Sunday, March 31, 2013

Spring Break

We usually always go on a trip for Spring Break, but this year due to Micah being so young, we told the kids we would be staying home.  Surprisingly though, they really weren't too disappointed.  They got to sleep-in and have friends over and we had late movie nights.  Then, on Thursday early afternoon we headed down to Huntsville, Alabama to be there for our nephew's baby blessing.  We had a great time seeing our friends, the Howes, also while in Huntsville.  On Thursday evening, we went with the Howes to Five Guys for dinner, then went and hung out with Kyle and Jessica later and got to meet their baby Porter.  Then on Friday, we went bowling, to a pizza buffet, and to a movie with the Howes.  We just love that family!  They are so much fun and have such great family values.

Friday evening we spent with Kyle and Jessica and their family for dinner and fun.  Then Saturday morning Eric and Alex went golfing while the other kids swam at the hotel pool.  

Tessa was determined that we needed to find an Easter egg hunt since it was her last year to participate.  I searched online and chose one that had hundreds of thousands of eggs and was free.  We found the park and it was CRAZY!  People were everywhere and nowhere to park and Micah was screaming and wanted to eat.  I was starting to feel really stressed.  Fortunately, Jesikah saved the day and took Jarem and Tessa to their age group locations and stayed with them while I nursed Micah in the car.  Thank heaven for Jesikah!  She is a good responsible daughter and I knew she would pay attention to where we parked and make sure Jarem and Tessa were safe and didn't get lost in the crowds. It all worked out, but the hunt ended up being very lame.  They had to wait for a long time before they got to go and then it was over in seconds.  They each got around 5-10 eggs and inside each egg was maybe one little sticker or plastic ring.  Between the two of them they didn't even get one piece of candy.  There wasn't one thing they even wanted to keep.  It was very disappointing, but oh well.

The first two days of Spring Break this is what we woke up to.

Jarem and Tessa built this little snowman the first day.  By the time I got the picture he was already melting and all the snow was gone on the ground.
Micah being cute in his carseat


On Jesikah's lap wearing his "Mr Adorable" shirt


Tessa's friend with Tessa and Jarem entertaining Micah


Tessa at the hotel with Micah.  I love their reflection in the mirror.


Our one picture of the Easter egg hunt taken by Jesikah
Still a picture to come of little Porter on his blessing day!  And the Easter bunny did find us!  The kids were excited to find out that the Easter bunny came to Kyle and Jessica's house!!  After church, we went to Kyle and Jessica's for lunch and there were their Easter baskets filled with fun things.  We stayed and watched a movie and then headed home.  It was a nice little trip and a relaxing spring break.





Friday, March 22, 2013

More Cuteness!

Yes another swing picture with mittens! :)

Micah talking to Jesikah

Big eyes!

Tessa and Micah

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Grandma and Micah

On Grandma's last morning here, Micah was being very alert and happy.  Grandma even got a few little smiles from him.  It was very cute.






The boys with Grandma before Jarem left for school.  Looks like Jarem did his own hair and had a comb-over going on. :)

Monday, March 18, 2013

Swing Pictures

I think I have an obsession with taking swing pictures.  I am trying to get it under control, but he always looks so adorable sleeping in his swing with his hands up next to his face.  These are a bit blurry cause of the motion (of course).  I LOVE this swing.  It is so nice how it lays back and looks so comfortable.  It also rocks both directions, side to side or back and forward.  And then there is the music too.  Very nice indeed!


Look at those long fingers!  He will definitely be a piano player. :)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sunday Afternoon

Eric's mom, Grandma Cindi, came to stay with us for a few days and help with Micah in March.  She is a great cook and it was awesome to have delicious meals that I didn't have to cook.  We had a great time with her here.  It was nice to have her companionship during the day and she was a great help with the baby.  I was able to take showers without wondering how long I had before he would wake up.  She came with me to the doctor one day and bought us Chinese takeout.  We had a really nice time.


Micah fell asleep in Eric's lap after taking a bottle.  I love how he is holding Eric's hand.

Same pic without the bib

Eric giving a "I don't want my picture taken" look

Alex watching a talk by Elder Bednar with Eric

The other kids did a painting activity with Grandma. Jesikah blow drying her painting before putting the next layer

Jarem decided it was so warm he would blow it on himself instead.



Grandma taught them how to paint a beach scene.  They really enjoyed it.


Back to work

Jesikah has always enjoyed art and painting.  She continued after the other two lost interest and did a beautiful painting.

Jesikah's was the only canvas because she had canvases she had received as a birthday present

Micah in his swing later that day.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Mittens

Here Micah is asleep on my bed.  I put these mittens on him so he wouldn't scratch himself.  I think it is so cute how he always put his hands up by his face when he sleeps.  They look like little paws!




Monday, March 11, 2013

One Month Old

One of my friends told me that she wished she would have gotten these month stickers and taken a picture of her baby every month of his first year.  She told me where to get them, and I decided to try it.  On his one month birthday, I went and bought the stickers and then waited for the perfect time when he was happy.  When it was almost bedtime and that time still hadn't come, Eric helped me.  Eric would calm him enough to get one picture and then he would start crying again.  As you can see, he has teary eyes in a lot of them cause he was not a happy baby that night.  He kept rubbing against the sticker with his arms and causing it to come off, so we kept having to put it back on.  Eric said I should just get some pictures of him crying since he had done a lot of that his first month. :)  So, I did get one!






The kids thought this one was funny when he raised his eyebrows with his sad eyes while Jesikah was holding him

After he had a bottle and got ready for bed he was much happier, so I got a few more






The sticker is not very sticky anymore

Micah pushing the sticker off (he kept doing this)

Cute sleepy baby that night

Micah's First Month

The first month with Micah has been the sweetest and yet the most challenging and exhausting of any month I have had in a long time.  He is such a cute little guy, but not the easiest baby.

I guess you could say he is a bit high maintenance.  He wants what he wants when he wants it.  It took us most of the first month to figure out what those things were:

He likes to be warm.  When we put the space heater in our room near his bed on his third night at home, he slept 4-5 hours straight for the first time.  When we put the soothie heat bag on his back or belly when he has a tummy ache, he calms down.  He also likes the heat pad on his tummy when he is having a hard time going to sleep.  Sometimes if we wrap him in an extra blanket, he will calm down.

He likes a bedtime.  Once I started putting him to bed at the same time every night, he has slept almost a guaranteed 5-6 hours straight each night.  Then he would sometimes wake up every one or two hours until morning, but he got progressively better during the month.  By the end of the month, he would usually go back to sleep for another 3 hours after eating.

He likes his diaper off.  He can be crying, and when we lay him down and take off his diaper, he will often instantly stop crying.  Then he kicks his legs to try to keep us from putting it back on.

He likes music (most types).  One of the first times I got him to go to sleep without nursing, he was fighting it and I turned my iphone music on to Coldplay, and he instantly quieted down and fell asleep.  I thought it was kind of funny since Alex listened to a lot of Coldplay and other music of that style in the car while I was pregnant.  I figured he was used to it from the womb.

He likes the car (as long as there is music playing).  His first couple of times in the car, he didn't like as much, but after that, he usually always calms and goes to sleep in the car.

He likes his swing.  This didn't happen until the end of the first month though.  When he was 4 weeks old, he decided that he liked the swing.  Funny thing was, I had tried him in it every few days and he would last sometimes a few minutes before crying, but sometimes he would cry right away.  Then one day, I put him in it and went to turn the music volume up, but accidentally was pushing the wrong plus button and was increasing the speed.  Strangely as the speed increased, he stopped crying.  Aha!  He liked it faster than speed one or two (which I had always put it on).  Since then he has loved it.  It's been a LIFESAVER!!

He likes white noise, and doesn't mind a dull roar, which is good since our house is rarely quiet.  However, he likes the peaceful times at home with just Mom too.

He likes being held while he sleeps.  During the first month, he would nurse and usually fall asleep.  Then if we would hold him against our chest or in our arms, he would stay asleep for sometimes hours.  He would sleep much longer than if he were in his bed during the day.

He doesn't like being touched too much.  This has been a problem for Jarem because he always wants to touch and hug and kiss him, and Micah nearly always cries.  Micah gets overstimulated easily.  Many times we will try and try to calm him using all different positions of holding him and then we will lay him down on the floor or in his carseat and he will stop crying.  Sometimes he doesn't like being held or touched too much.

There were times that we couldn't figure out what he wanted, and he would just cry a lot.  During the first couple of weeks, the kids asked why he was always crying.  During the day he would be pretty happy in the morning and then eat and sleep.  Around the time the kids would get home from school, he would start his fussy period of the next few hours.  We did learn at his two week appointment that he wasn't gaining enough weight, so we added 2-4 ounces of formula to his days and he was quite a bit happier after that (and put on the right amount of weight too)!

What I learned was that he was falling asleep too soon after starting to nurse, and although I was nursing almost every two hours for one hour each time (yes, that is what I spent most of my time doing), he still wasn't getting enough.  He would be too tired and would continue to suck but was just moving his mouth without getting anything.  Then, my milk supply started diminishing because he wasn't getting much milk.  It improved once I was aware of what was going on.  And now, I have realized that eat-play-sleep works better for him because then he is well rested before he eats.

He struggles a lot falling asleep on his own without nursing or being in the car, so the swing has been a real lifesaver for that.

In the waiting room at his first dr appt at 3 days old








Sleeping in his cradle.  He has done very well with that unlike some of our others.


Eric sleeping with Micah




Waiting at a dr appt, of which we had several to check his weight


This is the day he fell asleep to Coldplay




Awake and happy.  He usually likes diaper changing time




I love sleeping pictures








Alex trying to calm him


Alex keeping him from Jesikah 


Asleep on the floor


Funny picture with one arm back


Perfect example of Jarem touching him


And Micah getting mad


I love it when they sleep with their arms up above their head.  He always does this.


Alex takes every opportunity he can to hold Micah


The day Micah gave me one of his first real smiles.  He was 2 days shy of  4 weeks


Jesikah feeding him a bottle.  She got very good at calming him.




Taking a nap with Micah.  Some of my favorite times!