Weird (Pregnancy?) Symptom

I swear, sometimes it seems like between Andrew and me, we get all kind of weird problems. So along with my fabulous pregnancy problems I posted about before, here is a new one: I can't hear. And I am sick of it. You know the feeling that you get when your ear is plugged and everything seems too loud and yet muffled and you really need to get it to pop? Like on a plane or something. Yeah, my right ear has been like that for the last 3 weeks. It doesn't hurt, but it is sure driving me crazy.

So, last Monday I decided to go see my regular doctor about it. I mean, you would think after almost 2 weeks it would go away. My regular doctor is assigned to the Student Health Center ... and they wouldn't give me an appt - said walk-in's only. So, I walk in with Andrew after his nap (after taking him on the bus, which wears me out to begin with) and the wait is 2 hours!!!! But there is no way I am coming back, so wait we will with a whole bunch of undergraduates with colds. Thankfully, we waited for just over an hour before I finally saw a nurse practioner. She looks in my ears and says they look great. "Must be a pregnancy thing - I think that eustachian tube disorders are more common in pregnancy. If it hurts, come back. Otherwise, it should go away at delivery". Whole 2 minute appt.

So, I guess not only does this pregnancy mean almost continual pain for 6 months (although the yoga I have been doing the past few days seems to help a bit on that front), it also means no hearing from my right ear for 3-4 months. Swell.

Andrew in the paper?

They took Andrew's picture for the paper at the Easter Egg Scramble a few weekends ago - whether it actually made it in there or not, I don't know. But the picture is pretty cute. Too bad they didn't airbrush out the runny nose!

Andrew is 23 months old!

Andrew is definitely starting to act two and showing his personality more and more every day. He is probably the most enthusiastic kid I know. He is always very excited about everything - especially if it involves his friends, other kids, yummy food, or going somewhere fun. He cheers every time we go to the church, store, library, friend's house, or even the doctors office (I think he likes the little play structure at his pediatrician, riding the elevator, and getting a sticker). He invariably says "Yeah", "Yup", or "Yes" to everything, so asking him questions is never very illuminating. He just is generally agreeable ....

But little moments are definitely starting to creep in. Andrew is starting to say "No" to things he doesn't want more and more. He has a really hard time when we say no to him or he doesn't get his way and gets very emotional. He also gets his feelings hurt if he thinks that we are made at him and needs lots of comfort.

Andrew loves to play. He especially loves going to the park and playing with any kids, especially older ones. He seems to be getting the idea of hide and seek (though he giggles too much and won't stay in place long) and also tag. He spent the entire church activity today running around and rolling around on the floor with all the older kids. He gets so much joy from playing with other kids. His fascination with Fisher Price little people is being pushed a bit to the side, and he loves to play with cars all the time again. He takes a nap, at least initially in his stroller, and wants me to pile on all his cars to hold. He's even tried to sleep with them before. He has a little purse and will put cars in there to carry around. Unfortunately, he thinks any car he sees is his, which makes for hard times at play dates and at Mom's Group. He also enjoys singing songs that I printed out from online (I'm trying to learn some) and dancing.

Andrew is very active, though probably typical for his age. His loves to climb and jump and spends the evenings before bed time jumping on and generally injuring Katsu. He loves to jump on our bed during the day. He also is starting to get a little more aggressive with the cat, unfortunately. He can be a handful - when I went to get the mail last week, he ran away over towards the creek. I finally caught him and carried him into the apartment building only for him to go straight for the stairs, climb down to the basement and run into the laundry room. Now, I let Katsu get the mail when he gets home.

Andrew still takes really long (2-3+ hour) naps in the afternoon which helps me get a lot of work done, but I feel like I'm missing out on some playing time with him. He seems to be needing to sleep less at night and is doing a little teensy tiny bit better about sleeping in his toddler bed. He likes Katsu to put him to bed and tell him stories about his adventures with Horse and Goat. He will cry Goat Goat at night because he wants to hear more stories. He eats really well - both in terms of quantity and especially in terms of quality when I think of all the special foods his Bulgarian babysitter Maria makes for him - homemade cakes, sweets, french fries, specially prepared chicken and meatballs, soup for his every week, lots of fruit. Wow - he has probably eaten more Bulgarian specialties than I will ever eat.

Andrew has lots to say. He is learning more words, but less quickly now. He loves to ask questions, "Mom, what's that? Where's daddy going? Where'd he go?" Etc. And often the say question over and over and over again. He also loves to talk about his cars. And make requests. He has learned some new numbers, but still doesn't quite now how to count in the right order. It's usually more like "2, 4, 5, 9, 2". But he loves to try to count all the time and everything. He is fascinated with watching things outside and loves to look for planes in the sky or police cars or trains from the window. He is still scared of everything, especially the sun and cars who might run him over (a bit overly cautious) and even sometimes Joe.

We had a fun month - here are pictures from the Japanese Cultural Day (Katsu and Andrew went - I think I was sick), from an Easter Egg scramble for the city that was totally nuts - the kids just plowed through eggs in like 30 seconds flat, from around the house with his best friend, Joe the cat, and also of the ressurrection eggs which have symbols of Easter in them which Andrew is in love with and wants to look at ALL the time. So fun!!!

Freebie Extraordinaire

So, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but one of the best freebies out there, in my opinion, is your local freecycle. I am on one for Ann Arbor (I think they have more than one) and it is the best. People post things they are offering as well as things they need and we all try to hook each other up. Craigslist is great, but Freecycle is awesome because it is free. And the best part - more people get more use out of everything and we don't have to go buy something every time we need it. Very very green.

I posted a week or two back to see if we could find a little bike for Andrew and we got two - one for this summer and a little bit bigger one for next summer with a helmet, too. We were going to get Andrew one for his birthday but we couldn't pass up this "deal" now. He's still a bit short for the pedals but LOVES it.

We already are thinking of all the things we want to Freecycle away when we move in Jan. Let's spread the love.

An Interesting Article

The Case Against Breastfeeding

I really liked this article. Yes, I nursed Andrew for a long time (19 months, I think), but I hate seeing people get all beat up when it doesn't work well for them or suffering forever. I really think that, to some effect, the benefits are probably over-rated. Now you can't take just one case - but Andrew sure isn't some paragon of health. And there are negatives that are never mentioned - for example, Andrew's feeding issues with solid foods, while uncommon, are much more common in breastfed babies.

I also loved how she said she wanted to hurt people when they said that breastfeeding is free. It's true - breastfeeding takes an ENORMOUS amount of time that is ignored and rarely talked about. Like seriously, when you're feeding every two hours, for half an hour or more and only the mom can do it. That never felt very free to me.

Yea for showing both sides of the coin.

Katsu is a superstar!

Katsu has been really productive in the lab and is starting to churn out the papers. He has 2 first author and 2 other papers published. He was one in review and is submitting another this week. And he has probably 3 more before he graduates sometime this year. That is amazing to me, since I will hopefully have 3 when I graduate ... maybe.

He got featured on the U of M web page today. Yeah, Katsu.

Katsu is super smart!

Pictures of Andrew

Here are some recent pictures of Andrew.

Also, a few things about him I forgot to mention before. Andrew is in love with "girly" stuff lately. He loves to wear necklaces. He loves to play with my makeup (thankfully he doesn't know how to open it yet). He also loves to carry my purse. And is really good at finding it when I don't know where it is (yeah!).

Andrew also has figured out that things are "scary". He gets really frightened and comes to me and wants to be held and says "scary, scary, scary". Sometimes it's at night when he wakes up. But usually it's during the day - he thinks some cartoons are scary, any menacing pictures in books, and even some classical music! I think it's kind of cute, poor kid.

He also has figured out how to open doors ... hmmm.

Books for the year so far

Well, my depression seems to have been better. That plus having a really nasty illness (a bad cold or something) and I've actually been reading! Plus, a few books here and there over the last couple months. Time to share.

The Associate by John Grisham I usually like Grisham's books and the nice easiness of reading them. I read this in like a day or two (half of in the early hours of the morning with insomnia). Basic premise - Yale Law Review editor ends up taking big-law job out of black mail. I found the descriptions of big law quite harrowing and appalling. I really do not understand why anyone works that much. Yuck! The poor families.

The secret of play : how to raise smart, healthy, caring kids from birth to age 12 by Ann Pleshette Murphy Good title, but relatively worthless book, IMO. The descriptions of what to do with your kids where absolutely nothing new.

The fortune cookie chronicles : adventures in the world of Chinese food by Jennifer 8 Lee I really loved this book. And I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of American Chinese food. But I found the story interesting, as she tries to track where fortune cookies came from (hint: not from China or even Chinese immigrants), and learns all about everything - the soy sauce that comes with it, the take-out boxes, where all the immigrants come from, why the food tastes virtually the same everything, where General Tso's chicken come from, where the fortunes come from, etc. I even wouldn't mind a Chinese buffet right now.

Trading dreams at midnight by Dianne Mckinney-Whetstone I couldn't finish this book about a either bipolar or schizophrenic or both mother, her own mother, and her daughter and the ties around them. But it was just a little too crazy and had a little too much sexuality for me. Not recommended.

The day I ate whatever I wanted : and other small acts of liberation by Elizabeth Berg This is a collection of short stories which usually is hit-or-miss. Some of the stories I just found kind of boring. Some of them were okay. Nothing really stellar and of course, a lot of them focused on food. An okay read.

The story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp I admit, I did not finish this book as I felt like I read it before (albeit, back when I lived in OK in my pre-16 year old days) and I just wasn't riveted. Of course, that had a lot to do with my depression at the time, too. But basically Maria of the Sound of Music (the real story) writes about her life. I find her up-beat look on what could have been a very hard life refreshing. Recommended.

A natural history of seeing : the art and science of vision by Simon Ings I loved this book, though I have to say that it is at times quite technical and not an "easy" read which might dissuade people from picking it up. But I learned SO much about how we see and how the eyes work. I was fascinated the entire way through. He approaches sight from many different angles - studying the evolution of eyes (fascinating stuff ... especially illuminating in understand how/why our eyes work the way they do), how eyes work, how our vision works, how vision varies among people, etc. Vision is WAY more complicated than I thought, and not really a simple picture appears on the eye and gets transmitted to our brain, but with a lot of interpretation inbetween. Learning the effects of a Vitamin A deficiency actually inspired me to pick up Katsu's Nutrition textbook and peruse it again. And I learned that humans actually have really good night vision - we just don't smell very well. Interesting. Definitely recommended if you can tolerate reading about science in a nice, meandering way.

Grace by Richard Paul Evans While the story itself was okay, I find (like many of his books) that this would be better told as a short story instead of a short novel, because there just wasn't that much story there. That said, a typical book by Mr. Evans.

Andrew is 22 months old

This was kind of a long month. Andrew got sick several times in February and for a while there, between him and me, we were averaging 3 or 4 doctor appts a week. They put Andrew on a controller corticosteroid he breathes through an inhaler. This takes a lot less time than the nebulizer, which is great. But because it's a controller drug, he has to take it every morning and evening, which is kind of a pain. Plus, these drugs really make him a lot more intense - he is more aggressive, more hyperactive, and just a lot more emotional in general. Plus, being a stimulant, it makes going to sleep more difficult. But Andrew got sick on Sunday night and has yet to wheeze, which is just amazing. So, I guess the medicine is working - now I just have a normal sick kid, not one you have to continually listen to him breathe and then rush him to the doctor everytime he gets a runny nose.

Other than all that drama, Andrew has been having a good month. He loves to play. He really like to play with his puzzles and his train set and the Easter eggs that we already got out. He has spent a lot of time just playing with the cat, too. He likes to dance to music a lot and loves to sing the songs he learns at his First Steps class. He doesn't really sing a long, but he does the hand motions. He really likes playing with magnets and putting them on the dishwasher.

Andrew really likes to clean up now and makes sure that everything goes in his place. He likes to be clean and still is not into art (especially markers or finger painting) because it makes his hand dirty. He wants a napkin at dinner every day. He also hates to be undressed and if I am lazy after changing his diaper and don't put his pants back on, he follows me around saying "Pants. Pants".

Andrew is quite talkative, but he really like to babble away even if he isn't saying any words at all. He also whines A LOT, but I think its just the typical amount for his age. Andrew loves to count, but unfortunately he only knows the numbers 1 and 2. So, as my co-worker says, he counts in binary. He is not the kind of kid who will repeat what we say (he has NEVER done this), so attempts to overtly teach him his numbers completely fail. But watching him count is very cute.

Andrew still loves to read and has an insane attention span when we read. We can read for up to an hour and go through like 20 or 30 books! But I like reading to him, so it works out okay.

Andrew watches more TV than I like because we let him watch a short Mickey short (like 5-10 minutes) when he does his inhaler. It is really the only way we can get him to cooperate. We also are starting a movie night once a week and Andrew and Katsu love it. Plus, we took Andrew to his first movie - Bolt - this month at the dollar theatre. He sat on our lap and only wanted to leave once. He was really good - I was very surprised.

Andrew loves to say "No" now - I guess it was about time. Thankfully, I think he likes to say "Yeah" more, so it's not too bad. And thankfully, when he has tantrums they are short.

Andrew is a pretty big eater. He eats TONS at his babysitter. I just can't believe how much he will eat. His favorite foods are veggies (corn and peas), fish sticks, rice, cheese, blueberries, strawberries, and meat. He also loves chocolate.

Andrew still loves nursery though he missed it for about a month when he was sick and while we were waiting for his controller medicine to be most effective. He does not like sacrament meeting at all and is quite loud and embarrasing. Last Sunday he just said "Car" over and over really loud during the entire Sacrament. Oh, well. He just doesn't want to sit still and do one thing. And he wants to talk.

I'll try to upload and post pictures later. Andrew and I are both sick, so we'll have to see what I feel up to.

Pregnancy Update

Can I just say I am not loving this pregnancy much at all? Not one bit. So for anyone who cares, this is why. This will have to suffice for an Amanda update since we pretty much only post Andrew updates on here.

First of all, this pregnancy in general was a little bit early than I would have liked (like 9 months to a year). First, I wanted to be mostly done with my dissertation first so I wouldn't have to juggle two kids and a PhD. Also, I really wanted Andrew to be sleeping better (ha!) or at least weaned before I got pregnant. Neither of which happened, of course. Is it really too much to ask to have a little break between nursing and pregnancy, like where I get my body back? Plus, three years between kids just sounded way better to me from day one than a two year break. Especially with a PhD. Anyways, not of that really matters anymore, since I am obviously pregnant.

So, here is how this pregnancy stinks (disclaimer - I have pretty decent pregnancies. I don't get really really sick and throw up all the time. I don't (fingers crossed) have any complications. And I am in general healthy as is the baby. So, I really don't have any right to complain. But whatever - I'm pregnant, so I am going to complain anyways).

Good point - I didn't feel quite as tired in the first trimester as before. Bad point - I think I just didn't notice how tired I was because I was so tired to begin with.

Good point - I didn't throw up at all this pregnancy. Bad point - I had lots of nausea every afternoon and evening until New Years and basically laid around on the couch the whole time. (My advisor notes: you can still type while you're on the couch). I guess this is technically not "morning sickness" since the mornings were mostly okay.

Good point - Katsu takes over and really lets me sleep in a lot and wakes up with Andrew a lot at night. Bad point - my insomnia is back (it was finally going away ...) and there is at least 1 or 2 nights a week where I am awake for 1-3 hours and can not go back to sleep. This seems to be lasting the whole pregnancy this time.

Good point - My pain feels a little bit better than last week. Bad point - My second trimester, as with Andrew, is full of lots of pain. I did have some sciatic pain to the point where one day I literally could not move. I have been much more careful since then and thankfully I only get it occasionally and just a little bit now. Mostly I have my pelvic/groin pain. This is, according to my doctor, not round ligament pain, as I had thought previously, but some kind of special Amanda-2nd-trimester pain I get somehow from how the baby irritates my nerves. It was getting to the point where the pain was excruciating and I was having it 25-50% of the time. It is seeming to get a little bit better and I mostly just have it when I stand up, walk, or lay down. Usually sitting is okay. I also have not been able to sit on the floor for the last several months because I get into pretty intense pain and sometimes am worried I will actually not be able to get up. Okay, enough about pain.

Good point - ??? Bad point - I, the lone member of my family without allergies, have suddenly developed allergies. In the middle of the winter. In Michigan. When it is like -10 outside every day. How is that possible? Oh, the irony. And of course, allergies in pregnancy are wonderful, because really what medicine can you take? So, I have been constantly sneezing and in a brain fog since January when these allergies suddenly developed. Or else, I have a more than 2 month long cold.

Good point - ??? Bad point - I guess I had post partum depression with Andrew. I pretty much knew it but figured it was pretty much related to how well he sleeps (ha ha ha) and I kept thinking that once he starts sleeping better it will go away. Well, it was starting to fade until I got pregnant. But now it has turned into this much much worse pregnancy depression. Which really really stinks. I tend to not be really emotional in pregnancy (well, at least I wasn't too bad with Andrew), but now we are talking several time a week crying for hours. Plus, all kind of other lovely depression symptoms. Like I even stopped reading for a while because I had no energy or interest - is that possible? And of course, antidepressants in pregnancy will cause withdrawl in your baby - something I don't really want to mess with. So, we'll see how therapy works. But this totally stinks.

Okay, I think I'm pretty much done complaining. I am participating in a study at the hospital where they do ultrasounds of the baby every month or two, so we've already had like 5 ultrasounds I think. I keep hoping this will make me more excited about the baby. But it is most definitely a boy. And hopefully will be born sometime in the beginning of July (my original due date was the 5th, they switched it to the 12th, I'll shoot for anywhere in between). We are hoping for a much better delivery and recovery than last time. And really really really really really really hoping I don't have to be induced again (shudders).

That's all folks.