Update on My Girl! Part 2

There were a few things that I totally forgot when I was blogging about Grace last night! So much stuff has happened over the past month or so, it is crazy! Here are a few things I forgot!


Grace is starting to identify her body parts! She can show you where her belly is.  First, she used to point to/grab her belly but now she pulls up her shirt and shows you her belly.  She can also show you her toes and her nose.  She gets her eyes and ears confused but she is getting there!  She can also tell me where her knees are sometimes.  


There are a few more animal sounds she can do.  When I ask her what a chicken says, she says "Gluck, Gluck".  She still does the dog sound and sometimes yells when I ask her what a sheep says.


She is my girl!

Update on My Girl!

So it has been awhile since I have blogged about Grace, life, or anything! Let me catch you up on what is going on in the Deming's world (AKA- Grace's World.).


Grace had her 12 month visit to her doctor on 8/19/11.  She was 21 pounds 6 ounces and 32 inches long.  I still think she is taller that that but it is subjective because this girl cannot sit or lie still for even a minute! She is 55th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height (according to the WHO charts).  She is right on point, if not slightly ahead for development.  She got some shots and did excellent! 


As of now, she is up and walking all over the place.  She cannot stand up from a sitting position just yet.  If she falls when walking, she crawls over to something, pulls herself up and gets moving again.  I have seen so many more bruises over the past few weeks but that is something i have to accept when she is mobile.  She also tries to run now.  If I have her hand, she really tries to get her motor going.  It is hysterical to watch her walk around.  


She is getting really good with signing! She knows the signs for a lot of things but is really starting to sign back- more, milk, please, nice.  I am trying to sign alot with her and her Baby Signing Time videos are awesome- babysigningtime.com  I plan on keeping up the signing for a long time since I am getting results with her! The word we are working on now is help.  I get frustrated when people "make up" signs when I mention she is learning sign language.  Annoy me to no end.


Grace has always been vocal but now she is forming words and knows what she is saying.  She says "Nah, nah" for no, "Ya, Ya" for yes, "Ka" for cat, Mama, Dada (sometimes Daddy), "Da' for dog, and "Ba" is either book or ball.  She uses "ba" for both.  She is also getting really good with animal sounds.  She is always barking like a dog.  If you ask her what sound a dog makes, she barks.  She barks when she sees a dog.  It is the funniest thing to hear.


As of right now, she is following simple directions.  For example, "Take this to...", "Give me..." , and "Bring me..." I love handing her something and tell her to "Take this to Daddy, please" and off she goes! 


These past 13 months have been amazing and I would not change them for the world.  Yes, she goes through phases that are somewhat annoying (like the pick me up and hold me all the time because I will yell and fuss if you don't phase) but she is the love of my life and I love spending every day with her!!!

Labor and Delivery Story.... a year ago.

  

This was me a year ago right now (6:00 pm).  A year has passed and I am thinking back to the night/day I was in labor and gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl in the world, Grace Catherine. I am not sure if I ever shared my story so here we go.

On August 12th, 2010 (Thursday), I had gone to my doctor for my weekly visit.  He told me that there was nothing going on so he scheduled me for a non-stress test and an appointment with him for the following Thursday to talk induction.  The next day. Friday, the 13th, Dan and I went to grab dinner at Sonic and home to relax.  We watched a movie and went to bed.  Around 2:30AM (Aug. 15th), I had the feeling that I had to pee.  I went to get up and I could not stop what I thought was pee only to realize that my water had broke.  It wasn't a gush like you see in the movies but a pretty good leak.  I woke Dan up and told him what was happening.  I got into the bathroom, kicked the rug away and leaked out.  I got my phone and called the service that paged the on call doctor.  Dr. Belder called me back and told me that since I was not having contractions to be at the hospital in about an hour.  I hopped in the shower, Dan and I put the pack and play together, got our bags, and went to the hospital.

Got to the hospital around 3:30/3:45 and was taken into Triage.  Dr. Belder came in and checked to see if my water had broke and it had.  I was only 1.5 centimeters dilated and not having any contractions.  Belder told me that he would see if I would dilate anymore but if not, they would start the Pitocin.  I was officially admitted to labor and delivery and given a room around 4:30.  My mom met us there and we were all so freaking excited.

I was so excited that I could not sleep.  My labor nurse, Joan, came in to check on me often. Around 8:30, I had not gone past 1.5 centimeters so they started the Pitocin.  A little while later, I started to feel the contractions.  At first, they were not that bad.  I was able to breathe through them because the dose of pitocin was low.  Every 20 minutes or so, Joan would come in and turn it up.  Fast forward a few, long, contraction filled hours, I was in PAIN! Dr. Devlin (Dr. Belder had left) was in ding a C-Section so Joan called her and said that she would be in as soon as she could to check to see if i was dilated enough to get an epidural.  I was not sure if I wanted to get one but the contractions were excruciating.  About 20 minutes went by, Joan came in and said that she could check to see if I was dilated enough and could call the anesthesiologist for the epidural.  I was all for it! She checked and I was 5 centimeters dilated so she made the call and in came the epidural.  

After getting the epidural, I felt much better but had to lie on my side and be moved every now and then if there was a change in the heartbeat.  

I finally was able to get some rest.  Meanwhile, my mom was pacing around and Dan was relaxing.  They were both awesome during the contractions before the epidural.  Dan's mom and sister were on their way over to the hospital and were going to tell the nurse when they arrived so that they could come back and say hi.  About 20 minutes later, a nurse came back and said that they were out by the front of L&D.  Dr. Devlin came in at the same time to check me and said "Her head is right there.  I think we are ready to push!" Dan had to run out and tell his mom and sister that they had to wait to come back because Grace was on her way.  I started to push around 6PM.  My mom was up by my head to help support and Dan helped hold my left leg up when I had to push.  Joan, the labor nurse, was at my right leg.  At first I had no idea if I was pushing right but after the 2nd time, I knew it was the right way.  After starting and stopping numerous times, I started to feel a lot of pressure.  That told me that the end was near! That made me was to push even harder but Grace was hitting a speed bump on the way out.  She gave me a episiotomy and according to Dan "She just slipped right out."

Grace Catherine Deming was born on August 15th at 6:31PM.  She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 21 inches long.

I do have a pic of her getting her cord cut but it has to be censored!

I could not wait to hold her, snuggle her, and love her.  

     

 And neither could Daddy....

I can now not imagine my life without this beautiful little girl in my life.  We had her birthday party on Saturday and it was awesome!!!!! 

Grace Catherine Deming, you are the BEST thing that has ever happened to me.  I love you.

One year old... Already??

This is what I remember about August 15th, 2010 at 6:31 PM

And this is what she looks like now

I do not know where this year has gone.  Monday is her big day and I am really emotional so I am hoping I will be a blubbering mess that day.

I am also so proud of myself that I have been breastfeeding for almost a year! No formula ever!

Saturday is her party.  Right now it looks like there are like 60 people coming and I am praying that it does not rain.  I have goody bags done, food list ready for shopping tomorrow, and cleaning done with the exception of the last minute stuff.  Tomorrow will be the food shopping for the fruit salad and green salad I will be making.  I will be making 5 dozen cupcakes tomorrow night for Saturday but am not going to ice them until Saturday morning. 

I am really excited to see everyone! I am counting down the days! There will be plenty of pics posted afterwards!

Grace Catherine Deming  08/15/1010   6:31PM

Out the window it goes!

What did you swear you would or would not do with your LO that went right out the window?
After I found out I was pregnant there were many decisions I wanted to make before Grace was born.  First, I would not allow her to get addicted to television.  I wanted her to read, read, read!
Next, I wanted to breastfeed for AT LEAST a year, more if possible.  I wanted her to accept everyone and anyone and to be her own person.

Let's rewind almost a year.  As of right now, I NEVER have the TV on unless I am streaming Pandora Radio through the Blue Ray player.  The sound is on but the TV is off.  Recently I cannot even have that on because Grace is obsessed with playing with the volume knob and input knob on the stereo.  She watched her Baby Signing Time for 20-25 minutes a day at lunchtime.  She loves it and is the only time she is watching TV.  I love watching her face when we go somewhere that has a TV on, like her Pop-Pop's house.  She is might look at it for a minute or two but has really no interest in it.  Next, we are onto breastfeeding.  We are still going strong! We are down to only about 4 times a day but we made the year mark and are still going strong! GO US! As for the reading, Grace is in love with books. She would rather play with books then toys, which cracks me up!

There is one other thing I said I would never do but slip up on from time to time- cursing.  Nothing serious but I dislike when I do it! I don't want my Grace to have a potty mouth!!

So far, I have been doing pretty well on holding up on what I said I would!! 

 

Green and Crunchy.....

Grace- 1 month old Bum Genius

                                                             
 How do I feel about the Green and Crunchy movement? I feel pretty good to be apart of it!
When I found out I was pregnant, I was overwhelmed with emotion.  The last thing on my mind was what kind of diapers/wipes I would be using, if I would be breastfeeding or formula feeding, or many other things.  After awhile, I started to talk to friends who were moms.  My one friend was really into cloth diapering.  Her daughter is 3 months older than Grace and she introduced me to Bum Genius diapers.  She showed me them and I was sold.  She did tell me it would be pricey up front but would totally pay off in the long run.  So I decided I would be doing cloth diapers.  My husband and I bought a few at a time and even got some from my friends as a shower gift.  I was so excited to use them but had to wait for the first month to be over because they were so HUGE on Grace's tiny body.  I have branched out and tried some other brands other than Bum Genius- Eco Bunz, Fuzzibunz, Kawaii, Sunbaby, and some other brandas I cannot remember off the top of my head.

Some people believe breastfeeding is a part of the Green and Crunchy movement. When I first told people I was pregnant, they told me to sign up on all the formula companies websites to get coupons and free samples.  I went on and dished out my name, address, email, and created passwords.  This was before I made one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life- to breastfeed Grace.  I knew it was the best thing for her and I was determined to make it work! I took a breastfeeding class towards the end of my pregnancy and was so excited to breastfeed Grace.  The instructor of my class was the head of the Breastfeeding Resource Center (www.breastfeedingresourcecenter.org).  She spoke of lactation consults and support groups for breastfeeding moms.  Needless to say, I started going to the weekly meetings when Grace was around 10 days old and I still go to the meetings.  It is my home away from home.
We are big on recycling at home as well.  I can't wait to teach Grace all about that when she gets older.  I also try to use the reusable shopping bags when I can (or remember to put them back in the car).  Next year we are going to put some raised beds in the backyard and grow some veggies!

I am very happy with my Crunchy decisions.  I have told many. many moms about cloth diapers and how much we love them! Some have decided to go that route and I hope they are as happy as I am with that decision!

Question of Parenting.

What is the most IRRITATING thing people as me about Grace? The number one thing is- "How long are you going to breastfeed her?" or "Are you seriously still breastfeeding?"
Yes, I am still breastfeeding and plan on letting Grace tell me when she is done with it. Why do people care about it anyway? It is not your business. It is between my daughter and myself.

Another thing is that I am told that I put my daughter to bed way to early. She is in bed at 6:30, 7:00 at the latest. People look at me like I am crazy. I am glad I put her to bed early. She gets the rest she needs and I figure I might not have to fight as hard with her when she gets older. One time someone (in my family) told me that I put her to bed at that time because I do not want to spend time with her. Seriously??!!

The last thing is that I do cloth diapers. I am the one that is washing them and stuffing them. Why does it matter to anyone? It is my husband and I that have to do all the work!

Sorry for the rant. I know I am a good mom. I make mistakes and learn from them all the time.
Right now I have a child who will not take her first nap. Maybe I am a "bad" mom because I am leaving her in her crib. She is not crying, only fussing and talking. Hopefully, she will fall asleep!