Ultrasound January 15, 2010

So today was the big ultrasound! As I mentioned previously, I had been tempted to wait to find out the sex of the baby and John had been all for finding out. Well, the closer we got to the ultrasound the more I thought I would probably decide I wanted to know. The night before the ultrasound I had two dreams that I was having the ultrasound, we decided to find out, and it was a boy. (I have been sleeping very lightly the last few days, which makes my dreams even easier to remember than normal.) By the time I woke up I was pretty convinced I wanted to know what it was, so I asked John if he still wanted to find out and – wouldn’t you know it – he had become convinced that he did NOT want to find out!! LOL! We came full circle.

Regardless of finding out the sex, the morning had its share of drama. Hayden is never, ever sick (as in throwing up – colds/ear infections/etc, yes), but as John was hugging Hayden before he left for work Hayden threw up all over the both of them. He seemed ok afterwards, so we thought it was maybe just “one of those things,” but about 1/2 hour later he got a little fussy and clingy and then threw up on me (and him) while I was holding him to try to check he was ok. This was about 2 minutes before I needed to be out the door to get to the appointment. I got us changed and as he did not have a fever and again seemed to be ok I decided to go ahead with the appointment. He was completely fine on the car ride there and all the way through both the u/s and doctor appointments. Phew!

The ultrasound was really great. The technician was very nice and really took her time. She did some 3D imaging which was unexpected. She said she was getting such good images of the baby and s/he looked so great that she might use the images on a poster that the office is creating to show the different stages of pregnancy. The u/s machine that they were using seemed really clear (for an ultrasound), even compared to three years ago when we were getting them for Hayden which seemed fine then. It was easy to make out where the hands, arms, feet, legs, etc were and the different facial features.  I found it funny that I could see that there was about a 2 second delay with the imaging, because I would feel the baby move and then see it on the screen a couple of seconds later.  S/he was in the breech position today, but I got confirmation from the technician and my doctor that at this stage the baby flips position pretty often and it’s no indication that s/he will be breech when it’s time to deliver.  I did keep my eye out to see if I could tell if it was a boy or girl, and I thought I saw some indications that it was a boy, but the umbilical cord is so close to that area that I’m pretty sure that was actually what I was seeing.   The technician said she knew what the sex was so we had her write it down and put it in an envelope, so we have it in our possession in case we decide we do want to know.

The baby is on track for its due date.  Since we hadn’t had any ultrasounds to this point I kind of thought they might change the date since it’s only been based on the dates that I calculated.  S/he was 12 oz today, which is funny because I’ve gained ab0ut 8 pounds, so what the heck? 😉  From my 8 week appointment to my 12 week I gained under 2 pounds, then at my 16 week appointment I weighed the same as at my 12 (to the oz), and I gained just under 6 pounds in the last month!  Well, I guess it was Christmas time and I did NOT take it easy on the food front over Christmas. 😉  Hey, the baby said s/he wanted it.

Hayden was really good during the ultrasound.  He sat with John and before we could see anything he was talking about how the baby was going to be on the screen.  He liked looking at it, but like any 2 year old quickly got distracted and made John talk about the car magazine they had brought in from the waiting area.  It was funny listening to him argue with John during the u/s: “What that one is?” “That’s a Lexus.” “That not Lexus.” “Yes it is a Lexus, Hayden.” “No, that not Lexus.”

After the u/s we had the regular doctor appointment, and that was good.  The doctor even mentioned that my pregnancy was turning out to be “boring” which is a really good thing!  We had an adventurous pregnancy with Hayden and so on, so I welcome boring with open arms!

As we were getting our stuff together to leave the room and checkout, Hayden got very clingy and listless all the sudden, and I asked John if he could hurry and take him outside in case he was sick again while I checked out.  When I got downstairs and saw them outside, there were two puddles on the cement where Hayden had been sick. 😦  Then on the car ride home he fell asleep, which was only at about 10:45 am so that is a really unusual time for him to be tired.  We got home and I put on the Cars movie, and he sat with me on the couch and watched that for a while.  He perked up after about 1/2 hour and even ate a small lunch (I couldn’t get him to eat anything for breakfast).  He’s been his normal self since then, except that he is napping now and went to sleep really easily, and he hardly falls asleep at naptime lately.  Glad he is getting some rest and hopefully he’s going to feel great when he wakes up!

Snow doesn’t stop a 2 year old January 10, 2010

We got our first decent dump of snow of the season this week and we were very intriged to see what Hayden thought of it.  Last year he hadn’t been walking confidently for that long so he wasn’t completely convinced about the wanders of the white stuff.  I had to go out and shouvel the snow off the drive way and Kara had asked Hayden if we wanted to help and of course he said yes.  She had bought him a baby shouvel a couple of weeks back.

Two attempts at shoveling and he was done with that! (need to work on that, we have a pretty big driveway!)  But he just wanted to play with all his outside toys.  To him it was as if it was just summer again.  (it was about 10F).  So he proceeded to get all his toys out as normal!  He got a little frustrated as some of his trucks got stuck in the snow, so I had to escalate my shoveling so he had a little path through which he could push it.  Generally he just got on about his business like there wasn’t 5 inches of snow on the ground.  He also got on his quad bike, but experienced his first wheel spin (it’s only 2 wheel drive) which he wasn’t that impressed with and gave me a look that said “daddy you need to get me a 4×4″…  He even tried to get his chaulks out!!  I had to explain that might be a little difficult!!

I love you! January 9, 2010

I’m going to sound soft, but I have to tell this story because it was so sweet.  It was bed time, and as usual we were singing songs.  Hayden’s lying in his bed surrounded by all his blankets and toys and I was kneed down right next to him with my face only a few inches from his singing wheels on the bus etc.   Got through wheels on the bus, mommies on the bus and then it’s daddy’s on the bus (say i love you..).  While I sang this to him I touched him on the nose which each i love you, on like the third i love you, he reached out his hand around the back of my head and pulled me towards him and gave me a kiss!!  It was so funny, but funny cute.  Made up for some of the screaming and shouting earlier in the day and the usual “NO DADDY NO”!!

Heeeyyy, heeeeyyyyyy January 6, 2010

Something new that Hayden has started doing that cracks us up is saying “heeeyyyy” when he doesn’t like something.  For instance, if you try to take something away from him he will go, “heeeyyyy, heeeeyyyyy…” as he reaches out for it.  I don’t think it translates as funny in type, but when you hear it out loud he sounds like such a KID as opposed to a toddler.  It also makes us realize just how often we say heeeeyyy to him and to each other (and to the dogs… and to the cat… and probably to you, too)!

Baby #2

I think this is a little late coming, but we are so excited to be expecting baby #2!  I’m due on June 3, which puts me at 19 weeks as I type.  I had quite a bit of nausea (which didn’t always stop at feeling nauseous) in the first trimester, but that didn’t go on much into my second trimester.  My belly seemed to pop right out really quickly compared to my pregnancy with Hayden, which is what a lot of people have after they have been pregnant before. Even my belly button has been pushing its way forward for a few weeks already, and I was way further along before that happened last time.  It never did fully pop out with Hayden but just was flat – I wonder what it will do this time!

We have our first (and only, assuming no problems are found) ultrasound next week.  John wants to know the sex, but I was tempted to wait this time and let it be a surprise.  With Hayden we had many ultrasounds, the first one being at 14 weeks, and they could tell in that early ultrasound that he was a boy.  Since it was so early it seemed right to find out the sex, as we could know from such an early stage.  But with this one I will already be halfway through by the time we have the opportunity to know, and I feel like if I’ve waited this long I can wait another 20 weeks.  But at the moment I would say that we probably will find out, but my compromise would be to find out some other way besides the technician telling us.  I’ve heard of people who have the technician write it down and then the parents find out by having a cake made or having an outfit bought that matches the sex.  Not sure yet what we would do – my vote is cake but John isn’t as into cake as me. 🙂

Jelly Butter Sandwich and other Foodstuff January 5, 2010

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a quintessential part of a kid’s American lunch. Many of our British family and friends have tried this fare while visiting it, as I am a fan myself and am often eating them. But for anyone unfamiliar, it is a peanut butter and jam sandwich (in England “jelly” is jello, so it’s worth explaining). Being that Hayden is part American, he has taken to PB&J with a gusto – making his mommy proud and his daddy shake his head. The best part about it, though, is that when you ask him what he wants for lunch he said “jelly butter sandwich.” Makes us laugh every time.

Yesterday when he came home from day care he wanted “candy train,” which means candy from the train advent calendar that Nanny got for him. I told him the candy train was closed after Christmas, but he could have a couple of jelly beans. He sat on my lap and ate his jelly beans, and when he was done he said to me with the cutest smile: “Jelly butter beans.”

On Sunday we ordered pizza and decided to eat it in the lounge watching TV, as a sort of family party before real life (work and day care) began again the next day. Hayden had never had a meal on the couch before, and he LOVED it. We put one of our computer lap desks on his lap and put his plate on that, and he sat there like a big boy and did a brilliant job eating his little couch picnic. Yesterday when he came home from day care he kept telling me he wanted pizza and climbing on the couch. I had to keep telling him he could have pizza later but he had to eat it at the table. He wasn’t very happy about that, but in the end the promise of pizza lured him to the table.

What this one is? January 4, 2010

Hayden is at that age where he wants to know what everything is.  His favorite phrase right now is “what this one is?”.  He will go through an entire book or photo album and ask “what this one is?”  He’ll ask on everything, even things he’s known for ages, sometimes he even asks before he’s completely turned the page which makes me think he isn’t always paying attention…. Generally if we ask him he’ll tell us,  he just likes us to do the work.  I’m pretty sure most of it is going in, as every now and then he’ll blow our minds by knowing something that we have no idea how he knows..

He also has a bunch of different cards (Mr Men top trumps, Colts Trading Cards. Thomas Tank Engine Cards, Cars Cards) and he will bring them over to us and one by one lay them down in front of us and ask “what this one is?” and won’t be satisfied until we’ve given him the answer.  If he’s in a really good mood he might switch it around and tell us “this one is Chick Hicks, this one is Ramone etc..” but that no that often!   He should know every Colts player by now as he spends a lot of time going through the Colts players and loves to pronounce then after I’ve told him.  Very funny to hear him saying “Freddie Keiaho”..

Orange Juice Daddy January 3, 2010

We recently had the big boy bed conversion.  We had Hayden’s big boy room painted just before Christmas as we thought what a great time to get him moved over ready for baby number 2.  Incase it didn’t go well, it would be easy to manage (not having to work in the mornings) less sleep if we had a two year old continually turn up at our bedroom door!

We have been making a big deal out of his new room for a couple of weeks, and the day he moved we spent some time up there playing with brand new toys to get him excited about his new room.  Things could not have gone better!  From the point I’d got him about of the bath, got his PJs on, he ran into his new bedroom without me saying a word!  We followed the traditional routine but with books on the beanbag instead of the rocking chair, put him in the big boy bed and sang the songs.  I closed the door, nervous that he was just going to clamber out and follow me down the stairs.  I never heard a peep!  He was straight asleep.  And every night since then he’s basically done the same.  A rock star!!!

The first morning we did walk in and found him walking around his room trying to figure out how to open the door!  Since then we’ve told him he has to stay in bed and he’s going a good job at that.

The other night, about 5am, we suddenly heard out of the baby monitor “orange juice daddy”.  That was it, then silence and then sleep til 8am!?

Napping has been a little more of a challenge, it tends to be light in that room during the day, so i think it’s taking some adjusting.  Twice while he was supposed to be napping this week we’ve heard this huge thud on the ceiling, and then followed with tears a few seconds later.  Somehow he’s managed to fall out of bed and both times used his head as a brake!  Poor little guy!!

The times I’ve walked in on him when he’s supposed to be napping, but isn’t, I’ve caught him standing in the middle of his bed with a big cheeky grin on his face!  Little monkey!!!  I suspect that has something to do with the head bumping!!

We have pee pees!!!

It’s been a few months since we introduced Hayden to the potty. He’s shown a general interest in it, but never really hung around long enough to do anything in it.  We introduced bribes originally to sit on it, and then later to put “his pee-pees in the potty”.  Kara bought a toy ambulance a few months back and we put it in the drawer in the bathroom to give him incentive to pee in the potty.  Every time he sits on the potty he would get up (without doing anything) and say “get ambulance now”… we would explain that no pee-pees means no ambulance and he would just carry on with his day without much bother.

We’ve never really put much pressure on him and as a result he hasn’t really progressed on his potty training.  We figure no big rush.  However, his favorite trick would be to sit on the potty before bath time, once the bath is ready and he would stand up and just before we got time to pick him up and put him in the bath he would pee all over the floor or the bath mat…so close but so far..

Having time off over Christmas presented an opportunity to spend a little more time trying to encourage him.   I had the brainwave to borrow a couple of huge F1 (race car) books from the library.  He is obsessed by race cars and will happily page through all 200 pages, so we only let him look at these books while he’s on the potty.    Now he will ask us if he can sit on the potty so he can go through the books!  This morning he sat on the potty for about 45 minutes reading (looking at all the pictures of race cars) through the books, but still no pee pees!!

Before bath tonight we thought let’s keeping trying, plonked him on the potty, gave him his ferrari book and sat back for 10 minutes… then i told him to get in the bath and i saw a little puddle of yellow liquid in the potty!!  WE HAVE PEE PEES!!    We celebrated like we had won the world cup, he got his ambulance which he will not want to leave his site for about a week, and potty training is moving forward!