Countdown to a new start

So in exactly one week we start over. If everything goes as planned , closing for our house is scheduled for the 12th of January. We had a bit of a mix up in the last weeks leading up to now. Long story short, we have a lot of packing to do. The home buyer had an appraisal done long after the due diligence period had passed and to our surprised the house was appraised at 4 thousand less than what our final settlement price was, Our Realtor called me to tell me that unless we were willing to drop the price on the house the deal was a no-go. But since they waited until after the due diligence period we get to keep their earnest money deposit if they decide to back out. I asked a few Realtors I know for their opinion on what to do and most agreed to stay firm and keep the deposit if they don't come through. At the end of the day they did wait too long to have the appraisal done.

So this whole time I've been thinking it's a no deal, but I had doubt that the buyer would walk away from the house and lose the money that they've invested thus far, so I called my Realtor and asked him what would happen if the buyer did buy the house and we haven't moved out yet. So he kindly informed me that I better be out of the house by the 12th. Pretty much until we hear otherwise the deal is on. Now we're in a fenzy, packing and needing to put everything in a storage unit to empty out the house.

I think its all going to be very surreal until we turn in the keys. I'm sure we will feel some sadness to go but I'm really excited to have a new start. I have a few Zillow searches going and can't wait to start house hunting.

 I had a funny conversation with another firefighter that is also selling his house. He asked what size house we're looking for and I told him about 1500 to 2000 sqft. He kinda chuckled and said that was too small for a family. I realize it's not a mansion but how big of a house does a "family" really need? (Small rant ahead) I'm sure that 2nd family room and 3rd office really comes in handy but C'mon (sarcasm). If anything, I think that oversized houses are a huge contributor to crappy family atmospheres. I grew up in apartments where I had to share a room with one or both of my siblings at times and even though the lack of privacy was inconvenient but the small space forced us to INTERACT with one another. If we didn't like something the other did, We told them and we disagreed and we fought but then we made up and laughed about it.

 I saw a documentary about tiny houses that people are building over trailers. They live really simple, are debt free and have realized the difference between a necessity and a luxury. That's too extreme for me but I saw some interesting facts that made me think. The average american family has gone down in size while the size of the average american home keeps going up. Somebody they interviewed mentioned they remembered growing up, their friends had huge houses but their parents were never around because they were working to pay the house off. That's not what I want Micah to remember about us. Just to throw out another observation ; I get to work at many firehouses across the city with lots of different crews and I've noticed the closer knit ones are the ones that work in older stations that are alot smaller than the new firehouses that are triple the size and house half the people. We'll see what we come across when the time comes.

Speaking of a new start...... Laura is prego again. Yes you read correctly. She's 12 weeks right now. This one was planned unlike the first one. When we talked about more kids in the future we both knew we would have another but were undecided as to when. If we waited too long it would be like starting from scratch and if we waited too little we would have alot on our plates. Around the time that Micah was going to turn 1 we kinda knew we wanted another sooner then later and just let it happen.

It's funny how fast this pregnancy has gone by so far. With having a toddler to look after we sometimes forget that Laura is pregnant. Sorry, I mean I forget that she is Pregnant because according to her this one feels totally opposite than the first one. She is super tired and nauseous and always at the most random times.  I try to help, mostly by keeping Micah off of her. A few people I've talked to say that the difference in symptoms probably means that this we're having a girl but it I know it doesn't. We both feel a lot more relaxed this time around and hope we can keep the chillness running when we have to Babies crying at once.

Coming July 2015!

When Micah was sick for those few weeks I had read that babies that get those fever blisters turn really emotionally dependent after they recover since they're always being carried and cared to when they're sick. Micah is no exception. He hates being put down now and starts to throw down a tantrum. This is making it extremely hard to pack and finish what we have to do around the house. The funny thing is that when we leave the room he's in he stops crying and follows us to where we're at and then continues his tantrum. But we now have a secret weapon for when Micah is getting rowdy or at least needs a distraction. Baby Einsteins, I am fully aware that this is lame cop out and always told myself to I wasn't going be that dad that gives my son an electronic device to get him off my back he loves them! We do make sure to sit down and watch them with him and sign the animals and pictures with to make sure he is learning. 

Happy Baby

Hi everyone. Just want to take time to update everyone.

At the doctors office with that little smile.

Micah had been a little sick the past few weeks. First with a stomach bug that gave him the runs for a week straight. We didn't know if he had developed an allergy to something, but after switching up his foods repeatedly, a trip to the Doctors office pinned it to a stomach bug. Then the fever started. We don't know if it was related but a few days after he started to get better, we noticed he was getting warmer and warmer. That turned into fever blisters that made it hard for him to eat or drink anything. I felt so bad for my little guy. he would wake up and sign for milk but after attempting a few sips he would throw the bottle and cry. It was really hard to watch, knowing that there was nothing we could do and to top it off, he didn't understand why his mouth hurt and why it wouldn't stop. The blisters lasted for about 4 days and while he was tossing, turning and crying at night we stayed up and tried to soothe him back to sleep.

During one of his late night crying sessions, I had a Deja-vu moment of the first couple months when we couldn't get him to nurse. You really do find your role as a parent. Even though the crying and the powerless feeling was frustrating, Laura and I both handled it pretty well. Alot better then a year ago that for sure. Makes me think were ready for number 2 ( wink wink)

One thing that I love about Micah is how happy he always is. Even though he was sick he always managed to give off a smile when he could.

Off to Hunt!

And Sold!

I'm at home right now and Micah is asleep so its the perfect time for an update. Micah is still growing at a 100mph. Some of the parenting websites a glance at from time to time informed me that around the 1 year mark babies tend to go through a separation anxiety stage. Of all the stage that Micah has gone through, let me just say that this is probably the most annoying one. Yes my son,  you are so annoying right now. I love my little guy but it seems like I can't set him down for a second without him crying and going into a tantrum. Hey buddy, how about I'm going to get you a snack. Micah has also started taking his first true steps which is awesome and worrying at the same time. I don't know how we'll manage to keep up with him.

No don't leave me!!

All the baby sign language that we taught Micah is working great. It is definitely helping him in communicating himself with us. He is starting to also point at things and grunt or mumble to let us know he wants it. That gives us a great opportunity to say the name of whatever item it is and teach him to talk. He has already said certain words other than the usual mama , dada. The other day he called out for my dad and yelled "Abuelo!'.

Now that he is a year old the Doctor has given us the ok for different foods that Micah can now eat. Real Milk, Honey, etc. He's been doing great and hasn't found a food he won't eat. He still makes sure to save a small portion of whatever is on the menu so he can hand feed the dogs. Now that he is drinking real milk, I've now learned how disgusting real milk smells when vomitted. A couple nights ago, I woke up to Micah struggling to breath and immediately woke up to check on him. He was fine but had thrown up a zippy cup of milk he had drank a few hours earlier. I don't know how but it came out in chunks, almost as if it was turning into cheese inside of him (ok sorry, that was TMI). So we bathed him, and washed all his sheets and clothes thinking that was the end of it. Well the next day the sitter told us he wasn't eating and had thrown up as described a few sentences ago. Well that night we went to our bible study and had sat him down on my lap when I smelled throw up milk from the night before. So I grabbed a couple wipes and cleaned his mouth and hands and handed him off to Laura. That's when I noticed that my pant leg was wet but it was too late by that point and Laura had sat him down on her lap. It was coming out of both ends on this little dude.

All of that got me thinking about how much a parent truly spends on their children. Not just the direct expenses like formula, milk, diapers, clothes...... But also indirect expenses, like baby proofing, Special shampoos, and now dry-cleaning for my dirty pants. I know its a lot in the long run. Kinda makes you appreciate your parents more.

Sometimes When I stay home and watch Micah I take him to a play area at a Mall nearby. I know its a little germ fest but it would be good for Micah to socialize and more importantly tire himself out.  Micah is a very social baby. Much more than others in fact. When he meets other babies and toddlers he likes to reach out and play. I just learned that when first meeting other babies he has to be carefully supervised. I was watching him reach out to another baby today and smiled at the scene of him being friendly. Then had to run and stop him from slapping the other baby ....... repeatedly. Hey, but the other baby took it like a champ. He's gotta a bright future ahead of him as a punching bag.

On a brighter note, Just wanted to let everyone know that our house in under contract. Laura and I had just talked about how right now is probably a bad time to sell a house because no one is buying or looking for houses since we're in the holiday season. But later that day I got a call from our agent telling us we had a great offer. The home inspection was done today so I'm guessing we'll be working out the details about what we need to do. This is the first house we've owned and sold so I really nervous about the next few steps. The house is in great shape other than a few details here and there but its nerve wrecking to get a home inspection done thats going to throw all the imperfections you weren't previously aware of in your face. Hopefully its nothing to major. I know obviously that no Home seller wants to lose more money on repairs for a house they're wanting to vacate and a home buyer will try to get everything move in ready so Im curious to know what the report finds. With this in mind, Can any of you share any thoughts and experiences on what a Home seller should fix? Or if you've found yourself in a similar situation drop some advice!

Whoops

Whoops, I guess I should update this Blog, huh? Between working, keeping up with a growing infant, I've totally neglected this blog. Well here goes. Let me catch you all on on what has happened in the since the last time we talked. Last update I wrote about how Micah was starting to crawl. It's been about 5 months since the last update and he is crawling faster than ever. He stands and table walks but is having a hard time picking up and walking on his own. I know its all mental because I've caught him free standing at times but when he realizes what he's doing his legs happen to give out.  Even though he's not walking I'm ok with it because I have a hard enough time keeping up with him as it is.

Micah speaks a few words here and there. The normal babble, Da-Da, Ma-ma, leche. He is doing great with his baby sign language. He signs milk, food, more, done, dogs and a few other ones. He knows how to play the game. He started feeding himself a few weeks ago but also learned to share with the dogs in the process. The dogs turn into coyotes ready to scavenge a meal whenever we sit Micah down in his feeding chair. The little guy makes sure to evenly portion his meals so the dogs get their share. It's so annoying but makes my job a little easier because the dogs can probably clean the floors better than I can.


Just this week we decided to put our house on the market. We have a good amount of equity built up where we can sell it and hopefully pay off the majority of a smaller house outisde of the city. Ideally we want something more secluded with a little piece of land in the woods somewhere. I've had some bad experiences this past year with my HOA. I know they do good keeping the crazy neighbors from parking on the grass, burning bonfires that can be seen from the highway and keep your neighbor from starting a farm on his quarter acre of land. But guess what I realized? I want to park on my grass, have a huge bonfire and let chickens loose on my land. Not that I've done that ....... yet, but some of the happiest years of my childhood were on my grandfathers farm. Realistically speaking I'm not visualizing a big red barn with cows, horses and silos but just a small patch of land in the woods where the little guy and his dad can camp out in the back yard is all I want. Aside from that, we have a great opportunity to pay off a new property and for Laura to go part time or be a stay at home mom. What better childhood could we offer Micah than to always have his mom and dad at home to care for him.

I just want to share an awesome video of an awesome dad. I took up hunting last year in search of a father-son activity for Micah and I to share. I started late last year. Just a few weeks after Micah was born but instantly fell in love with the sport. I've yet to fill a tag but don't care because when I'm sitting in a tree stand and the breeze blows and rattles the leaves and the squirrels run from tree to tree getting ready for winter I feel so relaxed and happy. I'm sure that I've probably missed a few chances to shoot a deer while I've fallen asleep in a stand. Yeah' that's how relaxing it is. I drive an hour and change to go take a nap in a tree stand. Either way, I cant wait until Micah gets older so he can tag along.

Hi Everyone! Remember this Blog?

Hi guys. I know its been forever since I last updated this blog. I literally have about 6 drafts that I had started in the last 3 months but never finished. So much has happened since the last update, I don't even know where to start. Micah is growing so fast and there is no stopping him. He's now going on 8 months and it's hard to believe that hes been with us the better part of a year.

About a month ago he started to crawl and the best part was I was home to see it! That initiated a campaign to baby proof the house and I came to the realization that my house is an accident waiting to happen. Now that he is aware of his new abilities, he refuses to be sat on anyone's lap. He's too cool for school. Not to mention that his teeth are coming in one after the other. So we've now introduced him to solid foods in return  he has now introduced us to solid poops. Changing diapers has a totally new meaning now that he is started solids.

During the few weeks that his teeth were starting to come through, Micah went through a regression with his sleep cycle. He went from sleeping all night to waking up every 2 hours, crying hysterically. No matter what the experts say and all the products that exist there is no real remedy to eliminate teething pain. Some might soothe it temporarily but not for long. The funny thing is the way we handled those weeks. Compared to our first 2 months of parenthood we were rock stars. Laura and I had this conversation, if we could some how travel 6 months back in time and talk to newly parents Adrian and Laura ; how much easier those first few months would have been. While Micah was teething we just knew what to do and had so much patience.

When Micah was a a few weeks old I started a game that I thought was hilarious. When I would move in to give him a kiss, he would turn his head and bite my nose thinking it was a bottle. So I jumped on this with my twisted sense of humor and trick him into biting my nose when he was hungry. Once he would get mad I would calm him down and then do it all over again while I chuckled. Not thinking about the consequences of our little game, Micah now has the last laugh because now that he has teeth my game is not funny anymore.

Where's my hair?

Hey guys, How's everyone doing? Micah hit the 3 month mark this month and the parent life is pretty good. I've read in different places that the 3 month mark is a milestone because your baby falls into a routine and will begin to sleep and eat better. Micah is doing that for the most part. He has been sleeping for at least a good  5 hours straight, occasionally waking up once for a quick diaper change or feeding. Our schedules have changed alot. For the 3 of us. Laura is getting used to working full-time again. I'm sure this is probably the biggest change. She is working on going part-time in the next couple months. We're hoping that everything will work out.

            Micah is getting used to others taking care of him. We've been so fortunate to have family to watch Micah while were working. My mom watches him 1-2 days a week, one of my aunts takes care of him -1-2 days a week and I have reduced my hours at my part-time to be able to take care of him once during the work week. Keeping up with this schedule is pretty time consuming. It requires alot of preparation. We have to get his clothes and diaper bag ready at night. We now have to wake up earlier to get him whoever is taking care of him and still be able get to work on time. Blah blah blah..... It's not that bad. It's all part of being a parent. 

        My days with Micah are awesome. I enjoy almost every minute of it. We have our good and bad moments. Yesterday I had to take the dogs to the vet for their vaccines. So I got everyone ready early and we were off. Micah fell asleep on the way their and was calm all the way home until I walked through the door with him in one hand and the dogs in the other. He must have figured he had given me long enough of a break and started to squirm in his car seat. It's all good. I got this. I look down at my watch and see it's time for him to eat. I got this. We always change his diaper right before he eats so he'll eat more comfortably. I took off his little pants and felt the back of his chubby little knee was wet. At first I thought it was sweat since it was a little warm and he had a blanket on. But I looked down at my hand and saw it was green , and it wasn't sweat, and his diaper wasn't sealed on right, and now the bed sheets were dirty because I had laid him on the bed to change him instead of his changing station, and now I was gagging.  

Yea it was gross.

Confused and Worried....

I've written about Micah's hair before. It's so long and it keeps growing. I used to say to myself that I wouldn't cut it until it got ridiculously long. That was before I actually met Micah. I never realized he was going to have so much hair. Most babies are pretty much bald or have little hair. The funny thing about Micah's hair is that it is about the same length all around. From the back to the front to the sides. I couldn't even see his ears. And that Mullet, Oh that Mullet! That thing was creeping down his back. So enough was enough. We decided (I decided, Laura wanted to let it keep growing) to cut it. I did it all with scissors and cut mostly the sides. It was pretty special. his first haircut, and we took plenty of pictures. He started off worried, then cried and after it was done and over he was pretty grumpy. He normally reaches up for the hair above his ears and twiddles it once he is starting to go to sleep. That night he reached for it and it was gone. He had a somewhat confused look on his face like where's my hair? How am I supposed to get to sleep? He looks like such a little grown up now. Like a little latino Benjamin Button.

Get off me! Im gonna put you in a home when you get old!!!

Me llamo Benjamin Boton.

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.