10-month Survey

Monthly Survey

1. How old is baby? 10 months, 4 weeks old.
   
2. Stats:
   1. Weight: 24-ish lbs
   2. Height: ~31 inches
   3. Clothes size: 12-18 months for pants. She can still wear some 9 month onesies but mostly 12-18 months for those, too. I also just broke out some 18 month pjs.
   4. Diaper size: Still size 3 in regular diapers, but going up to size 4 in overnights.
   5. Hair color: Blonde…maybe even a little strawberry.
   6. Anything else? HATES SOCKS! I can't keep them on her for more than 5 minutes. J
3. Milestones:
   1. Teething: Ugh, always it seems. 8 teeth now! God have mercy on us when she starts cutting molars!
   2. Talking: Still babbles. She doesn't really say any words that she knows the meaning of, but she understands A LOT! If you ask her where something is she can point to it (like the dog and the ceiling fan).
   3. Rolling: Mostly as a means of getting back to sitting after falling down. J
   4. Walking: YES!! She started walking on 9/24!! She's doing it more and more but still improving every time.
   5. Crawling: Still the preferred mode of transportation, though walking is getting to be more often.
   6. Anything else? She came down with her first cold this week. I'd say day 2 was the worst, but she's getting better quickly and yesterday she was back to her same energy level. I'm glad it didn't keep her down too long. The only thing that was difficult was trying to use the bulb-thingy to suck her nose out. She hated it and didn't really realize I was trying to help her. Poor thing. L Oh, and I almost forgot to add, she is now using a sippy! I'm trying to keep the bottles only for naptime/bedtime and it seems to be working really well. She loves water and apple juice. J We give her a sippy with her meals now and it's nice that she can drink what she wants.
4. Things she likes:
   1. Toys: She recently rediscovered her Leap Frog table and has been having fun with that. Otherwise, she mostly has fun just cruising all over the living room.
   2. Books: She loves books! She has a Fisher Price Little People Farm book that she loves. J
   3. Songs: Old McDonald Had a Farm…when she gets her diaper changed. It seems to be the only way to keep her from running away naked!
   4. TV Shows: SuperWhy still. She also likes Dinosaur Train, WordWorld, and Sesame Street (especially anything involving Elmo).
   5. Other activities: We haven't been swimming in a while. We might have to remedy that. She loves going for walks in the stroller. On Monday afternoon we're going apple picking and on a hayride to get pumpkins-can't wait for that!
5. Things she dislikes: WEARING SOCKS! Lol And riding in the car some days. And being told 'No'.
6. Sleeping: At night it's pretty good. She still fights naps pretty hard, though.
7. Eating:
   1. Favorite foods: Grilled cheese (she must be a Wisconsin girl) and toast. Crispex cereal. Most kinds of meats.
   2. Not so favorite foods: Regular potatoes
8. Nicknames: Peanut
9. Things we're looking forward to next month: Going to Applefest. We've got to keep an eye out on the crafts for a cute "piggy" bank for her brother/sister. We Clara a cute one before she was born that's in the shape of a sheep.
10. How I like motherhood:
    1. Likes: I love watching her learn new things! Watching her walk is fun because she's got it down, but sometimes she gets really excited and forgets what she's doing. J It's adorable.
    2. Dislikes: Being pregnant while chasing Clara around. It's exhausting to say the least and I don't like that I lose my patience with her so easily. I feel like a lousy Mom some days. I know it's just hormones, but it doesn't make it any easier, especially considering that for the most part I've felt good physically. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I really get big and don't get as much sleep as I'm used to. L

Pictures!!

Ultrasound pics, as promised.

Citizen's Academy week 5. And Baby #2 update.

Well week 5 was supposed to be with the electric department, unfortunately I was unable to attend because Clara and Adam had both come down with nasty colds and I opted to stay home and help out instead. I wish I could have gone but my family comes first. :-) Luckily, everyone is feeling much better already. Clara got a good night of sleep last night and is in a great mood this morning.

In baby #2 news we had our nt ultrasound yesterday. It was great to see the little guy swimming and bouncing. :-) All of the measurements looked really good. We even took a quick peek between the legs to see if we could determine the sex yet. While the tech wouldn't tell us for sure because it's still pretty early, it was pretty obvious and I would be shocked if this baby ended up NOT being a boy! I'm blogging from my phone so I can't get pictures up but I'll try to get some up tomorrow when I'm at work. :-)

12 week survey

Weekly Survey:

How far along? 12 weeks

Total weight gain: +.6lbs (130.0lbs)

How big is baby?: The size of a plum.

Sleep?: Horrible lately. I wake up a lot during the night and don’t feel very well rested.

How are you feeling physically? Pretty well. I did a little bit too much yard work over the weekend and my back was pretty horrible, but other than that, I’m good.

How are you feeling emotionally?: Ok for the most part. I have times where I feel overwhelmed and if I don’t eat soon enough I get really scary but pretty much ok otherwise.

Best moment this week?: We’re finally public! We announced to my family yesterday and I went “social media” public today. I’m glad the cat is finally all the way out of the bag! Also, Friday night we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time with our at-home Doppler! I can’t believe how much I’ve missed that sound. :)

Movement?: None yet.

What has baby been up to this week?: As you move into the second trimester, baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all of baby's systems are fully formed.

Food cravings?: Yesterday it was pickles.

Labor signs?: Thankfully not.

What I miss: Getting a good night’s sleep.

What I'm looking forward to: We have our NT scan on Wednesday 9/28 and I’m really looking forward to that since it got cancelled last week!

Random Thoughts: None this week, really. I’m just counting the days until Wednesday.  I am surprised that I’m almost out of the 1st tri already, though! One week and 3 days (actually a week from our u/s!!) left to go! It’s surprising since it felt like it would take forever!



Clara says....

 

We’re expecting our 2nd baby!!

We found out on July 31st (our first wedding anniversary) that we are pregnant. We had originally planned to wait another year when Adam is closer to being finished with school, but I guess we’ll have to make some adjustments. We’re both quite excited. Of course, I’m also terrified because now we’ll have 2 kids under 2 years old! Yikes!! We’re going to have our hands full! I’m due sometime around the beginning of April.

I’ve been doing weekly surveys since I found out I’m expecting. I started at 4 weeks and hope to keep up with it. I didn’t always do it with Clara, but I wish I would have. Then I would have something to look back and compare to. Now that we're "social media" public I'll be posting one every week starting this week.

This pregnancy is very different so far. I was slightly queasy at the very beginning but other than that I felt fine. The only thing that is really different is the horrible insomnia! I’m usually like one of those old dolls that when you lay it down the eyes close. However, since I found out I’m pregnant I haven’t slept very well at all! I’m also starting to get heartburn already! Last time I had it so bad that I had to take Prilosec from 20 weeks on. I’m guessing that right now, judging by timing, this is going to be another girl. We’ve already picked out a girl’s name and we had a boy’s name from last time but now I’m having second thoughts (Adam’s not, though!). I really am hoping it’s another girl so that we don’t have to spend a fortune on new clothes. We’ll have to buy another crib, probably a double stroller, and another high chair but most of the big stuff we already have.

Stay tuned to find out how it’s going!

Citizen's Academy-Week 4...final week with the Fire Department.

Last night was our last night with the Fire Department. It was a ton of fun, if not a little chaotic. Class was only slightly delayed by the fact that half the guys were out on a call (which ended up being a false alarm). Once we brought all of our turnout gear down from storage, we met in the classroom to go over Incident Management and what our assignments would be for the night. We were going to be simulating a call to a scene in which both fire and EMS would be involved. Each different "role" was assigned to an actual firefighter so that we could learn more about what each person might do on a fire scene.

So, we got dispatched out of the fire station by the actual dispatcher, geared up, and jumped (or something resembling that) into our respective fire apparatus (which is firefighter speak for a fire truck). Once on the scene we broke into our repsective roles and began the scenario. The scenario involved a vehicle that crashed into the side of a building, striking the electric and gas meters and causing a fire to the structure. There were also injuries involved and reports of a person trapped inside the building.

Let me tell you a couple of the things that I leared that were pretty eye-opening:

• Our city's fire department only employs 16 total firefighters.
• Only 4 of them are on duty at any one time during the day/night.
• A minimum of 2 at a time usually go out on ambulance calls, but sometimes they need 3.
• A fire scene needs an Incident Commander (or Officer in Charge), a Safety Officer, and a team of firefighters to fight the fire. That's 4 people.
• Each attack team must have a team to back them up in case something happens (NFPA's 2 in 2 out rule). If there are only 4 people on duty and 2 of them are the attack team, do the math and consider how dangerous this is.

Even with my Dad being a firefighter for 25+ years I had no idea that things were like this. Luckily, our city's department has a good working relationship with the surrounding communities and they have a great mutual aid agreement worked out. The other departments are able to send guys and apparatus to cover our department when we are short. It also helps that our department pages out off-duty and paid-on-call firefighters and EMS personnel when needed. But economic times are tough and budget cuts are still coming down the pipeline. I just hope that it doesn't start jeopardizing people's safety.

Once we finished up at the scene, we packed the trucks back up and headed for the "barn." We unloaded all the hose to dry and washed the trucks. No sooner had we washed the trucks, however, then a call came across the radio. There was another fire...an actual one this time. It was neat, though, because we all happened to be on the apparatus floor when the guys suited up and jumped into the truck. It was really nat to see the guys in action. I actually passed that fire scene on my way home from class!!

Next week we will be going to visit with the Electric Department. I hope it's more exciting than the wastewater treatment plant!

Citizen's Academy week 3 and 3.5...and miscellaneous other things.

Last Tuesday we had week 3 of Citizen's Academy, week 2 at the fire department. We spent our class time learning all about the EMS portion of the fire department. We got to explore inside the ambulance and even "run" a call, which also involved getting to take a ride in the back of the ambulance! It was not only extremely informative but a lot of fun, too. We also got to use the jaws of life and other tools to cut apart a car! That was a lot of fun and really interesting. At the end of the night we all climbed into the carcass of a car and took a group picture. Next week will be our last week at the fire department. We will be doing a whole scenario involving being dispatched from the fire department and going to a scene that involves not only fire but EMS as well. We will all get to role play. It'll be on Wednesday night instead of Tuesday though.

This past Thursday we had an extra class, this time at the Public Works department. We learned all about waste water treatment and our drinking water purification. It was informative but also sort of boring. Leave it to a bunch of engineers to suck the fun out of stuff!  Luckily, though, they let us our early. I was exhausted!! At least with the other classes so far we have been doing hands-on things that keep us occupied.

On to the miscellaneous stuff.

Adam and I went to the Brewers game on the 9th sort of for his birthday. we both had a great time but we would have had more fun if they would have won. But we got to spend the night down there and then on Saturday the 10th we had our fantasy draft. It was a blast! It was nice to see friends again and to meet new people.

I was off this last weekend and spent some time making soups for this winter. The house smelled fantastic. It was nice just to spend time with my family. Sunday we watched the Packer game by Adam's parents' house and had steak and corn on the cob for Adam's birthday lunch.

Unfortunately it's now Monday and it's time to get back to the grind. Adam is at school right now. Clara is napping. When she gets up she's going to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa for a little while so I can run a couple errands. Tomorrow Adam has school all day and I'll be finishing up chores around the house before I go back to work on Wednesday. Wednesday I have class after work and work all day Thursday before I come home to watch the peanut so Adam can go tutor. Thankfully I'm off all weekend again. :-) I have an appointment on Friday afternoon, a wedding on Saturday, and a football game at my parents' house on Sunday! Very busy week!!

Well Clara is up so it's time to go!

Citizen's Academy-Week 2

This past Tuesday we had week 2 of our Citizen's Academy. This week, we're spending time with the Fire Department.

After a hectic week since the last class, during which I was supposed to have gone and got fitted for some bunker gear but didn't, and a hectic day yesterday I showed up early to class to get my gear. I managed to scrounge some up and for the most part, it fits...well enough anyway.

Our group was split into 3 different groups tonight. We participated in 3 different activities: hoses, search & rescue, and ladders. I went through search & rescue first. We donned our gear and learned how to use the SCBA as well as how to conduct fire attack and search and rescue operations. They used theatrical fog to "smoke" up one of the garages so that we would have an idea of what it would look like in a smoke-filled environment. There were only 3 people in our group so since I have experience in this area from work, I offered to go twice, since firefighters always enter a building with partner. That was the hardest station of the night!

The second station my group did was ladders. They put the aerial ladder of the ladder truck all the way up and we could climb as far as we wanted. I, being afraid of heights, stayed on the ground, but assisted one of the on-duty guys in showing the rest of our group about ground ladders.

The third station was all about hoses, water, and pumper trucks. It was pretty neat since the water flow at the technical college where I had fire training was nowhere NEAR the capacity that our city's hydrants put out, let alone being boosted by a truck! Good thing there were other people on the hose or I would have had quite the ride!

At the end of the night we helped break everything down and clean up. We also got a quick tour of the fire station. The guys at the station were awesome, and most of them know me. One of the guys that was there last night was one that I went to high school with. The rest of the guys have worked with my Dad, who was a paid-on-call firefighter for the better part of the last 25 years and just retired this summer.

Next week we'll be covering EMS duties. I'm interested in this because it's an area where I don't already have a lot of knowledge.

Citizen's Academy

Every year where I live the city puts on a Citizen's Academy. It's a chance for the citizens of the the city to get a look behind the scenes at how the city works. People are picked through an application process. There is no charge and the city officials who participate donate their time. And to give you an idea if how big of a deal that is this class meets every Tuesday night from 6-9pm for 11 weeks.
Since I'm going for my Bachelors in Criminal Justice I thought it would be a good opportunity.
I had my first class this past Tuesday night. It being the first class I assumed it would not last the entire 3 hours but I was wrong! We spent a short amount of time going over what we will be doing as well as specific things that are pertinent to certain city departments. I was also under the impression, at least until I saw the agenda, that we would be sitting around for 3 hours listening to someone talk. Well that isn't true either. After we went through the class's schedule we jumped right into our first session! It was the Parks & Rec Department. We event took a field trip to the oldest cemetery in town and learned about some of the different families that helped found it. We also learned about what kind of time it takes to keep up a cemetery as well as all the parks, beaches, ball diamonds, and medians that are in our town. It was really interesting! We even played a game at the end of the night. It was fun and I had a hard time winding down when I got home.
Next week is Fire Department. We will be getting our own bunker gear to use for the next 3 weeks. We will also be learning some basic firefighting and EMS skills. I'll do another post after our next class and let you know how it went!