Summer - Part III

After all of our traveling in July, we managed to still stay busy in KC during August.  On 8/4, I took Michael to Crown Center for a free jungle exhibit with his Godmother, Jill, and her son, Rylan.  As I expected, Michael was a little freaked out by the stuffed gorillas.  He enjoyed a computer game, coloring, and pretending to build a bridge.  We ate lunch together then Michael and I hung out in the toy store where he was entranced by the cars.

Michael had complained of pretty bad stomach pain several times that week, but he always seemed to get over it right when we got concerned.  That night, the pain got so bad that we called a nurse hotline and the nurse we spoke to recommended taking him to the ER in case he had intussusception (a "telescoping" of the intestine).  Needless to say, we were very worried.  This was the first time we'd ever taken Michael to the ER and the first time he'd ever been to see a doctor for anything other than a well visit.  He was screaming and crying when we arrived and the staff at Children's Mercy ER was very kind.  After initial examination, they decided to take x-rays and do an ultrasound of his abdomen.  They gave him some pretty strong pain medication (name), which really helped to calm him down.  During the ultrasound, he was talking about the Cars pictures on the wall and asking "How's the baby?"  (We couldn't help but crack up at this as he was obviously remembering when he watched my ultrasound.)  After several hours of waiting, we finally heard that the tests showed no problems with his digestive tract other than a large amount of poop.  We were extremely relieved that it was nothing serious.  They gave him a milk and magnesia enema and they sent him home after a large BM.  He really didn't have any problems after that.  Although we don't know exactly what caused the constipation, we think it might have been a combination of all of the time in the car and the fact that he had eaten more dairy than he is used to that week (some pizza one day, ice cream another day, a cheese stick on three separate days).  Not a lot, just more than he's used to.  I've been afraid to give him dairy ever since, but plan to try again slowly someday.

In the meantime, Michael LOVES dairy-free sorbet.  On 8/7, we took him to play at Loose Park then to Glace (my favorite place for ice cream).  Michael loves it at least as much as I do.  He actually really impressed us when we were driving on the same street as Glace, but going somewhere else and he said, "I want to go to the ice cream store."  John and I were sitting in the front seat saying how he surely didn't know where we were.  When we turned instead of going straight to Glace, Michael yelled out, "No!  Go that way!" pointing straight.  He has apparently inherited John's keen sense of direction.

On 8/13, John & I spent the day on Longview Lake with some close friends.  We try to rent a pontoon with 5 other couples once a summer.  It was nice to spend the day together relaxing and enjoying perfect weather.  Michael didn't come with us, but had fun feeding the fish.

On 8/18, I took Michael back to Loose Park to go to the spray park with Jen & Gus. Michael was a little scared at first, and never fearless in the water; but he did master sitting on the low-flow sprayers :)
He avoided getting his face and head wet, but I think he definitely had more fun than last year (when he clung to me for dear life).

John & I celebrated our 9-year wedding anniversary (8/17) on Friday, 8/19.  John was so sweet and sent a beautiful bouquet of 9 red roses to my work.  That night, we went to Salavtore's for a delicious Italian dinner, Glace for dessert, then to the theater to see Horrible Bosses (which was funny, but not as much as we had hoped).

On Sunday, 8/21, John's summer softball league ended with a forfeit by the other team.  The team and their families went out to dinner after together.  The restaurant gave the kids masks and for some reason, some of them decided to take a belly photo.  Here's Michael with his friends: Myla, Macy, and George.

Jen & I made a second attempt to take Michael & Gus to Deanna Rose on 8/25 (after the park closed early due to lightning back in June).  Unfortunately, Michael was still afraid of the animals - except the ground hogs.  Michael watched from his stroller as Gus fed the goats and petted the horses.  His favorite part seemed to be the garden, which had a cute little bridge and painted stepping stones.  We took them on a horse-drawn hay ride.  I was worried that Michael would be too scared, but once he knew that I was sitting with him, he was fine the whole time.  It was a crack-up watching him trying to get a ground-hog to eat a stick.  He loved playing in the sand at the playground before going to have a picnic lunch.

In another attempt at "immersion therapy," John & I took Michael to the KC Zoo on 8/27.  Laura & Brian and their 3 boys and Mark & Sarah came too.  Michael was less scared than when we went last October, but still a little hesitant and slow to warm up.  We got a great video of the boys pretending to be monkeys together.

Michael is just so fun to watch grow and learn.  He impresses us with his ability to memorize books and his nightly prayer.  He also picks up lines from others and TV that he will use appropriately or at funny times.  For example, he'll tell me all about how he's doing something then end with "and that's how my work is done."  Once, he drew me a picture of 4 circles and told me it was "Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars."  He even told me which ones were hot and which ones were cold.  I'm not sure if he was right or not ;)

We are STILL working on potty training.  Michael has good days and bad days, but isn't consistently giving us enough warning yet.  He continues to have some accident-free days, but we have to watch him closely and remind him to go and he often resists.

His speech has become even more clear now that he is using /k/ and /g/ at the beginning of words almost all of the time.  He had been using them at the end and in the middle of words already, so now he's pretty much got that sound down.

Superbaby is growing and doing well!  On 8/3, John was able to come with me to meet one of the three midwives.  We don't know which of them will deliver the baby.  It just depends on who is on call.  Fortunately, I've gotten to know all of them and feel comfortable with them.  We reviewed our birth plan and it sounds like this hospital is going to give us even more freedoms than the hospital where Michael was born.  I was excited to hear that I get to wear my own clothes and can eat during labor.

As of 8/18, I had gained 26 lbs and Superbaby's heartrate was 136-147.  The heart rate prompted the midwife to guess again that he/she is a girl.  I would say that about 90% of people guess that we're having a girl.  Although it would be nice to have a girl in the family, a boy would be exciting too.  Here's a picture of my growing belly at 32 weeks (8/22).

I've gone back to doing yoga regularly, which I just LOVE.  I've been going twice a week and I really feel like it's helping me prepare for labor.  Also, it helps my body to feel better and more relaxed in general.  I've also started making water kefir at home from grains.  It is a little overwhelming at first, but I'm learning.  I want to stick to it because the health benefits are supposed to be amazing.  Michael loves to drink it and calls it his juice.  I can usually get John to plug his nose and take a quick drink (even though it really doesn't taste bad).

John has kept himself busy too.  He went back to work as soon as we came back from Austin at the beginning of August.  He has a new principal, which brings changes to his work routine.  He is enrolled in 2 classes this semester - one in Warrensburg and one online.  This means that he is gone one night a week, but he is so sweet to sometimes make two dinners the night before so that I still don't have to attempt to cook.  (I think he just feels bad for Michael.)  John was also asked to sit on the school board at O'Hara, our alma mater.  He's only had one meeting so far.

Watch out...I'm getting close to being caught up!  Next blog - Sept, 2011!

Summer - Part II

On July 14, Michael and I took the train to Jefferson City.  This was his second train trip.  The first one was 2 summers ago to St. Louis.  He was very excited to see the train and to look out of the window.  He kept saying, “This is great!” when we first sat down.  He did well for the first 2 hours, but grew restless for the last 45 minutes or so.  The trip was a little delayed because flooding had increased traffic on the track.

When we got to Jeff City, we were picked up at the station by my friend, Susan.  Susan and I were roommates for 2 years in undergrad.  She had her two boys, Johnathan (age 6) and Justin (almost 4) with her.  We went to lunch at Panera, where Michael thoroughly enjoyed a frozen strawberry lemonade.  We went to a park for a while, but couldn’t stay long because of the heat.  Michael had a blast playing with Johnathan & Justin at their house until John came to pick us up. 

Our next stop was n St. Charles, MO.  We visited with another of my undergrad roommates, Jenny.  She and her husband have two boys as well, J.D. (age 6) and Isaac (almost 2).  They took us to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner (yum!) and we enjoyed watching the boys play together.  The next morning, Michael loved playing in a slip ‘n’ slide for the first time with J.D.  He was very hesitant at first, but ended up sliding down on his belly (albeit slowly) as J.D. pushed his feet.

That afternoon, we drove out to Scott AFB to see my old neighbor and good friend, Jennifer.  Jennifer has 4 kids: Dylan (age 9), Aubrey (age 5), Evan (age 2), and Owen (age 1).  John & Dylan played catch in the backyard while Michael played cars & blocks with the other kids.

After a nice visit, we headed back to St. Louis to Uncle Joe’s house.  He and his family were packing up for a trip to Gulf Shores, but made time to visit with us.  Michael quickly became attached and would wander the house saying, “Uncle Joe!” or “Aunt Sue!”   For dinner, he had his first taste of St. Louis style pizza.  We were so glad to get to see Uncle Joe, Aunt Sue, Scott, and Michelle before they had to leave bright and early the next morning.

On Saturday, we drove to Waterloo, IL for a memorial service.  Our dear friend, Olivia, lost her younger brother in a motorcycle accident.  The service was beautiful and heartbreaking.  Our thoughts & prayers continue to be with Olivia and her brother’s family.

That evening, we returned to St. Louis and met up with my friend from grad school, Shana, and her son Liam (age 3).  We went out to dinner in downtown Kirkwood with them and Shana’s boyfriend, James.  Michael enjoyed playing and watching movies with Liam til late in the evening.

Sunday, we went to Grandma Kay’s house.  We had a lovely visit even though she wasn’t feeling her best.  From there, we went to Aunt Pat’s house for brunch with her, Catie, and Sean.  The food was delicious!  Michael had a ball playing with Aunt Pat and eating a ton of berries. 

Before heading back to KC, we stopped in St. Charles again to see Grandpa  & Marsha.  Unfortunately, Michael was wiped out and fell asleep on the way there.  As he napped, we watched the Cardinals and the Women’s World Cup final while visiting.  When Michael woke up, he enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with Grandpa & Marsha.


On our way home, we ate dinner in Columbia at Addison’s.  John took Michael to the bathroom.  When someone else came in, Michael peeked under the door of the stall and proclaimed, “Oh!  A customer!”  

Michael was a champion.  Overall, he was really good in the car and tolerated being driven all over from house to house really well.  After a while, he would get in the car and ask, “Where are we going next?”  We got a video of him doing voices as he played with his Toy Story figures. 

The day after we got back, I had an appointment with my midwives.  I think the out-of-town dining was a little rough on me and I failed my blood glucose screening (i.e., my blood sugar level was too high).  Needless to say, I was very bummed.  Because of that, I had to take a 3-hour test on Thursday.  I did fine during the test, but felt terrible about 30 minutes after it was over.  I hadn’t eaten for 15 hours and I felt really really hot and shaky.  After consuming about  a million calories at Chipotle, eating a cookie, and taking a nap, I finally started to feel better.  I was relieved to find out on Monday (7/25), that I had passed the test.

I am in my third trimester now and will start having appointments with my midwives every 2 weeks.  John and I are going to work on our birth plan.  I feel like I should do some inventory of baby items sometime soon too and bring those out of the basement.  I have been getting tired easily and often don’t feel like doing much more than work and taking care of Michael.  I have managed to somehow keep our flowers alive despite this crazy heat.  The rose bushes we planted in May are really taking off.

Michael is still mastering potty training.  We have accident-free days and 8-accident days (although the latter are rare, thank goodness).   We usually have to remind him and take him to the bathroom.  When he tells us he has to go, he usually doesn’t give us much warning.  However, he is slowly getting better.

He is showing more and more independence every day.  We work with him on putting things away and helping with little things around the house.  He is sure to let us know what he wants and doesn’t want.   In fact, I think his most common sentence is “I don’t want to ________.”

On July 28, we drove to Oklahoma City to visit my grandma and Great-Aunt.  We hadn’t seen them since January and it was so great to see them doing well.  We took them out to dinner that night and my grandma was getting around better than she has in a long time.  Michael also did better in the hallways and dining room in her retirement community.

 The next day, we continued driving south to see our friends, Jen & Jason, in Round Rock, TX – just outside of Austin.  Jen & Jason have 2 boys, Nicholas (age 6) and Matthew (age 3), and a new baby girl, Katie (5 weeks).  John had visited them once before, but this was the first time Michael & I had been there.  Michael was completely engrossed in their toys (mostly cars) for the majority of the time.   

We took the kids swimming in their neighborhood pool.  Michael was extremely tentative at first, reluctant to even get in  the 1-foot kiddie pool.  He got used to it fairly quickly and I was able to get him in the big pool where we could try out a few different flotation devices.  The life jacket was just funny because he would just bob up and down and I had to make sure he didn’t roll over and land face down in the water.  He liked using a ring floatie, but of course it would have been easy for him to slip out.  The best option was a puddle jumper.  He was able to move around more freely and more independently.  He got very brave and hung out in the deep end with John for quite a while.  He had a ton of fun!

Saturday, we took the kids to the outlet malls.  We bought Michael two cars at the Disney Store since he had so much fun with Nicholas’s & Matthew’s.  Later, we went to IKEA.  It was the first time I’d been there, and it was a lot to take in.  I really enjoyed it and wished we had one closer to us.  Michael had refused a nap earlier in the day, so he fell asleep in John’s arms and slept for most of the 2 hours we were there.  Afterwards, we grilled out at Jen & Jason’s and had a nice dinner together.  The boys played outside on the playground and with the soccer ball.  Michael made a good attempt at hoola hooping, but without success.  He did like lying on his stomach on the swing and pretending to fly, though.  We are really having to work hard with Michael on how to share and interact with his friends.  He tends to find favorite toys and hoard them.  He will sometimes throw a fit when forced to share.  The boys did have one really good play time that lasted about 20 minutes.  They were talking to each other and sharing as they pretended to make pizza and birthday cake.

That night, Michael was reluctant to fall asleep.  When we came upstairs to go to bed, he had finally crashed on the floor beside the bed.  He slept on his own for part of the night, but woke up with nightmares and seemed very scared.  He crawled in our bed and kicked John out.

In the morning, we drove into Austin to try out breakfast at Juan in a Million, a restaurant that had been featured on Man Vs. Food.  The breakfast tacos and coffee were awesome.  Michael devoured his refried beans! 

Next, we headed back to Oklahoma City to spend another night at my grandma’s.  Michael was delighted to try his first ice cream sundae at IHOP after dinner!  It was so nice to get to spend even more time with my grandma and Aunt Elaine.  We headed back home the next day after brunch.

 
Summer 2011 to be continued...