Seven on Sunday

1. Jack had his 1-year check-up on Thursday, and we were surprised to discover he is only in the 36th percentile for weight. He gained a mere 4 oz and a 1/2 inch since his 9 month appointment- weighing 22 lb, 8 oz and stretching 31 inches.

2. While we were in Maryland, Jack enjoyed a second play date with his buddy, Lee, who happened to be very tired. But he insisted on staying awake to play. It was good to see Lee and his mom, Cindy again.


3. After thinking we had finalized the baby's name, we had some difference of opinion about the spelling- and strongly so, so we went back to the drawing board. If we've told you the name, it's similar to that-- it now just has a fuller version.

4. I am now 30 weeks pregnant and fortunately have yet to experience the itchiness that I felt toward the end last time. I was pleased when the midwife prescribed a milkshake every day at my last appointment. I know my lack of weight gain (3 lbs since pre-pregnancy) was only due to the fact that I was recovering from the flu and hadn't eaten much of anything the preceding days. I'm certain I more than made it up on our trip to North Carolina and in the days after.

5. Some of our friends recently took this quiz: How Pittsburgh are you? So Mike and I tried out our knowledge of the city.
Mike's results:

You are 83% Pittsburgh.

Come on. I know you knew the right answers, but were ashamed and ascared to admit it. Do the quiz again, and this time be true to yourself.

How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

My results:

You are 71% Pittsburgh.

Come on. I know you knew the right answers, but were ashamed and ascared to admit it. Do the quiz again, and this time be true to yourself.

How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

6. We enjoyed a short visit from my parents and brother, Roma, this weekend. The weather, though chilly, was beautiful, and we got to walk along Grandview Ave. in Mt. Washington (overlook of the city) and around Station Square.

7. The internet on my computer has been disfunctional for the past two weeks or so. I've been using Mike's laptop, which requires a lot more knowlege of computer science to upload pictures and things like that (Mike's been helping). Hopefully soon, we'll get all of our pictures from the past month up on our photo site!

Easter in North Carolina

Easter has always been my favorite time of year. When I was younger, it was the trip to the warmer climate to my grandmother's house- one of my favorite places- where we would dye eggs, put on our pretty spring dresses for church and have a monstrous Easter egg hunt with tons of prizes-- though my cousin, Kenzie would always find twice as many eggs as everyone else-- including the golden egg. But realizing what Easter really means over the years has brought so much more to the church holiday-- the long anticipation during lent, being forced to examine myself and know that I don't deserve the gift of Christ's death on the cross for my sins...
This year, as I sat at the Easter Vigil Mass , witnessing the baptisms and confirmations, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my family. Though Mike and I have only been married just shy of two years, we already have the richest life I could imagine- with such a good-natured little boy and a baby girl on the way.

Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
Alleluia!

Family visit and birthday celebration #1

We are all finally back from all of our travels. Mike returned to Pittsburgh from North Carolina by himself on Easter day. Jack and I extended our trip and traveled back to Maryland with my family-- and back to Pittsburgh today with my brother, Taylor.
Unfortunately, Jack and I were still recovering from the flu and Mike was in the middle of it when Grandpa and Grandma Ryan came two Fridays ago, but we had a good time relaxing with them anyway. Jack enjoyed his first trip to the Children's Museum-- mimicking the fish and playing in the nursery with the other toddlers.
On Thursday, Jack turned one year old. He was extremely tired during cake, and it seemed that the best gift of all was the 99 cent pack of balloons. Though Uncle Willie's Busy Ball Popper remains a huge hit.

One year ago...

...We had just come home with the sweetest little boy we've ever known. We can't imagine our lives without him. He has lightened up our lives in so many ways! Happy birthday, Jack!
I'll post more about his parties and our visits with family later.

Seven...ish on Sunday

1. Apparently, one bout of the flu was not enough for me, so it came back a second time and picked up the rest of my family as well. Mike is still trying to recover. We hope Mike's family-- who came yesterday-- does not get infected!

2. UPS dropped off our prize high chair on Friday-- not just one though-- TWO of the same exact one. We decided to list it on Craig's list in the free category for someone who truly was in need of a high chair- not saying anything about its new condition or the brand, etc. And only one woman contacted me the day after I listed it-- a single mother of a 15-month old and a 10-day-old- saying she'd really appreciate it if it was still available. Good to see two families benefited from my online survey!

...

7. My computer isn't working (my father-in-law is generously allowing me to use his laptop now), and I am tired, so that will have to do for our seven on Sunday today.

Seven on Sunday

Several fellow-bloggers have been posting random or interesting facts about their lives/families/etc.- things like "Five on Friday" or "Ten on Tuesday," and while I doubt we have enough interesting facts to list here, we thought we would try our own rendition of the trend.

1. The beginning of last week, we had one gorgeous day of almost 70 degrees and were able to spend most of the afternoon outside- walking into the small town of Brookline and playing in our backyard (mostly swinging on the dolphin). It got me really antsy for warmer weather, but it was followed up the rest of the week by snow and freezing rain and normal Pittsburgh March weather.

2. A month or two ago, I filled out a survey on some mom's website for a chance to win a number of different baby products. I got a call from a woman the other night wanting to verify where she should ship the new high chair we had won. It's funny because our friends the Wards got this same exact high chair from their neighbors because it didn't recline properly or something (the company shipped the neighbor's a new, functioning one), and they said that it's not that great of a high chair (for other reasons than the recline issue). But it's made by Chicco- a pretty reputable baby company- and it retails for $130-- so I think we'll take our chances with it.

3. Jack's new favorite thing is dancing. He starts bobbing his head or bending his knees in rhythm whenever he hears any kind of beat at all. This song came on the radio one day, and he started dancing like I've never seen him before, swinging his hips in perfect rhythm with the music, with a huge grin on his face. This morning in church, he danced to the priest's chanting.

4. Our baby girl has been making quite a commotion too, though her movements are slower, bigger movements than Jack's were. It always felt like he was riding a small exercise bike in my belly- peddling very fast. Mike has even been able to see this baby's foot (or knee, or whatever it is) sliding from one side of my belly to another. Her feet mostly seem to poke out at my belly button.

5. We have finally come up with a full name that we're both pleased with, though we're not ready to unveil it yet. Maybe when she's born.

6. Last night, Mike and I skipped out on our planned monthly Teams meeting to attend a celebration of Life for my good friend Lisa's father, who passed away last Sunday. The service was very uplifting. Since we had a sitter for the night, we walked around the mall for a little while afterward and had dinner at the food court. What a date!

7. We can't believe Jack is going to be a year old in a week and a half (and that our due date is three months from today!). We are looking forward to visits with families on both sides in the next couple of weeks to help celebrate.

Jack Fix

I (Michael) was told that there has been a dearth of Jack materials lately since Kellie has given up blogging. Here are some pictures and videos for those eager grandparents:

New tricks

Here's a video Mike took today while I was at my Bridges meeting. As you can see, we've kind of turned our family room into one big play yard by blocking the ungated doorway with the coffee table. This is so I can paint the foyer without there being tiny handprints in the final result.

Look what my handy husband did today!

Before
AfterIt still needs bi-fold doors and a bit of touch-up paint, but look how handy this once useless space between the foyer and kitchen has become. Now we have a pantry UPSTAIRS, and our counter and fridge tops are free of clutter!

Best pals

Sleep Training

We've been sleep training Jack this past week. While we were preparing ourselves for sticking out the cries of a very fussy baby, we haven't really had to do much of anything.
Right around the time when I had the flu and Mike took over the duties of being both Dad and Mom, Jack dropped two hours of sleep a day... gone. disappeared. never to be seen again. And recovering from the flu with a sleep deprived baby is not easy or fun. I needed every one of those hours for my own sleep and sanity. I love how one of the pregnancy books I was reading toward the beginning of this pregnancy said that pregnant women should get 11 hours of sleep a night. HA!
I tried to get some advice from other mothers, who agreed that 10 1/2 hours of sleep a day was not nearly enough for an 11 1/2 month-old, who the books say gets an average of 14 hours of sleep per day (His one daytime nap shrank to 1 hour and 15 minutes-- at least it was all in one stretch!) . We knew we needed to take action.
We have been trying to overcome multiple issues, related to sleep--having a bottle to go to sleep and waking up in the wee hours of the morning to have a bottle--so we tackled those during the sleep training. At his age, he really doesn't need a bottle at 4 in the morning anymore. It's merely comfort. So we've really been trying to both nail down a bedtime ritual that does not involve sucking down 9 ounces of milk and resist giving him a bottle when he wakes in the night, even if it means being patient when all I want to do in my 4 am delirium is give him a bottle so he'll stop crying and go back to sleep! He's done surprisingly well every night. Only the first night of sleep training (Tuesday) did he wake up crying in the night wanting a bottle, and I only had to go in twice to comfort him before he fell asleep back asleep until 9 am.
Needless to say, we haven't had to sit impatiently through any crying spells, feeling bad that we were not giving the desired comfort. And his daily sleep average is back up to around 13 1/2 hours. I just don't want to have to deal with two babies waking in the night demanding to be fed. So hopefully we can keep this up. Now if we can just gain the same success with giving up bottles...