6 Weeks! Plus Some Adjustments

Drew was 6 weeks old on Friday!  Obviously he's adjusting well to life in a crazy household!  He's giving out tons of smiles, much to everyone's delight.  He's sleeping pretty well too.  I usually feed him around 10:00 or so, and then he will go until 4:30, and then again until 8:00--unless I have to get up and go somewhere.  Then somehow this is mysteriously communicated to him, and he wakes up in such a way that he will need to be fed again right around the time I need to get out the door.  How does he do it?!

This is a blurry picture, but you can tell that Micah loves his baby brother!  He loves holding him and giving him gentle kisses.  He's so excited when Drew is awake!  As I've said before, he doesn't see Drew as any sort of a threat because Drew is a baby, while he, Micah, is clearly a big boy!  Which is great, except . . .

 . . . That Micah thinks he is clearly a big boy.  Which means he doesn't want to sit in his high chair or take naps.  He wants to open the fridge and stare at the contents for awhile (we've never actually had anyone tall enough to open the fridge at this age, so this is a new one for us, LOL).  He wants to use markers, play in the bathroom sink, climb on the top bunk, help himself to snacks . . . and disapproval of any of these activities is met with a temper tantrum of epic proportion!  So that's been tons of fun to deal with, LOL (send me chocolate . . .)  Hopefully he will see he isn't "winning" and give up relatively quickly.  Well, I can hope anyway, LOL.           

Allergy Appointment

As mentioned in my last post, Micah had an allergy appointment at Bethesda on Monday.  He definitely reacts to milk (hives around the mouth), and a few weeks ago (maybe back in September?) he ate a cashew that the girls left out and broke out in hives all over his mouth and trunk.  The milk reactions go away fairly quickly and without me needing to give him anything, unless it is actual real milk that he drank because unnamed parties forgot to take their cereal bowls off the table *cough*.  Then I give him a bit of liquid benedryl, and that reaction clears up right away too. I gave benedryl for the cashew, and the hives cleared right up.  He never had any sort of wheezing or anything, so that was good.  But at his last well-baby appointment, the doctor gave me a referral to the allergy clinic.  Anyway, we have been avoiding milk and nuts! 

The appointment was at 1:15, and I should have guessed how long it would take when we had to park on the 8th floor of the parking garage (the top floor), and there was only one elevator working!  I ended up carrying Micah and the stroller down all 8 flights of stairs, since I realized it was going to take approximately forever waiting for the elevator.  Actually, I didn't do it all by myself--I had a ton of offers from kind gentlemen to help, and one guy brought the stroller down a few flights (until I felt bad for him and told him I would just catch the elevator at floor 4--but that was taking forever, so I launched out again), and another guy carried it down the last 2.  Anyhow--a bad omen, LOL. 

One thing that took so long is that since Bethesda is a teaching hospital, we actually saw not 1, not 2, but 3 doctors!  They were all extremely nice, but it does add up!  They decided to do a skin test for casien (a milk protein), milk (with all the proteins), cashews, and peanuts.  I had been giving Micah peanut butter at the beginning of the summer, and he didn't seem to be reacting, but then as the summer wore on, he just got progressively itchier, and his eczema flared up.  I couldn't tell if this was related to the peanut butter or not, but I decided to go back to sun butter anyway.  But that's why they were testing for it.

Micah was a pro throught he testing, most likely due to him having a lollipop to suck on, LOL.  Nothing popped up like Caleb gets--humongous wheals almost instantly--but Micah definitely got wheals for the whole milk and the cashews.  Not the peanut one though, and not the casein, although that is pretty meaningless--we still have to avoid milk!  After we talked to all the doctors again about those results, they sent us off to have some blood drawn for a RAST test.  There they tested for other tree nuts, along with some other stuff.  Some ladies from the pediatrics clinic did the blood draw, and let me just say they were amazing!  Micah didn't like having the rubber tourniquet thing around his arm, but they got the vein on the first try, filled up 3 vials with no problems, and got out of there in a jiffy!  In fact, with both the skin test and the blood draw, Micah behaved considerably better than other members of the family who have had these same things done at older ages *cough*.  It was a 2 lollipop-bag of fruit snacks-bag of teddy grahams afternoon though, LOL. 

The second doctor said he'd call in 2-3 weeks, whenever he gets the blood results back.  I was just glad to get the appointment out of the way before the baby is born!

The only problem with the appointment taking so long is that Nathan was supposed to have his Spanish III class at 3:00 at the McC's house.  Whoops!  And I was in a place where I got no cell coverage, so although he tried to call several times, I could never actually talk to him, and I couldn't make any outgoing calls.  Eventually, when we moved to the blood draw room, I got a small signal and he was able to get through.  By then it was 3:10 (and I obviously hadn't even left yet, LOL), so I told him to call Christine and see if she could come get him.  As soon as I hung up with him, Christine called, wondering where he was, so she headed over to pick him up, thankfully.  I'm so glad we live close by!  The clock was broken in the exam room where we were, and I just lost track of time, as I doled out snack after snack and tried to keep Micah entertained, LOL.  When we finally could leave, the traffic was bad, so we didn't actually get home until 4:30--time to pick up Nathan!  Whew--that was a long day, especially with Rivendell the next day!  But we made it.  The appointment didn't give any real new information, but it is good to have everything documented.  I'm still hoping that since Micah doesn't have as violent a reaction to milk as Caleb did, that he will outgrow his milk allergy a lot earlier than Caleb--like at age 2 instead of age 9!  Anna outgrew her milk allergy at 2, so there is precedent.  In the meantime, I am back in the milk avoidance routine, sign.  It was a lovely 2 year break though!

18 Months!

Micah had his 18 month well-baby check-up on Wednesday, so he and I made the trek out to Bethesda.  He is indeed a well baby!  He is now 25 pounds, 7 ounces, which puts him at about the 50th percentile--a huge number for us!  But the real shocker was that his height was in the 86th percentile!  We have NEVER had anyone remotely on the "tall" side, but evidently Micah's size at birth wasn't just a fluke, and he actually does have some of the "big" genes from our families that just have hidden themselves for the other 7 kids! 

Micah is off the charts as far his fine and gross motor skills as well.  He runs, jumps, climbs (everything), uses a fork and spoon well, throws and kicks a ball, and pretty much does whatever he can to imitate any and all of his older siblings. 

Except in the area of talking.  He says about 8 words total (not even each day, LOL), and while he understands what we tell him, he doesn't seem to see any real need of using words to communicate back to us.  But none of my kids said much before the age of 2, so I'm not worried, and neither was the doctor.  Saying 8 words is within the realm of normal for 18 months!  (Here are some of his words:  Mama, Dada, ball (and here he will even differentiate--football, basketball--those are different), banana, blanket, diaper . . . hmm, there are 2 more, but I can't think of them right now . . . )  He does say a lot of sounds (like "woof") and things like "Peekaboo" and "Oops".  Still--not real verbal.  Definitely a man of action, LOL.

Micah's favorite place to be is outside with his brothers and sisters.  He gets his jacket and shoes when they start heading out in the afternoon.  He loves playing with any of the multitudinous balls in the garage.  Lately he's started putting on one of the girls' bicycle helmets (he's partial to a dark pink princess one, LOL) and trying to ride one of the scooters that has 3 wheels.  The girls are trying to teach him to pedal the tricycle, but he hasn't been real interested in that.

Inside, Micah loves playing with whatever Faith is playing with, LOL.  Already he knows how to push people's buttons!  He also likes to build Duplo towers, put things in the little wagon we have and drag that around the house, unloading random things in random places (like we need anymore help with that, LOL), and also hold a babydoll.  He's so cute with the doll, but he is absolutely uncooperative whenever I try to take a picture of him with one!  Still, hopefully he'll be a good big brother, since that day is drawing ever nearer!  He is not always that gentle, so I will really have to watch him!

That's a quick update on Micah!

Micah's Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad, No Good Night

Yesterday evening was our small group meeting. Bob and Nathan were at basketball practice, so I left the kids at home with Luke. I left small group early though, because Micah hadn't slept well all day, and I knew he would be a handful.

Well, I could have stayed longer! Micah was so tired and crabby that Luke put him down before 7:30! I figured he would jsut sleep all the way through, since he was so tired.

But at 12:30, he woke up, crying loudly. When I went in to check on him, he was clearly running a fever. I nursed him, gave him Motrin, and took his temperature (101.5) with our handy-dandy new thermometer, which Bob had to hunt around for downstairs since it wasn't where I thought it was. I held him for awhile after nursing, but he just would not stop crying. No matter how I held him, he kept crying. I took him downstairs for awhile, and we rocked in the big chair in the schoolroom and looked out the window. I tried putting him down again, but he cried for a solid 20 minutes with no sign of stopping, so I went in and got him again.

All this crying is so unlike Micah! He sounded really uncomfortable, so I started thinking maybe an ear infection or something, since he is still snuffly. Finally, a little after 3:00 AM, I did something I have never had to do with a child before--I put him in his carseat and drove around!

It was so weird being out on the roads so early. I was the only person on these big roads that are crowded with cars at pretty much every other moment of the day! Of course, I was sooo tired that I was worried I was going to fall asleep at the wheel, and then Bob would have no idea where I disappeared off to, and he would worry . . . So I concentrated on staying awake and singing to the radio, LOL. After 5 minutes or so, Micah finally fell asleep, and I drove home, where I put him back in his crib.

I figured he would sleep late, but I set my alarm for 6:30 so I could call to make an appointment. But he woke up crying again at 6:15! After I nursed him, he fell asleep quicker this time (no driving required!), and I made an appointment for 10:30 this morning.

There was all this unexpected traffic, so we were 10 minutes late, but Micah napped in the car and was so happy at the doctor's office! He smiled, blew raspberries, and generally acted like a boy who would never cry for 3 hours straight. His ears checked out (lots of wax though--another prodigious producer!), and his lungs and everything else were just fine. He's finally passed 20 pounds (20 pounds, 5 ounces to be exact). He cooed and played with his shoes on the way home, and he ate a sunbutter and jelly sandwich in his carseat. Now he's getting ready to take another nap while I run errands. I guess he just wanted to spend an hour and 45 minutes driving to and from Bethesda with me, plus the actual time in the hospital! What fun!

So who knows what all that crying was for? Gas? Who knows! I am praying tonight is not a repeat performance, however!

"These Are a Few of My Favorite Things . . ."

Micah's favorite things, that is: his thumb, a big brother, and his fuzzy blue blanket.

We gave him the blanket for Christmas. When it got cold back in November, I searched around but couldn't find any appropriate "boy" thick blankets, which was a source of great annoyance, since I know my Aunt Rocky made a big fleecy one with teddy bears and a red edge for one of the boys. It must be in some clever place, because I know I have seen and used it in this house . . . Anyhow, all I could find for Micah's crib was this really soft fuzzy pink blanket that someone in our co-op passed down to the girls. So of course I used that without a second thought. Hey, it's dark!

But then I realized Micah REALLY was liking the blanket. He was definitely searching for it in the crib, and he would sleep with his face on it. Very cute, but I really didn't want a fuzzy pink blanket to be his "lovey", LOL. So I found this nice soft blue blanket at Babies R Us, and he has taken right to it.

Now I have 2 "blanket babies"--Faith has her "Bear Blanket", which is another one my Aunt Rocky made, and she absolutely adores that. She always sleeps with it, and when she's upset, that's what she wants for comfort. No one else was really into blankets! A thumb-sucking baby with a blanket is soooo cute and snuggly . . .

9 Months Old!

What are you looking at?! Yes, Micah is 9 months old today. He is crawling all over the place now, and he is a champ at going up stairs. I really need to work with him on turning himself around so he can go down stairs as well, although so far he hasn't shown any real interest in going down. He loves pushing this little rolling walker thing around (I meant to take a picture but keep forgetting). He will stand by himself, but not for very long, so he's got a little way to go before walking.

Micah has hit a weight plateau at right around 20 pounds. I never did make a 9 month well-baby appointment for him, so there won't be any sort of official numbers coming out! He's not gaining much, since he's been really active and crawling, which is just like all my other kids. That boy does love to eat, though! He is eating a lot of table foods now, which is nice since I never did get around to making any homemade baby food for him, not even sweet potatoes or squash! Poor 8th baby . . . Good thing he has all those teeth! I haven't started him on meat yet, but pretty much everything we eat he will chomp away on.

Micah is a happy baby who loves all the attention lavished on him by his older siblings. However--he is by far and away my worst sleeper. Not for naps--he takes great naps. But at night. There is always something! He was the latest of my kids to sleep through the nap, at around 10 weeks. Then after a (very) few good weeks, he started teething in July. That lasted until November, when he finally got the last of his 8 teeth pushed through. But then he started this terrible habit of pooping between 3:00 and 4:00 every morning. Seriously?!?! And of course it woke him up, and changing him was disruptive, so of course he wanted to nurse, and so the whole thing takes a long time, and is very disruptive for me! How do you change someone's bowel movement schedule?! He seems to be one who just goes often during each day (and night)! And even when he would go the whole night and not poop, then there would be an unexpected pee accident or someone would have a bad dream or something. It seems like a conspiracy! I really think that interrupted sleep is some of my problem these past few months, as far as me not being motivated or energized at all to clean or start big projects (or even little ones!). As we start up our co-ops again tomorrow, I am really praying that Micah will be able to get onto a good sleep (and intestinal, LOL) routine so that I can feel better able to handle life!

Micah Update

Micah had his "6 month" well-baby appointment on Monday, just a little over a week before he turns 7 months, but who's counting. Micah is 18 pounds, 12 ounces, and right about 27 inches long, which puts him about in the 50th percentile for both. The doctor said he is "finding his own growth curve", which is true. I told her the genetics just wouldn't support him staying soooo big! To be honest, for our babies, 50th percentile is ginormous!

Micah is finally crawling, albeit tentatively, and he is also pulling up to standing. This is a big change from my lightweight girls, who were all crawling by 6 months. Micah has been channeling all his energy into teething--numbers 7 and 8 have just popped through! They are the other 2 on the bottom, so now he has a matching set of 4 on top and 4 on bottom. He has been very crabby lately, and he's been waking up at odd times during the night again, so I suspected teething. I kept feeling his gums, but they never felt swollen or anything. But today I checked again, and there was a big tooth on either side of the ones already there! Hopefully now he'll go back to sleeping well again!

It was fun at his appointment on Monday--all the doctors and techs at the peds clinic were dressed in Halloween costumes. There was the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, a Transformer, a cowgirl, and several Sesame Street characters--Oscar the Grouch, Bert, Cookie Monster, and the Count. I took Anna along with us as my special helper, and I was glad she is past her terrible fear of anyone in costumes, especially ones with big heads! That would not have been a pleasant appointment! Our doctor was a ladybug. Micah was particularly fascinated by her bouncy anntenae!

The not-so-fun part of the appointment was waiting approximately forever at the shot clinic. I don't why they were so slow, but we waited well over an hour. Anna was a good sport, and it helped that there were cartoons on the TV, which she was enthralled by. Now that NNMC has merged with Walter Reed, I think the level of crowding is going to be the new normal, unfortunately. There were a lot of wounded warriors around as well, which is a good reminder to pray for all our soldiers and sailors, but especially the ones who have been so wounded.

After we finally got home, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for our annual Halloween dinner, which the kids look forward to all year long (they call it "Chuck E. Cheese Day"). There were 4 other families there from our Friday night Bible study, as well as a new family. The kids had such a great time, and I enjoyed visiting with the other parents! I look forward to the day when all the kids are old enough to walk around and play games all by themselves, and I'll just be able to visit the whole evening!

Micah

Micah is almost 6 months old! He's been busy this last week or so. His 6th tooth finally poked through Sunday, so he's been fussy and nippy again, which means I am also sore and crabby again, LOL. I am looking forward to some time without teething!

He is also sitting up by himself now, and he is pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Surely it won't be too much longer until he is crawling! He also can now finally roll himself from his back to his front. This means he can roll to get himself to where he wants to go, although he prefers scootching along on his tummy, or pushing up and then falling forwards.

He started solid food a couple of weeks ago, and he loves it! I've been going slowly with introducing new foods, because he just seems like he is going to have more troubles than recent kids. He gets blotchy sometimes, and he definitely has eczema spots in his elbows, knees, and neck crease. So far he eats rice cereal, sweet potato, squash, and pears. I want to be sure he isn't allergic to anything I'm giving, so I'm waiting awhile in between starting new foods.

Sometimes, after all the new food, the new skills, and the new teeth . . . a fellow just needs to take a nap. How convenient to have so many people ready and willing to snuggle!

Early Teething is a Real Pain

Micah has been a real pill lately with this teething thing. He was so crabby for most of August, which was bad enough, but then he started biting me while nursing. Ouch. I flicked the cheek, pushed his face into me, etc., both of which would stop the biting, but he wasn't really learning any lessons, as far as not biting me the next time! Then early this week he bit me so hard on my right side, and I've really been struggling to nurse these past few days (although not anywhere near the struggle my friend Beverly is having with her newborn (6th child)--while her husband is deployed!). I have been in so much pain!! Wednesday and Thursday I actually stopped nursing him on the right side most of the day. I did pump a time or 2, but mainly I just gave it a rest, hopefully to heal. I also took a ton of motrin! That all has been helping, as it is a little less painful today. I still didn't nurse him all the time on that side though. Gah.

It makes me all stressed and tense to even think about nursing because it hurts so badly (and this is coming from someone who delivered a 10 1/2 pound baby naturally, LOL). Caleb was my other big biter, and he bit me so hard he drew blood a few times. Coincidentally, he was also my other early teether. Hmmmm. Anyhow, in Caleb's case, he tested positive for all these allergies when he was 7 months old (wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts). I continued nursing him for 2 more months, with me cutting out all those things from my diet as well, but I gave up the good fight then. I think the allergies were sort of a good excuse for me, since the whole nursing experience with him had been more stressed because of all the biting. I really don't want to duplicate those feelings with Micah, but it is really hard to be excited about the thought of nursing him for 14 or 16 months, that is for sure.

I am hopeful that he will settle down and learn some nursing boundaries soon--and that maybe we'll have some sort of a break from all the teething! He is so young that a lot of the tricks I usually use for teething just don't work for him. For example, I let my babies chew on frozen bagels, or suck on frozen peaches in one of those little net things with a handle. They love those things! Micah has only started rice cereal on Tuesday, and he still has trouble holding onto things really well, and actually getting them into his mouth! Poor guy! I have noticed that he seems to be nippier in the football hold, so I'm only nursing in the cradle hold, especially on the bad side. And no one can be around me, because he's nippier when he's distracted. You can imagine how easy it is to keep everyone away and quiet! Ha!

So this week has been discouraging for me. I'm hoping next week will be better.

5 Months Already?!

Micah turned 5 months old today--and his 5th tooth also poked through today! So now he has 3 on top and 2 on bottom. Crazy! In the picture, Micah is holding court as king of the table at WSS in his bumbo. He likes to be in on all the action!

And here is a picture of Micah with his Grandma and Grandpa! It was so great to spend time with them this weekend, and Micah enjoyed it too, even though he looks a bit scowly here!

Almost Ready

We're almost ready for co-ops to start up again on Tuesday. We did school last week, but I ran around like a crazy woman in the afternoons to finish up last-minute errands. I was able to get my 2 posterboard maps of Europe laminated (although the teacher shop moved--without consulting me, if you can imagine--and so it took much longer than I had planned), and I got Nathan and Luke's Spanish books spiral bound at Staples. It cost $9 per book, but they cut the binding off and put the spiral thing on. The books look great, and hopefully they won't fall apart like Nathan's book did last year. I got my Home Science Tools order, so we're set for labs. Christine sent me some nifty assignment sheets she made for her boys, and I changed them to fit our subjects and printed them off for my boys. Hopefully this will help keep everyone organized!

We also set up the girls' new bunk beds. I had hoped to post a picture, but I haven't gotten around to taking one yet. We still haven't completed all the furniture switching-around that will take place once we take down Faith's crib, though, so maybe I'll wait to take pictures until after that. Faith is sleeping on the trundle bed though. The first night she was up and down so many times, Bob finally put her back in the crib. The second night she was up and down again, but not as much. The third day I stopped letting her take a nap in the afternoon! She has still been up and down some (mainly to go potty), but it has definitely been greatly reduced!

Micah has not been as fussy this week, which was such a blessing. His third tooth came in last Saturday, and he worked hard for it, based on how fussy he was the week before! Now the other top tooth is SO close to poking through. You can see white, but there is still a tiny bit of gum over it. I thought we'd get a break after this tooth comes through, but there's another tooth on top the is really close as well! He's going to have a mouthful of teeth by Christmas--just in time for a big turkey dinner with us, LOL.

But first we have one last weekend, and we're spending it at White Sulphur Springs! I hope it is really relaxing and refreshing--I'm a bit nervous about the start of a new school year! I had a disturbing dream last night, where we were going to move in 24 hours, so I was trying to sort through all our clutter. But I knew it just wasn't enough time, and I woke up very flustered! I think I still feel like I'm not ready to start, and there's more to do to be ready, and so that's why I had that dream. But as my friend Kimberly said, the co-ops are starting on Tuesday, no matter how ready I am!

4 Month Well-Baby

Micah had his 4 month well-baby appointment this afternoon. At least I squeezed it in before he turned 5 months in about 2 weeks!

He weighed 17 lb, 12 oz, and was 26 1/2 inches long. That's a smaller curve than he has been on. as far as the growth chart (80th percentile as opposed to 95th!), but still WAY huge compared to any of our other kids! Micah was smiley and charming for the doctor, obviously a healthy baby. Caleb drew the short straw to be my designated helper for this appointment. It is so nice to have an extra set of arms, even though no one leaps for joy at the prospect of a trip to Bethesda! On a random side note, as we were driving in the parking garage (we had to go all the way up to the 7th floor to find a parking space at 2:00 in the afternoon--crazy!), we drove past a minivan with a Dayton Christian bumper sticker! So cool!

Here is a bonus picture of Micah. Caleb thought he looked like a gym rat/Rambo sort of dude, so he fitted him out with a "sweatband", which is actually a headband of the girls'. I'm sure Micah will be so proud of this picture when he gets older! Be sure to check out the rolls of "muscles" in his arms!

Checking in Mid-Week

It's been awhile since I updated the blog! It has been extremely hot and humid, and I certainly haven't been spending any time outdoors, so you would think that would lead to plenty of blogging time. Obviously that has not been the case! We've been very busy though. Here's a brief update to catch everyone up.



1. Friday, July 22--Bob, Nathan, Jonathan, and the 3 girls drove up to WSS to pick up Caleb from his week at Camp Caleb. He had a really fun time, and I think it was even better because it was a really small week--only 5 boys and 1 girl. Caleb even did the zip line at the end! He had been very scared and nervous about doing it, so we were all so proud of him for conquering those fears and doing it anyway. I still don't think that was his favorite thing to do by any means, however.



2. Saturday was the day for potlucks. First off, we had a "kick-out" party at the McC's house for Rivendell. We were saying goodbye to the C family as they head off to Hawaii for 2 years (we are seriously looking into space-A flights--wouldn't that be totally fun?!), and we wanted to get a group shot before they left. And here we all are! Lots of kids! Five families, and 22 kids (plus Siri's bun-in-the-oven, as well as a few kids who are graduated from one family). It was boiling hot, but the McC's have a big blow-up water slide from Christine's sister-in-law, and the kids all played on that and ran around with squirt guns. We adults sat inside where it was cooler and talked.


The second potluck on Saturday was dinner time, and that one was at our house. Our church small group was saying goodbye to a family who have been here for 3 years. John's assignment is over, and they are heading back to their home, but we are going to miss them so much! Elya is Anna's age, and the girls have had so much fun playing dress-up and other games together at our house.



3. Sunday night Bob's sister Rose drove down to visit. She had a meeting Monday morning with a supervisor in an office not too far from us. She will have to come see him other times, so we are looking forward to more visits! Hopefully she'll be able to bring her girls along too sometimes. Speaking of her girls, Madison packed up a bunch of her old dolls for the girls. They were so thrilled with them all! They ahve been playing almost nonstop with them! I should have gotten a picture of Rose and the girls with the dolls before they went off to bed, but I didn't think about it! Instead, here is a picture of all the dolls, lined up very neatly and orderly by Anna. I think she was inventory-ing, LOL.

4. Monday I drove around like a taxi-driver. Nathan's AO group had a mini-reunion with the northern VA kids down south, so I drove him and Jessica down to Burke for bowling. Then I rushed back, got Anna and Grace, and drove them out to Tyson's Corner for Elya's birthday party. (They had waffles with all sorts of toppings as their dinner/cake there--isn't that a great idea?! They loved it--"We had WHIPPED CREAM with our DINNER!"). Then I rushed back home because Bob was taking Nathan and Luke to a football camp, which is actually all week long in the evenings.

5. Tuesday we had 2 little girls from church, plus their 8 year old male cousin, over to play. What fun! The girls dressed up and played with the doll house, especially. The boys played Monopoly. Nathan and Luke suspiciously asked if Caleb and Jonathan had roped him into playing, but they said that he had told them he liked playing Monopoly, and wondered if we had it! So they had a nice game.

6. Micah has been busy all on his own. I was talking to my mom on the phone on Friday, and I happened to glance in his mouth and notice that he has a tooth already! Bottom right. It's in quite a ways already too! I had noticed that he had been pretty drooly and a little more fussy, so I had wondered if he might not be teething, but I was expecting a tooth to come in another month or so! he's only 3 1/2 months now! He's our earliest teether, that's for sure. I'll have to go back and check Caleb's calendar, because he was early as well, although I think it was 4 months for him. He was a real biter (of me!), so hopefully Micah will not be that way . . .

Micah has also been loving the Johnny Jump-Up, as well as this little exersaucer thing we have from the McC's. He likes standing! He'll spin himself in a circle in the jumper thing, but only counter-clockwise, LOL. That Johnny Jump-Up is a real classic--the L's bought it for Anthony, some 22 years ago. They used it for their 4 older kids, then we borrowed it and used it for Nathan down to Faith. When they had Theodore, we gave it back to them for him to use! Now we have it again . . . that's 13 kids! Pretty impressive!


So . . . that's what's been happening. Now I need to buckle down and get ready for this next school year. I have a rough lab list made out, but I need to fine-tune that and get the order in. I need to really plan out the year, as far as physical science goes. Some weeks we'll only cover 1/2 a chapter, and I need to decide for sure which weeks those will be, plus get the assignments all planned out. I also need to type up all the memory work for next year, and make final decisions aobut what poems we're going to memorize, and where each poem will go in the year. I also need to finish pulling the science facts from the physical science book. And I need to plan out my 2 weeks of teaching for the elementary co-op. I teach the last 2 weeks of September, so I need to have that all done before Rivendell starts up and I'm swamped! I know I am focusing on trees, so at least it's something I like and already know a lot about! And of course, if I ever get bored, I need to work ahead in Latin so I can keep teaching that class. Once I get all that done, I can really relax and enjoy my summer . . . ha! And now you know why I probably won't be blogging much in the next few weeks either!

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Here is Micah in his cute little 4th of July onesie from my mom! It's a good thing the 4th wasn't any later, because he would not have fit into it! Micah was 2 months old on June 9, but we were in Ohio, and I didn't get an appointment for after we got back either. So this afternoon he finally had his 2-month well-baby appointment, a few days before his 3 months old! He's a big boy--15 pounds, 15 ounces, and 25 1/2 inches long. I just don't know what is different in my milk this time that is producing this giant baby! He's obviously a happy, healthy baby, so the appointment went just fine. Jonathan was the designated helper who went with me today. It's nice to spend some more individual time with the boys as we go to these appointments! Micah did get his first shots today, which he was less than thrilled about. I hope he still sleeps well . . .

I thought I'd throw in a family shot as well, for good measure! (Did you note that Nathan is pretty much as tall as I am?!) We had a 4th of July potluck at the L's house last night with our Bible study. Ed smoked a ton of pork, so we had barbeque pork sandwiches for the main course--yum!! Then we all headed over to the local fireworks display that we have gone to the past 2 years. It's fun, and it's not too far away, so we don't get home at a terribly ungodly hour. Going downtown is great as well, but right now, it just doesn't seem worth it! This is so easy!

One Month Old Already?!

Micah is doing well, although we have said goodbye to his beautiful smooth baby face! He's broken out terribly on his face and chest, poor thing. I am sure this a combination of several things--for one, he is doing a bit more crying, since Grandma and Grandpa aren't here anymore, LOL. Since he sleeps on his tummy, he rubs his face in the dampness when he cries, which is irritating to his skin. But a bigger thing is that I had gotten lazy and was just washing his sheets (and clothes) in regular detergent, but I think it is too irritating. So I went back to the All-Free detergent a few days ago, when I had that brainstorm, and his face is actually looking a bit better.

He is definitely eating well. I think he is 13 pounds, based on me weighing myself, and then him and me. Wow--we just don't see those kinds of numbers at this age around here. I might actually have a baby that is 20 pounds by his first birthday! He's really not that chubby-looking--no big rolls of fat. Just solid!

He's finally started stretching out the night. I've been feeding him the last time around 9:30, and he's been going until 5:00 or 5:30. That has been SO nice. (Although watch--tonight he'll be up every 3 hours to prove the last 3 nights were a fluke, LOL.) He still fusses around to get off to sleep. That should make next week a challenge. He's going to be with me while I administer testing--fortunately, I'm testing 1st graders, and it's only Joel McC. I guess we'll just have to take breaks while he fusses around to get himself off to sleep, since he does that even when I am holding him! It will be a long 3 days, however, I am thinking. The days where I could just set him in his carseat and expect him to drift off peacefully have passed way too quickly!

Micah waited to really start smiling and cooing until after his grandma left, even though she was waiting eagerly for such a smile. He really smiles at the kids. He started smiling and cooing at Luke even before me! And although he does smile at me sometimes, he still mainly has a very serious demeanor with me. Obviously, eating for him is a very serious business! He's such a sweetie though. We are all thoroughly enjoying him!!

Oh, forgot to add--in the picture, Micah is sporting a space shuttle mission patch sticker, which we got at the NASA Goddard open house we went to today. It was quite crowded, but the kids got some neat little trinkets. We missed out on the tours because we weren't there as soon as the gates opened to pick up tickets (if that is indeed how you got tickets for the tours--the helpers were unhelpfully unclear about the actual process). But we made it there, and we made it back, with all 8 kids, so that was in and of itself a victory!

Micah's 2 Week Appointment

I realized I never posted here about Micah's 2 week well-baby appointment, which was on Monday. He has regained his birth weight, plus one ounce, so he is up to 10 pounds, 9 ounces. He's grown another 3/4 inch to be 22 3/4 inches long. He's healthy and happy, and everything checked out just fine! He's settling into a good sleeping routine as well. I've been feeding him and putting him down for the last time around 11:00, and he wakes up around 4:00 and again around 7:30 or so. I can't complain!

He is still constantly surrounded by his ever-adoring fans, all of whom clamor to hold him. Has any baby ever been surrounded by so much love?! I have to remind people to give him some space, LOL. A friend asked me yesterday how Faith was doing, and if she was jealous. She's doing fine with Micah, and I would say she is not jealous at all--I still have plenty of time to hold her, because so many other people are always holding Micah!

Random Post-Partum Thoughts

I really haven't disappeared, but I am enjoying this "babymoon"! We've sort of taken a 2 week spring break, with minimal school especially for the younger kids, and it has been so nice. I've actually had time to have some random thoughts!

1. Micah is coming right along, as far as sleeping. He had a few nights where he basically only got up once to feed. I fed him around 11:30, then he was up again around 4:00, and then again at 7:30ish. The last 2 nights he's been up twice during the night, but still . . . I can't complain. He's awake for much longer periods during the day too. He has a really strong neck, so he is always rearing back to look around at things . . . or I should say faces, since those are what usually surround him. He has his 2 week well-baby appointment on Monday, and I'll be curious to see how much he weighs. He's a good nurser! He had his first bath yesterday (his cord fell off Saturday). I love snuggling with a clean baby who smells like baby shampoo!

2. There's a lot I greatly dislike about the first few weeks of nursing, but one thing I do like is all the time to read! One book I just finished was Three Cups of Tea, which is timely in light of the controversy going on right now about whether Greg Mortenson lied about what he has done, and if he spent the money donated wisely. My opinion, for what it is worth, is that people sure are quick to judge Mortenson and treat random people from Afghanistan and Pakistan as worthy and reliable witnesses, with no real evidence to do so! From reading the book, it seems that the reason people didn't like Mortenson, or found him hard to work with, was because he was scatter-brained, had no concept of time, and did things on his own schedule. I can see someone like that telling stories but not getting all the details completely right--compressing stories, mixing them up, etc. I've known people like that! And I think that is also the culture he is working in, so that's probably one reason why he fit in there. I'm not sure all his critics really understand the difficulties of working in a culture that is so different from America? I don't know--it just seems like a lot of what I have read has been unreasonable expectations, flavored with a bit of sour grapes. But now the Montana governor has opened an investigation (which will hopefully be more even-handed than one led by sensationalistic 60 Minutes!), so hopefully any real wrong-doing will be exposed, and any unjustified criticisms will also be revealed, although I'm sure those will never get any press (did everyone notice that Gen. McCrystal has been cleared of wrong-doing? Yeah, that didn't get the big headlines. His career was ruined by a left-leaning rag, with no real evidence . . . ).

3. Another book I just finished was called Birth Day by Mark Sloan, a pediatrician in Roseville, CA (did you know him, Melinda? : ) The subtitle says, "A pediatrician explores the science, the history, and the wonder of childbirth". It was so interesting, and Sloan is a pretty funny writer as well. The chapters on the history of pain medicine in labor were really fascinating, and as usual, I am left wondering why hospitals in America don't get on the nitrous oxide bandwagon for pain relief. One quote that I thought was interesting was, "Here at home the goal of hospital labor pain management is often the complete obliteration of pain; in Europe and elsewhere, particularly in countries like England, where most uncomplicated vaginal delieveries are performed by midwives, the objective is "good enough" pain relief." I would have been interested in something that briefly took the edge off of my most difficult transition contractions, but went out of my system a few seconds after I stopped inhaling it. I was absolutely not interested in something that would make me nauseous and woozy and would affect my baby, especially since I realized, even if the doctor didn't, that I was almost ready to push. Anyway, I think because the author is a pediatrician, and not an OB (or a midwife, for that matter), he was able to be a little more even-handed about the managed hospital births that generally take place here in America. There was a TON of evolutionary biology, which is so speculative, and I did not enjoy that, but overall the book was really a good read.

4. I LOVE the nursing camis that Target sells! What a great idea! They are comfortable, they layer well under shirts, and then when you nurse, you don't have to pull up your shirt and expose your belly that has the stretch marks of 8 pregnancies for all the world to see (theoretically, of course)! I only bought one, but I'm going to get some more. I think I'll wear them for all my in-public nursing!

Hmmm . . . I am sure there are more things I was going to post about, but my brain is still a bit mushy . . . We are still battling the ants, who have opened up another front in our pantry. We are enjoying tremendously all the delicious meals friends from church and co-op have brought us. I am very blessed to have generous friends who are excellent cooks! And we are looking forward to my dad flying back here Saturday. He flew back to Ohio last Saturday to take care of some business, and he had a little scare with some chest pain/pressure. He was hospitalized for 2 nights while they checked into things. Nothing showed up as wrong with his heart, which was good, but now he has to follow up with his family doctor.

Finally . . . Some Pictures

I put some pictures up on Facebook, but I have sadly neglected the blog! Here are a few pictures of Micah.

My parents brought everyone to visit Sunday morning--the kids were too excited to go to church! They stayed for awhile, and Bob, Grandpa, and Nathan brought lunch back from the base McDonalds for everyone. All the kids got to hold Micah, but Faith was more interested in snuggling with me!

Micah was a little too big for his hospital t-shirt and blankets! We had quite a time keeping him all covered up--usually one foot was poking out the bottom!

We came home Monday afternoon, and everyone was quite happy to see us! Micah's skin on his face has cleared up nicely. All the hospital staff kept remarking on how round and well-shaped his head was, even though he was so big. And it's true--Faith had this huge ridge on her head for the first few days after her birth, and she was almost 2 pounds less, with a much smaller head!

Micah's doing well. We're working on getting his days and nights straight for him, and he is not enjoying the feeling of his bowels working, LOL. But he is a great nurser, and he loves that my milk is already in and can fill his tummy! He despises being on his back and lets us know that with the screechiest cry of any of our babies, so we've already been putting him down on his tummy some. I don't think there has ever been a baby who has been more loved on! Micah is definitely not lacking for attention and snuggling!

Micah Edward is Here!

Now, for all the details . . . Nothing happened after I exercised Saturday morning. Once again, I only felt contractions if i sat down, and they weren't regular or strong or anything. But Bob was really getting antsy about having another crazy drive down the beltway, like we had with Faith, so he wanted me to just go in and get checked. I called the labor unit, and they said to come right on in. So we got to Bethesda around 3:00. They put me on a monitor, and it seemed like the baby's heartbeat was going up and down, although later they decided it was actually just the monitor being wacky, and not the baby. But that made me a bit alarmed and more likely to want to want to stay. When the doctor examined me, she said I was at 5 cm. I was hoping to be at least 6 cm, but oh well. So they admitted me, with a plan to let me walk around a little bit, and then start some pitocin to regulate my very irregular contractions and also to break my water. Now I don't like interventions, and I would much rather go into labor all natural. But it wasn't happening, and I was just a little bit concerned about the baby being healthy. Two of my other kids (Luke and Anna) passed meconium before birth, and I knew that was a possibility here too. I just had this weird feeling.

I walked around for about 30 minutes, although I knew that wasn't going to do anything, if all my treadmill walking didn't ever start anything! I was happy to find a birthing ball in the room for me to use (an improvement over 2 years ago when I had Faith), and well as wi-fi (another improvement!). My nurse was great about letting me sit on the ball, so I rocked on there for awhile. Eventually the pitocin got started at around 4:45, and the contractions did get regular, although still not too strong. Finally the doctor came in at 6:15 to check me and break my water. I was still at 5 cm! That was discouraging! And there was indeed meconium in the water. Another thing to pray about. So they kept ramping up the pit, and eventually when I was checked at 8:00 or so, I was all of . . . 6 cm. What?! I was not happy! I was sure I was moving into transition because I was geting sweaty and a bit shaky. I was starting to doubt this one doctor's ability to measure me, LOL.

The contractions were getting quite strong by this point, and Bob was doing a great job of pressing his fist into my lower back to put counterpressure there. I was lying on my left side by that point, which is my "favorite" position for transition. I will say, though, that the thought of having hours more of these strong contractions was making me seriously be tempted by an epidural. In fact, the doctor (same one who kept measuring me) told me, "I know this labor isn't progressing as fast as you would like, so you can always just have some other drugs, if not the epidural . . ." I was actually tempted, but I just tried to take it one contraction at a time. I could tell the baby was moving down, and I was definitely feeling more pressure.

Around 9:00 I told Bob I was getting close, although I knew I wasn't complete yet. He went ahead and pressed the call button, since you never know how long it will actually take the doctor to get there! To our surprise, 3 of them (2 regular docs I had been seeing all afternoon plus one student) came right away. They checked me and said I was at 9. Then the one who usually measured me said they would check back in an hour! Ha! I let them leave because I wanted to be on my side for a little longer, but I told Bob I was already feeling pushy, and it definitely was not going to take an hour for me to go the last cm! Sure enough, by 9:15 I was definitely pushing, so we called the doctors back, and they officially declared me complete at 9:20. It was nice to push on my own for a contraction or 2. I hate the whole "breaking down the bed" uncomfortableness, right as you are ready to push!

So there I was, pushing away, and I could tell this baby was going to be big because he wasn't just popping out, LOL. I could feel him moving down and start to crown, so you would think that the next push would just pop him out. But it didn't. So with the next contraction, I pushed really hard. And kept pushing. Took a breath and pushed some more. And a bit more. Why wasn't he out yet?! The doctors and Bob were all saying, "Keep pushing! Don't stop!" and they were moving my legs all around. But the head was not coming out!! I was pushing so hard I saw stars! I was really starting to doubt if this I was going to be able to push this baby out. It was a little scary, but it wasn't like I could really dwell on it, LOL. Finally the head came out, but there was no relief, because there were the shoulders. Another hard bit of pushing, and then FINALLY I felt the body slither out. Relief--at last!

Micah Edward was born at 9:38 PM, April 9. Because of the meconium, the baby had to go directly over to the pediatrician there in the room for suctioning. I could not have cared less, LOL. I was just so relieved to have him out of me! I took a look and could tell he was a big baby--like I had any doubt about that after all that pushing! The peds docs got him all suctioned out, and then I started nursing. He fussed around for awhile, but remembering Faith and her low blood glucose adventures, I really worked to get him to latch on. Finally he did and nursed for awhile. I talked to my mom at this point, but we didn't have any details about any statistics because no one had weighed or measured him! Finally the corpsman came in with the scale about 11:00. Micah was 10 pounds, 8.5 ounces, and 22 inches long, with a head circumference of 38 cm (15 inches!). Yeah--that's big. Micah did have a low blood glucose reading the first time they took it, so we had to get it checked a few more times. But thankfully it was never low again, and he's been nursing like a champ.

I was so sore last night. I had to laugh about how much I had been complaing about my aching pelvis. HA! I didn't even KNOW what an aching pelvis was! I thought my pelvis was going to crumple up and fall out. I could hardly walk! Thankfully, that is another benefit of Micah being my 8th, and not my 1st--today I feel much, much better, and not so sore at all. My bleeding has really tapered off too, which is nice. The doctors and nurses kept remarking about how amazing it was that I had a pitocin-induced delivery with no epidural and no tearing. It was definitely a gift from God. Micah's name means "Who is like the Lord?", and I could feel the Lord strengthing me during the whole labor.

So we will be coming home tomorrow, Lord willing! I wanted to get pictures posted from here, but the connection is really slow, so I'm not even going to bother trying. In the meantime, Bob and I are just enjoying this nice, quiet little vacation, snuggling with Micah and rubbing his sweet newborn head and cheeks! He's a doll! We're so thankful for him.