An awesome potty day!

KB and I were at home yesterday so I decided to really work on the potty training.

And what do you know? He did GREAT! Went about 1.5 hours in the morning (after his first diaper change of the day). After that I tried to take him to the bathroom every 45 minutes to an hour. He stayed dry until after lunch! Then he pooped in his pull-up, so we started over.

He stayed dry through his 1.75 hour nap! WHOA!! That is unheard of for him. And he stayed dry for the rest of the afternoon. One time, he had just gone to the bathroom upstairs, and 10 minutes later he told me he needed to go again. And he did!!

Of course, we had swimming lessons last night and after that, he was a super soaker. But I am SO PROUD of him for staying dry so much yesterday! And I know he's super proud of himself too.

Now if he can just keep up the momentum at day care today. We're trying to get him to feel comfortable telling the teachers he needs to go potty. They take the kids every couple of hours, but I think he needs to go more frequently while he's so early in the learning process.

We'll be home together Friday, and then it's the weekend, so I'm hoping we can have 3 good days in a row with staying dry and peeing in the potty.

Go, KB!

So effin' tired

I feel like I'm back in the newborn days -- the days when I had to choose "shower or sleep?" when KB went down for a nap.

These days, I choose sleep every time.

Very sad when I get up in the mornings and count the hours until KB's naptime.

Speaking of which, he should be winding down right about now. Too bad he is still running around the family room like a madman.

Random bits

Seems like I never find time to post.

The pregnancy exhaustion is abating (finally) -- only to be replaced by sheer and utter exhaustion because of KB's crappy sleeping at night! In the last few weeks, S and I have resorted to sleeping in separate bedrooms so that one person gets a good night's sleep while the other person keeps the baby monitor. KB is waking up several times a night, sometimes crying, sometimes whimpering, and sometimes outright screaming. I have no idea what is wrong.

The fragmented sleep is really getting to me, but KB seems none the worse for the wear.

In random news...

- At swimming lessons last week, the teacher had the kids in KB's class learning to dive off the side of the pool! The kids would stand with their toes curled over the edge, bend over at the waist, and then 'dive' in. KB's dives were more like belly flops, but he was SO thrilled and pleased with himself.

- At swimming lessons week before last, KB held his breath for 10, 12, and 10 seconds as the kids practiced swimming from teacher to parent. I miss being in the water with him, but it is so awesome to just sit and watch how wonderfully he is doing.

- Potty training continues. Yesterday was a great day! KB was dry 4 times when we went to the potty. We removed the splash guard from our training seats, because KB's school doesn't have them and he kept peeing on his pants every time he used the toilet at school. So we're trying to teach him to hold his penis down and pee straight down into the toilet. He's catching on.

- KB's musical education continues as well. The kid loves music of all kinds. We were stunned yesterday when he randomly started singing

Silver bells
Silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city

Presumably he picked this up from S playing Bing Crosby in his car during the holiday season. I'm just shocked KB still remembers the words!

One of his favorite songs to sing now is "Hit the Road Jack". He even sings the right number of "no more"s after Don'tcha come back.

He's a cool kid, that one. Even if he sleeps for absolute crap.

Mad about musicals

I wonder if I have the only 2.5 year old on the planet who walks around belting out

I'm SINGin in the rain
Just SINGin in the RAIN
What a GLORious FEELing
I'm HAPpy aGAIN!

KB is hysterical.

And when you ask him who sings "Singin' in the Rain", he will tell you: Gene Kelly.

When you ask him for the real name of Maria in The Sound of Music, he will tell you: Julie AnDROOS.

Hilarious.

His aunt V got him hooked on The Sound of Music when she babysat him in December. We told her and her boyfriend to help themselves to the DVD cabinet. Never mind that I thought they would play with KB until his bedtime and watch movies only *after* he went to sleep.

Anyway, she desperately wanted to watch TSoM and so put it on, despite KB's protestations. But once he started watching, he loved the songs. For a solid month after that, it was the only movie he asked to watch.

It's so funny to hear my little guy singing "These are a few of my favorite things." And "Do-Re-Mi" is one of his standards now; he will sing it for just about anyone at the slightest prompting.

I was randomly singing "We Go Together" from Grease the other night, and KB wanted to hear more of the "Boogity Boogity" song, as he calls it. So we let him watch a couple of numbers from that movie.

Now the trouble is, his favorite seems to be "Greased Lightning". But I'm a little leery of him learning the lyrics

You know that ain't no shit
We'll be gettin' lots of tit
In Greased Lightning

What's a mom of a budding musical fan to do?

15 weeks

Had another pre-natal appointment earlier today. My first "boring" one (i.e., no ultrasound). Just blood pressure check (114/76), weight check (I've gained a net 2 pounds since my first OB appointment at almost 8 weeks) and a quick listen to the heartbeat.

The big news is that I've scheduled my big ultrasound. It is currently scheduled for Feb. 27. I am thinking of calling tomorrow to see if I can change the date to the 29th. One, since it's a Leap Year, why not take advantage and get a cool ultrasound date? And two, if I have the ultrasound on a Friday, KB will be home with me and can come along to the appointment. S will have to keep him under control, though. I'm hoping seeing the baby on the screen will be novel enough that KB sits still for the duration.

I'll have one appointment between now and then, but that will be another one of the quickie, boring checks.

The time is still dragging a bit, but I'm guessing things will pick up soon. At least my energy is starting to come back. I can stay up past 9 or 9:30 in the evenings now, although I still crave my naps during the afternoons.

Bathtime Conversation

Me: [yawn] Oh dear.
KB: "Are you sleepy?"
Me: "A little bit. Are *you* sleepy?"
KB: "A little bit, but not much."

Just breathe

Got the call about my first trimester screening results.

For trisomy 21:

Age-related risk, before screening: 1/126
New risk based on screening: 1/2501


For trisomy 13 & 18:

Age related risk, before screening: 1/239
New risk based on screening: 1/4761


Both are results equivalent to that of a 20-year-old.

So not quite the home-run we had 3 years ago but still pretty damn good.

I think I shall cancel the amnio.

Normal

Just called the office where I had my first trimester screening done last week. Receptionist said my results were mailed out yesterday and should arrive today.

I am not a patient person. I hate waiting, especially for any kind of pregnancy-related results.

The receptionist assured me that my results are "normal". What does that mean? I want raw numbers.

She said she would look up the numbers for me and call me back this morning.

With KB, our odds were 1/10,000 of having a baby with Trisomy 18, and 1/22,000 of having a baby with Trisomy 21. I know I shouldn't hope for such awesome results this time. But I can't help myself.

Happy Half-Birthday, Buddy

Today marks KB's 2.5 year birthday.

2.5 years.

This morning, as we do the 7th of every month, we sang "Happy Birthday" to KB in bed. Except today, he wanted to sing the 'new' version we sang for cousin BK the other day:

Happy Birthday to you
You live in a zoo
You look like a monkey
And you smell like one too!
P.U!!!!!

Tonight for bedtime, I told KB a little story about the day he was born 2.5 years ago. His little face lit up when I told him how much Mommy and Daddy loved holding him when he was born, how it was the most special day in our lives.

And I got my own gift today. This morning, S brought KB into bed with us around 5:50. Then S promptly got a phone call from someone at work about a problem; he left KB and me to continue sleeping.

KB woke up around 6:30. He put both his arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. "Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!" he said. He looked into my eyes, still holding me, and said,

"I love you SO MUCH."

Those are the moments I want to hold in my heart forever.

The hole truth

We were supposed to fly to Arkansas tomorrow. For a week. S hasn't been to Arkansas since last Christmas. KB and I haven't been there since June. This was to be our post-Christmas get-together with my family, and certainly our last trip to Arkansas for a while.

We've canceled the trip. I don't have the energy to re-hash the whole reason again, so here are the relevant bits from an e-mail I just sent to a friend explaining why I wouldn't be seeing her this week:

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There's been a change of plans, thanks to the raging rainstorms in Northern California and the brand-new 2 foot x 2 foot hole in my living room ceiling.

I had noticed a small crack in the ceiling a couple of weeks ago, but no water marks on the wall or ceiling. And the last time it rained, I thought I heard an ominous "drip drip drip" in that same corner of the ceiling. But the weather has been nice ever since, so I was only beginning to think, "Hmmm, the rainy season is coming; maybe I should get someone out here to look at the roof."

And then the rain started yesterday afternoon. By the time I thought to look at the ceiling in the living room (while KB and I were having lunch today), the small crack had turned into a bulging BIG crack, and there were now huge water spots on the ceiling and wall. F.U.C.K. The arm of the couch (directly beneath the bulging crack) was soaking wet. After I pushed and pulled the couch away from the corner, I discovered the carpet underneath was soaking wet as well.

Put a bucket under the crack and called S to ask him to come home right away. When he got home, he investigated both outside and in the crawl space above the living room (accessed from an Alice-in-Wonderland size door in KB's bedroom). He found the leak, and also discovered that the floorboards in the crawl space -- directly above the living room ceiling -- are soaking wet.

Gah.

Then S tried to mop up some of the water that was already in puddles on the crawl space floor. I happened to be downstairs collecting tools for an attempted patch job when I saw a big chunk of the living room ceiling fall. Holy shit. Just the pressure of S rubbing a towel on the floor to mop up water caused a gaping 2 foot hole in our living room ceiling.

He tried to patch up the leak as best he could, and we put KB's baby bathtub underneath it to try to catch water before it reaches the floor of the crawl space.

Anyway, there are at least 2 more storms that are supposed to come through Northern California in the next week, and I don't want to leave the house only to come back to an even bigger disaster next Saturday.

Supposedly, since the house is under 10 years old, the roof is still under warranty. We called the builder today and a contractor is supposed to get back to us "in a couple of days" to tell us when he can come inspect the damage. Apparently they are getting a lot of calls because of this storm. Oy.

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We've rescheduled the trip for a bit later. I just hope we can get the roof and ceiling fixed before then. And fingers crossed we don't get hit by any more mishaps.

I didn't even mention the huge section of fence in the backyard that is hanging by a thread thanks to the crazy winds we had today. Any more of those and at least 1/3 of the back fence is coming down, I know.

13 weeks

So tired.

It's a good thing I didn't resolve to be more decisive in 2008. After being 100% certain that I was going to skip the first trimester screening and go straight to amnio, yesterday morning found me lying in a darkened room, watching a much-too-small TV as an ultrasound tech gave me the most painful abdominal u/s I've ever had.

This baby moves. A LOT. Of course, I don't feel the movements yet. But at the 10, 12, and now 13 week ultrasounds, he was moving around like crazy. Moving much more than KB was at any of these stages. Another super-active child. I am in so much trouble.

The baby's nuchal fold measurement was 1.4mm. I was very pleased with that. The u/s tech also verified the presence of the baby's nasal bone, which made me feel even better. Now I have to wait anywhere from one to two weeks for the bloodwork results.

The u/s tech did a very, very cursory pass at the genitals but immediately declared that the umbilical cord was in the way and he couldn't determine the gender. I can wait to know for sure. I will be absolutely astounded if he is really a she.

Strangely, Twin A is still measuring exactly 8 weeks. I know it's supposed to take weeks to re-absorb the embryo, but I would have thought it would get smaller as the weeks went by.

KB's little brother is measuring 13 weeks, 4 days. Little overachiever.