Runny Nose

Usually if you've been exposed to germs and are going to get sick, doesn't that happen within the first 48 hours? If that's correct, then I think Paul and I didn't catch any of the bugs we were exposed to in Maryland. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Nadia. The first clue was that last night she woke up a couple of times crying during the night. I gave her some Motrin around 2am. Today she has a runny nose. It's not really bad; so far I just need to wipe her nose after she sneezes. What cracked me up was that one time she sneezed and immediately pointed to the box of tissues. Yes, Mommy will wipe your nose! She's been rather "fragile" today. If I put her in her highchair for breakfast she cried. I was able to feed her breakfast if I let her sit in my lap. So far she doesn't have a fever or cough. Hopefully this is the worst of what she'll experience this time.

As far as the nap schedule, on Friday Sarah opted not to attempt a morning nap since it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. She knows our girl loves to play outside! That afternoon nap was 2 1/4 hours long. Saturday she took 2 naps at my parent's house. Sunday she just had one afternoon nap (90 minutes) because we were at church in the morning. Yesterday her morning nap was at home (at least 90 minutes - might have been as long as 2 hours), and she took an 80 minute afternoon nap at Sarah's. This morning her morning nap was 80 minutes long, and I am trying to decide whether to put her down shortly or have her take her afternoon nap at Sarah's. So it seems that we've gotten back into a two nap schedule with the exception of Sundays.

Now that we have decided upon a name for our son, last night I bought a personalized clock for Ian's room on eBay like Nadia has in her room. His clock features a fire engine to go along with the transportation theme. This morning I ordered hanging wall letters from Company Kids. Since his name is so short, it was only $24 including shipping. The letters each have a construction vehicle on them. I can't wait to decorate his room the week of Thanksgiving!!!

16 Facts about Nadia

In light of Nadia recently turning 16 months old, here are 16 facts about our sweet little girl.

1. She loves to give hugs and usually says "awwww" while giving them - whether she's hugging a person or a stuffed animal. I love getting many hugs a day from my cutie pie!!!

2. Her attention span for reading books has drastically increased. This wasn't the case at Grandma's house this weekend since there were so many "new" toys and people around (and a cat), but when she's at home she loves to read books. Generally we identify various objects, shapes, and colors rather than reading the text. There are some books she likes to have read over and over, but thankfully she doesn't mind if we ask to switch to a different one after reading that one 2-3 times.

3. She loves to play outside. She'd spend many hours outside every day if the weather and her Mommy permitted that to happen.

4. She's constantly saying new words. She talks the most when she's with me. The words she uses the most often are "mama," "up," "yes,""no," and "out."

5. Her newest animal sound is "baa." She also makes the sounds for a dog, cat, and cow. She also makes an attempt to "roar" when she sees a picture of a tiger.

6. She doesn't mind walking over anything with bare feet. She walked on Legos several times at Grandma's house for example. She doesn't seem to find it uncomfortable although Paul and I wince at times.

7. She turns just about anything into a chair. Several times a day she'll sit on a basketball or a toy such as her shape sorter that looks like a cookie jar.

8. If she had to eat only one food all day long, she would definitely pick Cheese Nips (or Goldfish or some other cheese cracker).

9. Her taste buds seem to resemble mine more than Paul's. For example, she loves ice cream, grapes, and ketchup on her fries, whereas Paul doesn't like any of those.

10. Her attention span for watching something other than VeggieTales on tv has also increased lately. I am relieved as I was getting weary of watching 30 minutes of VeggieTale silly songs each day. Some days we watch something on PBS instead (such as Curious George or Sesame Street). Although my original goal was to not let her watch ANY tv at this age, I have changed my goal to no more than 30 minutes a day.

11. She's getting better about not putting everything in her mouth although I still have to say "no eat" from time to time in reference to a rock she's found outside or a piece of junk mail she's ripped up. Now when it comes to food, she definitely thinks food found on the floor is edible. I try to sweep the kitchen floor every day, but she still manages to eat a piece of cereal or a cracker she found on the floor from time to time.

12. She can identify many body parts - toes, nose, ears, eyes, etc. Her favorite body part by far is the belly button. She loves finding hers, mine, and Paul's.

13. She's a good eater. I have been negligent in feeding her veggies the past few months. Hopefully it won't be a problem when I start reintroducing those into her daily diet. Paul feeds her dinner on Thursday nights and breakfast on Saturday mornings. For some reason, she usually gives him a hard time. Is it common for toddlers to eat better for Mommy than Daddy?

14. She still loves climbing - whether it's up the slide or climbing up into a chair.

15. She still loves music and is much happier when I play one of her CD's rather than when I listen to the radio. She has the sweetest singing voice. :-)

16. She's been doing better lately in terms of obeying me. Of course she doesn't always listen when I tell her "no," but I have to say most of the time she does follow my instructions.

Four Blessings

Jenna and Susie had fun writing words (even "subtraction!") as they were making up a game. Can you see that Jenna (who will be 7 next month) recently lost her two first teeth? Nadia wanted to see what her cousins were doing.

1. It was great to be able to spend time this weekend with my parents, brother, sister (Wendy), and 6 of our 7 nieces and nephews. Unfortunately 8 of those 10 people were sick (most were coughing). We're praying that Paul, Nadia, and I don't come down with what any of them had. Nadia enjoyed having lots of people around, playing with "new" toys (some are 35+ years old), and eating Fruit Loops (something Mommy never buys).

 

2. It was fun to watch the Steeler's game with my Dad yesterday afternoon. He's the reason I'm such a die hard Steeler's fan. It was an added bonus that we got to watch them beat an undefeated team (Vikings).

Nadia sitting on the rocking chair that was mine when I was little.

3. It's such a delight to be Nadia's mother! Can you believe she turned 16 months old on Saturday?

Nadia "reading" a book this morning; for once the book isn't upside down, lol!

4. Our son has a name!!! A relative called us yesterday to let us know it was fine to name our son Ian Alexander. Paul had come up with that name 4 1/2 years ago, but something happened this summer that made him think we shouldn't use that name after all. We had not made any progress towards a new name (since I didn't approve of Newton, Gordon, or Sebastian); it's a great relief that we have a name, and it's one we both really like. The name meets my qualifications because it sounds nice with our last name, is easy to spell and pronounce, isn't "too" popular (in 2008 it was the 80th most popular name for boys), and it has a wonderful meaning - "gracious gift of God." I certainly do view him as a gift from God!! Alexander is very popular (in 2008 it was the 6th most popular name for boys), but I don't care how popular the middle name is. Alexander means "helper and defender of mankind." I really hope that will be an accurate description of him some day!

Grandpa reading Nadia's favorite book, God Made Me, to Susie (5) and Nadia

Number 12!

Well I am very relieved because I did a tooth check today, and the tooth that we thought might be missing, has broken through the gums (5 months later than the others). Yay! Not much of it is showing yet, but she now has 12 teeth. I am just relieved she's not missing a tooth. When I was pregnant I kept praying she'd have Paul's teeth. He never needed braces or any orthodontic work and has had only ever had one cavity. In contrast, I saw an orthodontist regularly for seven years, and yet dentists still always say I need more work done (my bite is still way off). Time will tell whether our kids' teeth are more like their Mommy's or Daddy's, but I'm still hoping they take after Daddy when it comes to their teeth!

Yesterday Nadia's morning nap was almost 2 hours long. Today she wouldn't take one at all. Go figure! Yesterday she had a messy diaper at about 9:30am. I was planning to put her down at 10am since she had gotten up at 7am. After I changed her diaper, she was playing with the stuffed animals in her room, and about 5 minutes later started fussing and pointing to her crib. I asked her if she wanted to take a nap, and she said "yes" while nodding her head. So I put her in her bed and after playing for maybe 25 minutes, she took a long nap. It's been a couple of weeks since she had a morning nap that was even 1 hour long, let alone almost 2 hours long! In light of the fact she didn't wake up until almost noon, she took her afternoon nap (1 hour) at Sarah's. This morning she woke up at 6:30; so I put her down around 9am for her morning nap. She played in her crib for a little over an hour before I went and got her. She wasn't fussing, but I was certain she wasn't going to sleep. I hope she takes a nice long afternoon nap as although I'd love a nap myself (I slept for one hour of her morning nap yesterday), what I really need to do is grade midterm exams.

I haven't had any bleeding or contractions for almost 3 weeks now. The one troubling symptom which has returned though is the REALLY low kicks. They actually are rather painful, but more than that they scare me. It feels like he's about to come out of my body. The whole debate on whether to attempt VBAC might be a moot point if he stays in a breech position. Sometimes he is transverse, but most of the time he's in a breech position. Nadia was always head down so she kicked me much higher. He never has kicked me where Nadia kicked me. I didn't like it when Nadia kicked my ribs, but I'd pick that over feeling like he's about to exit the womb. He hadn't kicked down there for 3 weeks, but since Sunday he's been kicking super low. On Monday he was doing it during class, and I was scared that my water would break while teaching. Sunday I tried everything to get him to move, I even was practically standing on my head for awhile in the hopes he'd move farther up. Maybe my fears are unfounded? The perinatologist said that many women get kicked that low, but that if it was persistent and strong, I should go in to be checked. That made me think there was cause for concern.

Speaking of going into labor early, please pray for Regina's babies. She did IVF right around the same time I did (her transfer was a couple of days after mine). They transferred two blastocysts, and that resulted in a boy/girl twin pregnancy. She gave birth last week (at 26 weeks). Wyatt weighed 2 lbs, and Bailey weighed 1 lb 7 oz. Because Wyatt needed to have surgery, he was taken to a different hospital. Please pray for these two sweet little babies and also for their parents (the two hospitals are 85 miles apart from each other) as well as their siblings (Tyler, who is in 1st grade and Brianne, who is 3 years old). I remember how stressful it was to have Nadia in the NICU for one week. I imagine these two little ones are probably looking at 3 months in the NICU. Please pray that their stay will be as smooth and short as possible as I am sure Regina can't wait to be home with all four of her children!

Noses and Naps

Nadia's nose has cleared up. Even when she sneezes, I don't need to wipe her nose. I can't say the same for mine, but it's probably just allergies at this point. We've had a hard frost; hopefully, that will help with reducing the allergens. Thankfully, the weather is much prettier this week than it was last week. Thursday through Saturday we had constant rain or snow. It was so wonderful to see the sun again on Sunday! It might even hit 70 degrees tomorrow. That's my kind of weather!

The nap schedule didn't go as planned yesterday. She just played in her crib during the time I thought would be her morning nap. So, I put her down at 12:30 for her afternoon nap, and she slept about 80 minutes. In the past 8 days, she only took two naps twice (Friday and Saturday). We shall see what happens today. Thankfully she slept 11.5 hours last night, which meant she didn't get up until 6:45am.

Third Trimester!

Today I officially entered the 3rd trimester!! Every pregnancy is a miracle, but when you try unsuccessfully for 5 1/2 years, it makes having a little one grow within you seem like an utterly amazing miracle. There are many times I am reduced to tears (the happy kind) when I think about Nadia and the little boy kicking within me. Thank you, Lord!!

Saturday night Nadia had a hard time going to sleep, which is very unusual. Since she didn't fall asleep until about 8:15pm, I was very glad that she slept in until 7:10am. She had woken up at 5:40am the previous two mornings. We didn't attempt a morning nap yesterday due to Sunday School and church, and her afternoon nap was 90 minutes long (1:35-3:05). I am planning on putting her down for her morning nap at 10am today; this means her afternoon nap will be at Sarah's today. Hopefully this plan will work. She woke up this morning in a great mood; lately she's been waking up crying because she hasn't been getting enough sleep. Last night she slept almost 12 hours. What a difference!

Lately I've done a lot more baking than I usually do. Wednesday morning I made pumpkin bread for the MOPS meeting, Friday I made brownies for Paul & I since we had finished the chocolate chip cookies the day before, and yesterday morning I made apple crisp for the dinner we ate at church following the morning service. Hopefully I won't be upset the next time the doctor weighs me!

Nadia's newest words include "hi," "rip," "mess," and "night." She now sometimes says the word "hi" while she's waving. Mommy lets her rip the junk mail. I want her to know what to do at Christmas time with the wrapping paper! She hears me say "no make mess" all the time when she's in her highchair, and the other day she held a piece of Crispix in her hand and said the word "mess" while shaking her head "no." That's right, my girl. Put that food in your mouth; don't crush it with your hand! My mom heard her say "nighty night" last month when she was taking her to bed. Yesterday Paul and I heard her say it when she was looking at a page in a book where the characters were all in bed.

Red Lobster

Nadia and I seem to be back to normal health with the exception that we both still have runny noses. So far it seems that Paul managed to escape catching this cold. Thankfully, I haven't had any more contractions or bleeding. Although I'm hoping our son will stay nestled in tight for at least another 12 weeks, it's very comforting to know he's at the point where his chances of survival if he were to be born now are very, very high.

Nadia woke up at 5:40 again this morning. Yesterday I let her cry some and then she was quiet until 6:10 when I got her. This morning she cried for maybe 30 seconds and then was quiet until 6:20 when Paul got her. Both days she's taken a 45 minute nap around 9am, and both days she's taken an afternoon nap from about 1:30-3:00pm. So I guess I won't try the transition to one nap again quite yet. I guess the key was pushing back the time of her morning nap. This schedule won't work on Mondays and Tuesdays since we leave for Sarah's at 2:15. Maybe I'll have her take a later afternoon nap at Sarah's those days? We shall see.

One of the restaurants we have gift cards for is Red Lobster, which is Paul's favorite. I'm not a seafood person, but thankfully they always have at least one chicken item on the menu. I do enjoy their biscuits! Even though we arrived at 4:25pm, we had to wait 15 minutes for a table. Nadia thought the pager was a cell phone. It was so cute! She wore her size 5 black patent shoes for the first time. Aren't they adorable?

I'll be using the breathable white crib bumper for her brother's crib. I know she doesn't need a bumper at this stage, but I found a (used) one that went with her Gossamer Wings crib set on eBay for less than $10 including shipping. Now that she's past the risk of SIDS, I got it for her crib just because it's so pretty. As you can see, she had fun playing in the box it came in.

Nap Woes

Sunday morning Nadia's first nap was SUPER short (if she took one at all). She just played in her crib during her morning nap time on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday when I went to get her, she still wasn't crying or fussing even though she had been in her crib for 75 minutes. Her afternoon naps both days were about 75 minutes long. Tuesday's was taken at Sarah's house. Yesterday I didn't put her in the crib in the morning because of MOPS. Unfortunately, she fell asleep on the way home from MOPS, and that 30 minute nap ended up being the only nap she took all day as she just played in her crib during the time I was trying to get her to take an afternoon nap. Only having one nap didn't affect her mood on Monday or Tuesday, but only sleeping for 30 minutes definitely led to a very fussy little girl yesterday afternoon and evening. This morning she wasn't as happy to spend time in her crib and still didn't sleep at all. So tomorrow I plan to only put her in the crib once - for an afternoon nap that hopefully will be more than an hour long. Thursdays are the day she gets extra time with Daddy. For his sake, I hope she takes a nice afternoon nap today. She did sleep through the night the last two nights, and in fact she's not gotten up before 6:40am, which I've appreciated.

She hasn't fully mastered independent use of the sippy cup, but she's almost there. Sometimes she doesn't mind if Paul or I hold it for her, but most of the time she wants to hold it herself. Also, she's had no trouble using the sippy cups that she was unable to use at first.

Nadia loves her stuffed animals. There are a few in particular that are her favorites, such as the penguin. This large bear is definitely one that receives many hugs from Nadia every day. If she doesn't snuggle on Mommy's lap while watching Veggie Tales, then she snuggles with the bear on the couch.

These are two of her favorite toys at the moment - the basketball and the little red chair.

First Dentist Appointment

Nadia had her first dentist appointment at 8am this morning. Actually she was only seen by a hygenist. The hygenist was glad to hear that she's moved from a bottle to a sippy cup, that we give her flouride drops, and that we never have allowed her to take a bottle or sippy cup to bed. She examined her teeth and said we've been doing a good job with cleaning them. In the next few months we'll find out if that bottom tooth is missing or not. I'm hoping it's not missing, but if it is, there's nothing we can do about it. The only bad habit (related to her teeth) that she has thus far is the thumb sucking. I knew at some point we'd need to start working on eliminating that habit, but I didn't think I needed to deal with it now. Any comments on when and how to extinguish this habit are appreciated!

From the dentist's office we headed to MOPS. The speaker who was scheduled to come today had to back out at the last minute, so we did another craft. I don't plan to keep this one (a wax paper placemat with leaves and such). I did enjoy the fellowship with the other ladies, particularly with Evie.

It's fun to see each day what new words Nadia will say. Some of her newest words are "egg," "brush," and "hello." She says "hello" when she's playing with one of her toy phones. It's so cute! She also says "yumm" when eating a tasty treat such as a chocolate chip cookie. For many years I didn't bake cookies as I was afraid I'd eat too many of them. I have been pleased that the most I've had in one day is 3, and most days I've only had 2 cookies. The 3 dozen cookies actually lasted 7 days even with 3 of us eating them. Nadia is allowed one cookie each day.

99 Days!

Our son's due date is only 99 days away; I'll be 26 weeks tomorrow and enter the 3rd trimester on Monday. YAY! Today I'm 10 weeks and 3 days away from when I delivered Nadia (which means that's how long it will be until Christmas Eve). I hope we come up with a name soon. I admit it's getting hard for me to wait for Paul to come up with a name.

Nadia will be at Sarah's longer than usual today as I have a meeting at school at 1pm. Hopefully she'll take a nice long afternoon nap for Sarah as I don't think she napped this morning. I can't say for certain as I fell asleep so I stopped checking the video monitor, but my guess is she didn't sleep even though she was in her crib for 75 minutes. I guess as long as she plays happily in her crib each morning, maybe that time is still a little restful for her? I know at sometime we'll be transitioning to one nap (again), but I was hoping it wouldn't be quite so soon. Saturday night and last night she woke up at 11:30pm; Sunday night she slept through the night. I hope she sleeps through the night tonight!