Brain Dump and a Hickey

It has been an insane week - no time to post! I think I will do a "hodge-podge" post today and try and catch you up on everything, including my new hickey. Yes, I said hickey.

Last night, I looked in the mirror, and there was a big giant mark on my chin. For the life of me, I could not figure out how it got there. I tried washing my face (hey, I've been busy - I thought perhaps I had dirt on my face, or a trail of chocolate) but the mark did not budge. I thought it over, and I decided that Micah must have accidentally head-butted me, and I simply forgot about it. Except the spot was not sore in the least, so I still had my doubts. Today, I was sitting here with our organizer and holding Micah while he stood on my lap. He leaned over, and decided to latch on my chin and start sucking like crazy. I started to laugh because I remembered that he spent all night on Wednesday doing the same thing...and I'm certain I have identified the source of my chin hickey. Micah is teething, and he was so fussy on Wednesday, and it seemed to be the only thing that was soothing him. Like every good mother, I just let him gnaw away on my chin because I'd really had enough of the fussing. I think I'll wear the hickey as a badge of honor - it should look great with my dress at the wedding on Saturday night.

Work has been crazy for me this week. I agreed to do an interview survey of 14 projects to look at their policies and procedures and help identify some best practices and make recommendations to improve their program. Each interview lasts 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and we have been trying to cram as many as possible in this week. On Monday, while Micah was in daycare, I did 3 interviews, another conference call, and tried to get some other work done. On Tuesday, our new babysitter started work! She was great with Micah, and it freed me up to do a few more interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday. I cut my day a bit short on Wednesday because Micah was a fuss-budget, and I was afraid of scaring the babysitter. Thursday, Micah went to the babysitter's house - my friend's kids were there, and another neighborhood kid, so it was a big giant playgroup. It worked out well, as I had 2 more phone interviews, a GE tech came to replace the microwave that caught fire two weeks ago, and the cleaning crew was here. I hope I presented an air of calm on my interviews despite the surrounding chaos. I was hoping the babysitter would return again today, but no such luck - she had other plans. DH covered Micah while I did an interview this morning. He left for a meeting around 11:30, and I managed to sneak in 2 other conference calls while Micah napped. I spent the rest of the day playing with Micah.

I am amazed by how much Micah is growing and developing. Over the past two days, he really started sitting very well. He is getting fairly steady and able to balance himself and play with toys while he is sitting. He continues to steadfastly refuse belly time or rolling from his back to belly, but it is obvious to me he is CAPABLE of rolling from back to belly. He loves to play with his toys, and we just figured out how to lower the jumperoo so that he can use that as well. He loves to be busy - he cannot sit still for too long! I've also noticed that he is starting to reduce his naps - he is only napping maybe 2x each day for 30 minutes or so lately. The past two days, he has slept until 9:00 am! I'm not certain if that is a good idea - I think he should wake up by 8 or 8:30, so I may have to nip this new habit in the bud.

Our food update - since Micah tried peas, he has also tasted avocado, green beans and squash. Tomorrow is day three of squash, and then we will move on to sweet potatoes. He loves eating. Last night, I was holding him while I went to get my own dinner, and he tried to grab the squash out of the fridge - it was clear he wanted more food. I made myself a bowl of cottage cheese, and he kept trying to eat it! He opened wide every time I had a spoonful that I brought towards my mouth, and started to cry when I would not share. I gave him a little extra squash to make him happy. Today, when he finished his squash and cereal, he was still hungry and kept grabbing at the spoon until I gave him more. Tomorrow we are going to try to increase to 3 tbs cereal and 3 tbs squash!

This weekend is going to be crazy busy. Tomorrow morning, we have the Komen Walk in the morning, and my cousin's wedding at night. On Sunday, we have plans to take Micah with our friends and THEIR son Micah to a baseball game. My niece is also here staying with my parents, so we'd like to squeeze in a visit, too.

I'll give another update after the weekend!