Advent Calendar and Puzzles

As the last post was completely absent of Eli news, I figured I'd catch up on his photos and news of the week. He loves his Advent Calendar. It's something that my mom had saved since her Tuesday Morning days and she brought out this year. It seems to be perfect timing. He anticipates pulling out the next number each day, and even asks if we can do the next one when he gets up from his nap. There is still a little confusion between nap and sleep. He jumps out of bed and runs to the calendar, I take it out, take out the next number and he finds where it goes. But, the fun doesn't stop there, it's actually providing several hours of daily entertainment. He takes down the numbers, and puts them back up. Or, he takes them down, has me read the back, and puts them back. He can read his numbers through 10, but now the advent calendar is helping him with his teen numbers too. It's so funny, you never know what will be a hit, and what will bomb. The advent calendar -- definitely a hit. On a side note, I never have to wonder about the date anymore, I now have my own walking, talking toddler calendar who's very aware of which number we did this morning, and which one we'll do tomorrow.






His other favorite things right now are his train table, Duplos, books, his letters and numbers and his car ramp and puzzles. He's always liked puzzles, but now that we've moved into real toddler jigsaw puzzles on boards he's a little obsessed. He can do his 12 piece puzzles unassisted and can almost do his 25 piece one by himself too. It's really fun to watch him concentrate.

Baby Girl Ultrasound and 19 Weeks Belly Shot

The exciting news -- she's definitely a girl! It's fun to know for sure, and interestingly I could even tell, which I was doubtful was possible. On second thought, more of a relief -- she's 100% healthy. On the suggestion of my midwife I went to see a genetic specialist a while ago (she says they offer and suggest it to everyone now.) I opted for the most extensive testing, I figured if I was going to do, might as well really do it. So, I didn't get the results until last week, and thankfully everything is normal. Added to the information from the ultrasound, she is developing completely normally. It's a relief. I think all pregnant mom brains are on overdrive imagining all the worst case scenarios, and unfortunately I'm no acception. But, this week I got to breathe a big sigh of relief. Here are some ultrasound pics:





It was interesting because in many ways she's much mellower than Eli was in utero. I'm definitely feeling her move daily now, but she moves around much less as evidenced by the ultrasound. His movements were at times spastic, and he reacted to outside stimuli. But, she on the other hand is very content to hang out in her curled up little ball, thank you very much. She had her legs or ankles crossed for the whole session, and no matter how much the ultrasound tech poked and prodded her she just settled right back down into her comfortable starting position. It will be interesting to see how this translates into her demeanor once she's born. There are definitely similarities though too. On the last ultrasound she had the hiccups and I think Eli had them most days, which got pretty hysterical as my stomach got huge. And, she always has her hands up near her face like he did.

Now on to the bad news, my placenta previa was still there. For those of you medical novices like me, it basically means that my placenta is growing between my cervix and the baby. In my case, only part of my cervix is covered, so there's hope that as my uterus grows, the placenta will move into its proper place on the side of the uterine wall. We'll go back in four weeks for a regular appointment and an ultrasound. For now, I'm not on any activity restrictions, but she reviewed the fact that I shouldn't be picking up Eli. I can carry him, but I shouldn't be picking him up off the ground. So now, when he wants to be held he climbs up on a couch or chair and I pick him up from there. I get the impression that if it is still evident in four weeks, they may limit my activities. And, the biggest side effect of placenta previa is the need for a C-Section. Bummer. I can't really imagine recovering from major surgery with a newborn and a toddler to help. Needless to say, I was bummed. There's still hope, and I'm not going to look into all the medical info until I absolutely have to in four weeks if it's confirmed. For now, I'm going to (try) to think positive thoughts, and hope for a good outcome. I do know that things could be MUCH worse, and even if it remains and I need a C-Section, it's not something that will leave lasting damage on either of us. I still have to count my blessings.

Here are my 19 week belly shots. I'm definitely popping out more and faster this time around. Interestingly, I actually weigh a little less this time, but I'm looking much more pregnant. I read about this. I guess my muscles and organs know the drill this time.

A Pillow Games, Spinning in Circles and Fraggle Rock Weekend

This weekend Eli did his usual share of wrestling with Daddy. This time the game mutated a bit and featured pillows. Eli would throw himself on the floor laughing and ask Daddy to throw pillows at him until he was completely covered and giggling even more. Then, it was Eli's turn to cover Daddy with pillows. Notice that he's wearing his pajamas like a cape, that somehow made the game even more fun.





Last night I went to a Christmas Party thrown by one of my teacher friends. I only stayed for a few hours, but it was so nice to get back in touch with all of my old friends from Eastside. I definitely miss "the girls." While I was gone, Eli discovered that he could spin round and round in circles and eventually he'd get so dizzy he'd fall down. He did it over and over again. It was apparently the best game ever.




One of the reasons spinning around in circles was so fun this weekend was that Eli discovered the game while dancing to his new favorite song -- The Fraggle Rock Theme. It's a long story, but watching Sesame Street videos turned into Muppet Videos which led to Fraggle Rock. We broke down and bought the song off iTunes and it has been on repeat for much of the weekend. Here's a picture of Eli and Daddy "dancing" to the song on the couch. They were bouncing to the beat. Of course, a few minutes later Eli was back to dancing and spinning in circles again, and this time I got to see him in action.

Christmas Cookies

Today started out like many other days lately -- Eli had not intention of getting out of his pajamas or leaving the house. Instead of fighting it, I realized that I had a box of organic sugar cookie mix, cookie cutters, and assorted sprinkles in the cupboard. We had a BALL making the dough, cutting out the shapes and decorating them. At first, I tried to control the product, but I quickly realized that beautiful cookies weren't the point, and Eli had a great time making a HUGE mess. It was so festive, Christmas music playing, and decorating cookies -- what a sweet tradition (no pun intended!) I realize that the tradition will be a little different next year with an eight month old baby helping out. And, the cookie making helped to satiate my bakery urge. At this time of the year I always miss working at the bakery.


His first time with a rolling pin--




And, cookie cutters --




"I love you, dough."




Sprinkles, his favorite part, especially once I relinquished control.





And, finally, sampling his hard work. Notice the abundance of flour all over his pajamas and the fact that he's trying to eat the sprinkles off the top of the cookie.

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent a very nice Thanksgiving at the Summervilles. Eli is warming up so much faster to people, and by the end of the night was a little chatterbox. He got to spend a lot of the time with Grammie, Dendi, BaPa and BaBo. His two favorite unusual things to do were being lifted up to touch the top of the Christmas tree or the ceiling and hiding Duplo Bob in the Christmas tree. Go figure. :)

Chocolate Cupcake (sort of) and a 16 week Belly Shot

Eli's favorite thing in the world is chocolate. The other night I made cupcakes, and we ate a few plain, without the icing. He liked them. Then, a few nights later I finally got around to making the icing. Eli got to eat a little of the icing as I made it -- he loved it. Then, after dinner, we cut him a quarter of a cupcake and put it on his plate. He took one look at it and said, "Daddy, take the bread off." Apparently, the cupcake part was no longer acceptable, now that he had tried the icing. Scott obliged, and Eli ate a dessert of chocolate frosting while we laughed.






Here are our first attempts at belly shots. We decided that the best bare wall in the house is next to Eli's bed. But, of course me standing on Eli's bed was very exciting, since he can only be on his knees or bottom on his bed with it's new height. So, of course, since Mommy was standing on the bed, he had to join in the fun. And, you'll have to excuse my tired eyes. We've had a challenging few days. Eli's been sick since Tuesday, and we both have had some horrible night's sleep. I think he's finally on the mend, but of course, now Scott's sick.

Dendi Love and Nudie Basket Boy

Scott, Eli and I are very fortunate to live so close to family. They provide support in countless ways. One weekly way is Dendi on Monday mornings. She comes over every Monday morning, which helps me tremendously. That way I have one day that I can count on to make all my appointments, and when I don't have an appointment I can go to the morning Yoga class. I've been really enjoying Yoga, and even though my belly has started getting in the way (no more Cobra pose, or flat on my back at the end of the class) I've been trying to attend about four classes a week. It's been great, and I'm very lucky to have such a supportive husband and Mother in Law to watch Eli while I go, Grammie and Ba-Bo have watched him a few times too. Here are some pictures of Eli and Dendi from Monday morning.




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Eli loves to be naked, or at least run around with just a diaper on. Whenever I get him out of his clothes, he wriggles away and runs through the house giggling. The other morning he decided to go sit in a basket nudie. The first picture shows the face he makes when I ask him to smile for the camera. Not exactly a smile, but pretty funny nonetheless.