Around here

I have also been preparing for our daughter's baptism to be celebrated the week before the holidays in our hometown of Miami. This is a sneak peek of what's to come.

Looking around the house the other day I found this cute vintage children's magazine from Parent's Magazine.  This little volume is from 1967 and it's packed with children's activities, stories and even puppet making.  It's so unbelievable that this used to entertain children for hours.  And some kids eagerly collected them.  I wish we could go back to those simpler times.  And lately, while I'm crafting away here at home, I'm hooked to Netflix watching an old time teenager favorite show, The Wonder Years.  It never gets old.  My favorite episodes are the ones that center around Kevin's family, the Arnolds.  So nostalgic!

Two things I love from my mother's Miami home are the collection of antique and modern glass bottles that sit on a built in shelf in the family room, and the solid teak table in the same room.  

And finally, Emilu's hair is growing.  She's now a year and seven months!  Just mind-blowing, if you ask me.  Here she is on the bathroom floor playing with my makeup while I'm in the bathroom. After you have kids, there's no privacy bathroom time anymore!

Growing

Babies do grow fast. Makes me want to hit the pause button for a little while. Impossible. Time is flying. It's inexorable.

Eleven months

If you feel you days are slow and drab, try having a baby, I guarantee you this will change.  This high needs baby of mine is now 11 months old! and there's a sea of difference in her personality and temperament now, than when she was a small baby. This girl is impatient, stubborn and so curious already.  She could hear the subtlest sound at the end of the room, and off she goes like Inspector Gadget to investigate what it is.

There's also a hint of naughtiness in her budding personality I can't seem to shake off.  When she wants something, she wants it now.  She's also done a couple of solo standings, meaning she stands for a few seconds on her own, and then plops down.  Now that crawling is her signature way of getting around everywhere, I have to keep our floors cleaned all the time.  I usually do this everyday while she's having breakfast in her high chair.  Living in the grounds of a split level apt. building means all the dust and dirt from the streets easily sips in through the windows and doors.  I'm also teaching her the body parts and she already knows how to send a kiss, wave goodbye, call you with her hand, give you a hug and is now trying to whistle.  Sounds crazy right?  But my brother, at this age already knew how to whistle, except he made the sound inhaling air, instead of exhaling, and she's doing the same thing!

**A few things she does, which makes me a happy mama**

+  greets her dad when he walks in from work.
+ gives hugs to her dolls and toys
+ sometimes she hides toys from me
+ dances to tunes in TV, especially the Downton Abbey introduction music
+ mastered the "goodbye" wave, the "come" hand command.
+ points to her head when I say HEAD, and to her tummy when I say TUMMY (and that's about all, I'm teaching her the rest of the body parts)
+ points to everything
+ claps on command
+ puts her toys away when I start picking them up
+ calls everyone "dadada"
+ eats solids, which include potatoes, pasta, chicken, broccoli, rice, spinach, avocado and asparagus for lunch, and fruits and yogurt for afternoon snacks
+ dances to music on TV
+ religiously enjoys watching her CBeebies every morning during breakfast
+ chooses her own clothes by pointing which one she likes to wear
+ gives the most heart-warming hugs ever
+ wants a taste of what you are eating always, no exceptions
+ loves, loves, really loves grapes!

Sweet girl, you are my everything.  Thanks for making a proud mama out of me. Also her birthday is coming up soon.  I need to start planning that. How about your babies?  Did they do something funny or endearing which made you swell with pride?

Color me Wednesdays

Now that I'm in week 35 of my pregnancy (about 5 more weeks to go) my comfort level has diminished tremendously.  I threw out my back yesterday right before my 35th week prenatal appointment.  You can just imagine how painful and uncomfortable it must have been for me to drive myself to the appointment, and once there, climb on top of the examination table for the doctor to examine us.  Luckily I managed to handle the ordeal without much sweat.  Unfortunately, there isn't much people can do for me.  My poor husband keeps asking me if there's anything he can do. I can't take any anti-inflammatory medication, which would zap this pain right away.  And I don't want to take Tylenol, which is not that effective with back strains.  So I'm staying home, this is the second day, and am basically lying down as much as I can resting my back and applying hot compresses.  At my last visit, the doctor said I was measuring a week smaller, which it's nothing to worry about because fundus measurements aren't 100% accurate either. Emma Lucia's heartbeat is at a healthy 140 beats/minute.  She is facing down, with her head not yet engaged, but this could possibly change soon, as I have already started to get uncomfortable, yet painless cramps in my lower abdomen, which are a sign that the cervix is softening, and thus getting ready for labor.  Yoohoo!

So, I'm just relaxing here at home, trying to get my head clear and organized for the weeks ahead.  Much will be happening.  I'm on a mission to re-organize and re-decorate the closets and the bookshelves.  And today, the little seersucker dresses I bought for Emilu at zulily have finally arrived. Aren't they dreamy?  The only complaint I have is their 3 weeks arrival time.  This sucks!  In this day and age of fast communications and flash consumerism, it really is shocking. 

News from the Womb

At 33 weeks, the baby has grown tremendously.  She now weights between 4 and 4.5 pounds and is approximately 19 inches long.  She is also running out of space to maneuver, spending most of her time in the heads down position, since the lower part of the uterus is roomier than the top portion. This position not only prepares her for birth but allows blood to flow to her developing brain now that it needs all the blood flow it can get.  Her skin is turning opaque, looking very much like a human and the only organs that need further nourishing are the lungs and the brain.  But the brain doesn't stop growing once she is born.  Brains continue to grow and expand inside the skull well into early adulthood.  No wonder our parents and physicians make us take fish oil or omega-3  capsules during our childhood.  I hated taking mine, but it's all for a good, brainy reason.  Starting this week, she is getting ready to receive all the antibodies from me, the rest she will get through breast milk. I call it maternal inoculation. 

Weeks 32-33: Still can’t find an escape route. It’s getting really tight in here and I’m spending most of my day just thinking about stuff and trying to work out what’s happening on the other side of the walls. There have been lots of people trying to touch me – the invasion of privacy is outrageous. Prodding me night and day – the nerve. For some reason I keep wanting to lie upside down. Some strange force within is telling me to do so. I can’t work out whether it’s my brain, the hostess or the vending machine trying to issue the instructions. I get the feeling something is about to happen. I’ve been going over my evacuation notes from sperm school just incase. My brain keeps on getting bigger and better. I’m able to control it better and I think I’m learning how to do things. For example if I want the hostess to sit still I just apply pressure in certain places and hey, presto she stops moving. Here commeth 4 pounds.

 Via Diary from the Womb.

Baby is growing

I'm in week 32 of pregnancy and the baby is packing up ounces by the day.  She's probably around 16 inches long and weights a little over 3 pounds.  And she's been moving a lot lately.  Her favorite position is having her bum sticking out in the side of my belly and her head diagonally facing down, cushioned in either side of my pelvis. This, of course, makes my sciatica act up.  This nerve jolts me to pain unexpectedly.  I could be standing, waiting for the train to arrive and suddenly it lashes down my leg and makes me grunt for a few seconds. Which means her tiny feet are somewhere up in my ribcage or the top of my belly. I feel them at night when she kicks them up.

Which then takes me to my next topic:  Sleeping.  I'm was resting fine until a few days ago,  I suddenly don't find my nights to be restful anymore.  For the past 3 days, I have been waking up around 4 a.m. with fiery heartburn.  Heartburn is completely normal in this stage of gestation because as the uterus moves up it pushes your stomach up too.  This, and the hormones are relaxing the valves of the esophagus allowing more acid to recede into it.

I have been waking up and going to the kitchen to drink water and munch on something lite.  Usually a banana or some cereal with milk.  Calcium and Omega-3 acids are particularly important in this stage of pregnancy.  They allow the baby to build strong muscles and bones as well as feed his brain development.  

From now on this should be my normal as this baby develops and grows more and more.

  

A week in reflexes

The long awaited 14-week is upon me and I’m starting to feel better. The baby is now three and half inches long and all his organs are in place. The biggest accomplishment this week is reflexes, a sign that his nervous system is slowly developing. He can frown, squint and grimace while making fists with his tiny hands and curling his toes. Thanks to these reflexes he is now kicking up a storm even though I can’t feel it yet. I read somewhere that if I poke my belly he will move away from it. The umbilical chord is working hard now. One vein carries oxygen rich nutrients and two arteries carry the blood away. He’s just started producing urine in his kidneys, which will soon be excreted into the amniotic fluid. He will swallow the fluid and excrete it again, a process he will keep up until birth. His liver starts producing bile now, a sign that it’s doing its job right.

The other day as I laid down for a nap and my dog curled up next to me, I realized that my fascination with watching my dog sleep will soon be transferred to watching my baby sleep once he arrives. There is something magical and highly intimate about it. Piki is almost 14 years old, and has a deeper sleep now. His hearing is not what it used to be and so to watch him sleep and squint and twitch with his eyes closed gives me a better idea of what he looked like when he was a new born puppy and I swear I can’t stop smiling.