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!

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.