Social Butterfly

Paul continues to be amazed at how social Nadia is; he calls her the "socialite" and wonders where she gets it from, LOL! Whenever she's in a waiting room, she goes around the room and waves "hi" to each person. Children are naturally the biggest draw. This past Sunday there was a luncheon after the morning service. Nadia loved being able to run around the fellowship hall. She first ran toward the kids playing basketball. I had to move her since obviously she could get hit by the ball or trampled by a bigger child. Then she went toward the people waiting in line to get their food. She walked up and down the line waving "hi" to everyone. It was so cute! Ever since she was very little she's been a people person. When she was less than 6 months old the nursery workers discovered that if she was alone in the nursery, she would cry, but if she could be held in a room where there were other people, she would be content to watch those people.

On Wednesday afternoons there is a 10 month old boy (Eli) at Sarah's house when I drop Nadia off. It is so much fun to watch the two interact. They babble and laugh back and forth as if they understand what the other is saying. Sarah said sometimes Eli will come over and give Nadia a kiss on her head. Awwww.....

Nuchal Translucency

The sonographer says he never tries to determine gender at the nuchal translucency scan. He said it's too early. I know plenty of people who have learned the gender of their baby at 12-13 weeks, but we'll be waiting until I have the Level II u/s. I'm hoping to have that one done in August as I have 3 weeks off in between the summer and fall semesters, but it might not be until September if we have to wait all the way until 20 weeks (which is when we found out with Nadia). The good news is that baby passed the test. They look for a measurement under 3mm, and the measurement today was less than 2mm. I always go into each ultrasound excited to see the baby but also a little nervous. I am very grateful to the Lord that this baby is doing great!! The jellybean was moving all around - waving an arm, kicking a leg, etc. The unique thing for me was this was the FIRST pregnancy ultrasound I've had where the baby's head wasn't facing down! Nadia's head was facing down every single time - all the way from 8 weeks to 36 weeks. During the previous ultrasounds, the jellybean's head has been facing down as well. I'm used to seeing the head on the right and the feet on the left. They weighed me today (just for an u/s appt?), and I gained 1/2 lb in the last 3 weeks. I hadn't weighed myself the last 2 weeks so frankly I was relieved. Since my pre-pg weight was a little higher this time around, I am 5 lbs above where I was at my 13w appt with Nadia. Thankfully this appt went MUCH faster than the last one. We were in and out of the doctor's office within about 25 minutes. Whew... Now I hope my appt on Friday goes that smoothly since I'll have Nadia (and Paul won't also be there like he was today). I wish they could have scheduled both appts to be back to back (with the midwife and the u/s), but when I was there 3 weeks ago they said they couldn't.

Blueberry Festival

Sometimes I wonder how they determine the boundary lines for towns and such. The Post Office for the town which we live in (according to our address) is about 2 miles from our house. There is another Post Office less than 1/2 mile from our house, and in fact our polling place (when it's time to vote) is located in that town, not the one named in our address. Well anyhow that little town is having a blueberry festival today, and Nadia and I are going to check it out in between her first and second naps. We both love blueberries so hopefully we'll eat some yummy blueberry treats of some sort!


Paul is coming home this afternoon. Recently he said to me that no one gets as excited as Nadia to see him. I said well maybe the better way to say it is that no one shows their excitement at seeing him as much as Nadia does. I know I for one am always very glad when he comes home, but I don't squeal with delight like Nadia does. I'm sure she'll be glad to see him since it will have been more than 24 hours since she saw him last. This evening we're having a family over for dinner. They have one son (Henry) and are expecting the arrival of their daughter in August. Dave was Paul's advisor when he was working on his Master's degree at Bucknell. They only live about 15 minutes away from our current home (their trip out to our previous home for Paul's graduation party was much farther last July). I'm looking forward to spending time with them tonight. I think Nadia will have fun playing with Henry also. :-)

Bad Garage Door!

Nadia's bedroom is located over our garage. We selected it as her room since #1 it was already painted pink by the previous owner's who had one daughter and #2 it is the largest of the other 3 bedrooms (not including our master bedroom which is of course larger than hers). If baby #2 is a girl then probably that room will stay the nursery, and Nadia will move to what is now the guest bedroom. If baby #2 is a boy, then the guest bedroom will become his nursery, and Nadia will stay put. Well one disadvantage to her bedroom's location is that sometimes the garage door opener wakes her up. It doesn't happen often as usually when she's at home napping, I'm the only one at home so obviously I'm not leaving the house! When I come home from school she's always asleep, and up until last night it never woke her up in the evening. However last night when I got home about 8:15pm (she had been asleep since 7pm), it woke her up. I wasn't sure what to do as it's been over 6 months since she's awakened during the night and cried for more than say 30 seconds. I waited a couple of minutes and decided to go rock her and put her back down. She was very calm while I was rocking her, but then she just screamed as soon as I put her down. I let her cry for about 20 minutes and then decided to give her some milk to see if that would help her go back to sleep. She drank some milk and was practically asleep in my arms, but again started screaming in the crib. I let her cry longer this time. I wasn't sure what to do. She hasn't been crying AT ALL for her naps or bedtime lately, but usually when I go get her then we start in a bad cycle again of her crying before every nap. However it was really hard to listen to her cry. Ironically I had planned to go to bed early last night, but I certainly wasn't going to bed while she was screaming. So finally I went and got her a 3rd time as it now had been a whole hour since she had first awakened. I brought her downstairs hoping a change of scenery would break the cycle. I gave her more milk and some Tylenol as she's still teething. Well the third time was the charm, and she didn't cry at all when I put her down. Paul thought maybe she'd sleep in since she was up for 90 minutes when she would normally be sleeping, but I figured she'd get up the same time as always - which she did (about 6:10am). However, she did make up for the lost sleep today as her nap this morning was the longest ever - 2 1/2 hours! WOW! She's taking her afternoon nap right now and so far has been down 80 minutes. Her naps are usually 90 minutes at the longest.

There has been a vacant lot very near our home (a corner of our backyard touches a corner of that yard). Today they started construction building a new home there. The ironic thing is that there are several houses in our very small subdivision which are for sale - actually the house right beside this property is one of them that has been for sale since last fall. I guess they'd prefer to build the house exactly the way they want it to be. I hope the sounds of building a home don't wake her up from her naps over the coming months.

Speaking of construction, they have been doing a lot of it on I-80 which is the road I'm on for most of my commute to and from work. In the last couple of weeks it's lengthened my trip a few times, but yesterday was the worst. After it took me 35 minutes to go two miles, I got off I-80 the first chance possible and took back roads (which are usually slower than I-80) the rest of the way. From Nadia's babysitter to work is usually 30-35 minutes, but yesterday it took EIGHTY minutes. I missed my office hours, but thankfully I made it to class on time (with maybe 5 minutes to spare). I called the janitor at 4pm to ask him to tell a student who had an appt with me that I was caught in traffic. I met her with after class instead. She waited for me up until 4:50 (according to a nursing prof on my hall). I felt badly, but I left my house at 3:15 which should have meant I would arrive at school early or at least on time not very, very late! The trip home took the usual 35 minutes. I could start avoiding I-80 altogether for awhile. My trip would take longer than 35 minutes, but it wouldn't take 80 minutes! I wish there was a way of knowing which days I should go the back routes and which days it would work out fine to go the usual route. I will be glad when that road construction is done that is for sure!!! Thankfully Paul hasn't encountered any as his trip is much longer than mine (normally anyhow - yesterday mine was longer than his).

12 Weeks

In 10 days I'll be in the 2nd trimester. YAY! I know that bad things can happen after that point, but most women seem to breathe a big sigh of relief when they make it out of the 1st trimester. That's also the point at which my "morning" sickness went away with Nadia. I'm hoping for the same this time. It hasn't gone away yet. Last night during class I felt particularly awful unfortunately. Last night was my last progesterone suppository! I am looking forward to the end of the leakage that comes along with taking those. In terms of napping, I have been taking one nap when Nadia naps each day (about 90 minutes). It's so funny because most of my life I have NOT been a napper. I could literally go an entire year without taking one nap. Now I can hardly imagine going a day without one, LOL! Paul used to say I was "anti-naps." There was one day this week when I actually napped during both of Nadia's naps. I can't make a regular habit of that as I depend on using the time during one of her naps to get work done for school.

On Sunday I started wearing maternity clothes. I still had 3 regular skirts that fit just fine, but I was tired of wearing the same three skirts. It was okay to do so when I was teaching 2 nights a week, but now that I'm teaching 4 nights a week I need more than 3 skirts to be able to wear to work. It has been wonderful to wear "new" clothes the last few days (clothes I hadn't worn in over one year). An added bonus is that although I am sure no one could look at me and figure out I am pregnant yet (that didn't happen until I was about 28 weeks along last time!), when I look at myself in the mirror I can tell I look pregnant whereas in my "regular" clothes I just felt like I looked fat. I'd rather look pg than fat, LOL! I'll have Paul take my first belly pic of this pgcy sometime in the next couple of days. I was thinking the only maternity clothes I'd need to purchase would be some winter items since most of what I have is for spring/summer since I was due in July with Nadia. However we are going to the Poconos for a family reunion in August, and I'm sure we'll be swimming (we plan to visit an indoor water park for one thing). I was able to wear one of my 2 regular bathing suits when I was in the Caribbean while pg with Nadia because I was 11-12 weeks at that point. However I'll be 17-18 weeks along for that trip, and I really don't think either swimsuit will fit.
I am looking forward to my u/s on Monday morning and hoping maybe we'll find out if baby is a girl or boy. It did not work out well to have Nadia with me for my last u/s, and Sarah isn't available on Monday to watch Nadia (she's going to the spa - yay for her!). So Paul is going to stay home from school on Monday and go with me to the doctor. He'll be in charge of Nadia while I have my u/s.

From January until the end of June I was only going on campus 2 days a week. Last week I went 3 times, and starting this week (and this will continue for 4 more weeks after this one) I'm going 4 nights a week. I can already tell I am glad that I don't normally go in this often. One thing that has made it more unpleasant is that they are doing a lot of construction on I-80 and sometimes my trip either there or back has taken a lot longer than usual. I'm teaching 3 nights a week in the fall, but in the spring after my maternity leave (6-8 weeks) is up, I'm just going to go back 2 nights a week, and I've decided for fall 2010 all I want to do is 50% (2 nights a week). I am grateful that I only have to work part-time at the university now that I'm a Mommy.

Playing Outside

Nadia enjoys playing in the grass - barefoot or with her sandals on. Surprisingly even though the sound of the hair dryer and vacuum have been known to scare her, the sound of the lawn mower doesn't frighten her at all. I have to stay very close to her when she's outside while Daddy is mowing as she likes to run straight toward him. Sometimes Daddy stops mowing and gives her a hug as it's really hard to resist your daughter when she's running toward you. :-)

I gave Nadia some fresh cherries again today, and she decided they are quite tasty after all. They are one of those foods I wish were cheaper so I'd buy them more often.

Nadia's babysitter has a doctor's appt this Thursday; so Nadia will be going to her home Mon-Wed instead of Tues-Thurs this week. Paul will come home early on Thursday to watch her. I just put Nadia down for a nap, and so I need to switch gears to work on the syllabus for a new course I am teaching this fall.

I hope you enjoyed the pics! I had a hard time deciding which ones to post today. :-)

Video Monitor

When I did the baby registries for Nadia, I purposefully kept almost every item under $50. I think I had fewer than 5 items that were over $50 and all were under $100. We definitely don't need as much stuff this time around. We'll need some new clothes - even if jellybean is a girl because almost everything size 0-3 months for Nadia was summer clothing whereas this baby will be born in the winter, and of course if jellybean is a boy we'll definitely need to get some new clothes. Aside from clothing, I've thought of 4 items I want this second time around. First, I want an Ultimate Baby Wrap as Joy told me it never bothered her back, and the ones we have certainly do bother my back. That's an inexpensive item. The other three items are expensive (as in more than $100 each) - a double stroller, cradle swing, and video monitor. I have decided I cannot let baby #2 cry it out unless I have a video monitor. It hasn't happened often, but a couple of times I discovered (after letting her cry awhile) that her leg was stuck through the crib. I felt like a total heel. There have been other times I have wished for a video monitor, but that reason is enough for me. If anyone has a particular recommendation in terms of a cradle swing, double stroller, or video monitor, I would greatly appreciate it!

I say thank you to those of you who have voted in the poll. So far the majority has selected "girl." With Nadia, the majority selected "boy." So if the minority has always been correct with my polls, does that mean I'm having a boy this time? LOL! Paul really has zero preference. I don't have a strong preference, but I am slightly leaning towards hoping for a boy. I do see advantages though of having a second girl. I just pray for the baby to be healthy. That's far more important than the gender! I am WAY more curious about the gender than Paul is. I think he wouldn't mind waiting until I gave birth to find out although he doesn't care if I want to find out earlier. I definitely would love to know as soon as possible!

This past week Nadia tried several new fruits. She loved the blueberries but wasn't crazy about pineapple, strawberries, or cherries. For many months she's eaten unsweetened applesauce and bananas.

Happy 4th of July!

Today Nadia's 6th tooth broke through her gums. She now has 3 on the top and 3 on the bottom. The two newest teeth are both on the left side of the middle two.

Yesterday Nadia & I ran a few errands. At Walmart I got her two more sippy cups (the Munchkin kind). Of all the sippy cups I have purchased for her, there are two that she drinks out of now (Nuby and Munchkin). Ironically the one that she first had success with a few months ago (Nuk), she won't drink out of these days. I am just relieved that the transition from bottle to sippy cup went so very smoothly this week! Walmart was a ZOO yesterday. I have no idea why it was so jam packed. Unfortunately I bought 2 cases of size 3 diapers instead of size 4. I discovered it in the parking lot, but didn't want to venture back in. I figured out when I got home what had happened, they've started putting fewer diapers in each case so the amount that used to be in the size 4 cases is now the quantity of the size 3 cases. Even though this now means the diapers will cost a little more, they are still the cheapest option I've found. I recently looked into G-diapers again for baby #2, but if I use their biodegradable disposable liners, the cost would be 5 times more than what I'm paying now. So I guess I'll be sticking with the option which isn't very environmentally friendly.

Last night Nadia had her first corn on the cob. I saw a picture on Facebook of a daughter of a friend of mine eating corn on the cob, and although she's only about 3 months older than Nadia I thought to myself Nadia couldn't do that yet. Well last night I decided to let her try, and I was wrong. She was able to bite and eat some corn off the cob! She thought it was great fun. :-)

This morning we watched our town's parade for about 30 minutes (we skipped the first 45 minutes). The kids sure got a lot of candy!! One newspaper photographer took Nadia's picture and asked for our names. Maybe she'll be in the paper. :-) She liked Nadia's little patriotic outfit (a bday gift from Aunt Millie & Uncle Al). It says "I Y the USA" on it. There were of course lots of old cars, tractors, fire engines, and such in the parade; Nadia did a good job of waving at the people going by. A woman standing next to us had a little dog named Sadie that Nadia enjoyed petting. After the parade was over we headed to the park for lunch (carnival type food). We finished eating before it was time for the Christian/patriotic puppet show to begin, so Nadia got to enjoy some time on the swing set first. When they started playing music at the main stage, she started dancing in the swing. The lady who was pushing her 2 year old granddaughter in the swing next to Nadia thought it was quite funny. We only stayed for a few minutes of the puppet show as it was time for Nadia's afternoon nap. She enjoyed the time we were there though! Another highlight of her day was getting very close to a large horse and a pony (they were charging $3.00 to ride them).

Blueberries!

We live very close to a blueberry farm. I contemplated buying some plants from them in the spring, and I wish I had done so although it probably takes a couple of years before they start producing fruit. Today I stopped at the little roadside market they have and bought some blueberries and corn on the cob. Nadia LOVED the blueberries. I definitely am going to plant some bushes next spring! I wish fresh fruit were cheaper at the grocery store, but it certainly will be cheaper if I grow them myself. I think that's one of the reasons we three always eat a banana every day (in addition to the fact we enjoy eating them) - they are probably the cheapest fruit at the store. Paul doesn't think our apple trees are going to produce any apples this summer due to the gypsy moths attacking them awhile back. Bummer! Hopefully next year we can enjoy eating apples from our two apple trees.

It's really funny sometimes when Nadia chooses to say the word "yes." Yesterday I asked her if she wanted to talk on the phone with grandma. She shook her head "no" (which is the only way she shakes her head - neither grandma should feel offended by this). Then I asked her if she wanted to talk on the phone with Daddy. She said "yes." Of course I promptly called him on his cell phone for a brief chat. :-) Today when we were running errands and I was getting her out of her car seat at the Post Office I asked, "Are we at the Post Office?". To which she happened to respond, "yes." Of course she has no idea what a Post Office is! LOL!

Eleven Weeks!

I've still been having many days of "all day" sickness. I am hoping that the end is in sight although I realize it could be different and last longer this time around. With Nadia the morning sickness was gone by around 13 weeks. I get a little bit of heartburn after eating certain things, but I have to say the heartburn is definitely better this time around (thus far anyhow). I added a poll regarding the gender of "jellybean." I am going to assume whatever the minority chooses is the correct answer, LOL. I've done 5 polls on this blog the last 2 years. I can't remember if the majority was right with the first one (whether I should do another fresh cycle first or do the FET with just one embryo), but with the other 4 polls the minority was correct (Nadia's gender, what week I would go in labor with her, when I'd get the bfp this 2nd time around, and how many babies I'm expecting this time). With the last two polls there were only two people who picked the right answer both times, but it's still fun to see what people think! :-) I put the ending day of the poll as July 13 because some people do learn the gender of their baby at the nuchal screening. It's definitely not a guaranteed thing that we'll find out at 12w5d, but we might! If not then we'll have to wait until the Level 2 ultrasound to find out (done between 16-20 weeks).

Yesterday it proved to be no big deal to pack up the bottles. Nadia is doing just fine on the sippy cup. YAY! She doesn't hold it herself yet, but I am very happy to hold it for her. :-) She's also doing better and better with what time she gets up in the morning. The last few days it was 6:15, and this morning she didn't get up until 6:30! I would love to be able to sleep in until 7:00am some Saturday morning. That hasn't happened in over a year for me. Of course I'd much rather be a Mommy than get to sleep until 7am on Saturdays! Paul does get up with her on Saturdays so I usually am in bed until 6:45 or 7:00, but I am the one who wakes him up to let him know she's awake, and I can't get back to sleep. I do enjoy at least being able to rest in bed a little longer one day a week.

Often when I'm snuggling with Nadia I will make little sounds like "awww" and other contented sounds. The sweet thing is that now Nadia has started doing the same. Sometimes when she crawls into my arms for a snuggle she'll initiate the same kind of sounds. It's so cute!!! She's a very active girl so she generally doesn't want to spend extended periods of time snuggling, but she does like to be held, hugged, and cuddled many times throughout the day. Of course I am very happy to comply!!!!

Paul now has four professors who have agreed to serve on his dissertation committee. He is now trying to find a date that will work for all of them to meet together as they must sign off on his 5 page research proposal by the end of July.