Yesterday by the Numbers

One - the number of shots Nadia had yesterday; she was scheduled to have the 2nd half of her flu shot earlier in the week, but they had called a while ago to cancel that due to running out of the vaccine. I found out at my appointment that they had it in stock again.

- the number of sweet drinks I had yesterday. If you've never had a gestational diabetes test, the best way I can describe the drink is that it tastes like orange soda minus the carbonation plus a lot of sugar. Ian was very active while I sat in the waiting room after

- the number of naps Nadia had yesterday. Even though she woke up at 5:20am, she wouldn't take a morning nap yesterday. Thankfully her afternoon nap (taken while her Grandma and PopPop were taking care of her) was 2.5 hours long. Today she is taking a nice long morning nap as I type.

- the number of fingers Nadia shows you when you ask her old she is. She learned this trick on Thursday and has demonstrated it for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and PopPop.

Two - the number of trips I made to the doctor's office yesterday since I went back to have Nadia have her flu shot.

- the number of inches that Paul's mom hemmed a pair of maternity jeans I bought on eBay.

Three - the number of shots I received yesterday. I received the Rhogam in my right arm as planned, but then I also ended up getting the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines in my left arm (that arm is still rather sore). I was scheduled to get the seasonal flu vaccine at work in 2 weeks, but it was easier just to take care of it yesterday. I hadn't made up my mind about the H1N1 vaccine, but he said one of his pregnant patients had been in the ICU this week due to H1N1. I asked about H1N1 for Nadia (Paul wanted her vaccinated), but they said they didn't have anything for someone her age (flu mist for older children).

- the number of vials of blood they drew yesterday. I don't know the results yet. I'm hoping to avoid the 3 hour diabetes test!

- the number of cars we took to dinner last night. Paul came straight from school, and Paul's parents went straight from the restaurant to their home.

Four - number of bandaids Nadia & I were given yesterday. One for Nadia's leg, one for each of my arms from the 3 shots, and one from my bloodwork.

Five - the number of people in our dinner party last night. We had dinner with Paul's parents at the Country Cupboard. Yum!

Six - the number of weeks the doctor told me I should go without lifting Nadia if I have a c-section. When I told him this is another reason I'd like to try VBAC, he said the bare minimum to go without lifting her would be 2 weeks. This would mean I couldn't be left alone with the kids for at least 2 weeks. I guess between Paul, my mom, and Paul's parents we could make that work. If I go that route, my c-section will be scheduled for January 13. Whether I had it that day or if I went into labor sooner than that, they would give me a spinal (not general anesthesia) this time.

Seven - the number of pounds I gained since my last appointment. GASP!!! I about died when I found this out. At my last check-up I had been pleased that I had gained 3 lbs in 4 weeks. I didn't think I had changed my diet much since then, but I must have since I gained 7 lbs in 3 weeks. UGH!! I've gained 24 lbs total, and I'm only 1 lb away from where I was when I gave birth at 36 weeks with Nadia. I figured I'd probably exceed that high this time since I started out 8 lbs heavier this time around, but I didn't think I'd be so close to that high at this point! I thought about weighing myself at home, but seeing these high numbers really stresses me out. This is NOT my favorite part of being pregnant. Even though I've struggled with my weight in the past, the only time in my life I've weighed what I weigh now was at the end of my pregnancy with Nadia.

I am hoping I gain only 1 lb over the next 4 weeks, but as long as I don't gain more than 4, I guess that will be alright. My plan is to avoid desserts over the next 4 weeks. I'm not going to do any baking of cookies or brownies or banana bread, and I'm also going to give up ice cream. Hopefully that will do the trick. I do have lots of fruit in the frig (grapes, bananas, appleas, and pears at the moment). When I'm hungry, I'll eat fruit. I had hoped to gain at the most 30 lbs this whole pregnancy, but at this point, 35 lbs total seems like a more reasonable goal. Well I can say that in 2010 I hope I lose at least 40 lbs. I know the first 20 will come off easily, and I am determined to work hard at shedding the other 20. My goal is to be back to the weight I was before ivf #1 by our vacation in May.

Christmas Cards

Last year I ordered our Christmas cards through Snapfish through a really good deal that Erica mentioned on her blog. This year I ordered them through Kodak through a really good coupon that my sister Wendy sent me. If you're wanting to order something from Kodak, I would highly recommend you go to their website in the very near future as they are giving away coupon codes that give you $15 + an additional 25% off your order. I was thinking of ordering the photo cards through Sears until I saw how expensive they are ($2 each). With this coupon from Kodak, I will be getting 50 cards and envelopes for $16.57 (including tax and shipping), which means I'm paying 33 cents a card. That's more like it!

I had a really hard time deciding which background to use. I started out with ones that used more traditional Christmas colors (such as green) or items (such as Christmas lights), but they just didn't seem to go with the photos. I also had a hard time deciding how many (1-9) and which photos to use. I was tempted to just use one picture of Nadia, but I know some people (like my friend, Jo) think Christmas cards should have photos of the whole family. It was very easy to pick which picture of the 3 of us to include. It's the only one that has been taken in 2009 (Wendy took it in August). It was MUCH harder to pick just one of Nadia. My first instinct was to use the one in her denim overalls from 9-24, but I thought the one I ended up picking (that I took earlier this month) was the better choice since it was less "cluttered." Well hopefully people will like our Christmas card this year. Next year there will be FOUR of us in the family photo. PTL!!!

Our Little Penguin

Isn't our little penguin adorable?

I thought I would go 5 months in between trips to the photo studio this time, but they sent me a coupon for a free 8x10" portrait collage, which expires on 10/31. So I actually ended up only going 4 months in between trips to the photo studio. I had an appointment for Friday afternoon, but after I picked up her costume at JCP this afternoon, I stopped by Sears to see if they happened to be able to take us then, and they did. The print above is my 3rd favorite of the 8 they took. This is one of the 3 poses included in the collage.

This one is my 2nd favorite and is one of the 3 poses included in the collage.

This was my favorite one and is one of the 3 poses included in the collage. Although I could have left without spending a penny, I didn't think that seemed right considering the time the photographer gave us. So I bought two 5x7's of this pose. I only spent $10.59 total, which was the least I ever spent after a portrait session.

It was harder to pick after the last 3 photo sessions; there were more poses with great expressions than there were this time. She actually did smile a lot, but it seemed the photographer's timing was out of synch with Nadia's smiles. Also, it was hard to get Nadia to stay in the position that they wanted her to be in. However, since I wasn't planning on buying many prints, I am satisfied with what we got. Next month I want to do a photo session with Nadia, Paul, and myself. I plan to buy more prints then so hopefully we'll have several good ones to pick from of just Nadia and also some of the three of us.

Daddy's Shirt

For many months Nadia has enjoyed taking things out of containers and also putting things into containers. There is one cabinet in the kitchen (filled with plastic containers and lids) that I call "Nadia's cabinet." She's allowed to play with the things in that cabinet, whereas the other kitchen cabinets are "Mommy's cabinets" and are off limits to Nadia. I find random items in Nadia's cabinet, such as one of her books. We got a new garbage can for the kitchen that she hasn't figured out how to open yet, so I haven't needed to retrieve anything from the garbage lately. Only one time did she put something in a toilet, and since it was a water book, it wasn't ruined. I find many random items in the clothes hampers when I am putting the laundry in the washing machine. Recent finds included a container of dental floss, a sealed tube of chapstick, a plastic hotdog, and a box which contained a tube of toothpaste. One of Daddy's shirts that she had taken out of the hamper *almost* ended up in the toilet this morning, but I intervened in the nick of time.

For whatever reason, she was very attached to that shirt this morning. She wanted to have it with her in her crib for her morning nap. At first I wasn't going to allow her to sleep with it, but then I thought, what's the harm? Pick your battles as they say! Well I doubt having the shirt with her had anything to do with it, but she took the longest nap she's EVER taken this morning - a little over 3 hours!!! She woke up at 5:30 this morning, which meant she only slept 10 hours last night, and her afternoon nap yesterday was only 35 minutes long. She's taking her afternoon nap right now. She obviously needed the sleep this morning! Her nose is still running, but thankfully she doesn't have any other symptoms (aside from being fussier and clingier than usual).

The Ultimate Baby Wrap that Joy recommended to me has been on sale at BRU lately. I had searched the web, and the cheapest I could find it anywhere was $40 including s/h. It was more expensive on many sites. If I spent $100 on certain items, I could have gotten the wrap for $26.98 at BRU, but even with paying shipping, it came to a little less than $32. So I bought it today. We have an Infantino sling and a Snugli baby carrier. The sling only was useful when Nadia was really small, and I don't find the Snugli particularly comfortable, except for short periods of time. Joy said this one is her favorite in terms of not bothering her back. I figure that with two little ones I'm going to be "wearing" Ian more than I did with Nadia. For example, I picture Ian in the wrap and Nadia in the front of the cart when we're grocery shopping. I might use the sling at first since it's easier to put on, but once he outgrows the sling, I'm definitely planning to make good use of the Ultimate Baby Wrap.

I looked in the clearance section of the BRU website, and I found that they had many Halloween costumes that were originally $20-25 for $4-6. I had a hard time choosing which one to get for Ian to wear next year, but I ended up getting him a giraffe costume (size 12 months) for $4.52. I think he'll look cute in it! For Nadia, I got a Disney Princess Aurora (Sleeing Beauty) costume in size 4T. Maybe she'll wear it some year for Halloween, but so far I just have one princess dress-up outfit for her (Snow White). I hope she'll enjoy playing with this in the future. I should go to Walmart and such next week to see if I can get some other costumes on clearance to expand our collection of dress-up clothing.

Runny Nose

Usually if you've been exposed to germs and are going to get sick, doesn't that happen within the first 48 hours? If that's correct, then I think Paul and I didn't catch any of the bugs we were exposed to in Maryland. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Nadia. The first clue was that last night she woke up a couple of times crying during the night. I gave her some Motrin around 2am. Today she has a runny nose. It's not really bad; so far I just need to wipe her nose after she sneezes. What cracked me up was that one time she sneezed and immediately pointed to the box of tissues. Yes, Mommy will wipe your nose! She's been rather "fragile" today. If I put her in her highchair for breakfast she cried. I was able to feed her breakfast if I let her sit in my lap. So far she doesn't have a fever or cough. Hopefully this is the worst of what she'll experience this time.

As far as the nap schedule, on Friday Sarah opted not to attempt a morning nap since it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. She knows our girl loves to play outside! That afternoon nap was 2 1/4 hours long. Saturday she took 2 naps at my parent's house. Sunday she just had one afternoon nap (90 minutes) because we were at church in the morning. Yesterday her morning nap was at home (at least 90 minutes - might have been as long as 2 hours), and she took an 80 minute afternoon nap at Sarah's. This morning her morning nap was 80 minutes long, and I am trying to decide whether to put her down shortly or have her take her afternoon nap at Sarah's. So it seems that we've gotten back into a two nap schedule with the exception of Sundays.

Now that we have decided upon a name for our son, last night I bought a personalized clock for Ian's room on eBay like Nadia has in her room. His clock features a fire engine to go along with the transportation theme. This morning I ordered hanging wall letters from Company Kids. Since his name is so short, it was only $24 including shipping. The letters each have a construction vehicle on them. I can't wait to decorate his room the week of Thanksgiving!!!

16 Facts about Nadia

In light of Nadia recently turning 16 months old, here are 16 facts about our sweet little girl.

1. She loves to give hugs and usually says "awwww" while giving them - whether she's hugging a person or a stuffed animal. I love getting many hugs a day from my cutie pie!!!

2. Her attention span for reading books has drastically increased. This wasn't the case at Grandma's house this weekend since there were so many "new" toys and people around (and a cat), but when she's at home she loves to read books. Generally we identify various objects, shapes, and colors rather than reading the text. There are some books she likes to have read over and over, but thankfully she doesn't mind if we ask to switch to a different one after reading that one 2-3 times.

3. She loves to play outside. She'd spend many hours outside every day if the weather and her Mommy permitted that to happen.

4. She's constantly saying new words. She talks the most when she's with me. The words she uses the most often are "mama," "up," "yes,""no," and "out."

5. Her newest animal sound is "baa." She also makes the sounds for a dog, cat, and cow. She also makes an attempt to "roar" when she sees a picture of a tiger.

6. She doesn't mind walking over anything with bare feet. She walked on Legos several times at Grandma's house for example. She doesn't seem to find it uncomfortable although Paul and I wince at times.

7. She turns just about anything into a chair. Several times a day she'll sit on a basketball or a toy such as her shape sorter that looks like a cookie jar.

8. If she had to eat only one food all day long, she would definitely pick Cheese Nips (or Goldfish or some other cheese cracker).

9. Her taste buds seem to resemble mine more than Paul's. For example, she loves ice cream, grapes, and ketchup on her fries, whereas Paul doesn't like any of those.

10. Her attention span for watching something other than VeggieTales on tv has also increased lately. I am relieved as I was getting weary of watching 30 minutes of VeggieTale silly songs each day. Some days we watch something on PBS instead (such as Curious George or Sesame Street). Although my original goal was to not let her watch ANY tv at this age, I have changed my goal to no more than 30 minutes a day.

11. She's getting better about not putting everything in her mouth although I still have to say "no eat" from time to time in reference to a rock she's found outside or a piece of junk mail she's ripped up. Now when it comes to food, she definitely thinks food found on the floor is edible. I try to sweep the kitchen floor every day, but she still manages to eat a piece of cereal or a cracker she found on the floor from time to time.

12. She can identify many body parts - toes, nose, ears, eyes, etc. Her favorite body part by far is the belly button. She loves finding hers, mine, and Paul's.

13. She's a good eater. I have been negligent in feeding her veggies the past few months. Hopefully it won't be a problem when I start reintroducing those into her daily diet. Paul feeds her dinner on Thursday nights and breakfast on Saturday mornings. For some reason, she usually gives him a hard time. Is it common for toddlers to eat better for Mommy than Daddy?

14. She still loves climbing - whether it's up the slide or climbing up into a chair.

15. She still loves music and is much happier when I play one of her CD's rather than when I listen to the radio. She has the sweetest singing voice. :-)

16. She's been doing better lately in terms of obeying me. Of course she doesn't always listen when I tell her "no," but I have to say most of the time she does follow my instructions.

Four Blessings

Jenna and Susie had fun writing words (even "subtraction!") as they were making up a game. Can you see that Jenna (who will be 7 next month) recently lost her two first teeth? Nadia wanted to see what her cousins were doing.

1. It was great to be able to spend time this weekend with my parents, brother, sister (Wendy), and 6 of our 7 nieces and nephews. Unfortunately 8 of those 10 people were sick (most were coughing). We're praying that Paul, Nadia, and I don't come down with what any of them had. Nadia enjoyed having lots of people around, playing with "new" toys (some are 35+ years old), and eating Fruit Loops (something Mommy never buys).

 

2. It was fun to watch the Steeler's game with my Dad yesterday afternoon. He's the reason I'm such a die hard Steeler's fan. It was an added bonus that we got to watch them beat an undefeated team (Vikings).

Nadia sitting on the rocking chair that was mine when I was little.

3. It's such a delight to be Nadia's mother! Can you believe she turned 16 months old on Saturday?

Nadia "reading" a book this morning; for once the book isn't upside down, lol!

4. Our son has a name!!! A relative called us yesterday to let us know it was fine to name our son Ian Alexander. Paul had come up with that name 4 1/2 years ago, but something happened this summer that made him think we shouldn't use that name after all. We had not made any progress towards a new name (since I didn't approve of Newton, Gordon, or Sebastian); it's a great relief that we have a name, and it's one we both really like. The name meets my qualifications because it sounds nice with our last name, is easy to spell and pronounce, isn't "too" popular (in 2008 it was the 80th most popular name for boys), and it has a wonderful meaning - "gracious gift of God." I certainly do view him as a gift from God!! Alexander is very popular (in 2008 it was the 6th most popular name for boys), but I don't care how popular the middle name is. Alexander means "helper and defender of mankind." I really hope that will be an accurate description of him some day!

Grandpa reading Nadia's favorite book, God Made Me, to Susie (5) and Nadia

Number 12!

Well I am very relieved because I did a tooth check today, and the tooth that we thought might be missing, has broken through the gums (5 months later than the others). Yay! Not much of it is showing yet, but she now has 12 teeth. I am just relieved she's not missing a tooth. When I was pregnant I kept praying she'd have Paul's teeth. He never needed braces or any orthodontic work and has had only ever had one cavity. In contrast, I saw an orthodontist regularly for seven years, and yet dentists still always say I need more work done (my bite is still way off). Time will tell whether our kids' teeth are more like their Mommy's or Daddy's, but I'm still hoping they take after Daddy when it comes to their teeth!

Yesterday Nadia's morning nap was almost 2 hours long. Today she wouldn't take one at all. Go figure! Yesterday she had a messy diaper at about 9:30am. I was planning to put her down at 10am since she had gotten up at 7am. After I changed her diaper, she was playing with the stuffed animals in her room, and about 5 minutes later started fussing and pointing to her crib. I asked her if she wanted to take a nap, and she said "yes" while nodding her head. So I put her in her bed and after playing for maybe 25 minutes, she took a long nap. It's been a couple of weeks since she had a morning nap that was even 1 hour long, let alone almost 2 hours long! In light of the fact she didn't wake up until almost noon, she took her afternoon nap (1 hour) at Sarah's. This morning she woke up at 6:30; so I put her down around 9am for her morning nap. She played in her crib for a little over an hour before I went and got her. She wasn't fussing, but I was certain she wasn't going to sleep. I hope she takes a nice long afternoon nap as although I'd love a nap myself (I slept for one hour of her morning nap yesterday), what I really need to do is grade midterm exams.

I haven't had any bleeding or contractions for almost 3 weeks now. The one troubling symptom which has returned though is the REALLY low kicks. They actually are rather painful, but more than that they scare me. It feels like he's about to come out of my body. The whole debate on whether to attempt VBAC might be a moot point if he stays in a breech position. Sometimes he is transverse, but most of the time he's in a breech position. Nadia was always head down so she kicked me much higher. He never has kicked me where Nadia kicked me. I didn't like it when Nadia kicked my ribs, but I'd pick that over feeling like he's about to exit the womb. He hadn't kicked down there for 3 weeks, but since Sunday he's been kicking super low. On Monday he was doing it during class, and I was scared that my water would break while teaching. Sunday I tried everything to get him to move, I even was practically standing on my head for awhile in the hopes he'd move farther up. Maybe my fears are unfounded? The perinatologist said that many women get kicked that low, but that if it was persistent and strong, I should go in to be checked. That made me think there was cause for concern.

Speaking of going into labor early, please pray for Regina's babies. She did IVF right around the same time I did (her transfer was a couple of days after mine). They transferred two blastocysts, and that resulted in a boy/girl twin pregnancy. She gave birth last week (at 26 weeks). Wyatt weighed 2 lbs, and Bailey weighed 1 lb 7 oz. Because Wyatt needed to have surgery, he was taken to a different hospital. Please pray for these two sweet little babies and also for their parents (the two hospitals are 85 miles apart from each other) as well as their siblings (Tyler, who is in 1st grade and Brianne, who is 3 years old). I remember how stressful it was to have Nadia in the NICU for one week. I imagine these two little ones are probably looking at 3 months in the NICU. Please pray that their stay will be as smooth and short as possible as I am sure Regina can't wait to be home with all four of her children!

Noses and Naps

Nadia's nose has cleared up. Even when she sneezes, I don't need to wipe her nose. I can't say the same for mine, but it's probably just allergies at this point. We've had a hard frost; hopefully, that will help with reducing the allergens. Thankfully, the weather is much prettier this week than it was last week. Thursday through Saturday we had constant rain or snow. It was so wonderful to see the sun again on Sunday! It might even hit 70 degrees tomorrow. That's my kind of weather!

The nap schedule didn't go as planned yesterday. She just played in her crib during the time I thought would be her morning nap. So, I put her down at 12:30 for her afternoon nap, and she slept about 80 minutes. In the past 8 days, she only took two naps twice (Friday and Saturday). We shall see what happens today. Thankfully she slept 11.5 hours last night, which meant she didn't get up until 6:45am.

Third Trimester!

Today I officially entered the 3rd trimester!! Every pregnancy is a miracle, but when you try unsuccessfully for 5 1/2 years, it makes having a little one grow within you seem like an utterly amazing miracle. There are many times I am reduced to tears (the happy kind) when I think about Nadia and the little boy kicking within me. Thank you, Lord!!

Saturday night Nadia had a hard time going to sleep, which is very unusual. Since she didn't fall asleep until about 8:15pm, I was very glad that she slept in until 7:10am. She had woken up at 5:40am the previous two mornings. We didn't attempt a morning nap yesterday due to Sunday School and church, and her afternoon nap was 90 minutes long (1:35-3:05). I am planning on putting her down for her morning nap at 10am today; this means her afternoon nap will be at Sarah's today. Hopefully this plan will work. She woke up this morning in a great mood; lately she's been waking up crying because she hasn't been getting enough sleep. Last night she slept almost 12 hours. What a difference!

Lately I've done a lot more baking than I usually do. Wednesday morning I made pumpkin bread for the MOPS meeting, Friday I made brownies for Paul & I since we had finished the chocolate chip cookies the day before, and yesterday morning I made apple crisp for the dinner we ate at church following the morning service. Hopefully I won't be upset the next time the doctor weighs me!

Nadia's newest words include "hi," "rip," "mess," and "night." She now sometimes says the word "hi" while she's waving. Mommy lets her rip the junk mail. I want her to know what to do at Christmas time with the wrapping paper! She hears me say "no make mess" all the time when she's in her highchair, and the other day she held a piece of Crispix in her hand and said the word "mess" while shaking her head "no." That's right, my girl. Put that food in your mouth; don't crush it with your hand! My mom heard her say "nighty night" last month when she was taking her to bed. Yesterday Paul and I heard her say it when she was looking at a page in a book where the characters were all in bed.

Red Lobster

Nadia and I seem to be back to normal health with the exception that we both still have runny noses. So far it seems that Paul managed to escape catching this cold. Thankfully, I haven't had any more contractions or bleeding. Although I'm hoping our son will stay nestled in tight for at least another 12 weeks, it's very comforting to know he's at the point where his chances of survival if he were to be born now are very, very high.

Nadia woke up at 5:40 again this morning. Yesterday I let her cry some and then she was quiet until 6:10 when I got her. This morning she cried for maybe 30 seconds and then was quiet until 6:20 when Paul got her. Both days she's taken a 45 minute nap around 9am, and both days she's taken an afternoon nap from about 1:30-3:00pm. So I guess I won't try the transition to one nap again quite yet. I guess the key was pushing back the time of her morning nap. This schedule won't work on Mondays and Tuesdays since we leave for Sarah's at 2:15. Maybe I'll have her take a later afternoon nap at Sarah's those days? We shall see.

One of the restaurants we have gift cards for is Red Lobster, which is Paul's favorite. I'm not a seafood person, but thankfully they always have at least one chicken item on the menu. I do enjoy their biscuits! Even though we arrived at 4:25pm, we had to wait 15 minutes for a table. Nadia thought the pager was a cell phone. It was so cute! She wore her size 5 black patent shoes for the first time. Aren't they adorable?

I'll be using the breathable white crib bumper for her brother's crib. I know she doesn't need a bumper at this stage, but I found a (used) one that went with her Gossamer Wings crib set on eBay for less than $10 including shipping. Now that she's past the risk of SIDS, I got it for her crib just because it's so pretty. As you can see, she had fun playing in the box it came in.

Nap Woes

Sunday morning Nadia's first nap was SUPER short (if she took one at all). She just played in her crib during her morning nap time on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday when I went to get her, she still wasn't crying or fussing even though she had been in her crib for 75 minutes. Her afternoon naps both days were about 75 minutes long. Tuesday's was taken at Sarah's house. Yesterday I didn't put her in the crib in the morning because of MOPS. Unfortunately, she fell asleep on the way home from MOPS, and that 30 minute nap ended up being the only nap she took all day as she just played in her crib during the time I was trying to get her to take an afternoon nap. Only having one nap didn't affect her mood on Monday or Tuesday, but only sleeping for 30 minutes definitely led to a very fussy little girl yesterday afternoon and evening. This morning she wasn't as happy to spend time in her crib and still didn't sleep at all. So tomorrow I plan to only put her in the crib once - for an afternoon nap that hopefully will be more than an hour long. Thursdays are the day she gets extra time with Daddy. For his sake, I hope she takes a nice afternoon nap today. She did sleep through the night the last two nights, and in fact she's not gotten up before 6:40am, which I've appreciated.

She hasn't fully mastered independent use of the sippy cup, but she's almost there. Sometimes she doesn't mind if Paul or I hold it for her, but most of the time she wants to hold it herself. Also, she's had no trouble using the sippy cups that she was unable to use at first.

Nadia loves her stuffed animals. There are a few in particular that are her favorites, such as the penguin. This large bear is definitely one that receives many hugs from Nadia every day. If she doesn't snuggle on Mommy's lap while watching Veggie Tales, then she snuggles with the bear on the couch.

These are two of her favorite toys at the moment - the basketball and the little red chair.

First Dentist Appointment

Nadia had her first dentist appointment at 8am this morning. Actually she was only seen by a hygenist. The hygenist was glad to hear that she's moved from a bottle to a sippy cup, that we give her flouride drops, and that we never have allowed her to take a bottle or sippy cup to bed. She examined her teeth and said we've been doing a good job with cleaning them. In the next few months we'll find out if that bottom tooth is missing or not. I'm hoping it's not missing, but if it is, there's nothing we can do about it. The only bad habit (related to her teeth) that she has thus far is the thumb sucking. I knew at some point we'd need to start working on eliminating that habit, but I didn't think I needed to deal with it now. Any comments on when and how to extinguish this habit are appreciated!

From the dentist's office we headed to MOPS. The speaker who was scheduled to come today had to back out at the last minute, so we did another craft. I don't plan to keep this one (a wax paper placemat with leaves and such). I did enjoy the fellowship with the other ladies, particularly with Evie.

It's fun to see each day what new words Nadia will say. Some of her newest words are "egg," "brush," and "hello." She says "hello" when she's playing with one of her toy phones. It's so cute! She also says "yumm" when eating a tasty treat such as a chocolate chip cookie. For many years I didn't bake cookies as I was afraid I'd eat too many of them. I have been pleased that the most I've had in one day is 3, and most days I've only had 2 cookies. The 3 dozen cookies actually lasted 7 days even with 3 of us eating them. Nadia is allowed one cookie each day.

99 Days!

Our son's due date is only 99 days away; I'll be 26 weeks tomorrow and enter the 3rd trimester on Monday. YAY! Today I'm 10 weeks and 3 days away from when I delivered Nadia (which means that's how long it will be until Christmas Eve). I hope we come up with a name soon. I admit it's getting hard for me to wait for Paul to come up with a name.

Nadia will be at Sarah's longer than usual today as I have a meeting at school at 1pm. Hopefully she'll take a nice long afternoon nap for Sarah as I don't think she napped this morning. I can't say for certain as I fell asleep so I stopped checking the video monitor, but my guess is she didn't sleep even though she was in her crib for 75 minutes. I guess as long as she plays happily in her crib each morning, maybe that time is still a little restful for her? I know at sometime we'll be transitioning to one nap (again), but I was hoping it wouldn't be quite so soon. Saturday night and last night she woke up at 11:30pm; Sunday night she slept through the night. I hope she sleeps through the night tonight!

I Scream;

you scream; we all scream for ice cream! Thankfully Nadia doesn't actually scream for it, but she does request "ice" (meaning ice cream) all the time these days. When I put her in her high chair for lunch or dinner, the first word she says is "ice," not that I have ever given her ice cream before she ate a meal! Today at the grocery store when we were in the freezer section, she spotted the ice cream containers and was excitedly saying "ice." Our first "battle of the wills" was over chocolate chip cookies rather than ice cream. I baked 3 dozen cookies on Friday, and yesterday she was insisting on eating a cookie before her lunch. She cried quite a bit, but that didn't persuade me to give her a cookie first. I moved the cookies out of her sight (put them on top of the refrigerator), and lunch went much more smoothly later that day. Speaking of "lunch," that's one of her new words along with "eye." She'll say "eye" when she sees one in a book.

Her attention span for reading books is thankfully expanding these days. Awhile ago she used to have a long attention span for books, but the past few months it's been very short. She likes to have us point out objects in the books rather than reading the text, and her favorite book at the moment is God Made Me.


She wouldn't take a nap this morning. I hope this was a fluke as we had gotten back into a two nap routine. I hope she takes a nice afternoon nap to compensate. I know she's tired as at 11am she fell asleep for a couple of minutes on the way back from the grocery store.

Singing and Sippy Cups

Over the last week or so, Nadia has started singing when we have a CD of hers on or are watching Silly Songs. She has such a sweet voice! She doesn't try to say any words when she sings, but she's definitely using her singing voice, and sometimes she manages to come to the correct pitch! I need to get a video of it, but it's one of those more unpredictable things. Since she likes music so much, I decided to also get her the "High Sea Symphony" toy pictured at left for her for Christmas. I think she'll have fun with the four wooden rhythm instruments.

Her favorite letter to say is crrently "x." She says it very clearly, but she hasn't learned which letter is actually the "x." She has letters and numbers in her bathtub, and now many of them are referred to as "x."

On Thursday when I met Paul's parents to give them Nadia (plus her stroller, car seat, and diaper bag), I discovered two things were missing from the diaper bag - sippy cup and a bib. I had put the bib in it, but it had fallen out before I got in the car. I found it on the garage floor when I got home. So Paul's parents stopped at a Rite Aid to buy her a sippy cup, and the really soft spout kind that she's been using the past 3+ months wasn't available. They bought her the more traditional (Playtex) kind, and she was able to use it! I guess I can get out the ones I packed away that she wasn't able to drink from a few months ago. She is getting better at holding it herself when she's drinking although she hasn't fully mastered that yet.

Nadia still has a slight runny nose. My cold is much worse than hers. I was trying to only take Tylenol, but I couldn't sleep last night as my nose wouldn't stop running. So I looked on the list of what I could take from the OB and took some cold medicine. I had my OB appt yesterday; unfortunately I had to wake Nadia up from her nap to take her with me. I gained 3 lbs in 4 weeks, which means since the egg retrieval I've gained 17 lbs total. My next appt is in 3 weeks (when I'll be 28 weeks). At that appointment I'll be given the Rhogam injection and also have the one hour gestational diabetes test. I hope I pass it!

Walls and Balls

Nadia's newest word is "wall." Paul's mom heard her say it yesterday when she was changing Nadia's diaper, and I've heard it a few times today. Her newest "toy" that she's enjoying is Paul's basketball. She discovered it in a box in the garage a few days ago and had fun rolling it around the garage. Since then Paul cleaned off the ball so she could play with it inside. She carries it, throws it, rolls it, and sits on it.

Yesterday afternoon while I was grading papers in my office, I started to get a really sore throat, and my nose started running incessantly. Unfortunately that continued throughout class last night (along with a headache and mild fever). I wanted to go to bed early last night, but I stayed up so that I could talk to Paul on the phone after he finished his exam. I still feel pretty lousy today, but of course moms don't get sick days. If Nadia gave me this cold, then I understand why she was crying so much that first night. My throat was really, really hurting last night. Thankfully the only symptom she seems to have is a mild runny nose. This is her third cold, but so far it seems to be the mildest of the three. I hope I'm feeling better soon as well and that neither of us pass this on to Paul.

She was a hit!

Nadia was a very good girl for her grandparents. Her Great Gram and some other residents at the nursing home got to enjoy the smiles and waves of our sweet little girl. She spent time in Gram's apartment, walking the halls of the home with Pop Pop, and having dinner with Great Gram, Grandma, & Pop Pop at Hoss's steakhouse. I was having her practice saying Pop Pop as we drove to meet Paul's parents. She will easily say it for Paul or I upon request, but she hasn't said it to Pop Pop yet. Hopefully soon!

Here's a family photo that my sister (Wendy) took during our family reunion in the Poconos in August. It's rare to get one of all 3 of us. Family member #4 was hiding as I was 18 weeks pregnant at the time.

Belly Button

I asked the dentist if I should be concerned about Nadia's "missing tooth," and he said that teeth coming in slowly is better. He said even if that tooth happens to be missing, there's nothing they can do about it. Hopefully eventually that tooth will appear!

Last night I recorded a really short (8 second) video of Nadia making this little sound. Normally I say a word and try to get her to imitate me. Well she was the first one to make that oohhheeeooooh sound yesterday, and she thought it was very funny when Mommy would imitate her so I recorded it last night. I need to do a better job of recording little videos of Nadia. Another thing she found very amusing yesterday was when I'd lift her shirt a little and touch her belly button, and then she'd locate my belly button. Who knew that belly buttons could be so entertaining?

Normally, Paul comes home by 3:30 on Thursdays so he can watch her while I'm at school. In light of his exam, Paul's parents agreed to watch Nadia, and Paul's dad decided it would be nice to take Nadia down to see his mom (Nadia's Great Gram). I am sure she will be a hit at the nursing home. Her waving and smiles should bring joy to the residents. Then Paul's parents are going to take Gram & Nadia out for dinner before bringing Nadia back home. They are going to be doing a lot of driving today (over 3 hours even with us meeting them in another town which will save them one hour of driving), but I am sure Gram will enjoy having her great grandaughter visit her! Hopefully Nadia will be a good little girl on this "field trip" with her grandparents. I'll get home about 8pm, but Paul is spending the night in State College as the earliest he'd get home would be 10pm.

1,000th Post

This is my one thousandth post! I am sure a few people, such as my mom, have actually read all those posts. I started this blog in December 2006 shortly after we started the process to adopt two children from Ukraine. When I started this blog, we had already tried to adopt a newborn within the US for 2 years and tried to conceive for 4 1/2 years. We had lost one baby in July 2005. Early in the summer of 2007 we found out that our 2.5 year contract with Lifetime was coming to a close without us ever being presented with a possible match with a birthmother and also that our translated dossier was going to expire in Ukraine before it was submitted to their government agency that processes adoptions. In light of those two "closed doors" we signed a contract with a different domestic newborn adoption facilitator and also began our first cycle of IVF. That summer it was very hard to understand why trying to conceive and trying to adopt (both domestic and international) were so difficult for us. I really thought by 2007 we'd finally become parents through adoption. However God had another wonderful plan for our family. It's amazing to think that in October 2007 we were still childless (having lost the 3 embryos transferred that August), and now 2 years later we have a precious 15 month old daughter and are expecting our son to be born in 3 months (I'm 25 weeks today). Praise the Lord!

I'm sure it's pretty obvious, but I love being a Mommy!! Of course every "rose" has its "thorns." For me, I'd say the thorniest part of being a parent has been the sleep deprivation. Those first four months were tough, and although I cannot wait to hold my son in my arms, I admit I'm dreading the weeks and possibly months of getting very little sleep. I got a brief taste of it again last night as Nadia woke up sometime after midnight and didn't go back down until almost 4am. Monday night she woke up crying at 10pm, and I gave her Tylenol and let her rest on top of me while I was in bed for about 20 minutes and then she easily went back down in her crib. Last night Paul had a hard time putting her down to bed, so he kept her up until I got home (a little after 8pm). I gave her Tylenol and put her down. She fell asleep about 8:15pm, about an hour later than usual. When she first awakened in the middle of the night, I went and brought her to our bed and she actually fell asleep on me. It was very peaceful listening to Paul & Nadia sleep, but of course I was also wanting some sleep! So I took her back to her crib, but she immediately started crying. I let her cry awhile, and then went and got her and gave her Tylenol and again she fell asleep on me in our bed. Again she screamed when I took her back to her crib. After letting her cry awhile, Paul tried giving her milk and rocking her, but she just kept crying even in his arms. I brought her back to our bed, but this time she just wanted to play, and it was 3:30am! After awhile I took her back to her crib and thankfully this time she finally fell asleep after crying just a few minutes. She slept from 4-7:30am and was very fussy in the morning until after her morning nap, which thankfully was 2 hours long (much longer than usual). She's been sneezing a lot the last couple of days, and today whenever she sneezes, junk comes out of her nose. She at least has a mild cold. If we have another rough night tonight (I hope not!), I am going to ask a doctor to look in her ears tomorrow morning when I have my OB appt. She doesn't have a fever, but she definitely doesn't feel well.

The outfit she's wearing today (see the picture above) was a yard sale purchase. I never used to shop at yard sales, but I have quickly become a fan of them! :-)

What's New with Nadia

Nadia has started to show us that she wants to hold her sippy cup herself. That is fine with us, if she will actually drink milk while holding it. Generally she wants to play with it or bites the spout instead of drinking from it. Unfortunately this leads to tears when we take it away from her because she's not using it properly. I know it's something she needs to learn to do herself, and she's certainly old enough to be able to hold it and drink from it. On the other hand, the initiative to have her try feeding herself with a spoon came from me. So far I've only let her try feeding herself with a spoon when she's eating oatmeal for breakfast. Again, she seems to view the spoon as something to play with more than something to eat with. Maybe I should wait a bit longer before we work on teaching her to feed herself? She feeds herself with her fingers all the time. Well if anyone has any tips to share regarding teaching a child to use a sippy cup herself and/or feed herself with a spoon, I am all ears!

Nadia hasn't gotten any new teeth lately. Should I be concerned that she still only has 3 on the bottom in the front? She has her 4 top teeth and has 4 molars. The 4 on the top came in 2 at a time, as did the first 2 on the bottom. She's had those 7 front teeth for 4 months, and I am starting to wonder if the 4th front tooth on the bottom is ever going to come in.

Her vocabulary is growing on a daily basis. It's getting hard to keep track of all her new words. A few recent additions include "ice," "house," and "no." I was impressed with her use of "house" as she said it (totally of her own initiative) as we were driving into the garage. It's so easy to impress one's Mommy, isn't it? She hasn't used the word "no" in a defiant manner, yet. So far she just says it very nicely in response to a question like "do you want some banana?" I am sure the day will come when she won't say it nicely and/or will say it in defiance, but we haven't had it happen yet. I am still amazed that she said the word "yes" for about 4 months before she said "no."

She's really into her stuffed animals these days. When Paul or I are sitting in the glider in her room, she brings us her big stuffed animals (dog and Minnie Mouse) and then says "up." Let me tell you my lap gets pretty full with a pregnant belly, 15 month old, and two large stuffed animals! It doesn't matter if the stuffed animal is bigger than she is, she still finds a way to carry it around.

Today she's wearing her sneakers (see top photo). I

think even her sneakers are so cute. I just love infant and toddler clothes and shoes! The sneakers have pink and purple stripes so they match her outfit perfectly, not that I am buying different shoes for each of her outfits, lol! She has 3 pairs that fit her - black patent shoes for Sundays, sneakers, and the brown shoes that she wears the most often. Although the turtlenecks from Target didn't fit her, thankfully the 2 I bought a LONG time ago at JCPenney do fit over her head. The sweatpants and turtleneck she's wearing today cost me a grand total of $2.40 because I bought them so long ago on clearance.

I recently bought her a small comb and brush. She's not crazy about having her hair combed when it's tangled in the back, but she loves having it brushed, and of course she enjoys using the brush herself as well.


Nadia really loves giving Mommy and Daddy "eskimo" kisses these days (with our noses). She also loves to play with my earrings. We are working on the concept of "gentle," which will come in handy when brother arrives.

Many Blessings...

1. Nadia slept in until 6:30 this morning. That may sound like an oxymoron, but considering she woke up at 5:15 the last two mornings, the extra hour was greatly appreciated.

2. Paul's parents came up last night to join us for dinner at Applebee's. Nadia enjoyed the pb&j sandwich I had brought for her to eat. Several of us (including Nadia) shared a big yummy chocolate chip cookie sundae for dessert at the end.

3. After dinner, Paul's parents watched Nadia while Paul & I went to a concert. There were four different artists - Chris Sligh (who was a finalist on the 6th season of American Idol), Aaron Shust, Meredith Andrews, and Andrew Witt. Witt was our least favorite, and Aaron Shust was our most favorite. The concert only cost $10 (and that covered admission + a t-shirt), and it was held at a church only 10 minutes from our home. It was nice to have a date with my hubby!

4. Last night Paul's parents brought us our son's crib. I am glad we got it for $50 (Craigslist) and that Paul's parents were able to pick it up for us.

5. I felt great while teaching on Thursday night; this was a great improvement over how I felt when teaching on Monday and Tuesday.

6. I haven't had any contractions for a week. Hopefully they won't return until January.

7. Aside from the "bright spot," our son got a good report on Wednesday.

Early Bird

Well Nadia's sleeping habits have been a bit erratic lately. Tuesday and Wednesday she woke up between 6:15-6:30am, Thursday at 7:15am, and this morning at 5:15am. She cried a couple of minutes and then was quiet until 5:30 and then cried another couple of minutes and was quiet until 5:50 when I went and got her. I modify the time I put her down for her morning nap based on when she got up. The earliest I put her down is 8am, and the latest is 9:30am. She generally takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep and then sleeps for about 90 minutes. Then I put her back down about 3 hours later; this means her afternoon nap usually starts sometime between 1-2:30pm. The length of this nap has been very variable. I had to wake her up on Tuesday to take her to Sarah's, and other days this nap is not even 45 minutes long. Her bedtime has been pretty consistent - between 7:15-7:30pm. Tonight for some odd reason she is having a really hard time going to sleep. It's 9:00pm, and she's still awake. I have no idea why! Usually she goes to sleep very easily at bedtime. She'd better not get up at 5:15am tomorrow in light of her very late bedtime tonight!

I had some more bleeding today. I haven't had any contractions since Saturday night, but I've had a little bleeding on Sunday morning, Wednesday evening, and this afternoon. The quantity was the greatest today. I called the OB triage nurse, and she said to stay off my feet as much as possible, drink 8 ounces of water each hour, and not lift anything over 20 lbs. I said that is impossible as my 15 month old daughter weighs more than 20 lbs. I said I would try to lift her as infrequently as possible. This weekend Paul can do most of the lifting, but starting on Monday I'll be lifting her again. My next OB appt is scheduled for Thursday.

8th Ultrasound

Yesterday was the 8th time I got to see my son via ultrasound. It will probably be quite awhile until the next one, but the good news is now I'm at the stage where I can feel him moving every day. During my pregnancy with Nadia, I was seen by the perinatologists 3 times because I had placenta previa (her placenta was over my cervix) as well as polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid). I have neither condition this time so yesterday was my last visit with the specialists. The only abnormal finding was that he saw an echogenic intracardiac focus (bright spot in the heart). This actually does not indicate any heart problems. About 5% of healthy babies have this condition during pregnancy. The percent is a little higher for those with Down's syndrome. However, the doctor doesn't think it's likely our son has Down's since the other physical features that are associated with Down's didn't show up in the ultrasound. He's grown a lot since the last ultrasound! At 18w5d he weighed 10 ounces, and at 24w0d he weighed 24 ounces (1.5 lbs). The sonographer gave me 4 pictures - two 3D profile shots and two 4D facial shots. I have to say I prefer the 3D ones to the 4D ones.

I talked with the doctor about the contractions and bleeding and also the fact that he often kicks so low it feels like he's about 1 inch from exiting my body. He said if the contractions are strong enough that they are worrying me, I can come in for them to check my cervix even if I'm having less than 4 an hour. He said usually it's not a problem for baby to kick that low, but that if those kicks are persistent and strong, that it actually can be a problem. He just kept emphasizing that it was better for me to come in if I was concerned due to bleeding, contractions, and/or really strong/low kicks. I think he was surprised they didn't have me come in over the weekend. I thought maybe he'd do an internal exam in light of what I shared with him, but he didn't. I visited with Donna for about an hour and then drove home. When I got home I discovered a little more blood. I didn't see the point of calling the hospital since that's where I had just been! I haven't had any contractions since Saturday night. I did notice I felt super lousy while we stood for one song during choir rehearsal last night. I definitely need a stool for school although I was informed yesterday they don't have any available. I guess I need to try to buy one myself ASAP. I left choir a little early since I just wasn't feeling that wonderful. My next regular OB appt is scheduled for a week from today. If I have any more bleeding or contractions, I'll ask if we can move that up and include an internal exam.

Nadia did well yesterday considering her afternoon nap was 2 1/2 hours later than usual and only 25 minutes long (taken in the car on the way home). I've noticed that when she gets less sleep during her naps, she sleeps more that night, which makes sense. The last few days she's been getting up between 6:15-6:30, but this morning she slept until 7:15.

I've mentioned after her well baby visits that her head circumference has usually been in the 90th percentile. Well I guess it means no turtlenecks for her. I bought a few at Target a few weeks ago. There are even snaps on the back of the neck so I thought it would go over her head unsnapped (size 18 months), but nope there is no way these shirts are going over her head. I hope they'll take them back as I didn't keep the receipt. Thankfully the tags are still on them.

Nadia's newest word is "pop." She said the word many, many times yesterday as a package that came in the mail yesterday had bubble wrap around it. I put it on the floor and when she walks on it, she pops the bubbles. She already had fun again with it this morning; after hearing the popping sound she says "pop." Paul's dad likes his grandkids to call him PopPop so we shall see if she'll start saying his name now that she can say that word. :-)