Unexpected complications

Today I went in for my 35 wk checkup and ultrasound. I've been getting extra ultrasounds throughout this pregnancy to monitor the baby's kidneys (which were too large) and her growth rate (which was too slow). At today's check up, the kidneys are a-ok which is great news since enlarged kidneys can be a soft indicator for birth defects such as downs syndrome and heart disease. Thankfully it looks like we have nothing to worry on that front.
Unfortunately, the baby's growth rate isn't exactly where the doctor would like it. Despite the fact that Naomi was a small baby (6lbs 10oz and 19 inches) and remains a small toddler (the last we checked she was in the 2% class for weight and 25% for height, the OB was still concerned. Ultimately he had to make a decision to have me deliver today, meaning the baby would probably be in the NICU for awhile, but at least getting the necessary nutrients she needed, or to have me go on bedrest for a week and check to see if that would help get blood flow to the uterus. He ultimately chose bedrest, which is a blessing and a curse. Bedrest is not fun. I've only been officially on bed rest for half of a day and I'm already getting antsy. Not only am I worried about the baby, yes I had a mini meltdown in the car on the way home, I'm literally supposed to be on my back for 99% of the day, not even sitting. I'm allowed to take one bath/shower, go to the bathroom and have meals out of bed. (plus I have a cold and sore throat to boot). After an afternoon in bed, I'm achey from lying down all day, my head hurts, and I'm totally stir crazy! I still have another 6 days to go! And of course I feel like I'm missing out on precious time with Naomi before the baby gets here. Thankfully my parents are here, and Austin is able to get out of work earlier to pick her up from daycare, so she's completely well taken care of. But I am completely envious of Austin as I hear them laughing and singing songs during her bathtime. Hopefully the week will be enough to get baby 2 on track growth wise so I can be back on my feet for the last 4 wks of my pregnancy, and hopefully we'll be able to hold on until the new year until she makes her appearance!

Gifts....its the thought that counts.

Christmas shopping is hard. It's harder when you're in your last month of pregnancy and your husband is using his sickness, a "cold" as an excuse to not come up with any ideas for family members.
Which brings me to the point of this post. A couple years ago, for one of our wedding anniversaries, the traditional gift of that year was Leather. You know, like how on the first year you give paper, and as you get further into the years the gifts go up in stake/value? Like eventually I'll get to my diamond anniversary? lol. Anyway, for the year of leather...Austin got me beef jerky and a 3 slim jims. Yea cause they all come from cows....

Potty Time 3.1....no going back now

Potty training was excellent yesterday. Naomi only had half of an accident, and that was because she couldn't get to the potty in time, so half got on her pants, half in the toilet. On the way home, I wanted to put a diaper on her for the drive home, but she refused and said diapers were for babies, so we went to the potty one last time and braved it home. Thankfully we had no accidents en route.
Once we got home, she sucecssfully went #1 and #2 in her potties before bed and bath.
Surprisingly after her bath, Naomi had no qualms with putting a diaper on for bed.
However, when Austin got into her bedroom this morning, he came into find his 2.5 yr old butt naked. Yes, she had pulled her pants off, untaped her diaper, and was lying in bed naked from the bottom down. She looked at Austin and said, "daddy, I need big girl undies. Diapers are for (baby #2)". Thankfully, she didn't have any accidents and never wet the bed, so Austin took her to the potty where she proceeded to do her business.
Well day 2 started of strong, and there's no going back now that she's decided diapers are for babies. I see a similarity in how she's viewing the advancement to how she viewed her crib. Once she got it in her head that it was time to move on, there was no going back.

Potty Time Part 3

I realized I never blogged about the results of our attempts at potty training several months ago. Long story short, we decided to hold off. She was having a ton of accidents at school and I could tell it was starting to stress her teacher out a bit since she wasn’t grasping the concept as quickly as some of the other kids had when they attempted to train them at school. And given she spends more time at daycare than at home, I didn’t want Naomi to feel any stress and possibly resentment towards the potty. One day she p’ed while she was on the playground and didn’t tell anyone cause she knew it would interrupt her playtime. Eventually one of her teachers found her standing in her own puddle. Gross. They tried to reinforce the idea that we go p.p in the potty. Naomi said, “ok I go pp in the potty”. Five minutes later when her teacher asked her, “Naomi where do we go pp?” Naomi yelled out, “on the playground!!!!” lol.
Anyway after two days of potty training at daycare, we decided to pull the plug and hold off.
Until about a month ago. We started noticing that everytime we got Naomi in the tub, she’d start pee’ing as soon as she got in the water, which would mean draining the tub, and refilling it with fresh water. Finally tired of this game, Austin and I decided to make her sit on the potty each night before bath time, until she pee’ed. The first couple of nights took a LONG time, we plopped her on her potty in front of some nickelodeon shows, or with the iPad. It was a late couple of nights, but each night she would eventually go, get sooo incredibly excited (we had to catch her to wipe her down before she ran around and dripped all over the house), and she received huge, generous prizes. Yea we bribed our kid to go on the potty. Amongst the prizes, a tinkerbell fairy dress, tinkerbell crown, tinkerbell wand, necklace, bracelet, stickers etc.
Each night we noticed she’d take less and less time. And a couple of mornings, Austin would find her with a completely dry diaper and they’d make it to the potty in time for her to do her business then as well.
This past Sunday, in the middle of the day, for the first time, Naomi told me she had to go potty. So we went. I figured she’d just sit there, jump up without going, and go back to playing. But to my surprise, and her excitement, she actually went!
So today, we sent her to daycare with loads of extra clothes, big girl underwear and a lot of good lucks for her teachers. As of 3:30 the status update I’ve had from her teacher? No accidents at all. Tons of potty time though! And Naomi is super excited, and telling all her friends and teachers how her diapers are going to go to her baby sister now.
Anyway, it’s a long post with no pictures, cause really do you want pictures of potty training? Who knew bathroom business could be so exciting!! It’s just the beginning, but it’s terribly exciting to know we’re getting somewhere with this potty business.

A simple prayer

A simple prayer by a 2.5 yr old:

"Dear God, thank you and please take care of Everyone Amen"

Naomi's Snowman

At Daycare, Naomi's class colored snowmen for their class wall. The teachers then wrote their names on the snowmen with each kid's birthday. Naomi loves to color. In fact she loves anything artistic, that has to do with crafts. Guess she gets that from her graphic designer daddy. Anyway, with this particular snowman, she worked so hard on it that her teachers had to finally tell her she could only color for 2 more minutes because it was time to move on to the next activity and put all the crayons away. Can you guess which snowman was hers?

Of course there are good days too..

I feel like most of my posts referring to our morning routines insinuate that they're always rough, chaotic, fully of tantrums, etc. They're really not. Yes we have our off days, and there are days when Austin struggles to get Naomi to school on time without tears....but there are days where from the minute Naomi wakes up, she's excited, rearing to go, helpful, and just completely happy. Yesterday was one of those days. Thank goodness. After two rough mornings, and only 2 days on his new job, Austin needed a break. Here's to hoping for more good days than bad!

- Naomi waving bye to her daddy from daycare

- Naomi ready to go to school!