We have contact...

I've officially felt the baby move twice now! I'm so excited to be entering this phase of the pregnancy, it's so fun and comforting to feel him/her moving around. The first was late Tues night when I was up with K in the middle of the night (she's had a rough week with lots of night waking - I think it was the last pointy tooth on the bottom that finally poked through yesterday). I was in there just sitting in the rocking chair while K was rolling around in her bed, talking and generally doing everything but sleeping. I normally just sit quietly in the rocking chair with my eyes closed, trying to set a good example of what we SHOULD be doing at 3am. I at first felt just a few little flutters, but it turned into an all out party in there for a couple minutes. I remember when we went for the 13 week ultrasound with Kaitlin and it showed her bouncing all around since they have so much room at that point - that's pretty much what it felt like. I felt it again last night when I was up at 3am because I wasn't feeling well. I wanted to wait and post about it until I had a second confirmation, since it seems so early to be feeling at 15 weeks (I was about 17.5 weeks with K). I have my next doctor's appt on Thursday this week, but now with the movement I'm not as anxious to get there to hear the sweet heartbeat (although that will be nice too).

I met the Devil on Monday (or someone 3 feet tall doing a great impersonation)

YIKES! I just published this and saw how long it is! Sorry, beware, LONG POST ahead!!

It's taken me a day to post about this, because I'll be honest, it's taken me that long to get over it. It was too scary and fresh to write about yesterday. I guess this all started Sunday if you really think about it. We went to church and then Dad took Kaitlin home to play while I worked in the nursery. When they came to pick me up around 12:30 and head to lunch, Kaitlin fell asleep in the car. No biggie, right? Well, this in turn pushed her real nap, which is normally around 1 or 1:30 to about 3, which in turn pushed bedtime until about 8:30 (normally around 7:30). All this would be well and good if she had woken up an hour later Monday morning, but instead the muffin decided to get up at FIVE A.M. So we're talking 8.5hrs of sleep for someone who is used to 12/night. "Eh, have fun Claudia," (nanny) I thought as I headed off to work.

I only work a half day on Monday though, so I was home by 1:30, but was certain she would have whatever demons out of her system by the time she woke up from what was sure to be a long nap. When she woke up crying at 2:30 (after only about 1hr and 15min), I was a little wary. It took a while to calm her down, but she seemed to be fine when we headed out to have a snack in the kitchen. Then came mistake #1 - not letting Miss Independent help make her oatmeal for a snack. This set off a small tantrum, but I quickly diverted her attention to the stroller. Mistake #2 - diverting with stroller since it is like crack to my child, who, when asked to leave the stroller to sit in her highchair to eat oatmeal FA-REAKED out. Mistake #3 - going on about my business of strapping her into the highchair through the kicking and screaming. You see, what I haven't quite learned yet is that children are like little studies in drug-resistant bacteria. You plod along, treating your infection with a healthy dose of antibiotics, thinking you are winning the battle, and then all of a sudden, those antibiotics stop working. So you switch to another antibiotic, which works for a while too, but then you wake up again with a sore throat and wonder what the heck to do now? I'm guilty of using the same tricks over and over again until Kaitlin shows me (usually with the kicking and screaming that I've already mentioned) that "uh-uh Mom, that dumb ol' peekaboo trick isn't going to cut it this time!"

So back to the story, I used to be able to just plod through her crying while being put in the highchair because I knew in about 5 seconds once she was in she would be fine because there was food to be had. Well, I guess her memory is getting longer and her will is getting stronger, because she was mad as hell that I put her in that chair. And I'm talking C-R-A-Z-Y mad like nothing I've ever seen before. Flailing, screaming, trying to hit and kick me and Bud (who was just standing there waiting for the sure to be dropped oatmeal), throwing her drink, then yelling "UH OH DRINK" as though it was an accident, banging, trying to squeeze out the bottom of her chair - you name it, it happened. Now this is all very new to me. We've had little tantrums before, but nothing that couldn't be solved with a little distraction or a time-out. So I'm calling upon all the knowledge I've stored from reading Parent's magazine and the occasional website article about tantrums. I walked away and told her I couldn't hear her when she acted like that. Screaming got louder. I came back and grabbed her hands and looked her in the eye and said "calm down baby." She hit me in the face. I took her out of her high chair and brought her into her room (change of scenery) and tried to sit with her and rock quietly. I couldn't even get close to the rocking chair with her bucking and flailing, there was really no way to hold her. I sat in the rocking chair while she RAN around her room screaming "OATMEAL" and I would say "ok, let's go get some oatmeal" and she would scream "NO NO NO" and then throw herself on the floor. I left the room. Screaming got louder. People, this went on for 10+ minutes! I know I am not doing it justice describing it here, but suffice it to say that I was literally scared - I honestly did not know how to make her stop, and it didn't look like it was going to stop on its own anytime soon. I was desperate, so I called upon a higher power. Yes, I called in Barney. I know, I know, I shouldn't reward behavior like this with her favorite video, but like I said, I was desperate and I knew with her lack of sleep she wasn't going to be rational anytime soon. So I said "Do you want to go watch Barney?" and I swear, it was like a switch turned on in her brain and she RAN into the kitchen, calmly crawled up into her highchair and said "Barney." Mind you, I still wasn't allowed to make eye contact or feed her her oatmeal, she really didn't want anything to do with me, but she was content to sit there quietly and smear oatmeal all over her face, I mean, feed herself oatmeal and watch her precious Barney for about 20 minutes. And finally, she initiated contact with me so I knew it was safe to interact again. After that, we had a fairly normal evening, but I was still pretty shook up.

Now maybe I shouldn't post about this, maybe it's too personal, but my reason for doing so is two-fold. One, I'm hoping parents with older kiddos may have been through this before and will tell me my child is not the devil and that all kids go through this, and maybe offer up some advice on how to deal with it. And two, to serve as a warning to those with children younger, that these kind of things can and do happen, and it's just a part of parenting and not to get too beat up over it. I felt like a pretty horrible mom yesterday, and I hope with time I will become better at handling these things and not letting it get to me so much. Today was a much better day, especially since she slept for 12 solid hours last night and had a good nap too. But I feel like a barrier has been broken, and I know the potential for some craziness is in there, whereas before she was just my sweet little baby that could do no wrong. I guess this is how they grow and learn and exert their independence, and as a good mom I have to be there to let her know that even when she hits me in the face, I will still be there to kiss hers.

Amanda, I blame you...

for your niece's OCD. There have been several things over the past few weeks that have led me to believe Kaitlin is a little obsessive-compulsive, and tonight was the icing on the cake. Ever since she has been mobile, she has made sure to shut all doors around the house. If we leave the room, the light must be off and the door shut or else she goes back and does it for you (or whines until you do it since she can't reach the light switch). That was cute and very helpful in keeping Bud out of rooms, etc. But this past week it seems to have jumped to another level. She is very particular about how baby is put in her stroller when we go for walks, so much so that it has led to more than one meltdown when I can't get her in there right (whatever "right" may be - it changes day to day. Sometimes it's swaddled and with the seatbelt on. Sometimes it's naked and upside down. God help you if you don't know what the order for the day is.) At night, when I've been putting her to bed, she has repeatedly jumped off my lap during story time (normally a sacred, uninterrupted time) to go to the door and push on it and say "shut." She's just making sure. Like 3 or 4 times. Yikes. And then tonight, I put her in her crib, said goodnight and walked out. She immediately started crying but it wasn't a "Momma come sing one more song cry," it was a frantic cry and she was yelling something. So I opened the door and she's standing there, pointing at her nightstand and yelling "DRINK DRINK DRINK!" I had left her water cup on the nightstand. Heaven forbid. I picked up the cup, kissed her one more time on the forehead and walked out, while she cheerfully said "night night" and not a peep was heard again. Apparently there are several house rules that I am obviously not aware of. Lord help me. Help us all.

Fun with language

Kaitlin is a big talker. I mean, I think we're going to have a problem when it comes to school, because she really likes to talk, and at 16 months I'm a bit concerned that this trait is already prevalent. She's got a pretty good command of the language and has a ton of words, I think this in part due to the sign language we've taught her. Supposedly it helps with the "language explosion" when that point comes. But of course, she does not understand all the nuances of words and the different meanings. For example, one of her first words many months ago was "more," and that was also one of her first signs (tapping your fingers together). Cut to the end of October-ish, when there were still people that were mowing their lawn. She LOVES the sound of lawn mowers and whenever she would hear it when we were out walking, she would ask for "more." And as we would be walking I would tell her "that is a lawn mower Kaitlin." Well, she picked up the "mower" part of that and since then whenever we hear one or see Dad's in the garage she says "mower" while doing the sign for "more." When she started doing it a couple months ago, I made a point to emphasize the syllables and say it slowly, trying to show her how the words were different. All that did was lead her to what she does now, which is turn to me and say it very slowly and deliberately, and sign "more" very slowly, as though I'm slow and can't quite comprehend what she is saying.

Another cute "misunderstanding" was made apparent Friday morning when we were watching the Today Show. They were showing the airplane that went down in the Hudson and since she LOVES airplanes (much like buses - maybe it's a mass transportation obsession?) she basically started screaming "AIRPLANE!! AIRPLANE!" She quickly followed that with "water" and then a lightbulb went off in her head and she turned to me and screamed "SWIMMING!!!" So freaking cute.

Finally, Friday we had our second to last Kindermusik class. We took the Sign and Sing class where we learned alot of our sign language (highly recommended to those with babies). There is a song we sing at the beginning of every class, that is also on the DVD we got with the course. It goes:

Hello Kaitlin,
Hello Kaitlin,
Hello Kaitlin,
We're happy you are here.

You sing to each child around the room, and sign on the "hello," "happy" and "here." She loves this song and is often singing it around the house or in the car. The other day Scott was changing her diaper first thing in the morning and she kind of sleepily just signed and sang the 3 words "hellloooo.....happpyyy...hereee...." Back to Friday though, we were singing to everyone and she walked up to each child as we were singing to them, got about 5 inches from their face and sang the song SO LOUD and did the signs SO HARD, ending with a crescendo on the HERE! It was pretty hilarious and had all the moms in there laughing. I'm a little concerned that she's not only going to be a frequent talker, but it seems she will be a close talker too. She has a thing or two to learn about making friends I think. But when she does, I'm sure they will be talking all the time. :-)

You ALL must get this book...

Sleep is for the Weak

I promise, you will not be sorry. Nothing more needs to be said, except "go, purchase!"

BIIIIIIGGGG burn!

Kaitlin's new thing is announcing BIG and HEAVY things, emphasizing the BIIIGGGG and HEEEAAVVVYY in sort of a grunting, drawn out way. We'll see a bus and it's a "biiiiigggg bus" or she'll pick up her baby and it's suddenly a "heeaavvvyyy baby," you get the picture. Last week I was laying on the bed and she was crawling around all over me and lifted up my shirt, points at my belly button and goes "BIIIGGG button." Kaitlin! So rude to Mommy! As though I'm not sensitive about how quickly I'm showing as it is, you have to go point it out! But, comeuppance was mine when yesterday she walked up to Scott, lifted his shirt, and announced again "BIIIIGGG button." So I've accepted that it wasn't personal, it's just her thing these days, although I did laugh pretty hard when she called Scott out.

12 week checkup

So I guess we need to come up with a new name for this blog, since Miss K will have to be sharing it soon. Feel free to send me your suggestions via comments. I had my 12 week checkup today and things went well. Just the usual hear the heartbeat, pee in cup visit. It was great to hear the heartbeat for the first time and I got a little misty-eyed. Scott was at home with Kaitlin, who was napping, so it was interesting to go through the whole visit without him (he came to all of them with K). I also met with the insurance lady, who gave us the news that we already knew - this one is going to cost a bit more than Kaitlin (who was free due to my awesome insurance at my old job). Ah well, I guess there's no going back now! ;-) We have the big sono in 2 months, so around the 5th of March, but we're pretty confident about not finding out the sex this time around so that will just be checking for a healthy baby. I'm still excited to see him/her again though! Dr. Ruk said he won't find out either so as to not mistakenly tell us. I joked with him that he will actually have to come deliver the baby this time so he can find out, since last time there was a miscommunication and we didn't know we were supposed to page him, so the doctor on call delivered Kaitlin while Dr. Ruk didn't have any idea I was in labor! Oh well, I'm sure it will be a bit smoother the second time around.

Is this really the pallette of a 16 mo old?

So don't report me to CPS, but I'm generally very open with what Kaitlin eats. I pretty much let her try whatever I'm eating, because she's always asking "bite bite?" anyway, and I figure it's good to broaden her horizons. Now, this would probably be better if I ate a little healthier, but at this point in the pregnancy, if something sounds good I'm eating it, because not many things do. So the other day I'm munching on my jalapeno ranch Pringles, when little one asks for a bite. This is the part you're not supposed to tell CPS. I gave her one, fully expecting an immediate sour face and the tongue-thrust rejection move she has patented. Instead, she freaking eats the whole thing, goes "mmm" and says "more, more!" WHAT?!? Is this my baby girl who refuses anything new and foreign? Now these chips aren't that spicy, but they do have a little kick. I mean, I need to have some sort of beverage around when I am eating them. But she chowed down on about 3, no problem, and would have had more if I let her. And then later on, Dad was eating salt & vinegar ones, and she ate those too! (We like chips, what can I say?) Probably time to start munching on the broccoli and cauliflower tray instead.

Christmas 2008

It's been a busy two weeks, as we've had Christmas, a trip to Red River and the remodeling of our kitchen, so we are just now getting caught up on our posts. Kaitlin was very excited to spend Christmas with both sets of grandparents as John and Barb drove up from Spring and stayed with us. We hosted a dinner at our house on the 23rd, where we broke the news that Summer is pregnant again (see previous post). Here is a good picture my sister got of the family shortly after we told them (note the new countertops and backsplash):On Christmas eve we went to our new church (side note here -- I've seen both Justin Leonard and Mark Teixeria at church in the last few weeks and am slowly gaining the courage to ask them to sign Kaitlin's diaper!). Last year, against my wishes, "someone" decided it would be a good idea to throw a 4 month old in an itchy Christmas dress BEFORE heading out to dinner on Christmas eve. We didn't even make it into the parking lot before Kaitlin start dancing on the panic button. Thankfully, she had no problem with the dress this year (her Daddy made sure it was NOT scratchy).

After Church, we headed over to my parents house to open gifts and visit with them. As some of you who follow the blog may have gathered, I have this thing where I feel the need to snap a picture of Kaitlin as soon as she wakes up on any big day (e.g. see her 1st birthday post). It actually is my mom's fault, as I grew up having my my picture taken in front of school on the first day...EVERY YEAR (yea, I was "that kid"). She even tried to get me to stand in front of the giant "Texas A&M University" sign out on Texas Avenue my first day at A&M....thankfully, my Dad stepped in and saved me. Anywho, here I am carrying on the tradition on Christmas morning...

After we woke up, we went and opened presents with Summer's parents. This year was significantly different than last, as Kaitlin actually had an interest in the presents. So far I think her faves are her music box (that doesn't need winding up - great invention!) and her "Magic Door" that Summer scored from another mom in the Mom's club. Then we had a nice breakfast with the p's before they hit the road and we commenced packing for Red River.

There are many more Christmas pictures at our shutterfly site at the link on the right-hand side of the blog.

Cigars

This is a really random post, considering I haven't even posted about Christmas or our trip yet, but I keep meaning to put this out here and I have time tonight, so here goes. Kaitlin is a typical toddler, in that she does not enjoy vegetables. Pretty much anything that isn't covered in tomato sauce or cheese isn't considered fit for our princess. This of course gives her mom some heartache, because I really want her to eat her veggies to grow big and strong (b/c she is puny now). So this led me to purchase Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook "Deceptively Delicious." I've found several recipes in here that are great, but this one is especially good for me since I can make a bunch at once and freeze and serve for lunch over several weeks. The basic premise of the whole book is sneaking veggie purees into different foods, so it's like I'm making Kaitlin's baby food all over again since I have to steam and puree them, but I do it all in one night so it's not that bad. If you've never made purees before, you just steam a bunch of whatever vegetable is called for in the microwave and then slop it in the food processor/magic bullet/blender and blend it down to a paste (adding water if needed to get it to the right consistency). Here's the recipe:

1 cup sauteed or roasted chicken or turkey, cubed (I actually shred it)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup yellow squash puree
1/2 cup carrot puree
4 oz cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 large (burrito-size) whole wheat tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the chicken, cheese, squash and carrot purees, cream cheese, garlic powder and salt.
3. Cut the tortillas in half. Spread about 2 TB of the filling and roll, enclosing the filling completely. Place seam-side down on the baking sheet.
4. Bake until the tortillas begin to brown, 4 to 5 min. Let cool slightly before serving. I just throw them in the freezer at this point.

To thaw, either bake in toaster oven for a couple min or just microwave on defrost for about 1 min. You don't want to cook too long or the inside will get runny. Kaitlin LOVES these things, and they are so great when I don't have time to prepare a real lunch for her.