Picture Time!

At Uncle Skip and Aunt Judy's


Ryan didn't want me coming near his food.


With Alexandra


With Tara


Snacking


At Letchworth with Daddy


With Daddy again, this pack was very useful


At Letchworth with Mommy and Daddy


Grammy moved the buttons on this romper mommy wore when she was a baby. Then she wrestled me into it.


It was worth it though, look at all these butt ruffles!


So I helped her with the dishwasher as a thank you.


Mommy said we had to clean the jumper before we give it back to Aunt Jamie. Did you know it's just as much fun in pieces as it is together?!


I crawled into the laundry basket to play. It was great! Until I couldn't get out again.

Kaida's Getting Big!

Kaida is getting to be a very big girl!

She hardly eats any baby food anymore. Just what's mixed in with her cereal in the morning and then if I'm too lazy to make her something when she can't/won't eat what we're eating.
The bad news is that diaper rashes are a little more frequent as she tries all these new foods. Pizza Fondue was a huge winner, unfortunately her tush does not agree.

She started to actually pet the cat. She still hits and grabs and tries to eat his tail but she'll do the petting motion too.

She can do the sign for Milk. The first time she did it I asked her if she wanted to nurse but I was carrying her so I couldn't make the sign like I normally do. So she did it for me. A day or two later she made the sign again, I think she was asking to nurse but it had only been an hour so I told her she had to wait. She also does it when we watch the baby einstein signing video and they talk about milk.

She no longer nurses in the afternoon. She has her snack - cheerios or applejacks, sometimes pretzels and then some juice and she's very happy to eat that and make a huge mess.
We transitioned from nursing first thing when she wakes up, to breakfast first thing, and now she'll play or watch some tv and then eat her breakfast and nurse sometime after that. It went very well and hopefully the rest goes smoothly.

She kind of stands. We have to trick her because she usually wants to sit as soon as we let go of her but today she seemed to forget several times. I set her down next to her car seat and turned to get the straps set. After a couple seconds I realized that she was just standing there. I think she realized it at just the same time so she reached out to put a hand on me. She did it again in the bathtub tonight too. It's pretty funny 'cause you can see when she realizes.

And we're getting her big girl room ready. It's all primed. Two coats of high hiding primer to cover up the Parakeet Pete we painted it 14 months ago (that was dumb). And we found a crib and mattress on craigslist for less than what the mattress costs new. Score!

Bean - 15 weeks

15 weeks today.

The e-mail says that Bean is 4 inches and 2.5 ounces. They think I've gained 5 pounds by now. I look like I've gained 10. I've actually gained negative 4 (depending on the time of day I weigh myself). I can eat now and I haven't puked in about a week but my appetite is not huge. And I'm still kind of avoiding meat. If it's mixed in with something or in a sandwich it's usually ok but no burgers or anything like that. maybe it's a texture thing? I'm not sure.

We went to meet the midwives this week. We're thinking of switching from the obstetricians.
They deliver at Magee so it's pretty much the same except that they are interested in and know how to help you have a natural birth. Obstetricians are trained as surgeons and I don't think we should go to a surgeon unless there's a reason for it.
I feel like with the doctors I have to talk to each one and ask them are you ok with me giving birth naturally? Are you ok with me delivering kneeling, sitting, squatting, or standing? Like I have to convince them that this is ok and that's ridiculous. The midwives see it and do it all the time. And they're not afraid of it.
We took a tour and the one midwife was talking about interns coming in to your room. Since it's a teaching hospital that happens (and whoa boy did it happen when Kaida was born). She said sometimes they want to come watch because they've never seen someone give birth without an epidural or not laying on their back.

The Midwives at Magee were our choice (of the midwife options) because they're at the hospital so if there is a problem there's no transportation mid-labor. We know Magee so we know what to expect before during and after. The food at Magee is pretty good (or at least it was to me after they tried to starve me during labor).
We learned that they will let you have an epidural too. I guess since they're in the hospital and have access to anesthesiologists that makes sense. I think I would rather have not known that though...

So, 25 more weeks!

That Damn Cat

Tonic has taken to scratching the side of the "new" pack 'n' play. We have it set up in the 4th bedroom so it could air out. It smelled like someone else's house and that kind of creeps me out. He doesn't seem to be doing any damage to it but it is kind of loud and annoying

He woke me up last night at 11 with the scratching. And about 2 minutes later Kaida woke up.

Luckily I was able to rock her back to sleep. Otherwise Tonic may have discovered himself to suddenly be an outside cat.

Might be time to pack it back up and find a new place to store it.

Bean - 13 Weeks

Got the 13 weeks e-mail today.

Bean is almost 3 inches long and weighs an ounce. About the size of a medium shrimp. That's two weeks of food I've heard of. Last week was a lime. I think when we get up to the larger sizes they start comparing baby to exotic food I've never heard of.

The big development this week is fingerprints!

As for me I'm feeling a bit better. I stopped taking the B6 and I'm not anywhere near as nauseous as I was. But some smells still get to me and chewing is my nemesis. If I have to chew food too much it makes me want to gag. So soft food is my mainstay right now. Small bites. And I bought some ensure. It has 25% of the iron I need so maybe that will help with my energy. And liquids involve no chewing!

Bean's Photo Shoots

I just realized I never posted the pictures from Bean's first ultrasound.

And we had the first trimester screening on Monday so there are pictures from that one too.

Here goes!

11 weeks


Looking very bean-like in this picture


12 Weeks 5 days
Bean started out upside down. And apparently with horns?


Waving


Stretching out. Do it now while you can baby!


Everything seemed fine at the first trimester screening. Our tech didn't talk much. But Bean measured exactly 12 weeks 5 days. I guess Kaida must have had an early growth spurt because she measured a week ahead at this point. Bean's heart rate was about 169. And no gender info. We saw some cute little legs crossed at the ankles but that was it.

Pirates Game

We went to get nachos today and a Pirates game broke out. They played the Cubs.

We got there just after the first inning and stayed through the fifth. It was very hot and Kaida was getting a little sleepy so we left early. But we had fun.

Our seats were right in the sun so we only lasted one inning there. Then we went back out near all the vendors. I got my nachos which, sadly, were not as good as I had hoped. It may have just been too hot to really enjoy them.
We spent an inning out there and then we found different seats way up high in the shade. That was way better.

Eventually Kaida started clapping and stopped looking terrified whenever everyone cheered. The first time she clapped, though, was when the Umpire got hit by a ball. A little inappropriate but what do you want from a 10 month old?

We watched the perogies race but they were so far away they didn't grab her attention. But she got two wind up racing perogies. The box for which she's chewing on in this photo.


We had fun. And she napped in the car on the way home. We tried to transfer her to the crib when we got home but when I turned on the fan it made a huge noise. I think it might be on its way out. Anyway, that woke her up and she saw both of us in the nursery so she thought it was play time. Oh well, can't win them all. :-)

11 Weeks - Early Ultrasound

June 30th, 2011

We had a Dr.'s appointment today. This is the appointment where you're supposed to hear the heartbeat. And 4 weeks ago Dr. Alvarado said that there should be no problem hearing it in 4 weeks. She was wrong.

Dr. Lebovitz couldn't find it. She was all playing it cool though. It's still early etc. etc.
JR was like, well she said it's still early. And she didn't seem worried.
I was like, this is the woman who told me if I didn't push the baby out on the next push she was going to have to vacuum extract her as if she were telling me she just painted her kitchen yellow.
She's very calm. Which is good. But now I read into it a little bit more.

And then she sent us for an ultrasound. I don't know if that's just because it's convenient and ultrasound is downstairs or if all Doctors do that for everyone when you can't hear the heartbeat at 11 weeks or what.

But we got to see Bean. Heart rate was about 179. Measuring right on for the due date. No gender news or info about the placenta yet. She said it was too early to tell if the placenta is going to be previa.

So we still have our first trimester screening on July 11th. So we'll see Bean again then.

Prenatal Vitamin - Part Deux

Sunday June 12, 2011

*Warning. This gets gross.*

I've been taking my prenatal vitamins at night. I was feeling sick in the morning so rather than push it I just started taking them with dinner. And these are real prenatals. Last time I just took a regular vitamin but since I'm still nursing I figured a real prenatal was in order.

Note to self: Always take prenatal vitamins with food.

I was feeding Kaida some baby food and JR was finishing up dinner. Since I was just sitting there I figured I'd take my vitamins. I mean, it was almost dinner time, no problem, right?

Wrong

JR had gone outside for a minute and when he came back Kaida was in the high chair screaming and I'm crouched in front of the toilet revisiting the prenatal vitamins.

Not impressed with the morning sickness this time around.

8 Weeks

Friday May 10th, 2011

Yesterday marked 8 weeks, so that's good.

Morning sickness was starting to get pretty awful. It was a worse feeling than with Kaida but it wasn't all the time like it was with her (but still no puking). So I called the Dr. to see how much B6 I should take. My vitamin already has 100% so I didn't want to take too much. They said 25mg 3 times a day. So I started that on, Tuesday maybe? It has helped a lot. Every once in a while I get a wave of nausea but I can actually eat now.

Unfortunately while the morning sickness seems to be under control, the exhaustion has not abated. And of course Kaida has chosen this week to do something crazy with her naps. This morning 2.5 hours and this afternoon 45 minutes. But she's been shortening those afternoon naps for the last couple days so I napped in the morning while she was asleep. I'm on to your game baby! Hopefully this is just because she's sick and it's hot and it will straighten itself out.

Last weekend we bought a pack n play at a garage sale. Jamie's baby will need the one we're borrowing from her back. We also bought a changing table for Kaida's new room. We still need a jumper, and a monitor. Matt and Sam said we could borrow Lucas's crib since he is in his big boy bed now. So Kaida will have that in her new room until she moves to a big bed.

I also bought a crib set with dragons on it off craigslist. It may go in Kaida's room, we'll have to see.

*Update - We won't be borrowing Lucas's old crib so now we're on the hunt for something else*

First Dr. Appointment - 6 weeks

May 31st, 2011

I went to the Dr. today for my first visit. They confirmed our due date of January 19th. Once again they never said "You're pregnant!" Who knows why they don't.

I finally met Dr. Alvarado. I tried to meet her while I was pregnant with Kaida but she was never available when I could come for an appointment. She's nice and listened and answered my questions.

She said everything looks normal and that they'll have no trouble finding the heartbeat in 4 weeks. I'm not sure what that means, like, the baby is big? I can't imagine she could tell how big the baby is just by feeling around my stomach. I kind of doubt she could feel it at all. Maybe I have a thin uterus? Who knows!

I asked about taking acidophilus pearls to prevent a positive group b strep test this time. She didn't seem to think that it was a great idea (which I didn't think they would be gung ho for it since it's not "real medicine") but, foreseeing that, I phrased the question as "is there any reason I shouldn't take it?" She couldn't give me a reason other than, it's naturally in your digestive system. Which, sure, sounds good, except it's bad if the baby is exposed to it so why wouldn't I try to prevent it? Even if you do have some medication you can hook me up to while I'm giving birth.

She has no problem with me nursing Kaida while I'm pregnant or even doing tandem (no thanks). But she suggested I take an extra calcium supplement. She also suggested B6 since the morning sickness has kicked in. It seems to be staying mostly in the morning though, so that's different. She said I might be getting light headed because I'm dehydrated from nursing and growing a baby. So I should just make sure I drink lots of water.

We've decided to call this baby Bean. I think Bean is a boy. But I thought Kaida was a boy too, so we know how good my hunches are. We'll have to wait to see what the dreams are. 'Cause I had baby girl dreams last time.

!!!

May 16th, 2011

Took a pregnany test this morning. It was positive!

I'm a little surprised. Not surprised by the results of the test since I had my suspicions, but surprised that it happened so fast this time.

When Kaida was born we decided we would start trying when she was 6 months old. I was hoping to have them be 2 years apart and since it took 10 months of trying to conceive Kaida I figured we'd be pretty safe starting whens she was 6 months. But it only took 3 months this time.

Best laid plans... :-)

Some of my hints were:
A couple weeks ago I saw a dead racoon on the side of the road and got a little misty.
Last week while Kaida was nursing I noticed that my nipples felt a little sore.
This past weekend I was hungry like a hungry hungry hippo.
And then I started to feel tired.
And since my periods came back they've been 28 or 29 days apart. So around day 31 I was pretty well convinced.

I already told Kaida (she promised to keep it a secret) but I haven't told JR yet. He said I could surprise him or not so I decided I will.
Kaida and I are going to go to Babies R Us later to get her an "I'm the Big Sister!" t-shirt. Then she'll wear it when we go to pick him up and see how long it takes him to notice!

Pretty excited!

The internet tells me that this baby's due date is January 19th, 2011.

*Update*
The smallest big sister shirt we could find was a 2T. So it looked a little ridiculous on her.
JR didn't take off her jacket and shoes right away like he normally does so I followed them upstairs so I could see his reaction. Then I had to prompt him. "Oh, you still have your jacket on baby." He eventually took off her jacket and noticed that the shirt had ruffles (it's sleeveless with ruffles at the arm holes). She was wearing a onesie underneath so it looked pretty awful. But he didn't read the shirt right away.
Eventually I held her up so he could read it. He said "Big sister? Are you pregnant?" Like that was the only reason she would be wearing this shirt but it didn't make any sense at all.
It was kind of funny. He's as surprised as I am.