A 2-year old or a 3-year old?

For the past few days, I've been asking Marissa how old she is. "Two" she says, and spends 15 minutes manipulating her two fingers to hold up and show me. But I don't believe her. Because all of a sudden, she asks "Why?" about everything, multiple times in a row!

"What you doin' Mommy?"
"I'm doin' dishes."
"Why, Mommy?"
"Because they're dirty."
"Why, Mommy?"
"Because we used them today."
"Why, Mommy?"
"Because we ate dinner."
"Why, Mommy?"
"Because we were hungry."
...and on and on it goes, til I give up!

When did my baby become such a big, curious, girl?!

Happy happy happy

August 2005 - pregnancy #1
April 29, 2006 - Marissa Lynn!!!
July 2007 - pregnancy #2
August 2007 - miscarriage (8 weeks)
September 2007 - pregnancy #3
December 2007 - miscarriage (8 weeks, but didn't find out til 10 weeks)
June 2008 - pregnancy #4
August 2008 - STILL PREGNANT!!! (at 15 weeks 1 day)

Today the doctor actually found the heartbeat on the doppler very quickly, so I got to hear it for the first time! (All the other times they couldn't find it, even last time at 12 weeks, so we only saw it on a quick ultrasound) I scheduled my next appointment for the 25th, and the BIG ultrasound for the 30th! It's so exciting to finally be this pregnant. I haven't made this much progress in a pregnancy since Marissa! My belly is definitely poofing out, which I love.

That's all, just wanted to share my excitement! Can't wait til Sept. 30th!!!

Random tidbits...

Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry folks. I think bullets will work nicely today:

• On Rach's last Saturday here, we went to the Cincinnati exhibit of Bodies. It was awesome, especially the babies in their developmental stages before birth - so cool! After Bodies, we went into the children's museum part (I forget what it was called) and Rissa had a blast! Marissa was so extremely well behaved the entire time. Not a single meltdown! She mostly played in the huge water table, then we explored the "jungle" and finished it up in the little kids' play area. She loved to dunk her head in the running water - she did that over and over and over and over. Lol.

• Oh, I keep forgetting to write this down. A few weeks ago, I think it was the weekend we moved her to a big girl bed, Marissa did the coolest thing. She has this weird thing she likes to do with all the utensils from her play kitchen. She collects a whole bunch out of the drawer, and takes them all over to the piano bench. Then lines them all up. Then one by one, she gently strokes her cheeks with each one. She calls it "neck" and we can't for the life of us figure out what she thinks she's doing. She's never seen Dan shave, and we certainly don't do anything else that resembles that. But anyways, a few weeks ago, as she was lining them up, she started counting them. And she counted exactly up to 8, and then looked at us expecting great excitement for something. It wasn't until I counted the utensils, that I realized that not only had she properly counted in the correct order, but she had actually counted the correct number of utensils! For some reason, I thought this "one-on-one correspondence" (that's the right term, right El. Ed. people?) was a Pre-K or even K concept. Because I remember learning how to teach it (in college for Elementary Ed). I was shocked that she understood the concept and did it properly! She just seemed so smart and old all of a sudden. It's amazing how fast she's growing up!

• So, since I'm finally starting to feel better, I'm starting to eat quite a bit more. Last Wednesday, on our date, Dan and I ate at a local Indian restaurant, and we both always get the same thing. We've been getting it since, oh, probably 2003? Our favorite restaurant closed, but we found two more in the area that are just amazing. Dan gets Lamb Choley, I get Chicken Vindaloo, and we both get Bhatura (bread - tastes like funnel cake without all the sugar, perfect for putting out the fire of those spicy dishes). We both LOOOOOVE our meals. What's the problem? you may ask...
  
  I HAVE THE BIGGEST CRAVING for that same dish and it WON'T GO AWAY. The other part of the problem? My meal is $13, Dan's is $15, plus bread, tip, etc. Not exactly a meal we can get often. But I CAN'T GET IT OFF MY MIND! I'm going crazy, and everything I see reminds me of it. Today at work, they had leftover Indian food that smelled similiar. A show I watched today was about different cultural aspects of India. And that's ALL I WANT TO EAT right now! I want to eat my Chicken Vindaloo, that's so spicy it makes my nose run. I want to stuff my face with Bhatura, and go back and forth between too spicy chicken and warm bread, then spicy chicken, then bread, then more and more til I'm about to puke.This just might be the worst/best/strongest craving I've ever had. Do you think I can blame it on being pregnant, and Dan will give in and we can go again? Then again? And again? Lol. I think I'd like to go once a week at the least. Maybe every other day, k? I've been looking up recipes for my meal, but it has some weird spices in it that I'm not so sure we can find. Anyone else crave something too expensive/rare that wasn't an easy fix? I finally got to order take-out because I worked some late days last week and it was heavenly!!!
  

• We also moved Marissa to her actual "big girl bed" instead of just her crib mattress on the floor. It's a daybed with a trundle, so we pulled the trundle out a few feet so she can climb up on her own, and in case she falls. She calls it her "new big girl bed" and loves it! I bought some new sheets the other day (once I realized I only had one set of sheets - purple flowers - that weren't flannel) and they're green and tonight she was so excited to sleep in her "beeeeeen" sheets. Lol.
  

• She's starting to really catch on to learning all the colors, especially green obviously. Although she guesses yellow a lot. Lol.
  

• This past weekend, Dan went camping with some of his buddies, so I invited a couple of my friends over to spend the night. I let one of them sleep in Marissa's room, since Marissa has always been so perfectly adaptable when it comes to bedtime/sleeping arrangements. Well, not so much this time! I was just going to put her on her crib mattress on my floor, but she said "no sleep on the floor mommy!" at midnight when I moved her from her own bed. So I offered to let her sleep in "daddy's spot" on our bed. Well, to make a long story short, she ended up being wide awake for 2+ hours, moving between "daddy's spot", next to mommy, and her bed on the floor. I dozed through most of this, since our room is a safe zone, and only found out where she spent most of the night when she woke me up at 8:15am and was laying in "daddy's spot". She thought it was soooo cool that she slept in "daddy's spot" and I actually kinda thought it was cute and fun. But I was soooooo tired, and I have no idea how she's been fine since. She never made up for those 2 hours of missed sleep in the middle of the night!

Well, I guess that's all. I'll be 15 weeks on Tuesday, and I have another appointment on Wednesday. Still feeling good, but still nervous about one more appointment. After 15 weeks, I PROMISE I will start to accept this pregnancy with no reservations!

Wow, grocery shopping kicks my butt!

I went to buy some groceries this afternoon since we ran out of food around here. And I hadn't felt that exhausted/weird since last week when I got groceries! Last week, I was dizzy, had a pounding headache, lost my list halfway through, and couldn't even get everything we needed because I didn't think my legs could hold me up. This week, I finished fine, got everything on the list, put everything in the car, brought everything inside, then crashed. Rach had to put all the cold stuff away because I just couldn't make it anymore! Crazy!

Today I had another doctor's appointment. Not a regularly scheduled one, but a "Fetal Heart Tones" appointment for my sanity. After waiting an hour in the waiting room (Rach and Marissa came straight from Rach's last day at my job to hear the heartbeat too), we finally went into a regular room (I've only been in the ultrasound room so far!). Some student person got a doppler and attempted to hear the heartbeat. She tried and tried and tried. And I tried and tried and tried NOT to freak out. So then she went to get a different doppler that is shaped differently and sometimes works better. She tried and tried and tried some more. Still nothing. Still trying not to freak out. So she went to get the midwife, and moved me back to "my" ultrasound room. The midwife took one look and we saw the heart beating. Then, as we watched, the little blob bounced and bobbled and did somersaults over and over in circles! It didn't stop the entire time! It was soooo hyper and fun to watch! So either that's why they couldn't hear the heartbeat on the doppler, or they also said my uterus could be tilted funny. I don't care if I never hear the heartbeat, as long as it's there and I can see it! But it was sooo neat to see the little hyper baby in there!

Tonight Dan and I went on our last "free babysitter" date since Rach is leaving on Friday. We went to our favorite Indian restaurant since no one else likes it, and Marissa won't eat anything there - so it's only a "date night" place. Then we went to Old Navy since I had a gift card. And then we came home and ate a bunch of strawberries - YUM!

And tomorrow I start work again. Hopefully I can hang in there. Very exhausted these days. I threw up again on Monday after taking all my prenatal vitamins. My gag reflex is still in overdrive these days (That ever happen to anyone else? Brushing my teeth, taking pills, or seeing something gross literally makes me puke - before or after eating - it doesn't make a difference!). That's getting annoying. But overall I feel better and I'm finally eating three normal meals most days (besides snacks) and putting some weight back on. 12 weeks, 1 day! YIPEEEEEEEEE!

The Big Girl Bed Story and other random topics

The Big Girl Bed Story

So last Friday we took Marissa's crib out of her room. Not sure why we picked then, it just seemed like it was time. And she had been getting her foot pretty high up about to climb out her crib, and I wanted to get her out of there before that happened! So after reading many stories of the "big kid bed" switch, I had decided that I just wanted to start her on her crib mattress, just on the floor instead. So we took the crib out (and stuffed it into our bedroom, still assembled, because we will put it in the guest room once my sis moves out next week), moved the changing table into our huge hallway (she climbs up it on her own - scary - and it fits in a square corner part of the hallway perfectly), and moved the rocker/glider into our bedroom (yeah, it's packed in our room right now!). Her bedroom is actually quite large, but since my sister's twin bed is in there, along with the mattresses for Marissa's future twin bed, it was so tight in there. But now she has tons of floor space, and can actually play in there. Anyways, I took everything she uses out of her crib, and put it all back together the same way, just on the floor. She sleeps with a baby, a blanket (actually it's a washcloth now, since it's way too hot for an actual blanket but she insisted she needed one), and a cup of water. So for 2-3 days before this, we talked about her getting to sleep in a "big girl bed, just like mommy and daddy, and Ra-ra" (my sis). By the time we got everything set up properly in and out of her room, and I vacuumed and cleaned it up quite a bit, it was 9pm, an hour past her bedtime. Great start, huh? Lol. So we got her all ready for bed, and she walked over to her bed, and laid down with her head on the pillow, asked for her blanket on her back, and that was that! We closed all the upstairs rooms (child-proof doorknobs) and closed the gate at the top of the stairs. And then we listened on the monitor. And she babbled for a bit, and went straight to sleep!


Every night since, we have peeked in on her before we go to bed, and a few times have found her asleep on the floor across the room. Lol. But she has not given us one ounce of trouble about sleeping on her bed!

One of the shocking things about this whole story is how she got on her bed. For months now, ever since she decided she required a pillow in her crib, she has slept with her head on the opposite side of the crib from the pillow. But she won't let me take it out. She puts her feet right near the edge of it, and that's how she sleeps. But all of a sudden, when put in a "big girl bed" situation, she realized she was supposed to put her head on the pillow! We never talked about it or anything, but she just realized that's what big people do!

The other, most shocking thing, is that she stays in her bed til someone comes to get her. We expected the worst those first Saturday and Sunday mornings. But she actually slept late (8:30 and 9) and once she started talking to herself, she waited for someone to get her "out"! Then yesterday, she was kinda upset in the morning so she stayed home with me (more on that later). I put her down for her regular naptime in the afternoon while I watched a movie. Towards the end of it, I heard her talking a little, but she was still mostly quiet so I thought I'd wait a little while. Well, a while later, she was still only making tiny noises every once in a while, so I decided it was time for me to take a shower (yes, I'm lazy when I stay home). So I secured the upstairs in case she decided to explore, and took my shower. By the time I got out of the shower, it was an hour past the first time I heard her talking. Once I got dressed, I went into her room and she was STILL talking quietly on her bed. But the second she saw me, she bounced up and ran to greet me with a huge happy hug!

She rolls off her mattress sometimes, or her legs dangle off the edge, but it doesn't wake her up at all. I can't believe how easy this transition was. I don't expect it to stay this easy forever, but I guess we may be surprised. She has always been an awesome sleeper (well, since about 16, 17, or 18 months - I think - when I laid down the law!) and I was worried this would mess that up. But she still goes to bed happy at 8pm, stays in bed, doesn't cry, doesn't ever wake up in the night, and sleeps til at least 7:30 most days.

Once my sister moves out of our guest room (she's going back to college in VA), we will figure out what we're going to do with all the beds and mattresses we have around here. Then we will give Marissa a regular twin bed in her room. But after this "huge" transition, I'm not too worried about another!

Me, Rissa, Rach, and work

In other news...I'm SO VERY HAPPY to report that I'm finally starting to feel better! This has been the LONGEST month of my life. I think I said before, but I felt so awful and nauseas on vacation with my family, that when we came back, I knew I couldn't keep working my nanny job while I felt so miserable. Fortunately, my sister was planning on quitting her job soon to move to VA for school, so she just quite a little sooner, and took over my job! She even took Marissa, mainly because Marissa and the boy, H, were such good buddies and H's mom didn't want him to lose his friend. It was the hardest thing to watch Rissa go off everyday without me. I'd never done that before, but I'm glad it happened because I needed it. I also put myself on bedrest/couch rest just to be safe because I have been so nervous about everything. So I literally laid on the couch for a month. Dan and Rach were sooo extremely helpful. I didn't do any dishes, make any meals, change any diapers, clean anything, or do any laundry. I felt so awful, and even threw up a few times. It was so great to have all that help, but at the same time it was SO FRUSTRATING because I like things done a certain way and that wasn't happening. Lol. I was not a nice person to live with, I'll admit it. But this week I'm feeling better, and have started doing all those fun things again. Lol.

So between me sitting around all the time doing nothing, and my sister taking Marissa with her every day of the week, most of the time all day, Marissa has had some moments. Poor girl. She has done extraordinarily well with all this upheaval, but we could tell it was wearing on her. One day last week, we decided she would stay home with me, and it made a huge difference in her behavior the next few days. Then yesterday, I woke up hearing a huge meltdown before they left for work. Rach brought Rissa into my room, and she was crying so hard we could barely understand what she was saying. We finally were able to make out two sentences: "I want to stay home with mommy. I want to eat lunch at Frissa's house." (I just love how she says her own name - makes me smile every time!) Poor girl! It made me so sad, so of course she stayed home with mommy. Other than that, she has loved still getting to see H (2 yrs) and M (1 yr) with Aunt Ra-ra.

I was so glad this all worked out. Rach will be working a few more days next week, and then I'll go back to my normal hours there (9am-1pm) with Marissa. I still don't have much of an appetite, but I don't feel like I'm on the edge of my seat ready to run to the bathroom every 5 seconds. I lost 8-9lbs this month. But I know the way I eat (when I feel good) that I won't have a problem putting on the proper pregnancy weight!

Family Vacation July 2008

This seems like old news, but I want to at least have it recorded on here. The last week of June through the 4th of July, we went to Salt Fork State Park and met my parents and brother there (Rach came at the end because she couldn't get the whole week off work). We stayed in a cabin on the lake all week. It really was fun, but would have been much more enjoyable if I had felt like a human being. My parents brought their kayak, there was a hot tub in the cabin, and a huge pool at the lodge. It was a really neat place. Marissa loved riding in the kayak with her life jacket on (I forget already how she said life jacket, but it was cute). She wasn't a huge fan of the pool, unless Daddy and Grandpa were throwing her back and forth high up in the air and terrifying Mommy. But she loved spending time with "Mum" (grandma), "Poppa" (grandpa), and Jeff (which she finally says right instead of "Jep"). On top of "ALL DAY sickness" I managed to burn my legs, thighs, neck, and chest horrifically bad on one of the first days, so that made me feel even better In fact, my legs have been peeling from that sunburn all month til last week! We saw some cool fireworks at a nearby small town, and Marissa fell in love with them! For the longest time after vacation was over, she kept asking for more fireworks! The only part she didn't like was the finale - she covered her ears and buried her face in my shirt. She really did so well the whole vacation. She napped great, and went to bed great. Since there wasn't a full extra room for her sleep in (and none of us sleep well when we're in the same room - remember Christmas in Georgia and Dan driving around all night to keep her sleeping? UGH!), we put her to bed in our room in the pack-n-play. Then when we went to bed, I picked her up, Dan moved the pack-n-play into the living room, and she went right back to sleep! It rained a few days there, but we still had some really nice days.

Guess that's all finally. I should be able to post more often now that I feel better. 11 weeks, 3 days. Starting to see some hope!