Christmas

Lexi was definitely more aware of Christmas - including the idea of getting presents - this year. She is also more aware of the Christmas story and helped play the Holy Family in the Christmas Eve early service at our church. Lexi was the donkey that accompanied Mary and Joseph (and Baby Jesus aka Natalie) to Bethlehem. As Lexi didn't want to wear the provided donkey hat, Uncle Andy was kind enough to fashion her a hobby horse out of cardboard/chipboard from the recycling bin. It was quite a hit at the service and with a little coaxing she managed to walk up the aisle with it and then sit quietly in front of the congregation with Mom and Dad. Natalie also did a great job and slept through 95% of the service with only a little jiggling to keep her calm.

While interested in the presents, Lexi didn't spend much time checking out the presents under the tree in advance or asking if she could open something early. She certainly got lots of nice things - a good assortment of clothes, books and toys. Next year, we want to try and reduce on the number of things she gets as we sometimes feel overwhelmed by all of the stuff we own.

Santa brought Lexi a scooter. This was a much discussed purchase as Lexi had been requesting a Dora kitchen after pouring over the toy catalog that came with one of the Sunday papers before Thanksgiving. We decided to not go with that as we were worried she would grow out of it soon (she is almost 4.5 after all). So far she has been pleased with the scooter and hasn't asked at all about the kitchen. She fairly confidently rides it though doesn't do the trick where you build up speed and then coast.

Natalie - not unexpectedly - hardly noticed the gifts for her at all. In fact, Mom and Dad didn't even get her anything. She also received several toys that I think she will find interesting in the months to come and books to enjoy.

We didn't have a white Christmas and Lexi declared that it couldn't be Christmas if there wasn't snow. I do want to take her ice skating as she is interested in trying to go again this year.

For New Year's we are going to a Lutheran family camp for a couple of nights. It's an hour away from DC and we return home on the 1st when Lexi, Natalie and I will fly out to SLC to visit Miriam and family (including my parents who are still there). I am really looking forward to it.

Playing nicely together

This video shows Lexi playing nicely with Natalie.. mostly. Also gives you an idea of Natalie's facial expressions/reactions to us.

Gingerbread House Day

Today was the day the PK classes at Lexi's school made gingerbread houses. There was really a lot of candy for them to put on the houses. You stick everything together with marshmellow fluff. I don't know what you normally would use marshmallow fluff for but it is a sticky, gooey substance. Last year Lexi didn't even eat the house; it just sat on the counter at home and then got thrown away. As you might be able to tell, it's pretty easy for the roof to slide off...

Trying out the bottle

On Saturday, we tried out Natalie with a bottle - or rather, Stephen did, while I stayed out of sight. It took her a bit but once she figured it out, she did manage to get her full meal in. That's good to know as I start to mentally gear up to go back to work. I have all the papers together to get her signed up for day care this week. First day care day/day back at work will be January 17th. It will be a slightly short week with that Monday being a holiday.

Natalie is really smiling and reacting to use a lot which is fun. Lexi still wants to just kiss her and touch her face. She doesn't seem as thrilled as we are when Natalie smiles at us.

Lexi's Winter Concert

They had the winter concert this evening at Lexi's school. Every grade level sang; pre-k only sang 1 song while the rest sang two. I was kind of surprised to see the religious songs on the program but the principal said it reflected the whole community. They also had readings explaining other holidays at this time of year like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc. I thought Lexi sang very enthusiastically and did the motions vigorously. She has been singing their song - Winter Wonderland - around the house for weeks now so I know they have been really working on it during music class. Afterwards, she told me that she likes to sing.

I managed to get a fairly decent video except for the part where I was trying to look at Lexi not through the camera and my arm dropped down. Don't worry - I quickly brought it back up. Lexi is in the second row from the front on the far left hand side.

Natalie was quiet throughout the concert watching all of the people. The gym gets really crowded with family for pre-k 3 through 2nd graders. I made it there early enough to snag a seat.

Let's Go to the Movies..

Lexi and Stephen went to a movie together yesterday. We think it might be the first movie in a theater that Lexi has been to. She was glued to the screen the whole time - so I guess she liked it! She did seem rather excited about it when I asked her about it after. They went to the see the Muppet movie. Stephen was interested in seeing it so it was his choice. Interestingly enough, there weren't many kids at the movie; mostly other adults like Stephen who remembered the muppets from childhood.

Lexi has been having more fits lately. We are trying to be more consistent in disciplining her - what the consequences are, what she can get away with. Not sure if our consistency is helping much yet but I hope it will.

Natalie has seem rather needy the last couple of days. Or at least, she wants to be held a lot and if she has fallen asleep and you lay her down, she would be awake very shortly. We managed to go grocery shopping this morning without her being too fussy. She quietly rode in the sling looking around the whole time.

Natalie's 2 month old stats

Natalie had her 2 month old appointment on Thursday. She is now 12 lbs 2 ozs and 24.5 inches. I forget what percentile that makes her weight but she is in the 98% for girls her age. She is smiling a lot these days and her favorite place to sleep is still curled up next to/on someone. She can go 5 hours without eating in the evening but we haven't got the timing down as nicely as I would like. I still have 6 weeks left of maternity leave - it doesn't sound like much all of a sudden. I will definitely be ready to go back to work but still have several things I would like to get done before then.

She is basically over her cold - only a little coughing her and there and the doctor says that it is not in her lungs which is good.

A revisit of the 2-month mark (different child)

The blog entry that is re-posted below is from about 4 years ago, but it's worth putting here again for two reasons:

• Natalie is two months old today, and it's fun to remember the first time we passed this mark with her older sister.
  
• The picture that went with it is something that I thought was so funny. Pointed out by Rick Steves in one of his travel guides, I had to take a picture of this painting and then share it somewhere. I ended up doing that in a blog posting for Lexi. But sharing it again at this time of year, approaching Christmas, and as we become weary again caring for a newborn, is also appropriate.
  

Blog post from October 9, 2007:

Lexi is two months old today! That's a relatively short amount of time, but we feel like so much has happened and that we've learned so much about parenthood in this period.

How do I feel after caring for an infant for two months? Well, look at the picture to the right. It shows Joseph - you know, the one from the nativity scene on the night Jesus was born. We saw this painting (of the whole nativity scene) at the Abondance Abbey in the French Alps near Geneva, which we visited one Saturday afternoon this summer. It was painted in the 15th century. It's funny how the new father Joseph is depicted - how tired and resigned he looks. And this was just on the first night with his new child! Like us, he was away from his home and had dealt with some early visitors who had come to see the new baby.

Do I feel like this? Well, fortunately, no. Quite the opposite, I'm pleased to say. We are lucky to have a good-natured and generally calm baby. She has been a joy to be with, get to know and care for.

At this two-month mark, Lexi has entered a new phase of awareness and interaction with us. She can fix her gaze for a few seconds on people or things and pay attention a little more. We're starting to set her up in the car seat while we're doing things - in the kitchen while we're making dinner or eating or in a room while we're working on something. She's getting better at observing what's going on and sitting quietly for longer periods without getting fussy and needing to be held.

But most fun and fulfilling of all, she is starting to smile at us. Sometimes all it takes to get a smile is just looking at her. But it's most fun for me to playfully poke her and make little noises. She likes this type of interaction. It's hard to describe this feeling, but it melts my heart and makes me feel that she's somehow telling me that she acknowledges that she belongs to me - she recognizes me as someone who can please her and make her happy, at least.

So far, then, at two months, fatherhood has been good to me, and parenthood for us has been a fulfilling time.

3 out of 4

Lexi last night after school wasn't interested in dinner really and wanted to go to bed early. She was definitely acting less lively than usual. We took her temperature before bed and it was just over 100. At 3:30 in the morning, it was 103. We gave her medicine both times and I think that has helped. This morning she seems as lively as usual but her temp is 99. As she got her flu shot a while ago, I wonder what this is. Lexi is complaining that her mouth feels "scratchy" - not sure what that is either.

Lexi will stay home from school today. I told her if Natalie is sleeping, we will do 1 of 2 things: sleep ourselves or do quiet activities. Hopefully, that will work.

Stephen is still not sick (hoorah!) and we hope he doesn't get this. I still feel congested though it is getting better. Natalie is still sleeping but didn't cough last night so I feel like she is improving as well.

Cold

Poor Natalie caught Mom's cold. She has had some type of cough for a week now. There were a couple of nights where it was really bad. We got a new cool mist humidifier while away for vacation and that combined with her sleeping propped up in the boppy last night seemed to help. at least, she didn't have any coughing fits last night though she did when she was awake this morning. Her nose has only started running in the last day and even that isn't bad. Hopefully, this will build up her immune system and mean no more colds this season.

Natalie will be 2 months old tomorrow. Time does fly. She does interact more with us which makes Lexi happy. Lexi still wants to kiss her excessively and now that Natalie smiles at her, that makes Lexi quite happy.

Lexi and I went swimming together 3 times while we were in Williamsburg for the Thanksgiving weekend while Dad stayed in the room with Natalie. It was good mom-daughter time for us. I think Lexi appreciated that - or at least, I hope so. Dad plans to take Lexi to the Muppet movie soon so that will be their special time.

Lexi and her clothes

There was much screaming, wailing, crying and carrying on this morning when it was time for Lexi to get dressed - unfortunately, by both Lexi and mom. She has two white shirts that she loves. They are all that she wants to wear. They were both so filthy though that I just couldn't let her wear them. The other two long sleeve shirts that I can usually talk her into were also dirty. Lexi keeps saying that the other clothes are "bad". I have no idea why she thinks that - when I ask her, she just repeats that they are bad. I think I am going to go out and see if I can find 4 more white shirts just like her favorites. They aren't the thickest shirts so I worry about her being cold. She won't wear turtlenecks as they hurt her neck. Others she declares are too small, too big, too itchy. I feel bad that she has all these nice clothes and won't wear them. Hopefully, her younger sister will when she gets older.

Story Time

Yesterday, Natalie and I went to story time at the library. This was the story time for the infants through 3 yr olds. I wasn't sure if she would 1) sleep through the whole thing or 2) cry through the whole thing but I had to go to the library anyway so timed it for then. She was restless on the way there - like she wanted to go to sleep - but once there, Natalie was very awake and looking around at the other kids and the librarian. Not that she could participate in the songs or focus on the pictures in the books but I think she actually enjoyed it. We will try and go again next Tuesday.

Shopaholic?

I think Lexi likes shopping. For the Veterans' Day weekend, we went on a road trip to Princeton, NJ and Valley Forge. (FYI - Natalie didn't travel as well especially late in the day - much crying ensued even though she was fed and clean. Hoping that she grows out of this phase quickly as we won't stop traveling but hate the hollering.) Lexi had brought along her own money. We spent some time in a mall where Lexi picked out a new purse and some headbands. Then she and I went in a grocery store for a snack and they had some toys displayed so she came away with this small plastic fantasy castle complete with prince and princess (whom she named Anaratka and Edward). She is SO pleased with these purchases: she immediately switched her stuff from another purse to the new one and held the castle in its box on her lap almost all the way home. She is not interested in buying clothes really but "things" seem to make her excited. Of course, on the clothing front, all she wears is white shirts and black/navy blue pants. Seriously, I keep washing the same 4 shirts and 4 pairs of pants and the rest of the very nice clothes that she has in her drawers just stay there.

Natalie is smiling a lot more and having more awake times though is not always very happy during those awake times. She is fairly consistently waking up once in the night and then up around 5:30/6:00. I am starting to think about how I can handle the morning routine once I go back to work in mid January. It just takes some time to get us all ready. (Side note - I do find it odd that Lexi never complains about having to go to bed before Natalie. Maybe she is too young to notice that disparity. Or maybe it is because Lexi is a pretty good sleeper and rarely complains when we tell her it is time to go to sleep.)

Attention needed

Stephen got to experience for himself a little bit of what my day is liked on Saturday went I went to yoga class. Natalie just wanted to be held while she slept. Friday was pretty much like that all day. I didn't get much else done. Sunday, however, Natalie slept a lot "on her own". It was really nice. Not sure why Sunday was that way and the last two days had not been.

Sunday, we had a girl come over after church to play with Lexi for a few hours. Lily is 3 and very quiet - and Lexi pretty much runs the show. It was a relief for Mom and Dad though as this meant we didn't need to entertain Lexi ourselves. She does do a very good job of amusing herself most of the time.

Last night we put Lexi to bed at the right time per the clock. I would have thought that would have meant that she would sleep until 6 like she normally does but unfortunately she was awake before 5 - and ready to start her day. I tried to get her to play quietly in her room but that didn't work - some yelling was involved by her mostly. She was ready for breakfast so I took her downstairs and made her some toast (with peanut butter and the crusty off - like always) and left her there while I went back to bed. I think she didn't like that because shortly afterwards she was hollering for me and saying that she had thrown up. She hadn't really but had probably stuffed too much toast in her mouth and that made her gag. Then she proceeded to tell us she was sick and shouldn't go to school today. After a bit, I finally seemed to convince her that she wasn't really sick (just a little sick - "tell Ms. Tee") and she was ready for school 30 minutes before she could be there.

Natalie went 5.5 hours without eating last night but that meant I didn't sleep well wondering when she would wake up and then went she went to sleep again after eating, she was so noisy - breathing, grunting, etc. that I didn't sleep well then. I am tired with a slight headache and a sore throat. Probably won't get much done today either.

Natalie's Baptism, 1 month statistics and Halloween

Having not posted yesterday, there is a lot to share.

Natalie's baptism was on Sunday, the 30th of October. There were 7 children being baptized and even though Grandpa reported that the water was cold, none of them protested. It was a very nice day. Here are some photos (copy this link below) - taken by Russell from our camera. I hope to get all of the other photos taken as well.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150375287472290.371722.529232289&type=3&l=85c4000929

Michelle Chin was her sponsor and proudly joined Stephen, Lexi and I at the font while Grandpa did the baptism and Pastor Kidd did the anointing. It was cool but sunny. Natalie wore the Hovick baptismal gown for the service and then Granny's and Mom's baptismal outfit for the lunch afterwards.

Then Natalie had her 1 month check up on Monday, the 31st. She now weighs 11 lbs, 3.5 ounces and has grown an inch. She had a shot - Hepatitis B - and boy, did she wail. Her poor face was bright red frozen in a scream for a long time. The doctor was pleased with her progress.

Halloween night, Lexi dressed up as a giraffe - same costume 3 years running. I got it from the thrift store for less than 3 dollars. Great investment - hopefully, we can convince Natalie to wear it as well for future Halloween's. Lexi was a little braver about going up to people's doors (lots of stairs up in our neighborhood) but only managed to say "Trick or Treat" outloud at one house. She got a lot of candy - people were quite generous, I thought. Lexi almost seemed more interested in handing out candy at home than collecting it herself. We had to talk her into going out.

Collage

The Hermansons sent Natalie a photo collage of pics taken when Aunt Miriam was here visiting. I wanted to post it to the blog as it contains a lot of cute pictures.

Next set of visitors

I forgot to mention earlier that Natalie's cord fell off while Aunt Miriam was here. It was looking quite disgusting and we were wondering if we couldn't just pull it off as it was really just hanging by a thread. But it did finally fall off on its own. Unlike Aunt Miriam, though, I did not want to save it. We just threw it away.

We had a good time with Miriam - Lexi, in particular. Lexi definitely enjoyed all of the one-on-one attention she got from her. Mom enjoyed her help in the evenings. Natalie is eating about every 3-4 hours so I was able to get some good sleep. There was a 3 day gap between when Miriam left and Stephen's parents arrived so Stephen spent the afternoons with us girls which helped preserve my sanity. One afternoon, we met Stephen at his office, went to lunch and then visited my office. So at least my immediate finance colleagues got to see the whole family.

Baba and Lolo arrived late last week and whisked Lexi off to NYC where she had a lot of fun (stories to be posted soon). Lexi is finally back in school this week so Baba and Lolo have been helping me around the house and spending time with Natalie. She hasn't been too keen on sleeping on her own during the day so there has been lots of cuddling with a sleeping baby. I finally got her to sleep on her own for a good stretch this afternoon so I was able to prep dinner while Baba and Lolo are out shoe shopping with Lexi.

Growing

Natalie is definitely growing..she is starting to smile (or at least, we like to believe she is smiling at us) and her eyes are tracking us more. She continues to be a good eater though eating only every 3-4 hours now. She seems to have several "stages":
1) sleeping like the dead - no movement, arms up by her ears, not disturbed by being moved or noises
2) "fake" sleeping - she falls asleep in your arms but the minute you try and lay her down, she wakes up
3) awake and looking around (this is the stage she spends the least time in, I think) and making some noises
4) Miriam also caught her in a stage I haven't really seen - awake but quiet and really still

Unlike her sister was at this age, Natalie is a burper and gets the hiccups a lot. She also seems to notice when her diaper is wet which Lexi never complained about.

Lexi is doing a great job of holding Natalie and loves to give her kisses. Sometimes, too many kisses, I think Natalie says!

Weight gain and crabby sister

Natalie and I went back to her doctor today. She gained a lot of wieght back - now she is at 9 lb 8 oz so just 5 oz. down from her birth weight. Hoorah! Doctor was pleased.Now she is sleeping away - and has been for probably 3 hours now.

Her big sister also took a long nap today - over 2 hours. Lexi was quite cranky and the nap seems to have really helped. Hoorah for that as well!

Tomorrow is the last day with Granny and Grandpa and then they leave on Thursday and Auntie Miriam arrives. We are looking forward to seeing her as well as Dad will be in Kentucky Wednesday through Saturday midday.

Late starts

Yesterday morning, I wanted to run some errands. Lexi wanted to go along and since I wasn't sure how long it would take, Natalie needed to come as well as the grandparents. I fed Natalie, got dressed, had breakfast. Then realized that I needed to get a few more things together before we left. One thing led to another and then Natalie needed to eat again. We ended up leaving the house about 1 hour later than I had planned.

Lexi's friend, Vera, was coming over to play today. She arrived about 30 minutes late - they walked over and Vera was dragging her feet. So even 4 year olds can cause delays.

Lexi outing

Lexi and our friend Michelle went to the National Book Fair 2 weekends ago. This was Michelle's report of the afternoon that I wanted to keep for posterity:

Hello Family,

I thought you'd enjoy some photos from my adventure w/ Lexi at the National Book Festival yesterday afternoon. She was, as she reported later, very "brave" and met a number of PBS Kids characters and even posed for photos with them.

We met at my apartment, where we had some peanut butter toast for a snack. While I was getting the toast, she was sitting at the table and all of a sudden she said, "Hello Woman!" I started laughing. She said she learned how to say this from Dad. "I'm a woman," she declared.

I convinced her that she didn't need the stroller, so we walked in the direction of the Navy Memorial/Archives. She played around the Navy memorial, remembering the water fountains from an earlier visit last year. While we were there, she spotted a friend from church, Dylan and his parents Greg and Enid. We walked to the Mall together, but Dylan was lagging behind. As Lexi and I passed him, Greg called out, "Dylan, hurry up! Let's go!" Lexi chimed in, "He's awfully slow." He caught up to us, but then lagged again. This time, Lexi noticed that he had stopped. The adults were in forward motion. Lexi called out, "Guys! We have a problem." Then when we were crossing the street, Lexi and I decided to run. Dylan ran along with us, but we were a little faster. Enid told Dylan, "Look, Lexi is a little faster than you." Dylan looked at Lexi and me, and with a poker face he declared, "Lexi ran faster because she was holdin' on to another person."

We went to the PBS Kids tent to see the characters. Lexi was talking about SuperWhyy! and was excited to see the character. But when we got up close, she got scared/shy and didn't want to get too close. The first photo shows this! Later, after a ride on the carousel, some lunch, a "ride" on the Wells Fargo stagecoach, and a visit to a couple more tents, she got her courage and decided she wanted to see the characters again. This time, we walked up to see Curious George. We watched from outside the lane, but then she said she wanted to meet him. So we did. She was a little tentative, but Curious George was patient and let her touch his hand. "He has soft hands," she said later. And after that, we were round and round to meet all of the characters that were out. By the time we met the last one, Super Whyy!, she was a real pro and quite relaxed.

My cousin-in-law, Alysia, met us at the Festival. Lexi clicked with her. Was holding her hand and talking to her like an old friend. After meeting the PBS characters, we left and went to the Smithsonian Natural History museum to get some ice cream. Lexi chose vanilla. "You know what's the best flavor of ice cream?" she asked. "Chocolate?" I replied. "No! Vanilla!" she declared. Alysia got mint chocolate chip and I got chocolate, so when we sat down to eat, Lexi said, "I win! I got vanilla!" It was funny.

Alysia gave us a ride back to Stephen & Sarah's. While riding along, Lexi pulled off a round sticker, a Wells Fargo agent badge, and put it over her eye. "I'm a pirate!" she said. "Arrgh! I'm a PIRATE!"

It was all quite funny. She is a great buddy and I'm looking forward to more outings.

Love,

Michelle

Doctor's visit

Natalie went to the pediatrician yesterday. She had lost 1 lb 1 oz from her birthweight. My milk has finally come in though so we are hoping she will start gaining a bit of that back. I was to monitor her feedings and wet diapers for 24 hours and then report back in to the Dr. late this afternoon. Based on the stats, we will either have to go back in to be weighed this week or wait until next week Tuesday for the next appointment. So this child is going to be fed as much as possible. I still don't want to go the formula route.

Otherwise, the doctor thought she looked good. She also thought her cries that we are associating with gas might be more hunger cries. I don't quite buy that but as she hasn't been crying as painfully in the last 24 hours, maybe that was the case. She still has gas but it doesn't seem to really be upsetting her now.

First days at home

Natalie and I finally arrived home at lunchtime on Saturday. We were officially "cleared" to leave at 10 but it took a while to get the final paperwork done. Stephen and Lexi came to pick us up. It had turned cold here while we were in the hospital so Dad had to bring us some extra warm clothes.

Saturday night, Stephen and I split night duty. It was kind of a tough night - Natalie didn't want to sleep much. Since then the grandparents have taken over night duty with me as Stephen is working most days(some full days, some half days) - plus, he has a hard time when his sleep is shortened at night. Sunday night and Monday night were so-so. I did get a little more sleep than the previous nights and actually took a nap and slept yesterday. Napping has never been easy for me. Even Lexi has been up at night some - reacting to Natalie's crying is part of it though she also seems to be having dreams. We are currently a household of sleep issues! :)

Natalie is having some digestive issues we think. We have tried gas medicine and that is partially helping. Hard to tell when she can't tell us! Her first doctor's appointment is today so we will see if the pediatrician has other thoughts. I am also worried that she hasn't gained any weight back (she was down 10 ounces when we left the hospital). The pediatrician had mentioned possibly supplementing the breast milk with formulas which makes me nervous - nipple confusion and all that. But maybe it's not as bad as I think. We will get through this just lots of nerves involved.

Natalie Andrea!

Stephen and I went to the hospital at 8 AM on Thursday, the 29th, to be induced. From the first round of medication until birth, it took just over 11 hours - fairly fast they tell us for induction. The actual delivery was quick - not too much pushing and Sarah was much better able to handle the pain. Of course, she had had the epidural which took forever to wear off. Having legs that you can't lift is very bizarre.

We are all home now. More on our first days soon. Mom needs to try and sleep as Natalie finally is.

Final countdown

One week from today is the due date. Of course, that may or may not be the day baby arrives. People at my office say every day "you are still here?" If no baby by next Friday, the 30th, I will stop going into the office but work from home until the child comes.

We think we might have chosen a name...it's been really tough to do. And some people might not like it and some people might have already named this child in their minds, but it doesn't matter. We will name her and that will be it.

I am feeling quite large and several of my maternity tops no longer fit. The weather has gotten a bit cooler - though not really cold - so at least it is more comfortable in that regard. I manage to sleep so-so and most days feel pretty good though there have been some really tiring days.

Watch the pregnant lady grow

In this post, we will show the progression of Sarah's pregnancy with profile photos taken roughly every two weeks.

March 1

March 15

April 3

April 17

May 1

May 16

June 2

June 18

July 1

July 15

August 1

August 21

September 2

September 15
(If anybody is reading this post, this could be the last picture of Sarah pregnant that you will see!)

Turned, Turned

Baby managed to turn on her own and is still head down. Two weeks ago she was transverse - so both head and bottom were up and nothing in the lower uterus and then a week ago she was head down. I don't know exactly when she did made it into that position but I woke up one evening with this awful pain in my tailbone and the doctor said that was a good sign that she was head down. He checked and she was! And is still that way today so the appointment on Monday is cancelled. They are fairly confident that she won't reflip but who knows?

The crib has also arrived - though in a box, not put together. We will leave that for one of the sets of grandparents to take care of putting together while they are here as baby will sleep in the cradle at the beginning anyway.

We have our list of Lexi carers lined up in case baby comes before the 27th. If she comes after that, Granny and Grandpa will be here and can handle Lexi.

Our tour of the hospital was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene so we are going to go this weekend and at least figure out where we need to go for labor and delivery.

Baby and big girls

Today Lexi wanted to play at being the baby. She pretended to cry and grab at things and wanted to cuddle on my lap. She also instructed me on what to say to the baby when she was grabbing at things in the store. She and Stephen are at a baseball game this evening. She seemed interesting in going until it was actually time to go and then she started crying. We made her go anyway. I hope she settled down soon.

The baby seems to be going well and we have the turning scheduled for Sept. 19. It's a bit close to the due date but we hope that there is enough fluid/room to turn her that date. Between the doctor's, the hospital's and Stephen's schedule, that was the first available date. At the monitoring on Friday, the technician said it looks more like the baby is in a transverse position than a breech position. The head is on the upper left and the bottom is on the upper right. No parts down in the lower half of the uterus. So we will see what happens now...will she turn now on her own? Who knows??

New baby update

A week ago, I had another ultrasound appointment. Due to my "advanced maternal age" and thyroid condition, I am now having to go in for weekly biophysical monitoring. Basically, they track the baby's heartbeat for 20 minutes and check the level of fluid. The nurse told me that I was having contractions at the beginning; to me it just felt like the baby pushing at my abdomen. She gave me some water to drink and that stopped them. I didn't feel so well that evening and the next morning and so drank lots of water and that seemed to help.

The baby is still in the breech position. I haven't talked to the doctor yet about turning this one, but I would think it will soon be a topic of discussion if the child doesn't move on her own.

What I want to be when I grow up..

Lexi has mentioned wanting to be the following professions when she grows up:

-a doctor
-a carrot
-a nurse
-a teacher
-a cashier lady


I think she will have lots to choose from but I kind of wonder if she won't go into acting. She can be so dramatic - but then, she won't perform in public a rehearsed skit.

I think she has also grown taller lately. She can easily reach light switches in our house which are kind of high I think and got something off the kitchen counter without needing to stand on her stool.

We are both happy that Dad is home from his 2 week sojourn. Lexi had to show him all the birthday cards and art week she had done at school the last weeks.

Dental visit and silly girls

Lexi had a dentist's appointment today. It was the first one where she actually had her teeth cleaned. She was crying a little bit at the beginning but she soon calmed down and cooperated very well for both the hygentist and the dentist. Her teeth are rather close together and she has an overbite, but no cavities so we will just have to see how her adult teeth come in. Lexi even talked to the dentist which is kind of unusual - I couldn't get her to say a word at her 4 year old health check up the last week of July. She left with a new toothbrush, some toothpaste and a purple monkey which she enthusiastically played dentist with once we got home.

We went to the park after supper as it was a beautiful evening. She was acting so squirrelly some other kid there (maybe 8-10 y.o.) asked me if she had had a lot of sugar. No clue why she was so hyped up but she definitely was as she danced around and shouted nonsense. Leaving the playground she said she missed everyone and that her heart was broken. I couldn't get her to clarify who 'everyone' was but I thought it was funny for her to say that about her heart.

I will start having weekly monitoring visits for Baby #2 next week. There is nothing wrong but because of my thyroid condition and my age they want to do a whole lot of monitoring just to make sure everything is ok. This child is as active as her sister was in the womb and does a lot of pushing and kicking on my abodomen. I am ready for the end of September to be here and this baby to be out in the world.

Lexi and I checked out a daycare last week that is close to home and has good (long) hours. I think it will work out fine and it's not outrageously expensive.

Regression??

Lexi wet her pants two times yesterday and I have no idea why. We were home both times so it's not like she couldn't have made it to the bathroom. If the baby was already here, I would think it might be a ploy for attention but maybe it has something to do with Stephen being away?? Who knows? I just hope it doesn't happen again!

Busy Day

Lexi and I are on our own for the next two weeks while Stephen goes to Norway and then spends some time in Seattle. We set out this morning on several errands - none of which took too long in themselves but ending up being away from home for 2.5 hours. Then after lunch, we went to the splash park (a new one we hadn't been to - there was no one else there), the playground (next to the splash park) and to a concert at our church. Lexi did pretty good sitting through the concert and thinks she wants to learn to play flute now.

Preschool and play dates

After 2.5 weeks off from school, Lexi's preschool started up again. She has a different teacher this year - Ms. Tee - and was a little upset when we dropped her off this morning. It was only a half day so she went to one of her classmate's homes for the afternoon. She had such a good time there that she practically threw a fit when I went to pick her up. A couple of weekends ago, she went to another friends house - and didn't want to go - but ended up having fun. It's those new things that make our girl anxious.

Baby #2 continues to be very active. My belly is very round/large and I am always getting asked when the new baby will arrive. I think they expect me to say sometime in the near future and they always look a bit shocked when I tell them how far away the due date is.

My doctor's appointments are every two weeks now though he still doesn't do much more than ask how I am feeling and check the baby's heartbeat. At the last ultrasound, they were pleased with the baby's size in terms of percentiles so are less alarmed about the baby's seemingly large size. The projection is still around 8 lbs.

Update

At the beginning of June, I had the test for gestational diabetes. As the doctor didn't call me about it, I assumed that I didn't actually have it and found out that I was correct at last week's visit. I also had another ultrasound and the doctor said the baby's tummy was in a more normal range in terms of size and no longer a cause for concern/wondering about it's size. The prediction is that the baby will be around 8 lbs but still coming at the end of September. Not a small baby but Lexi was also just over 8 lbs at birth.

Now I will be going to the doctor once every 2 weeks instead of once a month. Will be glad when the baby comes and we can reduce the number of doctor visits!

Birds and sleeping

Well, the birds hatched and so we don't feel we can move them now. I think Stephen originally noticed 5 eggs but when we looked the other night, all we could see were two little beaks. Of course, Lexi had to be lifted up twice to see. She found it quite interesting.

After supper, Lexi went and laid down on the couch in the living room - and fell asleep! Quite unusual for her..she did say to Stephen that she didn't have a nap today. At the school's summer program, they have been running around to various places. Yesterday they went to a theater and Cold Stone Creamery and today it was the Natural History Museum and a carousel. Tomorrow is the public library and a splashpark.

I have good nights sleeping and not so good nights. Trying to find the right position with my every growing belly is a challenge!

Oh, the irony of it all

Last spring, we noticed that a young couple had taken up residence—uninvited—in our house. We thought about considering them squatters and calling the police to have them removed or else charging them rent for sharing our space. But in the end, we just kicked them out and moved out their “crib” when they started having babies, which was the last straw.

Yes, a pair of birds had built a nest in a small space tucked under the aluminum awning that covers our front porch (yet another reason to hate it besides its aesthetic qualities). We hadn’t discovered the nest until it was almost too late–when they had already laid a few eggs in it. We agonized a bit over what to do, but in the end, we decided they could not stay, so I moved their nest down to the ground, which essentially meant an end to that year’s hatchings. I continued to feel guilty, like I had performed an abortion on several baby birds.

Soon after this, Sarah covered the area with some netting. We thought we had solved the problem and were sitting pretty as this year’s spring wore on. Then, a few weeks ago, even as the sweltering summer weather had begun, I noticed one day as I was leaving the house through the front door that a bird had started to collect a pile of grass in this space, even behind the netting! As I came and went, I observed what was happening for a few days and discovered that a bird had managed to squeeze itself up through the awning into this space. I feared the worst again—that there were already eggs in it, that it was already a complete nest that was incubating new life. I tried denying it for a few more days, but I finally hoisted myself up high enough to see that, indeed, there were already five eggs there. As I observed the bird at other times during the day, I could see that she was truly sitting on these eggs to warm them. Even keeping the porch light on all night did not seem to bother her. I told Sarah about this, who was equally dismayed, but when Lexi heard, she was curious and even a little delighted.

We had hoped to avoid all of this by giving Lexi a birdie house, as she called it, for Christmas and hanging it in a visible spot in the back yard well in time for young bird couples looking for a new house to start a family. But no birds had taken residence in this new house, but they had chosen to return to their old spot (if it was the same family from last year), even if it had meant they needed to work extra hard to occupy the space.

Our struggle with what to do with this nest of eggs is even harder this year because of one irony: Not only is the young bird couple outside our door pregnant, but so is the human couple who lives inside the house. This spring and early summer, we find that we are both expecting babies. Do we want to become killers of babies again of some smaller, helpless creatures in an effort to keep our front porch clear of bird poop and other waste from a whole family of birds? Would we want some larger, more powerful creature terminating our pregnancy? Is there a difference between baby birds and a baby human? We’re not sure what to do. We’ve been trying to find a place in our yard where this year we could move the nest of eggs to allow them to hatch safely rather than letting them die before they hatch. But so far we haven’t found one, and we know well how babies’ due dates keep approaching. In the meantime, however, as I spy on that mother bird warming her eggs in that nest, she makes me feel guilty for wanting her out of that spot because I see my own wife incubating our own baby and knowing how much we will love this child.

Feeling large

I feel really large now. I don't remember exactly if I was this large at 24 weeks along with Lexi. Looking at pictures, I can definitely tell I had a belly but hard to judge if it was in this range or not. Sister in law Jen had given me a lot of maternity tops - and several of them don't fit any more. I hope I can make it to the end without running out of clothes that fit!

The heat and humidity are also dragging me down. I feel like I am moving slower than usual. My ankles are also rather swollen at the end of the day.

The ultrasound last week indicated that this is going to be a big baby. Neither Stephen nor I remembered Lexi as being big but when I looked up her birth weight, it was just over 8 lbs which isn't small. They still had trouble looking at baby's spine at the exact angle that they wanted to so I have to go back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound. I know some people don't have many of these and so think it is a thrill to have an ultrasound, but the thrill has pretty much worn off for me.

Lexi and the pony

Lexi continues to amaze us. While in Wisconsin at a family reunion for Sarah's parents' 40th wedding anniversary, we visited the Circus Museum where Lexi wanted to ride a pony. There were 4 ponies attached to a rotating wheel that just walked around in a circle with kids on their backs. She asked several times and while we really thought she wouldn't do it, we decided to see what would happen. She happily round on the pony with Dad walking along beside her - she wasn't as happy when he stood off to the side but she did great. Once we get the photo off the camera we will post it.

Trips to the doctor

One thing I will remember about this pregnancy as compared to the first will be the numerous trips to the doctor. Being as how I am over 35, I am considered "advanced middle age" which means more doctor visits (extra ultrasounds, for example). Then because of my thyroid condition, I have to see the endocrinologist every month as well. Because Lexi was born with a very small hole in her heart, I have had a fetal echo done. Baby didn't give them a good view of the spine during the anatomical ultrasound, so I have to go back in 4 weeks. Combining that with all of the regular baby doctor visits and I feel like I spend a lot of time going to the doctor! And we are only halfway!

Baby shower

Back in mid-April, Stephen's Aunt Carol hosted a baby shower for us while she, Stephen's mom and sister Ruth were here in DC visiting. That was really nice of her to do for us. Having been overseas when we were pregnant with Lexi, we missed out on some of these typical family events. We received some very nice gifts - and Lexi got something, too, which she appreciated. In general, we are pretty well set with the small things for the baby. What we are missing are the big things - a crib, changing table, diaper acoutrements. I am checking out yard sales and giveaways to try and find these things as I don't really think it is worthwhile to buy new. But if we have to, we will! We aren't going to let the baby sleep on the floor! :)

Wondering about you...

Will you sleep well? Will you be happy or fussy? Will you be dramatic like your sister or calm as a cucumber? You were certainly stubborn at the last ultrasound - you wouldn't turn over so that the doctor could see your spine from the view she wanted to. So that means Mom has to go back again in 4 weeks and hopes that you are in the right position for the spine to be viewed. I also have to go in for a fetal ECHO since your sister has a slight heart murmur (very small hole in her heart that has decreased since birth) the doctor wanted experts to look at your heart. So we will have that done though it's not like we could do anything about it anyway. Otherwise all of your parts look good!

Getting more used to the idea of being a big sister

Lexi seems to becoming more used to the idea of becoming a big sister - or at least, the idea that there will be a baby in the house (after her birthday). She talks about the baby being a girl. If you ask her about a boy, she really doesn't like that idea. I think either will be an adjustment for her.

We had a baby shower two Saturdays ago hosted by Stephen's Aunt Carol. It was very nice of her to do - especially since it meant long distance planning. She and Stephen's Aunt Ruth and his mom came for 11 days to watch Lexi during her spring break. We really appreciated having them her to help out and Lexi, of course, had a ball. She did get a little spoiled though with all of the little gifts and treats they bestowed on her. She was sad to see them go home and wants someone (anyone!) else to come visit.

Tomorrow we have the anatomical ultrasound to check all the baby's parts. I am looking forward to seeing the baby again.

Tired and hungry

Most nights I am now sleeping decently though if I wake up, I struggle to get back to sleep. As a result, I usually hit a period early to mid afternoon when I am just exhausted! I feel like I can hardly keep my eyes open. Even pre-pregnancy, if I didn't sleep all that well, I wouldn't feel so wiped out.

And some days, it still seems like I just need to eat and eat and eat. That gets tiring, too. I feel like maybe I am eating a bit less than before - at least, with certain things, I know I am not eating as much - like with yogurt.

Next week we have the ultrasound that checks up on all the baby's parts. We will ask them to write the sex on a piece of paper so we can determine if we want to know in advance or not. Coming up to 18 weeks or so...

Feeling large

I know I am really not that large yet, but I am feeling larger. When I got out of the shower this morning, my belly seemed huge! People at work (in particular) are also noticing more and more that my shape is changing and commenting. It's kind of funny how people bring it up. Many start with .."I know it's considered indiscrete to ask a woman this but..." I usually interupt them before they go too far to hopefully ease their nervousness.



Stephen thinks I am breathing loudly when I sleep - though not snoring. I think I might be as well - but don't know how to adjust the volume! :) So he wears his ear plugs and that seems to help.



We are taking my 'growth' picture every two weeks. Stephen posted the pics to date recently. I hadn't realized that I looked so swaybacked. Better work on that posture!

Looking forward to growing

In case you haven't heard our news already, our family will be expanding by 1 come late September. I am already feeling guilty about the lack of attention baby #2 is getting. Being as how we take fewer and fewer pictures of Lexi, her new sibling will be lucky to have a photo a month taken! So I thought I would start writing again so Baby can look back in the future and know that (s)he is a much welcome addition to our family. We have to restock on baby equipment as most of the things we used for Lexi were left on the other side of the Atlantic and there will be some room swapping but we are all getting used to the idea that we will soon number 4.