Payin' It Forward

I read today that daughters of mothers that had really bad morning sickness are 3 times more likely than the average woman to get really bad morning sickness, too. Sorry in advance, Elise. Maybe since I didn't get such bad morning sickness with Clark, Elise has a chance of not getting very sick. Or maybe by the time Elise has babies (if she decides that's what she wants to do), there will be better medicine or better remedies for morning sickness. Either way, Elise, you were absolutely worth it, but I certainly don't wish it on you.

Bye Bye Evil Santa

Remember Evil Santa? The ear, nose, and throat doctor that Henry was referred to? The one that creeped me out? Well, I got a call the other day from someone who is involved in the kids' case and this person was like, "Henry's ENT doctor is Evil Santa?! I can't believe he still has his license! Can you switch his doctor?" And then an explanation for why Evil Santa is a lousy doctor.

Wow.

I was already considering asking for a referral to another doctor since Evil Santa has had our paperwork for MONTHS and he is simply not filling it out, and now even his receptionist isn't returning my calls in any kind of a timely manner. But based on the advice of this other person, I asked Henry's primary care physician right away for a referral to another doctor.

Guess that just goes to show that my mommy intuition was right. Evil Santa IS scary.

What You Talkin Bout?

Elise is learning so much so quickly. She's talking nonstop now. A lot of it is sweet little baby babble, but she's becoming very effective at communicating her desires, too.

Elise knows that if she asks "please" then her odds of getting what she wants increase dramatically. So she says it a lot. And now she's using two or three words together, remembering to ask please first. Today Elise asked, "Please apple?" for some applesauce. It took me a minute to figure out just what she wanted, but it made sense once I figured it out because there is a picture of apples on the little fruit cups. And she's been asking, "Please more Dada?" to get Husband to come back in the room at bedtime and give her another kiss. How could anyone resist that?

She's all about body parts lately, too. You only have to tell her something once now and if she's interested, she remembers. She knows all kinds of body parts-- neck, elbow (she calls it her "elmo"), arm ("arma"), nipple, bottom, teeth, cheeks, chin. Oh, and she calls her tummy her "tucka." Not sure where that came from.

Elise is still obsessed with her vulva. The other day at the library she had to go potty. The whole way to the restroom, from one end of the kids' section to the other, she'd take a few steps, grab her crotch, yell "VAAVAA!" and then repeat the process. Embarrassing.

Oh, and she points out her toe booboo about 10 times a day. She calls it her "bubba" and she'll point to it, say "bubba," and then make a sad face. Poor baby.

She's a pretty cool kid.

Nickname

Clark already has nicknames. I can't help but give my babies sweet little names, and just because you aren't born yet doesn't make you immune. I like to call Clark "Clark Bables" (rhymes with Clark Gable, but emphasis on the "babe" sound).

I love that little guy.

Baby Jackass

You know that show "Jackass" with the guys that do silly stunts and someone usually ends up getting hurt? My kids are working on a baby version of that show, I think. They love to each put their blankets over their heads so that they can't see, then run around the room together. They knock into each other, the furniture, the walls. They fall down and laugh and laugh. Unless they get hurt, then they cry for a second and get back up and do it again.

If one of them sees another putting a blanket on, they all have to do it. I try to act as referee, directing the kids away from edges of dressers and bookshelves. Eventually, it becomes too much and I make them stop, which then makes the kids sad and mad. I tell them, "You just got those baby teeth-- I don't want you to knock them out already!" But they don't understand.

Also, Elise likes to tackle and baby wrestle Henry. Even though he weighs half again as much as she does (Henry ~ 30 lbs, Elise ~ 20 lbs), Henry just falls to the ground and squirms and cries while Elise tries to pin him like some sort of greco-roman wrestler. It's really funny to watch and the last time she did it I laughed so hard I peed my pants a little. For real. I mean, we pull Elise right off of him, but she's quick and very determined and it looks hysterical, given their size difference.

Crazy babies.

BTW

* elise bit the crap out of my nipple again today. i'm starting to wonder if our breast feeding days are numbered :(

* my new phone won't let me use capital letters on my blogging website. wtf, phone! i'll have to figure this out later.

* henry is going to be evaluated for autism. i don't believe he's on the spectrum, but it doesn't hurt to have him checked out. i'd rather he get evaluated and they say he doesn't have it than not get him evaluated and miss out on getting important services.

Today Has Been Better

So far, so good! Don't want to jinx myself as the day isn't over, but nothing too bad has happened today.

We've resolved SOME of the kitchen sink leaking problem... looks like we really will need to call a plumber to get it fixed all the way but we're no longer at code-orange shut-off-the-water-to-the-sink-before-we-have-a-disaster level anymore.

Elise has contracted Georgia's rash-- the one we took Georgia to the ER for a few days ago. But since we know what the illness is and that there's no treatment for it, it's kind of no big deal. I'm sorry that Elise is sick, but she doesn't notice the rash so she isn't suffering because of it.

I had an appointment at the OBGYN's today. After all of the crappedy-crap I've dealt with over the last few days, I was fully expecting to be told that I have gestational diabetes. Nope. Glucose test came back fine.

I've only gained 2 pounds over the past month, which is good because I gained 9 pounds the month before that. I wish I could say that I've been watching my portion sizes or exercising more, but that's not the case at all. I think that my body just does what it needs to do when it needs to do it while I'm pregnant. So I don't gain a steady pound per week-- sometimes I gain more and sometimes I gain less. Whatever. I was able to lose my baby weight with Elise in a reasonable amount of time, so I'm waaaaaaaaay less stressed about weight gain with Clark. I kind of don't care. And since Husband seems to think pregnant bellies are cute/sexy/whatever, I have even less incentive to stress myself out about it.

My belly measured right at where it should be for a lady who is 28 weeks along. So, despite how I feel, I am not giving birth to a baby elephant. That's good to know.

Yep. Today has been okay. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Elise's First Big Booboo

Welcome to my retelling of Craptastic Day #4. The fourth consecutive craptastic day in this series.

:(

So, I was taking a shower with Elise this afternoon. Elise loooooooves the water, which is really nice because I can take a shower and she just plays at my feet. I'm happy and she's happy and it's great. Today she took a full can of shaving cream off the ledge and was driving it around on the floor of the bathtub like a car. When I was done showering, I told her "clean up time!" and she went to put the can back on the ledge, as if she was putting a toy away. Well, the can fell and dropped straight down on her pinky toe.

Blood everywhere.

I know that water makes blood look even worse than it is because it thins the blood out but it still looks very red. Regardless, this was a lot of blood coming out of her tiny toe. So, Elise is screaming, I jump out of the shower holding the baby, both of us dripping wet and Elise dripping blood everywhere (on the floor, on her potty chair, on the wall) and run to the hall closet where I grab a clean dish towel. I hold her with her foot in the air, wrapped in the towel, applying pressure.

But my mind is racing. What do I do first? Ice? Tylenol? Get us dressed? I went and got her old teething rings from the freezer to put on her foot, but she was having none of that. I called Husband and told him to come home right away, and then I tried to get us dressed.

I was trying desperately to keep Elise from standing up. I couldn't tell how deep the cut was, but her toe was swelling like crazy and bleeding and generally looking pretty bad. I didn't want her to make the injury any worse. It was hard to put a diaper on her and then try to dress myself-- all while holding her foot in the air, above her head. That's all I could really think to do, apply pressure and hold her foot in the air.

Finally Husband came home and by that point Elise wasn't screaming any more and was even somewhat consolable. So we decided that she PROBABLY didn't need to go to the emergency room. We tried to call her doctor to see what the nurse suggested, but the office was still on lunch break. Then Husband called the urgent care clinic that we use. The nurse was like, "does she need stitches?" Um. We have no idea. She's hurt. That's all we know. So they gave us an appointment for a few hours later and told us to give her some Tylenol and wrap the toe in a bandage until then.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, my slippery wet shower hands dropped my phone on the kitchen floor for the one billionth time since I bought my cell phone... but THIS was the time my phone decided to break. Like, that's it. No more phone.

So. Husband goes back to work and Elise takes a nap until her urgent care appointment.

Then, on the way to the urgent care center I get lost. But I have no phone. So I can't call and tell them I'm running late or ask for directions. I can't use my phone's GPS. I just have to drive around until I find the damn place. OF ALL DAYS!!!

Finally I get to the urgent care center and they're still willing to see Elise even though I'm late. The doctor put some doctor-style super glue on Elise's toe to close it up (it was still oozing) and put this little strip of stuff over the glue that makes a kind of hard bandage. Elise was not happy about the procedure, but I was sure happy that she didn't need stitches. What an ordeal that would have been!

Elise is fine now. Doesn't even notice her booboo anymore. I went after dinner and got a new phone. So now if I go into labor I can actually call Husband or if I get lost I can call for directions. And thank goodness this stupid day is over.

No more stupid days, please. I'm at my limit. Four is enough.

I Give Up

Now there's a leak under our kitchen sink.

What next? :(

Craptastic Day, the Sequel

Soooo, yesterday was bad. Worse than today, I'll admit.

BUT

Today Husband had to take Georgia to the ER. She suddenly broke out in these little bumps all over her groin, feet, tummy, and legs. Raised bumps. And since it's a holiday, there was no place to take her BUT the ER. I spoke to the after-hours nurse from her doctor's office-- hoping she'd say to just watch her and take her to the doctor tomorrow or something-- but I was told, "it could be the start of anything... take her to the ER to be sure." Dammit dammit dammit.

End result was that she has some kind of virus. Nothing that can be done. No medicine or anything. It just has to run its course. It's no more dangerous than any other common childhood illness, but it looks kinda crazy with all the little bumps everywhere. The bumps don't seem to be itchy or bothersome. Georgia doesn't notice them. So I guess it's no big deal. Other than she's going to have to stay home for a day or two from day care. And of course, the other kids will catch it eventually and probably Husband and me, too. Dammit dammit dammit.

While Husband was gone with Georgia, the new fridge arrived. This required a lot of pre-fridge-arrival cleaning and post-fridge-arrival cleaning. Not so easy while being home alone with Elise and Henry and a belly full of Clark.

This wasn't the relaxing 4th of July weekend I had envisioned. Oh well.

Everything Old Is New Again

Craptastic day.

Had to buy a new refrigerator today. Because ours broke. And also a new microwave. Because ours has been slowly breaking. Big purchases that I'm not expecting are stressful. Not to mention having everything in our fridge spoil.

Then this afternoon Elise intentionally bit my nipple so hard that I involuntarily screamed. In pain. She proceeded to clamp down like a damn pit bull, and I was yelling and literally trying to pry open her jaw when she decided to let go. I found myself crying afterward and saying things to her like, "Why would you hurt me like that?" As if she was going to answer.

Also, Henry was all about testing boundaries today. He was being a total meanie. Basically, everything was just awful today.

Things could be worse. It's all relative. I know this. But right now I just need to wallow in self-pity.

More sadness for me-- I can't even have a beer to console myself. :(

Graduation!

Georgia is done with therapy!

Now that she's walking and talking more, her therapist said that she no longer needs assistance. She's still a bit behind in her speech development, but not so behind that she needs services at this point.

Yay! We're so proud of her!

Glucose Test

I took my pregnancy glucose test yesterday to see if I have baby-induced diabetes. I think I talked about it with Elise, but basically you fast starting at midnight the night before, then go to the lab in the morning, give blood, drink a sugar drink, and give blood again an hour later.

The fasting sucks, especially when you're pregnant and breastfeeding. I NEED breakfast. NEED it. That stupid Koolaid-- or whatever it is that they make you drink-- tasted so good because I was half-starved. I wanted to ask for another one.

I'll get my results at my next OBGYN visit. Unless they call me sooner with bad news, I guess.

Sick Today

My nose is runny, I have a cough, my throat, ears, and head hurt. The girls both have it too. I'm miserable. The babies are like "whatever!" but I can barely function.

How do babies do it? If there was something on the market called "Baby Energy!" in pill form or even as an energy drink, I would buy that stuff by the case. By the boat load, even.

I Can Totally Do This

So THIS is what pregnancy is like for those lucky ladies who aren't miserable for 9 months straight!

My pregnancy with Clark is just so different than my pregnancy with Elise. My major complaint is that I get that awful, painful tingling in my lower back, butt, and legs for hours and hours after mommy/daddy time. Sex Butt, I call it. I got it with Elise, too. It showed up around the 5th month with Clark. Man, was I disappointed that THAT pregnancy side effect was back.

Am I the only person who gets it? I've never heard anyone else complain of Sex Butt. My kids simply refuse to let me enjoy mommy/daddy time for some reason.

Of course, I have trouble sleeping. Turning over in bed is a major hassle now that my belly is so big, and I'm a tosser and a turner. So I wake up just about every time I need to change positions. Not to mention my twice nightly trips to the bathroom.

Over all, though, I can't really complain. Pretty awesome.

Chatterbox

Elise is getting pretty good at copying the sounds that she hears. Words, I mean. I often tell her that I love her, so she's started trying to say it back. It sounds mostly like "uh la yah!" but it's so very cute and melts my heart every time she says it. Even if she has no idea what it means.

Oh, and last night Husband left the room where the kids were playing and I suddenly needed him back. I was shouting his name across the house. Well, now Elise can yell his name, too. Husband thinks it's funny. I'm glad. Some adults are weird about how kids address them. I don't think she'll call Husband by his first name for any length of time, though. She just knows that she's getting a reaction from us right now.

More Teeth

Elise is getting her first molar! I know this because she stuck my finger in her mouth and bit down.

Squeezy Tummy

The Braxton-Hicks contractions have begun!

I've had, like, 6 or 7 of them tonight. Just BOOM! Contraction time!

I'm 26 weeks along now. That's earlier than I got them with Elise, I'm pretty sure. I think that Clark is planning a jail break. Probably after he heard me suggest to Husband that we name him Linus Galileo instead of Clark. I think he figures he better hurry up and make an appearance before I go completely bonkers.

Like Weeds

The kids are growing like crazy. Henry is about to need new shoes-- his second size up in 6 months or so. He needs bigger shirts and the girls are both ready for the next size of clothes.

We've been buying little things here and there as we see good prices. Got the girls some shirts today, got Georgia some pants a few days ago. We also bought Elise her first swim suit today. She looks so insanely cute in it.

Anyway, I think we'll just stop feeding them for a while and see if that helps slow these growth spurts down. We'll save money on clothes AND food that way. Win-win!

Baby Fishy

Elise is signed up for swimming lessons next month!

She's going to love it. She already tries to lay down in the bathtub and she likes dipping her face in the water. She's totally comfortable being dripping wet, having water in her eyes, letting her fingers and toes shrivel up. If she could sit in the bathtub all day eating goldfish crackers and bananas, she'd be the happiest baby ever.

I'm going to be the one taking her to the lessons. I certainly don't fit into my one-piece bathing suit, so despite my better judgment, I will be wearing my bikini. I'll look gross and weird... but who am I trying to impress, anyway?

Busy

A couple of times a year I do some work-- contract work, I guess you'd call it. This time I'm REALLY busy. Slammed. It'll be good money, but oh man. Staying up past midnight doing boring crap for hours on end when you have 3 babies and a pregnant belly SUCKS.

Baby Butt Lump

When I'm pregnant, there comes a point where the baby is big enough that I can tell where certain baby body parts are sometimes, regardless of movement or kicking. Feeling the butt comes first.

I felt Clark's butt recently. I felt it a little above and to the right of my belly button.

Its hard to describe what it feels like when I feel a baby butt in my uterus. There's extra pressure, and a slight tension in my skin. It feels like maybe there's a knot in my tummy. And then when I feel my belly with my hand, I feel an extra hardness, where usually my pregnant belly is soft.

When I touched Clark's bony little butt, he stayed still breifly and then he moved. The lump and the tension were gone. But it's nice to feel him extra.

I love your butt, little guy!

Salsaroni and Apples

Husband and I read that some people like to add salsa to their macaroni and cheese. We decided to try it. Husband will mix just about any two food items in the kitchen together and eat them anyway, so he was all for it. We got mild salsa so the kids could taste it, too.

The kids loved it! It tasted just how you would expect-- nothing amazing but not bad, either. Mostly, I'm storing this in my mommy memory bank for when they start boycotting vegetables and I have to find ways to sneak a few onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes into their meals.

Also, I read that apples help reduce the severity and duration of nasal allergies. They help block histamines somehow. So don't skimp on the apples during allergy season!

Your Bedtime Story Tonight

Someone Else's Post

Just read this blog post and it was good. It was written about adopted children, but it would definitely apply to foster children as well. In fact, anyone who wants to be a compassionate parent could benefit from reading this lady's thoughts. Because biologically related to your family or not, every child has moments or hours or DAYS of crummy, frustrating behavior and it's really easy to get into a negative, crummy, frustrated place of parenting, as well. To take it personally. To forget that children aren't as emotionally developed as we want them to be sometimes. But in their fits of bad behavior, they still need us to be there for them and show them that we love them, even if we don't approve of their actions.

click here for the link

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, friends and family!

We had a nice day. Nothing crazy. Low key, like Mother's Day.

Took the kids to the library. Husband got a smoothie on the way home as a special treat. He only eats sweets on certain days, so no junk food today. Smoothies are a loophole, I guess, since they're all fruit. But I'm going to make him a cake on his next sweets day-- that was our agreement.

I think Husband bought some computer-related thingy or another as a Father's Day present. Now he's playing video games. Headphones on so he doesn't wake the babies up, clicking away on his computer.

Happy day!

Kiddie Weekends

On weekends where we don't have anything big planned, Husband and I have a list of places that we like to take the kids for an hour or two. One of the keys to having small children-- especially lots of small children-- is keeping them busy.

I don't know if it's because they're still really young, but the kids enjoy trips to the grocery store. There are lots of different sights and sounds. Strange new people to shout hi to. Unfamiliar things to talk about. They all love smelling the produce and the flowers. And they're still unaware of the lure that sugary cereals or freshly baked cookies has on most people, so there's no whining or pleading for junk food.

We can get our shopping done for the week and keep the kids entertained at the same time. Very cool.

You Tell 'im, Elise!

Elise tripped over a power cord earlier today. She got up, turned around, and told that cord, "NO, NO, NO!!!"

It was heeeeeeee-larious!

She's also started saying "please" to get what she wants. She's very good at knowing when it's appropriate to ask nicely. She's even trying to use it to manipulate a bit, I think.

The other night Elise woke up too early for a feeding and so when I heard her asking for milk I told her "Night night, Elise." She knows that I'm telling her to lay back down when I say that. She fusses for a minute, but she understands what I mean and she does lay down. Well, she wasn't having it that night. Instead of going back to sleep she started asking please, please, please (in her little baby way that she does, as it doesn't sound like a perfectly formed word yet but I know what she's saying). I didn't give in, but MAN... good move Elise. That one almost worked on me.

Tubes Tubes Tubes

Well, not surprisingly, Georgia needs tubes in her ears, too. So now we begin the process of getting the procedure approved by the court and set up with the doctor. We're still waiting on paperwork stuff so that Henry can get his put in. This stuff takes forever!

Up And Away

Georgia stood up in the middle of the floor all by herself last night and then took off walking. Yay!

She only did it once. You know how babies are-- she probably won't do it again for a week or two. But I'm just glad that she did it at all. She's never come close before to displaying enough balance to stand herself up without holding on to something.

Wow. Soon we'll have 3 toddlers. And a newborn. Wow.

Growing Elisey

Elise had her 15 month old doctor's checkup recently. She was 30.5 inches tall (45th percentile) and 20.5 lbs (15th percentile). Healthy as could be.

I asked the doctor if it was a problem that there is such a difference in the percentiles for her height and weight. He said no. She's continuing to grow and gain height and weight steadily. He said that the plotted curve for her weight since she was born shows a normal growth pattern. In fact, she has a higher weight percentile than she did at her one year checkup. She had a big growth spurt in height in the last 3 months. But she's just naturally skinny, I guess.

No shots at the 15 month checkup. Happy baby!

Swim Lesson Success

Henry started swim lessons recently. We signed him up for several reasons-- kids should know how to swim for exercise and for fun, knowing how to swim makes kids safer, and also Henry has anxiety about bath time so we thought he might learn to like the water if he enjoys hanging out in a swimming pool. We were fully prepared for a meltdown and even the possibility of discontinuing his lessons.

It went well, though. He was a bit timid, but he followed instructions for the most part and even smiled a few times during class. Henry did very well for his first time in swim class, and I think he'll be happy about going back again.

Success!

Baby Breakfast

One thing I can count on the kids for is that they'll eat a good breakfast. They all three like most breakfast foods. Henry and Elise don't care for eggs, but I can trick Elise into eating them if I add enough cheese.

Pancakes, waffles, Cheerios, corn flakes, toast and jelly, cheese toast, cheese grits, yogurt, bananas, applesauce, blueberries, english muffins, oatmeal, biscuits, potatoes, milk, juice... Henry, Georgia, and Elise will eat all of that stuff. Georgia hasn't yet figured out that she can refuse food, so she'll eat anything you give her no matter what. But Henry and Elise can be picky. I don't know if they just really like breakfast food or if they're always too hungry in the morning to make a fuss, but their first meal of the day is usually pretty big.

Maybe I should try to be more adventurous-- quiche, breakfast burritos, baked beans, granola-- and see if they're still willing to eat what I serve.

Broken Heart, 6 Steps, Ribs

* Elise broke my heart forever tonight. It was time to make dinner, so I left the kids in the girls' bedroom with Husband and walked down the hall and through the kiddie gate. As I shut the gate behind myself, Elise came running after me, crying. She didn't want me to leave. I turned around to see her standing at the gate, her hand stretched out, and she sobbed, "Bye bye, Mama!" Oh my god. I'm crying just thinking about it again.

* Without prompting, Georgia decided to practice walking tonight. Over and over, she walked from the edge of some furniture to me or to another target. She got up to 6 steps in a row, which she accomplished several times. She was SO proud of herself, laughing and smiling. It was pretty awesome. It's easy to see that her balance is getting better, and she's getting much more confident.

* My ribs have been hurting. Clark must be sitting in my belly differently than Elise did. I don't remember having sore ribs with Elise.

The Grossest Grossness

I'm pretty sure Elise ate poop today.

At the end of snack time this afternoon Husband said, "Elise's breath smells like poop." I did not take what he said literally. Apparently I should have.

Shortly thereafter, with a terrible look on her face, Elise handed me something that looked like maybe a chewed up and spit out Cheerio. Dutifully, I grabbed it off of her hand and then washed it off of my own hand in the kitchen sink.

"What was that?" Husband asked. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it or it'll just gross me out more," I said. Famous last words.

As we got the kids cleaned up and ready to get out of their booster seats, I noticed Elise's hand was dirty with something that didn't look like anything she had eaten for snack. There was a small light brown smudge behind her ear. Something was in her hair. I wondered where this mess had come from.

Back in the girl's bedroom, Husband says, "I STILL smell poop." So we checked diapers. Elise was poopy and Husband put her on the changing pad. As he opened her diaper he says, "THAT'S the same smell that's on her breath!"

And then it dawned on us. Everything suddenly added up. Our daughter ate her own poop.

So gross.

Baby Fat, Etc.

* I had a check up with my OBGYN's office today. I have gained 9 POUNDS since last month. Holy crap. Time to slow down on the ice cream, I guess.

* Heard Clark's little heart beat today. The midwife said his heart rate is around 130. An old wives' tale says that unborn girls have a heart rate of over 140 beats per minute and boys' rate is under 140. So even though science has proven that heart beats per minute does not actually indicate your baby's gender, the old wives' tale does hold true for Clark.

* Henry is all signed up for swimming lessons. A parent has to get in the water with the kids, so Husband will be enjoying the pool this weekend, as well. Henry has a lot of stress and anxiety at bath time. We're hoping that the swim class will show him that the water can be fun. If not, we may have to abort the mission. We'll see how it goes.

* More drama with Henry's DNA test. The lab has misplaced some documentation, so even though the DNA test is complete, they wont release the results until they get another copy of the documents. First they lose the samples, then they lose some paperwork. I'm buying these people a file cabinet for Christmas. Idiots.

Go, Georgia, Go!

Georgia took a couple of steps tonight! They were lunging baby steps, not real walking, but that's so much more than she's ever done before. I was so excited!!!

Georgia's started making a few new sounds, she's making progress toward walking, and she's using her baby sign language more. It's as if she's been observing for the past few months, taking it all in, and all of a sudden she's decided to put everything she's learned in to practice.

Yay!

Just goes to show that every kid's different and you never know what's going on in their little baby brains.

Stupid Morning

Yesterday morning sucked. Sucked.

I knew that Georgia had an appointment scheduled with an ear, nose, and throat doctor that day. I had waited TWO MONTHS for this appointment as that was the soonest they could see us, and I was anxiously looking forward to it. We're trying to find out if Georgia needs ear tubes like her older siblings both do, so this appointment was very important to me. I want to help her get her speech and her balance issues resolved while she's still a little baby; if there's anything we can do to help her now, I want to do it.

Anyway, because of some stupid confusion that was all my fault, I realized the correct time for Georgia's appointment 20 minutes before we were due to be across town meeting with this specialist. I freaked out. I called the doctor's office to see if I could reschedule for a time in the near future... instead, the receptionist said, "You can be up to 15 minutes late for your appointment." So I decided to go for it. Like an idiot, I decided that I could make it. I would do this for Georgia. I would be a good mom, correct my mistake, and make it there on time.

I threw on some clothes, packed the diaper bag, scooped Elise out of her pack 'n play (she was napping), and ran to my car. I packed shoes for Elise but didn't have time to put them on her. I didn't have the minivan, which would have made my life much easier. I also didn't have a stroller, as they were all in the minivan.

I called Georgia's day care and asked them to have her diaper changed and have her ready to go, stopped by and picked her up, and raced across town to the hospital, where the doctor's office is located. I had to find parking. And of course, the ONLY parking spot was WAAAAAAAY far away from the hospital entrance. I carried both of the girls through the parking lot, to an elevator, and down the longest corridor I've ever seen in my life in order to reach the doctor's office. This with my big pregnant belly. A 20+ pound baby on each hip, a diaper bag (god knows how much that weighs), and me power-walking the whole way.

I arrived at the office 19 minutes late. I showed up breathing heavy, drenched in sweat, and feeling like I was about to die. My arms were shaking they hurt so bad from carrying both of the girls such a far distance. Nervous laughter from the people in the waiting room when I opened the door carrying two babies of different races and sporting a big, round tummy. Looking like a wet, disheveled, crazy woman about to have a heart attack. Thanks, jerks. No, no one bother to hold the door for me. I'm fine.

And then

to top it all off

the receptionist says to me after I check in, "Oh, the doctor isn't in today. We'll have to reschedule."

I put my head down on the counter and laughed. Or cried. Or both. Not sure.

So I composed myself as best I could and said that since I was already there, I might as well go ahead and fill out all of the in-take paperwork so I don't have to do it next time I come in.

"Okay! Good idea. Oh, and is your phone number blah-blah-blah-9?"

"No. It's blah-blah-blah-4."

"Oh, I guess that's why we couldn't reach you about rescheduling. We have your number wrong in our system."

So, all of that just to fill out paperwork. It sucked. I hate people.

On an up note, the girls were super well-behaved in the waiting room. Perfect little angels. They must have known that it was not a good time to mess with mommy.

You've GOT to Be Kidding Me

Elise and I were reading "Good Night Moon" yesterday. On about half of the pages of the book there is an illustration of a red balloon floating in the air.

Elise freaked out.

She'd point to it, ask "bye-yoon? bye-yoon?" (her word for balloon), and then start whining. I'd tell her, yes, it's a balloon and everything is okay. Turn the page. There's another one. "Bye-yoon?! BYE-YOON?!" Fuss, fuss, fuss. She'd put her finger right on the picture, but it still scared her for some reason.

This phobia runs deep.

Crappy Housewife Video

I saw this today on awkwardfamilyphotos.com:



Kinda funny. Intentionally so? That's up for debate.

I personally love being a stay-at-home mommy right now. I would gladly forgo the disco to stay home and cuddle my babies. Silly lady. She doesn't know what she's missing.

My Baby Songbird

Elise sang for the first time tonight!

Elise loves nursery rhymes-- especially anything with animals in the song. Tonight at dinner we sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and Elise started singing the song over again by herself when we were through. I mean, she can't really say the words, and she only mostly got the tune-- but she did a pretty impressive job for 14 month old.

She sang, "Baa baa" just like it's supposed to start. Then more baas and that evolved into crazy-sounding baby babble that was clearly meant to imitate our adult words. She bobbed her head as she sang. It was awesome.

Baa baa baa baa baa baa buggah buggah bwah bwah duh duh bugnahdaggadaggamuhmuh...

Second (Baby) Guessing

With the first baby, I wondered about every detail of how she'd look when she came out. What color would her hair be? Whose ears would she have? What would her nose look like?

With baby #2, I wonder those same things, but I also put it in the context of baby #1. Will Clark have the same hair color as Elise? Will they be the kind of siblings that people know right away are related because they look so similar? Will Clark be skinny like Elise is, or will he be a chubby baby?

And of course, I wonder how different their personalities will be. I wonder what kinds of things I'll end up remarking on. This time next year, will I be saying, "It's funny how similar Elise and Clark are!" Or will I be saying, "Elise was so much more laid back than Clark," or, "I thought Elise was an easy baby, but Clark is just a dream!"

So exciting to think about these things.

Caught Stealing

Where I live, there is an agency that helps foster parents pay for day care for their foster children. This agency helps anyone who meets certain financial requirements, but foster children are considered to have no income and the foster parents' income is not counted, so foster kids are always eligible. It's really nice. We have no fees at all for the kids' day care.

Foster parents do have to check in with the agency periodically-- go down and sign paperwork. Yes, they still live with me. Yes, they're still in day care. At the end of this process, they walk you through a room filled with books and let you pick out a book for each of your foster kids.

I had to renew our day care voucher today and I had Elise with me while I did it. The lady who was helping me said at the end that Elise could pick out a book, too. Very nice of her.

While I was looking for books for Henry and Georgia, Elise was browsing the shelves, too. Right at her baby eye-level she found a book with Sesame Street characters. I've been showing Elise some Seasme Street most days of the week, to keep her occupied while I make dinner. She watches maybe 20 minutes of an hour episode. And LOVES it.

I saw her pick up the Seasme Street book. She looked up at me. We made eye contact. Then she took off running. I think she believed that she was stealing the book.

Of course, I let her keep it. She power-walked/baby-ran almost the whole way back to the car with that book. Big Bird is going to need to have a serious talk with my kid about this.

Poop

Ever since Georgia has lived with us, she's had problems with constipation. I guess it's constipation. Even if the poo is soft, she'll cry and strain when it comes out. It's soooo pathetic to watch her cry and grunt. Her little face turns red sometimes. Sometimes she gets so upset she pulls at her own hair.

I've talked to her doctor again and again about it. Eventually he put her on some kind of oil to help grease up her insides. I thought it helped, but in retrospect she was on antibiotics at the same time and I think that it was the fact that antibiotics can cause diarrhea that might have been helping her and not the oil itself. I told the doctor that the only time she's ever not cried during bowel movements is while she's on antibiotics. He only half listened to me. He insisted the oil was helping.

This morning before she left for school, Georgia had a poo and when I changed her diaper there was blood. I know it was from the straining, so I didn't freak out. But I did call her doctor's office. I guess you have to tell this doctor that there is blood involved in order to be taken seriously. Telling him that she scream-cries for minutes on end EVERY TIME she poops isn't enough. Apparently it's the blood that did it.

I took her to see her doctor this evening. First he asks, "Does she eat many vegetables?" I wanted to laugh and say that I'm a vegetarian, so yes, she eats plenty of vegetables. But I just assured him that she gets a very balanced diet (she eats meat at school) and hardly any junk food at all.

The doctor FINALLY agreed to try a new medication. He also said that I need to bring in a poo sample so that they can check for parasites. He said that he doubts that they'll find any, though. I said, "Well, it won't hurt to rule that out." And he said, "Yes. It doesn't hurt to check." No kidding. We should have done this MONTHS ago in my opinion. I asked at more than one visit, "Is there anything we can check for? Some kind of next step?" Well, better late than never, I suppose.

I hope that her new medicine helps. I can't even imagine how potty training will go if every bowel movement is a traumatic experience.

No Balls

I've mentioned that Elise is afraid of balloons. Have I told you that she's afraid of balls, too? Anything balloon-sized or larger.

Today I decided to take Elise to the library to kill some time. I usually have the minivan if I have errands planned, but I had the car today. I buckled Elise into a car seat and started driving across town.

About 30 seconds into the trip, Elise starts fussing. Not her "I'm hurt" cry but her "I'm either scared or frustrated" cry. I couldn't get her to stop. I sang and talked about going bye-bye. Nothing lightened the mood. It was non-stop crying from the back seat.

Elise kept looking to her right, so I figured there must be a spider or some kind of bug that was freaking her out. At every light, I was reaching behind my seat, swatting all around her, wiping at her car seat.

And then I see it.

On the floor in the back. A big, green bouncy ball, from when Husband played outside with Henry the other day.

I put the ball up front, out of her sight, and she was magically perfectly okay after that. Boop! The crying shut off like a radio knob had just been dialed down.

Silly baby.

Temper Temper

Henry started throwing real temper tantrums today. Lying on the floor, scream-crying, and kicking his feet.

Ugh.

He's got this idea lately that any toy he touches is HIS. For the whole night. He can set the toy down and ignore it for 5 minutes, but then as soon as one of the girls goes to play with it, he gets super upset and tries to snatch it back. We don't allow that. There's no toy private property in our house. Once it's been abandoned, it's up for grabs.

Henry has been fine with this concept for months. But now the "terrible twos" have finally hit, I guess. Temper tantrum time. So we just ignore him. Let him throw his fit. Don't acknowledge it or try to comfort him. We don't let him throw himself on us, either, which he tries to do by grabbing at our legs or falling into our laps. We just set him to the side and don't interact with him until he's done. Once he calms down, he can have all of the hugs and comfort he can stand. But he will NOT be rewarded in any way for his crying, flailing, drooling temper tantrum. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to cry. It's not okay to act like a lunatic.

It's stressful just watching it, though. Listening to it. Fortunately the girls seem completely unfazed. I wish that their little brains were processing the situation and thinking, "Henry gets no response for his bad behavior. I might as well never even try to act out that way." I know that in truth their little brains are saying, "As soon as I get just a little bit more coordinated, I'm going to give that a try."

Assortment of Stuff

List:

* Elise continues to announce "VAA-VA!" every time her diaper is changed.

* We saw Georgia and Henry's big sister Susannah recently. Henry and Susannah kinda sorta played together a little bit. That's good. I wish they knew each other better. I wish they'd look happy to see each other and want to interact with one another. Maybe they will in time. They have always lived apart, so I don't think that they ever had much of a chance to bond. Plus they both have speech delays, and I believe that is inhibiting the process a little bit. We'll be seeing Susannah again soon, though, and I'm hoping that the kids will become more and more familiar with each other over time.

* Did I mention that Henry's presumed father has taken his DNA test? It will be weeks and weeks until we get the results. And Case Manager maintains that she thinks Presumed Father will want to terminate his parental rights if he is the biological dad. We'll see. Maybe when/if the results come back and Case Manager calls him and says, "There's no doubt about it anymore-- you are Henry's father," he'll have a change of heart. Thinking you might be someone's dad and knowing for sure that you are the dad are two different things, I would think.

* I'm about 22 weeks pregnant now. This pregnancy is just flying by. With Elise everything dragged along, partly because I felt so badly and partly because I was anxious about every little thing. Smooth sailing with Clark, though! He'll be here in no time. 18 weeks or less. I am going though a bit of a nesting phase right now. Cleaning, sorting, getting rid of stuff, organizing stuff. Making room for baby!

Going Home Clothes

We bought Clark's going home outfit today. The outfit we'll put him in when we bring him home from the hospital. It has a frog theme. Elise had panda bears on her clothes, Clark will have frogs.

I wanted to get this little outfit that said "made with love" because when I saw it, it made me cry. Hormonal pregnancy tears of I-love-my-baby joy. But Husband didn't like it so much. He would have agreed to get it if I'd insisted, but I wanted us to pick the outfit out together. So frogs it is, Clarky Baby. You were still made with love, even if your shirt doesn't say so.

I can't wait to see my little boy in his froggy outfit.

Vaa-va

Elise has not forgotten about her vulva. I tell her the word ONE time, and she's obsessed with it.

Yesterday I took off her diaper to change her, and as I pulled the velcro tabs back she yelled, "VAAAA-VA!" So I told Husband about it later that night as he was changing her diaper. He asks, "Elise, where's your vulva?" She points between her legs and says, "Vaa-va?"

She's mentioned it today, too.

Husband thinks it's funny and cute. It is. Until she starts pointing at and trying to touch other people's vulvas. Because that's what's coming next, you know. She likes touching other people's noses and eyes... strangers' noses and eyes, even. It's only a matter of time.

Guard your vaa-vas!

Daddy, Meet Clark!

Husband just felt Clark kick! Yay!!!

Vulva Tooth

Elise's word for the day? Vulva.

She was in the bath and she started pointing to her baby lady parts and asking what they were. Elise has this made up word-- "bye-ah"-- that serves as her question mark. She asks "bye-ah?" if she wants to know what something is.

So, finger on her hooha, "Bye-ah? Bye-ah? Bye-ah?" And I told her, "That's your vulva." "Vaaaaa-va? Vaa-va! Vaa-va!" Thank goodness no one will really know what her sweet little baby voice is saying. They'll just think it's baby babble. Unless she says, "Nos!" and points to her nose. "Eye!" and points to her eye. Then "Vaa-va!" and points between her legs. Which is entirely possible.

Also, her 8th tooth is in. Four on the top, four on the bottom.

She won't say "tooth" but she'll say "vulva."

Baby Clark

We're naming our son Clark. Yay!

Everyone says something about Superman, but no one's mentioned Clark Gable yet. Not that he's named after either one. We just like the name.

I like names that are uncommon but are not modern made up names-- no Ryland or Ashlynn for me. I'd love it if Pascal and Antonia made surprise comebacks. Husband jokingly called my name preferences "neo-Victorian." Maybe so.

Anyhow, Clark will have two middle names and a hyphenated last name, like Elise. Lots of great name combinations to choose from if he ever decides to abbreviate his name.

Break On Through

Felt the baby kicks with my hand while my arm was resting on my stomach last night. Yay! Husband will finally be able to feel his sweet little son.

Baby Clothes

My sister and our friends gave us some newborn clothes for the baby. Baby boy. We had some gender-neutral stuff from Elise, but not a whole lot-- now, though, we're totally set. Yay! Thanks, family and friends!

I can't believe we're starting from scratch again. A newborn. And a boy this time! Looking at those tiny little clothes just blows my mind.

I love you little guy!

Elise Has a Hard Head

Today I was lying in bed and Elise was sitting by my head. She flopped backwards and her head hit into my teeth, bruising the inside of my lip and causing it to swell. It really hurt. I'm surprised there was no blood.

Little kids are so clumsy.

Mind Like a Steel Trap

Elise keeps impressing me. Babies are awesome. Instead of typing it again, here is a copy of the IM where I told Husband what just happened:

1:17 PM me: [Husband]!

[Husband]: ?

me: We were just reading "15 animals" and Elise was pointing to the pics and I was saying what animal

And we got to the turtle

She was sitting in my lap

1:18 PM And after I said "turtle" she paused for a minute then turned around and pointed to the turtle on my shirt!

[Husband]: HOLY SHIT

me: She wasn't even looking @ my shirt

[Husband]: that is awesome!

1:19 PM I thought you were going to say that she remembered and said "Simon James Alexander Ragsdale the third"

me: She not only made the connection between the two turtles, she remembered what I was wearing and that there is a turtle on it!!!

Ha

[Husband]: Amazing.

stubendous!

me: Ribiculous

1:20 PM [Husband]: :)

me: I'm just so impressed

[Husband]: me too.

1:21 PM I hope you praised the poop out of her.

1:22 PM me: I did. Kisses and hugs galore

[Husband]: nice

Bladder Cushion

I'm certain that Dinky uses my bladder as a pillow. He hasn't kicked or punched it yet, but sometimes I feel like I desperately need to pee and that feeling doesn't go away for a looooooong time, no matter how many times I go.

It's really annoying to pee and then the very second I stand up from the toilet feel that I have a full bladder again. It's sort of like having a urinary tract infection, without the stinging or tenderness. Also, without the ability to take medicine to make the bad feeling go away.

What Does the Elise Say?

Elise is very into animal sounds lately. And most of her sounds are super cute. Here is a list of what she says when I ask her what sounds certain animals make:

Elise? What sound does a bear make?
Rwaaaawr. (The softest, sweetest little bear ever. She swipes her hands like bear claws.)

Duck?
Duh, duh. (I think she's trying to say "duck, duck" instead of "quack, quack.")

Horse?
No, no. (Instead of "neigh, neigh.")

Cow?
Oooooooo. (Close enough to "moo.")

Elephant?
Waaaaaaah! (And she raises up her arms like an elephant trunk.)

Cat?
Muh-owwwww.

Dog?
(She grunts twice. I guess "woof, woof" sounds like grunts to her.)

Goat?
Maaaaa. (That's what we say a goat says-- "maa, maa.")

Sheep?
"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" (For some reason, her sheep is always super angry sounding. She yells her "baa" from this deep, scratchy place in her throat.)

Fish?
Bubba, bubba! (We tell her that a fish says "bubble, bubble" for lack of any other sound we knew.)

Snake?
Sssssssssssss. (She hisses. Sometimes after her afternoon nap, I ask Elise if she wants a snack and then she hisses at me. I don't know if she is just mistaking the word "snack" for "snake" or if she really wants me to serve her a snake for a snack.)


Now if she could just figure out a few more PEOPLE sounds...

DNA Test

Well, I found out today that Henry's presumed father has finally taken his DNA test. Judging from some stuff that was said between Presumed Father and Case Manager, it sounds like even if Presumed Father is in fact Biological Father, he will ask to have his parental rights terminated. You can do that. Just say "I don't want to be a parent anymore. I don't want custody or visits, and don't ask me for child support."

At first I thought how awful it was that a father would do that. Just terminate his rights and not look back. But I realized what a hypocrite I was being. Sexist, really. I believe in a woman's right to decide whether she'll carry a pregnancy and become a mother to a new baby, so it's only fair that I should believe that a man has the right to decide whether he'll be a child's father.

A man can't choose to terminate a woman's pregnancy. He shouldn't have that right. And he shouldn't have the right to essentially hijack a woman's body an make her carry a baby that she doesn't want to birth, either. I understand that there's an imbalance in the rights of the maybe-soon-to-be father and maybe-soon-to-be mother. I don't see any way to correct that imbalance with regard to a pregnancy, though. A woman carries the baby, it's her body, and until the child is viable, her right to decide the fate of the embryo in her belly. If she wants to terminate the pregnancy, she should have the right. But it would be unfair to say that because a woman becomes pregnant and chooses to have the baby, the man is given no choice in his role in that child's life. He should have the right to terminate his parental duties, just as the woman has the right to terminate her parental duties. It's only fair.

Now, I think it's much less okay to say, "Sure, I'll commit to parenting this child," and then later decide that you don't want to accept all of the responsibilities that come with that decision. It's unfair to break a commitment like that. But I really don't know what happened in Henry's case. I don't know the details of his parents' relationship or how Presumed Father felt about fathering a new child. Maybe he was clear with Henry's mom from the start that she was on her own with the baby. Who knows.

I do feel now, though, that if Presumed Father doesn't want to be a part of Henry's life, that is his choice. And the best thing that can happen for Henry is that he is given a chance to move on from this experience. That his is given an opportunity to have a man in his life that is happy to be his father and is ready to stick by him.

Giant Belly

I compared a couple of pictures from my pregnancy with Elise to pictures of my pregnancy now with Dinky and my belly really is bigger this time around.

First this made me laugh and joke that Dinky is reclining and stretching out in my belly, enjoying the extra room. Then it made me cry and get scared that he'd be too big to come out vaginally. Husband reassured me that they'd said nothing about Dinky being oversized at my last ultrasound. Which I guess is true. I might have to keep my big, saggy uterus tucked down one pant leg and into my sock after the baby is born, but that doesn't mean that HE will be big.

At least my boobs are bigger this time, too. I mean, I know it has to do with the fact that I'm still breastfeeding, but I'm just glad everything is still in proportion.

Whatever I Can Think of Mentioning...

Notes again.

* Potty training break through with Henry. He picked up Elise's sign language sign for "potty" and now he tells us (sometimes) when he has to go to the bathroom. He's still not ready for regular underpants, but we no longer have to make random guesses about when to sit him on the potty chair.

* Elise flipped off the bed tonight. Once again, Husband was paranoid that she had suffered a concussion and wouldn't let her sleep afterward. Husband woke her up from a post-head-bonk nap with Peekaboo Barn. She was WIDE awake for that. Clearly no lasting head trauma.

* We met baby Eve finally. She's the tiniest thing. I don't think she looks much like Georgia and Henry, but her face is still kind of newborn-like and skinny. I bet that once it fills out, she'll look just like them.

* Elise has learned what a horse says. Kind of. I've been telling her "neigh, neigh" but she has interpreted that and repeats it as "no, no." What does a horse say? No, no.

* I had a dream the other night that I was pregnant by this guy who looked just like the actor who plays Silas on the tv show "Weeds." I also had a regular boyfriend, another boyfriend, and a girlfriend. They were all fine with the fact that I was pregnant by some other guy. The Silas look-alike was so super nice to me that I was considering seeing him exclusively after the baby was born.

Tooth; Hitting

Elise has her 7th tooth! Finally. We were stuck at 6 teeth there for a long while.

Another new development: Elise is slap happy. She's hitting now to show her frustration. Very weird. We adults don't spank at all or hit at anything for any reason. I guess there's just some natural inclination to try and smack something you're mad at. She hits tables and toys and whatever else is in reach, too. And she does it with all her might. It's hard not to laugh, really.

My strategy right now is to scold Elise if she tries to hit one of the other kids, but mostly ignore her when she's acting out. Set her away from me and just ignore her. Little kids hate to be ignored.

Elise's biting phase didn't last too terribly long, hopefully this slapping thing will die down quickly, too.

Dinky Inspection

Had a OBGYN appointment today.

I've gained 5 pounds. Listened to Dinky's heart beat. It always takes a while to find Dinky's heartbeat. Maybe because of the position of my placenta. I heard the blood rushing through my placenta, too. It sounds sort of like a fast-flowing stream.

Dinky kicked me a lot this morning. It's nice to feel his little kicks. I remember getting sick of the kicks with Elise, but I'm still in the honeymoon phase with Dinky right now. It's nice to feel the fun part of pregnancy.

WTF, Blogger? and Booby Spit

Blogger was down last night and this morning. I couldn't make my daily blog post yesterday, and I was very sad. Here is what I would have written about...

Henry spit on my boobs the other day. I was wearing a shirt with a v-neck and I was sitting on the floor, slouched over. So I guess you could see my cleavage. Henry crawled up to me and I thought he was going to climb into my lap, but instead he pressed his face into my boobs.

Um, okay. But whatever. He's two years old.

However, when he pulled his face away, there was spit all over my boobs. Like, he'd been saving a mouthful of spit and then deposited it on my chest. No spitting noise. Just a large amount of spit left behind when he removed his head from my cleavage.

He sees Elise breastfeeding sometimes. Does he think she's actually spitting on my boobs?

I was like, "No, Henry. Yucky. Please don't do that!" And he hasn't since. I guess he was just testing it out. And I guess it wasn't as cool or as interesting as he thought it would be. So just once was enough for him.

Glad he got that out of his system.

It's a Boy!!!

My intuition was correct yet again! My baby has a weenie!

He's healthy and jumping all around. I had been thinking "this baby isn't as active as Elise was," because I wasn't feeling a lot of kicks. Once I started to feel Elise moving, that was it, she was kicking me all the time. But I found out that my placenta is on the front of my uterine wall this time, meaning I essentially have a big old pillow between where I should feel the kicks and where Dinky is located. So I just won't feel as many kicks this time around.

Of course, I'm all emotional and happy and overwhelmed and happy and weepy right now.

I said to Husband as we were getting back in the van after the ultrasound, "So, we'll name him (blah blah blah)?" The name we had sort of picked out. And then Husband surprises me with, "Well... I still kind of like (blah blah blah)." So we've changed the baby's name from what we'd kind of settled on to another name that we really like. I'm going to give it a few days to sink in to our brains before I post the baby's name here. But know that the name is no longer in the top 100 baby boy names for 2010. It's not even in the top 500 names.

I'm having a boy! :)

Pregnancy Pains and Baby Dream

The past two days, I've been getting this pain that feels like someone has just kicked me in the crotch bone. The lady crotch bone. You know, the front of the opening of my pelvis. It especially hurts when I walk.

This pain only lasts for a little while. Maybe 30 minutes to an hour when it flares up. I wonder if Dinky is doing something-- lying weird or kicking me somehow that makes my crotch hurt. I think I had this pain with Elise, too, if I'm not mistaken. What are you babies doing?!

Oh, and I had another one of those hot flashes. Not as bad as the first one, but I also knew to sit down right away. I'm convinced it's a surge of hormones.

And speaking of hormones, my face has been reeeeeally dry the past week or so. Like, flaky dry. Itchy. I've never ever had dry skin before so I'm sure it's the pregnancy. Elise didn't mess up my skin at all. But I guess I'd rather have dry skin than be breaking out from the pregnancy. So, thanks Dinky for being as considerate as possible given the circumstances.

Also, last night I had a dream that my next ultrasound revealed that Dinky is a girl. I guess we'll see!!!

Elisey Want a Cracker?

Elise keeps blowing my mind with all of her copycat behavior and cool new things that she does every day. She's having this little communication explosion and I love it.

Elise has been nodding "yes" for over a week now. And she seems to be doing it in context. She only does it when I ask her a question, and she never nods yes but then acts like what she meant was to say no. I'll say, "Do you want your sippy cup?" Nod, nod, nod. And she takes it. "Do you want to help Mommy feed the kitty cats?" Nod, nod, nod. And she follows me to the kitchen.

She shakes her head no, too. I really think she understands and uses the gestures appropriately. "Want another bite of waffle?" Shake, shake, shake. And even if I put a piece of waffle in front of her, she doesn't take it.

Also, Elise is still picking out a "word of the day" every day. Did you ever watch the tv show Peewee's Playhouse? He'd have a secret word of the day and every time someone said that word, everyone in the playhouse was supposed to scream. Elise is sort of like that. Except she doesn't scream, she just then repeats the word 8 million times in a row. The other day, the word was elbow. Today it is bagel. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Elise is really into parts of the face now. She says "nose" when she points to her nose or someone else's and the same with "eye." She says "muh" for mouth and I think that counts, since I know what she's saying. Maybe we'll work on saying "ear" next.

So... if she could just put some words together then we could make cool sentence fragments like "purple spider nose" or "yellow apple bagel." I can't wait!

Mother's Day 2011

I got an early Mother's Day present from the kids last night. Henry laid down on the floor and pulled his pajama shirt up, making himself comfortable. Then the the girls crawled over to him, on either side, and both began poking his belly. He started laughing and that made the girls laugh, too. Seeing Elise and Georgia tickle Henry was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

I got another presnt from Elise today. At my request, Husband got up early this morning and went and got the adults donuts and orange juice, and the kids bagels. Elise was already awake when Husband left for the grocery store, but Henry and Georgia were sleeping in. So Elise and I were lying in bed, just hanging out.

Sometimes Elise makes this silly face. I don't know how to describe it other than as a comical face of terror. She sticks her hands up near her face and tightens the muscles in her extended hands until they start shaking. She opens her eyes really wide. She opens her mouth wide, too, but sets her bottom jaw at a funny angle. It's very strange and I don't know why she does it, other than it seems to sometimes happen when she's slightly frustrated or being told to stop doing something.

Well, this morning in bed, Elise made a hysterical mock-terror face. I lost it. And then she kept making increasingly silly versions of that face because she was enjoying making me laugh. She must have made 10 or 15 crazy faces. So that was my present from Elise this morning. Hilarity.

I had a good day. The whole day was nice, really. My family is wonderful.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Baby Hippo

I asked Elise what we should name the new baby and she said, "Hippo!"

Husband vetoed Elise's suggestion.

Names!

The Social Security Administration came out today with the list of top 1000 baby names for 2010. Very exciting for me. Like Christmas in May. I love it. I love names.

Of course, it's really more like the top 500-or-so unique and separate names, as people are either ignorant of the proper spelling of their child's name or are choosing deliberately not to spell the name correctly. So a name such as David might be on the list also as Dayvid, Daveid, and D'vid. And how enough people all across the country came up with the same misspelling in the same year for the same baby name to make the list is sometimes beyond me. Because it's not like EVERY baby name is listed. I mean, how many people have to name their daughter Maddysen (or whatever) before it makes the list?

Anyhow, Elise is up several spots from its 2009 position. Don't know how I feel about that.

And of course I checked on the names we're considering for Dinky. The boy name is solidly in the top 100. The girl name, however, isn't in the top 1000 at all.

Cinco de Mommy-o

When I was in college, Cinco de Mayo was an excuse to have a party. Then, when I got sick of the hassle of post-party clean-up, it became an excuse to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant and drink margaritas. Then, gradually, that turned into an excuse to pig out on beer and chips and salsa all night at home with my significant other.

Tonight, Cinco de Mayo is an excuse to make some Mexican dinner for a family of five. And sing "La Cucaracha" with the kids.

Where does the time go?

I Can't Blame This On Pregnant Brain

Today my phone dinged and I read the new email-- a reminder from my Google calendar that my wedding anniversary is coming up soon.

"Holy crap, Husband! Our anniversary is in a few days!"

We both laughed and laughed. We laughed because we'd both forgotten and because there's not much you can do to celebrate anyway when you have three little bitties.

Happy Whatever!!!

Baby Round Up

What's going on with the kiddos? Here are some notes:

* Still no DNA tests being taken to establish Henry's paternity. At first I was kind of annoyed about this-- why wouldn't someone step forward and be a dad to their child? At least figure out if they ARE the dad? But now I've realized that if Presumed Father isn't going to be a man about this, then he sure doesn't deserve the legal rights of fatherhood-- visits and possible custody and that sort of thing. So take your time Presumed Father! The longer you drag this out, the less time I have to spend dealing with you. Henry deserves better than to be treated this way.

* Therapy is going well for Georgia and Henry. They're both making progress. Very happy about that. Very happy.

* Georgia is teething again. She is MISERABLE when she has teeth coming in. Poor baby. She has 7 teeth now, which is one more than Elise, even though Elise is older. Just goes to show that every baby is different.

* Elise is still trying to say new words every day. Today it was hippo ("hippa"). She also learned the sound an elephant makes, even imitating my arm-as-an-elephant's-trunk motion. She really likes to say "apple" and she says it all day long, even if there are no apples around and we aren't talking about apples. Either that or she's calling me an asshole. Which is possible, I guess, but probably not very likely. I'm just not even going to worry about that until we hit the teenage years.

* Dinky continues to be the world's best tenant. I've had less morning sickness, fewer headaches, less sweatiness, less constipation, less fatigue, and fewer aches and pains this pregnancy than I could have imagined possible after the torture that Elise put me through. At this rate, you might even get your security deposit back, kid.

Spider

Elise's word for the day? Spider.

We were reading "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle this morning and Elise got interested in the word "spider" and started repeating it. Spy-duh. She's doing that more and more. Hearing words and just trying to repeat them.

Soooooo... I guess it's really time to clean up my language.

Hot Flash

When I was pregnant with Elise, I was sweaty all the time. Especially at night. I haven't had as much of a problem with that this time around. Dinky has been kind to me in so many ways, and not totally f-ing up my internal thermostat has been one of them.

Today, though, while I was making lunch I had a major hot flash. Husband already had the kids sitting down at the table and I was getting their plates ready when all of a sudden my body just got really hot. I felt dizzy, sweaty, sick to my stomach. Oh man. I had to sit down. And Husband said he could feel the heat radiating off of me when he helped me into my seat.

The hot flash went away after I had a glass of cold water and relaxed for a second. It was weird, though. I don't know what happened. And I hope it doesn't happen again.

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.