Expecting another girl

We found out we're expecting another girl!  She looked very healthy at the 20-week ultrasound and the only complication is partial placenta previa, which I had with Claudia too, so I'm not too concerned.  We will just to have to do another ultrasound at 28 weeks to make sure the placenta has moved away from my cervix.

Claudia is mommy's little helper lately.  She is already good at picking up toys and clearing her spot at the table because they do this at school, but she also helps me prepare meals and do chores like wiping off the kitchen table, unloading the dishwasher, dusting, and sweeping the floor.  Of course getting her help is more work for me, but it's good practice for when she's older and she really does enjoys it.  She unfortunately got her first cavity recently.  She is too young for a filling, so she is doing extra fluoride treatments at the dentist and we've switched to fluoride toothpaste at home.  She likes spitting in the sink, but it's going to take a little more practice to perfect.  She has also nicknamed herself "giant" because according to her, she "just keeps growing and growing."  Even though Claudia has embraced being a big girl, she has gotten extra clingy at the same time, especially to me.  The upside is we get lots of extra hugs and kisses, but bedtime is really a struggle.  She really does not want to go to bed by herself and will try any trick in the book to prevent going to sleep.  Sometimes it's a 1-2 hour struggle.  We have received a lot of good advice from friends, but still with limited success.  It may just be a phase she has to go through.

Glen took a week long trip to Bar Harbor, Maine for a cardiac physiology training course.  He learned a lot and it was good for everyone to have a change in routine.  Although, he's now leaving again next week to NYC for a conference, so Claudia and I will miss him for sure.  We've been pretty social lately and have been able to catch up with several friends.  Our winter hibernation must be over.  Glen also got to attend the annual "Flight to Mars" Crohns & Colitis benefit concert at the Showbox.  Sadly I missed it this year because it was on a weeknight and I just didn't have the energy to coordinate a sitter and be out late on a weeknight.  Glen had a ball and Carnie Wilson was a surprise guest, so that was a fun bonus.

Play date with Neely's flower girls: Victoria, Jada, Delanie, and Claudia.

Play date with my friend Heidi's daughter Alli.

 Neely & Emilio took Claudia to the 17th of May Norwegian Parade this year.

Claudia playing at the fountain at U-Village.

April is for big girls

We've had a busy April with amazing weather--sunny and warm every weekend.  First, we had Easter.  Claudia was very interested in finding eggs this year and woke up to find that the Easter bunny hid plastic eggs with a jelly bean in each one.  It took a long time to find them all because she had to stop and eat each candy along the way.  Then my parents hosted us for an afternoon party and dinner and we hunted for more eggs.  The next weekend, April 15th was Claudia's 3rd birthday.  Her theme was Sesame Street and the party was at the Arena Sports Inflatable "bouncy house".  They have about 5 huge slides and castles to bounce in.  We had a mixture of friends from the daycare and some of our friends' kids, so it was a big group, about 25.  Claudia had a ton of fun, but she was so tired after bouncing that by the time we got to presents she lost her steam and I had to open most of them for her.

Claudia is very proud of being 3 and officially a "big girl".  More and more she wants to do everything herself ("I can do it") and we really try to install pride in her for being independent.  She likes being mommy and daddy's helper with chores or cooking.  She got a bicycle (with training wheels) for her birthday and we tried it this weekend for the first time (after helping daddy put it together) and she did great.  She can get on by herself and she is getting the hang of pedaling, but still puts the brakes on a lot (pedals backward).  And her biggest "big girl" accomplishment is that she gave up her binkies.  She doesn't ask at all during the day, but misses it at naps and nighttime, so she struggles there, but not as bad as I thought she would.  She has been on a nap strike anyway, so she is definitely not taking one now, but I'm hoping (...please) that she will continue them again.  It's good that she is so happy to be a big girl because she is going to be a big sister next October.  I'm 15 weeks along.

Also, I started a new job this month.  I'm at the UW Department of Neurology on a 6 month contract, which is right when the baby is due to arrive.

Found her Easter basket!

Dressed up pretty for Easter at Grandma & Grandpa's house.

 

Emilio and Claudia blowing out candles at Easter for April birthdays.

At the bouncy house 3rd birthday party.

Princess outfit and butterfly wings (two dress up items she got for her birthday)

Trying out her new bike.

 

Reading and Letters

Claudia has started reading more regular books and less board books because she has the patience to sit through a longer story now. She especially likes The Best Nest, which is one of my favorites from childhood. She also really likes to listen to Waltzing Matilda and read the book along with it. This is the unofficial national anthem of Australia, so like every good Australian, she is learning it young. She is also very excited about letters these days. She knows about half of them and likes to talk about the first letter in the names of her friends and in the names of animals. Her favorite (of course) is a C and she can write it pretty well. Her pronunciation of some of the tougher sounds are also improving, like the "L" and "F" sounds.

After a few rough weeks, Claudia is now doing great in preschool. She loves her new teachers and really looks forward to seeing her friends everyday. Her favorite times are arts & crafts and going on the playground. Last month's theme was transportation and she is constantly talking about rocket ships, airplanes, and boats. Unfortunately, she has reverted back to having accidents most days, usually around naptime. Also, she's back to peeing in her Pull-Up at nights. She's still not quite 3, so we're just going to let it run it's course because I'm sure it's just a phase. She is also having some behavioral problems at home, like refusing to cooperate, having mini-tantrums, and sometimes even biting and hitting (ugh). Her outbursts are only directed at us, as she still remains sweet and gentle at school. Bedtime is a huge struggle these days. We start our bedtime routine at 7:30 and it's usually 9 or 9:30 before she goes to sleep. It's really killing our evenings and time together as a couple, so I hope we can it sorted out soon.

We've had a couple health scares in our extended family lately. Glen's grandma Allison developed dangerously high blood pressure and had to be hospitalized. She is slowing improving, but will be living with Glen's parents for awhile until she stabilizes. Then, my dad had a minor stroke this week that left him with a blind spot in his peripheral vision. He is still undergoing testing to find out the cause and we're hoping it was an isolated incident. Pretty scary stuff.

Playing in a "fort" between the beds.




Playing on "big bed".


Playing in the Quad at the UW with the cherry blossoms in bloom.

Starting Preschool

Claudia is now 2 years and 10 months, so she has moved up to preschool! She was in a "pre"-preschool before that was a segregated area of the toddler room, but now she is in a whole new part of the building with all the big kids. She was super excited to move up and the teachers say she is developmentally ready, but she is having a hard adjustment. It's 20 kids, so louder, more chaotic, and some of her friends haven't made the transition up yet. She told me she likes to "hold hands and play baby dolls" so basically she only likes to play with the gentle girls, except for one boy that she likes to run around with on the playground. She is being especially difficult and whiny at home now and begs us to let her stay home from school. It breaks my heart to see, but I know it will get better soon. She is just more sensitive to change than some kids and I'm sure she misses her favorite toddler teachers.

One of the cute things she is doing lately is asking everyone their favorite color. Her is decidedly yellow. Grandma-yellow too! Mommy-purple, Daddy-blue, Nana-pink, and Papa-taupe. The last one is a family joke because my parents use a lot of taupe in decorating and my dad is colorblind, so the whole world is taupe to him. I'm not sure if Claudia knows why it's funny, but she knows she gets a big laugh whenever she says the word taupe, so she pulls it out at random times just to see if she gets a reaction.

Claudia's hair is turning out to be somewhat curly. Glen and I have very straight hair, so this is a bit of a surprise, but my grandma on my dad's side has wavy hair.


A side view of the curls at their curliest (after bath time). So pretty!


Claudia showing off her counting skills.



Hello Daddy.
How are you?
Can you tell us?
Who's sitting next to you.



Auntie Neely went with us to Greenlake one day. We had 3 unseasonable warm and sunny February days and as native Seattleites, we didn't waste it.


Claudia is getting really good at telling the difference between a boy and a girl (the type of hair is the biggest clue). I tried to explain the difference between a boy and girl duck, but I think that was too advanced!

Our Big Girl

Claudia is now 2 years and 9 months old, so she is getting pretty close to 3 and is excited to be a big girl. She just announced one morning that she wanted to give all her bottles away to a new baby, so we tucked them away and she now has her morning milk (plus Miralax) in a sippy cup. She gave up her highchair for a booster seat, gave away a few baby toys, and gave up her binkie at naptimes at school. We still need to work on getting rid of the binkie at home. And she really wants to give up her Pull-Up diaper during naps and bedtime. She has been getting out of bed when she needs to use the bathroom and she has a dry Pull-Up most mornings. We're so excited that she is doing all this so happily. She has ended her nap strike on the weekends, but in general is still struggling with going down for naps and down at bedtime. Our bedtime routine seems to take forever and she is always thinking of new ways she can procrastinate going to sleep. She likes to say "five more minutes" or "one more game" and when she's finally in bed, she just jumps straight out, turns all the lights on, and then runs out to the living room with a big grin on her face.

Our big excitement this last week was the snow storm of 2012! We had almost a week of snow in Seattle and were completely snowed in for a couple of those days. The last time we had a big snow like this in the city was in 2009 when I was pregnant with Claudia. We were prepared this time with a stocked kitchen, firewood, and our All-Wheel drive Subaru. We walked 1 mile up to the Wedgwood Broiler one day for lunch and Claudia had a ball. She loved talking about and playing in the snow and did a fair amount of walking herself. We pieced together a decent snow outfit for her, although her feet got pretty cold because we only had rain boots. She was a little more apprehensive the next day, but we still got her out playing a bit. I only wish we would have had a sled because we have some good hills around here.

Claudia went to her friend's birthday party at a Bouncy House.


Check out this massive slide. Claudia was so adventurous this day; it was good to see.


About 2" of snow and building.


Up to 4" the next day.


Goofing around making a silly face.




One of Claudia's favorite songs, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Why?

The "why?" has started. Claudia likes to dominate our attention at all times. Sometimes in a positive way by cracking jokes or being silly, sometimes in a negative way by doing naughty things, and sometimes just by asking why (a lot). Some of the silly things are making different voices for her dolls and stuffed animals, repeating songs or phrases that she thinks are funny, and lots of talk about tooting. She is a classic for ripping a big one in an inappropriate place and time. She embarrassed us (and cracked us up) by letting a monster one fly in the middle of Christmas Eve church service and then yelling out "daddy you toot." Then last week at McDonald's, she let a huge one rumble and then stood up and declared "cheeseburger toot." We might have to lay off the Miralax because she is one gassy girl.

We had a great Christmas this year. Everyone was healthy and we had a lot of fun eating, drinking, opening gifts, and enjoying time with family. The week between Christmas and New Year's we usually head out to Alta Lake to relax and play in the snow. This year was a little different because it was a lot warmer than usual (30-45F unlike 15-30F last year) and there was barely any snow, so we couldn't go skiing. But the upside was Glen didn't have to shovel any snow, the drive over the pass was easy, and we got to do lots of fireworks to celebrate New Year's. We even did a "matinee show" so Claudia could see some. I think this was her first time seeing fireworks.

Christmas morning.


Santa brought Claudia books and a camera.


Looking at all the presents under the tree at Grandpa & Grandma's house.


Bee Baby and some play bottles.


Claudia loved all the art supplies and easel she got. She likes to draw lots of little circles.


Off for a walk in the snow.




At the frozen lake.

Santa is almost here...

Claudia is so excited about Santa this year. She likes to act out her visit with him -- he says "ho, ho, ho, what do you want for Christmas?" and she says "I want a little baby book." She actually sat on his lap this year without crying. Although we had to go to Toys R Us so she could show me what a little baby book was! It's these miniature board books with themes like Sesame Street or Winnie the Pooh. She also picked out a stocking for herself, with the big man himself (Santa!) on it. It's fun that Claudia is aware this year of what is going on, so we've had fun trimming the tree, buying and wrapping gifts, seeing lights on houses, and singing Christmas songs. She loved my work's holiday party, especially dancing and getting spun around in circles. She loves all parties and we got to go to a birthday party last weekend as well because Isaac and Lily turned 2 and they had it at the Seattle Children's Museum. It's fun to observe Claudia around other kids her age because she is so much like Glen and I as kids -- shy and never more than an arm's length away from her parents. But then she will whisper in my ear, "more" and never want to leave.

Claudia's new things are learning left from right and learning the difference between a boy and a girl. We're making progress. She has also learned A, B, and O for her letters and she likes to "paint" them in the bathtub with soap paints. We're still heavily invested in the binkie and our attempts to eliminate it were met with huge protests. But Claudia got to visit the big kid preschool at daycare this week (age 3+) and they don't allow binkies and Claudia was OK with it. So we know she can do it. Right now seems like a bad time since she is already having problems with naps and bedtime at home, so once that gets better, then we will try and find a time for the binkies to disappear. They don't really bother me, but I'm worried about her overbite.

Glen & I have both joined gyms near our works. We love team sports, but it's just too hard to work that into our schedule these days, so even though the gym can be quite boring, we have been forcing ourselves to go. Now that we're on a roll, we both feel healthier, so we need to make sure we keep making it a priority. Our friends Katherine & Dale had baby Matthew on Dec. 20th. He is very cute and snuggly and his birth (a few days early) was the best Christmas gift his parents could ever hope for.



Practicing for Toddlers and Tiaras (just kidding).


Dancing with daddy at Kineta's Holiday Party.


Visiting the Seattle Children's Museum.


Beep beep, coming through.


Poking her head out of the whale.