State of Rex

 

I don't write nearly as much on this blog as I did pre-Rex. I was thinking of blaming this on 2nd kid syndrome. In other words, the second kid never gets as much coverage as the first kid because as a mom....I've been there, done that. Perhaps taking photos this time around is just not as interesting. BUT, this is not the case. If fact, I take a ton of photos and videos of Rex....because he'd so cute and because he changes so quickly as babies tend to do. The problem is that I have no time to actually get these photos up on the blog. Not because its not a priority -- just because I have even less time than before, caring for two kids instead of one.

HOWEVER! This week, Rex hit a major milestone. He is sitting up for loooong periods of time without falling over. I wouldn't call him a professional sitter just yet, but he definitely has his amateur status and is improving daily.

The really cool thing is that Fay hit this milestone at almost exactly the same time. So I'm going to show some videos and photos side by side to show you just how crazy similar they look as babies.

[If you are reading this on Facebook, you will have to jump to the blog o see the videos.]

http://eastriverbaby.blogspot.com/2010/12/state-of-rex.html

sweet fay memory

This is a brief post of a moment that I want to be sure to remember. Tonight we returned home from 5 days in Florida. Both kids had a long travel day and they were both troopers. Especially considering that they both picked up colds during our vacation.

Rex was extremely tired when we walked in our door at 6:30. He had been crying for the last 10 minutes of the cab ride because he was sooooo tired. I nursed him to sleep right away. He seemed to fall asleep, but was up again at 7pm and then at 7:15.

Rex and Fay started sleeping in the same room about one week ago. But we've been putting Rex to bed at 6pm. For Fay, we switched to reading our bedtime books in our room and then sneaking into her room around 7:30pm so as not to awaken Rex. Tonight, because of the travel circumstances, we got our first experience of putting both kids to bed at the same time.

When I left the room after putting both in their beds, Rex was pretty noisy. I expected Fay to get mad or frustrated at not being able to fall asleep because of the noisy baby! But instead, I heard her trying to soothe him to sleep "It's ok baby, you're ok..."

I was so touched. She really does love Rex so much; she constantly surprises me. What a sweet sweet sister she is.

sleep

I think sleep deprivation is starting to take its toll on me. Its been about three months now of no more than 2-3 hours of continuous sleep. I suppose moms have done this for ages, so I guess it won't kill me in the end. But I think its making me a sad and crabby person.

I'm normally quite the morning person. Ryan jokes about how annoying it is to see me upbeat and smiling in the mornings when it takes him a couple hours to crack a smile.

Now, on about 5 hours of cumulative sleep, I wake up and get Fay breakfast, play with her, tend to Rex, and some days, get Fay off to school. I feel like a zombie in the morning. With a baby in one hand and a doll in the other, I feel like I'm just going through the motions. I am not enjoying the playing and the cute moments with Fay. I'm just getting through the morning or the day.

On the days when Fay is not in school, I watch the clock, hoping for 1pm to come soon so I can hopefully get a nap when Fay sleeps. If Rex is not interested in sleeping, I'll convince him by putting him on the boob next to me while I sleep.

Of course all that is not as bad as when I get irritated by my little Fay asking the same question 10 times over. Or when I snap at her for not listening to me when I'm trying to get her clothes on. The minute it happens, I want to take it back. I want to be the patient and calm mom that I think I am.

And all this makes me terribly sad. I remember having an identity crisis when Fay was born and I was trying to understand my new role as a mom. Now I am trying to maintain my identity as a good mom. One that listens to her child and plays with her and enjoys her.

Rex's first shots

Rex is 10 weeks and we had his 2 month checkup today. That means he got his first shots. :(

But first the happy stuff. Rex weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs! He was born 7 lbs 11 ounces, so that is a heafty increase. A baby is supposed to triple his weight in the first year. If Rex continues to gain at this rate he will definitely surpass that goal.

He is now 23.5 inches long (compared to 21 inches at birth) and his head circumference is is 41.5 cm (35.1 at birth). So he is a growing boy.

The shots were heart wrenching. Rex did not like them at all. He took two shots to the thigh and immediately let out an angry and sad cry. His face was bright red and he wailed like I haven't heard since he was born. Rex was naked from all the weighing and measurements. And after a couple minutes of crying, he peed, all over me. (I'm not sure why the pediatrician didn't think to tell me to put on his diaper..I'm sure this happens a lot).

As soon as I got Rex's diaper on, I was able to nurse him and calm him down. Then he conked out and I took him home. He slept for a while, but then about 4 hours after the shot he became inconsolable. He didn't want to nurse, he couldn't fall asleep, he did not care if I held him or laid him down. He just cried and cried and cried. I couldn't soothe him at all. It made me think of colicky babies. I can't imagine how hard that is on the mother to not be able to soothe her baby. I remember Fay being a little irritable after her first shots, but not this bad.

Finally I took Rex outside for a walk and he calmed a little and fell asleep for about a 1/2 hour. Then he was up again and crying. Finally at about 6pm tonight he broke his first smile since this morning....and I knew it was over (at least I hoped I knew). The inconsolable period really only lasted for 2.5 hours, but it seemed to last forever.

Labor Day lake house

Our friends, Adam and Natasha invited us to their upstate house for Labor Day weekend. I took to calling it the lake house as an easy title for Fay to grab onto. There was a lake nearby, and the house had stunning views of it, but the house was not on the lake.

Let me just say right off, we had SUCH a fantastic weekend. Ever since Rex was born (10 weeks ago), its been difficult for Ryan and I to feel like we have any down time. Even when we've gone out on a weekend night, I'm thinking about breastfeeding and whether we can get back in time to only miss one feeding. And its hard for us to stay out very late since Rex wakes us up throughout the night and we do not get much sleep these days. That being said, this weekend away really felt like a vacation. Adam and Tash made us feel so comfortable in their home. They were laid back enough to let us feel like we could be at home, and yet planned tons of meals for us and fun kid outings. I hope the weekend wasn't too much work for them, because they made it seem pretty effortless (beyond the obvious work of caring for two kids).



Adam and Tash have two kids, Paul who is 3.5 and Juliette who is 1.5 . Fay and Paul were fast fast friends. We never know if Fay will be extremely shy (and a little ornery) in a new situation, but I think Paul's sweetness and welcoming attitude just won her over instantly. They were playing human train within minutes -- meaning Paul was all but dragging Fay along by her hand throughout the wrap around porch.

Some highlights:



We went to the Farmer's Museum on Sat where they have an entire little village set up and actors re-enacting jobs from the period (blacksmith, pharmacist, woman baking bread). They also had a carousel!



On Sunday we went to the Apple Cider Mill where the kids could feed the ducks, take a tour of the cider press, and low and behold they had a bouncy house! Along side the bouncy house they had a game where a person (me!) can wear a harness and try desperately to dunk a small ball into a basketball hoop. We have excellent photos of this feat, but they are on Adam's camera, so I'll have to add them later. Ryan and I both teared up when we saw the photos because I look so ridiculously determined to sink that ball.



Both Sat and Sunday nights Adam lit a fire in their fire pit and we roasted marshmellows and sat around the fire with the kids. There is something truly wonderful about getting to stay up late and sit around a fire in a little chair that is just your size. And you could see it all over Fay's face. I think that is the part she will remember the best. I wish I had photos of it. When you picture it in your head, remember to give each kid (Paul and Fay) a bag of marshmallows of their own to hold in their hands as they stared into the flames.



Rex continued to sleep, eat and poop a lot. Also enjoying his weekend.

No sleep and marbles

Rex is 7 weeks today. This is the period where my baby book says he is supposed to start to lengthen his sleep periods. Rex is not a big reader yet, so he's not sticking to the book's schedule. Rex's longest sleep period is for only 3.5 hours when he goes to sleep at night around 8:30pm or so. After that the sleep periods get progressively shorter until morning breaks.

Also, Rex is like his sister, he has tummy issues after a feeding, so sometimes its hard for him to get back to sleep. I've started to drive myself crazy thinking its something I ate that has made him gassy. Last night he was up and down between 3 and 8am. He wouldn't sleep for longer than 1/2 an hour. So you can imagine my desire to find a reason for his gassiness and try to fix it. But I'm starting to think its not me, its him. And I have to admit I have no control over this one.

And speaking of gassiness, the other area, I have little control over is Fay's potty training. She has successfully gone number one in her little potty, but refuses to go number two. So I took an idea from a mom friend of mine....and I'm using marbles. After Fay did so well with a Dora potty sticker chart (she got a sticker after each pee-pee on the potty), I'm trying something similar for number two.

The Potty chart only gave us about 7 stickers and then there was no motivation to go on the potty anymore. I need a much longer period of motivation. So I have three cups of marbles. There are three different colors. One for pee-pee, one for poo, and one for dressing herself (hey, might as well throw that in there). When she gets all the marbles from their starting cups to the finish bin, she gets a present. And she already knows the present is some kind of Little People Toy. She loves all things Little People.

So far today, one day one, she has earned one marble for going number one. But she also had an accident on the playground when we tried to go out without a diaper. So...we will see if this has any effect.

Nana visits

My mom came to visit last week and to meet Rex for the first time. Her visit fell mostly over the weekend, so she was able to spend a lot of time with both kids. Its nice for me to have the grandmas help with several things....playing with Fay while I nurse Rex, holding Rex while I play with Fay, or household stuff like laundry.

Fay tried to rule out the first option by using a new phrase I've not heard from her before...."I want to play by myself". She said this on the last day Nana was in town when Nana tried to play with her and Fay wanted mommy instead. Ryan is no stranger to this attitude. Fay has always displayed her preference for mommy harshly, or candidly. Its difficult for me to see her do it to my mom, since Nana doesn't get to see Fay everyday. But we all know its not personal, so I assume my mom took it in stride. In fact, my mom may be tickled to know that I received the phrase from Fay just yesterday. She wanted to play with me at first, but then when I colored in her coloring book the "wrong" way, she told me she wanted to play by herself. I guess everyone gets attitude these days.

We spent time playing at home, going to playgrounds and going to the "Water Taxi Beach" with friends. The Water Taxi Beach is an area near South Street Seaport that has a sandy play area with picnic tables. They serve kid friendly food like hot dogs and fries...and parent friendly drinks with alcohol. The best of both worlds. Fay had a good time playing in the sand with her friends. Rex had a good time sleeping in the Baby Bjorn. And the adults attempted to have a conversation.

On the day before my mom left, Fay was in school, so she took Rex and me out for a day of brunch, pedicures and shopping. The outing was in honor of my birthday which occurred a couple weeks ago. It was really nice to be pampered since the actual birthday was filled with mostly kid activities. I do have to point out that each stop we made involved nursing Rex. Nurse while eating brunch, check. Nurse while getting a pedicure, check. Nurse in the dressing room of a clothing store, check. My boy Rex loves to eat.



Before leaving, we all had drinks on the balcony, with Rex as the centerpiece.

Granny visits and Fay's first amusement park

Ryan's mom, Sandy, came into town last week to meet Rex and help out the exhausted parents. When planning the trip, Sandy asked if it would be ok to come over a weekend or if we'd rather she come during the week. I said "come on the weekend!!!" because contrary to our life before kids, weekends are more exhausting than week days.

Needless to say, Sandy fell in love with Rex. I wonder if boys are her first love since she had two of her own. We think Rex looks a lot like Ryan's brother Andy. So, perhaps she was reminded of holding her own newborn. But, I didn't have to wonder about her fondness for Fay. Even though Fay can be cold and stand-off-ish for anyone who is not her mommy, Sandy had her warmed up in no time. And by the time Sandy had to go home, Fay was proclaiming that she wanted to go home WITH Grandma. She even got on her shoes to get ready for the plane. This was a funny sight since we've been potty training and Fay had only a shirt and her shoes on. (Not so funny later when Fay had an accident that poured right into her sneakers)



Grandma was a huge help. She cooked for us, and helped clean up the house and do laundry. But the best part was having an extra set of hands around to help hold Rex when I was playing with Fay, or to play with Fay when I was nursing Rex. And she helped me get more sleep by soothing Rex to sleep after I was done nursing on the nights he didn't want to go right back to sleep.



One highlight of the weekend was taking Fay to the amusement park in Central Park. During the summer, they turn Wollman Rink (ice skating) into Victoria Gardens. It is an amusement park for little kids -- perfect for Fay's age. Fay LOVED the rides. She went on about 4 with daddy. And she hasn't stopped talking about it. The very next day we asked her if she wanted to go to the playground, and which one. She said "the one with the rides".



And, I had a birthday. Fay was really cute...helping daddy frost cupcakes...and singing happy birthday to me. The grandma visit was great timing for a nice birthday outing sans kids too.

Baby Rex Arrives

Its been three days since Rex entered our world, and I've been remiss in writing the birth story on the East River Baby blog. Which should now be named East River Babies blog. But, as you can imagine, I've been a little overwhelmed. :)

With two weeks left to go before Rex's due date, I started feeling contractions on Wed morning. Fay was such a fast birth (2 hours from wake up to birth), that Ryan and I were a little anxious about making it to the hospital on time for Rex's birth. We talked about running out the door as soon as the first labor pains arrived. Our hospital was on the other side of town, and we had to drop off Fay at the neighbors. So we knew we needed all the time we could get.

Of course, when I started feeling labor pains on Wed morning, I wasn't convinced that I was in labor, since the due date was two weeks away. I woke up at 5am feeling really uncomfortable. I rolled over to switch sides, but still could not get comfortable. So I got up to take a shower. Fay was already up....early even for her. After the shower, I got Fay some breakfast and played with her a little. By 5:30 I started feeling contractions, so I woke Ryan up and told him that I thought I was in labor, but I wasn't sure because the pain was manageable. Total denial!

At 6am, the contractions were PAINFUL, and they were coming so frequently I couldn't really time them. Probably about every 5 minutes or less. I woke Ryan up again and told him I was taking Fay to the neighbor's. I told Fay the baby was coming today and that she was going to play with her friends. Fay was great. She was completely cooperative and I got her dressed at to the neighbor's in no time.

We left for the hospital at about 6:30 I think. We got a call back from our midwife while we were in the car, and they scolded us for not calling sooner. (They didn't really know at this point how fast it was all happening). Luckily, one of the midwives lives blocks from the hospital, so she was able to meet us with a wheelchair at the entrance.

I was *really* impressed by our midwife. She took charge of the situation immediately and was shouting out orders to me and to Ryan. She told me to "sit still!" while in the wheelchair, lest I hurt myself. And she commanded Ryan to "hurry up!" and open all the doors in front of us so she could wheel me through.

I expected her to be all rainbows and flowers during the labor in the Birthing Center. But she continued to be very stern and all business. I think this is because we were at the point of delivery, not simply "laboring" while we wait for the endgame.



Rex was born at 7:22am. We had plenty of time once we reached the hospital. I didn't feel as if I almost had him in the car, as I felt with Fay.

Rex has been a champion sleeper and eater from the first day. All seems well, and he is healthy.



We thought we would be discharged from the birthing center on the first day, as is their policy to do early dismissal 12 hours after birth. But as it turned out, I tested positive for Strep B on my last midwife visit (common bacteria for preggers), so they had to test Rex for the same and keep us over night. Normally they can give the mom a shot of antibiotics before the birth is she is positive, but there was no time with my 2 hour labor.



So we came home Thursday night, after Rex tested negative for Strep B. And we have just completed our first day home with the 4 of us.

Fay is doing really well. Better than I expected in fact. She has been very patient when I have to nurse the baby and cannot play with her. And she keeps saying "I love baby". She also wants to help every time he has a dirty diaper, by handing me a new diaper and diaper cream.



Ryan and I first thought that having Rex on the long holiday weekend would be a great thing so we could have a lot of family time before going back to work/school on Tuesday. But after our first day we are somewhat dreaming of school for Fay and work for Ryan so that I can concentrate on one kid for a while and catch up on sleep. I'm sure we will be pros at this whole "two kid" thing shortly. But right now, we are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. And, of course, very very happy.

Can I tell you, that I actually thought I wouldn't fall in love with Rex the same way I did with Fay? I thought there may be no substitute for that first baby feeling. I was wrong. I am completely head over heels for Rex.

VA Beach!

We've just returned from an awesome vacation in VA Beach. We rented a house with one other family. We are friends with Marci and John through having kids the same age and through living in the same building. They have twin girls who are good friends of Fay. The three of them play and fight like sisters. So they were all very excited to be taking a vacation together and doing a week of "sleep-overs".



The house we rented was across the street from the beach, so we had a short walk to get to the ocean. And the house had a pool in the backyard which the girls loved. The adults loved it too -- especially when the girls were napping and we didn't have to feel sequestered to the house to watch over the girls. We felt like we were doing exactly what we wanted -- reading and cocktailing by the pool.



Some highlights of the trip were....A day on the boardwalk...We drove to a nearby boardwalk which was a bit of a disappointment in terms of entertainment value. We thought there would be more attractions for the kids, but all we saw were closed down amusement rides and a small playground. So we ended up rending a 4 seated bicycle with a basket up front for the kids. John taught the girls to yell "yo! yo!" every time we passed an oncoming bike. We were laughing everytime it happened and the passing bicyclers weren't always sure what to make of the exclamations. Some ignored, some laughed, some smiled. In other words, we thought our girls were the cutest thing since baby kittens (is there an expression, I'm forgetting?), and the oncoming bikers, were slightly amused.



We also had mild success flying a kite on the beach. John ran and ran but couldn't keep the kite up for longer than a minute. Ryan had similar success. We chocked it up to the quality of the kite because we saw plenty of other kits sailing through the air.



None of the girls loved the ocean. It was still a bit scary. But they all had fun with their buckets and shovels and watering cans. It was a huge change from last summer when Fay didn't really know what to do with a bucket, and this year she happily scooped sand and water.



One thing I have to rave about was the house. We rented this particular house because it seemed to be very kid-friendly. They mentioned there were cribs and child gates we could use along with some movies and books. There was so much more. There was a full closet of toys for all ages, and a foosball and air hockey table. We used the baby gates and many of the toys...Fay loved having a new book each night, and we watched a couple of the kid movies and one of the adult movies. The house was just so stocked and well managed we felt so lucky. I would stay there again and again. Not to mention, the owners left us a welcome basket with a full bottle of Margarita mix and booze. What an owner!

Now we are back to reality and the girls keep referring to the beach house as the other family's house. The twins want to return to "Fay's house" and Fay wants to go to "Lyla and Jilly's house"

I've got 4 weeks to go before baby number 2 arrives and this blog picks up a new train of thought....life with two kids. I'm looking forward to having my body back as little Rex is pushing the limits of capacity at this point. I don't think I can spare too much more room.

Mom and Fay take separate vacations

My sister and I enjoyed a vacation together last weekend to Captiva Island, FL. She and her team won the trip as a bonus for exceeding her goals at work. She was able to invite a lucky guest to accompany her on the trip. It couldn't have come at a better time. For one thing, I'm 32 weeks pregnant, so I only have about two months left before my world is turned upside down. Also, my sister and I went through a rough patch last year -- we argued -- we stressed and we were not the sisters that either of us want to be. We really needed this trip away to catch up with each other and just enjoy each other away from the stresses of daily life and family. And I think that goal was accomplished. We both had a great time. The resort could not have been more relaxing...scratch that. The resort could have been more relaxing had we rented a car or golf car to take us the mile between our bungalow and the pool! But everything else was perfect!

Meanwhile, Ryan was going to stay home with Fay for the weekend, but at the last minute they were invited to Nebraska to spend the weekend with his mom and dad. Personally, I think Ryan's mom jumped at the chance to have Fay all to herself without that troublesome mommy always trying to keep her on schedule and feed her vegetables! And from the stories I've heard (I'm sure I haven't heard 1/2 of them) her goal was accomplished as well.

Ryan told me that all my mommy packing went to waste as Fay wore ONE outfit the entire time she was there (3 days). The outfit was a zip up hoodie with no undershirt and a pair of leggings. Ane her hair was never tied back (she has long bangs that always fall in her face). Strangely, he said they *did* change her into pajamas at night. I can only imagine they just picked up the clothes from the floor the next day and threw them back on. ;)

Also, Grannny admitted to keeping Fay up until TEN O'CLOCK most nights but assured me that she slept in late and took long naps.

I think that sounds like a true vacation. If I could've, I woiuld've been drinking every night, so why shouldn't Fay party like a rock star?

Sadly there are no photos of Fay's trip. I'm not sure whether I should be more disappointed in Daddy or Granny for that!

Fay's alone time

Fay moved to her big girl bed a couple months ago, but it took her a while to realize she can and should get out of bed by herself in the morning. For the first couple months, she delighted us by waking up and reading quietly in bed by herself until we came to get her.

Then, she started opening her door, walking across the hall and coming into our room to wake us up.

Now, she doesn't bother waking mommy and daddy up. She just goes out to the living room and plays by herself.

When I first realized this, I was lying in bed with the door open trying to wake up and motivate myself to get out of bed. I saw Fay run by our room, dashing into her own room to get her water bottle from her bed. Then she ran back out past our room to the living room to continue playing. It was just so cute and independent. She didn't care at all that mommy and daddy were still sleeping.

Whenever I sleep much past Fay I have this guilty pang that I should be up doing my mommy duties. So, even when she was reading quietly in her bed, I would try to get up at 7am to see if she was awake yet.

Now that Fay has found her new freedom time, I am apparently wasting my guilt......

Last weekend, I woke up before Fay and was puttering in the living room, making coffee, reading the paper. When she woke up and came out to the living room, she saw me, was a little surprised, and then......pissed off! She threw herself to the ground midway to the living room and gave a little tantrum. I had no idea how much she loved her alone time in the morning. Good news is I don't have to spring out of bed on weekends anymore. At least not until the new baby comes.

easter

Not much to tell on this blog post, as the photos kind of speak for themselves. Last Sunday Fay received her first Easter basket from the E. Bunny. And we spent the morning looking for eggs with neighborhood friends. We tied it all up with a massive brunch with around 7 toddlers and 10 adults at a local restaurant. It was a blast. I love our neighborhood and our neighborhood friends!

Bad rain mommy and the joy of new boots

We bought Fay some new rain boots since spring is here and it will be raining a lot. She is a size 7 in shoes but she has been in that size for almost a year, so I feel like she will be growing out of 7s soon. So we bought the boots in a size 8.

This morning we left for school and started walking to the bus, Fay with her umbrella and rain boots. Shortly out of the door Fay wanted to be picked up because it was just too windy and horrible.

So I put down Fay's Dora umbrella (recent gift from grandma), and shove it under my arm. I pick up Fay and hold my umbrella over both of us. We are walking towards the bus.

Fay says "boot fall off!". And I reach down to grab one of her boots just as it is almost off her foot. Phew. We make it to the bus stop and I set Fay down. She already looks like a wet rat. I discover that I do not have the Dora umbrella.

I tell Fay and the entire bus stop that we dropped the umbrella. I pick Fay back up and trudge all the way back down near our building entrance where I have dropped the umbrella.

On our way back to the bus stop Fay's boot falls off. I pick it up and hold it, and Fay, and the Dora umbrella.

I make it to the bus stop, throw the umbrellas to the ground and put Fay's boot back on before setting Fay down. Fay says "up up!". The bus arrives right then (thank God) and we struggle onto the bus. I get Fay in her seat and go pay the fare.

We make it to the school bus stop. I have secured the Dora umbrella in the plastic bag I'm carrying and I set out to carry Fay to school. She wants to walk.

So we walk with her umbrella up, and 30 feet before the school entrance she stumbles in her boots (which I now know are way too big) and falls flat on her face. Her pants are soaking wet and she is crying.

I get inside the school and Fay's teacher is right there at the entrance to witness the mess of Fay and mommy.

We go to the classroom and the teacher pulls out a new pair of pants and offers to put Fay's shoes on.

Mommy exits.

a hint of things to come

Earlier that day

Yesterday Fay got some kind of 24 hour flu. We were having a toddler dinner at my friends' house with about 6 toddlers all eating turkey, strawberries and green beans. After eating for 15 minutes, Fay declared that she had a boo-boo and pointed to her tummy. She was standing on the floor in front of me while I asked her if her tummy hurt, and then she threw up all over me and my friend's rug.

One point of interest. Regurgitated strawberries are like red wine; they stain. I brought Fay to the bathroom in case she vomited again and I heard all the moms in the other room talking about how to remove the stain from the rug. By the time I came out, it looked like the rug had a permanent red circle on one end.

Fay and I went home and about 1/2 hour later, she threw up the other 1/2 of her dinner. I got her in a bath and quickly to bed because it was obvious she was very tired as well. About 90 minutes later, she threw up even more strawberries, all over her bed. Man! How many did she eat?

Ryan and I ran around cleaning bedding and towels and getting Fay's bed set up for a vomit filled night (sheet/towel bedding combo). We finally got her settled in again at about 10:30. And this is where I loose track of time.

Poor Fay was up every 90 minutes with the same sequence of events. She cried out for water, drank a healthy portion of water, laid back down, and 10 minutes later, threw up the water. After the first one of these, Fay needed some serious comforting, so I decided to sleep with her in her twin bed. Not the most comfortable decision of my life. I'm 5 months pregnant so I'm already into the phase where I have to shift positions 2-3 times a night. And Fay has not mastered the technique of sharing a bed. She pretty much passes out using as much of the bed as possible. Or, worse! She tries to snuggle up to me so that my nose is buried in the back of her head.

Anyway, she stopped waking up around 3am I think, and we both slept until 7am. For some reason, Fay was perky and awake and ready for mommy to be awake at 7am.

She managed to keep her breakfast down, so I knew we were pretty much in the clear. But, man, was I tired. She finally wanted to nap around 11am, and I got a nap in. But until then I was just a zombie mom. I thought, "oh no! this is how I'm going to feel every day when the new baby arrives". Fay will be in school some of those days. But on the days when I have two, it will be zombie-ville for sure.

Sigh of relief

Our genetic counselor called today. She called with some results to the Amniocentesis we took about 3 weeks ago. We did the Amnio for two reasons: 1) because of my "advanced maternal age" which puts my new baby at a higher risk for down syndrome, and 2) we found out I am a carrier for the SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) gene. I've kinda been holding my breath ever since I found out I was a carrier. Its a recessive gene, so Ryan would have to be a carrier as well, but we didn't have him tested before the Amnio because we knew we were going to do the Amnio anyway. Then, it turned out, we needed Ryan's blood for the SMA test, so we had to draw his blood regardless.

The genetic counselor called to say that our new baby does not have Down Syndrome, Trisomy, or any of the other common genetic disorders that an Amniocentesis tests for. And she said that they tested Ryan's blood to see if he is a carrier of SMA, and he is not. The test for carriers is 99% accurate, so they will still call us with the results of the Amnio to confirm the health of the baby. But I am very very relieved. As I received the news I all but started crying on the phone. And I profusely thanked the genetic counselor, as if she had something to do with the results. I imagine she has fantastic calls to make, like this one, and horrible calls to make. That would be a tough job.

So, now, as my mom reminded me, I am more prepared to start blogging about the new baby. I think some belly shots may be forthcoming as well as a potential baby name. Ryan and I have narrowed it down to one boy name that we both like. And I think we may just run with it. But I'll leave that for another post.

Potty training attempt number one

Fay is 2 years and 4 months, and the new baby is about 5 months away, AND Fay has been showing signs of not liking her droopy diaper. So we decided it was time to attempt some potty training. From what I've read, the fastest approach (train your kid in 2 days!) is based on letting your kid run around naked for two days and getting them on the potty when they have to go (and for occasional sit downs just to see if they have to go).

I love all the articles and forums I've read where people say "pull-up" diapers are evil. Not exactly sure what that means, but the implication is that they do not help in potty training. I can see the point -- the kid will not feel the pee or will not be as uncomfortable by the pee if it is safely deposited in a pull-up diaper rather than running down his/her leg. But I don't think a kid will be fully potty trained so quickly, and accidents are bound to happen. I've decided that whenever we are home, Fay can wear regular underwear, or go naked. This will help her know when she goes pee so she can begin to associate it with the "before I go pee feeling". And when we are out, we'll wear pull-ups or diapers. Once she has convinced me that she really gets it and is really happy about going pee in the potty, I'll put her in underpants while out of the house. I'm really not overly concerned with speed.

I may eat my words as the new baby due date approaches. But we'll take that as it comes.

On another note, we *finally* got Fay to accept sleeping in her big girl bed. We got it over 2 months ago and Fay has wanted to sleep in her crib instead. Last week one of the bars on the crib came out (needs to be glued back in). So we declared the crib broken and told her she had to sleep in the big girl bed. She had one night of protest crying, and has been happy ever since. Phew.

It's a.....

We had an amnio today and everything went smoothly. Besides being a little nervous about the procedure, Ryan and I were excited to possibly find out the gender of baby number two via the sonogram. We are using a midwife this time around who is not keen on a lot of sonagrams, so we've only seen the baby once at 10 weeks.



See if you can guess the sex!

first snowman

Last weekend we got a nice amount of snow on Saturday morning. It wasn't a TON of snow by my standards (I grew up in MN). But, it was the perfect kind of snow for snow balls and snowmen. I wasn't really sure if Fay and I were up to the challenge. I can't remember the last time I made a snowman. Perhaps never.

We went to our "backyard".....wait this deserves a little explanation. Our co-op consists of 4 buildings -- 2 sets of 2 buildings separated by a street. Each set of 2 is separated by a couryard with grassy circles and winding sidewalks. The grassy areas are mostly fenced off so as not to let little feet mess up the lawn or the flowers. But last summer my co-op decided to to a "trial run" of de-fencing ONE of the grassy circles. This is where we decided to make our snowman.



Fay helped find the sticks for the arms and helped stick them in. She also helped push the balls of snow a bit.

Real Life Swiper

One of Fay's favorite TV shows is Dora the Explorer. Each episode follows the same pattern. Dora and her friends have a mission: to find something that's lost, or deliver something to someone. Whatever the mission, Dora has to travel to 3 different locations to get to her final destination. Along the way there are puzzles to figure out, problems to solve, colors to identify, etc. ALSO, Dora has a nemesis who may attempt to thwart her plans....Swiper. Swiper is a fox who shows up each episode and tries to "swipe" something from Dora. Then she has to find it again.

Over xmas break while Ryan, Fay and I were waiting in multiple airports for our planes, we started playing the Swiper game. Ryan would talk about how he just saw Swiper and then WHOOSH! something that fay was holding would disappear behind Ryan's back. Fay would have to say Dora's signature line "Swiper, no swiping!" in order to get it back. Fay really loves this game.

Last week I was at home with Fay and we were getting ready to go to our co-op's playroom. I was looking for her sippy cup ( A Dora cup! She calls it Dora Water), which was no where to be found. But I had just seen Fay carrying it 30 minutes earlier. So I asked Fay where it was. She didn't know. I looked for it EVERYWHERE. We don't have a large apt, so I was really surprised when I couldn't find it. I asked Fay again...."Fay, do you know where the Dora Water is?"

Fay said "Swiper!"

Pretty good answer. I'm not sure which is scarier... The fact that she may have an excuse for anything that goes missing, or the fact that she may live in a world where Swiper actually exists."

Little Ryan

One of the things Ryan and I really like about our apartment is the view. We can see the downtown skyline and the East River down to the Brooklyn/Manhattan bridges from our living room.

Many times I'll see Ryan ending his week (Sunday blues), by turning off the lights in the living room and staring out the window thinking of the week to come. (I don't really know what he is thinking about, but thats my guess). After a while, he'll finally turn in.

Tonight, Fay did the strangest thing. After returning from school, and eating a little dinner, Fay asked me to turn off each light in the living room, kitchen, and hallway that were illuminating the living room. Then she grabbed my hand and brought me to the window and asked "up, up". We stood looking out the window together for several minutes before going to her bedroom for some bedtime reading.

She's never seen Ryan do his ritual -- it is much too late for her. So I can only gather that she is a chip off her father's block.

It was especially charming to have that happen tonight since Ryan is out of town for the weekend and it was nice to be reminded of him through his daughter.