Cheerios and Toasted Cheese

Nadia can now feed herself Cheerios. I am not saying she succeeds 100% of the time, but she succeeds a majority of the time these days which is a big improvement. Picking them up has been easy for months. The problem has been releasing them once she brings her hand up to her mouth. In general she is preferring "grown up" food these days. For lunch Paul made her a grilled cheese sandwich on rye bread (just one piece of toast folded in half), and she ate the whole thing! Later I tried to give her yogurt + corn, which is something that usually went down easily. She did NOT want it. I finally mixed in a piece of rye bread, and then she ate it. I think the days of mushy foods are coming to a close although she still eats cottage cheese without any problems. She's doing well with peas and green beans these days also whereas those used to be harder to get her to eat.

I asked for prayer for Jo recently who is in the middle of ivf. Well she really could use the extra prayers right now as her doctor appt on Thursday didn't go well. She had 4 small follicles (5-6mm) and only 1 bigger follicle. If some of those don't "catch up" by Monday, her cycle will be cancelled. That's something that's really hard to take after you've given yourself shots for over a week and spent thousands of dollars on the meds. I had an inj/iui cycle cancelled once, and even though my insurance pays for the meds, it was still devastating. In my case it was becacuse I had WAY too many follicles. It was my first time on Follistim, and my response was totally different than the Bravelle I had been on previously so the dosage was WAY too high for me since I stimulate very easily. Speaking of cancelled ivf cycles, Regina's ivf cycle was cancelled (for the same reason as Jo) earlier this year, and she's starting her stims again a couple of days after me. If you can pray for a miracle for Jo that she her cycle won't be cancelled, that would be greatly appreciated!

We have officially said goodbye to the 3rd nap. Even when one or both of her other naps are short, she won't take a 3rd one any more. So I hope she starts taking longer naps as the last several days one of her naps (sometimes the first and other times the 2nd) has been only 30 minutes long. Ninety minutes of nap time just is not enough! It means she's awake for 11.5 to 12 hours a day which is a lot for a 9 month old! She wakes up a few minutes before or after 6am no matter when she goes to bed. She has a very strong internal clock! I put her to bed early tonight since I have to get her up very early tomorrow as the sunrise service starts at 6:30am and is 30 minutes away from our house.

Today Paul and I did a lot of yardwork. Let me say it is hard work removing ground cover. The previous owners had a couple of different types completely covering up the area in between the bushes in the front yard. I found some hyacinth, primrose, etc. buried underneath. I tried to salvage all of those, but we were digging up the roots on all the ground cover. It took us a few hours to do one section. Then I spread 3 bags of mulch over the area we had done. It's by no means done, but we did put a big dent in the project. Paul also chopped up the Christmas tree that the garbage collectors never took. He filled 3 large garbage bags with the ground cover and 2 bags with the tree. We are going to take as much as we can to Paul's parents tomorrow and dump out the contents of the bags into the woods so it doesn't have to be buried in a landfill somewhere.

Hot and Cold

Today it hit me that Nadia drinks warm milk (whereas people usually drink cold milk), and she eats cold food - even things like mashed potatoes. I don't think switching to eating food warm will be a challenge. Not everything is backwards. Most people do eat cold yogurt and cottage cheese. :-) I think though getting her to drink cold milk is going to be a challenge. First we need to keep working on that sippy cup. The fast flow nipples don't work for her on the bottle - milk just spills out all over the place. Well hopefully in the next couple of months she'll get the hang of it as I know they don't like babies being on a bottle once they hit one year old.

Last night I skipped choir rehearsal. The first reason was because tonight there is a Maundy Thursday service which I planned to attend. The choir is singing two songs. However I was forgetting that the earliest Paul gets home on a Thursday is 7pm, and that's when the service starts, and the church is 12 minutes from home plus of course the choir has to be there earlier than that. Since that's Nadia's bed time and they probably won't have a nursery, it just didn't seem like I could go. So because I won't be singing tonight or Easter Sunday (because I'm doing special music at my previous church), it didn't make sense to go last night since rehearsing the 4 songs for tonight and Easter would take up much of the time. The second reason was because I was exhausted. I put Nadia down at 7pm and was asleep myself by 7:30pm. She woke up around 6am, and that's when I woke up too. I was obviously very tired!

The nurse asked me last month what my main side effects were from Lupron the last two times I was on it, and I said exhaustion and headaches. She said the most common one is hot flashes. Nope. I've felt rather chilly lately. If I remember correctly, this exhaustion didn't last forever. I think it took a week or so for my body to adjust. Until then I think I'll be going to bed soon after Nadia each night. That's another good reason not to go to the service tonight although I know I would have enjoyed it. In light of my headache and exhuastion, the only thing on my to do list today aside from caring for a sweet little girl is to write a final exam for a new course I'm teaching this summer.

When Paul gave me the shot this morning he made some comment about making sure he didn't get any female hormones on him. Well it's true that the other shots I'll take starting next week are female hormones, but these aren't. In fact Lupron is primarily used to treat prostate cancer. It says "oncology" on the box. So actually more men come in contact with this drug than women do. Isn't it weird how a drug used to treat a form of cancer only men get can be used for fertility reasons for a woman? Go figure.

It's a Small World

The internet truly has made the world seem smaller. Just the fact that I keep in touch through this blog with people all over the US, many of whom I've never met in person, is one example. The example that stood out to me yesterday was when I was checking an Antigua & Barbuda travel forum. I had learned a lot through reading various posts on that forum, and Sunday I wrote a few posts there to ask a few questions in preparation for our upcoming trip. What cracked me up was the woman who responded to all my posts lives in the UK. I was picturing that here I am sitting in the US and a woman across the Atlantic Ocean is answering my questions about our upcoming trip to the Caribbean such as whom to contact to reserve a crib for Nadia. Years ago I wouldn't have any contact with anyone in the UK unless I was over there on vacation.

I forgot to mention that a few days ago Nadia mastered the skill of climbing up the stairs. She can climb the whole way up the staircase. I don't let her do it unsupervised. Next, she needs to learn how to go down the stairs; even with "her" step in between the kitchen and family room she hasn't figured out that headfirst is not the way to go down. Another change is that she used to stay in the room where I was (although she'd explore every nook and cranny of that room). Now sometimes she will leave the room where I am to explore in another room. I bring her back or join her as she needs to be supervised unless she's in the pack n' play. She's definitely a girl on the go!

Today my goals are to grade the assignments I collected last night and get some cleaning done around the house. I have to admit that I have not done well lately with my goals for the year. I need to get back on track. The next day the weather is nice I want to work on the flowerbeds. I finally saw some evidence of some flowers coming up. Once I know what is here already then I'll know what bulbs I want to plant next fall. I think there might be some tulips in one of the flower beds which would be wonderful as they are one of my favorites!

Let the stabbing begin

Today I had my first shot for this ivf cycle. The last time Paul gave me a shot was 15 months ago, and the last belly shot was about 17 months ago. The needles for the Lupron shots are really tiny so they don't really hurt. I like Paul to give them to me in part because it makes him more a part of the process. So when he's around at the time I need them, I have him give me the belly shots. The area was itchy afterward, but it didn't last long. I don't recall that side effect from the Lupron, but maybe I've just forgotten. At times I still struggle with why can't we get pregnant the usual way that doesn't involve thousands of dollars and about 100 shots, but of course this way is far, far, far better than having no way! I'd greatly appreciate prayers that the Lord would use this process to bring Nadia a brother or sister in 2010. While you are at it, you could also pray for my friend, Jo, who is also in the middle of ivf #2 for a brother or sister for her son, Noah, who is 11 months older than Nadia. If there are others of you in the middle of ivf, let me know, and I can add you to my prayer list! :-)

Paul didn't have class today which worked out really well as I needed to be on campus earlier than usual for interviews. I participated in 4 of the 6 as 2 were in the morning, and I couldn't ask him to start watching Nadia that soon or he wouldn't have gotten much work done today. I left at 12:30 which was shortly before she goes down for her 2nd nap. In light of her illness, we have at times been letting her have three naps, especially if one or both of the first two naps is really short (say 30 minutes long). So far it seems we're judging it correctly as the days we've let her have a 3rd nap she's still not been getting up prior to 6am. I have given up on trying to shift her wake time to 7am or later. I'm just happy if she sleeps until at least 6am. Today she got up at 6:20 for example. Her first nap is often around 9am (or possibly a little earlier), and her second nap often starts sometime between 12:30-1:00pm. If she takes two good naps (at least 2 hours total between the two), then she doesn't have a 3rd nap.

Nadia's poor little nose is still very runny, and it's been wiped with a tissue so often that two little spots are red from bleeding. Poor girl! :-( I hope she starts feeling better soon. Today is the 7th day of this little cold. Thankfully she never developed any other symptoms (no cough or fever).

Babyproofing

I need to do some babyproofing. For one thing, Nadia has discovered electric outlets. The ironic thing is that all of our outlets that weren't being used had protectors in them for four years due to social worker visits for adoption home studies. During that time, no one under the age of 30 lived in our house. Now that we do have a little one, none of the outlets have protectors in them since our child ended up coming to us through a way that didn't involve a social worker inspecting our home. I need to go find those protectors and put them in the outlets since little fingers are exploring every nook and cranny of our house these days. :-)

This morning I had an appt at the RE at 9:30. To me the appt wasn't necessary. At this appt typically the husband and wife sign the consents, but we did that last month as I didn't want Paul to have to make another trip until the retrieval. The one other thing accomplished at this appt is they give the Lupron. My insurance considers it a medical supply so they give it to me directly (no Rx for it). I asked for the Lupron at the last appt, but no they insisted I come again just to get the Lupron. Oi vey. So we drove 1 hour (RT) so I could be handed a box that contains one vial of Lupron and 14 syringes. The RE who started this clinic many years ago has come back (after being away 15 years), and he thinks 10 units of Lupron is enough. I started at 20 units a day with the fresh and frozen transfers in 2007, and then at some point they dropped me down to 10 units a day. I asked if I'd be dropped down lower at some point, and she said they do with some patients and others stay at 10 units. My poor baby's nap schedule was totally thrown off by a 9:30 appt (since we left the house at about 8:50). She slept about 20 minutes on the way there. Then she was awake for 90 minutes. I went over and visited my friend Donna after the appt which definitely made the trip seem more worthwhile. :-) Then she slept the whole 30 minute drive home. I hope I can make my future appts at a time that won't be in the middle of her morning nap.

My next appointment is in 10 days for my baseline u/s and b/w and also the mock transfer since I didn't have that last month as planned. I'll also fill my Rx for Follistim and Menopur at the pharmacy after that appt. Tomorrow I start the Lupron (one shot in the belly every morning), and Friday is my last day of the pill. I need AF to come next Tuesday or at the very latest Wednesday. Then on the 17th I'll be up to 3 belly shots a day (2 in the morning and 1 at night). The belly shots really aren't TOO bad especially when Paul gives them to me. The only one I didn't like last time was the Repronex as it burned and bruised my belly, but I'll be on Menopur this time instead which isn't supposed to have those same side effects. If this all leads to me seeing TWO lines while we're in Antigua, it will all be worth it!!!

First Step!

Today Nadia took her first step! She was in the pack n' play that we use as a playpen at times. I was sitting on the couch right beside her reading a magazine and periodically watching her or interacting with her. Well I am very glad I was looking at that moment, for as far as I know, I think I saw her take her first step. She was standing in the middle (not holding on to anything) which has become the norm lately, but then she took a step. Way to go, Nadia! Let me say this girl is constantly on the go these days. She's discovering every little nook and corner of our house whether that means crawling behind furniture or whatever. It's very easy to tell where she's been as she leaves a wake of objects in her path. I can clean up the family room and within minutes it looks like a tornado struck as she pulls all the books out of the basket, removes items from the bottom shelf of the coffee table, etc. Of course some things she's "discovered" I'd rather she had no contact with such as the toilet bowl brush. Yuck!

She still has a very runny nose. She seemed better on Friday, but yesterday and today she's been very fussy. Paul and I both feel a little under the weather today as well. I plan to go to bed really early tonight (maybe 8pm) in the hopes I will feel better tomorrow. I have had a lot of fun the last couple of days doing research for our vacation. I am very excited about it, and at that point I should have a few embryos (hopefully growing) inside of me!!!

Yard Sale

I don't usually go to yard sales, but I had seen signs that the Christian school 1 mile from our house was having one today so I had been planning to go to see if I would find any clothes, toys, or books for Nadia. Well none of the books tempted me, but I did buy Nadia a dress (size 2T) and two toys. One toy is a little bowling set (the pins resemble different animals), and the other includes 3 cubes which do various things. Guess how much I spent altogether. The answer would be 50 cents. Wow! I guess I'll have to frequent yard sales more often. A lot of stuff wasn't in that great of shape, but I was happy with what I bought. The dress still had the tag on it! I scrubbed down the cubes with soap and water to make sure we're not passing on germs from another child to Nadia.

Surprisingly her 2nd nap yesterday was an hour long, and thankfully she went down easily last night at about 7:15pm. Whew. I don't like listening to my baby cry! She woke up at 6am. Since I get up with her 6 days a week, Paul gets up with her on Saturdays so I can stay in bed until 7am. Yesterday she learned a new trick - clucking her tongue. She thinks it's quite funny! We had fun throughout the day clucking back and forth at each other. I'll try to get a little video of it. Another little game we've been playing for maybe a week or so is that when I nod my head "yes" she nods her head "no" (and smiles). She did that with a lady sitting next to us in church on Sunday, and the other lady thought it was funny also. :-)

At the grocery store yesterday I checked out the baby food jars of meat and quickly decided it would be MUCH cheaper for me to make my own. A size 3 jar of macaroni & cheese or meat and spaghetti was about 90 cents. First of all, she doesn't need her macaroni to be pureed, and second of all, I can make it much cheaper. So the only baby food I plan on continuing to buy is rice cereal and oatmeal. I'll make some meat for her, and I'll keep introducing her to more table foods. She always wants to eat whatever we're eating! Last night I shared some of my pierogies with her, and she loved them! Yesterday I also bought her some Kix cereal. She likes those and also loves to eat Cheerios as most babies do. I used to buy 14 bananas whenever I went to the grocery store, and now I am buying about 20 each time since I'm buying for three.

Nice LONG Nap!

Yesterday Nadia's naps were short. So short that I let her have 3 for the first time in a week, and even with 3 naps the total length was only 2 hours. She usually sleeps at least 2 hours total when she takes only 2 naps! In general she was in a good mood yesterday despite her lack of sleep and runny nose. We spent some time on the back porch to enjoy the sunny day (temps in the 60's). She's gotten better about Mommy wiping her nose (doesn't always cry when I wipe it any more). Last night though she struggled to go to bed again. I tried rocking, singing, milk, etc. and finally had to let her cry (a lot longer than she's cried in a LONG time). She finally fell asleep at 7:40pm. She had another restless night where she would wake up every couple of hours and cry for maybe 30 seconds. I assume her sleep will improve once her nose clears up.

She woke up for the day at 6:10am. Her nose seemed better this morning as it didn't start running until 11:00am! It seems she's over the worst of it which is nice. I was VERY pleasantly surprised when she took a really long nap this morning. Generally the longest she naps is 90 minutes. We can go many weeks without any naps being longer than that. I put her down at 8:15 and she didn't wake up until 10:30am! Wow! So she slept more in 1 nap today than all 3 put together yesterday, LOL. Right now she's taking her 2nd nap. I don't expect it to be very long in light of the long one this morning, but we shall see. I got soooo much done during that long nap! I finished reading a novel from the library (White Chocolate Moments) and then I finished revising 3 syllabi and 6 exams for the 3 courses I am teaching this summer. The only things I have left to do for my 3 courses and 6 individualized instructions (IIs) this summer are to create the Blackboard sites for the 3 courses and create 1 midterm and 2 final exams for the II's. I think before I start tackling the syllabi and such for the fall semester I will spend some time planning our vacation to Antigua since that's about 1 month away. YAY!!!!!

My mom has wanted to see a video of Nadia crawling up "her" step. So today I finally got around to doing that. She has two different ways of getting up there. This is how she gets up if she's near the toybox, and this is how she gets up if she's not. The second video also shows her crawling and pulling herself up to stand. Her newest trick is that she can now go from sitting to standing without using anything to pull herself up although if she's near something she still prefers that method, but if nothing is nearby that doesn't stop her from standing up any more!

Runny Nose

Nadia's streak of perfect health came to an end yesterday morning when she woke up with a really runny nose. I found the timing rather ironic given that she was scheduled to have her well baby visit yesterday afternoon. Of course you don't go to the doctor for just a runny nose and naturally the doctor didn't say anything about it. Since Nadia (like most babies) doesn't like to have her nose wiped, she's cried more yesterday and today than usual. However when I'm not coming at her with a dreaded Kleenex, she's been in her usual good mood. It seems to have interfered some with her sleep though as Paul had a hard time putting her down last night when I was at choir rehearsal. He said she fell asleep in his arms at 6:50 but then kept crying everytime he put her in her crib and nothing helped (rocking, singing, milk, etc.) so eventually he had to just let her cry herself to sleep (7:40pm). A few times during the night she woke up and cried for about 30 seconds so it seems she wasn't getting as good a night of sleep as she normally does. She woke up for good about 6:10am so she only got about 10.5 hours of sleep compared to the about 12 hours she had been getting a night lately. So far she doesn't have any other symptoms aside from a very runny nose. Hopefully it will stay that way and hopefully the "leaky faucet" will clear up soon. She has gotten a lot better about having her face washed after eating. That also used to produce tears, but it doesn't any more. Maybe in time a tissue wiping gunk off her upper lip also won't be so traumatic. :-)

9 Month Doctor Visit

This afternoon Nadia had her 9 month check-up. Thankfully there aren't any shots at this appointment although they did prick her heel to check for anemia. Her level was 11.6 which was just a smidge below the normal level (12-16), but they weren't concerned since it was so close to being normal. She weighed in at 18lbs 9 oz which is about what I was expecting (minus clothes); she gained 3 lbs since her 6 month visit. That puts her at the 38th percentile which is virtually the same as at her 6 month visit (37th). Her head circumference was 17.75 inches which is the 76th percentile; she was at the 64th %ile at her 6 month visit. I am questionning the accuracy of the length measurement as supposedly she only grew 1/2 inch in the last 3 months. I know in the first month of her life she had all different height measurements - sometimes supposedly she was shrinking, LOL. Given how the clothes that fit her 3 months ago do NOT fit now (in terms of length), I just don't think she grew only 1/2 inch. I think either the last measurement was inaccurate, this one was, or they both were. :-) If she really is 26 1/2 inches long then she's in the 12th percentile; she was in the 49th percentile for length at 6 months. I'd say about half of the clothes she wears now are size 9 months, and the other half are size 12 months. I don't think that puts her at the 12th percentile given she's 9 months old.

The doctor said she can start eating meat, and she encouraged us to wean her from the bottle to a cup which we have been trying to do. Today she did drink a few ounces from the nuby. After I first purchased the new ones (about a month ago), the nuk was the one she drank out, but now she won't drink from that one. We've transitioned her from the slow flow to medium flow nipples for her bottle, and today I bought some fast flow ones. I think if she gets used to those for her bottle that will help her with the nuby sippy cup. She didn't spill this time with the nuby (which she did a few weeks ago), but she was still gagged a bit from the speed of the flow.

I was able to say "yes" as far as what Nadia could do in answer to all the doctor's with the exception of waving "hi" or "bye bye" as she doesn't do that yet. She does sit, crawl, pull herself up to stand, cruise, and she says the word dada when she sees Daddy or talks to him on the phone. I also told the doctor that Nadia can stand without holding on to anything for maybe 20 seconds at a time. I didn't say anything to the doctor about this, but I admit I am starting to get impatient about waiting to hear her say mama. Hopefully that will be the next word she learns how to say. :-)

She again suggested I fill the Rx for the flouride for Nadia, but I think I'll still pass on that. She suggested also testing for lead in addition to the hemoglobin, but since our house is less than 10 years old I declined that test. Her final suggestion was for a referral for Nadia to see an opthalmologist. She is fairly certain Nadia's eyes are fine, but she couldn't 100% rule out a "lazy eye." She tried to show me, but when she repeated the test she said everything was perfectly symmetrical. She did the test about 5 times and only once thought maybe one was a little off. I'm not concerned At All, but I'll take her to the eye doctor just to be sure everything is fine.

She asked about Nadia's bms, and I told her that lately she usually has one poopy diaper a day, and usually it is within one hour of when she gets up in the morning. If she stays in this routine, then it will help when it comes time to potty training as I'll sit her on the potty after breakfast as she usually poops within 30 minutes of finishing eating breakfast.

Nadia did have a couple of short (10 minute or less) naps in the car this afternoon. It's nice not to be worried about those any more as I know they won't interfere with her sleep at night especially since her two naps today were shorter than usual. I have been trying to push her nap times back to 9am and 1pm. Yesterday I was aiming for 12:30, but at 12:00 she laid down (even her head) on the kitchen floor so I knew it was definitely nap time (see photo below). Last night she went to bed at 6:45 (and fell asleep a little before 7pm), and she didn't wake up this morning until 6:38am. WOOHOO! It was nice to stay in bed until 6:45am especially as I went to bed later than usual as Paul & I watched a movie (Marley & Me) after I got home from class last night. It's so nice to go from her sleeping 10 to almost 12 hours at night.