We were very lucky this summer in that we got to join my parents, my sisters Samantha and Melanie, my brother Brian, Samantha’s boyfriend Erik, and Melanie’s friend Anne on a week-long trip to Taino Beach in the Bahamas (or the ‘Hamas, as Anya called it all week before we left). Despite getting hit with the outskirts of Tropical Storm Fay for much of the trip, we still had a wonderful time - and at least some of us managed to get to the pool or beach every day.

Anya loved flying on the planes! She was particularly excited by landing (”The plane is landing on the ground! It driving on the wheels! It go fast!”). We brought LOTS of things for her to do, but it turned out not to be necessary - she spent a good portion of the air time either sleeping, eating, or poring over the in-flight magazine and Sky Mall catalog. She had a little trouble falling and staying asleep while at the hotel (vacations should NOT involve waking up at 4:30 in the morning!) but towards the second half of the trip we were able to get into a groove that more or less worked. With nine adults and just one Anya in our group, she hardly got any attention this week. Yeah, right.

Between the three cameras that were brought, we took a lot of pictures (click here to see the full album). Here is a video and some of the highlights:

Yikes, THAT’S a big belly. Baby Girl #2 was there, too!

My parents and all of their kids:

Our “Bahama Mama”:

A piggy back train:

One of the storms:

The beautiful view from our balcony:

Anya admiring the ocean:

Lex playing in the sand:

Despite the look of worry here, Anya did end up loving the ocean:

Friedman family portrait:

Anya and Lex “chill-laxing” in a hammock:

She could not get enough of the slide!

Everybody in the pool:

Me and Anya, snuggling in a tube:

There were lizards everywhere! Anya was disappointed that she wasn’t going to get to pet and kiss them, as she announced excitedly when she first noticed them, but she still enjoyed chasing them:

The whole group at dinner on our last night:

Karaoke at one of the casinos:

Anya enjoying the play area at the Philadelphia airport during our return flight layover:

It really was a fabulous trip, with a good mix of activity and relaxation. I can’t remember the last time I had enough time to read two books in one week! Since my dad has access to the timeshare for the next 30 years or so, I am sure we’ll be back again some day, and I hope we have just as good of a time - except maybe with a little less wind!

I’m 21 weeks and 2 days pregnant today! More than halfway there. Baby Girl Friedman has been kicking, jumping, and rolling all over the place. At our ultrasound she was head down, but she must have turned again because most of the jabs I get are sucker punches straight to my bladder. She’s pretty active, especially at night. I love that I can feel her move, but truth be told, it can get a little annoying to feel those lighter pokes over and over again - it’s almost like being tickled from the inside.

I forgot to post this story from a few weeks ago: I had gone to Toys’R'Us one morning after dropping Anya off at daycare, hoping to find very low chairs to go with a table I had just built for her big girl room. I got there a few minutes before the store opened and was waiting outside the doors when a woman joined me. We stood there silently for a few moments, and then she turned to me and said, “You must be due any day now.” Shocked, I looked down at my belly and replied, “No, I’m actually not due until December.” She became very flustered (which I secretly enjoyed) and said, “Oh…well…uh…you’ve really popped!” I said something about how I showed early with my first pregnancy, too, and the conversation ended there.

Now, I know I carried very far forward with Anya and always looked farther along in the pregnancy than I was, and yes, it seems that I will be repeating that experience with this baby, but come on! I was 18 or 19 weeks along, and if that lady thought I looked nine months pregnant then, how big am I going to be when I’m actually nine months?!? Then again, she probably wasn’t the brightest light bulb of the bunch. I don’t think I look nine months pregnant yet, do you?

See even more belly pictures here!

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Tonight as I was putting Anya to bed, she asked, “Baby can hear it?” when I turned the CD player on for her bedtime songs.  I said sure, we could let baby hear the music, too, and I moved my shirt off my belly for her.  Anya put her head down on my stomach, said, “Okay, baby.  Listen!” and then started to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” (trying her hardest to sing along with the music, something I never noticed her do before).  It was such a sweet, tender moment, and it was hard not to get choked up.  I hope very much that she will care for her little sister as much as she does now when she is actually here.

It’s been pretty hot here this past week.  Rather than venturing out to the pool or beach, we stayed close to home this weekend.  We took advantage of some new toys (many recently acquired from craigslist and Freecycle) and enjoyed our time together.

Anya liked moving the water from her pool to the water table:

Then we trekked up the hill:

Swinging:

Playing on the slides:

Anya tries to ride her new (used) toy:

It was a little small for her.  She ultimately decided this was easier:

(Savanna is the little girl who lives a few houses down from us.  Diesel is her dog.)

Anya is 21 months old today! I’m not going to post a complete update since I wrote one fairly recently. Here’s just a few things I’ve noticed:

Potty - There has been a definite increase in the frequency with which Anya tells me she needs to go to the bathroom just to pee, and sometimes when we get there, we discover she had a dry diaper! However, she’s had at least four or five poop accidents in the last two months, all of which occurred at playdates. I figure she was having so much fun that she didn’t want to stop to go to the bathroom.

Books - Anya has been able (and eager) to sit for longer stories these days. We don’t let her have free access to her paper books because she’s a little to rough with the pages, but at naptime and bedtime, she only wants one of the big books from her shelf instead of her baby board books. Some of her current favorites are If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, and Good-bye Mommy by Bruce King Doman (the last one is an old book that belonged to me when I was little). Anya can be cute when she’s being read to - she often has a comment to make about the pictures, and I enjoy when she does because it shows that she’s really paying attention. On the other hand, she’s been a bit of a pain in the tush at bedtime lately because once we’re finished she wants to hold every book herself, shouting, “I read it!”

Naps - Naptime has been a little frustrating for all of us here. Well, it’s really post-naptime that is the problem. Regardless of whether she goes down at 12:30 or 2:30 and whether she naps for 45 minutes or 2 1/2 hours, Anya tends to wake up in a miserable mood. Screaming, crying, whining…it generally lasts for 30 to 60 minutes until she snaps out of it, and it’s very difficult to get her past it. She absolutely still needs the nap (yesterday afternoon she fell asleep in her carseat before I even started driving!). If anyone out there has advice, we’d love to hear it!

We had a very busy weekend! Playdates, time at the pool, dinner with friends…but the BIG event of our weekend was our trip to Sesame Place. Earlier this summer, Lex and I decided we weren’t going to take Anya there this year, but when a friend from my online October ‘06 birth club suggested a few of us meet up there, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity (Thanks, Saina!). To say that Anya had a blast is a gross understatement. It’s two days later and she’s still talking about the trip constantly (”I meet Elmo!  I eat breakfast with him!  I give a hug to Ernie!  I like Telly show!”).

We attended the Elmo and Friends breakfast in the morning (I highly recommend it; you really can’t get face to face time like that with the characters anywhere else in the park). Anya was a big fan of Elmo and Zoe, and eventually warmed up to Ernie and Big Bird. As for Bert, she only liked him from a distance. She was very excited to see him later at one of the shows we saw. Oddly, during the shows, she loved the characters, but the real people freaked her out. Stay away, Mr. Noodle! Anya loved the rides and the water attractions, and we even got her to take a (short) nap in her stroller. We took a lot of pictures; here are some of my favorites:

Anya gets a hug from Elmo:

The carousel:

Anya with Erica’s children (I’m still mad at myself for missing the chance to get a shot of all three families together):

Lex doing the hula dance at Big Bird’s show (see the video for more!):

And, of course, no post from me would be complete without a video:

Happy Fourth of July from us!

We’ve been having a great time taking advantage of the summer!  Playdates, dance class, story time at the library…so much to do, so little time (to blog)!  I’ll have to post a video of Anya at her “ballerina class” very soon - it’s just too cute, and she loves it. She’s still a little wobbly on her feet and doesn’t really run, jump, or climb, but she’s getting better and more adventurous. She does love to walk up and down the stairs (while holding my hand) instead of crawling, and always reminds me to hold the rail.

Anya has been busy doing all sorts of other things, too.  She definitely knows her colors, or at least the main 8 that show up in her Crayola box plus pink and white.  Her teacher at day care told me a cute story:  She had been working on the color yellow with the class, and was showing the kids a series of yellow objects, asking what color for each one to get them to repeat yellow.  The teacher decided to hold up an apple just to see what the kids would do, and all of the kids said yellow, except for Anya, who shouted, “RED!!!”  Apparently Anya’s excitement was very comical.  Anya still loves to draw and paint, and if you ask her to draw a circle or a line, she does a pretty good job.  Her favorite is still polka dots.

This week we gave Anya one of her 1st birthday presents - a toy baking set - that we had set aside originally because we thought the pieces were too small.  She has been SO cute with it, baking cupcakes for her dolls and feeding them all sort of things.  Watching her pretend is still so much fun, and she’s such a little mommy to her dolls.  It was hard not to crack up this morning when she put her bear on the floor and said, “Here baby girl, change your diaper.  That’s better.”

Anya still talks up a storm, especially at home, and if she’s not talking, she’s singing.  She knows almost all of the words to several of her favorite songs, and she can fill in the words to even more.  It always amazes me when she can supply words to a song that she’s only heard a couple of times.  She absolutely loves music, and she’s always asking us to sing songs to her (or play them on the “puter”).  What’s funny is that whether she’s talking or singing, she speaks with a very strong NJ accent.  “Twinkle, Twinkle” will sound something like this:

Twinkle twinkle little stawe, how I wunda whatchoo awe
Up above the world so hoiy, like a doymind in the skoy

I know that I have a little bit of an accent (and it’s gotten so much worse since we moved back here…grrr), but hers is like a caricature of a Jersey girl, it’s so extreme. Some of it MUST be due to imperfect pronunciation of certain sounds, but it’s still kind of cute.

We’re so happy that Anya is back to kicking us out of her room at bedtime. Two books, two songs, and then it’s “Music off. Crib…go to sleep. Away, Mommy!” She still only sleeps about 10 hours at night, but her nap now lasts about 90 minutes on an average day. It’s nice that she’s cooperative about sleeping, because Anya’s been very sensitive (or ornery, cantankerous, take your pick) about pretty much everything else of late, and she’s a total drama queen (”I’s yelling!”). The way she can turn on and off the tears on a moment’s notice can be very aggravating for us, and her frustration tolerance is very low these days. I think she’s having a little bit of an internal struggle over her desire to be a big girl and still wanting to be a baby. Sometimes she insists on doing everything herself - especially when it comes to meals - and other times she loses it if we don’t help her immediately. She’s also been doing some serious testing of limits. This has been a trying time for all of us, but still, it’s hard not to adore a kid who can exclaim “OH BOY!” with 100% sincerity.

This post is already quite long, but bear with me a little longer - we have another kid to discuss I had two appointments this week, one with a new gastroenterologist and one with the OB-GYN. I went to the gastroenterologist to get a second opinion, and though I’m having a lot of guilt about leaving my current doctor, I plan to go to this practice full-time. This doctor felt that I needed to switch to a different medication, one that is essentially the same as the one I’d been on, the only difference being the, um, delivery method (Look, I have colitis. This is my life.). My current doctor didn’t want to put me on it because he said that he was concerned it could somehow stimulate labor. This doctor pretty much thought that was nuts. My OB-GYN wholeheartedly agreed. I’ve been on it for three days and have already shown some significant improvement.

Our prenatal appointment went well. We only saw this doctor once when I was pregnant with Anya, and though he’s a little weird, he’s very thorough. He found the heartbeat right away, and it was loud and strong. I’m 17 1/2 weeks along, I’ve only gained 7 lbs, but I’m measuring right on target. I don’t think I’m quite as big anymore as I had alluded to recently, but I had a really bad week, colitis-wise. I was very concerned about the effect the colitis has been having on this pregnancy, with all of the cramps and the weight that I had lost this past week. The doctor had a lot of suggestions for additional supplements he’d like me to take which he feels will help with the colitis, and wants me to come back in two weeks to be rechecked. He feels that overall, things are going well with the pregnancy. I’m pretty sure I’m feeling kicks now, but they only happen here and there, so it’s hard to be positive.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!

Here’s our newest munchkin:

I ended up getting an unscheduled scan yesterday afternoon.  I had been considering calling the doctor for a few days because I hadn’t felt the baby move in several days and I was 95% sure I had been feeling movement last week, but kept deciding against it since it’s still pretty early.  Then yesterday I woke up with some low cramps that wouldn’t quit and didn’t feel digestive, so that, combined with some other circumstances, prompted me to call to see if I could just come in to have the baby’s heartbeat checked.  The office staff agreed that I should come in, but said I’d have to see the doctor, not just have a nurse use the Doppler.  The doctor found a strong heartbeat after about 15 very long seconds, but didn’t like the cramps I had described so she sent me for a scan to check my cervical length.  Thankfully, all was fine, and the very nice technician let us take a bonus peek at the baby.  She couldn’t get a clear view and wouldn’t say so confidently, but she thinks the baby is a girl.  We have our Level 2 scan in four weeks, so hopefully we’ll be able to get a definitive answer then.

The downside of this story is that there is no explanation for the cramps, and though they seemed to lessen in the early evening yesterday, they were back this morning.  I’m starting to feel that although they aren’t the “urgency” cramps I usually get with a colitis flare-up, they must be related, especially given how often I’ve been in the bathroom over the last 36 hours.  Maybe this is just how colitis and pregnancy interact - I can’t be sure, since I got through being pregnant with Anya with no symptoms whatsoever.  It might be time to accept that this pregnancy is going to remain somewhat uncomfortable unless I can find a way to beat this flare-up.

I have a bunch of unrelated stories, photos, and videos I’ve been meaning to share but haven’t had time.  Rather than writing 6 separate posts, I’m putting them together here!

Izzy’s Little Boo-Boo

Could these two be any cuter?  Anya and Izzy have a total love affair going on.  Their squeals of joy when they see each other at Gymboree are adorable, and apparently Izzy talks about Anya just as much as she talks about him when they are apart.  Poor Izzy had a little mishap at day care and needed some stitches.  I told Anya that Izzy had gotten a boo-boo on his head, and she got very upset - so upset that she wouldn’t calm down until I said I would call his mom Shiri so she could say hello to Izzy.  The next morning when she came into our room at the bright and early hour of 6 am, I gave her a kiss on her hand for some reason (she must have gotten hurt, but I can’t remember, too tired then!).  She turns to me and says, “Izzy little boo-boo…SHIRI kiss it!”

Everyone’s Having a Baby

I was talking to my dad on the phone while Anya was in the playroom.  I mentioned something to him about October, and she starts shouting, “October 19th!” over and over again until I acknowledged that yes, that is her birthday.  She then says, “I big sister!” and I said, yes, that was true, she was going to be a big sister (she associates her birthday with being a big sister because of the questions we asked her in her announcement video).  THEN she says this:  “Alexis big sister, too.  Savannah big sister, too.  Michelle have a baby.  Lisa have a baby!”  Alexis and Savannah are two of her friends, and Lisa and Michelle are their pregnant moms.  I’ve been talking to her friends who are going to have new siblings so that when the babies are born, it will help her understand what’s going to happen at our house, but I never put it the way she said it.

Anya and Her Shadow

This wasn’t the first time Anya noticed her shadow - that was HYSTERICAL - but it’s still pretty cute.  Perhaps she’s just practicing for a Peter Pan audition.

The I’s Have It

In the last few weeks, Anya started saying “I” instead of “Anya” when she talks about herself.  It’s funny when she gives us a play-by-play of what she’s doing - “I all done in the car seat.  I out the car.  I in the garage.  I go outside!”  It’s also funny when she misuses it, like when she grabs her cup and says, “I’s milk.”  My favorite thing she’s said (after I told her that, in fact, Mommy drives the car, not Anya):  “I drive the carseat!”

Alexis and Anya

Alexis is one of Anya’s oldest friends (in every sense - she’s 7 months older, and she came to visit Anya in the hospital when she was born).  Here’s a video of the two of them playing together last week:

Apparently I’m starting a collection of videos of Anya playing “Ring Around the Rosie” with her friends

She Made Me Cry

Tonight when I was getting Anya dressed for bed, we started talking about my belly and the baby.  I’ve been telling her about how when the baby is born, she can give it hugs and kisses, help me change its diaper, give it pacis, etc. (It was funny when she put her head down to my belly and said, “Come out baby!”).   I’ve also been telling her that if the baby cries, she can tell it, “Shhh, don’t cry, baby.”  She connects “Don’t cry” to the doctor, so she starts talking to my belly, saying, “Don’t cry Dr. Donde, baby. It’s okay.”  Then she goes into a whole monologue, a lot of which I couldn’t understand, but I caught the word paci, and then Ernie and Elmo, so I’m guessing she was thinking about things her crib that make her happy.  Next she starts rubbing my belly, saying, “Shhh, don’t cry, fine baby.”  Here’s what got me, though - she then put her head on my stomach to give the baby a kiss, said, “Nice and warm,” and reached for a blanket to cover my belly with a “Here blanket, baby.”  I’ve had a lot of fears that I think many second-time parents have about how the new baby will affect the first child, but I think Anya’s going to make a good big sister.