Speaking of Baby J.

Here are the 3-D pictures that were taken of her mere hours ago.

Correction.

Since yesterday, I am up to 15 lbs. It's been a busy few days of chili and pb&j.

Silly Baby J. and her incubator.

So, since my last post was an update on Eleanor, I figured I'd give an update on the myself-baby J. hybrid being I've become.

Baby J. is kicking around and wiggling quite a bit. (Not as much as I'd like, but that would be impossible.)

She seems to like very sweet foods and very spicy foods quite a bit. They always make her (me) very happy, but as of yet, I haven't had a single craving (with both S and E, I wanted meat and shrimp).

Her favorite position for kicking me is if I have one leg draped to the side. (Each of my girls has had favorite positions.)

And, like Eleanor, Baby J. is head down and to the left. (Eleanor was actually that way throughout my entire pregnancy, while Sophie preferred somersaulting.)

We're staying much more active this pregnancy. (With Sophie, I was like, "Oh, it's my first pregnancy - I'll eat pizza every night and lay around and see what happens." With Eleanor, I thought I needed to eat to feel her move, and I was afraid to exercise.) This time, I have only gained about 12 pounds. I am hoping to stay within a healthier range this time - like 40 lbs of weight gain or less. I think I can do it. I am eating reasonably and taking a long, vigorous walk every day.

I've been having dreams about a new, small baby. It's been lovely. (Although last night I dreamed I lived in a cafeteria and had triplets, but they were all different ages and sizes. I was proud because I was making so much breast milk, but then it all kept turning to tofu. Hmm, interesting.)

Still taking lovenox. Still being monitored very closely. (I start on the weekly ultrasounds in a month, and am at the regular OB every two weeks.) I am having my antibodies tested every three weeks. That's about it for now!

Little Sweets.

I thought it was time for an update on Eleanor. She is running and walking faster everyday. She has very little anxiety around complete strangers. She will walk up to anyone in a store, restaurant, or park, say "Hi!" and start rifling through their bag. Or she will holler something incoherent at them. She can't control herself. Her friend, Juliet, who she played with at Ikea the other day (a much wiser woman at two), had to multiple times drag her out of the clutches of strangers, clean up after her, and coax her up from rolling on the floor (after rolling with her for a few minutes, of course).

As opposed to her lack of judgment when it comes to complete strangers, she is very wary of people we see infrequently. Usually that is because she is out of her comfort zone, and likely she can sense my desire for her to interact. (Also, in terms of play dates, it usually means being around other one year olds, who she seems to have no interest in.) Around people she is "supposed" to be interacting with, Eleanor is very shy (like her mommy always was/is).

Eleanor has about 25 or 30 real words that she says. Like, ones I can identify as correctly spoken, regularly used words. Then, there are the "words" like "I did it," that she says all as one thing when I say "No, no" to something she is doing. She knows "I did it" means she acted in some way, but she doesn't understand that those are three separate words. There are more that seem to mean things that I can't put my finger on. And, she also seems to have a one year old language all her own. Also, she has begun to speak in some two word sentences. As in, "Get cow," or "Hi Daddy."

Also, she is getting a 'tude. The decibels of screaming we've reached in the car and often the high chair are unparalleled (other than by her friend, Juliet, in her own car). Also, when she doesn't get what she wants, she yells "EH! Get it!" Very snotty. :o)

Finally, her favorite thing is just goofing off. She makes faces, motions, and little dances just to make us laugh. And, how can you not laugh at that little face?

Cheese!!!

This is just her new thing.

Magic.

If yesterday was one for productivity...

...today was one for food.

I made corn muffins this morning. Warm corn muffins with honey are one of my all time favorite snacks. Eleanor had them, too, sans the honey.

Then, while she was napping, I made lentil dahl and rice for lunch. That was easy and delicious, but required a little hot sauce to really satiate my needy taste buds. She tried the lentils for lunch, but wasn't much of a fan.

Then, after nap time, Eleanor and I baked and decorated sugar cookies. We decided, once they were out of the oven to make them witchy-colored cookies. Sophie would be very proud of our fun, and Eleanor and I had a blast sampling and mixing the icings. Also, we included a hint as to the new baby's name - we couldn't leave our newest little lady out.

And, just a few pictures of Eleanor saying "CHEESE!"

In the last hour...

...I've been more productive than I have been in weeks.

I sent two finished, edited documents in for publication.

I made copies of my undergraduate papers to send out to the professors writing my grad school recommendations.

I located, scanned, and emailed my lovenox orders to the insurance company for reimbursement.

I folded two loads of laundry.

I spoke to a pain-in-the-neck newspaper manager to work out my pay for the last months.

I replied to all of my many delinquent emails.

I located addresses for the three random thank yous I have to send out. Now, I am off to write them!

I worked out my schedule for the evening, which will get me home just a bit early.

And, I made plans with someone on Craigslist to come pick something up that I am selling.

Excellent. Eleanor will be rousing soon - better get to those thank yous!

Wings of Fancy.

We took Eleanor to see Wings of Fancy, the butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens (about an hour from our house). It was a hot and brilliantly sunny day. Everything was in bloom and looking wonderful.

Downs Park

So, we went to our favorite park, Downs Park, with the Criss kids (and parents!) last weekend. This was the Eleanor pick of the bunch - courtesy of Charlotte, as our camera was of course broken. This park is really special to us. We went there when I was pregnant with Sophie (almost exactly as pregnant as I am now), and have some of our sweetest and most vivid memories of her short time with us at that park. Also, Bill proposed to me on a rainy Mother's Day overlooking the water there. On last weekend's particular trip, it was more exciting than usual, because Eleanor waded in the water and three of four Criss kids took full baths in the bay. (Strictly prohibited for some lame reason we totally disregarded, probably something like diphtheria - like I said, lame.) Later, we took Eleanor to the dog beach, which as you can imagine was very very exhilarating.

Dinner Time.

Eleanor also picked at, threw, fed to Miles, and spit out a delicious dinner.

Terp Time.

We had a fun night tonight - cheering for Terps football.