18 Month Pediatrician Visit (Or, Why I’m Probably Not In The Running for Mother of The Year)

No time to write this. Going to use short sentences. Maybe even some sentence fragments. Sophie’s 18 month pediatrician appointment was today. We missed her 15 month appointment entirely. I didn’t realize she needed a 15 month appointment. (Also I’d had a baby right around then. I was in no state of mind to remember things like that.)

Decided to take both kids with me this morning. Dropping Scarlett at daycare and then taking Sophie to the doctor would have been a catastrophie. Very routine disrupting, teasing Sophie with the idea of going to school and then putting her back in the car to go to the doctor. So to the doctor we went, me and the two chicklets.

It was raining this morning. I didn’t have an umbrella. We tramped through the rain, both kids getting wet. I am one top-notch mommy.

Scarlett stayed in her carseat during the doctor visit. Sophie had a “number 2” diaper upon arrival. There was no place to change her till we got called back to the actual room, so we sat in the waiting room, me and Sophie and Scarlett and Sophie’s smelly diaper. Top-notch mommy.

Sophie did great during her actual appointment. Language skills are off the charts. She knows more than 100 words and she said “thank you” to the doctor several times and also sang her a song. And she didn’t even cry when they weighed her, which is usually a huge fight.

But then there were the shots. Four of them. We had to hold her down. As they gave her the first shot, it took her a few seconds to register the pain, and then she started screaming and turned all red-faced. And then a second shot, and she screamed even more, and a third, and she opened her eyes, with her mouth wide open in a scream, and looked at me like, “Mommy why are you letting them hurt me?” And my heart broke wide open and fell out of my chest and onto the floor in a puddle.

We sat her up on the table after the shots so she could see them putting on the band-aids. She liked the bandaids, especially the sparkly one and the Garfield one. It was round. They said, “She’s going to be sore.” I knew this, from prior visits, and every time I tell myself to bring her a dose of Tylenol for her. And every time I forget.

So off to school we went, Sophie with four band-aids and sore legs, and Scarlett having been in the carseat for at least an hour and a half now. Top-notch mommy.

We get to school. Scarlett is crying. I presume she’s hungry, and proceed to tell her teacher that. Then I lift her out of her carseat. And she has had the biggest blowout diaper of her life. All the way up her back. It nearly reached her neck. Her teachers even went, “Whoa!” We stripped her down and wiped her entire body with a wet washcloth and changed her diaper and clothes. Sophie, during this time, is running around the infant room, nearly stepping on all of the babies with her ginormo toddler shoes.

I say bye-bye to Scarlett before she’s even 100% re-dressed, and I take Sophie to her Monkeys room (18-24 month toddlers). “Mun-ees! Munees!” she says. We open the door and every single toddler in the room is crying. Sophie begins crying as well, and then pushes another kid. The teacher scolds her and she cries harder. I tell them her legs are sore. They ask, “Did you give her any Tylenol?” I did not. Because I didn’t remember. Top-notch mommy.

I hug her and calm her down and they organize the kids to go play outside. She says “owsigh!!” and runs out the door, and waves bye bye to me as she goes. Happy even without Tylenol. I am relieved. I get in the car and drive to work. I glance in the rearview as I get to work. Ive forgotten to put on makeup or brush my hair. I look like I just survived a tornado. And maybe I did, in a way.

Really it was just another Wednesday morning for this top-notch mommy. And now I need to work for 8 hours and figure out what’s for dinner. And then get up and do the whole thing over again. I might need a nap.

Favorite words that Sophie says (17 mo.):

CoffEE? CoffEE? CoffEE?? (while pointing to coffee cups or the coffee pot)

Kecko-cope (Stethoscope)

Appa-juuusss (Apple juice)

Mo? Mo? Mo? (More)

Mommee? Mommee? (Mommy)

DaDEE! DaDEE! (Daddy)

Car-car (Scarlett)

Car-ker (Carter, her friend from school)

Kack-ker (a cracker)

Ray-Ray (Reagan, her friend from school)

Day-den (Jayden, her friend from school)

Manna (Miss Amanda, a teacher at school)

Beeda (Miss Veeda, a teacher at school)

Cheer (her plush chair at home)

Hi cheer! (High chair)

Hi cheer! (Car seat)

Cah! (Cars!)

Cah! (The sound a bird makes!)

Ball! (Anything round!)

Ah-sigh! (Outside! Please! Now!)

Uh-oh! (When anything falls down.)

Oeh-Noooe! (When she drops something)

Auf? Auf? (Woof woof? When she sees a dog)

Pubby! (Puppy! Also when she sees a dog)

Bay-bee! (Scarlett, and also her baby doll)

Aye-Bee-Cee-Bee-Aye-Bee-Ceeeee (The alphabet song…. Repeated to the correct tune until completed)

Pee-sa (Pizza!)

Meena, Meena (“Clean up, clean up!” Also a song, sung while wiping the hardwood floor, the couch, her sister, etc., with a baby wipe)

Nigh-Nigh (night night)

Baaah (Bath)

Bubba (Bubbles)

Boo-boos (what mommy uses to feed Scarlett. Sophie likes to point to them.) :)

Nah-nah! (Not nice! This is the reprimand in daycare. She tells this to other kids, mostly. Complete with finger wag.)

Zuuuu (Zipper.)

Up!

Ahh-Dahnnn! (All done! Spoken with arms up in the air, and if not immediately responded to, yelled louder and louder while kicking the high chair tray.)

Nana! (Nana, my mom)

Nanas! (Bananas!)

Emmo (Elmo)

Abbeee (Abby, Elmo’s pink friend)

Koo-Kee (Cookie monster)

Koo- Kee (an actual cookie)

Wah-wah (water cup or milk cup)

Eye waa woo, Eye waa woo, happ-bee, happ-bee (As best I can tell, this is the Barney song. “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family)

Happ-bee! Happ-bee! (Sing me the “If you’re happy and you know it” song!)

Eee-Eee! (“Eat-eat” or “I’m hungry." She said this the other day when we drove around the corner and she saw the IHOP building.  Don't judge.  My kid loves pancakes.)

Chacka (Jacket)

Soooes (Shoes)

Saws (Socks)

Scoooo! (School!)

I'm sure there are more, but this is all I can think of right now.  Love my little talkative girl!

Full Hands Full Heart

One of the most wonderful things about a new baby is how they fall asleep right on top of you, and they stay there.  For hours.

Sadly, this was also one of the most difficult things for me to accept when Sophie was this tiny.  I had been such a busy person pre-kids. I filled up my every millisecond with activity.  And then I had a newborn. And suddenly, there was no more knitting.  There was no more standing over a boiling pot.  There was no more yoga, no more running, no more sitting at a sewing machine.  No more taking beautiful artistic photographs of my homegrown tomatoes.  (No more homegrown tomatoes.)  Time stood still, and all I could do was Just. Sit. There.

It drove me absolutely bonkers for the first few months of Sophie's life.  I tried to figure out a workaround -- maybe I could type blog entries on my phone.  Maybe I could use the iPad.  Maybe I could knit, if I just did it slowly enough, with as little movement as possible.

But no.  Sophie wouldn't stand for it.  If I moved, she woke up. And screamed.  And so, I learned how to Just Sit There.  I spent a lot of time staring at the things in her room in the wee hours of the morning. Counting the squares on a quilt.  Trying to remember lines from movies.  Anything to occupy my restless brain.

This time around, I've been lucky.  Scarlett lets me type with her in my lap, which is huge. But I still miss my hands.  I still miss my hobbies.  I miss my homegrown tomatoes.  And it takes some mental fortitude for me to just relax and enjoy this time.  Just relax, quit trying to DO things and just BE.  (... she says as she types this blog...)  This time with a newborn is so short, so fleeting.  Scarlett will be toddling around our house, dropping things in our toilets before I know it.  (Shudder.)  And so I'm making an extra effort this go-around to slow down, give myself a break, and let myself just sit here and stare at those long, gorgeous piano fingers.  To let myself just sit here and enjoy the feeling of a warm baby making my right arm fall asleep.

The hobbies will return, and they'll be even more enjoyable because I will be able to share them with my girls.  We will be able to cook together, craft together, grow tomatoes together. And I'll be able to tell them stories about how, when they were very tiny, I sat in our armchair for an unreasonably long amount of time, just sniffing their little baby heads and trying my best to cement that scent in my brain.

Fastest Month Ever

Scarlett is a month old already.

Really she's nearly a month and a half old now, since her one month birthday was March 1.

She weighed in at 10 lbs. 4 oz. for her 4 week appointment, which makes a mommy very proud. (Although I still think she looks like a tiny doll baby.)

Sophie is getting used to having a sister.  Every so often, she will be doing something else and suddenly "remember" that Scarlett is around, and she will turn to Scarlett and say, "Hi Baby!"

Today we were at Target, with Scarlett in her carseat in the basket of our cart, and Sophie sitting in the front of the cart in the child seat.  Sophie turned around halfway through our Target trip and gasped and said, "Hi Baby!" as if she'd just realized Scarlett was with us in Target.  It was adorable.

One of the most deliciously wonderful parts of having two little girls is getting to dress them the same!  Nana sent us a few matching outfits, and I absolutely couldn't wait to see them dressed up in matching clothes, so I put them on today, even though Sophie was suffering through a nasty ear infection.

So we're looking a wee bit disheveled in these pictures, but I still think they look SO cute all matched up.

Oh, and did I mention Sophie has learned how to take her clothing off?  Lovely.

She eventually leaned in for a kiss, but this is as far as she got, which is okay because really, Scarlett doesn't need an ear infection also.

Steven and I have also decided among us that Sophie is going to be a really funny kid once she starts speaking in sentences.

Just something about her already tells us she's a jokester.

I am also consistently amazed at how much she understands.  I asked her, "Do you want to wear your sunglasses on your eyes?" and she nods.  And sure enough:

That's what she wanted.
***********************
During Soph's naptime today, Scarlett and I went to a local quilt show.  I'm not a "quilter" per se, but I like all the fabrics and I'd really like to learn how, eventually. (You know, when I get my spare time and both hands back to myself for more than 5 minutes at a time, which will probably be when both kids are off to college.)  But I did take some pictures for my sister-in-law, Jenny, who is an accomplished sewer (seamstress?) and even has her own shop - go check her out!

Jenny, you could totally make these things!

(Ok, is the onesie dress cute or hokey? I couldn't tell... I was surrounded by EXTREMELY hokey things, and it seemed to be something cute and current in a sea of chintz....)
Here was my favorite quilting idea: recreating your kid's art onto a quilt.

Come on, that's adorable.

The quilt show was pretty well attended.

And there were some seriously time-intensive quilts.

The squares on this one were about the size of a post it note.  Maybe smaller. I can't even imagine how long it must have taken to put together.

We're planning to have a quiet rest-of-the-weekend, so Sophie can rest and recover from her ear infection.  She's been pretty mopey and cranky and short-tempered so far...here's hoping she feels better tomorrow.  I'm going to try to keep up with the posting regularly - it may be the only way for me to track the kids' development, since I am woefully terrible at updating the baby book.  Maybe I'll just print the blog someday.... (add that to my to-do list. :)

Home with Scarlett (and her first visitors!)

Our first few days home with Scarlett, we enjoyed having Grammy and Grandpa (Steven's parents) over to visit!  Grammy got a chance to feed Miss Scarlett, and Grandpa entertained her with his impersonation of Clarke Gable, "Now see here, Scarlett..."  We could tell she loves it already. :)

We got home from the hospital on Saturday, and they flew in on Superbowl Sunday to help us out.

We spent as much time as we could relaxing (which ended up mostly being during Sophie's nap time from 12-2 PM. She is a bundle of nonstop activity when she is awake!)  Grandpa had a few moments where he wanted to throw Grammy's iPad out the window ("Boy I hate this machine!"), but he worked through it. :)  He might be more of a PC guy...

After we said goodbye to Grammy and Grandpa, my friend Erica came over to take Scarlett's newborn pictures!  Here is a sneak peek into the newborn photo shoot!

The pictures turned out beautifully.  Erica's a total pro!  This is the one we used for Scarlett's birth announcement.  I love it!

Our next visitors were my sweet friend Julie and her son Elijah -- I have no idea how I managed not to get a single picture of us and our kids together (argh!), but Elijah and Sophie loved hanging out together!

We also tested out the double stroller, and Julie clued me in to the fact that it can hold the infant seat.  This was a life changing realization for me.  We aren't using the infant seat here -- I had Scarlett tied to me with the Moby Wrap so we could test out the "two toddlers" setup of the stroller.  And it worked like a charm!  I heart my stroller!

Julie was also kind enough to assist with Scarlett's first bath!

She actually didn't mind the bath -- she is such a different kid than Sophie, who SCREAMED during her first bath.

But Scarlett generally is not a screamer.  She quacks -- she cries in monosyllables. "Waack!"  Then she will wait a minute or two, see if anyone responds, and then she will do it again, a bit louder. "WAACK!"  It takes her a while to get worked up to full cry.  And I am SO GLAD.  The Lord must know what each of us can handle, and He knew I could only handle one screamer. :)

Her little umbilical cord still hasn't fallen off, so we are limited to sponge baths for now.  Also, I think I should win a Mother of The Year award for my choice of location for this first bath:  Right next to the electrical socket!  Why, that's a perfect place for a bath, Mommy, nice job!  (For the record, the "bath" was basically just me wiping her down with a wet washcloth, so I hope the danger of electrocution was fairly limited.  I still sort of cringe at this though. :)

Perhaps for her next bath, we'll choose a less scary location.

So there you go! I am so glad we had plenty of visitors during the time that I was home from work - I can remember wishing that I had people in the house toward the end of my maternity leave with Sophie.  This time I think it went much more smoothly, mostly because I had family and friends around to help me and spend time with me!

And because I have no idea when I will next get an opportunity to blog, let me go ahead and tell you about my latest obsession: Green Monster Smoothies!

I got the idea from Kristin, who posted this recipe on Twitter, and something about it intrigued me.  I tried it out and with this recipe alone, it wasn't sweet enough for my taste, and also, I didn't necessarily need it to be low-calorie (I'm nursing and need all the healthy calories I can get) so I changed it up a bit:

So my recipe goes something like this:

Green Monster Smoothie
Dollop of Greek yogurt
A cup or so of Vanilla Soymilk or Vanilla Almond Milk
Handful of frozen pineapple
Frozen banana
Two handfuls of baby spinach
Tablespoon or so of peanut butter

I feel like a superhero after I drink it. I was very very anemic during my pregnancy with Scarlett (and I think it may have even contributed to her jaundice at birth), and so this huge dose of iron is a game-changer for me.  (Beware, these smoothies do have some, um, colon-cleansing properties when you first start drinking them...)  But they give me so much energy and I find myself craving more greens now!  I am excited to see if they really do help my skin/eyes look brighter.  PLUS, Sophie will drink them, which is awesome, because now she will have a good dose of leafy greens in her system.  (Although the highly-anxious side of me is still wary of the bagged baby spinach, since there was an e. coli issue with bagged spinach not that long ago... maybe we will buy fresh produce spinach not in bags, instead?)

And now that I've written out the recipe, I want a smoothie, so I'm off to the blender!

Introducing ... Scarlett!

I have so much to say and so little time to say it.  I am quite pleased that its Leap Day, because otherwise I never would have managed to say anything at all about sweet baby Scarlett during the month of her birth, as it would have already passed me by.  (Additionally, the forces of the universe seem to be conspiring against me - Flickr is having fits, dinner is unmade, and they are building a new house next door, complete with nail guns and all manner of loud pounding sounds.)
Anyways.  So when we last left you, I looked something like this:

This was at my last doctor's appointment on January 30, I believe.  Oh, how carefree I was, with just one child to keep track of!  Oh, how naive!  How well-slept!  (Okay, maybe not. Sophie's never been much of a sleeper.)
In the very early morning hours of February 1, we checked into the hospital.

Daddy donned his spacesuit.

And just like magic, a few hours later, we became a family of four.

(If, of course, by "magic," I mean "major abdominal surgery with corresponding pain management."  But you know, it felt somewhat magical with all those narcotics in my IV line.)

I didn't have the shakes this time, like I did with Sophie's birth, but I do remember feeling incredibly "doped up." Steven was calling people on the phone, and he would hand his phone to me, and I remember saying things like "haha, yeah I feel really drugged we are all okay here thanks bye here's Steven." So, my apologies if we talked to you on the phone that morning and I was incoherent. :) We finally made it to our hospital room around noon, and got our first look at Baby Scarlett in the light of day. And no surprise, she was beautiful!

Nana and Pop (my parents) had come to town a few days earlier so they could watch Sophie for us while we went to the hospital. They came and brought Big Sis with them.
Big Sis was, understandably, a bit confused.
She spent some time with Mom, pointing at "Beebee" and checking out all my various bracelets and needles and what not. Nana and Pop took her home at about 3 PM so she could rest and we could rest. And thus began my five-day stay in this tiny space:
Everyone tells you to stay in the hospital as long as possible and enjoy the rest. I tried to take their advice, but after about 3 days, I had HAD IT with the hospital. Had it with the food, had it with the room, had it with the entire ordeal. Steven came during the day and went home at night to be with Sophie, and that was wonderful.
But the nights were still long.  We had to stay in the hospital for that long because poor Scarlett had jaundice.

Seeing her there, under those lights, with her little blindfold on, was heartbreaking. And really, jaundice is SO not a big deal in the world of neonatal illnesses. A few hours under the sunshine lights and most babies are totally fine. (Scarlett included. I am pleased to report she is totally un-yellow and as pale as the rest of her family now.) I stood next to her "bilibed" in the hospital nursery and cried, not so much for worry for Scarlett, but more so for all of the things that COULD have been wrong with her. Cried because we are so blessed to have healthy children and a roof over our heads, good jobs and time off work to have two babies right in a row. Cried from incredible gratitude for how wonderful things have been and continue to be. (Also, probably cried from some serious hormone imbalances. Postpartum is rough, ya'll.)

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, they released us from the hospital, with instructions to follow up with our pediatrician first thing Monday morning for a bilirubin test. Unfortunately, Nana and Pop had to fly back home before we managed to get home with Scarlett, which was sad, because I had been looking forward to spending time at home with them and Baby Scarlett. But still, it felt great to have her home.

She was a little banged up from all the blood testing they had to do - she had little pricks all over her poor tiny baby feet.

But she was still perfect.
Ok, out of time - next up: Grammy and Grandpa visit, and Scarlett gets her first bath!

Heart Hats!

We're getting mighty close now to Scarlett's arrival.  I'm not sure I'm nesting, since there's a sink full of dirty dishes that I'm actively avoiding right now.  However, I have had the itch to start a ton of new projects, so perhaps that's how my nesting urge presents itself.

On a whim, I stopped by the yarn store one day last week and picked up some red and pink yarn.

I wasn't quite sure what I'd use it for, but this little heart hat stuck in my head, and I decided that both of my girls needed one.

I think I'm going to make Scarlett's hat in reverse colors: mostly pink with red hearts.  That way, we can tell the hats apart by more than just size.

I have grand visions of two little girls in pink onesies, posing for a Valentines' Day picture with their matchy-matchy heart hats.

If I had more time, I'd make little stripey red and pink Baby Legs to go with them.

But alas, I am running short on time, and I still have to do things like: work full time, feed and clothe a toddler, and just generally make sure that my house is in some semblance of order before we are all struck by the chaos that naturally follows a newborn home from the hospital.

I am hoping this little hat fits Sophie for a while.  Its a bit tall for her head, so perhaps that will make it longer-wearing for her as she grows?

I might add a pom pom to the top.  Do we think that would make it cuter?

For anyone who wants to make this pattern, I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino on size 4 DPNs and did not alter the pattern at all.  I am surprised that the "adult" size fits my 15 month old's head.

Perhaps she has a big noggin to hold in all them brains.

It was a fun, very fast knit, and it reminded me that I should stick to small projects for, I don't know, the next 18 years or so, if I want to ever have anything to show for my knitting time.

In other Sophie news, she will now reliably respond to "I love you!" by saying "Youuuu!" and pointing back to you.  Its precious, and I am taking her "Youuuu!" to mean "I love you too!"

We got all of the baby stuff out of the basement this weekend, and Sophie immediately took to the infant bouncy seat like we'd bought it from La-Z-Boy just for her.

She likes to lounge in it and watch TV. I fear she may not let Scarlett use it when she arrives.

I'm 38 weeks this week.  Only one more OB office visit and then we check into the hospital to have this baby.  I am in such denial that I have not even packed a hospital bag yet.  Because I have plenty of time left to do that.  And to knit a matching hat for Scarlett.  Right?