Spring is springing, and it's lovely to finally be able to spend some time outside without hats and mittens and boots. It's been an oddly mild March. So after picking up Maia from daycare, I thought we'd hang out the in the back yard a little. I just let her go.
Sippy cup firmly in hand, she wandered around the deck, and down the "teps" (steps) into the yard.
Around the tree... where she didn't even bother to pick up a single stick - can you believe it?
She was particularly fascinated with the "booo-deees" (birdies) who were "seeen-in TeetTeet!" (singing, tweet-tweet!)
Saturday was even nicer and more mild. While Maia and I both napped... Ray put together her little play set that was a Christmas Gift from Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Andrew. Later that afternooon, Maia went out to check it out...
... and she was delighted! I'd guess she climbed up the back and slid down the slide about 25 times in succession.
Sometimes she'd get a bit of mulch on her hands after standing herself up (dooo-tee?)
and since she seems to actually prefer being clean, she'd wipe off her hands and her pants before continuing on her merry way.
She had such a great time, we went out again later that evening, when it was cooler. And she asked about it as she was going to bed. "Side?... ow-side?"
More playing with the tutu... which makes a lovely hat.
Which is fine and dandy unless you mother wants to take your picture, and you shout "Nooooo pih-shuh!"
Fortunately these toddler tantrums are relatively short lived. I think that one was about 20 seconds. Can I pour you some tea?
Along with this pic that Ray took (Maia eating her Kashi Cereal bar for breakfast: "Ashi-baar!"), I'll add a little story.
Some days, Maia is more than happy to leave me to play with her friends at daycare. Some others... not so much. She will cling to me and whimper or cry. Today, she was clingy but not quite to the point of crying... her friend Roman was the one in full on tears not wanting his mother to go.
Seeing an opportunity, I whispered to Maia (whose arms were wrapped tightly around my neck) "Your friend Roman is crying, will you go make him feel better?"
She immediately released me, and I put her down. She ran over to his side to start patting him. (Which allowed me to make a much less dramatic escape!). She's such a little momma sometimes, she really does like to take care of her friends.
She has, interestingly, been spending LOTS more time playing with the dolls at daycare - they've reported that she puts them to bed "nuh-night!" and pats their backs. She's also noticing my growing belly (and shrinking lap space) and is starting to understand that there is a "bee-bee in-neer?" She will sometimes pull up my shirt and rub my belly and say "Bee-bee? I see it?" You can almost see the little gears turning in her head as she tries to make sense of this mystery. Poor thing. It's going to be a long 3 months while she tries to figure this out!
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I have to add another story from this evening. After a repeat of the above "trying to figure out the whole baby thing" (complete with Maia pulling up my shirt and trying to play peek-a-boo with the baby she's trying desperately to find)... she pulled up her own shirt, stuck out her tummy and rubbed it, saying "Maia bee-bee?"
"No, Maia... you don't have a baby in your belly. Just momma." Can I tell you how hard it was not to laugh watching her?
Then later, during dinner, she turns to me and asks "Daddy bee-bee?"
"Nope. Daddy doesn't have a baby in his belly either. Just momma."
Ah, performance weeks! Absolute craziness and chaos, as I spend 5 of 7 evenings away from home for most of the evening! But we survived another one... each surviving our own set of challenges.
So... I performed Monteverdi's Vespers for the Blessed Virgin which was composed in 1610... so this year (July) is it's 400th anniversary. As a departure from the normal GR Symphony Chorus arrangement, we didn't perform this in DeVos Hall, but in St. Andrew's Cathedral. Also unusual with this performance is that we were split into a full chorus and a smaller, select "chamber" chorus. Kath and I were both in the chamber chorus, which meant a lot more singing and time devoted to rehearsals. It was, however, a great experience, and we got a nice review.
Looking for me? I'm in the middle part of the chorus, second row, 3rd from the left. Right next my sister (Pearl keeps placing us this way, and that's fine by both of us!) Ah forget it... we're too small. I tried to zoom in, but you really can't see any detail!
And so a quiet, laid back Sunday to recover. We dropped off the video of Maia's First Year at my folks' house, and then headed out to Cracker Barrel for some breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed over to the mall so Maia could run around for a while. After a week of weather that increasingly resembled spring (up to 65º and sunny) we woke up to snow yesterday (!), but it was wet, yucky snow, and no fun for playing in (not that I remembered to bring her snow pants and boots home from daycare anyway). So indoors we played.
In the evening, however, the sun came out and Maia had her favorite for dinner: Pizza!
Today as I was dropping Maia off at daycare, her teacher Nikki told me a funny little story from a few weeks ago, before Maia's good friend Celia moved up to the T2 classroom (ah, sad day! Celia's mother says Celia misses Maia, and I think Maia feels the same).
Maia was having a day where she was simply NOT interested in keeping her shoes on (we generally don't wear shoes in the house, but they always do at daycare, so I understand this confusion). Nikki told her she needed to put her shoes on so she could go outside with her friends. So Maia sat herself down with her shoes and tried to put them on with little success. Celia walked near, and Maia reached out her shoe toward Celia and said "Help?" Celia responded "Okay!" and sat down to try and help Maia put on her shoes. Celia tried for a few moments, but did not have any success. She placed Maia's shoe on the floor next to Maia, stood up and gave her an "All done" sort of gesture, as if to say: I've done all I can do here!
The teachers found this very amusing, but of course, cannot laugh while watching these little interactions.
Yesterday, Jessica (a T2 teacher, who was in the infant room when Maia first started at daycare) had her daughter (maybe 4 years old?)with her during the end of the day. As I was picking up Maia, she was talking (as usual) and Jessica's daughter remarked to her mother: "She has words!" Jessica and I both laughed: Yes, I said, she has LOTS of words, and if you give her some time, she'll probably tell you them all!
So here we are at 27.5 weeks. I had an OB appointment yesterday, and, due to a jam-packed schedule for the evening, we had to figure out a way to get me to my 4:00 appointment downtown, (and my OB, bless him, usually runs late - particularly by the end of the day), get dinner, pick up Maia before 6:00 by our house, and get me back downtown for GRSC rehearsal by 6:30pm.
I decided to pick up Maia from daycare on my way to my OB appointment, the three of us could then attend the appointment, get some dinner, and then Ray and Maia could head home while I went to rehearsal.
Maia has not been to any of my doctor's appointments since my post-partum check up for her. I think she was about 8 weeks old. Fortunately, she does not have a white-coat phobia... her pediatricians don't wear white coats, and she never seems to mind going there. She just looks around, talks and names everything she sees everywhere she goes, so it's just another place to explore.
When we got off the highway, Ray and I were in our cars in adjacent lanes, and since it was a beautiful, 65º day outside (Yay! Spring!), I could roll down the window so Maia and Ray could waive to each other. Maia was delighted, and put her hands toward Ray saying "I reachin'! I reachin' Dada!" (over and over and over and over...) She will also start breathing really rapidly and say "I cited!" (excited). Her excitement, fascination and non-stop talking didn't really stop for long when we got to the office, as she named the items in the waiting room: Tree, Chair... (what color is the chair?) Balooooooo. She was fascinated with the blood pressure cuff, but seemed a little concerned when Mama was sitting on the table with the paper. The nurse was nice enough to let her check it out while we waited for the doc. Maia wanted to explore everything... but the second Dr L walked in - she decided to play a little shy, and I don't think she totally warmed up to him until he offered her a sticker at the end of the appointment.
So. Here's where we are:
I passed my GTT (glucose tolerance test) with flying colors (yay!), all my labs are looking good. I'm measuring right at 27 - so right on target. Doc is very pleased with my weight gain (up 2 lbs in the last month), and thinks that I'm pretty much right on track for ending up at the same weight I ended at with Maia... baring any sprained ankles that keep me from moving for a while! Last time with Maia, I ended up putting on 10 lbs in the last month due to edema - somewhat related to the trouble I was having keeping the swelling down with the ankle. So (fingers crossed) that hopefully won't be the same this time!
My BP was great... 100/60, baby's heartbeat (sleeping) was in the 140s. Maia was intrigued by the sound of the doppler, and had her little eyebrows furrowed while she listened.
Outside of that... We're doing well. No unexpected issues (just the on-going low back pain I expect (probably time for a massage soon), and one single leg cramp of relatively short duration. I'll have to increase my banana intake (ooo, maybe some banana bread...) We've contacted our Lamaze instructor to see if we can take a refresher course. She does offer a 3 or 4 session class, so that's next on the docket.
For her first birthday, I got Maia this tutu (at a great price at TJ Maxx, so I won't be heart-broken when she destroys it). However, up until recently she hasn't been terribly interested in it. She's been spending more time with dress up items (you know, the ones besides wearing mommy and daddy's shoes around the house) at home and daycare. So she played with it last weekend.
and then wanted to wear it to daycare a few days later...
Also was the creative use of daddy's shoes as a basket to carry her letters.
And here, she's just playing with her shape sorter.
This is day number 185 and you're 26 weeks pregnant!
You have 95 days or 14 weeks left, and are 66.1% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 171 days or 24 weeks.
Your baby weighs almost 2 pounds, measures around 14 inches from head to heel, and hears noises, responds to light, and is generally more aware of its surroundings. In the same way that you can see a flashlight if you hold it against your palm, your baby can see the light coming through your belly. You may notice increased activity when in brighter light and decreased activity in darkened rooms. Its hearing is fully developed, and as he or she reacts to sounds, its pulse increases. Your baby may even move in rhythm to music!
Care to know what I am noticing? It's getting really hard to sleep at night! I can't get comfortable, can't turn my brain off, starting to get a little reflux and/or nausea when I lay down, I'm too hot... and then all the other noises (Ray's breathing, or Maia's whining in her sleep as she dreams) just pile up. Not to mention work has been a little stressful of late.
Speaking of work, however, I did have some good news. We have a new HR person since the one there when Maia was born. I pitched my post-partum-return-to-work plan to him this week(which involves us NOT having to pay full time, 5-day-a-week daycare for 2 kids, but does involve me working 40 hours a week), and he was MUCH more receptive, helpful and encouraging than my last HR person. I am feeling quite encouraged that I might be able to accomplish my goal, and make it through the next two years (albeit living on pennies) and still keep my job, seniority, benefits and standing. Whew! Keeping my fingers crossed for the next step.
In the mean time, we're really, really, really struggling with names! I feel like I've looked at every name out there, and every name I like, someone close to us (family, friend, co-worker) has taken. And I'll just go on record and say I really hate it when people name their pets "people" names, and take even MORE good names away! Ha!
I must say I really enjoyed all the extra cuddling I got while she wasn't feeling well. However, as Ray and Maia recovered from their bouts with the GI bug, Someone must have overheard me saying to my mother "I just don't seem to be as susceptible to those GI bugs..." and I failed to knock wood. So I was rewarded for my hubris with triple what the Ray and Maia got. Ray got one, Maia got both seperately... I got both at the same time. From 2 am to 5 am almost continuously. Then the next day of a LOT of sleep followed by a trip to the bathroom, wash hands, sip of ginger ale, back to sleep... repeat.
Ray and Maia went to Red Robin with my folks and the Pools to celebrate Kathleen's birthday while I stayed home and slept (and slept, and slept!) Everything hurt. My stomach, every muscle. Ugh! I haven't been that sick in a long time. Everything hits harder when you're expecting!
So poor June bug had to live on my fat reserves and ginger ale for a day and a half. I'm starting to feel better, although really run down and low on energy. I'm sure that's due in part to the lack of calories, but I'm still not all that interested in eating. I do feel fortunate that this happened over a weekend so that I didn't have to take any more time off! And I'm sure Maia is looking forward to getting back to daycare.
A little fun this evening: Ray and Maia got to talk to Tara on skype. Maia seemed to think it was pretty cool.
Well, it's been an interesting week. They've been struggling at daycare with Maia during nap time. She'd only been napping for maybe an hour, hour-and-a-half. They've tried moving her to different parts of the room, and she might do great for a day, but poorly the next. The trick, of course, is that once she's up, she really doesn't care to go back down. I told them she's been that way since she was a newborn, which the infant room teacher, Miss Kathy, had also told them.
So they'd decided to try to put her down a little later in hopes that might help. She always wakes up in a great mood (as she does here too, even after a 5 minute nap).
How did that go? Well, the first night was fine. The second, she was pretty crabby (lots of "No!"s) and went to bed promptly at 7. Then we had a night where she was just on a roll... lots of fun playing, lots of giggles...
Then at about 2:30 a.m., she woke up crying. Ray went upstairs to check on her. He picked her up and settled her down, and they fell asleep together in the living room. She woke him up a while later coughing, and suddenly covered them both with vomit. He cleaned them both up, and brought her downstairs so we could try to rest between her coughing/vomit spasms. As she crawled in bed and snuggled up to me, she whispered repeatedly "I watch Elmo?" "No, honey, it's the middle of the night, you need to sleep." "Watch Elmo..."
She's not great at settling down for sleeping with us generally... she thinks our bed is great fun to jump on and is a great obstacle course for climbing. But she managed to fall asleep for a while, before waking again crying for "momma" and we held the bucket for her. Poor confused little thing. And then we started the process over.
In the morning, Ray went to work, and Maia and I cuddled on the couch and actually DID watch Elmo (which was about the only way I could keep her distracted from her million-and-one pitiful requests for "Waa-tah?" that I couldn't oblige). When it was finally time to get her started on a tablespoon of fluid, she actually perked up quite a bit, and I thought maybe she was past the worst of it. And I guess she was, but she took 2 LONG naps, and didn't really ask for food until the late afternoon. She spent a lot of time cuddling, which was nice for me, although I'd prefer she not be sick! A low-grade fever started in the afternoon, so unfortunately we couldn't send her to daycare on Friday, even though it was clear the bug was working its way down her GI tract. She kept down more Sprite and some Cheerios and went to bed with no fuss.
My PTO is at a premium (anything I use now means I won't get those hours paid for my maternity leave), and Ray had a full day scheduled at work... so we had some tough decisions to make. So he took the morning off today while I went in to work, and we switched at 12:30. Maia did well with getting started with regular juice, then water and regular food. So we decided we all needed to get out of the house for a while, and went to the Mall for dinner, a little play time and a some walking around. While we were walking, I drooled over the most adorable little Easter dress at Gymboree (where I NEVER shop in the front of the store: cha-ching! and only rarely in the back clearance section). Ray apparently loved the dress too, and bought it was while I was perusing the clearance racks. I would never have paid that much for a dress she'll probably wear once or twice, but it is cute. Can't wait to see her in it!
Funny story from earlier this week.
At daycare, Pete decided to dump his bowl of food on the floor. The rule is that the child who makes the mess has to help clean it up. Maia, however, immediately started cleaning "I keen it?" When Nikki told her, no, Pete needed to clean up his mess, she got really mad because she LOVES to clean!
Sippy cup firmly in hand, she wandered around the deck, and down the "teps" (steps) into the yard.
Around the tree... where she didn't even bother to pick up a single stick - can you believe it?
She was particularly fascinated with the "booo-deees" (birdies) who were "seeen-in Teet Teet!" (singing, tweet-tweet!)
... and she was delighted! I'd guess she climbed up the back and slid down the slide about 25 times in succession.
Sometimes she'd get a bit of mulch on her hands after standing herself up (dooo-tee?)
and since she seems to actually prefer being clean, she'd wipe off her hands and her pants before continuing on her merry way.
She had such a great time, we went out again later that evening, when it was cooler. And she asked about it as she was going to bed. "Side?... ow-side?"
