22 Month Old Toddler and Almost @ Week 36 of Pregnancy = Time for Minivan!

Dear Nathan,

It's been a pretty exciting week. You finished off the week strong with Hope and Janie. We found out that even if you nap 30 minutes, you can still be a relatively happy boy in the afternoon. Over the weekend, mommy and daddy traded their Hyundai Elantra hatchback in for a mini-minivan. We ended up finding a mid-level Mazda5 with only 5,000 miles on it. For an extra $400 over what the dealer was asking for a base model car, we got a bunch of extra features like a moon roof, bluetooth connectivity, tinted windows, and a trip computer. You like this car better because you sit higher up on the road and you can look out of the window. You seldom ask for toys anymore, although I think that is going to change after the road is not so special anymore. You also complain less because the hot Texas sun is not shining as intensely on you. We are really liking the sliding doors and the spacious fold down 3rd row. Daddy installed the baby car seat already so pretty soon you will have a partner in crime to sit with in the back. 

On Sunday, we took advantage of the wildflower center's free Tribute day. Daddy got a chance to check out the new family garden and swing area. Here you are showing daddy a few cool things. 

 We spent a lot of time under the shady tree swings. You loved swinging back and forth with Daddy.

Family of 3

 I'm beginning to think that you are a sensory sensitive kid. After reading some articles on this, I've decided that you are to some extent, but not enough to impair your daily life functions. Here are the reasons why I think so:

a) You are sensitive to the texture of foods. Ever since you started solids, I've exposed you to a variety of textures and time after time, you reject veggies that are not smooth or slimy. It's not for a lack of trying, because you will taste different veggies, but spit it out because you don't like the texture. I also think you are super sensitive to texture because you can pick out a texture that you don't like hidden in a spoonful of food. You are successfully able to spit the portion of food which texture doesn't agree with you.

b) You are sensitive to bright lights.  I like to call you my little vampire because you will start to whine and sometimes cry if the light is too bright.

c) You are sensitive to loud noises. Whether it be the washing machine, a fan, or the motor that keeps jump houses inflated, loud noises distract you for a long time. While most people may drown out the sound after awhile, you are constantly aware of those types of sounds. Oh, and places with loud crowds also bother you. I don't know if it's the loud noise or if it's something else, but you would prefer to sit on the side and watch than be within the action.

As each week goes on, you become more and more verbal and this week you are able to express that you are afraid. You will point to the stove or the washing machine and say "Pa pa" which is chinese for afraid. You are not afraid of the dark (yet) nor are you afraid of angry, barking dogs, but you are just afraid of loud noises.

Another cool thing that you are able to do is distinguish between letters and numbers. When you see letters on signs, you will start spouting out random letters. And when you see numbers, you will start spouting out random numbers. In the past few days, you are starting to count in chinese up to 10. You can go from 1-2 (need a reminder for 3) 4 - 5- (reminder for 6) 7-8-9-10. In English, you can count 1- 2 - 9.

You get really excited when you hear the alphabet song and will start to sing along. You know the last letter of each phrase (usually rhymes with "he").

You really like to jump off of things and wrestle with others. Wrestling with Daddy is fine, but many of your girl friends don't like to wrestle. In fact, it makes them upset. So let's just stick to gentle hugs, ok?

Yesterday, while we were eating lunch, you said "A-ma" which is the name you call my mommy, and signed "telephone". So after lunch we skyped with A-ma. I found it very interesting that you remember her, considering that the last time you saw her was a few months ago, and while we have skyped a few times, each time you remember her and will call her "A-ma."

As far as things with your little sister goes, I am feeling pretty huge right now. New stretch marks have showed up and I'm getting up more each night to go potty. I feel her kicks more often, but they are not as strong as yours were. I think it may be due to the fact that the placenta is attached towards the front this time as opposed to the back.

I'm still continuing with body pump classes, but I've reduced my weight significantly just because I simply want to maintain muscle mass, and not gain any. I am also still enjoying the zumba classes, even though I am extremely awkward and can really only go for about 30 minutes before I get tired.

Each afternoon I am napping when you are. I totally remember what it's like being sleep deprived, so I'm getting all the rest I can now before life becomes a bit crazier.

I will probably have little sister's room all finished by next week's post. Then I will post some pictures of it. But for now, here's a bump comparison from week 36 of both pregnancies. I'm definitely sticking out further this time with you sister than when I was with you.

Week 36 with #1 (2012)

Week 36 with #2 (2014)

It was only 2 weeks after week 36 when I went into labor with you. It is a bit scary to think that in 2-4 weeks, we will be meeting your little sister.

Oh, one more thing I want to mention before I end this post. We are thinking about starting to have you transition from the crib to a mattress. The plan is to move the changing table out of the room and place a mattress there in it's place. And if I can find some, I'd like to adorn the bed with Elmo paraphernalia. So what we will do is child-proof the door knob and each night ask if you would prefer to sleep in the crib or on the mattress. For naps, we'll stick to crib until you start asking to sleep on the mattress. Once you are able to sleep on the mattress without falling off, we will bring the frame in and set the mattress a bit higher up and move the crib to little sister's room. We'll see how it all works out. Maybe it will all work out smoothly, worst case scenario is that you sleep in your crib until your college days and we buy a crib for you little sister too.

Well, that's it for now.

Love,
Mommy

Week 95.35

Dear Nathan,
You've been such a trouper with Aunt Hope this week while Mommy and Daddy go to work. I've been training teachers these past few days and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. While it was a good break from being a stay at home mommy, I miss our time together during the day. I can see how difficult it must be for working mommies to have only a few hours of time with their babies each day.

Mommy and Daddy celebrated our 5 year anniversary this year. We all went to an Italian restaurant where you tried calamari (and liked it) and then just ate bread for the rest of the meal.

Here are a few pictures of you working on your puzzle. For about 1/3 of the time, you are able to find the correct piece and put it into place. For another third of the time, you are able to find the correct piece if I give you a hint like "look for the yellow piece" or "look for the wheel." And then the rest of the time I have to find the piece for you and show you where it goes.

 You will turn the pieces until it matches up with the rest of the puzzle.

Sometimes you will try to put a wrong piece in and when you notice that it doesn't match up, you will say "No."

You always get really excited when you complete the puzzle.

 This weekend, we took advantage of the cooler weather and visited the greenbelt. You walked for about half of the way and then Daddy carried you down the rocky slope. When we reached the water, you enjoyed throwing rocks and making splashes.

 Here we are comparing bellies. Who has the bigger one?

One day I was cooking in the kitchen and you were beside me playing with your magnets. I looked over and you had sorted all of your magnets by color. You were even saying random numbers. I guess you know the difference between numbers and letters. That's pretty cool.

It seems like recently, you've been saying even more words. You are more eager to repeat what we say than you were a few days ago. One day at dinner I asked if you wanted some cheese. You said "yes" followed by "yellow." You communicated to us that you wanted yellow cheese! (Which I can't believe how much we've gone through at least 75 slices in about 2 months)

You've been crying a bit more before naps. I know you are tired, but you are finding ways to stall. You will want to read one more book, or sing one more song.

As far as the pregnancy goes, things are going well. My blood sugar levels have looked great this week so the doctor says that I only have to test 2 times a day. Yay!

Today, someone made a comment on how I look like I'm about to pop out a baby any day now. Up until the day I birthed you, people were saying that I looked like I was only 20 weeks pregnant, so I hope little sister won't be too big and that most of the size is due to lax muscles and a large placenta.

Well, that's it for now. I love you and miss the time spent with you. I have to go and prepare for my training. Until next week!

Mommy

Week 94.34

Dear Nathan,

Thank God your separation anxiety spell only lasted for a few days. You are back to your normal self now, but you are now starting to throw some major tantrums (mostly crying) when you don't get your way. You mainly get super upset when we don't let you watch TV or play bubbles (because we are about to go out somewhere). I am trying really hard to stay consistent with my replies and hopefully you will be able to learn that no means no eventually. 

As far as milestones goes, there haven't been any major developments, but he is simply refining skills that he already has like scooping, walking down stairs, working on jigsaw puzzles, and cutting. 

We've been cooking together each afternoon. After your afternoon snack, we prep dinner together so that when daddy comes home, all I have to do is add some heat and cook. 

I am also so proud of your desire to finish a task before you move on to another one. You are very good about putting your toys away by yourself. You are able to sit and finish a whole 24 piece puzzle and put the pieces away without getting distracted. You put the play dough in the correct containers and then you put all the play dough accessories in the bucket that they belong in. I'm glad that you have a pretty good attention span. I'd say it's better than a lot of the students that I used to teach in school. Let's hope it stays that way. 

Things that you are really into right now: 

1. Elmo

2. Cookie monster (you do a great imitation of him)

3. Bubbles

4. Puzzles

5. Trains and cars

6. Identifying colors and sizes (large vs small)

7. Play-dough

8. Ping-pong bowling (see below)

9. Going to the pool. 

10. Jumping off of things. 

The joy on his face!

To make things a bit safer, we've set up a few landing pads for you. You can pretty much do this all day. 

You are not as obsessed with cats anymore (Thank God!) but instead you are very aware of other babies. You will point out all the babies that you see and today at the pool, you even signed "more" after you pointed out the babies. Which brings me to the next skill that you've recently attained: the ability to find similar things. For example, you will point out something green, identify it as green and then point to something else that's green and say "more." 

As far as things with your little sister goes, I'm back to enjoying being pregnant a bit more. The hip pain is gone, I'm able to sleep a bit better and I have a bit more energy during the day. Last night I packed the suitcase that we'll be bringing to the hospital and it finally sank in that in a few weeks, we will have not 1 kid to take care of but 2 kids. 

The cleaning schedule that I've been following is awesome. Things are getting cleaned, and for the most part, staying clean. Some days I'm even motivated to complete the next day's chores. Next weekend I'm going to go through all of little sister's stuff and organize them once again. Since I will leading teacher trainings all of next week, I will probably get to that by the end of the following week. 

So the update next week will probably be pretty short. But I'll post an updated bump picture. 

That's about it for now. 

Stay sweet and cuddly forever. 

Mommy. 

Separation Anxiety and Sorting Things Out During Week 93.33

Dear Nathan,
This past week the whole family has been battling a cold. It has definitely not been fun, but thankfully, things are clearing up and we are almost back to normal. As far as new changes go, you have started to develop some separation anxiety. This is really the first time you have showed it since you were born. You have never had a problem being left at the nursery at church, or at the kids center at the gym, but this week you had a rough time watching us go. Somebody suggested that maybe it's due to the fact that you realize that you have a baby sister coming soon. Who knows. I've read that it's normal for kids your age to start developing it too, so I'm just going to treat it as a phase.

It's just so amazing to see how much you have grown. I love to watch you play. It's so interesting to see the different things that you do with your toys. Your thought process is very unique and unpredictable. You haven't been influenced too much by the world's conventions and rules so your play sessions are truly expressions of your creativity.

You are definitely into puzzle-like activities. One of your favorite things to do is to put together a 24-piece Thomas the train puzzle (with some assistance). I ask you to find a puzzle piece of a certain color and you will find it. Then, I help you orient the piece and you put it in its spot. You always seem so proud after you complete the whole puzzle. Another thing you like to do is build your train track. It's kind of like a puzzle in that you have to connect the pieces of track together. I guess you are now in a phase where you are learning how things fit together.

Having you around the kitchen is actually starting to be beneficial, meaning that you can actually help me out. Here, you are pulling the strings off of some sugar snap peas. I snap the ends off a bit and then you pull the strings out. You are also good at throwing things away for me.

 Even though you are helping me more with food prep (especially in the vegetable department), you seem to be wanting to eat veggies less and less. You would used to try things. Now as long as you see green, you are very reluctant to try, but if you see us eating it a lot, you try a bit and then spit it out. You used to sometimes eat peas, but now you will spit it out as well.

Daddy's birthday was yesterday and you helped him blow out the candles. You really enjoyed the cake, but in the end you asked for more fruit while you still had cake on your plate. I am glad that you like fruit better than sweets still.

You are also pretty good at putting things away. There have been a few times where you are playing independently while we were doing something else. You would then get our attention and when we go to where you were playing, everything is cleaned up. Here's an example from today. I was getting lunch ready and you had asked if you could draw with crayons (you signed "draw"). I got the crayons for you and went back to the kitchen to cook. I looked over and saw that you were so cute, playing on your own and decided to take a picture.

 After awhile, you called me over and you kept repeating "blue," so I went over to take a look. You pointed out "blue," and "yellow."

 You had organized your crayons by color!

I am so lucky to be able to stay home and watch you grow and develop. It's simply amazing. Oh, also, this week you may have said your first sentence. I don't remember exactly what you said, but Daddy and I both heard it. 

Sometimes you will point to my belly and say "baby" and give the bump a hug or a kiss. It's amazing that you understand that there is someone inside. You have felt the bump a few times while your little sister was moving, so maybe that was what convinced you. Perhaps you still remember your days in the womb, I mean, it was only no more than 2 years ago when you were there...who knows. 

(Update for Honey Bun 2)

I had my follow-up appointment with the dietitian. It was a bit annoying because I got there 10 minutes early and then sat in the waiting room with Nathan for about an hour before they called us in. Then, when we went in, we spent like 3 minutes talking, she looked at my numbers, showed them to the doctor, and then said that I should keep doing what I am doing and come back in 4 weeks and charged me a $30 co-pay for a 5 minute visit where I learned nothing. I'm still pretty convinced that I don't have gestational diabetes and the 2 times during the past week when they have been slightly higher than the 120 target, Steve's was high as well. In fact, last night, after eating cake, his blood glucose level was at 150.  

I'm going to talk to the OB tomorrow to see if I can just stop going. 1) It's a pain in the butt to have to wait so long just to have someone tell me that things are ok. 2) I'd rather spend the $30 co-pay on other things that actually may help me feel better during this pregnancy. At my next follow up visit, they are going to take my blood pressure and other vitals that they normally do at each of my pre-natal visits anyways, so I really don't think there's a reason to go, unless my numbers start to escalate (which I doubt they will). 

I will still monitor my glucose levels and eat a healthy and well-balanced diet, but I think going in is a waste of time and resources. 

32 Weeks Along

So far I have gained 16 - 17 pounds. Almost the same amount of weight that I gained total for Nathan. I'm hoping that I can reach at least 20 pounds this time. Perhaps this will help the breastfeeding process a bit better this time around. 

Nesting has started to kick in. I've actually got myself on a cleaning schedule where I'm cleaning about 30 minutes a day (on a 4.5 week rotating schedule). After 3 days, our house already just feels more tidy. I hope I can keep this up. 

***

Well, that's about it. I'm going to take a quick nap before you wake up from yours. Until next week!

Love,

Mommy

New Tricks: 21 Months (31 1/2 weeks along)

Dear Nathan
It's so interesting how quickly your language is developing. Just last week you were simply identifying colors. Now, you can point to purple, pink, blue, yellow and identify those colors in English. You can identify white, green and black and say those colors in Chinese. "Yes" is in English and "No" or "bu yao" is in both English and Chinese.

You are also saying a bunch of other words in both English and Chinese. It seems like this week you have broken out of your shell and have started to experiment with more sound combinations. It's really cute to hear you just babble along as you play.

Last Thursday, we went to go check out the Wildflower garden's new family garden area.  There is a little stream where you can find little fishes swimming around. You and your friends had a blast chucking rocks into the little stream. Close by, there was a pump. you were very interested in pumping water out of it.

 Then, you guys started to water the plants by the pump. Those plants probably get more water than they need.

 The bigger kids would always hold their watering can above yours, blocking your water source. But you figured out that you can scoop from the bucket.

 But then there were those times when you had the pump all to yourself.

 Then we discovered these huge nests. There were some pretty heavy "eggs" inside. Even though you know the word "egg" you still called them "balls."

 There were also a few spots with lots of butterflies. You still pretty much refer to any insects with a buzzing sound. You were not a huge fan of touching the butterflies, but you enjoyed watching them from afar.

Overall, I think the new family garden is a great addition to the wildflower center. It is now a more child friendly spot. 

You are also able to open the mailbox by yourself. You know which one is our box...

You know that the spiky side of the key faces up. (You make sure to point that out to me each time)

 You then turn the key and open the door. One by one, you pull the contents out of the box and hand them to me. After each piece, I ask if there is any more. You either reply with a "ya" or "no." It's so cool to see you be so independent.

 Swim class continued this week. Since I got pretty sick over the weekend, Daddy went to class with you on Monday. You had lots of fun splashing and singing songs. You even kicked more. Oh, later that night, you blew bubbles in the bath tub!

 You are still pretty obsessed with using knives. If something is put on your plate that can be cut into smaller pieces, you will ask for a knife in Chinese.

On Monday, we went to the Thinkery. They had a petting zoo set up that day. You were very interested in looking at the animals from afar, but when it came time to interacting with them, you wanted no part of it.

Scariest hamster in the whole world

 You felt in your element when we went to the kitchen area. You had fun cooking, but afterwards, you really like putting the food that other kids had left behind back into the baskets. I guess you are now into sorting things.

Since you are ready for sorting, we played a game with play-doh that I thought of all by myself. It all started with me trying to get you to understand the difference between a ball and a circle. I simply made a ball, pointed to it and said ball. Then, I squished it flat and said circle. I only had to do this a few times before Nathan caught on. Now he knows the difference between a ball and a circle. 

Then, I decided to put a bunch of different sized balls on the table and asked Nathan to make circles out of them. Afterwards, I had him use a spatula to pick up the circles and sort them by color back in to a container. We must have done this for an hour or so. He got to work on his fine motor skills, sorting, and colors. 

Quick bump update. Things are going ok. I went to see a dietitian to see what I can do to manage this gestational diabetes. I am still convinced that the 2 hour glucose tolerance test is not a great one. I didn't learn anything and was pretty much told that I should just continue what I am doing as far as diet and exercise goes. They pricked my finger at the appointment and my levels were completely within the healthy range. I asked the dietitian if a person who generally doesn't eat much sweets kind of has to figure out what to do with 100 g of sugar as opposed to a person who regularly drinks 2-3 sodas a day. She didn't know the answer and thought it was a good question to ask.  

The only thing that I learned is that I can have as much fruit as I want. But it's better to eat the fruit with some protein so that the sugars get absorbed a bit slower. What a relief. 

For now, I have to prick my finger 4 times a day and keep a journal of my diet. 

I'm also starting to get these shooting pains in my hips/sacrum area. It hurts to stand up from sitting on the floor, it hurts to stand on one leg so that I can put my shorts on, it hurts to walk, it hurts to roll over in bed. As with all symptoms short of your arm falling off, you can blame it on the pregnancy hormones. 

Nathan caught my cold from last week so we haven't been able to go to the pool. I feel like a good swim in the pool will make things better. (But we may have to wait until this weekend because there is no way that I'm going to be able to swim while watching a little toddler). 

I've been watching the lifetime reality show "One born every minute." At first watching the births along with the complications made me very nervous about having a hospital birthing experience, but after seeing 2-3 births with scenarios similar to mine, I feel much more at ease. There was one episode where the teaser showed a woman who had a speedy delivery the first time around have complications the second time. It turned out that the only "complication" was that her epidural didn't have enough time to kick in and she had to push without the help of pain meds. Whew. 

That's it for now. I'll post a bump picture with Nathan next week. 

***

So, I have a feeling that you are going to be an excellent older brother. This week you have showed that you are understanding that there is a baby inside me. You will occasionally point to the bump and say "baby" and then proceed to kiss the belly. I didn't think you would be able to understand, but you do. For now, we practice with a doll. 

 Keep up the good work big brother! Until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy