Moving On

It's about that time again! We just went to the doctor's for Micah's four-month well-visit, so I have the aforementioned official stats. In the last four months, he has gained 8 lbs 2 oz and grew 5 1/2 inches.

Our little man has been doing a lot these past few months and he gets a lot done since he doesn't know how to stay still! We borrowed/bought a Bumbo seat, an exersaucer, a swing, and a bouncy seat in the past month to keep him entertained. They are lifesavers! He is always active: grabbing, chewing, watching, following whatever is going on around him. He's figured out how to roll over from tummy to back and has almost made it from back to tummy, though he's still practicing that move. He's also learned how to blow raspberries and does so at very inopportune times (like while eating or when I ask him to say "hi" to someone).

He cut two teeth in two days last week and has been a much happier baby since then. I think he had been teething for the past few months, poor guy, and he's found some relief. Someone joked that he can start eating meat now. He's not eating meat, but we did start him on squash. The cereal didn't seem to agree with him, so we stopped that. He really likes the squash and it seems to agree with him. He has also started to sleep so much better, almost 12 hours, at night. Not sure if the food has anything to do with it, but whatever it is, we are grateful for a good night's rest!

Other items of note:
* He is now wearing 6-9 month clothing, and barely fitting into the 6 month outfits.

*He loves to get medicine from a dropper. We have this game that I suction his tongue and cheeks and lips and he just thinks it's the coolest game ever. I give him homeopathic anti-gas tablets that need to be dissolved in water, so whenever we think gas is the culprit, he gets to "play" with the dropper.

*I showed him one time how to grab his feet/toes a few weeks ago and they are his new favorite toy. When the pants come off, the legs go up and the socks usually come off shortly thereafter. So, when he's on his back, this is the position we usually find him in:


*He always has pointer finger in the back of his mouth, chomping on it. However, he will put your finger front and center in his mouth...exactly where his two new [sharp] teeth are! My kid is no dummy!

*It might sound weird, but I've always said how much I love his "nursing" face. Not sure exactly how to describe it, except he's just so peaceful and relaxed and I get to see him from an angle that I don't usually see. Now, he's added rubbing/scratching his head to the mix while eating. I think it's more of an involuntary motion, which makes it cuter, but he's starting to get those fine motor skills down (he rubs his eyes and nose now, too!).

I'll leave you with a picture of my two handsome men:

D's mom got Micah this cute bath towel for Christmas. The one we usually use was in the wash, so I got this one out and couldn't resist taking a few pictures. The above picture is how I saw him after his daddy gave him a bath. We made some adjustments and thus the picture below.

I was commenting to Dad the other morning at breakfast how much Micah likes crinkly things. There's this fish on the exersaucer that has a crinkly tail which he is always putting in his mouth and either sucking or chewing on. Dad was getting some cereal and the minute Micah heard the crinkle of the bag, he whipped his head over to the noise and started reaching for it (Dad was across the kitchen). A series of events would eventually lead to the making of this new crinkly toy by Dad (aka Grandpa). He pulled out the sewing machine and some extra fabric, sewed three sides, stuffed the crinkly part (the top half of a chip bag) inside, and sewed up the last side. Something similar would have probably set me back at least $6 or $7 since I wouldn't get it used, but five minutes and zero cents later, Micah has a new favorite toy!

Thanks, Grandpa, you're the best!

He started doing this a few weeks ago. And at very inopportune times, too: "Micah, how's our little man?" *raspberry* or "Say hi to Uncle Ryan, Micah!" *raspberry* Oh well. It's cute for now. He tends do it a lot when he has things in his mouth (which I guess is because he always has something in his mouth!), so it comes out more as a spit and then a glob of drool, but as you can see, he has it pretty much mastered!

I've started Micah back on solid foods, but am steering clear of all types of cereal for now. I'm going straight to fruits and veggies, well veggies and fruits, in hopes of curbing his appetite. Actually, he's on a much better feeding schedule than the first two/two and a half months of his life. He'll eat at least every three, if not 4 or sometimes 5, hours and it'll only take him 10 minutes tops. Now compare that with his prior eating schedule (eating 40 minutes every two to two and a half hours) and you have one happy mamma!

Anyway, that yellowish slime that you see all over his face is butternut squash and he seems to enjoy it very much. I started him with a few tablespoons of the veggie on Friday and am giving it to him once a day around midday. I have a whole little plan etched out on my kitchen calendar, but after a few days (to be sure he's not allergic) I will start him on pears. Then, I'll add more variety, like peaches and prunes and peas and avocado. After a few weeks, I will try adding a hint of cereal to the fruits and veggies and see what that does. I'm using jarred (organic as much as possible) food for stage 1, but plan on making my own baby food when he's able to handle thicker substances. I just don't want to have to worry about getting the puree to the right texture so he won't choke -- it'll be more time than it's worth. I found a really good homemade baby food website and am excited about starting the process: for health and money-saving reasons!

I can't believe how quickly he is growing up. He is such a big boy, with two teeth and eating solid foods!

Here's that better picture I promised...
Breaking news! Ha, get it? Anyway, Micah's bottom right tooth broke through on Monday night (4 months, 4 days) after much chomping and knawing and drooling and fussing. It's a sharp little thing and I'm not looking forward to the biting days, but he is going to look so cute with those two bottom teeth!! And not to be left behind, his bottom left tooth broke through on Wednesday night (4 months, 6 days). I was keeping an eye on it because I thought I would see some white right next to the one we could feel, and sure enough it made itself known shortly after the first.

I tried to get some good pictures, but this is the best I could do for now. I noticed that when he's crying, I can see them really well, so I'll try to get some pictures then :)

I have been meaning to visit this baby's/children's secondhand store called Once Upon A Child for a few months now. I've heard only great things about it, but never have had the chance to go until yesterday. The closest one to us is in Bristol and Mom and I (and Micah) were doing some errands out there yesterday, so I was finally able to see what the big attraction was. Auntie Kristina and Uncle Nick met us there and entertained the little man while Mommy shopped...quite grateful for that, thanks guys!

They have clothes and toys and toys and clothes from wall to wall, back to front. They have baby furniture and swings and Bumbo seats and rocking horses, anything and everything with which you could possibly want to cloth and to entertain your child. I had such a blast in there!!! Mom bought a changing table for $40 and a plush toy car that Micah can sit in for her house. And I bought 19 pieces of clothing for...$19! They were having a Fall/Winter clothing clearance, each piece a dollar if you buy ten or more (and my sis-in-law gave me a coupon on top of it!). Most of the stuff I got him was from Gymboree, The Children's Place, and Sonoma. I got some winter stuff for now and some winter stuff for next year. What an amazing store! I'm borrowing a swing, an exersaucer, and a bouncy seat from Micah's cousin Ari (thank you SO MUCH, Sara and Tony!!), but if I wasn't, they have all of that stuff there for very reasonable prices. Needless to say, I'll be doing most of my cloth/toy shopping there (that is, when Janie and Jack is too pricey!).

Mom informed me that it was exactly one year ago today that D and I video chatted with her and dad for the purpose of telling them that we were expecting in September. One year later, this is what we have...

This is how we usually see Micah now. Always reaching for something. And it's all one motion, grabbing whatever comes across his line of sight and putting it on a preprogrammed path to his mouth. He's gotten so good at it that he can be looking at you, see something out of the corner of his eye, reach for it, never break eye contact, and put the object in his mouth.

Patience is the key to watching this next video. You'll see what I mean...

Micah is rolling over like a champ now. Whenever I put him down for a nap, he rolls over before I can get the covers to cover him up. He's so quick. And he'll roll to both sides, too. He doesn't go from his back to his belly yet, so he'll get stuck on his back (which makes it difficult when trying to put him down for his naps!). He's learning things so quickly, it's fun to watch the new things he's learning almost on a daily basis. At this rate, he'll be in kindergarten by age 3. Next time, next time we'll get our baby. For now, we're enjoying Micah's infancy and toddlerhood together!

D's mom usually gets us a gift card to Christianbook.com for Christmas each year. And I love getting it because we find some pretty neat stuff there, especially during the after-Christmas sales (we got stuff for $0.49 and free shipping this time!). Included in our order is this Chronological Study Bible (copyrighted by Thomas Nelson 2008) I found. It is the neatest thing. Here, I'll show you how part of the Introduction describes it:

The Bible was not written at one time nor by one author. The books of the Old and New Testaments were written over a period of more than 1,000 years, and their contents over a variety of ancient peoples and cultures. If we are to understand and appropriate the Bible's message today, we need some sense of the historical and cultural context in which its diverse parts appeared. We read the words of the Bible today under entirely different circumstances than those under which they were written. To neglect the historical and cultural background of the biblical books is to risk misunderstanding them.

Unfortunately for modern readers, the individual books of the Bible do not always provide the information necessary to understand the Bible's historical and cultural background. At the time that these books were written, readers would have already been familiar with the world the writings describe. But thousands of years later, the events and customs that the original readers would have recognized immediately are often confusing and only dimly understood by modern readers.

This study bible will take you on a journey through the history and culture of the Bible. It will allow you to step back into biblical times and discover the world out of which the Bible grew. It will help you follow the flow of events in the Scriptures and see where sacred and secular history converge into one story of salvation. You will learn how sacred history fits into the context of secular history--why an event happened, how events relate to each other, as well as the cultural, religious, political, and geographical background that influenced the events.

This Bible also includes several handy features:

• Transition Commentary ~ since different passages are pasted together, this explains how they relate to each other
• Epoch Introductions ~ how this particular Bible is divided, i.e. Epoch 1 is from creation to Israel's patriarchs
• Historical Overviews ~ explains secular history going on during biblical times
• Background Notes ~ explains events, customs, religions, cultures, politics, etc.
• Daily Life ~ duh
• Time Panels ~ timeline of events happening inside and outside the Bible within specific time periods
• Time Charts ~ visual overviews of important chronological topics in the Bible
• Maps ~ duh

D and I are really excited about reading the Bible this way. They have one- and two-year reading plans available online, so we may follow that.

Auntie Yana captured this video of Micah eating his cereal in the Bumbo seat (love that thing!) yesterday.

He's a very good [messy] helper when it comes to cereal time. He likes to grab the spoon and shove it in his mouth, usually pushing all the food out in order to make room. This morning he took the mug that I put the cereal in and started biting it, making it look like he was drinking out of the thing. Never a boring moment with our little man...

Our little man is rapidly outgrowing the shortened baby stage he was in. He seriously thinks he's three years old, instead of three months old. I'm just going to list a few things he has done in the interest of time:

• He has started teething which equals drooling and everything-going-in-the-mouth. His shirts are always wet and his little hands are always cold and red from being in his mouth.
• He reaches for e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. now. If it crosses his peripheral, it's not safe. Fortunately his arms aren't that long, so even if our reaction time isn't that great, we're still generally safe.
• Included in that reaching for everything, he has started to reach for anyone who holds out their arms to take him. He'll go to certain people more readily than others, but he will still hold out his hands to pretty much everyone.
• He likes to watch TV. It'll hold his interest for a good twenty minutes. His grammy got him a set of Baby Einstein DVDs for Christmas, so I will be popping those in our new DVD player in the near future.
• He's now in 6-9 month clothing. My goal (today) is to change over his closet since he got so many pieces of clothing for Christmas.
• He is napping SO much better now. He'll take a short morning nap, a long afternoon nap, and a few short naps before going to bed.
• He is talking, talking, talking now. He has to make eye contact before he starts his conversations, though. Once he sees that you're interested, he'll belt out a series of vowels sounds in different pitches so earnestly that I almost feel bad that I don't know what he's saying because he seems really intentional in his word choice.
• I think he's been doing this for a while now, but he seems to recognize the people he sees almost daily and is more comfortable around them. Ryan was saying on Christmas day, when our parents' house was abuzz with activity (mostly centering around Micah), Micah was overwhelmed with the amount of people hovering around him, so Ry took him from whoever was holding him and he calmed down immediately. It didn't surprise me since Uncle Ryan and Auntie Yana make it a point to see him almost daily!
• Oh, and we've started to put him in the nursery at church now. The first few times fell within a feeding period, so I'd only manage to stay through half the service, but the last few times he's been there the entire time by himself. I always expect to hear him crying, but only once did that happen (service went long and into his feeding time). When he was in the nursery this past Sunday morning, he was asleep in the swing when I came down to get him. I didn't pick him up right away, so in the meantime I played with another one of the babies. I guess Micah had woken up, so the nursery worker picked him up and was playing with him on her lap and they were in this position when I turned around to see how he was doing. Well he was smiling and playing with her until he saw me and his face broke into his poochy-lip pose, like oh-my-goodness-where-have-you-been-I've-been-miserable, Mom...it starts so early!
• He's also developing a sense of humor. He has always laughed and smiled when stimulated, but now if I make a noise or a movement he finds funny, he'll belly laugh. I love the sound of his little laugh and how his entire face lights up in a big gummy smile.

That pretty much sums up Micah's three-month update. I've also started him on cereal twice a day and he has rolled over from his belly to back a number of time. I went to get him from his nap at my parents' house the other day and was totally shocked to find him on his back and his arm hanging out of the side of the crib (they don't have a crib bumper, yet). I thought I had a few more months before I had to worry about him rolling over, but he had yet another surprise in store for us!

I will have to get our Christmas post up next. I can't believe how busy we've been, I've never been this busy in my entire life! I always wonder what I did when I was working outside the home, how I got everything done. I love it, though, life is good!