Lolli Update!

Lolli is definitely not a baby anymore- she's an on-the-go toddler tornado :) She says a LOT of words: mama, dad, woof, mooo, duck, quack, roar (the sound a bear makes), yellow, yuck, hot, hat, zap, Zach, ball, Smush, fish, apple, banana, waffle, water, please, up, help... there are many more, plus she's started imitating almost every word imaginable. She still signs for all done, thank you, baby, milk, and a few other things.

Today Lauren taught Lolli to kiss the baby in her belly, so now Lolli has been giving her baby brother or sister lots of kisses :) And Lolli nursed her baby doll today, which was cute AND a good step towards her accepting Lauren nursing the new baby in 6 months! Lolli slept from 10-8 last night and only nursed this morning, but she's usually still requesting mama milk once or twice each night. She eats all sorts of foods except for nuts. She loves yogurt, waffles, peas, carrots, chocolate (ha), hot dogs (although lately she's been saying those are "yuck" - good girl!), pizza, kiwi, avacado... she's a girl of varied tastes, for sure.

She rides rear-facing in a convertible carseat and loves it. She dances every time she hears music, swaying back and forth and spinning in circles. She loves sitting on her potty while Zach or Lauren go pee and she insists on having her own piece of toilet paper for put in the big potty and wave bye bye to. She loves petting otis, Smush and Boo. She can get down off the bed now and often gets out of bed before Lauren and Zach (although the door is closed so she can't get out of the bedroom). She LOVES being outside and asks to wear her coat and hatseveral times a day. She enjoys coloring, especially in the tub with her special water crayons. She really likes sitting in her high chair seat, even when she's not hungry for some reason. She still enjoys being worn in the mei tai when she and Lauren are out and about, although soon that might get uncomfortable for Lauren - so far so good! She still loves to shower with Lauren or Zach and enjoys "drinking" from the shower. She's 15 1/2 months old and weighs 215 pounds.

Pregnancy Update

Lauren is 13 weeks, 5 days pregnant as of today. Her weight consistently hovers between 190 and 192, but the past 3 days it's been 189 because she got a stomach bug over the weekend and threw up for the first time this pregnancy (and peed her pants at the same time, LOL). Of course that's about 50 pounds more than Lauren should weigh, but the good news is that she hasn't gained any since she's been pregnant. With Lolli, she topped out at 217 and her goal for this pregnancy is to come in at or below that number. So far, so good!

This morning Lauren looked down in the shower and realized her belly button is once again drifting to the right, just like it did when she was pregnant with Lolli. How funny! She's felt the baby move a handful of times in the past week or so, but only when she's sitting or laying still. Lauren has an appointment tomorrow at Nurse Midwives of Indianapolis and is hoping to absdolutely love the place and the midwife, Andrea. Fingers crossed, that's where she'll be delivering.

There's a Baby In There :)

Lauren is 10 weeks, 5 days pregnant and they had their first prenatal appointment this morning. It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish, including getting weighed, sitting with the doctor and chatting in her office, getting Lauren's annual exam including breasts (which Lolli got jealous of, LOL),and finally, listening for a heartbeat with the Doppler. Dr. Soper has amazing intuition for finding heartbeats and they all heard "whoosh whoosh whoosh" as soon as she placed the doppler thingie on the lower right side of Lauren's tummy.

Lolli was laying across Lauren's chest during all of this (except the breast exam), which was fun, because it made her feel like she was part of it all. Zach's assignment was to record the heartbeat on a little sound recorder from Build-A-Bear and he did a great job! They're going to take it to Build-A-Bear tonight and stuff it in a bear for Lolli to keep, so she can always listen to her little brother or sister's heartbeat.

Lauren had an easy pregnancy the first time around, but this one has been 100 times easier than that one, so she was a little bit apprehensive that something might have happened to the baby. She'd had a few "dead baby" dreams and is glad now to have proof that there really is a tiny heart beating in there :) She feels much more connected to the pregnancy now, and is looking forward to meeting my new son or daughter next summer!

Look Who's Talking!

Lolli is really starting to talk a lot! Her favorite word is "DAD!" and she yells it a LOT. Sometimes randomly during the day and always when she sees Zach, or a picture of Zach, or when Zach walks out of the room or closes a door behind him. It's so funny! Her second favorite word is probably "DUCK!" which she exclaims with such excitement, it's hard not to laugh. She says it every time she sees a duck, a bird, a turkey... anything that has wings, ha. She also says "mom" "woof" (for dog) "moooo" (for cow) "HOT!" "out" (outside) "nana" (banana) "apple" "more" "and her newest "papaw" It's so much fun listening to her talk and she loves to use words! She'll walk into the kitchen just so she can point at the apples and bananas and say their names.

Lolli has also made up her very own sign for 'telephone.' Whenever a phone rings or she sees a picture of a telephone, she holds her hand up to her ear as if she were holding a phone to her ear. It's very funny and quite smart, really. She's also learned to shake her head no if she doesn't want to do something or doesn't want another bite. So far it hasn't been a problem but we'll see if she starts saying no to everything :)

Pregnancy Update

Lauren is 7w 1d and feeling pretty good! She's had some mild nausea but nothing that can't be cured by eating. Other than sleeping and peeing more, she hardly feels pregnant at all. It's a little nerve-wracking, as puking would be more reassuring that there's a healthy baby in there, BUT Lauren always assumes pregnancy is healthy until otherwise indicated! Only 30-35 weeks to go!

Asking to nurse :)

Lauren thought Lolli was close to weaning herself since she has never asked to nurse during the day and has been only nursing at night for quite some time. However, Lolli's been sick lately and after every nap and in the mornings she's been "asking" Lauren to breastfeed her. It took Lauren a minute to figure out what Lolli was wanting, when she pointed to the pillow and tried to pull it towards Lauren and spit her pacifier out. Then it dawned on Lauren - during the night, she always lays a pillow across her lap and lays Lolli on it to nurse her. Duh! Lolli was asking to nurse! Maybe this is just a fluke thing because Lolli doesn't feel well, or maybe she isn't ready to wean yet :)

Lolli's 12 Month Check up

Lolli weighs 21.4 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches long. She's pretty much average :) She had to get blood drawn for a standard-issue hemoglobin test and the results were just fine. Shewas not fond of her shots but had stopped crying by the time Zach and Lauren got her up to the front desk. What a brave girl! And she didn't pee on anyone this time, which was a nice change, HA!