Monthly Archives: February 2013
And Baby makes Three!!
Big News in the Maddy family! Our family of four is expanding; yes, we will be welcoming Baby #3 into our family in August! Crazy, I know. Especially considering if this baby is two weeks early then we will have three kids under 2! Note I did not say three kids 2 AND under but three kids UNDER 2! Needless to say the girls and our newest arrival will be two years apart.
So our little bundle of joy came somewhat as a surprise. Let’s just say Justin and I knew we wanted a bigger family but it happened a little early in the “plan”. So our plan of living at my parents for a year more realistically turned into a year and a half, but that’s okay. We definitely want a place of our own but we could use the help especially in a few months when I am bigger and lifting the girls may not be as easy. Plus the truth is we are still undecided on where we want to live so this gives us more time to make that decision.
As the girls get older and near the “terrible twos” we have on occasion got to witness the a glimpse of what a terrible two temper tantrums may look like. Emerson is not a huge fan of getting dressed or changing her diaper and she kicks her legs during the entire process. She also associates a snack with anytime she has a cup and she is prone to fisting her hands and getting very angry. Avery doesn’t have a temper nearly as often as Emerson; however, when she does boy does she get angry. And occasionally she will bite or throw her body around if she gets that angry. During these times Justin and I think what in the heck have we gotten ourselves into? But most times our girls are really well behaved girls and manage to put huge smiles on our faces. Like today Justin got a haircut (his hair was getting long and unruly) and when Justin got home Emerson kept laughing at Justin, pointing to his hair and trying to touch it. The thought of her doing that just cracks me up. And while I was at work today our nanny Ana sent me a picture of Avery playing dress up. She had a pretend frumpy green dress, a scarf tied around her head, a baby doll being carried on her back all the while she was pushing a shopping cart with another baby doll in it. She looked homeless but I couldn’t help but to laugh and smile. So while we sometimes have our holy crap moment at the thought of another kid we really are super excited and overjoyed for the newest Maddy baby.
I am 15 weeks this weekend! The first trimester was rough. Starting about 6 ½ weeks I started to feel nauseous and while I started feeling ever so slightly better probably at about 10 weeks, it really wasn’t until about 14 weeks that I started feeling “normal”. That part was hard because it has been hard taking care of the girls and truly enjoying them when I feel like complete crud myself. Especially considering my first trimester with the girls was really easy. Seriously, there were 2 weeks where I thought maybe I felt nauseous. Looking back I know for certain I was but it was ever so slight that I questioned it! While I know that I was tired during my first pregnancy trimester, I still worked out regularly at my gym; whereas, this time around I spent very little time on the treadmill during the first trimester. Being awake and caring for the girls was enough of a workout for me most days. The good news is that I am finally feeling better. In fact, this week, I have walked on the treadmill 5 times this week, done a few squats, and more importantly have actually enjoyed it! Justin had been doing more than his fair share of responsibilities while I wasn’t feeling well so I am looking forward to getting back to our normal shared routine and responsibilities. Believe me, I’m sure he does as well!
Almost 18 months already!
The girls turn 18 months on Monday! I can’t believe it. They are turning into little young ladies. The past few weeks Emerson’ vocabulary has really increased. She tries to repeat words now, doesn’t always quite get it but she is trying. Her cutest is “all done”….I have got to get a video of her saying it because it seriously is the cutest thing ever. She also has learned a lot more body parts recently including knees and shoulders. She loves the Learning Puppy and when he sings the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, she imitates accordingly. Avery isn’t quite as far along as Emerson in her vocabulary. She understands so I am not that concerned about it, yet at the same time I wish she would get the show on the road a little bit. She consistently says “up” when she wants to go up but other than that she doesn’t really say a whole lot of other words with meaning.
One awesome thing to report is that this past weekend, the girls had the most independent play they have had to date. We seriously sat on the couch and watched them…I swear it must have been at least 20 minutes were they were able to entertain themselves. It’s fun to see the things they come up with. For example, they like to push their big comfy chairs to the middle of the room, turn them upside down and make a fort where they can hide out and read their books. They also like to take all the containers out of the cupboard but now they like to put a container on each chair and then fill each container with their cheerios or whatever other snack they have that afternoon.
I’m just so amazed at these little people they are becoming. I know I am biased but they really are just wonderful!!
Avery – Wills Update
We’ll I’m overdue in writing some blogs and I do have a good amount to report. First Avery had a doctor’s visit at Wills Eye Institute in Philly on January 22. Her appointment was at 11:00 so we left at 7:00 a.m., which was way better than having to leave at the 4:00 a.m. hour to make her 6:00 a.m. appointment in Baltimore a few months earlier. Anyway, Avery is just awesome. Justin took her out of her crib earlier than normal so she wasn’t quite ready to get up…which was fine actually because we wanted her to fall back asleep in the car which she did within just a few short minutes and she slept most the ride to Philly. At the doctor’s office, she found her way to the play room and made herself right at home. There were other kids in the playroom and Avery was not shy about going up to them. She really is such a free spirit! With regards to the actual examination, Avery did awesome! It makes me happy and sad at the time, although mostly happy. No kid Avery’s age should be so used to being examined by a doctor, but the truth is she is used to it and tolerates it so well.
Overall, the outcome was good. Dr. Levin confirmed that the ERG report was essentially normal and the minor abnormalities were a technical glitch of the report. So Avery has no retinal or cone rod dystrophy! Dr. Levin was very pleased with the progress that he saw from exactly one year prior. Similar to Dr. Repka, he felt that Avery’s nystagmus was a result of the cataracts and smaller eyes and optic nerves but didn’t feel it was anything further than that. He basically said unless her development falls behind schedule he doesn’t want to see us anymore!
After the appointment, we went to the same French café that we had gone a year prior. Last year when we went we felt the food wasn’t that good and it was overpriced. Yet we found ourselves back at the same place. The temperature wasn’t even out of the teens and it was windy so we didn’t want to venture very far with Avery. We decided to give it another try but decided we would order something different than last year. I am happy to report that the meal was much better than last year, although still not great and definitely still overpriced. If we do have to back to Wills again, I want to visit this place again afterwards since now it is just part of the routine.
After our tummies were full we loaded up the car and headed back home. Avery was exhausted and fell asleep for a little more than two hours. When we were about 45 minutes from home she started stirring and woke up. Justin and I were talking about how I was going to climb into the backseat to sit with her when all of a sudden we heard what sounded like Avery had choked. I said Avery “are you okay?” Not that I expected a response but I didn’t get one. As I was crawling back I could start to smell the vomit. Poor little thing had thrown up in her car seat! It smelled like sour milk…it was so gross. It didn’t even phase her. Avery’s normal meal schedule had been off that day due to travel so she had more milk than normal. On top of that I gave her yogurt for breakfast since it was easy to transport. Poor little thing had too much dairy! Justin from the front seat thought he was going to vomit from the smell. Luckily we were only about a half hour from home by this time. Once she was home she was happy to be able to run around in familiar territory and happy to see Emerson. Emerson was happy to see Avery too. Emerson definitely knows when Avery isn’t around and misses her in the way that 18 months old miss their siblings:)