Moving day

Of course, the one day it decides to rain in a two-week time span is the day we've chosen to move to the new house. Never fails!

But I have to say how amazing our friends and family are...they all came out yesterday, braved the water, and moved us out and in in record time. We are so, so grateful!

I got to play director and point to where things should go in the new house; that's one of the benefits to being 38 weeks pregnant! (One of the very few.) I even got chastised for carrying little things, like an empty diaper pail. Um, okay guys, this weighs less than my toddler, and no one offers to carry him for me! :)

I was worried how Cameron would do sleeping in a strange place, but before everyone departed we made sure that his room was the first to get set up and I tried to make it as much like home as possible for him. What do you know, he did GREAT last night. I'm so pleased that he seems to be transitioning well.

Now to unpack the rest of this stuff! Hooray for maternity leave!

I love you

Yesterday morning I was making pancakes with Cameron. Chris came downstairs while we were working in the kitchen and asked what we were doing, to which Cameron happily replied "making pancakes, Dada!"

And then later, when he was taste testing them, he said to Chris "I love Mama, Dada." It was the first 'I love you' that I've heard directed at me; before it's been Wendell or Rabies, or other belongings of his.

And then this morning, Chris was leaving for work and my mom was getting Cam dressed. Chris went in to say goodbye, and Cam said "Bye Dada, I love you!"

So sweet!

Thoughts on pregnancy

The early part of this pregnancy was so similar to my first, I suppose I expected everything to be the same. However, I found out that I failed my 1-hour glucose screening test that I had taken on October 29th. I was bummed, but figured okay, whatever, I'll suffer through the 3-hour glucose tolerance test (GTT) and did so on November 4th. But then I found out that I failed that one too! My fasting number was fine, but because my first draw number was over 200, that meant an automatic diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes (GD). GD!

I was pretty broken up about it at first, and the two weeks between the diagnosis and meeting with the nutritionist were hard because I didn't know how bad things were or if I was eating appropriate things. My doc told me that until I saw the nutritionist, to just try to just spread out my carbs throughout the day and "not go crazy". But I still wasn't sure how much I had to restrict myself or what size portions to eat.

So on November 22nd, (the day before Thanksgiving), I went to see the nutritionist and have a growth ultrasound. I met with the nutritionist and got a glucometer, and instructions to test my blood sugar 4 times per day (fasting, and then 1 hour after every meal) by pricking my finger. The ultrasound was great, and everything looked normal. With GD there is a risk that the baby can grow too large too fast, but she measured at around the 43rd percentile (and has a proportional-sized head!).

I also met with a MFM who told me that if my fundal height measurements and glucose readings were consistently normal and I could manage the GD with diet alone, that I probably wouldn't need to return for any further ultrasounds.

And fortunately, I really haven't had to adjust my diet all that much. During those two weeks I was actually restricting myself way more than I had to. Now I just make sure I eat protein with every carb, and pay attention to spacing out my carbs throughout the day. Almost all my numbers have been great, so after 2 weeks of keeping a food/glucose log and sending it to the nutritionist, I was allowed to drop the fasting test and just do it once per week instead of every day. So, it's annoying, but I've really learned what doesn't work for me (like cereal with milk for breakfast) and it's not so bad. I was even able to have dessert on Thanksgiving and indulge in some of those Christmas cookies we made with no problems. I'm sure looking forward to the day I'm done with this daily finger pricking, though. The bummer is that I'm now supposed to repeat the GTT every 3 years for the rest of my life. :-\

The other thing that has been occupying all my time lately is getting the Sausalito house ready to move into. We've been spending all our free time lately painting and doing small repairs. We had the floors refinished and they look wonderful--I wish I had before/after pictures! Our contractor is currently working on replacing rotting doors and windows, and hopefully will be finished by the time we move in mid-January.

I plan to work until January 20th, and then go on leave at 37 weeks. Hopefully the little miss will be content to stay put for a few weeks past then so I can get the house unpacked and organized! At least we finally have a name for her. :)

Christmas cookies

I thought it would be fun to make some Christmas cookies with Cameron this year, so I made some sugar cookie dough (dairy free, of course), rolled it flat, and handed him the cookie cutters. He had a good time cutting them out and decorating them with sprinkles. He tried to eat the raw dough a few times; he didn't really want to wait for them to bake!

When they were finally done and cooled, he ate quite a few. "Mmm, yum!" he said. Lucky boy then got to go take a nap while someone else cleaned up the mess. :)

Rainy day gear

I am loving the fact that Cameron will actually wear his raincoat and rainboots now. For the longest time he would claim that he "didn't like them" and would refuse to even try them on.

Well, now that he's discovered splashing in puddles, he's singing another tune. I'm as happy about it as he is!

Hello again!

I realize that I have neglected this blog for far, far too long. Almost a year!

Along the way, I have been keeping notes for some of the things about which I wanted to blog, but just never got around to writing the actual posts. It seems like something (or someone) else was always commanding my attention...and then when I did actually have free time, updating a whole year's worth of information seemed too daunting and I would procrastinate.

So, here I sit on September 4th, 2012, writing this post. I am going to date it mid-November, 2011 just so that it precedes the myriad of posts that are to follow, (which are each appropriately dated, I hope). I know I have inevitably left some things out, but I tried to capture the big moments and share some of the photos that we at least managed to snap.

I do apologize for my absence. Now that I'm caught up, I hope not to slip so far behind again. Yell at me if I do!

Happy Halloween!

One of the moms in my group hosted a little Halloween get-together, and it was really nice. We hung out, ate some food, and then tried trick-or-treating, which we skipped last year because Cameron was still going to bed so early. We only went to about 4 houses and Cameron picked out pieces of candy that he's not able to eat, but it was fun anyway!

Cameron was a baseball player this year, and my belly was the baseball.

Chris was going to be the baseball bat, but we didn't quite find the time to get his costume together. Such is life. We'll try to do better next year!

2 year stats

We've got a healthy, happy little man. He's slipping down on the charts, at 26.5 pounds he's only in the 25th percentile for weight, and at 33 inches, he's only in the 30th percentile for height. But the doc isn't concerned. He looks healthy and well proportioned for his size. Apparently they no longer measure head size anymore, so we'll just have to assume it's still bigger than the rest of his body, proportionally. :oP My guess is that it's still somewhere in the 90th percentile!

I recall being at his 18-month appointment and hearing that he was supposed to have 50 words by the time he was 2. This gave me pause at the time, as he only had 15-20 that he used consistently. But, everyone was right, there really is a language explosion around 22 months. I told the pedi when she asked about the 50 words that I had stopped counting at around 100. He's so verbal now; it's amazing what a difference a few months makes.

We also talked a bit about all the upcoming changes (new house, new baby, etc.) and how that was likely to impact potty training. So, for the time being, we're not pushing it, at all. He hasn't shown any signs of real readiness yet (doesn't tell us when he's wet, and only tells us about a dirty diaper after the fact) so it's just off the table for now.

We talked about allergies (still avoiding dairy until age 3, and all nuts as well since he has an allergic profile), sleep (no complaints here), and other milestones (like jumping and getting both feet off the ground, which he definitely tries to do while saying "hop!" but he hasn't quite gotten both feet all the way off the ground at the same time). Got him his flu shot and one in the Hep B series. He cried, but it was short-lived, thankfully!

My helper

While at Whole Foods this afternoon, I let Cameron ride in the "big" part of cart. When we get to the checkout, he started to help me unload the cart and put items on the conveyor belt. So cute! He got the yogurt, the raisins and the vitamins, but the milk was just a bit too heavy. He grunted and said "too heavy!" so I helped him.

The checker was pretty impressed too, and she gave him a box of raisins for being such a good helper. He looked at me and said "open raisins?" I told him we'd open them in the car, which we did, and as soon as the box was open he reached to grab it saying "mine". *sigh* I don't know where he picked up that little gem.

Numbers

When getting Cameron from his bed this morning, he was counting the pictures on his quilt. He counted to ten and then surprised me by saying eleven, twelve, firteen, fouhteen, fifteen, sisteen, (which was then followed by fouhteen, twenty!). I know we sometimes count the steps outside the house as we go up and down (there are 17), but I'd never heard him count these numbers, and in the correct order no less.

Cameron turns 2!

Oh how he's grown! I can hardly believe that just two short years ago I was mom to this little guy:

And now I'm mom to this big guy:

We had a great afternoon at the park; the weather cooperated nicely! The kids got to play on the playground, run around popping the bubbles that my mom was busy creating with a bubble wand, and kick some balls around in the grass. A good time was had by all.

Since we are still dealing with Cameron's dairy allergy, we opted to get some vegan cinnamon rolls so everyone could eat the same dessert this year. He pretty much only ate the frosting, but the rest of us thought they were delicious. :)

Happy birthday young man, we love you!

The big reveal

So, I know there is a striking difference between the amount of blogging I did with my first pregnancy and the amount of blogging I'm doing with this one. I guess it's a combination of being busy and stuff not being so "new". I hope this little one doesn't feel slighted!

But, just for the record, I found out I was pregnant on June 12th (using an expired test but hoping it was still reliable) when I was 5 days late.

And so far, this pregnancy has been very much like the first. I had nausea from about weeks 6-10. Though I didn't get quite the same surge of energy when I entered my second trimester, I attribute that to having a toddler in the house. Everything has been similar enough that I had pretty much convinced myself that I'll be having another boy. Also, last time my dreams all pointed to a boy, and this time, I've had a few very realistic boy dreams.

However, when we went in for my anatomy scan yesterday at 19w3d, we learned that this baby is a GIRL! I was so shocked, and I think I'm still getting used to the news. I really had prepped myself for two boys! But of course I'm thrilled and can't wait to see what's in store for us.

PB for me

Ever since learning that Cameron is allergic to dairy, his pediatrician has been wary about us trying any nuts. I've wanted to give him peanut butter (yes, I know peanuts are legumes) for awhile now, but the pedi wasn't comfortable having me try it unless we did so in the presence of the allergist.

Well, we finally had the PB "oral challenge" today at the allergist's office. It meant sitting in the small room for 3 hours (!), so I made sure to bring a backpack full of toys and books (so glad I did). He started out with the tiniest bit of PB (it was maybe about the size of a ladybug?). And then we sat for 15 minutes before he got the next sample. There were 7 samples in all, and each sample got incrementally bigger, the last one being about the size of a tablespoon. We sat and waited after he ate each one, and the doctor would periodically peek his head in to look at the skin on Cameron's chest and back. Chest sounds and his throat looked good before and after. All clear! Yippee!

Now, this doesn't mean we're clear for all nuts, and the allergist still thinks it's wise to hold off until he's 3 and we're retesting him for dairy anyway. But good news for today!

I'm a what?

A big brother?! 

Though Cameron really doesn't know what that means yet, yes, we are very pleased to announce that he will be a big brother to baby #2, who is due to arrive sometime around February 11, 2012!

Counting

Cameron's vocabulary is growing in leaps and bounds lately. He recognizes all the letters of the alphabet and has even started counting objects. He's got 1 through 4 down, and will sometimes make it to 5. "Un, too, free, fouah..." Though sometimes it's hard to know he's counting until he makes it to 2, as "one" sounds a lot like "on". He also knows 8 and 9 (by numeral), but has not yet gotten that far in sequence.

He surprises me every day by new words he has learned that I didn't know he knows. I came home from a 4-day work trip and he's speaking in more complete sentences than just a few days ago! Of course, he still says "uh-vuh-vuh" (his default when he doesn't know the word he's looking for), but he's getting better about finding other ways to make me understand what he means when I tell him I don't know what he's talking about. :)

New utensils

Now that Cameron has mastered the fork and spoon, he's moving on to chopsticks. He tried diligently to pick the pieces of food up, sometimes succeeding by stabbing them, and sometimes succeeding by just using his fingers.

And they also make excellent drumsticks, did you know?