1 Year Check Up

Today was Miss C's one year check up. Our girl weights 19.8 pounds and is 28.5 inches long. We are slowly recovering that weight she lost while sick. She still has an ear infection but the antibiotics are working. We'll go back in a couple of weeks to make sure all is well.

Here are some of the basics we covered...

What she is eating...a lot and mostly what we eat. We'll be transitioning to cows milk now and that has me a little freaked out because of the reactions she had to milk when she was first born. But she's been eating cheeses and other foods with diary in them for awhile now without incident so hopefully it will be ok. One of her favorite foods is cottage cheese so I think if she can eat that gross food she can do milk. We've also been transitioning to using a cup and she only uses a bottle in the morning and evening. And she loves using a fork or spoon to feed herself so at meal time we let her feed herself whenever possible with either utensil.

What is she doing now...being an adventurous child exploring everything. She is not walking but I anticipate that one day she will just walk...no trial and error. Here are some of the other things she is doing...

• Right now she loves, loves, loves all of her push toys and anything she can push around and walk behind.
• She is also very musically inclined and loves to sing, dance and create her own music. Miss Amy got her a xylophone for her birthday which she LOVES banging on.
• We are also getting pretty good at turning the lights on and off and pushing elevator buttons.
• Miss C also waves hello and good-bye and makes some sound that could be hi and bye but it could also be turtle for all I know.
• The other gestures she does is blowing kisses and this hand thing to itsy bitsy spider that is definitely for the song but I am not if it's "down came the rain" or "out came the sun" or both.
• One of her favorite gestures is pointing to what she wants and if it's food she will also say More! I think we might be the first parents I know whose child's first clear word is More. And it's very different from MaMa and sounds more like Moa.
• Miss C is also hugging and kissing now and will lean into people she wants to hug. We are having to watch that because she LOVES hugging and kissing babies and gets all excited around them.
• She also likes to flip head first from the sofa into her birthday chair. Seriously she is nuts...she will scale the chair to get on the sofa and then will go head first and flip over. We have to watch this carefully.

Overall, the appointment went well and she is on track in every way. We are truly blessed to have such a healthy little girl. The only draw back to the appointment was the shots which she was not a fan of but she got over those quickly when we got home and Miss Amy and Lisa were here.

Not sure what to do about that

There are all kinds of developmental milestones that Miss C has reached that make me so proud...rolling over, sitting up, drinking from a cup, feeding herself, waving, blowing kisses, etc. I swell with the pride I feel. She is so smart and spirited which I truly love.

One of my biggest fears though is that my smart and spirited child will be a holy terror to deal with and the kind of kid no one else wants to be around. I don't want to squash her spirit but I do want to guide her in the right direction. I am just not sure how.

Like now for instance. She has started pushing other kids in response to their trying to use a toy she is playing with or wants to play with. This happened with Mia when they were playing with her toys a couple of times and then it happened again tonight when SP's nephew tired to play with her new birthday toy.

I must admit, I am not sure how to handle that other than to tell her we don't push, remove her from the situation if necessary and feel embarassed that my kid just mugged my niece. What would you do?

1 Year Pictures with Mia

Aunt Dawn and Mia came up today and we took the girls to get their pictures made. Here are some of the highlights...and lowlights of that photo shoot.

Sentimental

I probably should write Miss C's birth story when I am not tired and feeling a bit more sentimental. The good part is that I can revise that story whenever I want...and will.

Her birthday was great. SP and I woke her up by singing her Happy Birthday! I then gave her a play-by-play on our way to day care of where I was last year. Like, "This time last year Mommy was getting an epidural."

At day care they made her a construction paper crown and gave her cake at lunch in celebration of her big day. I went and got her early from day care and took her around to see all my work friends so they could love all over her.

For dinner Miss C told me she wanted to go to her favorite pizza place, Mio's. So that is where we went. We then went to the toy store and Daddy and Jake picked her out a couple of new toys.

It was a fun day. I was not as sappy as I thought I would be, but I was still a little sad that my little girl is growing up.

Birth Story for Miss C - 2-20-08

Dear Baby Girl,
Every year Granny tells me all about the day I was born and this year I started the same tradition with you. We sat together in the dim light of your room with you cuddled up close to me and this is what I said...

It was snowing the day you were born. Big fat flakes that coated everything. I remember watching them swirl out the hospital window while I awaited your arrive. The snow was what brought us to the hospital because Mom was afraid if she waited much longer she would get stuck on the side of the interstate and I didn't want to deliver you on the side of the road.

I had been anticipating your arrival for many days as I missed my due date (2/16) and then had a false alarm (2/18) which both left me very sad because I was really looking forward to meeting you. You just weren't ready to make your arrival yet. I think you were waiting until Cousin Mia got here because the day she was born (2/19) Mommy started to see signs that you were planning to arrive.

Despite losing my mucus plug during the day, the evening of the 19th went pretty much as normal. It was a Tuesday so Daddy and I watched The Biggest Loser and he made dinner. I bounced for awhile on the exercise ball thinking that might coax you into coming and this time it seemed to work.

At around 11 PM I started to feel a little uncomfortable, but to be honest baby girl, Mommy was a little uncomfortable during the majority of her pregnancy so this didn't immediately make me think you were coming. By midnight the uncomfortable feeling was in Mommy's belly like cramps and in Mommy's back like a bad back ache. Sometimes in both places at the same time.

So I took a shower to try and easy the discomfort. I woke Daddy. We didn't know what to do. It was all so confusing and so exciting. I was nervous. Daddy timed my contractions for me and when we thought they were around 5 minutes apart I called the doctor.

The doctor on call told Mommy that she didn't think I should come in because she would likely send me back home. She didn't think I sounded like I was in that much pain because I was laughing. What she didn't understand was that Mommy sometimes laughs when she is nervous and I was very nervous.

Mommy listened to the doctor and stayed home even though she didn't want to. I also didn't want to be sent home again either. So for the next few hours hours Mommy tried to relax as the contractions increased in frequency and pain. Daddy rubbed Mommy's back with Copper's slobbery tennis ball. It was gross but it worked a little.

I did all the breathing I had been practing for months. Calming counts of inhaling 1...2...3...4...5...all the way to 20 and then exhaling 1...2...3...4...5...over and over again. I then took a bath. After the bath I lay on Jake's bed and listened to the my labor and delivery music on my iPod.

Mommy is not going to lie to you, it was uncomfortable and there were moments when I'd bury my face in the pillow and scream a little. I tried my best to stay relaxed and breathe through the pain.

In the end I decided it was time to go to the hospital. It had started to snow and was approaching rush hour. Mommy's contractions had also started to become more severe to the point where I was throwing up.

No amount of relaxing breathing could change the weather, the traffic or the vomiting. So I woke Daddy and we got ready to go. Since we had our trial run a couple of days before and because Granny, Grampy, Nana and Papa had all been at the hospital in Louisville for Cousin Mia's arrival we held off on calling anyone in case it was another false alarm.

We grabbed my bag, a puke bag and headed off to the hospital. By this time Daddy was tracking my contractions at 3 minutes apart and they were both light (more easy to tolerate) and heavy(the kind with puking).

I remember Daddy parking in the snow covered valet lot and commenting there was no valet to park our car at 5 AM. We opted to not take the elevator for expecting mom's that is decorated with a stork.

On the 9th floor of Good Samaritian Hospital we went to triage where they hooked Mommy up to all kinds of monitors and checked to see how dilated I was. The contractions were still coming. I was still puking and Daddy was amazing. He was there with me the whole time and it was so comforting to have him there.

I knew that if I was not 4 cm dilated they would send me home. Mommy so did not want to go home. Thankfully, when the nurse checked, I was 4 cm and they said I could stay! We started calling everyone to let them know you were coming.

We moved at this point to the labor and delivery room. This was the room we stayed in until an hour after you were born. Everything was done in this room. It was where I got my epidural at 8 AM, 9 hours after I first started feeling discomfort. It was where Nana Barb, Nana Sue and Papa and Granny all came to hang out with me and Daddy while we waited for you to come.

Most of the time Mommy just rested while listening to her iPod. The epidural made all the pain and vomiting go away and I was able to just enjoy the moment. Daddy watched the contractions come and go on the monitor and Jennifer, our nurse, got the room set up for your arrival.

Dr. Smith came in periodically to check on me to see how far along I was. He broke my water at some point and gave me pitocin to help speed up the delivery.

A little before 12 the room was cleared and it was just Jennifer, Daddy and Me. I started pushing which was extremely difficult because I couldn't feel anything from the waist down. But I pushed and Daddy helped me count. I pushed and pushed.

Then Dr. Craig came back and at 1:01 PM you were born. Daddy saw you first but the moment you were delivered I felt this intense rush of emotions that flooded out in my tears. You were beautiful and Dr. Craig laid you on my belly so that I could see you more clearly.

Daddy and I loved you instantly and that day, that moment will forever be etched in Mommy's brain. I will never forget the way you sucked your little fingers almost immediately. I will never forget looking over and seeing Daddy with you while Jennifer got you all cleaned up and hearing him say how big your feet were. I will never forget you being placed in my arms and leaning down to kiss your sweet little face.

I love you baby girl. Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Year in Review

NOTE: I tried to fix all the spacing but after doing it multiple times I am over it. Sorry.