Holy moly - where have I been???? Nicolette 21 months, Baby Boy 23 weeks

Oh gosh I am so disappointed in myself for not updating this earlier.

Back in December we learned that we were (SURPRISINGLY) expecting another baby! We were in SHOCK (to say the least). I immediately called my doctor and asked for every lab that they could possibly run to ensure that my hormone levels were ok and to see if he might recommend progesterone injections. Luckily everything checked out great and he felt like I would be fine without the injections.

I mistakenly thought that maybe because I had avoided all of the fertility drugs and hormone injections and patches that I would also avoid morning sickness…NO SUCH LUCK. It settled in almost immediately and was just as bad if not worse than I remembered it the first time. Actually it was MUCH harder dealing with the chronic nausea while trying to chase after and feed a toddler. I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum and had to take Zofran daily just in order to function. Zofran has it's own bundle of lovely side effects and didn't eliminate my nausea, just took the edge off enough for me to meet the minimum requirements for caring for Nicolette. This lasted about 14 weeks and then gradually started to taper off, ending around 16 -17 weeks. Now I'm well into my 2nd trimester (quickly approaching the 3rd) and am feeling pretty normal and have even managed to work out a bit this time around.

While baby boy was growing healthy and strong, Nicolette was doing the same. Her vocabulary is so impressive to me at this point. I'm sure lots of babies can say the things that she does but that doesn't stop me from marveling at her. At around 18 months she started using two word "sentences" and by 19-20 months was regularly using 3-4 word sentences. By 20 months she was saying her ABC's and counting on her own and now at 21 months she can and will repeat nearly everything that we say and seems to understand and retain it pretty well. I really feel like she's such a smart girl. And she's a sweetheart too. She really doesn't throw tantrums or fits (yet…I know that this is coming eventually). She's happy 95% of the time and we haven't had any sleep issues in months so I really have nothing to complain about whatsoever. Probably my favorite thing that she does is when she walks up to me with her arms up and says, "Mama? Hold you?" Sigh…melts my heart!

Playing with the camera

20 months

Pee peed on the potty @ 20 months (has not been repeated)

Gangsta' Baby

Tired at the airport - 18 months

Cheering on the Panthers in the Playoffs - 18 months
we lost :-(

HOORAY! - 18 months

Nicolette loves to help mix up our eggs in the morning

Girly-girl loves some jewelry

Bad and EARLY morning with some teething

Poor sleepy, teething baby - 18 months 

Not satisfied with our lunch offering

Best Christmas present ever. World's cutest jacket from Aunt Kiki 

SNOW!!!!

Pretty blue-eyed baby!

Just catching up on a little reading…
magazines (mageens) are her favorite 

"Are you sure this sledding is supposed to be fun, momy?"

Hey sweet boy!!!!

It's a BABY! 8 week ultrasound!

13 weeks

23 weeks

17 week ultrasound…It's a BOY! 

 

16 Month Recap

Yet another month flies by and Nicolette is 17 months old today. I can't believe that she'll be a year and a half next month! She is such a fun and sweet little girl, she loves giving hugs and kisses and I probably drive her crazy asking for them a hundred times a day. There is nothing sweeter than getting a smooch from your baby. She loves to hug and kiss her friends and to feed them and make sure they're drinking water too…she's so nurturing. She is great at playing by herself (which I keep reminding myself is a good thing), Nicolette loves reading, playing with her baby, playing with pots and pans, "helping" with laundry, trying on shoes, digging in drawers, climbing in her car, pushing Leo the Lion all over the house and visiting daddy in his office here at home. She does not particularly enjoy eating, which is frustrating and she recently became afraid of having water poured on her head so we have to wash her hair (what little there is of it) with a washcloth now. All four of her molars are on their way in. The bottom right is almost completely in. We had several rough nights this past month as a result of said teething, the lack of an appetite was probably due to the teething as well. I've been trying to keep a list of her latest words, sounds, etc but I feel like she's learning more and more every day so here is what I was able to keep track of…

Words:

Jacket
Night night (nigh-nigh)
Bye-bye
Banana (nana)
Bear
Book
Careful
Bowl
Teeth
Hair
Bath
More
Milk (Mihl)
Open (but she says "Aht" and does a big cymbal clap with her hands. But she uses it anytime she wants anything open so it counts :-))

Stairs
Socks (sometimes "doc")
Shirt
Sasha (our cat's name)
Thank you
Peek-a-boo
Please (pease, pease)
Apple
Chair
Avocado (Ahcado)
Buckle
Pillow
Pumpkin
Words she already knew: Mama, Dada, Uh-oh, Hi, Bye, Up, Off, Down, Nose, No, That, Outside, Hat, Baby, Ball, All Gone, Done-done, Bowl, Toes, Shoes, Water (Wah-wah), Duck, Trash, Yes (esss), Eyes, Cheeks, Home, Shhhhhh

Animal Sounds:

Monkey: Ah-ah-ah-ah
Lion: Roar
Bird: Tweet
Horse: Neigh
Chick: Cheep
Turkey: Gobble, Gobble
Animal Sounds she already knew: Cow: Moo, Sheep: Bah, Owl: Hoo-hoo, Pig: Oink (Ok), Cat: Meow, Dog: Ruff, Ruff, Duck: Quack (Quok)

Body Parts She Can Indentify (on herself, her dolly or mommy or daddy):

Fingers
Knees
Cheeks
Teeth
Chin
Body Parts she already knew: Head, Hair, Eyes, Mouth, Ears, Arms, Hands. Belly Button, Tummy, Toes, Feet, Legs

*working on forehead, shoulders, elbows, eyebrows, lips, neck and back

Helping with the laundry

Talking on the phone 

Playing with pots and pans…ALL the pots and pans

Snuggling with daddy while recovering from the stomach flu

More sick snuggles

And more snuggles

Snoozing in the car - she pulled her hat over her eyes
because the sun was too bright

Texting with her friends

15 Month Recap - Nicolette is now 16 Months Old

 Hard to believe that 15 months have come and gone and that Nicolette is 16 months old today! Just wanted to recap month 15 because it feels like a LOT happened this month! We definitely had a vocabulary explosion this month. Last month she was really only saying Mama, Dada, Uh-oh, Nose and Toes so she added quite a few words to her repertoire in October. It is so cute and we love hearing her sweet little voice! :-)

Words:

Mama

Dada

Uh-oh

Hi

Bye

Up (she sticks both of her hands out palms up - so cute!)

Off

Down

Nose

No

That (thaTTT, emphasis on the T at the end)

Outside (Outsiiiiiide - our favorite word)

Hat

Baby

Ball

All Gone

Done-done

Bowl

Toes

Shoes

Water (Wah-wah)

Duck

Trash

Yes (esss)

Eyes

Cheeks

Home

Shhhhhh

Animal Sounds:

Cow: Moo

Sheep: Bah

Owl: Hoo-hoo

Pig: Oink (Ok)

Cat: Meow

Dog: Ruff, Ruff

Duck: Quack (Quok)

Body Parts She Can Indentify (on herself, her dolly or mommy or daddy):

Head

Hair

Eyes

Mouth

Ears

Arms

Hands

Belly Button

Tummy

Toes

Feet

Legs

*working on knees, shoulders, elbows, chin, neck and back

Loves:

Going outside with daddy (she'll grab her hat, put it on and walk up to him and say "Outside, outside, outside")

Reading 

Being Read To (favorite books are: "Moo, Bah, La la la", "It's Time To Sleep My Love", "Barnyard Dance", Disney Princess Storybooks, "Bible Stories for Girls", "Jesus Loves Me Musical Book", "Bugs in a Box", "Chick", "Good Morning, Good Night")

Watching the Panthers Play Football

Climbing on the Ottoman :-?

Trick or Treating

Bath Time

Coloring - but you have to watch her closely…she likes eating the crayons as much as she enjoys coloring with them!

Going for Walks

Pestering Sasha our cat-child

Stomping her feet

*working on jumping…poor thing bends her knees and straightens them really fast and laughs and laughs thinking that she just "jumped"

Favorite Toys:

Baby Doll & Stroller - She's always looking for her "baby" and carries her around the house all day

Ring Stacker

Violet

Animal Flash Cards

Books

Tea Set

Pots & Pans (both her toy ones and mommy's real pots and pans)

Picnic Basket Set

Purses

Phones

Not So Sure About:

Vacuum cleaners

Hair dryers

Favorite Foods:

Pasta with Marinara & Kale

Wild Alaskan Salmon with Farro & Kale or Broccoli

Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Onions

Hummus & Pita

Bananas

Nature's Path Whole Grain O's

Grapes

Deli Turkey (from Earthfare - carageenan free)

Clementines (had to try SEVERAL times, but after about the 10th try over a month and a half she seems to have acquired the taste)

Steelcut Oats with Flaxseed Meal, Chia Seeds & Hemp Seeds

Surprisingly Not Wild About:

Pancakes - liked them ok, didn't love them

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Cheese

Applesauce

All day, every day the Italian and I say over and over how much we love little Nicolette. (I guess that's what parents do) But she really is sweeter than I ever imagined our baby could be. She's so incredibly intuitive and really seems to understand what we're talking about. We're having the best time watching her learn and explore and we are constantly amazed when she learns something new. It is such a blessing to be her mommy and I couldn't imagine life without her! We love you Nicolette!

Daylight Savings - SUCCESS

So Daylight Savings time was this weekend. I'm not big on trying to manipulate Nicolette's schedule (and haven't had much, if any success at doing so in the past), but I did want to do whatever I could to prepare us both for the time change. I reached out to a group of my mama friends and one of them referred me to the isis website. I listened to a webinar about preparing for Daylight Savings and it was extremely helpful. Here are a few of the tips that helped me out:

1. Extend bedtime. Gradually keep your baby awake an hour past her normal bedtime. They suggest starting 10 days prior to the time change and work in 10-15 minute increments. We started about a week prior (before viewing the webinar). Nicolette was normally falling asleep between 7:30-7:45 but due to some late/long naps she started falling asleep at 8:15/8:30. Then I listened to the webinar and was like, "ok, we'll go with this and use it to our advantage". I started intentionally pushing our bedtime routine back until 8:30/9:00 leading up until DST.

2. Extend morning darkness/quiet time. Now I had only thought to worry about trying to keep Nicolette up later at night in order to prepare her for falling back. The webinar also encouraged extending morning darkness and/or quiet time which TOTALLY makes sense when you think about it. The last thing you want is your baby who usually wakes up at 7:30am to wake up demanding attention at 6 or 6:30. And I can personally attest to the fact that just because your baby goes to bed an hour (or more late) does not mean that she will sleep in an hour or more late…unfortunately it's usually the opposite. If Nicolette goes to bed past her bedtime, she's usually up super early in the morning…makes no sense to me but whatever.  Anyway, so last week we started keeping the nursery dark and quiet after she woke up until 8:30 and then moved forward with nursing, breakfast, etc. (I say "we" but who am I kidding? Managing Nicolette's sleep is definitely part of my full time job as stay at home mommy. The Italian refuses to acknowledge schedules of any sort, so this was my call)

3. Sleep pressure. The webinar also talked about babies needing to have enough "sleep pressure" built up in order to settle down and go to sleep. I can say 100% for a fact that Nicolette HAS to have enough sleep pressure built up in order to sleep. I can put her to bed at the exact same time every night, but if she has napped 3 hours in the afternoon instead of 2 then she will be awake in her crib for an extra hour. I've noticed that Nicolette needs to be awake 5 1/2 - 6 hours after her afternoon nap in order to fall asleep at night.

So by Saturday night, Nicolette fell asleep at 9pm. We were all set for the time change and it went well, except for the fact that she woke up at 11:45, 1:00 and 3:30 (#sadface). I was sure that she was going to be up between 5 and 6 because she usually does wake up super early if she wakes up throughout the night (which makes no sense to me). I was dead wrong…she slept in until almost 8am, was happy as a clam all day, went down at noon for a 2 hour nap and was asleep around 7:45 tonight with no fussing so I'm counting this as a daylight savings transition success! Yay Nicolette!

This Little Piggie Went Trick-or-Treating (and LOVED it!)

I took Nicolette Trick-or-Treating last night. We didn't do family costumes this year because the Italian had to have knee surgery yesterday (no worries, he's totally fine), so Nicolette was dressed as a little piggie. And she was the CUTEST piggie I think I've ever seen! t wasn't sure if she would have any interest in trick-or-treating…but she absolutely loved it! She loved walking from house to house (she insisted on walking instead of being carried). She also loved digging into each bowl of candy and picking out her very own special piece and putting it in her pumpkin.  She would then turn back to the bowl and pick another piece and put it in her pumpkin, then another, then another. I kept saying "only one piece Nicolette." But the all of the neighbors kept saying, "Oh, she can have more if she wants it". Needless to say mommy isn't letting her actually eat any of her candy (Daddy did a good job of polishing it off…with a little help from mommy). Luckily she hasn't had any sweets other than her birthday cake on her first birthday and she was much more interested in the sound that the candy wrappers made than what was inside of them. She was such a trooper and seemed to have a blast…she didn't want to come home and even when I took her little piggie headpiece off, she kept grabbing it, putting it back on her head saying, "Hat, Hat". She was absolutely cracking up right after I put her costume on her (as you can see in the photos below). I didn't think it was possible but I'm falling more in love with her every day. She is so precious to us!