Ultrasound of Baby #2

Today we had our first ultrasound for Baby #2. I was excited about getting to see him or her for the first time and hear that precious heartbeat. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. Not because anything was wrong. The "data" we got was all good. What made me leave there feeling down was the bedside manner of the ultrasound technician and the doctor. We decided to go to REX hospital instead of UNC because they could get us in a lot sooner, which was a mistake.

With Lily the people we saw always made us feel excited. At the first ultrasound, I remember them pointing out things and saying things like "listen to that strong heartbeat", or "look at those little leg buds". This technician, who wasn't even set up for an early ultrasound because she hadn't looked at my chart that closely, said absolutely nothing except to fuss at Josh who was trying to keep Lily happy. "Don't stand up, you might trip over that one electrical cord", "she can't eat cheerios in here", "I'm going to need you to be quiet", etc. She didn't even explain at all to me what she was doing (fortunately I've had an early, vaginal, ultrasound before or I'd have been really confused). She did play the heartbeat for maybe two seconds, but didn't say a word about it.

The doctor who came in introduced herself and said literally "It looks like you are about, um...how many weeks...oh eight...I mean seven." I honestly think that was all she was going to say, but I asked if everything looked good. Her response..."yes". Then I asked what the heart rate was. She looked at the technician who said "141". That was all...no more information was offered, so we left.

I was upset. I was sure, because of the way they made me feel, that something was wrong. But the reality is, as Josh helpfully pointed out on the way home, that all of the facts and details were good. There is a baby. It's in the right place. It's the right size. It has a heartbeat. All good. I was just feeling down because of the way their bedside manner influenced my perception of the facts. So, a word to all you medical professionals out there, know that how you treat your patients impacts their perception of their condition almost as much as the facts do!

The First Prenatal Visit - Take 2

Today we had our first prenatal visit for Baby Hall #2. It was pretty easy. They actually had a nurse call me last week and review my medical history so that part was already out of the way. The midwife (who was the same wonderful one who delivered Lily) remembered us and was very positive about seeing us again. I think that made us both a little more excited.

We reviewed the medical history and then did the physical part of the exam. Josh went with me, hoping they would either do a ultrasound or at least let us hear the heartbeat. Sadly, we weren't able to do either, but we do have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing this little one.

A Tooth!

Horray! Lily has the start of a tooth. Yesterday, I was doing the feel of her gums that has become a regular part of our day, and I felt the start of a tooth! It is the lower right front. I called Josh right away and made him feel it as soon as he got home!

I was honestly starting to think she wasn't going to get any. Most of her friends, who are younger than her, have been getting teeth for a while. While she was chewing and drooling for a while, she didn't seem to be having actual teeth coming through.

The great news is that it doesn't seem to be bothering her much, if at all! I have lots of teething toys, but she doesn't seem to interested in any of them. Yesterday, she had her first teething biscuit. I'm not a hundred percent sold on those things. She did really enjoy it and it kept her quite and occupied for a while we were out to dinner. But, they aren't supposed to be able to get choke size pieces, but Lily did. They are also incredibly messy! I might just stick to hunks of bagel.

Lily and the Kitties

Since Lily has become mobile, her chief goal is to capture our two cats. If one of them comes within her sight, she lets out an excited little squeal and is off after them. The funny thing is that the two of them have responded very differently to her advances.

Mr. Sophie seems to enjoy the attention. He is incredibly tolerant. He will let her grab him and roll around on him without even hardly flinching. He could easily escape, but chooses to stick around and let her wallow him. It's sort of cute, but I sometimes feel bad for the poor cat and have to intervene.

Nutmeg, on the other hand, is trying to kill Lily. I'm pretty sure. She does not like being gotten, but she is tricky about her escape. She doen't just flee and hide somewhere. No, she tries to lure Lily to her death. If we are downstairs, she will stay just out of Lily's reach and go to the steps where she stops about four steps up and flicks her tail to lure Lily to try to climb after her. If we are upstairs, she does the same thing, only going about four stairs down. I am convinced she knows that Lily can't navigate the stairs and is trying to get rid of the little pest that keeps chasing her! :)

Yep...Definitely Pregnant

Today I think I really started to feel pregnant for the first time. For the last couple of weeks, I've feel pretty normal. In fact, I sometimes forget that I'm pregnant. Not today.

I'm not sure if it's the heat or just the fact that its week seven (which is when I started feeling yucky with Lily), but I have felt sort of crummy all day today. Not horrible, just not great. I woke up at 4am when Josh got up to take his brother to the airport and had to brush my teeth because the taste of my own mouth made me feel a little ill. That slightly ill feeling persisted all day.

By the afternoon, I was struggling. I could hardly stand to do the grocery shopping and the fact my house smelled like cookies made me slightly nauseous. How sad is that? A friend baked me cookies at my house, and I couldn't appreciate it. I had that slightly nauseous extremely exhausted feeling that I remember very well from when Lily was little. All I wanted to do was rest. That's a lot harder though, now that I have Lily to entertain.

Luckily, I got to nap while Lily napped, which helped some. Then my wonderful husband came home and cooked me dinner, and my precious baby played sweetly in the floor, while I laid on the couch, which helped a lot! Still, I am pretty sure the next few weeks might be a bit tough.

Beach Baby: Advice Needed

In two weeks we are headed to Ocracoke! I am super excited. If you haven't been to Ocracoke, you should go. It is by far our favorite beach. It's quite remote, you have to take a ferry to get there, and never very crowded. In fact, there is absolutely no development on the beach itself. All of the hotels and rental houses are in the roughly one square mile Ocracoke Village. There is beach access in walking distance, but we always preferred to drive down the island a few miles, park on the side of the road, and walk over the dunes to our own private beach access! It is heaven.

In years past, we had a good system. We took a cooler, two beach chairs, an umbrella, a book, and some fishing gear. There we would remain most of the day. Me with my feet in the water, a book in my hands, and a cool drink. Josh, with his feet in the water, a fishing rod in his hands, and a cool drink. It was heaven.

Something tells me that this year will be different. I need the help of those of you who have take your little ones to the beach! I'm not even sure exactly what to expect with a little one. I know that we will not be able to spend long stretches of time on the beach. I'm thinking about getting one of these tents for her to play in on the beach. Does anyone have experience with one (or one they would want to loan us!)? I also, at the suggestion of a friend, got a cheap inflatable pool we can put seawater in for her to play in on the beach. Does anyone have any other helpful hints from past experiences?

Ox and Rabbit Soda and Sundries

This afternoon Josh, Lily, and I headed to 9th Street in Durham for some lunch at Elmo's. After lunch we walked down 9th street to get some coffee. Along the way, we stumbled upon Ox and Rabbit Soda and Sundries. What a delightful little store! As the name suggests it's part soda fountain and part unique boutique. We were too full from lunch and coffee to try the soda, but spent quite a while perusing the boutique.

I was drawn in by a display of Baggu reusable shopping bags in the window. For a while I had been wanting some of these easily foldable bags. We have a lot of reusable shopping bags, but they are somewhat cumbersome and I never can seem to remember to put them back in the car after unloading them. It also always seems like a lot of work to carry them and Lily around the store while shopping. I got three Baggu bags that fold up very small and zip into a little pouch which will keep them handy in the diaper bag or my purse! Perfect!

However, I have to tell you that it was very hard to restrict myself to just that one small purchase. Ox and Rabbit had so many other cute things. Along with unique stationary and all sorts of home goods, they have a large variety of things for kids. The adorable sock puppets and a cool place mat for kids that they can draw on over and over again and easily erase were probably the two most tempting things for me, but Josh was drawn to a drawing of a banjo!

I'll admit that their prices are a bit high, but not exorbitant for such interesting finds. I'll definitely venture there again when I'm looking for a cute gift or wanting an old fashion soda!

Fantastic Finger Foods!

I am learning that Lily will eat almost anything that isn't on a baby spoon! She has recently been starting to reject more and more of the "baby food". I'm not sure if it is the texture or watered down flavors, or just that she wants the independence of feed herself, but she will not eat pureed peas from a spoon, but give her some as finger food and she goes to town!

Her meals today included finger food blueberries, Lima beans, strawberries, pea, zucchini, cheerios, and whole wheat bread. Over the weekend she had so many different things I'm not sure I even know about them all. I know she had re-fried beans, rice, guacamole, salsa, peach frozen yogurt, key lime pie, baked beans, and who knows what else my friends and family didn't tell me about. She chowed down on it all.

I have to admit that I was afraid it would make her tummy upset. I told Josh (after he was feeding her from his plate at a Mexican restaurant) that he was in charge of diapers for the next forty-eight hours. In reality, though, it didn't seem to impact her digestive system at all. It appears our little one has a tummy of steal!

All of this is good news. I would love to be able to just feed her what we are eating from the table! I realize, of course, that I do need to be careful about how much fat, salt, and sugar she is getting, but I should probably watch how much of that I'm eating as well! Anyone out there have good finger food suggestions?

Family Photo Fun!

A few weeks ago my friend, and very talented photographer, Star came to visit. She, Lily, and I headed up to Virginia to visit our families and take some pictures. The main goal was a photo shoot with Lily and my two year old nephew, her cousin, Jesse. It was a bit of an adventure, but the photos we got are worth it!

After much debate we decided that the best location was my grandparents farm over in Shiloh. It really is beautiful and has many nice backdrops (white farmhouse, porch swing, old fence, barn, goats, horse, and lots of green!). The only problem was that Jesse was not in a mood to have his picture taken.

In most of the shots on the farm he as a bit of a scowl on his face. Lily, ever the ham (and too young to really know better) is smiling away. We did manage to get a couple cute ones of them separate, and maybe two usable ones of them together before heading out to get lunches and naps and try the photo shoot again.

Later that night, after everyone slept and ate, we did have a bit more luck. We were able to get some really cute shots around my mom's house and the boat docks. These are some of my favorites! (*You can check out the rest on facebook by liking Lil Paperia Photo. They probably look better the way Star has them edited, but I think square really works best for blogging...sorry!)

Don't be Judgy (and Lily's 9 Month Check Up)

Today was Lily's nine month check up. She is doing great. Still tall (29 inches - 99th percentile) but thinning out a bit (18lbs 5oz - 50th percentile) due to all the moving around. She is the picture of perfect health and even tolerated her shot and anemia test fairly well.

I had an interesting realization at the doctor's today, though.

It was really crowded this morning. The office was full of kids waiting for their check up (our pediatrician, who I love, intentionally schedules the well visits in the morning and sick visits in the afternoon to limit contagion). A mother with her daughter, who was probably about four, were in front of me in line to check in. I heard her explain to the receptionist that she didn't have an appointment, but she really needs to see a doctor right away because her daughter has a mosquito bite that is swelling on her face.

I have to admit. My first thoughts were judgy. Really...a mosquito bite? You rush your daughter to the doctor for a mosquito bite? I have ten mosquito bites right now! I can't even see it from here! It can't be worth the time and expense of a doctor visit! How silly! I could tell the people in line behind me and in the waiting room were thinking the same thing. I could tell that the receptionist was thinking the same thing, although she handled it quite well and told the woman they would work her in (this is part of why I love this doctor).

Selfishly, I thought about my busy day. I thought about all I had to do and how I had my appointment scheduled three months ago. I thought about how I would be upset if they "worked her in" before I got to see the doctor. I thought about how "unfair" it would be if her mosquito bite somehow meant we had to spend more time waiting.

As I sat there waiting (just a few minutes) for my appointment, though, I got to thinking. Am I really that different from this mom? Am I not a worry wart sometimes (see cartoon!)? Don't I sometimes start to freak out over a little bump, or a "strange" diaper, or a "gooky" eye? The difference for me is Josh. He tells me chill out. He keeps me from freaking out. What if this woman doesn't have a husband? What is if she doesn't have a mom, or sister, or friend to ask? What if her daughter has a special medical condition where a bug bite could be a big deal?

Bottom line...I don't know her story. I don't know her situation. I should not be judgy. I should just count my own blessings!

9 Months - "Never Grow Up"

Today Lily is nine months old! I know I say this all the time, but it really does seem like time is flying by. It's probably hormonal, but I am feeling super sappy and sentimental today. Yesterday, Josh made me (and yes, it was by force) listen to the Taylor Swift song "Never Grow Up". It is like torture for me at the moment. It is impossible for me to listen to without sobbing. This is the first verse and chorus:


Your little hands wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in and turn on your favorite nightlight

To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have honey
If you could stay like that

Oh darling don't you ever grow up,
don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don't you ever grow up,
don't you ever grow up
It could stay this simple

I won't let nobody hurt you
Wont let no one break your heart
No one will desert you
Just try to never grow up
Never grow up

Seriously...just posting that, I'm sitting here with tears streaming. I can't even conceive of the next two verses (they deal with being a rebellious teenager and moving out on your own). It is mind boggling to me how a young girl like Swift, who is not a mother, can so capture what I feel for my daughter. If you haven't heard the song, you should. It's beautiful...just be prepared to cry!

Hatley on Zulily!

Need some good jammies for your little one? Check out the Hatley sale on Zulily!

A few months ago, I posted about "Lily's" favorite Hatley pajamas. Someone gave us the adorable flamingo coverall. It is super cute, fits for a long time (she still wears the 3-6month one...barely!), and is made with ultra-soft cotton and chemical-free dyes. I love it and have wanted for a while to buy her some more, but they are really expensive. Normally they are $33. I just can't justify spending that on a pair of baby pj's.

BUT...today, Hatley showed up on Zulily! Remember Zulily, it's that bargain site I posted about a week ago. Hatley pajamas are on Zulily for only $13! This is bad....this is really bad...I currently have four pairs in my "shopping basket" (the four pictured). Granted, my total is less that what two pair would cost normally and they are in various sizes for her to grow into, and one is a gift (not for anyone specific, just to have as a gift for someone someday) but still, do I (or I should say, does Lily) really need four pair of pajamas?

What to buy...what to buy?!?! :)

Sneaking in the Greens!

Lily is starting to be a bit of a picky eater. She has, for example, figured out that peaches are more delicious than spinach. At first, she would eat anything I fed her. I'm not sure if that was because I was feeding her from jars and all of that food is more bland (she still eats anything from a jar), or if she was just not yet discriminating in her tastes.

Now that I'm making her food, she has shown a distinct preference for the sweet! She will gobble down the fruit, and tolerates carrots and sweet potatoes. The greens, however, she will not eat alone. I've tried zucchini, broccoli, peas, and spinach. She gags with them all. If, however, I make a blend, say blueberries and broccoli (I know...weird), she will eat it.

I'm not sure if this is a good move or not. Part of me wants her to enjoy the vegetables on their own, for their savory flavors. I've tried mixing them with cereal or yogurt and adding some savory spices (cinnamon, cumin, or paprika), but she still won't eat but a few bites. The foodie in me knows that salt will make them taste better, but they (whoever they are) say not to give salt to babies.

Then there is the part of me that just wants her to get the good nutrients and doesn't care if she has them mixed with sweets or not. This morning she gobbled down her favorite breakfast of applesauce with yogurt and cinnamon without even noticing the spoon full of spinach I added!

Any of you baby food making mom's out there have any thoughts?

Happy Father's Day!

I want to wish a very Happy Father's Day to two of the best fathers I know.

My Dad - When I was growing up, my dad was the dad that was always around, and it was cool. He chaperoned field trips, came to school to help with projects, and was even my band booster president (yes, I was in the band, and color guard, and it was cool at my school!). My dad is the type of man who would do anything to help anyone. He's a volunteer fire fighter, teaches boating safety classes, and was instrumental in getting water quality testing started on our lake. Some of my most fond memories of my child hood are the nights when my mom had things to do and dad was in charge. We would get fried chicken and go on a wayside picnic, make grilled Hersey bar sandwiches, or (and these are some of the very best memories) go out on the lake and go swimming! My dad is the kind of guy that doesn't say a lot, but when he does it's usually funny and full of love. I know that I am very blessed to have him for a dad and Lily is very blessed to have "Deano" for a granddad.

Josh - My husband, along with being a great husband, is an amazing father. Through all of our fertility struggles he was very supportive and encouraging. When I would want to start saying "if" he would say "when". When we found out we were expecting Lily, his joy rivaled mine and helped me overcome some of my fear. He fully supported my desire for a natural labor, even though I think he thought I was crazy, and was an amazing birth partner. His level head when something is amiss with Lily is a very good balance to my tendency to over analyze and worry. And he loves his daughter...man does he love his daughter. There are few things in the world that give me as much joy as watching them together. The light in both of their eyes when they are smiling at each other, or her laugh when he makes faces at her, is the best thing on Earth. I have no idea how single parents do it. I need his partnership, love, support, and sanity. I know Lily and I are so blessed to have him.

**Sadly, Lily and I are out of town for her first father's day. We made plans with a friend far in advance, not realizing it was Father's day weekend, and Josh is too busy with work to join us. I feel fairly terrible about taking her away, but promise to use FaceTime so Lily can see and hear her daddy! The flip side is that our plans have taken us to Pulaski, so we do get the spend the day with Lily's two granddads.

Shopping - Online vs. In Store

When buying things, especially things for Lily, I always struggle with whether I should order online or go to the store. Josh loves ordering things online and would never go to stores if he could get away with it. I am also a bit of an Amazon junkie. It's nice to be able to read reviews and they usually have the best prices. I also love having things arrive at my door. Still, I frequently need to go see things in person before I can commit to buying them. I want to feel the fabric and see the exact colors. I also struggle a bit with the packaging waste that comes with online purchases. It's a tough choice. What do you prefer? Please vote in the poll on the right!