progress

oh how i’ve lagged in the blogging department. 

topics for me to write about either come and go, or they get saved for later when i can adequately post about them…    and then i forget to.

so, yeah- about a month ago we went back to the orthopedist for a check-in. we saw the (original) physician’s assistant as well as the orthopedist.  not exactly sure why that was, but OK.  both were pleased with how much jovie was walking, standing, etc…   both were pleased to hear our report of the fact that she stumbles less and had been climbing more.

in fact, this was a rare occasion that they got to see jovie in action.  she was walking all around, and getting into nooks & crannies in the room.  usually in a setting like that, she wants to either:

1. cry
2. sit in our laps  or
3. cry in our laps. 

so i believe they got a true picture when they both said she doesn’t really need to wear her braces anymore.  which made me happy because- hello! sandal season!!.  i felt a little guilty everytime i wanted her to wear a cute outfit that defied sneakers.

we went and got her new shoes because the other ones were so very worn.  (being a stumbly new walker will do that, i suppose!)  and oh! was i horrified.  absolutely horrified to realize that we had been cramming jovie’s feet (and braces) in a size 6 shoe.  she was clearly a size 6 1/2 now…  and upsizing to a size 7 for growth.

and whatever is growing her feet may also be in her hair.  because i know you can’t tell from that picture, but she is straight-up 80’s styling it with the pony on top of the ponytail.  y’all- her hair is at her shoulder blades. 

we call this the "afternap" look. it's all the rage!

oy vey.

i should also mention how her therapy is going, but she’s actually waking up from her nap now, and instead of saving this for later- i’d better actually just post already!

other developments

well, i’ve talked a ton about how jovie talks a ton.  now i guess it’s time to move on to other developments….   

and the lack thereof.

i can’t believe it was in september that i mentioned jovie letting us walk her for the first time!  (14mos).  because here we are 5 months later…  and still not walking. 

we even thought maybe the addition of the new shoes would get her geared for this next big challenge.  my friend becky even gave her the cutest clemson squeaker shoes…  i thought maybe she’d walk in them just to hear the squeaks.  but no.

her limit for letting us walk with her is quite, um, well, limited.

when jovie was a year old we were mildly concerned at how little she seemed to be advancing in this area.  but we also know that jovie has her own “timing” about things.  for instance: we were also mildly concerned at that time because she didn’t have any words yet.  and i was concerned b/c she didn’t make her first consonant babble (other than /d/ dadadada) until 9mos.  … HA!  haha!

so, instead of accepting the help that could’ve been offered at a year old, we wanted to “wait & see”.  because, like i said, jovie seems to blossom at her own rate.  so, we waited.  and we saw. 

she enjoys walking w/ her walking toy.  and cruising.  and she has stood up on her own a couple of times.  & we also got to watch her take her first steps unaided on the day after she turned 1 1/2!

but that is pretty much the extent of it.  she walks (on her own) about 8-10 steps in a day.  and in the past few weeks, she has taken to walking on her knees.  (poor poor purple knees!)  she knows crawling is MUCH faster.  so that’s her preferred mode of transportation.

so we looked into (and are continuing to look into) the why-nots.  and what we learned is that it really does pay for me to be over-neurotic about all of her skills & nuances.  in fact, i should’ve spoken up a bit more about this “funny gait” as i liked to mention.  & maybe i should’ve questioned more when the feet would become less flat.  the books have told me all that fixes itself when she’d begin walking.

but she’s not walking b/c it seems as if she has forefoot pronation. basically, the funny gait i’ve witnessed is her almost standing on the inside of her ankle.  her feet are extremely flat, which i think is contributing to this. 

so, now— we are going to look into this & how to best help her.  we are going to begin physical therapy & she will be fitted with special shoes.  and apparently, once that takes hold— watchout! 

we shall see….

<I. O. U. a cute video of her taking a few steps in front of a giant exercise ball…   i couldn’t get the thing finalized & uploaded in time for this post.  just imagine how cute it is.>

our week in bullets

• jovie had a fever last weekend.  it lasted about 5 days. with the exception of the occasional runny nose, or sneeze — she was symptom-free.   at the recommendation of the children’s tylenol bottle, we made an appt. with the dr.  & her blood test came back that there was nothing wrong with her. (no virus, bacteria, whatever….).   
• so we stopped taking her temperature.
• on monday (labor day) Dad took Jovie to the park since she A. has been couped up at home all weekend, and B. decided to not nap.  —i mean, come on!  dad’s home!—  i didn’t go with them.
• when they came home, he told me that i missed a pre-milestone of her holding onto him and walking about 20 feet barefoot in the grass!   up to this point, when we’d try to hold her, she thinks we’re helping her get down, so she sits and crawls.
• they immediately showed off their skills!
• 
• The Mr. likes to say “she’s walking”. 
• she’s not walking.                                   YET!
• on saturday we went to her first music class!  that’s a class where we pay a lot of money to have her watch the other kids and the lady with the guitar.
• she loved it.
• it’s every saturday… so i know very soon she’ll get into it.  she LOVES music!  i bet in a coupla more times, she’ll show off her signature wiggle dance.
• (we’re missing this saturday b/c WE GET TO GO SEE GRAMMA & GRAMPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!  so we’ll go this week to make it up)

last week was uneventfully eventful.  it’s currently Tuesday, and we’ve already had a decent start to this week.   stay tuned…..

9 months

Jovie is 9 months old.  that sounds so big!  yikes.  we went to the doctor today and saw that according to percentiles, she’s shrinking.  she hasn’t gained very much weight or height since they measured her 3 months ago!?!?  she’s definitely in a plateau.  she went from being in the 75-95%iles in height & weight to being in the 45-50%iles.  woah! 

i was astounded.  her pants fit differently and she’s as heavy as ever to me….

as you’ll soon see, though, she’s in the 99%ile for cuteness!

Daddy’s taken this week off since he’s between projects at work.  & we’ve had a very good week so far.  of course this daddy’s girl LOVES this fact.  as is evident that today she cried and cried and cried b/c he left the room so she could finish eating.  ay ay ay!  good thing she doesn’t have a very long memory otherwise i’d worry a lot about him going back to work on monday.

last saturday we enjoyed the spring weather and had her first taste of a playground.  do you know how hard i had to search for a playground that had swings???  that’s something i never expected would be a problem.  that’s how we grew up, right?  but, no!  playgrounds these days are all geared towards climbing and balancing.  luckily we found one with a bucket swing, and you could plainly see she enjoyed herself!

we spent some days inside b/c it was cold & windy.  so dad had the start of his vacation having to hold & appease her all day long.  well, i guess his vacation is my vacation, too.

yesterday we enjoyed the fact the sun came out again & we made a trek to Callaway Gardens, which is about an hour & a half away from us.  the drive there was good.  i sat in the front seat for the first time for a long journey.  she only got fussy a little at the end.  maybe 15 minutes tops.  and it wasn’t anything like some of the other trips we’ve taken.  but having spent an entire afternoon away from naps home, i rode in the back coming home.  which worked out great so i could occupy her by giving her the toys she kept tossing out of her carseat & playing peek-a-boo with her.  not to mention all the singing we did.  glad it calmed her. 

it was a good day trip where we enjoyed lots of things…our first picnic which was by a lake.  too bad there weren’t any ducks to feed:

…a long walk to the butterfly garden, where we were more amused by all the cajillions of people (spring break) than the butterflies fluttering all around. 

…a nice stroll through the horticulture center (ie: pretty flowers):

and, what with all the strolling & the watching of things, we were pretty tuckered out:

she enjoyed 20 minutes of peaceful slumber in the breezy shade in dad’s arms….  right where she was happiest!

no TV appearances just yet…

yesterday, we went to the doctor to finish up another round of vaccines.  when jovie was weighed, i was a little surprised.  officially, she weighs exactly 18lbs. fully clothed.  according to our scale, you can add a few extra ounces.

in any case, officially, she only gained 4oz in the last month.

which i’m extremely glad about.  especially because i thought that once she started to eat food, she might’ve gained more rapidly.  yay. i’m so very glad to know she’s evening out.

when she was born at 9lbs, 3oz i began to be scared of her adorable porkiness.

when she had gained 5oz in just the first 3 days home from the hospital, i thought “no way!”

when she gained 3 lbs from 1mo checkup to 2mo checkup, i was resigning myself that we will indeed have a “maury povich” baby. 

(if you don’t know what i’m talking about, maury exploits these unbelievably fat babies on his show.  The Mr. maintains that maury hides cheeseburgers on his stage so the 1year olds can find them.) 

the dr. has never been concerned about her weight, but as i’ve said before— SHE didn’t have to hold her.  (all. day. long.)

and even now that she isn’t gaining as speedily, dr. is still not concerned.  which is fantastic news.   (she still has her rolls, though!)

my guess is that if we weigh the drool that soaks her clothes/blanket/carpet, well- then you may just find where the other 5lbs should be!

so, here’s to 18lbs of complete adorable:

week 28

let me share some of the things she’s doing now that pretty much make us laugh:

– speaking of laugh, she STILL doesn’t know what to make of it when we/i laugh at her.  so she gets this awfully confused look on her face.  which only makes me crack up even more.  she’s adorable when i go get her from nap time, and she’ll do something to make me laugh & we begin a cycle.

– she is constantly blowing raspberries.  she even has graduated and mostly does the phbbhhtt sound.  and i think she thinks this is conversation.  it’s funny to see that she just does it without thinking; and oftentimes in the middle of looking around or focusing on something else.    ….she may think this is convo b/c for the first couple months of her life, her daddy never knew what to say to her, so he’d do a big phbbhhtt sound at her & he sorta makes it sound like he’s zipping it up.  guess it got her attention.

– she is trying to touch every!thing!  she constantly has her arms out to her side, ready to grab anything that she can.  i fear when she touches yiminy w/o my guidance.  these are 2 “people” that can’t understand what the other is doing.  he gets quite feisty.  and she yanks HARD.  not to mention the fact that her hand spends 96% of her waking day in her mouth.  couple that with kitty fur and ewww.   i’m thinking when she’s mobile we’ll have our work cut out for us. 

– she has again reinstated her daddy attachment.  it’s quite insulting, actually.  several times while he was on vacation for christmas, he’d get her in the morning and plop her in bed so i can feed her.  when he would leave, she would cry.  ummm- doesn’t she know how important eating is???  for a while now, she’d be distracted when he’d come up to visit us in the bed.  poor guy has learned he needs to stay away until he hears her playing & squealing a lot.  otherwise she won’t finish eating.    and now that he’s back at work and things are normal again, she’s just fine w/ me.  but as soon as he comes home, she starts to fuss if he doesn’t look at her and make her smile then grab her out of my arms.

– she’s not very good at telling me what she wants.  oh, sure- i know i’m not very good at understanding what she wants. but seriously:  she can be content in dad’s arms (or even mine).  or even happily at play.  not a peep of frustration or anything.  as soon as i scoop her up and get ready to feed her, she turns into this hungry baby.  she starts to whine and squeal and cry.  until i can shove me in her mouth and she just devours it like i’ve never fed her in my life!  all she has to do is show me some hunger signs whenever she’s hungry.  but since she spends the whole day w/ her fist in her mouth (which used to be her cue), i feed her by the clock.  it doesn’t matter how long i wait or how quickly i feed her, it’s always impatient hungry baby!

– if anything even thinks about going near her face, she catches her breath and sounds like she’s going underwater.  it’s kinda funny.  but i wish she’d hurry up and figure out she has to only move whatever’s on her face & she doesn’t have to “drown”.  we play with her clothes before we put them on. that seems to help the scream factor by at least 3%.  but she never knocks the clothes off of her face. which is funny.   harvard anyone?

and i am very glad to say that at the dr.’s office last week, the numbers & percentiles confirmed that she is finally “evening up”.  she looks like a 6 month old.  which is appropriate.  but she’s looked like a 6 month old for like 4 months now.

a day late….

i wanted to post last night to mark the monumentous occasion that could possibly be ONE MONTH to go till Little Bean comes.  however, we didn’t get back from our 1st session of the childbirth class until 10pm.  between it being late, my swollen feet, and not having any energy…. you see where that got me.

i celebrated the “one month ’til” mark by buying 2 coming home outfits.   They are adorable.  sorta wish i had twins, b/c i don’t want to return either one.

we went to the doctor yesterday as well.  all’s well.  i had my strep test.  we now go back every week!  so we’ll find out next week how that went (hopefully well!)  the heart sounded really good.  ben was home to hear it & he liked that, too. 

i asked Heather when i could find out how much they think bean will weigh…  she said she could tell by the size & position it is probably ~6lbs.  she expects it to be ~8lbs or a little more.  at least that sounds normal. but a little bigger than i had hoped b/c newborn clothes stop at 8.  so the clothes i bought are 3 months…   i know it will swallow bean.   so i’ve decided to go buy some newborn outfits too and just hope for the best!  since i’m returning one set of clothes anyway i guess it doesn’t matter.

baby’s in good position. well, “good” is relative considering i’ve had pelvis soreness for about a month now. i’m fine when i don’t do ‘nothin.  but if i roll over or stand or sit….   it’s a little uncomf.  my feet are also starting to be more uncomf.  but i still consider myself lucky. so i’m really not complaining.

i’ll be back soon. i’d like to post on another topic.  but i’ll save it for it’s own………

 

Surprise!

The fact that The Mr & I want to keep our baby’s gender a surprise should be no surprise to any of you; since we’ve faithfully used the moniker “little bean”.  I know it’s uncommon these days.  but i can’t imagine life any other way.

i truly think at this point, if i were to find out somehow, i’d be more upset about ruining the surprise than anything.

when people ask us what we’re having, i feel almost famous/saintly when we reply “we don’t know”.  it’s an amazing concept these days; especially for first-timers.  it’s a hilarious response.

sometimes i tell people about how it’s so natural for me to NOT know….  i used to wrap my own christmas gifts!!!!  & i was always sad for my (spoiled) friends that would always tell me what they were getting for xmas…. like in november!!! 

So- needless to say, when we went to the dr. for a routine visit & she heard a pause in the heart, we also were surprised by that.  so when she had us sit and wait for an ultrasound to be performed, we (i) immediately said:  WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE SEX!  (i’m a great mom:  not  “is it going to be alright?”)

the ultrasound also showed a pause.  so we were referred to a specialist.  appointment was on wednesday.

i laid off the caffeine for sure since they said it’s usually nothing. no big deal. brought on by caffeine sometimes (i’m a great mom:  that rare mt.dew tasted delicious during lunch IMMEDIATELY before the first visit) & it seemed to work.  the ultrasound tech didn’t detect a pause.  (WHEW).  oh yeah:  more declaring “we don’t wanna know” and turning our heads.

however, the dr. -after a while, mind you- did find just a few pauses… not like previous day.  but he wasn’t concerned and said sometimes that happens.  my impression is that if it happens again at the next visit, maybe they’d be more alarmed.  but the heart looks great.  and the beat is strong and “perfect” (when it’s beating)  so no need for worry.

wednesday night was my regular bunko game w/ my teacher pals, so i was looking forward to that now that i wasn’t too worried about baby bean.

and whaddya know—- they invited more people and threw me a SURPRISE! shower!

The Mr. apparently is great at keeping them!  i also was lucky to have a surprise wedding shower thrown by his mom, and he knew about this shower for months!  not to mention HE surprised me with a lovely mother’s day gift!

dang i love surprises!!!!!!        tho i hope i’m not surprised again at our next appointment. 

whew*

This week sucked.   Relay season is upon me!  Believe me, this is why i wanted this job…. but oh my god! 4?????  2 in the same night.  and i’m coincidentally starting to feel rather pregnant.

not that i’m complaining about my state.  my pregnancy has been pretty uneventful (not counting april fool’s day) & completely not what i’ve expected…   but, yes.  i’m starting to finally feel pregnant.  my big belly weighs me down if i’m standing or walking for a good bit of time.   um???  what????  standing? walking?  wait—- what’s Relay For Life?   ohhhhh yeeeahhhhhh……  American Cancer Society’s signature (and most fun) fundraiser!   job description:  walk around and “schmooze” all the team captains.  get to know them.  establish a relationship & see how things have gone/ will they return next year???   when i’m not “schmoozing”, i need to help the committee take care of whatever needs to be done.  yaddayaddayadda.   oh yeah.  and do this ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

but that’s ok.  i’ll manage.  my first one is next friday.  woohoo!  then 2 the next friday. (uh-oh)  then i have a week off and i finish on may 16th.  but all of this is making work quite stressful.

and i had my own stresses to deal w/ littlebean this week.   but YAY! my glucose test came back negative!!

yes. i was worried.  the stress has (i guess) helped me to not feel my best.  couple that w/ family history of gestational diabetes, and now diabetes.  add on that my last dr’s visit and they said i had glucose in my sample (but dr. said that was ok and normal…… still!)  to top it off, doctor measured my fundus (amungus) and said it was a little big.       THERE’S A SIGN.

but i’m so excited.  this job makes me travel. a lot.  to some rural counties that are no less than 45 minutes away.  so my eating habits are not the best when i miss dinners sometimes 3 or 4 nights a week (and who cooks on weekends?  i love sundays! if i’m not too tired).  and excercise??   how?  i’m sitting in a car for 2 hours at a time and sitting at my desk the rest of the time.

so even though i should have had to take the 3 hour test, i’m very thankful that i’m all clear!

so littlebean is happy.  but a little big (by a week. i asked this time)

so this post letcha know how things are.  and hopefully let you know why, exactly, i’ve been silent.  and likely will be for a little longer…   i’m even working sunday.  but we’ll see braves vs. dodgers tomorrow w/ The Mr.’s parents.  (can’t wait.  hot dog & boiled peanuts…..   yum)

i couldn’t do all this w/o The Mr. !     Time for me to get some much needed excercise….

Thanks for checkin in.   talk to you later!

9 months

i’ve wondered for a while how it could be “9 months” to have a baby.  especially now that we’re pregnant.  do the math.  40 weeks divided by 4 weeks/month= 10 months.

well, in any case… i’m glad it’s 9 (or 10) months to prepare you for having a baby.  even us….  carefully thought out.  but let me just say- my short visit in the hospital:   UMMMMMMMMMM  yeah.  not quite ready.

seriously.  yes.  littlebean has a crib (thanks, gramma & grampa!) & a car seat.  so, sure. we can bring LB home.  but getting him/her here?  i am not even whining about the labor.  (tho yes, i’m sure that’s part of it).  just the thought.

sitting in that hospital room with just The Mr & myself…  i felt completely small.  and i didn’t fit.  not since i was 4 w/ pneumonia have i ever been to the hospital where i wasn’t visiting someone.  happy occasions & sad…  but it was just as visitor.  i’m there to cheer someone or to meet someone else’s newborn. 

i didn’t feel like i belonged in an empty room.  i even sat on the couch b/c i was unsure of what to do.  when they showed me our room, they told me to get undressed (!).  however, since i knew i was getting that oxygenation clip on my finger, i felt no need to put on a gown w/ a slit in the back.  the nurse set me straight tho’— esp. since they needed my leg free for the ultrasound.

lots of beeps persisted & heartbeat monitor for LB.  ben even said there was the contraction monitor (no contractions).  all of these noises interfered w/ whatever gameshow was on tv at the time.  ok. no big deal. i’m not really here.  then nurse comes back to put my seatback comfortable, told me how to work the tv and where we could get juice if needed and that if i needed to go to the bathroom, get her b/c i was all strapped in.   (!!??) 

The Mr. seemed a little out of place.  (tho i asked- he didn’t feel odd). i guess to me, he didn’t really belong there, either. so i laughed a lot.  i just didn’t get the whole thing.  and man, when they came w/ the wheelchair?  never in my life have i been in one.  i was fully capable of walking.  and by that time, felt completely normal.

in any case, this big, empty room:  it was nice enough.  the maternity ward is only a little over a year old.  so the hardwood floors and “furniture” seemed nice.  (not sure what i was expecting).  and over to the left of me was the plastic bassinet.  um, it doesn’t take a geeenius to figure out what THAT is supposed to be for.  it all just felt pretty surreal.

The Mr & i got bored w/ the jeffersons.  he looked thru all the cabinets and things.  we joked and laughed.  but i really didn’t even feel as though i belonged.

hope i will in a few months.  cuz next time, people will be in that room to cheer me on. and to see US.  hey, dr- can i have about 9 more months, please?