22 Months

Our daughter is a total crack up. Out of nowhere, she has started saying "Hi-ho!" in a sing-song voice seemingly at random. I have no idea where she got it and what brings her to say it but it is absolutely hilarious and makes me laugh every time, particularly when she does it loudly while riding in the cart through the grocery aisles...

Isla has begun to string together more and more words to make sentences now. The other day she told me "Isla walk aisle and drop petals" (in anticipation of her role as flower girl in Graham's cousin's wedding). This was a record long phrase but she is stringing three words together more frequently now to make sentences like "Shut the door" or "Isla do it." I love her large vocabulary and am constantly amazed at what comes out of her mouth. Sometimes it's like there's a little echo in the room. The other day I heard her say "Nice work" which totally cracked me up and last week when I asked her what she and Daddy did all day, she told me "hang out." There have also been a couple times when I've said "Oh man!" and then immediately she repeats it and then looks around for whatever man I might be referring to.

Which leads me to another thing. She calls any working male "man." It started with our landscapers. When they came to cut the grass (or throw WEED KILLER on my garden), she would run to the window exclaiming "Man! Man!" Now she just likes calling every unfamiliar worker guy "Man" such as our cashiers etc.

(Taken on our family date to the Woodland Park Zoo)

Isla has a very good memory. I've started telling her things like "When you wake up from your nap, we're going to go to the park" and, without fail, when I go to retrieve her after she sleeps, the first words out of her mouth are "Go park!"

I love that Isla can now communicate to me pretty much everything she wants/needs. She will often tell me "Mommy, come!" and then pat the ground next to her. She also often asks me "Mommy read Bible?" or tells me "Isla hungry." This talking thing makes life so much easier! However, there are a couple drawbacks. Last week, I was at work and she was having a day at home with Graham. Apparently it was a rather rough day and she cried for over an hour after she woke up asking for me. Finally Graham put her on the phone with me and through her tears she begged "Mommy, come!" which pretty much broke my heart.

I think we may be entering our first real phase of separation anxiety. Isla is a total mommy's girl and has just recently been refusing even Graham and asking for me only (poor guy!) The last couple weeks she has had a hard time in her class at church (as well as her class at my parent's church). Not sure what that's all about because usually she is begging to go to church and "push stroller" all week. I think maybe the doll stroller disappeared from her classroom and so she isn't finding it nearly as fun anymore.

Isla finally has her four bottom front teeth. She cut the 2nd bottom right tooth I think on June 16th. I don't know what has come over her but ever since, she has been taking GOOD naps and sleeps for 2+ hours each afternoon. It is divine for me and divine for her attitude. She has NEVER slept like this before in her life and I'm savoring it and spending lots of time glued to the sewing machine.

Isla's favorite activities include: going to the "cool" (pool), going to the park, reading, going outside, wrestling with Daddy, pillow fights, tickling (but she pronounces it "teek-cool") singing, going to "Papa's," pushing strollers and taking care of her babies/Ducky. Sometimes she'll go to the closet, grab her shoes and head for the door. When we ask her where she's going, her typical answer is "the park." We try to oblige her as often as we can but I think she could really live at the park and still not get enough of it.

She is going to be such an awesome big sister! She apparently knows how to put a diaper on her Ducky now which I just realized the other day. She can fasten the straps and everything. If we can just teach her to wipe thoroughly, we'll be set and put her to work! She plays a lot more independently now which allows me to get a bit more work done around the house.

Isla's favorite foods right now are Raisin Bran (which must be strictly rationed and not given on 2 consecutive days to avoid "issues"), applesauce WITH cinnamon (she'll ask for it if you forget to sprinkle it on top), grapes and berries. She also likes meat and continues to ask for all things carb.

She knows the tune and a lot of the words to the "ABCs," "Jesus Loves Me" and "I'm a little teapot" and also loves to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" while sitting on the potty. We are working on learning colors but we have a ways to go. It used to be that when ever you asked her what color something was, her first guess would be green and then yellow. She at least switches it up a bit now but only gets the answer right about 10% of the time. She seems to know orange though!

Isla is very excited about the new baby which means a new bed, new sheets and a new car for her. She has felt the baby kick and likes to tell me "baby sleeping" or "baby awake." I sort of think she gets what is happening (which might explain her sudden attachment to me) but who knows?

She is starting to understand different emotions and she loves to tell us that "Isla excited!" Then she always wants to know "Mommy excited? Daddy excited?" She also tells us when she is happy. Love her!

Isla definitely has a mind of her own and I pray it will take her places. She continues to be very sweet but also knows what she wants. She loves to give kisses and always says "Sorry!!!" when she knows she has done something wrong in hopes of avoiding a timeout. This girl is such a blessing and a joy!

Best Flower Girl Ever

I might be just a wee bit biased but my heart couldn't help but swell with pride watching my sweet Isla act as flower girl in Graham's cousin Susanna & Kyle's wedding yesterday. After she walked down the aisle the pastor said "I have never seen a flower girl take her job that seriously. We could all learn a thing or two from her!" Watch and see what he means...

A Sneak Peak

I've been a little absent from my blog this month because I've been too busy nesting. After a rather traumatic ordeal of indecisiveness, I am proud to report that I FINALLY chose fabrics for the kids' bedding, mostly thanks to my sister who finally met me at a fabric store for a little decision-making intervention. I'm pretty sure Graham is SO relieved that the process is OVER and could care less how much I spent--he's just glad not to have to give his opinion anymore! I'd like to think I'm saving money by making everything myself and I'm sure I probably am, it just isn't quite as cheap as I was hoping but that's what I get for choosing designer fabrics. :) But it's going to be so much cuter than what you can find in the store and I don't have to waste money on bumpers that I can't even use if I were to buy a pre-made set. I'm really excited about what I chose and can't wait to post pictures of the finished product.

As for WHAT exactly I'm making, well, I decided to redo Isla's bedding now that I know she's a girl to add a feminine touch to the room. I've made two new sheets for her and will be starting on her bed skirt and reversible comforter in the next few days (I hope!) and baby gets two crib sheets as well as a bed skirt. I can whip out a crib skirt in an hour now and am finding the process rather therapeutic.

In other news, I found a steal of a double stroller on Craigslist that has hardly been used ($350 for a double Bob with rainshield!) so am feeling more and more prepared for the wee one by the day. We plan to go out and look at cars (our 3rd attempt) on Wednesday so once that happens, I'll really be feeling on top of things. Phew, there's nothing like waiting until the third trimester to get ready!

27 or 28 weeks. ish.

(taken 6/1/11)

So basically I have no idea how far along I am anymore. Well, I have a little bit of an idea. But I'm totally confused. At my appointment last week, I thought I was 27 1/7 week based on my due date of August 31st but my Dr called me 28 weeks. I questioned him on it and his response was less than clear. So now I'm thinking he's no longer using my early ultrasound to determine my due date (it moved it a week later) and instead is going with my original due date of August 24th (which I believe to be more accurate). Or something. I have no idea. And I know it doesn't really matter but actually it sort of does. So, I'm gonna grill him on it at my next appointment. I realize the baby will come when the baby comes (as I'm sure he's going to tell me), but I just want to know what he is calling me so I can match it. Anyhow, I was already assuming we'd have a mid-August baby so this may make it even more plausible!

I'm feeling really pretty good in general except that I am SO TIRED. It finally hit me the other day as I was laying on the bed midday and whining to Graham that I could not get up I was so tired that maybe it's because of my anemia! It was an ah-hah moment for me. Oh yeah. Guess I haven't mentioned that fact yet on the blog. So I'm a little anemic. I had a bunch of labs done with my gestational diabetes screen on 5/23. My hematocrit was 32.8 which isn't really that low for pregnancy but mine was in the 40s with Isla so it's probably quite the shocker to my system. I've been eating tons of beef and was started on supplements so hopefully that helps. Too bad the cow I ordered won't be butchered until October...

I PASSED my gestational diabetes screen with a fasting of 81 which was quite the relief. And my TSH level was good at 1.27 so all things thyroid are working well. I had them throw in a vitamin D level too while they were taking my blood (since I've never actually had it checked) and I was disappointed to learn it was only 31. Not horrible, but not great, especially given the fact that I've been taking supplements for a couple years. I've been doing a lot of research lately on vitamin D needs in pregnancy and the importance of being sufficient for the baby. The unfortunate thing is that goal level has not been established for pregnancy but basically all the research says prenatals definitely do not contain enough (hence my supplementation).

Something very, very tragic happened this week. Graham has been losing weight due to stress and I have been gaining because, well, I'm pregnant. This week, our weights crossed and I now officially weigh more than him which is probably like the saddest thing that has ever happened to me. I guess that's what I get for marrying a bean pole (a cute bean pole though!) He weighed 15 or 20# more when I was pregnant with Isla so it was never a true worry but now that he is stressed to the max and forgetting to eat, the inevitable has happened.

Other tidbits include: the realization that I don't recall ever feeling this baby hiccup (Isla had the hiccups all the time), I am loving root beer and lemonade, my hip joints started hurting this week which I think means my body is preparing for "the big day." Last time, that didn't happen until 35 weeks so it freaked me out that I was feeling it so early this time around. But my Dr confirmed that it usually happens 5-6 weeks earlier in subsequent pregnancies which would be now so I guess it's normal. I've also started to feel some pain in my behind and upper leg with I assume is my sciatic but I can't be too sure. I'm not having to wake up in the middle of the night right now for some crazy reason. I don't like going to bed which is unfortunate since Isla has chosen 6:30 AM as her new wake up time. I am experiencing some serious nesting urges (as in I want to repaint the living room, recover the pillows in bright fabrics, cover my lampshades, make crib skirts and sheets for both kids, sew a reversible nursing cover and touch up the scuffed up paint on our walls...) I am starting to make some progress setting up/planning the nursery but am SOOOO indecisive it's unreal.

All in all, the pregnancy is going great and plans and slowly falling into place!