Monthly Archives: December 2014

Dear Sirena… (2.5 year old update!)

Dear Sirena,

It’s been 6 months that you’ve been a full-fledged 2 year old and it has gotten so so so much more fun with each passing day. Here are some snippets about life with you in this moment:

  • The Peacekeeper: At our Parent/Teacher conference at preschool we were told by your teacher that you like to help keep the peace at school. When kids try to take a toy from you or from another kid, you tell them no, that they need to wait until you’re done. This is exactly what I’ve tried to teach you by example! When other kids try to take a toy from you I’ll model that exact same thing saying, “No, so-and-so, Sirena is playing with that. 5 more minutes and she can share with you if she wants to,” and I am so beyond proud that you are standing up for yourself (and others!), sticking to your guns, and doing the right thing.
  • The Negotiator: I am big on giving you countdowns to use the potty, to finish playing, for dinner time, etc. so that you are aware of my expectations and there are (hopefully) no tantrums (or minor ones if so!)  I usually start with 5 or 10 minutes and try my best to keep tabs on the time that passes to give you incremental warnings until it’s time to do XYZ (although I’ve been told that sometimes my 10 minutes in reality are 15+ minutes. What can I say, I get distracted too sometimes, haha!) You’ve begun giving me your own countdowns for different activities, telling me, “2 more minutes, ok Mommy?” sometimes without me even prompting you!
  • The Big Girl: It’s been 3 weeks now that you are officially diaper-free during the day and I could not be more proud. Like I mentioned in one of the pregnancy posts it was a random day that I came in after nap time and you were stark naked and hadn’t peed in bed. I asked if you needed to go potty, you said yes, and the rest is history! Of course we’ve had our share of accidents but you are getting better and better about telling us when you gotta go. Many times at home we’ll hear you getting the potty ready yourself and you’ll be sitting on it doing your thing by the time we get to you! You like your privacy (who doesn’t when it comes to potty time?) and occasionally you’ll tell us, “Leave me. I go ‘self” (translation: Leave me alone, I go by myself).
  • The Clown: Your sense of humor is becoming more and more distinct and you are quite the character. You like to make us laugh and you love it when we make you laugh too. You find it hilarious to say, “Hi Lola” to me or Daddy or Auntie Jessie. You seem to be taking after Mama in the potty-humor department which we find hilarious at home and, ahem, blush-inducing out in public. We’re working on when it’s an appropriate time to talk about poop, pee, farts, etc. 😉
  • The Parrot: Like all kids your age, you soak new vocabulary up like a sponge and repeat things that me and your Daddy say…sometimes regretfully! It’s fun to hear you say things like, “Wow” or “Aw man!” or “Are you okay?” or “You’re welcome” or any number of small phrases that you pick up.  And I guess I say, “Oh Jesus” a lot because I was having trouble with our gate and you immediately said, “Jesus,” lol! Better watch what I say more…
  • The Performer: You love to show us your new tricks and talents, calling out, “Look a’me!” (translation: Look at me!) A few weeks ago your Auntie Jessie, Uncle Derdo, Auntie Laura, Daddy, and Mommy were all hanging out in the living room and you hammed it up all night! It was the first time I really saw you putting on a show for a group and it was such a delight. You’d come out, stand in front of the fireplace, and sing (at the top of your lungs) as many songs as you could think of. Here are my favorite renditions of yours:
    • Itsy Bitsy Spider: “Itsy bitsy ‘pider, come out in the waaater…”
    • ABC’s: “A, B, C, D, H, I, J, K, LMNOP, Q, R, Esss, TUandV, W, X, Y, and Z. Now I know my ABC’s, next time won’t you sing wid me?” You know the whole alphabet but recently you’ve been skipping right past “E, F, G.”
    • Twinkle, Twinkle: “Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up, up, up, up, up, up high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.”
    • Row, Row, Row your Boat: “Row, row, row your boat, gently in the boat. Mini, mini, mini, mini. Gently in the boat.”
    • Holiday favorites:
    • Jingle Bells: “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. What fun it is ride in horse sleigh. HEY!”
    • Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet: “Trick or treat, ‘pell my feet. Ginnee someping good to eat. [Inaudible…don’t…inaudible…care]. I’ll pull down your u-n-d-e-r-w-e-a-r [super exaggerated].”
  • The Mama-in-Training: You still love all things baby doll. Honey and Nine are your babies of choice and you take such good care of them (never mind the way you grab them by the throat or head sometimes, haha!) You’ve moved from only changing your baby’s diapers on a daily basis to now putting them to bed. You’ll lay a blankie out flat on the floor (justright), put down a little pillow, lay the baby down, and cover the baby from head to toe (we’ll need to talk about how that can’t happen with your baby sister!) You then go around your room getting things ready, turning the starry night light on, turning the nursery rhyme music on, turning your Ok-to-Wake alarm clock on, turning out the overhead light, closing your bedroom door, and then going around the house and closing every other door for some reason, haha.
  • The Big Sister: It’s becoming more and more real to you that Mama’s growing a little baby in her belly (you like to tell me, “Baby get bigger!” when you see my belly some days) and you are just the sweetest future big sister. You love to say hi to the baby, kiss my belly, and talk to her. Warms my heart to no end.

Here are some photos I was able to snap of you in some of your day-to-day activities recently:

2.5 collage 12.5 collage 2

2.5 collage 3

My little mermaid, you make me so proud to call you my daughter. I love all of your talents, your charm, your cuddly nature, your pure sweetness, and your good heart.

Love,

Mama

A baby story [Part II]: Weeks 20 + 21

Week 20: Baby’s the size of a banana

We’re officially at the half-way mark!  What an exciting time.  And an even more exciting time because this week we had our big anatomical ultrasound and found out that we’re having…drumroll please…another girl!!!  The ultrasound (u/s) tech lubed my belly up and basically as soon as she put the machine on my belly she asked us, “Are you interested in knowing the baby’s sex?”  This was vastly different from our big ultrasound with Sirena when we almost left the office unsure as to whether she was really a she or not.  So this little lady was rearin’ and ready (no pun intended, lol) for us to know right away!

wk20 ultrasound 1Pretty lil’ profile. She was gulping away in there, over and over again, it was so cute to see!

wk20 ultrasound 2The u/s tech called this one “Hang Ten” (Can you see the bottoms of her little feet?? Looks like the Hang Ten logo.)

wk20 ultrasound 3

The obligatory (somewhat creepy but really cool nonetheless) 3D photo!

As soon as the tech told us that it was a girl I began to cry.  I would’ve loved to have a boy of course but the thought of Sirena having a sister…man, I broke down with tears of happiness.  My sister Jessie and I are super close and there is nothing in the world that could replace our relationship and what impact she’s had on my life and I hope that Sirena and this little chica can be just as close and me and Jessie.  🙂  And Kevin is thrilled to be able to continue to say “his girls” about me, Sirena, Lola, and now this little lady.  If we adopt another dog, we better make it a boy dog to balance the hormones in this house, haha!  And like I mentioned in my last post, Kevin and I aren’t sure if we’re going to continue to expand our family after this baby or not so who knows, maybe a little boy is in our future after all…

In true Lisa fashion we announced the baby’s sex at the Thanksgiving get-togethers for both of our families and caught them both on video.  Here is a link to a fun video of both announcements!

Another major milestone occurred this week: Kevin felt the baby kick for the first time!  We were lying in bed on a rare morning when Sirena didn’t wake us up first and as I felt the baby jiggling around I put Kevin’s hand on my belly and I was so happy that she gave an extra strong jab right then and there and he was able to feel it!  I told Sirena that she could try to feel it which she has now attempted on a number of occasions but she’s too spazzy and won’t keep still long enough to really feel it yet.  🙂

Lastly, this week baby girl #2 got her first gift from Aunt Juju and cousin Katelyn!

IMG_3538I can’t wait to see that diaper booty in those fox pants!

Belly shot!

No photo this week, oops!

Week 21: Baby’s the length of a carrot

With all of the excitement of last week, this week really threw us for a loop with a real scare that almost sent me to the ER.  I am not the kind of person to go to urgent care/ER for any little thing (to be honest, I’ve never even been!) so when I thought I might be losing the baby and was advised by the on-call midwife to either go to the birth center or to ER right away, I was freaking out.  Luckily it happened on a day that I was working from home, Kevin was off of work, and Sirena was at school so we were able to get to the birth center right away without any issues.  And I am so happy and grateful to report that everything is 100% okay with the baby and with me and it was something completely unrelated to the pregnancy (and not a serious health issue I might add).

Those couple of hours before we really knew what was going on were terrifying.  I kept talking to the little lady, telling her that we would get through this together and that she had to be a fighter.  I kept feeling her move throughout the whole ordeal which I was hoping was a really good sign that things were going to be okay.  I hope to goodness that there are no more scares like this and that everything is as smooth sailing as they have been so far.  Man, being a mom and a woman is tough work, physically and emotionally!

The best part of this week has been how much more active she’s been lately.  I actually was able to see my belly shake from the outside which means she’s getting stronger!  Soon I’ll post a video of the belly shakes like I did during Sirena’s pregnancy.  Such a strange but cool experience!  Feeling the baby kick is by far my most favorite experience of both pregnancies.  <3

Belly shot!

wk21Baby girl is gettin’ serious in there!

Other pregnancy updates:

  • Total weight gained so far: 0 pounds–I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight again which is so strange but is actually exactly how it was when I was pregnant with Sirena so I guess I’m not too surprised. It’s just so strange because my belly is significantly bigger this time around and one of the pregnancy websites I follow said for this week that “you should have gained around 10 pounds by now”…um, okay!
  • “Fun” physical things that have resurfaced: Middle-of-the-night leg cramps and good ol’ heartburn! The heartburn I experienced with Sirena was intense and I was hoping I might not experience it with this pregnancy but darnit, every day the past week I’ve felt the sensation. It’s not terrible yet but I’m going to start watching what/when I eat and buy a bottle of Tums now to be ready!
  • Fun baby developments: Baby girl is around 10.5 inches long and weighs 3/4 of a pound. She’s got working taste buds (I better start craving all that exotic food I craved when I was pregnant with Sirena so this baby’s as much of a foodie as her big sister!) and she’s already got around 6 million eggs in her womb (crazy!)
  • Days until our next prenatal appointment: 9!
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