Tales from the Toddler bed...

This was taken a couple weekends back - on that super duper hot weekend in August. 90-100 degrees... hence the reason she's got nothing but a diaper on... but she refuses to fall asleep without "banket" on her... Anyways - I realized after the fact that this is the last picture of her sleeping in her crib. (not that you can even tell she's in the crib though!)

I would have loved to keep her in the crib longer - but my growing belly had other plans. When it got to the point where I was squishing my belly putting her into the crib at night and then getting cramps - that's when we decided to make the move. It was either that, or have daddy do all nighttime duty - and she would SO not be okay with that!

The crib we got does not have a drop side, so I was reaching over it each time to lie her down in it. Never was a problem until the belly. Would I buy a non drop side again or recommend it? Absolutely! This crib has been so sturdy we love it! Did I want to go buy another crib or a toddler bed? NO way! Glad we got a convertible bed too :) All we had to do was take one side off and turn it into the "day bed" but toddler sized.

Our first night was last Friday. We've survived a week so far, but let me tell you how the first few nights went:
Friday:

7pm: Oh, she's getting fussy - let's switch her crib to the toddler bed and give her an early bedtime.

8pm: rocking her to sleep - she took her milk... and then vomited all over me... and Gigi (reference picture above, Gigi is the giraffe). So, outfit change for me, outfit change for her, Gigi goes on vacation to the washing machine.

8:30ish: She wants both her mommy and daddy by her - we go lie down in our bed with her inbetween us. She drifts off, but then starts BEGGING for her "juice" (milk). I give her some. In hindsight, NOT a good idea. She got all calmed down and then rolled over to face me... started whining "mommy mommy mommy"... I moved out of the way just in time - but she needed a bath, a new outfit, her hair washed, we needed new sheets on the bed... and this time, Bunny didn't make it out alive. (Reference picture above for cute little bunny rabbit). Bunny is now on vacation in the washing machine with Gigi.

10:30pm: After her bath, she wouldn't let me lay her down - so we both fell asleep in the recliner in the living room. Woke up covered in sweat at 10:30 and I went to put her in her bed and Rich and I finally crawled into bed... hoping for a quiet rest of the night. Did I mention we decided to do this while I was on call? During the puke incidents I think I had 4 phone calls I had to deal with... ugh!

11:30pm: She's crying. She fell out of bed. Soft landing on pillows though. Put her back in and she went to sleep a short while later.

1:30am: She's crying. Fell out again. Went back in fairly easily.

2:30am: Guess what - fell out again. This time, begging for bunny and gigi... I gave up and brought her into bed with us and we all slept until 6:30am. Best 4 hours of sleep in a long time!

Saturday:
She took a 45 minute snooze on the way home from getting groceries (and rescuing daddy since his truck died and had to call AAA to get it towed) - anyways - we got home and Richie put a 3/4 length bed rail on the bed. I was surpised the toddler bed didn't have a bedrail, but we didn't really think it'd be that big of a problem Friday night... we were wrong. So, he put a bedrail on and left about a foot or so of space at the foot of the bed where she can crawl in and out, she can't fall out that small of a hole, right!?!

Saturday afternoon she refused to take a nap in her bed. Guess the 45 minutes was enough for her.

She fell asleep in my arms Saturday night so that made it easy to get her into bed that night. ... slept fine until 1:30am... fell out! You've got to be kidding me! This time, I found a thick big book and shoved that in the 1 foot space trying to block the exit. Set up a row of big stuffed animals by the book so it was a bit more of a barrier. Thankfully, that did prevent any further falls (till this point anyways!)

1:30-3am - I was trying to get her to fall asleep in the bed, but she was just crying everytime I'd leave the room. I'd go back in and hum her to sleep nearly falling asleep myself, but being that I wasn't comfortable - didn't want to fall asleep there. A couple times I got up to leave the room to use the bathroom and she crawled out of bed and came after me. All I said to her was, "where are you supposed to be?" and she turned right around and ran (screaming) back into her room. It was not a fun night. Finally at 3am, I called for Richie and asked him to sit with her so I could go back to bed. She was sound asleep in the next 20 minutes and he was back in bed soon too.

Sunday:
She fell asleep in my arms for her nap and I laid her in the bed - she stayed for 1 hour and then was up - refusing to sleep in it again. Richie brought her in with me and she napped with me for another hour.

Sunday night:
I believe she was up once for a drink of milk and otherwise no incidents.

Each night this week has been about the same. I've let her just "cry it out" at bedtime and again in the middle of the night when she's waking up but seriously it's all of 2 minutes of fussing and she's sound asleep again.

I just laid her down for her nap this afternoon and we'll see how it goes. Before the change from crib to toddler bed, her weekend naps were lasting 2-3 hours consistently. I certainly hope she goes more than an hour today!

14 weeks

Well... here's my first of (hopefully) weekly belly shots. This is about when I started with Laura too... but this time I'm already bigger than I was this far along with Laura. Guess it's true - everything was stretched out before so now it just pops out faster. I definitely "popped" out over this past week.

Not the best picture - but that's what I could get using the self timer this evening - Laura kept trying to play with the camera so we quick snapped a few - I still haven't figured out how to get myself in focus with the self timer... I guess I need to do manual focus, but that is hard with a toddler around...

Totally felt it!

Yep, that was baby! I just felt it again sitting here again :) Yay!

Had my appointment today too - saw Molly again (I really like her!)

Weight: 137 (up 1/2 pound since last week)
BP 120/70

Heard baby's heartbeat right away this time! It was 154... I'm thinking boy? I don't remember that Laura's was ever that low - I'll have to read back through my pregnancy book to double check that though. Oh, and this little one also was moving all over the place - she had to keep "finding" it again - but she let me listen for a good long time and commented "that's the best sound ever".

I go back in 3 weeks for the last part of the sequential screening (bloodwork) and an appointment with Kate.

Then on SEPTEMBER 30th is the BIG day! The day that hopefully this little one will cooperate and we'll know if we'll be decorating in pink or blue :)

I think I felt it!!!

I think I felt baby move! I'm 14 weeks today and as I was sitting here typing - I'm partly bent over (I know, bad posture!) but I felt a little twitch that felt like baby movement... I'll have to wait to feel it again to be certain, but from what I remember - that was baby... not gas! I was 15 weeks last time, so definitely not too far fetched to think I'm feeling it this time so soon :)

What to stock the freezer with...

When I was pregnant with Laura - I made it a priority to have about a months worth of meals in the freezer so that I wasn't stressed when dinner time came around and I'd not even gotten a shower in for the day, let alone think about making a meal. I ended up having 21 (or so) meals as well as quick breads and a few desserts in there.

When I lost my hard drive... I also lost the list of foods I had - so I'm starting over trying to make a list and want to have a place to jot things down as I think of them... if you have any ideas of meals (and recipes!) that freeze well, let me know!

Entrees:
Spaghetti Pie (Mona and Jim's recipe)
Mushroom Turkey Tetrazini (From Light & Tasty Magazine)
Sloppy Joe (mom's recipe)
Lasagna
Stuffed Peppers (I need a good recipe for this!)
Pie crusts (for quiche's and such)
Pork Apple Burgers (since it'll be nearing grilling season when my maternity leave is up!)
Meatloaf (Richie's favorite!)
Turkey/Stuffing/Mashed potato roll ups with gravy
Shepherd's Pie (need to find a recipe!)
Chicken Pot Pie (need to find a recipe!)
Apple and Onion Chicken (Jenn's secret family recipe!)

Soups:
Split Pea with Ham
Lentil
Hamburger soup (mom's recipe)

Quick breads/muffins:
Banana bread
Pumpkin bread
Blueberry muffins
Apple "cake" (George family recipe)

Desserts:
Cupcakes (from a box mix) <--- Richie loves these!
Pumpkin/chocolate chip cookies
Apple pie fillings
Pie crusts

Other stuff:
Applesauce
Apple Jelly

Coming Home Outfit

February in NY is generally cold. It'd be a safe bet to say something like this would make a super cute coming home outfit, right? Knit out of super soft wool and paired with a long sleeve tshirt with handmits.

I guess I have 1/3 of the outfit completed - I bought a 2 pack of the tshirts on sale the other day at walmart. It was my first purchase for this new baby. I'm trying to be good and NOT buy a lot until we know gender. If we end up with another girl - we won't need a lot of stuff... at all.

So - now I just need to find a pattern, some wool... and ask my mom to whip up a pair of pants and a hat ... she's retired now - think she can find time to do that? :)

(Pretty please mom?) :)

Fat.

I got told yesterday that my nose is already getting fat. I think she was joking. At least I hope she was joking...

Laura's 2nd birthday will be coming up next month. I'm having quite a few people ask me what she wants for her birthday.

I know what she does NOT want... MOON SAND! Someone suggested this stuff to us and when I saw it in the stores, I thought "No way am I paying that much for it!" ... so when I saw a brand new package at a lawn sale for $2, I grabbed it!

Whoever invented that was off their rocker! Where are you supposed to play with this stuff? It goes everywhere! Sure, it says it cleans up easily, but it's not like she could play with the red moon sand and then just use a wipe to come clean - it took a whole bath to get it off her hands, her legs and her creases. And I've yet to get it all off the floor!

appointment updates

July 1st - Saw Molly - she's a new midwife with the practice and I really liked her.

7 weeks pregnant

weight: 134.5 pounds! I'm starting this pregnancy just 2.5 pounds up from my last one. Not too shabby! I certainly don't have the same shape, but I'm happy the overall weight is back in the normal range for me.

At this appointment, there wasn't anything really exciting to do - peed in a cup - had an internal - scheduled a dating ultrasound - updated my medical history in the computer. I do recall that Molly informed me I'd gain 25-35 pounds during this pregnancy - I looked at her with wide eyes and said "Really!?! That'd be great! Last time I gained 52 pounds!" ... I think that took her by surprise and her response was something like "well, you don't have to gain that much this time, but some women are preprogramed to gain more than others"

July 10th - First Ultrasound (see previous post for picture)

July 22nd - second appointment - saw Molly again. Also had first set of bloodwork drawn - They tested for imunity to rubella and fifth's disease. I declined the toxoplasmosis testing - I figure it won't change anything - Richie is changing the cat litter now anyways.

10 weeks pregnant.

Weight: Up 2 pounds. Eek! I didn't gain this early on last time! I hope this doesn't mean I'm in for another 52 pounds...

Got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! It took Molly a few minutes to find the heartbeat and it felt so long waiting and waiting for her to find it. Once she did find it, it wasn't easy to keep - baby kept moving out of the way. Heartrate was 172 - I'm thinking it's another girl! Up until this point, I was getting very strong boy feelings (for no particular reason) - but once I saw the rate, I'm pretty sure it's a girl... we'll see though.

August 3rd - Appointment for Nuchal Translucency scan. Bloodwork and Ultrasound. (See previous post for pictures)

11 weeks 5 days

August 12 - well, you all read about that appointment in the previous post

13 weeks

Weight: no gain, no loss! Yay!

Next appointment: Thursday August 20th with Molly again. Looking forward to hearing a nice strong heartbeat again!

I have toyed with the idea of renting another doppler like I did with my first pregnancy for peace of mind - but being that we're following the dave ramsey financial plan pretty closely - "it's not in the budget"... not that we can't afford it, but we're choosing to pass on it this time.

Meet baby #2

First off... help me come up with a better name for this baby I'm growing instead of #2... #2 just makes me think of ... well... #2 ha ha ha! So, what shall it be? Right now for us it's just "the baby"... nothing cute yet like peanut or bean or anything like that. Can't be pumpkin - that's what we call Laura since she was supposed to be our October kiddo.

This was from the first ultrasound on July 10. For some reason they had it in the computer that I was 10 weeks along. I knew I wasn't that far. I had figured I was 9 weeks. ... but based on measurements they said I was a little past 8 weeks. We could see a strong heartbeat, but other than that, does not resemble a baby in anyway to me. I was just happy to see the heart beating. Richie was able to go to this appointment with me and see the little thumpy bumpy heartbeat too. :) After this ultrasound is when they officially changed my due date from (what I thought was Feb 12 to Feb 17th).


Our second ultrasound was supposed to be the third week in July but based on the size at the first ultrasound, I had to call and change the date for this one. We had this one done when I was 11 weeks 5 days along. This ultrasound was the one to determine likelyhood of chromosome abnormalities. NOT that we would have done anything other than carry on with the pregnancy, but it would help us prepare for what we might need to know to care for a special needs baby. In just a little under 4 weeks, look how much the blob from above looks like a baby in this picture! Amazing! Again, strong good heartbeat, but Renee didn't tell us what the rate was. Can you all tell what the parts are? Head on the right, back is along the bottom and you can see a leg on the left sticking up and the umbilical cord in the middle coming up.


This is the ultrasound I did not expect to get. This is from yesterday morning. I'm 13 weeks along... should be into the "safe" second trimester. I woke up feeling just fine. Normal day. Went to work and we were at a breakfast meeting just downtown. Finished my breakfast of bagel and eggs and homefries when all of a sudden - I felt it ... gushing.

I freaked.

Ran to the bathroom and saw any momma's worst nightmare - red everywhere.

I don't want to be too graphic, but I'll just say it was a mess and I'll be surprised if my jeans actually come clean. I started shaking and crying. I ran back to the table - grabbed my purse and books - and took off... The poor ladies I left at the meeting all felt helpless they told me afterwards. I drove home (luckily only 1 mile!) and got cleaned up - still gushing. Large golf ball sized clots (okay, so I said I wouldn't be graphic - sorry - it's my blog - I guess I can be graphic if I want, huh?)

Anyways - called the midwives and they took my message and said they'd call me back. I called Richie who was out of town with Laura and his parents to the Farm Show... he felt helpless over the phone as I was sobbing telling him I thought we'd just lost our baby. I told him I'd call after I knew more.

The office called me back a few minutes later and said they could see me in an hour. I think the time from 8:30 (when it first happened) until my 10am ultrasound was the longest stretch of time ever. So many thoughts raced through my mind. I don't care to recall those thoughts - they can be put right out of my mind forever for all I care.

I was lying on the ultrasound table and I could feel the hot tears pouring down my cheeks expecting to see no activity on the screen. Much to my delight, there was a bouncing baby AND a strong heartbeat of 159 beats! Renee did the abdominal ultrasound and then also did an internal to check the cervix and placenta. She said everything looked perfect.

I waited for 45 minutes and then saw midwife Marie. She said she could see no reason for the bleed. I think she almost didn't believe how much blood there was until she did the internal exam and saw for herself... She still could find no cause for it. By this time it wasn't gushing anymore. I got a rhogam shot since I'm B-negative. And then I got sent off with no real diagnosis or reason for the bleeding - but was told to come back at my regular scheduled appointment next week to make sure the heartbeat is good and strong.

Can you make out this picture? Head is on the left. Baby is facing you. Belly is the "blob" on the right. That's a hand up above the belly :)


And this is a butt and legs shot in case you couldn't tell. And no - we still can't tell yet if this little one is a boy or a girl. ...any guesses based on this???


Marie also gave me the results of some bloodwork - I'm not immune to Rubella (again). She said I can elect to have another MMR after the baby is born, but since I didn't convert after I had it with Laura, most likely I'm just a non - converter and it won't take again.

So, today I went back to work...but once word reached Cathe's office (my boss) ... she called me and told me to go home and not come back until Monday.

Meet Maris!

This is Maris. Aunt Megan and Uncle Matt's new golden retriever puppy. Ain't he cute?




They're posing with the gifts Laura brought to give him... all perfect things for a new puppy - some carpet deodorizer, air freshener, paper towels and lots and lots of chewy treats!