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Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Some belly pics!
I don't know why it's so hard for me to update here with pictures, but it is. So here are a bunch of belly pics, some that I unfortunately took by myself while Mr. Beaver has been out of town.
May 22: 19 weeks
May 31: Almost 22 weeks
June 7: 21.5
June 8: Almost 22 weeks...
(trying on a dress for a wedding- don't know if I actually got any pictures of me at the wedding??)
I'll try to remember to take one today and post it! The pictures are pretty kind- in person the belly is huge enough to get daily comments from coworkers about how much I'm showing already, and two people have made references to me carrying twins...
As a general pregnancy update: I am feeling fine other than feeling big and sad that I'm not working out at all. I found my yoga video from last time and am hoping to make that a nightly habit! Riley is very aware of the pregnancy and is constantly hugging and kissing the baby (aka my belly), and she agrees with me about exercise I guess... she told my family over dinner one night that "Mommy needs to exercise for the baby." But she is always saying silly things :) Sleep has been rough because I am very congested, so I am pretty tired, but not to the point that I go to bed any earlier! I have not been eating any different or more than usual, no cravings just like last time. I am feeling plenty of movement now, which is great! Mr. Beaver even got to feel some hiccups last night which was fun. I haven't tried letting Riley feel yet, because I don't want her to get frustrated if she doesn't feel anything...I'm planning to wait until it's really obvious and more frequent. As you can see in the pictures, my belly button is super-out which is not much different from pre-pregnancy, thanks to the umbilical hernia that opened up when I was pregnant with Riley. I go back and forth about getting hers fixed when I see mine every day...
I am wearing maternity jeans, I don't really have much else besides long sleeves which aren't going to get any use this summer! Mostly I stick to my numerous sun dresses. Those are getting pretty short stretched over the bump, though, so I went out and got some capri-length leggings this week. I think I can make it through the summer with dresses, so hopefully won't really need maternity clothes! Luckily the maternity jeans still fit, even though my thighs and butt are much bigger this time around.
We had our "big" ultrasound a few weeks ago, and decided to be surprised by the gender again! I don't think we could've found out anyway- baby was very uncooperative, facing in and scrunching up the whole time. Luckily we were able to get all the necessary pictures and measurements for the doctor, though it was really, really painful at times when she was shoving the ultrasound wand deep into my sides and lower abdomen. Such a relief to hear the good news that everything looks great though!
May 22: 19 weeks
May 31: Almost 22 weeks
June 7: 21.5
June 8: Almost 22 weeks...
(trying on a dress for a wedding- don't know if I actually got any pictures of me at the wedding??)
I'll try to remember to take one today and post it! The pictures are pretty kind- in person the belly is huge enough to get daily comments from coworkers about how much I'm showing already, and two people have made references to me carrying twins...
As a general pregnancy update: I am feeling fine other than feeling big and sad that I'm not working out at all. I found my yoga video from last time and am hoping to make that a nightly habit! Riley is very aware of the pregnancy and is constantly hugging and kissing the baby (aka my belly), and she agrees with me about exercise I guess... she told my family over dinner one night that "Mommy needs to exercise for the baby." But she is always saying silly things :) Sleep has been rough because I am very congested, so I am pretty tired, but not to the point that I go to bed any earlier! I have not been eating any different or more than usual, no cravings just like last time. I am feeling plenty of movement now, which is great! Mr. Beaver even got to feel some hiccups last night which was fun. I haven't tried letting Riley feel yet, because I don't want her to get frustrated if she doesn't feel anything...I'm planning to wait until it's really obvious and more frequent. As you can see in the pictures, my belly button is super-out which is not much different from pre-pregnancy, thanks to the umbilical hernia that opened up when I was pregnant with Riley. I go back and forth about getting hers fixed when I see mine every day...
I am wearing maternity jeans, I don't really have much else besides long sleeves which aren't going to get any use this summer! Mostly I stick to my numerous sun dresses. Those are getting pretty short stretched over the bump, though, so I went out and got some capri-length leggings this week. I think I can make it through the summer with dresses, so hopefully won't really need maternity clothes! Luckily the maternity jeans still fit, even though my thighs and butt are much bigger this time around.
We had our "big" ultrasound a few weeks ago, and decided to be surprised by the gender again! I don't think we could've found out anyway- baby was very uncooperative, facing in and scrunching up the whole time. Luckily we were able to get all the necessary pictures and measurements for the doctor, though it was really, really painful at times when she was shoving the ultrasound wand deep into my sides and lower abdomen. Such a relief to hear the good news that everything looks great though!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Little Beaver update!
I don't think we can call her a baby anymore...
Riley is now a "big girl". I still call her baby all the time, and she doesn't mind it, but she is no longer a baby at all. Well, except during tantrums I guess, but that isn't often. She has full conversations with us, and I can't recall the last time that we had trouble figuring out what was wrong or what she was trying to ask or tell us. Her speech isn't the clearest still, but other people don't seem to have too much trouble understanding her, and we don't have much trouble at all. Her memory is also developing really fast these days! She learns paired associations so fast, and remembers them for quite a while. For example- she can now look at the book cover of "brown bear, brown bear" and recall the animal that goes with each color! She remembers where she puts things later in the day, and she holds us to every promise/bribe we give no matter how much time passes (e.g., I will negotiate, "we have to eat dinner and clean up, and then take a bath. We can read big sister after bath time." and the second she gets out of bath- "mommy, read big sister now!")
She is getting really good at playing with big kid toys now too- we've started putting together real puzzles, and she is great at finding pieces to go together and rotating them to make them fit. She put together a 24 piece floor puzzle the other day, with only help finding the right pieces! She can stack wooden blocks so high that she finally knocks them down herself because they don't fall on their own, and she likes to build stuff with her jumbo size legos (really they are huge- like 8x4x4"! expensive, but so cool!) Her favorite toy at the moment, though, is a wooden train set. She will put it together three or four times a day, all by herself. Every time, she holds up the box to us and says, "I need more tracks! I need the tunnel! I need the house!" and point to each of the pictures of additional parts you can order. It's funny, because she almost always uses the word want and not need in other situations, but apparently the train accessories are extra important. Luckily, she is still really good at stores and will put things away and leave without throwing a fit about wanting or needing anything (knock on wood I don't jinx it!).
We are just starting to work on potty training, and are being very casual about it- just asking if she wants to sit on the potty when we think of it, and talking about it a lot. She goes on the potty a few times a week, and has told us she needed to go several times (and then actually goes!). I guess we should get on top of it... She also knows when she needs to poop, and we can tell, but she doesn't want to sit on the potty for that yet. She does like to get the diaper off immediately, though. The other day we were too late- and when I came in the room there was an empty diaper in her hand, and poop on the ground. She said she went poop on the ground, but I am thinking she emptied her diaper on the ground. Either way, it was very gross.
Riley is also super excited about becoming a big sister. She talks about it whenever she sees other babies, and she often will come up and say she wants to kiss or hug or tickle the baby, and proceed to kiss/hug/tickle my belly. She also says she is going to help take care of the baby, by changing its diapers, reading it books, and singing it baby songs (when asked what a baby song is, she usually sings rock-a-bye baby, though she says she'll sing ABCs to the baby too). She also said that she will use the potty when the baby comes, so that the baby can have her diapers. She laughed at our silly name suggestions for the baby, and gave her own suggestions- Baby Saturday and Baby Florida :) Her favorite book right now is "I'm a Big Sister", and she has most of it memorized and insists on reading it at least once a day. It is so sweet to see her happy about the baby!!
My friend wrote about wishing she had included more stories about her toddler, and I think it is a great idea! I have two that made me smile this week. One was this morning- I got up late, and Riley was already eating breakfast when I came out. We talked and got ready together and everything, and then I said, "I'm sad- I didn't get a hug from my Riley this morning!" And she looked at me so serious, and said, "You're sad? Oh no!" and she ran over and gave me a huge hug! She is very affectionate with hugs and kisses these days, and is always giving and asking for them. It is great! Another kinda silly story: I was rushing out with her to get her to school in time for breakfast (#2-she eats so much). I somehow closed the door on my thumb and cried out, and it was obvious I was in pain. Riley said, "Oh no, mommy got a boo boo? Riley will kiss it better!" and kissed it better and gave me a hug. Then I put our stuff in the car and was tightening the belt on her carseat and my thumb still hurt a lot, and I said "Mommy really hurt my thumb!" She said, "Mommy got another boo boo? Mommy hurt her thumb AGAIN?" And she burst out laughing at me, I guess thinking it was hilarious that I hurt the same finger twice in such a short time. It seems silly now, but at the time I could not get over how funny this was. I guess it was just funny seeing how hilarious she thought the whole situation was. I could go on and on with funny stories about her, and stories about how sweet and caring she is, but I think this post has gotten long enough!!
I need to upload some new videos and pictures from my phone and camera, but here are a couple from a month or so ago:
Visiting the farm (we get to go every week now for our vegetable share!)
Video reading brown bear:
Riley is now a "big girl". I still call her baby all the time, and she doesn't mind it, but she is no longer a baby at all. Well, except during tantrums I guess, but that isn't often. She has full conversations with us, and I can't recall the last time that we had trouble figuring out what was wrong or what she was trying to ask or tell us. Her speech isn't the clearest still, but other people don't seem to have too much trouble understanding her, and we don't have much trouble at all. Her memory is also developing really fast these days! She learns paired associations so fast, and remembers them for quite a while. For example- she can now look at the book cover of "brown bear, brown bear" and recall the animal that goes with each color! She remembers where she puts things later in the day, and she holds us to every promise/bribe we give no matter how much time passes (e.g., I will negotiate, "we have to eat dinner and clean up, and then take a bath. We can read big sister after bath time." and the second she gets out of bath- "mommy, read big sister now!")
She is getting really good at playing with big kid toys now too- we've started putting together real puzzles, and she is great at finding pieces to go together and rotating them to make them fit. She put together a 24 piece floor puzzle the other day, with only help finding the right pieces! She can stack wooden blocks so high that she finally knocks them down herself because they don't fall on their own, and she likes to build stuff with her jumbo size legos (really they are huge- like 8x4x4"! expensive, but so cool!) Her favorite toy at the moment, though, is a wooden train set. She will put it together three or four times a day, all by herself. Every time, she holds up the box to us and says, "I need more tracks! I need the tunnel! I need the house!" and point to each of the pictures of additional parts you can order. It's funny, because she almost always uses the word want and not need in other situations, but apparently the train accessories are extra important. Luckily, she is still really good at stores and will put things away and leave without throwing a fit about wanting or needing anything (knock on wood I don't jinx it!).
We are just starting to work on potty training, and are being very casual about it- just asking if she wants to sit on the potty when we think of it, and talking about it a lot. She goes on the potty a few times a week, and has told us she needed to go several times (and then actually goes!). I guess we should get on top of it... She also knows when she needs to poop, and we can tell, but she doesn't want to sit on the potty for that yet. She does like to get the diaper off immediately, though. The other day we were too late- and when I came in the room there was an empty diaper in her hand, and poop on the ground. She said she went poop on the ground, but I am thinking she emptied her diaper on the ground. Either way, it was very gross.
Riley is also super excited about becoming a big sister. She talks about it whenever she sees other babies, and she often will come up and say she wants to kiss or hug or tickle the baby, and proceed to kiss/hug/tickle my belly. She also says she is going to help take care of the baby, by changing its diapers, reading it books, and singing it baby songs (when asked what a baby song is, she usually sings rock-a-bye baby, though she says she'll sing ABCs to the baby too). She also said that she will use the potty when the baby comes, so that the baby can have her diapers. She laughed at our silly name suggestions for the baby, and gave her own suggestions- Baby Saturday and Baby Florida :) Her favorite book right now is "I'm a Big Sister", and she has most of it memorized and insists on reading it at least once a day. It is so sweet to see her happy about the baby!!
My friend wrote about wishing she had included more stories about her toddler, and I think it is a great idea! I have two that made me smile this week. One was this morning- I got up late, and Riley was already eating breakfast when I came out. We talked and got ready together and everything, and then I said, "I'm sad- I didn't get a hug from my Riley this morning!" And she looked at me so serious, and said, "You're sad? Oh no!" and she ran over and gave me a huge hug! She is very affectionate with hugs and kisses these days, and is always giving and asking for them. It is great! Another kinda silly story: I was rushing out with her to get her to school in time for breakfast (#2-she eats so much). I somehow closed the door on my thumb and cried out, and it was obvious I was in pain. Riley said, "Oh no, mommy got a boo boo? Riley will kiss it better!" and kissed it better and gave me a hug. Then I put our stuff in the car and was tightening the belt on her carseat and my thumb still hurt a lot, and I said "Mommy really hurt my thumb!" She said, "Mommy got another boo boo? Mommy hurt her thumb AGAIN?" And she burst out laughing at me, I guess thinking it was hilarious that I hurt the same finger twice in such a short time. It seems silly now, but at the time I could not get over how funny this was. I guess it was just funny seeing how hilarious she thought the whole situation was. I could go on and on with funny stories about her, and stories about how sweet and caring she is, but I think this post has gotten long enough!!
I need to upload some new videos and pictures from my phone and camera, but here are a couple from a month or so ago:
Visiting the farm (we get to go every week now for our vegetable share!)
Video reading brown bear:
Sunday, April 29, 2012
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Friday, April 27, 2012
15 weeks!
Surprisingly, I can use a lot of the answers copied from last time :)
I'm going to try and put up some back-dated updates put together from some emails to friends. I even have an old pic to post from about 6 weeks ago.
(Today's pic to come-- I could only get it to post sideways for some reason!!)
How far along? 15 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Just like last time, I fluctuate a good 4-5 lbs throughout each day. Unlike last time- I am gaining a lot faster! According to my scale at home, I am already up almost 10 lbs. My midwife's scale is not as friendly!!
Maternity clothes? I have some, but haven't worn them yet. Wearing the belly bands daily though!
Sleep: Pretty normal, get up once a night to pee most nights, and/or because I'm thirsty.
Best moment this week: Hmmm... I have no idea. Pregnancy-related not much happens, but I guess it was nice to get the prescription for our anatomy scan (ultrasound), so that we can schedule it.
Movement: I have definitely felt movement every now and then over the past week! It's nice this time to know what it feels like.
Food cravings: Nothing this time either!
Gender: We haven't decide whether or not to find out. There are definitely pros and cons both ways. If it were up to me alone, I'd wait again... but I don't feel as strongly this time, so Mr. Beaver *may* be able to convince me to find out. We'll see.
Labor signs: n/a
Belly Button in or out? I realized that my childhood umbilica hernia never closed up completely, so last time I was pregnant it actually opened back up... and never closed again. So my belly button has been out since I was first pregnant.
What I miss: Drinking! It hasn't been that hard, but a drink would be nice now and then. From last pregnancy, I miss being able to nap!!! I can't believe how much I napped last time, and how much it helped!
What I am looking forward to: Riley understanding more about what is happening!
Weekly wisdom: Hmm... enjoy the freedom of being pregnant with #1? I feel like I was able to enjoy it so much more!
Milestones: Not this week, but making it to 2nd tri, telling everyone, etc.
I'm going to try and put up some back-dated updates put together from some emails to friends. I even have an old pic to post from about 6 weeks ago.
(Today's pic to come-- I could only get it to post sideways for some reason!!)
Total weight gain/loss: Just like last time, I fluctuate a good 4-5 lbs throughout each day. Unlike last time- I am gaining a lot faster! According to my scale at home, I am already up almost 10 lbs. My midwife's scale is not as friendly!!
Maternity clothes? I have some, but haven't worn them yet. Wearing the belly bands daily though!
Sleep: Pretty normal, get up once a night to pee most nights, and/or because I'm thirsty.
Best moment this week: Hmmm... I have no idea. Pregnancy-related not much happens, but I guess it was nice to get the prescription for our anatomy scan (ultrasound), so that we can schedule it.
Movement: I have definitely felt movement every now and then over the past week! It's nice this time to know what it feels like.
Food cravings: Nothing this time either!
Gender: We haven't decide whether or not to find out. There are definitely pros and cons both ways. If it were up to me alone, I'd wait again... but I don't feel as strongly this time, so Mr. Beaver *may* be able to convince me to find out. We'll see.
Labor signs: n/a
Belly Button in or out? I realized that my childhood umbilica hernia never closed up completely, so last time I was pregnant it actually opened back up... and never closed again. So my belly button has been out since I was first pregnant.
What I miss: Drinking! It hasn't been that hard, but a drink would be nice now and then. From last pregnancy, I miss being able to nap!!! I can't believe how much I napped last time, and how much it helped!
What I am looking forward to: Riley understanding more about what is happening!
Weekly wisdom: Hmm... enjoy the freedom of being pregnant with #1? I feel like I was able to enjoy it so much more!
Milestones: Not this week, but making it to 2nd tri, telling everyone, etc.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Baby Beaver is TWO!!!
I can't believe our baby is TWO!!!
We no longer have a baby... she doesn't even seem much like a toddler anymore. Her communication is amazing! She's been using full sentences for a while, and they are becoming just as frequent as single and double word talking. She is very observant, and seems to have a decent memory for a 2 year old! Hopefully she gets her memory from her daddy, so far so good :) She is learning things so fast, already able to sing her ABCs (minus pronouncing L-M-N-O-P, and sometimes leaving of W-X-Y-Z, but still impressive), she knows her colors, can count without mistakes to 11 or 12, and knows most shapes, even hard ones like triangle and hexagon, and weird ones like crescent. She loves to run and is pretty fast, but even though she tries so much every day, she hasn't mastered leaving the ground when she jumps. She still loves to dance and will do it even without music, but will also ask us to put music on if she's in the mood. She sleeps in a giant big girl bed, and likes to try and get dressed all by herself.
Riley is on the small size -- still under 25 lbs and only about 20th percentile for weight (50th for length), but she will taste almost anything, and eats like a champ! Her favorite foods are even quite sophisticated - she loves Indian cuisine (which is what we had for her birthday), Thai food, she'll even eat salad- especially if it has red onion and lots of goat cheese. Pasta is her absolute favorite though, but she'll eat so much she doesn't want it again for at least a few days :) She likes puzzles and blocks, and playing mommy to her baby dolls, but she still seems to prefer playing with things other than her toys for the majority of her time. She is starting to like to help out with cleaning, cooking, and laundry, which is sweet even if it makes things take a little longer. Her favorite thing, though is to be outside. We are so happy that the weather has finally warmed up enough to spend a lot of time outside! We've got a fenced in area for her to play, a huge deck, a great back yard, and we live in a park- and we have been taking full advantage of all of the spaces. It's a little scary though, she will run away from us into the woods if she realizes we are heading home from a walk. We've let her go for a while before to see how far she will go, and so far we don't know- because she never stops! Even if she can't see us -- she doesn't even look back. Luckily we have bolts on all of our doors that we keep locked, because I don't know what would happen if she learned to open the outside doors and got out on her own...
The gang of fashion students she met at the park on our street: 
We think these next six months are going to be a lot of fun. We plan to spend a lot of time outdoors just enjoying our little girl and giving her our full, undivided attention until she has to learn to share us with her new little brother or sister - due October 15! While she seems to be very excited when we talk to her about it, I'm not sure how things will actually work out once reality hits. Luckily we still have a lot of time to prepare and just enjoy the nice weather and fun summer! Maybe I'll even post more to do pregnancy updates, because I already feel a little like I'm slacking with #2!
Some more party pics: I am so bad at thinking to take photos, but here are a few:
Tempted to start the party early with a cupcake...
Poor girl had way more grown-ups than same-age friends at her party!! Though she seemed to enjoy all the attention...
Happy birthday big girl!!!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Seven months later...
an update!!
I was finally motivated enough to come back and post, because I want to remember for kid #2 when we weaned, which has FINALLY happened!! I have been ready for months, but riley never reached that point. She did finally reach the point of tolerating it, though, so it is done. It has been more than a week since the last time we nursed. She still asks for it about every other day, and now is attached to my leg every second we are together, and it has led to some sleep issues (mostly from her constant need for me to be near her, leading to me sometimes even sleeping in her room just so she'll go back to bed), but I think she will be okay. I wish I could have waited for her to self-wean, but I was just so done... toward the end I did not like nursing anymore. at all. I loved it when she was a baby, and am happy that I remember that despite how much I did not love it toward the end :) So I know that I will nurse again someday, which is a possibility now that I have actually gotten my period back...
In other updates, I graduated from school, and now have my ph.d... only a year late :) And we moved to Philadelphia. So I was busy and have an excuse for not keeping track of stuff the past 6 months! Maybe now that things have calmed down I will be able to start posting again. I feel bad that I haven't posted much about riley starting to talk, and all of the other grown-up things she does now. She is SO much better at communicating, but still gets frustrated because we don't understand most of what she says. She has become a great eater and finally drinks milk (since weaning, I guess!). She loves to sing and dance, and actually knows about half of the words to a few songs (twinkle twinkle, Elmo's song- which is mostly la-la-la-la haha). She is starting to interact with other toddlers, which is very fun. She seems to understand a lot now, and you can tell she is thinking a lot when she does things. She seems to experiment a lot, and likes to figure out cause/effect relationships. She loves playing with water and pouring, soaking/squeezing sponges, etc and will spend an hour in the bathtub if we let her. She is surprisingly good with crayons and markers and seems to be trying to do more than just scribble. She loves the playground and can go down the slides by herself, which is scary for me! If there is a railing to hold, she can walk up stairs instead of climbing. She can follow pretty complex, multi-step requests. She still loves books (and has some memorized) and now likes puzzles too. I'm sure there is so much more that I am not thinking of, because she doesn't even seem like a baby at all- she is like a little girl now.
I don't even have recent pictures on my computer to post! I'll do it again soon, in case anyone still checks this :)
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