Goals for the next four months

Although I did set quite a few goals for the year in January, sometimes I think it's more helpful to set goals for smaller blocks of time. I was pleased when I looked through January's list to see that several have been accomplished already such as my weight loss, teaching Oliver to eat solid foods, reading at least 25 chapter books to the kids, going to Disney World and Sesame Place, Nadia and Ian have taken a t-ball class, Nadia is playing her second season of soccer, the kids took swimming lessons, we went to the pool very often this summer, I did a lot of purging around the house, and Ian started memorizing Bible verses this summer.

On Monday I started using sticker charts for the first time with Nadia and Ian. I plan to use these for a few weeks (at least) and will change what they have to do to earn stickers slightly each week. This will be one of the ways I work toward accomplishing some of the goals listed below. This week Nadia's chart has included making her bed, not putting any clothes on her bedroom floor, practicing the piano, being well-behaved at church, and blowing her nose. Ian's chart this week has included doing a good job of eating at lunch and dinner and being nice to Oliver. Next week one of Nadia's is going to be about flushing the toilet.

1. Help Ian become completely independent with going to the bathroom as well as dressing and undressing himself in the morning and at night. To accomplish that he needs to learn how to wipe himself and to take off and put on his own shirt.  I also want to help Nadia do a better job of remembering to flush after she goes to the bathroom. I'd also like to see him learn how to pee standing up before he turns four. Paul will have to help with that one.

2. Serve vegetables at least four times a week. We've been eating LOTS of fresh fruit this summer, but aside from corn on the cob haven't been eating vegetables very regularly. I recently stocked up on frozen veggies so now I need to start serving them and insisting that Nadia and Ian eat some. Nadia did a great job of eating baby carrots with her lunch yesterday and today!!

3. Continue to help Nadia with her handwriting, drawing, coloring, and cutting skills. In particular I want to have her start using lowercase letters in her journal. Her drawing skills have come a LONG way this year! I'd like Ian to learn how to write his name. This week I taught him how to write capital "I".

4. Continue to work with Nadia and Ian on their behavior during the church service. I will not allow Nadia to attend Children's Church any more. Ian may attend it during the second half of the service, if he so desires. Last Sunday he was perfectly quiet during the entire service because he took his nap in my arms.

5. Help Nadia completely break her thumb sucking habit.

6. Start teaching Nadia and Ian Spanish.

7. Help Paul get a tenure track job that would start in August 2014.

8. Take at least one video of each child every other month.

9. Continue to give Nadia frequent practice with adding and subtracting (with concrete objects) as well as adding coins. We finished the Kindergarten math textbook on Wednesday and started the Apples book (by Life of Fred) on Thursday. We'll start the first grade math textbook after we finish Apples. I also want to work with her on counting by 2's and 5's. She can already count by 10's.

10. Continue to work with Nadia on the Level 1A piano book and Level 1 spelling curriculum. Start working with Nadia on the Level 1 reading curriculum.

11. Only let the children watch tv a maximum of 1-2 times a week. This summer we made a great improvement in this area as previously they used to watch something 1-2 times a day. Part of the reason I want to continue to keep the tv watching to a minimum is because I recently bought an iPad (hasn't arrived yet), and I want to keep their screen time as low as possible, even if they are using educational apps on the iPad. Tuesday night will be one of the times they watch tv most weeks since Paul won't come home until after they're in bed.

12. I'd like to see Nadia learn to ride her two wheel bike without training wheels and Ian learn to ride a tricycle (he puts his feet on the ground rather than on the pedals).

13. If the FET doesn't result in a pregnancy, I'd like to lose ten more pounds by the end of the year.

14. Get into a better routine of cleaning the house (particularly dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, and vacuuming). I'm going to use an app on the iPad to help with this, which I think will be better as I won't have to print out the checklists. I've been mopping the kitchen floor regularly now that I own a steam mop. I'd also like to use an app on the iPad to track my Bible readings for my daily devotions.

15. I hope that Oliver will be walking independently and able to crawl safely up and down the stairs by the end of the year. I also am working with him on responding to the word "no." In particular we're working on not throwing food on the floor when he's sitting in his booster seat, not touching the cd player or my laptop, and not putting books, paper, Kleenex, grass, etc. in his mouth.

Giving Thanks

Even though it's not Thursday, I can count my blessings, right? :)

1. Oliver had not been feeling up to par for a few days. He was having seemingly umpteen billion messy diapers a day, hardly eating any solid food, etc. I was SO relieved that yesterday he went back to his norm of pooping only once, and he also ate more solid food. It also meant he was able to poop on the potty today for the first time in several days. While he had "the runs"  he also developed a bad case of diaper rash. It was the first time since he was home from the NICU that I had to use diaper cream on him. I am so glad that he's back to normal today and the diaper rash is gone!

2. Paul came home rather distraught on Wednesday night because the bookstore had goofed up his order. Over 100 students had purchased a condensed version of the textbook he had selected (only 6 chapters), and only 3 of the chapters were ones he had planned to use. Most of the chapters he planned to use were not in the textbook his students purchased. We emailed the textbook rep yesterday, and he solved the problem by giving all of his students access to an electronic version of the entire textbook. What a relief!!! Also, his enrollment dropped to 93 students in that class. He could have had as many as 130 students. We're relieved to "only" have 93 even though the most I ever had in a class was 50.

3. I won't be able to participate in my church's choir over the next four months, but I am going to be able to rejoin the handbell choir at my former church during that time span as the rehearsals are on Monday nights, and Paul is only teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The handbell choir plays in their worship service once a month, but since I'm not teaching Sunday School again until December, we can go to our former church once a month over the next four months. I am so glad that I'll still be able to be involved in a music ministry even though Paul is teaching on Wednesday nights.

4. I have been trying over the past few months to find little ways to keep the house more organized. My latest idea was to buy a shoe shelf. For the past five years we've been taking off our shoes in the kitchen when we come in the house through the garage. Recently I ordered a bamboo shoe shelf on Amazon. I assembled it yesterday and placed it in the foyer under the kids' coat rack. It looks great! The kitchen floor looks much neater also. :)

5. On Wednesday morning all three kids slept until at least 7:30am. Wow! Usually at least one of them is up by 6:45, and typically they're all up by 7:00. This morning Ian crawled in bed with us at 6:15, for example. Having all three sleep until 7:30 was quite a treat!

6. It's been nice weather for swimming this week as the highs have been in the upper 80's. We have enjoyed our pool membership! Our favorite lifeguards were Daniel and Vivian (high schoolers).

Thankful Thursday

1. We're so thankful that Paul is a visiting Assistant Professor at Bloomsburg University. He started teaching this week! He has a lab on Tuesday evenings, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday afternoon, and he has a lecture from 6-9pm on Wednesdays. If you think of him on Wednesday nights, I'm sure he'd appreciate prayers on his behalf as he has about 120 students in that general education class!

2. I took the van for the 10,000 mile appointment and annual inspection on Tuesday morning. We shopped at the mall while they were working on the van. I went through the clearance racks at Sears for clothes for Nadia and Ian next summer. I got them short/shirt outfits, swimsuits, pajamas, etc. I spent $101.12 on items that that the original prices totaled $636.90, which means I got them for 85% off! It isn't easy shopping at the mall with three kids age 5 and under (particularly Nadia and Ian who were constantly asking me to buy this or that). Ian loves the Spiderman baseball cap that I bought him. I'm glad I got him one thing he can wear now because it was hard for him to understand all the clothes we bought are for next year. He wanted to wear his new swimsuit when we went to the pool Tuesday afternoon.

3. It was great to go on a date and celebrate our 12th anniversary on Sunday afternoon. I really appreciate Grandma and Pop Pop watching the kids for us!

4. I'm glad I signed Nadia and Ian up for gymnastics again. They were both so excited about it, and I couldn't believe how much Nadia had forgotten. Just another reminder of a benefit of homeschooling. I don't plan on taking 3 months off of school with my kids. I remember as a teacher how much the students would forget over the summer. Nadia is definitely going to be pushed a lot farther in this level one (hour long) class. I will NOT be in a hurry to see her promoted to level two though as that class lasts for two hours! Ian did SO much better this week than he did at the beginning of this year. There are 21 kids in Nadia's class (with 3 coaches so most of the time they were in groups of seven), and there are 6 kids in Ian's 45 minute long class. I'm hoping to see them both make a lot of progress this year!

5. I'm so grateful that I can stay-at-home with the kids and homeschool Nadia. Homeschooling wasn't my idea, but I am ever so grateful Paul had a vision for it! I love that it doesn't take us very long to do our homeschooling each day so Nadia has lots of time to play at home, swim, go to the playground, etc. Play is extremely important for young children! Staying-at-home has been a bit harder for me to adjust to since we didn't move. I feel like I should still be teaching (part-time). It's even more of a struggle since Paul now teaches where I taught for the past nine years, and
I'm constantly coming in contact (as I help him) with things and people that used to be part of my daily life that aren't any longer. It feels very strange not to be earning any money after earning money for about 30 years straight, if you go back to my babysitting days. After I knew we weren't moving, I came super close to shooting an email to my former department chair as well as the secondary education department chair (as their department does most of the student teaching supervision for both departments) to say that I would be happy to teach one class or supervise a few student teachers, if they were in need of another adjunct. Every week I toyed with sending that email. The reasons why I didn't included: #1 not knowing what's going to happen with the FET, #2 not knowing how many hours Paul will be at school this semester, #3 the fact I'll be back to working on submitting applications for him starting next month, and #4 the fact that I'm actually very busy right now "just" being a mom (laundry, cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, taking care of three kids, etc.). If the FET does not result in a pregnancy, I might send such an email regarding my availability for the spring semester. We shall see. I love being home with my kids, but I also really enjoyed my 20 years in the field of education (teacher, principal, and then professor). I highly doubt I'll ever go back to work full-time, especially since we're homeschooling, and I really don't want to go through the process of earning tenure and a promotion again. But I do think I'd like to be a part-time adjunct again at some point. I am grateful I can be unemployed at the moment. I definitely feel like I have my hands full even though I'm unemployed!

Here we go again

We started trying to have a baby in May 2002, and the following summer I had my first medicated cycle with an OB/GYN. In the fall of 2003 I saw an RE for the first time. I never would have thought that 10 years later I'd still be working with an RE. It's very different trying for #4 than it was trying for #1, especially considering how difficult Oliver's pregnancy was for the whole family. This will be our fifth ivf cycle. The first one did not result in a pregnancy, and the next three did. If this one doesn't result in a pregnancy, it won't be devastating like it was after we found out we lost our first three embryos. My arms are no longer empty. I would be thrilled to have a fourth baby, but I can definitely be content with "just" three if this last transfer does not result in a pregnancy. Part of me wishes we could just hit a fast forward button until we got to the point where we found out what the result was. I really don't enjoy riding the emotional rollercoaster and all the suspense that is involved until one week past the transfer when I break out the pregnancy test. On Friday I called the women at the hospital who processes the payments for the fertility clinic and paid the $3,450 required up front for a FET cycle. In the end we should get about $2,000 of that back as the insurance should pay for the ultrasounds, bloodwork, and sonohysterogram. If this FET does not result in a pregnancy, it's going to be hard not to feel a bit of angst toward the RE because I wanted to transfer all three blastocysts in January 2012, but he only let us transfer two even though I was three months away from turning 40 years old and had transferred three two other times without ever having a pregnancy involving more than one baby. If this does result in a pregnancy, then it will be clearer to me why only two were transferred that time, and if it doesn't, I'll need to trust that God was in control and there was a reason (unknown to me) why I had to go through the emotional, physical, and financial expense involved with an additional FET (not counting what we're paying now, in 2012 we had to pay $750 for it to be frozen).

This morning I had an appointment with the RE. The REs I saw at this clinic from 2004-2009 were very efficient. I usually was in and out of the office in a very short amount of time (often less than 15 minutes). I had forgotten that this RE (whom I saw for Oliver's cycle) often is running behind schedule. My appointment was at 9:15am. I had planned to leave the house at 8:40 and thought I'd be back by 10:15am. I actually didn't get back until 11:15am, which held Paul up with going in to school. He doesn't teach on Mondays, but he's still frantically preparing for his first week of classes. From 2004-2012 when I had appointments at this hospital I would have bloodwork done in the women's center (for the OB/GYN/RE/MFM patients). It was VERY close to the fertility clinic, and I rarely had to wait even 5 minutes to have my bloodwork drawn. I found out today they closed that lab. Now they only have one lab for the entire hospital, which means you have to walk much farther and wait for easily one hour to have your bloodwork drawn. Oi vey. I made the trek down to that lab, pulled my number, and after sitting there for 5 minutes seeing that no numbers had been called (and there were 11 people in line ahead of me), I called the fertility clinic back and asked if I could have this bloodwork done on Sunday when I had to come back for bloodwork anyhow. She said that would be fine so I only wasted 15 minutes attempting to get my bloodwork done instead of an hour or more.

I then went to the pharmacy to fill the Rx for Lupron because I might be starting that on Sunday if the bloodwork that day shows I've already ovulated (I'd appreciate prayers that I will ovulate between now and then so that I won't need to make an extra trip for bloodwork). The pharmacy was out of Lupron so Paul will stop by later this week to pick up the prescription on his way to or from work, which will only cost us a $15 copay. The RE said that lately he's been using Lupron plus the pill. I said I had asked two weeks ago if I should start the pill and the nurse told me no. He said we can just do Lupron without the pill. The other three times I was on Lupron (twice in 2007 and once in 2009) I was on the pill. He didn't have me on Lupron in 2012 with Oliver's cycle. If I do ovulate before Sunday, I think I'll only need three more appointments related to this FET - the third being the actual embryo transfer. He told me that he's going to put me on an oral form of estrogen that I'll take twice a day instead of the shots I had with Nadia's FET cycle, and I'll be on progesterone suppositories instead of shots. The only shots I'll have this cycle will be the Lupron ones. I keep telling myself this is definitely the last time I will be stabbing my belly on a daily basis. I'm very grateful for the help the REs have provided in helping our family grow, but I'm also definitely ready to be done going to a fertility clinic. The end is in sight! Maybe just maybe this frozen blastocyst will be a sister for Nadia, and if so I'll be praying fervently for the placenta to be in the proper place so that I can experience a much smoother pregnancy.

Our last night

 

Paul and I went out on a date this afternoon. It's quite amazing that we went on a date two months in a row considering we went more than a year between the previous two dates. This was our anniversary celebration. I suggested we have dinner at either Cracker Barrel, Friendly's, or TGIF, and Paul picked TGIF as he likes their steaks. I had a coupon for one free meal there. Before we went to dinner we did some shopping. Our first stop was Sleepy's. Ever since April 2012 when I slept for 4 weeks on a Tempurpedic mattress at the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey, I have wanted to get a new mattress. I bought our current mattress in January 2001. The first several years I thought it was a nice mattress. It wasn't until I was pregnant that I started having trouble sleeping on it. For the last year I have been waking up in pain part way through the night, every single night. My lower back has not been happy with this mattress. We bought a Tempurpedic mattress today, and it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow. YAY! They were having a promotion where you would get one free Tempurpedic twin size mattress. We're eventually going to need to buy another bed (when Oliver gets promoted from his crib) so we'll already have a third twin mattress. Tonight is our last night on the mattress we used for the first twelve years of our marriage. That mattress has been doused with amniotic fluid twice (water broke while I was sleeping when pregnant with Nadia and Ian) and with blood once (with Oliver). There are many reasons that it's time to get a new mattress. Hopefully we will both sleep really well on this one for many years to come, as it was not cheap! I feel confident my back is going to be ever so grateful, and if per chance this FET does result in another pregnancy, I should be sleeping a lot better than I did during the last three pregnancies!

We also stopped at a few other stores to buy a few odds and ends like new underwear for the kids. It was great to have a few hours of one-on-one time with Paul, but I did mention to him that it's been a few years since he and I went on a really special date. Shopping and dinner is certainly better than no date at all, but I told him I'd like us to plan something to do in the next four months that would be more special. Years ago we used to do things like go ballroom dancing, see a Broadway show, go to a dinner theatre, etc. The last big outing we took as a couple was to spend a day in NYC 4 years ago when I was pregnant with Ian.

Nadia was very excited this morning because she was going to a new Sunday School class. For the past 3 1/2 years (since before she turned two) she's been in the preschool class. Today she joined the K-2nd grade class. I was concerned that Ian would be upset that she wasn't going to be with him as that has been an issue with him attending Wee Worship by himself, but he did fine. I decided to post Nadia's "Kindergarten" picture today on FB. The last few years I've noticed how many parents post a picture on FB of each child on his/her first day of school, and some do the same at the end of the school year as well for the last day of school. With homeschooling it's harder to say what is the "first" day especially as in PA you don't have to file paperwork and be an official homeschooler until your child is eight years old. We started Kindergarten a few months ago if you go by when she started working through Kindergarten textbooks. Since she was so excited about starting the new SS class today. I decided to take her Kindergarten picture today. Most of the school districts around here started last week or will be starting this week so it seemed like a good time as any to take her start of Kindergarten picture.

Foto Friday

Thankful Thursday

1. Last Thursday night I drove down to Maryland. I had originally planned to drive down with all three kids on Friday morning, but Nadia and Ian needed to stay in PA because their dress rehearsal was Friday night. I am grateful that Paul's parents were able to watch the kids on Friday while Paul was at work, that Paul could watch them on Saturday while I was in MD/DC, and that my parents could watch Oliver while I was at the conference on Friday night and Saturday morning. I left on Thursday night in the hopes that Oliver would sleep for most of the trip, and that did prove to be true. He cried for about 20 minutes of the 3.5 hour trip. He slept for about 2.5 hours of the trip.

2. My parents treated Oliver and I to lunch at Olive Garden on Friday. That is one of my most favorite restaurants, and I believe it had been three years since I had eaten in one. I had soup, salad, and breadsticks. Yummy! Oliver loved the breadsticks. My dad went and picked up a strawberry poppyseed salad from Panera for my dinner. How sweet was that! I hadn't had one of their salads in more than one year. It's my MOST favorite salad. I ate about 2/3 of the salad for dinner on Friday night and finished it for lunch on Saturday at the conference. On the drive home on Saturday night I went through a Rita's drive-thru for a chocolate twist custard. What a treat! I hadn't had one of those in more than a year. On Monday I tried to get back on track with my attempts to lose weight.

3. Oliver slept until 7:15am on Friday morning and 7:30am on Saturday morning! I was sharing a bedroom with him, and I was stunned when I saw the time on Saturday as my goal had been to leave by 7:45am. I got myself dressed, changed his diaper, ate breakfast, and packed my lunch in 20 minutes. It felt heavenly to be in bed for 8.5 hours straight on Friday night. Overall his naps haven't been that great lately (many are less than 30 minutes long), but aside for yesterday morning when he got up at 6:00am, he's sleeping until at least 6:45am in the morning for a couple of weeks, which is a big improvement.

4. For many years I had thought about attending a Women of Faith conference. I am glad I did, but just like MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) I can say I have little desire to ever return. I guess it's one of those things you have to experience it to find out it isn't really your cup of tea. I had to leave early on Saturday so I had to skip the Third Day concert and Angie Smith's session. The speakers I enjoyed the most were Priscilla Shirer and Liz Curtis Higgs. Mark Lowry was very funny.

5. On Sunday night the photographer sent me the link to our 74 pictures. The pictures that turned out the best were the ones of Paul and I as a couple as well as some individual ones of each of the kids. I wasn't really keen on any of the ones that included all three kids, which was a bummer because I was wanting to get a new necklace made (I have one with a picture of Nadia and Ian that my sister took in Florida in 2010), and I was also wanting to get a canvas of all three. I'll just have to keep working until I get one of the three kids myself! There were three decent ones of our whole family. I can't say I fell in love with any of them, but I will use one of them for our Christmas card. Oliver just wasn't in a smiling mood that morning, unfortunately. It's hard to get a good pic with five people when 3 of them are age 5 and under. I also need to remember to ask Paul to take off his glasses if we do another outdoor photo shoot since his turn into sunglasses. I probably will want to do another professional photo shoot next summer, but I might try a different photographer. It does motivate me to keep honing my skills as a photographer! I look forward to sharing some of the photos she took here on the blog. She took MANY great pictures of Nadia, and also a few really great ones of Oliver and Ian (separately). I ordered prints of 14 of the 74 poses. The package we bought includes a CD with all the 74 photos, which means I can use them in photo books, calendars, etc.

6. The weather turned warmer on Tuesday! We went swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday. Oliver and I stayed in the wading pool because the water temperature was much warmer there.

7. Paul's mom saw the radiologist this week. Presuming the treatments work, she will only have two appointments (both in September). At the first she'll have chemo and at the second one she'll have chemo and a different kind of radiation than what she had five years ago. We're praying that these two treatments will be all she needs to have done to get good results at her next PET scan.

8. I really deviated from my diet for three days (Friday-Sunday) between my trip to Maryland, eating cookies after the musical on Saturday and Sunday nights, and eating breakfast and lunch at church on Sunday. I was very relieved when I weighed myself on Tuesday morning and discovered I hadn't gained any weight. Whew.

9. Nadia finds great delight in buckling Ian and Oliver in their car seats. I'm not complaining!

10. Paul was able to get home at 5:45 on Monday and Wednesday, which meant he could stay home with the boys while I took Nadia to soccer. This meant some time reading via the Kindle while sitting on the sideline of the field. He'll have class starting next Wednesday night so this won't be the norm, but I did enjoy it this week as generally I don't have any down time between 6am and 8pm.

11. Grapes have been on sale for $1/pound for several weeks! Nadia and I both love grapes. We've been going through several pounds of grapes a week! We also are in the middle of a science experiment with 4 grapes to see how many days it takes them to turn into raisins.

Early Potty Training

A few months ago when I was giving Oliver a bath I looked at his face and knew he was about to poop. I scooped him up and sat him on the potty just in the knick of time. It was easy to do since he was already naked and so close to the toilet. I remember laughing to myself that my far less than one year old baby had used the toilet. Several weeks ago I started paying attention to when he looked like he was pushing, and I started rushing him to the potty. I have learned exactly which cry he makes when he's about to poop; so I don't even have to see him to be able to tell. I would say in the past 7 days I have changed about 2 messy diapers because all the other days he pooped on the potty. I even managed to get him to the potty on time last night at the YMCA during Nadia and Ian's t-ball class! I am not sure why I never thought to try this with the other two kids, but let me say wiping his bottom with a little bit of toilet paper is not nearly as messy as cleaning up a poopy diaper. I am curious to see if this will help him in the future when it's truly time to work on potty training him. I figure it can't hurt! At some point I think I'm going to bring up the kiddie potty and have him sit on it when he's pooping, but for now I am just helping him sit on the big potty.

A few weeks ago I was starting to make a mental list of goals for the remained of 2013. I will write them in a post sometime in the next week or two, but one of the first that came to my mind was that I wanted Ian to be independent with his toilet skills by the time he turns four (December 12). I figured I should start working toward that sooner rather than later so I started requiring him to put his own underwear and shorts back on after he goes to the bathroom. He completely undresses from the waist down before climbing up on the toilet. He fought me at first over doing it himself, but now the situation is completely reversed in that he gets upset if I try to help him at all. This also has translated to him being more independent with getting himself dressed in the morning and at night when he puts on his pajamas. This means we only have one skill left to work on for him to be totally independent with going to the bathroom, and that's wiping himself after he's pooped. I think we can accomplish that goal over the next four months.

I placed an order with Amazon today because they have a coupon for $5 off any purchase of $25 or more that expires tomorrow. I saw the coupon a couple of days ago, right after I had ordered a few things from Amazon. One thing that was on my list to buy for next summer was a reusable swim diaper for Oliver. Would you believe I only learned those things existed this summer? Silly me. I wish I had known about them since 2009! I've toyed with using cloth diapers for everyday usage, but I've never taken that plunge, but I definitely would have preferred to go that route for swim diapers had I known they existed because swim diapers seem like a huge waste of money as they don't actually absorb any urine, and none of my three kids ever pooped in any of their swim diapers, which is the sole purpose for using a swim diaper. I only bought Oliver one pack this summer because I had swim diapers that Ian hadn't used, but I would rather have bought a cloth swim diaper for him. Next summer I don't plan to buy any disposable swim diapers! If we do have a fourth baby, I don't plan on buying any disposable swim diapers for that child!

The second photo was not posed. Nadia and Ian often hold hands when they're walking together outside. This photo was taken on our way home from the playground this morning. Ian rides in the stroller with Oliver most of the time, but at the very end Nadia and Ian cut across the lawns to our house whereas Oliver stays in the stroller on the road. Nadia is holding the garage door opener in her left hand because she always gets home before Oliver and I do and takes great delight in opening the garage door for everyone.

One Year Later

This past weekend I found myself frequently thinking back to what was happening last August. I attended the Women of Faith conference in DC on Friday night and Saturday. I had purchased a ticket for last year's conference before the pregnancy became complicated. Thankfully, for a fee of $2 I was able to use the ticket this year instead. As I was driving to Maryland on Thursday night with Oliver, I found my stomach getting into a knot and my blood pressure rising as I approached Harrisburg. I am sure in time I will not have such a strong physical response, but for now it reminds me of the many trips down to that hospital for ultrasounds, lengthy hospitalizations, etc. On Saturday and Sunday night Nadia and Ian were in a musical. Last year the musical was on August 11-12. I was discharged from the hospital on August 11 and was able to attend Nadia's musical. My feet and legs were so swollen that I was unable to wear shoes. I remember walking into the church building in my bare feet both nights and struggling just to walk from the car to a pew in the sanctuary.

It was so hard to make the decision to leave the hospital in Harrisburg. When Nadia and Ian were born, I did not come home at all until they were discharged from the NICU, but they were in the NICU 1-2 weeks and I knew Oliver would be in 4-6 weeks. I hadn't held Oliver yet, and I knew that coming home for the weekend might lengthen my wait to hold him for the first time, but I had missed spending time with Nadia, Ian, and Paul for so many weeks that summer. Oh how I wish I had a video recording of Nadia's performance in the musical on August 11, 2012. It was priceless. She was beaming, singing with gusto, and doing all the motions (plus a few extra that the rest of the kids didn't do, ha ha). During that performance I became 100% convinced I had made the right decision even though it felt awful to leave my three pound baby all by himself in the hospital (meaning no family to visit him) for about 48 hours.

This year we had a video camera, but neither performance was really something I wanted to save. Nadia did smile more on Sunday night than she did on Saturday night. Last night they both received several certificates. They each received one for participation and another for having memorized all ten Bible verses. Nadia also received one for having learned all the words to all the songs, and Ian received one for enthusiasm. Awards given to other children included ones for learning all the motions, showing leadership, and showing a lot of improvement compared to last summer. Paul's parents attended on Saturday night, and Cheri (from church) joined us last night. Oliver didn't make it through the entire program either night. Paul's dad took him out part way through the program on Saturday night, and Paul took him out last night.

They have a few weeks off and then will begin AWANA on September 11. Ian will be in Cubbies, and Nadia will be in Sparks. Tonight Nadia has her first soccer practice of the fall season, and next Monday they'll get back into gymnastics for the first time in 6 months. Paul is at BU today for the first time. He has new faculty orientation tomorrow and Wednesday and will start teaching next week. Summer is coming to an end.

Thankful Thursday

1. It is so wonderful to be able to stay in bed at least one hour later than I have been able to for the past year as Oliver is sleeping 1-2 hours longer than he had been. Oliver's naps weren't that great the past two days (they were good on Sunday and Monday), but he's doing much better at night as he's been getting up between 6:45-7:30am over the past week. His afternoon nap was also better today. Way to go, Oliver! When he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't cry. We just hear him "talking" in his crib, which is a nice way for him to wake up. The last two days he slept some more in my arms after he woke up in his crib to lengthen his afternoon nap. Both days he slept in my arms until Ian woke him up. His afternoon nap has been at least 45 minutes each day (the part in his crib), which isn't that great but is better than the 15-30 minute afternoon naps he's taken the past 3 months. His morning nap has gone back to being 20-30 minutes long.

2. Nadia learned how to swing! She was swinging herself really high at the park today.

3. Nadia was having a ball measuring things with a ruler today. Homeschooling can be a lot of fun!

4. Paul's mom's lymphoma has returned. We're thankful that it was caught early and that she only needs radiation. Five years ago she needed both chemo and radiation. Next year they'll put her on a new pill, and hopefully she won't ever need chemo or radiation for it again.

5. Ian fed himself tuna noodle casserole last night. I gave him a small pretzel stick after every bite, but that's still a huge improvement.  Oliver continues to be a GREAT eater.

6. I lost 10 pounds over the past 6 1/2 weeks! If I lose 6 more I'll be back to what I was before Nadia. I would like to lose that before the FET, if possible.

Homeschooling and a Haircut

Oliver had his first hair cut today. His hair was rather long, and it was often sticking up in really weird ways, but I didn't want to cut it prior to his one year photo shoot that we did last Saturday. I gave the kids baths this evening after dinner before taking Nadia and Ian to their musical rehearsal, and I also gave Oliver his first hair cut. It's always emotional for me to give a baby his or her first hair cut because to me the child looks a lot older after that first hair cut. My baby is growing up too fast!

It's been four months since I did a homeschooling update. Nadia has completed the preschool and Kindergarten handwriting textbooks from Handwriting without Tears. In a few months I will start their first grade textbook with her. She writes in her journal almost every day. Thus far I have been letting her write in all capital letters, but in the near future I plan on requiring her to use lower case letters. I've been using a drawing book with her that my parents gave her for her birthday, and when she finishes that book I'm going to start using the first Draw Write Now book with her for handwriting practice and also to continue helping her improve her drawing skills. I do plan on using the HWT books with Ian and Oliver in the future.

In contrast, I do not plan on using Purposeful Design's preschool or kindergarten math textbooks again. Nadia will complete the Kindergarten math textbook this month. I want to give her additional practice on some of the skills (coins, addition, subtraction, and telling time by the hour) before starting another textbook. I think I'm going to have her do the Apples book from the Life of Fred series before we start Purposeful Design's first grade math textbook. She can easily count by 10's, but I want to work with her more on counting by 2's and 5's.

She's making progress with her reading skills. We're working on the third box of BOB books right now. If I write out five sentences (using simple words) she usually needs help with at the most three words out of five sentences. She might say "had" instead of "has" for example. I was going to start the My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum with her until I realized that it's now too easy for her. I'll save it and use it with Ian and/or Oliver in the future. I have decided to check out books from the library on the 26 science topics and do some related science activities with them over the next 3 months. Today I checked out library books on the sun, moon, and apples. The apples theme should be easy since we have two apple trees in our yard. Then I am planning on starting the MFW first grade curriculum with her. The kids continue to enjoy me reading chapter books to them. Some of the books I've finished lately have included My Father's Dragon and Dr. Dolittle. We are in the middle of both James and the Giant Peach and The Wizard of Oz.

Today she had her very first piano lesson! I am very excited about teaching her how to play the piano. Although we've been working on spelling very informally (such as with her journal), the next official subject we're adding to the curriculum will be spelling as I recently ordered the level one materials from All About Spelling. I am really enjoying beginning this homeschooling journey and am hoping she'll enjoy the 6-7 sessions of Friday classes at the co-op this fall.

Shots after all

Last month when I spoke with the IVF nurse she told me that the current FET protocol didn't involve any shots - only estrogen patches and progesterone suppositories. I wasn't totally shocked because with Oliver I didn't have nearly as many shots as the previous three embryo transfers as Dr. Z didn't use Lupron or PIO shots. With my first FET (Nadia) in 2007 I was on Lupron once a day for quite a long time as well as estrogen shots twice a week and PIO shots twice a day. It turns out they are going back to that protocol. The nurse called it the new protocol, but considering it was the one I had in 2007 it doesn't seem "new" to me. She said I can discuss it with the RE at my appointment on the 26th because they are in the middle of transitioning from the old to the "new" protocol right now. He's still using the suppositories rather than the PIO shots (unless a patient prefers the PIO shots and I certainly don't prefer them) so it won't be quite as many shots as I had with Nadia, but it will end up being a lot more shots than I had with Oliver, and far more than what the nurse told me last month, as she said I wouldn't have any shots. The good news for Paul is that these are all belly shots. He's the one who gave me the PIO and hCG shots in the past because those aren't belly shots. I'll handle the belly shots. Lupron definitely has side effects such as hot flashes, but the good news is that this will definitely be the last time I give myself these shots as this is positively our last cycle with an RE. I've been going to this clinic since July 2004. If I am going to be on Lupron, I will start those injections on September 2.

The fall soccer season begins next week, and the first game will be on September 7. The practices are on Mondays and Wednesdays the first two weeks from 6-7pm, and then after that only on Wednesday nights. That won't work for us due to AWANA on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:00pm starting September 11. Any other night of the week would be fine. We had this same issue in the spring, but eventually she was assigned to a team that practiced on Thursdays in the spring. Hopefully sometime over the next couple of weeks Nadia will get switched to a U6 team that practices on a different day or different time. I had been trying to wait on signing Nadia and Ian up for gymnastics until I knew the soccer schedule, but since gymnastics starts in two weeks I am going to sign them up for Monday night classes tomorrow morning. Ian will be in a preschool class from 5:45-6:30, and Nadia will be in a Level One class (for the first time) from 5:30-6:30pm.

Love that shade!

I think we have finally gotten Oliver back on track with his sleeping habits! Hallelujah! Thanks again, Jo, for suggesting we try to make his room darker! Since he didn't need that help before our trip to Florida, it hadn't crossed my mind that it might help now. I wish I had tried it earlier this summer, but better late than never!!! Last Thursday night we put up a room darkening shade that we had used with Ian until he developed a fear of the dark. I also have been putting him to bed awake at night and for each of his naps. Maybe it's a combination of the two, but the bottom line is that Oliver's sleeping habits are dramatically improving! He slept ELEVEN hours last night! Nadia and Ian got up before him this morning. Fancy that! He has been the first one up pretty much every morning since we brought him home 11 months ago. Today his morning nap was 80 minutes long, and his afternoon nap was 70 minutes long. Frankly, I will be perfectly content if they stay that long. If he went back to taking 2-3 hour naps it would be harder to squeeze in trips to the playground and swimming pool. Homeschooling is SO much easier to accomplish with Nadia when Oliver's naps are longer than 30 minutes. I rock him in the glider and sing a few songs to him and then put him down awake. Sometimes he cries for less than one minute, and he almost always cries for less than five minutes. I'm sure in time he won't cry at all. I enjoy the time of snuggling on the glider while I sing to him in his dark bedroom.

12 Years!

Today is our 12th anniversary! I'm very thankful for my hubby. He's sensitive, helpful, easy going, faithful, funny, hard working, patient, gentle, a great father, my best friend, generous, and loving (12 qualities for 12 years). Originally we all planned to see Aladdin Jr. this afternoon at the same theatre where Nadia had camp recently, but I decided to stay home with Oliver while Paul took Nadia and Ian. I knew Oliver had taken his morning nap in someone's arms in the church nursery, and I wanted him to take his second nap in his crib. Paul gave me a Steeler beach towel that I will put in our bag we take to the swimming pool, but the best gift I received today was a two hour nap. Yes, Oliver took a 2 hour and 15 minute long nap!!!!!!!!!! I was asleep for two hours of that time as well. It was just what I needed. I am wondering if Oliver really needs a quiet house in order to sleep because he woke up as soon as Paul and the kids came back home. The next time I put him down for a nap I'm going to take the kids outside or go in the basement with them if the weather isn't cooperative and see if that translates to a longer nap for Oliver. It's been a VERY long time since he took a two hour nap, and maybe it had nothing to do with the fact that the house was totally quiet, but I'm going to test that theory out tomorrow. The photographer posted one "sneak preview" photo on FB today. Since today was our anniversary, she posted this one. We've only had professional photos of the two of us two other times - at Sears for our engagement pic in 2000 and our wedding pics in 2001. It was about time for a newer picture. I can't wait to see the rest of the pics she took, but I already like this one!

Raise your hand

Lately Nadia and Ian keep asking for a show of hands regarding a wide variety of topics. For example, at lunch today when I asked them what kind of yogurt they each wanted, I heard them saying things like "raise your hand if you want cherry yogurt." Cracks me up! Another obsession lately has been playing the ABC game while driving. I now have memorized where the signs are located that contain each letter of the alphabet as we travel to and from the swimming pool. Yesterday we stayed home in the morning and then left for Knoebels around 2pm. We met my friend, Cheri, there and the five of us spent about 3 hours together before Paul arrived at 6pm on his way home from work and took the kids home. Since we didn't get hand stamps like we did on Monday, the kids only rode three rides. They spent about 45 minutes playing in a playground there (free), about 30 minutes eating dinner, and about 45 minutes wearing costumes and acting out a story. Nadia was a princess, and Ian was an animal. They loved it! They wanted to do it on Monday, but we didn't want them to do free things since we bought them hand stamps that day. After Paul and the kids left, Cheri and I enjoyed listening to the concerts that were arranged by the local Christian radio station.

Paul spent some time working with Nadia and Ian on their t-ball skills today. They had a blast! The thing that excited Nadia the most today was the realization that she can now keep herself swinging without assistance. YAY! She also has learned to blow her nose. If I remember to remind her to blow her nose every few minutes in the morning, then we can usually avoid what has for years been a daily event of large strings of mucus landing on her face, clothing, the floor, etc. Oh I will be so thrilled when she finally masters that skill. She's much closer now than she was a couple of months ago. Oliver is making progress with his sleeping skills. The room darkening shade is helping him sleep a little longer in the morning (thanks, Jo!), and he now cries for less than one minute at night when we put him in his crib awake. We're still working on his naps, but we are finally making some progress. At his afternoon nap today he slept 20 minutes, cried for 10 minutes, and then slept another 40 minutes. Nadia is also making progress with eating vegetables. She LOVES corn on the cob, and at Oliver's birthday party she ate green beans without any difficulty (and without adding any raisins). Yay for progress!

9 to 12 months old times 3!

 

Nadia at 9 months (3/24/09)

1. Nadia started crawling all over the place at 8 months old, Ian took off a few days after he turned 12 months old, and Oliver started crawling at 11 months. Nadia took her first steps (without holding on to anything) at 9 months and was walking (no  more crawling) at 10 months. At 11 months both Ian and Oliver were cruising but hadn't taken any steps yet.

2. At 9 months old Nadia was still taking 3 naps a day. Ian had already moved to 2 naps a day. Nadia did switch to 2 naps a day during this time span. Her naps usually totaled 3 hours a day. Ian and Oliver usually only napped for about 1 hour total a day. Every once in a while Ian would take an 80 minute long nap, but the norm for him was 20-30 minutes per nap. Oliver's naps have been 15-25 minutes long on average every since our trip to Florida. They all slept on their bellies at this age. I would put Nadia down on her back, and she would roll over. I put Ian and Oliver down on their bellies.

Ian at 9 months (9/12/10)

3. Nadia and Ian were both sleeping 11 hours straight (going to bed between 7:00-7:30pm and getting up between 6:00-6:30am). Nadia had this sleeping habit during this whole age span. Ian got into this pattern by the end of this age span. Nadia didn't cry when we put her in her crib awake (even at 9 months). Right before Ian turned 12 months old we started working on this with him. Prior to our trip to Florida I used to be able to put Oliver down in his crib awake, but that's definitely not possible now. Hopefully over the next few months we can teach him to do that again. Oliver sleeps 9-10 hours straight. He is up between 5:20-6:00 ever morning and usually goes to bed around 8pm.

4. At 9 months old Ian and Nadia were only eating table food (no more baby food). At 12 months old Ian could only eat a little bit of baby food. Oliver started feeding himself finger foods at 9 months, Nadia started at 11 months, and aside from a couple of Saltine crackers, Ian wasn't feeding himself at all at this age.

Oliver at 9 months (5/8/13)

5. Ian had a lot of really bad diaper rash during this 3 month time span. He didn't have much prior to turning 9 months old. Nadia and Oliver never had a bad case of diaper rash. I think part of the reason for the difference is that Nadia and Oliver usually only pooped once a day, and Ian poops many times a day.



6. At this age both Nadia and Oliver would shake their heads to communicate "no." At 11 months old Nadia was signing the word "milk" and saying "dada" and "hi". Ian  and Oliver said "dada" and "mama", and Oliver also says "hi". I didn't do sign language with the boys. Nadia had a VERY large receptive vocabulary at 1 year old. I could say something like "go play the piano," and she'd walk into the other room and play the piano (while standing on the floor). The only things Ian did on command were clap and splash (in the bathtub). I really have no idea what words Oliver understands except for "no."

 



Ian at 1 year (12/12/10)

7. Ian and Oliver could stay in a moving stroller much longer than Nadia could at this age.

8. Ian entered the clapping all the time stage a few weeks before Nadia or Oliver did as Nadia didn't until she was 1 week away from turning 13 months old, and Oliver isn't there yet.

9. Nadia mastered the art of climbing the stairs at 9 months. Ian hasn't shown any interest in climbing anything let alone steps. Nadia loved to climb anything and everything from about age 8 months onward. Oliver climbs the one step from the family room to the kitchen.

10. At one year old Nadia had 6 teeth. Ian and Oliver only had 2 teeth. All of them got their bottom two front teeth first.

11. All three of them enjoyed listening to music, being tickled, and playing peekaboo. Oliver was the only one of the three who would move his hand on his mouth while making a sound. The other two would make a sound while I moved my finger over their mouth.

12. Ian and Oliver are far more boisterous in everything they do including splashing in the bathtub! Also unlike their sister they absolutely loved balls.



Nadia at 1 year (6/27/09)

13. At 12 months old Nadia weighed 21 pounds and 11 ounces (58th percentile), Ian weighed 21 pounds (23rd percentile), and Oliver weighs 19 pounds (5th percentile). Nadia and Ian were able to face forward in their car seats when they turned one year old, but Oliver needs to gain another pound before he can face that direction as you have to weigh at least 20 pounds to do that. At 12 months Nadia's head circumference was 47 cm (91st percentile), Ian's was 47.5 cm (81st percentile), and Oliver's was 46 cm (39 percentile). Nadia's length was 29 inches (40th percentile) , Ian's was 29.25in (33rd percentile), and Oliver's is 28.5 in. (13.6 percentile).



Thankful Thursday

1. It was wonderful to have all five grandparents here on Sunday for Oliver's birthday party.

2. We had a great time at Knoebels on Monday, and it was wonderful to have my parents with us for two of the hours we were there.

3. Although the weather hasn't been ideal for swimming (I've changed the minimum air temperature to 75 or we wouldn't have been swimming at all over the past three weeks), it's been really perfect for walking to the playground and such. In addition to cooler temps, most days we have had almost no humidity.

4. Nadia really enjoyed Theatre Camp last week, and I am glad Paul's parents and Paul could come up and join us for her performance on Friday afternoon.

5. Paul's contract arrived in the mail today. It feels great to have it be official now!

 6. I love, love, love my new Kindle. I've been downloading free books for myself as well as books to read aloud to the kids, such as Dr. Doolittle that we were in the middle of reading before I got the Kindle. Now I feel silly that I waited so long to get one. Better late than never!

7. Over the past almost 6 weeks I lost 9 pounds! My goal was to lose 12 pounds before our photo shoot on the 10th, but I am happy that I achieved 75% of that goal. I am now one pound lighter than I was right before Oliver, but I need to lose 7 more pounds to get down to what I was before Nadia.

8. Oliver's morning wake up time has been shifting later. I have to say I much prefer getting up between 5:55-6:15 each morning rather than 5:25, especially as I've been staying up a little bit later at night lately. It used to be very rare for me to be up past 9:30, but I've stayed up as late as 10:30pm quite a few times reeently even though I definitely function better with 8-9 hours of sleep, and I've been averaging 7 hours of sleep a night this summer.

9. The kids had fun at the National Night Out event in Lewisburg on Tuesday night. I didn't think we'd be able to go because of t-ball, but the coach called on Monday to say class was cancelled for this week. There were many, many fun things to do. If I had more energy, we could have stayed for the 9pm fireworks, but I had a splitting headache when we left around 8pm. The highlight for Nadia was the zip line. I am glad she loved it because we waited in line for 90 minutes for that. Ian had a harness on, but half-way up the ladder he chickened out. She wanted to do it again right after she got off. She's a brave little girl!

10. Ian and Oliver had a lot of fun at the Treasure Castle Playland last Monday, Thursday, and Friday. I was thrilled with all the progress Ian made with climbing.

11. Cheri watched Nadia and Ian this morning while I took Oliver to his 12 month doctor appointment. I've come a long way over the past year in taking the three kids places by myself, including doctor's appointments, but it's still much easier to only take one child! I'm thankful that other than well baby visits we haven't had any doctor's appointments this year aside from Ian's trip to the ER for his chin. The doctor said he doesn't think Oliver's hernia is going to improve any more, and he suggested we ask the urologist if they could repair his hernia while he's under anesthesia for the hypospadias repair. That sounds like a great plan to me. I hope the urologist at CHOP agrees.

12. I had planned to take the kids to a special event at a Children's Museum yesterday morning, but it was raining (and was an outdoor event) so we went to our local library instead. The theme was pirates so I dressed the kids up in two of Ian's pirate costumes. The librarians loved it. The kids had fun listening to pirate stories and walking the plank both forward and backward.

13. The professor who is Paul's mentor seems to be really helpful. He's going to be teaching a 3 hour general chemistry lab on Tuesday evenings (until 8:20pm), a lab in the afternoon on Wednesdays followed by a 3 hour lecture with 130 students (EEK!) until 9:00pm, and a lab on Thursday afternoon. We might be able to have dinner together five days a week, breakfast together seven days a week, and lunch together, six days a week. WOW! He's working for his dad one more week (next week) and then will have one week to get ready for the fall semester as he'll start teaching on August 27th!

14. I've added a second school to the list of places to submit applications next month, and it's for a physical chemistry position at Albright College in Reading, PA, which is a very reasonable distance from Paul's family!

15. One of my lenses fell out of my camera bag at Knoebels on Monday. I was devastated because it was my favorite lens (50mm prime lens that I use the most). I was elated to find it in the Lost and Found a few hours later!

16. Yesterday all three kids took a nice long afternoon nap. Oliver only slept for 20 minutes in his crib (the norm), but then after that he slept 2 1/2 hours in my arms. Ian slept about 40 minutes in his bed, and then came down and fell back asleep on the couch beside me for 2 more hours. I'd prefer it if they took their entire nap in their beds, but it was still REALLY nice to get that long of a break especially since I had my laptop and Kindle on the couch. Nadia stayed in her room the whole time. She's definitely my best sleeper! I used to think Oliver was going to win that award, but the trip to Florida changed him from my best to my worst sleeper. This evening we put up the room darkening shades that we used to use in Ian's room on Oliver's window to see if that might possibly help him take longer naps, and I put him down to bed awake to help him work on his self-soothing skills. I can't recall the last time he took a nap longer than 30 minutes in his crib. Hopefully one or both of these things will help him out!

17. I bought three custom wood frames for the kids, which I love. Each one has an engraving under one of the 19 openings for a photo. Two of the openings are for a 5x7 photo. Under the first 5x7 it has their birth date, and under the second one it has their first and middle name. In between there are 17 openings for wallet size photos and it says a year under each (one, two, three, etc.). I could have gotten one that had the grade levels instead, but I opted to get the one with ages. I LOVE them and plan on having them on display until I pass away, which is a good thing because they weren't cheap! Six of the nineteen spots are already filled on Nadia's frame. Sob. Speaking of photos, I am SOO excited about our professional outdoor photo shoot on Saturday morning!!!

18. Of all the foods I fed Oliver yesterday, you'll never guess which was his favorite. The answer is (drum roll, please) green beans! At dinner I put small pieces of a beef noodle casserole, garlic bread, and green beans. He gobbled up those green beans. I had to keep putting more and more and more on his tray. Be still my soul. Hopefully this will continue to be true in the future (unlike Nadia). He also had cream of wheat, yogurt, a butterscotch cookie (after dinner), a made from scratch brownie (after lunch), and some dried cereal over the course of the day. He had a peanut and butter jelly sandwich for lunch today and some cottage cheese at dinner.

19. I took the kids to the library in Lewisburg today because the Hampstead Stage Company from NH was doing a performance of the Secret Garden. Before that they had several activities for the kids including worm races (with real worms), eating dirt pudding, and making mud monsters. The play was excellent even though there was only one actor and one actress. The man played six different roles, while the woman just played one (the lead role). At one point they did pick three volunteers from the audience to have a small part as either a rabbit, crow, or fox. There were about 80 people in attendance, and Nadia was picked to be the rabbit! She did a great job and loved ever second that she was hopping around the stage wearing bunny ears. I wished I had my camera with me! It was a bit challenging to keep Ian and Oliver quiet for about one hour, but we made it. The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books when I was a child. I plan to read it to Nadia some day! Today we finished the first Dr. Dolittle book.

 

 

One Year Old!

All babies change and grow so much during the first year of life, but it seems even more dramatic when a baby comes as prematurely as Oliver did. Here's an overview of Oliver's first year of life!

At 3:35am on 8/6/12 I woke up in my hospital bed in a pool of blood again. I knew I'd  be immediately headed back down to the 8th floor Labor and Delivery unit, but I didn't know that I was about to given birth. Oliver weighed 3lb 15oz at birth. He was born at 4:22am, Paul arrived at 5:30, and my mom arrived at 6:00am. Paul and my mom left that afternoon, and I was on my own for the next four days until I was discharged on 8/11. His lowest recorded weight was 3lb 8oz, and he weighed 4lb 5oz on the day he turned one month old. During that first month he progressed from preemie size XS diapers to preemie size S diapers, from not being allowed to wear clothes to wearing preemie size clothes, from a ventilator to a CPAP to a low-flow cannula, from tube feedings to nursing and bottle feedings, and from being in the NICU to coming home sweet home. It was so very hard to have to wait several days after his birth to hold him for the first time. My fondest memories of his first month of life were the times I snuggled with him as his tiny head rested under my chin. His first ride in a vehicle was the ambulance that took us from Harrisburg to Danville, and when he was discharged from the NICU he came home in a car bed. I'm so grateful the Lord brought us through a very difficult pregnancy and NICU stay.

At two months old, Oliver weighed 5lb 9oz, and his head had grown to the point where it now filled my entire hand rather than just my palm. He was still wearing preemie size diapers and clothing and still on oxygen although he was off the two medications he had been on most of his life. He had a blocked tear duct and a much bigger umbilical hernia than his siblings. His hair was brown and his eyes were blue. It was very hard to get him to burp, but he was by far the best sleeper of my three kids.

At three months old Oliver weighed 7lbs 1oz and he was wearing newborn rather than preemie size clothing or diapers. He started smiling socially and got off the oxygen and apnea monitor and was promoted from the car bed to an infant car seat before he turned 3 months old!

The day Oliver turned 4 months old he switched to size one diapers, and at 9lb 6oz he was mostly wearing size 0-3 month clothing. I got him off the shield two weeks before he turned 4 months old. He very rarely took 3 naps at this stage. Most days he took 2 naps. We heard a little bit of laughter and cooing before he turned 4 months old.

Over the past month Oliver started laughing a lot more. He hit 11 lbs three days before he turned 5 months old and was still wearing size 0-3 month clothing. He still loved to grab one of my fingers while nursing or drinking his bottle! He's did that since he was two weeks old.

At 6 months old Oliver weighed 13lb 3 oz and was wearing size 2 diapers and mostly 3-6 month size clothing. Although his belly button was still much larger than "normal," it had gotten a LOT smaller by the time he turned 6 months old. He was a thumb sucker like his big sister.

At 7 months Oliver weighed 15 pounds and was using a convertible car seat that he'll be in until he turns 4 years old. He was eating solid food although he still hadn't really figured out what to do with his tongue. At 7 months he was enjoying playing with a variety of toys. He learned how to sit independently before he turned 7 months old!

At 8 months Oliver weighed 16 pounds and was wearing size 3 diapers and a combination of size 3-6 and 6-9 month clothing. Ten days before he turned 8 months old he was down to nursing just once a day.

At 9 months Oliver weighed 16lb 12oz, could scoot backwards quickly on smooth surfaces, had one tooth (on the bottom), was doing better with eating solid foods, and could say one word (dada).

At 10 months Oliver's hair was blonde whereas it was brown the first 9 months of his life. He could feed himself finger foods! He had two teeth, weighed a little less than 17 pounds, wore size 3 diapers, and wore anywhere from size 3-6 month to size 12 month clothing. Our trip to Florida last month completely messed up his sleeping habits, especially his naps.

At 11 months he could say dada and mama, weighed 17lb 11oz, was no longer nursing at all, wearing size 6-9 month or 12 month clothing, wearing size 3 diapers, lifting his arms to show he wanted to be picked up, and could go from sitting to his belly.

At 12 months old Oliver can crawl, pull himself up to a standing position, cruise, and go from his belly to a sitting position. He's mostly wearing size 9 month or 12 month clothing. He switched from bottles to sippy cups over the past month and can say "mama," "dada," and "hi." He eats just about anything and weighs 19 lbs. (5th percentile) I'm feeling a bit blue that we're using his last month sticker today, but it doesn't bother me at all that today he's switching from formula to whole milk! I think he's going to love the brownies I'm making for him today! Happy first birthday, Oliver!