Much Obliged.

A. Attached or Single? Attached.
B. Best Friend? I have lots of wonderful friends. Because I am sooo popular. Haha.
C. Cake or pie? Today, I would choose cake. Actually, or pie. Either one.
D. Day of choice? Thursday. Just because it is our "Special Day."
E. Essential item? Coffee.
F. Favorite color? Vermilion.
G. Gummy bears or worms? Both!
H. Home town? (West) Laurel, MD.
I.Favorite indulgence? Talking to myself. I know I mention in all my surveys that I talk to myself. And, that is because if I could I would talk to myself all day. Now, it has become an indulgence, because I feel like Eleanor benefits more when I talk to her than when I mutter to myself.
J. January or July? January. I want ice cold.
K. Kids? One in heaven. One napping upstairs. And, one in the womb.
L. Life isn’t complete without? Daily out-of-control laughing spells with Bill.
M. Marriage date? September 30th.
N. Number of brothers and sisters? I have three brothers, but there can only be one sissy.
O. Oranges or Apples? Oranges. In fact, when people choose apples, I just don't understand. (Although, it seems most people do.) Nothing on Earth makes me thirstier than an apple.
P. Phobias? Loss. Claymation.
Q. Quotes? "If there's anything I've learned, it's that relationships are hard." -My dad. I find myself saying that often to people. I have been blessed with a relationship that is often pretty fun, but not for lack of work. And, for all of us, relationships are major themes in our lives. Nothing poetic, believe it or not.
R. Reasons to smile? Eleanor.
S. Season of choice? Fall and Winter.
T. Tag 5 people: Charlotte, Melissa, and Jessica. (Those are my only friends, I believe (forgive me if I'm wrong), who haven't been tagged, and have blogs.)
U. Unknown fact about me? I often wear a red and white striped mumu with a bell on it. Right above the bell, it says "DO NOT DISTURB." If I am wearing it, and Bill even tries to say
"hi" to me, I ring the bell and walk away. Usually, we laugh and I come right back. But, the Do Not Disturb Mumu is only a half joke.
V. Vegetable? Tomato. (And, that's only as much of a fruit as any of the others. They are all fruits, or tubers.)
W. Worst habit? Checking my emails. I do it way too often. And, it usually eclipses other more important things.
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound. Definitely.
Y. Your favorite food? Oh man. It would be hard to say, given that I can eat more than anyone on Earth. And, I would, if I had the time, energy, and resources. Today, I would eat Hunan House, vegetarian Chinese food.
Z. Zodiac sign? Sagittarius.
Z. Which zoo animal is your favorite? Anything that is vicious and snarling. I don't love the zoo (although, given that I have a one year old who wishes she was a vet, I should get used to it), so I need a thrill with my animals.

The much-anticipated day.

So, Eleanor walked. Finally. She's been standing on her own for months. And, cruising, of course. But, two nights ago she took about 15 consecutive steps. And, today, we went to an outdoor party, and this teeny little sweety plodded around the grass all afternoon. Much excitement has been had by Daddy on account of this new development. He and Eleanor have been having "walking practice" every night for weeks. :o)

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha.

(Not a new word, although there are some of those. Just the song from Grease.)

Just because...

...she's tiny and cute.

Wait...But I want that camera.

So, it's pretty hard to take pictures of a very fast one year old who loves electronics. But, I promise to try to do better.

The pregnancy so far...

Well, I suppose I should update on all we know so far. This pregnancy, like both of our others, has been physically uneventful as of yet. So, I'll get people up to speed.

We found out we were pregnant the weekend of Mother's Day. I was about to buy stock in EPT, because we'd been assuming I was pregnant for about a month. But, alas each test came back negative. I had just stopped pumping. (Because, although I didn't update on this, I pumped exclusively for nine plus months.) So, it was no surprise everything was "off." Anyway, we got a positive test. We made an appointment for a few weeks from then (assuming I was six weeks, due to my LMP) and tried to go about life as usual. At my appointment, I thought the sonographer would say I was eight, nine, or (hopefully) even ten weeks! To my disappointment, I measured at just over seven weeks. Wow, doesn't seem like a big deal, but those are three more weeks of being pregnant, which at the end for me, are staggering. But, OK.

Two weeks ago, we had our 12 week u/s and bloodwork, including the nuchal fold translucency test. We were delighted to be measuring a bit ahead and for everything to have checked out wonderfully! The baby had a fast heartbeat (161 at 7 weeks, and 163 at 11.5 weeks). We all know what "they" say that means. "They" enjoy a wivestale as much as anything, though. But, health-wise, all looks well. And, just like both of our girls' sonogram pictures are strikingly similar, our snapshot of Eleanor at 12.5 weeks bears a really stunning resemblance to this baby at 11.5. (And, I would say almost a "freaky" resemblance, beyond the general likenesses of all healthy 12 week old fetuses.) We are so lucky to have yet another chance to experience loving a baby!

In between those two appointments and up to now, there has been:

Much (much) nausea.
No actual vom.
Much injecting of self with pig intestines.
Much battling with the insurance company.
A surprising dearth of anxiety.
Much fun.
Much to do.

A Confusing Melange...

...of tickers and counters above. Any ideas?

Goat, Kick, Bean, & Baby.

Eleanor's vocabulary expands daily in ways that are so fun for me! Over the last week, she's learned a few fun new words. I am sure there are some I am forgetting, but here are the highlights.

"Goat" - We went with the Criss Kids to the playfarm last week. One of our first stops was the rainbow slide, right next to the goat pen. Two Criss boys were very excited for the giant rainbow slide, and imagine their even madder excitement/terror when ahead of them in line was a tiny goat climbing up to steps to slide. Charlotte, Connor, and Jonas spent about 10 minutes trying the coax the goat back down the steep steps. Finally, the goat decided it was time to come down. He flopped his bulging goat belly onto the banister of the stairs, and slid down Mary Poppins-style. And pounded directly into the midsection of Connor Criss, knocking them both to the ground. Meanwhile, Juliet, Eleanor, and I were petting the properly penned up goats just nearby. Juliet was whispering a bewildered "goat" and Eleanor started in. The two of them repeated "goat" over and over in low voices, while trying to decided if it was worth the risk to pet the goat. It was, until another aggressive goat ran up and scared the gall right out of them.

"Kick" - Eleanor (and parents) spent Saturday evening with her Bayly grandparents. Grammy Patti took Eleanor in their backyard pool, and they worked on Eleanor's swimming skills. Grammy is a swim coach, so she knows her stuff; this is what they do. Eleanor sits on the pool's edge, and Grammy counts 1, 2, 3. Eleanor launches in at "3," and then Grammy lets her attempt to kick while she supports her and moves her forward. Grammy (and me from the sidelines) were telling Eleanor over and over to kick. She started to get the hang of it, and also seemed to get the jargon. As she propelled off of the wall, she started to say "kick, kick, kick" over and over. Very cute.

"Bean" - Sunday, I made bean soup. There isn't much of a story here, other than to say that Eleanor can't get enough of bean deliciousness. And, when she wants them, she calls them by their name.

"Baby" - Lately, Eleanor has also been saying baby. It began about nothing. Just staring off into space muttering about a mythical "baby." Then, she started pointing at things and saying "baby." Then, she was presented with a "baby" doll. And, she immediately knew what to do - hug, snuggle, kiss, and drag it around constantly by its head (not advised). Now, "baby" is part of the constant repertoire of words to say. And, this came at a good time, because we are expecting a baby January 18th, 2009. Lots more to come on this obviously. We are about 12 weeks, 3 days now - so, it was about time to make this announcement. And, if we didn't do it soon, Eleanor would do it for us.