New Job

Add a new job to pregnancy and life with a toddler and I am wondering if I have taken leave of my senses.

I started working with Georgetown University's Midwifery department last week. I am the clinical site visitor, which means I will spend my time wrangling the schedules of 13 students ad trying to visit them all at their clinical sites before the semester ends. This wouldn't be nearly so difficult if I didn't start the job 4 weeks before the semester ends and one of those weeks is Thanksgiving so no Thursday or Friday clinicals. Then I have students hemming and hawing about which days I come because they don't like who they are with on the day that I will observe, or their schedule changes every week and they don't know what that schedule will be until the week before. I am pulling my hair out. I haven't napped in days! I am hoping the next semesters will not be so bad because I will be there from the beginning and part of the planning. This sucks though.

It will be good to be in the adult world again for a few days a week. We found a nanny for Emma who is pretty flexible with her schedule and it seems to be working out. Emma is happy with her and that's all that really matters.

Parenting sucess story

We have been taking Emma for walks around the block a few times a week with the weather being as nice has it has been. She loves looking at the changing leaves and always carries a stick or a leaf around with her. Her adventurous spirit seemed boundless until we came upon some seed pods. These are long, brownish-black things that fall from a few trees in our neighborhood and Emma was terrified of them. I mean stop dead in her tracks and not move a muscle terrified. We would have to pick her up and carry them over the dang things to keep going. We tried showing them to her, soothing her, distracting her, and finally kicked them off of the path, but she wouldn't go near them. For days, this went on. Each day we would try to help her get over her fear, holding them ourselves, crunching them under our feet, and laughing at their silly shape and sound.

After about a week of this, Emma and I were walking alone, and again she stopped short at the seed pods. I squatted down with her, and picked up one of the pods. We had been going to a music class and she loves the maracas, so I got a burst of inspiration. I said, "Look Emma, see how they make noise when you shake them?" She seemed interested and didn't shy away. Then I showed her how they fell from the tree above us and had seeds inside. I opened them up and handed her a seed to inspect (then took it out of her mouth!) and reminded her about how seeds make trees, just like in one of our books. Then, I showed her what a great sound it made when you throw it, and that did it! She picked up a pod and threw it on the ground. Her little face lit up as she listened to the rattle. Then she went around picking them up, throwing them, and applauding herself every time. It felt so great to help her through her fear. I don't want her to be a fearful child and this was the first time she has really shown any trepidation about anything. Now she walks past them without a second glance.

I'm pregnant!

It took 13 months to conceive Emma, and 2 for baby number 2! I am so glad I made us wait!! Shawn was anxious to start trying as soon as Emma turned 1, but boy I did not want 2 babies under 2. The nausea began about 3 days after conception so I tested super early. If figured if I wasn't pregnant, there was something seriously wrong with me. The stick turned blue at 3 weeks and 4 days. I am now almost 12 weeks and am feeling much better. The nausea went away last week and I am getting a little bit of energy back. I still take 2 hour naps with Emma, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel like collapsing at 8:30 any more. We are going to have a home birth with this one. I am so excited about it! Emma's labor and birth was so wonderful and peaceful, except for the drive to the birth center. I feel like I did it before, I can do it again, and there will be no driving involved :) We are going with a midwifery practice called M.A.M.A.S. Midwives and I know and respect both midwives. I think it will be a good fit. It's expensive, but I think it will be worth it. We are going to rent a tub and set it up in the living room. It will be so great to bring this new life into the world in the loving environment of our own home. We have a hospital 5 minutes up the road if we need it, but I am sure everything will be fine. What did I say to myself my whole pregnancy with Emma? 90% of pregnancy, labor, and birth are normal. It will be great. Shawn is super excited too and totally on board. We are going to do Hypnobirthing again.

Another baby! Emma is going to be such a good big sister. She is so great with other kids, and gentle with babies. I am happy.

Seattle anniversary

Shawn and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on the 5th of July. We took Emmaline to Seattle to visit Aunt Judy, Uncle Roy, Lauren, and the Garman's. We had a wonderful time hanging out with family and friends. We left Emma with Aunt Judy and Lauren on the 5th and had a lovely romantic 24 hours away. We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic right next to the Seattle Museum of Art (which was closed) and had dinner at restaurant called Tilth. The desk clerk upgraded us to an executive suite in celebration of our anniversary and sent up "Happy Honeymoon" chocolate covered strawberries. We had an uninterrupted nap, an excellent dinner, and slept in before a decadent brunch. We were both missing Emma, so we cut the morning short and went back to the house to relieve Lauren. It was so great to get away for a little bit, and Emma did just fine. We haven't been doing that very much and we need to take more time for each other. We decided that we need to have a date at least twice a month. Emma was so great with the Delgado's, I feel like she will be fine with the neighbors so we can go for a dinner date once in a while. She went to sleep just fine, only woke once, and was soothed back to sleep with a few simple words from Lauren.

It was great to spend time with Shanti and her new little one, Ellie. Mira was also really good with Emma, helping to hold her hand and keep her steady on her new feet. We went to the zoo, and Golden Gardens, and just hung out. Shanti's neighborhood was having a kids street festival and Emma got a balloon and a toy ring. It was a lovely time.

We had the whole spectrum of weather, from cold and cloudy to hot and sunny. The sunny days were so beautiful, it made me feel like I could live there, but the cloudiness was too much. Shawn and I get cranky enough during east coast winters, I don't think we could handle the pacific northwest!


Elisa (Ellie) Garman


Shawn and Emma at the zoo.


Shanti, Mira, Ellie and me at the zoo.


Emma's prize from the festival.


Emma with her balloon, ring and daddy.


Emma and Mira playing in the sand at Golden Gardens.


Lauren and Emma at Golden Gardens.

Walking

Emma started walking on Wed. She was standing at the table in the kitchen, Shawn was sitting in the chair, and she took about 3 steps to him. We looked at each other like, "did you see that?" Shawn walked away from her a little bit, and beckoned her to come to him, and she walked again. Then I squatted down and she walked to me. We clapped and cheered like crazy, which made her do the same thing. We played baby ping-pong for a little while with her walking back and forth between us clapping and cheering at each parent. When she would get to one of us, she would make the "more" sign, turn around and walk to the other one. She was very wobbly and her head was bobbling with each step. It was so cute. It's been a few days and she is already much stronger. She still prefers to crawl, but we walk a little farther each day.

We have been reading a lot. She likes to bring me stories and crawl onto my lap so I can read to her. She is quite opinionated about which stories she wants to hear and will push away the offending offering. We are in the repeat stories over and over phase. I think I read Pat the Bunny 10 times over the course of the day last week.

I have Emma enrolled in Gymboree. It's a lot of fun. She gets to crawl around, practice her walking and climbing, and play with other kids. It's great to see her generous spirit in action with other kids. She is always sharing balls and bringing them to her friends. She loves the songs and dancing, and is very adventurous. When there is a new activity to try, she does it willingly while some other kids are hesitant or won't even try. She also loves the parachute time at the end. We let them lay down on the floor and make the parachute fly over their heads. Lots of kids will sit there or run away, but my girl lays on her back and laughs at the parachute going up and down. She loves the wind it creates too.

She is definitely in toddler-hood now. Her opinions on things are very clear, even if she doesn't know what they are. Sometimes she starts a tantrum for no reason and I am sure her brain is just in overload. She doesn't know what she wants or doesn't want, she's just not happy. It's getting very challenging. The signs are helping, but it's not a perfect system. I had to escape to the mall and a pedicure yesterday. Shawn went climbing with the boys early in the morning, and by 8am I was losing my mind. He and Rob came home and rescued me and I disappeared for about 5 hours. I felt much better today and more equipped to handle her. We need to start implementing date night at least once or twice a month. We are going to Seattle for our anniversary next week and will have an over-night in a hotel just the two of us. I can't wait. I just hope she sleeps for Aunt Judy!

Baby Signs

I have been trying to teach Emma some basic sign language for months and it's finally sinking in. The last few days she has been doing the signs for "more" and "all done," but it has been very frustrating because she uses them for everything. She gets frustrated and just keeps saying "more" and then "all done," which doesn't tell me what she wants! She went up to the stroller and did "more." I just looked at her like, "more stroller?" I put her in the stroller thinking she wanted to go for a ride, but she freaked out and had a little fit on the floor. Once she calmed down a little, she went back to the strtoller and did "more" again. I said, "Emma, do you want to go for a ride?" I put her back in the stroller, strapped her in, and walked around the house. She sucked her thumb and was happy as a clam. I have been pushing "eat," "milk," and "water" to help her differentiate her wants. I think she is finally getting that I am trying to help her to communicate because today she has been eating up the signs. She stares intently as I show her "eat," "book," and "outside." Then she repeats them. It's so rewarding when she gets it!

She has a few words, "Dada," "Mama," "hi-fi" (high-five,) "diti" (kitty,) "hi," and "bye." She is still only walking with assistance, but is getting better one handed and can stand unassisted for a few seconds. She just doesn't like it!

Cooper's Rock camping/bouldering

We went to Cooper's Rock last weekend to go camping and climbing. John, Brooke, and Oscar went with us. We had a great time. It was wonderful to have so many people to help with the cooking! We split all the meals, so everyone made one meal each. We had chocolate chip pancakes and bacon from John on Saturday morning, blueberry pancakes and bacon from Brooke and Oscar, and flank steak with chimichurri sauce, baked potatoes, and salad from us. Add on S'mores, toasted PEEPs, and fresh berries, and it was a pretty decadent weekend.

With Emma in our lives and only more children to come, we decided we needed a bigger tent. What we got was a gigantic palace. (It was a little embarrassing.) We got the Hobitat 6 from REI and it's huge. I think it is over 6 feet tall with a large footprint. We had our full size air mattress, Emma's KidCo tent, and all of our stuff and there was room to spare. Unfortunately our air mattress had a leak in it and we were sleeping on the rocks by the middle of the night. I couldn't take it and hand pumped a little bit, but it didn't last long. The next night, we brought in the Mondo crash pad to put under the air mattress and it was much more comfortable.

The weather was strange. It was about 80 degrees during the day, and down to the 40s at night. Emma was cold, but there wasn't much I could do. She had two layers of pj's, two blankets underneath, and three on top. Plus, she was working on a new tooth so she woke up a bunch. She did have a fantastic time crawling around the forest floor, climbing over rocks, and getting filthy. Since it was Easter, we "hid" some plastic Easter eggs around the campsite for her to find. Shawn put some grapes in them so she could have a treat.

Shawn and John did some good problems. Shawn did 4 V5s in 2 days. Brooke and Oscar don't really boulder, but we got them on the rock and they did a good job. We did a bunch of V0s and some V1s. Oscar and I made some good moves on Moby's Dick, V3 and I am hopeful that I will get it this season.

Brooke and Oscar continue to become good friends. It is so nice to have neighbors that I consider friends. We have been doing dinner once or twice a week at each others houses. It is great to not have to cook one night, and not have to do dishes the other night! Plus, cooking for four is easier than cooking for 2 1/2. We have been watching RuPaul's Drag Race together on Thursday nights and it is hilarious. Life is good.

Mary, Brian, Tommy, and Emily are coming for a visit tomorrow and I am excited to see them. I bought Emmaline and Emily matching Easter dresses. It's going to be so cute! There is a parade in DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival with a Japanese street fair afterwards on Saturday. I hope the weather is good and that the babies cooperate. I've wanted to go to it since moving here. Nora and Desi want to come too so it should be a big crowd! We will have a good time.

My Emmaline is one year old!

Birthday party morning.


Emma loved the balloons!


I made construction paper flowers and butterflies to celebrate my Spring baby. (Brooke made the butterflies.)


While she was napping, the party started without her.


Pranay, Shawn, and Brooke.


Lola and Ella.

I can't believe it's been a year since my little one came into our lives. It has been such an amazing journey and I am so blessed to be experiencing it. We had her party the Sunday before her actual birthday. Our neighbors, Brooke and Oscar came, as well as Pranay, Elizabeth, and Zivia. Of course Nora, Desi, and Ella rounded out the party. Emma fell asleep about an hour before our guests arrived and we let her snooze for a little while longer. When she woke up, she had some hummus, black bean dip, and veggies before trying and loving her birthday cake. I made an applesauce spice cake, which was quite tasty. Then the little ones played a bit and we opened presents. Emma got some super cute clothes, a wooden train from Shanti, Matt and Mira, and a book. Then it was time for Zivia to take a nap, so everyone went home. I think Emma had a good time. She was surrounded by people who love her.


Emma and Zivia actually interacted!


The mommies switched babies.


She was a bit confused by the candle.


But it was delicious!

She has been doing some great developmental things. She is crawling very quickly, cruising, pointing at things she wants and vocalizing. The down side, is that she has truly entered toddler-hood. She screams bloody murder when she is done eating and wants to get down, arches her back to fling herself out of my arms, and throws food when she is finished. Her vocalizations when displeased are earsplitting! I am trying to be very patient and help her to figure out what her emotions are and how to handle them. We are really pushing the baby signs so she can tell us what she wants and not get so frustrated. We do "all done" and "more" the most. Sometimes she does it and we go crazy with the praise to get her to do it again.

Emma is figuring out that clothes go on the body. She follows commands when dressing, "put your arm in the sleeve," "can I have your foot please?" Today, she tried to put her shoe on her foot, and took her own pants off in the living room. She also likes to put my clothes on when they are on the bathroom floor. She points at things she wants to talk about, points at the kittens in Good Night, Moon and is giving kisses. It's pretty amazing to watch her.

Our 12 months pediatrician appointment was not so great. She only weighs 17lbs 2oz, and is 26.5 inches long. That is 2nd and 8th percentile respectively. She has always been on the small end of the growth curve, but this time she is below the scale. Our doctor isn't too concerned, but she wants to watch her and see how she does in three months. Of course Shawn and I feel like terrible parents, me more so because I am the family's nutritionist! The first few days after her appointment, we were crazy critical of everything she ate and pushed her to eat more and more. Of course she had gotten some vaccines so her appetite was low and she didn't want to eat much. It has gotten better over the last few days. It's fun now, because she is eating just about everything that we eat. I just try to give her some pureed stuff on top of her finger foods to maximize her intake. I have a food log going, and I borrowed a food scale from Brooke so I can know how much she's really eating. Of course it's hard to estimate when much of it ends up on the floor! I'm trying not to freak out about each meal, but to go for a good average of calories and balance of nutrients per week. I am totally going to weigh her on the vegetable scale at Safeway in a few weeks to see how we are doing ;)

On a brighter note, she is sleeping through the night. We did a combination of Kim West's Sleep Lady Shuffle, and Ferber; I night weaned, and Shawn took over the sleep training. It took about 4 nights and she is good. Now if she wakes in the night, she cries for a few moments then falls back asleep. Once in a while she has a hard time, especially when some teeth are about to break through, but other than that, she is good. Speaking of teeth, she now has 3 out on top, and one on the way, and 3 out on the bottom. Her smile is so cute because she keeps feeling her teeth. It's a little crooked, but so adorable.



Shawn put together this fantastic video of Emma 6 months to one year.

The Blizzards of 2010

Between February 5 and 8th, we got a total of 32 inches of snow. It was crazy. They even cancelled surgeries at Union Memorial so Shawn got 2 free days off. We shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. We were too tired from shoveling to ever really go out an play in it. Shawn tackled me and that was fun. But mostly, we shoveled. I shoveled when Emma was napping and just brought the baby monitor outside with me. Schools were closed for a little over a week. I am so very glad Spring is here. I don't want any more snow for a while. We did get to spend a lot of time with the neighbors, Brooke and Oscar, so that was nice. We trudged back and forth between each other's houses. We cooked together, played Rock Band, and just hung out. I am so glad we have such great neighbors who have become such wonderful friends.

This is Shawn trying to shovel while the snow was still coming down to make it easier later. It didn't work.

This is the view from our living room window. You can see the little bump that is the neighbors car.

Here is our house.

The sky was beautiful after the snow.

We went on a walk through the neighborhood once our driveways were clear. I'm pretty sure this house is vacant. The snow came halfway up the garage.

This is on of the side streets that isn't on the emergency snow route. They didn't get plowed out for a few days.

This is our street the day after the second storm. The city did a good job keeping our street driveable the whole time, and clear within a few days. Emma enjoyed our walk.

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Beginnings of a Blizzard

The snow started this morning around 10, cool, but wet, and didn't start sticking until around 4. We are going to Hueco Tanks in a little over a week, so I strapped Emma in the Moby Wrap and we went for a walk at noon. The snow was falling, but felt more like rain than anything. We kept it short, only 20 minutes, but I got plenty of funny looks from drivers. I had her quite warm, in her bear suit and a quilt wrapped around us. I couldn't keep the quilt on and hold an umbrella at the same time, so our faces got a little wet. The hiking in Hueco always surprises me. It's not really bad, but it's at a bit of elevation so I am usually sucking wind pretty hard for the first few days. I am trying to prevent that this year by walking a bunch. I am not able to climb as much or as hard as I like to train before a trip, but I'm doing the best I can. Strapping 17 pounds of baby to my chest while walking can't hurt either!

The snow is starting to stick pretty well now. The tree branches are covered in snow and the wind is blowing the snow in all directions. I was able to go grocery shopping last night (along with everyone else in Laurel) so we have enough food in case we get snowed in. The predictions are anywhere from 6-12 inches, to 12-36 inches. Luckily Shawn made it home from work just fine and we are ready to hunker down for the weekend.

Emma's development has exploded! She is creeping on the hardwood floors and tiles, and crawling on the carpet. Her little knees slide out from under her on the wood floors. She is pulling herself up on the furniture and starting to cruise a little. She is pointing at things she wants to talk about, and pulling things out of things. Her new favorite game is emptying the diaper bag as fast as she can. She also likes to empty the laundry basket, her toy basket, and the pantry. Nap/bedtimes are times for mommy to put everything back where it belongs so she can do it all over again when she wakes up. Vocally, she's about the same. Lots of babbling and squealing.

We are having a good time. I am so glad I am home with her.

New Year's Day 2010

We toasted the New Year at 12:00 and promptly went back to sleep. Emmaline woke up at 3:30 and we battled getting her back to sleep until almost 5. Then we had to get up at 6:30 to meet Rob in Reston for breakfast. He is leaving for Afghanistan today. He works for BAE designing battle armor and is looking forward to seeing his work in person. I just hope he stays safe. It's a 6 month assignment with the possibility of extending to a year. He is Shawn's climbing buddy and we will miss him.

After first breakfast, we met Katrina, Randolph, Nora, Desi and Ella at Mon Ami Gabi in Bethesda for second breakfast. Most of us opted for lunch type food. We were celebrating Desi's birthday a little early so our waiter brought out a profiterole with a candle and sang to her in French. We had a great time. It was so nice to spend the first day of the New Year with family.

Emma did a great job at two restaurants. Cheerios, peas, mum-mums, apples, zucchini and barley, and squeaky giraffe toys did wonders. She got fussy on the way home though, she only slept for 30 minutes in the car between breakfasts. When we got home, the whole family collapsed for a nap. Emma slept for almost 3 hours. She woke up, played a bit, had dinner of pears and rice cereal with a side of mum-mums and Cheerios, took a bath with her daddy, and was in bed by 7:30. Shawn and I had a lovely dinner of chicken and dumplings and have spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching TV and playing video games. I would say it's been a great start to 2010.