New Digs

Yep, I changed my blog. I'm not finished (I got tired) and I'm not sure if I love the changes, so let me know what you think. And, expect more changes...

Some news... Snoopy is back! Not the original Snoopy, but we went out and found the last Snoopy inflatable thing in town. Seriously - it is popular around these parts. Who knew? Anyway, it became a mission and I wasn't about to let those thieves win. :) So now, we are once again the proud owners of a tacky (that's right - I own one now so I can say it) inflatable piece of yard art. Woohoo.

Micah is SO close to crawling! He lies on the floor and pats it, willing himself to move forward. Then he usually gets mad and rolls towards the nearest pieces of furniture, proceeds to wedge himself under it and then scream about it.

I took some practice pictures the other day for our Christmas card. For those of you expecting to receive a Christmas card (i.e. my lurkers - Lynn, Kelley, Chryssi - you know who you are!), avert your eyes if you do not want to spoil the surprise. But, basically, I just threw a sheet over a chair and took some pictures to see how it would look. Here are a few of the winners...



Okay - Please notice the way I was able to capture a long strand of drool falling from Micah's mouth. I am so impressed with my photographic ability. :)

That's about it for now... I'm tired and should be asleep by now, but was up trying to re-decorate the ol' blog. Maybe I'll do it in Christmas colors instead... I could change it up each season. (Yep - time for bed - I'm talking crazy now!)

Good Plastic, Bad Plastic?

OK - right now, think of all of the things in your house that are made of plastic that your child (or future child) has put in their mouth, chewed on, eaten from, etc. Pretty much everything right? (Unless you already know where I'm going with this - then maybe you have lightened your plastic load.)

So, a couple of weeks ago I was online and bored (bad combo) and was researching lead-free toys (a whole other topic!) and came upon information about the debate on bisphenol A and phthalates (yeah - I can't say that either) in plastics - especially in baby bottles. These chemicals are used to soften the plastic - to make it more pliable. I had heard of this debate and was aware, but the more I read, the more it seemed like a good idea to switch to a bottle that was free of these chemicals. One big motivator - scientific studies have shown that these chemicals are leeching from the plastics and causing endocrine problems - one being reproductive problems. Now, I'm a bit sensitive to reproductive problems myself, so I decided to buy these bottles from Green to Grow - and, oh they are SO adorable and they are free of bisphenol A and phthalates.

So far, they are great, except that I'm having problems with suction - I have to keep pulling the bottle out of Micah's mouth to reduce the vacuum/suction from the bottle. I used to use Dr. Brown's and never had that problem. (Any advice from moms out there on that?)

Anyway, today there was an interview on Fresh Air (radio show on NPR) with Mark Schapiro, the author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power. The one thing that struck me in this interview (besides much discussion on the scientific studies showing the dangers of these chemicals) is that the EU (European Union) has outlawed the use of phthalates, and China (YES CHINA!) has even banned their use in products that will be available to it's own citizens (but not for exports - meaning - not for the products that will end up on our shelves). But in our own country, we continue to manufacture them and are currently debating whether or not they're dangerous.

I'm one to err on the side of caution, so, now I feel like it is really important to limit Micah's plastic toys and basically I would have to throw away just about every toy we own to do that. So, instead I am letting the Gmas & Gpas know that Micah has asked for Lead-Free toys, as well as toys made from natural substances - such as wood or fabric for Christmas. We'll still have some plastic stuff - just not EVERY toy!

I just thought I'd share this because I found it so shocking. It's really hard to be a parent these days- I used to think - "well, we all turned out fine," but these things didn't exist when we were kids. And, you know, I'm not "fine." We had three years of infertility - that's not "fine." Was it caused by plastics? Well, I was diagnosed with endometriosis - and that has been linked to endocrine problems - levels of estrogen, etc. So, who knows... but, like I said, I'm going to start to limit plastics and we'll see where this debate ends up.

*DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A SCIENTIST OR AN EXPERT! If you are interested in any of the information I've presented, I encourage you to do your own research on the subject. And, I'm not claiming to be an expert, and really don't want to get into a debate about plastics. If you are an expert - you can let me know, but in a nice way please. thanks! :)

Good News... Bad News

Good news... Missouri beat Kansas last night! (Sorry KU fans!) My dad went to Mizzou, so you know we all had to get together to watch the football game, and Micah was dressed for the occasion:

Mom, Dad & Micah

Papa, Grandma K & Micah

Little Tiger Fan (except when Ohio State is playing!)

So, now if Missouri wins next weekend, and so-and-so loses, and the stars and planets align, Mizzou will play Ohio State for the championship in January. With Papa being a HUGE Mizzou fan, and Dad being a HUGE Ohio State fan, this could be a problem. What will Micah wear? :) I'm thinking he'd have to be loyal to his dad and stick with the OSU gear.

OK - on to the bad news. You know those silly inflatable things people put in their yards? Yeah, well, we said we'd never do that. That was pre-baby. Post-baby: Yesterday Micah & I came home from running errands to find that Kevin had put up an inflatable Snoopy thing:


Back story: Whenever we went to Lowe's with Micah, he would giggle non-stop when we walked by the inflatable things. He loved them! So, Kevin is such a great dad - he went out and got one for Micah. He was so excited - he was cracking up at it. Very cute stuff.

Anyway... this morning - IT'S GONE!!!! I really think we live in a great neighborhood - I mean we know ALL of our neighbors on our street. (Obviously no one our our street took Snoopy - they were all stopping by yesterday to tell us how cute it was.) So, we are really upset. I know it's just a thing and can be replaced, but it really stinks that someone would take Snoopy. I'm going to blame it on the kids with the bottles. It's only logical.

Sigh.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am sad to say that I was a terrible photographer yesterday and did not really get many good pictures from Micah's first Thanksgiving. We had lunch at our house with my mom, her friend Gary, and my Aunt Terry. Then later that afternoon we went to Papa & Grandma K's house for their dinner (although we only had dessert - still pretty full from our first meal), so it was a busy day. I have to give credit to my husband who cooked the ENTIRE meal at our house and then stayed behind to clean up the ENTIRE mess while I left with Micah so he could meet his cousins at my Dad's house. Kevin is amazing. I am very thankful for having such a wonderful husband. (And an amazing son, of course!)

Anyway... here are some pictures

Micah & Mimi.
Notice his shirt that says, "My Grandma is hot" I thought it was funny. So did Mimi.

His first turkey!
(You can't really see it because he ate all of it pretty quickly - and because I was too slow with the camera.)

Here he is at Grandma K & Papa's house - with my cousin.
(I swear he was smiling one second before I took this picture.)

He got a new toy at Grandma K & Papa's house. He loved it - so cute. And, you can see his two cutie teeth in this one.

Laughing with Uncle Ryan. They crack each other up.
(He had soaked his jams with his new sippy cup, so Uncle Ryan had unzipped them for him - in case you were wondering, he's not going for that 1970's unzipped look here.)

So, although it was a busy day, it was also a fun day. Micah was a big hit with all of my cousin's daughters (all teenagers). At one point, one of the girls turned to me and said, "I think he is the cutest baby I've ever seen." Me too. :)

Conversations

This week I had the following conversation with the check-out girl (CG) while buying diapers:

CG: He's so cute! He looks like my nephew. Is he yours?
ME: thanks - yes he is.
CG: Did he start out darker? My nephew is mixed and he was really dark at first and then got lighter. I thought it was the other way around.
ME: I didn't meet him until he was 5 months old, so I don't know. And, I don't think he's bi-racial. He was adopted from Ethiopia.
CG: OH. How long did it take you to get him?
ME: (Will this ever end?) It took 8 months before we met him. It was very short - it doesn't usually happen that way.
CG: Oh - did you know somebody or something? You must have known someone to pull strings.
ME: No, it just happened that way for us.
CG: Oh, well he's really cute.
ME: Thanks

So, it was my first time with the question, "Is he yours?" This girl was not in any way trying to be mean, she was just curious. And, most people do assume that Micah is bi-racial. I've had that conversation before - this guy told me he looked like his girlfriend's daughter (ok) and she's mixed too. I explained he's probably not bi-racial, but that he was born in Ethiopia. The poor boy looked at me like I had said he was born on Mars and said, "Oh" and walked away. I sure hope these things don't happen all the time when Micah is older.

Another conversation we found ourselves in many times at Kevin's work party was the "He's so lucky" conversation. Many times I explained that we were the lucky ones. One person replied, "Oh, I hadn't thought of it that way - that's good!" That made me happy - that he could see exactly what I meant by that.

We also saw one of Kevin's old customers at the party (it was in a casino - he was there - not with the party). He is an African-American man and instead of telling us how lucky Micah is, he told us how blessed we are. (He had seen pictures of Micah from when Kevin sold to him.) I loved that - he had tears in his eyes saying, "You all are so blessed by this. You'll see - that child is going to bless your life for years to come." I have to say, that is one of the best reactions to our adoption (from an almost stranger) that we have had. He said it right - we are so blessed.

So, I knew these things would come up, and hopefully as he gets older they will fade a bit, but I think for now I'm doing my best with the questions. Since most people assume he is "mine" and that my husband is African-American, I don't get too many questions. We get a few looks when we're all together, but nothing truly negative so far.

Ok - if you actually sat through and read all that - here are some cute pictures :)

Playing with his 'new' tigger doll - it bounces around - Micah just likes to grab it and chew on it while it bounces.

He's about to munch on tigger's tail.

With his bear from Erin, our Social Worker. The other day I was cleaning in his room and he was lying there just touching this bear's face. Very sweet.

Waking up from a nap.

GO BUCKS!!!

Micah is ready for the big game against Michigan today! Go Bucks!

Oh, and I didn't get a prom picture. Do you know how hard it is to get out of the house dressed fancy with a baby? But, to give you an idea, we looked pretty much like this...

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!
(I think I'm so funny.)

My New Favorite Shirt

OK - update - the spit up has ceased! I quit doing the rice cereal (except at bedtime) because the nipple speed was too fast for Micah. (You have to use a faster nipple when you add the cereal.) So, I went back to the old method and no more excessive spit-up. I mean, it still happens a little bit, but not like it was. So thanks everyone for your help.

And, (drum-roll please) Micah slept the ENTIRE night last night. Not one binky replacement necessary! Very exciting. It is amazing how much better I feel now that I am not waking up in the middle of the night. When we first came home, we were getting up 3-4 times a night, and it has been 3 months now and, on his own, he is sleeping through the night! Yippee!

And, this is my new favorite shirt. Because it has a cutie dog on it and because it is brown & blue and I love brown & blue together.

And, since you all love Micah's goofy faces - I figured I'd share this one. This is the face I get when I'm not doing what he wants. My child is strong-willed and wants what he wants when he wants it. Here, he wants me to stop taking pictures of him and pick him up. Sometimes it is hard not to laugh when he's being so mad...

Tonight Micah is going to Papa & Grandma K's while Kevin & I go to prom. Just kidding - it's not prom - it's his work's annual party but we get to dress up fancy, so I always joke it is prom. (I'll ask Kevin "When is prom again?" and he'll say, "It's not prom!" heehee) Maybe I'll make him pose with me for a prom picture and then I'll post it for you all! :)

Dancing In My Highchair & Other Rambles

This post has no point - I just want to ramble about some things - For your convenience, I will bullet-point my rambles.

*Today Micah was literally dancing in his highchair! A new adoption friend sent us some cds- some Dan Zane and

it's a bam bam diddly!

by Father Goose. So, I popped in Father Goose (mainly because of the name and also because my grade school music teacher, Sheryl Crow - [that's right - Sheryl Crow was my music teacher - we had bus duty together] was on the second track. The first track is great- and Micah was loving it! Thanks new adoption friend - we LOVE the cds.

*A couple of posts back Amy asked if I had hair secrets because I talk about doing Micah's hair. Unfortunately, I don't have any super secrets. I use a detangling spray (thanks Jen for the recommendation) because the hair on the back of his head gets pretty tangly. And I also use Burt's Bee's oil to make his curls all beautiful. I have baby fine hair - seriously, I know two-year -olds with more hair on their head - so, thick, beautiful, curly hair is like a dream come true for me - so I'll continue to enjoy "doing" his hair until we cut it. Oh - and I've also ordered this product based on another recommendation, so I'll let you all know how we like it - it should be here any day now...

* Micah is a spitter and it is getting worse! He used to spit up some, but now he is spitting up all the time. All. The. Time. I wear my ugly crocs a lot because, for some reason, it always ends up on my shoes and the floor (I can just rinse out the crocs). (Nice boy - he leans over to spit up when I'm holding him.) I've started added rice cereal to his bottles to help (I read that it might help) but that seems to be making it worse. Any advice? We need help!

* Yesterday I went in to CHI and dropped off a letter for Micah's Ethiopian Mom. I really do hope she receives it and that it makes her happy to hear how he is doing and to see pictures of him. I would love it if I could continue to send these letters and pictures, but I will understand if she chooses not to receive them. Since I dropped it off, I've been thinking a lot about her.

* It is really hard to find baby products without Petrolatum in them. Petrolatum (aka mineral oil) is defined as "colorless to yellowish-white hydrocarbon mixture obtained by fractional distillation of petroleum." That seems kind of scary to me - and I've always tried to avoid it in products that I use on myself, so I surely don't want to use petrolatum products on Micah. And, the baby books say to avoid it when dealing with dry patches (which we are). So, yesterday I went to the health food market and found this product from Desert Essence. It says right on the packaging that is is good for dry patches and is suitable for children. Yippee!

* I just started the book "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. (Thanks Julie for recommending it) It is amazing so far.

* I have finally finished addressing the majority of Micah's announcements. I have 60 ready to go and I'm waiting for a few more addresses. Do you think I overdid it? :)

* This weekend is the BIG game between Ohio State & Michigan. Kevin is a HUGE OSU fan. We were joking the other day about Micah playing for OSU someday (no pressure - only joking) and I asked Kevin what he would do if Micah took a scholarship to Michigan. He answered, without missing a beat, "Then I'd be a Michigan fan." Okay, seriously, that is LOVE.

* I was going to post some pictures, but stupid blogger doesn't seem to be able to upload pictures right now. Next time!

Let's Do Lunch (and go to the Zoo!)

Mr. Micah has had some fun this week - first on Thursday, we met Dad for lunch at the restaurant we both used to work at. He was the sous chef, I was the event planner. Yes, it may sound like the beginning of a bad romance novel, but actually we were married when we started working there. :) (Not to say that romance is dead once you get married... oh, I'm getting off track!)

Anyway! Kevin now sells food in the same territory that Eleven Eleven is in, so we met up for lunch - there were a few people there Micah wanted to meet...

Brittany and Pamela with Micah (with his classic "deer in the headlights" pose)

Micah loves Brittany.
Holding him is Wendy - she and her husband Paul own the restaurant. While we worked there it was like being part of their family, so it was great to see them again!

OK - this is just funny because of Paul's face and Micah's goofy face looking down at him.

It was a lot of fun to get out and meet with Kevin for lunch - and thank you to everyone at Eleven Eleven for a wonderful afternoon! :)

So then, on Saturday we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall day so we ended up at the zoo. The zoo always makes me sad, but I know I loved it as a child, so it's fun to take Micah. Here are some pictures...

Dad & Micah waving!! (His newest, greatest trick!)

He loved this ape that you could sit on...

I mean, he LOVED it! He was laughing the whole time!

Okay, and this is what made us laugh...

it's the little things people!

OH- Big News - Micah has discovered he has a tongue!

Yes, and he likes to show everyone that he has a tongue.

Priceless.

Please...

Please say prayers for sweet Jocelyn, or keep her in your thoughts as she is surely going through much pain and heartbreak right now.

Stupid Modem

So, our modem broke. It's broken and can't be fixed, so now we're waiting for them to send a new one... ho hum. I'm lost without the internet. Sad. But, thankfully, Kevin's laptop has an aircard and I can steal his computer and use it when he's not working. :) Otherwise I'd surely be going into serious withdrawal.

Since I have no pics to share on Kev's computer, I'll share the latest on Micah...

1. He has one new tooth - it's on the bottom and is so adorable. He is also getting one right next to that. I can't wait til they're both in - it will be so cute (but also a little sad because he is growing so fast!)

2. We went to the doc the other day and he weighs 18 lbs. and is 28.8 inches. He was 3 weeks away from being nine months at the appt (it was last week), but I think he was in the 60th percentile for height and the 20th for weight for a 9 month old. This is on the US scale even! So, I think he's doing great!! (I could be a little off on those #s - I can't remember and since Kev's aircard is slow - I'm not looking it up :)

3. I'm scared to say this out loud for fear it will jinx us, but Micah has kind of been sleeping through the night! He used to get up at least once, sometime twice, for a diaper change and a bottle. But, this last week he has been sleeping until it's time to wake up! (I'm not counting the 1-2 times we have to run in and replace a binky - that doesn't count yet.) I don't know if it's a fluke b/c we were keeping him up later to get ready for Daylight Savings Time, but we'll see. (BTW - Daylight Savings Time is no longer super-cool because we get an extra hour of sleep - see, Micah doesn't know that the clocks changed, so we really do not get an extra hour of sleep anymore. And, we had to work the entire week prior to the change to adjust his bedtime. I just thought I'd mention this in case any other new moms were thinking the same thing. :)

4. Micah's hair is super long!! I was looking at his pics from when we first met and he just barely had curls. Now it is at least an inch long and he has tons of curls! He doesn't like getting his hair done either, even though I keep telling him it makes him look handsome. He doesn't really care.

5. Micah has begun to wave! (Have I mentioned this already?) His first wave was to Pat at the grocery store. She calls him her little pumpkin (cute!) and she was saying "Bye-Bye little pumpkin" and he lifted his arm to wave. Kev and I were both there and we were so excited! (We'd been working on it :) Pat was pretty happy about it too.

6. Ok, so he isn't talking or anything, but this kid constantly, CONSTANTLY, says "Bah." As in "Bah, Bah, Bah, BAH, Bah, BAHHHH." He says it when he's in his high chair, in the car seat, in the exersaucer, and lying in bed when he first wakes up (or is refusing to nap). We think it's the cutest thing ever.

Ok - that's all for now, although I'm sure there's more adorable things to mention about Micah, but I have to get some emailin' done before Kevin needs his computer back. Stupid modem.

Ethiopian Babes

Last night we were lucky enough to meet up with 6 other families in the area who have adopted, or are adopting from Ethiopia. It is so great to connect with other families who have this shared experience. Our goal is to start a local group - similar to the Illinois Ethiopian Kids Community - where we can meet regularly so that our children grow up knowing other children from their birth country.

We met at an Ethiopian restaurant and basically took over one of their rooms. The kids all did great - they seemed to have a lot of fun. Next time I'm hoping we meet at someone's home so the moms and dads don't have to keep a constant eye on the little ones who are mobile, and so the smaller ones can get down on the ground and play together. Kevin couldn't make it (you'll see why) so I don't have any pictures because I was solo - the camera didn't make it out of the bag. Luckily, Christina & Deedra offered to hold Micah while I finished eating so I got to enjoy my yummy meal. (Thanks Christina & Deedra!!)

Micah was hilarious - he is cutting his second tooth so he was a little crabber before we left, but once we got there and he was distracted by everyone - he had a great time. By the end of the night he was babbling and laughing - he always gets a bit goofy when he's tired. I think that's way better than the alternative of getting very crabby when tired.

Here's the one picture I did get from the night - upon arriving home...

And, this is why Kevin couldn't join us...

He got to spend his evening with the Roto Rooter guy. Fun times. I was getting Micah dressed and Kevin had gotten out of the shower and gone down to the laundry room to get something out of the dryer when he found a semi-flooded room. Yuck. No big deal though - the plumber came over and fixed it and nothing was ruined. I just have a lot of laundry to do now because some of it was lying in piles waiting to be washed when it flooded. Oh well - it could have been worse!! :)