Crazy Hair

Quinn was such a bald baby for so long that it's hard to believe that she has as much hair as she does.  And even then it's not a ton of it...but is it ever crazy!  It's quite curly, especially around her ears and the back of it that it gets puffy and frizzy.  So much so that now I put it in pigtails or a ponytail.  Q's starting to tolerate having her hair done a bit better...usually I have to give her one of the other hair brushes to hold while I'm putting in the elastics.  The pigtails are just too cute though!

I forgot to mention last week how great Quinn is doing with knowing what different animals say.  Here are the highlights:
- cow - "mmmmmmmoooo" (she draws out the 'm')
- duck - "gahhhhhh" (more of a growl)
- kitty - "mmoooooow" (sounds a lot like 'moo')
- doggy - "woof woof"
- puppy - *panting* (apparently puppies and doggies say different things)
- birdie - "teet teet"
- monkey - "ah ah"

She's also good at saying "ball" and today said "circle" pretty well.  Her vocabulary astounds us every day.  She'll just all of a sudden spout off a word that you never expected!  She's been saying "bye" for a while and the other day started saying "s-ya" (see ya)...she just runs the syllables together.

I also forgot to mention that we had a good result on Yoda's anatomy ultrasound when we saw our midwife the other week.  All of the measurements were great and there weren't any abnormalities reported, so we breathed a huge sigh of relief.  Hopefully that means that we don't have to have any other ultrasounds unless completely necessary.  Yay!

How far along? 23 weeks 6 days
Total weight gain: 20 lbs as of yesterday...I managed to get rid of a pound this week!
Maternity clothes? Yup and comfy as ever.  Wearing the same size in everything and haven't had to change sizes at all.  Still have some tops that I bought after Q was born that are still fitting though Stretch marks? Nope! Knock on wood!
Best moment this week: Watching my belly jump as Yoda got the hiccups for the first time
Miss anything: Being able to climb stairs without getting out of breath
Movement: Definitely!
Food cravings: None this week that come to mind
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week
Have you started to show yet: The bump is out in full force
Gender: Team Green
Labor Signs: Nope and the Braxton-Hicks have been at bay all week
Belly Button in or out? In, but looking weird!
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! It's been a good week :)
Looking forward to: Going to NS and showing off Q and the growing belly :)

"Turtoe"

Our little girl is a babbling machine!!!  This week's new words include "turtoe" (turtle) and "happy".  She also started saying "yes" occasionally instead of always "yep"...and also sometimes says "danks" (thanks) when prompted.  She's definitely good with "pease", so thanks is on its way.  This morning when I gave her her sippy cup of juice at breakfast (another words that she can say - "joos"), she said please when asked, then said "danks" without being prompted.  That was definitely a first!

Q has also started to twirl.  About a week or so ago we noticed that she'd spin around in a circle like she was dancing.  Then she started doing it on demand...and now when she does on her own, she says "turl" as she spins.  Super cute!

Quinn's also getting used to being around babies since we get together with a friend of ours with a 3 month old at least once a week.  She's getting used to being very gentle and today was showing the baby all the toys on his play bar.  I hope that she keep this up when it's her own little baby brother or sister!

Our Valentine

Now onto the Yoda update...

When I was pregnant with Quinn, I developed pubic symphysis dysfunction that ultimately ended up in me having to go on modified work hours and then on early sick leave as it became too painful to do my job.  I thought that maybe part of the reason why that had happened was because I had gained so much weight (around 67 lbs by the time that I gave birth) and wasn't active during my pregnancy.  This time around, I promised myself that I wouldn't gain as much weight and that I would maintain my activity level to try to have the healthiest pregnancy and hopefully avoid unnecessary pain.  Well, all that changed last Monday when I started to get some of that familiar pubic symphysis pain.  Although this time, it's presenting in a different area of my pelvis and is actually more painful than what I had with Quinn.  I asked my midwife about it when I saw her on Wednesday, and she said that it unfortunately looks like I'm just predisposed to having this happen.  So discouraging!  I keep trying to stay active throughout and it's usually OK during the day if I'm keeping busy...I just find that by the time things are winding down at night that that is when it usually hits.  Really sucks to try to get comfortable to sleep while saying "ow" all the time.  Also, heartburn is starting to get me down.

We did have a great midwife appointment last Wednesday!  We met our second midwife, Amy, who will be at the birth.  Just to say again about why you have 2 midwives at your birth - your primary midwife (ours is Grace) is the one who delivers your baby and looks after the mother...delivers the placenta, does any repairs "down there", etc.  Your second miwife (Amy) is the one who looks after the baby...gets him/her weighed, helps with the initial latching for breastfeeding, and all other things baby.  Also, if your primary midwife can't attend the birth for some reason, then your second midwife takes her role on and your third midwife (we don't know who that is yet) steps in for your second.  It's really nice to know who will be there for the birth of your baby.  Our second midwife from Quinn's birth is taking some time off to have her own family, but it would have been nice to have her because we really liked her.

Anyway, here's the weekly update!
How far along? 23 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 21 lbs as of yesterday...I definitely need to reel it in this week...not happy!
Maternity clothes? I packed away all of my pre-pregnancy sweaters on the weekend
Stretch marks? Nope! Using 2 different creams on different areas
Best moment this week: Hearing Yoda's heartbeat at our midwife appointment (last week)- 140 bpm
Miss anything: Not being in pain :(
Movement: Definitely!  Our nightly dances continue!
Food cravings: Last week it was molasses...and carbs...so I made brown bread and some ginger molasses cookies :)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week
Have you started to show yet: You can definitely tell that I'm pregnant!
Gender: Team Green
Labor Signs: Not as many Braxton-Hicks this week, which is nice!
Belly Button in or out? In, but getting flatter!
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! It's been a good week :)
Looking forward to: Continued pregnancy fun...and hopefully less pain and heartburn!

"Where's Mama's Baby?"

The fun times continue at the Oakey household!  Quinn is learning new things every day at a crazy pace and is constantly expanding her vocabulary.  Here are her new words:

• Buppy (when she says "Grampy"...better than the growling that she used to do)
• "box" (blocks)
• "dutch" (duck/ducks)
• ball (obvious one here)
• "teetee" (kitty...meaning Marley or her little stuffed one)

And I can't remember if I had said them before, but Quinn can also say "shoes" and "cheese", along with "up" when she wants to get up on the couch or be picked up.  We're working on "thanks" and sometimes she says it.  Quinn also has learned how to drink from a straw, which is exciting.  We only have 1 toddler cup with a straw, so we're working with that one...but she also can use plastic drinking straws as well...so far she's loved smoothies and to drink my skim milk.

Quinn's hair is also getting longer now and is crazy curly and unruly.  Usually now I have to put it in a ponytail or pigtails to try to maintain control.  It looks so cute but she looks so grown up and not like a baby with her pony/pigtail.

I think that I mentioned in previous posts that Quinn will point to my belly when we ask her where the baby is.  She's also just started to randomly point to my belly and say "baby" - she did that the other day when I came into her room to get her up in the morning.  I was greeted by "Mama!!" followed by "Baby! *with pointing*"

Pointing out Mama's baby

All's well on the baby-to-be front!  Here's the updated survey, although we'll pretend that I'm 22 weeks already (even though that is technically tomorrow):
How far along? 21 weeks 6 days
Total weight gain/loss: 18 lbs as of this morning
Maternity clothes? I think that it might be time to put away most of my pre-pregnancy shirts, as they're getting too short now.  Although I still am fitting fine into some tops that I bought post-Quinn before I was able to get back into my original pre-pregnancy clothes
Stretch marks? Nope! The cream that I've been using seems to be working...or at least making my belly really soft and smooth
Best moment this week: Meeting some of the other moms-to-be from the Ottawa area who are also due in June
Miss anything: I really wanted bologna sandwiches early on this week
Movement: Every. Night.  I couldn't get to sleep until 3am Friday night because Yoda wouldn't quit! Food cravings: The skim milk craving continues, and I drank 4L in a week.  Also I craved Ruffles All Dressed chips (they were delicious!!!)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week
Have you started to show yet: I popped a little bit over the past week, which is fun
Gender: Team Green
Labor Signs: Braxton-Hicks when walking on the treadmill or if I turn in a weird direction
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Our next midwife appointment with Grace on Wednesday

21w5d

Q - Our Little Genius

I know that we're biased for thinking that our child is brilliant...but really, we think that she is. :)  She's a very social and vocal little one which is super fun.  It's great to see her interacting with other kids and also with smaller babies.  She's been really gentle with babies (she'll rock their car seats or gently touch their leg), so we're hopeful that it continues when there's a new little one here at home!

This past weekend Quinn has started doing lots of different things.

• she'll "blow" into a kleenex
• she can put things in the garbage (sometimes right away, sometimes she dawdles)
• she started saying "no" and shaking her head (see video link below)
• she can tell you what a monkey says
• she's working on holding up one finger when you ask "how old are you?" (she can already hold up the one finger when you ask "where's number one?")
• she tries to put her boots, socks, pants, shirts on by herself...usually they all end up on her leg though, or on the wrong feet

Here's the video link for "Quinn Says No" - http://youtu.be/sS68USSq-m0

Things with the pregnancy have been going well.  We had our anatomy ultrasound a week and a half ago and from what we could tell, things looked good.  The baby seemed to be measuring well and was really active during the ultrasound.  My belly is definitely getting bigger, but I can still see my feet which is definitely a good thing.  We also are past the halfway mark (20 weeks), which kind of seems hard to believe.  I can't wait for winter to be over so that I can get back to taking Q for walks.  We also just bought a double jogging stroller that I'm super excited to use when the new baby gets here, even though I'll be walking with it until Yoda is 6 months old.  Steve got it very gently used - it looks brand new!

How far along? 20 weeks 6 days
Total weight gain/loss: 15 lbs (as of 20w0d)
Maternity clothes? Still wearing some pre-pregnancy sweaters/shirts
Stretch marks? No new ones!  Mom picked up this cream called TummyRub that I used when I was pregnant with Quinn.  I haven't found it here, so luckily there's a store in AZ where Mom was able to grab it.
Best moment this week: Yoda is kicking hard enough now that you can see it from the outside
Miss anything: Rare steak
Movement: Every night from about 10pm-midnight Yoda is a kicking machine...it makes it hard to fall asleep sometimes
Food cravings: Big glasses of milk...and I'm not usually a white milk drinker
Anything making you queasy or sick: The smell of Steve's calamari at dinner last night
Have you started to show yet: And how!
Gender: Team Green
Labor Signs: None.  Occasional Braxton-Hicks, but they're mild and very infrequent
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: This past week I was definitely moody!
Looking forward to: Getting back into the gym routine