I finally remembered (because she said it again) what Beca says when she asks for an ice cream cone for dessert. First, she just says "Can I have some dessert?", then its "I would like some green chocolate chip brownie ice cream" - then I have to ask whether she wants a cone or bowl. Always it's a cone. then she will tell whoever is getting it that she wants a "big huge bumble over the top" and she'll round her hand up and move it back and forth so she can show you what a big bumble is shaped like. It's hysterical. She's been using bumble for any type of bump.
She has had so much fun with her new puzzles and art supplies - I think her favorite was from Aunt Dee and Rachel - it was a princess set that you crumple up paper and push the paper onto the princess' dress. She loved it. Luckily, there are extra papers so maye we can make up another crumple craft!
Christmas was fun and our quick trip to PA meant she got to see Uncle Kyle twice in a week! Definitely a treat! Plus, it snowed in PA the first morning we were there! We're defintiely going to need some snow boots and bibs for this girl - she loves being outside in it! And everywhere we went, someone gave her presents. She always wanted to open more but was generally pretty happy with all the gifts! Now, we have to work on the thank you notes. But that takes her being in a good mood to write her name. I'm going to guess that her first day back to school might not be that day...
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Finally not a standard layout...
I had so much fun doing my new blog layout! And since all I can seem to do lately is sit on the couch, I'm trying to somewhat feel productive without just shopping for more stuff that I'll just have to figure out where to put it. Sadly, that meant I spent all morning re-laying out my farm on Farmville. But oh well. It was still amusing for me. I still make a list each day pretending like I might get something done. And inevitably, my body just wants to sit and rest.
Friday, January 1, 2010
BC - week 9 (for real)
written 12/29/09 - Yup - definitely week 9!! Appointment today went really well. The doc said "Oh, look at the little gummy bear!". Measured right on track, great heartbeat, and wonderfully wiggly the whole time - we could even see arms and legs moving. It was so very cool! So now it feels a little better rather than really apprehensive all the time. Next appointment is in 4 weeks - end of January. I already need some maternity pants, which luckily were hanging out in another closet!
BBC - week 8 for real this time, we think
written 12/23/09 - OK, so with the adjustment, now I should have a kidney bean with webbed fingers and toes. The word "kidney" always makes me think of the Friends epsiode where Joey has to pass his kidney stone and they all say "kidney stone" for a while, the Indian doc being the most amusing. Digressing quickly is currently a talent of mine. Until I get tired and need to eat and take a nap. I have been soooo tired this time and still sick, some days very sick. And since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I'll have to wait until Tuesday for the next glimpse at the kidney bean. Cautiously optomistic that everything will be fine. I feel like it is so far. I'd love to plan for an actual baby this time. and since I'm down to only some knit pants that fit, I really don't want to buy more pieces for a wardrobe if I don't have to. Here's to hoping all the rest will help make it right.
"Morning" sickness
originally started 12/13/09 - So, I didn't start one last week after the "8 week" appointment but I figured I needed to write this out before the constant sickness takes over my brain and that's all I can remember. Anyway, the appointment was interesting as usual. the doc just copied down notes from all the previous visits in the past year and then did his cooties check, as required by North Carolina State Law )and my blood work all came back normal and I don't have any of the tested-for cooties). Then he started trying to look for pictures. We saw a sac on the overhead but really couldn't see much else (tilted uterus - tripped us up with Beca a little too). Upon the closer look, the baby only measures 6 weeks and 1 day (the size of a lentil bean), not 8 weeks. My ability to sense things in my body is way too sensitive apparently and cycles are never well calculated - I'm good at math outside but not inside. The baby had an awesome heartbeat, though. Really strong. But doc agrees that the constant sickness is a great sign - oh joy. Steve is pinging off the walls that I had to go buy a new pair of sea bands because the others weren't tight enough.
Today was the worst it has been. I am thankful for sierra mist, slightly flat, and cereal for dinner. My mother saved the weekend by bringing me some mini Saltines. Oh, they are just the best thing to eat - no mess crackers. I'm so not interested in most sweet stuff and nothing seems very appealing. But I am trying to eat to have energy. Weight is annoying and frustrating right now. No weight gain (except between the time I weigh myself at home and when the doctor weighed me 8 hours later and I gained 10 pounds on the retarded scale at the doctor, which probably has never been calibrated) but definite girth gain - I went from 7 pairs of jeans that fit to 2. 4 if i want to wear a band of fabric around my middle, which on a cold day is not a bad idea. I think I need to add the calibration question to my list of questions. I just don't trust scales. I know doctors absolutely love it when an engineer walks in with a list of questions, most of which a normal patient wouldn't think to ask.
My new big U-shaped pillow arrived and I sleep better with it, except that I forget to move my arm out from under it before I try to flip over. still getting used to that.
Next baby appointment is on the 29th - 2 weeks would have been Christmas Eve and the office isn't open. So we're hoping for something larger than a blueberry to show up. although, with the variation in sizes of blueberries, I'm not sure what that exactly means. I don't think the pregnancy sites are really written for people who understand what target value, tolerance, mean, mode and median are for. i bet the standard deviation is pretty big and the capability is probably horrible.
Today was the worst it has been. I am thankful for sierra mist, slightly flat, and cereal for dinner. My mother saved the weekend by bringing me some mini Saltines. Oh, they are just the best thing to eat - no mess crackers. I'm so not interested in most sweet stuff and nothing seems very appealing. But I am trying to eat to have energy. Weight is annoying and frustrating right now. No weight gain (except between the time I weigh myself at home and when the doctor weighed me 8 hours later and I gained 10 pounds on the retarded scale at the doctor, which probably has never been calibrated) but definite girth gain - I went from 7 pairs of jeans that fit to 2. 4 if i want to wear a band of fabric around my middle, which on a cold day is not a bad idea. I think I need to add the calibration question to my list of questions. I just don't trust scales. I know doctors absolutely love it when an engineer walks in with a list of questions, most of which a normal patient wouldn't think to ask.
My new big U-shaped pillow arrived and I sleep better with it, except that I forget to move my arm out from under it before I try to flip over. still getting used to that.
Next baby appointment is on the 29th - 2 weeks would have been Christmas Eve and the office isn't open. So we're hoping for something larger than a blueberry to show up. although, with the variation in sizes of blueberries, I'm not sure what that exactly means. I don't think the pregnancy sites are really written for people who understand what target value, tolerance, mean, mode and median are for. i bet the standard deviation is pretty big and the capability is probably horrible.
week 8 of BBC (that's "before baby cottle")
Started 12/7/09 - So, while I won't actually post this for a little while, I needed to share a break through for my 3rd pregnancy this year. Third time's the charm, right? This time, I can feel a lot more changes. My boobs hurt, I'm having crazy cramps, and my least favorite is that I'm nauseated all day for the fourth day in a row. Steve is soooo excited that I'm feeling sick. The downside for him is that I got a large U-shaped pillow to sleep on/with. My back is already bothering me to the point that I needed something. It's taking some getting used to and it takes up half the bed but I am already sleeping better. Partly because I'm just plain tired. Sometimes exhausted. And I don't really feel like eating for the most part until there's something that I really, really want - which has been a hamburger 3 times in the past week.
Funniest part is that I guess I did bring home an extra souvenir from Disney World this year.
First doctor's appointment is Thursday this week. Hoping the less than 2% chance for natural twins applies to me. Baby should be about the size of a kidney bean, constantly moving and wiggling around. Baby has webbed fingers and toes poking out from the hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and in his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. So that when baby gets bigger, he can tell people things like "A hypothesis is an idea you can test", which is what Beca likes to say.
Funniest part is that I guess I did bring home an extra souvenir from Disney World this year.
First doctor's appointment is Thursday this week. Hoping the less than 2% chance for natural twins applies to me. Baby should be about the size of a kidney bean, constantly moving and wiggling around. Baby has webbed fingers and toes poking out from the hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and in his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. So that when baby gets bigger, he can tell people things like "A hypothesis is an idea you can test", which is what Beca likes to say.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Random Christmas bits
More odd things happened around Christmas. Someone at work lost their mom to a battle with cancer. A friend of Steve's family lost their dad on Christmas Eve.
But we were able to celebrate the joy of the season - first by surprising my parents (well, more my mom) on Christmas Eve with my brother, who had furtively dodged the question of what he was doing fofr ht eholidays for several weeks. Dad had figured it out because I made a wise crack about my present being better than his. She almost figured it out because of a comment Kyle made to her but didn't want to get her hopes up. It was fun because we surprised her at work, even getting her friend Karen in on it since the receptionist wouldn't let us go up. I thought about just bolting up the stairs but we didn't want to get in trouble with only 2 hours left of their 3 hour work day.
That afternoon, Steve, Beca and I drove to Wilmington. Beca had so much fun playing with the kids of Steve's cousins. We ate, opened presents that had our names on them and then played Dirty Santa or Chinese Christmas or whatever they called it. Steve had an early number and kept getting his items stolen until he opened a clock and thermometer set - pretty nice pair. I had a late number and got a gift card to dollar tree with some candy! The best part was that we each took a Snuggie and Steve's great uncle stole one of them from a family friend so we convinced her to pick the other one! Steve's aunt and cousin always do a crazy Christmas present and poem to each other but once that was over, the kids were all getting ready for dancing sugarplums in their heads so we headed home. No matter how tired Beca was, she wouldn't close her eyes and go to sleep until we were home. But we made it, she went right to sleep, and we finished the wrapping, etc. that needed to be completed - well, I pulled all the wrapped presents out that I had and Steve had to wrap stuff from him (basically, the presents for me).
Christmas morning, Beca woke up and told us Santa had come, even though she hadn't been down stairs yet. We made it down and let her open her presents from Santa only - she got a Tiana doll AND a Prince Naveen doll (from the Princess & the Frog), and an easel with art supplies. The rest of the presents from us and others she got to open once my parents and Kyle had arrived and we had gotten some breakfast to eat. Zoe was completely confused, as Christmas usually makes her. We were a pretty dreary bunch though, matching the weather. We watched White Christmas (at least twice it played through), Mom and I built a Cinderella's castle 3D puzzle that we started on I have no idea how long ago, ate steaks and cheesy ranch potatoes, and just relaxed. Beca waited until Daddy got to sleep during nap time and then she snuck out of the room to come find the rest of us. She kept telling us she wanted more presents and we kept telling her she had enough. she also managed to convince Oma, Pop-pop and Uncle Kyle to play her new Horton Hears a Who game with her, which means you have to wear an elephant hat and use the trunk to get a little clover to stick to it. It's really funny and hopefully I can remember to get the right memory card in so I can get pictures on here!
True story from Christmas day - as emailed from Melissa's mom, Kristen. Melissa's big sister is Beca's BFF Kate and Melissa is 2-1/2:
But we were able to celebrate the joy of the season - first by surprising my parents (well, more my mom) on Christmas Eve with my brother, who had furtively dodged the question of what he was doing fofr ht eholidays for several weeks. Dad had figured it out because I made a wise crack about my present being better than his. She almost figured it out because of a comment Kyle made to her but didn't want to get her hopes up. It was fun because we surprised her at work, even getting her friend Karen in on it since the receptionist wouldn't let us go up. I thought about just bolting up the stairs but we didn't want to get in trouble with only 2 hours left of their 3 hour work day.
That afternoon, Steve, Beca and I drove to Wilmington. Beca had so much fun playing with the kids of Steve's cousins. We ate, opened presents that had our names on them and then played Dirty Santa or Chinese Christmas or whatever they called it. Steve had an early number and kept getting his items stolen until he opened a clock and thermometer set - pretty nice pair. I had a late number and got a gift card to dollar tree with some candy! The best part was that we each took a Snuggie and Steve's great uncle stole one of them from a family friend so we convinced her to pick the other one! Steve's aunt and cousin always do a crazy Christmas present and poem to each other but once that was over, the kids were all getting ready for dancing sugarplums in their heads so we headed home. No matter how tired Beca was, she wouldn't close her eyes and go to sleep until we were home. But we made it, she went right to sleep, and we finished the wrapping, etc. that needed to be completed - well, I pulled all the wrapped presents out that I had and Steve had to wrap stuff from him (basically, the presents for me).
Christmas morning, Beca woke up and told us Santa had come, even though she hadn't been down stairs yet. We made it down and let her open her presents from Santa only - she got a Tiana doll AND a Prince Naveen doll (from the Princess & the Frog), and an easel with art supplies. The rest of the presents from us and others she got to open once my parents and Kyle had arrived and we had gotten some breakfast to eat. Zoe was completely confused, as Christmas usually makes her. We were a pretty dreary bunch though, matching the weather. We watched White Christmas (at least twice it played through), Mom and I built a Cinderella's castle 3D puzzle that we started on I have no idea how long ago, ate steaks and cheesy ranch potatoes, and just relaxed. Beca waited until Daddy got to sleep during nap time and then she snuck out of the room to come find the rest of us. She kept telling us she wanted more presents and we kept telling her she had enough. she also managed to convince Oma, Pop-pop and Uncle Kyle to play her new Horton Hears a Who game with her, which means you have to wear an elephant hat and use the trunk to get a little clover to stick to it. It's really funny and hopefully I can remember to get the right memory card in so I can get pictures on here!
True story from Christmas day - as emailed from Melissa's mom, Kristen. Melissa's big sister is Beca's BFF Kate and Melissa is 2-1/2:
Melissa Rose was a bit tired Christmas morning. After all the presents were opened and my whole family had arrived and was eating brunch, Melissa was clingy and grumpy and wouldn’t eat. She kept pointing up to the kitchen desk. I finally lifted her up so she could show me what she wanted. She reached for our basket of Christmas cards we have received. I brought the basket closer to her. Melissa reached in, pulled out the card from the beautiful Cottle family, and held it against her chest. She smiled, asked to be put down, and walked around for a good 15 minutes holding the card near her heart. After that, she put the card back in the basket and was pretty happy the rest of the day. You have special powers.Haha! That made me so happy - at least I could make one kid happy on Christmas Day!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
weird day
Without using any names, it was a weird day. I didn't work a whole lot but had to cut a conversation off that had gone on way too long with someone who was just killing time. Since I was the only one in my area, I was the one he was killing time with. Oh well. It was a good conversation. Then I had a meeting with someone and I mostly just shook my head at how inefficient the use of many different programs and spreadsheets for one task that should be easy to pre-populate or at least run some nifty Excel macros on. For the short term, I taught someone the magic of format painter and offered to answer any questions whenever I could.
Then I had lunch with a good friend and we had a great time talking about kids and an organization that we both have in our hearts but it just can't fit in our lives. It basically boiled down to "if everyone would just listen to us and do things like we wrote the list out, then there wouldn't be so many problem."
I've had a friend have a miscarriage recently. One of the most difficult things a person ever has to go through. There really is no explanation, no cure, no one to really blame. 1 out of 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. That's 25%. I'm doing better than average in that case. Or worse, epending on your point of view, but that just means someone else doesn't have to go through it if statistically it all washes out.
Then I had a friend tell me a grandparent had passed after several medical issues over the weekend. So much sadness for so many at this time of year. But it's one of those things that you have to look at and say "yeah this sucks right now, but that doesn't mean that Christmas is ruined forever". You have to look for the smallest of miracles in every situation.
Steve and I got to pick up Beca from school a little early, which is always special for her - she loves it. and then we went to run an errand to buy something for a dirty Santa game and bought something that I NEVER thought I would purchase. We were in the middle of Crossroads plaza and pulled a fast one on all the yahoos in the parking lot by scooting around the back of REI and ToysRUs and coming out at a green light - Breakin' the law, breakin' the law!! well, not really. but it felt so sneaky... Beca and I voted for Red Robin for dinner. Nothing odd about that, except that all dinner plans we had made for tonight had been cancelled due to family tragedies and all we can do to help is pray for continued healing and comfort.
And then it got really weird when we got home. The banshee inhabited Beca again and she kept screaming at Steve that he needed to stop screaming for her to go get her pajamas and put them on, in between yelling about how cold she was. I couldn't here what he was saying from downstairs but I could hear every word Beca shouted at him. An out of the blue phone call and a comment posting from people I haven't talked to in ages made the top of the weird list of the day. Plus a call to tell me that a plane with a very special package was arriving tonight on schedule!!
And now I'm realizing fully that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Other than Beca's presents, I have no idea where I put half of my stuff, I need to find some more bags or something, there's tons of laundry that needs to get put away (which is the absolute hardest part for me for some reason), there's tons more laundry to actually do, we don't have anything really for Christmas Day to eat in the house, and oh, I don't know what all else. Don't you just love Christmas time????
Then I had lunch with a good friend and we had a great time talking about kids and an organization that we both have in our hearts but it just can't fit in our lives. It basically boiled down to "if everyone would just listen to us and do things like we wrote the list out, then there wouldn't be so many problem."
I've had a friend have a miscarriage recently. One of the most difficult things a person ever has to go through. There really is no explanation, no cure, no one to really blame. 1 out of 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. That's 25%. I'm doing better than average in that case. Or worse, epending on your point of view, but that just means someone else doesn't have to go through it if statistically it all washes out.
Then I had a friend tell me a grandparent had passed after several medical issues over the weekend. So much sadness for so many at this time of year. But it's one of those things that you have to look at and say "yeah this sucks right now, but that doesn't mean that Christmas is ruined forever". You have to look for the smallest of miracles in every situation.
Steve and I got to pick up Beca from school a little early, which is always special for her - she loves it. and then we went to run an errand to buy something for a dirty Santa game and bought something that I NEVER thought I would purchase. We were in the middle of Crossroads plaza and pulled a fast one on all the yahoos in the parking lot by scooting around the back of REI and ToysRUs and coming out at a green light - Breakin' the law, breakin' the law!! well, not really. but it felt so sneaky... Beca and I voted for Red Robin for dinner. Nothing odd about that, except that all dinner plans we had made for tonight had been cancelled due to family tragedies and all we can do to help is pray for continued healing and comfort.
And then it got really weird when we got home. The banshee inhabited Beca again and she kept screaming at Steve that he needed to stop screaming for her to go get her pajamas and put them on, in between yelling about how cold she was. I couldn't here what he was saying from downstairs but I could hear every word Beca shouted at him. An out of the blue phone call and a comment posting from people I haven't talked to in ages made the top of the weird list of the day. Plus a call to tell me that a plane with a very special package was arriving tonight on schedule!!
And now I'm realizing fully that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Other than Beca's presents, I have no idea where I put half of my stuff, I need to find some more bags or something, there's tons of laundry that needs to get put away (which is the absolute hardest part for me for some reason), there's tons more laundry to actually do, we don't have anything really for Christmas Day to eat in the house, and oh, I don't know what all else. Don't you just love Christmas time????
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
a certifiable
I'm certified - again. Both through ASQ (American Society for Quality). It just means I can take a multiple-choice, open-book exam after almost 10 years out of college and in quality. It also means I might actually be retaining some of the statistical rhetoric I have been fed in class after class at various jobs. This time it is for my Six Sigma Green Belt, which is supposed to be a good way for me to assist others in improvement projects, I think. I need to see if there's something around the house that I could apply this stuff. Nothing at work fits the normalized bell curve. Kind of hard to evaluate the capability of a process that way. Which I actually learned when I was certified the first time - that one is my CQE (certified Quality Engineer), which was one of the hardest exams I think I ever took because I was about 11 weeks pregnant with Beca and I couldn't stand the smell of the paper in the books so I gagge every time I had to look up a question. And I really shouldn't trivialize this stuff.
Beca favorites
Last night, I had the best time listening to Beca during her playtime in the bath. She was playing with her Ariel and Cinderella bath Barbie dolls and she was making them each be the Hanes sisters from the movie "White Christmas". I couldn't tell which had to be Betty and which had to be Judy but she proceeded to sing the entire song "Sisters", stopping only for a few moments to sing the same word over and over until she correctly remembered the rest of whatever line she was stuck on. She was even doing the motions. It was great!! Of note, she has watched "White Christmas" in its entirity at least 10 times since the beginning of December. I really enjoy when she sings "Back in the Army" too. One of these days we'll get that on video.
Another favorite is saying "delicioso" with a very dramatic flair every time she believes something is particularly yummy. This word apparently hails from about 5 different languages, including Dinosaur. She picked it up from the PBS Kids show "Dinosaur Train" but changes what language it is in every time I ask her.
Another favorite is saying "delicioso" with a very dramatic flair every time she believes something is particularly yummy. This word apparently hails from about 5 different languages, including Dinosaur. She picked it up from the PBS Kids show "Dinosaur Train" but changes what language it is in every time I ask her.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)