17 months and 7 months

We have made it to my 3rd trimester! We are thrilled and relieved to be here safe and sound. Noah is moving around lots these days. That brings more sleepless nights, but feeling his stronger punches means he is growing strong.

As for the previa..We received optimistic news last week during the ultrasound. We found out that the placenta has moved 4 cm. We were told that with continued movement we could possibly look at avoiding a c section. In 5 more weeks we will have another ultrasound to see the further progress. In the mean time I still have some light bleeding, which is alarming, but somewhat expected. So the bed rest continues for now.

What are we doing??

We are enjoying the weather as it went from some of the sunniest days of the year to the rainiest and coldest days so far. Sitting in a lawn chair in the driveway soaking up sun, to curling up with blankets while the fireplace keeps us toasty and Olivia keeps us entertained. I am keeping busy with some work managing the businesses, crafting, card writing, emailing and photo sharing, learning to crochet, reading, clearing out email boxes and other random computer projects that no one ever has time for, napping, and of course keeping Olivia entertained and visa versa. Auntie Rachel and Gramma Janet got Olivia her first tea sets which she loves and plays tea time with every day. We are having fun with visitors and play dates. Olivia especially enjoys her friends coming over and when they leave, she signs "friend", "friend" wondering where they went. It is precious. We are very fortunate to have such wonderful friends and adopted "Aunties" for her to grow up with.

Olivia recently started saying 2 syllable words. She just started saying "cracker", "baby" and "spider" and more small words like bat, fish and block. She also signs many more signs and picks them up quickly. I would guess she signs about 30 signs now. A funny thing she does now is, when she wakes up , she says, "up, up" and ma-maa" and "dad-dad", calling us to come get her. It is convenient but sure gets us responding to her "name" calling. It is so cute.

For my future ( Noah comparing) reference: Olivia is still at 2, 1 hr naps at 10 and 2 and sleeping at night 7-7.

Brother Rick moved away to AZ last month so we had some family over to say goodbye. Dad was here, which was a special treat to have most of his oldest kids all together. It seems that family time becomes so much more precious once you have a family of your own. We are enjoying our time we get to spend with all of our family and thankful to have them and have Olivia get to know them. She has lots of Aunties and Uncles. 14 that she had met to date! I love our huge, patriarchal-like, family.

So the Noah chain gets shorter every day. And Olivia's trick list gets longer and longer. My belly bigger and bigger.

Thankfully.








get-y out...

16 months and 24 weeks!

Ok, so yes, baby Noah is on his way. The delay comes from not only being very busy with the move into the new house but also with the me having complete placenta previa. Since 1 bleeding episode, I am now on bed rest and taking little exhales each day and week that passes. Grow Noah grow!

Matt has been super dad and husband. To borrow, my friend's phrase: " the best husband in the WORLD"! I won't get too crazy (oh, yes I will) but he is on me like a hawk when it comes to my activity. At least once a day I hear his, "honey.. what are you dooo-ing", when I get up and start roaming. He makes sure I have water by my side 24/7, am fed, entertained, the house maintained and oh, did I mention he takes care of Olivia all day? Ok enough about his wonderfulness. See pic's.

At first I was down a bit with all the changes and restriction. I said to Matt early on, " I feel like I am not doing my job as a mom!" He, so Mr Miagi like, says, "Oh yes you are, your job has just changed." He has a way of saying certain things that are so simple, yet totally transform my perspective. So let my new job begin! Taking care of me and Noah and keeping us safe and healthy. check! Project Noah has begun and I am taking my job seriously.

Friends have been wonderful about keeping in touch and offering help. Visits and chats with them are so nice! Rachel and Mom have been so generous in driving to help Olivia and I when Matt is gone and taking care of us so well. I have done some crafting, work from home on the laptop, writing, studying, reading, getting ideas for Noah's nursery, writing cards...Things I love doing but don't generally have the time. SO far I have not gone bananas and am feeling surprisingly relaxed. I know, it is still early.

Olivia:
Olivia has turned into a real little woman. She is running, interacting with her stuffed animals, feeding them, she talks non stop in toddler babble, uses her words and signs all day, walks down the stairs, plays hide and seek, kicks a ball, stacks blocks, uses an iphone... Well, she does. She loves watching herself in the videos I take of her. Especially the ones where I am asking her to sign. She follows along with herself in the video with a big smirk.
Last month she weighed in at 22 lbs and 31.5 inches. Long and lean, like her daddy.
She is staying super healthy so far with surprisingly and thankfully, no colds yet.
She waves and says "bye bye" all the time, even at naps and bed time, and blows kisses. I love when she does it at the Kingdom Hall to her friends when she sees them. It is the sweetest thing.
She still loves her books and points to things and identifies most objects in the books when we ask her where they are, and say's and signs "more, more, please" to read again. But then she does that with almost everything these days.

In September, we went on a wonderful trip to a lake house in Pine Mt Lake in Groveland. We all loved spending time with the family and relaxing. We are calling that the baby-moon and anniversary trip since I am not going anywhere soon. I was so thankful for the relaxing get away before the bed rest.

Over all, life just keeps getting better with Olivia and with Noah on the way, we look forward to another bundle of love running around.

Lunchtime for teddy.

Did I mention, Olivia drives boats too?

Running off with a huge piece of chicken.."What!?"...

Signing "again" to daddy.

kisses

Family photo.

Great Grandma Beulah and Olivia

Playing peek a boo-hide and seek and signing bird.

A rainy day at home cooking. Matt whipped up home made turkey sweet potato meatballs, berry smoothies and gluten free pumpkin bread for Olivia. Pasta dinner for the big kids and chocolate chip pumpkin bread. yumm!

Breakfast for mama.

100 day count down on the Noah chain.

The project

I am 22 weeks pregnant with my baby boy and have been diagnosed with complete placenta previa.
At 19 weeks, I had a small amount of spotting so went to the Dr immediately. The ultrasound revealed the previa. This Dr was somewhat positive about most previa conditions moving up and not being an issue. We were told to take it easy and have cervical rest. We also got to leave the appt with good news, that we are having a baby boy! We were mostly excited and not too worried at this point.
At 20 weeks, we had our u/s and Dr visit. Again they confirmed the complete previa and was given more details about risks and more restrictions on lifting ( nothing over 20lbs) and activity. Limiting my exercise to walking, needing to stay hydrated and limit stress and fatigue. And still pelvic rest. We know what that means. These Dr's also stressed the seriousness of the condition as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Since the probability of bleeding is high with the risk for hemmorage and premature delivery. All with no blood of course. We left comprehending and absorbing the seriousness of the condition and precautions we needed to immediately take.
We went out immediately and purchased step stools to avoid lifting Olivia and I stuck to only walking for exercise. Hour long walks however.

We were all adjusting and implementing the changes. I was still working and taking care of Olivia as usual some days alone while Matt was gone on his 24 hr shift. At 21 weeks, after a long, active day with Olivia and Matt at work I was woken up to bleeding at 12:30 at night. I went to the bathroom and the bleeding continued flowing out, but then stopped. I called Matt immediately and we decided that we would got to the Dr first thing in the morning. I felt fine, except for my mental state being quite alarmed. Lot's of scary dreams later, I woke up and called the Dr's office and got in that day. The ultrasound revealed Noah doing well and the placenta intact. No separation of the placenta. So that was good news. We were again calmly but seriously explained what could happen in my case and being a witness brought even greater risk to me with the inevitable bleeding. We decided that we would take all precaution we could. We decided I would stop working immediately and be on very restricted activity at home. Mostly sitting and resting.

Since then we have worked to recruit a care crew and have my mom and sister coming over from an hour and a half away to stay with me when Matt is gone. I am so thankful for them. Friends have been more than wonderful in offering other assistance and meal preparation and drop off and other around the house help as I need it. Just knowing that I have so many people to count on is a huge relief to Matt and I. For Matt knowing that I have my "special" food and someone with me to make sure I am not active, and to take care of Olivia is a huge comfort to him while he is away.


Keep cooking baby Noah! We love you..

14 3/4 month update pics!

Signing "doggy.

Who needs a "baby" plate??

Rio Del Mar Beach

An afternoon at Hidden Beach Park


My baby can climb stairs


My baby can sign!


My baby loves birds

14 3/4 month update

Olivia is developing soo fast! She is now walking really well. We take little walks around the court and she loves walking all around the house. Her feet are growing so fast too. Out of those adorable little shoes, way to quickly.
She is starting to say parts of words like: shoe, bird, dog, ball, up, down, bear. She also knows some baby sign language that I have been working on for months. What a reward to see her "talking" back. She "says": mom, daddy, dog, eat, more, water, eggs, bird, milk, cat, shoes, thank you. That's all I can think of now but we will keep on expanding her vocabulary! She also started the My Baby Can Read program. She learned follows along with the words and imitates very well. We are so amazed at how much she can learn so fast at this age.
She is such a happy baby. She sleeps still from 7pm to 7 am and takes 2, 1 hour naps. Sometimes longer. She has 6 teeth now and in 2 weeks we will have a Dr appt with stats to share.
She is officially weaned. Bittersweet. But we all feel good about it. She did great with it and it felt mostly naturally for her time frame. She is now on a sippy cup of almond and cows milk occasionally.
She loves her blanket and is starting to carry it around a little. She snuggles and pats and kisses her dolls and teddy bears. She gives out hugs and kisses on demand and even on her own. We LOVE that. I think she is going to be a very affectionate girl.
Matt is  gearing up to remodel her room for her to move into within the next month or so. So exciting!
I am settling into life as a mom well now and it is feeling more natural and comfortable every day. I love being able to spend so much time with her. It is such a blessing to have her "home grown" and to see before my eyes her developing from a baby into a wonderful little girl. Truely, a gift.

The big 01

Needless to say.. things have changed around here! Olivia hit the 1 year mark with her feet on the ground, literally. She went from her orangutan style scoot, to an upright walk, pretty much after just a few practice sessions. We were all so excited, including herself. So much, that she'd laugh herself into toppling over. Once the novelty slightly wore off, she was at it with confidence and seriousness, arms out to keep her balance and never looked back. Well once she reached her destination she would look back to make eye contact at us and clap her hands for herself. Watch out world, here she comes!

At her 1 year doctor visit she is at the 90th percentile for head size. Ahemm, big brains :), and 90th percentile for height and 35th percentile for weight. Tall, lean and big skull.  Like her papa.

Olivia is eating up a storm will all those calories she is burning. She loves pretty much anything we give her, except flat bread. She actually quivered as she flicked it from her fingers to get it off of them. Hilarious to watch. Must have been a texture thing. From blueberries to waffles scrambled eggs to sticky rice, she eats it up and fast. Like her mama. I blame that on grandpa.

We just moved into a new home July 2nd. The move went smooth and thankfully had wonderful help. It is just around the corner, literally from our previous home. So at least there is not the adjustment of a new neighborhood. After a few nights we were all settling in well and finally getting some normal rest. Olivia did well with the transition, just a little extra clingy, but overall loves the room to roam. We just need to get her to go down steps backwards instead of facing forward. Yikes!

A special thing Olivia started doing is giving kisses. Finally!! We can't get enough. Either can Grandma. It is the sweetest thing and we love it. Ahhhh, good stuff.

A few other highlights were going to the beach with cousin Jasmine, pool party Monday's, and a trip to the board walk to ride her first "ride". She loved it so much, she went on it twice. I was scared out of my brains. But stayed calm and cool, trusting my experienced mom friends that she was "old enough" for the ride. It was soo adorable. Can't wait for Disneyland!

What a busy month. We are looking forward to year 2 of Olivia's life and all the happiness and personality she shares.

BONK! With walking comes falling.

Month 7

CLICK ON MONTH 7 ABOVE



Have I said time is flying???

Well it is well into the 7th month and well things are happening fast!

Olivia is bringing us more joy than ever. Let the fun begin! She is laughing, squealing in delight, sleeping long 10 hr stretches, eating like a champ, sitting up well, standing, doing great at meetings, loving books and learning sign language. What a busy girl! She enjoyed going to the park for the first time and swinging on a swing. And also taking a trip to the beach with Daddy to put her feet in the sand for the first time. Oh, and she is saying ma-ma. Of course I LOVE that. I know she thinks saying Da-da all the time, but is just working on perfecting it in her head first. :)