Clearing my head.

UGH.

Some background info: at my anatomy scan during my 20th week the doctor I saw afterward told me Mara's head was measuring a little small so he was ordering another ultrasound to check on everything 6 weeks from that date.  He also told me not to worry.

Fast forward to December 23, 6 weeks later.  I have my ultrasound at 8 AM and then have to return at 1 PM for my glucose screening.  At the ultrasound the tech asked me if my due date was still March 26 and I confirmed that.  She told me baby was measuring 25w6d but I was 26w5d.  I had an appointment with one of the midwives at the practice after I drank the glucose solution and I told her I had an ultrasound that morning.  She pulled it up on her computer and looked at it and told me her head still measured small but it was fine.  The rest of her was "on track" and her head was bringing her down to the 43rd percentile (I think).  I told her my dad's side of the family had smaller heads (nothing abnormal looking) and she made a note of it in her computer and basically told me that was what was causing it (I guess I should have known she would actually not be able to know that).

Anyway, the day after Christmas I get a phone call around 11 AM from a nurse at the OB office telling me I failed my glucose screening with a super high number, 191.  She told me she was mailing out orders for me to take the 3 hour glucose tolerance test at Mercy Anderson.  After that phone call I was extremely upset.  I never failed the first round of glucose testing with Eli and I felt very worried. Not even half an hour later I get another call from the office from the same lady telling me that the head OB has orders for me to get a level II ultrasound at Bethesda North because Mara's head is measuring small.  No other info.  At this point I am crying because I have never heard anything good from people who had to have a level II ultrasound.  She gave me directions and a number to call to preregister.  My appointment would be January 2.

About an hour later after I fell down the rabbit hole of googling the issue, I called back the nurse because I wanted to ask for her head measurements and find out how far behind her head was measuring.  I was really hoping to talk to the doctor who gave the orders for the level II but she told me he had left for the day.  She was really not able to give me any satisfying information.  She told me the tech had not put any info on how far behind the head was but that she had made a note it was less than 3% off target.  What does that even mean?  The nurse also told me she did not know how to read ultrasounds.  Fair, but not helpful.  So that was Friday and I couldn't do anything about anything until today.

Well, my orders for my glucose tolerance test were NOT in the mail today, so that has been extremely stressful.  I decided not to call back the OB because I didn't even know what to say.  I'm trying to avoid Google but it's very tempting.  I preregistered for my level II first thing this morning.

Basically I've been trying to pray that I can remain calm and that everything will be okay because I do not want blood pressure issues on top of everything else.

UGH UGH UGH.

So anyway, that's how my weekend went.

Baby gender, Christmas, etc.

Oh, p.s., baby #2 is a girl!  Mara Josephine Chipman.  Mara because I've liked the name since child star Mara Wilson.  And Rob also likes it, which is a huge accomplishment for us. Josephine because it's pretty.  Though I did find out later my great-grandmother's name was Josephine.  Rob also had a great-aunt Josephine as well, according to my MIL.  That's cool.

I'm 26 weeks today!  Only 14 more (hopefully) until we meet her!  I've been really fighting the urge to shop online for baby girl stuff.  Though I have already bought way more than is probably socially acceptable for a child that is not born yet.

Anyway, on to my kid who is actually born.

Eli is super into Christmas this year.  He calls it "Pith-mud" or "Pid-mit".  For some reason Christmas is really hard for him to say, haha.  Over half the time he just says, "Happy Halloween!" because he has that one down.

He talks about "pessents" all the time and whenever we pass Nativity scenes he says, "Baby Jesus!" which makes me happy since that's actually the point.

He loves Christmas lights (yights), taking ornaments off the tree, Santa Claus, and reindeer.  He sings a pretty rough rendition of "Jingle Bells".

I am excited to see him be a big brother though I feel it is going to be a really rough transition for him.  He calls all babies, "baby see-ser" and can tell me she's in "mama's belly" though clearly that is hard to understand.  He never remembers her name but when prompted he calls her, "Munna".  Haha.

And to close, here's our Christmas card from this year.  It's my favorite design to date (I ordered from Minted this year)!  Self-timed family photos FTW. 

Baby #2!

So, if you even bother to read this then you probably know we are expecting our second child in March!  This pregnancy has been so different than my first.  Firstly, I have been wayyyyyyy sicker.  For several weeks I was throwing up every day, while with Eli I only got physically sick a few random times.  The morning sickness did lift around week 14 but now that it's allergy and sinus season my gag reflex is in overdrive once again.  Secondly, I'm a terrible pregnant person this time around.  When you don't have any kids yet, you have all this time to just think about being pregnant.  I was so intentional about eating right and exercising during my first pregnancy but I can tell you how many times I've worked out this time around (twice) and my diet is too shameful to talk about.  Thirdly, I am so insanely tired this time around and I definitely drink coffee every day.  I never drank ANY coffee during the first pregnancy.  Eli still totally sucks at sleeping through the night (lately he cannot even make it past midnight in his own bed) and it's pretty rough.  At least we'll still be in newborn mode, I guess.

I saw the baby's movement from the outside yesterday!  That is approximately 5 weeks earlier than with Eli so that is crazy!  It wasn't a hard kick or anything but at night I've been enjoying reading in the bath (Harry Potter, for the billionth time) and waiting to feel any movement.  I seem to feel the tiniest little movements in the bath.  I don't know if it's because baby loves water or it's because I'm finally still and relaxed enough to notice!  I remember Eli used to go crazy in the womb when I would go swimming, and he's turning out to be quite the little swimmer.  Maybe his sibling will be the same!

I've already had three ultrasounds for this pregnancy.  The first one was an outpatient emergency because of bleeding early on (around 8 weeks) but everything was fine.  My second one was an early scan at my OB's office around 9 weeks and I was diagnosed with a marginal previa (placenta attached next to the cervix) and had instruction not to lift anything heavy aaaaand no sex, and my third was at 13 weeks to check and make sure the previa had moved.  The placenta still low-lying but no longer considered a previa so my restrictions were lifted!  Also the tech asked me if I wanted to know the baby's gender which I was definitely not expecting.  I felt bad because Rob wasn't there, but I was way too weak to pass on the chance to know.  SO, I am pretty sure I know our baby's gender!  We aren't telling anyone until our official anatomy scan, which will be on November 11!

SO STAY TUNED.

Eli's vocabulary inventory

Eli is going to be 20 months on the 18th.  So close to being two years old!  It's so strange to me.  I thought I would update his vocabulary log since I've never really thought about how many words he uses.

-snow
-outside
-dog
-bug
-bird
-paci
-water
-milk
-juice
-apple
-please
-thank you
-night-night
-potty
-shoe
-boot
-sock
-ear
-eye
-chin
-nose
-no
-mama
-dada
-papaw
-cookie
-baby
-poo-poo
-book
-Elmo
-cracker
-cheese
-waffle
-hello
-bye-bye
-keys

There are probably more but it's hard to sit down and think of every word he says.  There are also words he's said just a couple times but I don't really count them as part of his vocabulary yet because he doesn't use them consistently.  Examples include "tree", "flower", "moon", etc.  He is also aware of many more animals other than a dog, but he still refuses to refer to them by anything other than the noise they make.  He finally made the switch to "dog" as opposed to "woof woof" a couple of weeks ago.

He also understands a lot.  He will only say "ear", "eye", "chin", and "nose" but he will point to any body part you ask.  Same with a lot of things.  One day they will earn names!

He also says, "All done" when his plate/cup are empty or he doesn't want to eat anymore. He just recently started to say, "Bye-bye daddy" when Rob leaves for work, but it actually comes out, "Bye-bye E-da" when he puts them together.  He also frequently sings, "Let it go" but I know he has no idea what it means so I don't count it as a phrase.  It's just hilarious :)

Eli loves, loves music and he totally appreciates our crappy singing voices.  He ADORES the alphabet song, and wants us to sing it many times a day.  You know he wants you to sing it when he starts jabbering a series of syllables that is something like the melody.  He also likes The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and is getting pretty good at the hand motions.  He also likes to attempt the motions to pat-a-cake.

Overall, though, he jabbers CONSTANTLY.  He will go around jabbering almost entirely unintelligible.  I have a feeling when he starts REALLY talking he is going to be quite an earful :)

Trying to find a house: a rant.

UGH.

So I have been browsing real estate websites for months and months and months.  My requirements (other than I have to, like, find it aesthetically pleasing, at least somewhat) are: at least 3 bedrooms (because I'm hoping on a second baby here at some point), at least 2 bathrooms, driveway/garage, and a GOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT.

Unfortunately, this type of house does not seem to exist in our price range.

Really we want to live around Blue Ash.  Rob works there and has worked there for years (though not at the same job).  Blue Ash has a good school district.  Other areas I've branched out to because they have good school districts are Mason, Anderson, and even Milford.

But ugh. UGH UGH UGH.

And then I just-for-fun look at houses listed in Walnut Hills and stuff and they are freaking GORGEOUS (breaking my heart.) (literally breaking my heart.).  But Cincinnati Public is a noooo go for me.

Also, no, I don't want to homeschool.

Sooo.

The hunt continues.

End rant.

Yesterday my Grandma turned 89.

We went to visit her in the rehab center.  She had quite a few gifts people had dropped by, mostly fuzzy socks and pajamas to keep her comfortable.  There were also two boxes of Girl Scout Samoa cookies.  Mom made her cupcakes and brought a candle so she could blow it out after we sang happy birthday.

She shares a room with another woman.  It was a different woman than last time.  This one was older and sleeping, and she mumbled a lot in her sleep.  Grandma says she sleeps a lot because she's on pain medication.

After the birthday "celebration" Grandma wanted Eli to ride on her lap in the wheelchair out to the lobby.  We sat in front of the bay window while Eli pointed out all the "buhhhhh!" (bugs, in the form of those ladybug-esque beetles that like to hang out in windows).

I like that Eli can see people he doesn't see that often and always be friendly.  After I came home and uploaded this photo I decided to look through "old" photos of Eli and found the first picture of Grandma holding Eli.

This is just an 18 month difference.  ONLY EIGHTEEN months.  It is unbelievable how fast babies grow up, how situations change.  I know I take a lot of pictures of my kid.  I mean, a lot.  I get it.  But I'm afraid to forget.

Because it's stupid cold outside and Christmas is over so all I can think about is spring.

And how I'm just daydreaming about how I would dress my toddler.

^^^^^^^^^^^
Also, I'm definitely going to be investing in some toddler Hunter's.  I MEAN.