A quick update-- Micah's doing better and his tonsils are even smaller and he's acting much more normally. He just has some white residue on his throat. Also, Mike called this morning and asked if it was ok if he used today to organize and started work on the room tomorrow. I said yes, that would be alright. I didn't tell them that I was grateful that we didn't have to incubate the bacteria in the house!

Crazy week

This past week has been just weird. Micah woke up at 2 am Saturday morning with a fever. I didn't take his temp but I could just tell, so started him on acetaminophen. When he woke back up again at 6 (yay) he was acting cold and a little shaky and clingy. It was my day to go down to Seattle to get lab equipment, so we plugged in the DVD player for him and hit the road. He fell asleep at 10:40, about halfway into the drive, which is weird for him to fall asleep before about 1. On the way down, our realtor called and asked if a gal could look at our house (to buy). This was their second viewing, so we were encouraged. We made it down to Seattle, picked up the equipment, made a pit stop and headed home.

The whole way home Micah just looked sad and watery-eyed, just not moving in his car seat at all. We got home, threw down some lunch, put Micah to sleep, and started cleaning our house like mad. Our plan was to go to Outback Steakhouse down in Burlington with the Terrys while their trusty babysitter watched Hannah, Zac, and Micah at their house.

We woke Micah up to get out of the house by the time the people came to look at it (B & J: "Ok, I'll pick up Micah and you vacuum his room real quick. Ok, open his curtains and hide those cords. Don't forget to put those toys away. Those diapers stink. Spray something in here. "). As we headed over to the Terry's, I was feeling super guilty for leaving a sick kiddo with a sitter, but also didn't want to be an overprotective mom. When we got there, Micah wouldn't let go of me and Kimberlee took his temp with a handy ear thermometer. It read 104.3!!! No wonder he was acting so lethargic and burning up! So we waited long enough to make sure no one would be at our house anymore and swung by Arby's on the way home. It was about 5 and we were starving because we had been saving up for Outback. Then we started on an ibuprophen/acetaminophen alterating regimen and watched Wall-e as a family. Micah was in and out of sleep the whole time and wouldn't let go of me. "I want Mommy" he kept saying. He hardly ate or drank anything all day.

We put Micah down for bed at 8:30 and at 10:30 he started waking up every half hour until 1:30 am. I moved on to the couch so we wouldn't wake up Jeff (if it was any other night but Saturday, I wouldn't have cared, but he needs to rest before Sunday mornings. In fact, I would have shoved him out of bed to help with Micah.) Up again at 6:30 (yay) but Micah was acting totally normal. No way we were going to church though; I was exhausted. We started our "sing to Jesus" videos at 10:30 so we could sing at the same time as our church :) A few minutes later he had a slight fever again and, I was tired of his nasty sick breath so I suggested to him that we brush our teeth. When he opened his mouth, I saw the hugest, most disgusting tonsils I've ever seen. I felt like I had failed him on the whole fever thing, I wasn't going to fail him now! So we rushed to the first walk-in-clinic I found by the hospital and saw a PA.

She diagnosed him with a virus and prescribed a steroid to reduce the swelling and an antibiotic to combat secondary infection. Micah was a little charmer. I think he was proud of his tonsils because he said "Aaahhhh" every time she asked. His fever had gone down by then too, but she recommended that he see his doctor Monday.

So we went to the pharmacy, picked up the prescriptions, went home for lunch, gave him his first doses, and put him down for a nap. By this time Jeff was home from church. Then the pharmacist called and said that she had given Micah the wrong strength of steroid meds: three times the amount the PA had prescribed! She was asking if he was agitated, but he ended up sleeping for 3 hours. She was so apologetic and explained that it was not out of the range of what can be prescribed for his age and weight, but he ended up getting three days' worth in one. I went back to the pharm, they gave me the correct last two doses, a refund, and a gift card. I went back home and woke Micah up (at 5pm!) just to see if he was ok. He was fussy when I woke him up (who wouldn't be?) but otherwise acted normal. Praise the Lord that this mistake wasn't harmful. It may have simply decreased his tonsils and symptoms sooner than expected!

He did some funny things yesterday. He was playing happily in his playroom, so I left him to take a shower. Apparently, he did not approve, because he then came into the bathroom, stood at the end of the tub, and with a scowl, said, "Get out." I said, "You want Mommy to get out of the shower?" He nodded his head vigorously, still scowling, then stormed out of the bathroom! I gave him a bath after I had gotten dressed, then put him in his snowman towel that he wears after every bath. I put his clothes on him, but he still wanted to wear snowman over his clothes. I guess he missed him after not seeing him for a few days!

We stayed away from other kids today, but I certainly saw the effects of the steroids. Everything was intense for him. He was both more easily frustrated and he seemed extremely happy at other times--much less frequently, of course! We went to see his doc and she was impressed with how well his tonsils looked now and said that we may have the extra steriod to thank!

Meanwhile, we've been planning on having our utility room shored up and repaired. It's no small task and requires some rebuilding. At the end of October we talked to our friend's dad about doing it. I have been waiting since September to do a bacteria (harmless) lab with my homeschooling students tomorrow. I signed up in September and that's the experiment we drove to Seattle to get. Our house is some tight quarters, but I figured that I could put the crates, hot water bath, and incubator on top of the washer & dryer and just hold off from laundry for a while. Mike came by today to do some preliminary drawings of the repairs, and wouldn't you know, they want to start tomorrow? That means that we (Jeff) cleared out the laundry room completely, did all our remaining laundry tonight, they are removing the washer & dryer tomorrow, and the crates, water bath, and incubator are all in our kitchen, a dandy place to hold a bacteria lab. Awesome. I am not complaining one bit because we need a new laundry room before it falls down, but I just find it hilariously ironic that out of every Tuesday and Thursday between September and June, they decided to start tomorrow, the day of my lab. Ironically, last week, I had even thought, "Well, at least we still have an intact laundry room to hold all the lab supplies so I don't have to incubate E. coli in my kitchen!" So much for that. Don't worry, it's a harmless laboratory strain and I have bleach solution on hand and at the ready. So whoever reads this won't be apprehensive about coming to dinner. Maybe we'll come to your house instead. Can't be any worse than dissecting pigs on the kitchen table. Oops, I wasn't going to tell anyone we did that...

This week can only get less crazy. At least Micah's better. His fever made me appreciate how active he really is.

New Dishwasher!

Last night, Jeff and our friend, Joe (the electrician--not the plumber) put the finishing touches on installing our dishwasher!  I am so proud of Jeff because this was not a typical installation.  This entailed creating a whole new circuit breaker, cutting out a cabinet, rebuilding a cabinet, drilling holes in the cabinet to install the new incoming and outgoing plumbing works for the dishwasher.  I'm impressed with how he went from zero experience in dishwashers, to reading and researching, making 8 trips to Lowe's in 3 days, and making it happen.  Replacing a dishwasher is going to seem like cake to him after retrofitting the house to put one in.  Way to go, Jeff!

I was so excited to use it today that I forgot to put soap in when I ran it for the first time.  

Thanks to Kimberlee and Dan for selling us their former (and very nice!) dishwasher and to Joe for sharing your electrical expertise!  From the pictures, you can see plainly that Micah helped too:

M: What are doing, Daddy, what are doing?

J: I'm cutting boards, buddy.

M: What are doing, Daddy, what are doing?

J: I'm measuring, Micah.

M:  Daddy Stretch.  Micah's Stretch (Stretch is the character on Handy Manny that is a tape measure.  He was referring to Jeff's actual tape measure and his little tape measure figurine)

M: What are doing, Daddy, what are doing?

J: I'm drilling, buddy.

M What are doing, Daddy? what are doing?

You get the idea.....

Paper signing!

We signed papers on our Elizabeth St. House today!  Our realtor called us this morning for a 3 pm meeting with the title co. rep, our realtor, and our loan officer.   We were there from 3 to 5:15 signing papers for two closings: Elizabeth St. home purchase and Illinois St. home refinance.  Our realtor said he'd never seen a stack of signing papers so big.  Micah was a trooper, hanging out behind us, watching Handy Manny, playing with his Cars cars (pictured previously in the last post).  We won't move in until probably July, since there is a renter there.  But, it's official!  

Mr. Line-er Upper

Every day we are amazed at how Micah lines things up in an orderly, precise fashion.  Today I decided to take a picture of all the times he lined something up.  Keep in mind that all ordering is done by Micah himself. (Who knows where he got these tendencies.  I blame Jeff, a.k.a "Mr. organize-the-shirts-in-your-closet-by-color.")  See if you can find all Micah's patterns.  

A day in the life

This past fall I realized that I need lots of structure in my life.  Some people are go-with-the-flow people and some need routine, and I knew I was a structured person before, but I didn't realize that I was so structured that I just didn't do well without a routine.  The other Saturday Jeff was gone to a workshop and I didn't have anything on the calendar.  I went crazy because I didn't have anything planned for the day.  Not that I don't have things I could be doing--I do, but some of them are hard to do with Micah.  It took me a while before I realized that my job for the day was to be mom, buddy, train friend, park pal with Micah.  Duh.  

Also, I've noticed when I meet new people recently and we talk about "what we do," i.e. "work"  and people ask me if I work, I have a hard time answering that question.  I can't say I babysit kids, because  I only do it 2 afternoons a week.  I can't really say I'm a teacher, although I am, because I only have 4 students, 2 afternoons a week.  I can't really say I'm a "stay-at-home" mom, because Micah and I are rarely home.  

September began our schedule that we have going on right now.  Not that you're interested, but maybe you are curious as to what a day in the life looks like.  This is what Micah and I do every day.

Mondays:  

9 am: Micah plays with Caleb and is watched by his dad, our friend Thad.  I go to Trader Joe's, Haggen's, and either run other errands or go back home and prepare for my biology class.  

noon:  I pick up Micah and we have lunch at home.  He does not take a nap on Mondays.

3-5:30pm: We watch and play with Bjorn.

6 pm: dinner

7 -9 pm:  I go to BSF.  Jeff either goes to Band or stays home (every other week).  Every other week, Melina comes to watch Micah and put him to bed.

Tuesdays: 

10-11 am:  Micah and I meet with Kim, Madeline, and Lydia and go to Library Story Time

12:30-2:30: Biology class for my 4 awesome students.  Lori (another Micah crush) puts Micah down for his nap.

5-7 pm:  We help serve the "Loaves and Fishes" meal for homeless at our church.  Micah either greets everyone with Jeff or rides in my backpack and helps me in the kitchen.

Wednesday: 

10-12 am:  Mom's group through FBC at Adriele's house.  Kids are watched in another room by some terrific ladies and the moms pray for each other and go through a parenting book.  

noon: lunch, but another no nap day.

3-5:30 pm: play with/ watch buddy Bjorn

6 pm: dinner

7 pm:  Jeff has a meeting every other Wednesday at church.

Thursday: 

10-11:30 am:  Playgroup with some friends who all have kids the same age.

12:30-2:30:  Biology class

4:45: dinner

5:30-7: choir practice at church (then we take Micah to get Gelato!)

Friday:

 9-noon:  we play with/watch Caleb to swap for Monday mornings

noon-3ish: lunch and Micah's nap

afternoons:  we get together with the Terrys: Kimberlee and "ZacHannah"

Saturday:

4-ish:  Birth class playgroup

Sunday:

9:30: Worship team practice

10:30:  Church

I think I've backed myself into a corner in that because we do all these regular things, it's difficult to process or handle other things that come up, like birthday parties, packing to move, signing closing papers, fixing toilets, decorating for brunches, having dinner with friends, laundry, dishes, or getting sick.  I think it will let up for the summer.  

It does make me appreciate the special little spontaneous moments with Micah, when they happen, like pressing out pizza dough or skyping in the cabinet!  

Truck rescue!

*Read the previous blog entry below before reading this one.*  

Jeff came home with the wax toilet ring, a magnet, roto-rooter, and duct tape.  He was such a manly man and removed the toilet so we could retrieve the truck.  (We had put Micah down for a nap but he was still happily babbling and singing in his room)  Before digging down the pipe in the floor, we thought we should try inspecting the inner workings of the toilet first.  We tilted the toilet over and lo and behold, there was the little white truck staring back at me from the bottom of the toilet.  It went straight to the trash.  Yay for not having to call a plumber!  We have learned our lesson--no toys on the toilet!

Adventures in parenting

Last night we were taking Micah to the potty before bathtime.  He is playing with a little truck (naked & sitting on the toilet) when he accidentally dropped the truck into the toilet.  It instantly disappeared.  Jeff and I looked at each other wide-eyed, wondering why this possibility had never occurred to us.  So we stood Micah up (he hadn't gone yet) and Jeff reached in to retrieve the truck with a gloved hand.  He couldn't even feel it.  So we wondered if  we plunged down gently, then up forcefully, if the truck would be drawn up.  After a try, it didn't, but we tried it again and the truck made a brief appearance before it slipped back into oblivion.  Micah was upset at the force and thinks he's being bad when he gets upset, so he was standing, naked, crying, "time out, time out!"  We tried to comfort him.  So we tried the plunging again, and I stood ready to reach in and catch the truck while Jeff armed himself again with the plunger.  This time, when he yanked out the plunger, he also yanked out toilet water all over me and the floor.  We started laughing (thankfully, rather than cursing) but Micah was still crying.  We gave up for then and put Micah in the bath, but the toilet still flushes a little sluggishly.  Jeff's gone to get a magnet and another wax ring for the toilet so we can take it off the floor and go looking for the truck.  We'll see what happens.

Happy Birthday Jeff! (and Joel too!)

Happy #33 to Jeff and his bro Joel!  We celebrated this morning with pancakes and presents.  This time last year Jeff was in Israel.  Here's to "and many more" together!  

Micah celebrated Daddy's birthday by wearing big boy underpants for the first time today.

So it snowed three tim

es today for a few minutes each, with sunshine in between.  Weird day.  It was also weird because we hit some roadblocks on our house situations.  Our closing was pushed back again because of some rental requirements from the bank and we found out that we can't sell the lot behind our

 house (our backyard) because of some substantial legal issues that require even the mayor's ok.  Bummer.  

Today Micah and I made pizza together and he "helped me" roll out the dough.  (We get the ready-made dough from Trader Joe's--I'm not that Martha Stewart) I sat him on the counter next to the dough and separated a little ball to poke and he kept dumping more flour on it.  He liked to pick at it with the fork and pressed my rings into it (that I had removed to work the dough)  It was a fun little moment.  

We cleared a cabinet out to install a dishwasher and Micah thinks we did it just for him.  Tuesday we 

were skyping with my parents and Micah wanted Nana Weezie and Grampa Benno and Mommy in the cabinet with him.  So in went Micah, then the computer, then mommy's head and he thought it was hilarious.  He kept repeating, "and Nana Weezie and Grampa Benno and mommy too!)

Another funny thing that happened was that this week my

 students and I concluded our anatomy study with a fetal pig dissection.  Months ago whe

n I went to SEP to sign up for my science kits, I found what I thought were disposable lab co

ats in the surplus supply.  I thought that it would be fun to grab these for my students so they w

ould feel really scientific when 

they did the dissection.  So tuesday I passed the "lab coats" out to them but when they unfolded them, they were actually full-on jumpsuits!  I offered to them to cut them off at the waist but they wanted to wear them!  They were protected from their ankles to their fingertips against any stray pig parts.  It was pretty funny.