One Year Appointment

On Wednesday we made it to Evangeline's one year appointment. She got several shots including a Flu Shot and had her blood drawn to check for led and anemia.

Here's her stats. Evangeline is in the 70 percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height. She is growing a normal rate. She weights 21 pounds and is 31 inches tall.

So tired after her shots

We have successfully been breast feeding for a little over a year now, she breast feeds two or three times a day now. Other than that, she will still only eat solid foods that she can feed herself. Right now she loves turkey bacon and green grapes.

She claps when you sing Happy Birthday (we've had a lot of birthdays to celebrate recently) or say "yay," she also says "hi, hello, dada, mama, dog, ball, okk" (which we think is book), "dadt" and points, and recognizes photos of family members including her two grandfathers.

She loves books and to climb into enclosed spaces--especially her castle which we kept in the living room after her birthday party. She shows every new person who comes to the house all her new toys and books. This week she started having a babysitter come for three hours two days a week so mommy and daddy can get some more time to do research at school.

We are still using cloth diapers, although the cleaning process is a bit more of a challenge now that we have at least two solid poop diapers a day. She wears 5 to 7 diapers a day. I wash two or three times a week.

Doctor's appointments are harder on moms than they are on babies I think. Evangeline did not like getting her shots or her blood drawn, but she was pretty resilient. I however felt awful all day for putting her through it. She got a trip to the mall to ride the train to remedy my spirits and hers.

Riding the Columbia Mall Train

So happy!

Two Months

 

Trying out Sophie

She loves Christmas Trees, they lull her to sleep

I love this face, but who wouldn't

With her BFF James

Hobby Horse from Nana (a day coming soon that I will not have to hold her on the horse).

Just a few photos from the past month. We have been really bad about blogging, but Christmas was very busy. Evangeline is now two and a half months old. She is right on schedule development wise (or so the Parents as Teachers instructor said today.) She can hold her head up at 90 degrees, bat at things and is trying to grab things. She loves to look at photos of other babies and herself in the mirror. She weighs 13 pounds and 3 ounces and is wearing size 3 to 6 month clothing. She's about 25 inches long. I am so surprised how fast she is growing up. She smiles, coos and says "ah-rah" a lot. She loves animals with big eyes, and really loved Christmas trees during the Christmas season. I don't know what she'll do when we take ours down this weekend.

I love my little girl and I am so glad to have her as we go into 2012. She was the best Christmas gift I could have ever received.  I know I've said this before, but Greg and I are so lucky to have such awesome family and friends to support us this year. Evangeline does not know yet how much people love her, but I hope she figures it out.

In other news, today she got her first round of shots. She cried but I cried harder. She's been sore since we got home. She was brave.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to do better on this blog. I'd also like to get back to the weight I was at my wedding in 2006 so I can wear all the clothes I have not worn in awhile. I'd love to be a great professor when I start teaching on January 17, and I would like to get better at managing finances.

A Week Over Due Makes You Strong

Committing to natural birth is hard when you are a week overdue.  But we have to stand strong because we love her enough to give her that opportunity.

I really want to wait as long as possible for any interventions into Miss P's birth. It was hard, but today I expressed this to my doctor, who said she was on board for waiting another week. This was an improvement from last week when she said she rarely waits more than a week past the due date to induce.

People have asked me if I am miserable. At first I was really mentally bogged down about her not coming early, or on time. But I'm at peace with waiting now.

I'm feeling great. I've been walking at least a mile a day--most days three or four miles. This weekend that walking added up to close to 20 miles with one long stent with my friend Brenda walking around my neighborhood for almost four hours. We walked to garage sales, the library, the school where Brenda works. Then we walked around a park in her neighborhood the next day.

That said its really hard when you were prepared so far in advance and you are still waiting. I want every pain I feel to be a contraction. I wish my little girl was here already. He closet is full of clothes. The weather is turning colder, I had to take out the few cold weather maternity clothing I have today as the temp is supposed to drop below freezing tonight. People keep asking why she is not here yet.

Honestly I do not know, it's like asking when Jesus is coming back again.

The good news is she is healthy and I am healthy. And there is the constant reminder: babies are not like cartons of milk they do not expire.

That said....
We'll officially go one week past our due date tomorrow. Right now we have one more week till scheduled induction date of October 25th. I can change my mind if I still need more time, but after that, the doctor said she would be really concerned for the baby's health (and my sanity).
No one ever talks about what happens to your morale when you are two weeks late (most babies don't last that long).

I know you are all as anxious as Greg and I are. You want to see what she looks like, know her name, see what she does.... However, Miss P is still taking her sweet time, and that is fine. I need to learn patience. I'm learning that babies come when God wants them to. This is only the beginning. Parenting takes patience and conviction. That said Greg and I still need your support.

Please pray for a safe delivery whenever she comes if that is tomorrow or Tuesday night.
We'll be having an ultra-sound on Friday to confirm that she's still doing ok living in my belly (if she has not arrived yet). I'm hoping we don't have to go and that she comes before then : )
Thanks for all your encouragement.

Patience

Not so sure why I am so set on her coming early.

Perhaps I was thinking because Greg and I were both born early that she might be inclined to be early too? Maybe it is because my feet have begun to swell and my back hurts.

Greg is ready too. He keeps telling me how anxious he is to hold his little girl. He would most likely write this himself if the Mizzou Journalism Ph. D program was not consuming 90 percent of his time right now. I feel like as we get closer to her due date we are finding all sorts of things we have not done yet. I've created a two page list, he's finished one list and made a new list. We cannot help that we are constantly planning I guess.

My parents are flying into town later today to help me prepare and possibly urge Miss P on a little. I like to call it "cheerleading."

I'm trying to wrap up some smaller projects around the house, get all the birthday/anniversary cards sent in the mail and catch up on sleep (as I say this at 2 a.m. awake yet again). Right now I am able to sleep for a little more than six hours at a time before I wake up. People may read this and think I am crazy, but I cannot wait till there is a baby to wake up for.

This morning I woke up and found my Baylor ZTA sorority sister Jen had her baby girl overnight. Part of me wishes I was in the same boat. I am so happy for Jen and her husband Ryan. They will be wonderful parents.

I wish there was something I could do to make Miss P want to arrive. I keep telling myself I have no control over this--and I know I don't.

Someone told me if there are things to get done around the house she might not feel like she can come...but that is really hard when you moved into a house pregnant and still have an office that looks like a junk pile looming around you.

I need prayers for patience. 

I scheduled another doctor's appointment for next Friday (10/14) in case she has not arrived yet. In a lot of ways I feel like a little kid waiting for summer vacation to start.

Give me MO...

This weekend Greg and I went through what I want to call "New Parent Boot Camp." This consisted of Greg's first visit to meet our new doctor at the Women and Children's Hospital, our all day birth class and hospital tour and putting together Miss P's room and crib. Tonight we round it off with our Infant CPR and healthcare class.

After three weeks of organizing, unpacking and painting Greg and I are finally starting to see the end in sight for our house projects. It has been exhausting, but we have loved it. The only room left to paint is our bedroom which Greg will be working on when I head to Texas later this week. This will also be after his presentation at the Journalism Educator's conference (again so proud of him for getting the student paper award). Below are some photos of our living room, two of our bathrooms, and Miss P's room (where I've started on a mural). Three rooms what we worked on during the past two weeks. Greg has done such a great job painting all these rooms and cleaning up after the painting. I am so grateful to have him to share in this journey with.

Living room photo progression...



Bathrooms...



Miss P's Room...

Also for those who remember my sorority sister Kara and her baby James Sikes, this week a baby giraffe was born at the Dallas Zoo and they are petitioning to have her named Jamie after James. The form is available on the Dallas Zoo website or click here.

Ten Weeks

Miss P will be here in just ten weeks! Starting this week I go to the doctor every two weeks. We'll be switching insurance to University of Missouri's in a month and we still have so much to prepare for.

Yesterday I had my glucose test. They have not called yet, which I am hoping is a good sign. I guess my "Just say "not" to Gestational Diabetes" mantra worked? (Knock on wood). It is really hot here, but not as hot as Washington, DC or Texas, so I guess it could be worse. I had to break down and water the lawn yesterday after several days of waiting for rain. Next time I'll try not to be pregnant during the summer.

It's hard to believe she could be here in ten weeks, which is two and a half months.

Greg and I still have so much to do to prepare for her arrival.
I've registered Greg and I for a birthing class, I'm reading Birth Skills by Juju Sundin, I wrote up my birth plan, and we are getting her room ready. Sadly, just when I have adjusted to living in Missouri I'll be adjusting to Miss P's arrival into our family.

Greg returns from DC on Saturday morning and will be here permanently. The next few weeks we'll get him ready to start his new job, finish unpacking our house, finish painting, go to a conference for Journalism Educators in St. Louis (where Greg is receiving an award), and we'll have a yard sale.

Also in August I'll go to Texas for a baby shower for Miss P and get to see my friend Samantha who is coming into town for the baby shower from LA! A lot of exciting stuff.

These last two weeks (in Missouri) have been an adjustment. Life moves a lot slower here. I find myself craving ethnic food like crazy. Earlier this week I went and got Chinese and Indian food, although I wish I could go to Etete (on U Street) and have Ethiopian. Yesterday I heard some people speaking Spanish and it made my day. While there is culture in Columbia it is more difficult to find. In DC I could just get on the bus and hear three different languages. I guess I am experiencing a little culture shock.

That said I do love the culture of hospitality here. I've met some sweet people. I love my new neighbors and our friends the Varners. I am so thankful for all the time they have spent with me while Greg is away. I know I will get to meet some more wonderful people the longer I am here.