We have reached the halfway point with this pregnancy already. It's gone by so fast. Probably because we've been so busy chasing Lila around and settling into our new house. It'll be interesting to see how the second half goes. I'm sure it'll be more difficult. I've been having trouble sleeping lately. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to get to bed early enough. Jake's at his meeting and who knows when he'll be home. Hopefully Lila gets to bed early, too. Last night she went down at 8 but then woke up at 8:40 and was up till 10:30. Oh well.
Today was a good day. We kept busy so that tonight without Jake wouldn't be so boring. When Lila got up we went to two garage sales that I found on Craigslist. I bought a few things for Lila (books, puzzles, clothes) and clothes for Baby Boy too. That's a lot of fun, shopping for a boy now. It's fun to see a bunch of blue and green in my laundry basket. Jake got excited when I showed him the clothes, said that made it more exciting. He hasn't been as enthusiastic as I thought he'd be, but I think it's because he's really tired too.
As far as names go, the frontrunner is Jared Jacob. Before we had kids I really wanted all of our kids to have the middle name Ollero. But on the Betzold side, family names are pretty important. Like the three generations of Jameses. And Jake's name is Jacob James, after his dad. So I think it would be really special for Jake to have Jacob be his middle name. He really wants to name the baby Jacob, but I just can't stand the idea of having two people with the same name living in my house. Seems too confusing to me. Jake's parents were actually going to name him Jared, until he was born and they saw him and thought he looked like a Jacob. We'll see, though. I'm not completely sold. Boy names are really hard.
After we were done with garage sales, which were a lot of fun for me anyway, we went to Meijer for groceries. Bought lots of fruit for Lila. Stocked up on Chef Boyardee raviolis for Lila (on sale for $.88/can!) and laundry detergent (BOGO free!) and then headed home where Lila took a 2 hour nap.
Emily stopped by for a while to pick up some of her work clothes that she'd washed and forgotten here. I was pretty tired. Next week is her last week working at Panera. She's excited about that.
After Lila woke up, I fed her a quick lunch so that we could head to Jessica Wesel's. I bought hot dogs today and fixed one for Lila. She ate the whole thing! I was very proud! It was her first hot dog, too. So I'd say she likes them. :) She liked the kielbasa in the potato soup too. She's such a good eater now.
We visited at Jessica's for a few hours. That was really nice too. The kids just played and we got to visit. She's 15 weeks along. It's fun having kids around the same time that your friends are. Jarom and Lila are the same age too.
Then we came home and had a quick dinner with Jake. He didn't leave work till 5:40, so he was awesome enough to sit down and eat with us and be even later for his meeting. That extra 10-20 minutes just made a big difference.
So now Lila and I are playing out in the driveway and I think we'll head in soon for bathtime and hopefully bedtime.
Additional thoughts on pregnancy --
I'm really trying to enjoy it. I only get a limited amount of time in my life to be pregnant, so I really want to enjoy and cherish it while I have it.
I'm excited to have the opportunity to have a boy and to raise him to be a good man. I think of a lot of the most important people in my life--they're men. I'm excited to meet him, my son.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
19w 6d Ultrasound Results (Video)
We had our ultrasound this morning at 8:30. I couldn't sleep last night. I was up from 2:30-4:30 or 5 and then up again at 6 or so when Lila got up. Just too excited, I guess. Emily spent the night because she was coming to the ultrasound with us. Jake had a hard time getting out bed, he was tired.
It's a beautiful day today. The temperatures have finally cooled off, and it's a very temperate 70 degrees. There were lots of fluffy clouds in the sky and I enjoyed watching them float by as we drove to the hospital. I was so happy and excited, and wanted to savor the moment before my life would change again. Well, according to Jake, it didn't change because the baby has always been what is is, but my perception of the world and my life has definitely changed.
We had to sit in the waiting room for 10-15 minutes before we were called back. Lila was a really good girl. She wasn't scared of the room or the ultrasound at all. She sat and ate snacks and walked around a while, so that was great. Jake taped it on his iPhone.
As soon as I saw the baby on the screen, I thought it looked like a boy and I mouthed that to Emily (Jake wasn't paying attention to me). And then I thought I saw a flash of his "business." The ultrasound tech looked around for a while at the heart and took pictures of that and the brain and spine and other anatomy. And then finally it was time to look between the legs, and for a moment I couldn't figure out if it was for sure a boy, but the ultrasound tech said that it was and got a really good picture of his "business."
So, we are having a BOY!!!
I'm actually really excited. The first time around, I really didn't want a boy. I thought I wouldn't know what to do with one. But now that I have more experience and Lila is so darn cute, I'm really excited for this new adventure. I think Lila will really like having a little brother. It will be fun to have a little boy in the house :) I'm especially excited for Jake. I think that he will absolutely love having a little boy, a little shadow, a little Jake mini-me following him around. Although, when I told him that, we laughed because we already have a Little Jake walking around: Lila. He said, "Yeah, I definitely don't feel like we have a Little Rudi walking around."
SO yeah, we're having a boy! He looks perfectly healthy. He's measuring a week smaller than his gestational age, but the tech and midwife said that it's in the normal range and nothing to be worried about. So, maybe he'll be a smaller baby than Lila. At Lila's ultrasound, I was 19 weeks along (I'm almost 20 this time), she was measuring a few days early and was 11 oz. Little Boy is 9 oz.
As soon as we found out it was a boy, Jake asked the tech if she was positive it was a boy, and she said definitely, and then he asked if he could send out the text messages. But then I told him to wait till we were done. When we were finished, we got our printed pictures (there are some great ones!) and then Jake ran to the car to get a USB drive because the tech could put the pictures directly onto it, which was great.
And then we went back out to the waiting room and got to make phone calls. (I had my 20 week check-up at 9:15.) I called my mom first and she was at work. I said, "Guess what!" And she said, "I have no idea!" And then I told her we're having a boy. She laughed. She's happy. She said she's been kind of thinking it was a boy, and I have too. She thought Lila was a boy too though. She asked if I was excited and I told her that I really was. I told her, though, that Emily (who was standing right by me) didn't seem very excited, lol, and she isn't, yet. Emily still feels very hesitant about little boys, like they're foreign. But I think she'll love him as soon as she meets him. Mom said we'll have to get used to having a boy around--we never had too many of them around growing up. Jake went outside and talked to his parents and Jim. I called Jessica and texted Kelsey. They're both excited of course.
And then we had our midwife appointment. I weigh 112, which is what I weighed when I was 12 weeks along with Lila! Lila did well in that too, it was a short visit.
So yeah. A boy. Very exciting. And lots more planning to do than if we were having another girl. I'll have to hit up garage sales before the end of the summer. Very exciting. We're so blessed.
It's a beautiful day today. The temperatures have finally cooled off, and it's a very temperate 70 degrees. There were lots of fluffy clouds in the sky and I enjoyed watching them float by as we drove to the hospital. I was so happy and excited, and wanted to savor the moment before my life would change again. Well, according to Jake, it didn't change because the baby has always been what is is, but my perception of the world and my life has definitely changed.
We had to sit in the waiting room for 10-15 minutes before we were called back. Lila was a really good girl. She wasn't scared of the room or the ultrasound at all. She sat and ate snacks and walked around a while, so that was great. Jake taped it on his iPhone.
As soon as I saw the baby on the screen, I thought it looked like a boy and I mouthed that to Emily (Jake wasn't paying attention to me). And then I thought I saw a flash of his "business." The ultrasound tech looked around for a while at the heart and took pictures of that and the brain and spine and other anatomy. And then finally it was time to look between the legs, and for a moment I couldn't figure out if it was for sure a boy, but the ultrasound tech said that it was and got a really good picture of his "business."
So, we are having a BOY!!!
I'm actually really excited. The first time around, I really didn't want a boy. I thought I wouldn't know what to do with one. But now that I have more experience and Lila is so darn cute, I'm really excited for this new adventure. I think Lila will really like having a little brother. It will be fun to have a little boy in the house :) I'm especially excited for Jake. I think that he will absolutely love having a little boy, a little shadow, a little Jake mini-me following him around. Although, when I told him that, we laughed because we already have a Little Jake walking around: Lila. He said, "Yeah, I definitely don't feel like we have a Little Rudi walking around."
SO yeah, we're having a boy! He looks perfectly healthy. He's measuring a week smaller than his gestational age, but the tech and midwife said that it's in the normal range and nothing to be worried about. So, maybe he'll be a smaller baby than Lila. At Lila's ultrasound, I was 19 weeks along (I'm almost 20 this time), she was measuring a few days early and was 11 oz. Little Boy is 9 oz.
As soon as we found out it was a boy, Jake asked the tech if she was positive it was a boy, and she said definitely, and then he asked if he could send out the text messages. But then I told him to wait till we were done. When we were finished, we got our printed pictures (there are some great ones!) and then Jake ran to the car to get a USB drive because the tech could put the pictures directly onto it, which was great.
And then we had our midwife appointment. I weigh 112, which is what I weighed when I was 12 weeks along with Lila! Lila did well in that too, it was a short visit.
So yeah. A boy. Very exciting. And lots more planning to do than if we were having another girl. I'll have to hit up garage sales before the end of the summer. Very exciting. We're so blessed.
19w 6d - Can't Sleep!
Night before the ultrasound and guess who can't sleep :) I'm going to go lay down though. Just had some milk and a granola bar. Hopefully I'll be able to get at least a little more sleep before our 7am alarm.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Being Productive, and Reproductive - 19w 4d
We had a good week last week, and a good weekend too. I tried to ease Lila back into a routine, and for the most part she did great. I think her teeth are bugging her again. I wish it didn't take so long for them to cut through. But, she's generally been cheerful and playful and I'm so glad to see her feeling better.
During the week, I spent a lot of time working outside. Weeding. A lot. We have pretty much neglected the big flower beds in our yards (front and back) the whole summer, so there were a ton of weeds. Probably hundreds of pounds of them (some of them were huge!). Also, we got rid of all the giant sunflowers and a lot of the wildflowers too. We transplanted some of the mums on Saturday with Terie's help. We still have more transplanting to do. In a few weeks, we'll plant grass where the flowerbeds are. I'm really excited about the progress we've made and how much better everything looks already. It will be so nice, next year, to have much less to maintain and take care of. I've enjoyed working out there and I think next year I'll enjoy it too.
We also finishing painting the big wall in the living room/kitchen. So now the whole living/kitchen area is finished, which is also a great feeling. I feel like we've accomplished a lot in the 3 months we've lived here. There is still a LOT more to do, but it feels good to be checking things off of our gigantic to do list.
Jake got the riding lawn mower running and also found a bagger for it on Craigslist for $50! He bought the mower from Sean Randall for $450. So, all in all, a pretty good deal, and it should only take 30-45 minutes to mow the lawn now, instead of 2+ hours! Awesome! And, he can suck up all the leaves in the fall with it. Woohoo!
Yesterday after 2nd ward's church, we had the Neils and VanZantens over for a BBQ. Emily and Mike also came. So did Frank and Kate Whitaker. It was a really nice time. We haven't really had a lot of people over since we've moved in, and we definitely should do this more often (have company). What's the point in having a nice house if you never have people over? Fun time.
On Friday evening we, with Emily, went over to the Randall's (Jake's boss's). They're on a juice diet (they make fresh juice with a juicer) right now, and Jake's super interested, mostly because he loves juice. So they had us over to try different kinds of juices. We tried broccoli, zucchini, carrot, beet. And also more traditional orange, pineapple, banana, etc. It was fun. I like Jen a lot. She also gave me some AWESOME bread and jam, it's so yummy. Good people.
On Thursday evening we helped (well, Jake helped) the Littles load up their moving van. They are moving to Utah because Josh found several people out there to work for Bloomfire, the company he runs. (Josh is a part-owner and the founder of the company Jake works at, Maestro.) That was good too.
Mike is doing alright. He spent a week at scout camp and is happy to be home, though he enjoyed spending time with his YM. Things with Cassandra are weird right now. But I think a lot of that is due to Mike's hypersensitivity about, well, everything. I keep telling him to relax. Most of the issues are just normal issues that most married couples have to work through anyway. He picked up his ring today. He doesn't sound very excited about it because he's not 100% sure that he wants to propose. But I think he will soon. He still needs to talk to Kirk, Cassandra's dad, and he's really not looking forward to that. Cassandra's oldest brother, Jason, is now un-engaged. He's 32 and single again. What a weird family. It would be one thing if maybe only one of the children was unmarried, but 4 of them are unmarried and over the age of 22. It's really dysfunctional, the way they are. I really hope that Cassandra can just push through and commit. For her happiness and for Mike's.
Emily's bummed about Shane still, but she's doing well. I'm trying to encourage her to not be so bitter about it. She calls him a jerk and talks badly about him, so when she does I try to be understanding but to help her understand that he didn't intentionally want to hurt her... and that he's making a lot of normal decisions for someone his age and with his experience. He is officially planning on transferring to BYU after this semester. Oh well. Emily will find someone much better, and she feels very confident about that. She's really excited to start school. I'll miss seeing her so much. It'll be a little different when she lives 40 minutes away as opposed to 15.
Anyway, feeling blessed. Feeling the baby kick more and more. Our appointment is Wednesday morning at 8:30 and I'm very excited to find out what we're having. I think it's a boy, but I also think it's a girl, so... I'll actually feel surprised either way. But I'll be happy either way and very excited too. I used to be scared to have a boy, but now I think it would be a lot of fun. Jake doesn't want to guess because he doesn't want to be wrong (party pooper), so his official guess is that we're having twins, one of each. It will make this pregnancy seem more real. It still doesn't feel very real to me, and I definitely don't think about it as much as I did when I was pregnant with Lila. Jake and I don't talk about it a whole lot. Only sometimes. Tonight was the first time he started talking to the baby in my belly, trying to get it to kick for him. He said, "Hey in there! This is your father!" I thought it was cute. I like that he's the father of my children. :) We are excited to have another baby. I'm feeling great. Only tired, but that's mostly because of Lila's struggles the past week. I'm having to get up to pee 2-3 times a night too. But so far, this pregnancy has been even easier than my pregnancy with Lila, which wasn't too terrible. Of course, I still have halfway to go, but I'm feeling good. I think a lot of it has to do with my weight gain.... I'm gaining the normal, healthy amount. I think it's making a big difference. I'm able to still be active and work hard--so much so that sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant. My belly is definitely getting bigger though. I have a pronounced pregnant belly now, and sometimes in the evenings I do feel very pregnant. It's fun to be going through this again. So excited for Wednesday!
During the week, I spent a lot of time working outside. Weeding. A lot. We have pretty much neglected the big flower beds in our yards (front and back) the whole summer, so there were a ton of weeds. Probably hundreds of pounds of them (some of them were huge!). Also, we got rid of all the giant sunflowers and a lot of the wildflowers too. We transplanted some of the mums on Saturday with Terie's help. We still have more transplanting to do. In a few weeks, we'll plant grass where the flowerbeds are. I'm really excited about the progress we've made and how much better everything looks already. It will be so nice, next year, to have much less to maintain and take care of. I've enjoyed working out there and I think next year I'll enjoy it too.
We also finishing painting the big wall in the living room/kitchen. So now the whole living/kitchen area is finished, which is also a great feeling. I feel like we've accomplished a lot in the 3 months we've lived here. There is still a LOT more to do, but it feels good to be checking things off of our gigantic to do list.
Jake got the riding lawn mower running and also found a bagger for it on Craigslist for $50! He bought the mower from Sean Randall for $450. So, all in all, a pretty good deal, and it should only take 30-45 minutes to mow the lawn now, instead of 2+ hours! Awesome! And, he can suck up all the leaves in the fall with it. Woohoo!
Yesterday after 2nd ward's church, we had the Neils and VanZantens over for a BBQ. Emily and Mike also came. So did Frank and Kate Whitaker. It was a really nice time. We haven't really had a lot of people over since we've moved in, and we definitely should do this more often (have company). What's the point in having a nice house if you never have people over? Fun time.
On Friday evening we, with Emily, went over to the Randall's (Jake's boss's). They're on a juice diet (they make fresh juice with a juicer) right now, and Jake's super interested, mostly because he loves juice. So they had us over to try different kinds of juices. We tried broccoli, zucchini, carrot, beet. And also more traditional orange, pineapple, banana, etc. It was fun. I like Jen a lot. She also gave me some AWESOME bread and jam, it's so yummy. Good people.
On Thursday evening we helped (well, Jake helped) the Littles load up their moving van. They are moving to Utah because Josh found several people out there to work for Bloomfire, the company he runs. (Josh is a part-owner and the founder of the company Jake works at, Maestro.) That was good too.
Mike is doing alright. He spent a week at scout camp and is happy to be home, though he enjoyed spending time with his YM. Things with Cassandra are weird right now. But I think a lot of that is due to Mike's hypersensitivity about, well, everything. I keep telling him to relax. Most of the issues are just normal issues that most married couples have to work through anyway. He picked up his ring today. He doesn't sound very excited about it because he's not 100% sure that he wants to propose. But I think he will soon. He still needs to talk to Kirk, Cassandra's dad, and he's really not looking forward to that. Cassandra's oldest brother, Jason, is now un-engaged. He's 32 and single again. What a weird family. It would be one thing if maybe only one of the children was unmarried, but 4 of them are unmarried and over the age of 22. It's really dysfunctional, the way they are. I really hope that Cassandra can just push through and commit. For her happiness and for Mike's.
Emily's bummed about Shane still, but she's doing well. I'm trying to encourage her to not be so bitter about it. She calls him a jerk and talks badly about him, so when she does I try to be understanding but to help her understand that he didn't intentionally want to hurt her... and that he's making a lot of normal decisions for someone his age and with his experience. He is officially planning on transferring to BYU after this semester. Oh well. Emily will find someone much better, and she feels very confident about that. She's really excited to start school. I'll miss seeing her so much. It'll be a little different when she lives 40 minutes away as opposed to 15.
Anyway, feeling blessed. Feeling the baby kick more and more. Our appointment is Wednesday morning at 8:30 and I'm very excited to find out what we're having. I think it's a boy, but I also think it's a girl, so... I'll actually feel surprised either way. But I'll be happy either way and very excited too. I used to be scared to have a boy, but now I think it would be a lot of fun. Jake doesn't want to guess because he doesn't want to be wrong (party pooper), so his official guess is that we're having twins, one of each. It will make this pregnancy seem more real. It still doesn't feel very real to me, and I definitely don't think about it as much as I did when I was pregnant with Lila. Jake and I don't talk about it a whole lot. Only sometimes. Tonight was the first time he started talking to the baby in my belly, trying to get it to kick for him. He said, "Hey in there! This is your father!" I thought it was cute. I like that he's the father of my children. :) We are excited to have another baby. I'm feeling great. Only tired, but that's mostly because of Lila's struggles the past week. I'm having to get up to pee 2-3 times a night too. But so far, this pregnancy has been even easier than my pregnancy with Lila, which wasn't too terrible. Of course, I still have halfway to go, but I'm feeling good. I think a lot of it has to do with my weight gain.... I'm gaining the normal, healthy amount. I think it's making a big difference. I'm able to still be active and work hard--so much so that sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant. My belly is definitely getting bigger though. I have a pronounced pregnant belly now, and sometimes in the evenings I do feel very pregnant. It's fun to be going through this again. So excited for Wednesday!
Lila Update - 16.5 months
Lila's doing great lately. She had 2 very bad weeks in a row--teething, diarrhea, fevers, didn't sleep well--but last week she was pretty much back to normal. She had an off day yesterday. For some reason, she didn't take a nap. I tried to get her to, but she just didn't fall asleep, so it was a very long day. She fell asleep for a while at her normal bedtime, but woke up and didn't go back to sleep again until midnight, and there was lots of screaming and crying and tears in between. It was crazy.
But, today was awesome. Her eating has improved A LOT these past few weeks. Her love of popsicles has turned her onto liking watermelon and canteloupe, similar textures and tastes. Which is awesome. Kristen (OT) said it would be great if Lila would eat two veggies and two fruits. I don't know if potatoes count as veggies, but she eats those and beans (black beans, baked beans) and now two fruits. I guess she was chugging chocolate milk at our neighbor's house the other day... I'll have to try that. And now she likes licorice, fruit snacks, Craisins, Quaker Oats granola bars, Nutella, Gatorade. It's awesome. Now it feels like most of my day is spent preparing her food, feeding her, and cleaning up. But it's fun and I'm happy that she's doing so well. At her last OT appointment, last Thursday, Kristen was so impressed with how she's doing. Lila only needs to go in every other week now.
New words she can say (or tries to say): Jesus (Cheesy), Church, Mike, Emmy/Nemmy, popsicle (pock-ah-tee), shirt, shorts, Book of Mormon, plane, Blue's Clues (Coo Coos), banana, color (cowor -- she asks me to color when she's bored now), nose (no), button. I wrote "ABC" on a piece of paper today when we were coloring and told her what it was, and from time to time she would point at it and say "ABC!" She is AMAZING and incredibly smart. She loves coloring and writing with pens, just like I did when I was little.
Uh-oh is one of her favorite things to say. She says it whenever she drops something, or anyone drops something, or when I ask her where something is and she doesn't know, she says "uh-oh."
Knows a lot of body parts now: nose, mouth, teeth, cheeks, eyes, ears, fingers, toes, belly, belly-button.
It's fun going for walks and being outside with her because she likes to point at things and name them as we go. She loves hearing planes and trains go by. She'll stop dead in her tracks, make a surprised face, point, and then say either "toot toot" and "tee" for train and will try to say "plane." She says "fah" for flowers, bumble bee (bum-bee-bee, so cute), butterfly (buy-fy), bike (even when she sees motorcycles). She thinks horses are cows so she says moo when she sees them. She still loves seeing doggies and says "foof foof" for woof woof. She loves birdies too and says "teet teet" and "birdy."
She still loves Brody and Toby. We play in the driveway with them almost every night. They mostly like to play with our tricycles and lawn mowers and tools--they love asking Jake questions about those things--but Lila's just thrilled to have them over. Terie is great, too and loves Lila. They are awesome neighbors!
Lila's getting taller and losing some of her baby fat. Lots of our friends have been commenting on that. Sigh. I cannot believe how big she's getting. She's such a blondie, too. It just makes me smile sometimes to watch her walking and running around, that little fuzzy, curly blond head of hers. She has quite the tan for a blonde too.
She's starting to speak in two word sentences, I think. Not very clearly, but when she wants milk (to nurse, usually when she's hungry--so then I know I need to feed her a snack or meal--or before nap/bed) she always says "mah milk." And when she wants to go for a walk, she says "mah walk." Today it sounded like she said something like "Walk go church." Or sometimes she'll say "go walk."
She loves saying "Hi" and she'll always say it so cheerfully to people.
She did great at church on Sunday! Now that she loves certain snacks--she also loves Yogurt Bites--she's easier to distract with those, and we had books and a pen and paper, we made it through the entire sacrament meeting without having to take her out! ...Except for when she pooped at the very end, before the closing song, and I had to take her out to change her. She's so cute in Primary. She'll climb into the little chairs and sit with the kids so happily, and she'll yell out, "MA! Mama!" until I look at her and wave. So funny.
She likes to Skype with my parents still, and knows when I have Skype open, even when I'm not chatting with anyone. She'll say "Papa" because she knows that we Skype with Papa and Granny. She doesn't say Granny yet, but likes to see Bella the dog. My mom sings "Bella Rose Ollero, Nanananana." to the tune of Ring Around the Rosy, and so anytime she wants to see Bella, she says "Bella" or "nanana" and sings the song. It's so cute.
She loves Auntie Emmy. A few weeks ago, Emily didn't work a lot so she was over here most days. She'd be here when Lila would wake up from her naps, so now lately when Lila wakes up from a nap, she sits up and says, "Nemmy?"
In short, Lila is amazing. She is doing so well. She is so smart. I know most parents think that about their kids, but I think Lila is smarter than average. ;) It amazes me how much she can say and understand, and that she can request things from me now. When she wants a popsicle, she says popsicle. When she wants to go for a walk, she'll get her shoes and ask to go for a walk. I am so proud of her and I really am grateful that I get to be home with her every day. It's a lot of fun, now that I'm learning how to better entertain and interest her, and now that she likes to eat food. She is my little buddy and I'm so excited to continue to see her learn and grow. I wish Jake got to spend more time with her. She just loves him and he loves her too. I'm nervous to have another baby because I don't think Lila will like it at all at first... but I think it will be really good for her. She will love having a playmate and a best buddy. And, though it'll be hard at first, it will be good for her to be a little less attached to me and to not have 100% of my attention. I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life.
But, today was awesome. Her eating has improved A LOT these past few weeks. Her love of popsicles has turned her onto liking watermelon and canteloupe, similar textures and tastes. Which is awesome. Kristen (OT) said it would be great if Lila would eat two veggies and two fruits. I don't know if potatoes count as veggies, but she eats those and beans (black beans, baked beans) and now two fruits. I guess she was chugging chocolate milk at our neighbor's house the other day... I'll have to try that. And now she likes licorice, fruit snacks, Craisins, Quaker Oats granola bars, Nutella, Gatorade. It's awesome. Now it feels like most of my day is spent preparing her food, feeding her, and cleaning up. But it's fun and I'm happy that she's doing so well. At her last OT appointment, last Thursday, Kristen was so impressed with how she's doing. Lila only needs to go in every other week now.
New words she can say (or tries to say): Jesus (Cheesy), Church, Mike, Emmy/Nemmy, popsicle (pock-ah-tee), shirt, shorts, Book of Mormon, plane, Blue's Clues (Coo Coos), banana, color (cowor -- she asks me to color when she's bored now), nose (no), button. I wrote "ABC" on a piece of paper today when we were coloring and told her what it was, and from time to time she would point at it and say "ABC!" She is AMAZING and incredibly smart. She loves coloring and writing with pens, just like I did when I was little.
Uh-oh is one of her favorite things to say. She says it whenever she drops something, or anyone drops something, or when I ask her where something is and she doesn't know, she says "uh-oh."
Knows a lot of body parts now: nose, mouth, teeth, cheeks, eyes, ears, fingers, toes, belly, belly-button.
It's fun going for walks and being outside with her because she likes to point at things and name them as we go. She loves hearing planes and trains go by. She'll stop dead in her tracks, make a surprised face, point, and then say either "toot toot" and "tee" for train and will try to say "plane." She says "fah" for flowers, bumble bee (bum-bee-bee, so cute), butterfly (buy-fy), bike (even when she sees motorcycles). She thinks horses are cows so she says moo when she sees them. She still loves seeing doggies and says "foof foof" for woof woof. She loves birdies too and says "teet teet" and "birdy."
She still loves Brody and Toby. We play in the driveway with them almost every night. They mostly like to play with our tricycles and lawn mowers and tools--they love asking Jake questions about those things--but Lila's just thrilled to have them over. Terie is great, too and loves Lila. They are awesome neighbors!
Lila's getting taller and losing some of her baby fat. Lots of our friends have been commenting on that. Sigh. I cannot believe how big she's getting. She's such a blondie, too. It just makes me smile sometimes to watch her walking and running around, that little fuzzy, curly blond head of hers. She has quite the tan for a blonde too.
She's starting to speak in two word sentences, I think. Not very clearly, but when she wants milk (to nurse, usually when she's hungry--so then I know I need to feed her a snack or meal--or before nap/bed) she always says "mah milk." And when she wants to go for a walk, she says "mah walk." Today it sounded like she said something like "Walk go church." Or sometimes she'll say "go walk."
She loves saying "Hi" and she'll always say it so cheerfully to people.
She did great at church on Sunday! Now that she loves certain snacks--she also loves Yogurt Bites--she's easier to distract with those, and we had books and a pen and paper, we made it through the entire sacrament meeting without having to take her out! ...Except for when she pooped at the very end, before the closing song, and I had to take her out to change her. She's so cute in Primary. She'll climb into the little chairs and sit with the kids so happily, and she'll yell out, "MA! Mama!" until I look at her and wave. So funny.
She likes to Skype with my parents still, and knows when I have Skype open, even when I'm not chatting with anyone. She'll say "Papa" because she knows that we Skype with Papa and Granny. She doesn't say Granny yet, but likes to see Bella the dog. My mom sings "Bella Rose Ollero, Nanananana." to the tune of Ring Around the Rosy, and so anytime she wants to see Bella, she says "Bella" or "nanana" and sings the song. It's so cute.
She loves Auntie Emmy. A few weeks ago, Emily didn't work a lot so she was over here most days. She'd be here when Lila would wake up from her naps, so now lately when Lila wakes up from a nap, she sits up and says, "Nemmy?"
In short, Lila is amazing. She is doing so well. She is so smart. I know most parents think that about their kids, but I think Lila is smarter than average. ;) It amazes me how much she can say and understand, and that she can request things from me now. When she wants a popsicle, she says popsicle. When she wants to go for a walk, she'll get her shoes and ask to go for a walk. I am so proud of her and I really am grateful that I get to be home with her every day. It's a lot of fun, now that I'm learning how to better entertain and interest her, and now that she likes to eat food. She is my little buddy and I'm so excited to continue to see her learn and grow. I wish Jake got to spend more time with her. She just loves him and he loves her too. I'm nervous to have another baby because I don't think Lila will like it at all at first... but I think it will be really good for her. She will love having a playmate and a best buddy. And, though it'll be hard at first, it will be good for her to be a little less attached to me and to not have 100% of my attention. I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
18w 6d
A few nights ago, Jake felt the baby kicking for the first time! He did last night too. So fun. We're excited for this little one to keep growing and for my belly to get bigger and rounder. This time next week, we'll know what we're having :)
Monday, August 1, 2011
Our Weekend
Ok, I was a little dramatic the last time I posted and wrote about Jake. Being super tired and not having seen him in 2 days, I suppose that was to be expected. But as soon as he got home, all those feelings melted away and we had a really enjoyable and happy weekend together. He is an awesome, supportive dad and husband and I was just bitter that I had to go it alone for a few days while he was rightfully busy with work and church. He asked me what was bothering me, and I was too embarrassed to tell him because he just doesn't deserve any chastisement. Right now, anyway. When he got home and we were sitting on the couch together, he told me that he thinks that my job is amazing--that I get to be with Lila and that she is a product of my hard work and diligence. He had finished a project at work that day and sent it off to a client. And though it was a fairly big accomplishment, he felt kind of "empty," like, "Who cares that I just made a elearning module? Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?" And so we talked about how yes, it does matter because his job supports our family, and he is fulfilling the role that Heavenly Father wants for him. Anyway. Good reminder for both of us that we are both working hard for our family.
Friday night, Jake took me (and Lila) out on a date. We ate at Culver's (I just love that place) and then took Lila to the park. Thankfully, that night she slept amazingly for the first time all week. From 10pm-5am, and then she was up several times but mostly slept till 10am. Yay. We went grocery shopping in the afternoon and then went to Maestro's summer party. It was at Doug's house, a pool party. It was a lot of fun! Really hot though. The first half wasn't as fun because Lila was pretty crabby and clingy. Jake had a blast though, jumping, diving, flipping into the pool and splashing around. He's just like a little kid. Lila didn't really show interest in swimming and didn't want to go in. But after dinner, she went in and loved it! I think it helped that there were so many other kids (and babies/toddlers) in the pool having fun. Jake put her in a floaty thing that she could sit in and she seriously had a blast. It was so much fun to watch. I don't have a swimsuit that fits and didn't have a chance to buy a maternity suit, so I didn't go in. Lila was blabbing and laughing the whole time. I'm so happy that she had fun, like a normal kid :)
There was a canon ball contest, and Jake did pretty well, even though the other guys are a LOT bigger (fatter) than he is. I had a nice time visiting with the other wives and Jen Randall (his boss).
Lila slept horribly Saturday night, unfortunately. Was up a lot and apparently didn't feel well. And I had a horrible time sleeping as it was, because I was nervous about giving my talk the next morning. Jake was asked to speak on "establishing a Christ-centered home" and I was asked to speak on "the sabbath and the sacrament." We stayed up late on Saturday night to prepare, after Lila had gone to bed. It was nice having that time together, and visiting and joking about stuff.
Sunday morning, our talks went well. Lila had a bad day though. We had to wake her up and she was very angry and sad and tired. She didn't do well through sacrament meeting. So Jake and I, while the other was talking, had to be out in the foyer with her. Our talks did go well. The youth speaker was at scout camp (lol) so Jake and I were the only speakers, but that worked out well because we both went a tiny bit over. Jake spoke first, which surprised us. Went well. He choked up at the end of his talk, when he said that our goal as parents is to raise adults who will desire eternal life and who will someday find eternal mates of their own. He hates it when he chokes up.
Primary went well, too. Jake was a substitute teacher for the 5 and 6 year olds. He took Lila with him to class, and she stood on the table behind him and drew on the chalkboard most of the time :) It was so cute, she was really happy.
She didn't take a good nap when we got home and then cried inconsolably for an hour after she woke up. That was fun. But after lunch, we took her outside and Brody and Toby were out, which of course made her happy. Then we took her for a bike ride. And then Jake grilled steaks and we had dinner. Emily came over to eat with us. Lila ate well, for the first time in a while. (Except for when she scarfed down zucchini bread after she went swimming at the party.) She ate some steak and ate a whole plate of baked beans and let us spoon feed her mashed potatoes. That last part was a lot of fun for me, because I never got to feed her when she was a baby :)
She had another decent night of sleep last night, and as a result, I did too! I'm grateful. Jake and I got to spend time together before we went to bed, also nice... all last week and maybe the week before that, she wasn't going to bed till 10 or 11. I've been feeling the baby more and more and I even think I felt some kicks on the outside last night. It's fun. I didn't feel movement until much later with Lila.
Today we're laying low. Hopefully getting Lila back into her schedule. She slept till 8:40, which was awesome, and she went down for a nap at around 1, also awesome. We spent the morning taking showers/baths, cleaning up a nasty poopy diaper, reading books, playing out in the driveway and going for a walk, and then having a good lunch.
Friday night, Jake took me (and Lila) out on a date. We ate at Culver's (I just love that place) and then took Lila to the park. Thankfully, that night she slept amazingly for the first time all week. From 10pm-5am, and then she was up several times but mostly slept till 10am. Yay. We went grocery shopping in the afternoon and then went to Maestro's summer party. It was at Doug's house, a pool party. It was a lot of fun! Really hot though. The first half wasn't as fun because Lila was pretty crabby and clingy. Jake had a blast though, jumping, diving, flipping into the pool and splashing around. He's just like a little kid. Lila didn't really show interest in swimming and didn't want to go in. But after dinner, she went in and loved it! I think it helped that there were so many other kids (and babies/toddlers) in the pool having fun. Jake put her in a floaty thing that she could sit in and she seriously had a blast. It was so much fun to watch. I don't have a swimsuit that fits and didn't have a chance to buy a maternity suit, so I didn't go in. Lila was blabbing and laughing the whole time. I'm so happy that she had fun, like a normal kid :)
There was a canon ball contest, and Jake did pretty well, even though the other guys are a LOT bigger (fatter) than he is. I had a nice time visiting with the other wives and Jen Randall (his boss).
Lila slept horribly Saturday night, unfortunately. Was up a lot and apparently didn't feel well. And I had a horrible time sleeping as it was, because I was nervous about giving my talk the next morning. Jake was asked to speak on "establishing a Christ-centered home" and I was asked to speak on "the sabbath and the sacrament." We stayed up late on Saturday night to prepare, after Lila had gone to bed. It was nice having that time together, and visiting and joking about stuff.
Sunday morning, our talks went well. Lila had a bad day though. We had to wake her up and she was very angry and sad and tired. She didn't do well through sacrament meeting. So Jake and I, while the other was talking, had to be out in the foyer with her. Our talks did go well. The youth speaker was at scout camp (lol) so Jake and I were the only speakers, but that worked out well because we both went a tiny bit over. Jake spoke first, which surprised us. Went well. He choked up at the end of his talk, when he said that our goal as parents is to raise adults who will desire eternal life and who will someday find eternal mates of their own. He hates it when he chokes up.
Primary went well, too. Jake was a substitute teacher for the 5 and 6 year olds. He took Lila with him to class, and she stood on the table behind him and drew on the chalkboard most of the time :) It was so cute, she was really happy.
She didn't take a good nap when we got home and then cried inconsolably for an hour after she woke up. That was fun. But after lunch, we took her outside and Brody and Toby were out, which of course made her happy. Then we took her for a bike ride. And then Jake grilled steaks and we had dinner. Emily came over to eat with us. Lila ate well, for the first time in a while. (Except for when she scarfed down zucchini bread after she went swimming at the party.) She ate some steak and ate a whole plate of baked beans and let us spoon feed her mashed potatoes. That last part was a lot of fun for me, because I never got to feed her when she was a baby :)
Today we're laying low. Hopefully getting Lila back into her schedule. She slept till 8:40, which was awesome, and she went down for a nap at around 1, also awesome. We spent the morning taking showers/baths, cleaning up a nasty poopy diaper, reading books, playing out in the driveway and going for a walk, and then having a good lunch.
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