End of a Decade

The fact that we're ending a decade has caught me by surprise. I remember so much media coverage of the end of the 80's and 90's but have not seen much for the end of the ...well what do you call this decade anyway....the 00's? Of course I seem to miss a lot of current events these days since my toddler interrupts my TV viewing by wanting me to pretend to talk on her cell phone or sing the itsy bitsy spider for the thousandth time.

For me the first ten years of this millenium have been transformative as one might expect from somebody who spent the bulk of the decade in her twenties. The first part was spent finishing school and building a career, and then in recent years adding to our family. Here is a quick re-cap:

2000

• I entered the decade at 21 years old. Jeramy and I had been married for 1.5 years. I was going to school at the University of Washington, and working at a mom and pop owned canoe and kayak store where I'd been since age 17. We lived south of Seattle in a small apartment.
• April: in anticipation of my graduation I took a part-time job at a biotech firm that would go full-time when I graduated.
• June: earned my B.S. in chemistry
• July - November: Dispised my job and my evil, bitchy co-workers. I hated working in a lab in part because being a lab technician can feel rather limiting (I was essentially a production worker) and because I'm a complete and total klutz which doesn't mix well with working in a lab.
• December: Took a job with my current employer as a Program Assistant

2001

• October: in the wake of 9/11 we decided to buy a house. It seemed to come together way to quickly but within a couple weeks we had made an offer and moved in.

2002

• February: Got Cujo and I experienced my first taste of parenthood, which I found so stressful I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Okay, maybe that is exagerrating it. Maybe.
  
• March: After working at one dead end job after another, Jeramy applied for a Pipefitter apprenticeship and managed to beat out loads of other applicants.

2003

• Nothing special that I can remember. Jeramy was working and going to night school, and I kept growing in my position at work and received a few promotions over the years.

2004

• June: I had jaw surgery as part of my orthodontic treatments. My jaw was wired shut for a few weeks nearly driving me insane. Unfortunately the surgery did not go as smoothly as planned and would require a repeat surgery down the road.
• July: I was accepted into the Executive Master's in Health Administration program at the University of Washington. I'd spend the next two years working full-time while going to school.

2005

• Spent the year in a haze of stress from work and school

2006

• August: Graduated with my MHA!
• September: Started in my current Project Manager position in a different department
• October: Jeramy's graduation banquet from his apprenticeship. I don't think he was officially a journeyman until the following year, but he finished all of his schooling!
  
• December: After years of putting it off we began TTC. I was never optimistic that it would be quick given my history of sporadic cycles. I was never casual about TTC and began charting and using OPKs immediately.
  

2007

• May: Went to my primary care MD about my irregular cycles and charts showing a late O
• June: Tests show nothing wrong. Referred to an OB but scheduled an appointment with an RE instead
• August: Clomid cycle #1...ovarian cyst #1
• October: Clomid cycle #2 w/IUI...ovarian cyst #2. Switched to Femara.
• December: Started Femara cycle #1 w/IUI on Christmas Eve

2008

• January: BFP!!!
• January - October: Happy pregnancy and relatively easy pregnancy. Jillian born 10/7/08!
• October - December: Maternity leave and coping with a fussy newborn
• December: Almost on a whim we decide to look at houses closer to my MIL who would be watching Jillian after maternity leave. Within a week we find a house, get approved for a loan and have an offer accepted.

2009

• January: Move to new house
• February: Jeramy gets laid off which we expected. He devotes his time to getting our old house on the market. We get a couple offers within a few days of listing it!
• April: We officially own just one house again.
• April - July: Jeramy devotes his time to adding on the master bedroom
• August: A surprise BFP!
• August - present: A happy and relatively easy (albeit stressful lately) pregnancy with Hayden

Presumably the 2010's will bring us more good times watching our two girls grow. By the end of the next decade they'll be 9 and 11!

A Small Sign of Relief

Thanks everybody for your comments and reassurances on my last post. I keep reminding myself that statistics are on our side for a healthy baby. I think it was the whole chat with the genetic counselor that had me worked up, because such conversations are bound to be focused on the negative and what if scenarios.

The good news is that the fetal echo went great yesterday. We were doing it because of a history of heart problems in Jeramy's family (we did one with Jillian also), but I certainly made sure to mention how the other ultrasound went so they could be on the lookout for anything else negative. Luckily all they saw was what appears to be a perfectly healthy little heart. Phew! Hopefully the follow-up ultrasound in a couple more weeks will only bring more good news.

Ways to Frighten a Hormonal, Emotional Pregnant Woman

*I'm posting twice in one day as I didn't really want to combine this post with our Christmas post. So don't forget to check out all the pics of Jillian's holiday fun below*

I'm in an emotionally precarious state these days. I can't think of the last day that went by that I didn't cry. I cry over movies. I cry over the local news. I cry over television shows. I cry over commercials. I cry over books. I'm a hormonal basket case. And my ultrasound last Wednesday nearly put me over the edge.

As I mentioned before, we went for an ultrasound at the maternal fetal medicine clinic (rather than our OB) because Hayden is not a photogenic baby. She prefers hiding at the bottom of my uterus behind the placenta to getting her picture taken. The same held true at the MFM clinic so much so that they even hauled out the transvaginal wand to get snapshots of her brain since it was crammed up against my cervix. This is clearly a stubborn child.

The hour plus of trying to photograph my child I could handle. What I couldn't handle were the words "marker for downs" and "marker for Trisomy 18". They said that they thought my OB sent us in because the nuchal fold seemed to be measuring a bit thick (5 cm) and at their office it was measuring between 5-6 cm. They prefer to see it less than 5 cm but that measurement is really only valid until 20 weeks and both ultrasounds were taken just past that mark. Plus some doctors consider 6 cm the cut off so really the measurement is borderline. There was also some other brain part that was measuring at the upper edge of acceptable, which could be a marker for Trisomy 18. However, usually you would see other markers of that condition and none were found. Plus my nuchal fold testing and blood work from the sequential screen put Hayden's risk at both conditions at 1 in 20,000 so during the ultrasound I wasn't really too worried.

But then they stuck us in a room with the genetic counselor. She was nice enough for sure. But somehow sitting in that room and listening to her throw all these numbers at us sent me over the edge. She said that a marker like this would typically increase the risk of either condition 20 fold (and really since both measurements were borderline abnormal maybe even less) meaning that the 1/20,000 went to 1/1,000. She then told me that amnioscentisis was an option if we wanted to know for sure. But of course when I pressed her on the risks of that procedure, she told me that the chance of miscarriage was also 1/1,000. I told her that I didn't want to do the amnio since it didn't make sense statistically, but of course I was in tears at that point and she pressed me about whether I felt comfortable with that decision. In truth, I really felt like they were steering more towards the amnio...this is the U.S. after all. The more tests and procedures the better, right?

Anyhow, Jeramy and I decided not to do the amnio. Like I said it didn't make sense statistically, and I don't think we would decide to terminate the pregnancy based on the results. Plus as I got to thinking about it more, at 1/1,000 the risk for Down's is not even elevated over the normal incidence of the condition, and they certainly don't recommend amniocentisis for every pregnancy. I feel fine about this now, but it was not a good feeling to be sitting in that room working about a .01% risk and being pressed to make a quick decision.

I do go back in a few weeks for a follow-up ultrasound to measure the part of the brain that was borderline as a marker for Trisomy 18. They want to look to make sure it is growing at a normal rate. And tomorrow is the fetal echo. For the first time ever, I find myself wishing that I didn't have to do any more ultrasounds. I'd rather close my eyes, not think of the risks (which are always there in any pregnancy) and imagine a healthy baby girl at the end of this.

Christmas

We had a very good, albeit busy, Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we hosted my mom's side of the family at our house. It worked really well to have everybody at our place because Jillian is much friendlier to unfamiliar faces at our house than at other people's house. It is like she went into instant hostess mode, and there wasn't a single person's lap that she missed. On Christmas day we ran all over the place to my Dad's, Jeramy's mom's and Jeramy's dad's. Starting next year it is my goal to stay home on Christmas Day and we can host whoever wants to come over sort. It is just too hard to go to so many places, and I want to start building traditions with my children other than hanging out in the car and throwing tantrums when mommy won't let them touch people's breakable objects.

Jillian was completely spoiled, of course. Here are some pictures of her fun...

Christmas Eve she got a Pelican pull toy with balls in its mouth from her great aunt and uncle. She really liked taking the balls out of the pelican's mouth and throwing them down the stairs. Luckily she also thought it was fun to retrieve the balls, which thankfully she can do by herself. We took down the baby gate at the top of the stairs before company came over, but I think we're going to leave it off since she is so mobile on the stairs now.



Christmas morning, Jillian woke up to find that Santa brought her a play kitchen! She likes it almost as much as the real one...more maybe since these cabinets don't have locks on them. We moved the changing table out of her room and into Hayden's to make room for toys (Jeramy already painted Hayden's room if you can believe it). I figured that I would change her diapers in there, and after the baby is born we'll set up the pack n play as a second diaper changing station.

She and her cousin Julia got life size dolls (well bigger than life at their current size). They modeled with Aunt Brittany/Julia's mom because it is pretty much impossible to get a decent shot of both of them without adult intervention.

Jeramy's mom made Jillian the coolest rocking motor cycle. It turned out really great (which is good given the countless hours that went into it!). At first Jillian was uncertain about sitting on it, but once Julia showed her how she was fine.

Riding her new quad. She could figure out how to hit the button to get it to move but only in little spurts. Jeramy practiced with her last night, and she was getting the hang of holding it down longer. Not too much longer until she can ride a real one!

The Bump has a Name

We have officially come up with a name for baby #2. Drum roll please...

Hayden Catherine

I, of course, reserve the right to change my mind about the name at any point in time because I am a hormonal pregnant woman after all. And yes after three "J" names we are going with an "H". I never meant to start a theme by picking the name Jillian the first time around. We just happened to like it.

I've now reached the halfway mark amazingly enough. My back is really starting to feel it too, as little Miss Hayden seems to be burrowing into my lower right backside causing sciatica and pain. It can be especially bad on the weekends as I tend to be on my feet more cleaning and running errands. Jeramy got a quick pic the other morning. The picture quality isn't great because apparently the flash wasn't on but you get the idea. For comparison you can find my 20 week belly pic with Jillian here. Pretty similar, I think.

In other news, it seems that we have a peeping tom at our house. We'd call the cops, but she's kind of cute.

Photos

We are actually getting a second anatomy scan done with a better machine at the maternal fetal medicine clinic, because it turns out this little girl was a bit difficult to photograph. This time the placenta is on the outer wall blocking our view, and she was not in a particularly good position. So there will be more, better pictures, to come!

In the meantime everything else looks good. Heart rate of 140 bpm and measuring right on target at 20.5 weeks!

And it's a healthy baby...

GIRL!!!

I must say that I'm pretty damn excited to be getting two little girls. Hopefully Jillian and her little sister love each other. Or at least don't kill each other before they grow up :)

Jeramy, on the other hand, is nervously stockpiling weapons to ward off boys when they become teenagers.

Tomorrow is the Big Day

I can hardly believe that tomorrow we will hopefully be finding out the answer to the boy or girl question. It seems that most of you are guessing girl, and I cannot say that I'm guessing any differently. This pregnancy just seems too much like the last one for me to think otherwise. Well unless you count the whole "spontaneous" thing as opposed to the RE's office thing as different. Jeramy is so adamant that we're having another girl that he has been referring to baby #2 as Jillian's little sister since the test came back positive. I can't say that I would mind since I have fond memories of having a little sister close in age despite the fact that we spent most of the time arguing and punching each other. A boy would be great to, since then we'd have one of each. Either way, I don't think we can go wrong gender wise.

This pregnancy really has flown by in comparison to the last. My day consists of work, chasing Jillian around, and then a precious hour or two of relaxation with Jeramy after she goes to bed. Weekends are more of the same. I love it, but it is busy. I lack the luxury of sitting around and contemplating the wonder that is this pregnancy unlike last time. In a way I almost feel a little guilty that being pregnant at times feels like more of an afterthought rather than my constant focus. But really I think it is more of a function of being busier. It is feeling more and more real though, probably because I have really began feeling movement. I felt flutters earlier this time around since I knew what I was looking for, but the real distinct movements did not begin until a week ago.

Now that Jillian is sleeping like a champ, I have been knitting more in the evenings since I know this will all come to an end again in a few short months. I finished Jillian's Helena sweater. It is a little big (although it is supposed to be long), but I think it should fit well by the spring.


And a sock! I'm now knitting the matching sock. And if I finish that sock it will be the first complete pair I've ever made.

Because I'm a Cruel Mom...

I forced Jillian into another Santa Photo-op. This really never gets old for me!

Jillian's Likes and Dislikes

Jillian turned 14 months old today. Here are a few things that she likes:

• Food. Especially strawberries, cheese, potatoes, cheetos, and beef. And whatever mommy, daddy or Cujo is eating. Dog bones are considered a delicacy in Jillian's book.
• Spinning in circles to get dizzy.
• Climbing over the top of the couch to stand in the window sill.
• Cujo. If only he felt the same.
• Bedtime. Hallelujah!
• Peek-a-boo.
• Saying "mamamamamamamama." Finally!
• Making a mess.
• Spilling her milk onto the ground and then playing in it.
• Showers.
• Turning on the electric fireplace in mommy and daddy's room with the remote.
• Smiling at strangers to make them think she likes them...until they want to hold her.
• Tickles.
• The book Hand Hand Fingers Thumb.
• Songs with motions like the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Little Green Frog

Something Jillian does not like:


Is it wrong to love this picture so much?

By the way I finally, at 19 weeks, got around to adding a ticker for this pregnancy. The 2nd time around is a little different. Not because I am any less excited but rather because time is limited. Typing a post is impossible until after bedtime as Jillian likes to help you type. She has taught us computer commands that we never knew existed.

Also, the anatomy ultrasound is next Tuesday! I'm hoping not only for a healthy and happy baby but to get a glimpse of one particular part of the anatomy in particular. Any guesses as to what I'm having? There is a poll in the upper right corner. So far this pregnancy is just like my last one. Practically no symptoms at all. I keep forgetting that I'm even knocked up, although my growing belly is starting to make that more and more difficult.

Thanksgiving Recap

Only three days to recover from Thanksgiving is not nearly enough. I love that we live near all of our family, but during the holidays I definitely find it exhausting as we end up running from one place to another. Our Thanksgiving started when we left the house at 11:30am and didn't end until we got home at 8:30pm. And when you have a 13 month old in tow whose only naps consisted of 15 minutes here or there in the car, that 9 hour day begins to feel like an endless marathon. To make the day a little more fun, Jillian developed a temporary aversion to all people except for mommy. This was of course only exacerbated by all the unfamiliar relatives eager to hold and hug her, as the end result of such advances was invariably screaming and clinging to my leg.

I guess the only alternative is to host Thanksgiving at our house. The problem is that I don't cook. Well I bake desserts. But I'm guessing my family wouldn't be satisfied by a Thanksgiving feast of pie and cheesecake. (It sounds pretty good to me though).

Speaking of desserts, these were my contributions to the festivities...



I got both pie recipes from Martha Stewart. The top is Apple Raspberry and the bottom is Pecan. Both recipes were very easy, especially since Jeramy helped with peeling the apples. I must admit that I used Pillsbury refrigerated crusts rather than baking my own. But hey, I'm a working mom. Cranking out two pies with pre-made crust was hard enough!

I spent the remainder of the weekend recuperating. I thought about putting up the Christmas tree, but I'm not sure where to put it. Really the only feasible placement out of Jillian's reach is where one of our china cabinets currently is. And the idea of moving that and all of its contents to the bedroom seems a bit overwhelming. So we'll see if the tree makes it out of the closet this year. I'm not overly optimistic at this point.

Now its on to the present buying (which at least will be minimal with Jeramy laid-off), the Santa photo taking, even more gatherings, and best of all the holiday baking. I expect to gain several pounds all of which will be promptly blamed on baby #2. Ah, the joys of being pregnant :)

No Fear

My little girl is fearless. I don't know whether it is that she trusts Jeramy and I completely (probably not a good idea!) or whether it is her innate sense of adventure. This past weekend we attended a birthday party at one of those places with the huge inflatable toys you can climb on, bounce on, etc. Jillian had an absolute blast. Her favorite part was this huge inflatable slide. Every time down she'd burst into giggles and when she saw her daddy she'd throw her arms around him wanting to go again. Of course Jeramy would comply no matter how tired and achey he was from climbing up to the top time after time with her in one arm. On the way home she fell asleep and slept for well over two hours.

16 Weeks

If somebody could explain to me how it got to be mid-November 2009 I would greatly appreciate it. I can't hardly believe the date let alone that I'm 16 weeks pregnant with my second child. Pure craziness.

I had my OB appointment today, and everything went great. The heartbeat was a solid 150 bpm, and I had my second blood draw for the sequential screening (NT scan/bloodwork). Then, nonchalantly, my OB said "so are you going to get your H1N1 vaccine today" as if that were some easily obtainable thing that I could easily pick up on the street. Well it turned out that I was in luck as they received the shipment last week. So I got a quick poke and hopefully my flu immunity is complete. Jillian still needs the vaccine, but our family doctor hasn't gotten doses for children under four yet and I don't really feel that it is worth running all over town trying to find a phamacy or doctor that does.

Lately I have finally been finding time to knit again. I took a brief hiatus in August and September because thanks to 1st trimester exhaustion I found myself going to bed just as soon as we got Jillian to sleep each evening. And trying to knit while Jillian is awake is impossible. Pulling on my project and turning my ball of yarn into a tangled mess is one of her favorite activities. In the past month between Jillian sleeping better and reaching 2nd tri and taking up a new project that I'm not completely pissed off at, I have been finding a little time many evenings. Over the past few weeks, I've made good progress on this sweater for Jillian:




It is the Helena pattern from Knitty. So far it is really fun. But of course the finishing looks like it takes forever between the hemming and the placket and the usual sewing in ends and blocking. So we'll see if I'm still as enthused about the sweater in a couple weeks. I'm using Duet DeKAY yarn which is hand dyed by a gal in my knitting group. I'm pretty much falling in love with yarns from indie dyers, but that is another post entirely. The color is a bit deeper than the picture..less hot pink and more burgundy. I really enjoy the veregation in color, but it isn't so overwhelming that it detracts from the lace pattern. It is knit from the top down, which I prefer given my dislike of sewing and finishing. It is somewhat similar to the February Sweater I knit a couple years ago.

In other news Jillian discovered the job of riding on a blanket as her Daddy took her around the living room and up the hall several times. What a lucky girl to have wood floors. And what a lucky girl that she doesn't have to mop them...yet. At what age can I finally put her to work, anyhow?



I also had Jeramy take a belly picture. This is not an attractive picture at all. I must have no shame to be posting this on the internet for all to see. Here is what I looked like at about the same time with Jillian. I don't know if my belly looks bigger than last time, but I certainly look bigger overall. Not exactly what I was going for. I dragged the maternity clothes out this weekend, and I didn't like them nearly as much as I remembered. Of course everything in short sleeved since I was pregnant in the spring and summer last time. So it seems some more shopping is in my future.

13 Months

Jillian turned 13 months old over the weekend. I would have posted about urgent development sooner, but I was overcome by a lovely GI bug or something similar. At first I thought that it was just an errant wave of morning sickness that decided to pound me at 15 weeks. But then other symptoms developed that made that diagnosis unlikely. Let's just sum the whole thing up by saying Monday was not fun. Today I'm feeling better. Not 100%, but hell I haven't felt 100% since before Jillian was born.

Anyhow, back to the whole Jillian being 13 months old thing. She has become quite the climber these days. She loves to scale tall pieces of furniture, stand on them, and strike fear in the hearts of her parents as we try to prevent her from falling. Sometimes we are successful. Sometimes we are not. And honestly my motivation from saving her from hurting herself is entirely linked to the height of the object upon which she is standing. If it is her kid sized chair, I usually let her deal with the ramifications. If it is the end table, well I'm more cautious.

She has also discovered the downward dog position of yoga. I'm not sure how exactly, given that I have never done yoga. (It's just not my thing you know given that it involves that impossible combination of coordination, flexibility and exercise). But regardless I find her in that position quite regularly. She finds it especially enjoyable if you peek between her legs so that she can see you upside down. That, my friends, can conjure up nearly as many giggles as a good game of peek-a-boo.

Teeth #3 and #4 are on their way in. I must admit that I kind of miss the two bottom teeth only look. It was awfully cute. The new teeth are still at the awkward stage where one has grown in more than the other. She already seems to be able to bite off pieces of food better, so I suppose that functionality takes precedence over looks. I am a bit curious to see how straight these teeth grow in. Between my and Jeramy's orthodontia history, this kid is pretty much guaranteed to wear braces in the future.

Jillian has made great strides in the sleeping department over the past month as well. She had frequently been waking up one or even two times a night needing to be fed and rocked back to sleep. Finally I wised up. At one year old, I had the sinking feeling that what she wanted was to see me or her daddy, and that she was not waking up due to serious nutritional deprivation. So one night after getting back from DC when she started crying, I didn't get up. About ten minutes later there was silence again. Glorious, glorious silence. A few weeks later she'll still sometimes cry a bit in the night, but I haven't gotten up once and she usually sleeps 10 to 12 hours. Some nights I have even put her in bed awake and she feel asleep after crying for just a little while. Then last night I put her down awake, and she just snuggled up and fell asleep. Hallelujah! Let's just hope that I didn't completely jinx this success by writing it down.

The transitions from formula to milk and sippy cup to bottle appear to be complete. We hit a small bump with the milk, because she seemed to be very fussy in the evenings. Since we had her on soy formula, we suspected regular milk might not be sitting well with her. I tried a couple of options and found that she seemed to like Lactaid whole milk okay. By the time she was one I had her on sippy cups full-time during the day, but she was still getting a bottle right before bed. A couple of nights ago, we gave her a sippy instead. She doesn't chug it like she does the bottle, but she still seemed to fall asleep okay and she slept just as long as always. She is a full fledged walking, climbing, sippy cup using, milk drinking toddler these days. Where did my baby go?

Jeramy was gone over the weekend for the fourth weekend in a row. (He best enjoy hunting now, because soon the only thing he'll have time to hunt are the two pint sized child-beasts that will be living in our home). Somehow I manage to schedule all the fun things like vet visits when Jeramy is not going to be around to help. Nothing is quite as much fun as wrangling a 80 pound bulldog and toddler in an overflowing vet's office waiting room. All Jillian could say was "dog!" while Cujo looked around nervously. Jillian was also much more willing to stand on the scale than Cujo was too. Of course getting the bill is always the fun part when you have a high maintenance canine like a bulldog. As we had suspected he had a serious ear infection again. He got an ear cleaning. Pain reliever injection. Antibiotic injection. Ear drops. Eye ointment. Oral antibiotics. Oral pain medication. Ear cleaner. Dewormer. And we're supposed to soak each paw in Epsom salts twice a week for 15 minutes due to yeast infections. All of this is on top of his usual allergy medication. I'm about to purchase one of those daily pill containers just to keep track of the dog's meds. I sure wish I could convince my work to add him to my medical insurance.

Anyhow, I would post pictures of these good times, but I'm out of camera batteries. I meant to buy them over the weekend, but somehow between the vet and the vomit I never got a chance. Next time.

A New Car

We got a new car! Well not really new but new to us.

Jeramy and I have been talking about getting a third vehicle for a while because we do not like racking up a bunch of mileage on his truck, which we would like to last a while. However, since Jeramy has been laid off, taking on a car payment is not an option right now. But then an opportunity landed itself in our lap. My dad and stepmom owned this car, but it threw a timing belt when they were driving to Lake Chelan. They decided to buy a new car, so they were willing to let us take this one off of their hands. Jeramy replaced some parts including the head, and now the Cruiser is running great. It is a good car for me to drive to the Park and Ride every day, and it is an automatic so I can stop destroying the clutch in our Ford Contour.

Can I just say it is really nice to have a handy hubby! And thanks Dad and Cindy for helping us out!

Since I Wouldn't Want to Disappoint You

Thanks to my friend Shanna and Facebook, I bring you this. I told you trashy mom really wasn't a stretch for me. Next year, perhaps I'll dress up as a classy, put-together mom. Now that would be a real costume!

Halloween

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays. And now that I have a kid to dress up it is especially fun. This year I dressed Jillian up as a lion. I was going for something cute and warm/fuzzy since I knew it would be cold. This costume certainly fit the bill. I tried to teach her to roar, but it wasn't quite happening. We took her to a Halloween get together at church first and then a party with friends. For the party I dressed up as a trashy mom. It really wasn't much of a stretch.

Here is a glimpse into our fun. There would have been more pictures, but my camera ran out of batteries.

Surprise Photos

I love finding surprise photos on my camera. I downloaded pics from my camera card this evening and found this beauty. I have no idea who took it (probably Jeramy or my MIL...maybe one of them will tell me) and when this happened. But apparently Jillian likes jam!

2nd Trimester

Today I am 13 weeks 3 days pregnant. 1/3 of the way to having another baby. Entering my 2nd trimester. SECOND trimester. Crazy, I know!

I have had a very easy first trimester as you know. No morning sickness. The sciatica is gone. I've been tired for sure, and Jillian's bedtime is often my bedtime. Of course the last time around, fatigue was much easier to handle because I could just fall asleep whenever I wanted without worrying that some little being living in my house would jump off the couch or unravel an entire roll of toilet paper.

We had the nuchal translucency scan on Monday. I got quite nervous after they measured the nuchal fold at 2.0mm, because that was higher than I remembered with Jillian. However they reassured me that it was fine, and because I didn't believe them I later confirmed with Dr. Google that this is the case. Phew! Now I just have to wait for the blood work.

Of course the real reason we even did this screen to begin with was to get a peek at the baby who was moving around quite a bit and making things tough for the technician. She got all sorts of good pictures of their profile, feet, etc. But for some reason, this is the one they printed out this one:
I think we're going to nickname this baby, the blob. I think the blob on the right is the head and the blob on the left is the body but I can't be sure. When the gal handed me this, I was sort of dumbfounded but lacked the energy to complain. Whatever. At least the blob is measuring ahead at 13 w 5 d (and this was a couple days ago). And the heartbeat was a nice 162bpm.

Thanks for all the advice on Jillian in my last post. My aunt was actually the first to suggest Roseola on facebook. The fever didn't seem to last long enough to be a textbook case, but everything else seems to match. Regardless, the rash has been gradually going away and hopefully it will be all cleared up by Halloween.

Poor Baby

On Thursday, Jilliam started running a fever. Oh great, I thought to myself. With Jeramy gone, a sick baby was the last thing I wanted. Especially being pregnant with H1N1 going around. Well thankfully the fever was short lived and broke within 24 hours. However when I picked her up from my mother-in-law's, she had developed a rash. By Saturday morning she looked like puberty hit a decade early. It's not a good look, but she doesn't seem to mind.

The rash is worst on her face and in the diaper region, but she has these lovely red spots all over. I took her to the urgent care clinic, where the doctor was not particularly helpful. It could be something viral in which case it will likely pass in a few days, or it could be an allergic reaction so he has me giving her benadryl. So far the benadryl has not touch the rash, and it leaves me with a tired and grumpy Jillian (note to self, a drowsiness side effect doesn't always equal sleep). Luckily Jeramy surprised me by coming home Saturday night rather than Sunday, so he is here to listen to her cries and tantrums too.

While I was in DC a CD with Jillian's one-year pictures arrived. They turned out so great! If you live in the Seattle area, I highly recommend Keren Fenton who I found on a local message board for mom's. Here photography blog is here.

A Heartbeat

Yesterday was my twelve week appointment, and I was pretty nervous beforehand since it was the big heartbeat appointment. As Jeramy is off hunting in Eastern Washington this week I had to go alone, and I wasn't quite prepared to get bad news. I hate that moment when the OB is fishing around with the doppler trying to find that faint sound. After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a minute I got my relief. A solid 160 bpm. Phew!

Monday is the quad screen (or whatever the call it), and I'm pretty excited to get a peak. With Jillian I really loved that ultrasound because she actually looked like a baby as she wiggled all around. Jeramy will be back by then, and I know he is looking forward to it as he was pretty disappointed to miss my last appointment.

I must admit that I'm still in complete disbelief over being pregnant. It just seems so surreal dispite the confirmation of medical professionals over and over again that I am indeed with child. And it isn't just the lack of symptoms either. I am just really having difficulty grasping that we're going to be a family of four this spring. I've come up with several theories about this of course. Perhaps it's this whole "spontaneous" pregnancy thing that has caught me off guard. Or maybe it is that I'm so busy chasing after child #1 that I don't have as much time to ponder the wonders of being pregnant. Or perhaps it is because my last memories of being pregnant not so long ago involved being quite enormous and getting kicked by a rather active little girl. Who knows. But regardless of my disbelief, this is a blessing that I am more than happy to accept.

And every now and then throughout the day it hits me...holy crap, I'm pregnant!

Jillian Goes to Washington

Taking a one year old by yourself on a plane across the entire country should be considered a special form of torture. I would know as Jillian and I got back from my business trip to Washington, DC last night. A few months ago, my MIL and I decided it would be fun if she and Jillian tagged along on my trip to see the sights since Jeramy would be out of town hunting. The one problem was that my MIL would have to be on a different airline where I had a free flight, and I would need to bring Jillian with me as a lap child. As the little Miss began walking, I started to dread the trip envisioning a screaming toddler screaming in my lap and wanting to run around in the middle of a full plane.

It turns out that the trip would be complete chaos at times, but not for the reasons I suspected.

Getting through security was of course a circus, and trying to get on the plane with a toddler, car seat, diaper bag, and laptop back was challenging. However, the plane ride went rather well. Since neither plane was full as I had feared, I was able to get a seat for Jillian and bring her car seat. She is always much more cooperative in a car seat. Both ways she fell asleep so quickly upon take off that I'm starting to consider plane rides as a solution for those sleepless nights. After a couple hour nap she'd wake up and play happily for a little while. About 4 hours in she'd start to get restless, so I stuck her in my hip carrier and we'd hang out at the back of the plane. Apparently watching flight attendants set up drink carts is completely enthralling. Then it would be time for a cookie. Soon after we'd begin descent and the five - six hours of trying to find ways to constantly entertain a 12 month old were finally over.

When I arrived in DC, I was feeling rather good about the whole experience. When I learned that my checked bag did not arrive due to a flood in the basement of Sea-Tac airport I was less thrilled. I had packed my carry on bags light since I would be by myself, so I had little for myself and Jillian besides the clothes on our back, a few diapers, and a bit of formula. My bag wouldn't get there for another 36 hours, so at 11:30pm at night I was at the drug store down the street from the hotel stocking up on baby essentials. The next morning, instead of seeing the sights, I had to catch a Taxi to a local mall in order to pick up clothes for Jillian and myself since I couldn't very well wear jeans to the conference starting that afternoon.

And that wouldn't have been so bad, but I got about three hours of sleep on the night we arrived. You see some kids next door decided that it would be a whole lot of fun to throw a party in their room. Considering that my work was footing a bill of $300 a night at the Ritz Carlton, I was not so thrilled about that. I called the front desk at 1am who came up, and they shut off the music. However I could still hear shouting. I went next door and asked them to quiet down twice explaining the sleeping one year old in my room. Apparently I was not persuasive (aka bitchy) enough. So at 2:30am I marched down to the front desk where management was not very happy to hear about the continued disruption of my sleep. After threatening to kick them out, the punk kids (don't I sound old?) finally got the hint. And I got my room free of charge for the night...so I guess my employer can thank me for the savings.

And just when I thought my problems were over, I discovered my debit card was missing and had to cancel it. Thank goodness nobody had charged anything on it inappropriately.

But wait, there is more. When I opened my suitcase this morning I discovered that an entire can of formula exploded over the contents. It is a big white powdery mess. I'm still trying to get that little mess cleaned up.

I know the trip probably sounds like hell, but really it wasn't all bad. My MIL and Jillian had a great time playing, and the conference I attended was excellent. It is admittedly nice to be back home though.

Now if only Jeramy would hurry back from hunting because this single parenthood business is for the birds. He'll probably be gone until Sunday afternoon though.

1 Year Appointment and Stuff

Right after Jillian was born, I clearly recall the fear that consumed me at the prospect of taking her to the doctor (or anywhere in public for that matter). Mostly my fear revolved around whether she would cry the entire time, as she seemed to cry 20 out of 24 hours every day. Now I know that taking a newborn to the doctor is nothing compared to a one year old bursting with energy and destruction. In the past she has liked doctor visits because that meant attention which she is all about. However stranger anxiety has since set in making the whole experience so much more fun.

Jeramy had taken her to the appointment, and I arrived just after it began (thankfully after the 30 minute stay in the waiting room). When I found her she was crying quite pathetically on the scale. We then took her back to the waiting room where she proceeded to tear up the tissue sheet on the exam table piece by piece while screaming (her happy scream) as loud as possible. We tried letting her wander around, but those draws and cabinets proved far to interesting to let her stay on the ground for long. Then it came time for Dr. M's exam, which led to the unhappy screaming and was mostly performed while she was clinging to me. He deemed her a precocious child and warned us that toddler temper tantrums would develop early with this one (ummmm we noticed).

As usually she is perfectly average except for that head:
Weight: 21 lbs 5 oz
Height: 29 inches
Head circ: 19.25 inches

In other news, great advances have been made related to talking. In addition to yay, yeah, dog "dah", daddy "dada" and touchdown "tuh duh" she is finally saying something that sounds something like mama! Finally!

On the pregnancy front, 1st trimester has happily been symptom free until now. First, I've developed the itchiest boobs on the planet. Just like with Jillian I never have gotten sore boobs, just super itchy ones. Do you know of an appropriate way to itch your chest in public? I don't. It also seems that I'm developing some sciatica. It seems a bit soon for that given that this baby is about the size of a grape, but for the past few days I've had this horrible shooting pain in my lower left back/butt. It hurts like hell, and of course there isn't much I can do about it. *sigh* At least I'm not spending first tri puking my brains out. Nancy asked if I've began showing yet. No, but I'm curious to see when I'll start showing this time around. In my favor would be having two pregnancies so close together as ladies always seem to show earlier with the 2nd. Going against me is that I quite a bit of tummy leftover from being pregnant with Jillian. However, if people want to pretend that my tummy fat is a baby bump, I am not about to argue!

Pumpkin Patch

We took Jillian on her first trip to the pumpkin patch today. I'm not sure who had more fun...her or her daddy! You can probably see why she is such a Daddy's girl. I don't know what I'm going to do with her when Jeramy goes hunting in another week.