Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from The Smiths!

So far today has been fabulous. I love Christmas, I love my family and I love my friends. 

Gabriel - 5 months

Perhaps I should rename the blog "The Gabriel Update Page" considering it's the only time I seem to manage to get on here and write something! I haven't really had the time to update recently but I know there's a lot of family out there patiently waiting to hear more about the most recent adorable Smith offspring.

So without further ado, Gabriel 5 months!

some positively adorable outtakes with a bow for that Christmas flair ;)

He's a bouncing, jumping fiend and nothing makes him happy faster than letting him use those legs! He's always been strong. The single most common adjective everyone who meets him uses is "strong." This past month he's really started channeling that strength.

He has learned how to roll from back to belly (which means he's a fully mobile baby machine now), sit assisted (he supports himself with his arms) AND can stand for a few seconds while holding onto something. I honestly already miss the non-rolling days when I could run to the other room for something without fear of him rolling off the bed, the trampoline, an other elevated surfaces that babies should never be left unsupervised on.

He's almost 18lbs and growing out of his clothes faster than I can get through them. I'll pick something up, think "Naw that's far too big. Well.. maybe I'll try it." Then I struggle to squeeze him into it!! 

He's so interested in everything we put in our mouths. He practically attacks the cup if I'm holding him and dare to drink something. He can even drink out of a sippy cup. It's incredibly hard holding off on real food, he's so keen. With his digestive issues though, it's even more important that we wait till 6 months. On that note, I think he's getting a bit better with diary in general!! The puking is WAY down even if I have some cheese! I think we might chance it and order a pizza next week and see how he gets on. Darn it.. why'd I have to go and talk about pizza? Now I'm hungry. Eat something then you say? It's 1am. Yeah. No eating for me. 

He loves to laugh almost as much as we love to hear him laugh. Every morning he gives me one of those puppy smiles. You know the one. The "Oh My GOSH!! It's YOU! Where have you been? I LOVE YOU! I'm so excited!!!" smile. Wow kiddo. You slept about 2 feet from me all night... but yes I'm glad you're still excited to see me and I love you too! He smiles so much it's amazing. He gives wet, slobbery, giant, open-mouthed baby kisses. I won't lie. They're kind of awesome. 

You want to see something earth shatteringly heartwarming? Watch Jessica and Gabriel play. (Sorry I just went back and read that. It totally sounds like a teaser for a video. No video. But now that I've mentioned it and gotten your hopes up I'll see what I can catch in the next few days.) His eyes light up when he sees her and for a three year old, she had an incredible amount of patience with him. She takes her big sister duties very seriously. She has her own puppy version for him. The first time she sees him awake in the morning she'll run in, "Baby Gabriel is awake!! Good morning baby Gabriel!! ::kiss kiss::" I hope they're always such great friends. 

I am also your friend.

I've been seeing a lot of backlash about differing parenting styles recently. People saying you have to be hard on your children because the world is a hard place and you can't let them grow up to be wimps.  I sometimes hold my tongue.  I'm afraid to offend people with my views. Maybe this is the problem? The people shoving people around and bullying them, the people who don't believe there's more than one right way to do something - they have LOUD voices. Mine? Not so much.

There are things I agree with and things I don't. Things like not keeping score? No... That's all kinds of ridiculous. How will they learn to try harder if there's nothing to strive for, no reason to practice before next week's game so they can try to win? Not apologizing to your kid when you yell at them out of frustration because you're the "parent" and you shouldn't have to? No. Not cool man. We all slip, we all yell when we shouldn't. Man up and admit that you were wrong. Build a relationship of trust with your kids. Help them become better people. They're the ones who are going to be taking care of you when you're older... or not.

The hugely obvious one that I absolutely hate is "I'm not your friend. I'm your parent." I hate this idea and that adorable little image that's been making the rounds on pinterest and facebook.

I hate it so much that I felt compelled to rework it into a an adorable little image of my own. However, as I hit google to look up the original for context, I stumbled upon this little beauty at Wabi-Sabi Home and Garden

She beat me to it (by over a year.) There's no point in making my own because her's is PERFECT.  I'm not sure she's blogging any longer, but I want to thank her for her words and I want THIS to be the image making the rounds on pinterest and facebook because parenting is important. Building the next generation is important but we also need to teach them how to do more than just survive in this world. We need to teach them how to make it better, because in the words of Dr. Suess "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." ~ The Lorax *hint, it applies to more than just the environment.

So when my daughter has a nightmare and needs a hug and a few extra cuddles at 3am. I will hug her and lay with her even though I need to be up at 7am and the baby had me up at 1am. When she needs help retying her laces for the 15th time, I will take a deep breath and slowly show her how one more time rather than insisting she wears velcro. When my son wakes up for the 3rd time and just needs to know someone is there, we will not make him cry it out. We will stop and smell the roses, we will dance to the music and we will climb that tree one more time even though I'm tired and just want to go home. 

We will teach them to be responsible, caring, kind and thoughtful adults. (Mark will have to teach them math - sorry babe that's on you.) 

Afterthought. 

Okay I've been thinking about it. The first time I saw the "Not your friend" graphic I was hit by a wave of hunh? Of course I promptly forgot exactly what it was that made my eyebrow go up. I've remembered now.

They say, I'm not your friend, I will lecture you, I will drive you crazy. My very best friends are the ones who explain to me, IN DEPTH, why I'm wrong or being an idiot. My best friends DO drive me insane and they'd better be the ones making me come home when I'm out trying to do something stupid. If I've chosen my friends right that is. These are the hallmarks of real friendship. The idiot that encourages you to drink a bottle of whiskey and try to hop a fence at the zoo? That's not a friend. That's an idiot you hang out with. I don't disagree that a parent should be doing those things. I disagree that you can't be a friend whilst doing them. 

the 3 month update

Slight hiccup with Gabriel's monthly photo last week. Every Thursday he's another week older.. last Thursday he was 13 weeks and for some reason my brain told me that because he was born on a Thursday then he must be exactly 3 months on a Thursday. Essentially... EVERYTHING IS THURSDAY!! *cue crazy face* That's wrong. So so wrong. 13 weeks on the Thursday; 3 months on the Friday.

So what happened I hear you asking? Stop rambling about months and weeks not adding up and get on with it?

We had a photo shoot on Thursday.. TONS of photos. Jessica helped. We probably spent a good 40 minutes goofing around with the camera and the kangaroo. That evening when I finally found a photo that I was happy with, a friend posted on a facebook group that her little boy was 3 months today! I was hit with the sinking realization that her baby was born the day before Gabriel... oops.

My first thought was, "Oh well. We'll just do it all again tomorrow." Forgetting that tomorrow my parents would be here with their dog and their cat and would be occupying the guest room space where we take the pictures. My second thought was, "Umm, maybe if we get some downtime it'll happen?" Third thought, "It's tomorrow in Australia. I'm using the picture." Which brings me to....

Gabriel, 3 months old. (Australian time)

He's just as sweet as ever. STILL allergic to dairy... (I'll see if I can remember to post about that...) Sleeping beautifully at night and screaming his lungs out at me right now because he just woke up and I haven't picked him up yet. So yeah, short update this month!

Nom nom

Gabriel will be 3 months in less than a week but for now.. here are some of the outtakes from his one month photo shoot that were too cute not to share.

Every time he sees the kangaroo I chose as his monthly photo object, he tries to eat it! Seriously. Without fail. 

Related much?

More similar than we thought! Jessica is 4 weeks older than Gabriel in these videos (hence the actual leg movement) but at the rate he's growing we didn't think Gabriel would fit in the Pooh Bear sleeper if we waited any longer...

YouTube Doubler

Selfies...

Before you master the camera angle after having a second child.....

but by the time you get second child in the shot... first child has had enough...

G-Bear is 2 months

9 weeks later... Gabriel is 2 months old. How has it possibly been that long already? 

Stats
12lbs 14oz 64th percentile
22.25 inches 16th percentile (yup he's going to be a shorty too!)
41 cm head circumference 94th percentile (big heed!)

He had that same bewildered look in both photos, I couldn't resist. This continuity shot thing is harder than I expected.

He's such a lovely baby. So much simpler than my dear sweet Jessabear ever was. I don't think it's simply because I have a clue what I'm doing this time either. He's just more chill. Don't get me wrong, he still demands to be held just as much as J ever did, but I can put him down when he falls asleep and he'll actually stay that way! He'll even sit in a swing and coo at you! 

Self settling? *kablewy* mind blown. He can do it! This is not a skill J learned till close to 2! I'm still boggled every time it happens. 

He sleeps in incredible 4-5 hour stretches at night, wakes to nurse and then goes straight back to sleep. I don't think I even got this much uninterrupted sleep while I was pregnant!

Oh my gosh the baby spew. It never ends. In addition to dairy, his belly is not fond of caffeine or eggs. (Both learned the hard way.) Still trying to piece together what I can and can't eat. I have developed a new love of avocado though. Did not see that coming. Oh, but how much do I crave pizza, a cherry coke and a latte. Don't get me started on cereal...

Had his 2 month jags yesterday. Not fun. Some sort of shortage of the combined vaccine so he had to have 4 separate injections. He bright red rage-faced it through the entire ordeal, nursed and then went to sleep for a while. Mad again when he woke up, nursed, slept,.. repeat. Every time he woke up he whimpered or cried. Around 9pm we were finally treated to a few happy baby smiles, then he went back to sleep. He slept all night, but it was a restless sleep with lots of thrashing, snuffling and gurgling. 


Update on the previously reported dishwasher battle scores:

Dishwasher: 1
Me: 0 

Despite a thorough cleaning there's STILL sand everywhere and an unidentifiable rumbling noise. :(

Sand

There's a new rule in the Smith household. Toys that venture into the sand STAY in the sand.

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." ~Anakin Skywalker

Oh Anakin, you may not understand how to have a romantic conversation, but your discourse on sand is faultless.

For a while now I've been very lax. Jessabear and her friends have taken mega blocks, easter eggs, plastic animals, dishes, and all manner of things out to the sandbox. I haven't been strict. I figure, sand washes off. Right? Wrong. No matter how sleep deprived or frazzled one may be, do NOT let your babybrain tell you to put those sandy toys in the dishwasher. Just don't. 

Or you and your 8 week old infant will spend the evening taking apart your dishwasher, excavating sand from every crevice in an attempt to figure out what is making that new rumbling noise. The tough part? Getting it back together. 

Dishwasher: 0 

Me: 0.5 

spare washer : 0.5

8 weeks old today!

He's growing so very fast. So fast that I haven't even posted his birth story or his one month update. oops. 

I have a few minutes now. 

Jessica is watching a show about legos that fight. Legos are her new big thing - we're trying to hold off on buying any since the last thing we need right now are more tiny things to step on. She keeps talking about how Bo and Papa will have legos next time we visit them. Yes Jessica, they do indeed have legos at Papa and Bo's. My pretty pink and purple legos. 

and Gabriel, well he's still asleep! I'm hearing little baby squeaks every now and then though so it sounds like he may be up any minute.

At 8 weeks we thinks he's about 13lbs. (This is our rough estimation from holding him on our scale. We'll get an exact weight and height next week at his 2 month checkup.)

• He's holding toys! Yes HOLDING!! He can use both hands to move a toy around and get it to his mouth. At first I thought it was a fluke but then he repeated it multiple times over the course of a day and with different toys! His lion that was a gift from one of our neighbors and the cow which was a marketing present from Cow&Gate when we had Jessica. 
  
• He's smiling. His first smile was way back on August 2nd and we've had at least one good smile almost every day since, but two nights ago it was really amazing. We'd smile at him, he'd smile back, I'd giggle, he'd smile, Mark would stick out his tongue, Gabriel would attempt to copy him and then give us a big toothless grin. The smiling went on for a solid five minutes. He's really engaging with us. 
• He's still spitting up. Like ALL the time. When I'm strong (or not forgetful) and don't eat dairy he's much better. We were all sick this weekend though and it hit Gabriel differently. It upset his belly. There was more baby sick and less baby poop. He seems to have developed a little cough now but it hasn't kept him from getting a good night's sleep. Yesterday he threw up his entire feed directly afterwards at the park... I was worried but his next feed stayed down and he didn't seem upset. 
• He's generally a very chill baby - unless we're in the car. He hates the carseat just as much as his sister did. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have one of those babies who you actually put in the car to calm them down.... 
• He's getting a little eyebrow fluff now but it's not noticeable in photos yet.
• His eyes are still blue and getting lighter by the day. We've decided that while Jessica has my eye shape and almost my eye colour (hers are more hazel), it looks like Gabriel will have his father's eyes entirely. The shape and the colour are both Mark's.

Wow... he's not awake yet.. I've got about 30 minutes before we need to leave for J's gymnastics class so I'd better start pulling things together. If I don't make sure he's fed BEFORE we get in the car the poor boy will be hoarse from crying by the time we get there. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We met Mark for lunch today. Gabriel was the perfect baby and allowed me to eat with both hands by kindly sleeping through lunch. Here's the happy baby before he realized he had to stay in the car seat...

Oh and have you seen Jessica in her gymnastics outfit...? Yes. ADORABLE!

and for your dose of all things Gabriel, I'm officially releasing to the viewing public:

 Gabriel One A Day

Let's try this again.

We made it to midday relatively incident free. Gabriel is fussier than normal because we're all sick. (All at different stages sick and what feels like completely different sickness as well. Example. Jessica is coughing, Gabriel has a low fever and an upset belly, I have a headache that won't quit and that delightfully husky sick voice, Mark's sneezing and his nose won't stop. See? Like I said, it doesn't make sense.)

I decide that since all is going relatively well that we should get to the store. I NEED stamps and I was also hoping to find something caffeine/dairy free at starbucks that might make me happy. 

Get Gabriel dressed.
Put Gabriel in the carseat. 
Collect my things.
Gabriel poops.
Take Gabriel out of carseat, change and replace back into carseat.
Tell Jessica to head out to the car. 
She wants to go out the front door and meet me in the garage. I grudgingly allow it. 
I head out to the garage via the kitchen. 
*all hell breaks lose*
Apparently I was not to open the garage. She wanted to wait outside for it to open. She is angry, sad and inconsolable. I put Gabriel into the car. (Can you believe that my anti-car child is actually sitting happily awake in his carseat while his sister rages?) Jessica is crying and won't cooperate. I decide to call it quits. 
Turn off car.
Take baby inside.
Practically drag toddler back inside. Eventually carry her upstairs. 
I send her to her room until she's ready to relax. 

She comes out a few minutes later with questions about a recent tragedy in our family. I know it's hard for a three year to grasp death and some families might not even mention it, but I wanted her to know that someone we loved and who loved her had passed. There's no way I can stay angry with her when she's obviously decided to be worried. 

Gabriel is sleepy and I put him into his rock n play. (Major difference between him and his sister here... Gabriel decides, 'okay this'll do.' and GOES TO SLEEP! Something Jessica never figured out.) Jessica and I talk about her Uncle, how much we loved him and what happened and how you don't die from being a little sick like she is now, but that he was very very sick for a long time. We rock and she falls asleep on me. I move her to the bed. 10 minutes later she wakes up a little and cries because I'm not next to her (see I told you she still hasn't mastered it.) I lay next to her and she goes back to sleep. It's been 40 minutes and both my children are asleep at the same time during the day. I'm not sure this has ever happened. 

I think I'll just ask Mark to buy stamps on the way home...

Part One: Breech.

Tuesday the 9th

        I have my weekly OB appointment. (According to my dates I'm already 40+4. According to their dates I'm only 40+1) I'm seeing the midwife for the first time. She seems rather likable and I wish I'd thought to request her on previous visits. She takes the fundal height and feels around on my belly. She mentions that there's rather hard lump quite high up, she wonders what the chances of that being a head is. We both joke that that would be unthinkable. She decides that she wants to send me for an ultrasound 'just to be sure.'

        Ultrasound: The midwife is going to do the scan herself. That's a head. He's breech. Somehow not a single doctor noticed that the baby was still head up. Everyone just kept assuming he had a really hard butt I guess. She decides that because the baby is breech she needs the actual tech to come in and do the scan so they can check the placenta and get all the measurements correct.

        Back to the midwife: This means a c-section. They estimated the weight during the ultrasound and it's coming back as 8lbs 13oz. The midwife tells me that while I might be able to find a doctor willing to try a breech delivery vaginally, she doesn't know of a single doctor who thinks it would be safe to try to a normal delivery. She looks at me. I nod. She mentions that I'm awfully calm for someone who just found out they have an almost 9lb breech baby and needs a c-section. I stare at her some more before I find my words. "Well, what am I supposed to do? The baby needs to get here the safest way for him possible. Stressing out about it isn't going to change anything." With that she sends me off to do a 'non-stress test' to make sure babe will be happy waiting till the end of the week for a c-sec appointment.

         Non-stress test: These are the most stressful test ever labeled NON-STRESS. Lay back in a chair with monitors stuck to your belly and push a button every time the baby moves. Did the baby move... or was that just a gas bubble? Did the baby roll... or was that just my heartbeat?? aaaah! Babe wasn't cooperating and the test took ages. At first he wasn't wanting to move much and then (after having me drink a large glass of ice water and a Dr. Pepper) they weren't getting the proper heart-rate accelerations. [apparently when they move the doctor wants to see the heart-rate go up at least 15bpm and then stay elevated for at least 15 secs. Babe's was going up but not staying up. After about 40 minutes they were finally happy and I was released. At first they wanted me to wait for the appointment time but they couldn't get ahold of anyone at the hospital. Super busy. July is THE month for birthing babies.

         Lunch: I was texting Mark constantly throughout my appointment (thank you unlimited data plan and new phones!) so he knew what was going on. We had about 40 minutes before we needed to collect Jessica from school, so Mark drove out and met me for a very blah lunch at Jersey Mikes (I do not recommend.) He knows how terrified I am of a c-section. Mostly I'm worried that I'll have to have general anesthesia and it will be hours before I even meet our baby. Plus who wouldn't be freaked out about having their abdomen sliced open? There's a lot of staring at each other and Mark telling me it's going to be okay. I had my CBC (complete blood count) done at the OB's that morning so we won't know till tomorrow what my platelet numbers are. An anesthesiologist won't do a spinal if my platelets are under 100. We still don't have a day or time for the delivery but the clock has started to get my platelets up.

        Scheduled: I finally get a call from the hospital around 3 in the afternoon letting me know that I'm scheduled for 12 noon on Thursday the 11th. (A couple hours later they call back and ask if it's okay to bump me up to the 10am slot. Sure. Less waiting = less stress right?) I call mom. Well I called mom multiple times prior but this is THE call. The, we have a time and date and we need you to come down, call. She decides to head down in the morning.

       Family date night: I really needed to get my mind off things so we decided to take Jessica out to a movie on one of our last nights as a family of three. We let her choose between Monster's University and Despicable Me 2. She chose Despicable Me 2. (Only slightly upsetting as both Mark and I were secretly hoping to see the new Monster's movie.) We headed to the cinema and let Jessica chose anything she wanted.. mistake I know but we were in the mood to spoil. A cherry slushie, a box of junior mints split with Daddy, some popcorn and a bag of fruit snacks later, we had one very wired girl on our hands, but everyone was happy. 

[Stay tuned for Part 2. The Hematologist.]

T-2 days and a visit to the hematologist.

Okay let's see about this whole updating thing while Jessica is otherwise entertained.

I had another appointment with the hematologist this morning. (Low platelets. Platelets under 100 = no epidural/spinal and possibility of increased bleeding. My platelets think it's funny to hop just above and below 100.) My platelets came back today at 94 today despite taking steroids for the past 3 days. Hence intravenous steroid time. Thankfully Jessie was in preschool and I had a bit of time to kill. Uncomfortably my hematologist is at The North Carolina Cancer Centers, so everyone gives the pregnant lady in the cancer ward those "oh my gosh" looks. Super fun. Thankfully my hematologist has a few brain cells to rub together and realized it would be "weird" to put me in the chemotherapy room to get my IV and instead put me in a private 'break room' of sorts.

Sadly that's where the fun stopped. Enter elderly nurse with what seems like Parkinsons. Really? She's going to stab me with something?!? I close my eyes. Lots of failing. She wiggles it around. Still nothing. I can't watch. Finally she thinks she has it in. I ask how she knows if it's in properly. "Because there will be blood." Oh really? Because I'm pretty sure if my cat scratches me there's blood but it doesn't mean she's sunk her claw directly into my vein. Oi.

It hurts. I inform her. More wiggling. She tapes it down. It burns. I inform her. She looks concerned. Oh.. shouldn't be burning now should it? She notices swelling. Steroids are not going in the right place. Removes IV. Says she'll get someone else. HUGE sigh of relief, but wait, she's changed her mind. She wants to have a go at the other arm. This is where I wish I had the confidence to say, "could we please let someone else try?" I didn't. Instead I tried to offer a helpful, "it's quite common to have more than one person have a go at my veins since they're so deep." She did not get the hint.

She FINALLY gets it in and leaves me to it. Man I hate steroids. The hot flashes and heartburn are constant companions these days.

I have another appointment scheduled for the 10th of July. I'm hoping for a baby by then. That's one appointment I would love to cancel. I was hoping for a baby tonight but now I figure it would be a good idea to let the steroids take effect and give my veins a chance to heal up a bit before they start jabbing me all over again at the hospital. Not that I actually have any say in the matter....

Snack pack prepared, some nice little bits and bobs for the hospital purchased. Oh and look at this cute little outfit I got at Babies R Us this morning for only 40cents. Score! Also picked up this super soft baby blanket that turns out to be made out of 100% Organic cotton. So pretty!

38+6

Wow... it's been forever. I have a ton of excuses but I won't bore you with all of them, suffice to say, the carpal tunnel has made typing less than a pleasant experience. The recent course of steroids they've put me on to raise my platelets has made it a bit more bearable so I thought I'd better get something posted before the internets gave me up for dead. 

Evenings have been busy, late and exhausting so bump shots haven't really happened. Which is why you are, sadly, on the receiving end of a selfie-mirror shot! (but it's better than nothing right?)

oh, and the diaper bag arrived today!

28 Weeks ... a few days ago.

Nope, no bump shot. Can't seem to coordinate schedules enough to actually get one taken. I'll do my very best to arrange something for this Friday when I hit 29 weeks. 

Baby/Mummy stats:

I was at the OB for a checkup on Monday. They did the dreaded Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT), which honestly, was not nearly as bad as expected! In Scotland they sent me straight for the 4 hour test because the baby was measuring ahead. This baby is measuring a week ahead too (no... their dates aren't wrong, really) but they were happy starting with the one hour test. To make it even easier, they even sent the syrupy drink home with me at my 26 week appointment with instructions on how and when to take it before the next appointment. (Syrupy fruitpunch? You know what? I can handle that. It's like a snow cone without the annoying icy bits.) I downed it at 7:41am, appointment started at 8:15am and by 8:41am I'd had all my routine tests, met with the doctor and was in the chair waiting to get my blood drawn. Which (as you all know) is never fun for me. Surprise surprise - they hit a vein on the first try AND I have enough blood flowing to fill all 3 vials. Awesome. So much better than last time.

Baby's heart rate was 142

My blood pressure was good but honestly, those numbers mean nothing to me so I find them hard to remember.

I'm up a total of 16lbs. (My goal now is 1lb a week for the next 12 weeks.. unlikely but I can try!)

GTT test results were normal.

Platelets are low, but not concerningly low. They'll retest in two weeks.

Now for your daily DUH moment.. I'm testing as anemic. No wonder I'm freakin' dizzy with a racing pulse so much of the time. Kinda wonder why they didn't feel like checking my iron levels or suggest a supplement 2 months ago. It's not like I haven't mentioned it every time I've been in the office. Picked up some iron pills today so hopefully I'll be feeling less dizzy in about a week. :)

The Wake Forest Police Department’s Carnival for the Kids

A friend mentioned that there was a fair in Wake Forest last week. Mark loves carnival rides. We decided to be implusive. Jessica had a wonderful nap from 3 - 5:30pm so we were all set for an evening of spontaneous fun when Mark got home around 6.

It's more than obvious that Jessica inherited her father's sense of adventure rather than my skittish nature. She wanted to ride EVERYTHING. Mark spent far more on ride tickets than I've ever even considered spending at a fair. A generous lady on her way out came up to us and asked if Jessica was riding. I was slightly confused but nodded and said yes. She handed me two tickets and said they had spares. (Apparently if your 3 year is wearing bows in her hair, a fluffy dress AND cowboy boots everyone in North Carolina will stop to swoon and tell you how adorable she is. Oh and give you free stuff.) On top of Mark's extravagant purchase and two free tickets we still had to go back to the ticket counter and buy one more ticket so Jessica and Mark could ride the ferris wheel 'one last time,' at her insistance! Even the carnies loved her, and if you've ever been to a fair you know what a tight lipped bunch they can be.

First ride of the night.

Be still my heart....

and up they go! The second ride was after dark and I was too busy eating funnel cake to take any pictures. I'd lost some of the 'mom panic' by that point.

I'm missing a video from the carousel which is adorable too but between my persnickity phone and the mac... uploading is not exactly smooth sailing.

Chopstick savant.

Yup, she ate almost that entire plate of edamame. 

Last week as Jessica was getting over the 'stomach bug that would not die' we decided to meet Mark at PeiWei for dinner. I did not have it in me to cook (that's sooo unusual right now - can you taste the sarcasm?) We'd never been and our friends have said good things about the place. The food was good and the atmosphere relaxed. (Although my skyrocketing blood pressure at the end of the meal, which meant we had to hang around for a while since I totally couldn't drive, indicates a rather high sodium content to their food. So unfortunately not somewhere we can go back to whilst still pregnant.)

For fast food, the staff was incredibly helpful. From the guy who took our order to the multiple people who brought the food. However, it must be said, that the awesome award for the night goes to the kindly server who saw Mark patiently trying to teach our 3 year old how to use chopsticks and came to the rescue with a nifty 'kid helper' contraption. (Honestly, attempting to teach a 3 year old how to use chopsticks? Sometimes I think my husband has the patience of a saint!) With the helper thingey attached she was off and running. I don't know about you.... but I'm kinda incredibly impressed.

Adventures in Baby Brain

It's not the first time and I'm sure it's not the last ... Baby brain has been hitting hard around these parts recently.

Last week I brought Mark some ice cream for dessert - the next morning I found the pint in the fridge instead of the freezer. Could be worse right?

A few days later I woke up with the intention of making bacon on toast for breakfast. I knew we had half a loaf of an Italian bread somewhere in the kitchen. I had just thrown away the exterior wrapper the night before. After digging through the kitchen for a good 15 minutes and then enquiring whether my husband had gotten the munchies and eaten half a loaf of bread in the middle of the night I finally decided to check the trash can. Yup. There it was. Buried in stinky rubbish. I almost cried.  My husband called me cute.  (I thought this whole episode had passed unnoticed by my toddler. Nope. A couple days later while I was giving her a snack, some buttered toast, she got fussy because she couldn't see the butter. I told her it had melted because the toast was hot. She decided that she did NOT want cooked toast and would I be kind enough to provide her with some uncooked bread. I told her we were out. Which we were. It was the last slice of bread in the house. Her response? After her eyes welled up with tears she gazed at me and with the most pathetic voice asked me why I threw all the  bread away. Oops. I guess she caught that. )

Today? Ribs. I finally got up early enough to season and brown them, mix up some semi-scratch bbq sauce and pop them in the crockpot. Dinner should be simple and ready by 6pm. Around 3:30 I decide to check on them. Crockpot is cold. Apparently you need to plug these things in. Erm. Looks like dinner won't be ready for a while folks. 

btw It's a BOY!

Now the naming insanity begins again!

My announcement photo.

Mark's announcement picture. 

18 weeks

Baby/Mummy stats:
The exciting news is that it's been almost 2 weeks since I last threw up!! I'm still feeling nauseous off an on. Mornings and evenings are particularly unpleasant, but at least the food is staying down and I can act like a semi-normal person most days.

A semi-normal person who gets dizzy, a lot. If I have to stand up for more than 5 minutes I start getting woozy. I'm not too concerned... I remember this from last time, I'll mention it to the doctor - I'm already trying to up the water intake in hopes that'll help. It's easier to drink now that I don't feel like throwing up every time liquid hits my belly.

Now that the food is staying put I've put on another 2lbs since the last checkin. That makes a grand total of 4lbs. I have 22 weeks left. I can gain another 23lbs and stay in my goal range... that's possible... right?

I managed to make it to another Stroller Strides class this week but we were having another one of those 70 degree days in the middle of January so it was a bit harder to keep up this time but at least I got  out there and moved for a while.

Appointment schedule was adjusted a bit and our next is scheduled for Monday! A normal checkup AND the 18-20 week anatomy scan. Really hoping they can tell the gender for definite! (Although we haven't completely decided whether we're announcing immediately or having a gender reveal party yet. We're still discussing it. So you might know the gender by Monday evening.. and then again you might not. ;) [I'm completely avoiding the possibility of anything being wrong.]

I've been feeling intermittent movement for a few weeks now. It really freaks me out when baby goes a week without popping me... can't wait till the movement becomes more regular.

Statistically babies are about 7 ounces and 5.5 inches by now!

Random thoughts.

Quietly sitting at her table painting a picture for a friend, Jessica starts counting... in SPANISH. She made it up to 5! Now I can guarantee that I did not teach her spanish numbers. That is entirely credit to Stroller Strides (we often count our reps in other languages, spanish being the most common) and *ahem* erm... Dora and Diego. We prefer Diego in this house... being zoologists around these parts ;) Dora's a little odd. I think she may be on some form of hallucinogenic... She repeated herself twice then looked at me and exclaimed, "I did it! I know Spanish!!" She's adorable that one.

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Well that's the second time in 2 days I've bitten my lower lip, hard. I should have delightfully pouty lips by the weekend. Ouch.

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Knocked an open can of cat food behind the bin while I was emptying it today. Obviously the disaster that is my house wasn't enough of a challenge for me and I felt the need to scrub the bin and the surrounding floor.

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You should be discouraged from purchasing a two story home if you are in possession of a toddler and have any intention of becoming pregnant. Upstairs, downstairs, upstairs, downstairs.. wipe me! I'm stuck! Ow! What's this? oi.

The Dentist.

I've always loved going to the dentist. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the free goodies, the missed school, or all the personal attention. Perhaps a combination of it all. Nowadays, while I do my best to make sure my daughter is excited about going I experience a bit of terror at the prospect. Not for my checkups, but hers. 

See, we made a big mistake between the age of 1 and 2. We allowed our beautiful daughter to develop a juice box habit and faltered at the regular tooth brushing. We knew it was wrong but it was oh so easy and made her oh so happy. These are not good excuses.  Her teeth looked lovely and white on the front and so  we remained ignorant of the decay that lurked in places we couldn't see. 

Flash forward 6 months from her first dental checkup and we're fighting the decay as hard as we can. Brushing twice a day, (brushing a toddler's teeth once a day is exhausting, twice is almost impossible but we try!) a fluoride gel every night, flossing, seeing the dentist every three months for regular checkups, the works. Today was her first cleaning since last July. 

Waiting to be called.

Exploring every inch of the waiting room.

Honestly? She was a star. A perfect child. I'm not sure I can brag on her enough. She was calm, patient, cooperative. The ideal patient. The plaque scraper tool, the spinning electric brush, the flossing. She did it all.  I'm pretty sure the hygienist even told her she was the best two year old she'd ever seen. (The best folks! Could be that they were just glossy platitudes designed to make mom and baby both happy - in which case it worked.) There was a bit of a fail when they tried to take x-rays. Jessica just couldn't get the white card to stay in place in her mouth but I'm pretty sure that's because she has a teeny tiny mouth and I'm not blaming her. They said they'd try next time. 

She still has the decay on the back of her front four teeth and two tiny cavities in her top molars but the rate of decay seems to have slowed down substantially. Dr. Kornstein said that he'd need to put her under general anesthesia to fix the front teeth but that it would really just be for cosmetic reasons. He also mentioned that any crowns he put on the front teeth were doomed to fail because of her bite. This was quickly followed up with an "if it was my daughter I'd see how long we can go before they need to be pulled and hopefully we can get close to when they'd fall out naturally." There we go. Better. I'm all for avoiding hospitalizing my daughter! He said there'd be no concern about spacing of the new teeth coming in and that we could fill the molars in office at some point since she is so cooperative. 

I had a mini heart-attack when I thought he was advocating full surgery. It's hard to hear that you've failed your child. After all, it's not Jessica's fault she didn't brush her teeth twice a day when she was one and half. Or that her Mommy gave her snack trap filled with cheddar bunnies everyday and allowed her one or... erm two of those evil boxes of juice every day. *hangs head in shame*

At least we'll know better for second baby. Poor 1st baby. ;)

15 weeks.... tomorrow!

Oh my gosh... I'm so exhausted, my head aches and I seem to be allergic to my house. Obviously a repercussion of my poor housekeeping skills.

• Our duvet needs to be sent out for dry cleaning since my parents pets visited. I seem to be allergic to both. 
• All the air filters upstairs need to be changed, but I've been forbidden from climbing ladders and Mark hasn't been getting home until late recently. Plus we'd probably have to actually buy replacement filters before we could change them, huh. 
• VACUUM. yeaaaaah... you're supposed to actually do that aren't you. 

If I stay downstairs I just sneeze, but if I head upstairs it's full-blown head cold time, which makes going to bed rather bothersome. Can just being pregnant make you more sensitive to pet dander and dust mites?

Baby/Mummy stats:

Baby seems to be doing some major renovating. I'm sure my waistline has exploded exponentially in the past couple weeks. I'm not too worried because I've only actually put on 2lbs since I got pregnant, so I'm relatively confident that the expansion is all down to baby and not that chocolate cake I HAD to make last week.

We got out First Tri Genetic Screen results back this week. They were delightful. It screens for Downs and Trisomy 13 and 18. Honestly I have no idea what we would have done if the results weren't great but if you know Mark and I, we're nothing if not well informed. The risk is at 1 in greater that 10,000 which is as high as their scale (at this particular office) goes.

Our next appointment is January 31st and then the gender identifying scan will be shortly after! Less than a month till we find out if Meatball the second (that's a really bad name isn't it?) will be a boy or a girl. Jessica and Mark both threw a spanner in the works last night when they both gave me a negatory on the boy name I thought we'd decided on ages ago. This should be interesting. (I think Jessica's main complaint is that it's a boy's name and she's adamant that we shall have a 'baby girl just like her.')

My first bump shots last time didn't occur till week 16 so you'll have to wait another week before I show you just how large I look this time around.

I haven't thrown up since Tuesday morning although I'm still nauseous 24/7.

Sleeping is almost impossible. Can't fall asleep easily because of the allergies. (I should really just clean.) Can't STAY asleep because I have to wake up at least twice, sometimes three times to pee. Can't get comfortable because I can't sleep on my back anymore and my back/hips seem to ache no matter what position I'm in. I seem to sleep better during the day when I'm NOT supposed to be asleep. I'm looking forward to Mark's parents arriving next month so I can take midday naps on purpose!

Happy that heartburn hasn't started yet!

Jessica is still incredibly excited and includes the baby whenever she talks about us as a family. Example: We're going to the park. ---> Daddy and Mummy and Baby and me will all be there! She's started kissing my belly too, which is rather awkward since I'm sure it's still just 98% fat, but she's cute so what are you going to do?

She says she would like to name the baby, 'Baby Girl.'

and how do you feel?

Every time I open my mouth and hear myself utter the words, "I make a really bad pregnant woman." I want to bite my own tongue. Sure I've got it rough. 
Sleeping is uncomfortable and I wake up with the sheets in a tangled mess. 
My blood sugar drops in the middle of the night and I wake up with the jitters. 
I throw up every other day or so.
I'm exhausted. 
I'm nauseated all the time. But really..? It could be so much worse. 

Have you heard of Hyperemesis Gravidarum? Read about it. Before I was pregnant the first time I didn't even know it existed  but it does and I am thankful that I don't have it. (It's amazing how many people I've met who've never heard of it either.) I don't have to deal with an incompetent cervix , a condition requiring bedrest and/or surgery. There's an entire slew of medical horrors and complications that I don't even want to think about. Really, I've got it easy. 

I could be doing this without an amazing family and wonderful friends. I've got support and I've got love, so throwing up a few times a week really shouldn't feel like such a big deal. 

I think I feel like I'm so bad at this because I've only ever seen amazing women go through awesome pregnancies. The first pregnancy I ever experienced was my friend Sarah's. If she hadn't started to look like she was hiding a bowling ball under her shirt you'd never have known she was pregnant. She took it all like a star. Sure, towards the end it was obvious she was ready to have the baby on the outside rather than the inside but that's completely expected! 

Cue a move to Raleigh where the Mom crowd I've been hanging out with are exercise regulars. I don't think I can even count how many women announced in class and then continued to workout up until the month they were due. I can remember not being able to tie my own shoes by 6 months last time.... oh my gosh. I was blown away. Perhaps I should go look for pregnant friends at Krispy Kreme rather than the gym?  ;)  Have I mentioned that I'm already getting winded just going upstairs in our house? Not a good sign for the future. 

I'm attempting my first class back at Stroller Strides on Wednesday. I've not been since I got pregnant. I'm rather worried that I'm going to puke or pass out in the middle of class. Thankfully Wednesday's instructor is one of my best friends. I'm sure she'll forgive me for any mid-class bathroom disappearances. 

All that said.. I AM pregnant. Therefore dealing with a pregnant woman's hormones, so please forgive me if when I whine every once in a while. I'll try not to overwhelm you with stories of where I puked last and how horrific it was ;) (Honestly, you may not want to ask me how I feel because there's no way I've got it together enough to just say, "fine."  I'm going to regale you with my lastest misadventure. Please, only ask if you really want to know.)