Dave and Nancy are here!

The East Coast Steaks welcomed the West Coast Steaks yesterday! They are here for the week and we're happy to have them here with us! We're sorry they couldn't bring Brillo. He would have given our weather wimps a run for their money!

I picked up Dave and Nancy from the airport after work. Carole was already at the house and Don arrived right after we did. I immediately started preparing the big old chicken I had bought for dinner while everyone else helped to watch the kids.

As the chicken finished roasting, many renditions of Rock Band were played. Steve and I had downloaded a compilation of The Cars tunes, but I think it's time to download some more fun stuff. What a ball!

We didn't eat until after DJ went to bed at 7, and that was after putting him in the pack-n-play in our room so that Dave and Nancy could have his room. I feel bad... I'm not convinced that air mattress is all the comfortable, but we gave the bed set to Carole so that DJ could have his own room... Oh well.

We opened gifts after dinner, and hit the hay at midnight. We had just settled down to fall asleep when we heard... rustle... rustle... stand up... Daddy!

Oh boy. Literally.

So Steve picked him up and laid him down in the bed between us even though we know this doesn't work, ever. DJ lay there quietly with us, occasionally kicking me gently and sucking on his pacifier. Then I felt his little hand reach for mine. I held his hand until he pulled it away to then start tapping Steve on the shoulder. Tap... tap... tap tap... tap tap... tap... tap...

Although amusing, it was time to put a stop to this. "DJ, it's time to go nee-ta-ta (night night), so Daddy is going to put you back in your crib (well, pack-n-play), ok?" I gave him some time to absorb that, and told him again, just to emphasize it. That's when he rolled over and decided it was time to play. Yeah... no.

Steve laid him down in the pack-n-play, and we got resettled under the covers. Rustle... rustle... rustle... stand up. Of course.

We try to stay very still hoping that he might decide to go back to sleep on his own. Then I feel him start patting my feet and he said, "Mama." How did he know those were my feet?! He repeated this a number of times trying to get my attention. I didn't react and eventually he laid back down on his own.

But then he started talking. It figures. "Daddy do." "Mama" and a whole lot of babble. Eventually he fell back to sleep and we finally got to sleep. I have no idea how long that was, but I definitely got less than 6 hours of sleep last night!

Look who's talking!

Elektra!

The Little Girl has been sleeping a ton lately, and I figured it was just a growth spurt. It still may well be, but yesterday she broke through with making noises with various pitches in one string.

She talked a ton yesterday, trying out her new "toy" and boy did she get a reaction from me. And in return, I got tons of smiles and talking.

AND, the best part, Ii heard a laugh!! She hasn't laughed again yet, but that was a preview of what's coming!

Christmas 2008

It's come and gone in a hurry. I swear it was just yesterday that I was still shopping. Oh wait, I was....not for gifts but for sugar.

I knew I had to make two desserts for each of the houses that we'd be visiting on Christmas, Yiayia's marshmallow cake and baklava. I had the butter out to soften for the cake and I started to measure out the sugar for the baklava syrup. That's when I realized I might not have enough for both desserts. Uh-oh. Even if I had figured it out Christmas Eve, no one was open after 6pm, so I'd have been in the same bind.

So DJ and I went out in search of sugar. I knew the Kleins Supermarket would be closed on Chrismtas Day but I thought that maybe the Safeway might be open for a few hours. No such luck. But sometimes, a 7-11 has odd things other than snacky-snack-type foods, and our local 7-11 had a few boxes of sugar. Perfect. The men that were hanging out in the 7-11 were drinking coffee, shooting the breeze, and all marveled at DJ's hair wishing they all had hair like that and reminiscing of the time when they did. All in all, pretty hilarious. 7-11 FTW on Christmas Day.

When we got home, it was time to open gifts. DJ hasn't quite figured out what opening gifts is about, so I spent time trying to show him that he can rip the paper off. He did enjoy taking the tissue paper out of the gift bags and then stuffing it back in them. ("What has baby found? Another piece of tissue paper! Wave it all around! " from the Wrapping Paper Romp book) On a side note, DJ also knows that Santa says "Hoooh!", and we read a picture book about Christmas a number of times this month. I'm hoping that he'll get what gifts mean by his birthday in March but I think he'll be all about Christmas in 2009.

Elektra, meanwhile, hung out in the swing watching us open gifts. Steve spent most of his time taking DJ's toys out of the packaging. What is it with packaging these days that requires brain surgery to extract the toy?? Didn't the old addage use to be that the choice words were dropped in toy assembly, not toy extraction from its packaging?

After toys were unwrapped, we watched Wall-E on blu-ray. Boy is Pixar making a statement with that movie but very good nonetheless! Anyway, DJ sat, literally sat on the floor, and actually watched the first half an hour of Wall-E. He never has an attention span for TV, so this was quite remarkable! During the parts of Wall-E I had seen, I prepped the baklava and after the movie was over, baked the cake.

Both DJ and Elektra had lunch and went down for naps early. I finished the cake and the baklava and sat down to take a breather before all the real craziness would begin. Sure enough, DJ woke up early from his nap, so let the craziness begin.

We got to George's house an hour late. This was after the baklava leaked on me in the car. ARG! I had wanted to drop it off to Tim's on the way to George's for exactly that reason, but we couldn't reach Tim by phone to confirm that we could do that. At least it was a tasty ride to George's.

George had a great feast prepared. Deep fried turkey (which was prepped in a brine the night before), spanakopita, ham, new england clam chowder, salad, Greek potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus, bread and Greek stuffing, and hors devours, including garlic stuff kalamata olives. Awesome! Everything was delicious, especially the deep fried turkey! YUM! Dessert included pumpkin custard, marshmallow cake and assorted cookies.

Gifts were exchanged by all and then Steve and I were off to Tim's house with the leaky baklava and all. Unlike George's, Tim's house was a zoo of people, as to be expected with this family! DJ and Elektra got tons more gifts! By 9:15pm and 4 million flights of stairs later, DJ was exhausted (but he still wanted to continue to climb the stairs!). We packed the kids in the car and headed home. Both children went to bed without nary a fuss, and both were still sleeping when I left this morning. I hope they're being good for Steve today!

The day was exhausting but wonderful. Merry Christmas!

Reaching, grabbing, and laughing?

Last week, I heard the toys on Elektra's car seat toy rattle. Since the carseat was sitting still on the kitchen table, I assumed that she was waving her arms around and haphazardly hitting the hanging toys.

Well, you know what they say about assuming. ::sigh::

It's clear now that she's *trying* to reach and grab for stuff. We saw it when she was in her carseat, but we've also seen it when she's in her crib. There are toys hanging from the crib rails that she can reach. When she goes to bed at night, she's not always asleep when we lay her down, so we'll hear her rattling the links until she goes to sleep.

We also think that she's trying to not just make cooing sounds to get our attention, but she's trying to have a conversation with us. She's already trying to imitate how our lips move and make noise at the same time. To boot, she's close to laughing. Laughing comes around the 4th month, so it won't be long before she not only smiles at us but also laughs. Can't wait!

Overall, this little girl has been so incredibly pleasant. She rarely fusses unless she's beyond hungry or wants help getting to sleep. Her "I want attention" fusses are little short "bwah!" sounds, and they are quite cute.

DJ still loves his little sister. "Baby" as he calls her, is very much on his mind. The first word out of his mouth in the morning when I go to get him out of his crib after "Daddy" is "Baby". He doesn't pay attention to her that much when he's playing with his toys but if she fusses, he'll come over to see what's wrong. He'll also give her some of what he's "cooking" to taste if he's being a chef. Meanwhile, she loves to watch him. Her eyes follow whatever he's doing if he's close enough for her to see him. She's been smiling at him unprompted. It's very cool.

BIG Train

Today, I met Damian, Jenn, and Leo at the B&O Railroad Museum. DJ was quite wide eyed at first and then I heard "ooo ooo!!" like the sound a train makes. Good boy, DJ!

The B&O had a nice train garden, sponsored by two local model train groups, one setting up a large train display and the other setting up an "N" scale train display. Both were very large in the amount of track they laid out and the settings they created. DJ watched both very intently.

We also walked around to see the historic trains. I don't think DJ really understood the scale of what he was looking at, but he had happy feet nonetheless. There were some very old and VERY big trains there... it was neat. I know I've been to the B&O museum before, but I'd forgotten how big the trains are.

We also took a ride on a train down historic (not necessarily scenic!) track. They had 2 engines, one on either end of 2 cars of a marc train, to go down and come back on. DJ was standing on the seat, looking out the window at the world passing by (and not strapped in a carseat). So both DJ and Elektra had their first train ride today. :-)

Toothbrush != Hairbrush

The last time we went to the pediatrician, he told us that we should be introducing DJ to the toothbrush. Needless to say, we forgot until sometime last week.

I pulled out a small toothbrush for him and showed him that it goes in one's mouth. I gave it to him, and he tried to brush his hair. I grinned, and tried to move his hand towards his mouth, but he turned his head away and tried to brush his hair again. So then I showed him that he can chew on it, but he'd have none of it. I tried to get him to put the bristles only on his front teeth, but that must've tickled because he turned his head away upon contact.

He knows to comb his hair with a comb, but the brush? He'd never seen that before and yet knew that a brush can be used to brush one's hair. Smart little boy!

Elektra has found her thumb!

Over the last few days, Elektra has been stuffing her hand in her mouth fairly often. I think she's been looking for her thumb and I think she found it today! She still takes the pacifier fine, but she's also looking for (and finding) her thumb more regularly. DJ is a pacifier boy when we were convinced he'd be a thumb sucker. Will we have a thumb or pacifier baby in Elektra? Time will tell!

Elektra's first snow

Yesterday, the first snow of winter fell, and Elektra got to watch it fall from the sky. She looked out the window from the kitchen for a few moments. Of course she has no concept of what she was seeing but hey... it's her first snow nonetheless!!!

DJ's Words

DJ is definitely starting to vocalize more. Sometimes he says the same words consistently, and other times it seems like he tries to say the word and then doesn't say it again for a long time. We (Steve, Eleanor, Sonny and I) have heard him say a whole slew of words. The ones he says consistently are:

Daddy, Baby (for Elektra), fish, shoes, ding (as in, the toaster's done), moo, Yiayia (comes out as Ayia or Yiayia... depends), grrrr (his favorite stuffed tiger says grrrr), uh-oh, and cracker.

Other words in his vocabulary that he's said but doesn't repeat often or on demand: Mama, Papou, Eleanor, Sonny, sun, hi, woof, vroom (as in, a car goes vroom), beep (as in, the alarm system on a car goes beep).

Also, we've heard him string a couple of words together. They aren't perfectly clear, but we think we've heard: "Daddy look!", "Daddy do.", and "Here you go."

He also communicates with signs. Pointing, of course, being his primary sign of what he wants, but he'll make a sign for "more", "wash hands" and to play the drums (his current favorite activity with Daddy).

Our little boy is communicating, for sure!

First night without baby

Last night, we decided to put Elektra in her crib in her own room to sleep. We moved the baby monitor out of DJ's room into Elektra's room as well as all the blankets she has. We put her to sleep in there at 9:30pm, and I heard her via the monitor about 2:30am. I got up to feed her, and put her back to sleep in her crib at 3am. Usually she's awake for a little while after she eats, and she makes noise which keeps me awake. With her not in our room, I got to go back to sleep fairly quickly and didn't wake up again until Steve's alarm went off about 3 hours later.

This is a milestone for us... no more baby in our room. I'll pack the Pack-n-Play today so that we can reclaim the space in our room. We booted DJ out of our room at 8 and a half weeks, and apparently, without really thinking about it, we did the same with Elektra. Now we just need Elektra to sleep through the midnight to 6am hours instead of the 9pm - 3am hours!

7 Hours!!!!

WOW!!!

7 hours!!!

In a row!!!

I had forgotten what 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep feels like. The last time I got to sleep like that was sometime in August, I believe. And that was on a good night since I was in my last trimester.

So Little E was fussing by 6:30pm last night, but she had just eaten at 5pm! I put her in the snugli and she calmed down long enough to warm her a bottle and get DJ to bed (Steve did that since DJ hadnt seen much of Daddy all day.

By 7:30pm, I was feeding Little E. By 8:30pm, she'd eaten 7.5 ounces!!! Woah! She usually only eats 3-4 ounces! She had fallen asleep on the bottle, so I put her down in the bassinet.

At this point I thought I'd try an experiment. Usually we wake her up around 11pm to top her off, but I decided to see how long she would sleep instead. I was in bed by 8:45pm and the next time I heard her (she sleeps in our room and I am a super light sleeper) was 4am. Rock on Wayne! Rock on Garth!

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to keep sleeping. But I didn't feel nearly as horrible as I usually do waking up after only 2 or 3 hours. In fact, I actually felt half decent. Of course, I went back to bed after I fed her, and when DJ got up less than 2 hours later, I wasn't feeling so hot.

Makes me wonder, does the number of ounces she eats equate to the number of hours between feedings? Remember, time starts when you start a feeding, not when it ends. So 7:30pm to 4am = 7.5 hours. Maybe there is something to that. I'll have to observe more...

Anyway, I'm not certainly looking a gift horse in the mouth. We're on our way to normalcy... soon.

Sentences for DJ?

We think DJ is starting to string words together!

Both Sonny and Eleanor have heard DJ say what we think is "Daddy look!" Steve and I heard this, too, on Sunday, when DJ came into the bathroom to investigate the noise... my filling his duckie tub for his bath.

We also think he's saying "Daddy do!" when DJ wants Steve to do something. For example, tonight, DJ handed Steve a book and said, "Daddy do!" Steve took that as "Read the book to me, Daddy!"

Way to go DJ!

Elektra's 40 Day Blessing

Yesterday we took the kids (wow, it still sounds weird to say "kids") to church. We caught up with my parents and my sister and her family drove down from Lacaster.

Elektra was dressed in pink so everyone in the congregation could make no mistake that she is a little girl. ;-) DJ was in khaki's and a sailor sweater; he looked quite the toddler.

Steve took DJ to the nursery so that DJ could play for a little bit. Then my father took DJ up for communion. At first, DJ turned his head away from the spoon, but took the communion spoon when he turned his head back. Good boy! Then he stayed with us, with Cheerios being a key factor in keeping him sitting still...

Elektra, meanwhile, slept through the whole thing. She even slept through her blessing. At least she didn't spit up on Father Dean. Poor DJ, he's so doomed to do pennance as an altar boy for that... lol Interesting note, DJ was walked around the altar for his 40 day, but Elektra was not. ::sigh:: someone in the higher ups must have said something to Father Dean about no women in the altar area. Oh well.

So nothing too notable but she's now been blessed!

She's officially part of the familiy

On Tuesday, I had a dinner party to attend and rather than leaving Steve with both kids, I took Elektra to my parents' house so they could get some grandparent time in. During the last few weeks, Elektra has been very needy during the 6-9pm hours, eating almost 9 ounces during that time in small snack-like meals, and she really wants to be held. I didn't want to subject Steve to having to handle both a demanding toddler and the one time during the day when the baby is demanding, too. Besides, my parents were thrilled to watch her.

So when Steve got home with DJ, I had long since left so the house was empty (except for the dogs, of course). DJ came in, and said, "baby", but obviously didn't see Elektra. Then he actually searched the house for about 10 minutes, saying "baby" repeatedly. He was disappointed when he didn't find her!

When Elektra is in the infant car seat, he comes over to her, smiles at her, pats her gently, says "baby", and also lays his head gently against her. It's really sweet!

So it's official: DJ has accepted her as permanent, and actually misses her when he doesn't see her!

DJ's official first haircut

Last night, Steve suggested that we check out a hobby shop in PA and since it would be really close to my sister's, go visit her family, too. So this morning, we packed the kids in the car, and took the scenic route up into PA. I didn't go in the hobby shop because I needed to feed Elektra, but we didn't spend long there. We continued up the scenic route through Lancaster City and got to my sister's around 11:30.

When we arrived, she suggested we go to where her kids get their hair cut to get DJ's hair cut. Why? Because it was very long, it was getting in his eyes, and we have no idea where north of Baltimore City there is a place that cuts kids hair.

That said, we love DJ's hair. It's a beautiful color, and it has these awesome curls. We're afraid that cutting off the curls would mean the end of the curls forever, so we've been procrastinating getting his hair cut.

But it's long and in his face. So we agreed to the appointment. The place was full of flat screen TVs and PS3's with which to entertain the kids. We were offered a Baby Einstein video to try and keep DJ occupied while he got his hair cut. The beautician use a spray bottle to wet down his hair and used scissors the entire time as we asked for her to keep the hair relatively long. She took about half an inch off all over his head, and a little more on his bangs.

DJ wasn't happy about having someone futsing with him. Worse was when Steve held his head still. Oh the boo boo face he gave us for that! I pulled out the fruit snacks and that kept him busy and happy which allowed for the beautician to finish quickly.

It turns out that the curls seemed to stay, getting a little curlier because some of the weight was taken off. DJ looks a little more "girlie" because of the cut, but his hair is definitely out of his face now! My sister sent me pics of the event, so I'll try to get them posted.

And even though I have some locks from when I first cut his bangs in the bathtub, we got far more locks at this haircut.

Jealousy!

Yep, we think we saw our first official "I'm jealous!" tantrum from DJ yesterday.

We were all in the kitchen. Steve was making something on the stove, I was feeding DJ dinner in his high chair, and Elektra was in the bouncy seat on the table next to us. Elektra started to fuss, so Steve came over to pick her up. He picked her up, and DJ watched him like a hawk. When Steve turned his back to him and walk away with Elektra, DJ started to bawl. So Steve put Elektra back down, took DJ out of the high chair, and picked him up. Crying nearly insta-stopped. Meanwhile, I picked up Elektra, and DJ didn't even blink at me. ::sigh:: I see where I rank. ;-)

Pediatric Ophthalmologist

DJ went to see his pediatric ophthalmologist today. Without even dilating his eyes, she could tell that he wasn't crossing his eyes at all. I chose to have his eyes dilated anyway today so that she could check his refraction. Turns out that his farsightedness has been cut in half. Now he's only a +2.5, much more normal for a child of his age. Her comment was that his likelihood of needing glasses any time soon is nil. Yay! So she's asked to see him again in 2 years.

As for Elektra seeing her, since we aren't seeing any signs of a clogged tear duct, we don't anticipate her needing to see Dr. Collins unless we start to see signs of crossing.

Meanwhile, DJ walked all the way from the car to the doctor's office, holding my hand the ENTIRE way without wanting to pull away from me once. He did awesome in that sense! While his eyes were dilating, he wanted to wander the hallway, which he did happily. Apparently that wore him out because he wanted me to pick him up and he kept pointing to me where he wanted me to take him. Look out, here comes the Mommy Taxi! After we were done with the doctor's appointment, he walked all the way back out to the car, albeit slower than the walk in. He wasn't in his car seat 5 minutes when he fell asleep. He was pooped!

Our Little Snotnose update

DJ came down with a cold late last week and passed it on to the family. Over that weekend, he battled a pesky fever and was all in all quite the clingy (for Daddy) fuss. By Monday, the fever had broken for good, and he seemed much more himself, except for the river of snot running from his nose. Here we are, a week later, and his cough has broken up significantly but the snot remains. He's sneezing a lot less so he's kicking this cold out the door sure enough.

DJ, as all toddlers it seems, *hates* to have his nose wiped. You have to hide the tissue until the very last second when you snatch his nose in between your fingers and wipe else he'll turn his head away and/or run away from you to avoid it. The best case scenario for DJ to have his nose wiped is to wipe it on your shirt on his own terms. Oh yes, there is no fuss then!

Otherwise, DJ has been much more himself lately i.e. relatively happy, go-lucky. The meltdowns have been less frequent and last less time overall. The meltdowns we're seeing now are more in line with what we would expect of him as a toddler, so hopefully that means we've turned the corner with him regarding Elektra in his life (and ours for that matter).

This coming week will be fun for DJ... well, ok, not really. Tomorrow, he goes to see the pediatric ophthalmologist for his 6 month post-surgery check. At the same time, Dr. Collins will be looking to see if he's crossing his eyes (which I don't think he is) because he's more far sighted than the average toddler. Better to catch (and fix) something like that now than find it later!!

DJ will also be going for his 18 month check with the pediatrician on Thursday. I know, he's 19 months at this point, really, but the doctor couldn't see him when we took Elektra in for her 8 day appointment as he was squeezing her in that day. We'll be taking Elektra in, too, for her 1 month check. Yes, shots will be involved for both children, so I'm not going to this appointment alone. If Steve can't go, I'm recruiting my dad to help out with this one. Elektra will be fine; it's DJ that concerns me. In the past, he's done great with shots. But as he's gotten older, he's tolerated them less and less, so... yeah, this won't be pleasant. In fact, I remember his first shots at the pediatrician's office. When he started to bawl, it completely broke my heart; it felt like I was making him cry on purpose! But it's for your own good... that old cliche. Go figure.

Hmmm. Time for my flu shot, too. ::sigh:: At least I won't cry when it's administered. ;-)

Sharing

DJ has already learned to share. Well, I say that tongue and cheek, but he has shared his cold with Elektra. So at 3 weeks, Elektra has her first cold, light fever and all. DJ is coughing which Elektra isn't, but both are sniffling and sneezing. Break out the humidifiers and Tylenol (for DJ).

Steve's coming down with the cold now and how can I not get it being as sleep deprived as I am?? I haven't felt any symptoms yet, but I'm sure it'll hit me soon enough.

This has made for quite the crazy household. DJ has decided in the last few weeks that he's not interested in 2 naps a day anymore. This is really a disappointment for us as we could use the downtime but now that he's sick, HE could use the downtime.

Friday, we kept him home because he had a fever. He napped in the morning, but no afternoon nap and was in bed by 6:30pm.

He woke up his normal time on Saturday, still with a light fever, and took no naps. Oh that made for a rough day, especially for Steve, as DJ was very, very clingy with Steve. Despite the clinginess with Steve, I took DJ to the grocery store, for a car ride (to try and get him to nap... yeah that didn't work) and for a long stroller ride. Despite no nap, he was surprisingly easy going by the time dinner came, and was a really good when it came to going to bed.

Today, we heard DJ wake up at 7am, happily talking to himself. About 20 minutes later, when I went to go get him, I found him asleep again. He slept until after 9am. Clearly, that was his morning nap! By mid afternoon, DJ was quite clingy again, so I took him for a stroller ride down our street. About 20 yards from home, I found him asleep in the stroller, so I brought him inside and put him in his crib. He woke up in the transfer, but he's gone back to sleep since. He so needs the rest...

Of course every time I would take DJ to go do something, Elektra would wake up and want to be fed or held or something. She's been eating only about 2.5 ounces per feeding and sometimes, she's hungry 2 hours later and other times, she'll sleep the full 3 and I have to wake her up. Last night, despite the humidifier in our room, she was struggling to breathe, so I brought her into our bed and propped her up against our pillows to let her sinuses drain. That seemed to help her, and she settled down a little. I still didn't get more than 2 hours of sleep in one shot, but she didn't ask to eat again for 4 hours. She's actually been a lot easier today than she was yesterday, going right back to sleep after she eats instead of fussing for an hour or so then falling back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Steve and I are both happy for the peace and quiet. Steve's getting some rest on the couch while watching the football games, and I'm going to clean up DJ's toys and then lay down again myself.

::sigh:: Sharing colds. Of course it's the first thing we share as a family...

Meltdown

Holy meltdowns, Batman!

Poor DJ. I think he's stressing and it's coming out in the form of explosive meltdowns. On Monday and Tuesday, he melted down when he didn't get to do what he wanted, and was completely inconsolable until we put him to bed. In fact, we had to put him to bed early. Last night, he was fine - despite no nap! - until bed, but at 10pm, woke up in complete meltdown mode. It took rocking him back to sleep for him to calm down. He woke up again at 1:45am (this was brief), but the 4:45am meltdown was outright screaming for at least 10 minutes. I know he's sick with a cold so he's not feeling so hot, but he did this at day care, too. He woke up out of nowhere in complete meltdown mode and was completely inconsolable.

Between all the stress of Elektra showing up into his life + growing into a full blown toddler, we're going to have to find a way to help him cope. Poor guy....

It's Bottle Time

During Week 3 of DJ's life, my body couldn't take the lack of sleep anymore and I came down with a cold. This convinced Steve to go get a can of formula and start bottle feeding DJ until I had built up a supply of breastmilk that we could also bottle feed him. That couldn't have been a better move; DJ took to the bottle like a champ, wolfing down formula like it was going out of style. Lo and behold, he also started sleeping more than an hour at a time, too.

Here we are at Week 3 of Elektra's life and although I think I'm in better shape than I was with DJ, I have started bottle feeding Elektra. There's a learning curve to feeding for babies. It took a good number of days for her to figure out how to latch on to the breast, and so it's no surprise that it'll take her the equivalent number of days to learn how to take a bottle.

The upside to her taking a bottle is that now Steve (or anyone else) can feed her, too. The downside is that she doesn't fall asleep on the bottle so we have to take the time to help her fall asleep. This will cut into sleep time for me during the late night hours. Nevermind that I have to pump at every feeding. Today was teh first day I started this with her so my dilemma is: do I breast feed her during the late night hours or do I strictly bottle feed/pump instead?

There are other issues, too, like, what happens when she hits a growth spurt and I'm not making enough milk? Typically, if I were breastfeeding exclusively, she has a way of telling my body to make more. But if I'm pumping, my body won't get that message. Also, I have heard stories of babies not liking the bottles they were offered if they didn't transition to bottles until later. We have too much invested in these bottles to have her reject them!

So we'll see how this goes.

Currently, Elektra is a happy little girl sleeping on Daddy's chest, and Daddy is a happy man sleeping on the sofa. It's the way life should be. :-) Unfortunately for them, I'm going to have to wake up Elektra in about 25 minutes for her next feeding to stay on the 3 hour schedule... Sorry!!!

Elektra Update

Elektra went to see the pediatrician today for her 8 day checkup.

To recap: she was born 7 pounds, 15 ounces. When we left the hospital 2 days later, she had lost 5% of her birth weight, but we weren't told what that measurement was. So... if I've done the math correctly, when we left the hospital, Elektra was down to 7 pounds, 9 ounces.

Today, when we weighed her, she was 8 pounds 5 ounces. Wowzers, girlie! In what was effectively 6 days, she gained 12 ounces - 2 ounces a day!! I suppose that does explain the copious number of diapers we've seen, which has been at least 1, if not 2 per feeding. ;-)

The doctor was *very* pleased with this weight gain, and gave me the go-ahead to stretch night time feedings from the usual 3 hour interval to a 4 hour interval. YAY!! An extra hour of sleep for me!! He said to continue the 3 hour interval during the day to try and combat the day-night reversal newborns tend to go through.

It's 9:15pm right now, and she's hanging out on the couch, on her side - having put herself there as I laid her down on her back, wide awake, moving aorund and kicking and such. Good girl! We want you to sleep tonight!!

Anyway, the doctor found her to be healthy and thriving and all is good. She fussed at him when he looked at her ears, and he said, "Oh I know, such an invasive procedure." LOL

She had another blood test done, a repeat of what they did in the hospital, as a double check for a laundry list of things. They do this with all babies at least 8 days old. The assistant who usually takes care of DJ, Evonne, said, "Sorry, Elektra. This will be the first of many unpleasant experiences you'll have here." We laughed because she had told me at another appointment for DJ that one time, she called the name of a 10 year old boy to begin his appointment and at the mention of his name, he started bawling. Poor boy and poor her!

Her next appointment will be in 3 weeks for her 1 month appointment. DJ will be joining her for his 18 month appointment (though at that point, it'll be effectively his 19 month!). That should make for an interesting appointment....

Parents of 2

Talk about a challenge, and the challenges haven't even started yet.

The evening I got home from the hospital, Steve picked up DJ from day care, came home, cooked dinner for us while I fed DJ dinner, and of course when it was time for us to eat, it was time for DJ to play. So Steve ate while I watched DJ, we put him to bed, then it was time to feed Elektra, then I got to eat. Or something like that. The point being, the life of being parents of 2 young children is going to take some coordination. And we're going to have to figure this out in a hurry.

For one, we have a full fledged toddler testing his limits. I think he's done the worst of his teething which was messing with his mood, but that's definitely not the reason he's being, well, a toddler.

The food wars: how picky is he eating? Right now, fairly. Boy do I miss the days of when he was just turning a year old and he'd eat anything we'd give him and then some.

The throwing wars: he wants to throw his cup every time he drinks from it. He always wants to throw food that he "doesn't want". Sometimes he's doing it for the attention (which we try to not give him when he throws stuff), and sometimes he's doing it because he really doesn't want it. He's been throwing "throw-able" (i.e. not always balls) toys, not necessarily AT anything or anyone, just in general because he can.

The couch wars: His want to be on the couch is fine, in general. But we get nervous when he's on the couch and the dogs are on it, too. Usually we boot DJ from the couch and let the dogs be in their spot, but occassionally we have to do the opposite. This is more for the dogs' safety than for DJ's.

Toss in the fact that he seems to be moving away from having 2 naps a day to 1, and so we're battling a tired toddler all day, despite a long nap in the afternoon.

When I say "we", I don't mean just Steve and me. I also mean Miss Eleanor. She has the brunt of his antics day to day. Yikes.

Couple aaaaaaall of that with the relative demands of a newborn and ta-da!!! It's quite the zoo here. Generally, Elektra is very low maintenance. Yes, she eats every 3 hours but otherwise, right now, she's sleeping between meals. She's willing to just hang out in the bouncy seat while the world moves around her, and basically give us our hands free to handle DJ. Really, like DJ, she's been wonderful so far. :-)

Stories from the last few days

As my sleep reserves are quickly depleted, I figure I should jot down some of the stories and thoughts that have come up over the last few days.

After Elektra was born, another anesthesiologist came in to take out my epidural. He introduced himself and said, "We specialize here; Dr. Dominguez puts in epidurals and I take them out." It was so dryly stated it was brilliant. Hilarious!

Elektra has been talking to her food source the last few feedings. Literally, while she's eating, she's been groaning almost the entire time. She's communing with the boob, I guess. :)

Elektra also likes to sleep with her arms up over her head. She likes the rest of her to be swaddled but like DJ, she wants her arms to be free! DJ didn't sleep with his arms over his head; he would instantly roll over onto his side - from Day 1. Now he's an any-which-way sleeper.

The pediatrician came to talk to us about Elektra's check up on Wednesday. We commented that she's breastfeeding better than DJ did. His comment was that "For the first 24 months, girls are smarter than boys". Steve said, "Some people would say it's longer than that." Dr. Boscia came back with, "I'm only guaranteeing the first 24 months." lol

It turns out we were destined to have a girl. The roses in our front bed - which are over 50 years old as transplated to this house from the previous owner's mom's garden - are all blooming pink flowers this week. We've had many different colors bloom the last few blooming seasons, but these are ALL pink. Amazing.

Oh, gotta go... a little someone is HUNGRY!!

We welcome Elektra Lynn Salisbury!

6am did arrive sooner than later on Tuesday morning. We left the house with DJ and packed bags at 7, got to Eleanor's a little before 7:30, dropped off the soon-to-be big brother, and headed for the hospital. Knowing the end was near was wracking my nerves - gee, only bringing a new little creature into the world, but also comforting that I could finally start the process of healing my body and start to figure out how the family dynamic would work.

We checked in and were sitting in the waiting room to be taken back when my dad came to find us. It was nice to see him as it was a really nice distraction from what was immediately in my future. Only a few short minutes later, a nurse came to get me and down the hall we went to begin our journey of two kids in our life.

We had a gi-normous birthing room, apparently the VIP suite, according to Aunt Elaine, who dropped in to see us as well a couple hours after the induction process was started. I guess it's good to know certain people, though it's not like we asked for that room!! Heck, I didn't even know it existed.

The nurse was new to the OB team, having done heart work before, so she was learning all the procedures necessary for OB. But she was sweet as can be, very personable, and frankly, I didn't mind at all that she was "learning" on me. There was not a doubt in my mind that this induction would be routine. And even if it weren't, Dr. Hunter, from my OB's (high risk) practice, was the attending OB, so all bases were covered.

After the initial paperwork and medical history was covered, they started my IV. By 9am, Dr. Hunter came in, told me she wasn't staying up all night for me (wink) even though they work 24 hour shifts, gave me a pelvic exam (4cm dilated), and broke my water. Merconium in amniotic fluid, check. Just like with DJ. That means we'll need an attending pediatrician, too, when the baby is born. They started the pitocin, and then we got to wait.

By about 10:30am, I was starting to squirm with my contractions. They were 2 minutes apart, 1 minute long, and I really had to concentrate on breathing just to get through them. By 11, they asked if I wanted an epidrual (yes, please!), and Dr. Dominguez came in to do that.

Now Dr. Dominguez was just as hilarious as Dr. Hunter with comments such as "a vaginal delivery is a failed c-section!" and other such one liners. He was fantastic, though, administering the epidural itself. He talked me through absolutely everything I'd feel and what I shouldn't feel as he was doing it. By 11:30, he was done and I was starting to feel relief. I had another pelvic exam (5cm now), a catheter inserted, and now it was time to relax. I sent Steve to get himself some lunch since at this point, there was absolutely nothing he could do. Even moral support wouldn't be necessary as the contractions I was feeling were literally disappearing in intensity by the minute.

I took a nap sometime after noon-ish, after Steve got back from lunch, and at about 1:30, I woke up. The attending nurse, a different one from the morning because mine was in helping a delivery next door, looked at the fetal monitor and then looked at me and said, "Do you feel anything different?" "Well, no... I don't really feel anything, actually." She said that there was something about the readings on the monitor that made her think that maybe I was fully dilated now, so she went to go get Dr. Hunter for another exam.

Sure enough, not only was I ready, apparently, the baby was already crowning! Um, yikes?! Dr. Hunter told me that I was going to have this baby in a hurry. I thought she was teasing me from earlier but when she didn't waste any time getting into her scrubs, reality hit me over the head that she wasn't kidding. She said I really needed to push and push hard because she didn't like what she was seeing on the monitor, that when a contraction would hit, the baby's heart rate would drop. Else she would need to use forcepts. Eek, no forecepts! But I couldn't feel anything... the epidural, unlike with DJ, was still going strong. With DJ, I could actually feel when a contraction was coming and how I was pushing. This time, all I could do was what they told me and visualize what I was doing, hoping that it was the right thing. I started pushing at 1:50 and by 1:59pm, Elektra Lynn came out screaming.

Steve and I couldn't believe it. She is a girl. We were so convinced that she was a boy that we didn't know what to think besides, OMG. She's just beautiful. Our little girl weighed in at 7lbs, 15oz and 21 inches long... a whole pound lighter than DJ, but the same length. And boy does she have some long fingers, toes, and feet! She screamed at us for about half an hour (how dare you evict me from my nice warm home?!) but after that, she either slept or was checking out the world. Not a fuss from her.

My dad stopped by to see us on his way home from work which just so happened to coincide with Elektra's birth. So he got to see her first by complete chance. This actually worked out well later since then my mom and my sister could come and see Elektra after DJ went to bed since he was going to stay with them that night.

After I was stitched and cleaned and the room was cleaned, Steve and I got to hang out with our little girl for a while in the relative calm after the storm. We were waiting for my epidural to wear off, basically. At about 4:30, the nursery came to get her and my mother-in-law arrived 2 minutes too late to see her then. So she and Steve went out to dinner while I was moved to post partum to wait out the rest of my epidural.

That night, my mother-in-law, mother, and sister came to visit. DJ was with Papou. The rest of my stay was fairly uneventful, though Steve brought DJ to meet his little sister the next afternoon. He was wearing his Big Brother shirt that Eleanor gave him. So cute!

When he came in, DJ first found the balloon in the room to play with. I tried to pick him up to give him a hug (holy cow he's heavy!!!) but he pretty much pushed me away. The balloon was far more interesting, of course. LOL Steve picked up Elektra and I picked DJ up, and we showed her to DJ. He just stared. He didn't reach out for her, he didn't say anything, he just watched her. I took his hand and stroked Elektra with it and said, "nice baby. nice elektra. gentle baby." After about a minute, he was done. Time to go explore. Steve put Elektra back in the bassinet and then she started to fuss. DJ heard the fuss, and stopped what he was doing to listen. "Do you heard the baby crying, DJ?" I picked her up this time, brought her down to his level, and let him watch her fuss. This time, his attention was captivated a little longer, as this little thing actually DOES something. Again, his attention span didn't last THAT long, so Steve decided to limit the exposure and just take him home. Good idea, Daddy.

On Thursday, I got to come home. Elektra did great in the car, and she did great last night. Steve and I, on the other hand, had to figure out how to handle DJ and her and dinner all at the same time. Hmmmm. This will be a challenge, for sure, and it's a really good thing DJ has a relatively early bedtime else we'd be really up a creek. While I was putting DJ to bed, Elektra apparently had the enormous diaper we had been waiting for in the hospital. Well, we know she's good to go in that department now, too!

Elektra did great last night overall. She'd sleep a couple hours at a time after feeding, and that gave me some rest, too. I'm still totally exhausted, and my body just hurts overall, but all this shall pass. I'm waiting for my milk to come in, and that won't be long either. DJ saw his little sister this morning while he was still in his crib. He looked at me, pointed at Elektra and said, "Ba Ba!" Baby! That's right!! DJ's Baby! Eleanor and Sonny yesterday gave him a picture of Elektra to carry around, which he did, saying "Ba Ba" the whole time. Steve took DJ to day care (as I am not allowed to drive for 2-3 weeks), and I'm now home, alone with the dogs (who are re-fighting for alpha status because a new little one came home) and Baby Elektra.

It's almost time to feed her, so more later.

Baby Salisbury to arrive tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. Having it "scheduled" like this is actually a little unnerving. It was almost easier the first time, not knowing what is coming (in terms of post partum) and when since DJ was early. There were other nerves that I had at the time, but those were the first time parent nerves. Those are all gone. Now it's the second time nerves - how will DJ react? How will this change the family dynamic? etc.

Tonight, I started to get anxious. I guess it's because I have time to think. I have to remind myself to stay in the right now, and then the anxiety goes away. But I can't help it. ;-)

It's 9:30pm now, watching the Jets-Chargers Monday night game, and recording Heroes. Thinking about heading to bed, even if I don't fall asleep immediately. 6am will be here quite early tomorrow.

Little Baby Salisbury - we're going to meet you tomorrow whether you want to or not!

Baby Status: downgraded

Thursday night, when I wrote my last post, I could have sworn that I was on my way to full on labor. I was feeling significant pressure every 10 minutes for 30 seconds a piece for hours. Figuring I was on my way to full on labor, I went to bed at 9:30pm to get some rest assuming I'd need the energy sooner rather than later. Steve came in to check on me a couple hours later and I was definitely still feeling that enormous pressure.

Sometime shortly after midnight, though, everything calmed down. I was grateful to be able to get comfortable and get some rest for the rest of the night. Then again, I've felt nothing like those Thursday night feelings since.

In fact, on Friday, I stayed home from work (sick day) thinking I was really close and as the day went on, I actually started to get concerned. The baby wasn't doing much wiggling or moving. I could still feel it move every once in awhile, but it's activity level was definitely less. In retrospect, I have to guess the baby was getting rest from all the activity from Thursday night.

Yesterday (Saturday), the baby was back to its wiggly self, and so my stress level about the baby's well being has significantly decreased. At the same time, though, it's clear this baby is perfectly content where it is and has no interest in coming out into the world for us to meet it.

So everyone hang tight. We'll be meeting this baby on Tuesday.

Baby Status: Upgraded!!

Upgrading Baby Watch status to Baby Warning.

Ok, so I was wrong about what I've been feeling. Apparently, what I've been feeling has helped dilate me, but they aren't contractions. I'm 3cm dilated already. With DJ, I was in relatively painless labor all day, then painful contractions hit me just after dinner time, and by the time they saw me in the triage room at the hospital at 1:30am, I was only 3cm dilated at that point. My comment at the time was, "That's IT?!" This time, it was, "REALLY?!"

But since I'm not in active labor, I'm home right now, waiting for active labor to start and/or my water to break. That could be in hours, that could be in days. Either way, I'll be induced on Tuesday if the baby doesn't come before then.

You'd think I'd be running around trying to get all the last minute things I want to get done, finished knowing that the end of the pregnancy journey is near, but no... i'm sitting on the couch like a lazy lump.

I'm taking a sick day tomorrow so I'm not going in to work. This makes me happy... today, all I really wanted to do was be home laying down, so hopefully I'll get to do that some tomorrow. It's only 9pm and I already want to go to bed. Maybe the baby is trying to tell me something, eh? Maybe something like, "Get some sleep, Mommy. You're going to need the energy sooner than you think!"

Status: Baby Watch

We are still on Baby Watch status, though it would be nice if Dr. Khouzami upgrades that to Baby Warning during my weekly appointment with him today.

Clearly, our predictions for the baby's birthday (September 9th (steve) September 15th (me)) have long since come and gone. This baby seems to like Mommy's perverbial nest as it were. I haven't seen one sign of labor yet except for the settling down in the birth-ready position. That makes sitting in any position other than leaned back rather uncomfortable, for sure.

I asked Steve to come with me today to my appointment with Dr. Khouzami because now it's probably time to start talking post-prediction date options. How long do I wait before we consider inducing? How big is the baby and when does that factor into forcing me into having a c-section instead (which I really would rather avoid)? What's involved with both? I don't really want to make a decision - if I have to - without Steve's input. Besides, I'm not convinced I'm thinking all that clearly at this point anyway.

I also really want a massage. I want to ask the doctor first if I'm allowed before I schedule an appointment. My shoulders, lower back and legs could use the tension release!! A nap would also be a killer thing right about now, but going home and laying down just isn't an option for as much as it should be at this point! So I'm settling for having my feet propped up on the computer under my desk. ::sigh::

Speaking of work, at this point, I'm pretty much stagnant at work. They can't really give me anything to work on since we don't know when the baby is going to come. I have finished what I was assigned, though I'm going to reread what I wrote after I've finished writing this to see to proof read it. Honestly, there hasn't been enough time elapsed between when I wrote it and now to really proof read it well, but I may as well try.

I think that's news from here. Heh, that's not even really news.... ;-)

Steve is the happiest man on the planet

When Steve got home last night, DJ was still in the high chair, trying to rebuckle his high chair buckle. This is DJ's current favorite thing to do - buckle buckles. Upon walking in the door, Steve exclaims, "DJ!" DJ looks up at Steve and says, "Da Da."

Pause.

Steve starts dancing around the kitchen. I give DJ huge amounts of praise.

Just to confirm what we really heard, Steve said to DJ again, "DJ!" And to our delight, DJ looked up from his buckle at Steve and said, "Da Da."

This morning, we tried it again, this time while I was getting DJ into his outfit for the day. Happy Dance from Steve followed quickly thereafter. And apparently, DJ demonstrated this for Miss Eleanor, too.

"Da Da" is the happiest man on the planet. DJ just made his month. :-)

Restless

I remember the week before DJ was born, DJ settled down into my pelvic bone nice and solidly. There was no mistaking the distinct feeling of pressure in a spot where there hadn't been pressure before. I remember people asking me all throughout my last two months if I was uncomfortable, and I could honestly say I wasn't, until that week. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what the position, laying down, sitting, propped up... it didn't matter. Getting out of and into chairs was a challenge. Walking down stairs would seemingly knock the baby's head against my pelvic bone, sending a ping of an uncomfortable sensation through my body with every step.

But what I don't remember is being restless.

I have reached the stage again where the baby has settled into my pelvic bone, and I'm most definitely uncomfortable in the same ways I was with DJ. But this time, I'm having very restless dreams when I settle down for the night to sleep. When my alarm goes off in the morning, I feel like I haven't slept a wink. I know I tossed and turned all night, and there was nothing relaxing about laying in bed except that the belly has been supported by my pillows and my muscles are less tired. And because I'm basically awake all night, I now feel how often the baby is moving around. The belly gets uncomfortably tight as the baby flips from side to side or tosses an elbow or knee at the walls of my uterus. I also feel every kick to my relatively full bladder, and those kicks usually make me wince.

I have read that restlessness is a "symptom" (i use this word loosely as it's not really a medically sanctioned - for lack of a better term - symptom) that labor will be starting soon. The problem is, I also wonder how much of it is really just my being ready to just start the process of no sleep and healing from the pregnancy.

Another supposed "symptom" of labor starting soon is nesting. I started nesting last weekend. I put all the laundry away, cleaned the kitchen, gave my mother-in-law all of the bed linens for the queen size bed set we gave her, etc. It helped me settle down my brain of my "list" of things to do. Still, the bathrooms need to be cleaned, the kitchen needs to be cleaned again, we need to pull out the bassinet (not that that has to be done before we go to the hospital), and we really should vacuum one more time. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make the basement disaster organize itself but if wishes were fishes, I'd never go hungry.

And, as part of the nesting process, I started to pack my bag for the hospital. I think that's the other sign that I think the baby is coming sooner than later. Nevermind that I'm a planner...

I have a gut feeling that the baby will be here in a week or less. My inital prediction was September 15th. So we'll see!

Ok, so it's been a month...

Yes, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I was insta-swamped at work (typically when I blog) upon return from vacation, and it really hasn't slowed down until recently. I got my one project for the year into production (all my other projects were canceled or put on hold until next year), helped with one other project and wham-o, that's all she wrote. Anyway, have lots of updates....

DJ has done lots of things over the last few months, including saying his first few words. "Na na na" = banana. That has evolved over time to "Ana na na". We thought "awa" or "awer" = Flower was his first word, but everything lately has either been "ba ba" or "awa" (ceiling fans and lights are "awas" right now). He's also said "a play" = airplane though I haven't heard that again in a long time. It's interesting. He seems to say words once that sound REALLY close to the right word, and then we don't hear it again for forever. For example, he said "eh nor" for Eleanor, "ba ba" for baby, "abbi" for rabbit, etc. Now he has said "moooo" pretty consistently when you ask him what a cow says or show him a cow. And we think he's said "woof" when he hears/sees a dog.

Even if he can't say a lot of words, he knows a lot of what you're telling him. "Want to go bye byes?" and he goes right to the door. Asking him to blow a kiss will usually prompt him to put his hand to his mouth and actually send a kiss in your direction. "Where's (insert name of person... Mommy, Daddy, Eleanor, Sonny, Grace, Grandmom, Papou, etc)?" and he will look for the person. What really cracks us up is when the person isn't in the room, and he gives you a look of, "I don't know....". "Do you want (insert meal name)?" or "Are you hungry?" elicits an immediate run to his high chair. In fact, he'll go to his high chair if he wants something completely unprompted, too. He'll also give you his shoes if he wants to go bye byes or outside unprompted. And of course, there is always pointing as he will point to what he wants as well.

His coordination has clearly improved as well. He's almost running, and he's putting Duplos (legos) together with ease now. You only need to show him how to do something once or twice, and he remembers how to do it. He buckles his carseat, is starting to feed himself with a spoon (yes, it's a mess, but he's getting pretty good at it!), and is a master climber - if he's tall enough.

DJ has also been very sweet with the dogs. He's very gentle 99% of the time he interacts with them. He generally doesn't pay them much mind, but he's always entertained by them.

Speaking of being entertained, he will sit and watch - without as much as a wiggle - Steve fly his remote control planes and drive his remote control cars around. He'll point to the plane and "name" it as it flies by, too. Steve pulled out a Lego train today and DJ barely moved from my lap watching the train go around. He would talk to it and wanted to put stuff on the cars to have the train carry around the track. I have some pictures, so I'll see if I can post them soon (DJ is up from his nap, so I need to go get him momentarily).

DJ also still loves to open/close doors. He likes to put things in/out of boxes and other containers, and he still loves being outside. He claps when he's proud of himself for doing something, and waves bye bye when an electronic toy turns itself off and says "bye bye". Hilarious!

On another note, baby #2 is 3 weeks (or less?) away. I'm definitely ready to start the next phase (labor, delivery, post partum healing, lack of sleep, and eventually have my body back) to get through it already. But I'm not sure I'm quite ready yet for the seemingly enormous change of family dynamic that a second baby will bring.

This pregnancy really hasn't been any harder than DJ's pregnancy was, thankfully. My lower back gets sore fairly quickly, which I don't remember from DJ's pregnancy, and the doctor attributes that to it simply being my second pregnancy and my muscles and such are not as strong as in the first pregnancy. Laying down relieves that soreness so that's good. I'm also carrying the baby a little differently than DJ. This baby seems to be sitting a little lower in my abdomen which has allowed me to sit on the couch (instead of the glider chair) comfortably, even now. When I stand up, gravity pulling the baby down reminds my bladder that it's full. This actually is a real boon... I can sleep through the night still which I couldn't at this stage with DJ.

And this baby has been *feisty* in utero. Feisty!! The wiggles have been exactly that, wiggles, not kicks. DJ kicked, this one wiggles. So we'll see how feisty a personality this baby has! This baby has also gotten the hiccups a lot more often in this last month than over the whole course of the pregnancy. Wonder what's up with that!

So if I don't blog again any time soon, you know it's because I'm caring for a newborn! Can't wait to meet you, Little Wiggle Worm! ;-)

Vacation 2008

Greetings from Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina!

Steve, DJ and I are here with my family - my parents, my brother's family and my sister's family - enjoying the company and the change of scenary. It's been nice to be some place other than home, even though the vacation is not exactly restful. Chasing a very active toddler around in a house that is not exactly baby-proofed can be draining! DJ's had his share of bumps, bruises, and scratches this week despite our best efforts, and he is challenging his limits every moment that he can!!

We drove down Friday morning, and we got here in 8 hours, which was fantastic timing considering we're dealing with a 16 month old toddler and an 8 month preggo. And we didn't even break speed limits much - 10 over the limit, max. DJ did great; he took 2 hour and a half naps which helped our timing a lot. We took a couple of breaks to get him out of the car seat so he could walk around and get some energy out. Those were well timed with potty breaks and leg circulation stretches for Preggo.

Despite DJ being very active throughout vacation (and boy does it take effort to keep up with him), he has been an angel of a boy. He is obedient and despite the fact that he's teething (canines), he is a really happy boy. We've only had a couple of instances where sleep periods have been interrupted by poopy diapers, the construction guys next door, or teething and despite his lack of sleep, he's still generally not a huge fuss. In fact, he's a perfectly tolerable fuss. :-) He's adjusted to the new house with no issues, he sleeps in the pack-n-play great, and he eats really well. What more could we ask for? NOTHING!

DJ has had his first official beach and ocean experience, too. The first time , I took him out to the beach by myself. His aunts, uncles, godparents, and cousins were all out there, too, so it wasn't like I was being a daredevil or anything. DJ didn't fuss, not once, while we were out there. His cautious self came though, as he hung on to me very tightly for the vast majority of the time. He had no issues with the feeling of the sand under his feet and between his toes. In fact, he didn't even blink at that. But the ocean, now that was another issue. Again, he didn't fuss, but he wouldn't let go of me. He was tightly attached to my shirt as the waves would come up over his feet. He never left my side, in fact, but took in all the sights, sounds, and smells in stride. I picked up some wet sand and he pulled it out of my hand and played with it. He also got his first taste of salt water as a couple of the waves hit us pretty hard and splashed him in the face. He was smacking his lips tasting the salt.

I knew he was done with it all when he asked me to pick him up and he didn't "fish flop" or "surfboard" to get down. So we walked all the way back to the house with DJ holding my hand the whole way. He handled the non-steady surface of the sand with nary a thought, and was completely exhausted by the effort. He really did do fantastically.

Otherwise, DJ has been happily entertained by his cousins, and all of his attending and adoring aunts/uncles/godparents/grandparents. We've had to train the cousins that DJ is not a toy, and I think we're getting through to them... slowly. It's really neat to see DJ light up when he sees them, though, and that's really cool. He's warming up to my brother and his family since he's not seen them since December, and that makes me happy.

Steve and I aren't getting that much rest, but oh well. Dj is getting us up at 6am. Yikes. And I'm not sleeping because I'm 8 months pregnant (and boy did the belly grow in the last few days... ). It's nice to be here with family. We really missed it last year. I never would have been granted the time off with this week being so close to my return from maternity leave.... should remain a non-issue next year. But next year... how are we going to deal with 2???

Heck, we're not even sure how we're going to deal with 2 in 8 weeks..... ;-)

Kicker vs Wiggler

When DJ was in utero, he was known as "the soccer player". He even received a kids sized soccer ball as a baby shower gift.

This little baby inside me now is a wiggler. Steve is dubbing the baby "a gymnist". We both wonder what it is this baby is doing in there... backflips?!

I remember DJ being pretty active in the womb. This baby is, too. DJ was also an early bird; I'd wake up to a state of semi-consciousness in the morning, and so would DJ, kicking away. This baby is, too.

Looks like we're going to have two very active early birds for kids. :-)

Father's Day weekend update

On Friday, I took DJ to the doctor because the fever was not letting up and his cough was sounding worse. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics. Apparently, said antibiotics are bubble gum flavored, and DJ *fusses* when he sees it because he wants some and fusses when he doesn't get anymore because he wants more! Hmmm may medicine always be this easy to administer!

He's definitely feeling better; his appetite was voracious and he was in a fantastic mood all weekend. On Sunday he slept big time. He didn't wake up until after 7:30am, then he took an hour morning nap, went back to sleep an hour and a half later for a 3.5 hour afternoon nap, and then went to bed 2 hours after that. Clearly he's fighting something off, but the antibiotics must be helping him as his cough is sounding like he's bringing up stuff out of his chest.

On Saturday night, we went to Steve's cousin Shane's graduation party from high school. This is a huge milestone for him as he has Cerebral Palsey. He even walked across the stage to get his diploma (with a walker). Good for him! We couldn't stay long as the party started at 6 and DJ was tired by 8pm.

On Sunday, we had my parents over for dinner since they are leaving today for a 2 week trip through Europe and don't have food in the house. Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet day, except for when we watched the next door neighbor's black lab mix, Tink, jump their 4 ft fence because she was bored and wanted to take a tour of the neighborhood. That was a hoot!

DJ was sick

DJ caught a really nasty cold from Grace, who caught it from one of her younger cousins who thought it would be a good idea to lick Grace from chin to forehead in one sweep.

The cold was pretty standard, except that it just wasn't going away. On Thursday, it stopped up DJ so badly that he actually vomited mucus. EW.

Friday I kept DJ home, and he wanted no parts of eating, and didn't keep much down if he did eat anything.

Saturday, he got a really nasty fever and it took almost all morning/afternoon to get it to break. He was a complete clingy fuss, two traits very unlike him so you know he wasn't feeling well. We spent the entire day trying to get him to drink liquids, and we think that the mucus started to finally thin out such that his appetite started to come back. Phew.

Sunday he was in a generally good mood, his fever was pretty low if non-existent, and ate well. But Sunday night, he did not sleep well. He was up every hour to an hour and a half, and we have no idea why.

Monday he went to day care, ate great, but didn't really find his energy until the afternoon, probably because he'd gotten in a couple of good naps in. He barely ate dinner (he did want some of Daddy's grilled cheese - yum!), but slept like a complete rock for 11.5 hours.

He woke up in a great mood today. And when we got to day care, he immediately snaked Cheerios off of Grace's tray. Then, when he got his first taste of cereal, he actually fussed that he wasn't getting it fed to him fast enough. He hasn't fussed about that in *months*. Seems to me like he realized he was behind on the calorie count so FEED ME!!!

Looking forward to Miss Eleanor's report when I go to pick him up today. I have a feeling it'll be pretty positive.

DJ's new trick - climbing

DJ is learning how to climb on furniture. Miss Eleanor has a low futon that he's learned to climb on and now he's figured out that he can climb on the white chair in our living room. This, of course, brings him new access to things he couldn't reach before. Fabulous. It also means we have to be extra vigilant with him until he consistently gets off the furniture "the safe way" (backwards).

In the process of climbing the futon, apparently, DJ managed to get ahold of a cordless phone and pulled it down on to himself. Wham-o, one bruise on the forehead, and one black eye. I'll bet he screamed bloody murder. He must've realized how much it hurt because he was even "willing" to sit and have ice put on it for 5 minutes. Despite all that, his teething, and the head cold he has (which I think he's giving to me), he's been in a fantastic mood.

The Evil Vacuum Cleaner

Eleanor had told me some time ago that DJ is not a fan of the Dustbuster. In fact, she's demonstrated to me how he reacts. She uses the Dustbuster to clean up the food DJ has thrown overboard, and he starts to fuss almost immediately. He gets a very worried look on his face, too. Clearly, the Dustbuster scares him at some level.

Today, we decided to see how he'd react to the vacuum cleaner. I started in the back hallway and vacuumed both that and DJ's room. When I turned off the vacuum, Steve called out from the living room that DJ had been fussing, and even teared up. I was surprised to hear this since I wasn't even in his sights (and neither was the vacuum for that matter). Is it just the noise is so loud and droning?

To vacuum the living room, Steve sat on the couch with DJ on his lap. I brought the non-running vacuum cleaner over to DJ so he could see it while it was off. He touched it, but very hesitantly. I turned it on away from him, and proceeded to vacuum the living room rug. He fussed and had a very concerned look on his face the whole time, but he didn't cry.

I brought the vacuum back over to him and then turned it off so he could see it turn off. Although he wasn't pleased overall, he didn't seem traumatized. He definitely didn't want to let go of Steve for about 5 minutes afterwards either!

We'll have to work on the vacuum fears slowly. Good thing we stink when it comes to vacuuming regularly. ;-)

The 5 o'clock Sillies

I try to get to daycare to pick up DJ as close to 5pm as I can daily. Usually, I get there closer to 5:15.... which is a bummer because I like to spend as much time being able to sit there and just watch him play for awhile. Playing with Grace and a set of toys other than the ones at home leads to different reactions to things and I like to observe that.

When I arrive, I come in, sit down on the floor, and then DJ gets "The 5 o'clock Sillies". He becomes one big enormous gigglepuss who, if he could run, would, but can't so walks as fast as he can all over the room. He'll play hide-n-seek from behind the curtain and from behind you, do the "back up" where he turns his back to you and then backs up until he runs into you and has no choice but sit in your lap, he runs into your arms giggling... it's just mayhem!

More days than not, The 5 o'clock Sillies turns into DJ tripping and falling and knocking his head on something, ending The Sillies with some tears and cuddling. But it's just so predictable... maybe it's because he's showing off because someone new is there to watch him (our little extrovert!) or maybe it really is that he gets an energy boost right around 5pm. I have no idea, but it's adorable!

Recently, The 5 o'clock Sillies have also started to become the 7:00 AM Sillies. When I go into his room and start to figure out what he's going to wear, he starts to run around in his crib, play hide-n-seek from behind the bars and the diaper holder, and giggle like no other. When I go to pick up him to put him on the changing table, he's been "running away" from me giggling hysterically.

I could have had the worst day and that so puts a smile on my face!

Weekend update

DJ was one babbling little boy this past weekend. He just had a lot to say and not enough time to say it all! "Ra" became a second favorite syllable, and he also spent time stringing multiple syllables together, usually of the same sound e.g. "ra ra ra" but he'd use inflection to go with it. He may not be saying anything coherent to us, but he certainly thinks he's getting his point out!

I gave DJ a bath last night before bedtime, and one of his new "toys" to play with in the duckie tub is "pull the washcloth off the side of the tub" and then try to put it back. He will spend at least 10 minutes a bath playing that game with me. I'll finish bathing him, rinse the washcloth, and drap it over the side of the tub to dry. Instead, he pulls it right off... and then promptly tries to put it back up there. Of course I help, and he immediately pulls it off again. For added adventure, if he gets the washcloth in his bath water, he'll usually fling it around first, soaking me in the process!

DJ is also very happy that Daddy's back is a little better; DJ and Daddy rough housed a bunch this weekend, much to DJ's immense delight. :-)

Pointing and Communication

10 month old Grace learned to point with her finger at least a month ago. Meanwhile, sometime around his birthday, DJ started pointing at things, but with a full open hand. He had been "pointing" with an open hand to the "light" and the (ceiling) "fan", but that was it. Around his birthday, he started to point at very specific objects that he wanted, not just at things where he knows the names.

On Tuesday, Steve noticed that DJ was starting to mimick Grace and pointing with his index finger. The open hand "point" still happens, but the one finger point is happening a lot more frequently now.

His pointing is easiest to interpret at the table, as he points to his milk or whatever else he wants to eat at the time. Yesterday, I thought he was finished eating lunch. Instead, he pointed at MY lunch (english muffin pizza) and made the lip smacking noise he makes when he wants to eat/drink something. Ok then...! I shared at least half of an english muffin pizza with him!

When we've been outside (he *loves* outside - at least that hasn't changed since he was a newborn/infant), he's been pointing at things but because they aren't close, I'm having trouble interpreting what he seeing. Is it the tree? The leaves moving in the wind? No idea.

DJ's communication, overall, has been improving for sure and although when he learns to talk we'll be excited to truly communicate with him, I actually really like this method of communication now. It's a challenge, but it's so incredibly cute!! In fact, he's been babbling a lot more this weekend than we've ever heard him. He's stringing multiple syllables together with various inflections and sounds. He's not close to matching Grace in her prolific conversations with various objects, but he's certainly saying more than he had.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Earlier in the week, DJ's playmate at daycare, 10 month old Grace, tossed a Cheerio off of her high chair tray onto the floor. Eleanor and I were astounded as she had never done that and even DJ didn't start doing that until he was closer to a year old! Apparently, she's been watching DJ closely!!

Also earlier in the week, Grace would have nothing to do with the grass outside. You couldn't sit her down in it, stand in it, nothing, without her raising a royal fuss! But after watching DJ sit down and play in it on Wednesday, she was willing to sit in it on Thursday and play with it. Yay for Grace!

Grace has also learned how to crawl, pull up and stand as well as cut two bottom teeth all in the last month! She's been a busy girl!

Flower?

At Miss Eleanor's, there is an azalea plant still in its pot that sits on the kitchen table. Today, DJ kept pointing to it so Eleanor got it off the table and held it for DJ to feel it. Of course, I told him "gentle" which, of course, is not exactly gentle how you and I know it. For him, "gentle" is swatting, not pinching, pulling or otherwise rougher than swatting. In the process of his being "gentle", DJ managed to knock off one of its white flowers onto the floor.

Eventually, Eleanor picked up the plant and put it back onto the table. DJ picked up the flower and held it in his hand, very gently, in fact. Then he tried to put the flower back on the plant! He reached up and dropped the flower onto the table as far onto it as he could reach. Good boy!

New shoes for DJ!

I have been struggling with the "shoes" concept. It was my understanding that we're supposed to leave shoes - ones with real soles and stiff(er) sides off of baby feet for as long as possible to allow the baby to flatten his foot when he walks. Or something. I don't remember now.

We have a pair of Robeez (http://store.babycenter.com/product/baby+clothing/shoes/robeez/truck+sand+soft-soled+leather+shoes.do?asc=false) that we bought for our trip to South Carolina in February. We figured that the best thing we could do for DJ was to get him out of the carseat during stops and let him walk around (he was still holding our hands at the time) to give him some exercise. Therefore, we needed a pair of shoes, and Eleanor mirrored my thought... Robeez shoes. These things are THE BOMB. They're soft soled, they're very comfortable for the baby/toddler, cute as can be, and perfect for learning to walk. His first pair came from Lisa Garfield as an infant; they had race cars on them. :-)

But summer is here. And that means more outside time, and outside involves things that soft soled shoes might not stop from hurting a tender little foot.

I decided to do some light research on the subject, and started with my favorite online baby reference site, BabyCenter.com. I found this article about it which talked more about how to size/fit a shoe for a toddler than the shoe issue with which I've been struggling. Effectively, it said that as soon as your baby is walking, it's time for shoes. Article link here: http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-childs-first-shoes_1736073.bc?articleId=1736073&showAll=true. Ok, so I assume that's a valid answer. Now what?

Target. The Bull's Eye Boutique. Tar-jjjjay.

As I was perusing the shoe aisles looking for shoes his size, I found a pair of nice sandles to wear to work that do not require buckling. Excellent, I found a pair of summer pregnancy shoes. I won't be able to bend over to buckle anything very soon....

Then I found the kid shoe section. One aisle was dedicated to boys. The other 3 aisles were dedicated to girls. I was amused by this, and certainly not surprised.

The next problem... what size is he?! No idea. I walked by a display that said, "pre-walking shoes", so I stopped there to see if I could at least figure out the right size. There were soft soled shoes on that display as well as some harder tennis shoe type shoes. I picked up a pair sized 4, put the bottoms up against his foot bottom, figured they were close, and tried to put them on. No dice. That shoe was not going on his foot (he had socks on). Oh good, they have the same shoe in a size 5. That shoe actually went on his foot. He has about half an inch of room before his big toe hits the end of the shoe, so I'm thinking that I'm close enough.... and that they might last 2 months at his growth rate!

We take them home and while DJ is eating dinner, I put his new shoes on his feet. He wasn't exactly happy about them as he fussed a little, but food comes first so they were mostly ignored.

When he was finished, I put him down on the floor in his new shoes, and he just stood there. And then he started to *wail*. He didnt move, just cried. He wanted no parts of them. So I took both of his hands and showed him that he can walk in them around the kitchen. After about 10 minutes, his seemed to regain some confidence in his walking skills, and started walking in them on his own. But he really wanted nothing to do with them at first.

This morning, Miss Eleanor and I put his shoes on him so he could walk around in the kitchen. When Eleanor first put him down, he refused to move again. A short 5 pace walk to me with Eleanor guiding him reminded him that the shoes were not concrete blocks cementing his feet to the kitchen floor.

We'll see how the rest of the day goes.... :)

Baby Thumper

I've been able to feel the new baby kicking me for a number of weeks now. Unfortunately, the kicks weren't strong enough for Steve to feel then.

But now they are!! Earlier this week (monday?), Steve got to feel his first kick. It wasn't a whomp of a kick, but it was enough for him to know that it was the baby. Last night, however, he got a good solid whomp from the baby! Hi baby!!!

Molars have a function!

DJ has gotten all but one of his 1-year molars, and the one he hasn't gotten has one point through. It's just that the rest of the tooth hasn't come through yet.

Meanwhile, DJ is starting to figure out that those back molars actually serve a purpose in life. It makes chewing stuff easier and more efficient than using your front teeth. Neat-o!

DJ with Yiayia and Papou

DJ spent the afternoon with Yiayia and Papou yesterday. When they came in yesterday, he started out immediately with walking all over the living room, showing off all of his tricks with walking.

Before I left, DJ was playing with a puzzle and when Papou put a piece in and said, "yay Papou!", DJ clapped his hands for Papou! Cute!!

Apparently, DJ loved walking all over the yard yesterday, especially the stairs. He wanted to walk up them like a big boy! He saw Miss Mary, our next door neighbor, and all the neighbors' doggies, too.

I had taken him out into the yard on Saturday afternoon and after walking around parts of the fence, feeling spiderwebs and picking up rocks, he sat down in the grass. He pulled up grass and handed it to me, and then he found a stick that he poked into the ground at things. The doggies hung around us like they were protecting us (from squirrels??), I think. It was pretty interesting.

Meanwhile, he took a 2 and a half hour nap yesterday afternoon (wow!), and then wasn't hungry for dinner until 6:30, when he devoured the vast majority of a Hebrew National kosher hot dog. The bread Yiayia offered was instantly tossed overboard, but he also had some yogurt and star puffs. He went to bed late because he was having so much fun with Yiayia and Papou!

A side note: Daddy and I were reading a book to DJ called "I Am A Bunny" on separate occasions. Yesterday, I was reading it to him, and I noticed, when I got to a certain page, he would make the lip smacking sound like he wanted to eat/taste it. I said something to Steve, and he said that he'd seen the same thing and from a distance, to him, that page looks like food or something he'd eat. DJ has been showing us that he wants to try something by smacking his lips together, so this had to be it. He apparently did it for Papou, too, when Papou was reading the book to him, too. During dinner last night, DJ saw Papou's soda, pointed at it (with an open hand) and then smacked his lips because he wanted to try some! No Diet Coke for you, yet, little boy! LOL

Daddy?

I took DJ in to our bedroom to wake up sleeping Daddy yesterday. After a few wiggles and squirms and squeals of delight, DJ turned to Steve and said, "Dad---y." He swallowed the second syllable, but holy cow did it sound like "Daddy". We both looked at each other wide eyed; it was clear we'd heard the same thing. Steve said then that when he said "doggy", it sounded very similar to that. He got "dog--y" out but swallowed the second syllable. We haven't heard either word since, though. :-(

Some DJ updates

DJ now holds the toy phone up to his hear and walks around with it next to his ear. It doesn't matter whether he's holding the phone correctly, but he's doing it! :)

DJ has also figured out that sunglasses go on your face. Again, upside down vs right side up doesn't matter, but he puts them on!

DJ knows where a "nose" is, shoes, socks, hair, head, the (ceiling) fan, the light, "blow a kiss", wave bye-bye, throw a ball, and we think he's starting to figure out that a spoon goes in the bowl when he's eating, though the coordination is far from that. He's been walking like a champ, and he still "leads with his head". The poor boy has more bumps and bruises on his head than anywhere else on his body, just like his Uncle Dave!

He loves his milk and sippy cup, and is definitely exerting independence when it comes to eating. He will eat a variety of foods still, but I think it has to be on his terms. Giving him his own spoon while you're spoon feeding him seems to help.

He seems to know what "trade hands" means, but I think it's just habit and he knows what's coming. When I putting a shirt on him and he's holding a toy, I ask him to "trade hands" - put the toy into the other hand while I put his free hand through his sleeve. He also knows when I'm going to put a shirt over his head... he'll raise his arms up over his head (as in "sooooo big!") and so then I have to tickle his belly to get him to put his arms down. Fun game!

Easter

Christos Anesti. (Christ is Risen.) <---the way the church would say it.
Que Pasca. (What's up, Easter.) <--- the way my brother would say it.
O pappas se harike. (The man upstairs is smiling down on you.) <--- the way my Uncle John would say it.
Queso Anesti. (Cheese is Risen.) <---- Apparently the way I now say it.

This wasn't DJ's first Easter - he was born just in time for it last year but he doesn't remember much of it. He won't remember much of this one either, but that's ok.

We went up to my sister's house in Lancaster for dinner. We actually got up there a little before 3 and unfortunately, DJ didn't nap on the way up. So DJ and I went up to the guest room and napped together for about 20 minutes. It was better than nothing!

Then it was time for dinner. DJ ate a TON... lamb, spanakopita, feta, hummus, Greek potatoes, green beans, asparagus tips, and Greek stuffing. Then he had dessert: koulouri ( a greek short bread cookie), tsoureki (Easter bread), strawberries and a couple bites of chocolate cake with milk mixed in with all of that.

On our way home, DJ didn't keep all that down, we think because we belted him in too tightly. Lesson learned. :-( We pulled over, stripped him of everything but his onesie, and got home with minimal issue. He was so tired that he went to sleep exactly where I laid him down in his crib. He didn't fuss once. He is a little angel.

Queso Anesti, for another 40 days.

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Apparently DJ only had to walk up to me and make a "I want a taste" sound with his mouth. Mommy couldn't resist that and shared her Klondike Bar with DJ. He seemed to REALLY enjoy his first taste of both ice cream and chocolate. Mmmmm!!

Doggies?

Is that what he said? Did DJ say "doggies"?? According to Steve, DJ was in his high chair, looking down at the dogs and said a two syllable word... it sounded remarkably like "doggies".

I think "doggies" or "daddy" will be his first word. He loves the "d-" syllable, and he hears "doggies" a lot. We'll see!

Woof! Woof!

On Monday when I went to pick up DJ, Miss Eleanor was telling me how DJ's playmate at daycare, Grace, had learned to woof like a dog. Grace has always been way ahead of DJ on the verbalization curve so this didn't surprise me though of course, she wouldn't do it on command.

Yesterday morning, Grace's mom, Nadia, said that she had been up at 4am for whatever reason. As she and Grace passed their stair banister where a stuffed dog was sitting, Grace said, 'Woof! Woof!" I can't imagine that Nadia was amused at 4am, but it is funny.....

When I picked DJ up yesterday, Grace showed off her "Woof! Woof!". It was hysterical! Her first word, really, Woof.

Combing DJ's hair

Today I was combing DJ's hair when DJ took the comb from me, and tried to do it himself! Of course he's not coordinated enough to actually get the comb through his hair correctly, but he tried! I showed him how to turn his arm to point the comb in the right direction, and he tried again. Neat-o!

DJ is feeling better

DJ had a touch of a fever this morning when he woke up, but a dose of Tylenol seems to have kept that at bay. He hasn't felt warm since which I hope lasts through the night. He nose ran a lot less, and I don't think he sneezed today. He's coughing but overall, he seems to be feeling better. He's a little more of his happy self more often. He also napped for about an hour and a half this afternoon, plus the 25 minute car ride from church to our lunch destination. This is better than previous days, too.

To boot, though, it seems like his right side bottom 1 year molar is coming through again as he's just chomping on anything he can in that back right corner. So his crankier mood must be influenced by that, too.

Our little Snot Nose

Poor DJ, he has his first full fledged cold. He's gotten a small one before, but this one includes fever, sneezing, lots of snot, and a generally miserable little boy.

We're thinking he got it from little Grace, his daycare buddy. She got over it in a few days, but this is now Day 2 of full blown symptoms, with no signs of getting any better. Well, I don't know if that's true.

Wednesday he was sneezing and the snot was starting to make its presence really known on his upper lip. That night he didn't sleep great.

Thursday during the day, he was apparently a miserable little boy, and developed a fever by the end of the day. He would only nap about a half hour at a time, and only once Eleanor rocked him to sleep. He had a small (for him) dinner, lots of milk, and wanted to walk around and do stuff but by the time bedtime came, he was toast. He took about an ounce of milk, Tylenol, and went right to sleep. He slept the whole night through and then some... a total of 13 hours.

He woke up with a fever, though, and because I'd taken so many hours off for his doctors appointments and because Steve had worked waaay too many hours the last few weeks, Steve is staying home with him. Of course he refuses to nap, so Steve has to rock him to sleep. He had virtually no breakfast, but lots of milk so at least he'll be hydrated.

Poor little guy!!

Hi Baby!!

This morning, Steve and I dropped DJ off at Miss Eleanor's a little early so we could get to the OB's office to view the sonogram of our baby! No, we did not find out the gender, but we did hear the heartbeat, which was measured at 152 beats/minute (I assume it's in minutes).

The baby was laying on its stomach at first, so the sonogram technician could get a really good view of the spine and top of the skull down into the brain itself. The baby had a closed fist under its chin, like The Thinker, and was kicking me with those little feet! Flutter flutter! I actually couldn't feel them because of the position I was in, but the baby was definitely awake! The umbilical cord had the 3 required veins, too, and we could see the beginnings of teeth.

Then she had me roll over onto my left side to try and get the baby to flip over onto its back so we could get a good view of its face and the four heart chambers. The baby wasn't cooperating fully, but the technician got a pretty good shot of the baby's face and put it on the 3D sonogram picture! COOL! We never got that with DJ, so that was really neat! You distinctly see the two lobes of the cranium, the eyes, nose and mouth. Granted, the baby looks skeletal, even in the 3D picture, because there's no fat on its body yet, but it was still neat. DJ's facial picture was literally the bones of the face and skull.

The technician measured the cranium, the arm and leg bones, and with a few other measurements, came up with a birth date of September 21. Dr. Khouzami had predected September 20th. Now this is interesting because DJ was predicted by Dr. Khouzami to arrive on March 31st, the sonogram predicted March 28th, and he actually arrived March 24th. So who knows!!!

Hi little baby! We see you in there!

Can you give that to Mommy?

In the last couple weeks, DJ has started handing us things. The first time we noticed it, he was walking around with a piece of a magazine page and he just handed it right to Steve, completely unprompted. Now he does it regularly, mostly unprompted still. Sometimes he expects to be able to take what he gave us back. That hasn't happened too often yet, but you know that's coming. :-)

Yesterday's fun

It was gorgeous outside yesterday, our first truly Spring day. And of course, we spent it inside. Mostly.

Right after Steve left for work, DJ was watching IO play with the stuffed carrot. When IO dropped it, DJ went over, picked it up, and held it out for IO to take, which IO did very gently. That was DJ initiating interaction with the doggies all by himself!

After his morning nap, DJ and I went to visit my aunt Athena and Uncle John at Kenilworth Mall as they were working an antiques show there. They hadn't seen DJ in a number of months, so this was a great opportunity to get DJ out of the house, especially since I was flying solo on baby duty (Steve was working).

My parents joined us as well, so they got to spend some quality time with DJ as well. DJ walked all over the mall's second floor with at least one grandparent in tow. ;-) My father, DJ, and I went to get some lunch at noon. DJ ate 2/3rds of a kid size hot dog and a little bit of his roll, and of course milk. He also had his first taste of lettuce, though I'm not sure what he thought of that.

A little before 2pm, DJ gave me every sign he possibly could that he was tired, pulled on his ear, rubbed his eyes, yawned... all that walking wears him out! We came home, and he fell asleep in the car despite the windows being open! I transferred him to his crib when we got home, and he went back to sleep for another hour and a half. What a good boy!

Meanwhile, Steve got home from work, and we finished preparing for our dinner party for his direct reports and a former employee of the bank with whom we're close. It was still nice outside at that point which is such a nice change from all this wet, grey and cold weather we've been having lately.

DJ went to bed at 7, and dinner was served shortly thereafter. Everyone left a little after 10, and I think I was asleep on the couch by 10:30. At midnight, Steve woke me up to tell me to go to bed. Apparently, he'd fallen asleep on the couch as well, having come home after midnight Friday night from work.

I got kicked!

Let me start with introductions:

Uterine wall, baby foot.
Baby foot, uterine wall.

:-)

I went to the OB yesterday for my 4 month appointment, and the doctor asked me if I was feeling any kicks yet. It told him that I thought I'd felt something over the weekend, but I wasn't sure. Thus, I thought I was close to feeling kicks.

Like with DJ, the little kicks arrived while sitting at my desk. :-) I only felt 2 today, but I know without a doubt what they were; the feeling was unmistakable.

Hi Little One!!!!!!

Sharing Cheerios

One of DJ's favorite foods is Cheerios. He gets excited just seeing the yellow box coming out of the cuboard. At Miss Eleanor's, both DJ and Grace get Cheerios to start for breakfast before they get their baby cereal. They sit side by side in their respective high chairs, and Grace tries to swipe Cheerios from DJ's high chair tray if she doesn't have any of her own.

Today, I witnessed Grace trying to swipe the Cheerio closest to her on DJ's high chair tray when DJ put his hand over it. I thought he was getting protective of it but he proved me wrong. Instead of eating it, he tried to hand it to Grace. Neither child is coordinated enough to complete such a transaction, but the fact that he tried was amazing! When she didn't take the Cheerio, he offered it again! After the second failed attempt, he ate the Cheerio himself, but holy cow! That was a neat interaction!

Holy molars, Batman!

Unfortunately for DJ, he's been teething all 4 of his 1 year molars at the same time. He's been an enormous drool monster and he's had his fingers constantly in his mouth trying to reduce the discomfort he's been having. He's not been outright unhappy, but he's certainly been a little more needy than usual. Surprisingly, he's not been sleeping any more than usual. In fact, he's been the Early Bird this week, wide awake and playing by 6am, nearly a full hour earlier than usual. Yikes.

I've not been shy about giving him Tylenol every 4 hours and when its been really bad, a dose of motrin, too, which I've given him 2 hours after the Tylenol. Last Saturday, for example, absolutely nothing made him happy. Once the motrin kicked in on top of the Tylenol, his mood started to change towards his normal self. That's when Steve and I knew for sure that's what was going on.

Yesterday, when I went to pick DJ up from Miss Eleanor's, he was a huge cuddle bug. Not that I minded (!) as he's normally far from a cuddle bug, but clearly he wasn't feeling like himself. I decided to venture into his mouth with a finger to see if he's managed to break any of those monsters through (careful, don't bite me!). Sure enough, the two bottom ones have broken through at least 1 point, if not 2. The top right one still hasn't poked more than the one point through, and the top left one is still hiding under the gum. He has been drooling a little less, but those fingers are constantly in his mouth still, so clearly, he's not done yet!

Bottle to Cup

The bottle --> cup and formula --> whole milk transition has begun.

At DJ's one year appointment with the pediatrician, Dr. Boscia said we could take him off formula and put him on whole milk. And while we're at it, switch him from the bottle to the cup. He didn't recommend specifically that we do both transitions at the same time, but we did it anyway.

DJ's actually taken to the whole milk pretty well overall. He's drinking about 10 ounces at Miss Eleanor's daily, and then he usually drinks a few more during his dinner. He's not been much into the idea of the sippy cup/whole milk before bed, though. I'm not sure that's a bad thing either. He's sleeping through the night just fine without an 8 ounce bottle of formula, so I'm not complaining that he's not drinking much before bed. I offer it to him anyway, and he pushes it away after an ounce or two.

But it's also easier for a baby (well, toddler) to give up the during-the-day bottles than it is to give up the before-bed bottle. He hasn't seen a bottle since last weekend, so I'm hoping that by the weekend, he'll have forgotten about it. Something Miss Eleanor said is that she thinks it's been easier with him than with other babies she's watched because Grace and DJ use(d) different kinds of bottles. So when Eleanor feeds Grace, DJ doesn't go bananas because he doesn't see that as his nor does it remind him of his. I thought that was an interesting dynamic that I hadn't thought of and glad it wasn't the case. :)

Hopefully, DJ will continue to be a trooper and keep going strong with the sippy cup so that I can put the bottles away, at least for a few more months...