Bloggin' 'Bout the Baby

Happy Birthday, Penelope Jane!

2009-03-19T22:11:00.001-07:00

How time flies. Today PJ is one year old. How the heck did that happen!?

The day started early. PJ was wide awake at 4:30--the second time this week she's done this. Last time she fell asleep 20 minutes into one of our baby worship videos while we cuddled on the couch. This time she stayed awake until about 6. UGH. Once Abby was up and we were all fed and dressed we went out in the backyard, which we haven't done in a while, and I got some great photos of the girls playing. We celebrated at lunch by going to Portillo's, which is a Chicago-based restaurant that opened a location about half an hour from here. Totally worth the drive--absolutely the best cheeseburgers ever. Came home and she took a really good nap (especially considering that she slept on the way up there), and then after dinner we went for a walk around our little neighborhood park.

Tuesday was her one-year well-baby checkup. She's 22 lbs 6 oz (80th percentile) and 30 inches long (75th percentile)--the same percentiles from her 9 month exam, so she's holding steady with her growth. She's got 6 teeth in--the top four and two bottom--and ten words: mama, dada, no, yes, ming or mih (milk), Abbah or Abababa (Abby), Wig (The Wiggles), hi, bye (often with a "Heil Hitler" hand up in the air) and peek (peekaboo). She plays peekaboo, claps, dances like she really knows what she's doing, and follows simple directions like "Go get Abby!" or "Take this to Daddy." She's really good at cleaning up--anytime she sees you putting things into a container, like the blocks into the bin or the memory game tiles into the bag (or the laundry into the machine--I'm SO glad I have a front loader and the girls can help!), she comes over to help. And whenever she sees me pull out the diapers she stands up and walks away, saying, "No no no no no..." Annoying as it is, it always cracks me up.

She's so affectionate. She crawls in my lap and just sits down now, doesn't even try to nurse, just wants to hang out. The other day she was standing on my lap, facing me, and put her head on my shoulder and began to pat my back and say, "Mama."

She is a climber! She gets up on Abby's step stool all the time, she crawled onto the TV stand in Dan's office today and also into the sandbox, as you can see in the photo. She gets under and on top of things way more often than Abby ever did. She goes up the stairs with ease, and has even started going up ON HER FEET! She's also really good at going down if it's just one step, like from the foyer into the living room.

The one thing she's not doing yet is eating solids. I give her something at every meal, and she'll gnaw on it, but she still has the tongue-thrust thing going on and it almost all comes right back out. So far she's tried apple, cucumber, Cheerios, peas, carrots, broccoli, egg, toast, and pancake. She also has a sippy cup with a straw that she's quite good at drinking out of. I keep meaning to pump and put the milk in and see if she'll let someone else "feed" her that way--oh the freedom that might be just around the corner for me! WHY haven't I tried this yet! She still wakes 3-6 times a night to nurse, which is a bummer for me, but oh well.

She and Abby are really playing together now. It's so adorable. Just tonight Abby had her in total stitches. I was upstairs and could hear PJ cracking up; Dan said Abby was tickling her and just being silly, and PJ was totally into it.

She's a slapper, a screecher, a Mama's girl, and a major, major drama queen, but she's completely lovable and adorable and I can't believe she's one year old. Happy birthday, PJ!!!

Lots of updates!

2009-01-01T07:12:00.000-08:00

So I realized I've never posted PJs 9mos. stats from her well visit last month, and then she did all sorts of fun new things, so I figured it was time to post...

She was 20 lbs, 8 oz and 27 inches. Can't remember the percentages but they weren't as high as in the past--80 for both, perhaps?

The other day she went up the stairs without the slightest hesitation. How she got so good at it without any practice I don't know. But it was fun to see the first attempt go so well, and nice to see it without panicking like we did with Abby's first foray up to the second floor.

She has four words: mama, dada, hi, and no, learned in that order.

She waves goodbye! Sometimes, anyway.

She gives high-fives, if she is so inclined. Sometimes she just leaves you hanging.

She cut another tooth. The top middle tooth on the left. Now she's only got five that are trying to get through. *ouch*

She discovered how to get onto the couch--AND how to get over the ottoman and escape from the living room! Abby has a little princess fold-out couch thing that we've been pushing in front of the big couch. Well, I looked over the other day and saw PJ standing on the princess couch to boost herself up onto the big one, and boy did she scramble up there quickly! Then yesterday I was in the bathroom, thinking she was safely sequestered in the living room, when I suddenly hear the sound of dining room dishes being clanged together. She'd used the couch again to crawl onto the ottoman, and then managed to get herself down on the other side of it without hurting herself. Never heard a thud or a whimper or anything! Needless to say, the princess couch is not being stored there anymore. (In fact, we've decided to completely turn over the living room and dining room to the girls--the dining room set stays, but the couch and recliner and cart of dishes are being banished to the garage. Now we'll have a school room!!!)

Then, the biggest news...last night, in an attempt to get a wooden spoon being dangled, carrot-like, a few feet in front of her, PJ took a very careful, deliberate step...followed by another...followed by another! Then she just sat down. But not wavering, no falling, no moving simply because momentum was carrying her; she just went from standing stock still to walking! It won't be long now before she's tottering around following Abby everywhere (and refusing to ride in the stroller anymore, no doubt--I remember those days with Abby! Oy! Target and grocery runs are about to get really difficult!)

She speaks!

2008-11-04T20:05:00.001-08:00

She was fussy today (and yesterday, and the day before, and the day before...teething again, I suspect), and when I went to get her from Dan she looked at me and said, "Mamaaaa!"

So on this day of political horror I at least have my baby's first word--and it's for me!

Here comes trouble

2008-10-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Penny Jane is officially crawling! Not far--she peters out onto her tummy after about 5 or 6 "steps"--but she's definitely doing it. And sometimes she does it on hands and feet with that puffy cloth-diapered butt in the air. So cute.

And, just like Abby, at the same time as she learned to crawl, she started pulling herself up on furniture. She's not quite to the cruising stage, but she's very close. Her balance improved a thousand percent in about 48 hours, it was wild to see it happen so fast. And in fact, she stood for about 3 seconds on her own the other day.

She's also saying ma-ma-ma and we're pretty sure she's saying it to call me. And if you say it back to her slowly, you can see her studying your mouth, and then she'll mouth it back but not make the sound. It's so funny.

I took her to Dr. Jen the other day for her allergy testing. Dr. Jen uses applied kinesiology to test, rather than a blood draw or scratch test. She is also a chiropractor, so she did a chiro check on PJ and discovered that her T1 vertebrae was misaligned. That's the one associated with asthma, so I'm praying that was the cause of the asthma she's been suffering with every time that stupid cough comes around. Dr. Jen also found that the valve between her esophagus and stomach was weak and not closing all the way, and the stomach had come up a little bit through the valve. Apparently this is not unheard of, and it can cause--ta-da!--reflux! She said that was most likely what the problem was since, when she did the allergy testing, she found PJ was *not* allergic to dairy! (She is to corn and tomatoes, though.) She tested me as well and found that I'm not allergic to, but not properly digesting, dairy, wheat, strawberries, and avocado. She set me up with an enzyme to take when I eat those foods, so that should help. I was SO excited to start eating dairy again, but it's funny, I *really* notice I feel lousy after dairy now. Christian the awesome nutritionist taught us that wheat and dairy are inflammatory, and I really feel it with the dairy. I went out and bought ice cream and colby cheese and after servings of each I honestly didn't want anymore. Which is just as well, given their fat content (and sugar content in the ice cream).

Six months!

2008-09-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Six months?!

Hard to believe, but it's true. I took Penny Jane in for her six month appointment today. She's a whopping 27.25 inches and 17 lbs. 11 oz. Wow. Doc said she looked great, checked out fine, wouldn't be surprised if she was cruising along the furniture by the next (9 month) appointment, which would be about right if she follows in Abby's footsteps. (No pun intended.) Abby started pulling up to standing around 7 months, but, like, 3 days later she learned how to crawl and did that for a month before showing much interest in standing again. But she was full-on walking at 9.5 months. Oi!!

Unfortunately this was the second trip to the ped in the last week, because the girls got that stupid cough AGAIN. When I checked the calendar I realized they've been getting it every 8 weeks. The ped thinks it's seasonal allergies--she said the mold and pollen counts have been roller-coastering all summer--and on top of it she thinks Penny Jane has asthma. :( Each time she's gotten the cough she's ended up wheezing, and it takes twice as long for her to get over it as it does Abby. I'm taking her in for an allergy test to see if there's a food allergy causing the asthma; I'm really hoping there is so we can just cut out that food and not have to put her on medication. She was supposed to get her first of four hib vaccinations today, but I'm putting it off until she's totally over the cough so her system has time to heal and strengthen. Now I just have to remember to take her back in for it!

It's been a rough couple of months with her. This teething thing is just *killing* us. She just yells and yells and squawks and isn't happy so much of the time. It breaks my heart. It also brings me close to a psychotic episode when coupled with Abby's relentless asking. ("I want to go outside." "No." But I want to go outside!" "No." "But I *want* to!" Etc. etc. etc.) Penny Jane has also hit the separation anxiety stage, so that gives us the added bonus of wailing like she's being tortured every time I leave the room.

I've been feeling a lot of mommy guilt in regards to Penny Jane lately. I'm not nearly as patient with her as I was with Abby at this stage. I'm not as empathetic, I'm not as doting, I'm not as hands-on. I am utterly sick at the amount of television she's seen. Abby didn't watch a TV show until she was a year old! All those little neurons I've killed...it's just awful.

I resolved this week to start taking more pictures of her. The camera keeps getting put away and I just don't think of it, and then suddenly a month has passed without a single image being taken. So, from recent days...

With Cousin Gavin:

"Why yes, I do occasionally like a bit of ball before supper..."

Okay, this one isn't that recent, but it's cute. She loves the swing, just like Abby!

360

2008-07-30T21:25:00.001-07:00

Monday morning Abby and I were playing with Penny Jane on the floor. She was on her back and she flipped to her tummy, a trick she's doing regularly now. She stayed there for a while, not too happy about her situation but not squawking about it yet, either, and then--kick, kick, wiggle wiggle wiggle--she was back on her back! And it wasn't like she hadn't quite settled on her tummy and just rolled back over--oh no, she did a whole 360. And we're noticing that, when she's on her tummy, she's totally got the crawling motion already going, but since she's beached on her belly and not up on hands and knees she doesn't go anywhere. She's sure trying, though; you should see those toes digging into the carpet!

Little Showoff

2008-07-22T22:30:00.001-07:00

She just rolled right onto her forearms and sat there for a good five minutes, smiling and cute, while my parents and Dan snapped phone pictures of her. If only I had Photoshop, I could place her in a studio setting instead of on the floor of the La Jolla condo!

Four month stats!

2008-07-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well well well. Took Penny Jane to the doctor today and boy was the ped impressed! First of all, she's at 15 lbs 1 oz, which puts her at the 80%, and 26 inches, which is, in the words of the doc, "off the charts." Her little stats sticker that the ped gives us for her baby book actually lists her in the statistically-impossible 100%! This explains why her 6 month onesies fit so well--I kept thinking it was the gDiapers I'm using on her that are a little bulkier than disposables, but apparently it's just her. She was also quite taken with PJ's ability to sit up so well on her own, and said that, given how early she's doing that, she'll most likely crawl early, too. She also said that because she's so long she'll probably outgrow the infant carseat by her 6 month appointment! I can't remember how long Abby was in hers, but it was MUCH longer than 6 months, I'm pretty sure.

Have I mentioned gDiapers before? I don't think so. Well, we started cloth diapering Abby--or tried to, at least, but Abby wets through everything SO fast, it's really remarkable (and irritating), so we're taking a break while I wait for a different kind of diaper to arrive that I ordered for her because I just got so stinkin' sick and tired of her soaking through both diaper and shorts every single time she peed. I wanted to cloth diaper PJ, too, but I couldn't bear to go through the sampling stage with her where I bought one of, like, ten different types of dipes to see which worked best. So I started buying gDiapers instead. They're "hybrid" diapers: the cover is washable, as is the plastic liner, but the inserts which soak everything up are 10% biodegradable! You can trash them, compost them (the wet-only ones, anyway) and even flush them, which makes them super-easy to deal with. Unfortunately they're about twice the price of the disposables we were using on Abby, but I justify it by knowing Abby will either be in cloth soon or else potty-trained in the next 6 months (hopefully, anyway).

Updates galore

2008-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I've really slacked, haven't I!? Sorry about that! Here's all the latest from the land of PJ:

She sits! It's only for 60-90 second at a time, but it's a start. Proof:

She grows! I changed out her wardrobe today. I needed to do it at least a week ago, but I think I was in denial that she could already be nearly 16 weeks. And it's either the bulkiness of the gDiapers or she's even longer than Abby, because some of the 3-6 month onesies fit her perfectly in length. I'm sure the diapers have something to do with it, but just looking at her she really does look longer than Abby was at this age.

She talks! Okay, so, not really, but she coos and gurgles and babbles so much! Very very cute--except at 5 AM like this morning. Then, not so much.

She no longer refluxes! Can't remember if I've updated on this yet, but when I'm off dairy she's fine. And when I've had a little (not that I have it on purpose, but just when I've eaten something without realizing it had dairy in it) she starts spitting up quite a bit again. So, while I'm very glad to know what it was that was causing the rivers of milk to stream from her mouth, I'm so very sad to know it's dairy, because WOW do I miss it. On the bright side, I tried ghee the other day and she doesn't react at all to that, so at least I have a dairy substitute now! And I also found dairy-free chocolate chips. Score!

She's strong! Her little legs are, anyway. I've been doing tummy time with her on her boppy pillow--which she actually tolerates, unlike her sister who would scream the house down--and she digs her toes into the carpet and pushes herself right over the pillow, like so:

GOING...

GOING...

GONE!

She's teething! She chows down on anything she can get in her mouth, poor thing. The other night I dreamed that I got a good look in there and saw twelve HUGE--like, cartoon-huge--molars, six on each side. And I was like, "Well, yeah, that would make sense." Honestly, it wouldn't have surprised me to find out it wasn't a dream, given how drooly and chompy she is.

She sleeps! In fact, this is her right now:

I'm kind of annoyed, really, that she fell asleep so early. If she's out before 9 she's up at 5. Ouch. She napped fairly well today, so I was pretty sure she'd make it until at least 8:30, but it's 8:20 right now and she's been out since about 7:55. *sigh* Early to bed with me...

Three months! (and a bit)

2008-06-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

She's thirteen weeks today, so yeah, I missed the three month thing by just a little. Unless you go by dates, in which case it's not until tomorrow. So there!

Penny Jane celebrated by rolling over for the first time on the floor. You may recall her she did this once before, but the circumstances surrounding the event were somewhat suspect. Anyway, it's totally and completely official now. And, just like with Abby, I missed it. Oh well. Dan got to see it, at least.

I've been dairy-free for a month and WOW has it made a difference for her. The yellowy flaky skin on her eyebrows is almost completely gone, the spit-ups are rare, and the reflux is non-existent. Hallelujah! I, however, am craving fro-yo so bad I can barely stand it, and man, I had no idea dairy came in so many sneaky forms. Every once in a while I end up eating some without knowing it, and poor Penny Jane is right back to spitting up. But the upside to going dairy-free--besides, of course, not torturing my child--is that I'm losing weight a lot faster!

The three-month birthday girl:

Queen of Babble-On

2008-05-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

She's talking! It's so cute! Well, baby babbling, of course, but it's adorable. I forgot how much I love those silly sounds. We got out the play pad that Abby spent so much time on at this age, and she's been kicking around in there, chatting away with the dangling animals. She's also trying (at least I think she's trying and it's not just random flailing) to grab at them. You go, girl!

A Day of Bodily Fluids

2008-05-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Her butt's a cannon!
Projectile poop even more
messy in the dark.

There are some events that just beg for their own haiku. This was one of them. I was changing her diaper on the bed, in the mostly-dark of 3AM, when she decided to, shall we say, "Let it go". Thing is, I had her legs in the air so I could slide the new diaper under her, so her butt was aimed quite perfectly at my chest, and wow, did she get some power behind that poop! And cleaning up in the dark was even more fun--all sorts of little 'presents' to be found...on my shorts...on my arm...on the bed...somewhere else on the bed...

But that was just the beginning a few hours later she had another Mt. Vesuvius-like reflux explosion that soaked the outfit I was all excited to wear that day, about five minutes before we were to leave for our AP moms playgroup. And that night, after putting her in the last pair of pajamas I had for her, she erupted yet again.

Both ends of her are quite powerful, I tell you what.

Bellybutton, be healed!

2008-05-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has been praying for Penny J's beebo. We went to the doctor on Friday and she said it looks like it's closed up! There's a small scab still there, so we need to be careful of that, but other than that it looks like all is well. Took three weeks and three different treatments (plus a TON of prayer), but we're out of the woods. Huzzah!

We had our last check-up with Michelle last week. I was so sad when I realized I wouldn't be seeing her again until the next baby. We weighed PJ and she was 12 lbs, 1 oz. WOW. That explains why some of her 3 month outfits are starting to seem a bit snug. I got pics of PJ with Michelle:

and Karly:

for her scrapbook, which I REALLY need to get going on. Anyway, if anyone out there is considering a homebirth in the SoCal area, I urge you to check out Michelle. She's just amazing. I'm so blessed to have found her.

She's still sleeping about 6 hours at night, hallelujah, though last week she had three nights in a row of only 3 or 4 hours at a stretch, and I'm thinking that must have been a growth spurt. That was still way better than Abby ever slept, but I'm very thankful she's back to 6 hours. And yesterday she slept for an hour and a half in the crib while I cleaned and had lunch. Dan had taken Abby out for some daddy-daughter time, so I had the place to myself. It was heaven. I got so much done! And I was excited that she slept in the crib. My goal for this week is to get her down to a routine with her morning nap. I've been just letting it happen whenever and wherever, but I'm seeing a pattern, so I think I'm going to start taking her upstairs around the 2.5 or 3 hour mark in the morning and putting her in the crib for naptime. We'll see what happens...

The last bit of news is that I'm pretty sure she has some kind of food allergy. I suspect it's dairy, but only because I'm sensitive to dairy too. If it's not that I'm almost certain it will be wheat, given the issues my mom has with it. So, starting tomorrow, I'm going dairy free. Pray for me. Next to bread products, dairy products are my absolute favorite. I just bought a brand new brick of cheddar, too. Drat.

There's a hole in my baby!

2008-04-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

(dear Liza, dear Liza)

So, yeah, that's sort of weird. Her belly button kept getting crusty, so I took her to the ped this past week and she had a look and said, "Ah, yes, there's a hole." Apparently things didn't completely heal up when her cord fell of. *ew* She was optimistic that it would heal up since it was so small and barely leaking anything as compared to most kids; apparently when that happens their shirts often end up with a huge wet spot. That's definitely not happening here, thank heavens. But she said that if it doesn't heal on its own it'll need surgery. :( She said to treat with alcohol but Michelle said to treat with the Cord Care "dust" that we used on the umbilical cord. She also said that research keeps showing that alcohol impedes the healing process. Grr. I never know who to believe! I have to admit, though, I am less likely to believe the standard medical doctor these days. So we're going with the Cord Care dust. Though we've been "dusting" it since Tuesday and it doesn't seem any better, so I'm calling her tomorrow to see how long it might take. Please God, don't let it need surgery!!!

Already showing off her personality...

Contest winners!

2008-04-13T14:12:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, you thought I'd forgotten, didn'tcha? Well, I did. BUT! I remembered, as I eventually (usually) do. I tried a new scoring system this time--y'all started out with 100 points, and deductions were made as follows:

wrong sex = 10
wrong day = 1 point per day
wrong weight = 1 point per every 2 oz.
wrong length = 1 point per every 1/2 inch
wrong part of the day (AM or PM) = 1 point

The winner is Sam, with a score of 93! Very impressive! And to think she started her prediction with "I'm never any good at these things..." Sam wins a copy of Shauna Niequist's new and awesome book, "Cold Tangerines," as well as her choice of "Violette Between," "Worlds Collide," or my upcoming release, "Reinventing Rachel." Happy reading, Sam!

And a bonus prize goes out to Katie for guessing Penelope Jane's weight spot-on. She wins a copy of her choice of "Violette Between," "Worlds Collide," or my upcoming release, "Reinventing Rachel" as well. Hope you enjoy, Katie!

Thanks to everyone for your guesses. I'm sure PJ will have fun one day looking at all your guesses!

Our little overachiever

2008-04-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

We were in Ventura over the weekend. Abby took off with Greena the minute we walked in the door--it's such a joy to see her so comfortable with them! She spent the whole weekend either playing blocks with Par, watching cartoons with Greena, or showing off her singing and "dancing" as she watched our Jana concert. I can't believe how many of the lyrics she knows! And how well she does the hand motions! It's SO cute, and it kills me that she stops the second she sees the video camera; I so desperately want to record her for posterity. (And for the relatives that don't get to see her.)

Penny J was her usual mellow self. Dan's afraid we're going to leave her somewhere because she's so quiet. I laughed when he told me that--except I feel the same way sometimes! She did, however, draw quite a bit of attention to herself on a couple occasions when she ROLLED OVER. Yes, at two weeks and a few days she rolled from back to front. Three times, in fact. In front of a shocked audience. And this wasn't just a serious wiggle with enough inertia to flip her. She rolled to her side (which she's been doing nearly since the beginning) and hung out there for awhile, and then suddenly started squirming and kicking--and then presto! Tummy time!

She's also been holding her head up for 30 seconds or more at a time. And not just while being held up; last night she was lying on Dan's chest and she picked up her head and just held it there, looking around. Crazy!

The girls at Gigi and Boppa's (my parents) on Easter Sunday.

Packing on the...ounces

2008-04-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Penny and I had our 2 week appointment with Michelle today. Penny was 9 pounds and 2 ounces! she was just 8 pounds 9 ounces less than a week ago--she really piled it on in the last 5 days! She looks so much more filled out. But even so, she doesn't look as big as Abby did at birth, and Abby was only one ounce less than Penny is now. Strange.

I checked out okay, although unfortunately some of my stitches tore right through the skin and were no longer holding anything together. Thankfully they were just "cosmetic" stitches and not fixing anything really important, so it's not a big deal. I'm so surprised I didn't know it had happened; certainly sounds like it would be awfully painful!

I've been feeling some serious mommy guilt the last couple of days. I think I had taken about 200 pictures of Abby by the time she was 2 weeks old. I've taken...maybe 20 of PJ. We have a bunch of her and Abby that I need to go through from Easter, but I swear I had the camera next to me at all times when Abby was a baby, and now I don't even know where the camera is! I haven't started Penny's baby book (though I did finally buy one), I haven't gotten a scrapbook for her yet, I haven't started writing in the journal I'll keep to give to her when she grows up...it's terrible. I always told myself I wouldn't be like this, and yet here I am. Not good.

One week down, a lifetime to go

2008-03-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Penny-J had her one week doctor visit yesterday. She's up to 8 pounds and 9 ounces--not bad for a kid with a lousy nursing latch who's supposedly eating in the most inefficient way possible. I've given up trying to fix it, though--the pain's not that bad anymore, and she's obviously not suffering. I have enough in my life to stress over; why add to it?

The best part, though, I gotta say, is that the child sleeps. She nursed at 11 last night and then not again until 3:30, and after that it was 7 a.m.! Unbelievable! After Abby's nighttime nursing marathons, this is a very welcome change. I actually prayed while I was pregnant that this baby would be a good sleeper--God is good! She doesn't "shut down" at night until 11ish, though--or at least that's been the pattern until tongith; right now, though, she's pretty out. Good thing, too, because I'm half asleep and desperate for bed.

Homebirth Reflections

2008-03-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Abby is zoned in front of an episode of Max and Ruby and Penny-J is asleep on my chest, so since they're both occupied I thought this might be a good time to post some of my thoughts about the homebirth.

Like every new experience, I went in with a lot of expectations. Most of them went out the window (bake a cake?! during labor?! what the heck was I thinking?!), mostly because of the speed of labor, but despite my laundry list of unfulfilled hopes and desires for the event, I can't imagine having done it any other way. A lot of people have asked if I'd do it this way again. Honestly, in the first few hours after the birth, I would have said there won't be a next time, but of course the intensity of things has faded over the last week and I think I can say I'm open to there being another time, and yes, I will most definitely doing it at home!

I was thinking about how different it would have been had we planned on a hospital birth. I would have gotten an epidural, no doubt. Even if I'd woken Dan half an hour earlier (and I can't imagine I would have done it any sooner than that), by the time we actually got to the hospital and I got checked into a room, I would have been at the point in my contractions when they got totally intense. Would I have started my hypnobabies scripts in time? Possibly, perhaps in the car on the way there, but given how strong they were I think the car ride would have been incredibly uncomfortable--I don't know if I would have kept my focus enough to stay in hypnosis when things got crazy.

And how would I have labored? I was on my hands and knees hugging the birth ball for the majority of the time--would I have done that in the hospital? Would I have felt secure enough to let myself go "primal"--moaning, rocking, swaying--when the staff would have been checking vitals and monitoring me? Would my OB have let me deliver on my hands and knees? I'd like to think she would--though if I'd ended up with the epidural I most likely would have been on my back.

I would have had to be vigilant about my birth plan, especially in regards to the treatment of the baby after birth--wanting her right away to nurse, keeping her with me to bond for at least an hour before being weighed and measured, not wanting her to have the eye stuff (can't remember what it's called) or Hep-B vax or a pacifier. Whereas all those things were sorted out at the home visit and there was no need to remind anyone because they all knew and respected our wishes.

The food was a lot better at home, too. :)

Not that the homebirth experience was all sunshine and roses. I had a rather romantic idea of what homebirth would be like, and the reality was anything but.My hallway carpet has bloodstains, and every time I see them it's a weird, uncomfortable reminder that I was naked in front of three people I didn't know all that well, and with my husband there, which is just strange. These people also saw me raving like a woman possessed, and while it's their job and they've seen it a million times, I have never been out of control that way before, and it's weird to think I have that primitive, animal side to me. And while the image of a woman on her back on a bed giving birth is very accepted in our society, the image of a woman on all fours is not, and the memory of it feels very...base. It's a bit embarrassing to think my husband saw me that way. It is not a sexy image. Nor is the image of my water breaking on his office floor (thankfully covered in chux pads). After the birth, my bed (also thankfully covered in chux pads) looked like the scene of a brutal murder. And it's not like I didn't think there'd be blood, it's just that I hadn't given a lot of thought to the fact that it would be right there and not on an easy-to-clean linoleum floor like in the hospital.

And in a funky way, it felt like less of a special event because there wasn't the big "Time to go to the hospital!" moment, or all the accompanying medical buzz and procedure that goes with a hospital birth. I had a baby, took a shower, got some stitches, and then everyone left and I was in bed holding a baby. 'Course the fact that it only took five hours contributes to that as well, especially when you're expecting at least half a day to be taken up. It was, in all honesty, a bit of a let-down. On one hand, that's the beauty of it--something totally natural was treated as such and not treated like a life-or-death medical event. But on the other hand, when society has taught you that it is a life-or-death medical event, the natural way seems kind of simple and plain--not nearly enough fanfare for the emerging of a new soul into the world. There should have been trumpets and a chorus of angels--which there may well have been in heaven, but we didn't get the benefit of it. Maybe midwives ought to offer a fanfare package--marching band and fireworks, or at least a CD of the Hallelujah Chorus or something.

Anyway...that's what's been on my mind. And like I said, regardless of what expectations were or were not met, I'll do it this way again, if there is an again. I hope this doesn't turn anyone off from homebirthing, though I guess if it does then you weren't meant to do it in the first place. It's definitely a commitment and requires taking a lot of responsibility for your own care--not that midwives don't take care of you, but there's an expectation on their part, and rightly so I believe, that you are an integral part of the success of your homebirth and thus need to be more involved in your own care beyond just taking your prenatals and showing up for your appointments. A lot of women sign over their pregnancy and birth experience to their doctor, and if that's your cup of tea then so be it, but I think that's the reason why we've seen such an awful increase in cesarean rates in this country. I think it's high time women started trusting their bodies more and listening to (or, more accurately, rediscovering) their instincts when it comes to birth. Hopefully my experience will encourage someone to take that leap.

Sleep, glorious sleep...

2008-03-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

So the first two nights Penny slept pretty well. I had high hopes. And then Saturday I was minutes away from slamming my head against the wall because she wanted to nurse nonstop--at nearly midnight I'd been in bed for over two hours and still hadn't slept. As soon as I got her back in the cosleeper and got myself settled, she'd be crying to eat again. (If she'd eat for more than ten minutes at a time, this wouldn't be such a problem.) Dan came in just before I broke into a thousand mental pieces and took her to see if being in the swing would distract her from eating--and it did! I got three hours of rest before they came back in, and life was good again. She only nursed one more time that night, and we got to sleep until quarter to eight.

Then last night she made up for it by only nursing twice and letting me sleep until 7:45, and Abby even contributed by sleeping an hour later than that! Granted, I didn't go to bed until 11 because I could tell Penny was just going to keep nursing, so I guess, now that I think about it, it wasn't much different from Saturday night, except that I didn't spent two fruitless hours trying to sleep. I really hope she picks up the nursing pace so she isn't up so late eating--these little five and ten minute mini-feeds scattered throughout the day are going to get old real quick.

Greena and Par (Dan's parents) came down Saturday to spend the day with us. More pics on the other blog--they helped Abby color eggs!--but I thought this was so cute: Abby nursing the doll they brought for her:

Nancy (a.k.a. "Greena") crocheted this blanket for PJ before she was born--she was pretty confident we were having a girl:

So Eastery! Speaking of which, hope your holiday was filled with awe for the sacrifice that was made for us, for God so loved the world...

Top Ten Things I'd Forgotten About Having a Newborn

2008-03-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

10. How hard it is to dress and diaper them when they insist on keeping their arms and legs in the "frog" position.

9. How breastmilk poop doesn't smell that bad.

8. How your heart stops every time they choke while nursing.

7. How often they choke while nursing.

6. How they're swimming even in newborn outfits.

5. How a mother's ear can hear the faintest glug and gurgle, even in the middle of the deepest sleep.

4. How long it takes for it to sink in that this little person is real.

3. How nice it is to know you can put them down and step away for a minute and they'll still be in the same spot when you come back.

2. How hard it is to put them down.

1. How quickly the pain of the birth fades once you have them in your arms.

More pictures!

2008-03-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

SHE'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-19T18:33:00.001-07:00

There aren't enough exclamation marks in the world to convey my utter shock and elation at a) having another daughter (especially when we were SO sure it was going to be a boy) and b) getting my VBAC at home with no complications whatsoever. It still hasn't sunk in. Maybe writing everything out here will hammer it home.

I woke up a little after 3 this morning with a contraction. I didn't think much of it because that's been happening a lot lately. But then another one came 13 minutes later, and the next one 5 minutes later. "Oh, that's gotta be a fluke," I thought. But the next one was also 5 minutes later, and they were all pretty strong, so I decided to get up and see what might happen.

They were consistently 5 minutes apart for about an hour, and getting quite intense. Suddenly I had two right on top of each other that really bowled me over, and I realized I needed to get Dan up, have him call my mom, and call Sheridan, my doula. I called the doula first so she could start heading over--and she had just gotten home an hour before from another birth! She asked if I would be alright with her catching a quick nap and coming over in a couple hours, and I said sure, figuring we still had quite a bit of time ahead of us for this birth. But then I had two contractions just going from Dan's office to the bedroom to wake him up, and I knew that things were starting to pick up speed. We called the midwife, and then a contraction hit that made me want to push, and I just about panicked thinking the baby was going to be born right then! Then Sheridan called and said "You know what, I feel like I need to come over," and I was like, "Yeah you do!" When she got there I was still feeling pushy with my contractions, and I yelled to Dan to get some of the chux pads from the birth kit and lay them on the floor because I honestly thought I was going to have the baby in the next 5 minutes. Instead (and thankfully!) it was just my water breaking.

I labored on the floor in Dan's office for quite a while, because I just couldn't bear the thought of moving all the way down the hall to the bedroom; it just seemed too monumental a task. (It also took a while to get the bed prepped; we needed to wait for my mom to come, and then we moved Abby downstairs to the sofa bed and Dan got the birthing sheets and plastic mattress protector all set up.) I'll have to find out the exact time of this, but at one point I felt like I was totally done, mentally and physically. Because everything had hit so fast, I'd never had time to get going with my hypnobabies stuff, and I felt EVERYTHING! So I asked Michelle to check me to see how far I was. She put me off for a while because my water had broken, and the risk of infection goes up once that happens, but then a little while later I absolutely HAD to know. I had 8 cm in my head as a benchmark; I felt like, if I was at least that far, I could handle it, but if I was any less, I was seriously going to ask for a hospital transfer and get an epidural. It was THAT intense. (Though how I thought I'd be able to get downstairs and endure a ride to the hospital when I couldn't bear the thought of moving 12 feet down the hall, I don't know!) So then she checked me and, lo and behold, I was indeed an 8! She said if I wanted to push a little to go ahead and do it, it might get me the rest of the way to 10. It was SUCH a relief to have a physical outlet (besides the roaring and growling I'd been doing) when the contractions hit!

Eventually I knew I wanted to get into the bedroom, but I was so tired and weak it took two people supporting me to even get me moving. (My last meal had been at 5 the night before, and I'd had nothing besides sips of Recharge during contractions since Michelle had gotten there, around 5:30.) Finally they got me up and into the bathroom for a pit stop, and then into the bedroom on the birthing stool. I kept yelling at the baby, "Come on, crown! Get moving!" I kept asking if they could see anything, and Michelle would just say she could feel the head but not see it, and that it might still be awhile. I remember thinking, "I don't think I have 'awhile' left in me! It better be faster than that!"

Then something shifted in me and I wanted to get up on the bed. They helped me crawl up there, and I was on all fours, hugging the birthing ball (which is how I'd labored most of the time in Dan's office) and holding Dan's hand in an "arm wrestling" grip to use as a brace. I'm not sure how long I was up there, but then with one of the contractions I could feel that she was just right there, and I thought, "If I don't push that head out right now, I'm never going to make it." I didn't think I had the energy to do it, but I did, and everyone cheered and I just kept saying, "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" The next contraction felt too weak to get the rest of her out, but I couldn't bear to do it any longer, so I gave it everything I had left in me and out she came!

She squeaked out a tiny cry, and they put her on my back while I caught my breath. It took Dan a few seconds to get a good look at the sex, and when he said it was a girl I about fell off the bed! EVERYONE thought it would be a boy! They helped me maneuver onto my back to lie down, and the placenta came out pretty quickly, probably less than 10 minutes after PJ.

I'm kinda fuzzy on things after that. I was shaking uncontrollably, apparently a common post-birth experience, and I was just SO incredibly weak and tired. After a little while they made me get up to go to the bathroom, and then I took a shower to get cleaned up but nearly fainted when I was done. I ended up kneeling on the floor of the tub and calling for someone to come help me; they brought Recharge and toast and made me eat, which made me feel a tiny bit better. Mom had made sandwiches and scrambled eggs for everyone, so when I got back into the bed (with my hair still uncombed from the shower!) I had a little more to eat and it totally helped. PJ was cleaned and dressed and all her measurements taken while I was in the shower; they brought her over to nurse and she latched almost right away and ate for probably 5 or 6 minutes. Oh, and somewhere in there--after the shower, I think, but before Mom brought up the food--they spent 45 minutes stitching me up because I tore in all sorts of lovely places. PJ came out with her hand next to her face, and given how hard and fast I pushed out her 14 and 1/8 inches-sized head (plus hand), there was no time for anything to stretch. So that sucks. But oh well.

So five hours of labor almost to the minute, with 44 minutes of pushing. Not bad for a first timer!

And I think she's going to look like me! She definitely has my coloring, whereas Abby has Dan's olive tone. And mom kept saying yesterday, "That's what you looked like when you were born, I swear." 'Course they all said that about Abby, too, the first couple days--and then suddenly she turned into mini-Dan. So we'll see.

Our first night went surprisingly well. Abby didn't go to sleep until almost 10:30, but she slept through the entire night until after 8. Penny-J slept all night, too, except for an hour long nursing session from about 12:30-1:30--her first meal since the one after she was born! And when she woke up this morning she ate a little and was quite alert--she even sat on Abby's lap for the first time. Very cute--tried to get a picture but the bedroom was too dark. Oh well--plenty of opportunities for that will come.

I'm sure I'll remember more as the days go on, so I'll post more details as they surface. Until then, keep us in your prayers as we adjust to being a family of four!

40 weeks!

2008-03-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are, the infamous Due Date has arrived. I had my 40 week appointment with Michelle today--she gave me hugs and was very sympathetic. Have I mentioned lately how much I love her? Anyway, I'm happy to say I only gained one pound this week, which is stunning given all the utter CRAP I've been shoveling into my pie-hole--can you say "emotional eater?"

I ushered in the big day with two baby dreams. I haven't remembered my dreams lately, which is weird; usually they're so vivid that I can recount them detail for detail. I haven't had many baby dreams this pregnancy, either, so it was weird to have two in a row. In the first dream, we had twins, a boy and a girl. We were surprised, but not as surprised as one would expect a couple to be when they've had as many ultrasounds as we have.

The second dream was a lot longer and way more stressful. Abby wasn't around; it was as if this was our first baby--a girl, by the way. But the them of the whole dream was that I kept forgetting her! I'd put her down somewhere and then get distracted and it would be hours before I'd remember to go get her. I even woke up (in the dream, not in real life) and thought, "Where's the baby?" Turns out I'd left her in the car! Overnight! I'd be completely panicked every time it happened, totally freaked out and upset and shaking, and I kept thinking, "I can't let anyone know I keep doing this! They'll take her away from me!" But it wasn't like I was doing it on purpose, it just kept happening--in the crib, in a shopping cart, at the park--like pregnancy brain multiplied a thousand times. It didn't matter how badly I wanted to remember her, I couldn't. Isn't that terrible?! What on earth is wrong with my subconscious?! No wonder the poor thing is stalling on being born; it's probably afraid of me.

Tomorrow is Dan's class final. I'm going all out after that--well, in terms of natural labor starters, anyway. Michelle offered to strip my membranes for me, and if it had been Thursday and Dan's final was already done I may have taken her up on it, but the timing was all wrong today. And truly, I'm more patient than I make myself out to be. I'm really okay with the baby coming whenever the baby is ready to come. It's more about my painful, miserable nights than anything else at this point. I want those to end more than I do the pregnancy. I like being pregnant; I'm going to miss feeling him/her moving around in there.

Nope

2008-03-17T17:51:00.001-07:00

See post title.

Still no baby.

2008-03-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

Title sez it all. But a Palm Sunday baby would be sweet, dont'cha think? Take it up with The Big Guy on my behalf and we'll see what He says.

No baby yet.

2008-03-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Just updating. No consistent contractions today, though I did take Abby for a walk this morning for half an hour and had lots while we were out. I'm encouraged by the fact that I had so many for so long yesterday, though; that didn't happen with Abby. And I got a decent night's sleep last night, which was a wonderful change, though Abby was up a lot and seems to have developed a cold and possibly an earache. Bah! Oh well. I'm feeling a little renewed and less depressed today, which is nice. :) I know the end is in sight, and even if it takes another week, that's alright. (Although I *really* hope s/he is here by Easter since I've already washed the "Baby's First Easter" outfit I got at Target a couple weeks ago!)

CONTRACTIONS!

2008-03-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well finally. I started having contractions around 4:10 this afternoon. When I'm sitting around doing nothing they come 3-4 an hour, but as soon as I stand and start walking they come every 3-5 minutes but don't last as long. Not sure what that means, other than this obviously isn't "active" labor, but it's definitely headed in the right direction.

Cross your fingers!

Think Friday thoughts!

2008-03-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

No baby yet. More contractions today, which is good, but not that many and never close together. So I'm asking y'all to think Friday thoughts for me. Pray Friday prayers, send Friday vibes, whatever. I want to be done, and I want to be done NOW.

Ugh.

2008-03-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

It's really hard to time contractions when you have a toddler to take care of. Tried using an online contraction calculator and I'm not near the computer half the time that I need to be. Tried to write on paper but I swear every clock in this house tells a different time, and I keep leaving the pen and notebook in whatever room I was in last. And what really sucks is that I'm not even sure these are contractions! I can't tell when they end. My belly feels firm all the time this morning. I'll get the pressure-y twinges that tell me one is starting (I think) but then I keep waiting for my stomach to loosen again and it doesn't. What the heck??

Not a good night last night. Kept waking up. Abby kept crying in her sleep. And then she was up this morning at 6:15. I was already awake, but desperately trying to get back to sleep. I managed to get her to lie back down (which actually means lying down for a couple minutes, then sitting up and using my chest as a pillow, then lying back down and putting her feet in the air, then sitting back up and saying, "Mama, wake up!") for about half an hour before she refused to be quiet any longer. My leg is really acting up this morning, and my back keeps twinging, too--a good sign, supposedly--so I'm just not in a good frame of mind. I feel bad because that means Abby doesn't have a particularly pleasant or patient mommy today, and heaven knows toddlers need patient mommies. *sigh*

All systems go!

2008-03-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not in labor. But I went to the midwife today and her general opinion is that I won't last another week, and that labor is probably right around the corner. The baby is in the optimal birthing position, which is a HUGE relief and weight off my shoulders, and now I feel okay about doing some serious walking and skip-stair climbing and all those other kinds of things one can try to get labor going.

The last 36 hours I've pretty much felt like crap. I've had a headache on and off for the last 4 days, and then my stomach started giving me issues, my back has been intermittently aching, I've been hungry but have had absolutely NO appetite, and my legs have started swelling. On top of that, I just feel done. Emotionally, physically, mentally--just done. I want to crawl into bed with a book and make everyone leave me alone.

All these are apparently very good signs. One of the only times in life when feeling terrible is a good thing. Stay tuned!

All you really need...

2008-03-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

We set up our birth supplies upstairs last night. It's funny how little you really need. And frankly, you don't even *need* all this--ask any woman who's delivered in the car on the way to the hospital!

Here we have the "big stuff"--most of the medical stuff is in that bowl, and in the container on the right there are blood test supplies. We're not going all the newborn testing, but we are doing some of it, as well as getting the baby's blood typed. Yes, that is a crock pot in the other corner--I think they keep wet washcloths hot in there as perineum compresses for the pushing stage.

This is the rest of it. Two sets of sheets--one set for during the birth, another for after--lots of old towels, and three bags labeled Mom, Baby, and Warm. The Mom bag has clothes for after the birth. The Baby bag has clothes, sock, and extra hats. (I didn't have to have that many hats, but we had a ton from when Abby was born and there were quite a few different sizes; figured I might as well put them all in so we'd have options. The one hat we had at the hospital for Abby was way too big!) The Warm bag has a hat and lots of receiving blankets; they put all that in the oven (!) to, well, get warm right before the baby comes.

Not pictured is the snack table. That's downstairs in the dining room. We've got chips and salsa, mixed nuts, pretzels, and when Mom comes over to pick up Abby she'll stop and pick up a veggie tray, a fruit tray, cold cuts and rolls, and cheese to put on crackers. Yum! Not that I'll probably be having any of it. *sigh* For myself there's fixin's for fruit smoothies, and lots of orange flavored Recharge (a more healthy version of Gatorade). I still have to make ice chips and Recharge chips, but I plan on starting that today.

So there we go! All set up! Okay baby, any time after today (since midwife and doula are both at a conference until tonight) you're good to go!

Oh yeah, now I remember

2008-03-06T07:03:00.001-08:00

I've been really active this pregnancy on the BabyCenter.com March 2008 birth board. Back in December "our" first baby was born, and now every time I refresh the page there's a new birth announcement (or two, or five) waiting to be read. Because I'm a sucker for a baby story, I read them all, and I've been stunned at how many women had no idea they were in labor:

"I went in for my prenatal appointment and the doctor said, 'What are you doing here? Go to the hospital, you're at 5cm already and your contractions are 3 minutes apart!' I didn't even realize I was having contractions!"

"I thought they were just more Braxton Hicks, but when I went in for my non-stress test they said I was already at a 6. I couldn't believe it."

It's had me thinking a lot lately, because I don't remember at all what contractions feel like. With Abby, I was doing my hypnobirthing stuff and very comfortable--it's not like I didn't feel them, I felt a LOT, but it wasn't pain, just pressure. But even the memory of what that pressure is like has been completely missing.

Until last night!

4:21 AM. Lying there, wide awake as usual, because 4 AM seems to be my body's get-up-and-party time. I started to feel my belly tighten and thought nothing of it, since I've been having weak contractions on and off since the weekend--until the sensation got stronger and stronger and I realized, "Oh my gosh, an honest-to-goodness makes-you-dilate kind of contraction!" It completely took me back to those seemingly endless last couple weeks of Abby's pregnancy, to sitting in the theater watching Chronicles of Narnia, to the nights I spent sleeping in the recliner because it was the only place I was comfortable, to The Big Night, December 27, when they finally settled into a pattern and we realized at 10PM that this was really It.

Last night I probably had 4 or 5 of these real-thing contractions between 4:21 and 6:30. At my appointment on Tuesday Michelle said the baby was oblique, with its head off to the left of my cervix, and during the contractions the sensation is MUCH more powerful in that area--not sure if it's because the baby's head shouldn't be there, or what. I'm doing everything I can to encourage him/her to shift over a bit, but so far no dice, at least I don't think so. Pray s/he moves soon!

Yum!

2008-03-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

(Fair warning: this post may contain what is considered "too much information" by those of you not that interested in reading about the more intimate details of birth. Read at your own risk.)

So my kitchen smells like Thanksgiving right now. It NEVER smells this good because I don't cook--at least, I don't cook anything that requires me to add seasoning that doesn't come prepackaged. The reason for the delicious smell that is making me more and more hungry with every passing minute is that I am making...here comes the too much information part...crotchcicles! Otherwise knows as sitzbath peri pads to use after the birth. To make them, you steep a handful of uva ursi leaves, yarrow flowers, sage leaf, comfrey leaf and root, garlic, witch hazel leaves, and sea salt (all those leaves and roots and flowers are dried, by the way) in 1.5 quarts of boiled water overnight, then soak heavy duty sanitary pads in them, wrap them in plastic wrap, and freeze them in a bowl (to make them curved). Super soothing to the girly parts after the trauma of birth! I remember reading on one of my parenting forums that a mom there used to bring her newborn into the bath with her, which she doused with this same kind of herbal concoction, and that he spent his first few weeks smelling more like dinner than baby. Now I know why. Not a bad way to smell, lemme tell ya. Though I'm sure I'd end up eating all day long because of it.

So I've been having contractions, both Braxton-Hicks and the real thing (though weak), on and off like crazy all weekend. While we were in Ventura I did a lot more walking than usual--we brought Abby's new trike and pushed her around the neighborhood, which is much easier to do there because Dan's parents don't live on a hill like we do. I think all that walking is what did it. And today I was SO TIRED. I slept with Abby while she took her nap, and she's the one that woke me up after an hour and a half--I could have kept going for who knows how long. I'll have to go back into the archives of this blog to see when I first started feeling real contractions that were worth timing back when I was preggo with Abby. I remember timing them through "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" when Dan and I went to see it in the theater. Tough to do in the dark; I was trying to remember the times in my head because I couldn't see to write them down.

Baby's still bopping around in there. It feels like s/he's pushing on my pubic bone. It actually feels kinda good, I don't know why. We're still stumped for a boy's name. Suggestions?

Reality check

2008-02-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

We're in Ventura for the weekend visiting Dan's parents one last time before the baby comes. Gary, Dan's dad, is afraid I'm going to pop while we're here. I keep telling him, Nah, no chance...but then again I have noticed a slight increase in mild pressure waves ("contractions" for all you non-hypnobabies folks)...

I brought my pregnancy photos and album when we came up here because Abby always ends up running off with Greena to play dress-up with all Greena's jewelry, and since we're not home I don't have to worry about the dishes in the sink or the messy living room or the laundry that still hasn't been folded from the beginning of the week. So when she pulled Greena off to the bedroom--in about three minutes flat after walking through the door--I pulled out my materials and started to work.

I've had the album and coordinated papers and photos all ready and waiting for ages. It's just been one of those projects that I was afraid to undertake because I thought it would take me hours and hours to complete. I couldn't get the inertia going. But I figured I'd be happy if I could at least get the pages and photos laid out; I could always come back to it to finish the journaling.

But here it is, not even 10 PM on the first day we're here, and the album is complete. Laid out, taped down, journaled and everything. I'm stunned! Why do things always seems like they're going to take longer than they actually do? If I'd known I could whip through it this fast I'd have done it ages ago.

'Course as I was doing the page for week 36, it dawned on me that there was only one pregnancy picture left to be taken--the one from the day I actually go into labor. And then I realized, oh my heavens, in four days I will be 38 weeks along. THIRTY-EIGHT WEEKS. That's officially full term, folks. And then I thought, Oh crap.

Another baby.

Midnight (and 2 AM and 4 AM and 6 AM) feedings.

Sibling rivalry.

Labor.

Actually having a natural birth.

It's this last one that's really getting me. I have no doubt that I'm going to end up with my VBAC, which makes me really happy on the one hand, and completely scares the you-know-what outta me on the other. I know I'm prepared, I know I can do it, but that whole fear-of-the-unknown thing is really starting to get to me.

So I'd like to ask for your prayers. Pray I don't freak out. Pray my hypnobabies practice pays off. Pray nothing happens that necessitates a transfer to the hospital. Pray it's a textbook delivery that takes less than, say, 18 hours. And pray that, between now and then, I'm able to maintain the peace I've felt for the majority of the pregnancy. It would suck to start to lose it now.

The Home Visit!

2008-02-25T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today Michelle the Super Midwife and her trusty sidekick Carly came to the house for our home visit. Sheridan, doula and hypnobabies instructor extrordinaire, was also on hand, as was my wonderful Abby-entertaining mother. I have the best birth team ever!

I almost cried in the middle of the meeting, it was just so cool. Show me an OB who has ever said, "Okay, so tell me what role you'd like me to play in your birth. Tell me what your expectations are, what you'd like the experience to be like. How can we help you have the birth you want to have?" I almost didn't know what to say in response; I wasn't expecting to be the one in charge of everything. I thought Michelle would say, "So here's what we do, here's what to expect once we get here," etc.--and I would have been totally and completely cool with that, because I trust her to do only that which is absolutely necessary and to be pretty hands off otherwise, that's just what her approach is. But to be handed the reins and told that she trusts me to know best what I need was so empowering. It gave me that much more confidence that this birth would be what I wanted it to be.

After I told everyone what I expected of them (which felt really weird, I have to say; I didn't want to sound demanding or bossy or something!), Michelle went over the whole "when to call us" thing, and then we did my prenatal exam, which is pretty low-key--blood pressure, baby's heartbeat (in the 140s), fundal measurement and checking the baby's position. S/he is still head down, thank you God!! S/he flipped to the right side, which is fine, and s/he has really been pushing that little tush and feet out. At one point it looked like something was going to pop right through, a little foot, I'm guessing. Very weird. But I know from experience that, regardless of how eager I am to have him/her in my arms, I'm going to miss the kicks and rolls and stretches inside.

Mom, Dan, Abby, and I went to dinner afterwards, and I was just so jazzed. All I could think about was going into labor. The home visit really made me feel like everything was official, like the baby was cleared to come any time s/he was ready, and I--

--oh hey, contraction, I think!--

kept saying, "I'm just so excited! I can't wait!"

Sheridan loaned me a DVD of a bunch of hypnobabies births to watch. They were SO cool. Hers was on there, too, and it made me cry it was so great. It was really encouraging to see it in practice. I'm going to be getting together with Tina, my hypnobirthing instructor from Abby's birth, to watch a bunch of hypnobirth births, too. Even though the approach is different, the end result is the same: mothers who are ultra-relaxed, births that are calm and peaceful and beautiful to watch. I want to fill my head with as many of these positive birth stories and images as possible.

I have to be honest, though, and admit that I'm getting a little nervous about the whole pushing-the-baby-out part of the birth. Labor doesn't bother me--I've done that already and it went great, and I have no reason to think it won't go great this time around, either. I haven't gone through transformation (hypnobabies-speak for transition) so I'm a bit apprehensive about what that will be like. I know it's really intense for some women, but I think hypno-moms tend to have less dramatic ones because their system is so relaxed. It's just fear of the unknown, really. But the pushing bit is the part that has me a little more nervous. When I make myself analyze what exactly bothers me, I realize that it's just the idea of it, more than any specific facet of the process. And once I remind myself that a bazillion women have done this before me, most of the nerves dissipate, so I just need to focus on that and stop letting the concept of it all overwhelm me.

So tomorrow I'm 37 weeks--we're in the home stretch! We've been talking a little more with Abby about the baby. Michelle suggested not only getting a gift for Abby from the baby, but a gift FROM Abby FOR the baby as well. I mentioned it to her tonight when she commented on the co-sleeper and how it was where the baby would take a nap, and she said, "Present for Mommy, too!" Such a sweetie. :) Anyway, I think I may take her to Target this week and let her pick out something and help her wrap it and everything. Maybe store it in the co-sleeper. As far as what to get Abby, we'd talked about getting her a new baby doll and some baby gear--a stroller, a bassinet, etc.--but never officially decided on that. I need to talk to Dan some more and see if he has any other thoughts. Seeing how much she loves her trains, getting her another GeoTrax set would probably be just as welcome, if not more so. But she does exhibit some great maternal instincts, and I'd love to nurture that.

Tomorrow I go to Burke Williams Day Spa for a maternity milk bath and an EIGHTY MINUTE massage. Just the thought makes me go limp. Yesterday I got my nails done; now I just have to keep them up so they're pretty in the pictures of me holding the new baby. The house gets spring cleaned by Merry Maids on the 5th. Tomorrow the electrician puts in a new ceiling fan in the bedroom, among other things. And then sometime in the next three weeks we'll have a new baby. :)

Me at 36 weeks!

24 hours left to vote!

2008-02-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

If you haven't done it yet, get off yer duff and do it: the polls are almost closed for the "Guess the Baby's Stats" contest. Click here to read the hints and then leave a comment with your prediction. Remember there are books to be won! No more guesses will be taken as of Tuesday morning, so do it now!

35 weeks!

2008-02-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable--in one week I will be technically full term! Woohoo!!!

Today I had a midwife appointment. I love Michelle, I really do. She's such a sweet person. And I really loved her today because she assured me that the baby has flipped out of breech and is officially head down and in the "optimal fetal position"! What a huge relief. Though now I'm stressing about keeping the baby that way, since it has yet to descend into the pelvis and could thus flip right around again if its little heart desired. I've been having some very serious talks with it the last couple weeks, so it knows how important it is to stay put, but you know how kids are. Any suggestions for encouraging descent are welcome!

My next appointment with Michelle will actually take place here at the house during the home visit. By then I have to have all my birth stuff purchased and organized. I have most of it, but there are still some random things that we have around the house (receiving blankets, socks for both baby and me, etc.) that need to be rounded up. Once I get everything laid out nicely I'll take a picture so you can see how little is really needed for a home birth!

The one lousy part of my appointment today was weighing myself and discovering I'd gained FIVE POUNDS since my last appointment two weeks ago. Egads. I kept sliding that stupid little weight over the bar thinking, "No, it's not possible, I can't have gained this much." But apparently I did. So that sucks. And it's not like I've been eating like a madwoman or doing nothing but carbs--though I guess maybe I've been a little carb heavy, but not THAT carb heavy! This is the same rate at which I gained weight with Abby. I'm basically at 40 pounds gained right now; I was hoping that would be it for the whole pregnancy. *pout*

My nesting urges have been slowly kicking in, meaning I actually notice when the house is a mess now. SO MUCH HAS TO BE DONE! Everywhere I turn there's another mess, and it's driving me batty. I really need to clean out Abby's closet so we have a place for all the new baby's clothes. I really need to get my office straightened out since that will probably be a sort of "staging" area for birth supplies and such. I really need to get the last wall of the bedroom painted and all the extra furniture moved out so we have room for me and Dan and the doula and Michelle and her assistant(s?). Plus the whole house needs to be picked up so we can get a cleaning service in and a carpet cleaning service in. Can you say 'overwhelmed'?

8 months!

2008-01-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

Unreal. 32 weeks!

I got my birth kit in the mail the other day. All sorts of stuff in there for me to organize. Seeg as 13 babies have already been born on my BabyCenter March Birth Board, I suppose I should get myself organized sooner rather than later; you never know when baby may decide to come early!

Speaking of the baby coming, all you lurkers need to come out of the closet and post your predictions for the birth!

We're taking inventory of what we still need for this new kid, and really it's not much given we have so much stuff from Abby. ('Course we'll need a lot of clothes if it's a boy!) But one of the things we do need is a diaper bag. We had a duffel-type bag last time, and it was just a giant black hole. No organization whatsoever. Drove me crazy. This time I wanted pockets galore. Well, yesterday I was looking online and found the perfect bag. A million pockets. A sling-like diagonal strap (so much comfier than a backpack when you have narrow shoulders like me). And so freaking durable we'll be able to use it as a get-the-heck-outta-Dodge bag when the country goes to pot and we need to get off the grid to keep our liberties. :) It's the Lunada Gearslinger from Maxpedition, maker of "hard use gear." Military folks use their stuff! We're getting it in OD Green. I'm so pumped. And Dan won't be embarrassed to tote it, either!

Absolutely beautiful

2008-01-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Found this video on one of the Gentle Christian Mothers forums. THIS, ladies, is what birth can be like. No, you're not going to see the actual birth, so don't skip the link. She's not naked, either, so don't worry. She's singing the 23rd Psalm--THROUGH TWO STRONG CONTRACTIONS--with her husband accompanying her on the guitar. She has the voice of an angel. It's amazing. Imagine being born with this voice guiding your journey...

The Second Morrow Baby Prediction Contest!

2008-01-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

**POLLS ARE CLOSED!** Feel free to read and make a mental guess anyway. :)

Today I'm officially 3/4 of the way through the pregnancy--that's thirty weeks, for those of you who are mathematically challenged. I thought this would be a good time to post the clues for the baby prediction contest. For those of you who weren't around when I was pregnant with Abby, here's how it works: Using predictors (mostly old wives tales) thought to tell you if you're having a boy or a girl, you'll decide what you think we're having. Leave your prediction in the comments, INCLUDING your prediction for the day of the birth, the time of day (AM or PM), and the baby's length and weight. Entries will be accepted until week 38 (March 4).

This year the winner gets two prizes! The first is a copy of the excellent first release from Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines. The second is your choice of either of my currently released books OR an "IOU" for my third novel, releasing in 2009. (I know, I know, it's soooo far away. Sorry.)

Alrighty kids, here we go...

1. Alison is carrying Baby Morrow:
a) High (girl)
b) Low (boy)

Answer: Baby Morrow is riding low!!

2. Alison sleeps with her pillow to the:
a) North (boy)
b) South (girl)

Answer: Her pillow is always firmly placed at the south end of the bed.

3. Alison's feet are:
a) Colder than before pregnancy (boy)
b) The same as before (girl)

Answer: Alison's feet are definitely colder. Oddly, my general body temperature doesn't seem to be rising like it did last time!

4. When it comes to bread, Alison:
a) Refuses to eat the end of a loaf (girl)
b) Prefers the end of the loaf (boy)

Answer: Not sure how much this tells us, since Alison always refuses to eat the end, regardless of whether or not she's pregnant!

5. Darling husband Daniel is:
a) Gaining weight right along with Alison (boy)
b) Keeping the scale steady (girl)

Answer: I believe the scale is keeping steady.

6. Alison's mom's hair color when Baby Morrow was conceived was:
a) Gray (girl)
b) Not gray (either naturally or dyed) (girl)

Answer: Mom's quite fond of highlighting her hair, so I think that counts as dyed--although we're not sure what her hair has to do with Alison's pregnancy!

7. Alison had morning sickness early in her pregnancy:
a) Yes (girl)
b) No (boy)

Answer: No morning sickness for Alison--just ravenous hunger! (This was the same way she answered last time, too!)

8. Alison's complexion is looking:
a) Particularly good during pregnancy (boy)
b) Not so good (girl)

Answer: Thankfully pregnancy seems to agree with her when it comes to her complexion.

9. During pregnancy, Alison's chest has:
a) Dramatically changed (girl)
b) Changed very little (boy)

Answer: This time around Alison's belly is the one doing the growing, not her chest--making ome of those maternity tops look a little silly.

10. Alison's age at time of conception: 31
Conception took place in the month of: June

Mother's Age
- # of conception month
Odd number = girl
Even number = boy

Answer: 31 - 6 = 25--odd number! (The same exact number as when pregnant with Abby!)

11. Alison has been craving:
a) Sweets (girl)
b) salty/sour food (boy)

Answer: This hasn't changed much from pre-pregnancy, either--her whole life Alison has been a big fan of sugar!

12. Alison has also been craving:
a) Meat and cheese (boy)
b) Fruit (girl)

Answer: Protein! So that most likely translates to meat and cheese.

13. Alison's nose has:
a) Grown wider (boy)
b) Stayed the same (girl)

Answer: Her nose has stayed the same.

14. Baby Morrow's heart rate is:
a) Above 140 beats per minute (girl)
b) 140 or less (boy)

Answer: The heart rate has been 150 or higher every time!

15. Alison's feelings towards Orange Juice:
a) Doesn't like OJ (boy)
b) Must have OJ every day (girl)

Answer: Alison has never liked OJ, and it hasn't changed since she's been pregnant, either.

16. Alison has been getting headaches:
a) Yes (boy)
b) No (girl)

Answer: Yes, she has--not many, but a few.

17. Alison's belly looks like a:
a) Watermelon (girl)
b) Basketball (boy)

Answer: Basketball! (Such a nice change from the first pregnancy!)

18. If Alison shows someone her hands, she:
a) Shows them palm up (girl)
b) Shows them palm down (boy)

Answer: Palms up.

19: How does Alison pick up a mug?
a) By the handle (boy)
b) By the body of the mug (girl)

Answer: Usually by the handle.

20: Alison is carrying her pregnancy weight:
a) All out front (boy)
b) Around hips and butt (girl)

Answer: All out front, thank heavens. Not that she hasn't added a wee bit o' junk to the trunk, but NOTHING like the last time!

Bonus info: Three different online Chinese Lunar Predictor charts all listed the baby as being a girl.

FINAL SCORE
Girl:10
Boy: 11

And just for the record...
The final score while pregnant with Abby was Girl: 14 and Boy:7, and the Chinese lunar charts all said girl as well.

So, what do you think? Cut and paste this into your comment and add your prediction:

SEX:
DATE OF BIRTH:
TIME OF BIRTH (AM OR PM):
LENGTH:
WEIGHT:

Looking forward to seeing what y'all think!

29.5 weeks!

2008-01-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay, I *totally* fell off the map there for a while. Sorry about that. I'm a lazy blogger, what can I say? :)

I had my second official midwife appointment this past Wednesday and was pleasantly surprised to see I'd only gained 5 pounds since my Dec. 11 appointment. I haven't been weighing myself because someone took the scale out of my bedroom and I never think to go searching for it, so I really had no idea what I was in for. Given all I ate in Maui and over the holidays, I figured the damage would be much worse. Five pounds ain't that bad, though, and it puts me at a solid 30 pounds gained so far. By this time, with Abby, I'd gained 50. Much improved, wouldn't you say?

I continue to love love love Michelle the Super Midwife. She gave me my "30 week" packet of info this week, which included some post-partum instructions. The back page of that particular document had a whole list of Bible verses for moms to pray through if they find themselves struggling with PPD. I thought that was really cool.

The baby *was* head-down, but I don't know that s/he has stayed that way. The movement is so all over the place it's hard to tell, and I'm totally lame when it comes to mapping the baby's location just by feeling around. Not that I'm worried; still plenty of time for the baby to flip!

Oh yeah--we had our 3/4-D ultrasound the day after we got back from Maui. Here are a couple photos:

So what do you think: boy or girl? I'll be launching the much anticipated Guess the Gender And Predict the Birth Stats contest in my next post, so start thinking about your entry!

24 weeks!

2007-11-28T21:21:00.001-08:00

Yikes, it's been awhile since I posted. Sorry about that, all three of you who are reading. :)

So yesterday I hit 24 weeks and 20 pounds gained. The holiday season is already killin' me on the weight issue! But I don't care. I'm still way ahead of the game compared to last time.

We have officially decided to hire the midwife, and my first appointment with her is the 11th, the day before we leave for Hawaii. The timing sucks--it takes at least 45 minutes to get there, and the appointment itself is at least an hour long, possibly 1.5 hours, so I'm looking at around 3 hours or more of my day down the drain when I will most certainly have twelve million things to do for the trip. But oh well.

I was at the chiro today getting my butt pummeled. My stupid muscles are SO JACKED UP. Sitting hurts, standing hurts, walking hurts, lying down hurts. Except when it mysteriously doesn't. There's a new prenatal yoga series starting at the new studio in town; I'm going to get some info and see if maybe that helps. What really sucks is that tomorrow Dan and I are taking the entire day to clean out the garage, and I just know I'm going to be of NO help to him whatsoever. I feel so bad. The last time we did a big garage clean I was pregnant and had the same issue. Why do we keep doing this when I'm quasi-paralyzed?!

It's official!

2007-11-18T08:24:00.001-08:00

Well, I made the call yesterday to hire the midwife--we are officially doing a homebirth! I am so excited. The midwife is tremendous--a sweet disposition, obviously extremely knowledgeable and experienced (she's caught six HUNDRED babies!), and a strong Christian to boot. And I started thinking last night about how different it will be do do this at home as opposed to the hospital: how I'll be free to do pretty much whatever I want and not treated like I'm sick, how I won't have to deal with people who don't get the hypnobirthing thing (like the second nurse we had who barged in, turned on the lights, and started rearranging the room while talking a mile a minute and completely ignoring Dan as he tried to clue her in to the kind of environment I wanted to stay focused), and how I won't have to worry about the staff automatically thinking, "Well, she's *trying* for a vbac" as though my chances are slim and they're just humoring me. Michelle (midwife) is confident I can. (In fact, her transfer rate for vbacs is 2 people over the course of the 15 years she's been doing this!) And *I* of course am confident that I can, or else I wouldn't be doing it!

So I chatted with the baby a bit last night and told him/her about our plan and how cool it would be to do this here, and how I really needed him to cooperate. I think s/he was understanding. :)

So now I have the unpleasant task of announcing to my OB that I'm leaving her practice. To say I'm dreading that conversation would be a VAST understatement. Michelle does well woman care as well, so I won't have to go back to Dr. Robinson, like, ever. Which is sad in a lot of ways because, truly, she's a lovely and wonderful woman, and an excellent doctor. But I need to be cool when we talk because I want her to be my backup in the extremely unlikely event that I get transferred. So yeah, that'll be fun: "I don't want you to deliver this baby, really, but I do want to keep you in my back pocket just in case. You're my second choice, really." everyone just loves knowing they're your second choice.

Paradigm Shift

2007-11-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

I signed up for my hypnobabies class. Have I talked about that on here yet? Those of you who joined us for our last pregnancy probably remember that I took hypnobirth classes and couldn't stop raving about how awesome they were. They got me through 20 hours of labor PAIN FREE. Well, one of the women in my book club is a certified hypnobabies instructor, which is a different program but still a self-hypnosis program that helps you have a pain-free or nearly pain-free birth. She's giving me a break on the tuition for the classes so I'm taking those this time around, just to add some different tools to my arsenal.

So anyway, I signed up and she sent me the information packet, and on the last sheet she had a list of "cool" OBs and midwives. The midwife thing started me thinking. And y'all know how dangerous that can be.

Anyway, after some mulling, I started to realize a few things:

1. My OB, who told me at my intake appt that I was a great VBAC (vaginal birth after ll be, "Oh, she's *trying* for a VBAC. But she couldn't deliver last time, so..." And then, the minute the birth stops looking textbook, they'll start in with the "Well, you tried, you gave it a good effort, but it looks like you're just not meant to do this." Which is crap. But hey, they have to get that bed cleared so they can get someone else in there. And a c/s means payday for the anesthesiologist, the surgical team, the OB...

3. My c/s last time was unnecessary. There was no distress for either Abby or me. I dilated to 9.5 cm, so it's not like I wasn't progressing. Basically, the doctor and the nurses just didn't know what else to do for me. When things stop going according to plan, their arsenal is pretty much "break water--pitocin--epidural--c/s." No one stopped to say, "Hey, the baby seems to be doing fine, the mom has progressed, there's just *something* keeping the baby up there. Why not try changing her position?" (They had me on my back on the bed the whole time.) "Why not try changing the baby's position?" (Turns out that probably would have worked--the only problem was that she was was tilted at the entrance to the birth canal.) Nope, they just said, "Sorry, you tried, but it ain't working."

Okay, so, mulling over, I found myself pretty depressed. It's not so much that I'm DYING to have a natural birth, so much as it's an issue of me NOT wanting ANOTHER UNNECESSARY major surgery. Especially since I don't get to come home and lie around with a baby--I have to come home and take care of a toddler who isn't going to get why Mommy can't lift her up, plus will probably be a little irritated with this squalling, squirming blob that gets to nurse when she, Abby, doesn't get to anymore. Oh, the issues!

But, there is definitely a great desire to have a natural birth. My body was built by God to do it. It's an experience I very much want to have.

So when I saw the list with midwives on it, I started thinking. Women who birth with midwives have a much lower occurrence of c/s, and far fewer medical interventions. One of the area hospitals has two midwives who work there, one of whom a number of my friends go to and who comes highly recommended. The wheels began to turn.

And then I saw the third midwife name on the list. Next to it was the acronym HBAC. As in "homebirth after cesarean."

Homebirth.

I've never, never considered a homebirth before. But suddenly it seemed to me to be the absolute ideal. The privacy, the freedom, the simplicity--how could I not give this a try?

On November 12 we have a consultation with this midwife, Michelle Freund. She called me yesterday and apologized for not returning my call sooner--she caught three babies in 24 hours over Wednesday and Thursday so she'd been, shall we say, a little preoccupied. She's located in Oceanside, about 40 minutes south of here. I've been emailing Dan with links to various sites that discuss the practical side and safety of homebirthing, and a short discussion today revealed that, while not enthusiastic about the thought, he *is* supportive of it if it's what I really want to do. I think that the meeting with the midwife will clarify a lot for him.

So at this point, I think it's safe to say that my chances of an HBAC are much better than my chances of a hospital VBAC. I don't relish the thought of telling my OB I'm leaving her practice--I'm strongly tempted to just send her a letter--and I'm not expecting any support from my girlfriends, not that they'll be vocally unsupportive, but I will get weird looks and feel like no one realizes that I've actually done research on all this and didn't just wake up one day saying, "Hey, here's an idea, let's just stay home!" But they already think I'm nuts and crunchy, so oh well. It would be nice to have them gush and fawn and emphatically agree that this is how a baby's entrance in the world is supposed to be, but they won't and I'll get over it. I've got enough barely-contained excitement to last me awhile.

Week 20--so much news!

2007-10-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

Yay! Halfway there! We had our big ultrasound smack on my 20 week "anniversary" and the baby performed splendidly. The tech kept saying, "Beautiful anatomy!" and gushing over how well placed s/he was. The only tiny thing is that one of the waste-removal tubes in one of the kidneys was measuring slightly too big--but the tech said that it fixes itself in 90% of cases. We may get called in for another ultrasound in a month to see how it's doing. We're not stressing, given how slight the anomaly was.

Here are a couple photos of the little bean!

Lovely little head!

Lovely little foot!

Lovely little hand!

My total weight gain so far is 14 pounds--exactly where I should be. :)

Week 19

2007-10-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Can't believe we're almost halfway through with this pregnancy! I've only gained 13 pounds, and I'm still feeling really good. And the baby is MOVING! Really rolling and kicking. I love this part! S/he gets really active when I lie down at night in bed, and quite often jumps and jives in the middle of the night.

My ultrasound is next Tuesday at 11:30. Dan's still having headaches, but they've settled into an every other day pattern, so provided he sticks to that (or stops having them altogether) he should be fine that day. He missed Abby's big u/s because of the headaches, so he really, really wants to be at this one.

I kind of feel like I might be getting sick again, but I don't know if it's an actual cold or just a reaction to all the smoke in the air. It's worse today; even with the house all sealed up I could smell it quite strongly when I got up this morning. Abby's nose has been runny, too, and we're all sort of sneezy and congested. Abby's nose was making all sorts of odd noises last night while she was sleeping!

17 weeks and we're having a boy! Maybe!

2007-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I blimped a bit this week. I've gained a total of 11 now, but that's still not bad, right?! And my boobs TOTALLY exploded in the last 48 hours, so at least one of those pounds has got to be on my chest, and I"m pretty sure that's not affected by food.

Tomorrow is my next appointment!

Let's see, what else. Oh, yes, the boy thing. So here's what happened. I was just about to fall asleep the other night when the baby gave a walloping kick, especially given how I've hardly felt any kicks at all. But this was strong enough to move my hand! And the first thing that came out of my mouth, totally unbidden, was "Wow, that was quite a kick, little guy!" Then I was like, "Did I just say 'little guy'?" And then--and yes, this is weird, I know--it was like a voice in my head said, "Yes, because it's a boy." And then there was this instant bond with the baby, which was just amazing because I've felt so unconnected. So yes, it's totally possible that I'm off my nugget and we're NOT having a boy, but now I'm totally psyche for one. And if I'm wrong, that's okay, too--I'd love to have another girl. I can't lose!

It moved!

2007-10-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm totally feeling little tiny kicks right now! Woohoo!!!! And yet, it STILL doesn't feel real that I'm pregnant. I swear, the kid's gonna be in my arms before I finally go, "Oh, wow, we're having another baby!"

I hit the 4 month mark on Tuesday, and have still only gained a total of 9 pounds. Let me tell you, I'm over the moon. I was 20 pounds by this point last time. TWENTY POUNDS people. Insanity!!!

Still no "feeling" about whether it's a boy or a girl. Though I did have my first baby dream! I dreamed we went in for the "big" ultrasound, and they gave us the baby right there and then, all swaddled up, but said that it technically hadn't been born yet, we still had 20 weeks to go. I was like, "But I don't want to know the sex until it's actually born; how am I going to live with it for 5 months and not find out?" The tech said, "Well, when it's time to take off the diaper, one of you hold the baby in the air with your eyes closed, and the other person can change the diaper from behind." So then it flashed to Dan and I changing the baby, with him holding it and me staring at its little baby butt trying to figure out how to put the diaper on this way, when it hits me, "All I have to do is peek and I'll see the sex!" Then I said to Dan, "Let's just look!" "No, we waited with Abby, we can wait this time!" he insisted. But his eyes were closed and he couldn't see what I was doing, so I peeked--and it was a girl! And then I felt so bad because I knew there was no way I could admit I'd looked, but I knew he'd be so happy to know it was another girl, and I just sat there with the diaper in my hand, feeling horribly guilty. And then I woke up.

Ooooooooooookay.

From panic to bliss in 3 minutes flat.

2007-09-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY had a prenatal appointment yesterday. It feels like forever since I'd been in for one, and in reality it had only been, like, 5 weeks. But lately I've been feeling so NOT pregnant that I'd been counting the hours until I could hear the heartbeat.

And then the doctor couldn't find it.

She's all calm, shoving the little doppler thingie around and explaining the sounds we're hearing, though all I'm thinking is "Yes, but it's NOT THE HEARTBEAT." Finally after a couple minutes she says, "Well, I think we ought to try an ultrasound."

*Panic*

See, in the past, getting an ultrasound has meant getting a script from her, and then either making an appointment (as though there's any way I'm going to mentally last another 24 hours, much less 2 or 3 or 4 days depending on how busy the ultrasound office is) or going to the ER and weathering THAT environment for however long it takes for someone to spare five minutes to check you out. But then she said she'd finally gotten an ultrasound machine, so we could just hop over to the other room and take a look-see. Hallelujah! And what did we see?

A head, a spine, a hand, two thigh bones, and a heart beating around 140! Now obviously those aren't the only bits and pieces the kid has so far, it's just that, given its position (which was squished up to the top of the uterus, which is why Dr. Robinson couldn't find it) things were a little hard to see. Plus, at 14 weeks, the baby is just a wee thing of 3 or 4 inches, so it's hard to see much else anyway. But it kicked and squirmed away from the pressure of the ultrasound thingie, and we just sat and looked at the heart doing its thing for a few minutes. Lovely.

So I went from not only total panic but also from a sense of disconnect from this pregnancy to feeling very much the expectant mom again. Dan and I talked on the way home about how neither of us has much of a sense of what the sex might be, whereas the first time around we had such definite (and right on!) impressions, but I wonder if, now that I've seen it, I'll start to bond more. Regardless, I'm just relieved to know that all is well. :)

Week 14!

2007-09-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I was a little late checking my weight for this month because we were up in Ventura visiting Dan's parents, but this morning I checked and I'm still only 7 pounds up! Unbelievable! I *knew* my last weigh-in was a fluke. Though I would not have been surprised to find I'd gained 2 or 3 pounds this week, given the way I've been eating (an entire order of Papap John's cheese sticks, anyone?)

On the way back from Ventura yesterday we stopped at the Camarillo Outlet Mall because they have a Maternity Works there. When I dragged out my stuff before the trip to get out some long-sleeved stuff (it's in the 60's up there, though we're getting there here, too! Yay for autumn!) I realized a great chunk of it is missing. I honestly have no idea where it all is. Upon further rumination it struck me that the clothes in the bags I'd been digging through were the things I'd been wearing in the months after Abby was born; I think that a lot of it got boxed/bagged before she even arrived because much of it was warm weather stuff and much of it I simply outgrew because I was a giant honking blimp. But given the current state of our garage there is NO way I'm going to find those things until we completely clean, which we hope to do soon, but until then I am woefully unprepared, clothing-wise. But the great thing about the outlet store, especially when it's having a giant sale, is that you can get a decent amount of stuff for a little over a hundred bucks. Which is what I did. Cute stuff, too; I think I'll be better dressed while pregnant than when not!

One down, two to go

2007-09-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting this, but as of Tuesday I am officially done with my first trimester! Woohoo! It's about time. Man, that went slow.

My total first trimester weight gain was seven pounds. That's it!!! I'm stunned, and totally stoked. Heck, even if I gain 10--or, heaven forbid, 15--for the next two trimesters, I'll be in SUCH good shape. What a relief.

I did a prenatal yoga workout the other day. I bought a DVD off Amazon called "The Divine Mother." It sounds totally cheesy, but it was actually really good. The woman that leads it is 36 week pregnant, and she's joined by two other women who were, like, 17 months and 20-something months. Anna, the lead woman, narrates over the video of them doing the exercises, rather that speaking while doing them, and she has a beautiful, calming voice. She'd be great for reading hypnobirth scripts! The relaxation parts were sooo lovely, but the workout parts totally kicked my hiney! I did it two nights ago and I was more sore this morning than I was yesterday, but still not as sore as I expected to be, so that's encouraging. My chiropractor has also written me a script for physical therapist-led pilates, which I hope to start soon. I just have to find out how much my insurance is going to cover. Hopefully between that and the yoga I won't have the muscle issues I had last time. Though today I really started feeling the ligament pain that crippled me 3rd trimester last time--that's WAY earlier than it was last time, and that's a little discouraging to think I'll have to deal with it for so much longer this time. This is one of the reasons we got adjustable beds, however: so that, when I'm pregnant and start having the ligament issues that relegated me to the recliner for the last month back in 2005, I'd be able to stay in our bed. We just have to shift Abby over towards Dan's side and get her used to sleeping there instead of between me and the bed rail, which I have to remove to adjust the bed.

So I've been giving myself a little cereal treat every Tuesday night to celebrate another week down. I bought one of thoe 8-box variety packs that had, like, Cocoa Puffs and Golden Grahams and Cheerios and--the box I'm saving for last--Lucky Charms. It's been perfect, really; it gives me something to look forward to, satisfies my sweet tooth for the night, and helps me to curb my cereal craving for the whole week. What a change from my 2-bulk-boxes-a-week addiction when I was preggo with Abby!

11 weeks

2007-08-30T14:30:00.001-07:00

Aw yeahhhhh....back down to 5 total pounds gained as of this week! Can I tell you how happy I am? Very, very, very. To think at this point last time I was over 10 pounds already. Lord have mercy!! I just finished a giant bowl of green beans, and while it is definitely not my fav food, it's much easier to eat when I see the results every week on that scale.

Zantac is my hero

2007-08-18T13:12:00.001-07:00

My OB said I could take Zantac to help with the insane hunger issue, so last night I popped one before bed, and let me tell you, I feel like a new woman. I wasn't ravenous in the middle of the night (not even during the 1.5 hours I stared at the ceiling with insomnia), and here we are at 1:15 in the afternoon and I STILL haven't had that gnawing pain yet. Not that I haven't been hungry--I've just been normal. Blessedly normally hungry. WOOHOO!

Yesterday was my first appointment with my OB, who I absolutely adore. Few women can say they actually look forward to their annual exam every year, but I honestly can say that I do. I wish I could figure out what exactly it is about Dr. Robinson that is so wonderful, but it's hard to put my finger on. She's somewhat soft-spoken, and her voice is very calm and warm. She's very gentle and always lets you know what she's about to do, so you're not caught off-guard by cold fingers in intimate places. She's the most thorough explainer I've ever met; ask her a question and you get the same answer about four times, in different words, along with some ancillary information and possibly even other doctors' opinions on the subject that may differ from hers. Makes the appointments rather long sometimes, but I never mind.

She freaked me out, though, by launching into the appointment with the sentence, "So the pendulum is swinging in the other direction when it comes to doing VBACs." (VBAC, for the acronymally-challenged, is "vaginal birth after c-section.") Those of you who were with me during the first pregnancy know how much planning and work I put into having a natural birth, and how crushed I was when I ended up with an emergency c-section. Dr. Robinson was sure to do the kind of incision that allows you to do a VBAC, and all along that has been the plan for Baby #2. However, the hospitals in the area are changing their policy and now require a doctor to be ON the hospital campus the ENTIRE time a VBAC woman is in labor there. So, for example, rather than coming and checking on me and then going back to her office to see patients and get some work done, Dr. Robinson will have to get there as soon as it's determined I am in active labor, and will not be able to leave until the baby is delivered, be it 3 or 6 or 12 hours later. Think what this does to her office! All those patients have to be rescheduled. Or if it's in the middle of the night, she can't nip off to home for a quick nap. Apparently a lot of the doctors are just saying "No more VBACs!" But my doctor is the bomb and understands that a woman should have that choice, so long as it is likely she can deliver, and given the circumstances of Abby's birth, she doesn't think the same thing will happen again and believes I will be a successful VBACer. 'Course it took about 15 minutes for her to get to the point where she made it clear that I would still be able to try for a VBAC, and for that whole time she was talking I was trying to decide if I should look for another doctor or what. Because as much as I love and adore her, I don't want another c/s. Thankfully I won't have to make that choice. Whew!

Well, Abby's sleeping and I'm getting peckish (Ha! Peckish! Not voraciously hungry and about to eat my arm off! I love it!) so I'm off to forage in the kitchen. Got some more YUMMY hummus at the farmer's market yesterday, and some more yummy giant carrots to dip in it, so I'm thinking that's my next dish. Though the snack packs of sugary cereal I splurged on at Target yesterday are calling awfully loud...

YES!

2007-08-14T14:27:00.001-07:00

Nine weeks today, and a happy surprise when I hopped into the scale: I'm DOWN 1.2 pounds! Score!

I was so out of it yesterday. I got a decent night's sleep the night before, but I still ended up spending about 2.5 hours dozing on the couch during the late morning/early afternoon. A bad mommy day--Abby watched Blue's Clues the whole time. Though she did it her way, meaning she watched about 1/4 of that time and spent the rest playing. So I didn't feel *too* bad.

Eight weeks

2007-08-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I gained nearly two pounds this past week, so that kind of sucks, but I barely exercised and I was out of town for basically a week, so that explains it--you never eat well on vacation, you know?

Today was my intake appointment at my ob's. The staff there is so great. I always look forward to going there, everyone is so pleasant. And my doctor rocks the casbah. If you're in SoCal and need an ob, Dr. Ming Robinson is the one to go for. LOVE her.

Our little Peppercorn has knees and elbows and bends them now--even though it's only 5/8 of an inch long! Isn't that just amazing?

Oh Happy Day!

2007-07-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

Today marks week seven--33 to go!--and I gained LESS than a pound this past week! Woohoo!! That makes it a total of about 3 pounds. So far so good. The hunger thing is actually sort of coming and going--the last couple days I've gone quite a while without being horribly hungry--though when it finally hits it REALLY hits hard. And there are still times when I've eaten SO MUCH and I'm still hungry. Very frustrating. But I'm still able to eat protein, for the most part--it's getting harder, but I'm doing it! :)

Say "Cheese"!

2007-07-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today we got to go in for an ultrasound! The tech said everything looks great. we even got to see the heart beating--can you believe there's a beating heart at SIX WEEKS?! And some people say it's not life--WHATever.

Anyway, here is Baby Morrow's first picture:

Now, I know you probably won't believe me, but I swear it's true. Dan had Abby on his lap in the ultrasound room, and as the tech began the scan Abby pointed to the screen--which had that blobby image on it that looks like nothing whatsoever--and said, "Baby." Oh, and the other day she pointed to my stomach and, thought she usually says "baby" because we've been telling her there's a baby in my tummy, this time she said, "Girl." So, Abby the prophetess has spoken.

Ugh.

2007-07-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Had my first bout of morning sickness this morning. I started out fine, had breakfast and everything, and then while Abby and I were outside playing I started feeling nauseated. I think if I'd run back in and eaten something it might have helped, but I left it too long and then I was just miserable for the next hour and a half. :( I did manage to choke down one of my protein shakes from my nutritionist, and I think that definitely stopped it from getting any worse, but it didn't exactly make it feel any better.

The hunger thing is just as powerful as it was with Abby. I'm just hungry hungry hungry all the time. But I don't think I'm eating enough at each meal either. Abby throws a total tantrum if I spent more than ten minutes cooking and eating, and with the short fuse I have right now thanks to my raging hormones I'd rather give her my attention and thus shut her up than listen to the screaming. I just can't take it right now. I hope that goes away; I don't like feeling so short with her. What I wouldn't give for a personal chef.

I'd post more, but I have to go eat. Surprise surprise. Oh, forgot to post this yesterday, but my weight at 5 weeks is 132.

And so it begins

2007-07-17T14:59:00.001-07:00

Today I am officially five weeks pregnant. March seems sooooo far away, but when I think of it in terms of weeks and realize I only have 35 left, it suddenly seems far too soon!

Abby has taken to using my stomach as a drum. I don't know why she started doing this now but for some reason she has, and she does it a LOT. And thinks it's hilarious. At least Peppercorn doesn't have ears. Or anything else at this point, for that matter.

Peppercorn, you ask? Yes, I've nicknamed Baby #2 Peppercorn, not for any significant reason other than it came up as a joke when Dan and I were thinking up names. And I get so tired of saying, "the baby" all the time. It's bad enough that I refer to it as "it" but I have to admit that I'll get attached to whatever sex I use, so for my own sanity "it" is a necessity.

I'm feeling really good so far, long may it last. I am hungry pretty much all day, just like before, but the protein aversion hasn't started yet so I'm loading up on meat while I still can. Speaking of which, my stomach calls....

The news in Abbyland

2007-01-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

She's been babbling forever, but her new word (repeated at least ten times in a row) is her own name, with the 'b' sounding more like a 'p': "Appy. Appy. Appy." She can also shake her head (usually resulting in the shaking of her whole upper body and executed with a huge, slightly evil-looking grin) and uses the sign for "more" when eating. And speaking of eating, she's pretty much off baby food, which figures since I just stocked up and have, like, 20 jars in the pantry. She still takes some at breakfast, but the rest of the day it's bits of chicken or egg, cucumber or carrot, a myriad of fruits, and the occasional funky vegetable (like this morning, when she had green peppers).

And the best new development is that she's finally useful! I gave it a shot yesterday with, "Abby, take this (a napkin) to Daddy!" (Said with much excitement, like this is the most thrilling thing she's ever had the opportunity to do.) With a big smile she did exactly that. Vacuuming and laundry are just around the corner. ;)

Her vocabulary of words she understands is really getting impressive. You can ask her where her paci or shoe is, to come or to go to a certain place, to brush her teeth (just tried that one out yesterday), to lift her foot (for putting on her pants in the morning)--all sorts of stuff. It's incredible how much that little mind comprehends.

The Official One Year Checkup

2007-01-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

Abby went in for her one year doctor appointment today. The best line of the visit: "She's very verbal for her age." Tell me about it.

She's in the 85th percentile for her length, which is 30.25 inches. Her weight was a little less than what we had it pegged at: 19 pounds, 12 ounces, which puts her in the thirtieth percentile! Talk about lean!

The worst part of the visit, of course, was the shot, her third in the Hib series. (One more left, hallelujah!) But she was already screaming because we were making her lie down, so the shot might not have been that bad, honestly--she was probably more annoyed than anything else. Within two minutes she was chatting away again. Oh, and we can see her top teeth coming in! Finally!

What a difference 365 days makes!

2006-12-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today is Abby's birthday! All day we've been playing the "what were we doing at this time last year?" game. I just can't believe it's been an entire year. It doesn't feel like it's been that long.

We had a party with her friends on the 19th, and then we did a family party on the 24th so Aunt Kelli & Uncle Kyle could be there--they left Christmas afternoon to go to Kelli's parents' place and won't be back till January. Even after all that present opening she still doesn't really get the concept--we'd end up unwrapping everything and trying to get her to take some interest in it when all she really wanted to do was play with the gift bags or scraps of wrapping paper. Figures, eh?

In the last few days she's really turned a corner with her eating and sleeping. Two days in a row she went to sleep in the house instead of needing to be driven around in the car. Three days in a row she's actually let me feed her, and she's eating 1.5-2 jars of food at every meal. (Although she just now ate FOUR jars for dinner!) And for the last couple weeks she's been sleeping for 1-1.5 hours at naptime, which is a welcome improvement from the half-hour to forty-five minute naps she's been taking for months. And the other night she slept for seven straight hours before waking to eat! A dream come true! 'Course she didn't do that the next two nights, but who knows, maybe she's slowly turning towards that. (Please, God, let her be turning towards that!)

Here are some pictures from the last few days. Enjoy!

Her first kilt, courtesy of our Scottish relatives (who had a grandson born on the same day as Abby last year!). She wore this on Christmas Eve.

She's been so good with the tree--she got the concept of being gentle with the ornaments, although she really liked taking them off, too. Then one day she started trying to put them back on. Adorable!

"So what's the deal with this unwrapping thing again?"

Abby's first cake! I'd tried to make some oatmeal apple muffins instead because I really didn't want her having the sugar of a cake, but they didn't turn out and I ended up having to run to the store the morning of the party to get a cake. Turns out she only stuck her fingers in her mouth once and wasn't at all pleased with the taste--thank you, God!

So funny I can't think of a proper title for the post to do it justice

2006-12-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

This is from a message board for women who breastfeed. It is HILARIOUS. (It's also British, so for those who don't know, Tesco is a grocery store.)

Went to Abigail's school Christmas concert (no "proper" Nativity this year). Each class did a little something followed by a song or 2. Anyway, Ab's class did a Nativity scene, with Ab as Mary (How proud was I?). A few mins into their bit Ab promptly lifted her dress & shoved baby Jesus up it. The script then wandered away from what they'd learnt & goes as follows....

Joseph: "What are you doing?"
Mary: "I'm feeding our baby"
Shepherd: "Have you got a bottle up there then?"
Mary: "Don't be silly, he's having milk from my booby"
Joseph: "That's disgusting"
Mary: "No, that baby milk they have in Tesco's is disgusting. My baby's having proper milk"
Shepherd: "What's a booby?"
Mary: "Those sticky out bits ladies have"
Shepherd: "They're not boobies, they're nipples"
Mary: "No they're not, they're boobies"
Joseph: "So why can't Jesus have milk from a bottle then?"
Mary: "Because I haven't got a breast pump with me - you forgot to put it on the donkey"
Shepherd: "Can't you ask the teacher for a bottle to feed Jesus with?"
Mary: "No because this is the best way to feed Jesus. Anyway bottles haven't been invented yet & even if they were I've just had a baby so if you think I'm faffing about round Tesco's to buy baby milk when I make proper milk in my boobies you can think again"

I felt a teeny bit sorry for their class teacher - she did try her best to steer them back towards their proper lines but she was laughing so much she didn't really stand a chance. The line about Joseph forgetting the breast pump finished her off - she slid to the floor & couldn't get up for laughing....

Closing in on one year

2006-12-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

It's a real shocker to think that I'm pretty much the mother of a toddler already. Now a whole lot that's still babyish about this baby, other than perhaps her inability to talk. She walks like a pro (although is still unclear on the concept of looking where she's going), dances to anything that vaguely resembles music (my cell phone's ring, me making senseless "do-do-dee-doo" ditties), and is frighteningly fast at mimicking anything we do. For example, she and Dan were playing with a ball the other day, and when he hit it with his hand, she'd hit it back with her hand, and when he hit it with his foot, she'd hit it with her foot, even if she had to grab it from somewhere else and put it on front of her foot to do it.

And the other day, Dan was trying to dress her while she stood up, and when he said, "Lift your foot" so he could put on her pants--she did! And she did it again for the other foot, too! So stinkin' cute. And handy.

If only we could tell her, "Lie down and rest" and have her do it. I'm praying for that day.

Technical difficulties

2006-12-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

First of all, whoa. Sorry it's been for-freaking-ever since I posted. Time moves too fast, man. Grr.

Anyway, my main blog is experiencing technical difficulties, just so you know. Going to it will bring you to my website. Hopefully we'll be back up again soon. Keep checking back, things happen quick!

Pilates, baby edition

2006-11-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

I was a big pilates fan back before I met Dan, and it's one of those things I go back to now and then when I'm feeling motivated. Well, I've been feeling mighty motivated lately, so I've been using my morning time with Abby to do the quick version of the video I used to watch. 'Course it becomes a whole 'nuther experience when Abby decides this is just the most hilarious thing she's ever seen and she just has to get involved.

I lie down to do the first exercise--the 100, which you do flat on your back with your legs straight up in the air--and suddenly I'm Abby's speed bump for her to walk on.

I move on to the roll-up, which starts flat on the back and involves slowly sitting up and reaching for your toes and then slowly going back to your back, all without bending your legs or lifting them off the floor. Abby sits at my feet, and instead of reaching for my toes, I reach for that tubby baby belly and thighs and tickle her, and she laughs that wonderful baby laugh that motivates me to do just one more...

Then on to the leg lifts where you lie flat back and trace capital D's in the air with your toes, but I'm tracing some funky cursive letters trying to avoid kicking Abby in the head as she steps over the leg that is still on the floor.

She finally tires of me and my leg-waving shenanigans and takes off for the other end of the room, so I manage to squeeze in the rest of the exercises on my back without any issues. But then I roll to my side for the "side leg series" (my favorite part of the Windsor pilates exercise videos--can I get an Amen from anyone who's tried it?) and it's a new game for Abby. She's grabbing my leg and "petting" my hair and flopping herself over my body while I try to count out leg lifts. I'm working out muscles I didn't know I had trying to keep my balance and (again) not kick Abby in the head (which works most of the time).

And by the time I'm finally done, my t-shirt is soaked, not in sweat but baby drool, my hair is a ratty mess from little hands playing beauty salon, and the stomach and butt muscles I haven't felt in a year and a half are screaming their names. Rather than the ten minutes it used to take, it's a twenty-minute (at least) endeavor. But I'm just going to assume those extra minutes of rolling on the floor with a giggly wiggly Abby are burning some calories, too.

She kissed me!

2006-11-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

Oh how cute. Last night she started head-butting our lips when we puckered up, and this morning she started "kissing" my knee (of all things) with those great baby lip-presses.

I can't wait till she knows just what all those kisses (and toe-nibbles and raspberries and exclamations of "Oh my goodness I could just eat you up!") mean...

Taking Peek-a-boo to the next level

2006-11-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

Dan and I were outside the other day, finally taking down the Easy-Up that's been in our backyard since July. We'd corralled Abby in the family room with a complicated configuration of furniture while we tackled the task, and about fifteen minutes later we were back inside, discussing how to handle the tree full of bees we discovered outside our dining room window. (It's never good when the sound of their buzzing is so loud it sounds like someone's a/c unit working overtime.)

So I'm in the kitchen washing my hands when I hear Dan say, "Do you have Abby?"

"No, she's in the family room still."

"Um...no she's not."

Panic.

I'm racing around the ground floor, which takes all of 1.6 seconds since our place is just not that big, and nope, she's not in the family room, or under the dining room table, or in her fortress, which is the living room all fences off and chock-full of her toys. I'm about the check the utility room and garage when I hear, "Well hi there, sweetie!" I follow Dan's voice UPSTAIRS.

Yes, she traversed the entire staircase alone: 13 steps, including a rather large landing and a 90 degree corner. Images of her tumbling like a slinky splatter themselves all over my brain, and Dan looks like he's seen a ghost he's so pale from nerves.

Abby, on the other hand, looks like she just conquered Everest, the stinker. She's so proud of herself, you can just tell. We, on the other hand, are looking for asprin to head off the heart attacks we think we might be about to have.

But at least we know she knows how to climb stairs. For what that's worth.

Who turns the world on with her smile?

2006-10-31T20:16:00.000-08:00

princess abby
Originally uploaded by AlisonMorrow.

So today was a sucky day. First, I took Abby to the pumpkin patch with a friend and her son and took all sorts of great photos of the two of them amongst the pumpkins, sitting on haybales, all sorts of cute things. Then I got home and realized the camera didn't have the memory card in it. Sayonara pictures. Then I spend an hour covering one of her walking toys (this little cart-type thing she can hold on to for balance while she walks) with adorable pink material so she'd have something to hold onto at the church's harvest party tonight. But then we got there and realized she would never use it, just try to pull the material off, so all that work was for naught. Then I spent the afternoon turning the house upside down looking for a necklace I bought for a friend, only to realize after working myself into a fuming mess that I never actually bought the necklace, only thought about it.

And then we put Abby in her Halloween costume and it made me smile. So worth it.

Not again

2006-10-30T06:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, 6:15 is way too early, too. How long does it take babies to figure out Daylight Savings?! Please tell me she'll get it tomorrow.

Notes for Improvement

2006-10-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

Babies need a Daylight Savings Time setting, because 6:30AM is TOO EARLY.

Disneyland!

2006-10-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

So we broke down and bought annual passes for Disneyland a couple weeks ago. Dan's brother goes there with his family every time they're in town, and we're tired of not being able to join them! So when they were here we went with and introduced Abby to the World of Disney.

We didn't really know what to expect with Abby. Would the crowds bother her, the noise, having to be in the stroller? Would she sleep? Would she cry the whole time? We figured that was the beauty of the annual pass; if she wigged out we'd just go home. But wow, did she do great! She slept on the way there, ate a nice big breakfast, and was all smiles until she went back to sleep in my arms at 12:30. Slept for 45 minutes, woke up and ate, played on her stroller (her new favorite thing to do) while we waited for everyone else to get back from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and was all smiles while we walked around and went on her first ride (the Storybook Land boat ride). She went on three rides total: Storybook Land, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train in the Bug's Life section of California Adventure, and the Monsters Inc. ride that I really thought would make her cry because it was so loud (not that we knew that until it was too late) but she did great. She fell asleep again at 7:30 and slept most of the way home. What a doll!

Of course, we had to get her mouse ears. When we found these, we were so glad we'd waited and not gotten the standard black ones earlier in the day. The patch has Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White as little girls, and it says, "My First Ear Hat" above it.

It was a great day. Dan and I went back with my Mom a few days later; she and Dad are getting passes, too. It'll be great to have someone watch Abby so Dan and I can go on rides together--Indiana Jones, Soaring Over California, and Space Mountain (where I'm terrified of but promised Dan I'd try) are just not the same when you go alone!

She walks!

2006-10-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, not all the time, and not for long distances, but Abby has officially begun to walk. We even managed to get her second attempt on film, and she took, like, 5 steps. It was awesome. You can see her thinking about it: setting her feet straight, slowly letting go of whatever she's holding on to, lifting that first foot. SO cute. And she's been acting today as though she's discovering her feet for the first time again. I think maybe she's realizing she controls them. It's hilarious.

Another tooth is about to make its appearance, right next to the one she already has. I think last night it gave her some problems; she screamed on the way home from Chili's in a way she's never screamed before. It was awful. Once the Motrin kicked in and we got to my parents' place she went down for a nap and slept for about an hour. Poor girl. Aren't you glad you don't remember teething? Sheesh, talk about traumatic.

So I think this week we're going to take her to the pumpkin patch. I don't know what all you do there, to be honest, but we've heard from friends which one in our area is a good one to go to, so go we will. She's going to be a princess for Halloween, not that we'll go trick-or-treating, but we'll go to our church's harvest party and socialize a while. It's all for the scrapbook page I can make from the photos, really. :) And the fact that she is off-the-charts adorable in the costume we found. Pictures will be posted eventually...

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifViolette Between blog tour!

2006-10-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

So this week, Wednesday-Friday, is the official blog tour for Violette Between There are around 60 people posting, I think, so I'm really excited to see how my rankings go. If you'd like to participate, please email me and I'll send you the necessary links. Props to my peeps at the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for taking part, and a special thank you to all the folks in the blogosphere who've jumped on board to help out. :)

Location, Location, Location

2006-09-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

So we've been doing the baby food thing for about 4 months now, and we'd decided over the last few weeks that she really just wasn't into it and simply preferred to nurse. We'd manage to get maybe 8 or 10 bites MAX into her before she'd clamp her lips shut (cute, albeit infuriating) and whip her head away from the spoon. Every once in a while she'd eat super well and we'd think she'd turned a corner, and then she'd go back to her picky ways.

Then last week we noticed how well she ate in her carseat. Or at my parents' place. Or at the park. Or in the stroller. Or sitting on the table at T.G.I.Friday's. Or (her favorite) standing in the playroom. And then we realized she just really doesn't like the high chair. Now she eats close to a whole jar of food three times a day! Quite the improvement from a jar over three days.

So far she's tried: carrots, green beans, peas, winter squash, sweet potato, apples, bananas, pears, and I feel like there's more but I can't remember. Anyway, this week we're trying a pear-raspberry mix. Mm!

Really Overdue Update

2006-09-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

I HAVE NO TIME TO BLOG. It's driving me crazy, too. Anyway, here's the skinny on what The Kid's up to these days:

WHAT SHE SAYS:
Oh heavens, all sorts of noises! All the usual ba-ba, ma-ma (actually more like "mom-mom"), da-da (which I swear she knows means Dan), plus some general vowel-soup vocalizations and the occasional staccato "Huzzah!" She's also started sticking her tongue out and doing the "pbpbpbpth." (Or however it is you spell that noise.) Oh, and I swear she said, "Hey dad!" this morning. Dan heard it too, it's not just proud mama's imagination.

WHAT SHE DOES:
Cruising along the furniture in this cute, tip-toe crossover step. She is so good at standing, too! She'll plant herself and stay there for a minute or more, and even crouch down to grab stuff off the floor and stand back up without even a wobble. She crawls quickly now, too. She has this thing with knocking stuff over; if you stack up her fuzzy blocks she'll crawl from wherever she is in the room justto smack them down. Over. And over. And over. She does not tire of this game at all. She's also one-finger exploring: she'll scratch her pointer finger over the carpet, or a stuffed animal, or a book, or the new rubber alphabet floor we put down in the living room, or Dan's belly button, over and over and over, while bent over the thing and concentrating very hard. So adorable. She smacks her hand on stuff, too, a bunch of times in a row, sometimes accompanied by a hearty "Ah! Ah! Ah!" Give her a gavel and she'd made a great judge. The carseat is no longer a fun place for her; she starts crying pretty quickly after we put her in it, but if we turn on her beloved Praise Baby DVD the crying ceases immediately and she gets a look of joy and wonder on her little face, like, "Where is that magical music coming from!?"

She's nearly 9 months. I'm stunned.

First Steps

2006-09-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

How perfect: Abby was standing in front of me, facing Dan a few feet away. Dan says, "Abby, start walking." AND SHE DID! Her first step*!! Just one step, though, after which she went to her knees and crawled the rest of the way to him. When she stood up, he turned her to face me, and she did it again! Too much fun. And so obedient, too!

*Okay, in the name of full disclosure, my mom said she took a step last night while she was baby-sitting. But I choose not to believe Abby's done something for the first time unless Daddy or I are on hand to witness it. Those were just for practice.

We have a tooth!

2006-08-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

We were at Babies R Us on Friday, and Abby was hanging out in the cart and getting a little impatient with our shopping. So I started making silly noises to make her laugh, and when she did, I saw something on her gum. Upon closer inspection I realized it wasn't something on her gum, but in it! A tooth! Bottom left, just barely through but definitely there. No fussing or crying or anything to let us know it was on its way, and just a slight increase in the buckets of drool she usually produces. May the rest of them all be so easy!

Adventures at Angels Stadium

2006-08-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our friends Marcela and Brian, we got to go to the Angels vs. Red Sox game on Thursday night. We weren't sure how it would go with Abby, since all she wants these days is to crawl and walk, but they were bringing their 10-month-old, Brendan, so I figured Marcela and I could take the kids for a walk if they started getting antsy.

We got there a few minutes after it had started (thanks, traffic) and Abby slept the entire way there, so that was fantastic timing. She was in a good mood going in, and for the first two innings she did great on my lap, standing and bouncing and being entertained by the woman behind us and by Brendan. Then the foul ball came.

We were in row G behind third base--prime broken bat and foul ball territory. Dan and Brian sat on our right so they could shield us from anything that happened to come winging our way. Well, a foul ball got smacked straight to our section, and when I realized it was actually coming really close, I hunched over Abby and tried to cover her head with my arm. The ball went about two rows in front of us, but someone behind us tried to go for it anyway (why?!?!) and landed ON ME. I got smashed into the top edge of the chair's back and my cheek got smooshed, too. I felt like Id have a bruise under my eye, but thankfully I didn't, although I do have a knot on my back from the chair back. And even though Abby didn't get touched, she did get a little squashed when I got squashed, and she was totally traumatized.

She sobbed for quite a while, and then, when she settled down, it was like she was in shock. Dan held her for 15 minutes and she never moved; just had her face pressed against his chest, staring at nothing, looking stunned. After a while I took her and put her in my new (and totally awesome) sling, and she did the same thing: just sat there, huddled against me, not moving.

After a while, around inning 6, I nursed her (my first nursing in public experience, and no one around us was the wiser, thanks to that sling!), because I figured she had to be hungry (hadn't eaten since before we left!) and maybe that would snap her out of it. And it did! They played "Feel Good, Inc." which is a song by The Gorillaz, and Dan and I sing the little intro to her sometimes and it makes her laugh, and when I sang along she smiled. I pulled her out of the sling and stood her up and it was like she'd just woken up: looking around, checking things out as though seeing them for the first time. Poor baby girl. Dan and I felt awful that she was so freaked out. But even after all that she didn't get wigged out by the cheering and yelling and gasping of the 43,000+ crowd. Personal growth! Yay Abby!

Progress

2006-08-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

At My Gym yesterday we did the bubble thing again, and Abby didn't cry! Yay! I don't have a wimpy child!

She's all over the furniture now, doing the whole cruising thing. No more plopping her on the floor so I can run to the bathroom or go put my contacts in in the mornings. *sigh*

We have crawling!

2006-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yes! She did it! And, more importantly, continues to do it. Her only motivation, however, is to get over to something she can use to stand up. Or to grab the cord to my laptop. Figures. Honestly, I don't care why she crawls, as long as she does--I'm just hoping now she'll realize it's easier to do and doesn't require a stationary object to hold on to. All this furniture-cruising and pulling-up stuff has me terrified. I just know the one time I'm not looking she'll bite it on the floor and break her adorable little nose or something. And really, it is the most adorable nose. I'd hate to see it crushed.

Saints Preserve Us

2006-08-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well, she did it. I came out of the kitchen and there she was: STANDING, on her own, next to Dan's recliner, looking pleased as punch. (Albeit a little shaky on those legs--she doesn't get yet that a wider stance gives her more stability, and she tends to put her feet right next to each other.) The rest of the morning she insisted on being up and hanging on to something. I recorded this milestone in her baby book in the last remaining moments I had alone on the couch before she wrangled me into service as her spotter for the next couple hours. She started cruising a little, too, but instead of shuffling her feet along, she crosses one over the other, and most of the time the crossed-over foot gets caught when she tries to bring it around, so I did a lot of catching. She also seems to think she can let go of whatever is holding her up and lunge to grab things. I see many a face-plant in her future.

So I'm looking around the living room and realizing we're nowhere near having this place baby-proofed. Other than the edge of the hearth, which we put bumpers on when she started rolling, nothing is ready. Even though she's been able to move by rolling around, she hasn't expressed that much interest non-baby things--plus she moved slowly enough that we could get to her before she got into trouble. But lately, cords are catching her eye, and remotes, and paper (the smaller the scrap, the better)...I'm sure electrical outlets and whatever she can reach on tabletops are right around the corner. And now, with this whole walking thing on the horizon...yikes.

Who says you have to crawl before you can walk?

2006-08-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like Abby will be bypassing the crawling stage altogether. She is so close, but she just won't move her hands forward when she moves her legs. Instead, she pushes her legs and braces her hands on the ground, and eventually her feet and knees slip out from under her and she ends up back on her belly. Then, if she's still motivated, she'll keep pushing with her arms and end up sliding ever so slowly backwards.

But lately she's not even doing that. She's getting her knees under her, then pushing onto her feet to try to stand. And yesterday she was holding onto my thumbs while she stood, and she let go--and I didn't hold on. She stood on her own for five whole seconds--not long unless you're counting and expecting her to fall and she's not. Now all she does when she's on the floor is try to stand up. If we sit on the floor with her, we become mere props to, well, prop her up.

Suddenly I'm aware of how unprepared I am for a child who moves.

Extreme Cuddling

2006-08-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Trying to snuggle in bed with hubby and baby is not nearly as pictureque and sweet as one might hope when the baby wants nothing more than to stand and bounce on your stomach. So went our morning.

And speaking of cuddling--she hugs now! She wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head on my shoulder for just a moment then pushes off to grab my hair, or chew my chin, or whatever else she may feel like doing. But it's so adorable. And she sits in my lap now when she's first woken up or getting close to naptime, and lets me hug her or read her a book. I love it. I'm so glad I had a kid who likes to cuddle--at least at this age. Long may it last!

Updates, updates

2006-08-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been quite the time around here lately. Last Thursday Abby got sick for the first time--and she did it up big! I'd been awake around 4:30 and was just falling back to sleep when I hear her suddenly start gagging and choking next to me, but she's not moving or anything. I sit her up quick and am rewarded with vomit all over my pj's and the bed. (I've hit the P-trifecta: I've been baptised in pee, poop, and puke!) Dan changes the sheets while I clean her up and change both our clothes. Luckily she's in a fine mood, smiling at herself in the bathroom mirror and everything. Back to bed around 5:15, and at 5:30--same thing! Choke, gag, sit her up, woosh. This time I turned her towards me so the bed didn't get hit (we only have two sets of sheets!). In the end, she threw up 4 times and had diarrhea until Monday or so. She still doesn't have much of an appetite--she eats hardly any solid food at all, although she's nursing back on schedule now, so that's good. Poor kid.

She is so close to crawling you almost get the sense she knows what to do but is just choosing not to do it. However, I wouldn't be surprised if she skipped crawling altogether--twice yesterday she pulled herself up to standing without any help (other than letting her hold our hands). She manages to shimmy around on the floor, but you don't really notice it; you just realize at some point that she's 5 feet from where you set her down.

My favorite new development, however, is that she likes books! She gets herself scooted over to a book and then fussses until you pick it up and read it to her. And if you set her in your lap to read she actually sits there. So far she only goes for board books; if I try books with real pages she just wants to pull at them and chew the covers. (Oddly, she does not chew the board books.) And since we only have three board books...well, lets just say that I can "read" all three books to her while simultaneously watching TV. Her favorite is "Belly Button Book!" by Sandra Boynton. (Luckily it's my favorite, too.) So I guess we'll be on the hunt for more books soon.

She still loves going to My Gym with her 9-month-old friend, Brendan. The one thing there she does not like is the bubbles. Yes, my child is a bubble-phobic. Not sure why. When we went to visit Dan's parents this weekend (during which Dan got what Abby had, but about 10 times worse), Dan's mom ("Greena" is what our nephew Simon calls her) got out the bubbles that Simon loves so much. She blew about three or four and Abby went ballistic. What the heck?!

We took her to the park for the first time last night. It was about 7 PM and she was bored out of her mind, and I felt bad for her being stuck here all day, so into the car we went to go somewhere and swing since she loves swings so much. Well, it took us three stops before we actually found a park with swings--what's up with that?!--but it was teeming with kids, so two more stops later we finally found a park with swings and hardly any kids. (Sad: Dan was pushing Abby and I hopped onto one of the "big kid" swings, thinking, "I used to love swinging!" Well, turns out my stomach can't handle it anymore and I nearly hurled. I was so bummed.) Abby really enjoyed it--swings, slides, see-saws, and it's a cute little park, too, lots of grass and hills and a little ampetheater and roller hockey rink. It's right across the street from the library, which I have a feeling we'll be visiting quite a lot for the next few years. That makes me happy. I wish we lived a little closer so Abby could go there alone when she got older. I remember trekking to the library all the time as a kid, and it was quite the distance, too, but not with the kinds of big roads that we have here. And it's sad--I get the sense people just don't let their kids do that kind of take-off-for-hours-on-end-just-be-home-in-time-for-dinner stuff anymore. So unfortunate.

Weird skill

2006-07-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

So abby has developed this new skill of nearly breaking my finger. She'll grab my pointer finger with her freakishly strong death-grip, then plant her hand in my palm and push while pulling my finger. She's been doing this a lot lately, especially when I nurse her or in the car (no idea what the correlation is) and more than a few times I've let out a real yelp and had to snatch my hand away (or at least try--she really is strong!) because she about snapped my finger in two.

Oh, and she's finally growing some hair! It's starting to look a lot darker and thicker than it has the last few months. Yay! I can't wait till she doesn't look like a boy anymore. It doesn't matter how much pink we dress her in, someone still always asks, "How old is he?"

Reality

2006-07-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

Like all new moms, I embarked on this journey with all sorts of ideals and resolves--for example, "Television?! Not for my baby! Heavens no! Music, and books, and pattycake and peek-a-boo, but no TV!" Reality: the DVD I told myself I'd just play once or twice now gets played once or twice A DAY, and when I pick up the TV remote, Abby breaks into a huge grin and turns to face the TV before I've even turned it on.

*sigh*

Oh well. Win some, lose some. At least it's praise music and not soap operas.

Sleep, beautiful sleep

2006-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Seven straight hours! Yesss! Thursday night Abby and I went to bed at 11 and I fed her before she went down, and when she woke up to eat again at 12:30 I thought, "Oh man, here we go." At 2:30 she started squirming, but I gave her back her paci and she went back to sleep and, thankfully, so did I. Next thing I know, it's 7:30 in the morning! So even though I woke up once in the middle of the night, I'm counting this as sleeping through the night. Woohoo! Unfortunately she didn't do it last night, but that's okay. She had squash twice Thursday, so I'm wondering if it somehow fills her more than one serving of squash and one green beans. Today she's getting two squash servings as well as green beans, so who knows, maybe we'll get another solid night. Here's to hoping...

Pictorial Update

2006-07-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Pictorial is the word I'm looking for, right?

Here's her first bite of green beans. Obviously not a big hit. Dan couldn't even bring himself to watch; he felt truly awful for "putting her through this." I managed to get three bites into her, and the next day, four. On the third day I tried a new tactic: instead of apologizing the whole time ("I know it's icky, honey, I'm so sorry!"), I cheered her through them ("Oooh! Yummy! Green beans are soooo good! Yay!" *lots of clapping and lip smacking). She ate the entire bowlful!

Poor kid. I really did feel pretty bad. She actually gagged at one point. Truly her father's daughter.

Where's my dictionary...

2006-07-01T16:33:00.000-07:00

Is "blah" a word? If so, Abby has officially spoken her first word--over and over and over. :)

Six Month Stats

2006-07-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was Abby's 6 month birthday, and on Thursday we went to the doctor for her well-baby check up (which, if you ask me, are pretty pointless). Her new stats are: 26 and 3/4 inches tall (an inch and a quarter more than her 4 month measurement) and 16 lbs, 14 oz. (up from an even 15 back in April).

She's developed all sorts of new tricks. Just yesterday she began sticking out her tongue to be cute (along with a devilish smile that just makes me laugh), and then she'll blow a raspberry (or whatever you want to call it). Last week we got her an activity center, and she loves it. Rather than being the kind where the kid sits in the center and is surrounded by stuff, this one has a "hub" with all the stuff and a seat tethered to the outside with wheels on the bottom--the kid sits in the seat and can then walk around the activity hub. Up until yesterday she would just kind of lean and let her body's weight pull her around, but then yesterday (precicely at the same time that I'm telling a visiting friend that she doesn't actually walk in the seat) she started walking--yes, actually walking--around the hub on her little tiptoes. Priceless! Her two favorite toys on the hub are the five key piano (she'll bang on them and just laugh) and a rubber toucan that has this nice bulbous head for her to chew on. It's the first thing she goes for when we set her in the seat. (Ah, teething.)

So far no crawling, although she's kind of close. She gets one knee up, but doesn't get that she needs to get the other knee under her. She does, however, push herself up off her elbows now, so that's an improvement.

The doctor said she's a good two weeks away from having any teeth come through, which sucks, but at least she's not in pain every single day. Yesterday she was fine, and so far today has been a good day, too.

Dan's new game with Abby (for some reason she doesn't like it nearly as much when I try it) is to play peek-a-boo, although we discovered the other day that you don't actually have to hide, just look at her and say, "Peek-a-boo!" in a fun voice and she'll laugh just as hard.

Oh yeah, she also loves screeching now. Swell.

Poor Baby

2006-06-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

Teething once again rears its ugly head, and today it brought a fever with it. :( Poor Abby had to suffer through her mom's cluelessness for the entire morning until I realized she wasn't just hot because of the weather. She is scheduled for her six month check up tomorrow and is supposed to get her next Hib shot, so I guess we'll be rescheduling the shot for a later date, since you're not supposed to immunize kids with fevers. But can you believe it: six months?! Talk about time flying.

Coming soon: photos of her first bite of green beans. (Oh, the drama!)

Our Little Angel's First Angel's Game!

2006-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

It turned out to be a bit of a lousy night, but even so, Abby was adorable! We only made it through the end of the 5th inning; Dan had suffered another migraine that afternoon and was really knocked out from the pain shot the doctor gave him two hours before we left, and Abby wasn't as wowed by the vast expanse of green before us as I'd hoped she'd be and wanted me to walk around the pavilion with her the whole time. Quite the bummer, since we had first row seats in "Vlad's Pad"--the right outfield section where Vladimir Guerrero fields, and Abby and I were both wearing his number, too!--and it was a beautiful night to watch a game. But oh well. They ended up losing 3-4 to the Royals, so it would have been depressing anyway.
They've got girlie pink Angels-wear, but hello, their colors are red and blue, not pink! So, to make sure it was obvious Abby was a girl, I bought some red ribbon and some clip-on flowers for her to wear with her Angels jumper. My sewing machine has a decorative stitch that looks like baseball stitching, so I sewed that on in white. She got so many ooh's and aww's at the ballpark. Everywhere we went, you'd hear people near us say, "Oh my gosh! Look at that cute baby! That's so adorable!" And of course Abby was in fine form, smiling at everyone and making her happy noises (which unfortunately sound like she's choking--she does this gasping intake of air and squeaks like an asthmatic)--at least, she was making the happy noises once I started walking around with her. Before that it was just crying, which I'm sure the two beer-guzzling guys next to me were really thrilled about, and hence the reason I ended up walking around. So now we know for next time: aisle seats and good walking shoes.

Abby in the water

2006-06-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

We took Abby swimming in my parents' spa the other night, her first time in her bathing suit and in a body of water bigger than her little bath tub. She handled it okay, although she'd had her fill after about 15 minutes. I'm thinking about getting her into some baby swim classes this summer.

Here's Abby with her Aunt Kelli, my brother's wife. isn't the bathing suit darling?

She was a bit stunned by the whole water thing until she realized she had something to chew. Then she was happy. Story of her life.

These next ones are from her first bath tub bath. we've been giving her sponge baths and cleaning her hair over the sink up until now because I was nervous about the bath seat thing, but we finally did it, and...

...at first she was happy...

...and then not so much. Oh well. She'll get used to it eventually, right?

Here they come...

2006-06-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was interesting, if by interesting one means hellish. After starting the day out fine, albeit with an awful lot of demand for eating (7:15, 8:45, 9:30). We got home a little before 10 from our walk, and she starts fussing like she wants to eat AGAIN. Well, I'd decided to start pumping during the day since she eats so much better from a bottle, so I made a bottle for her, and the minute it it touched her mouth, she started crying. Then she started screaming. i'd never seen her cry that violently; she was choking she was crying so hard. I tried the tummy drops, even though she didn't seem gassy, then I tried the Orajel. She screamed even harder (didn't think that was possible), but then two minutes later she stopped crying and pretty much collapsed into sleep in my arms. She slept for 45 minutes, then woke up an absolute angel, smiling and talking and laughing at everything. Total Jekyll & Hyde. Then she started fussing to eat (so I thought) again, and same thing happened: made a bottle, tried to feed her, starts screaming. This time for forty minutes. It was awful; she looked like she was in so much pain. Tried the Orajel again and that didn't work; gave her a frozen washcloth and that DID work for a little while, but then, for some reason, it stopped working, and she was back to screaming again. Cried herself to sleep, and was still even crying in her sleep a little bit--just broke my heart. Only slept for about an hour, but when she woke up, she was Angel Baby again. This time I gave her two teething tablets that everyone around here swears by, and then a dose of Tylenol (which I keep forgetting about; when I remembered we had it I felt horrible for not giving it to her sooner and making her suffer), and she was wonderful for the rest of the day. Didn't eat again until 3:00, oddly--5.5 hours of no food doesn't usually fly for her. I gave her another dose of everything at 9:30 before we went to bed and we didn't have any problems, and now I'm just crossing my fingers for today.

So I guess this means we're officially teething.

I was really freaked out for a while there, since everyone always says they get "fussy" when they're teething. This was light years and nine galaxies away from "fussy." And how many teeth do they get? I can't imagine her having to go through that for all of them! Someone please tell me certain teeth hurt more than others!

In unrelated news, Dan had her in her swing last night while I tutored, and the swing has a litle fish mobile that spins above it, and he started hitting the fish with his head as they came by and saying, "Bonk!" Abby laughed harder than we've ever seen her laugh. Isn't it silly the things that they find outrageously funny?

Coming soon: photos of Abby's first bath in a bathtub (with a not-to-be-missed unhappy Abby picture) and her first Jacuzzi experiece!

Photos

2006-05-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Look closely at her eyes--you can see the reflection of the backyard and Dan taking the photo!

That little mind is always going, even in her sleep!

Four generations: My mom (Leslie, her mom (Helen, a.k.a Nana), Little Miss Cutie-Pie, and me, taken on Easter.

Spring Cleaning

2006-05-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

I went through Abby's clothes this week to weed out all the stuff she doesn't fit into anymore. I'm so sad. She's got some of the most adorable outfits, but she's growing so fast and has so many 0-3 outfits she only got to wear some of them once or twice. The outfit I put her in today looked like it would still fit, but the pants (pink corduroy! So cute!) are just too tight now. She can still wear the top, which has these little pink flowers embroidered all over it (Dan and I are both suckers for embroidery). But even the shirt is a little on the short side. Anyway, now there's this pile of clothes at the bottom of her closet that are waiting to be boxed up, and depending on what we have next, we may never see them on a baby again! Deressing! I've decided that, if we don't have a girl the second time around, I'm going to take all Abby's cute outfits and sew them into a quilt. Lorelei did that on "Gilmore Girls" with all Rory's baby clothes, and I thought that was such an adorable idea. Although I may save some of them for her memory box--my mom had some of my baby dresses when I was a kid, and they fit my Cabbage Patch doll perfectly. :)

Tidbits:
Abby's next to me on the couch at the moment, and she's figured out how to shove things away from her, but then gets annoyed when she can't reach them amymore.

I was on hold with the gas company and the oldie, "I Will Follow Him" came on, so I was singing along with it and she thought it was hilarious.

Dan bought her a toy remote control that has all these buttons that make TV-related noises, and she uses her feet to grab it and hit the buttons. Well, I don't think the button-hitting is intentional; she just kicks at the thing and occasionally her heel hits something.

Dan also bought her a small stuffed classic tigger from Target, and she actually kind of plays with it. What's cute, though, is when you hold it in front of her and she dives for his nose--with her mouth.

Updates

2006-05-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm appalled at my lack of blogging lately; please forgive me. Some updates:

-Her new nickname: velocaraptor baby. She's got this new screech that is truly ear-splitting. I'm pretty sure only dogs hear her at some point.

-Roly-poly: She's got the back-to-tummy rolling thing down pretty well--in fact, she did it on command at mom and dad's place the other night. Usually gets annoyed once she's flipped; however, yesterday she actually hung out on her tummy and played for awhile. Yay!

-Teething? I think so. She nearly bruised my finger chewing on it last night, and when I gave her a frozen washcloth she really went to town on it. In fact, lat night was probably the worst night she's had so far in her short little life. Just screaming and so very unhappy. Broke our hearts. :( We keep slapping on the Baby Orajel but she doesn't seem to like it--I'm not sure if it's the numbness she hates or the feeling of us rubbing our fingers on her sore gums. We finally gave her baby Tylenol and that took care of things. What's weird, though, is that it seems to come and go--she was fine the rest of the night, slept like an angel, and is perfectly happy this morning. I thought teething made them unhappy all the time. Guess I have some research to do.

-Solids! We gave her rice cereal for the first time last week and she gobbled it up. I put some in a bottle for her before bed, hoping it'll make her sleep longer, but so far it hasn't made a difference. Not sure if I'm not giving her enough or if the whole solids = sleeping thing is a myth--I read something to that effect in one of my many parenting magazines.

-Sitting up on her own! Well, she can't get into the sitting position on her own, but if we sit her up she will stay that way for a good long time. we surround her with pillows for the occasional fall, but really she does quite well.

So that's Abby in a nutshell. Nearly 5 months old; I just can't believe it. One more month and we can put sunscreen on her, and then it's off to the pool we'll go! Oh, te photos we'll take...

YUM.

2006-05-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

So today we tried rice cereal. Wow. SOMEONE was ready for real food! She was lapping at the spoon like a dog; it was hilarious. Honestly, though, she was wolfing it down. Afterwards we gave her a bath, and by 15 minutes later she was completely konked out. Great photos to come.

Bloggin' 'Bout the Baby

Happy Birthday, Penelope Jane!

Lots of updates!

She speaks!

Here comes trouble

Six months!

360

Little Showoff

Four month stats!

Updates galore

Three months! (and a bit)

Queen of Babble-On

A Day of Bodily Fluids

Bellybutton, be healed!

There's a hole in my baby!

Contest winners!

Our little overachiever

Packing on the...ounces

One week down, a lifetime to go

Homebirth Reflections

Sleep, glorious sleep...

Top Ten Things I'd Forgotten About Having a Newborn

More pictures!

SHE'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

40 weeks!

Nope

Still no baby.

No baby yet.

CONTRACTIONS!

Think Friday thoughts!

Ugh.

All systems go!

All you really need...

Oh yeah, *now* I remember

Yum!

Reality check

The Home Visit!

24 hours left to vote!

35 weeks!

8 months!

Absolutely beautiful

The Second Morrow Baby Prediction Contest!

29.5 weeks!

24 weeks!

It's official!

Paradigm Shift

Week 20--so much news!

Week 19

17 weeks and we're having a boy! Maybe!

It moved!

From panic to bliss in 3 minutes flat.

Week 14!

One down, two to go

11 weeks

Zantac is my hero

YES!

Eight weeks

Oh Happy Day!

Say "Cheese"!

Ugh.

And so it begins

The news in Abbyland

The Official One Year Checkup

What a difference 365 days makes!

So funny I can't think of a proper title for the post to do it justice

Closing in on one year

Technical difficulties

Pilates, baby edition

She kissed me!

Taking Peek-a-boo to the next level

Who turns the world on with her smile?

Not again

Notes for Improvement

Disneyland!

She walks!

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifViolette Between blog tour!

Location, Location, Location

Really Overdue Update

First Steps

We have a tooth!

Oh yeah, now I remember