Going Down

A few days ago I decided to try again to teach Nadia how to go down the steps. I can't remember when I had tried last, but during the previous attempts she would just keep trying to climb up when I was trying to teach her how to come down. Well this time she got it, but now I have the opposite problem. I put her on the 2nd step from the bottom yesterday when it was time for her to go to bed, and she just wanted to go down not up, LOL! Hopefully soon I can give her the instruction up or down and she'll go the right direction. I get very winded carrying her up the stairs these days. I can do other things like trim shrubs without getting out of breath, but for whatever reason carrying her (she weighs almost 22 lb) up the stairs really does me in. Sooo I'd really like it if she would go up and down the stairs herself (with me following closely behind).

One thing that's not going down is my weight. With Nadia I gained 6 lbs during the first trimester. I was hoping to gain less than that this time since I am FAR more active this time around. One glitch in that plan though is that when I am feeling really sick to my stomach the only thing that helps is to eat. So far I've gained 3 lbs, and I have about 2.5 weeks left until I hit the 2nd trimester. I started out 4 lbs heavier this time around, but I guess in the grand scheme of things 4 lbs is not a big deal.

This afternoon I'm taking Nadia for her 1 year old pictures. Hopefully we'll get some good ones! I don't plan on taking her again until we go around Christmas time for our family portrait for our Christmas leter. The changes won't be as dramatic over the next 6 months as they were over the last 6 months or the first 6 months! I'll be posting at least some of those pics this evening. :-)

Yesterday she still had fun playing with her blue balloon, but she also spent a lot more time playing with a few of her new toys. The ones she played with the most yesterday were the latch puzzle and the Little People farm set. She likes hearing the different sounds it makes when you open the barn doors and such.

The new summer session starts tomorrow. This week I'm teaching 3 nights (Tu-Th), and then for the next 5 weeks I'll be teaching 4 nights a week (M-Th). Paul will be coming home early on Mondays to take care of Nadia (starting next Monday), and he'll pick her up from Sarah's at 5:30 Tues-Thurs. I'll be dropping her off at 3:30pm so she'll be spending 6 hours a week with Sarah for the next 6 weeks.

Birthday Party!!!

Today was a very special day! My parents and brother arrived about 12:30pm and were here for several hours. Paul's parents, grandmother, nephew, brother, and sister-in-law left about 6:30pm so we had a fun family filled day! I had hung one birthday banner in the kitchen and one in between the living room and dining room. After Nadia woke up from her afternoon nap and had a little oatmeal, it was time to open presents! She had fun ripping some of the paper, but she hasn't totally grasped the concept of unwrapping presents yet. Everyone was happy to help her out a little. :-) She got many wonderful presents, but her favorite thing to play with the rest of the day was one of the balloons we had blown up as a decoration. The bag of 25 balloons cost $1 - so her favorite gift cost 4 cents. :-) I have to say that it's an AMAZING balloon. She has scratched it, bitten it, landed on top of it, and even poked a hole in part of the end used to tie the knot (with her teeth) - and it's still in one piece! We kept waiting for it to pop.

In time I am sure she'll love her other presents as well. She got a little magnetic train that spells out her name and a touch & feel book from her Great Grandma, an Elmo hand puppet/book from Shawn (cousin), and from the two sets of grandparents she got a lawn mower that blows bubbles, a Little People farm set, summer pajamas, and a latch puzzle. Her Aunt Yvonne & Uncle Joe gave her a Veggie Tale VHS tape. Her Aunt Millie & Uncle Al got her a patriotic outfit (I'll definitely have her wear it on July 4th!) and a little Precious Moment figurine for a June birthday. Finally, her parents got her a stackable dog puzzle, doll stroller, little tikes toddler slide, LeapFrog farm puzzle for the refrigerator, and one of those Fisher Price toys where you push a button (or pull a lever, etc.) and a little animal pops up (not sure what it's called but it's a toy that's been around many years). I think she made out like a bandit! :-)

Millie brought some cookies (some in the shape of butterflies and other in the shape of the number one) and a delicious mandarin orange cake. As you can see, Nadia had a lot of fun feeding herself the cake! Daddy and Uncle Maurice didn't approve of this "barbaric" activity, but everyone else enjoyed watching her make a mess. I took her straight from the highchair to the bathtub of course!

She got a bath three days in a row since Paul gave her one Thursday night and I gave her one last night after she threw up. Yes, I experienced another rite of passage as a mom yesterday - one I had NOT been looking forward to, but I handled better than expected (usually the smell of vomit makes me very sick to my stomach). I gave her a bath, took a shower myself, and threw our clothes into the washing machine and promptly did my 3rd load of wash for the day. Thankfully she was feeling a lot better today for her party. :-)

Library Time!

Well I experienced another part of motherhood I had been looking forward to for many years today, taking my child to the library for toddler/preschool story time. I was pleasantly surprised by how many children were there! The group started out together for a time of singing, and then the toddlers went into another room of the library for a few stories and more songs. Finally, the groups joined back together for a craft. We didn't stay for the craft. I imagine the young woman who lead the toddler time is a volunteer, and so I hate to be critical of her performance, but I was disappointed. If she were one of my students (and she looked to be about that age), she wouldn't have gotten a very good grade. Nadia enjoyed seeing all the children, and she amused several of the moms when she started dancing when they were singing the "Wheels on the Bus" song. She was very cute! They say the program is for ages 2-5. Some moms brought very tiny babies, but those were mostly children who had preschool age siblings. I think I'll wait a few more months before going again. I had a feeling Nadia was too young, but I figured there was no harm in giving it a try today especially as I was planning to go to the library today as they called me to say that the book I had requested, When the Soul Mends, was available. I had recently read the first two books in the "Sisters of the Quilt" series, and I was really left hanging! Now I can read the final book of this trilogy by Cindy Woodsmall. :-)

Tues-Thurs my morning sickness (which lasts all day) was pretty bad. I have felt much better today. I was trying to figure out what I had done differently the two days that I felt better (Monday and today), and I found one thing in common. Both days I had eaten something later than usual (say 6:00 or 6:30pm) at night after dinner. Sunday night we went out for ice cream for Paul's Father's Day dessert treat, and last night I ate some crackers after giving my students their final exam. It could totally be coincidental, but I am going to eat something tonight in between dinner and bedtime in the hopes that it means I'll have another good day (in terms of nausea) tomorrow.

I uploaded two very short videos to youtube today so I could have a lasting memory of two of Nadia's "tricks." For several months she has enjoyed shaking her head "no," especially if someone is saying or nodding their head "yes." The second video clip shows a trick she's enjoyed for several weeks of moving her tongue from side to side in her mouth.

Doctor's Appointments

Yesterday afternoon I had my first prenatal appt. So far I'd have to say I like my old OB office better. I was usually in and out of there in 15 minutes total (and sometimes even less than that). Yesterday I sat in the waiting room for 40 minutes before I was even called back. Thankfully for that part Nadia was very good. She was the little social butterfly and kept walking around the waiting room and interacting with all the other people waiting. She was quite the entertainment (or so I was told by some others who were there). At my first prenatal appt with Nadia (13w), I had made the mistake of coming with an empty bladder. I tried to learn from my mistake and came with a full bladder this time, only to be told they weren't taking a sample today. That will start with my next appt. I was weighed, and sure enough I'm starting out 4 lbs heavier, and this is 3 weeks earlier than my first prenatal appt with Nadia. I knew I hadn't quite lost all the pg weight. Oh well not much I can do about it now. I'm hoping that since I've been FAR more active than I was during the pgcy with her that maybe I won't gain quite as much this time around. The next 15 minutes were the toughest as far as trying to entertain Nadia while I was in the exam room waiting for the CNM to do my u/s. It wasn't really a place she could walk around.

One hour after my scheduled appt, the CNM (Terrie) entered the exam room. I put Nadia in the stroller. She was rather fussy at this point so Terrie kept the u/s very brief. She did give me 2 pics and told me that the baby was measuring 9w5d, which is fine as that's just 2 days off of where I was yesterday (10w0d). Baby was very active this time! We saw arms, legs, etc. Of course baby was head down. Nadia was head down in every single u/s I had with her (which would be 8 total including the one done after my water broke). I had a brief chat with Terrie afterwards. The only question asked was about doing a VBAC, and she said it was possible. She said in a future appt I'd need to talk with a doctor about it, and that they needed to see a report from my c/s first. It was the first time at a doctor's appt in the last 5 years where I had to fill out paperwork and where there wasn't a computer in the exam room. They don't seem to have access to my medical record. I have access to some of it, so they gave me a list of what they wanted me to print out at home. Some of it I know I have access to (like bloodwork results) and some I don't (like the report on my c/s). Hopefully in time I'll feel better about my decision to select this clinic than I do right now.

The last time around I refused the first tri b/w that does the screening for Down's and such. I know there are false positives, and I don't want to have an amnio which is usually what's done after a positive on the blood test. I wasn't offered the nuchal u/s last time, probably because my first appt was in my 13th week and the test is supposed to be done between 11w1d and 13w6d. I'll never turn down an u/s, LOL! Unfortunately they couldn't schedule my next prenatal appt for the same day as that u/s, so I will have two appts in one week 3 weeks from now.

I felt badly that Nadia spent 90 minutes with me at the doctor's office on her bday. She had a lot of fun last night after dinner. I blew bubbles while she was in her wading pool. She had a blast splashing in the pool and popping bubbles!!

This morning Nadia had her 12 month doctor appt. This time they had her stand on the scale that is used for adults. I took off her shoes. She only had a onesie type outfit on so that didn't weigh much, but she was wearing a diaper that was somewhat wet. Anyhow including the diaper she weighed 21 lb 11 oz. They made a mistake entering it in the computer as when I looked at the printout at home I saw it said she weighed 25 lb 11 oz which she definitely does NOT weigh yet, LOL. This happened once before when she was 20 inches and they entered that she was 8 inches tall. Nope! Her weight of 21 3/4 lbs puts her at the 58th percentile, her height of 29 inches at the 40th percentile, and her head circumference at 18 1/2 inches is at the 91st percentile. This represents a pretty big jump in weight as she was at the 38th percentile for weight at her 6 and 9 month appts. As far as her height goes she was at the 49th percentile at 6 months and *supposedly* the 12th percentile at 9 months. Today's measurement confirms in my mind that the one at 9 month was very inaccurate since she's at a similar percentile today as she was at 6 months. As far as her head circumference, she just keeps going up in percentile from 64th (6 months) to 76th (9 months) to 91st (12 months). I hope all those people telling her how cute she is hasn't given her a big head, LOL! :-)

She received 3 shots today. It's nice they have a chicken pox vaccine nowadays. That wasn't fun to have as a child! She also got her hepatitis A and MMR vaccines. Of course she screamed while the nurse gave her the shots. I hope the side effects aren't too bad for her. The doctor still encouraged me to give her flouride (an Rx) so I finally said yes. She said it can prevent cavities from forming later on. I asked the doctor about what kind of milk, and she said until she's 2 years old either whole or 2% milk is fine, and then we can switch to skim at age 2. She gave the official okay for Nadia's carseat to face forward. I knew she was old enough, tall enough, and heavy enough, but it was nice to get the official approval.

On an unrelated note, Paul has been working on forming his dissertation committee. This is a very important step as the committee has a huge impact on how long it takes to complete the degree. He has to have at least 3 other profs in addition to his advisor on his committee. So far one other prof has accepted. He's waiting to hear from two others. His committee has to sign off on his proposal some time next month. He'll be taking his comprehensive exams next spring.

Happy Birthday, Miss Nadia!!!

I can't believe my little girl turns one year old today!!! To be honest, there are still times when I'm holding her in my arms and it still seems surreal to me that she's my daughter. You'd think that being pregnant for nearly 8 months followed by 19 hours of labor would be convincing enough, but honestly sometimes I feel the need to pinch myself to see if this is really true or if I'm just dreaming. I think it's because I had longed for the day I'd be a mom for 20+ years and lost hope somewhere along the way that it would ever happen, which is why her name is so perfect as Nadia Renee means "hope reborn." Thank you, Lord for this precious gift of life!!!

She's grown SO much over the past 12 months. When I look at pics (like the ones I posted yesterday), it's hard to remember she was ever THAT small (5 1/2 lbs) when now she weighs enough that I get a little out of

breath just from carrying her up the stairs (what is it about pgcy that makes one feel so out of shape?). She couldn't even hold her own head up and now she can climb, walk, feed herself finger foods, sign the word "milk," say "mama" and "dada" etc! It was funny taking the teddy bear pics today. She tackled the teddy bear and landed on top of him a few times, and she even picked him up and carried him around at one point! The first teddy photo in this post was from August 5, 2008.

I know she's going to change a lot over the next year as well although she won't change in size as dramatically as she has this year. I am looking forward to her learning to say MANY more words. It is frustrating at times not to know what she wants. I am also looking forward to when she is potty trained. We'll also be working on teaching her to be more obedient and how to feed herself with a spoon. She's also going to become a big sister over the next year!


Her birthday party will be on Saturday. Four grandparents, one great grandma, two uncles, one aunt, and one cousin are coming over to our house to celebrate! I can't wait!!! :-) I'm making rigatoni and meatballs, garlic bread, and tossed salad. Millie (Paul's sister-in-law who makes cakes for a living) is making her wonderful mandarin orange cake (I picked that with my Dad in mind who loves mandarin oranges), and I'm stopping at a grocery store to redeem a coupon for a free chocolate bday cake that Nadia can feed herself a slice of (although Paul thinks that's barbaric, LOL). I got orange sherbert for the mandarin orange cake and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream for the chocolate cake. Yum! Hopefully we'll get some good pics that day!!!

Farewells

I've been very focused on the many "firsts" Nadia has experienced the past 12 months, but I haven't thought about the "lasts" as much in part because it's not usually obvious at the moment that this is the last time she'll do a certain thing. Technically infancy is identified as birth until age 1 - when the child enters the toddler stage. However, to me she moved from baby to toddler when she started walking; to me she hasn't seemed like a baby for at least 6 weeks now. She doesn't crawl any more; I can't remember exactly what was the last day she crawled, but it's been probably about 2 weeks.

Today was her last day of drinking any formula. I've been giving her some 2% milk now and then the past few weeks so I don't think it will be a difficult transition, but the can of formula I opened about a month ago was emptied this morning, and I don't plan to buy any more. From now on she'll be drinking cow's milk (warm for the time being). Today is not her last day using a bottle though. I've decided to wait until these four teeth that are working their way through her gums completely errupt AND she has recovered from her 12 month shots before I make her give up the bottle for the sippy cup. I enjoy giving her bottles so it will be an adjustment for me as well. I am really looking forward to nursing again in several months. I hope the next baby never consumes one drop of formula. We shall see if that actually happens or not. I had trouble deciding what kind of milk to have her drink. Some say until age two they should drink whole milk. Paul & I drink skim milk so lately I've been buying two 1/2 gallons of milk - one of skim and one of 2%. I think at least until she turns 2 I will give her skim milk. I know little ones need a higher fat diet for the mylenation in the brain. I'll eventually transition her to skim or at least 1% milk. Does this sound like a good plan?

This morning she also polished off the last little bit of her baby cereals (rice and oatmeal). I don't plan to buy any more of that for her either. I have been giving her regular oatmeal, Cheerios, toast, or a half of a bagel some days for breakfast so it won't be hard to do away with the baby cereal.

Today is also her last day riding backwards in her carseat. YAY! I think she's going to like facing forward. It sure will make it easier for me to hold her hand or stroke her face when she's upset than it has been while sitting in the front seat with her facing backward in the back seat!

Another last which occurred sometime in the last few months was the last time someone said she looked like the Gerber baby. I used to get that comment almost every time I was out and about and usually more than once. I haven't heard that lately, but people still always tell me how cute she is. Of course I agree, LOL! :-) If they comment more specifically than that they usually comment on her "big, beautiful eyes" or they make a comment as to how well she's walking.

Here is a photo journey of the first 12 months of Nadia's life.

Paul holding Nadia shortly after she was born on 6-24-08; I met her 3 hours later.

July 8, 2008 wearing a preemie size onesie


August 6, 2008 sitting on her bouncer

September 5, 2008 - our princess sleeping on her boppy

October 23, 2008 - Mommy's little Steeler fan! :-)

November 24, 2008 - so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

December 25, 2008 - the best Christmas gift I ever received!

January 25, 2009 - our sleeping beauty

February 1, 2009 - getting ready to start crawling!

March 27, 2009 - she loves to stand!

April 3, 2009 - a budding pianist?

May 13, 2009 - swimming in Antigua!

Beautiful Day!

Today was a wonderful day. Here are some reasons why...

1. The weather was PERFECT - not too hot, not too cold, and not humid (it was VERY humid yesterday).

2. I didn't have much morning sickness AT ALL today. I felt the best I have in 5+ weeks. This meant I was FAR more productive today - weeding flower beds, trimming shrubs, grading papers, etc. Nadia also enjoyed being outside although she tried to eat mulch, leaves from a shrub, a bug, grass etc. Some of those actually made it inside her mouth. YUCK!

3. Paul stayed home! He spent many hours working in his office, but we still saw him more than if he had gone to PSU today. I wish his advisor would go to Europe more often, LOL! Two things I failed to include in my list yesterday about Paul as a father were #1 he loves to build towers (which Nadia quickly destroys) - I added two pics of such towers to yesterday's post today and #2 being a Daddy has brought out his musical side. Paul sings to Nadia all the time (and he never used to sing), and he's learned about a half dozen songs on the piano (such as Row, Row, Row Your Boat) so he can play them for Nadia.

4. Nadia wasn't as fussy. Yesterday was a rough day as #1 I was more nauseous than usual ALL day long and #2 she was VERY fussy due to teething.

5. I love my new laptop. I should have gotten a new one a couple of months ago. What a vast improvement!!!

6. Recently I got word that my last article which had been accepted (spring 2008) will be published later this year. I mailed the copyright agreement to the editor (in the UK) today and was pleasantly surprised the postage was only 98 cents. I thought it would be more than that for airmail.

7. I didn't feel as tired today. I still took a nap during Nadia's afternoon nap as I have been lately, but many days even with that nap I am dragging most of the day. It felt great to have ENERGY today!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Since this is my 900th post, I thought I'd write nine things in honor of Paul, my dad, and Paul's dad. I wanted to post a pic of Nadia & Paul today, but the opportunity didn't arise. I'll try to do better with taking and posting pics of Nadia this week.

1. I am thankful for my father-in-law. I am proud that they've been married 42 years. I greatly appreciate that he's willing to take time out of his work schedule to come babysit Nadia about once a month on average. Pop Pop loves Nadia; he even wanted to take her on a recent trip to NV for his niece's wedding. :-)

2. I am thankful for my dad and the fact that he and my mom will soon be celebrating their 40th anniversary. Of course I aquired more important characteristics from him, but one thing I got from him is a love for the Pittsburgh Steelers. :-) Nadia doesn't know Grandpa very well yet, but I think in the years to come as she spends more time with him, she'll get to know and love her Grandpa.

3. A special memory of our first week in the hospital as a family of three was watching Paul's face just light up when he'd see and/or hold his little peanut. Priceless.

4. Paul tries to get home early enough almost every night so that he gets at least a little time with Nadia before she goes to bed.

5. He comes home early from work twice a week to care for her when I'm at work - once to pick her up from the babysitter a little earlier than when he usually comes home and another day he comes home 3 hours earlier than usual to watch her at home.

6. Paul is very concerned about Nadia's development. Sometimes his expectations are a bit unrealistic, but I do love the fact that he cares so much about her learning to read, count, etc.

7. When Paul is watching Nadia, he gives her 100% of his attention (I can't say the same for myself, but of course I spend far more hours with her each week than he does).

8. He is very concerned about Nadia's safety as evidenced by taking the time to install cabinet locks, gates, etc. She learned the meaning of "be careful" from her Daddy saying it VERY often.

9. Paul had never changed a diaper before in his life, but he changes a few of Nadia's diapers each week (even poopy ones!).

Number Five

I thought for sure teeth #5-6 would be on the top (on either side of the middle two); I can see them through her gums, and they are very close to breaking through. However, it turns out that the fifth tooth to break through was on the bottom (to the left of the bottom two teeth). I have a feeling she's going to go from four to eight teeth in a VERY short period of time. This might explain the reason why she's been fussier than usual lately. Poor girl!

I got a cheeseburger at Ruby Tuesday. I don't think I ever got a burger there before. Most of the time when we go out I get chicken. With my last pregnancy the two things I craved more than usual were apples and salty foods. This time around I still prefer salty foods (sweet foods make me sick to my stomach), but the last few weeks I've had a huge craving for cheeseburgers. I have eaten more cheeseburgers the past few weeks than I did in the last few years. The other difference (greatly appreciated) is that the heartburn is very rare so far. YAY! Is heartburn a signal of gender during pgcy? Of course I am curious if jellybean is a girl or a boy. I realize I might develop heartburn sometime in the next 30 weeks, but I am grateful that it hasn't started as soon as last time!

Mommy and Daddy

Two days ago Nadia said "Mommy" for the first time. Usually she still calls me "Mama" or "Mom," but once while I was pointing out different people in the photographs on our refrigerator, she pointed to a picture of me holding her and said "Mommy." Ah the moment was priceless.... Although she still says mama far more than dada lately, I think Daddy is feeling more confident lately of how much she loves him. He played hookey the last two days from school. YAY! Unlike most chemists who do their research in a lab (like he did for his master's degree), the field he's now in (computational chemistry) is all done on the computer. So really he can get just as much work done at home up in his office as he can in his office at PSU. If you factor in the 3 hour daily RT commute he can actually get more work done if he stays at home, but normally he still goes in 5 days a week. However his advisor left for Europe on Monday. So I guess it's a case of when the cat's away, the mice play, or in this case the mouse worked from home instead of at school. :-) So Nadia got to see more of her Daddy than usual, and there were several moments when she was VERY sad when he went upstairs to his office. This happened again today when he left for PSU. Not that Daddy likes to see Nadia cry, but I think it showed him that yes she really does love him very much!!

I've been toying the last few months with getting a new laptop. I wanted this one to last longer, but it's "issues" are really bugging me to the point that I'm going to get a new one today. Yesterday I spent a lot of time doing research on the sales at Best Buy, Staples, etc. to see where I should go and which one I should buy. I'm not looking forward to Vista (haven't heard anything good about it), but it seems that's what the computers come with these days. Hopefully the new laptop will last longer than this one did. One thing I definitely want this next computer to have is an HDMI port so that we can easily connect it to our TV which will make watching the instant viewing movies from Netflix much nicer than watching it on the laptop.

I think I'll be moving into maternity clothes more quickly than I did last time. So far I can still wear my regular clothes as long as I wear tops that cover up the fact I can't zip the skirts up all the way any more. I am not saying I look pregnant yet, but my belly has expanded enough that more and more clothes aren't fitting properly. Thankfully I haven't gained any weight yet. I am getting good use of my huge body pillow (what Paul calls "the nest") again. My back was already starting to bother me, and the pillow has made my back much happier this week. :-)

For Father's Day I got Paul an 8x10 of Nadia (and put in in a frame) and also got another frame that holds three 4x6 prints. Two of those photos were just of Nadia, and one was the shot on the airplane that included myself, Nadia, and his parents. The prints (including the 8x10) were all free from CVS. Good deal, eh? I gave them to Paul a little early so he took them to school today.