BabyBot2 Ultrasound

So Mike and I had an ultrasound this morning to check on everything with BabyBot2. And she is growing just fine! Since the pregnancies were close and I am RH negative, they said that can lead to the baby being growth restricted, but apparently that is not the case. Plus with the abnormal first trimester screen and my low fluid last pregnancy, they wanted to check on everything. And so far everything looks perfect. She is 5 lbs 13 oz which puts her at the 47th percentile. The doctor said it is very likely I will have an 8+ lb baby. I am about 1cm dilated and my cervix has started to thin but the baby is still pretty far up (hasn't dropped) and so I am not really progressing towards labor yet, which is good, since I still have 4 weeks left. :) The baby is in the head down position also. They said second pregnancies can progress faster. I have been having contractions for over a month now, but apparently they aren't doing much. I am definitely starting to feel the pregnancy lately. I get pretty tired in the evenings and I can get pretty sore as well.

We have just about 1 month left until we get to meet BabyBot2! :)

3rd Tooth!!

Jemma got her third tooth today!! It's the other center bottom tooth. It is pretty crooked, so we will have to see if it comes in straighter. :)

Yoga Pants ...

So Monday was the first time I wore yoga pants to work and so far I have done it 3 days this week ... its all downhill from here!

Halloween!! Flu Shot and Trick-or-Treating at Arundel Mills Mall

So last night was Halloween! I sent her to Becky's in her turtle costume yesterday which the kids loved! I had to pick her up and bring her to get a flu shot at the pediatrician. She is a very active baby and was all over the pediatricians office, even the receptionist told me that she is a very busy girl. I know!! She was such a good girl during the flu shot though! She sat nicely on my lap and got the shot, of course she cried but it didn't last long and she was back to her happy self!

Then I put her in the car and started driving to Old Ellicott City for Trick-or-Treating. The traffic getting there was horrible and people were parked past the flour factory, so I decided to turn around and go to Arundell Mills instead. I am glad I decided to do that! I got there about 5:30 and the event didn't start till 6pm. Jemma and I went to Bass Pro Shops where she got a free picture with the Snoopy Characters and some light up bracelets and a pin.

We then checked-in to the event and started trick-or-treating. I dressed her up as a pumpkin for this event since she already had an orange shirt on. Stores were giving out candy and stickers to kids. We went to a few stores and then Mike met up with us and we kept going. It was pretty slow going and stores started to run out of candy pretty quickly then the ones that still had candy had long lines. She did get a little stuffed pumpkin at Old Navy though. Jemma didn't want to be in her stroller anymore and also didn't want to be carried, so we let her run around. She was quite the menace! Mike was chasing her all around while I pushed the stroller! We didn't get much more trick-or-treating done after this. It was nice to walk around the mall and see all the kids in costume though. We got dinner in the food court before heading home.

We found out that Jemma likes Smarties and Popeyes chicken! :)

JCP Professional Pics and Zooo Booo Event

Mike and I had a 10am appt at JCP to have professional pics taken of us for our Christmas cards. I bought the $25 Groupon that included 3 digital and 2 printed sheets. We got dressed up in red, black and white coordinating outfits. It was very weird though getting there. Apparently the store didn't open till 11am, so we went to the wrong door twice before finally going to the correct door. Then someone had to come down and let us in. She had the wrong elevator key and had also locked herself out of the stairwell, so someone else had to come get us. Mike had to walk the strolled up the stairs while I carried Jemma. We finally got in and got ready and had the pics taken. Jemma was not in a very good mood and was quite fussy! All she wanted was to be held by her daddy. It was cute but hard to get pics of her alone. We ended up getting a few good ones, but I didn't buy any extra. I kept bribing her with yogurt crunchies. They also put a stack of three boxes as a prop and all she wanted to do was play with them. Take their lids off and put them inside each other! It was cute but not great for pictures, so some of the pictures were just a mess of boxes. She was very leery of the photographer at first but then she started playing with a teddy bear and Jemma took quite a liking to that teddy bear.

Then after that we went to the Baltimore Zoo for their Zoo Booo Event. Jemma didn't get much sleeping in the car between the two things, but it turned out ok. She has a blast at the zoo. She loved the zebras and rhinos and giraffes and elephants and called the leopards and cheetahs "kitty-cats." We dressed her up as a turtle. She did pretty good in the stroller but we had to take her out a bunch to let her see the animals. She was running around the park like a loon though and loving it. She really does like looking at animals. We didn't realize that the Halloween part was at the front of the park, so we didn't see it till our way out when the park was an hour from closing. We still went in and Jemma did her first trick-or-treating! She got good at grabbing the candy out of the baskets but didn't say trick-or-treat or thank you. She also went through a straw maze with her daddy and got to pick a free little pumpkin out of the "pumpkin patch" which was just a hay area. Overall, it was a nice day for Jemma and us.

I was exhausted when I got home though! I was so sore and that evening when Jemma went running across the sofa, I tried to grab her and couldn't get up! I think spending a day at the zoo is not a good idea for me anymore :)

Patted on the Couch

When I got home from work today, Jemma was sitting next to my mom on the couch watching TV. My mom told Jemma to tell Mommy to come sit next to her. She looked at me and patted the cushion next to her as if telling me to sit next to her. We do that to her all the time and it was sooo cute when she did it back to us!

Crazy Night! New Doors and Meat Program!

So last night was crazy ...

Meat Program:
My parents had a company come out to give us a spiel on a meat delivery program. My mom saw them online and because of her new diet, she thought it was a good idea. The company is Passanante's. The concept seems pretty interesting although I am still confused on the money aspects of it. The guy brought meat with him and we cooked a pork chop. Basically it was around $400 per month for 6 months and they deliver all the meat at the same time and we get a full size freezer as well. We spend around $600 a month on food, so that still leaves us about $200 left to spend to get any extras (milk, eggs, etc.). We will have to see after 6 months whether we are saving money or not. Mike figured out where in the garage the freezer will go, my mom broke the news to him about the freezer instead of me.

Mom's New Diet
So my mom started a personal training program at Fulton Kettlebells that includes some 30 day cleanse type diet, although she calls it a lifestyle change. Basically for the next 30 days, she eats absolutely no carbs or dairy. That was one of the reasons for the meat delivery above. She is learning all about what to cook with and what not to cook with. They are cooking with coconut oil now and making their own taco seasoning. They also started buying their meat at Whole Foods. She has only been on it about 3 days, so we will see how it goes, but hopefully it will be for the best for all of us :) She still makes carbs that the rest of us can eat but she doesn't. Dr. Kalikhman said Mike needs to cut back on carbs anyway, so it is all good timing. 

New Doors
While at the Home Show on Saturday, I made one appt for West Shore Windows and Doors to come out on Tuesday since that is the one day a week Mike gets home from work early. Of course Jemma was super fussy around 6:45 and the meat guy was still at our house. I took Jemma up to bed and put her into bed and sure enough, right as I was sitting down to eat a little dinner, the door guy showed up. I showed him the 6 doors we were looking to replace (the breakfast nook, 2 living room, office, garage, and front door). He was nice enough but of course it turned into one of those sales pitches where he told us we had to sign today or we wouldn't get the best deal. The initial quote was high (somewhere around $2500 for the garage, $7500 for the two sliders, $1200 for the window, $3500 for the glass living room door and $13,000 for the front door!). The front door went down to around $8000 when I took off all the decorative glass. We got a 10% discount from the home show if we purchased in the next 30 days. The garage door didn't make sense and the front door was completely out of the budget. Since we didn't know yet what we were doing about the living room doors, we looked at just the two sliders, since they are the most important anyway. We were suckers and signed on the dotted line yesterday after he reduced the price to around $5400 for the two doors installed. They seem to be pretty good doors and they come with a lifetime warranty. They are triple paned, argon filled doors that are fiberglass and so hopefully will never have any problems and will be much more energy efficient. They were more than we budgeted but seem to be good doors. At around 11pm, he was still there and I went to bed, I was exhausted and Mike finished up the paperwork and my parents wrote a check for 30% down.

 

Finally a second tooth!

We finally got visual confirmation of a second tooth!! She got her first tooth at 10.5 months and she just got her second tooth at 13.5 months. This one is on the top, right above the one on the bottom. She really is going to be a little jack-o-lantern. You know how they get carved with just one tooth on the top and one on the bottom? :)

She is no longer our "1-tooth wonder" :) She was getting really good at using that one tooth though.

I guess that explains the trouble sleeping and the diaper rash lately. In general, if this is teething, it really isn't that bad :) 

Night diaper issues again

So we went a while with having no issues, then 4 nights ago they started again. The first two nights, she had peed through her diaper again and her front was wet and we had to change all the sheets. Then the next night, she woke up at 4:30 and Mike changed her diaper and she went back to sleep. She wasn't we at all in the morning. Then last night, she woke up at 2:30am soaked and Mike had to change her diaper and her outfit then she went back to sleep pretty easily. Not sure what to do anymore ... :/

She knows how to tease ...

So last night she was sitting in her high chair and really wanted my watch so I gave it to her. She was having a blast putting it on and off her wrist. Then she tried to eat it and I said no and pulled it away from her mouth. She tried again and I repeated. She knew she shouldn't be putting it in her mouth and I kept telling her yucky. Then she stuck out her tongue (which she does a lot when we say yucky from her yummy yucky book) and started to tease lick it and put it in her mouth! She would try and get a quick lick then smile about it! Crazy kid ...

Dud of a Carshow then Dunkin Donuts

Mikes dad told him about a carshow in Clarksville every Sunday near 32 and 29, so we got dressed and drove over that direction. But we found nothing! Maybe the season was over. So we ended up driving around for a little while until deciding to go to Dunkin Donuts for a late breakfast. The guy gave Jemma 2 free munchkins, which Mike ate most of. But Jemma loved the bagel with cream cheese!

Jemma has a third word!! DOG!!

So Jemma finally has a third word and it's Dog! She now points at Silky and says "dog." Sometimes the G comes out better than other times. I wonder what her 4th word is going to be

Meet Up at Clarks Elioak Farm

So the Columbia Moms Meet up group had their fall Meet and Greet at Clarks Elioak farm in Clarksville, it started at 10am and we were running late, so we didn't get there till around 10:30 by the time we waited in line to pay to get in. This was the first thing we had to pay for Jemma to do! It was $5 for anyone over 1 and so she cost us $5 ... Mike tried to make me lie about her age but I'm a sucker ..

Most of the older babies were already off by the time we got to the tables and I talked a little to the younger babies mommies while Mike chased Jemma around. Then we went off to enjoy the park. It was mainly Mike and I walking around with Jemma but we hung out with some of the other mommies sometimes too.

Jemma had a blast! She loved climbing on all the Enchanted Forest statues. And she loved looking at the animals. She LOVED the sheep and was jumping up and down and squealing with delight at them. The goats licked all over her face and she got to feed them. We didn't have a quarter to buy the food, so we had to pick some food off the ground for her to feed them.

We left around 12:30, so we were there for just under 3 hours. Jemma was asleep on the way home and Mike carried her into the crib where she took a nice long nap after that.

Wee Sale Greenbelt then Outback

After work I met my mom at the Wee Sale in Greenbelt, traffic kinda sucked getting there. It was practically empty too. I ended up getting a few things: 3 winter outfits for Jemma, one dress for Kenzie and 2 toys. It came to $40 which I thought was a little high, but cheaper than getting them new. Jemma was a little fussy there and we let her run around for a little while. Afterwards, we met Mike and my dad at Outback for dinner. The food was good but Jemma would not for the life of her sit still in the high chair. We were in a booth and she was between Mike and me and we spent the entire dinner feeding her, taking stuff away from her, or occupying her. I wonder at what age they start to sit still in a high chair and eat nicely ... ??

Columbus Day Girls Crafting Weekend

So, as usual, I went away for a scrapbooking/crafting weekend for the long Columbus Day weekend. That meant that Mike got to watch Jemma the entire weekend although my mom watched her when Mike worked Monday. The weekend turned out to be a lot of fun!

8 people went on the trip: me, Becky, Alyssa, Lauren, Candice, Joanna, Liz, and Becca. Me, Becky and Lauren did scrapbooking. Candice did digital scrapbooking. Joanna and Liz did knitting. Alyssa did jewelry making and Becca just brought a book to review and came to hang out. I think everyone was pretty productive. I know Becky finished everything she planned to get done!

I brought Jemma's first year scrapbook and by the end of the weekend, she was just leaving the hospital so I didn't get done nearly as much as I hoped. But that's ok, a lot of the layouts were more involved than I planned. Plus I hadn't printed out any pics, so I spent most of Saturday sorting out pics to send to Rite Aid.

The weather wasn't too nice and rained most of the time, but that was ok since we spent most of the time inside. We did go out on Saturday for a short hike to the Welcome Center and through the golf course.

I used my points to get two 2-bedroom units in Massanutten in Woodstone. They worked out perfect. We ended up having 2 sort of separate weekends because it seemed like Becky and Alyssa didn't want to hang out with us (it was weird) so the 5 of us were in 1 room and Becky and Alyssa were alone in the other room until Lauren showed up on Sunday around lunch.

We watched tons of movies: Les Mis, Titanic, Dirty Dancing, etc.

It was quite a fun weekend!

Doctor Appt

I will be 32 weeks on Sunday, less than 2 months to go :) I had a doctors appt this morning and I am now at the point of doctors appts every 2 weeks.

I have been getting quite a bit of contractions as well and the doctor said as long as I don't get more than 4 an hour and they go away when i rest that I shouldn't be concerned. I am not as sore as I was a few weeks ago which has been nice. But I have been much more tired as well and I feel I need to go to bed much earlier.  Overall, i am feeling pretty good though!

Just at big as when I gave birth last time

We were comparing pics last night and I am as big now as I was last pregnancy when I gave birth! Not good ... I weigh as much too ... 170 lbs. Half my maternity clothes don't fit anymore. I can't imagine getting any bigger. People constantly ask me if I am due any day now or if I am expecting twins!

3 Hour Glucose Test

I failed my 1 hour glucose test and so I had to go back in earlier this week for the 3 hour :/ That kind of sucked but I passed, which is good! Apparently it is an unspoken rule that you are not supposed to go in for the 1 hour test after lunch (oh well ...). The lady at Labcorp even told me I would fail and, sure enough, I did, but only barely (I had a 137 and passing is 139 but they like to see over 129). The 3 hour was rough and they told me during my 4th blood draw that usually they use the butterfly needles (smaller ones) but they only had 2 left and were saving them for children. I still have bruises from all the needle sticks, apparently it really does make a difference if you press on the spot after they take the needle out. I did that on one of the sticks and that is the only one that didn't bruise.

Pumpkin Festival with the Cohens

So Mike and I met the Cohens at Butler's Orchard at 10am to check out the Fall Festival. It was really neat and something we should definitely do again next year! Jemma had a blast! We first took the hay ride to the pumpkin patch. It was a real honest to god hay ride where the bed of the trailer was just filled with loose hay and we sat in it. Jemma of course tried to eat the hay and being 7 months pregnant, it was a little hard for me to get in and out of the hay. The pumpkin patch was fun and Jemma and Max ran around together. Becca and Bret were a little concerned about Benjy being in the sun and so they were trying to keep him covered. Mike went through the kiddie maze with Jemma. We tried to put her in the corn box (like a sand box but with corn kernels) and she cried every time and hated it! We got lunch there, which was a bit of a rip-off but the caramel apples were really good! We did rubber ducky races with Jemma and checked out the animals. She loves animals. Becca and Bret left around lunch because Max was getting tired and they wanted to get Benjy out of the sun. It was a really hot day for it being October!! It was almost 90 out! We will have to go again next year :)

Odenton Yardsale and Highland Festival

So I signed up for the Odenton yardsale at Candice's condo complex. I didn't spend as much time getting ready as I should have, but life is just busy right now.

There was a good turnout at the yardsale, but it was hot, early and in the middle of a parking lot. Mike worked that day, so it was up to me. My mom helped me price things out on Friday night and Mike loaded everything in the car. I was told to bring 1 table and the MP would bring the rest. I didn't know that meant that I would just get 1 table. Oh well. I made it work. I should have packed a second one though. I woke up early with Mike and we got Jemma ready. I took the pack and play too for her to hang out in, although, of course, she hated being in it. We had to take turns walking her around. I forgot sunscreen too which was bad. We put a crib sheet over the top of the pack and play to keep her shaded and towards the end we moved the pack and play over under a tree in the shade. She was like a zoo animal in the playyard and lots of kids came up to look at her, it was pretty cute actually. After a while, she fell asleep in the stroller, thankfully, just in time to pack up the car. 

I made about $70. I think the problem is that I brought mostly clothes, which didn't sell well. I only had 1 table of stuff. If I would have sold everything else I brought (except clothes) I think I would have only made around $110-$120. So I did pretty good when I consider that.

I knew it before this, but I think I am finally sold on the fact that yardsales just aren't worth it. Its really not worth me selling a shirt at a yardsale for less than $2-$3 cause I can get more back if I donate it for a tax receipt. Plus even if I made $200, the amount of time I spent driving there, setting up, selling stuff, packing up, getting ready, etc (8 hours Saturday + 4-5 hours getting ready = 12-13 hours of my time) is ~$15/hour and by the time you subtract out what I could get by donating and getting a tax refund would probably work out to <$7/hour, which just isn't worth my time. Especially when i consider the stress on Friday night to get everything packed up after Jemma went to bed just isn't worth it. I could have just spent 1-2 hours itemizing it, loading it in the car and donating it to goodwill and be done with it. I should have taken the stuff that didn't sell on Saturday to goodwill so I could get a donation receipt but I didn't feel like it, I just wanted to get rid of it. Freecycle is good too cause then at least I know whoever picks it up really wants it and will use it which is always a concern of mine when I donate things to goodwill.

After the yardsale, Jemma and I went to the Highland festival where my parents were volunteering at a Neighbor Ride booth. I parked along the street and walked, it was rough going with a stroller. We first ate lunch at Boarmans Deli and it felt really good to sit and relax for a bit. Then we walked around the festival. They had a really great childrens area with a petting zoo that Jemma seemed to have a good time in. She followed around a turtle that was the size of her for a while! We then said hi to the NR people before heading home.

Earlier Bed Time and Fussy in the Evenings

So starting about 3 days ago, Jemma started getting extremely fussy in the evenings and so we had no idea what was wrong other than that she was tired. So we started putting her to bed earlier. So for the last 3 nights in a row she has gone to bed around 7:30pm and slept 11-12 hours straight! She is also taking earlier naps and sometimes shorter as well (1.5 - 2 hours) and anywhere from 11-12:30. She is definitely down to 1 nap a day now.

Tersiguels

So my mom and I had bought Groupons to Tersiguels for when Denise was in town and we didn't get to use them and they were about to expire. Since Candice watched Jemma the other day, I invited her to come with me and my parents invited the Reisse's. Mike stayed home with Jemma. It was a wonderful brunch (of course) with escargot and French Brunch food.

Walking up Stairs

So Jemma now walks up stairs!! Only on the small 2 practice steps in the living room and only on the sides when she holds onto the railing but I think it is still a big step for her! She will also sometimes walk up and down the steps when holding your hand as well :)

Jemma

So Jemma was soooo tired last night that she was literally falling asleep in her high chair!! It was so cute, I got a movie of it.

Also, she likes this new game of chasing after her telling her that "I'm gonna get you" and stomping your feet. She walks away super fast (almost running!) giggling her little head off then rolls on the floor when you get her. It is super cute!

BabyBot2 Appt

So this morning I had an appt with Dr Baras and everything looks perfect! My BP was 110/90 and I weighed 164 (gasp!!). Her heartbeat was 150 and sounded good! I asked about the bruising from crossing my legs and she said my blood work looks good so there is nothing to worry about and that happens. I also asked about the veins popping out and varicose veins and she also said they are all superficial and hopefully will go away but is nothing to worry about it. I also asked about the soreness in my upper inner thighs and she said its normal and that I can take a hot bath and Tylenol if I need. I can also take benadryl before bed to help me sleep! I thought that was crazy but I may have to try it one day if I am having trouble sleeping more.

Jemma's Normal Day

So since we Ferberized Jemma, she has been on a much more regular schedule.

6:15 typical wake up time, she wakes up, stands up in her crib and jumps up and down fussing until we get her

She gets her diaper changed then usually showers with one or both of us in the morning. She loves showers and fusses outside the shower until we let her in. We have some toys she plays with in there and she likes standing even though we keep telling her not to.

Then she plays around the bedroom and in the bathroom until we are ready and take her downstairs.

We then mix a formula bottle and make some baby cereal with it for breakfast. She gets 2 tbsp of cereal with about 1-2 oz of formula for breakfast and then as much fruit as she wants. Typically its banana but she likes any fruits (pears, apricots, peaches, plums, etc). Then she plays for a little until she finishes the rest of the bottle.

She then plays around until around 10-11 when she gets another bottle and goes down for her morning nap. The nap can be anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours long typically.

She then wakes up and eats lunch which is typically a jar of baby food and fruit or table food. She plays around for a little while before getting another bottle. She also likes to rinse her food down with her sippy cup of water.

Her afternoons are a lot less predictable and sometimes she naps but sometimes she doesn't.

I usually get home around 5-5:30 and then she is usually ready for dinner around then. So I feed her dinner, which is typically a baby food jar that has meat in it and some table food. She tries pretty much everything we eat although she spits a lot of it out, especially the meats. She gets a bottle around then too. She then plays until around 8-8:30 when we give her another bottle and around 8:30 we put her into bed.

She is very flexible though and really goes with the flow a lot. She lets us put off her naps without being very fussy and she sleeps good in the car. She also does pretty good when we have to wake her up from a nap and isnt too mad about that.

She really is wonderful!

First Fever ....

So Jemma got her first fever today. The digital head thermometer didn't seem to work so my mom went out and bought a new one at CVS. She has a fever of 100.2 :/ Poor baby! Her nose started running yesterday and was like a faucet this morning. She got boogers all over her bed and they were covering her face when she woke up this morning. She was also very piddly in bed this morning and was awake but just laying there at 7:30, which is very unlike her! It was a little nice to sleep in a bit though even if I was late getting in to work. She was extra fussy last night before bed but went to bed with no fussing at all. Mike laid her in bed around 8:45 and she made some playing noises but then slept through the night. Hopefully she feels better soon!

2 Words!!

So Jemma now has 2 words!! She says "Uh-Oh" and "Kitty Cat." She has been saying "Uh-Oh" for a while now but she is definitely saying it in the correct context now. Such as when she drops something or something makes a loud noise. She can say it very clearly and she will repeat it to you if you say it as well. She has also been saying Kitty Cat for a while too but just recently we realized that she was actually referring to Libby Cat. She sort of whispers it and says it super fast but she is definitely saying Kitty Cat!!

Weaning off Bottle

So we have started to try and wean Jemma off the bottle and it isnt going well. She will drink a little formula but then stop and toss the sippy cup on the floor. I have tried a few different types. Erin said her daycare would give Ethan the sippy cup for 15 minutes then move it to the bottle if he didn't drink that. Maybe we will have to try that.

Ferberize Jemma Update

So it has been over 2 weeks now since we started the Ferber method and I am pleasantly surprised by the results. Some nights are still worse than others but in general she only cries for a few minutes before going to sleep. It also has had some additional benefits. She now sleeps through the night almost every night and is on a more regular sleep schedule (8:30pm - 6:15am). We haven't quite made it work yet for daytime naps, maybe that will happen soon. But her daytime schedule is so different, it would be kind of hard to implement.

156.7

So I weighed myself this morning at 156.7 lbs and I am 23 weeks and 4 days. With Jemma at this same time I was 145.5 ... so I am about 11 lbs heavier. That is still pretty significant but considering a few weeks ago I had a 15 lbs difference, that isn't so bad :) I don't know why but this pregnancy I am not as weight conscious as I was last time. I literally weighed myself every day last time and kept track in an excel. This time, I weigh myself like once a month.

Stressed and mini Breakdown ...

So I had to take today off work, I was just way too stressed out. My parents have been in FL for over a week now and we have been watching Silky. About a week ago Mike let Silky in and she came and laid by my feet on the carpet in our living room. I started smelling something terrible and realized that Silky had rolled in poop and then laid on the carpet. I FLIPPED OUT! Mike took her outside and gave her a bath and I started going crazy about how gross the house was and about how I hated pets and I never wanted them. It has been all downhill since then. I decided we needed to shampoo every carpet in the house. I gathered up all Jemma's toys and sorted them and cleaned and sanitized every one of them. We then vacuumed and shampooed the carpet in our living room. This was several evening after work during the week. Mike took Friday off and mowed the lawn in the morning saying I would have all Saturday to do what I wanted. I then took Jemma to a playgroup while Mike went to Home Depot. Afterwards we picked up the new TV and had to go to the Howard Street house because the people were moving in the next day and we had to get the last items out of the house. Ben and Karen came over that night and we hung out with them. Then on Saturday Mike wanted to install the new TV and started around 10am and didn't finish until 6pm. There was no baby proof areas in the house to take Jemma so I was constantly chasing after her so I was so sore and exhausted. I had a mini breakdown that night and told Mike I couldn't go to his grandfathers birthday on Sunday because the house was such a mess. I ended up going on Sunday with the agreement we would leave by 4pm. Of course, we didn't leave till 6 because Mike's mom needed Mike to install the new Blu-Ray player and his dad wanted him to see stuff in the garage. I was so pissed on the way home. When we got home, Jemma was with the MP and Pops, so Mike and I started cleaning the house. Mike cleaned the bathrooms while I vacuumed and cleaned all the rugs and carpets and blankets. I was tired and so incredibly sore. I woke up Monday still stressed out and Mike said I should just stay home. I didn't have the leave for it so I felt bad but I knew it was for the best because my parents were gone and Jemma was with Mike's mom. I worked more around the house, doing laundry, cleaning the hardwood floors and organizing my scraproom. I'm glad I stayed home from work because otherwise, I would have just been a big ball of stress all week.

BabyBot2 Drs Appt

So I had a check up again this morning for BabyBot2 and everything looks perfect. Her heartbeat was in the 140s and my blood pressure was 90s/70, so really good. It was with Dr Sun who I had never met before but she seemed nice. I didn't have any questions and was out within 20 minutes. I talked to her a bit about the heart scan for Monday and the growth scan that should occur around 28-32 weeks. She said i can schedule that in their office during one of the appts which would be convenient. But everything looks great!!

CIO Day 3

So Mike didn't get home until late last night so it was up to me to put Jemma to bed. I tried to do CIO but I cheated a little bit. I gave her a 6 oz bottle around 8pm and she started to fall asleep at the end. So I picked her up and took her upstairs (not trying to keep her asleep). I laid her in the crib and of course she started crying. I let her cry for a few minutes then went in there, laid her back down (since she was always standing) and patted her back. The last time she dropped the pacifier and I couldnt find it so I just let her go without it. I probably let her cry and check on her a few times for around 10 min total. The last time, she didn't fuss when I kept my hand on her back so i did that. I know it was bad but it helped and she went to sleep. She did wake up around 5am and Mike changed her diaper and she fussed for around 10 minutes again and Mike checked on her a few times before she fell back asleep. Not too bad so far.

Ferber Method

So we finally started sleep training Jemma. Mike really wanted to do it and I told him he had to read a book about it first. So I got him the Ferber Method book on tape and he listened to it. He wanted to start it before Detroit but i said that was a bad idea since she will be all over the place in Detroit. Then he wanted to start it after but she was getting a tooth so I thought that was a bad idea too. So ... finally ... Saturday night we did it. It said to let her stay up 30 min past her bed time, but since she doesn't have a set schedule, Mike let her stay up playing till around 10:30pm! I think this kid could play forever. She was clearly tired then. So Mike put her into bed. And less than 5 minutes later she was asleep! I think he only went in to check on her once! If i would have known it would be that easy, I would have done it before. She did wake up once at 5am and that was a little more difficult. Mike changed her diaper and she was still fussy so I ended up having to breastfeed her. It didnt put her to sleep but she clearly had been upset because she was making those hic-up sounds after crying so maybe she was hungry. She didnt fall asleep but it calmed her down enough that when we put her back in the bed, she only fussed a little before falling back asleep. That was about 15 minutes total of crying. But then she slept until 9am and we were late to visit Baby Benjy!!

Last night we did it again and we had her out all day, so around 8ish she was clearly tired. So we fed her and put her into bed then. She cried a little longer this time, probably around 15 minutes but she definitely went through periods of crying then stopping. Mike had to check on her probably about 4 times before she went to sleep. Then she slept all the way through the night until about 6:30! YAY! Hopefully this is working :)

Facebook Official

So I (finally!) posted about BabyBot2 on facebook today. It took a few times to get the perfect picture but i finally got a picture of Jemma that just melts my heart announcing she will have a baby sister. It was very cute!

Benjy!

So Mike, Jemma and I went to meet Baby Benjy today and hang out with the Cohen's. It was nice, he is soooo little! Which is crazy because he was probably 9.5 lbs but seemed so tiny. They say 2 kids is definitely a handful and she isn't sure how it will work when Bret goes back to work but I think I can handle 2 kids ... hopefully!

10.5 Month Update

So Jemma is about 10.5 months old and she is such a cutie. She is getting more fun every day!

She smiles all the time. All I have to do is bounce her a few times on my hip and she is smiling and squealing with laughter.

She also has recently started making loud, happy noises. It started when we were in Detroit last weekend. She will screech super loud. She likes doing it in enclosed cars and in restaurants. It only happens when she is happy and she likes doing it. We keep saying we need to teach her to use indoor voices. It's not really appropriate to discipline her because she isn't doing anything wrong but it can be quite loud sometimes!

She has a little wheeled thing that she sits on and we pull her down the hallway and she loves it. She has learned to pick her feet up when she is going to that they don't drag on the floor. She can even get onto it by herself now. Her feet can't quite touch the ground when she's on it though but I think she is going to love being on that thing as soon as they do.

She is getting way pickier about food! She spits stuff out all the time now. It can be quite frustrating. I fed her potatoes with beef the other day and she swallowed all the potatoes and spit out the beef. She seems to only eat meat if it is pureed with other stuff. We have these little yogurt puffs that sometimes she likes and sometime she spits out. She doesnt seem to like the cereal puffs anymore either. She LOVES fruit though and yogurt. She seems to be bottomless when it comes to them. She is getting pretty good at feeding herself and I have been giving her a spoon recently to try out also. She does ok with getting it in her mouth but it might turn upside down and a million other ways first, then she wont give the spoon back so I have to get another one to keep feeding her. I had high hopes of making Jemma all her food but that idea sort of hit the fan. When I was morning sick i just didnt have the energy after work so we started using jars of baby food. They work well.

Cloth diapering is going ok but is getting a little frustrating. They have started to get smells that I cant seem to get out. I let them air in the sun and put vinegar in the wash and some still have a mildewy smell. I wonder if that is cause it is summer and humid. I don't know ... They arent really stained though which is good. I have been using the dryer a lot lately too due to laziness instead of hanging them up. I used disposibles the entire time we were in Detroit and, honestly, it was kinda nice.

I am still breastfeeding Jemma but only once a day, in the morning when she first wakes up. I'm not sure how much actually comes out though but I know she is getting something. She seems to have no interest in it in the evenings. I have completely stopped pumping as well. With the next baby, I want to try and make it to a year, but with Jemma, that just wasn't possible.

Her favorite toys now are doggie, a blue and pink inflatable ball, stacking cups and her chairs. She LOVES sitting on things, including the ball, chairs and even dogs.

Silky does not seem to like her and growls at her all the time. It makes me worried sometimes that silky will bite her one day. Jemma is definitely getting better about being gentle with her but sometimes still pulls on her ears on tails. But it is super cute when she stands there and pets the dog.

She is also getting pretty good at walking! She can easily go over 10 steps and does it pretty repeatedly. She then falls on her butt. But she is definitely getting there!

Climbs onto sofa

So Jemma can now get onto the sofa from the floor. She needs to pull on something to help her up but after a few days of trying, she finally got it!

First Tooth!!!

So guess who finally got her first tooth?!?!! That's right, Jemma!! Only took 10.5 months ... :)

You can't quite see it yet but you can definitely feel the sharp tip of it (if she lets you and doesn't stick her tongue out and pull away).

It came in yesterday although we had been on tooth watch for 2 days prior. She had a little slit in her gum that looked very ominous. 

She is no longer our toothless wonder ... :)

She was at Becky's yesterday and Becky called Nick during the day to let us know that she thought Jemma was getting a tooth. 

Teething hasn't been bad at all ... she slept completely through the night the last 2 nights. She didn't want to go to bed until late but she wasn't fussy about it, just wanted to keep playing. If we didn't feel a tooth in there, I don't think we would even know she was teething. She is drooling just as much as she always does and is still chewing on everything! She did get some diaper rash but I don't know if that was from the teething or the sauerkraut.

Official WALKER!!

So apparently growing a tooth has caused Jemma to be a walker!! She was up to about 10-15 steps before today, but as of today, she is walking everywhere. She can walk all over the house and walks way more than she crawls. :) She walked all the way from my parents living room into the kitchen, even stepping over the baby gate bottoms on her way.

It has been a busy 2 days for our little girl ... first she gets her first tooth and the very next day she becomes an official walker :)

154.4

So I am 20.5 weeks and I weighed in this morning at 154.4 lbs ... this is not good considering at this point in my last pregnancy I was 140.7 ... I am almost 15 lbs heavier than last time!!

Detroit Trip!

So Mike, Jemma and I just went to Detroit with Mike's parents to check out the Henry Ford museum. In general, it was a very good trip!

Thursday: 
We left Thursday after work around 6pm (a little later than planned since Mike ended up with a water leak in the basement when he was fixing a pipe). We picked up Jemma at Beckys around 6:30 and stopped on route 40 at a Wendy's for dinner. After driving for a few hours, we stopped in Somerset, PA at a hotel for the night. We had a bit of a wrong turn and ended up in the mountains on some back roads, but that just added to the adventure.

Friday:
We got a little bit of a late start but that's ok. Jemma started to get tired of being in the carseat and getting fussy, so we decided just to stop at the Cayahoga National Park for the day and not try and make it to Detroit in time for the factory tour. The park was very nice and we took a scenic train ride and saw a stunning waterfall! Then we headed up the road to Detroit and checked into the hotel and got dinner at a nice Italian restaurant near the hotel.

Saturday:
We went to the museum and got breakfast there in the little eatery (not good for breakfast) then toured the Rouge plant which I think is really interesting! Then we spent the afternoon touring the museum before heading out at closing time. For dinner, we went to Mallie's which is the home of the largest hamburgers in the world! I tried to talk everyone into a 10 lb burger but no one wanted it and Mike and I ended up getting a 3lb burger to share. It wasn't great but it was HUGE!

Sunday:
Today was the day for Greenfield village. We got there and the train was waiting so we decided to ride the train first thing. Unfortunately, I got a cinder in my eye during the train ride and after a few hours of pain and having security perform an eye wash on me, Mike ended up taking me to the emergency room right after we ate lunch while Jemma stayed with Mike's parents. The doctor said I scratched it up pretty bad but there wasn't much I could do about it so I went back to the hotel and just laid there with my eyes shut. We ate left overs at the hotel that night and I laid in bed while Mike and Jemma hung out in his parents room.

Monday:
I felt much better today although my eye was horribly swollen and we went back to Greenfield Village. I asked the guy for another pass for the 4 of us to ride the rides that day and he gave it to us since we didn't get to use it the day before. The first thing we did was ride in a real Model T! Then we walked around the village for a while. Mikes parents went into the museum around lunch and Mike and I kept walking around the village. We then spent the last few hours of the day in the museum before heading out. Our legs were pretty tired in the end. We started down the road heading home and ate dinner in a rest stop.

Tuesday:
We stopped for lunch and shopping at the Haggerstown outlets before heading home.

It was a nice trip! 

It's a ... GIRL!!!

So we found out today at our 20 week ultrasound that BabyBot2 is a girl!! So it looks like Jemma is going to have a little sister. I can tell that Mike is a little dissapointed that he isnt getting his boy but while we were in the doctors office he did say that he sort of figured that it would be a girl. I think this is good news for Jemma, hopefully she will be very close with her sister since they will be so close in age.

But the ultrasound went smoothly and everything looked perfect! The baby weighs 11 oz and is growing well.

She was very wiggly the entire time and was not originally cooperating with the ultrasound tech for us to see her gender (unlike Jemma who made it very obvious). They also didn't give us great pictures, just some head shots. But that's ok. She is perfect and that's all that matters.

This next baby seems like she is going to be just as active and wiggly as Jemma! 

They also offered another blood test to screen for genetic abnormalities and I said yes just to make me feel better. The results said that there is even less of a chance of any abnormalities than the initial screen which is great news!

Mike felt BabyBot2 move

So Mike finally got to feel BabyBot2 move! The baby is very active but Mike is usually not around when that happened so it took a while.

Definitely feeling baby movements

So I am definitely feeling baby movements now. They aren't the fluttering like everyone describes, it feels more like little pokes and I can feel the baby flipping over in my belly. It is pretty cool! It makes me know that the baby is healthy and doing well in there!

9 Month Jemma Update

So Jemma turned 9 months a few days ago. She is great!!

Her personality:

In general, she is not very cuddly.

She will not sit still, she just goes and goes and goes and goes.

She will eat almost everything. I think there are very few things we give her that she doesn't like. Its nice. She has been Kenzie's trashcan for everything Kenzie doesnt want to eat.

She LOVES to jump. She jumps on laps and the first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning is jumps up and down in her crib.

She is definitely a little Daredevil. She falls down and laughs about it. She seems to have no fear. When she was bathing with Kenzie she even started standing up in the tub then flopping down on her face thinking it is the funniest thing in the world. It was nearly giving me a heart attack.

She also likes to pull hair, even her own. She even pulls her own hair out. She especially pulls on it when she is tired and/or drinking a bottle. She likes pulling other peoples hair too and can be a bit of a bully.

Loves to climb on things. She climbs up the back of the sofa and on everything. She is our little monkey!

Smiles pretty frequently now and laughs a little easier too.

Is the ultimate rubber necker. When she is in her high chair or in the grocery store cart, she likes looking at everything and always has her head spun around trying to see everything.

9 Month Check up

So Jemma had her 9 month check up today and the doctor said she is perfect! She weighed 19.5 lbs and is in the 65th percentile. She is growing perfectly. She has already reached many of the 12 month milestones like standing up on her own and walking along furniture. The doctor asked about her clapping and I said she didn't but she flaps and the doctor said that is good enough. She said she will start making other vowel sounds soon as well.

Denise came with me to the doctors appt and there was a Jericho storm going on at the time. On the way there we heard a tornado warning at the Highland house so we had to call our parents and tell them to go into the basement. We got into the doctors office right as the rain started pouring down.

She got 2 shots at the appt, one in each leg and she did not like that at all and screamed her head off. I gave her a bottle immediately afterwards which helped a bunch. She kept wanting on the floor but I didn't want her crawling around a doctors office.

Standing!

So Jemma is standing now for a fair amount of time on her own. It happens very sporadically and she doesn't seem to be doing it, but she can definitely do it :) The second she realizes, she plops on her butt though, its cute :)

Jemma walks one handed!!

So Jemma is now able to walk next to you just holding onto one of your hands!! :)

BabyBot2 Doctors Appt

So we had a check up this morning for BabyBot2 and everything looks good. We are still waiting for the results from the 13 week ultrasound. The heart beat was easy to find and in the 150's. I feel like it is going to be a boy, I don't know though and it's weird because I call it a she sometimes without even noticing. I weighed 145 this morning!! Eeep! Way more than I did last pregnancy at this time. My blood pressure was good at 100/88.

Pregnancy Cravings and Aversions ...

So, like many other pregnant women, I have both cravings and aversions ... I have had to buy soup at lunch every day for a few weeks now because I seem to love soup. Then today, I had just a strong craving for a snickers bar I had to walk all the way to the vending machine to buy it. Usually I don't even like snickers bars ... so weird!! I love all types of fruit right now.

As for the aversions ... food in general has kind of been a hard topic for me. I don't feel like eating a lot. Meats are not as bad as last time but not good either. I have leaned towards bland breakfasts (just milk and special K). I am trying to drink water but I am having a really hard time getting enough down!

Standing on her Own!!

So Jemma has started to stand on her own now, it only lasts for a second when she lets go of something and I think she doesn't even realize she is doing it. But her balance is much better and she is getting quite a bit of leg muscles that she is starting to stand on her own :)

Warrior Dash!

So Mike, me and Jemma went down to southern MD to watch Candice do the warrior dash. It was a ton of fun! I signed up for it but couldn't do it because of BabyBot2 ... :/ I sold my ticket on Craigslist and met up with the guy to pick up the ticket at the event. I am hoping I get to do the event next year. I did get quite a bit of sun even though it was cloudy. Jemma had a good time too and the MP got to watch her for a little bit while we all watched the race. Afterwards we went back to Hughesville and ate lunch and hung out for a few hours before heading back home.

Jemma is Cruising!

So Jemma is getting quite proficient at cruising furniture now. She stands up and sits down with no trouble at all now. Plus she is starting to walk along furniture as well. She does it all the time on the living room couch and the ottoman. She also likes to cruise around her little play table.

8 Months and Happy Mothers Day!

So today Jemma turned 8 months old and it also happens to be Mothers Day!! Unfortunately we didn't do much ... I was sick and there was a ton of laundry. Mike had to mow the lawn since he worked Saturday. My dad did cook us all BBQ ribs for dinner though, they were good!

Jemma's Nicknames

We call her all sorts of things now ...

Jemmers
Baby Girl
Pee Machine
Kid-ette
Little Kid-ette
Big Girl
Sweetie Pie 

Almost Crawling

So I know I have been saying this for weeks but I think she might be getting there soon. She gets up onto her hands and knees all the time now. She even gets onto her toes and holds herself in the downward dog position. I can tell she gets frustrated occasionally with not being more mobile. Sometimes she will get one hand to move or one leg or both, but then she topples over and just starts rolling around. She still really likes to roll.

Back to Pre-Pregnancy Weight!!

So my goal was by 6 months to be back, I am not too off. I weighed 135.9 this morning and I started pregnancy at 136! YAY!! I am excited. I donated blood yesterday so I don't know if that had something to do with it. Then I went to an all-you-can eat indian buffet today. So i doubt it will last long, but here's to hoping!

New Tablet(s)!!

So the other day, my Acer tablet that was 1.5 years old just died. I used it as an alarm clock and hit snooze twice and the alarm never went off a third time. It never turned on again. Now it just shows a picture of a dead android guy on his back with his belly open. Apparently the "technical" term for the current state of my tablet is that it is bricked ... meaning it is just as useful as a brick ... :/ So I was in the market for a new tablet. I was debating between the Samsung Galaxy 2 Tab and the Nexus, then a Woot daily deal came up for the Samsung, so that was my deciding factor. The next day, Mike went to Office Depot and bought the Nexus for himself. So now I am anxiously waiting my new tablet!

New Breakfast Nook Light!!

So I HATE our breakfast nook light, I think it is hideous! So I saw the perfect one on Craigslist for $20. It turns out that it was the brand new light installed in a new Maple Lawn (high end) home! For some reason they are redoing all the finishings on a brand new home! It's perfect! he sold me 4 matching pendent lights as well, all for $20!! It was the best deal, I am super excited!!

Pictures on the walls!

So we officially have moved in since we have started putting pictures on the walls!! YAY!! That finally makes the house feel like a home :) There was a lot of debate and Lynn came over and helped us out as well. Nothing is perfect yet but it is a lot nicer with pictures. Some of my initial plans on where they would go were completely wrong. But it is coming together :) There is still a lot to do to get ready for Easter next Sunday but the good thing is that it is finally getting done. Easter is giving me a nice hard deadline to get the house in order :)

Wheezing :/

So ever since Friday night Jemma has been making a sort of wheezing noise when she breathes in. It was a little disconcerting but she didn't do it all the time or when she slept. I ended up calling the doctor this morning (only my second call to the doctor about something since she was born) and it is probably just her liking to hear herself make that noise. Since she does not have a cough, no fever, it doesn't bother her, and it only happens when she breathes in, i shouldn't be worried. The doctor said it may be the start of croup and if we start to see other symptoms we should call back but she isn't worried.

Oh, and Jemma does like to make all sorts of noise. She started making raspberry sounds today! She also likes people to drum on her mouth while she makes different pitches of squealing noises. We call her a "noisy noisemaker" since she makes so much noise. A high pitched squeal is one of her favorites right now :)

Pulls to a Stand!!

So this morning Jemma pulled herself from a sitting position into standing!! She is also trying really hard to crawl :) she gets into the crawl position both from the laying position and sitting so i don't know which will be her preferred method of crawling. she always flops right onto her belly though after wigging on all fours for a while :)

Yardsale

So I went to the Nearly New kids yardsale at the HoCo fairgrounds this morning and it was great!! I got almost everything i had on my to buy list. I bought:

• a Joovy stroller like denises that collapses super small for $50 (originally a $200 stroller), it is definitely well loved and the wheels might need to be replaced but that is $80, so I think I am going to hold off on that for a while 
• a Lands End diaper bag backpack in excellent condition for $15, it is exactly what i was looking for and i am really excited about it
• a whole box of baby proofing items for $15. it was marked at $20 but i ran out of money since the atm was broken and asked if she would take $15 and she said yes, so thats perfect. i also picked up 3 more outlet covers that conceal cords for $1 each
• a SUPER cute turtle costume for $8. it is a little big for her now, but she will grow into it (splurge ...)
• Unopened parts to make another set of pump parts for $6
• unopened bag of breastmilk storage bags for $3
• unused stroller blanket for her new joovy stroller for $5 and got two little 
• brand new unopened sippy cup for $3 (not sure if a great deal but thats ok) and i got 3 free white onesies at her booth as well 
• a tutle aden and anais bib for $1, yay!

all said and done I spent $109 but i got a super deal and only bought things i actually needed (except the turtle costume ...)

Erin and the MP stopped by with Ethan along with the Hannahs and the Dans with Emily. We went out to lunch afterwards at a pizza place. We put Jemma in her new stroller and she loved it, she fell right asleep after being fed. Jemma was being her normal goofy self at lunch and trying to eat the paper plates and making noises on my moms hand. 

Starting Blogging

So as per the suggestion of several people, I am starting a blog ... I am going to go back and take my journal and input it into the blog so there will be a lot of older postings, but as of today I am officially a blogger :) Hopefully this lasts longer than any of my previous attempts.

Signed Least with Renters!!

Today we signed the lease with our new tenants for the Hazel Ave house and I got to meet them for the first time. They seem like such great people and I am super excited  They really are exactly what I was hoping to find. A little family with kids who will love the house and live there for a number of years. They are going to build a fence in the backyard for their dog. The dog was a bit of a compromise for us but the benefits outweigh the cons. Apparently they looked at about 15 houses before seeing ours and was getting pretty discouraged since they didn't want anything worse than what they were living in. So when they saw our house they really wanted it.

JCP Portrait

Today Jemma had a 6 month professional photography session at JCPenny. We stopped on our way back from Massanutten. It turned out FANTASTIC!! I spent $25 on a Living Social deal for 1 collage and 3 sheets of prints and ended up buying the CD for an extra $100 cause the pictures were so good. I will post them when I get them in the mail :)

First Rice Cereal Experience

Jemma has her first experience with rice cereal last night and it was drastically different than her experience with avocado. She LOVED it!! Mike and I had a small disagreement on how thick it should be. I mixed it according to the box and it was pretty soupy, so Mike kept adding cereal to it until it was super thick. We were feeding her this whole time. I told him that she is only supposed to get 1 tbsp of cereal and that she might get constipated if she eats too much. So I added more breastmilk to it to water it down. She was opening her mouth really wide and pulling at the spoon to eat more. She was loving it. We fed it to her when she was hungry and she just kept wanting more but I thought she already had too much, so I cut her off and finished feeding her with milk. I can see why people use cereal to help their babies sleep because she was fussy afterwards while we ate dinner while mike was holding her so he laid her on his lap with a blanket and she passed right out. That cereal put her right to sleep :) She woke up a little later and got some awake time but then went right to sleep last night and slept through the whole night. I'm still not sure if it will make her constipated or not, we will have to see. I am going to wait for her to poop before giving her more. (tmi, i know ...) But also last night, I laid her in her crib while she was drowsy but still awake and she played with her rattle for a bit before falling right asleep with no fussing at all. It was amazing!

Move Update

I think that just about sums up how Jemma is doing :) Now onto the move ... that has been even crazier!!

First off, we rented the Hazel Ave house!!! YAY!!! It is to a military family with 3 kids around the ages of 5-7ish who wants to live there for 3 years!! It's perfect!! The specifically wanted the Halethorpe area and love the house. The only problem is that they have a dog and cat which originally we didn't want pets but their current landlord wrote a letter about how nice the pets are and other than that they are exactly what we are looking for. The guy is apparently very handy and wants to install a fence in the backyard which we are ok with. The guy is a mechanic with the Coast Guard which is funny because that is exactly what Mike Tosh is! They are moving in April 1st. So the house was only on the rental market for about 2 weeks before it got rented, not too shabby ... :) We had a fair amount of interest in the house but a lot of people couldn't move in until June which got us nervous. We even started looking into how much the house would be worth if we wanted to sell it. But everything worked out in the end!

At the Highland house, things are going well. Most of the house is unpacked and it is functional. Most of what needs to get done at this point is smaller projects. Like on Saturday, the MP helped me sort out all the cleaning supplies from my parents house and our house and consolidate them and put them in the cabinet. The furniture is all set up in the dining room. My goal at this point is to have the house in order by Easter. Mike and his dad installed a new dishwasher and cooktop on Saturday as well. The new cooktop looks awesome!! So much better and it's the glass top so it will be much easier to clean! And boy am I glad to finally have a new dishwasher!! It is soooo much nicer!! Its a little off-white which i didn't initially notice but it works fine, so that's all that matters. I bought bigger bottles with extra nipples and rings for Jemma the other day, so now we don't have to hand wash them every night and they can go straight in the dishwasher. I should have done that months ago, but oh well :) I also just picked up some sippy cups for her so we will be trying them with her soon too. Mike just bought a new John Deere tractor last night as well! It comes with a snowblower and 54" mower deck. He got it off Craigslist from a guy up in PA who owns a landscaping business. Hopefully it will do what we need it to do for a couple years at least :)

Living with my Parents

So as for living with my parents, it has been going surprisingly well!! I was a little nervous about it but I think it has been working out fantastically. They make the most amazing dinners! We had baked fish with brussel sprouts, perogies and salad for dinner last night. I had the left overs for lunch today and it was great! We have had meatloaf, baked chicken, and all sorts of yummy foods. I think I have ate more fresh veggies in the last couple months than I have in the last year. It makes life much easier too to have grandparents around especially when Mike works late or on weekends. And he has a lot of weekend projects so it really helps. Not having to drop Jemma off at daycare is really nice too! Most mornings we pass her off still in her pjs. And its nice that Jemma is great with them and they are great with her. Things have been going well enough that last week Mike came up with a new idea for the addition that involves not building a new kitchen in their side and we share an upgraded kitchen in the main house. 

6 Month Jemma Update

So Jemma is 6 months now! YAY! She had her 6 month doctors appt yesterday morning and the doctor said she is 100% perfect! :)

She weighs 15 lbs (34%), 26 3/4" (86%) and her head is 16.5 inches (37%). I asked about her weight since it was low and the doctor said that once she starts eating solids it will start going up. But she gets plenty of food I think. She drinks ~6oz for breakfast then 3-4 5oz bottles during the day, then eats another ~10 oz at home at night (sometimes another 5 oz in the middle of the night too), so she gets about 31-41 oz per day which is at the upper end of what I read is standard for a 6 month old (24-36 oz). So I don't know why she is skinny. Oh well. My mom had been saying for a little bit now that we should increase the amount she is fed but from what I understood breastmilk gets fattier over time and so it doesn't have to be increased unlike formula. But the doctor said that we can certainly increase her to 6 oz if we think she wants it, so that is what is going to happen now. She has gotten 6-7 oz bottles a few times before. But she got her first of many 6 oz bottles yesterday. She is a little piggy, so of course she finished it. I'm not actually sure what her limit is on how much milk she will drink before stopping but I am sure it is greater than 7oz. I wasn't there but she spit up a little bit after it. Her spitting up is definitely getting better but has not gone away. Spitting up is another reason I was a little reluctant to up her milk intake but it is getting better so hopefully it will be ok and hopefully she won't eat quite as often as well :) 


Anyway, she is doing great and is getting very mobile. She is a very active kid and never seems to want to sit still. She wiggles and squirms and rolls nonstop and wants to touch everything and put it in her mouth. It is nice when nap time corresponds to dinner time. At the doctors office, she was having a blast and was pulling on the wall decorations next to the scale and the nurse had to pull her hands off to weigh her. Mike had to hold her so the doctor could do her thing. She also poked a hole in the paper on the table then had a blast ripping it all apart. When we left the doctors office, the paper was all ripped up and what wasn't ripped up was all crinkled up from her pulling on the edges and rolling all around. We kept having to take the paper chunks away before she would eat it and stop her from getting on the plastic under the paper. We kept trying to distract her with toys but it wasn't working, the paper was just too interesting :)

She calms down when she is tired though and is good at snuggling then and will fall asleep in your arms pretty easily. I just have to cover her head with a blanket and she goes right to sleep with a little "shhh" sound and a little rocking helps too. If she gets over tired, we have to walk her around for a bit but in general she falls asleep pretty easy.

Which segues nicely into her sleeping! She sleeps in general very well. She goes to bed somewhere between 8-9pm and sleeps till around 6-7am. She seems to wake up at one point a lot of nights and needs her pacifier put back in but then she goes right back to sleep. Mike usually does this cause she seems to get more upset if she sees me and wants to eat. But I have to wake him up to do it because he sleeps through her making noise. Sometimes this doesn't work and she is too upset, then she needs to have her diaper changed and get fed before she will go back to sleep. But once she gets a fresh dry diaper on and some food in her belly, she goes right back to sleep.

Also, she is getting really good dexterity. She can see her pacifier, pick it up, and put it back in her mouth with no problem. She picks things up really easily now and can pass them back and forth between her hands.

As for daycare, it is working out perfectly. My parents watch her everyday except Thursdays when my mom volunteers for neighbor ride and Becky watches her. She seems to be doing very well and seems to like both places a lot. She gets to play with bunnies at Beckys and her kids seem to like her a lot (especially Sami). Silky, my parents dog, and her seem to get along pretty well. She tries to pet her and pull her hair all the time and sometimes Silky likes it but sometimes not so much. Silky smells Jemma all the time, just sniffs the top of her head, its weird. Last Thursday, Becky got sick and so my dad had to watch Jemma all day long by himself. She was very good with him. My mom has no problem taking Jemma with her shopping or if she goes out to lunch. And Jemma is pretty good, so it works out well. Plus it gives Jemma outside interaction. I asked the doctor about the fact that Jemma doesn't play with other kids her age and the doctor said until around 18 months, it really doesn't matter and it is almost entirely parallel play, so that made me feel better. She said if she is too withdrawn that she can get anxiety about people and noises but I think Jemma is around enough different people and out in public enough that it wont be a problem. 

Solid Food Adventure Begins - Avocado

And the solid food adventure begins!! We spent a lot of time talking to the doctor about foods. I decided Sunday night to try her out on some solids (last minute decision) just in case something happened then we already had the doctors appt the next morning. I tried avocado mixed with a little breastmilk and just smashed up with a fork. I fed her with a spoon. She definitely ate some of it. I fed her after she already ate so I am sure she wasn't hungry. She stored it in her mouth for a few minutes before swallowing. It was definitely a new experience for her. She kept opening her mouth for more and grabbing at the spoon. She definitely swallowed at least 2 full spoonfuls of it. After a little while she started making a really disgusted face but still opened her mouth for more. I'm not sure if that was cause she was full and didn't want any, didn't realize what was going on or if she decided she didn't like avocado. Anyway, we will have to try avocado again :)

Anyway, the doctor recommended fortified baby rice cereal also to help with her iron intake. And if that causes her to be constipated, then to move on to baby oatmeal. So we are going to pick some up tonight for her to try. She also said we should do it when she is hungry and in the morning, so I am going to try that. The doctor also said that she can start feeding her anything now with pretty much no exceptions. She said we should try and make sure it is high calorie though. For example, she said baby yogurt is fine but don't feed her adult yogurt cause they take a lot of the fat out of it and she needs the fat. And if we cook something up, to use full fat butter and not oils. Of course that meant that the second we got home from the doctor, Mike tried to feed her some banana bread cake sugar side first. I'm afraid this means that Mike is going to really start feeding her everything ... :) 

Jemma becoming mobile

Jemma is not starting to get mobile enough to go after what she wants. She sees something and can wiggle and squiggle and roll herself to get to it. It’s quite fun to watch.

Move Update

Things are progressing again on the whole move. We rented a U-haul last weekend and took the last things from my parents house. A few things are still left in the living room but now much and most is give away anyway. We were tired at 8pm on Sunday when we were unloading, so it all ended up in the garage. So it still needs to get brought in the house and sorted, but at least it is there which is a huge relief. We can tackle it a little at a time now after work. The painters started working on their house on Monday also (which is why we had to get the stuff out). They have a whole crew working and they are really getting the job done. Hopefully the house will be on the market by March like initially planned! They are fixing the drywall in the entire house and finishing the basement. Then the hardwood floor people need to come in and refinish the floors and the retaining wall needs to be replaced (which is held up in permitting right now). Mike is also working diligently to draw up a floorplan for the addition as well and we have already talked to builders. So hopefully when their house gets sold, we can move forward with the addition pretty quickly. Although, we all know how that goes :) Our house is still not rented, it is still stuck in the permitting process with baltimore county! AHH!! Very frustrating but not anything we can do about it. They said we should get the permit today and the listing is already written up so it will go on the market the day we send in the permit. Also, we have now bought and/or installed all "new" appliances in the kitchen. A new cooktop and dishwasher are sitting in the garage still waiting to be installed but that should happen this weekend.