Stop it, I'm trying to be mad at you.

Micah has so much personality at such a young age. Everyday he's becoming more and more vocal with us. Anyone who walks into the room is met with starring eyes and smiles. If I hold him while his mom is next to me, he stares at her and coos while dropping his body weight towards her. Yea I think he likes her more than me. Or he's just always hungry and knows that she's the provider of milk. It's my fault though. While Laura was off of work, 6 of the weeks she took off were unpaid and I worked too much during that time to help supplement our income. I don't mind though. I'm glad Laura got to take all the time off available to care for Micah his first 3 months.

I did stay home and take care of him for the first time last Thursday. I'd never been alone with him for more than a few hours. I know that sounds bad but with me working 24 hours shifts and at a part-time job on my days away from the firehouse, I've missed out on a few things. The day wasn't that bad, it actually went pretty smooth! I was really expecting the worst; him screaming at the top of his lungs or refusing to eat. He was great! I tried to stay to a schedule, woke him up every 2 and a half hours to change his diaper and tried to feed him before he got fussy. He would eat and play with his hands for a little bit and then go right back to sleep. I even had enough time to get some chores done around the house and get him dressed to go have lunch with Mommy. When we got back, I read a little, played a little Xbox, and even started dinner. I felt like a stay at home dad and it was pretty cool. I could get used to that.

Dramatization

I've made mention to it a few times, But Micah is a very fussy eater. He's almost bipolar with his meals. Sometimes he eats with no problem, other times he acts like were trying to feed him something off bizarre foods. He'll sit there and spit out everything we give him. At first we thought it was nipple confusion (something I read about babies refusing to breast feed because the bottle is easier) Nope, Micah is just fussy. Almost as if he wants to flex his baby muscle and remind us whose in charge. Well he's not. Daddy ain't having it. After my wife finishes nursing him, if he's still a little hungry or if he starts getting fussy, we'll supplement with a little bit of formula from a bottle to top him off. Sometimes he wants to keep being fussy, he's hungry but wants to fussy too. He'll kick and scream and through a little fit. I'll raise my voice and say "Hey, stop! Drink your milk and stop being a brat!" Sometime's we'll go through this routine at 3 am. Now here's where things get funny. He starts his fit, I raise my voice, then he starts to smile at me while I'm holding the bottle in his mouth. I can't stay upset at this little guy and he knows it.

So here's my first official review of a product .....

The Medela Calma Bottle. It sucks. The purpose of this bottle is to help babies transition smoothly from the Bottle back to Breast-feeding. The milk only releases when the baby creates a vacuum so it imitates the natural feeding process. The bottle is priced anywhere from 17.99 to 24.99 (24.99 at BabiesR'Us where we got ours at). We bought ours around the month and a half mark out of a little despair. Laura wanted to continue nursing Micah naturally, but he fought us every step of the way. He only wanted the bottle, So when we saw a bottle that would help us transition back to nursing we were on it! And it cost 24.99 so it had to work! The bottle is called the Calma bottle! It's supposed to Calm! It doesn't. It worked for about 1 day. After that the milk release was constant, too much in fact. Micah almost choked on all the milk. After a few washes, the bottle starts to leak and over flows. So there went that.

"Micah quiere leche de mami!"

Hello Everyone! Remember me and this blog? I know it's been a while since I last updated but I've been a little busy with a newborn baby and what not. I would love to say that we have the hang of this. But we don't completely. I say this in a humorous way because when my wife or I are up at night and switching bottles because Micah refuses to eat out of anything we give him, or when I change his diaper right after having just changed it, and after all that realize he's pooped again, or when he cries because he loves being in his parent's arms and hates his bassinet, I think about how I was as a baby and the loud sleepless nights I gave my parents. From all the stories I have heard of me as a child , I understand completely why Micah is a little troublemaker at times. When my sister was being  born, my parents left me under my aunt and uncle's care. I guess I must have missed my parents because I am told that I cried and cried like there was no tomorrow. So in a last ditch effort to quiet me, my uncle put me in a closet and closed the door. Now I know that sounds cruel and you won't find that kind of parenting advice in the books but I'm sure I was being a brat. So I had been in the closet for a few minutes when I go quiet. My Uncle came back to check on me and found me peeing in all of his shoes. True Story. So whenever I feel frustrated I smile because I know. I know this is my son (if you dont believe me, check out the picture below) and I will give him the same love and patience that I was given. (By my parents, not my uncle.)

Now please don't misunderstand me and think that we're losing it over here. We are enjoying every bit of being parents. Micah is so alert. I play games with him where I kiss his nose and make little noises and when I come off he smiles and coos. Sometimes I just talk to him and ask him how his day was and if he gave mommy a hard time while I was away. He responds and coos little noises and expressions like he is trying to tell me what he did that day. I've read that most things just click and fall into place around the 3 month mark and that seems to be the case. At times he still gets a little fussy when I feed him but it's only for a few seconds and then he just drains the bottle. He's sleeping longer too! Last night I think we got a good 5 and a half hours of sleep. I know that sounds like a stupid thing to get excited over but you have to remember that he normally wakes up about 3 times to eat or needing a diaper change. It felt so good but I couldn't enjoy it because I kept waking up wondering if he was ok because he hadn't woke me up first.

Around this time we were expecting Micah's hair to fall out since that what everyone told us would happen. Not the case with this little guy. His hair looks like its here to stay. It's getting so long that if I trimmed the sides a bit he'd go straight mullet. I'm tempted to do it for the laughs but then I'd come home to him driving a John Deere tractor, in a camo cut-off t-shirt and bottle filled with budlight in his hand.

Then again, Joe Dirt was a funny movie...

Laura and I have decided to talk to Micah in Spanish as a primary language until he gets older. We figured that he will learn English eventually through school, his friends and tv but we don't want him to forget or not pick up Spanish. We're also trying to teach him a little Sign Language. Laura's sister is deaf so Laura learned how to sign to communicate with her. I only know enough to ask "What's your name?" and that's it, at that point I would probably have to hand the person I signed to, a letter apologizing for wasting their time. I got the idea to teach Micah Sign language from a video I saw on youtube. The link is below. Its amazing what an infants mind is capable of. According to some information I read, the baby probably would sign back until the 6-9 month mark but we should start teaching him as soon as possible. If I'm not mistaken, In deaf culture, a deaf person has to give you your deaf name in sign. The sign is normally a mix between the first letter of your first name and quality or characteristic you have. Laura's sister has given us all our names. Mine for example is the letter in A in sign and a brush against the side of my head as if I was putting on glasses. Laura's is the letter L while she signs cute which is a flick of her chin with the her index finger. Micah's is pretty cool. It's the letter M coming away from my eye representing his long eye lashes. You can see me signing to him in the video below.

Laura has done an awesome job in her new role as mommy. She can tell the difference between his cries and knows what each one means. In a few days she will exchange her role as stay at home mommy and get back to the work grind. Staying at home has not been a vacation for her. I sometimes thought to myself that she had it good, being able to stay home and "play" with Micah. "Play" ha, it wasn't until I actually took care of him by myself while she went out grocery shopping that I realized there was no playing involved. I was quickly calling her up, wondering how far out she was because I couldn't get Micah to stop crying. All joking aside, Baby, you have done a wonderful job these past couple months taking care of Micah while I'm at work and away from home. I know it wasn't a vacation and it was hard at times but you've stuck through it and now Micah is a momma's boy because of it. Thanks. I wuv you.