This past week has been hard on us.
Thursday, March 12, is the day that we would have been due with Sparkie. I spent most of last summer thinking about what it would be like to have another March baby, how excited I was for the potential of another Pi Day birthday, and how wonderful it would be to have the rest of the year off after my due date.
So in the lead-up to March 12, I struggled. A lot. It doesn't help that this is a rough time of year at work. So every time I have a stressful moment during the workday, I cannot help but instantly think, "I should be on maternity leave right now." Which then brings stinging tears to my eyes.
For the last several days, I've been having flashbacks to the last days before Greta's birth. Wondering what it would have been like to be preparing for Sparkie's arrival. Remembering what I was doing the day before Greta's due date. The day of Greta's due date. Wondering if things will go the same with Piccola. Knowing that by this point we'd know if Sparkie's birth timeline would have been the same or different.
The weather also perfectly warmed up this week. I feel simultaneously ecstatically happy at the sudden onset of spring, and deeply depressed that I can't be bringing a new life into this world amidst all the freshness of the season. As I start putting away my maternity sweaters and digging around for t-shirts, I remember that if things had gone "as they should have" then I wouldn't have to worry about a change of maternity wardrobe at all. I would have given birth the same week as the onset of spring. I wouldn't have to buy maternity tank tops and shorts and prepare to be 9 months pregnant in the heat and humidity of June and July. At this very moment, I'd be wearing whatever postpartum nursing and loungewear I could dig up, hanging out with a newborn and enjoying a breeze through the open window.
I know that there are no guarantees in life. I know that I should be so grateful and happy for the all-signs-point-to-healthy baby that we are having, and that I should stop fretting over what "might have been." But it's hard. Unbelievably hard. Much harder than I had ever expected. It doesn't help that this is the most emotional part of pregnancy for me. At the beginning of pregnancy I am grumpy and perhaps a bit irrational, but it's the second half of pregnancy when I cry at everything.
Last Wednesday, I turned 24 weeks pregnant. This is a milestone that, if I'm remembering correctly, marks the start of when doctors would make every attempt to save the baby's life if she were born prematurely. This is a big milestone in my mind, and one that I'm grateful to have achieved. But at the same time, it has made all my "I should be going into labor right now" feelings even harder to deal with. I don't want to go into labor over three months early. I want this baby to be healthy and full-term. So to have these conflicting thoughts of "I wish I were going into labor right now" and "I don't want to give birth until June 10 at the earliest" is kind of a head trip.
At this point, I'm just really hoping that these strong emotions will pass. Ben said yesterday that he feels like part of the joy we've been feeling at the onset of spring is due to the fact that it makes Piccola feel that much closer to us. As long as we were in winter hibernation misery, Piccola's summer arrival was still "two seasons away."Now that spring is here, it feels like the 16 weeks until her expected arrival aren't such a drudgery to endure. We'll get there. One day at a time.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Second Trimester Updates Galore
I've written so many blog posts lately. What? You haven't read them? Oh, that's because I have been composing them in my head on the way to work and procrastinating on actually writing them.
So, backing up a few weeks . . .
The Big Ultrasound
On February 16 (President's Day), we had our big ultrasound. Our appointment was two-fold. First we met with a genetic counselor who seemed to find our family history quite boring in genetic counseling terms. Then we had the ultrasound and met with the perinatologist. Everything with Piccola looked great. I believe the words "perfect" were uttered more than once.
It was extremely emotional for me. I finally felt connected to this baby. A few weeks later, I have to remind myself of the thrilling moments when I stared at her little profile on the screen as we waited for the perinatologist to review our results. Unfortunately, I still rarely feel movement and so the ultrasound was a critical experience and one that, with time, has sadly faded in it's impact. I just have to keep reminding myself of how special that moment was.
At least we were able to determine the cause of the lack of feeling of movement -- and it's definitely not that Piccola isn't active. Quite the contrary, we saw her giving several swift kicks. Swift kicks to . . . the placenta. Yep, the placenta is covering the entire front of my abdomen. The perinatologist commented that it not only came down very low, but also extended up quite high in my uterus. Basically, as far as I could see, there wasn't a single part of Piccola that didn't have placenta in front of it. Sigh. It's hard enough to connect to a second baby, but much harder when you don't feel her very often. I guess I'll just continue going in to the midwife every two weeks for heartrate checks.
February 18
February 18 marked milestones for all. It was Ben's 32nd birthday. Greta turned 23 months old and the countdown to her 2nd birthday began. Piccola turned 21 weeks in gestation and I, consequently, turned 21 weeks pregnant. It felt like a big turning point for all of us -- to be so decidedly on our way to our family of four.
Nesting
Nesting with a second child is still a completely bizarre experience for me. With Greta, we were mostly focused on making appropriate purchases. And then as those purchases were researched and made, we created space in our home for them, assembled them, read instruction booklets, etc.
With this new baby, especially after we found out that she would be a girl, we keep telling ourselves, "Well, we have everything we need!"
This is true and it isn't.
It is true in that we have everything that we used with Greta.
It isn't true in that Greta still uses some of those things. Like her crib. And her dresser. And her stroller. So while we have everything we would need if we were having another first child, we aren't having another first child, we're adding a second child to our family -- of which, Greta is still an active member.
It's also not true in that some items need replacement or re-purchasing. Like pacifiers. And likely bottles -- or at least nipples. And since we don't use cloth, of course we will need to buy new diapers in the appropriate size.
And the final point is that, even if we "have" everything we need (which we don't, as stated above), we still need to remember what needs to come out of storage and set it up.
I have a feeling that I'm going to keep saying, "Oh, I'll do that once school is out and I have more time," for the next several weeks. And then before I know it, I will be very uncomfortable, hot, and tired . . . and re-assembling a swing in a panic while I stress out about whether I'm having labor contractions or Braxton Hicks.
When does one get the house prepared for a second baby? Next week Piccola reaches viability. Is that the best time to start getting prepped for this baby's actual, you know, arrival?
Big Purchase
The biggest purchase we've made for Piccola's arrival is a double stroller. After stressing about it for weeks and freaking out over the expense, size, and functionality of every double stroller I searched for, I found a Craigslist post for one of my top picks at half the price of a new one. We checked it out yesterday and paid cash for it.
I'm insanely happy with the purchase. I feel like it's such a load off of my mind to have gotten a good deal on something I really wanted. I really wanted a full double stroller, even though I knew that it would be tough to predict how much Greta would be using the stroller by the time Piccola arrives and there were some potential advantages to a sit-and-stand. Ultimately, though, I knew that if I had a double stroller that was comfortable for the kids and that I found comfortable and enjoyable to use, I would be much more inclined to take the girls out and get some exercise in those early weeks when I need endorphins more than anything. Yes, I will admit it, this stroller is more for me than for Greta or Piccola. I want to be able to walk at my own pace and zone out a little on a nice walk. I don't want to have to chase after Greta when she refuses to hold my hand. I don't want to have to "wear the baby and push the toddler" in the hot and humid summer. I don't want to have to walk like a cowboy because my toddler is standing on a ride-along attachment between me and the handlebar. I want the possibility that the kids could nap while on the go. I just want a reliable method of transporting two kids comfortably and safely without having to load them into the car. Sitting in a stroller may no longer be Greta's favorite activity, but it's not like she hates the experience either. I don't feel bad at all about making her do it now and then so that I can get in a nice walk.
Oh man, I am so ready for spring. I need a walk right now. The second trimester was really made for springtime.
So, backing up a few weeks . . .
The Big Ultrasound
On February 16 (President's Day), we had our big ultrasound. Our appointment was two-fold. First we met with a genetic counselor who seemed to find our family history quite boring in genetic counseling terms. Then we had the ultrasound and met with the perinatologist. Everything with Piccola looked great. I believe the words "perfect" were uttered more than once.
It was extremely emotional for me. I finally felt connected to this baby. A few weeks later, I have to remind myself of the thrilling moments when I stared at her little profile on the screen as we waited for the perinatologist to review our results. Unfortunately, I still rarely feel movement and so the ultrasound was a critical experience and one that, with time, has sadly faded in it's impact. I just have to keep reminding myself of how special that moment was.
At least we were able to determine the cause of the lack of feeling of movement -- and it's definitely not that Piccola isn't active. Quite the contrary, we saw her giving several swift kicks. Swift kicks to . . . the placenta. Yep, the placenta is covering the entire front of my abdomen. The perinatologist commented that it not only came down very low, but also extended up quite high in my uterus. Basically, as far as I could see, there wasn't a single part of Piccola that didn't have placenta in front of it. Sigh. It's hard enough to connect to a second baby, but much harder when you don't feel her very often. I guess I'll just continue going in to the midwife every two weeks for heartrate checks.
February 18
February 18 marked milestones for all. It was Ben's 32nd birthday. Greta turned 23 months old and the countdown to her 2nd birthday began. Piccola turned 21 weeks in gestation and I, consequently, turned 21 weeks pregnant. It felt like a big turning point for all of us -- to be so decidedly on our way to our family of four.
Nesting
Nesting with a second child is still a completely bizarre experience for me. With Greta, we were mostly focused on making appropriate purchases. And then as those purchases were researched and made, we created space in our home for them, assembled them, read instruction booklets, etc.
With this new baby, especially after we found out that she would be a girl, we keep telling ourselves, "Well, we have everything we need!"
This is true and it isn't.
It is true in that we have everything that we used with Greta.
It isn't true in that Greta still uses some of those things. Like her crib. And her dresser. And her stroller. So while we have everything we would need if we were having another first child, we aren't having another first child, we're adding a second child to our family -- of which, Greta is still an active member.
It's also not true in that some items need replacement or re-purchasing. Like pacifiers. And likely bottles -- or at least nipples. And since we don't use cloth, of course we will need to buy new diapers in the appropriate size.
And the final point is that, even if we "have" everything we need (which we don't, as stated above), we still need to remember what needs to come out of storage and set it up.
I have a feeling that I'm going to keep saying, "Oh, I'll do that once school is out and I have more time," for the next several weeks. And then before I know it, I will be very uncomfortable, hot, and tired . . . and re-assembling a swing in a panic while I stress out about whether I'm having labor contractions or Braxton Hicks.
When does one get the house prepared for a second baby? Next week Piccola reaches viability. Is that the best time to start getting prepped for this baby's actual, you know, arrival?
Big Purchase
The biggest purchase we've made for Piccola's arrival is a double stroller. After stressing about it for weeks and freaking out over the expense, size, and functionality of every double stroller I searched for, I found a Craigslist post for one of my top picks at half the price of a new one. We checked it out yesterday and paid cash for it.
I'm insanely happy with the purchase. I feel like it's such a load off of my mind to have gotten a good deal on something I really wanted. I really wanted a full double stroller, even though I knew that it would be tough to predict how much Greta would be using the stroller by the time Piccola arrives and there were some potential advantages to a sit-and-stand. Ultimately, though, I knew that if I had a double stroller that was comfortable for the kids and that I found comfortable and enjoyable to use, I would be much more inclined to take the girls out and get some exercise in those early weeks when I need endorphins more than anything. Yes, I will admit it, this stroller is more for me than for Greta or Piccola. I want to be able to walk at my own pace and zone out a little on a nice walk. I don't want to have to chase after Greta when she refuses to hold my hand. I don't want to have to "wear the baby and push the toddler" in the hot and humid summer. I don't want to have to walk like a cowboy because my toddler is standing on a ride-along attachment between me and the handlebar. I want the possibility that the kids could nap while on the go. I just want a reliable method of transporting two kids comfortably and safely without having to load them into the car. Sitting in a stroller may no longer be Greta's favorite activity, but it's not like she hates the experience either. I don't feel bad at all about making her do it now and then so that I can get in a nice walk.
Oh man, I am so ready for spring. I need a walk right now. The second trimester was really made for springtime.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Halfway Home
Today I'm 20 weeks pregnant. There's a certain thrill that comes from knowing that I can now start counting down instead of counting up. Not that I will, at least not just yet. Saying "20 weeks to go!" doesn't sound all that exciting. But 20 weeks is a definite milestone, and I'm excited about it.
Last Sunday, I felt some weird cramping that was timeable and contraction-like. I called the midwife on-call, expecting her to say that I should come to the hospital, that they'd monitor the contractions, that there would be a multitude of miracle drugs that they could give me to stop the contractions and make sure that my baby stayed put. In our discussion, I was surprised to learn that they couldn't have women come to labor and delivery at all until they were 20 weeks along and that, if I needed to be seen, it would be in the ER. Furthermore, I learned that the only benefit to going in to the hospital at all would be to test if I had bacterial vaginosis that was causing the contractions, and to perhaps be reassured (through doppler or ultrasound) that the baby was still alive. This also surprised me, since it hadn't even occurred to me that the reason for the contractions might be that the baby was no longer alive. I had heard the heartbeat at a midwife appointment only two days earlier and so the notion of a second trimester miscarriage wasn't even in my head.
So twenty weeks marks an important milestone for me. For one thing, it means that from this point forward if I ever need to be seen in the hospital for something that might be pregnancy-related (or even not pregnancy-related, but something that could affect the pregnancy, such as the food poisoning incident that I had while pregnancy with Greta), I can go to L&D instead of to the ER. This is hugely reassuring, since it is particularly strange to experience pregnancy-related symptoms that might be worth checking out, but not be able to see my midwives.
It also is somehow, perhaps in a way that is more macabre than most of my thoughts, reassuring to have passed the point at which a pregnancy loss would no longer be called a miscarriage, but instead a stillbirth. It's not a thought that I like to dwell on, but it's there. I have a particular dislike of the term "miscarriage" to begin with, and the thought that I could be 19 weeks and 4 days pregnant (as I was on Sunday) and still suffer the same "category" of loss as I did at 11 weeks and 1 day pregnant was rather disturbing, especially since the same loss, experienced only 3 days later, would carry a completely different term.
So yes, while I am excited to be at the 20 week mark for all kinds of normal pregnant-lady reasons, I'm also feeling reassured by this milestone on a strange and different level. It's important to pass these milestones, especially when -- pregnancy-wise -- very little is changing in a positive way from day to day.
Unfortunately, although it is getting harder to sleep and I am getting sudden and horrible sciatica this week, little Piccola isn't giving me many reasons to feel confident in this pregnancy's progression. Mainly, she is being very cryptic in her movements. While we can hear plenty of movement on the doppler, I am feeling almost none of it. I had been under the impression, around 11 weeks, that I was feeling flutters. But since then those flutters haven't developed into anything more pronounced and, in fact, have become less frequent. This is a scary thing and, as a result, I am still going to the midwives for reassurance appointments and heartbeat checks every two weeks. With Greta, I was feeling pronounced kicks and jabs at this point. But with Piccola, I am still not convinced that I have experienced a true "quickening" yet. I am eager to find out the location of my placenta at my ultrasound on Monday. I am assuming that it is anterior this time around, and hoping that this doesn't mean I will have to wait another month or so before I feel distinct movement. I am definitely ready for this baby to make her presence known.
Last Sunday, I felt some weird cramping that was timeable and contraction-like. I called the midwife on-call, expecting her to say that I should come to the hospital, that they'd monitor the contractions, that there would be a multitude of miracle drugs that they could give me to stop the contractions and make sure that my baby stayed put. In our discussion, I was surprised to learn that they couldn't have women come to labor and delivery at all until they were 20 weeks along and that, if I needed to be seen, it would be in the ER. Furthermore, I learned that the only benefit to going in to the hospital at all would be to test if I had bacterial vaginosis that was causing the contractions, and to perhaps be reassured (through doppler or ultrasound) that the baby was still alive. This also surprised me, since it hadn't even occurred to me that the reason for the contractions might be that the baby was no longer alive. I had heard the heartbeat at a midwife appointment only two days earlier and so the notion of a second trimester miscarriage wasn't even in my head.
So twenty weeks marks an important milestone for me. For one thing, it means that from this point forward if I ever need to be seen in the hospital for something that might be pregnancy-related (or even not pregnancy-related, but something that could affect the pregnancy, such as the food poisoning incident that I had while pregnancy with Greta), I can go to L&D instead of to the ER. This is hugely reassuring, since it is particularly strange to experience pregnancy-related symptoms that might be worth checking out, but not be able to see my midwives.
It also is somehow, perhaps in a way that is more macabre than most of my thoughts, reassuring to have passed the point at which a pregnancy loss would no longer be called a miscarriage, but instead a stillbirth. It's not a thought that I like to dwell on, but it's there. I have a particular dislike of the term "miscarriage" to begin with, and the thought that I could be 19 weeks and 4 days pregnant (as I was on Sunday) and still suffer the same "category" of loss as I did at 11 weeks and 1 day pregnant was rather disturbing, especially since the same loss, experienced only 3 days later, would carry a completely different term.
So yes, while I am excited to be at the 20 week mark for all kinds of normal pregnant-lady reasons, I'm also feeling reassured by this milestone on a strange and different level. It's important to pass these milestones, especially when -- pregnancy-wise -- very little is changing in a positive way from day to day.
Unfortunately, although it is getting harder to sleep and I am getting sudden and horrible sciatica this week, little Piccola isn't giving me many reasons to feel confident in this pregnancy's progression. Mainly, she is being very cryptic in her movements. While we can hear plenty of movement on the doppler, I am feeling almost none of it. I had been under the impression, around 11 weeks, that I was feeling flutters. But since then those flutters haven't developed into anything more pronounced and, in fact, have become less frequent. This is a scary thing and, as a result, I am still going to the midwives for reassurance appointments and heartbeat checks every two weeks. With Greta, I was feeling pronounced kicks and jabs at this point. But with Piccola, I am still not convinced that I have experienced a true "quickening" yet. I am eager to find out the location of my placenta at my ultrasound on Monday. I am assuming that it is anterior this time around, and hoping that this doesn't mean I will have to wait another month or so before I feel distinct movement. I am definitely ready for this baby to make her presence known.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
A Little Update on our Original Bambina
So what's Greta up to these days? A lot.
I keep forgetting that the new baby won't be like Greta. Not only will the new baby have a personality of her own, of course, but the new baby will also be, well, a newborn. Greta is definitely my baby, but in all other respects, she is a kid. A talking, walking, exploring kid.
Talking
I still can't understand most kids her age when I try talking to them, but I'm continually surprised by how much Greta can communicate with me. I find this fascinating -- how parents and caregivers can understand their own children so much more clearly than any passerby. And that even when I feel like I have an "ear for toddler-speak," in fact, it's still just an ear for my toddler's speech.
Not only does she still cry when she's annoyed and shake her hands when she wants to say "a hard no," she also is saying words pretty well and often putting two-to-three words together. Some words, of course, don't sound the same when she says them versus when I say them (for example, she says "pahs" for both pacifier and puzzle -- the context is critical), but she clearly means what she's saying and speaks with purpose frequently. She still babbles to herself while hanging out in the carseat, of course, but even then, she seems to be deliberately practicing new sounds to try out on us later.
A smattering of words that she currently uses at 22 months (these are just off the top of my head, not even necessarily the ones she uses most often, it's just hard to keep up):
No (*shocker*)
Mama ("Ma")
Papa ("Pa")
Sit
Down
Cook
Pour
Else (in the context of "something else")
Books
More
Hey Hey (she says this when she sees other children)
Honk (she says this in the context of blowing one's nose, which we've been doing a lot recently)
Beep Beep
Car
Truck
Kiss
Hug
Chair
Up
Down
Outside
Box
Cracker
Couch
Bath
Uh-Oh
Crayons
Food
Eat
She also enjoys counting, although she's still struggling to keep the numbers in order. She rarely says "one" because usually we're the ones who start counting and so she chimes in on "two." As a result, she will often count starting from two, which then gets a little jumbled. She also definitely prefers the numbers that she knows how to say well. For example, "seven" gets very little love from her. On the other hand, she proudly said, "Two, Four, Six, Eight!" the other day, which startled me a little. I don't think it was intentional, though. She often also says other combinations of four numbers (usually ending in eight, which I think is her favorite number) that are more random.
It's SO nice to be able to talk to our little girl. I think I'm going to be in for a rude shock when I have a newborn whose communication skills are back down to the bare minimum again.
Walking
Speaking of things that newborns can't do, I'm also a little worried about having a child who can't walk on her own again. It's so nice to be able to hold Greta's hand and walk around at a store or out in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, while she's really good at walking and can keep up pretty well, she's also a bit willful and doesn't always want to hold my hand. The other day, I was in a fit of round ligament pain that made it painful to carry her. Of course, it was decently okay if she held my hand and walked, but she was losing her patience with holding my hand. She'd stay within eyesight, but if she ran off suddenly, it was very painful to keep up after her. Argh. Definitely a downside to pregnancy with a toddler.
Exploring
It's so much fun to do things with her now. Last weekend we went to the Children's Museum and it was just so much fun to play with her in all the exhibits. She was legitimately excited by the things that we did and there were so many opportunities for us to talk to her about the world around her. I love Children's Museums!
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The Children's Museum was also an interesting opportunity for us to see Greta's personality. She is a lot like me. She kept wanting to watch the children playing at the water table (shown above), but she was afraid to actually put on the apron (also shown above) to go join in. When we asked her if she wanted to play, she would nod, but when we told her she'd need to wear an apron, she'd panic and pretend that she just wanted to watch. This went on for awhile -- we distracted her with other things a bit, but she kept eying the water table area. Finally, we just made the parental decision that we'd get the apron on her. Sure enough, once it was on, she had a fantastic time experimenting with all the different fountains and cups and tubes. I'm beginning to understand my own parents' frustration with my shy stubbornness.
Flirting?
It's hard to tell what is an actual preference, what's just mimicry, and what's just in our imaginations, but Greta has seemed to be flirting with a few boys. I first noticed this around New Years when a boy about 2 years older than her was visiting. Greta did a good job of sharing her toys and tried to engage the older boy in various activities. I was surprised, though, to see her chase after him, blowing kisses at him. The boy was not at all interested in this game and responded by making one of the stuffed toys "growl" in Greta's face, which initially didn't deter her, but eventually scared her and she came running to my lap for protection. It was such a classic scene of gender-typical behavior -- but was that more in my imagination than in reality? After all, there were other factors at play -- for example, the difference in their ages also made them susceptible to differing styles of play.
A few weeks later, we were out at a restaurant and I saw Greta saying, "Boy! Kiss!" and blowing kisses at someone over my shoulder. I turned to follow her gaze and saw a little boy of about 4 years old, looking a little embarrassed. I tried to explain that perhaps she shouldn't blow kisses at strangers, but she still maintained eye contact with him as she coquettishly ate her noodles.
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But again, is this an actual preference on her part? Or is it perhaps just that she's acting out the behavior that she sees between her opposite-sex parents?
Uh . . . Pill Popping?
Just this last week, Greta started taking her meds without us crushing them up first! It was a huge milestone! We still put her in her high chair, but we're getting closer and closer to the day when she can just wake up, take the pill with a gulp of water, and then go back to sleep for an hour. It's still hard to insist that she wait for awhile before she can eat anything, but at least the time it takes to get the meds ready is shorter.
The first time I did it -- last Monday or Tuesday, I think -- I strapped her into the high chair and asked if she wanted a little sip of juice (it's mostly water -- we water it down pretty significantly). She nodded and I gave her a sip through the straw. Then I gave her the pill and said "today we're going to take your meds a little differently." And I held out the pill. "Can you eat this pill?" She smiled at me like I was joking and said no. I said, "Can you try it? You can have more juice if you try the pill." She took the pill out of my hand and popped it in her mouth. I gave her a sip of juice. She swallowed, but had a weird, focused, look on her face. I asked "did you swallow it?" She nodded, but it was really clear that it was still in her mouth. She started chewing and I said "are you chewing it?" She nodded and I encouraged her ("Yum yum. Chew and swallow!" etc.) I watched her really carefully until I could tell she'd swallowed it all down and then gave her a little more juice. Then got her out of her high chair to play. It was awesome.
I keep forgetting that the new baby won't be like Greta. Not only will the new baby have a personality of her own, of course, but the new baby will also be, well, a newborn. Greta is definitely my baby, but in all other respects, she is a kid. A talking, walking, exploring kid.
Talking
I still can't understand most kids her age when I try talking to them, but I'm continually surprised by how much Greta can communicate with me. I find this fascinating -- how parents and caregivers can understand their own children so much more clearly than any passerby. And that even when I feel like I have an "ear for toddler-speak," in fact, it's still just an ear for my toddler's speech.
Not only does she still cry when she's annoyed and shake her hands when she wants to say "a hard no," she also is saying words pretty well and often putting two-to-three words together. Some words, of course, don't sound the same when she says them versus when I say them (for example, she says "pahs" for both pacifier and puzzle -- the context is critical), but she clearly means what she's saying and speaks with purpose frequently. She still babbles to herself while hanging out in the carseat, of course, but even then, she seems to be deliberately practicing new sounds to try out on us later.
A smattering of words that she currently uses at 22 months (these are just off the top of my head, not even necessarily the ones she uses most often, it's just hard to keep up):
No (*shocker*)
Mama ("Ma")
Papa ("Pa")
Sit
Down
Cook
Pour
Else (in the context of "something else")
Books
More
Hey Hey (she says this when she sees other children)
Honk (she says this in the context of blowing one's nose, which we've been doing a lot recently)
Beep Beep
Car
Truck
Kiss
Hug
Chair
Up
Down
Outside
Box
Cracker
Couch
Bath
Uh-Oh
Crayons
Food
Eat
She also enjoys counting, although she's still struggling to keep the numbers in order. She rarely says "one" because usually we're the ones who start counting and so she chimes in on "two." As a result, she will often count starting from two, which then gets a little jumbled. She also definitely prefers the numbers that she knows how to say well. For example, "seven" gets very little love from her. On the other hand, she proudly said, "Two, Four, Six, Eight!" the other day, which startled me a little. I don't think it was intentional, though. She often also says other combinations of four numbers (usually ending in eight, which I think is her favorite number) that are more random.
It's SO nice to be able to talk to our little girl. I think I'm going to be in for a rude shock when I have a newborn whose communication skills are back down to the bare minimum again.
Walking
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| Greta at open gym, a winter necessity. |
Exploring
It's so much fun to do things with her now. Last weekend we went to the Children's Museum and it was just so much fun to play with her in all the exhibits. She was legitimately excited by the things that we did and there were so many opportunities for us to talk to her about the world around her. I love Children's Museums!
The Children's Museum was also an interesting opportunity for us to see Greta's personality. She is a lot like me. She kept wanting to watch the children playing at the water table (shown above), but she was afraid to actually put on the apron (also shown above) to go join in. When we asked her if she wanted to play, she would nod, but when we told her she'd need to wear an apron, she'd panic and pretend that she just wanted to watch. This went on for awhile -- we distracted her with other things a bit, but she kept eying the water table area. Finally, we just made the parental decision that we'd get the apron on her. Sure enough, once it was on, she had a fantastic time experimenting with all the different fountains and cups and tubes. I'm beginning to understand my own parents' frustration with my shy stubbornness.
Flirting?
It's hard to tell what is an actual preference, what's just mimicry, and what's just in our imaginations, but Greta has seemed to be flirting with a few boys. I first noticed this around New Years when a boy about 2 years older than her was visiting. Greta did a good job of sharing her toys and tried to engage the older boy in various activities. I was surprised, though, to see her chase after him, blowing kisses at him. The boy was not at all interested in this game and responded by making one of the stuffed toys "growl" in Greta's face, which initially didn't deter her, but eventually scared her and she came running to my lap for protection. It was such a classic scene of gender-typical behavior -- but was that more in my imagination than in reality? After all, there were other factors at play -- for example, the difference in their ages also made them susceptible to differing styles of play.
A few weeks later, we were out at a restaurant and I saw Greta saying, "Boy! Kiss!" and blowing kisses at someone over my shoulder. I turned to follow her gaze and saw a little boy of about 4 years old, looking a little embarrassed. I tried to explain that perhaps she shouldn't blow kisses at strangers, but she still maintained eye contact with him as she coquettishly ate her noodles.
But again, is this an actual preference on her part? Or is it perhaps just that she's acting out the behavior that she sees between her opposite-sex parents?
Uh . . . Pill Popping?
Just this last week, Greta started taking her meds without us crushing them up first! It was a huge milestone! We still put her in her high chair, but we're getting closer and closer to the day when she can just wake up, take the pill with a gulp of water, and then go back to sleep for an hour. It's still hard to insist that she wait for awhile before she can eat anything, but at least the time it takes to get the meds ready is shorter.
The first time I did it -- last Monday or Tuesday, I think -- I strapped her into the high chair and asked if she wanted a little sip of juice (it's mostly water -- we water it down pretty significantly). She nodded and I gave her a sip through the straw. Then I gave her the pill and said "today we're going to take your meds a little differently." And I held out the pill. "Can you eat this pill?" She smiled at me like I was joking and said no. I said, "Can you try it? You can have more juice if you try the pill." She took the pill out of my hand and popped it in her mouth. I gave her a sip of juice. She swallowed, but had a weird, focused, look on her face. I asked "did you swallow it?" She nodded, but it was really clear that it was still in her mouth. She started chewing and I said "are you chewing it?" She nodded and I encouraged her ("Yum yum. Chew and swallow!" etc.) I watched her really carefully until I could tell she'd swallowed it all down and then gave her a little more juice. Then got her out of her high chair to play. It was awesome.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Do you want to know?
So, as mentioned in a previous post, we have already found out the sex of our baby. It's still something that feels unreal to me. I still use non-gendered terms for the little one and frequently forget that I could be using words like "son/daughter" or "his/her" etc. I don't know if everyone feels this way after finding out, but it's been over a week since we opened the envelope and I still feel unsure whether to believe it. Ben and I were talking about names yesterday and it felt incredibly strange to be talking about only one set of possibilities.
If you want to know now, click on the link at the end of this post for a little "gender reveal" video.* It was setting up this video that convinced me that I was ready to open the envelope. Once I had everything set up it was like, "Okay, now we have to open it in order to be able to actually finish prepping the video . . ."
I don't know anything about editing, so it's not terribly sophisticated, but I thought it would be fun. I would recommend watching it on a computer instead of a phone because for some reason the annotations don't show up on a phone (which means if you can't see the handwritten words on the labels, it might be confusing).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1NUvAWDKs4
*FYI, if you don't want to know now, just be warned that in future posts we may be referring to the baby with a pronoun or two that will give it away. So if you don't want to click on the reveal video yet, but want to continue reading our blog, you will likely end up finding out pretty soon anyway.
If you want to know now, click on the link at the end of this post for a little "gender reveal" video.* It was setting up this video that convinced me that I was ready to open the envelope. Once I had everything set up it was like, "Okay, now we have to open it in order to be able to actually finish prepping the video . . ."
I don't know anything about editing, so it's not terribly sophisticated, but I thought it would be fun. I would recommend watching it on a computer instead of a phone because for some reason the annotations don't show up on a phone (which means if you can't see the handwritten words on the labels, it might be confusing).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1NUvAWDKs4
*FYI, if you don't want to know now, just be warned that in future posts we may be referring to the baby with a pronoun or two that will give it away. So if you don't want to click on the reveal video yet, but want to continue reading our blog, you will likely end up finding out pretty soon anyway.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Peace, Love and New Beginnings
If you are reading this post (especially if you haven't been here in awhile) it is likely because you heard from a little bird (perhaps a carrier pigeon) that there was something new happening in our lives. If you don't know what I'm referring to, get ready for a huge spoiler alert.
We are expecting a second child to arrive in early July.
I've been writing some posts over the course of the first trimester that I have now published, so if you scroll down, you will see those now. I tried to incorporate the date of each one in the text so that you will be able to identify when they happened, even if the postings end up looking out of order or something (I'm not very tech-savvy). The first reference to this new pregnancy was October 23, I believe.
More updates to come, of course.
We are expecting a second child to arrive in early July.
I've been writing some posts over the course of the first trimester that I have now published, so if you scroll down, you will see those now. I tried to incorporate the date of each one in the text so that you will be able to identify when they happened, even if the postings end up looking out of order or something (I'm not very tech-savvy). The first reference to this new pregnancy was October 23, I believe.
More updates to come, of course.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
The Sex of Our Baby
It's New Year's Eve. It's actually nearly 11pm and Ben and I are both still up, but we had fully expected to be in bed by now, so we've already opened the envelope that contained the results of our chromosomal tests. We already knew that the baby had tested "negative" for all the abnormalities, but we had asked the nurse to put the results in an envelope and mail them to us so that we could find out the sex of the baby on New Year's Eve. This was a good day to do it, too, since I just had my first appointment with my midwife today, after transferring our care back to my midwives after seeing the OB for the first trimester. She found the heartbeat right away and we heard the baby zooming around in there, just like Greta used to do. It's a good day to find out the sex of the baby, when I am feeling a little less anxious overall.
I gotta say, it's totally surreal to know this information though. We haven't even made the pregnancy fully public yet. This post, for example, is one of the ones that I will be saving as a draft for another week or so before publishing, because we are not "out" on the blog yet.
For us, it's not only bizarre to know the sex so early in the pregnancy, but it's just plain strange to know the sex! And to have found out on a piece of paper, without even looking at the baby. I still feel a little skeptical, like we just received the results of a virtual psychic reading instead of a lab report on cell-free DNA.
I have to say, I am more excited to know than I had thought I would be. I was very worried that I would immediately lose interest in the pregnancy, having been deprived of the remaining months of anticipation and wonder. Although I do worry a little about whether the remaining 6 months of pregnancy are going to drag more slowly, I'm still excited. It's nice to be able to have a picture in my mind of our complete family.
I gotta say, it's totally surreal to know this information though. We haven't even made the pregnancy fully public yet. This post, for example, is one of the ones that I will be saving as a draft for another week or so before publishing, because we are not "out" on the blog yet.
For us, it's not only bizarre to know the sex so early in the pregnancy, but it's just plain strange to know the sex! And to have found out on a piece of paper, without even looking at the baby. I still feel a little skeptical, like we just received the results of a virtual psychic reading instead of a lab report on cell-free DNA.
I have to say, I am more excited to know than I had thought I would be. I was very worried that I would immediately lose interest in the pregnancy, having been deprived of the remaining months of anticipation and wonder. Although I do worry a little about whether the remaining 6 months of pregnancy are going to drag more slowly, I'm still excited. It's nice to be able to have a picture in my mind of our complete family.
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