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November 10, 2003
Dear Ladies:
Time continues to fly. It's hard to believe that we are already into November and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's wonderful to be with family without the pressures that Christmas brings. Don't get me wrong, I love the lights and music and meaning of Christmas, but it always seems like Bill and I have a zillion events and parties to attend, and despite our best efforts, we're always doing last minute gift buying. Anyway, we usually stay in Georgia for Thanksgiving and spend it with Bill's family, but this year we are going to Virginia to be with my extended family. I'm so excited because my sister, who lives in Alaska, her husband, and baby will be there. I saw them in May, soon after my nephew was born, but we usually only get to see each other every couple of years. I'm hoping that now that we have children, we'll see each other more often, but traveling to Alaska is expensive!
Claudia Update
For over a month now, Claudia has been battling RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). We've been back and forth to the pediatrician's office at least five times and she's been treated with oral steroids, breathing treatments and an inhaler, and antibiotics for a related resistant ear infection. Through it all, Claudia has been a real trooper and mostly her cheerful self, but this is a stubborn virus that has hung on for much longer than we expected. She goes back to the doctor next Saturday and I'm hoping that she'll get a clean bill of health this time.
Otherwise, Claudia is doing great. She seems to learn new words and phrases every day. Lately, she has a fascination with the moon and we have to find it in the night sky every evening so that she can say "night night moon." The other evening, I picked her up at daycare and we were getting in the car when she said, "Look, Mama! Moon! Face!" She saw a face in the moon. I don't know if they've been talking about that in daycare or not. She goes to a small home daycare and Miss Sherri is doing a pre- pre-school curriculum with them several days a week. Anyway, Claudia laughed and waved to the moon and said, "Hello face moon!" for as long as she could see it on our way home.
Last weekend, I bought her a potty chair. She has been showing some signs of being ready to begin training, but we've decided to take a very relaxed approach to it for now. I read that it's really important for children to feel ready and in control of the process, and not to feel pressure. So I got a chair that looks as much like a big potty as I could find, and put it in the bathroom. Claudia is so proud of that chair and sits on it at every opportunity. She hasn't yet used it, but that will come in time. She regularly tells us when she needs changing, sometimes in hilarious ways. Usually, she'll come to me and say, "Stinky poop!" then plug her nose and say, "peeyeeew" in a very exaggerated way. The funny thing is that she thinks that she has to be totally naked to sit on the chair and will protest until I undress her fully. I'm not sure where that is coming from as neither her father or I totally undress in that situation!
Now that Claudia is aware of her own bodily functions, she's also become fascinated with my body, especially now that my belly is expanding. The other day I got out of the shower and she was studying me very closely. Finally, with a serious look on her face, she said, "Uh oh. What happened?" Yesterday, after I got out of the shower, she pointed to my breasts and asked, "What this?" How do you explain body parts to a toddler? I usually just name the part and say, "Someday you'll have this too," and she looks at me like, "Yeah, right."
Pregnancy Update
I'm now 17 weeks and feeling pretty good. Though the first part of this pregnancy was rougher than my pregnancy with Claudia, I think I feel better now than I did with her at this stage. I never did get a burst of energy when I was pregnant with Claudia, and I can't say that I feel like running a marathon now, but this weekend I was able to bake and cook a nice dinner on Sunday. My biggest complaints with this pregnancy are things that I experienced with Claudia-I get out of breath extremely easily, and I get dizzy if I stand for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm okay if I'm moving around, but if I just stand in one place, I feel very strange. The midwife said that it may have something to do with my blood sugar (which is always a little bit of a problem anyway) and that I should eat more protein, so I'm trying to do that. Otherwise, things are going pretty well. I've gotten back the results of my genetic tests (I had a nuchal translucency at 13 weeks, and the neural tube defect portion of the AFP at 16 weeks) and all appears to be fine with this baby. In the last week, I've begun to feel some sweet little pokes when I'm in bed at night. I can't wait to feel the bigger movements and to see Claudia's reaction the first time the baby moves and she can feel it. We have our "big" u/s scheduled for December 3, and then we'll know whether the baby is a boy or girl.
Until next week, take care and stop by for a visit on my Talk to Me board.
Leslie, mom to Claudia (1/7/02), and "Little Peanut" (edd 4/19/04)
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