friday afternoon. So Micah and I headed back to Jack and Jill for a little trim. They still had his (adorable) photo on the wall from his last haircut, and I casually mentioned to the new stylist that the last cut had been just a tad too long, and I'd like it just a little shorter this time. Well, before I could realize what was happening, she had the electric clippers out and was sheering my little guy like a helpless lamb, leaving him with what can most generously be described as .......well, there's no generous way to describe it. It's a little 3rd Reich haircut. Waaaah! How's that for a bad attempt at irony, just as he starts off at a Jewish daycare. OK, I know it will grow back, but with a cut this short, it is going to take quite a long time.

And it might seem even longer than it actually is, due to a new development in our house: the arrival of whining. Remember when wine was a beverage you had with dinner, late into the evening? Well, lately we seen to have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not sure why it has developed; I think he might be teething, and perhaps the aforementioned upset tummy isn't helping. Hope the little guy is feeling better soon; we miss our easygoing little guy.

And just so I don't sound ungrateful, I've been so excited this week by the miracle of speech starting to appear. So far we have the words "quack" and "duck" which are hard to tell apart, "hiya" and a little wave that goes with it, and now we also seem to have "gog" which means "frog." It is also so amusing to see new reactions to things. We have a book that has pop-up animals with big, hungry mouths that open up when you turn the page; I've shown it to him a dozen times or more, but this week when I showed it to him there was a little shiver of delighted fear with each turn of the page. He's on the verge of walking too, cruising with a bit more purpose, and realizing that he can reach things that were previously out of reach by climbing on things or stretching even further.

Anyone know where I can get a wig for a 1 year old?

Micah ABC book

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I had a lot of fun making this, because I got to use some of the crazier papers and realistic objects in my scrapbooking stash than I usually use (and some slightly girly colors, too, sigh.....) I'm nearly finished with Micah's first-year book, too (just waiting for a friend to give me some photos she took of his birthday party), and waiting for a really big sale at Shutterfly to print it!

For those interested in how-tos, I used an inexpensive program called Scrapbook Max. It does many of the same things that more expensive, difficult programs like Quark do, at a fraction of the cost (about $40) and effort. All of the "papers" and elements were downloaded for free (a great website that compiles a daily digest of freebies is http://www.craftcrave.com/; another one I used when I needed to find specific elements needed for this project (Quill, anyone?) was http://www.digiscrapdepot.com/.) You will need lots of room on your harddrive for these freebies, as it is addictive to download them! Fulfills all of my "hunter-gatherer" and bargain-hunting needs. Once you've downloaded stuff, you just drag it into your layout and re-size, re-color, and re-arrange to your heart's content (or until your baby wakes up from a nap!)

My little fantasy......

Adam and I have this little fantasy idea that when Micah is 10 or 11, we'll take a year off and travel 'round the world together. Of course, we'll be quite ancient by then and perhaps not even up to it; and of course the demands of life might get in the way too. It is something fun to think about, but I know it may never actually happen. But lately, when I look at all the places in the world where my blog is being read, I expand my little fantasy to think that our trip around the world will involve stops to visit our surrogacy friends world-wide. Wouldn't that be fun? Well, this weekend, as part of our week-long trip to Boston, a little piece of my fantasy actually happened: we had a get-together at the home of The Mikes, and included Deenah and Mike, the A Distant Miracle folks Geoff and Sharon, and another couple who are just starting to consider surrogacy in India. It was quite fun meeting some of this little community of ours face-to-face, and comparing our experiences and our babies' development. Will post a few photos when I get home.
Micah's been a great traveller on this trip, happily going down to sleep in 3 different houses in the first three days. By the 4th day, he was crawling up the long stairway in the house we're staying at, going right to the laundryroom where his pack n' play was stationed, finding a paci under the bed, and settled down immediately. We've trucked him around town to show him off to many of our friends, and he's put up with long car rides and uncreative meals with mostly good humor (the expensive and long-awaited lobster shack dinner was another story, however; it was much too long of a day and we just didn't get to enjoy our lobster like we should have.) Lobster incident aside, the only other tough time was the flight: he was pretty inconsolable for 2.5 out of 3.5 hours. I thought the TV would distract him and that having his own seat would assure a long nap, but it didn't seem to work that way. Hoping that the evening flight back tomorrow is less memorable.
Some random things I'm loving about Micah at 13 months:
- the way he talks to himself, with high trills, gurgles, and other sounds that adults can't even imitate
- the way he'll hook his hand around the back of my arm when I'm holding him on my hip, like a little baby gorilla
- the fact that his first word was "uh-oh" followed by "quack-quack" and "duck"
- the way he lets out a little laugh when you put him down to a nap, like he's been looking forward to it for hours
- the way he'll try just about any food, and hasn't had allergic reactions to anything (not liking the fact that he's just as happy shoving dirt or sand in his mouth as any of the healthiest foods we've offered.... and we had a very sand-filled dirty diaper to prove that some of it is actually being swallowed.)
- the look of wonder in his eyes when I poke my head into the back seat and he realizes he's not alone in the car; also, his great interest in all animal sounds, particularly the lion's ROAR.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone, Micah here!

I wanna thank everyone for all the birthday wishes, not to mention the comments on my eyes! I had a great time at my party, and mommy and daddy let me have a big ol' goopy cupcake.... I even tried to eat the paper wrapper! Mommy and Daddy even got into the action!

This week, I'm getting closer to standing all by myself, and when I decide to sit down again I can lower myself with no hands at all. I have very strong legs, if I do say so myself! I think I'll be walking in no time, and then, boy do I have some trouble in mind. I love music, and sway and bounce as soon as I hear music playing. I've also started laughing and giggling more and roughhousing. This morning, I even tried to do push-ups with Daddy!

My mommy said to tell everyone that having this great community has kept her going over the last year!