20 Months

This is going to be another brief post because it's late at night and late being posted.  I kept waiting thinking I would get around to weighing her, but we are completely out of the habit, so it just doesn't happen anymore.  Things have been going well.  She is still sleeping fairly well.  We have been having fun observing some new things now that we have the video monitor set up.  And sleep hasn't been disrupted with the addition of her brother's crib and rearranging of furniture in her room.  The only thing that seemed to happen is she was a little upset the first time we put her down for her nap after setting up the crib this weekend, because I think she thought she could try out the new crib.

In other news, we keep occasionally trying potty training with her just because she talks about it.  We were going to install the new toilet seat with the built in toddler seat, but found out it wasn't the right size and we weren't willing to pay the extra bucks for the one that was.  So we've returned it and opted for the cheap Sesame Street one that we'll just put on top of the regular seat when she's ready to go.  We thought having Elmo and Ernie (her favorite characters) on the seat would help.  She goes through the motions and says she wants to sit on the potty, so we undress her and take her diaper off.  But as soon as she's done recognizing the characters on the seat she wants off.  She really just wants to play with the seat.  I don't know if we're doing any good going through this ritual as I haven't read up at all on potty training at this point, but I figured getting her familiar with it shouldn't hurt.  I may find out later that it did, but I'm trying not to push the training issue since there's a chance she'll revert when the baby comes and she seems him in diapers.

Back to Sesame Street, we really don't let her watch that show, but something must be happening at daycare with it because she is learning the characters.  She started recognizing them in books people gave her but we hadn't started reading to her.  And she's pretty obsessed because they're on her diapers too.

One other random fact, I don't think I mentioned this before but a week or so ago I let Mei Li try some grapefruit because she kept asking for it when she saw me eating it.  I warned her that she might not like it, but she really did!  Ok, I must go now.  Goodnight world.

1 Month To Go

So today officially marks one month left until my due date.  It seems so far away!  LOL.  Anyway, I figured it was an excuse to blog as I have had some random things on my mind that I wanted to jot down. One thing related to the fact that I was reading a Facebook status update that Vanessa posted about how much weight she has lost already since having the baby last week and some of the comments that followed led me to something I had never thought about.  Two of our mutual friends that also happened to be nurses were swearing by belly binding and losing the post-pregnancy belly.  One particularly swore of its effectiveness on getting her separated abdominal muscles back together.  It's something I never thought about because I figured their only purpose was to act as a girdle to hide the postpartum belly and that there was no actual physical benefit to it.  I started researching it a little tonight to see if there was any hard proof behind it, but didn't necessarily find hard scientific facts about it.  I was particularly interested about the rejoining of the muscles as my doctor said it was possible that mine never rejoined after the last pregnancy.  I was troubled that after all the weight I lost, I still didn't have a nice, flat stomach.  I may just try it after this pregnancy because at our Christmas party, I walked away with the Slimaway, so it's not like I'd have to buy anything.

Well, with one month left to go we still have to get the crib set up.  It arrived last week and the mattress arrived today.  So we're hoping to get around to it this weekend, although it is already a busy weekend without that in the works.

A few random notes about Mei Li.  I think we're making progress on her naps.  She took 1.5 - 2.5 hour naps all weekend and today at daycare took a 2.25 hour nap.  The only bad news is that she won't do it in her classroom now that there are a lot of kids (there were 7 today vs. the 4 she is used to), so they had to take her to the office for her nap.  Mei Li's vocabulary is growing by the day.  Her current fascination is with airplanes and helicopters in the sky.  She'll say she sees them every time we're in the car, regardless of whether there are any in the sky.  When we're outside, she points them out and asks me for more when they've gone out of sight.  I try to explain to her that I have no control over how often and how many airplanes fly by our house.  She has added a new Spanish word to her vocabulary, frutas.  She goes back and forth about whether she says fruit or frutas, but I try to encourage both.  Tonight she also said something that sounded like nina (I don't know how to type the squiggly n), but there was no context, so I'm not sure if that was what she was trying to say.  As for her getting ready for the arrival of her baby brother, yesterday she correctly responded to my questions when I pointed to my belly and asked her what it was (baby) and then when I asked her what the baby's name was (Jack).  So I was excited to see that progress.  She also felt the baby move yesterday, which I'm not sure what her thoughts were on that.  Now that we're catching up on some of her sleep, she's had a lot of energy.  I have been playing the toddler station on Pandora for her and the Mahna Mahna Muppets song came on and she danced like crazy to it.  Then tonight after picking her up from daycare, she was literally running and spinning in circles around the house.

I better sign off because I actually have the opportunity to get to bed at a decent hour.  Sleep has become a challenge for me lately so I feel pretty tired a lot of the time as I wake up not feeling rested.  I have started to have to wedge my body pillow underneath my belly to get some comfort for my hips and back, and I never had to do that with Mei Li.  I realized that I need to be careful about my weight now not because I'm worried about the weight gain number itself, but I should be conscientious of it for the weight of the baby and my chances of a VBAC.  So today I resisted a really delicious looking donut in the cafeteria at lunch and got a fruit salad instead.  It's tough to do as I've been feeling really hungry these days, so I find myself eating more snacks.  Here's to hoping I have the willpower to make it through to the end.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I guess since it's after midnight it's not technically Dave's birthday anymore, but I wanted to do a quick post about it.  Today was Dave's birthday and we had a good time celebrating.  Since it was Friday, I had the day off to be with Mei Li, so I took her to the office to visit Daddy at work and take him to lunch.  Dave's choice, we went to the Indian buffet and it was excellent as usual.  Then in the evening we had family dinner night with the Putt/Dinsley crew.

The birthday boy ended up doing a lot of the cooking as we have been trying to have a particular meal for a while at our family dinner nights, but for one reason or another it wasn't working out until tonight.  So we had what is now being called DFC (Dave's Fried Chicken), which is his dad's recipe for fried chickettes (vegetarian).  It's one of my favorite meals and we've also been wanting to try a potato recipe Magally had been raving about, so they brought those.  Then the birthday boy insisted on making his own dessert for his birthday because no one else knows how to make it like he does.  So he also baked some biscuits for strawberry shortcake.

We ended the evening with games.  He requested that the Putts bring Dutch Blitz, but of course the evening wasn't complete until we ended it with a couple rounds of Rook as well.  It was a nice evening despite some road blocks we've been having with our weekend plans.  First of all, I was quite upset when my birthday card that I made on Tiny Prints didn't arrive, when it was scheduled to arrive yesterday.  I hope it at least comes tomorrow.  Then we had some plans to do dinner and a movie tomorrow night, but our babysitter got shingles.  So we might have to do a Plan B.

Happy birthday to our favorite Daddy!  We love you and think you're the best!

35 Week Update

I had another OB appointment today and it was uneventful as usual.  Unfortunately, my weight gain is higher than I'd like, but the doctor made no mention of anything and says that all my measurements are looking good and on schedule.  I've reached the 30 pound weight gain mark, which means I really need to slow it down.  I think I've been indulging in too many sweets these days with various celebrations.  This weekend will be hard as it is Dave's birthday tomorrow, so I'm sure there will be more to indulge in.

The baby's heart rate was higher than usual today, in the 150's.  I think it was because he was particularly active and kept hitting or kicking the doppler.  Something else that was sort of funny about my appointment today was that I almost forgot to pee in the cup.  Right before I went in the bathroom I handed the nurse my FMLA paperwork and she asked me a couple questions about it.  This ended up taking my mind off the task at hand and I just went to the bathroom because I had to.  I remembered at the very end I should have collected some in a cup and barely got enough for the nurse to do her test.  I was so annoyed with myself for forgetting.

This week was the health screenings at work for our wellness program.  It's the first time I've participated since they just started offering the incentives to spouses (they used to only offer the incentives to the primary person on the insurance regardless of employment, and that was Dave).  Anyway, one of the measurements they typically take is your waist.  They weren't going to take mine since I am pregnant, but I told her to do it anyway as I was curious to see what it was.  Come to find out, I've put on about 14 inches to my waist!  YIKES!  No wonder everyone thinks I'm due tomorrow instead of in 5 weeks...  Today a particularly tactless executive asked me if I was having multiples.  He did this right in front of my friend who is an HR Director, and she tried to buffer the situation by saying I was just near the end of my pregnancy.  I am having trouble with shirts fitting over my entire belly these days.  Have I told you how ready I am to not be pregnant anymore?  =)

Micah Alexander

Welcome to the world Micah Alexander.  Some of my oldest and dearest friends, Vanessa and Mike, became parents yesterday.  It was extra special because Micah was born on his late grandfather's birthday.  I know that meant so much to Vanessa for Micah to be born on Uncle Alex's birthday and I'm so happy for her that she got her wish.  Everyone seems to be doing well.  I was sad I wasn't able to visit them yesterday, but it got late by the time I would have been able to see them and everyone was exhausted.

Seeing them in the hospital reminded me of when I was there having Mei Li.  It's the same hospital, so that helped.  Plus, she had a c-section and Mike was feeling the same daddy pains as Dave was having to do a lot of the caring for the baby since Vanessa can't move very much.  I don't think I've been back since I had Mei Li.  The weird thing is it made me more anxious to get this show on the road.  I am ready to not be pregnant, so I'm ready to be there at the hospital having this baby.  I know, I still need to mentally prepare for having a newborn to care for, but there's something so surreal about those first few days in the hospital.

It's awesome that both times I've been pregnant I've been able to share the experience with close friends.  There are a lot of us due around this time, so this is just the start of beautiful babies to come.

Happy 500!

Blogger tells me this will be my 500th published post.  It has taken me just over 6 years to get to this point.  Boy have things changed in that time.  I've gone from dating to engaged to married to mother of almost 2.  I've had 4 different jobs, 2 cars, 1 house, 2 surgeries.  I traveled to Greece, Thailand, China and all over the US.  Welcomed 2 more nephews and 1 niece (blood related) and many more "nephews" and "nieces."

When I told Dave that I had 500 posts, he realized he had a lot of work to do to publish them in more books.

I want to thank all of you who read this blog, especially those of you who have read all 500 posts!  I don't even think Dave can say that.  Here's to the next 500 posts and may they be interesting for at least me to go back and read.  Cheers!

Silly Girl

We've had our share of funny moments with Mei Li today and we have pictures to prove it.  Yesterday on our way to daycare, she kept talking about the sun as it was in her eyes.  I told her that we may have to bring sunglasses the next day to help keep the sun out of her eyes.  Then she spent a lot of the rest of the ride to daycare talking about the sun and glasses.  So this morning after I got her dressed, I asked her if she would like to try on her sunglasses.  I put them on her and Dave showed her what she looked like in the mirror, as she often likes to check herself out when accessories are put on.  She was quite pleased with the way she looked.  We set her up in her highchair for breakfast and I asked her if she'd like to take the sunglasses off, but she did not want to.  She would mess with them and take them off so I tried to take them to put them aside and she would freak out and beg for the sunglasses.  She proceeded to eat her breakfast with her sunglasses on as seen here.  I even think at one point she said she was pretty in them.

Doesn't she look like Elton John?  This brought laughter to our house this morning and the ironic thing is that we had a gloomy morning so she didn't even need them in the car.  It worked out because she forgot about them by the time we headed out.

The next couple of pictures require some explanation as well.  On Monday evening, Delt and Andra stopped by to give Mei Li a Minnie Mouse dress that Andra had bought as part of a set to get the Minnie Mouse ears headband to wear during her Disney Marathon last weekend.  This prompted me to break out my Mickey Mouse ears headband that I've had for some time.  Mei Li didn't care for it that night, but discovered them the next night.  So tonight when we got home she saw them again and wanted to wear them as she played while waiting for dinner.  She was prancing around and pushing her doll around while bobbing her head side to side.

My own little Mei Li Mouse.  Isn't she cute?

And if one accessory wasn't enough she then found the sunglasses and wanted to wear them too.  So Elton John meets Mickey Mouse, and this is what we get.  See how she's smiling?  This is Dave showing her how she looks in the mirror.  She's not vain at all!

I'm glad she's so happy despite all the sleep troubles we're having right now.  I don't know what to do about it.  This is the second day in a row that she's only taken a 1 hour nap at daycare and we haven't had much more luck at home either.  I don't know that I can attribute it all to teething, but the only other thing I can come up with is growing pains.  I was researching it last night and they say those don't typically start until age 3, but that the pain can wake kids from their sleep.  The reason I started thinking down this road is because she has been complaining in the morning and evening about her knees.  She'll touch them and say sorry, which is what she sometimes says when she hurts herself because I'll say it to her if I accidentally get her hair while putting on her bib or run into her or something like that.  Anyway, she doesn't seem phased by the lack of sleep, but I know it's not normal and it bothers me.  Her nighttime has gotten better.  She's less wakeful after we've been giving her Tylenol, but tonight we're seeing if she can go without it.  She still basically sleeps through the night, although it seems like less quality sleep because of the wakefulness.  And she's waking up at 7:15 every morning, where she used to sleep until 7:30 - 8:00 if left alone.  Anyway, I'd really like to get that 2-3 hour nap back.  It will definitely be helpful once her baby brother arrives.

Crib Bedding...Check!

I can now check one more thing off my list.  I found this bedding set on Zulily today.  It was a pretty good price for all it included:  crib sheet, bumper, crib skirt, comforter, valance, diaper stack and 3 wall hangings.  I probably won't even use all of it, but it was still a great deal.  Plus, if I don't get around to doing the wall art I really want (the world map set), I'll have these wall hangings to decorate with.  It's really hard to find travel/world type decor for babies/kids.  So when I saw this, I figured it would be as close as I would get and the color scheme will work well with the green walls in the nursery.  The set is even called Little Getaways.  I just realized the stripes in this set are very similar to the comforter on our bed.  Now that I have a good "theme" coming together, I also need to look for a prop for his weekly/monthly pictures.

If you can't tell, I'm still in prep mode.  I've been busily thinking of ways to prepare, making lists, and looking for deals as I shop around.  On top of that, I've been trying to get this house organized and clean.  I'm starting to pay for it though.  My back has really been hurting all day after my super productive day yesterday.  I was having a good stretch of time where I was actually pretty comfortable, which is probably why I got so productive and now am back to not feeling so comfortable.

The crib we ordered should be arriving this week.  Today I found some deals at Babies R Us on swaddling blankets and the highchair we wanted was on sale last weekend, so we picked that up as well.  We already had one as a hand-me-down, but it's bulky and can't hold a newborn, so we opted to find and buy an updated one.  Once the crib arrives, we'll order a mattress and will go to town on the nursery I imagine.

I've been thinking a lot about packing a hospital bag lately.  I set aside the baby's clothes tonight and now I have to decide what to pack for myself.  My mind is racing these days, and I think particularly right now because I know I'm heading into a busy week at work with late nights as I help out with Internal Audit.  So I won't have much free time.  You'd think we would have everything we need since we've already had one kid, but with it being a different gender and then little things like diapers that don't stick around, there's still a lot to prepare for.  Well, I'm pretty tired and start my busy work week in the morning so I should head to bed.

33 Week & 19 Month Check Ups

On Thursday I had my 33 week check up and all went well.  I realized as I was trying to find my post from my last visit, I never got around to blogging about it.  Life was kind of crazy around the holidays and I just never found the time or energy to do it.  Anyway, this check up I gained 4 pounds in 3 weeks.  Not ideal, but still ok.  I've gained a total of 26 pounds, so I'm sure I will gain more than 30 this pregnancy.  I told my doctor how everyone at work keeps telling me I'm not going to make it to the end.  He said it wasn't nice of them to say that and all my measurements and tests show that I'm right on track so he has no reason to think otherwise.  I have thought to myself with the way this pregnancy has been going that I wouldn't be surprised if I go early, but I was really starting to believe it after everyone keeps telling me so.  Even people that don't see me often ask me if I'm due tomorrow.  I want to believe it so I don't have to be pregnant anymore, but I don't want to believe it because I don't feel ready to have another baby in the house just yet.  We don't even have a crib!  Good news is, baby #2 is still healthy with a heart rate of 144 beats per minute.

Friday was Mei Li's VERY late 18 month well visit at the pediatrician.  Again, the holidays and illnesses were to blame for this delay.  Since we've already done her pictures, I'll just post one that we took this weekend where she looks like Punky Brewster.  I found her some cute Converse at Marshall's on Friday and I think it was the finishing touch to this 80's look.

Weight:  23 pounds, 4 ounces - 25th percentile.  I was surprised she hadn't gained more weight, but the doctor was not at all concerned.

Height:  32 inches - 50th percentile.

Head Circumference:  18 7/8 inches - 80th percentile.

Sleep:  We've been struggling with her sleep lately and I think it has to do with numerous factors.  First of all, the busy-ness of the holidays disrupting her regular routine on top of various illnesses.  Second of all, she seems to be teething again.  I'm a little confused by this because she basically has all her teeth except her 2 year molars so I'm not sure if they're coming early or the canines that are not fully out are causing the pain.  Ken thinks it could be the tightness of all her teeth that could be bothering her, too.  Regardless, I'm 99% sure it's teething as we have seen these symptoms before.  I am just surprised how much they are affecting her this time around.

Eating:  Mei Li's favorite treat are gummies.  I try to keep them as a treat but have been a little lenient lately as I noticed they contained a lot of vitamin C and I wanted her to get lots of it to help her get over her cold.  I worry that we're getting lazy with her diet and she's heading down the road of a kid diet full of grilled cheeses and PBJ sandwiches.  However, she does still love a burrito.  It's hard to get creative with her diet when we don't get all that creative with our own.  I think I already noted this before, but she's getting pretty good at feeding herself.

Playtime:  We gave Mei Li a kitchen for Christmas, but her favorites are still books, dolls, stuffed animals and pushing things around in her toy stroller (thanks Tasha!).  She is starting to have the attention span for shows and has shown interest in The Backyardigans.  She really enjoys the intro song and would just like to watch that over and over, but she endures the rest of the show most of the time.  Her vocabulary is growing and growing.  Right now she particularly likes to say people's names.  She talks about our family and extended family a lot, and realizes that she is Mei Li (although she calls herself Mei Mei).  She also likes to list the names of the kids in her classroom at daycare, but then usually includes Tio in that list (that would be Tio Tim) instead of Ghiselle.  One other quirk Mei Li has right now is that she seems to want a time out.  When I'm asking her not to do something, she often will follow it with "time out?"  I think she wants the time out so that I will count (I typically count to 60) and sometimes if I tell her she's not getting one, she'll start trying to count herself.  But her count usually just goes "2, 5."  She recognizes all her numbers from 1-10, as well as her alphabet, but she doesn't say them on her own and in order just yet.

Anyway, I have had quite a productive day around the house and would like to continue doing so.  This blog post was part of my productivity, but if I'm not careful, I will never get up from in front of this computer and will do nothing else productive for the rest of the evening.