Charlotte and #2

So I have some exciting news...drum roll, if you please... I found out I'm expecting baby #2!! I'm about 11 1/2 weeks along, and sooooo excited. We had an ultrasound at 7 weeks that confirmed the pregnancy- and may I say that the baby is absolutely adorable, even as an unrecognizable bloblet. (Of course that's not a word, but if you spend any amount of time around kids you can turn any normal word into a cuter word and get away with it.)

I was trying not to tell everyone till closer to 12 weeks...partially because this pregnancy comes with extra challenges. Having type 1 diabetes means additional risks for the baby, even though I've been controlling my blood sugars pretty well so far. Of course I get the joy of seeing my doctors so much more often...by the end of the pregnancy I'll be at my Ob/Gyn twice a week, and at the Endocrinologist at least twice a month. (Um, yes... Thank you God for insurance.) And I get to go to Uconn for a Fetal Echo...the purpose of which I'm still not quite sure of. And on top of all this, I was only really nauseous for 4-5 days...only threw up once...and then suddenly I was better. (This worried me a little, although I was still having an aversion to coffee and peanut butter which are usually my staples...so I figured there still had to be a baby to blame for that.)

Also...we figured we'd delay the deluge of pregnancy questions for awhile. (The, "How are you feeling-s" and "When do you find out the gender-s?") Which reminds me, we are totally hoping to be strong and NOT find out the gender this time. I've been told I'll have to have another C-section, and since labor isn't going to be a surprise...I think I'd like the gender to be. With Charlotte I realllly wanted a girl, but with this baby I feel like I'd be truly happy with either one. Although, as usual, we have two pretty perfect girls names picked out...and about a dozen boys names that we can't seem to turn into amazing names. You really want to pick a name and have a warm fuzzy about it...or at least be able to picture yelling the full name in a grocery store to stop your child from knocking over a display of pickle jars. And to top it off, it has to sound good with the name "Charlotte"...or at least not clash. (Ex: Charlotte and Alyssa*= compatible, Charlotte and Scarlett*= incompatible...unless they were twins.)
*Neither of these names are potential finalists.

Buuuut, I had another appointment yesterday and got to hear the heartbeat (although, as if the baby was trying to give me a heart attack...he/she decided to play hide and seek so it took the doctor 2 minutes to find the heartbeat. Ok, maybe it was 30 seconds, but it felt like forever.)
So that's the big news... and if we stay strong, this baby may be called #2 until it's due date...well, that would be Jan. 13th, but the baby will actually come at least a week early I'm told. (One thing I will consider of a perk of the C-section....I don't have to be huge forever!)

Roseola, Eggplant Parm, and the Damn Deer

It's been awhile since my last post...so for lack of a good transition, this sentence will have to suffice. The past week has been a stressful one. My daughter (who is normally a rather warm baby) spiked a fever of at least 102. And of course this would have to happen late on a Saturday when all normal pediatrician offices are closed. So, as a first time mom I panicked and announced to my husband that we should take her to the ER... thankfully my husband had more of his wits about him and countered with, "maybe you could talk to the on call doctor first." This was a good idea. When the doctor returned my call several minutes later, I started to see my paranoid little self the way he must see me... 'oooh my goodness, I had to take a break from my perfectly good cookout to talk to a hyperventilating first time mother, who has absolutely nothing to worry about.'

He somehow managed not to belittle my fear...calmly told me to give her a fever-suppressing medicine, and simply to watch out for any kind of rash.

Well, 4 days later, her fever finally went away, and a sad little rash did appear all over her stomach, back and face: apparently all signs of Roseola, a fairly common virus among babies under 3. What a cruel virus tho....that the only tell-tale symptoms don't come till AFTER the fever...and apparently till AFTER the child is no longer contagious. So you're left to worry for days on end about why your child has a fever: is it because she's teething...or could it be that she's getting the flu?

Anyway, one of the side effects of the virus is a decreased appetite. This, combined with my daughter's sudden disdain for meals that come in a jar, has forced me to giver her more and more foods that I'm eating. Hence, tonight...exasperated that she wouldn't eat her once-beloved baby food lasagna, I resorted to giving her my eggplant parm...which to my surprise she loved! (But hey...it is fried, cheesy goodness...what's not to love?) So here we go...I can't decide if it's going to be a relief not to buy so many jars of baby food, or a hassle since she still can't eat as many textures and foods as we can. We'll see...

And finally...I was so excited this year to start my own vegetable garden. I planted a lot of seeds, and a few plants, including lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, onions, carrots, cucumbers, and celery. (I also planted sunflowers for Charlotte to enjoy looking at.) I knew full well that we had deer living near us, and thought I would put a fence around the garden...but I never got around to it, and hadn't seen the deer all season. But a week ago, they attacked and ate parts of my tomatoes, peppers, and the tops of all my sunflowers. I literally cried over my sunflowers. I don't care what you say, it was worth a good cry. Now I just haven't had time to get a fence up, and they keep coming back...nibbling at my squash, and my cucumbers. It's so sad. It's the first time in my life I've ever thought to myself that deer really should be shot.