April Highlights

Micah and cousins Jacob and Matthew. You can definitely see the family resembolence!

Adam's favorite activity in the whole wide world -- horsing around with his nephews -- just got even better with a little Micah on top.

How can someone be so adorable and so messy at the same time???

Another month speeding by; can't believe Micah's nearly 9 months old already! This month featured a trip to Sacramento to visit Adam's sister and her family. As you can see in the top picture, the cousins had a great time together, and we couldn't get over how much Micah and his cousins look alike. Travelling with Micah wasn't quite as easy as it was just three months ago. The pressure adjustment in the airplane bothered him a little more, and he had a harder time sleeping on our laps (and was definitely much heavier for us to hold for 2 hours!) Still, we really have no business in the world complaining. He slept well and was very adaptable to all the strange situations we put him in (hello, washing machine as changing table and bathtub in the sink!)

Upon arriving back at our home airport, I said goodbye to Adam and Micah and boarded another plane in the opposite direction, to Boston for a business trip. There were a few tears at the airport -- from me for being away from my boys for a week, and from Adam knowing that he was on his own for a week! We both managed well. Micah and daddy had a good time together, and daycare took a lot of the pressure off Adam. I had a wonderful time in Boston, hanging out with friends, eating out, and staying up too late. It is all too easy for me to slip into my "carefree single girl" mode while in Boston and almost forget I have a baby and husband at home! One duty I did have in Boston was to clean out my condo basement in preparation for its sale in June. That was a very sad day, since I've owned the condo for 17 years and lived there for 14. I had to keep reminding myself that sometimes we have to open our hands and let go of things, even if they are very precious or served a useful purpose at one point, so that new and wonderful things can come into our lives.



Coming back home provided some contrast to that sadness, though. The look in Micah's eyes when he saw me back again, and the sweet hugs and cuddles I got, made up for it. (Of course, when I took him to daycare the next day and saw him give his caregivers the same hugs, I was a bit disappointed, but am so happy that he feels so secure there and has a great relationship with the caregivers.)

Next up on our agenda is starting to plan our summer schedule of camping trips, travel, house projects, and anniversary celebration. And before you know it, we'll be planning a birthday party, too!

Whew!

It has been a busy few weeks here, with Passover, a visit from my sister and her family, and now getting ready to take Micah to meet his cousins on Adam's side of the family in California. Micah's been a gem -- he even sang and danced to the 4 questions at our Passover seder (with Grandma acting as a ventrolquist!) He managed to sit on grandma's lap for the whole first part of the seder, even if he does look bored in this photo:

on Easter, we were invited to some friends' house, and discovered that there is definitely a boy-gene that controls interest in cars. Micah just immediately knew what to do with our friends' son's car collection! Just in the last week or two, he's started a hilarious new thing where he suddenly vibrates with excitement or emotion. It starts out like a little Indian head wiggle, and then passes through his entire body. Maybe he's doing the snake dance that his daddy does so well? It is fun when he's excited, but when he's hungry or needing attention and does it, it is heart-rending.

And here are some photos of the latest skills we're working on with Micah: Crawling and walking. Don't think we're making much progress on crawling; we had to put him in the crawling position to take this picture, and he didn't like it much. Standing is much better, and he's started to try to bounce when he's standing, so we have to be on our guard to make sure we're holding him up, otherwise he'd just land with a big kersplat.

Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and of course all the children are above average.

The Object of My Affection

Hi Folks,

Its me, Micah writing. Now that I'm a whole 8 months old, I have an awful lot to say. And Mommy isn't going to like to hear this, but I have a new love in my life, and his name is Sushi. Sushi is a grey snowshoe siamese cat. I think we have another cat around this place named Miso, but honestly, he avoids me so I'm not really sure.

Daddy says that Miso and Sushi are only good as accessories for our couch, and that they don't serve any real cat-like function like sitting on human laps, but Sushi and I have a special relationship. When Mommy feeds me, he sits on the back of the armchair and purrs, or rubs up against her feet. He likes to be in the same room as me whatever I'm doing. Once, I even managed to grab ahold of his tail! I think he's trying to figure out what kind of creature I am. I'm short, like him, but I smell kinda like those big creatures that feed him (sometimes I don't smell that good, I'll admit.)

Mommy and Daddy have one ace up their sleeve in trying to get me to crawl (yeah, right): Sushi. I really, really, really want to go pet him. He'd better watch out when I can start running!

In other news, for the last few weeks I've been really into my feet. I keep telling Mommy: Feet are the new hands!

I'm squealing and laughing more than I used too, and it makes Mommy and Daddy laugh to hear me. I love to be held up like an airplane, and I let Daddy use me to build up his triceps by dipping me onto his head. It's fun when he throws me up in the air, too, but I'm not sure if he'll keep doing it after I threw up a lot of milk on him.... silly Daddy, he'll never learn not to roughhouse with me after I've eaten!

This week coming up, my cousins Logan and Natasha are coming to visit. I think it will be a lot of fun to play with them -- last time they were here, I was really sleepy most of the time.

In the last week, we had two big snowstorms here and I got to stay home from school one day. Daddy did too, so we had a fun time bugging Mommy while she was trying to work. It was too windy and wet for me to go play in the snow, the way we did last weekend when we all went snowshoeing. I slept through the entire hike, but Daddy managed to take this great family picture of us out together. Even though Mommy doesn't like snowshoeing, she's smiling here. Afterwards, we went out for Mexican food and Mommy and Daddy both got food poisoning. They should have brought their own food like I did!

Oh, well, I better go practice the 4 questions to get ready for Passover. I may be the youngest, but I have a lot to say!

Researcher looking for willing subjects

I'm posting this on behalf of a cultural anthropologist who is doing her thesis research on surrogacy in India. She's looking for current or intended parents who'd be interested in telling her about their experiences. I spoke with her last week, and enjoyed pouring out "the whole story" to her (hey, who doesn't like talking about themselves for an hour!). Info about her research and her contact info is below if you have the time and inclination to talk to her:

From Daisy Deomampo: I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the City University of New York in New York City and a Visiting Research Scholar at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai during 2010. I am currently in Mumbai conducting research for my dissertation on the topic of medical travel to India for assisted reproductive technologies. I would be very grateful for speak with people who are thinking about or have already traveled to India for IVF, egg donation and/or surrogacy. Please be assured that this research is not media-related and is intended for academic publication only. My project has been approved by the ethical review board at my university and is supported by grants from public and private foundations. All interviews are completely confidential, therefore no names or any identifying information will be used in any writing related to this research.If you are interested in speaking with me please contact me at daisy.deomampo (at) gmail.com.

A long night

It's a beatiful Sunday morning, but my two boys are both sleeping, so I'm inside too. Adam and I both got food poisoning yesterday from a shared plate of super-delux nachos at a divy Mexican restaurant, so it was a long night. I think we switched beds several times (me in guest room, him on couch; me in master bedroom, him on couch; both of us in master bedroom; he moving to guest room). I think we took turns hurling all night too.

Unfortunately Micah, who was sleeping really soundly from 7 pm until 6:30 am until about a month ago, has hit a streak where he now is crying every hour or so from 2 until 6. Anyone have thoughts on a solution to this? Is this just a growth spurt thing? I've been trying to let him cry it out, but eventually one of us will cave in and put the pacifier back in his mouth, which puts him back to sleep immediately. This morning I caved in and actually tried to feed him at 5, but he wasn't really hungry. I put the pacifier back in and he slept until 6:45. I know he needs to learn to fall back to sleep on his own, but it is hard to listen to the crying at 3 am when the pacifier will buy another hour or two of uninterrupted sleep.

The Golden Age of Babies

Self portrait with naked baby....

There has been cuteness every day of the last 8 months, but I have to say that at 7 to 8 months, it really ramps up into high gear. There is something especially delicious about this age. When their chubby fingers grab you, you know it is because they want to hold onto you; when they reach out for something, you can see they are trying to learn its properties. It's a moment of growth, and also the moment when you begin to notice that they're not going to be a baby forever, so you want to hold it tight and treasure it. I was in a secondhand shop yesterday looking at baby clothing, and realized sadly that all of the clothing that looked cute to me would be too small for him....he's definitely no longer an infant anymore.

New favorite toy... the ol' crocodile xylaphone!

Already an experienced hiker, Micah's now too cool to hang out with us!

But not too cool for Grandma! How they love each other!

Practicing for his upcoming centerfold shoot, Micah tries out his new bathtub. He loved having room to kick, but it made Mommy nervous.

Slow down!!!

Is it just me, or is everything moving too fast! My skills as our family's CTO, CFO, and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer are being tested against my abilty to juggle like a maniac. I'm starting to realize what getting old in a fast-paced world means.We took a step off the merry-go-round this weekend to take a little family excusion to Garden of the Gods, a park just about an hour away from us. Was sure fun to try out Micah's newest mode of transportation, his official hiking backpack.

Gorgous scenery, and it was nice to get outside and unplugged for a little while.

Expecially moving too fast for my taste is my little boy's growth. Seems like he's a different person every single day. Here's a few of my favorite shots from March. The first, Naked Tummy Time, occurred on the day that Micah got some catch-up vaccinations. Doubt you'll see a centerfold model with bandaids and socks in any other cheesecake publication....

Look who rolled himself over during his nap! He hasn't done it while we're watching, but last night, after we put him to bed, Adam and I peeked into his room and watched him spin, rotate, and generally create a little tornado in his crib. It was hysterical.... and showed us the mayham that is soon to come in our lives. Putting up the sides of his crib is high on my to-do list for the weekend.