Happy New Year....

...and welcome to battle of the bedtime.  I don't care what day Shayna was born (Feb 27) because she is officially a 2-yr-old by attitude.  I love that she can get out of bed in the morning (it means I can stay in bed a few more minutes and she doesn't have to cry) and after nap; however, she has been freely getting out of bed at nap and night time.  It took 6 placements in bed to get her to fall asleep at nap time (no talking/scolding/scowling/etc, just pick her up and put her back in), but I'm on at least number 8 (this number has been increasing since I first started (final count: about 14 over 80 minutes and she's finally out)) for tonight.  I'm tired but I can't get mad since it's normal toddler behavior.  She's trying to assert herself and have control and it takes every ounce of strength not to laugh at her engagement attempts.

She has really blossomed in the last month from Dec 1 to the start of the new year.  Four word sentences are no longer tongue twisters but said fluidly.  She's getting good at using present and past tense correctly.  She grew 1.5cm (5/8in) and 400g (14oz) to the 22nd and 60th %-tiles, respectively.  Climbing in and out of the ball pit (see video from last post) has beefed up her upper body finally.  We had a lab scare at the beginning of Dec but both lab results since have been good, including the EBVirus coming down even with the lower dose of anitviral meds.  We both got sick last week after a 2-yr-old b-day party the week before.  She and I both had a cough and achiness.  Since she never sick, I took her to the doctor to make sure it was just a mild virus where he discovered her first ever ear infection.  I was so thankful I took her in and fell more in love with her pediatrician that before.  He didn't want her to start antibiotics right away since everything was very mild but trusted us enough to give us the prescription should things deteriorate per his description.  She (and I) has since gotten better and we didn't have to add to her medicine regime to get there.

SJ's due date is still Jan 29 per me and Feb 3 per docs and I'm not going to fight them on it as is gives me an extra 5 days to go into labor per their due date.  I've been reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and learning a lot more about what goes on during both natural births and hospital births.  It's quite fascinating but is also making me wish for a nice relaxed home birth.  At least we've got our doula to help us fight off the crazy medical system.  I can pre-register at the hospital starting Thursday and SJ can arrive anytime after next week until Feb 18.  Personally I'm hoping for him to wait until at least the end of the month since I've got quite a long to-do list.

My 30th birthday was wonderful as Grandma Carole entertained Shayna for the morning as I tackled the biggest thing on my list: my office.  I did 3 mornings at the beginning of Dec and have done 2 1/2 mornings with Carole's visit.  I love just going to the door and admiring the clean floor.  I've even inspired Nahum to work on his side.  Hopefully the next post with have beautiful before and after shots.

I'd love to share some pictures but I need someone to show me how to find them on this mac.  I know how to go from iPhoto to facebook but not from Safari to the file like I did on a PC which is how blogger seems to work.