Monday, April 19, 2010
9 Months
Micah is doing great. 18 pounds, 9 ounces. 27 3/4" (I think - maybe it was 26 3/4?), and basically a completely average size. He is walking around by holding onto things and generally just enjoying life.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
All Sorts of Milestones
Over the weekend, MIcah decided that he wanted to push forward with his development. He started to crawl with his belly off the floor, he started creeping a little but, which is holding on to something like a couch and moving his feet along while he's standing, and he began to hit toys together to make a noise. It was pretty cool to watch him start to do all of those things, especially the crawling. In the past few days, too, Micah has started to babble SO MUCH! It's hysterical to listen to him trying to communicate. Alexis was always so quiet, so I wonder if he'll talk sooner than she did, especiallly since she's around to talk to him. We'll see. He's been pulling up without any problems whatsoever for a few weeks now; he's getting so big, and he's going to be more like a little kid than a baby very, very soon.
Alexis also had her first Easter egg hunt over the weekend, and she loved it! We hid eggs around Jason's parents' yard, and after we showed her how to do it, she just took off! There were one or two Reeses' Pieces in the eggs, and she wanted to eat them all as we went along. We had to convince her to wait so that she wasn't eating so much candy. She finished the first hunt really quickly, so she went back inside and Jason and I hid the eggs again, this time so that they were a little more difficult to find. She had a blast with it!
Both of the kids are doing well. Micah is finally taking a bottle without any problems, which is wonderful! He continues to be a really happy kid and does a great job of sleeping through the night. Alexis has enjoyed going to storytime at the library, and it's wonderful that the weather is so much nicer now so that she can play outside more.
Alexis also had her first Easter egg hunt over the weekend, and she loved it! We hid eggs around Jason's parents' yard, and after we showed her how to do it, she just took off! There were one or two Reeses' Pieces in the eggs, and she wanted to eat them all as we went along. We had to convince her to wait so that she wasn't eating so much candy. She finished the first hunt really quickly, so she went back inside and Jason and I hid the eggs again, this time so that they were a little more difficult to find. She had a blast with it!
Both of the kids are doing well. Micah is finally taking a bottle without any problems, which is wonderful! He continues to be a really happy kid and does a great job of sleeping through the night. Alexis has enjoyed going to storytime at the library, and it's wonderful that the weather is so much nicer now so that she can play outside more.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Pulling Up
Micah is now pulling up on things. A few weeks he started to truly crawl. One day he was pushing with his legs, and then a few days later he was off and going. He's gotten really fast, although he still crawls with his stomach on the floor. Last week he started to pull up on some things. I caught him standing next to the toy box downstairs, and after I caught him with his two front arms on the bottom step, I knew I had to start putting the gate up downstairs. Last night I got really excited because I actually found him standing in his crib! It's very cool, but I also knew it meant that it would be a while before he could figure out how to get down again. Just as I thought, he woke up really early this morning and was crying because he was standing up and couldn't figure out how to get down again! It was cute but sad, and he definitely slept a lot less this morning because of it. However, overall he has been sleeping wonderfully, even when we spent two nights away this past weekend. He woke up once during the night at mom and Earl's, and he woke up a number of times at Nanny and Papaw's house, but a lot of that was because of heavy thunderstorms I think. I never actually got up to get him, though, so it's great that he'll sleep through the night when away from home.
He has been on a pretty regular schedule for a few weeks ago, which is nice. He usually gets up around 7:00 and eats some. He was nursing, but we're now weaning him from the morning feeding and putting him on a bottle. He's actually doing a much better job with the bottle now, which makes me really happy. I'm hoping that in a few days he won't even hesitate to use the bottle; we've been doing the morning bottle for about a week now, and he's had a few bad days and a few perfect days. This morning was a great day, hooray! Okay, so after he drinks, he'll usually eat some cereal around 8:00 or so and then go down for a nap around 8:30 or so. Then he'll get up, play some, and have some fruits or veggies around 11:00, play some more, and then maybe have some more solid food and nurse some. He then usually goes down for a big nap in the early afternoon, and it's especially nice when I can get both of them napping at the same time. He'll wake up, play for a while, eat some more fruits or veggies around 4:00, play some more, have a short nap around 5:30, eat some cereal around 6:00, and then go to bed about 7:30. I'll usually then wake him up about 8:30 to nurse again, but I'm hoping to be able to start giving him his last nursing time a little earlier so that I can just put him to bed after that. he's also started to eat little puffs, which he loves! It's really entertaining for him, and Alex loves to give them to him.
He is very mobile, and Alexis loves it. Most of the time... :)
He has been on a pretty regular schedule for a few weeks ago, which is nice. He usually gets up around 7:00 and eats some. He was nursing, but we're now weaning him from the morning feeding and putting him on a bottle. He's actually doing a much better job with the bottle now, which makes me really happy. I'm hoping that in a few days he won't even hesitate to use the bottle; we've been doing the morning bottle for about a week now, and he's had a few bad days and a few perfect days. This morning was a great day, hooray! Okay, so after he drinks, he'll usually eat some cereal around 8:00 or so and then go down for a nap around 8:30 or so. Then he'll get up, play some, and have some fruits or veggies around 11:00, play some more, and then maybe have some more solid food and nurse some. He then usually goes down for a big nap in the early afternoon, and it's especially nice when I can get both of them napping at the same time. He'll wake up, play for a while, eat some more fruits or veggies around 4:00, play some more, have a short nap around 5:30, eat some cereal around 6:00, and then go to bed about 7:30. I'll usually then wake him up about 8:30 to nurse again, but I'm hoping to be able to start giving him his last nursing time a little earlier so that I can just put him to bed after that. he's also started to eat little puffs, which he loves! It's really entertaining for him, and Alex loves to give them to him.
He is very mobile, and Alexis loves it. Most of the time... :)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Update on the Kids
Wow. I'm sorry it's been so long!
First, Micah. He is doing great! Over the holidays we weren't able to do the whole "crying it out" thing for a number of reasons like sickness or travel. However, in January when we were going to be home for a while and everyone was feeling good, we took a few nights to let him cry when he woke up at night. He was pretty textbook about it; he cried for about forty-five minutes the first night, then about thirty, then about fifteen, and now he almost never wakes up. (He's been having some cold/allergy problems, and things are always different then...) Typically, though, we put him down around 7:30 at night, and then I wake him up at 9:00 and fee him again before I go to bed. Then he sleeps through the night! I can usually hear him stirring a little before 7:00, but he entertains himself for a while. Alexis will also usually wake up around the same time and entertain herself for a little while, so most days I don't have to get up until sometime between 7:00 and 7:30. It's been a HUGE difference in my life to get a full night of sleep!
Micah continues to be a really relaxed kid. He almost never cries without a very specific reason, and of course, like most babies, he's all smiles these days! He started to sit up right at six months, and after two weeks he likes to spend a huge part of his day sitting up and playing with his toys. The other day he started to do a "mini-crawl" with his little legs pushing his body along. It wasn't quite a real crawl, but I think he's going to start doing that soon. He's getting so big! It's funny to watch him do the swimming motion on his stomach, with his arms and legs flailing like he can get somewhere. Yesterday he got up on his hands and knees for the first time, which was really cool to see. Because of all of this, the bald patch on the back of his head is starting to go away, but he still has a glorious mohawk.
He's been battling a cold and allergies on and off since Christmas, but he's been pratty happy almost the entire time and doesn't get too upset unless his nose is being sunctioned a lot or he has some sort of bad coughing fit. He loves to look around at everything and gets really determined to get one of his toys; this is what made him do the mini-crawl before. It's so cool to watch him want something and then go get it! Even though he can't quite crawl, he's amazing at turning his body and rolling and getting to where he wants to be using that method. He likes to grab at the loops on the rug and just began to to enjoy playing peek-a-boo.
He loves eating solid foods and usually has two servings of cereal and 2-3 jars of fruits or veggies each day. He's still nursing exclusively, but I'm trying to give him a sippy cup a lot so that he can get used to drinking from that. He hasn't really gotten it yet, but that's okay. He'll figure it out at some point. No teeth yet, either. His doctor thought he's get some by the time he's about seven months, but he thought that he would have teeth around four months, too. Alexis didn't get teeth until pretty far after her first birthday, and he might be the same.
Alexis is a little ball of fury. I can't believe how grown-up she's getting. The other day in the car on the way home from the train, she just started talking about her day and it was like a monologue! Her language skills are getting really great. She's also around kids more than she used to be. I started going to a MOPS group, and she plays with other kids in a class. Micah is also watched, which is nice for me because I get a two hour break from my kids every other week. :) She ALWAYS wants to play, which is a bit exhausting at times, but we have lots of fun. She's also trying to push boundaries and see how far she can go with things, but I think she's learning that we don't listen to whining and don't allow tantrums. Hopefully she still feels free to express her feelings while at the same time learning how to express them appropriately, but that's a difficult thing for kids. She has a little bedtime routine now and always wants to do three different things before going to bed: I Got You (the game where Jason sits in the middle and she runs in a circle around him saying, "I got you" over and over), rolling, and somersaults. Then she gets into bed and we read a book to her, and then she reads a few pages to us. About a week ago I think she started to make the connection that each individual word on the page meant something and was read separately, and that was really neat to see.
Alexis is very into stickers and making little crafts. I put a bunch of rice into a plastic bin for her, and she loves to play in it and pour and scoop and generally make a mess out of it. She's also wonderful with Micah and understands that there are certain things he can and can't have and is getting better about sharing with him as well. Having an almost three-year-old is a handful, but she is so much fun and so interactive and just an enjoyable kid.
First, Micah. He is doing great! Over the holidays we weren't able to do the whole "crying it out" thing for a number of reasons like sickness or travel. However, in January when we were going to be home for a while and everyone was feeling good, we took a few nights to let him cry when he woke up at night. He was pretty textbook about it; he cried for about forty-five minutes the first night, then about thirty, then about fifteen, and now he almost never wakes up. (He's been having some cold/allergy problems, and things are always different then...) Typically, though, we put him down around 7:30 at night, and then I wake him up at 9:00 and fee him again before I go to bed. Then he sleeps through the night! I can usually hear him stirring a little before 7:00, but he entertains himself for a while. Alexis will also usually wake up around the same time and entertain herself for a little while, so most days I don't have to get up until sometime between 7:00 and 7:30. It's been a HUGE difference in my life to get a full night of sleep!
Micah continues to be a really relaxed kid. He almost never cries without a very specific reason, and of course, like most babies, he's all smiles these days! He started to sit up right at six months, and after two weeks he likes to spend a huge part of his day sitting up and playing with his toys. The other day he started to do a "mini-crawl" with his little legs pushing his body along. It wasn't quite a real crawl, but I think he's going to start doing that soon. He's getting so big! It's funny to watch him do the swimming motion on his stomach, with his arms and legs flailing like he can get somewhere. Yesterday he got up on his hands and knees for the first time, which was really cool to see. Because of all of this, the bald patch on the back of his head is starting to go away, but he still has a glorious mohawk.
He's been battling a cold and allergies on and off since Christmas, but he's been pratty happy almost the entire time and doesn't get too upset unless his nose is being sunctioned a lot or he has some sort of bad coughing fit. He loves to look around at everything and gets really determined to get one of his toys; this is what made him do the mini-crawl before. It's so cool to watch him want something and then go get it! Even though he can't quite crawl, he's amazing at turning his body and rolling and getting to where he wants to be using that method. He likes to grab at the loops on the rug and just began to to enjoy playing peek-a-boo.
He loves eating solid foods and usually has two servings of cereal and 2-3 jars of fruits or veggies each day. He's still nursing exclusively, but I'm trying to give him a sippy cup a lot so that he can get used to drinking from that. He hasn't really gotten it yet, but that's okay. He'll figure it out at some point. No teeth yet, either. His doctor thought he's get some by the time he's about seven months, but he thought that he would have teeth around four months, too. Alexis didn't get teeth until pretty far after her first birthday, and he might be the same.
Alexis is a little ball of fury. I can't believe how grown-up she's getting. The other day in the car on the way home from the train, she just started talking about her day and it was like a monologue! Her language skills are getting really great. She's also around kids more than she used to be. I started going to a MOPS group, and she plays with other kids in a class. Micah is also watched, which is nice for me because I get a two hour break from my kids every other week. :) She ALWAYS wants to play, which is a bit exhausting at times, but we have lots of fun. She's also trying to push boundaries and see how far she can go with things, but I think she's learning that we don't listen to whining and don't allow tantrums. Hopefully she still feels free to express her feelings while at the same time learning how to express them appropriately, but that's a difficult thing for kids. She has a little bedtime routine now and always wants to do three different things before going to bed: I Got You (the game where Jason sits in the middle and she runs in a circle around him saying, "I got you" over and over), rolling, and somersaults. Then she gets into bed and we read a book to her, and then she reads a few pages to us. About a week ago I think she started to make the connection that each individual word on the page meant something and was read separately, and that was really neat to see.
Alexis is very into stickers and making little crafts. I put a bunch of rice into a plastic bin for her, and she loves to play in it and pour and scoop and generally make a mess out of it. She's also wonderful with Micah and understands that there are certain things he can and can't have and is getting better about sharing with him as well. Having an almost three-year-old is a handful, but she is so much fun and so interactive and just an enjoyable kid.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
So Begins the Chaos
Micah is officially rolling over from bak to tummy and from tum to back. We were practcing going from tummy to back this mornign, and ly dit again. Hooray! And now we have to put up the gates! ;)
Here are some pics. I included some of our new kitchen.
Friday, November 27, 2009
4 Months
It's past four months for Micah at the moment, but he had his checkup last week and weighed in at 14 pounds, 10 ounces. He's actually only in about the 60th percentile for weight, so he's fairly normal, but he just seems so huge to me, especially when it took her over a year to even appear on the growth chart! He is almost 25 inches, and the doctor said that he appears to be entirely healthy. We've taken him off of the medicine, and there have been a few times when I think he could have used it, but mostly he seems to be fine without it, which is very nice.
He has been a handful the past few weeks, though. He has decided that he wanted to start getting up multiple times in the middle of the night again, so we're working on that by ignoring him. Sometimes it's the only solution! For instance, last night he woke up around 1:00 and I heard him, but I had already decided to let him cry for a little bit of he woke up around that time, and he cried briefly and then went back to sleep until early morning. We'll see if that happens again tonight, but hopefully we can help him break the cycle.
He started to eat rice cereal last week, too, and today he's going to try some veggies. Yum! He is much less upset on his stomach now and likes to push himself up to see the world. I also think he's getting very close to rolling over. He easily puts himself on his side when he's on his back, but most babies roll over from their tummy to their back, so we've been working on that. He laughs a ton and gets a big smile on his face when he sees us or when people play with him. And he continues to grow out of his clothes, although I think that's slowing down somewhat.
Alexis is also a handful. She has turned into a woman of extremes, which simply means that she's two and shows it. She's having a hard time learning patience, which is normal for her age, and is very intense about everything. It means that she is incredibly adorable and incredibly exasperating all at the same time, but she's learning and we're leaning how to handle her. One of her favorite things right now is to have us spin around the room with her at night and have her put her blanket on as a cape and fly her around the room as SuperAlex. (Right now she's eating a banana from earlier and is looking at it saying, "That's got bad on it.") We are personally amazed at her vocabulary, but that's how it goes for all kids, right? I love how she knows how to use words like "other" correctly; that seems like it would be a hard one for a kid. Jason has also taken to calling her riff-raff, and she'll say, "I'm not riff-raff. I'm Ala!" Ala is because she can't say Alex correctly most of the time. Then we'll say "Hi Ala!" And she'll say "I'm not Ala. I'm ALA!" And that just makes us crack up every time because there's such a distinction in her brain but not in her vocalization. She still doesn't want anyone to sing to her; I'm going to be really sad if she doesn't like music. In other news, she has such sensitive skin! Now that the weather is turning colder, she's getting the same dry spots on her face that she got last year. Her bangs are still growing out, so her hair is always in her face, but I think it will start to look better soon, and it will be nice when she starts keeping her barrettes in her hair instead of pulling them out.
We decided to spend Thanksgiving at home this year, and it was wonderful! My parents came up and we had crab cakes, fresh greens and green beans from their garden, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and homemade hush puppies. I have learned some Southern cooking from Jason's family! (I made the casserole and hush puppies. I haven't mastered the huch puppies yet, but they were still pretty good.) I also made a bunch of desserts, so we had mint chocolate chip cookies, homemade ice cream, apple pie (frozen), and dirty red velvet cupcakes. By "dirty" I mean that they weren't actually red because the food coloring for the recipe would have been SEVEN DOLLARS! Ridiculous. Anyway, I think it all turned out pretty good, and I don't know if I'll be able to go back to having turkey for Thanksgiving when my mom makes crab cakes. And she made greens and I actually liked them, which is a first for me! Alexis actually didn't eat with us because by the time we sat down to eat, she was exhausted and ended up falling asleep on the couch. Micah was asleep as well, so we ended up being abble to just sit around the table and have a really relaxing meal. While we missed family, it was great to spend Thanksgiving at home and to have a really relaxing time. Jason and I just decided that we're going to make ice cream sandwiches from our dessert ingredients.
I started class this week and my students have their first assignments due today, so let the grading commence! I have a few lectures I need to record for the second session by the end of the day on Sunday, and we'll take Jason to the airport on Sunday after church. He'll be in Bolivia for a week and get back next Saturday night. I'm still working on Mondays and Tuesdays for Smarthinking. My schedule is five hours a day dispersed throughout the days, which is too much right now, so next semester I should be cutting back. (We knew when I got hired that I would need to work a few more hours than I normally would, so its worth it because we know it's only for a limited period of time.) Next semester I should only be working six hours a week. What's great is that I'll have a break for Christmas from both of my jobs because Smarthinking breaks for Christmas and the Eastern class is split by break, too. (This means that I'll have extended time to prep for the two weeks of class after Christmas!) We should also be getting our kitchen counters replaced in a few weeks, which is going to be wonderful; they're in really bad shape, along with out sink, which is rusting, and our water faucet, which decided to officially break last week. We're hoping that's the last major thing we need to do to the house, although things are always coming up, like the fact that we currently have a fairly large hole punched in Alexis' bedroom door and really just need to replace all of the upstairs doors. Little by little, though, right? Jason and I have declared next year the "year of saving" for the Edgerton family, so hopefully nothing huge will need to be done next year.
He has been a handful the past few weeks, though. He has decided that he wanted to start getting up multiple times in the middle of the night again, so we're working on that by ignoring him. Sometimes it's the only solution! For instance, last night he woke up around 1:00 and I heard him, but I had already decided to let him cry for a little bit of he woke up around that time, and he cried briefly and then went back to sleep until early morning. We'll see if that happens again tonight, but hopefully we can help him break the cycle.
He started to eat rice cereal last week, too, and today he's going to try some veggies. Yum! He is much less upset on his stomach now and likes to push himself up to see the world. I also think he's getting very close to rolling over. He easily puts himself on his side when he's on his back, but most babies roll over from their tummy to their back, so we've been working on that. He laughs a ton and gets a big smile on his face when he sees us or when people play with him. And he continues to grow out of his clothes, although I think that's slowing down somewhat.
Alexis is also a handful. She has turned into a woman of extremes, which simply means that she's two and shows it. She's having a hard time learning patience, which is normal for her age, and is very intense about everything. It means that she is incredibly adorable and incredibly exasperating all at the same time, but she's learning and we're leaning how to handle her. One of her favorite things right now is to have us spin around the room with her at night and have her put her blanket on as a cape and fly her around the room as SuperAlex. (Right now she's eating a banana from earlier and is looking at it saying, "That's got bad on it.") We are personally amazed at her vocabulary, but that's how it goes for all kids, right? I love how she knows how to use words like "other" correctly; that seems like it would be a hard one for a kid. Jason has also taken to calling her riff-raff, and she'll say, "I'm not riff-raff. I'm Ala!" Ala is because she can't say Alex correctly most of the time. Then we'll say "Hi Ala!" And she'll say "I'm not Ala. I'm ALA!" And that just makes us crack up every time because there's such a distinction in her brain but not in her vocalization. She still doesn't want anyone to sing to her; I'm going to be really sad if she doesn't like music. In other news, she has such sensitive skin! Now that the weather is turning colder, she's getting the same dry spots on her face that she got last year. Her bangs are still growing out, so her hair is always in her face, but I think it will start to look better soon, and it will be nice when she starts keeping her barrettes in her hair instead of pulling them out.
We decided to spend Thanksgiving at home this year, and it was wonderful! My parents came up and we had crab cakes, fresh greens and green beans from their garden, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and homemade hush puppies. I have learned some Southern cooking from Jason's family! (I made the casserole and hush puppies. I haven't mastered the huch puppies yet, but they were still pretty good.) I also made a bunch of desserts, so we had mint chocolate chip cookies, homemade ice cream, apple pie (frozen), and dirty red velvet cupcakes. By "dirty" I mean that they weren't actually red because the food coloring for the recipe would have been SEVEN DOLLARS! Ridiculous. Anyway, I think it all turned out pretty good, and I don't know if I'll be able to go back to having turkey for Thanksgiving when my mom makes crab cakes. And she made greens and I actually liked them, which is a first for me! Alexis actually didn't eat with us because by the time we sat down to eat, she was exhausted and ended up falling asleep on the couch. Micah was asleep as well, so we ended up being abble to just sit around the table and have a really relaxing meal. While we missed family, it was great to spend Thanksgiving at home and to have a really relaxing time. Jason and I just decided that we're going to make ice cream sandwiches from our dessert ingredients.
I started class this week and my students have their first assignments due today, so let the grading commence! I have a few lectures I need to record for the second session by the end of the day on Sunday, and we'll take Jason to the airport on Sunday after church. He'll be in Bolivia for a week and get back next Saturday night. I'm still working on Mondays and Tuesdays for Smarthinking. My schedule is five hours a day dispersed throughout the days, which is too much right now, so next semester I should be cutting back. (We knew when I got hired that I would need to work a few more hours than I normally would, so its worth it because we know it's only for a limited period of time.) Next semester I should only be working six hours a week. What's great is that I'll have a break for Christmas from both of my jobs because Smarthinking breaks for Christmas and the Eastern class is split by break, too. (This means that I'll have extended time to prep for the two weeks of class after Christmas!) We should also be getting our kitchen counters replaced in a few weeks, which is going to be wonderful; they're in really bad shape, along with out sink, which is rusting, and our water faucet, which decided to officially break last week. We're hoping that's the last major thing we need to do to the house, although things are always coming up, like the fact that we currently have a fairly large hole punched in Alexis' bedroom door and really just need to replace all of the upstairs doors. Little by little, though, right? Jason and I have declared next year the "year of saving" for the Edgerton family, so hopefully nothing huge will need to be done next year.
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