Monday, August 29, 2011

Jade grows up- 16 months

I know I say this every month, but I swear things just keep getting more and more fun. Jade is learning so much every day and while it's exhausting to keep up with her, it's fascinating as well and I can't think of anything I'd rather do every day.

She is talking a little bit more, but still only when she wants to and she hasn't said some words she was saying last month in weeks. I figure they still count ;) 'Baby' is definitely her favorite word/sign and she walks around saying it all the time. Any time we see a baby when we're out and about she points and says "baby" and does the sign. It's also probably her most recognizable word. Most things she says sound like "da" or "ba" but "baby" really sounds like "baby". I find it impressive.


She uses a sign for almost everything she says, so that helps me to know what she's saying. Some of her favorite signs (other than baby) are "bird", "ball", "shoes", and "car".

We've started to enter "tantrum" phase. I knew it was coming, I just didn't want to think about it :) She's still great 99% of the time and in comparison to some of the tantrums I've seen, what we're dealing with is nothing. But I do know that I need to work on my disciplining skills because at the moment nothing I'm doing is working. So far, I've read The Strong Willed Child and The Happiest Toddler on the Block. I might post more on the books later, but if anyone has any recommendations for other things to read, feel free to let me know :)


She is finally officially only taking one nap. We have a pretty good routine down and as long as I stick to that, we're good to go and she naps for about 2 hours in the afternoon. I'm loving having my mornings free to do stuff, although sometimes it's a pain to be home by 11:30 to do lunch and get her to sleep in time.

She is still incredibly picky. Some days she goes to bed and I'm not convinced she ingested any solid food other than fruit and animal crackers the entire day.

She loves tight places. She consistently takes everything out of her basket in the family room and sits in it herself. Or moves the pots and pans around so she can fit in the kitchen cabinet. She also likes to force herself into Belle's bed (along with Belle), but Belle doesn't like that too terribly much and generally moves.


She goes the ChildWatch at the Y pretty much every day, and always does very well. I watch her sometimes and she is all over the place- checking out the toys and playing with new things. Unfortunately, she doesn't actually play with the other kids, but I figure that will come with time. She also loves to go to the playground, but is sill just all over the place and rarely focuses long enough to figure out how to do anything.

She has started to "help" me do things pretty frequently, which is so sweet. I can ask her to go get me things (her shoes, milk, blanky, etc) and sometimes she actually does it. She also loves to load/unload the dishwasher.


She has become incredibly opinionated over what books we read to her. Every night we go through every book in the basket in her room to try to find one that she approves of. It's weird, because she loves for me to read "There's a Wocket in my Pocket' but won't let Chuck read it to her. And some nights, she wants to read a certain book and the next night she just keeps pushing it away. But she is playing with books on her own more now, which of course makes the book worm in me very happy.

We have lots of new things to come in the coming month- we're signed up for story time at the library, MOPS and Mother's Morning Out. I think it'll be fun to add a little variety to our routine, although I'll admit that I'm a little nervous about MMO. She's been watched by other people for that long before, but never outside of our house if I'm not in the same building, if that makes any sense. But I know that it'll be good for both of us!

It's been such a joy to watch her grow up this month and I'm excited to see what next month brings!

*Just realized every picture in this post is from my phone. Pathetic. I will take more pictures with my actual camera next month. Really. Promise.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Well hello, Irene

Just wanted to give a quick update. I owe you guys a 26 weeks post (yesterday) and Jade's 16-month post (tomorrow!) but I've been busy filling all of our containers with water, doing laundry, and buying batteries.

This thing is HUGE and moving SLOWLY which means it already feels like it's been raining forever and the actual hurricane hasn't even hit us yet.

The fact that we still have power is amazing- since moving here we have noticed that we're generally one of the first to lose power and last to get it back. But judging from friend's post on Facebook, everyone around us is losing power and we still have it. Amazing. Thank you, Irene, for waiting to knock my power out until Jade got her nap for the day :)

Hope everyone is safe and dry- stay inside and enjoy the time with your family!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Hunkered down at home

Friday, August 26, 2011

Labor

Since yesterday's post was a bit of a downer, I wanted to follow it up with something a bit happier.

I might hate being pregnant, but I loved labor. After 10 months of being pregnant (yes, 10), and at least 4 months of being uncomfortable, you finally get to DO SOMETHING. I think that part of what I hate about being pregnant are the limitations. I don't like being limited physically. If I want to go on a 5 mile run, I'm gonna go on a 5 mile run. Not being able to do that is hard for me. So when labor came around I was downright excited.

I was blown away by God's provision for women during labor- the natural hormones that kicked in and helped numb the pain. My husband's loving support that made me feel treasured and beautiful. The way that I instinctively knew what to do- which way to stand, how to move, when to relax. 

It was beautiful. There's no other way to describe it. Was it painful? Absolutely. But God has deadened that memory in my mind. I don't remember the pain. I remember the bliss. It hurts my heart when people that are uneducated about birth automatically get medication and lay on their backs because that's all they know. Because they're afraid of the pain. God has so much more for us than pain in labor. 


And the end product... well, you can't beat that.


Graphic? Maybe. But I think it's beautiful.

*Disclaimer: I am not in any way saying that every woman that receives medication during labor or has a C-section is wrong. There are good reasons for both of those things. My viewpoint is that they are both used more often than they need to be... but I am extremely grateful that they are available for when they are needed. 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Pregnancy

This is kind of a random post, but it's something I've been struggling with a lot lately and I figured I'd open up my heart a little bit.


My whole life, I knew that I wanted to be a mom. Other life dreams have shifted (case in point: still not sure what I want to be when I "grow up"), but that one has remained consistent. Because of this, I foolishly believed I would enjoy being pregnant. That I would feel beautiful. That I would revel in the attention. 


I was wrong. Very wrong. I hate it. There's no other way to describe it. And I feel guilty for hating it. I have easy, safe, low-risk pregnancies. This pregnancy I have only thrown up a few times and my nausea days weren't that bad. So what do I have to hate? I am so blessed to get pregnant easily and to have safe pregnancies. But just because something is true doesn't mean I can change the way that I feel.


So just be aware... if you tell me I look "great", I'm likely to laugh. Don't get me wrong, I need to hear it. Now more than ever before. I have so many strangers commenting on how I must be due any day now that any friendly person telling me how good I look is welcomed. However, I don't really believe you. Because I don't feel like I look good. I think it goes back to my eating disordered OCD days... gaining this much weight is hard for me to do. It's so hard for me to remember that this is what is healthy for my baby.


I wish I could be one of those girls that gains 25 pounds, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. I pray that I will be grateful that I'm healthy. To not take these things for granted. I pray that I will remember those around me who struggle through pregnancies. And most of the time it works. But sometimes, I look in the mirror, and one word stares back at me: fat. And that's just some brutal honesty.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Pregnancy- 25 weeks

Pregnancy: 25 weeks


Please forgive my unkempt appearance- we spent the whole day car shopping and it was hot out!
Weight Gain: Won't really know until my next appointment. But I'm making a point to eat well and keep exercising, so hopefully it wont be too bad!

Sleep: Better! Although it always seems there's something. Last night I had a hard time sleeping because I was thinking about the new cars we're looking at and getting the nursery painted... Insomnia is definitely still visiting a few times a week, but it's not too horrible.

Gender: Baby Sister on the way!

Name: I think we have a first name. There's a chance it'll change, but I've started calling her that in my head. Now just to pick the middle name :)

Feeling: Mostly just stress over stuff I want to get done around the house and our seeming inability to get it all done.

Movement: Still moving constantly. It still amazes me how much I feel her. 

Next Appointment: September 7 for my glucose test (for gestational diabetes) and September 13th with the midwife.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Why do I do this?

When I first started this blog, it was solely for my family and any far away friends that wanted to keep up with my pregnancy with Jade. It was also a nice place for me to document things that are going on, because my journal-keeping habits have waned since high school and my poor kids are gonna get baby books with 1/3 of the information filled out.

With that said, this blog makes it look like my entire life is being pregnant and Jade. And I don't like that. Sometimes, as a stay-at-home-mom, that's what I feel like already. And it bugs me. I'm a person... with likes and interests and (currently) pregnancy insomnia. So why would I purposefully put stuff out there that perpetuates the stereotype that as a SAHM, all I care about is my kid?

I don't know. But that's what I'm doing. And I want it to change.

Because of this, I've been giving this little blog a lot of thought lately. Trying to decide to just keep it what it is, or to jump head-first into the blogging world and make it more. There is a HUGE network of bloggers out there... bloggers that write things that I enjoy reading. And I know that I could write things that strangers enjoy reading. But first they have to know about it. I have to go to the effort to leave comments, say hi, and link back to this page. But do I really want to do that? Do I really want this to start becoming a bit of "work"?

I actually think that I do. I miss writing with a purpose. There are things in this world that I really care about- and if I don't have an outlet for those things in my own blog, where will I? I don't update as much as I should because oftentimes, my posts bore me. I want to write about more. I'm afraid that this will mean boring some of my current readers (hi, dad), but you guys can skim the "boring" stuff and only read the Jade posts. I'm cool with that.

So what does this mean? I don't know. I hesitate to even publish this because you guys probably won't notice many changes at first. Heck, you might not notice many changes for a while. But I'm going to try to network more, and write more about things that matter to me. It'll be a gradual process, but hopefully one day this blog is something that I'll actually be proud of.

And because a post with no pictures is boring, here are some gems from my iPhone:
My new wrap!

With daddy on the beach in NC

First time Chuck wrapped Jade on his back 

Hanging out with Belle, eating a shoe

Brushing Zoe with her My Little Pony brush

Put her new vest on as a cape and had a hanger hanging around her straw

Going for the basket!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Pregnancy- 24 weeks

I know this post is a bit late (I'll be 25 weeks on Friday!) but my appointment was yesterday, so I wanted to wait until after that.

Pregnancy: 24 weeks

Weight Gain: 15 pounds. It seems that eating like crap on 2 vacations has done me in... I gained 8 pounds in 4 weeks. But I'm still going to the gym, so hopefully it will even out and my weight gain will be minimal at my next appointment. 

Sleep: Pregnancy isn't affecting it at this point, but allergies are. I'm not sure what's blooming or going on, but they've been giving me a hard time. If I take Benadryll, I sleep better but am drowsy in the morning. But if I don't, I don't sleep much at all and am still drowsy in the morning- just not quite as bad. Seems kind of like a lose-lose.

Gender: Baby Sister on the way.

Name: Still not decided- and still not telling what we're talking about!

Feeling: Definitely better than I was doing at 20 weeks. Physically, I feel fine (other than the aforementioned allergies). Emotionally, I'm struggling. Pregnancy hormones and I really don't get along and I find myself crying for no reason consistently. It's getting old :)

Movement: This kid is crazy. Moving all.the.time. Jade was kind of quiet when she was an inside baby, so I'm really not used to it. But with Jade I did worry a lot because I didn't feel her as much as any of the books say you're supposed to, so it's nice not to have that worry.

Next Appointment: September 7 for my glucose test (for gestational diabetes) and September 13th with the midwife.


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Outer Banks Pictures

Going to the beach with a toddler was an idea-opening experience. First, don't be surprised to not actually see a picture from the beach. One of Jade's favorite things to do was dump sand in the beach bag. Not a safe place for a camera. Second, I could have taken pictures with my iPhone, but that would imply that I wasn't following her around trying to keep her from running into the water, or stealing strangers drinks, food, or chairs. So I took two pictures on the beach... and they are on my phone. I thought I had synced my phone, but apparently not. And this post is already late enough.

So yeah, not a relaxing beach vacation... but it was good. It was so nice to just get away for a bit and to be able to spend all that time with Chuck.

We only have 2 family pictures from the trip- one from the aquarium, and one from one of those old-timey places. So I won't be posting those, because they're not on my camera. Oh well.

The long-lost 21-week picture.


Not the best picture, but she was so excited to show me the duck! And look at that cute bathing suit!

Hiking up Jockey's Ridge.

Just an idea of how HUGE this sand dune is!

There were lots of people flying kites- Jade loved it.


A replica of the Wright Brother's flyer.

She was just happy because she didn't have to do all that walking!

Hanging out with daddy.


Sitting in one of the swings at Nags Head Hammocks.

She had lots of fun on the front porch of the hammock place.

Thoughtful Jade :)

Ok, maybe that should have been 2 posts. Oh well!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The trip- photos part 2

Just to clarify- this is still my "tour of the South" trip. Pictures from the Outer Banks trip coming to a blog near you soon ;)

I love this one because they look like they are having such a serious conversation.

One of her messiest meals yet- simply because her hair is hard as a rock standing up like that,
thanks to the peach juice.

4 generations.

She liked sitting in the box for the Barbie clothes.

Copying her cousin... so cute :)


And then we drove to Atlanta, stayed a night there with Meg and Kyle, and  then drove the 9 hours back home. Only it took longer than that because about 15 minutes from Meg's house we came to a complete stop and stayed that way for TWO HOURS. There was an accident about a mile ahead of us. It was miserable. I was tempted to let Jade play with her tricycle on the interstate... instead we settled for her sitting in the front seat. She loved all the buttons on the stereo :)
Crappy iPhone pic of Jade snacking in the front seat.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

15 months!

I'm still behind on all my posting... I never posted the pictures from my trip to my parents house, my 21-week-photo, or anything from the beach. I go on vacation and just forget about this thing! So I'm going to do Jade's month post now and then the next few post will be older pictures. Hope that's alright!


The past 2 months (because I never did a 14-month post!) have been very busy for Miss Jade. About a week after she started walking, she decided that she wasn't going to crawl anymore and walks all the time now. The transition was so fast that sometimes it's still weird to see her racing around the house.

She went down to one nap for a while, but is now back at two and seems to really need both of those naps. Frankly, I would rather her take one but she didn't ask me :)


 Playing at the park

I joined the gym during this time and she (surprisingly) loves going to the childcare there. She generally cries when I leave, but two seconds later she's fine and she plays really well the whole time. She's also had a lot of babysitters the past 2 months- Chuck and I have gone out a couple times and I've left her with people for my midwife appointments. She always does really well, which is so nice.

About 2 weeks ago she decided that she wanted to do that sign language thing after all. When she was around 12 months, I stopped signing to her because it honestly was starting to worry me that she had no interest in signing back. I figured that was that and sign language just wasn't our thing. But one day at the dinner table she started signing more (as in "I want more blueberries NOW") and has signed relatively consistently since then. She does "more", "eat", "bath", and attempts to do "water". It's been fun practicing with her and I'm glad she finally took an interest in that.


Such a sweet face

She is now officially weaned. She went from a couple sessions a day, to just one before bedtime around 14 months. There were a couple times where she wouldn't nurse for days and then would ask to nurse again. But a few days ago, I just decided to put her down without nursing and she went to sleep with no fuss and I have continued to do that. It's a bittersweet time. Breastfeeding was such a special thing to me and I'm sad that chapter has come to a close.


One of our last times nursing

Her language skills still leave a bit something to be desired, but she's over the minimum expected words so I know there's no reason to worry. She's saying "dog", "duck", "dada", "uh-oh", and "fish". Dog and duck sound exactly alike. But she is babbling all the time and I know it's only a matter of time before she starts actually talking :)


I'm also happy to say that she has outgrown her dairy intolerance! I gave her whole milk for the first time this morning, and she has now had yogurt, cheese, etc with no issues. However, she really doesn't seem to like cheese which I find interesting. What kind of kid doesn't like mac n cheese? She also wasn't impressed by the whole milk... it might be a bit of a transition, we'll just have to see.


Yogurt... mmmm

She has gotten unbelievably picky with her eating, but I suppose that's all just part of living with a toddler. She's still growing so I try not to worry about it.


Feeling cuddly on our roadtrip

At her 15-month appointment yesterday, she weighed 18 pounds, was 28 inches long and is in the 50th percentile for head measurement. Her height and weight are still slightly below the charts, but she's following a nice curve so the doctor isn't at all concerned. She still fits in her 6-9 month clothes without a problem, but I have moved her to 9-12 month in most things. I have a feeling she'll be in that size for a while as most of the stuff is still a little big on her. She's definitely quite the peanut.

It's been a great 2 months!