Molars Hurt!

Nadia now has eight teeth that have broken through. The thing that surprised me was that the 8th tooth wasn't on the bottom. She's had three on the bottom for several weeks. As of this week, she has five on the top as one of her molars broke through. When she was teething with the other seven teeth, her nighttime sleep wasn't interrupted too much. Molars must hurt more than the other teeth as last night she had a tough time sleeping. I gave her Tylenol at 9pm and rocked her for about 45 minutes before putting her back down. She woke up at 5:30am which thankfully hasn't been the norm lately.

Yesterday Nadia did really well with pointing to my nose, chin, cheek, and ear upon command. The word "up" is now her favorite word. Yesterday she was just using it correctly, but today she's also used it several times when really she meant "down." OOPS! She also can now follow two step commands such as "go get a book from your bookshelf and read it in your blue chair." It's so cute to see her sitting in her chair "reading." She uses that rocker/bouncer so much these days that I am worried about her sitting on top of her sibling if I put the baby in the bouncer. Maybe my idea to get a swing this time isn't a bad one. I might not be putting the baby in the bouncer. Of course Nadia didn't like the bouncer when she was little so who knows what her sibling will think of it anyhow at that stage.

Today I had my 17 week OB appt. I had been very nervous lately because I haven't felt the baby move in about 10 days. I kept reminding myself that I didn't start feeling Nadia move until my 20th week, and that it wasn't consistent until my 21st week. If I had never felt this baby move I wouldn't have been so worried, but to feel the baby kick and then not feel anything was terrifying. My worst fears were intensified during part of my appt as the OB searched and searched all over my belly and couldn't find the heartbeat. At my 13 week appt the midwife found the heartbeat as soon as she put the doppler on my belly. The doctor asked a nurse to bring in an ultrasound. While the ultrasound was coming, the doctor suggested maybe the problem was because they didn't have the table totally flat. She lowered the part of the table where my back was and tried again and thankfully did find the heartbeat - HUGE relief on my part! Since the nurse had already brought the u/s machine in, she did a really quick u/s and gave me a picture (just of the baby's head). So the bottom line is that baby is fine, and I will stop worrying about the fact I'm not feeling him/her move yet.

I gained 5 lbs over the last 4 weeks which is exactly how much I gained in between my 13 and 17 week appts with Nadia. I've gained 9lbs total since the egg retrieval. The difference is I started out a bit heavier this time around so I currently weigh 7 lbs more than I did at 17 weeks with Nadia. My b/p was higher than usual (although still fine), but that was probably due to my stress over whether baby was still alive or not. I have laid in bed so many times the last 10 days praying for the baby to kick me again, but it hadn't happened so I was really starting to believe I had lost another baby. I am very, very, very glad I was wrong!!!!!!!!!!!

The OB tried to talk me out of VBAC. She said that they wouldn't refuse to go that route with me although the one increased risk factor was the fact that the births are less than 2 years apart (which is evidently how long it takes for the uterus to completely heal after a c/s). She said however that she doesn't understand why I'd want to increase the risk of death for myself and baby. She said that although the risk might be small, if something does go wrong (uterine rupture) it usually means the death of mom and baby. She said it has happened to her before so she never recommends VBAC. She also emphasized the fact that Nadia was only 6lb, and if I had trouble delivering her, what if the next baby is bigger? I keep going back to the fact that the OB who delivered Nadia said she would see no reason I couldn't do VBAC if I got pregnant again (I asked her at my postpartum visit). However every single person I talk to these days (the midwife and OB at this clinic, the nursing professor at my university who teaches the maternity classes, etc.), strongly encourages me to go the route of a scheduled c-section. I really, really, really wanted to do a VBAC, but I have a feeling I'll end up with another c/s. If my membranes don't rupture on their own (like they did with Nadia), my c/s would be scheduled at 39 weeks. If my water breaks on its own again, she said they can do an c/s within 15 or 20 minutes. She said they would not use general anesthesia, but I would be in the recovery room for an hour before I could be with my baby. Bah humbug to that. Well anyhow pray for wisdom with this decision. Obviously I don't want to do anything that might lead to my death or the death of the baby. She kept emphasizing that this is a small hospital. I wanted to ask what does that have to do with it? Well how I give birth is not nearly as important as that I am giving birth again. I am very grateful that the Lord has sustained this little one thus far, and I can't wait to find out in 11 days if baby is a girl or a boy! I will be surprised if they tell me I have placenta previa this time. It seems like I am carrying the baby higher this time around.

Comedian?

One career I never have considered pursuing is that of comedian. I am not a great joke teller or anything along that line. I do try to inject humor into my classes, and when I get my class to laugh, I feel a sense of accomplishment. That has always been one of my favorite qualities of Paul - his sense of humor is much better than mine. He loves to make me smile or laugh, and he laughs VERY easily, especially at his own jokes, LOL. Actually sometimes watching him laugh is actually what gets me laughing more than what he just thought was really funny. Today Nadia has been laughing so easily. I think in her eyes I am a comedian. Her laughter today has been just what the doctor ordered so to speak. I am not sure why but yesterday evening and this morning I was just really upset. I felt like I wanted to cry and cry and cry but wasn't sure why. Maybe it's just pg hormones. Maybe knowing my parents recently attended a funeral for a stillborn baby who weighed over 7 lbs (bigger than Nadia was at birth) has made me more nervous about how jellybean is doing. I will say though I feel sooo much better right now than I did this morning even though I haven't felt the baby move today. Laughter is the best medicine - especially the sweet laughter of my little girl!!

This morning when she wanted out of her wading pool, Nadia said a new word (her 5th). She said "out" as clear as a bell. She also has been more consistent lately with saying the "p" when she says "up." This afternoon I got in the pool with her (it's SO hot here today - I am glad it wasn't this hot yesterday in NYC!) and she lasted much longer in the pool than she did this morning. She actually laughed quite a bit. I think she found it funny that Mommy was in her pool with her. This was my first time wearing my new maternity suit that I got on eBay a few weeks ago. I'll be using it a lot next week (actually start this Friday evening) as we'll be in the Poconos. YAY! Nadia hasn't been in a pool other than her wading pool since we were in Antigua in May. It will be fun to swim with her and also my nieces and nephews. On Monday we're going to an indoor waterpark. Paul can only stay the weekend (through Monday), but everyone else (16 of us not including the jellybean) will be there for an entire week.

Nadia's nose seems worse today. How can so much stuff come out of one tiny little nose? I can't even begin to count how many times an hour I have wiped her cute little nose today. Unfortunately she also didn't nap well at all today. Paul accidently woke her up during her morning nap, and her afternoon nap wasn't great either. I am going to put her to bed a little earlier than usual. Hopefully that will help. I think she's rather tired since she also went to bed an hour later than usual last night (and still got up around 6am this morning).

Nadia and I had ravioli for dinner. It was her first time eating it, and she LOVED it. It was one of those things not on my grocery list that just struck me as something I should buy when we were shopping today. Does anyone ever stick with just buying what's on their list? I always end up buying more than what I thought I was going to get. I set the bags of grocery on the floor when I came in the house, and as I was putting a few things in the pantry, Nadia found the bag of grapes and had put three entire grapes in her mouth at once. LOL! I took them out of her mouth since #1 they were unwashed and #2 that's way too much for her to eat at once. I usually give her one half of a grape at a time not three whole grapes at a time. She loves grapes!

New York City

Paul's parents and our nephew (Shawn) arrived at our home a little after 8am yesterday. Paul and I left about 8:40 after I put Nadia down for her morning nap. We made one stop en route to Newark and then took the PATH train into NYC and then took the subway to a stop near Tavern on the Green, which is in Central Park. Our reservations were for 1pm, and we arrived just a few minutes early. I took a few pictures as we walked back to the room where they said our table was located. When we got there, I thought this doesn't seem like the room where the buffet is served. I was told that we had reservations for brunch (off of the menu) not the buffet. I went to the bathroom while Paul sorted it out, and when I came back he said we'd have to wait 30 minutes. We waited a little for maybe 15 minutes while discussing our options. I usually eat lunch with Nadia at 11am in part because I have been eating dinner around 4pm on my way to work since I've had office hours/class from 4:10-7:15pm. I had eaten some grapes, an egg McMuffin, and a nectarine en route to Newark. I was trying to eat enough so that I wasn't miserable, but I still wanted to be hungry at 1pm especially since we were eating from a buffet. I was very hungry at 1pm, and if we had been allowed to start eating shortly after we arrived, I would have been fine. However at this point I had a splitting headache (from low blood sugar), and I was having a hard time thinking clearly to decide what to do. I had a banana and some crackers in my purse, but I didn't want to eat just a few minutes before we were seated in the restaurant. I also wasn't sure how long it would take us to get from the restaurant to the theatre for our 3pm show, and I didn't want to feel rushed during the meal considering it was going to be the most expensive meal Paul or I had ever paid for.

So at 1:15 I said let's go. I ate my banana, and we shared a hot pretzel we bought in Central Park. Instead of getting back on the subway (I was tired of sitting in a vehicle of any sort), we walked down Broadway toward Times Square. The last time we were in NYC was for a Duke bball game at Madison Square Garden, but the last time we were walking in this area of NYC was in 2000 when we saw Les Miserables. They've made fewer of the lanes of the road for cars and more for bikes and pedestrians. There were more bicycle type taxis than I remember seeing in the past in NYC; it reminded me of our time in Beijing. In hindsight, it didn't take very long to get to Gershwin Theatre from Central Park. We probably could have eated the brunch if they had seated as at 1:30. Well we saved a lot of money as we spent $16 for lunch (pizza and such) which would have been about the amount for tax/tip alone if we had eaten at Tavern on the Green. I had that on my "I want to experience once in my lifetime" list, but I think even though we didn't actually eat there, I'll cross it off the list. Most of the things on the list are much bigger than eating at a certain restaurant (such as we want to go to Hawaii some day).

The show (Wicked) was very good. It reminded me of the book which tells the story of the Three Little Pigs from the wolf's perspective. In this story, the Wicked witch is actually the protagonist who is far more helpful and kind than the "good" witch who is very self-absorbed and vain. The actress who played the part of the wicked witch was outstanding. Wow did she have a powerful voice!!! I would say that of the 6 Broadway shows I've seen, I would rate this one #3 after Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which we saw in London) and Phantom of the Opera (which I saw in DC). I don't think Paul would rate the 4 he's seen in the same order I would. I know he really, really liked 1776 which was probably my least favorite.

Unfortunately our trip from NYC to Newark was a lot longer going back. At one point we JUST missed a PATH train because we were putting another $1 on our Metro cards. That alone extended our trip by 20 minutes. I think we need to get brave the next time we venture into NYC and actually drive into the city, particularly if we go on a weekend. The parking used to be a lot cheaper in Newark than NYC, but that also wasn't the case this time. Our reasons for going via the PATH train in the past were that it was cheaper and less stressful than driving in the city, but it's no longer cheaper, and I think I'd rather a few minutes stress of driving in a big city than extend the length of the trip significantly. Paul got some dinner at Wendy's on the way home, but the thought of fast food made my stomach turn so I waited until we were home at 10:30pm to eat a bowl of cereal before going to bed. I had eaten some crackers at about 5pm which was enough to tide me over although my stomach was growling much of the way home.

We had good conversation on the way to NYC although Paul didn't enjoy the part where we were talking about boy's names. He likes Gordon and Newton for first names for a boy, and I don't. Surprisingly he didn't mind one of my suggestions (Ryan). We shall see what we come up with. On the way there we laughed at one point when we realized we both had the same silly song (Aiken Drum) going through our head, LOL! We didn't talk much on the way back. I was not feeling well physically or emotionally. Thankfully since I had done the driving on the way to Newark, he drove us home. I was hungry for dinner, missing Nadia, etc. That was the longest I had ever been separated from her.

I think instead of a date in NYC we should have gone as a family to Knoebels amusement park. Paul's parents took Shawn & Nadia to McD's for lunch (she enjoyed her 2nd happy meal) then to the amusement park and then to Perkins for dinner. Even though she still has a very runny nose, and definitely isn't feeling 100%, she had a great time. They said she was waving to everyone as she rode the carousel and enjoyed riding in a little car with Shawn, etc. I think Paul & I will have to take her there sometime in the next month or so before it closes for the year. I was thinking her first trip to an amusement park would be Hershey Park in December (Christmas Candylane), but it sounds like she's already old enough to enjoy riding rides!

One of the other things contributing to my emotions yesterday was that the previous Sunday (in MD) I felt the baby kicking and doing gymanstics within me. I haven't felt anything for several days now, and it's making me very nervous. I need to go back and read my blog posts from when I first started feeling Nadia move as probably I didn't feel her every day at first then either. I am very glad my next appt is on Thursday. I would give anything to hear the heartbeat today, but I'll wait 3 more days. I didn't give consideration this time to renting a fetal doppler like I considered last time, but right now I wish I had one!!!

The other main thing that led me to feel bummed was thinking that we've now lived here for almost 11 months, and I still haven't made one new friend. There are a few super casual acquaintances at church, but that's it. I joined the choir and went to most of the monthly breakfasts for ladies, but so far I haven't made a new friend. I know it takes time, but I really would love to have at least one friend I could talk with on the phone now and then or go to lunch with, etc. Usually I am the one with more of a social life, but Paul actually has been doing more social things this past year than I have now (in State College). Of course if I had to pick between having a friend or having Nadia, I would definitely pick Nadia, and I also can't forget that Paul has been my best friend for over 12 years!!! I visited two other churches recently, and I plan to visit another in 2 weeks. Hopefully over the next year I can make one new friend - in the neighborhood, at church, something...

I know when I start feeling blue I should start counting my blessings. It's so easy to focus on worries and disappointments, but that really doesn't do anyone one ounce of good!! I am grateful that Paul's parents were willing to spend ALL day with Nadia, and I am grateful that Paul and I could go to NYC even though I don't want to do it again any time soon. I don't enjoy spending so much time on the road in one day (which is why we never go up/back to MD on the same day). If we lived closer to NYC, I am sure I'd want to go there more often though as there is so much to see and do there!!

I should have loaned our camera to Paul's parents as I ended up only taking a couple at the Tavern on the Green, and it doesn't make sense to post them since we didn't end up eating there. I thought we'd take a lot more. I even went and got my haircut the day before in preparation for our date. I tried to take one in the theatre before the show began, but I was told no pictures allowed. I think Nadia missed me also because this morning she was snuggled with me for about 20 mintues before we went down for breakfast. I love her sooooooooooooo much!!!

Love the Monitor!

If an expectant mother asked me for advice as to what to put on her registry, I would definitely suggest putting a video monitor on the list. It has been soooo nice to be able to see Nadia while she's sleeping!! I think it's especially useful if you are ever going to let your baby cry. It's also great entertainment for mom & dad. Paul and I have laughed watching all she does prior to going to sleep. She moves all about the crib - tackling a teddy bear, etc. It's better than watching tv, LOL! I got it for $89.99 (free s/h) on eBay (new). We need to get a second camera sometime between now and January so that we'll also be able to watch the jellybean.

One thing I said before would be on my "top ten" list that still is in use (unlike the gym which has been in the closet for a few months, but I'm sure jellybean will also love) are the Take-Along Songs books/cd's. The last few days Nadia has been obsessed with the Silly Songs one. If we put it at the back of the stack of books, she hunts until she finds it. If I put a different CD in, she keeps pointing to the CD player until I put the proper CD in. I put it on the kitchen table at one point yesterday as I was sooooo sick of it, but she happened to spot it and was pointing like crazy for me to give it to her from the table. Pretty soon I'm going to be singing songs like "There's a hole in my bucket" in my sleep. Paul said as he fell asleep last night he was thinking of the lyrics "Do you ears hang low" (also from that CD). I recently found two more Take-Along Songs online (used) - Baby Animal Songs and Christmas Songs. I am looking forward to having two more to choose from (once she gets over the obsession with Silly Songs). Once these arrive we'll have 9 of the Take-Along books/CDs. They've been a hit with Nadia for many, many months!!

Yesterday I finally caved and took a pill for heartburn for the first time this pregnancy. I feel silly for having waited so long!! Wow did it help!!! I am sure I'll be taking them more often as the heartburn has gradually been getting worse (and coming more often). Well it's off to NYC for Paul and I. I'll be sure to post pics and tell about our time at the Broadway show and eating near Central Park tomorrow!

Won't you be my neighbor?

Growing up I loved that song on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Actually even as an adult I've been known to start singing that song when I'm outside on a really pretty day, LOL. When we moved into our new home (11 months ago) I noticed that a few houses were on the market in our development that weren't for sale when we came to look at this house prior to making an offer the first time around. Since then some have gone off the market (although none have sold), some have stayed on the market this whole time, and now others have recently placed for sale signs in their yards. Including the new construction (they've made SO much progress the last few weeks!), there are 13 houses in our development, and 4 of them are currently on the market (none are foreclosures). We're trying not to take it personally that everyone seems to be wanting to move since we moved in. I also know of another neighbor (the one whose girls like to babysit Nadia) who plans to move to Virginia within the year (her husband has been working down there for awhile already and comes back to PA on the weekends). One of our next door neighbors has an 18 month old boy. Unfortunately they are one of the ones moving; they already purchased another house about 10 minutes away (same school district). One neighbor has a two year old girl and a 4 month old son; they also go to Sarah for babysitting so maybe Nadia and Madeline will become friends (their house is not for sale and they recently added an addition to their house so my guess is that they're not planning to move in the near future). I have no idea if the family who is building the new house has any young children. There are other children in the neighborhood, but they are much older than Nadia.

A young couple lives across from us (no kids), and I must admit I feel guilty when I see how many hours they spend every week doing work in their yard, gardens, washing their cars, etc. They seem to thoroughly clean their vehicles once a week. Paul said well at least we're not using as much water as they are. :-) We're talking years since the last time Paul or I cleaned either of our vehicles in terms of vacuuming, waxing, etc. The first time I planted flowers and such was in a townhouse near Annapolis where I lived with two roommates from 1994-96. I didn't do any yardwork when I lived in an apartment by myself (1996-2000), but in the previous two homes we owned (actually I bought the first one and moved in 8 months before we got married), I put in a fair amount of time and money into the flower beds and was faithful and mowing the lawn and such. I planted both perennials and annuals at both homes. I hope the current owners have enjoyed the perennials. At this house I had every intention of planting flowers. We removed some ground cover I wasn't crazy about in the spring in preparation. I never got around to planting any flowers though, and it was a big mistake to remove the ground cover. It has looked much worse as even though I've tried to remove the weeds by the roots, they seem to come back in full force very soon after I finished weeding the bed. Most weeks Paul has mowed the lawn once a week so at least our lawn has looked fine, but the flower beds look awful. If I want to feel less embarassed, I just need to look out the backyard instead of the front as the neighbor behind us did plant flowers (in preparation for an Open House months ago) but since then hasn't weeded and their flower beds also look awful. You can't really even see the flowers there are so many weeds. The neighbors with the beautiful yard and gardens are very generous with sharing veggies with us and other neighbors which is nice. I don't have the aspiration (yet) to have a vegetable garden, but I would like to plant flowers next summer and also a couple of blueberry bushes. One of the apple trees has a few apples, but in general we are paying the price for having waited too long to spray insecticide on the trees. Hopefully next spring we'll do better with that and can enjoy apples from our trees. I recently bought some apple dumplings from our grocery store (they were on clearance in the bakery), and Nadia LOVES them. She eats about half of one while I eat the other half.

We think you'll enjoy...

For those of you who aren't familiar with Netflix, on your home page it says "Because you enjoyed:" and then lists three movies (today on mine it listed Anne of Green Gables, I am David, and Believe in Me). Then it says "We think you'll enjoy:" and lists a movie they think we might want to add to our queue. To the right they show the cover of that DVD. Well today it says "We think you'll enjoy Nadia." LOL! Can you believe it?? The picture is of Nadia Comaneci (movie made in 1984 about her experience at the Olympics in 1976). It's just so wild that Netflix thinks I'll enjoy Nadia. I do enjoy her - every day! :-)

Last night I enjoyed staying in bed for 9 hours straight. I can't say I slept very well, but I certainly got more sleep than I had the previous two nights. Nadia slept 11 hours straight and woke up without a fever. YAY! Her nose is still running like crazy, but I think she's already on the mend in terms of her fever and ear infection. She didn't do well with the first dose of Amoxicilian, but thankfully the next two doses went well.

If I hadn't been able to get more sleep last night, I was going to cancel my plans for this evening, but I think I'll keep them even though the thought of staying up later than usual still isn't terribly appealing at the moment. Ever summer the local Christian radio station has a special day at the local amusement park. This park is one of the few that has free admission and free parking (you pay by the ride or buy a hand stamp). The concerts are also free, and they always end the day with a concert by a national artist (the other concerts are by local groups). The 8pm concert this year will be by Laura Story. A few months ago Cheri and I had made plans to meet there (she lives in the same town where the amusement park is). I haven't seen her in 4 months, so I am looking forward to catching up with her some before the concert. Hopefully Nadia will nap well today so that I can get a little more sleep, and then hopefully I won't mind not getting home until after 10pm tonight.

First Ear Infection; Last Class

Last night was another rough night. I could not let her cry it out with a fever, especially when she was calling out "Mommy." She went down easily at 7pm, but then woke up at 10:30pm. Thankfully I had gone to bed at 8:30pm so I had gotten 2 hours of sleep before she woke up. It took 2 hours before I was able to get her to go to sleep without crying. Thankfully she then slept from 12:40-6:15am. Every time I took her temperature it was between 100-101 degrees. We kept giving her either Motrin or Tylenol. As soon as the doctor's office opened at 8:00am, I called and scheduled an appt for 9:15am. The only bad part of that was she actually was taking a nice morning nap, and I had to wake her up to take her to the doctor.

They had entered her weight incorrectly the last time (25 lb instead of 21) so a big "WARNING" came across the computer when they entered 22lbs today (saying she had lost 17% of her body weight). I assured the nurse she had not lost 3 lbs, but rather the nurse the last time entered the wrong number. Unfortunately they can't change that entry. She didn't have a fever when they took her temp, but she was under the influence of Tylenol at the time. The doctor said she has an ear infection in her left ear and prescribed an antibiotic. Hopefully in the next day or two she'll start feeling better. I would love to be able to sleep through the night!
I have enjoyed lots of time snuggling with her during the day. Normally she likes to cuddle many times a day but for very short periods of time. Today she would sit in my lap for very long periods of time.

Tonight was my last class for the summer. YAY! I've finished grading all the papers/exams for the M/W class, but I still have grading to do for the T/Th class and the independent studies. I am looking forward to staying away from campus the next 3 weeks.

These photos were taken yesterday by Paul's mom while they were watching Nadia. Paul watched her on Monday, and the neighbors watched her on Tuesday and Thursday. As you can see, no one is too old to enjoy swinging on a swingset! :-)

First Fever

Over the past 7+ months, Nadia has slept through the night without making a peep 99% of the time. Not counting times when part of her night time sleep was in the car seat and also when we've put her to bed some place other than her own crib (such as a pack n' play), she has probably cried about 5 times total during the night and never more than once in any night. Well last night was a rough night - very different from any other night the past 9+ months. She woke up crying many times throughout the night. The first time I gave her some milk and put her back to bed. She cried quite a bit this time before going back to sleep. The next time I didn't go into her room, and she went back to sleep in less than 5 minutes. The 3rd time (2:30am or something like that) I gave her some Tylenol as I knew something wasn't right. She woke up for good around 5:40am, which is one hour earlier than usual. I have been very tired today. It was a good reminder of the sleep deprivation I am going to be experiencing again in five months.

The second clue that she wasn't feeling well was that her nose was running all the time. She has had one cold before (at 9 months), and that time when her nose was running she didn't try to wipe it herself. Boy what a mess it was today as especially after she'd sneeze she'd immediately put her hand in it and spread it all over her face (in her eyes, etc.). Gross. I kept telling her no touch, Mommy do it, etc., but I didn't have much success today unless I got to her within say 1 second of when she sneezed. The discharge was clear, which I know is the better way for it to be.

The third clue was that she didn't nap well. Lately her first nap has been about 90-100 minutes long, and her second nap has been about 80 minutes long on average. Today her first nap was about 40 minutes long, and her second nap was about 15 minutes. I tried letting her cry some with the 2nd nap, but that didn't work at all. Thankfully she did get some sleep later in the afternoon when Paul's parents were here watching her. She fell asleep in the swing outside, and they kept pushing her so she could take a nap in the swing.

I usually don't get home before Nadia goes to bed, but since I gave a multiple choice final exam tonight (tomorrow's is mostly essay questions), I got home a little before 7pm. When Paul handed her to me I could tell she had a fever. I went up and took her temp, and sure enough she had a fever a little over 100 degrees. This is the first time she's ever had a fever. I had given her Motrin at 10am, and I gave her some again at 7pm. I hope she sleeps better tonight. If she still has a fever tomorrow, I'll call the doctor in case she has an ear infection or something like that.

Paul's reaction was that we shouldn't have gone to MD this weekend. He's probably correct that she did catch whatever bug she has down there - either from a cousin or from someone in the church nursery. That's one advantage of going to a small church (the church I've been going to has less than 200 people). She's usually the only baby in the nursery. That certainly wasn't the case at the nursery at my parent's church this weekend. I wish she hadn't gotten sick, but honestly if we stay away from my family every time one of them has a runny nose, we'd likely never see them as usually at least one of the nieces or nephews are not feeling 100%. We knew it was a risk when we went down as Joshua has had a runny nose for several days and Jenna had a fever on Friday night. My first trip to see my sister in Chicago (Nov 2007), I came back with the stomach flu (something I hadn't had in more than 10 years), and the last time we were ALL together in MD (Dec 2007), both Paul and I got the respiratory bug that was going around. The list could go on. I am hoping that Nadia will be feeling better as soon as possible. It broke my heart to rock her to sleep and feel her little body burning up. I also hope everyone is healthy (if that's possible) when we get together for our family reunion in 10 days.

Choosing a Name

As a child I had great fun talking with friends about what names we might use for future children. I kept a list of possible girl and boy names (first and middle combinations) that I had come up with for several years. Fast forward 20+ years to a time when I was married and I discovered Paul & I have very different taste in names. In general he's a very laid back guy - not someone you would call "picky," but when it comes to selecting names, I would definitely call him "picky." No matter how long a list of names I would come up with, he would reject ALL of them. I quickly came to the realization that Paul would have to come up with the names, and then I'd let him know if a particular name was okay with me or not. We started seriously discussing names in late 2004 when we started pursuing adoption because with Lifetime we *might* have had a last minute placement. In early 2005 (January or February), Paul did come up a boy's name that I liked "Ian Alexander." So for the last 4+ years we've agreed if we have a boy, that's what his name would be. At the time of my 20 week ultrasound with Nadia, we still hadn't picked out a girl's name because Paul thought it was a waste of time because if baby was a boy we already had a name and didn't need to pick out a girl's name. Once we found out baby was a girl, we started working on a girl's name. Unfortunately, a crime was commited against a relative in one of our extended families this summer. It was awful what happened to this person, and unfortunately for us, his name was Ian. Of course what this relative went through is SOOOO much worse than us needing to pick a new name. We have been discussing both girl and boy names as I would like to have them picked by August 23 so we can start referring to baby#2 by name on August 24.

The criteria I consider when picking a name include:

1.) Is the name really common? (I don't want my child to be one of say 3 Elizabeth's in her class, which is true in one of my classes this summer. Even though there are only 12 students in that class, 3 are named Elizabeth.) - I use the recent data on the Social Security website to make this determination. I want a name that has not been too popular lately.

2.) Do I like the sound of the full name? (first, middle, last)

3.) Is the name easy to spell? (I saw what my sister went through with the name "Yvonne")

4.) What is the meaning of the name? (I love the fact that Nadia Renee means "hope reborn")

5.) Nicknames? My first preference is that the name isn't prone to be shortened (or lengthened as happens upon occasion such as Ruth to Ruthie). Paul and Nadia are two names that most people don't modify to create a nickname. If the name is commonly shortened, I need to also really like the nickname or the name is rejected. I know that even if I refer to the child by the full name, if the name is commonly shortened that will likely happen eventually (particularly if the child prefers the nickname).

Nadia Renee and Ian Alexander both met all of my criteria. Back when we were picking Nadia's name, Paul had come up with two first names, and he let me pick. Although he had rejected all the names on my list for a first name, he was fine with two of my choices for a middle name (Renee and Nicole). The other girl's name means "bee" and it's more common than Nadia and also is often shortened - so it was an easy choice for me to pick Nadia so Nadia Renee it was. Well Paul has assumed that if this baby is also a girl, we'd go with the other first name he had picked last year. This weekend he came up with a middle name for that first name. I fully agree with him that the name sounds really nice (first, middle, last). Although I know MANY women with this first name, it hasn't been popular for quite awhile according to the SS website. So although the name strikes me at first as too common, it seems my fear that she would have many classmates with the same name is unfounded. The name is easy to spell, and although the name definitely is usually shortened to a nickname, the nicknames are fine.

The main problem I am having with this name is the meaning. The first name means "bee" and the middle name means "bitter." Great. A bitter bumblebee? I searched several websites hoping to find an alternate meaning to either/both names. Nope. Every single website I checked listed "bee" for the one name and "bitter" for the other. I should add that both of these names are in our family. That is the main reason for picking them. The first name is from Paul's side of the family, and the middle name from mine. Paul doesn't care one iota what the names mean. I know most people wouldn't know what the names meant. I always liked that Ruth means "compassionate, friend" and in my opinion "hope reborn" couldn't be more perfect for Nadia since I had long since given up hope of ever giving birth to a baby and had also lost almost all hope of ever adopting a child. We haven't made any progress on a new boy's name, but I think Paul considers the name to have been chosen if baby #2 is a girl. What do you think? Should I adopt Paul's attitude and not care what the meaning of the names are? Picking a name is definitely not as easy or fun a task as I thought it was when I was a child!!!

Weekend in Review

Joshua (age 2)

Friday night about 1 hour before we planned to leave, my mom called to tell me that Jenna (6 year old niece) had recently developed a 101 degree fever. Paul and I went round and round as to whether we should still leave at 6:30pm or not. The last time we were ALL together (December 2007) the kids were passing around a respiratory virus which Paul & I both caught and took with us to St. Thomas (vacation). We finally decided not to leave that night and to make a decision on Saturday morning after getting a report on how Jenna was doing. The next morning we decided to make the trip since Jenna was doing better. Nadia had her regular 90 minute morning nap, and we were hoping she'd take her afternoon nap en route to Maryland. It was the first time in a LONG time that we took that long of a road trip with her during the day. It went much better since she now faces forward. It's so much easier to feed her, hand her toys, etc. She slept about 40 minutes and didn't cry very much. We made 3 stops so our trip took 4 hours total. One stop was to shop at Ollie's for 15 minutes. I hadn't been to Ollie's since December. I could easily have spent more time (and money), but I was trying to be as quick as possible. I bought 10 books and 20 CD's for $40 total. Paul and I were getting tired of her current selection of CD's now that she wants to listen to them ALL day long. Now we should have more variety although 6 of the CDs are of Christmas music so we won't be playing those yet.

Andrew (4) and Jenna (6)

It was great to spend time with my sister and her family for the first time since May 2008. We met Nathan, who is such a happy baby (8 months old). He is VERY photogenic; he seems to know to smile for the camera. Wish I could teach Nadia that, LOL! We also enjoyed spending time with my parents, brother, and Aunt Janet.

Aunt Janet and Nadia (13 months)

We started our trip home at 7pm thinking Nadia would sleep the whole way home as she has in the past when we've left at that hour. 7:00 is her usual bedtime, and she had only napped 40 minutes on Sunday (compared to her norm of 2-3 hours). We figured she was VERY tired. It took her about 15 minutes to fall asleep, and then she slept soundly for one hour until we hit some construction on I-83 which brought our car to a stop. Not good for a baby. This woke her up, and unfortunately she NEVER fell asleep. She cried off and on for an hour, and then finally I just gave up and tickled her and played with her even though I was very nauseous and exhausted myself. The trip home took 3 1/2 hours (only 1 brief stop). She usually sleeps 11-12 hours at night. Last night including the one hour in the car she slept 9 hours. Thankfully she slept 1 hour and 40 minutes this morning as I was exhausted and really needed a nap myself. I guess we have to rethink our plan to drive at night as driving during the day seemed to work out better this time. I think she would have slept the whole way home if we hadn't come to a stop on the interstate, but with all the construction these days that's likely to happen. We don't plan to take her on that long of a road trip again until November.

Grandpa and Nathan (8 months)