Baby #2: 11 Weeks

Yep, we are expecting #2 in December! Neil and I are excited, but I still think it's sinking in even though we've known for a couple months. I will be 12 weeks tomorrow, but this was written when I was 11 weeks.

Lila was due on Valentine's Day 2011 and this baby is due Christmas Day 2013! I guess I'm good at making holiday babies. We are happy about welcoming #2 into our lives, but of course pretty nervous and scared too! I'm nervous about the transition from 1 to 2 children, I'm worried about how Lila will adjust and of course I have all the worries that most moms have in early pregnancy. Is the baby okay, is it growing right, how much weight am I going to gain, etc!

I will also say that while this baby was planned, it happened very fast. Exactly 23 days after I took my last birth control pill I had a positive pregnancy test. (I ovulate really early and have super short cycles if you are wondering how that is even possible!) I know plenty of people struggling with infertility, so I'm not saying that to boast or to be insensitive, but it has added a bit to our shock because we weren't really expecting a 2013 baby. But of course we are thrilled!

Lila is excited. She knows mommy has a baby in her belly and that she is getting a real baby at Christmas-time. She has remained neutral on the gender for the most part, but she told me the other day that she made cookies for "her sister". Lila will be 2 months away from 3 years old when this baby arrives. I am hoping that is good timing! I'm just happy we won't have two kids in diapers at the same time!

I don't have a real feeling either way on the baby's sex. I would love another little girl but I think it'd be great to have one of each as well. I truly will be happy either way. We will be finding out the gender at 19 weeks at the anatomy ultrasound which should be in late July.

I've been feeling pretty good this time around. With Lila, even though I never actually got sick, I had a lot of nausea. This time not so much. I have had fatigue, cramps, sore (and growing) boobs, acne/oily skin and hair, lightheadedness, heartburn at night and backache... but none of it has been too bad. I get very tired during the day at work, but I am also not drinking much caffeine.

I'm starting to show a little bit, definitely earlier than I did with Lila. My belly probably looks like my 16 week belly with her, and I've been wearing maternity stuff for a while already!

I had my 11 week checkup last Tuesday, and they could not find the heartbeat on the doppler. The doctor assured us that at 10 wks 6 days it was just a bit early and not to worry. Needless to say, I was very worried and thankfully she offered up an ultrasound appointment for the next day. So we got an ultrasound and everything is going well! The baby measured 10 weeks 6 days and I was right at 11 weeks, so that was right on. The heart rate was 168. Lila's was 160 at 11 weeks. It's so real now!

I am going to try to do weekly updates like I did with Lila. I've really enjoyed going back and reading the updates I did with her. I don't want to start neglecting baby #2 already when it comes to recording milestones!

Hopefully my belly photos won't all be in random campus bathrooms. The bathroom below is special: it's the handicap bathroom at work where I took my first positive pregnancy test!

Lila's Big News!

More details to come!

Miss Lila Caroline at 27 months

Okay, so I know it's lame to count months after 24, but this is my blog and I can do what I want. :) I want to do a little update on Lila because she has changed so much in the past month or so.

First off, little chickie is pretty much potty trained! Over the past month or so she has been wearing panties all the time with the exception of naps and nighttime. She very rarely has an accident! We take a portable potty seat with us when we are out and she has done well with that. If we do put her in a diaper for a longer errand, she usually waits until we get home to go in the potty and doesn't even use the diaper. I thought this was supposed to be harder, but I'm so thankful she's had an easy transition.

We are so proud of her! We will tackle naptime next (apparently she has been waking up dry at daycare) and we'll probably wait a while to try panties overnight. She is still in a crib (and probably will be for awhile) so we aren't rushing to have her go potty in the middle of the night just yet.

We used to have a gate at the bottom and top of our stairs so she wasn't playing on the stairs or going up and down them without us watching her. We have taken away the bottom gate and she loves going up and down the stairs by herself. Often she will be playing in the living room and will say, "I need to get something." And will walk up the stairs to her playroom and come back down with some toy or doll she needed all by herself! If I try to help her down the stairs, she says, "Go down the stairs, Mommy! I do it by myself." I also occasionally let her play in her playroom on her own while I am downstairs.

Also, our child talks non-stop. It's exhausting really. I love her little voice and hearing her thoughts, but Neil and I both have headaches at the end of the day almost everyday! She never stops talking! We also have a bit of a whining problem and a bossing problem. We are trying to work on using our nice voice and being sweet!

She is getting bigger and taller and has gained a full pound this month, she is 26 lbs!!! We celebrate every ounce! At this rate she might be a 30 lb 4 year old!

She can say the Pledge of Allegiance and her ABCs perfectly! It's so precious. She is starting to point out letters and try to spell and pronounce words. I know she can count to 20 but I've heard her count higher than that. She can count to 10 in Spanish. She sings all the time and seems to have a great memory for lyrics!


Lila is doing awesome at swim class. She is great in the water, is learning some independence and is gaining confidence. She even jumped in the pool into daddy's arms the other day. After Memorial Day the outdoor pool opens at the Y and I can't wait for that!

This is a funny detail I want to record so I don't forget it. At bedtime, after we read a few books and turn off the lights, we usually tell her a story and sing her a song or two. I say we, but Neil and I switch off nights, but we both do the same thing. Sometimes she requests stories about specific people: "I want a Lila and Emmett one", "I want a Newsies story" or our favorite: "I want a ghost and a witch one." So most nights, Neil and I end up making up multiple ghost and witch stories that aren't too scary for a 2 year old right before bed! We have to get pretty creative. I wonder if this fascination with spooky things will last!

Some quotes from Lila:

"Daddy (or Mommy), why you doin that?!" In response to anything she doesn't want us to do.. like moving her shoes or putting away a toy. She gets so mad!

"I wanna Skype Grandma."

"I want to read a Georgie book or a Mouse A Cookie book."

I ask her in the morning if she wants to get dressed. She usually says. "No thanks. I want to be nakie."

"I wanna bagel, Mommy. Can I have a bagel with cream cheese?"

She also repeats everything we say!

We play a lot of games in the car since we spend about 30 mins together in the car everyday (15 mins to daycare and 15 mins home). We play the color game, where I ask her the color of things: daddy's car, stop sign, Big Bird, etc. We play the animal game with animal sounds and we also do a silly game where I just make a weird sound and she tries to copy them. I love this time with her on my drive, makes it so much better. Sure I'd love to be home with her all day, but I'll take my moments when I get them.

She is loving outdoor play now that it's warm: sandbox, bubbles, water table and digging in the dirt. We are going to Emerald Isle, NC in July and I cannot wait! She is going to love the beach!!

Also, I put this on Google+ so apologies if you already saw this, but here is a side by side of Lila and mommy both at age 2! Safe to say we do resemble each other, though Lila is much more beautiful than I ever was! I just love her little face so much!

Our Silly Girl: A Lila Update

There are so many little things I want to record about Lila, but I never seem to have time to post anything! She says and does some really adorable stuff and I have been jotting things down on my notes app on my phone. So this will be kind of random!

Just a few quick basic updates:


Lila will be 26 months on April 23. She is about 25 lbs. She is eating well and her feeding/vomiting/chewing issues seem better! We are in a holding pattern right now before we have to get a loan for more diagnostic tests. I'm only exaggerating slightly. Her hair is out of control but I'm waiting to cut it into an actual style, although I did trim her bangs the other day. She is doing really well with potty training. As soon as we are actually at home during the weekend I think we will do a bottom-less party and get going on some serious potty training! She is ready. She loves wearing panties! She is in a 6 or 6.5 shoe. Most 2T is still too big, she wears mainly 24 mo and 2T tops and 18 months pants. Her waist is really small so it's hard to find pants that will stay up that are long enough for her. I need a 24 month slim size!


Other random things:

Calls peanut butter "Pena johna" (?)

"Tatchew" for tissue for getting "crumbs" out of her nose

If she gets dirty: "I need a wipe! I need a baby wipe or a Lila wipe!"

Sassy teenage Lila-speak: "Get out", "Don't touch me", "I'm talkin to you!"

Says this a lot and I love it: "Mommy, Daddy, Lila all together"

Loves to make believe! We are dragons, cats or bears a lot! I'm glad "mommy dragon" hasn't stuck.

As soon as we get in the car: "I want the songs go play. I want Newsies. No not that one. The other one. Its too loud. No more loud." Ugh. I love that she expresses her opinion, but sometimes it's too much!

"Where's my treat? Where'd my candy go?"

If we act like something hurts our feelings, she says, "Cry! Cry loud." That's kind of rude actually...

While playing with her kitchen: "I'm making somethun. I'm making coffee. I'm making pasta soup"

Fake playing instruments: "I'm marching. I'm playing a trumpet. I'm playing drums"

Sings rock a bye baby to her baby and puts her in her cradle every night. "Bye bye baby, sleep tight. See you tomorr-no"

"I wanna play more minutes. Five more minutes."

Says a bunch of gibberish stuff then says.. "Right mommy?"

Every morning: "I wanna get up. I wanna go downstairs and get a snack."

Sings all the time. Twinkle twinkle, Baa Baa Black sheep, ABCs, Going to the Zoo, Ring-a-round the Rosy, Old McDonald, Happy Birthday. Nothing better than seeing your child learn to love music! 

2-year old cliches: "I do it" "Me do it." "I wanna do it by myself."

"Galicious" and "Duhgusting"

Foon for spoon
Yaya for Lila
Toos for toys
Pildow for pillow

Time-it for timeout. "I'm goin to time-it" She gives herself more than we ever give her.

We canceled cable recently so she is loving PBS, especially Word World and Caillou. And Martha Speaks, who drives me nuts.

She will say: "I wanna sit on the couch and watch a show." 

Tries to call me Lindsay, or Mama Lindsay. 

Getting attached to her pink blankie

We are practically done with the high chair. Booster or just in the booth or chair at restaurants.

She is forward facing in the car now! 

She gives really detailed re-caps of her day. Which is awesome to listen to!

We just love love love our awesome spunky little daughter!

Lila is 2!

Lila turned 2 this past Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 and we threw her a fun Strawberry Shortcake themed party with our close family and friends.

She had a blast! She still asks where her party is and wants us to sing Happy Birthday to her. When I tell her that her birthday is over and now we need to wish Daddy happy birthday (his 30th is March 5) she says, "No! It's my own birthday!" We had no idea she'd be so into it! She loved being around her friends and family and of course loved the attention and the presents! Here are some photos from her birthday weekend.

Playing with her new easel with her buddy Emmett

Lovin' on Mamaw and Papaw

Sweet moment with Grandma

She loves her new baby doll furniture

Posing with the cake before we sing

"Night night baby"

The kids

  

At Jump and Jacks the next day

Even went swinging at the park in 40 degree weather

We had so much fun celebrating with family and just enjoying our girl. She is getting so grown up and is so full of joy! She is also pacifier free for about a week now! Yay Lila!

A quick update about the ENT visit. The Thursday before her birthday we took her in to see Dr Cotton at Cincinnati Children's for her ongoing breathing/vomiting issues. He did a scope down her nose into her throat, which we had to hold her arms and legs down for (arms so she wouldn't grab the scope, legs so she wouldn't kick him). I was holding her on my lap so I couldn't see her face but it was extremely traumatizing. More so for us than her, luckily. We then had to get x-rays done of her throat. Also traumatizing. I've never seen her cry and fight so hard. I was shaking for 20 minutes after we left. My poor baby. 

We got a call back the next day that nothing is abnormal structurally with her throat. They were checking to see if she had any congenital trachea or airway issues. They've ruled that out at this point. Now we need to go back in for a Video Swallow Study to check out her throat, airway, esophagus as she is eating and swallowing. I guess this will help them see if she is aspirating her food or if there is something else going on. 

Since that appointment she's had two other incidents. One before her birthday party and one in the car yesterday on our way to daycare and work. She was eating a banana in the car and choked and vomited. Lovely. I had to turn around and go home to change her clothes, my clothes and clean the carseat and car. She was upset because she got her blankie messy and was hungry. She just wanted to cry and be held and I cried right along with her. It's so tough to see your baby like that and not know why it's happening. These breathing and vomiting problems are making my working mom duties even more difficult! I hope we figure it all out soon.

Anyway, when she's not sick, she is the happiest little toddler in the world. So glad she had a great birthday! Happy Birthday Lila bean!

Lila's Wheezing/Coughing

We are seeing an ENT today about Lila's wheezing or stridor. She has had this issue beginning at 8 months old. Then I dismissed it as texture issues with starting solid foods. Since then she's had issues with vomiting, barky cough and losing her voice. I thought we figured it out when she was diagnosed with a severe egg allergy in March 2012. I thought we really figured it out when she was diagnosed with asthma in November 2012. I thought things were improving even more when we cut out a lot of processed foods, switched to organic milk in January. 

Well, when we went to her 2-year checkup the pediatrician was concerned about the wheezing that we have kind of grown accustomed to. She has also been having more and more vomiting incidents lately. So anyway, Lila vomitted and had the stridor this morning and I got it on tape. 

I thought I'd put it on the blog to have a spot to keep the videos together.

Raspy, wheezing

Stridor, 2 years old

More raspy

This video is her barky "duck cough" from August 2012

I will keep everyone updated. Otherwise she is super happy and healthy and doing wonderful! It's just time to really find out what is going on. Hoping for answers soon!

23 months: Long update

So clearly I couldn't keep up with Lila's monthly updates since I haven't posted one in quite awhile! I do want to record some of the things she is doing. There are so many times that Lila says or does something funny or sweet, and I wish I could jot it down somewhere. I know I've missed a lot of silly things she's said and done lately, but here is my best shot at recording these milestones and memories for posterity.

Age: 23 months, today! My baby is almost 2! This age is super fun. We never know what she is going to say or do and she surprises us every day! Last year at this time I was very emotional about her turning 1, this year I'm not, so far!

Weight and height: My petite little peanut is finally finally over 23 lbs! Last time I weighed her at home she was 23.6 lbs. She is starting to look chunkier in the face and legs too. We've had a hard time getting weight on her (some of this is due to her vomiting issue, mentioned below), even though she eats a lot and is only just now getting kind of picky. Must be daddy's good metabolism. She is getting taller, but won't know until her 2 year appt.

Sizes: She wears mostly 18 and 24 month sizes, but there are a few 12 month pants that still work. She has a tiny waist, so most 24 month and some 18 month pants won't stay up. She wears 24 mo and 2T in tops. Size 6 shoe and size 4 diaper. We will likely never buy 5s.

Favorite foods and eating: We have recently ditched most of the processed foods in our house and diet, but Lila's favorite foods remain about the same. But instead of mystery food Nutrigrain bars, I've been making her homemade breakfast bars on the weekend to give her on our busy weekday mornings. She loves her "cakes". She also loves bread of any kind, chicken and beef, black beans, cheese, blueberries, broccoli, green beans, bananas (banas), mac and cheese, guacamole, crackers of any type, and her new fave ... chocolate chips (!) I love that she can tell me what she wants to eat. She usually says, "I want a snack" or "I wanna eat". And will tell us what she wants.. "I want pizza" "I want mac n cheese"... or yesterday.. "I want tacos, mommy!" She has a great appetite and usually eats more for breakfast and lunch and not much at dinner.We've switched to organic whole milk and she has done great with that. We try to limit it to make sure she is eating enough actual food and not just drinking her calories.

Vomiting/allergy/asthma update: I'm not sure how much I've mentioned it on the blog, but I suspected that Lila's weight gain issue was partially due to how often she had been throwing up at the end of last year. During the fall semester (which was outrageously stressful and busy for me), she was throwing up her food at least once a week if not more... We had a couple stomach bugs come through, but this was more often than that. I'm happy to report that she hasn't had any odd vomiting issues in 2 months, probably. I think a lot of this is due to her finally being diagnosed with asthma and getting a nebulizer breathing treatment. She has always coughed a lot while eating and would often throw up due to coughing. We have also made a lot of dietary changes and cut out processed foods. The elimination of sketchy food additives, dyes and other mystery things has helped tremendously. I've also tried to reduce her milk intake (some days none at all) and let her take her time to eat. We've alos been doing well managing her egg allergy. Now that the foods we buy and eat have much shorter ingredient lists (usually under 5), it's easier to make sure she isn't getting any egg at all. I'm also making most of her foods!

Favorite toys and books: She loves baby dolls the most! She always has a baby, stuffed animal or toy in her hand. She pushes around her stroller constantly. She especially loves her "cake baby" which is Strawberry Shortcake. She also likes cars and blocks and puzzles and her play kitchen of course. She has been playing a lot with Christmas gifts like her Leap Pad, doll that goes potty, Melissa and Doug magnetic dolls and other new toys. Her tea pot and little people are still favorites.  We also play a lot of Hide and Seek and other physical games together. As for books, it's all about Curious George. We had to hide all of the George books at one point because the obsession was getting out of hand. She also loves Goodnight Gorilla, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, Clifford and Tea for Ruby right now.

Random Development stuff: 

• Lila can count to 12! I'm amazed because just a few weeks ago she was counting like this, "2, B, O, 1"... now she is getting it! Thanks $5 clock puzzle!
• She is SO affectionate. She not only voluntarily hugs and kisses us all the time, she is very loving to her dolls and toys. She gets very attached to things, but oddly doesn't have a main lovey, but just a whole bunch of them. Yesterday, I was home with her and and she started talking to a stick of cucumber that she was calling a snake. We held and petted the snake, and gave it a kiss and hug before we released it into the sink. Odd!
• She names her toys. Is this normal developmentally for age 2? All of her dolls are named after babies or kids that she knows, or from books. She has a baby Eli, baby Sam, baby Emmy and most recently a baby Owen. She yells for Owen if she can't find him. Hilarious!
• Sleep wise things are normal. We got a little off track over the holidays, but back to routine now. She still remains a sleep machine. 8:30pm-8am for the most part with a 2 hour nap, I try to never sleep past 4pm for naps. She sleeps more than most 2 year olds, but I like to think it's making her smarter. :) Oh and I've been singing her On my Own and Bring Him Home from Les Miserables every night and it works like a charm! I have to run her to her bed so she doesn't zonk out on me.
• Dances and sings all the time. Loves Newsies and Raffi and Patty Shukla and Top 40 radio, especially Bruno Mars. I am hoping to continue to work on her love of music. I think I hear some vocal talent, but can't be sure yet!
• She is still SO happy and expressive! Everything makes her laugh and she often gets in giggling fits over nothing. I LOVE this! She is so fun. She makes the funniest faces too.
• Also she had her first ear infection over New Years and NYE. Sad! She slept 20 hrs off and on one day. It was odd not having to chase your toddler around. She just laid on us and slept. Glad to have our spunky girl back.

Language related stuff:

She speaks pretty clearly and we have conversations with her all the time. She seems to understand everything we say! She must know hundreds and hundreds of words, maybe a thousand! Who knows. Sometimes she'll be able to identify an animal or something I didn't know she knew, like penguin or camel.  Also, when I pick her up from daycare, and I ask her how her day was, she usually has a lot to say about what she did and who she played with that day! It's so fun to move to this stage where she is truly involved in our conversations! I find language acquisition really interesting, so I take note of this stuff a lot. It's not to compare, I just find it interesting!

Phrases we hear a lot... a lot of these were from a previous post that was left in the drafts, so many of these she's been saying for 2-3 months.

• "Watch, Mommy! or "Look, Mommy!" Before any flip, dance move or anything really.
• When we say I love you she says it back! "I Wuv You, Mommy. I Wuv You Daddy"
• Plurals: "I want two books. I want the babies. I want two night-nights." - Night-night is her paci. Ugh. Need to get rid of the night-night.
• Adding "too" to sentences. "Mommy eat. Lila eat too! Daddy eat too!"
• Possessives and pronouns: "My babies. Lila's babies. Daddy's cup. Mommy's hat."
• Yay for manners: "Tank you, Daddy", "Welcome Daddy". "Mommy, I want a chip please". Keep in mind these are sometimes shouted at the top of her lungs... But for the most part she is very polite!
• Questions.. that make sense. "Where Daddy go?" "Where is Mommy's car-car?" Where'd (insert name of doll or toy" go? She also asks "WHY?" a lot! 
• When she falls... "I okay! I okay, Mommy!" OR asks us if we are okay or if her babies are ok.
• More involved sentences: "I wanna play Eli"(the baby at daycare). "I wanna go in the car-car." "Mommy, I want the pretties please." Pretties are crayons.
• Mispronounces oatmeal as "ole-mut" and ketchup as "chup-etch". I find this extremely funny.
• She can say Grandma, Grand-dad, Mamaw and Papaw now! She often asks... "I call Grandma?" We've started Skyping some!
• Has just in the last few weeks started saying "Come here! Sit and play me!" Which breaks my heart when I drop her at daycare and she wants me to sit and play. She also says, if she wants me to come play, "Come on, baby!" So funny! I must say that a lot!
• She says "mine" and "my owns" which is too funny to me. 
• She tells her babies to "Wait! Sit. Stay. Good boy!!" Like she is training them! So weird!
• Showing definite two year old independent-ness. "Lila do it!" and "Me do it" are heard often. 
• She is very opinionated about what color spoon/fork/cup we give her... so far, she doesn't care about what clothes I pick for her, but of course sometimes objects to wearing any at all.
• Lila is showing off her sassy attitude at times. I reminded her to chew her food well, and she looked at me and said, "Mom. I know." Hello teenage Lila!

Okay, that's clearly enough for now. I probably will post a few things around her birthday next month! I am planning a Strawberry / Strawberry Shortcake party for her! I'm so excited that her birthday actually falls on a Saturday this year. Last year it felt so wrong to be working on her birthday. I hated that and I was super emotional and just cried a lot that day! I think I will keep it together this time! I'm SO glad I wrote all of this down but I know I missed a lot. We are really just enjoying the fun parts of parenting and trying to block out the crappy parts so we might just do this again sometime!