Monday, April 28, 2008

T-Minus 12… Hours!?

Twelve more hours until Kindra and I are parents for the second time. Crazy. We haven’t even really spoken that much about how we feel about it all. Kindra just told me that she was nervous about tomorrow, and I have to admit, it’s a little nerve-wracking if I start to think about it. I mean, Kindra’s going to have surgery. And I’m going to wear the stupid little cap and gown again. At least we’ll have showered and be clean this time.

Tell you the funny thing, though… I just realized in the last couple of days how much we’re going to have to teach U.B. I mean, we’re starting all over again… Feeding, sleeping, burping, getting dressed, right hand/left hand, signs, words… Wow. I marvel at how much Danica knows right now, and I know it’s going to shock me how much U.B. doesn’t know. Formula, bottles, spit up, burp cloths… Wow. *shake head*

I’m planning on taking a video camera and still camera into the delivery room, but we’ll see how many hands I actually have. Besides, who knows if we’ll ever watch the delivery on tape? I didn’t chance it last time, and I didn’t even really see Danica until they brought her over after cleaning her off and checking her out initially. I’m kinda curious to see what I’ll do this time.

I’m also curious to see how Danica reacts and how long it takes her to figure out that the whole thing is a permanent situation. My mom is supposed to bring Danica to the hospital in the afternoon after Danica’s nap to see U.B., so it’s gonna be interesting. I think she’ll enjoy it at first, but we’ll see how it is when she figures out that U.B.’s going to be getting a lot of attention. We’re a little worried that Danica’s going to regress a bit and act more like a baby.

It was pretty amusing when my parents brought our old car seat and vibrating baby chair to the apartment today – Danica used both for her dolls, but ended up climbing in both of them and sitting in them. It really showed how much she’s grown already. Hopefully, she’ll let U.B. sit in both in peace… and hopefully she doesn’t sit down on top of U.B.

You know… I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet… Kinda like with the first child where it takes a while to really figure out that you’re parents and not just babysitting. I guess it’s pretty much like gettin’ in the pool – just take the plunge, eh?

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By the way… I haven’t come up with a new name for the blog (and I’m not writing one for each child), so… Submit your ideas now!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Countdown #2: T-Minus Six

How about in six days, Danica will be two? Where has the time gone? It was just yesterday that we were celebrating her first birthday. *sigh* I can’t imagine how you parents out there see things when your children turn ten, twenty, thirty… *shake head* I feel bad that we’re not having a party for Danica, but I don’t think it’ll affect her. I am, however, planning on getting a cake for her. An Iron Man cake. Heh. Just kidding. I’m hoping to be able to get Elmo, Curious George and another character on it.

See, I’ll just admit we’re bad parents – we use the TV to distract Danica in the morning. She’s a big fan of Sesame Street (mostly Elmo, though she does know other character), Curious George, Super Why!, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and pretty much anything that looks like it has a baby in it. Definitely do not tell her you might turn on one of those programs, because if you can’t find it (or it’s not there like the TiVo says it is), she’ll be pissed. I also hate it when shows show two seconds of a baby and then the baby goes away, because that’s all she wants to see. Oh, and as a warning, as cute as some of that stuff is, DO NOT BUY HER ANY ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THOSE SHOWS. Unfortunately, she’s not into the superhero cartoons (yet), though she has said, “Batman,” with some prodding.

Beyond cartoons, she’s also a big fan of animated feature films. Her absolute favorite is Bambi, because I think she equates it to “baby,” plus there’s all the animals. She’s also seen Snow White (she surprised me this morning by actually saying, “Snow White!”) and The Lion King II, but those don’t hold her interest much. It’ll be interesting when we go to Disneyland someday.

Other tidbits: she’s recently been into throwing things into water. She’s thrown a couple of things into the streams and ponds we have around our complex for pretty much no reason. It is funny when she tells you she threw something in the “duckie water.” Unfortuantely, she’s also gotten into throwing things into the toilet as well. *sigh*

On the cute end, she loves the mini-magnadoodle we have and over the last couple of days has been drawing non-stop. She draws a mean turtle, potties, and a Thumper (of Bambi fame). Fortunately, she can tell you what she drew, though her pronounciation could use some work.

Anyway, here’s a clip that some of you have seen, but it’s from last Christmas (sorry). Danica particularly loves this clip because the first time I showed it to her was on our point-and-shoot camera, so now she’ll grab the camera and want to see the “motorcycle.” It’s amusing and annoying at the same time.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

T-Minus Six

(Originally written on Monday, April 21)

Here’s a crazy story… In six days, Kindra and I will be parents. Again. I have to tell you, it’s a little disconcerting (and don’t the rest of you tell me it shouldn’t be). Of course, if it were up to Kindra, the baby would be out of her already. A couple of funny things about the fact that Kindra’s still pregnant: 1) if we weren’t having a scheduled c-section next Monday at noon, we’d still have two weeks to go, since the actual due date is May 4, and 2) Kindra pointed out that she’s never actually been this pregnant. You have to remember that Danica’s actual due date was May 17, but that she was born 15 days early.

Other things: Danica (and by extension, Kindra and I) is still not sleeping all that well. We think we have a bedtime strategy that works for us, but she’s still not really all that interested in sleeping at bedtime, and she has trouble putting herself back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night. It’s usually two or three times a night that she’ll walk out of her room bleary-eyed like she’d just woken up from a nap she really needs. Just last night, she woke up pretty much every hour.

We’re working on getting a bed for her, but I’m not totally convinced that’s going to solve things. Phase one is being completed, as I’ve moved a couple of desks out of her room to allow us to shift some things around, so we’ll try to get one ASAP (obviously). We’ve even taken to laying a folded comforter on the floor next to our bed so that she has something to lie down on if she comes in our room.

We’ve also recently determined that The Girl doesn’t like to wake me up as much as Kindra, so we’ve switched sides of the bed. I sleep on the side closest to the door, which is the side we keep the folded comforter on, and Kindra now sleeps away from where Danica can see her immediately. It’s worked a couple of times, and The Girl has just come in and slept on the comforter.

All in all, that’s pretty much our life right now. Danica’s pretty happy everyday… she loves going to visit her friends at daycare every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday… Mom and Dad remain sleepy… Mom remains very pregnant while trying to finish up her work for her certification… Dad remains alternately extremely busy and moderately so… The Girl eagerly anticipates the upcoming Iron Man (May 2) and Speed Racer (May 9) movies as well as her younger sibling (though that probably will change)… speaking of which, Danica loves her new book, I’m a Big Sister!... U.B.’s names we are considering are Colin and Chloe, though any suggestions might be of use… And I just realized that Danica doesn’t say the phrase, “Got it!” that much anymore. It’s kinda sad.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Bed Problem: Solved!


Bed Problem: Solved!, originally uploaded by shc32.

Not really. But wouldn't it be great if she did want to sleep in the basket? I think we'll be purchasing a twin- or full-size bed in the next week or so. I'm still not positive that she'll stay in it, but we might as well try...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Fast Break

Okay, while I wait for some video files to render, here’s the quick rundown:

Aunt Steph just left on Wednesday morning after visiting since last Friday… Ah-Mah and Ah-Gong were also here over the weekend, so it was fun for the family to hang out together… Of course, they all got a big kick out of Danica, who was also eager to see them (see video).



Only eighteen (18!) more days until Kindra’s scheduled c-section on Monday, April 28, but the realization that she could go into labor at any time has put a little bit of a panic in me. Technically, her due date’s not until May 4, but she’s pretty sure she’s not going to make it to April 28. The doctor says that everything is fine (*knock wood*), but Kindra’s definitely ready to be done. Not really sure how we’re going to handle two, but we take solace in the fact that we’re not Jon and Kate from Jon & Kate Plus Eight (as I think many a couple do).

Our biggest issue right now is that, per my last post, Danica has decided that cribs are for babies. Unfortunately, mattresses on the floor do not seem for Danicas, either. She’s been crazy difficult to get to sleep (and keep asleep – more on that later). We do the whole bedtime routine thing – bath, books, kisses – but she knows that she has to go to sleep and is consequently pretty fussy when it comes time to turn out the lights and for us to leave the room.

We’ve gotten to taking turns putting her to sleep, following the “Weissbluth method,” which basically involves telling her what’s going on, putting her down and letting her cry. When she gets out of bed and opens her door, we just pick her up without a word, put her in her bed and walk out again. Repeat about a bajillion times on a bad night (record is in the 70’s – inside of thirty minutes), and on a good night, repeat less than ten times (record is six… but she woke up later). It’s hell on the nerves and on our backs.

If you think getting her to sleep sounds rough, you should see her actually sleeping: she rolls around like crazy. We expected this since toddlers aren’t really supposed to be in beds until after age three because they just don’t have the body awareness to stay in a bed. We might have given in a bit too easily with taking her out of the crib, but because she used to bang her head against the wall, we had to. Anyway, she tends to roll off the mattress and ends up sleeping on the floor, which she apparently doesn’t mind. She’s taken to opening her door and flopping down on the ground when we go to move her and then just falling asleep in her doorway. We’ve also found her out in the middle of the hallway, where she sleeps just fine (mostly), and she even came into our room one day and slept by the side of our bed. I’m not too thrilled with it, but she sleeps on top of her blanket and we keep the apartment pretty warm, so I have to live with it for now. Even if she stays on the bed, she mostly sleeps half-on, half-off the bed, which isn’t much better.

And if you think watching her sleep is rough, you should be there when she wakes up in the middle of the night. We hold our breath when she wakes up, hoping that she’ll turn around and flop down on top of her blanket. If she doesn’t, the next best hope is that when she comes out, she’ll go back to sleep quickly if we hold her for a little while and then gently lay her down. The worst-case scenario (which has happened quite a bit over the past couple of days) is that we have to go in there, calm her down, and then lay with her to get her to go to sleep. Of course, getting out of there once she’s asleep (without falling asleep yourself – a challenge for both of us) is a bit like the scene at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indiana Jones tries to take the golden idol… you’ve got to move gently, but quickly, lest you wake her up and she comes after you like that huge boulder in the movie. I would’ve put in a movie clip here, but I couldn’t find just that part on YouTube. Go figure.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on.

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