Two Steps Forward, Lots of Steps Back

Elise started doing some cool new things yesterday. She repeated "night night" at bedtime. Or "nigh nigh" at least. Close enough. She did it tonight, too. She also started saying "apple"-- that one she says VERY clearly. She likes those two syllable words with p's in them, like apple and purple.

She also started to walk backwards. Just for fun. It was cute. She'd walk backwards until she ran into something.

Big day!

Sick Henry

Henry's home sick today. He caught Elise's Easter fever. Henry woke up a zillion times last night and his temperature was up over 102 degrees.

Of course, this morning he's fine, though. No fever. No sickness. How do kids DO that? Keep you up aaaaaaaaaalllllll night, then they're perfectly healthy the next day, but YOU feel like crap?!

Baby Eve

Case Manager has shown us a few pictures of baby Eve. Cute!

Eve's foster parents want to set up some visits with us and the kids on the weekends-- I'm so excited to get to see the new baby! I didn't think we'd get to see her anytime soon. I figured all of the visits with siblings would be done at the same time that the kids see their mother.

Since all of the kids don't live together in the same house, Case Manager wants to make sure that the kids have visits with each other. Sibling visits are usually done at the same time that kids see their parents-- like one big family visit. The visits with Henry and Georgia's mother are handled by Case Manager and Husband and I aren't involved at all. Case Manager picks Henry and Georgia up from day care during the week, takes them to see their mom at a special visitation center, and then brings them back to school. If all of the sibling visits were done at that same time, Husband and I would never get to see Eve.

Eve's foster parents suggested to Case Manager that we do some weekend sibling visits without their mom, though. Yay!

Poke

Dinky kicks me a lot now. Husband is dying to feel the kicks, but I don't think they can be felt from the outside yet. Plus the kicks are so fleeting. I did get a bunch of kicks in a row after a cup of rainbow sherbet the other night-- rainbow sherbet makes Dinky dance.

I can't wait for ELISE to feels the kicks! I wonder what she'll think.

Babies Babies Everywhere

Henry and Georgia's mom had a baby recently. It was removed from her at the hospital and placed into foster care, as the problem that lead to the removal of Henry, Georgia, and Susannah hasn't been resolved as of yet. We were asked to take the baby and we agreed, but then the foster care licensing agency said that we will have too many children under 2 years old, so we can't take her. The new baby-- I'll call her Eve-- is in another foster care home now.

Henry and Georgia will get to visit with little Eve soon. She was born prematurely, but she is apparently doing well.

Sad.

Easter Fever

Yesterday Henry and Georgia were visiting with a relative all day, so we took Elise to an Easter event at a local park. She had a great time, but after we got home Elise started to get a fever.

The fever responded well to medicine, but in the middle of the night when it had worn off we took her temperature again and it was up to 102.1. Poor baby!

When the medicine is working, Elise seems mostly okay. A little less energy than usual, but not unhappy. As it wears off, though, Elisey is miserable. She's been sleeping A LOT today, too. And nursing like crazy.

I hope she's feeling better tomorrow.

Puppy Dog Tails

A mentally challenged lady recently approached me in Walmart and told me I was having a boy. So there you go. Time to pick out some boy names, I guess.

(Had Elise been a boy we would have named her Elijah. But Elise and Elijah sounds really matchy-matchy so we probably won't be going with Elijah this time around.)

Easter Eve

Dyed some eggs. Made a little Easter sign. The sign is a cartoon bat and it says "Happy Easter 2011!!! (Heart), The Easter Fruit Bat"

That's right. No Easter Bunny. The Easter Fruit Bat is bringing the kids something that fruit bats actually eat-- fruit. Bunnies don't eat chocolate or jelly beans or that stupid plastic grass that gets everywhere. Everything about Easter was always so random to me that I had a really hard time buying it as a child. A bunny brings me colored chicken eggs and candy? Whatever. Leave out a glass of milk and plate cookies for a fat guy in exchange for some presents? Okay, that I get. But Easter is full of one wacky lie after another.

So Husband and I decided that we didn't want to give babies a bunch of candy, but we wanted to have fun with the holiday. The kids all love fruit, so they will have an awesome breakfast of hard boiled eggs, fruit, cool whip, and pancakes. And the Easter Bunny has one less house to visit, thanks to the Easter Fruit Bat. Hey, bats are up all night anyhow. It makes perfect sense!

Nice Husband

This morning as I was getting out of bed (looking a mess, mind you) Husband says, "You look nice."

"Awww. You'd say that to anyone who was carrying your child."

Pause.

"Well, I'd at least say, 'You must have looked nice once.'"

At least he's got standards.

Baby Lady Parts

I thought recently that Elise had a bad case of diaper rash.

A few weeks ago, she woke up one morning with a poopy diaper. She doesn't usually have a bowel movement in the middle of the night, so there's really no telling when it happened or for how long her diaper was dirty. I changed her and noticed that around her little girl parts, there was some redness and tiny little bumps. I put Desitin on her.

For the next two weeks, I kept her super, super clean and made sure she always had diaper rash cream on. The rash would get better sometimes, but never completely go away and it would always flare back up again.

Finally I called the doctor.

Turns out that those little bumps mean that she has a yeast infection of her skin. Not like a lady yeast infection. Just on the skin. Which is apparently not uncommon in diapered babies. You use Lotrimin to treat it, just like jock itch or ring worm.

Elise has had very few diaper rashes, and they were always gone within a diaper change or two, so I didn't really know that there was a difference between what I was seeing and a regular diaper rash. Poor Elisey.

I'm supposed to put the Lotrimin on her for 7 to 10 days, twice a day, and that should clear it up. I've applied it about 3 times now, and her rash is already looking better.

One Up

I forgot to mention that when I got weighed at my last OBGYN check up, I had gained one more pound. Four pounds total. You'd think I'd have gained a lot more if you look at how big my belly's getting. I'm in that is-it-a-beer-gut-or-a-baby phase right now where the unknowing observer might not be sure that I'm actually pregnant.

Let's just say we're calling him Bud if it's a boy.

(Just kidding.)

Toe Jam

Tonight Husband and I were out with the kids. We were driving in the minivan, kids in the back.

And then I hear Elise laughing. Hysterically.

I turn around. Her sock is off. And Henry is licking her toes.

Like, holding her foot to his mouth and licking her toes.

It was pretty funny. And so cute and innocent when babies do it. He was just making her laugh. In the weirdest way possible.

Baby's First Shower

This morning Elise had to go potty while Husband was in the shower. As she sat on her potty chair she got all interested in what Daddy was doing, since she's only ever taken baths. She wanted in the shower with him. So we let her.

It was adorable-- seeing my loves naked and having giggly fun together. Precious.

Another Belly Band

It's that time again. I can't button or even zip my non-maternity pants anymore. So I went out and got another one of those elasticy bands that go over your opened pants.

I bought a different brand this time. My last one disintigrated in the wash. This time I got a model made by the Bella Band brand. I like it so far. It's tighter than the last one I got. Since I'm kind of small, even maternity pants with their stretchy waist don't fit super tight. It's annoying to be pregnant AND have your pants sliding down all day long. So the tight Bella Band is nice.

We'll see how it does in the wash.

Knock, knock... Who's There?

Dinky! I've felt Dinky kick a few times now. I first felt kicks this past Tuesday, but I wasn't sure.

Baby kicks can feel an awful lot like gas at first. It's true.

I've heard the feeling described lots of different ways-- flutters, a fish flopping inside your belly, popcorn popping. To me, it feels like if some flicked your arm, but inside your guts. Anyway, it's not an entirely distinctive feeling when the baby is still tiny. It's not like the kid has a secret knock. It happens quickly, you know?

I first felt Elise kick around 14.5 weeks, and I'm probably about 15 weeks along now, so that makes perfect sense.

I love you, Dinky!

I Can Hear You!

Went for a check up today. We heard Dinky's heart beat! Oh, little Dinkleton! Mommy, and Daddy, and sissy Elise all heard your teeny little heart pounding away.

Happy happy happy!!!

Can't Hold It

Pregnant ladies pee more often.

However many times I get woken up during the night, that's how many times I have to go pee. If Elise wakes up once, I go to the bathroom once. If Elise wakes up and then I hear Henry stirring in his room and that wakes me, I go to the bathroom twice.

I wonder, if all of the babies slept through the night would I sleep through the night, too? Or would I get up at some point to pee anyhow? The world will never know.

Boy Dream

I had a dream the other night that my sister had another baby. A girl. And I said, "Now we both have one of each!" Meaning one boy and one girl. And then I realized that must mean that Dinky is a boy.

Then I had a dream last night where I was seducing an 18 year old. He was very angelic looking. I didn't feel weird about it until I remembered that I'm pregnant.

No No Shake

Elise has started shaking her head no. She won't want to eat anymore and she'll shake her head no at the spoon moving toward her mouth. If I try to feed her more anyway, she spits it all over me. I listen to her now when she says no.

Tonight she told me she had to go potty and then saw a toy she wanted to play with. As I grabbed her hand to take her to the bathroom she dragged her feet and shook her head no.

If I shake my head yes at her Elise will shake her head no back at me. She laughs at that, like she knows she's contradicting me.

My snooty little baby just got snootier.

Car, Colors, Barf

Car update: repairs made for $625. Thank GOD we got a second opinion. So suck on that, stupid dealership.

Elise update: my baby is a smartypants. Elise has a book that features a different color every two pages. So there will be two facing pages of all red objects or all green objects or whatever. Elise is mildly obsessed with this book, so we've been working on colors.

Now, granted she doesn't know her colors outside of the context of this book yet. BUT, she DOES know the yellow and purple pages of her color book very well. I'll turn each page and ask her, "What color is this?" If she doesn't know she just stays quiet and I'll say, "Red," and she'll try to repeat the sound.

When I get to yellow, though, she's quick to say, "Yeyo!" She says "yeyo"... have you ever seen the movie "Scarface"? That's the slang word they use for cocaine. Yeyo. Anyhow, when I get to the purple page, she knows that one, too. And she says "purple" nearly perfectly. Well, it's sort of like "purpa" but there's no mistake about what she's saying.

If you ask her what color anything is outside of that book-- like, "what color is this flower?"-- she'll say its yellow. I guess its good that she understands that "color" and "yellow" have something to do with each other.

Pregnancy update: tossed up some pancakes today. I coughed so hard that I puked a little. I think that if I hadn't been pregnant-queezy, I wouldn't have puked. And if I hadn't coughed, my morning sickness wouldn't have caused me to barf. It was just the perfect storm.

Oh, and buttermilk pancakes with blueberry syrup are my latest pregnancy craving. Soooooo delicious.

Second Time Around

Feeling my pregnant belly grow for a second time is like putting on a pair of old, worn out jeans. They aren't that attractive, but they're familiar and comfortable and hold a bit of unexpected nostalgia when you look at them.

The way my body is growing and changing so far is very similar to when I was pregnant with Elise. The changes started happening a little bit sooner, as all the books say they will when your body has already been occupied once before. And my umbilical hernia didn't have to slowly happen, as it already existed. But so far, no surprises.

I love seeing my belly getting rounder. I can't wait to feel the baby move. Those little flutters in the beginning are the best. I hope they happen soon.

My Girl Wants to Potty All the Time

Elise is still telling us that she needs to go potty. It's not a fluke! She doesn't tell us every time. Turns out little babies pee A LOT. Like, nearly constantly it seems. But every time she tells me she needs to go, she does pee.

Annoyingly, she always seems to have to pee about 3 bites into any given meal. Strap her into her high chair, feed her a few bites, then here comes her potty sign. I've learned not to get too comfortable when we sit down for food.

She's been trying to say "potty" but it sounds sort of like "pita." Good thing for baby sign language! Otherwise, she'd be eating a lot of Greek food right about now.

Me Plus Three

All of a sudden 2 weeks ago I gained 3 pounds. My weight has held steady since then. Just-- BOOM!-- 3 pounds. And that's it.

I read that you're supposed to gain about 5 pounds during the first trimester and that it will probably happen toward the end of the 3rd month, as your body increases its volume of blood. So maybe I only gained 3 pounds of blood and fluid instead of 5. I'm pretty short. Maybe I need less blood.

Potty Break Through!

Elise told Husband and me on at least 4 separate occasions today that she needed to go potty. And she did. She peed. She gave her little "potty" sign, we took her to her potty chair, and she'd go.

Thank you E.C.! Thank you baby sign language! This is awesome.

Did I Walk Under A Ladder or Something?

Today is poop.

Found out that repairs on my car (not the minivan) might cost up to $1800. Husband and I need to decide what to do about this. We're definitely getting a second opinion. We need need need two vehicles. These babies keep me running all over town and sometimes Husband has errands to run, too. We can't get by on just the minivan for long.

Also found out that Georgia could possibly be leaving us as soon as two weeks from now. There's a court date set for a determination to be made regarding whether a relative is suitable to take her. Case Manager (who ever so casually dropped this bomb on us tonight) said that she is fighting tooth and nail to keep this relative from taking her. There is a really good reason why Relative should not have custody of her. HOWEVER, the whole situation is nuanced and convoluted and depending on how the statutes read and how the court interprets them, the judge may feel that he/she is unable to deny Relative custody of Georgia.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I found out the other day that the DNA results for Henry and his presumed father were lost by the lab. Aside from the obvious inconvenience that creates, now Henry's presumed father is refusing to submit to the DNA test again. I don't know what's going through that man's head, but basically what this means for our family is that we have to wait that much longer before we know if Henry will be staying with us long-term or if he'll be moving to live with an approved paternal relative.

It's always something. And sometimes it's a lot of somethings all at once.

Elise Did Some Cool Stuff Today

Elise is already pitting Husband and me against each other. Or trying to, anyway.

Husband gives Elise anything she asks for. Lately, he's been handing her the cordless house phone to play with. He unplugs the base of the phone and lets her play with the receiver. I don't do that. I encourage her to play with her own toys, or sometimes I just lock the keypad on my cell phone and let her play with that.

This morning Elise kept pointing at the home phone, making her little made up sign for "telephone," and saying, "Hi! Hi! Hi!" to let me know that she wanted the phone. I was pretty much ignoring her. Then she stops. Locks eyes with me. Points at the phone. Locks eyes with me. And says, "Dada." As in, "Daddy lets me play with the phone. Maybe he's my favorite now. You'd better watch it, lady."

Ugh.

Well, Daddy's not here. So no.

After that, Elise did something equally as threatening to my mommy status, but in an entirely different way.

I've been giving her a sippy cup of cow's milk with her meals lately. She'll drink it, and it usually delays her desire to breastfeed a little bit. This morning she asked to breastfeed right after breakfast, despite drinking from her sippy cup. Okay. Minor step backward. No big deal.

She nursed for a little while, but then she cut the breastfeeding short, sat up, and said, "Mill? Mill?" "I'm giving you milk, silly," I said to her. But she turned and pointed to her sippy cup on the table. "Mill? Mill?" So I gave her the sippy cup and she drank that instead.

I was happy and sad. I was so proud of her for realizing that the sippy cup had milk, too, even though it was a different kind of milk. And I was sort of glad that she wanted the cow's milk, because that means that weening is going well. But... but... what about MOMMY? What about OUR special time together?

Yay. My baby is growing up. *Tears!*

Super Soaker

Georgia eats clothes.

If she's wearing a shirt or jacket or jammies with a zipper, button, snap, or collar that she can put in her mouth, her whole front will be soaked within minutes. It's crazy.

This is especially problematic at night because she chew-sucks the crap out of her pajamas. Sometimes in the morning her night clothes are soaked-- LITERALLY-- down to the knees. It must make her cold. How can she stand the way that must feel? Ugh! Just thinking about it grosses me out.

This is bigger than teething. I think it's developing into an oral fixation. Georgia is destined to become one of those chronic gum chewers. Or someone who chews her straw. Or a nail biter. An obsessive chapstick re-applier. Maybe all of the above.

We tell her, "No, no! We don't chew our clothes!" and pull the fabric out of her mouth. Oh, she cries and cries. It's like we've hurt her feelings. Giving her something else to chew hardly ever works. Even other pieces of fabric.

I hope she outgrows this soon. I'm tired of sticking my hand in wetness every time I go to pick her up.

Take It All Off

I got a hair cut yesterday. This is how it played out:

Hairdresser: So! What are we doing with your hair today?

Me: I want you to cut it all off.

(Everyone else in the room stops and looks over at me. My hair was pretty long-ish and very thick.)

H: (nervous laughter, then she grabs my hair at about shoulder-length) So maybe up to here?

M: Nope. All off. Like... I don't know what you call it... a pixie cut?

H: Really?

M: I've got three kids and I'm pregnant. I don't have time for hair. Honestly, there's only a 50% chance that I even brushed my hair this morning. I seriously don't remember. So I want my hair as short as possible.

H: (more nervous laughter) Okay, then! (Messes with my hair for a second.) So where do you think you'll put your part? Right or left side?

M: No, really. I need to be able to roll out of bed, put on some pants, and go. There will be no part.

She cut my hair once, then had to cut it shorter right away again because it was still too long.

H: So when your hair goes from long to short, it can kind of go into shock and it gets poofier than it normally will be. Your hair might be poofy for a week or two. But you can fix that with product-- like, some heavy hair gel or something to weigh it down.

M: I promise you that I will not have time to style my hair with product. If we just cut it a bit shorter, will it look less poofy?

H: Yeah. We can cut it down some more...

So now I look like a 10 year old boy. But a happy, less headache-y 10 year old boy. With a pregnant belly.

My Compliments to the Chef

Elise has started drinking the cow's milk that I offer her. At first she would sip it and spit it out. Literally spit it, or let it dribble down her chin. I just let her do it and figured she would eventually get used to the taste. Sure enough, now she's drinking it.

I think that drinking the cow's milk has only cut back on her breastfeeding the smallest bit at this point. She definitely still wants lots of boobie food at night, to go to sleep by, and every time she gets hurt. If she falls over and it makes her cry, she'll come to me asking, "Mill? Mill? Mill?" She just wants the comfort of feeding for a minute or two.

Elise is big on kisses lately. She kisses everything. Cats, kids, inanimate objects. And with extreme regularity now, when she gets done breastfeeding she gets this happy, appreciative look on her face and kisses my breast 3 or 4 times. Its strange and cute. Her way of saying thank you, I suppose.

I think that weening has officially begun, but I also think that this will be a slow process.

Back Pain

I've been having lower back pain lately. From the pregnancy? Not sure. I remember having back pain with Elise... but in all honesty, lifting any one of these three kids the wrong way could easily mess up my back.

I have this one little spot on my lower right side that just hurts and hurts sometimes. I can't even put hardly any weight on my right leg when it's really going strong. Maybe that spot is the start of my sciatic nerve. I don't know.

I had pains in my sciatic nerve toward the end of my pregnancy with Elise. That sucked. This pain isn't quite as bad. And when I had sciatic nerve pain with Elise, even once I was off my feet the nerve would still tingle and feel weird for a while. With this back pain, the hurt feeling is really intense but as soon as I'm off my feet the pain goes away.

The pain comes and goes. Not sure why.

Oh Husband! I need some back rubbin'!!!