Micah the Maniac

Micah's personality has come out in the last couple months... like a hurricane she blew past the baby and is now constantly into everything and looking to discover what else can can crawl into/under/through and get stuck.

Her most favorite pasttime? Finding things on the floor to eat. Even if you've just swept, she'll find something. Her finger dexterity is pretty stinkin' amazing, I do have to say that, but I fish something out of her mouth no less than 20 times a day. No exaggeration.

She started crawling at 6.5 months. She's now, at 9 months, walking and pushing things around the house. She likes to try to throw herself off your lap or out of your arms. She still loves being upside-down. She'd rather feed herself than be fed and loves to eat real people food. She only has 2 teeth completely in (with another that just broke through yesterday) but she manages to eat pretty much whatever she wants.*

Here's a vides that shows her in all craziness. Enjoy!





* Including half a newt. That was fun to pull out of her mouth. Blech.

Stuff to say

So it seems that I often have these musings, realizations, and thoughts throughout the day, with no real outlet to get them out. My 2-year-old and 8-month-old aren't too interested in Mommy's random thoughts as much as when I'm going to give them their respected beverages. Mark often says that I don't get enough of my quota of words out during the day and he's assaulted with the leftovers in the few precious hours we have together at night.

So, to help with both these issues, I'm thinking of writing here every once in awhile. Anyone opposed to that? Leave a comment with your thoughts...

So here's the first installment in Melissa's Musings.

Today I was working out with Jillian (i.e. I was doing the 30 Day Shred) and during one of the exercises she makes a comment (that goes something like this, because I can't remember exactly):

"When it starts getting uncomfortable, that's when it matters most."

And I started to think about true that is. Not just in exercising but for life in general. I think back to all the times where I was just plain uncomfortable and it seems that's where the most good came out of my life. Where I grew the most and became closer to God.

Moving away to a college where I only knew one person was uncomfortable. But without moving to UT and joining Phi Lamb I wouldn't have the relationship with God that I have today (or possibly any relationship with God).

Our first year of marriage was uncomfortable. Quite uncomfortable. But the foundation of fighting through the rough periods brought us to a place where we know each other deeply. We realized what it really means that love is a choice. We learned how to interact, communicate, and how to fight. We learned how to love the other person in the way they needed to be loved.

Colic was uncomfortable. There are no words. But, in some weird way, I think it made me a better parent. It gave me patience (that I greatly need right now as I still find myself running out). It gave me a frame of reference to what bad days really are (at least she isn't screaming at us all the time). And I really understood unconditional love... because I loved this kid, no matter how many hours the screaming went on.

Obstructive sleep apnea + a newborn was uncomfortable. But God, did I learn about myself. I learned to let people help me. I learned that I am not superwoman. I learned that sleep really is kinda important (imagine that!) . I learned that I don't have to go it alone. That God is there for me but so are so many other people. And to just get over myself, already. And also that I hallucinate when severely sleep deprived.

So... are you in a position that feels uncomfortable? Hang in there. It will be one of those times that matters the most. Look for the blessings and the lessons. Cling to God's promises, because even if it doesn't feel like it at the time, He's there. Looking back at all these uncomfortable times in my life, I can see God in every one of them. Whether He was just holding my hand and getting me through or pushing me past the point I thought I could endure.

You gotta be uncomfortable sometimes to see real results.

Miss Sassypants

So lately Mia has become quite the sassy girl. I'm not sure who she thinks her mama is, but it's not going over well. Though... I have to admit some of the things she comes up with are quite funny. Here's some of the latest. And yes, these are all real quotes.

Mia: NO! YOU are the kid and I am the adult! You sit in the car seat and I'll drive and then we will NOT leave the zoo.
***

Mia: Mommy! The sun is up! It's time to wake up!
Me: Mia, the rule is you stay in your room until your clock says 7.
Mia: Well, it's 7 somewhere.
***

Mia: Mommy! It's time to wake up! The sun is up. (sense a theme?)
Me: Mia, honey, it's completely dark in your room.
Mia: (goes and opens her closet door) Well, it's light now.
***

Me: So, Mia, what was your favorite part of dance class?
Mia: Um, Mommy? I'm on the phone here.
Me: Mia, that wasn't polite (blah blah blah)... and how was I supposed to know you were on the phone? You aren't holding a phone.
Mia: I'm on the bluetooth. So Granddad about those ducks...
***

At the zoo a helicopter flies overhead...
Random zoo guy: Hey kids! Did you see that airplane! Pretty cool, huh?!
Mia: (walking off, thankfully) *sigh* That wasn't an airplane, that was a helicopter.

Cute Mia

Crazy Mia... A ball for a hat! Craziness!

Sassy Mia mid-eyeroll

Sea Center

So we had to check out the Sea Center in Lake Jackson. We've heard a ton about it and since Mia has pretty much been in love with fish for forever, it seemed like a good choice. If you haven't gone, I highly recommend it! It's free and it's so calming to sit and watch the fish swim around.

Mia can't stop smiling watching the fish swim around.

Looks like we have another fish-lover!

Dory and Nemo/Marlin!

(You have no idea how long it too me to get this picture...)

Mia talking to the turtles.

At the Sea Center, octopus seems the obvious choice of snack.

Mia and Mommy working on the fish rubbings.

The obligatory family picture... with both girls crying. It was lunchtime and naptime.

Picnic in the park

Or just in our backyard.

These are from back in May... I'm trying to catch up obviously. But they were too good to pass up! Enjoy!

So it was a lovely day in May; too lovely to stay inside. So we packed up some lunchables that I'd found as a steal at Kroger and headed outside!
(also -- I'm trying the captions above thepictures this time, as the spacing has been weird. Just a warning!)

Eating outside? With an oversized Strawberry Shortcake sticker? Awesome!

Micah almost foiled the plan of outside eating by taking a freakishly long nap. Never fear, just cart her outside in the carrier, swaddle and all!

Mia gives the picnic two thumps way up!

Micah awakes and stretches to find herself outside and a bit confused.

Dancing with a cookie? Oh yeah.

Happy girl

Oh grass! Where have you been all my life? I shall eat you now.

We are alive!

So yeah... the computer saga lives on... Hopefully we have something figured out that will work for us better.

Mia's surgery went well. It's amazing the difference in the child. Now that she's sleeping, it is like somebody switched her. She is (mostly) agreeable and helpful and only throws 5-6 fits a day, as opposed to an hour (well, she is still a 2-year-old. can't expect miracles, right?).

Mia did really well during the whole ordeal. she was very brave and didn't cry at all when they took her back (without us! ack!). She was very upset and out of it when she woke up which was so sad! She rebounded quickly, though and was even able to go home the same day, which they said doesn't always happen with kids her age. But within a week she was doing much better and at two weeks she was herself again. Well, herself several months ago at least.

We tried to take some pictures to make it fun and seem like an adventure. Enjoy!

On the way to the hospital very early in the morning... documented proof that she actually fell asleep in the car!

Micah joined in the car naptime, too.

Mia playing with all the new toys with Grampy. She did so good for not having eaten!

Micah wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she liked it.

Modeling her much-too-big PJs.

TRACTORS!

The aftermath...

This is after the morphine. Sleepy girl.

Car ride home... poor baby

Cute things

There are the times when your kids do such amazing things that you never want to forget them but they happen so fast you don't have a camera nearby. Here are some of those moments.

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Mia has learned "The Lord's Prayer". She loves saying it and I was even able to get it on video (grrr, stinkin' videos). This is how she starts out:

Our Father, You are in Heaven...
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Micah has learned to growl. She does it all the time, especially when eating her feet or trying to eat your face. We call her "The Micah Monster". It's a fitting name. She's also "Micah the Lion." Her love is ferocious.

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As much as you try not to compare them, it's impossible. Micah, at 4.5 months, give or take, is way, way more talkative than Mia ever was. Sometimes I'm already asking her to "Give mama a minute" or "You are hurting my ears!" She's intense with her love and joyfulness and wants to express it AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE!

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Now that Micah can roll over both ways, she wants to be on her tummy all the time. No matter that the day before she learned to roll over she hated her tummy, it was the worst place ever, the end. Now it's awesome and rolling over is the best thing ever. Little monkey!

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Mia still loves to repeat everything you say, except now she has an even better memory (oh dear!). The other day, I had finished my 30 Day Shred video (Level 2 baby!) and was telling Mark about it.

Me: This level has a lot more arm work. It has been well-established that I have zero upper-body strength. I think my arms are going to fall off.

Mia: Oh mommy! I hope your arms DON'T fall off!



and later...

Mia: Hey Mommy, when do you think your arms are going to fall off?



It probably doesn't help that my Uncle Ed only has one arm...

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Mia is convinced that I am on T.V. She has decided that not only am I Vanna White, but I'm also Jillian from the 30 Day Shred. Rock on!

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The other day we were going through the alphabet (in random order, cause Mia totally calls me on it) and quizzing Mia on letter sounds. It went something like this:

Us: Mia, what does "Mouse" start with. Mmmm-Mmmmm Mouse?
Mia: M!
Us: Yay! *and falling all over ourselves because of course she's the cutest thing to walk this planet*

So we got to R. She correctly identifies that rainbow starts with "r." Then she informs us:

"R means 'back-up'"

I was thoroughly confused until Mark pointed out that R is for 'Reverse'... as in the car. Duh! She got that one from Granddad.

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Micah is still not a big laugher. She laughs, oh she giggles. But she just doesn't think we're that funny. What does she laugh at? Being thrown up in the air! Being held upside-down. And, of course, being scared. As in, look away from her; then turn your head at her really fast and shout "BOO!" or pretend to sneeze. She's startled for a minute and then she laughs.

Isn't It Ironic... Don't ya think?

So, irony of ironies, Guess what is Micah's new favorite pastime?


Oh yes, the baby who would not under any circumstances flip over in the womb now loves to be upside-down .

Stinker. That's my little upside-down baby for ya.

What's up?

So 2 months is a long time to go without blogging. What has been going in that time? Here's a recap:

There was a wee bit of this...

And then there was this (aka, the best night of Mia's life... hopefully more on that later)

Mia wishes there was more of this...

Then Micah had a question... Yes, Micah?

Ah, yes, that's a ceiling fan. You think it's the best thing ever.

And then she started doing this.

There was a lot of this. Still is.

And then some more of this. This is her "I'm sleeping, don't bother me" face.

And now there's lots and lots of this.

And, of course, there is always this.

There's been a lot of practicing. She's still alllllmost there.

Baby dedication day. And Mother's Day. Awesome. And I think that's Granddad's arm.

And if we are good there are special treats

There ya have it. About 2 months worth of blogging. Whew! I'm exhausted!

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

Survivor. Oh yes, we have been in survival mode around here.

Around the time of our last post... about 2 1/2 months ago now, things started getting a bit hectic around the Davenport House (as if life with a toddler and an infant wasn't enough). Mia started fighting sleep -- naps, bedtime, middle of the night, you name it. Not only was she fighting going to sleep, but she often woke up several times a night. So our nights looked a lot like this:

Get Mia to bed around 8pm. Put her back in bed every 10-15 minutes until 10pm-midnight (or later!). Wake up 2-3 times after that and put her back to sleep. Get up at 7am. Lather, rinse, repeat. And fall asleep in your coffee.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that Micah doesn't sleep though the night? Like most babies? Yep, we're pretty tired around here.

Anyway, we tried everything -- punishments, spanking, taking away special treats, locking her in her room, sitting by her bedside, short naps, no naps, freakishly long naps, earlier bedtime, later bedtime, etc, and so on and so forth. Nothing worked. It was all a recipe for disaster and frustration on all our parts. Obviously, something was wrong.

We mentioned this to the physicians assistant at her doctor. She said that sounded like she was dropping her nap, to give it a week or so and it'll work itself out. And take this zyrtec.

Nope, nada, zilch. Except now we had to buy zyrtec.

So we went to see her pediatrician and mentioned this all to him. Plus a host of other symptoms (snoring among others). He referred us to an Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) doctor in Houston. After some internet searching and asking around Mark and I were pretty sure what her diagnosis would be, but were torn in hoping for it...

We went to the ENT last week and our suspicions were confirmed. Mia has obstructive sleep apnea caused by very large adenoids and tonsils. She has to have them out. (and she doesn't have allergies in his opinion, ditch the zyrtec! yay!)

The surgery is schedule for June 16th. We're still quite torn about everything. Obviously no parent ever wants their child to undergo surgery. But she (and we) can't keep going on like this either. The ENT was great... he pointed out a bunch of symptoms that we didn't even realize were related and promised us a a "very different kid" when it was all over and done with.

We love our Mia. Desperately. But man... a kid who sleeps would be nice.

So we wait in survivor mode. A good night she sleeps though the night (but alas it isn't "good" sleep so she isn't rested by any means). An average night she gets up 3-4 times. Rough nights it's about every hour.

So there ya have it. That's the reason for the lack of posts. It's hard to write when the computer screen is fuzzy from lack of sleep.

First Haircut

I'm trying to catch up on some big Mia things. There will be more Micah pictures soon, I promise!

So on March 14, 2009 at 27 months Mia had her first haircut. It's amazing we were able to go that long! But her hair just grew in a very nice shape. Honestly, it has looked like we've always cut it, what a lucky girl. I'm not thinking Micah's old-man-receding-hairline hairdo is going to do the same. Sad.

But, alas, her hair was getting quite scraggly and she had an important event coming up, so we had to make the first cut. She was so brave and sat very still the whole time. She even let Cassandra blow-dry her hair! Her hair style is exactly the same, just a bit healthier.

The before

So excited to be sitting in the big chair!

First cut

Loving the after-styled look.

Side-view of the "flip"

Back-view. Maybe I'm biased, but I think her hair is gorgeous.

Micah was there, too. She was underwhelmed, at best. Or maybe she was just embarrassed that she was still in her PJs?

Jesus Loves Me

You talk. And you talk. You talk, talk, talk about being kind. About helping each other. About Jesus and God. About doing to other what you would have them do to you. Being a great big sister. How much Jesus loves us... etc, and so on and so forth*.

There are so many days I wonder if it's all for me. If it's just me talking to hear myself speak or because I don't get enough adult conversation during the day. And then this happens and you realize... she really is listening. And more than that she's getting it.

Thank you, Lord.

The words might be a bit hard to understand, but Mia is singing "Jesus Loves Me" to Micah... a song she likes to be sung to her when she's feeing sad or sick. What you don't know is that this particular day, Micah had a little cold. Mia was trying to help her feel better.

PS -- I love that Micah gets bored about half-way through and looks the other direction. Ha! Stinker.

* Gotta love a Canoy throw-back.

Sisters

Before Micah was born we were a bit worried to see how Mia would react to her... the little squeaking thing that has all of a sudden taken all of Mommy's time, attention, and energy.

We really shouldn't have worried so much about that.

Honestly, the problem we've had is Mia loving on her TOO much. Sure, we have our moments where Mia is upset because we can't do something for or with her, but she's angry with us, not Micah. She wants to love and hug on her all day. She talks to her and tries to help her feel better when she's upset.

Just yesterday, they were both up on the counter while I was trying to get some meat marinating. Mia was showing me an ouchie on her arm and Micah was looking at the lights in the kitchen (they are apparently quite cool). Micah started fussing and Mia went into her dialog to help her feel better, "It's okay, Micah. It's okay. Mommy making dinner, Micah. We need to eat. Mia has an ouchie on my arm, Micah. It's okay."

So sweet. Not as effective as she hoped, but sweet nonetheless. :)

Pictures!

blurry, but sweet

Mia kiss her? all day long!

She loves to do tummy time with her.