Responsibilities, Teeth and Fun

Micah has what I would call a pajama obsession! He is all about the pj's and what is on them. He is a mood dresser, if he feels like a monkey he wears the monkeys, if he feels like spiderman, he wears spidey and so on. His daddy gets irritated that he can't be happy with one pair of pj's but his mom feeds his fetish by buying more pj's!

Micah in his new Monkey/Turtle Jammies!

Saturday, September 18th I went and got groceries in SF in the morning and Craig worked in the afternoon. I made chocolate chip cookies while Micah napped and cleaned some of the house.

Saturday night we hung out as a family and relaxed. Right before bedtime, I noticed Baxter looked like a snaggle tooth, with his top lip being tucked under his bottom teeth. I didn't think much of it until I watched him open and close his mouth and it was the same thing with his lip. I decided to take a closer look and sure enough, his bottom fang tooth was very loose and sticking almost straight out. I had noticed a few days earlier he had not been snarfing down his treats like normal, but again, I didn't think to much of it. Sunday morning before church I thought I would call the vet and leave a message so that first thing Monday morning we could get him in, but... One of the veterinarians answered, they must have an on call phone. I guess we learn something new everyday! I visited with him for a little while and he said with Baxters diabetes and him not eating very well, he thought we should bring him in right away. He was on his way in to do chores so he would meet us there in about 10 minutes. I ran downstairs and asked Craig to hurry up since it was 8:15 and we had church at 9! He was just getting out of the shower, so he hustled and took him out there. They pulled the tooth (it basically popped out it was so loose!), looked him over and determined he had an abscess and that is what caused the tooth to become loose. He sent him home with 2 cans of soft cat food and some antibiotics. He was a little sluggish for the first few days after this, but he is back to his normal self!

Here he is the day of his trip to the vet.

He laid on the couch with his head on this pillow for the majority of the day!!

Micah was very worried about his buddy Baxter. When Craig took him out to the vet, he really wanted to go with, but we talked him into staying home. He looked at me with his serious eyes and said, "Mom, I hope the vet takes good care of Baxter!" I said, "he will buddy, you have nothing to worry about!" Micah then said, "I hope he doesn't have to get a shot!" I chuckled and said, "well Micah, Baxter is used to getting 2 shots of insulin a day, I don't think it will bother him, he is a tough kitty!" Micah simply said, "Yeah, he is!"

After the emergency trip to the vet/dentist we were off to church. It was a great day and service and we are very blessed to have found such a wonderful church to attend.

Sunday afternoon, I made spaghetti sauce, blueberry muffins and Micah and I made banana muffins. Wow, it was the first time I have ever had muffins not turn out. I am not sure what happened, but the banana ones just didn't look right. I don't think I left anything out - I double checked 3 times afterwards. Sadly, in the garbage they went! Micah was ok with it thankfully as he agreed they looked funny!!

Monday night I worked out while Craig took Micah to storytime again. Micah was a little irritated when I got home. I asked what was wrong and he said, "Mom, you forgot to give dad the library card so I could get books and a movie!" I did indeed forget but what he didn't know is that they could have asked the fine librarians to look up our number and they might have let it slip by this one time. I will not forget next time!!

Wednesday it rained, rained and rained some more! It was crazy and our creeks and roads were not handling it very well. Here is a video of the road in front of our house. Keep in mind, the drainage on this stretch of road is not very good in a normal situation and the 2 outside lanes are generally under water when that happens, but this time, it was the entire road!!!

Wednesday night we drove around a little and checked out the creeks, it had come out of its banks 2/3 blocks downhill from our house in a very low/flat area but that was all.

Thursday after work, Micah and I went and looked at the creeks again. He was really into it and thought it was a great adventure! Silly boy!

Here he is by the Memorial Park Bridge.

I will have to take a picture some other time when the water is down so you can see how tall those walls are!!Here is a video of memorial park.

This is the same creek a few blocks away, I wanted to show you how close it was to the top of the bridges.

Thursday it started to go over this bridge. It was about a block from where it went out on Wednesday night. More water in the streets.
All in all Madison was very lucky and had no major flooding. I do know that people are tired of sucking water out of their basements but for the most part it has been fairly minor considering just how much rain we have gotten this year!! I def thing this week had everyone on edge a little as there were lots of people checking on the creeks often! I think the flood of '93 was on everyones mind and by the grace of god that did not happen!

We have recently decided to implement Micah's responsibilities. It was our opinion that we were not doing him any justice by constantly doing everything for him. Yes, he is only 4 years old, but it is important for him to learn responsibility and reward. The chart I made has 7 responsibilities that need to be done every day. Most of them are things that he should be doing anyway, so the chart is more of an accountability thing that anything else. Once the chart is filled up, Micah is able to pick a reward. Some of the rewards he has to choose from are: Ice cream with daddy, baking with mom, play games with dad, Micah's movie theatre night, family ice cream, play date with a friend, Micah's choice, Ice cream with mom, supper at Pizza Ranch, do a craft with mom or $1.00 in quarters.
It has been going pretty well so far. He has had few days where he hasn't gotten everything, but it sinks in and he works harder the next day to remember. I would say the biggest improvement so far has been in his eating supper. He has really been doing a good job with that so hopefully it continues!!

Here is his chart..

He officially finished his first chart last night and the reward he chose was play a game with dad. The game of choice was checkers!!!

I started co-ed volleyball last week. It has been a lot of fun so far and we have been doing ok. Last week I think we won 3, lost 3 and this week we won 5, lost 1. I really enjoy playing volleyball and I still find myself with that spirit that says, if you aren't going to go out there to win, don't bother. I am not going to give it my all and sometimes I think people don't get that about me. Last night I did have a scare. I went for a ball and so did another girl. I had my hands together ready to bump and we ran into each other. I think I jammed my wrists. Today my right one is pretty good, but the left is still pretty sore depending on what I am doing. No swelling so I am taking that as a positive sign! I honestly thought for a split second that I had broken them both they hurt so bad but it was temporary thank goodness!! Man, Craig would have killed me! :-) I guess I better be more careful!!

Well, this weekend is packed full of Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Mike! Micah is super excited to see them! It should be a good weekend and we are glad they are coming. With the temps however, i wish we were going to Vegas to see them instead!! :-)

Ta Ta for now!