May: moving, milestones, and more!

This has been one busy month for all of us as we get ready to say goodbye to the desert.

My last spring of beautiful cactus blooms.

Paul and I have been doing what we can to get ready for our big move this summer. We received word months ago --before Avery was born-- that we would be moving to Japan this summer. "This summer" seemed like a far away, fictional time then, one that I couldn't really begin to think about since I was so wrapped up in preparing for Avery. Then she was born, and for weeks I operated on a very basic level: keep baby alive and happy, sleep and eat when you can. Planning for the future? Of course I planned for the future: the baby was going to wake up and need to eat in the next 20 minutes, and then she needed a bath! But beyond that....nada.

So when Paul recently started talking about out-processing from base and I did the mental math and realized that we only have 6 weeks left in Tucson...Shock! Panic! Disbelief! Why didn't someone warn me that we would be moving so soon?! The baby needs a passport! We need to sell the cars! We need to cancel our phones, internet, and satellite! Schedule movers, figure out what we are bringing and what we are putting in storage, deep clean the house, pack, visit the dentist, gather medical records, stock up on Costco wipes, eat Mexican food every day, study international road signs, learn Japanese! The hardest part about moving, of course, is that all the important stuff has to be done at the last minute. We can't sell our cars now, we need them until the day we leave; we can't cancel our phones, we use them daily; any cleaning we do will just get undone in the coming weeks. 

So I carry on as usual, making lists and scheduling what few things I can. Avery and I have both applied for our government passports, been medically cleared, and gotten the go-ahead from the dentist. I'm slowly sorting through our closets. Paul has been doing all the things he needs. It's totally crazy to think that we will be in a different country in two months, and completely overwhelming to think about doing it with a baby. Challenges include, but are surely not limited to: llong-term hotel stays on both sides of the ocean, approximately 15 hours in an airplane, not having a car when we get to Japan, not knowing how to drive on the left side of the road, and waiting several weeks to months for our things to arrive. The government will provide us with temporary furniture, which is great, but we will still be waiting on all the little things that make life easier for us, like Avery's bath, crib, baby gym, etc. And did I mention the time difference? This girl is FINALLY sleeping well at night (a six-hour stretch followed by a three-hour stretch), and now we have to go and switch night and day? Insanity. 

It is a darn good thing we are moving to a tropical paradise. 

Yeah. I will stop complaining now.

Overlooking the short-term challenges, I am SO excited to live in Japan. The islands of Okinawa are gorgeous. Do a Google Image search and you'll see. I cannot wait to go scuba diving and boating, to walk along the beach, to play in the waves with Avery, to eat fresh seafood, to travel around the region, and so much more. We have heard nothing but wonderful things about living on Okinawa, and are beyond excited about our up-coming adventure.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying our remaining weeks in Tucson...and in America, for that matter! We are revisiting all our favorite restaurants, stocking up on things we have heard are hard to find overseas, and, of course, enjoying our sweet baby girl.

Yellow duck is her favorite friend

He tells funny stories.

 Avery is developing so fast. She is super active -- more so than average, I think. She naps rarely, moves constantly, and is always happy. Yesterday she took one 30-minute nap and two 15-min snoozes, but was a perfectly cheerful baby all day anyway. Changing her diaper or outfit is nearly impossible for all of her movement; she gets all four limbs moving at top speed, while twisting this way and that, panting and making funny noises. She can roll from her back to her side no problem, and tummy time is hardly a stationary activity.

About a week ago, she discovered her hands, and they are simply the coolest!! She spent a few days just studying her hands, and then moved on to her feet, which are even cooler! For a few days, eating and sleeping were the only times that she didn't have one or both feet in her hands. Then yesterday she figured out she can get her hands in her mouth! Super fun! Today she has been stuffing her blankets into her mouth and slobbering all over them. Does life get any better?

"You mean to tell me that I've had these hands this whole time??"

She also started laughing this weekend. My heart absolutely melts into a big pile of gooey love every time she does it.

 

 

She also thinks she is ready to sit up. When we try to recline her, she just holds her head up and does baby crunches and fusses until we sit her up. If she is reclined at a 45 degree angle, she can lurch herself forward into a sitting position (and then tip sideways). All she needs to sit up is to hold our fingers, sometimes only in one hand. She is very pleased with herself, and will sit up as long as we let her. Her head control is great, and she can sit up without any support for decent periods of time before tipping sideways. With the boppy around her she lasts even longer.

And of course she is still a talker. Vowel sounds are so yesterday, and she has moved on to a few favorite consonants. She likes to say "bububub," "agoo," and "google." Yes, google. We don't know what it means, but surely it is an indication of genius, right?

7 weeks with Avery

Guess who is almost two months old already?! This adorable girl!

I can't believe how much my life has changed in the past two months! Have I mentioned how much I enjoy being this girl's mommy? Or how much I enjoy not being pregnant?? Besides having my little baby here now, it is so wonderful to eat normally and bend over comfortably and sleep flat on my back! I put this together awhile ago and keep forgetting to share. I can't believe how huge I was at the end!

The very best part of not being pregnant, of course, is that I get to hang out with this cute face all day. Being a mom has its perks when your baby is as sweet as this one.

Miss Avery is growing, growing, growing. She changes so much every day. She rarely stops moving and is always making noises. She coos and gurgles when she is happy, yells when she is mad, and grunts in warning before losing her cool entirely. She even giggles in her sleep, which is the cutest thing in the world.

Daddy had to go away for work recently. It was awful for all of us--those 7 days felt way longer than last year's deployment. Avery got sick the day he left, with a fever and lots of icky congestion. There was a lot of crying and not a lot of sleeping for either of us. As soon as daddy got back, she cuddled right up on him and fell asleep for a solid 3 1/2 hours. Paul was awesome and took care of Avery and most everything around the house for a few days so I could recover from my week of sleeping even less than usual. Avery didn't mind one little bit, because he is totally her favorite parent (she is holding onto some resentment toward me for sucking out her boogers and taking her temperature so often. It's a thankless job).

Our struggles with getting her to sleep have been getting drastically better thanks to tummy sleeping and a pacifier. I only let her sleep on her tummy during the day when I can watch her because she still likes to bury her face in whatever she is laying on (even though she is totally capable of moving her head from side to side). She sleeps for hours and hours on her tummy. I have been laying her down on her belly on the couch so I can watch her and get a few things done. Even though it isn't a solution for nighttime sleeping, it prevents her from getting overly tired during the day, which makes her easier to put down at night, and it is an improvement over having to hold her for all naps.

And as far as I'm concerned, the pacifier is the greatest invention of all time. This kid will fall asleep almost anywhere now, as long as we pop a paci in her mouth (IF she is sufficiently tired). It has revolutionized my entire life. It was a short road from "Well, only to get her to sleep," to, "Ok, and also when I shower...and in the car ... and at the grocery store...and whenever else she wants it." The best part is, I don't have to feed her to sleep. Or maybe the best part is the silent car trips. Or the freedom to go places in public without her crying the whole time. All this thanks to Avery's my new BFF, the pacifier. (She used to gag every time we offered it, but perseverance won the day ans she finally figured it out).

This isn't to say she is a great napper/sleeper now. Not by a long shot. She thinks a 10-minute snooze qualifies as a nap, fights sleep with a determination I have never seen in one so small, and still requires a lot of snuggles to get into a deep sleep. But we are making huge progress. She has slept totally on her own for 2 nights this week, and has made it from 7pm until 3-4am every night for the past two weeks (with snack breaks, of course). I think she could go the whole night but for her -apparently routine- 3am poop. She gets all riled up during her diaper change (I can't do poopy ones in the dark), especially if it requires an outfit change. She usually decides she might as well just stay up for a few hours, and putting her in bed with us is the only way to convince her otherwise ... although sometimes even that doesn't work. Sometimes we just start our day at 4am. 

(Thankless, I tell you).

 

Besides not taking naps, her favorite activities are playing in her baby gym, looking at herself in mirrors, reading stories, and taking baths. She also loves to just talk with us. She smiles, pants, and coos for us anytime we make eye contact with her.

Alright, enough of my babbling. Here are some more super cute pictures of our super sweet girl. 

Life with a baby (5 weeks)

My nails grow really fast. I have always been bad about their maintenance, trimming them only when one broke or typing became difficult. Now I trim them when they are too long to wash out the baby poop that keeps getting under them. Gross? Yes. But this is my new life.

Little Avery is growing even faster than my nails. She weighs 10 lbs already and has outgrown most of her newborn clothes. She changes every single day, and it is so fun to watch her develop. My favorite part of the day is changing her diaper in the morning. She always wakes up in a super cheerful mood, so we spend a good 10 or more minutes at the changing table. She stretches and looks around while I change her, and then she gets super smiley, giving me big grins every time I kiss her. She has started to occasionally coo at me while I talk to her, which absolutely melts my heart. She smiles at me and make noises to get my attention if I stop interacting with her during this time, too. It is almost enough to make me a morning person.

My happy girl loves to smile

She is also becoming more independent, at least while she is awake and has a full belly. She still demands to be held while sleeping (more on that in a minute), but when she is awake she loves to be put down. As long as she can hear my voice, she has a great time playing in her crib. I rotate out toys and shiny objects for her to look at and try to be productive by folding laundry in the nursery and sneaking off to pour myself some cereal when I can. She lies there and kicks and wiggles and squirms, rotating her whole body like a clock hand. She also enjoys her bouncy chair from time to time; we read her stories in there, which she recently started paying attention to. This makes her book worm mama very happy. She stares at the pictures and starts kicking her feet really hard and grunting, which I think means she likes it...although sometimes it just means she has to poop.

We have also been taking more baths, usually every other day. She seems content to just chill out in there, so I try to stretch them out as long as I can. She doesn't like the part where I try to actually clean her, of course, so I view the bath as more of a sensory experience for now and still sponge her down on her changing table as needed, which she doesn't find too objectionable.

We also listen to Spanish music (so my brain doesn't atrophy), dance in the living room, and go on walks to pass the time. I just ordered her an an activity gym, too, so I'm excited to add that to our small repertoire of activities.

And then there is the sleep dilemma. For awhile it seemed like we were making progress here, but now it seems she is regressing. She sleeps when held, and when held only. Not in the carseat, not in a crib, not in her bouncy seat, bassinet, or anywhere else. The only exception is the swing, sometimes-- about every 2 to 3 days I can trick her into napping in there, which, not coincidentally, is about how often I do my hair or any real chores around the house. Of course we try to trick her constantly, but she always figures us out. (She has pretty bad reflux, too, which I think is compounding the problem, but more on that another day). She hates swaddling almost as much as she hates the pediatrician, white noise only challenges her to scream louder, and what it boils down to is that we all need to sleep, so: we hold her. We keep trying to put her down, but no luck yet. She just loves snuggled when she is sleepy.

I was getting frustrated, trying to get her to sleep where and  how I wanted, but I have come to the conclusion that it is not worth it to spend these precious weeks being frustrated. I really want to enjoy this tiny, precious cuddly stage, and so I hold her. I know it isn't recommended and it definitely makes it harder to get things done, but I also know this stage won't last forever. Two weeks ago, she would wail any time we put her down, and now she has a great time when we put her down and let her explore.  Two weeks ago, she wouldn't sleep in her swing at all, and now she does every few days. So this will get better, too. In fact, two nights ago she slept in her bassinet for three hours -- small victories! I also got an infant baby carrier that she likes to sleep in, so we are compromising and adapting. Not being able to bend over limits me some (and I can't wear it to shower), but it is a great start, and I don't like cleaning that much anyway.

This is the Baby K'tan -- like a moby but you don't need a PhD to wrap it.

I remember reading a quote somewhere -- "The days are long but the years are short." I don't want to waste these short weeks and years. The truth is, I love cuddling her, and if she needs the warmth and security of our presence to feel confident and comfortable right now, then I'm going to try to provide that for her. I know she will sleep on her own soon enough, and one day I am going to miss her being so snuggly. This mom gig is a really challenging (and stinky) job, but every time she smiles at me I know it is so very worth it.

PS : This is us right now. I am getting really good at 1-handed typing =)

 

First weeks with Avery

I cannot believe that this little girl has been in our lives for just three weeks. It seems like she has always been with us.

After 30 hours of labor, she was finally born on March 9th. She decided to try to come out sunnyside-up, which stalled things for awhile and made things a little tougher on me, but in the end she came out just fine and all is well that ends well.

She started crying as soon as she was born (and so did I), and was perfectly healthy from the beginning. She ate well right away, and hasn't stopped since. (Her goal was to get back to her birth weight by her 2 week appointment -- which she exceeded by a full half of a pound.) No jaundice or any other problems, so we were sent home the next morning.

She is a super alert baby. She fights to stay awake, sometimes for as long as 3 hours at a time. She has started awake smiling (as opposed to sleep smiling) at us a lot more these past few days, and this morning she spit up on me and giggled. I am sure the giggle was involuntary and as a result of feeling good, but it sounded just a little bit naughty.

Speaking of naughty, I am typing this all with my left hand while sitting on the couch. Why? Because a certain baby will not nap unless I am holding her this week. I got her to sleep and put her down 3 times in the last hour, only to result in screaming. She wins this battle, because I have learned the hard way how cranky she gets without a nap, and we are definitely in the "whatever it takes" stage still.

Who, me?

Our biggest struggle, predictably, has been night time sleeping. Her first few days she absolutely would not sleep anywhere but our arms. She has gradually become more flexible with us, with some good nights and some tough nights. We are experimenting with swaddling, white noise, and different sleeping arrangements, trying to find a winning combo.

Fortunately, she is a good eater and otherwise easy-going. Screaming can usually be remedied by burping her or playing her some music and dancing with her (Her two favorites are Tengo tu Love and Hallelujah). Or just picking her up if you had the nerve to put her down :-) (Silly you.)

A rare moment: happy girl in her sleeping in her Rock and Play Sleeper

A friend asked me recently what I think about being a mom. It is hard to put into words. On the one hand, it is already the most exhausting and challenging thing I have ever done. But it is so incredible. I never knew you could love someone so intensely. It is so rewarding to see her grow and figure things out (like: diaper changes are not the end of the world). And nothing melts my heart like when she is crying and I pick her up and she buries her face in my neck, sighs, and smiles. I feel so blessed.

She is here!

I am too tired to write anything coherent, but our little girl got here four days ago. More details later!

PS: To my pregnant blogging friends--don't forget to take your trash out when you head to the hospital or birthing center!

Only one more week (...ish)

Only one more week until my due date! Hopefully this last week (or so) will be less eventful than the past two! Turns out this baby is a bit of a drama queen.

You see, when I went in for my 36 week check-up, baby was behaving nicely. She was head-down and I was feeling pretty good, at least as far as being 9 months pregnant goes.

Then a few mornings later, I woke up having slept through the ENTIRE NIGHT. Instead of being glad, I panicked -- I hadn't slept through the night since last summer! Fortunately, baby was kicking and punching as much as ever, so I calmed down but was perplexed over the next few nights as to why I didn't have to pee all night...and why my ribs hurt so much more than normal.

Well. Went to my 37 week appointment, and guess who turned herself into a breech position?? My ribs were killing me because her naughty little head was up in them. The doctor said that not having to pee is the hallmark of a breech baby, so I am confident I know just when she did her naughty summersault. So after discussing the options (there weren't many: schedule a cesarian, hope the baby turned on her own, or try to turn her with an ECV), we went ahead and scheduled the version (ECV) for a few days later, and I went home and proceeded to spend the next few days in tears because I really don't want a c-section and because I made the mistake of googling ECVs and read a thousand horror stories about them.

ECV day finally rolled around. I would have been a bit of a wreck anyway because I was super nervous, but not being allowed to eat or drink anything since the night before made me feel 100 times worse. Nonetheless, I got all checked in and an ultrasound confirmed that she was still in a frank breech position. They did a quick scan to check her growth and lung function while they were at it in case an emergency c-section became necessary. She looked healthy and well-developed, but they discovered while looking around that my amniotic fluid was low. Not dangerously low, but low -- the normal range is 6 to 25 cm, and I had 8cm. This wasn't a problem for baby's health, but they informed me that it significantly reduced the chances of success for the procedure, increased the risks of the procedure, and would probably make the procedure more painful for me -- if the doctor even agreed to go through with the procedure with my fluid that low.

No food, no water, and fluorescent hospital lights = a very unflattering picture.

Next step was a non-stress test, which just means that I laid on a bed for an hour hooked up to monitors that measured her heartbeat and my contractions while Paul said helpful things like, "Here comes another contraction!" and I complained about being thirsty.

Baby thought it was fun to kick the monitors off or swim away from them.

When the doctor finally came in, she said that she was worried about hurting me and said that she thought the chance of success was only about 30%. We were given the option of just going home, but I figured I had come that far so we agreed that she would try it, but very conservatively -- at the first sign of baby distress, we would stop and not try again. So we went forward.

My poor bored husband took to organizing the supplies in the room.

The next step was a shot of terbutaline, which essentially feels like drinking 1,000 cups of coffee all at once but somehow manages to totally relax the uterus and stop contractions. My resting heartrate was well over 100 for the next 6 hours or so, which was kind of awful, but it did make my belly nice and soft and didn't seem to do much to baby's heartrate. So with the nurse holding the ultrasound probe on my belly the whole time, the doctor hopped up on the bed. She straddled me and told me to close my eyes, relax, and go to my happy place.

And then 60 seconds later, it was all over. The baby was head down, it didn't hurt at all, and there were no signs of fetal distress. In fact, it felt like she was throwing a party, kicking and wiggling and dancing in there. All the stories about the awful pain, the failures, the women needing epidurals, ruptured uteruses and torn placentas, emergency cesarians .... nada. It was fast, easy, and almost painless.  Granted, all I had to do was lie there and not tense up, but it was really fast and easy. The worst thing I can say about it is that it was hard to breathe during the procedure and my pelvis was a bit sore afterward, but really it was a breeze. Nothing like what I had read about.

I was told I could eat and drink within 10 minutes as long as baby continued to not show any signs of distress, and before I knew it, I was given a big glass of water and a hospital "breakfast box." I ended up at the hospital for another 3 hours, because she was throwing such a party in there that they couldn't get a baseline reading of her heartrate. The nurse explained that they needed her heart rate to stay the same for 10 minutes, but she was so wiggly it took us the full 3 hours for her to settle down.

Words can't explain how happy and relived I was -- both to get food and have baby in a favorable position! 

Nothing like a bowl of cheerios and a muffin to perk you up. Too bad they don't counter the effects of the fluorescent lights, too.

At my 38 week appointment, she was still in a good position with her head down. The midwife taught me how to feel from the outside what position she is in and told me to teach Paul, too, so that we can monitor her. That way when I go into labor, I'll know if it is ok to stay at home for awhile or if I need to head right to the hospital.

As of today, she is still where she belongs. Now we are just praying that she stays that way and comes out soon! I have an ultrasound in a few days to make sure my amniotic fluid hasn't dropped lower. No one seemed too worried about it being low, considering that it was likely a result of me not having had anything to drink for 9 hours at the time of the ultrasound last week, but we are playing it safe. Hopefully it will be nothing but good news from here on out! Can't wait to meet this little girl!!

Also...did I mention my due date is in a week????? I have a feeling that she will be late, but I definitely hope that I am wrong!

Making room for baby

We realized not too long ago that we needed to start making some room for this baby in our home.  

Our first step was converting the guest bedroom/office into a guest bedroom/nursery. We gave the desk to Goodwill and put the bookshelf into our bedroom to make some space...and then spent the next several weeks just tossing baby gear at random into the room until it looked like a disorganized garage sale.

We finally have everything finished, though. Now we just need a baby to put in there!

Before

After:

My mom made all of the bedding!

Our friends put their swing in their living room a few weeks before their little one was born to get the dogs used to it. I am doing the same thing, but for the benefit of Paul and myself.

She already has more drawers in the bathroom than her dad.

Hospital bag, diaper bag, and carseat are ready to go.

So, technically, I guess we are as ready for this lady as we will ever be! I am 36 weeks today, which means that if she were born today she could probably come right home with us. Crazy to think!