Thoughts as the 2nd child time draws near

Cadence is teething. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean she'll have a new tooth any time soon. It just means she's fussy, we're going through Orajel and Tylenol like they're... Dr Pepper (I'd say water, but I think Dr Pepper is the humorous alternative answer in our household...). And, it also means she's woken up an hour after going down at bedtime needing me to rock her back to sleep. I don't mind. I'm more than willing to turn off all the lights in the front room, wrap her up in her favorite blanket, and lay on the couch with her. There's something too sweet about how she'll hold on to my shirt or my hair or just have her hand against my cheek to make sure I'm still there as she goes back to sleep.

She's getting so big. Tomorrow, we're replacing her infant carseat carrier with a convertible car seat in the car (James'll bring up the base with him tonight after work). She is officially too long for her infant carrier. I remember when, even with the head rest inserted, the car seat dwarfed her.

I am going through the typical second-time-mom-to-be fears of "how am I going to be a good mom to two of them at once!?!" It really kinda hits me when Cadence shows signs of needing her mommy (like tonight) that I may not be able to so readily respond to her come December. I know she'll be more independent at 1 year old, she already gets more and more independent as time goes by, and I know once she's walking... Still, what about if/when they get sick at the same time? I can already see myself banning James to the couch so that I can cuddle both of my little girls at the same time in our bed.

Cadence is turning into a daddy's girl, at least, so perhaps she'll be more willing to let him do all those small things that currently only I'm allowed to do (like put her to bed). She loves, James, though. When he first wakes up and she sees him for the first time all day, she just lights up and wants to be held by him and nobody else. And now that she's really interacting, James is growing into the daddy role quite well. It's not uncommon to walk by Cadence's room and find James on his belly growling at her and her growling back.

I'm both excited and nervous to welcome Megan into our family. I'm pretty sure it's completely normal. It seems most experienced moms I talk to say the 2nd one can be harder than the 1st at times, but once you get the hang of it, 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on are nothing. I just wonder how I'll handle it. I felt semi-confident in my abilities to handle the changes Cadence would bring, but after having survived Cadence, I am not nearly as confident in my abilities to handle these changes. I must be capable, though, or Heavenly Father wouldn't have told us it was the right thing for our family. Still... Nervous and excited. That's where I'm at right now.

Cadence and I about 20 minutes after she was born
(it seemed appropriate tonight):

Why mommies are the bestest!!!

My mommy is officially the best mommy in the world. Seriously, if I want to compete for that title, I have to step up (sorry, other mommies, you just can't compete with my mommy!)

As promised for the past week, my mom came over armed with PineSol, scrub pads, pizza, and soda. It took 3 hours of solid work, but my kitchen is so spotless I'm afraid to cook in it! The counters are literally sparkling (yay glossy finish!). The floor is spotless. The oven is clean. Heck, she even pulled out my oven and fridge and swept behind and underneath them (she also unearthed four slices of cheese... luckily they were individually wrapped). All my dishes are done. The microwave's spotless. The stove-top is clean.

I mean, I helped, but juggling a fussy, teething, clingy Cadence limited my help to clearing off counters, doing dishwasher dishes, and scrubbing out the microwave. I did manage to get my bathtub clean and sparkling again, while my mom distracted Cadence before her bathtime. And I got the trash taken out, and the bathroom floor swept, under the sink cleaned and organized, the sink top cleared off (not washed, but clean enough for now). Tomorrow, I may even be motivated enough by my sparkly tub and kitchen to get on my hands and knees and clean that toilet top to bottom and get it to match the rest of the place during Cady's nap.

My front room was also picked up, a cluttered bookshelf cleared, the entire floor vaccuumed, and everything put in its place. The computer desk is cleared off. I felt motivated enough to really clean Cadence's highchair (as in more than just wipe it down real fast). My pantry is organized.

Even the bedrooms are clean, though that was done earlier. I was just so motivated thinking my mom would be coming over to help clean up teh front rooms for me, I had enough energy to focus my attention on the two bedrooms instead and get them looking pretty tidy (far from perfect, but you can see the floor in my bedroom!)

I've always felt I've done well at keeping the apartment presentable, but having several areas deep cleaned all at once, tasks I simply don't have time to do every day, or even every other day... Freaking amazing feeling. I'm sitting at my computer desk looking around and grinning. It's so pretty! My mommy's the bestest!!!

Standing and Stuff

So Cadence surprised both James and I two days ago. I was using my fingers to help her stand, when, for whatever reason, she let go. I think we both realized it at about the same time. She looked as startled as I was that she was standing without holding on to anything. I had just enough time to get James's attention so he could see before she waved her arms excitedly and toppled forward (right in to me, so no harm there!)

Then, when I was telling James's family about her latest trick, though she hadn't repeated it yet, I impulsively wiggled my fingers free from her grasp. She got a very grumpy look on her face when she realized I'd let go, but still stood long enough for James's grandma and sister to see and respond with the appropriate delight.

She hasn't done it since. She's too determined to be moving to bother standing still long enough to find her balance. Butthead. And since both times weren't on purpose in any way shape or form, we're not saying she knows how to stand yet. But... she's almost there, if she'd hold still long enough. Haha.

A few days ago I got her bedroom rearranged. We're still seriously looking into moving after November, but until then, I moved things around so that the dresser AND fan were closer to Cadence's bed so that the fan can actually do it's job and cool HER off, rather than the opposite end of the room. We also hung curtains, though our lease expressly forbids them (it also forbids barbecues, but the assistant manager has one sitting on her porch). Her room has stayed relatively cool since, thank goodness. Now I don't feel bad putting her down for her afternoon nap. Also, if we do end up staying here, the space is already prepared to add a toddler bed or second crib when the times comes (until then, it's filled with the bassinet, which is filled with stuffed animals).

And, happily, I've reached my favorite stage of pregnancy: I can feel movement pretty regularly. Today, Megan squirmed through the entire first half of the Relief Society lesson, which was awkward, because it was the very low, almost ticklish squirms, which in turn had me squirming each time I felt it. It's still pretty cool, though. According to articles, she's about 10 inches long already, probably about half her birth length! Kinda crazy to think there's 10 inches of baby squirming around in there. Of course, it was kinda crazy to see Cadence for the first time and realized she'd been in there, too...

Just Pictures (they're cute ones!)

Mmm, Mommy made beef stew (it was yummy, apparently!):

Cady's new noise-making toy. The girl's in heaven:

We have a Name!

So, after compiling a list of possible forerunners, with my eye frequently falling on more unusual names like Talia and Caren (CAHR-in), we finally chose one with meaning:

Megan Ruth

Megan means "pearl", which anyone who knows me must admit that is probably the perfect meaning for a daughter of mine. And Ruth is not only Dama's middle name (see side panel for who "Dama" is), but it was a middle name given to her that has special meaning to James's grandfather. I don't know the whole story, but I do know a woman with the same name as James's mom was very important to him. As this is a man James respects and who I have come to think of very fondly over the past few years, we felt this was the perfect middle name to pass on.

It must be the right name, too, because before James and I even officially agreed "this is it", I slipped and began calling Parasite by the name Megan, because it felt so natural to do so once the name was discussed. So, there it is. And though I feared we'd never truly pick out a name until December, I think this one may actually stick.

Belly Shot - July

Finally, there's something starting to show, lol! I put June 15th and July 15th up for comparison. I am 19 weeks as of today (Okay, I admit, July's was taken this morning on the 16th, not the 15th, but for the sake of uniformity, we'll lie and say it was the 15th). It's not much to show off, but it is there. Yay, Parasite, grow, baby, grow!

Putting away for later

The onesies I'd been dressing Cadence in for the past 8 months were, er, getting a tad small. She can still squeeze into the NB sizes, but they strained a bit at the snaps with how long she's grown. So, I pulled out the box of hand-me-downs that I'd packed away for being too big and pulled most of them out. I was given a lot of clothes for NB and 0-3 months and a lot of clothes for 6-9 months, but only a handful of 3-6 months. I'd worry more about the lack of proper fitting clothes, but many of the ones that are just labeled "3 months" fit perfectly, and she is in just a diaper more often than not anyway in this heat.

So, laundry was washed the other day and I finally pulled the hamper of clean clothes out to sort through. I'd done a quick sort through of her dresser (which was mostly empty when I finally got around to it), but the bulk of the sorting went on as I folded clean laundry. I very carefully folded each too-small piece and put them into a box.

It was so strange to do so. I'd hold a tiny NB sized onesie that I have pictures of Cadence wearing, when she was so tiny and even that small onesie was too big on her. Then, it would hit me that in 5 months, I'll be pulling them all back out again to dress someone else in Cadence's old clothes. Another little person is going to be enveloped in the slightly too-large onesies and staring up at me in that disgruntled newborn way.

For some reason, the idea of meeting and falling in love with Parasite is so much more surreal than meeting and falling in love with Cadence ever was. Folding those tiny onesies into Cadence's dresser before she was even born was sweet, a little surreal, but not nearly as surreal as folding those tiny clothes and thinking of a second little girl wearing them. So very weird... but in a very nice way.

Camping Photos

Shortly after posting my last blog entry, James's mom and brother showed up with our stuff. They were more than gracious enough to take down our tent and everything and bring it down with them so we could get Cadence home as quickly as possible last night. My camera was tucked safely with my book, so here are pictures (not as many as I'd have liked, sorry):

At Chick-Fil-A before we left, enjoying the tasty treat Jenny had given her

Hanging out in the playpen so mommy had so hands-free time

Daddy cooking up the yummy corn

Uncle Jon flying is impromptu "kite" (plastic bag with duct tape to patch a hole, and yarn for a kite string)

Camping with Infants 101

I know I promised pictures, but the camera was abandoned in the midst of our midnight flight from the campsite.

Nothing really went according to plan. Originally, we had our eye on a great little camping site just north of Kernville, but when I went to reserve it online they wanted an extra $20 in booking fees. In hindsight, totally would have been worth it. We ended up in a semi-shady, short-hike from the river site in the Lower Kern, which was considerably warmer than the nice, shady, sit-by-the-river spot we'd been eyeing in the Upper Kern. It wasn't a bad spot. It was just warm.

Too warm for Cadence. I'd imagined our nice cool spot, with the tent able to be a haven for Cadence to roll around in. However, our site had our tents pitched up a hill and a bit away from the main part of the site. So, it was either the playpen or being held. And as the heat wore on, Cadence got less flirtatious and happy to play with everyone and more fussy and wanting to be held by only me. She did well, at first, eating crackers, staring wide-eyed at the river, and sucking down some water-down ice cold juice her Dama had bought when I mentioned she'd been guzzling samples of the same stuff earlier (the organic juices at the Farmers Market, apple pomegranate. The girl likes pomegranate, lol)

After working with her for a few hours, we finally loaded her up in the car and took her into Lake Isabella for some air conditioning until the campsite cooled down. She was back to her happy self for awhile after that, except then she was tired, and she fought going to sleep. She is a breeze to put down at home, but it takes a little more work when we're elsewhere. However, even then, I think I have an easier time than many, so...

She ate baked potato, gummed graham crackers, got a tiny taste of marshmallow, loved fresh corn on the cob (cut off the cob). The pork James and I had bought and seasoned for the trip was left in the ice chest, but James did grill up the corn I'd bought (fresh from the Farmers Market, yummy!) and we feasted on cold fried chicken that his mom had brought up with her. After Cadence's nap marshmallows were roasted, but I think the heat had gotten to us all by then. I had only one s'more before trying to put Cadence to bed, and James's mom and sister weren't far behind me in following me up to the tents.

We'd brought up Cady's old bassinet. She'd fit well enough when we tried her out in it a few weeks ago, but apparently she's grown since then, so it was a tight fit. She loved that she could pop up over the edge and see me sitting there, though, which made putting her to sleep hard, but I finally did and then joined James at the campfire for the mandatory relaxing by the fire and looking up at the stars. My all time favorite part of camping.

Cadence woke up an hour later. Screaming right as 10pm (quiet time) came around. The ranger had assured us we wouldn't be in trouble for it, and many people were still talking around campfires, but I still felt bad. She finally settled fitfully for sleep right next to me. I didn't bother with the bassinet. We temporarily switched back to co-sleeping. She slept a little better, but at 11:30 she was awake again and nothing would soothe her. This time she wasn't fussing, she was full on screaming. Oops. After fighting with her for awhile, James and I accepted the inevitable, woke his mom to tell her (we'd already made iffy plans if this became the case), packed up our stuff as much as possible, grabbed Cady's blanket and formula, and came home.

Cadence slept beautifully. Except for a brief fuss fest at 6:30am (which I got up to make a bottle but in the time it took me to do that she'd settled back to sleep), she slept from midnight to 8:30.

So we've learned: 1) Pay the freaking booking fee, even if it is more expensive then the camping fee itself. 2) With reservations in advance, don't worry about showing up until the hottest part of the day is over. 3) Have Cadence used to sleeping other places and not needing routine to sleep well. 4) Never forget chapstick with sunscreen, especially when one is prone to always sunburning one's lips (ow, poor me!)

Ultrasound

I didn't get the "money shot" to scan in and let you all sweat it. I was going to simply post a copy of said "money shot" and let everyone guess. However, the doctor simply told us in passing. Kinda a let down. No fanfare, drum roll, big smile. Just a matter of fact, "Wanna know the gender?" "Sure!" "Okay, ___"

Haha. Hate me yet?

Hmm, Parasite's growing on track. Estimated due date from measurements at December 13th, so only a day or two behind what was expected, and ultrasounds at this late of date tend to be off. So, Parasite's doing just fine. Weighed in at just under 8oz. Heart beating away at 151 bpm, so good, strong, steady heartbeat. Two legs, two arms, all internal organs doing well. Brain developing properly. No abnormalities. Really, that's what this ultrasound was intended for was to measure things and make sure all developed properly. I wasn't worried, but, well, we do have a few family members with some developmental problems, so now I don't even have to worry about the slight chance that those'd be passed on. Nothing serious, but...

Oh yes, the whole reason I was anxious and eager for this ultrasound. I could've cared less that both right and left kidney are the right size and functioning. Well, I do care.

Are you guys sick of my rambling yet?

Sad story: When James and I got home, Cadence had busted her lip open again and now her entire lip is swollen way bad. Poor girl. Luckily, I had the tylenol in my purse, so we gave her that. Hopefully it'll help the swelling go down and she should be fine tomorrow. Ooh, we're going camping tomorrow night too. Should have some cute picture of Cadence eating dirt or a bug when we get back. We're making smores. I wonder how she'd react to that?

Okay, okay...

Parasite is... a girl

Did you highlight it to see? Haha...

We survived

Well, thank goodness! It looks like Cadence and I have survived her first cold. It was touch and go for awhile, but after only two sleepless nights and one semi-sleepless night, Cadence slept her full ten hours (uninterrupted again) and woke up with just the slightest bit of a stuffy nose. She hasn't coughed all morning and eagerly sucked down her full morning bottle (which did have a final dose of medicine hidden in it). I'm also feeling a bit better. A mild raw feeling to my throat, but I can swallow without wincing again.

Phew!

Still need to keep an eye on things. We thought we'd caught this cold from my youngest sister, but she was diagnosed with strep the other day. Made me nervous, but much of my research suggests that we didn't catch that after all, since both Cadence and I had other cold symptoms as well. Plus, we're outside the "normal" age range for kids that catch that (apparently, Cadence should still have an immunity she picked up from me before she was born and while breastfeeding). If she has a sudden surge in symptoms, though... that girl is getting dragged back to the doctor's office.

On a completely unrelated note: Parasite's awake right now, lol.

Cady's First Cold

Well, with breastfeeding no longer pumping up her immune system, Cadence has finally gotten her first virus. She picked up a cold from her aunt, and in turn gave it to me. Bleh.

We're surviving, somehow. Cadence is pretty much kept doped up on regular doses of Tylenol to keep the fever and resulting headache at bay, and to keep the inflammation down in her throat. She's getting lots of popsicles to soothe her poor throat, and she's unfortunately banned from most finger foods that she's so fond of, though she doesn't know why I refuse to give her the saltines.

I'm in total survival mode right now. She's not sleeping well at night, which means I've had a grand total of 6 hours of sleep over the past two nights, and no more than 2 of those were consecutive. I'm unsure if my headache is fever related or from the lack of sleep. Either way, I finally broke down and took some Tylenol myself.

Cadence is napping today and doing relatively well so far. She got two hours this morning, during which I also crashed. And fought the 2nd nap, but eventually was too tired to fight anymore. My sister's already over the worst of her cold, so there is an end in sight. We have at most another day or two of this.

My mommy's great, by the way. When it took me two hours to get a very tired, very sore, very fussy Cadence to finally cry enough to be too exhausted to fight sleep anymore, my mommy came over as soon as she could once I called her up in tears. By the time she got here, I'd finally won the battle with Cadence, but she did bring me comfort food (egg rolls and mozzarella sticks from Jack in the Box). There's nothing like comfort food to help you relax after a tough day. I'd managed to get dishes done and the living room cleaned up before she got here, so I was able to sit and chat with her and stuff my face with unhealthy food and unwind before climbing into bed (or at least trying to... Cadence woke up and it was another 3 hours before I was finally able to fall asleep). Mommy's are so great.

Pudding Face

Okay, so... after watching Cadence fill up on yet another round of saltine crackers and cereal puffs last night, I searched high and low for something new to let her try. I try to give her something new and fun every now and then so she doesn't get bored with the high chair. I ended up eyeing the last bit of chocolate pudding James had made. I know it contains a butt load of milk and dairy is discouraged and blah blah blah, but... She sure loved it! She's so used to finger foods, though, she kept trying to grab globs and get those to her mouth. She didn't even think to lick her fingers until much later.

Messy girl, lol!

Fireworks and almost ER trip

Happy fourth of July! :-) We kept Cadence up a little (okay, a lot) later than usual so she could see the fireworks that her uncle and Papa set off. When she was less sleepy and it wasn't so dark, she was fascinated by the little teasers they were playing with. However, when they pulled out the bigger, namely the louder, ones and she was now an hour past bedtime, she was not too happy. When they started popping loudly she started crying. So we covered her ears and she would stare in a sleepy, fascinated sort of way. By the end, she was spending half the time laying against my shoulder wanting to sleep, but something kept her awake. I think it was that it was dark, and to her that's "bedtime", but she wasn't in her crib, so it wasn't time to fall asleep yet. Poor confused little girl.

But... James and I had our first little scare today. We were sitting in our living room and James suddenly says: "Uhh... Sarah?" I turned from the computer and Cadence is spitting out blood and screaming. Okay, I freaked, lol. I grabbed wipes and tried to find the source of the problem. James explained he's simply set her down and she started crying. I'm having nightmare scenarios running through my head of her swallowing something when we didn't notice and the change in position causing it to cause damage. We decide to go to the E.R. I had to call my mom and ask for the $50 co-pay because we didn't have it (which had me near tears as well. I felt so helpless when I realized we couldn't pay for her medical care at such an important time. In the future, I'll remember we do have money in savings... it just totally slipped my mind, for obvious reasons).

As we were driving, James explained in more detail what had happened. He'd set her down and she'd reached for him, jerked around and then began screaming. With new details in hand, I bent over her to examine her mouth. By this point, she was cooing and smiling like nothing was wrong, though blood was drying around her lips. I pinpointed the problem. Her new bottom teeth had somehow cut through the bit of skin that went from her upper lip to her gums. I swear to you, I was so relieved to find the problem, or to realize it was basically nothing. She'll have a tender lip and gums for a few days, but popsicles and tylenol should keep the worst of it down. We called my mom and told her the E.R. trip was no longer necessary, which she was relieved to hear.

I admit, I freaked out, lol. James managed to keep pretty cool and calm, so thank goodness he was around when it happened! If I'd been home alone with no car, I probably would have fallen apart.

On the not so positive side, it seems Cady's yeast infection is complete. I suspect she might have oral thrush now, which is funny, because normally the thrush comes before the diaper rash. But, it's one of those things that will go away if I follow certain habits that I'd gotten a little lax on.

What a crazy day...

Oh, and on one final side note: Doctor appointment, ultrasound, and possible gender determination this upcoming Monday morning. Exciting!

Documented Proof!

Aha, so I have proof that Cady's suddenly fussy, extra hungry, extra clingy stage was a growth spurt. I took her in for a quick doctor's appointment today about a diaper rash that wasn't going away (turned out to be a yeast infection, poor girl). The girl has gained a full pound in the 2 weeks since her last doctor's appointment.

She's putting on the weight before she starts to sprout another inch or two. I think that's how I read things worked. Put on the weight, get taller, put on more weight, grow even taller. Back and forth. She's only gained a quarter inch in height. Her head grew, too, but only by .2 inches.

I dunno, considering she only gained 2 1/2 pounds in the 2 1/2 months between her last two appointments, a full pound in 2 weeks is pretty impressive, lol. Her monthly average in 2 weeks. I feed her too good. It's probably all the mashed potatoes and stuffing I feed her... Or the otter pops her dad spoils her with.