BPA free?

I was pointed to a contest to win one of two BPA feeding kits by the delightful Tonya.

I have been hearing about a lot of people choosing to use the "Born free" bottles for their babies recently, as well as just bad things about plastics in general.

It's one of those things that I feel like I should do something about, particularly for Ant's sippy cups because he chews the hell out of the lids, and I can actually see little fibers coming off. But at the same time, finding plastic free (or BPA-free) kids stuff is not the easiest thing in the world, and I hate to say it, but I've just been too damn lazy.



But, thanks to Tonya and the soft landing site, it's just gotten a lot easier.

Fwed notes: 14w2d

I sent this to my mom and sis in an email, but forgot to post it here. So I'm doing a little backdating so it goes in the right place...

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I am pretty confident I've started feeling Fwed move in the last few days. I've felt the same fluttering motion I felt at first with Antony about five times (actually, make it six, I just felt it again!) over the last three days. I know it's really early to feel movement, but I felt it at 15w5d last time, and "they" say one can feel it earlier with a second pregnancy. It hasn't lasted for long, only about 30 seconds each time, but it's distinct from anything else I've been feeling recently. I also felt just a wierd sensation around where my uterus is after the last time I felt him move, I imagined that it might be him flipping over. I don't know if they do that yet, but it was somehow a much bigger feeling something.

I had my OB appointment on Thursday, and everything was good. Weighed me, took my bp (100/58), had me pee in a cup, and then brought out the doppler. We could hear the heartbeat instantly, which was nice. Right around 160bpm. After that the doc came in, and said that they didn't have the first trimester results back yet, but that based on the ultrasound they want to change my due date to 9/10! She said if the baby is measuring off by just a few days they don't worry about it, but Fwed was measuring big by nine whole days, so they wanted to change it. I told her that I was 99.99% sure about my ovulation date - she said they wanted to change it regardless.

There were three things she said it would make a difference for - the first trimester screening, if I were to go into preterm labor (they do what they can to stop it before 34 weeks, after they don't), and if I were to not go into labor by my due date. Other than that, it doesn't really make much of a difference. I told her that I fully expect to go late, based on my Mom and sister being a week + late with all their babies... she said that we would definitely take into account that we had changed the due date if that were to happen. I'm still not entirely happy about it. I thought that the dates were right on based on my earlier ultrasound, where they measured the gestional sac (7w4d which is what I was), and crown-rump length (8w1d, so only 4 days ahead) I think I will print out the chart I was keeping with my temperature and ovulation predictor sticks and argue it one more time at my next appointment. I am 100% sure that I did not ovulate nin e days earlier than I thought, that would have put it on day 7 of my cycle, which is just so unlikely. I think Fwed is just big! It seems second babies in our family run that way.

The other interesting thing from the appointment is that I asked if the mass I feel in my abdomen in the morning could be my bladder. Dr. B said that it could - they do have to separate your bladder from your uterus when they do the c-section, and sometimes it doesn't re-attach. So that would explain why I have only had to get up *one* night so far this pregnancy to pee - your bladder is supposed to be in your pelvis, underneath your uterus - with my floating around in my abdomen instead, it's got a lot more room to expand ;-) She said we just need to be aware of it in case I have another C-section. I do wonder where it will go as my uterus expands!

Later that day we got a voicemail with the results of the first tri screen - our probability of Down's syndrome is 1:4000, and trisomy 13/18 is 1:10000, so it's quite unlikely. I still would like to call them back and find out how those numbers change if we use what I think is my correct due date.

Fwed notes: 13w3d

First things first - the NT scan last week looked good. I had put off posting because I wanted to scan the u/s pictures and post them too, but ended up leaving them at my mom's house and haven't managed to coordinate my brain and either email or phone to get them back again!

This was my first ultrasound at this gestational age, and it was amazing to see how much like a person Fwed already looks. I could clearly see his little heart beating away, the two hemispheres of his brain, the spinal cord, hand bones, legs. Still little skinny chicken legs, but all the pieces seemed to be there. He was moving his hands around quite a bit, and legs too. I had thought that at this age I would see him moving all around the place, that was the impression I had gotten from reading about other's u/s at around this age. But rather, he seemed to have hiccups - full body jerks every now and again, although not rhythmic enough to actually be hiccups. Of course, given that I have now hiccupped every day for the past 19 years, hiccups would not be a big surprise.

The NT measurement was 2.0mm, where "they" look for anything under 3.0. It's a bit higher than what some of my friend's measurements have been, but Fwed was also measuring at 13w4d (when I was 12w2d), and the NT measurement grows as the baby grows. Nevertheless, I will breathe a bit more easily when I get the results of my blood screen back as well, I assume at my apt on Thursday. The nasal bones seemed to be properly formed, which is a good sign.

Not much else going on in Fwed's world. I seem to be over the queasiness, although I find that if I eat too much at dinner (ahem, or for my after dinner snacks), I don't feel that great. The remainder of my few symptoms seem to have mostly disappeared as well, as they did with Ant - although my skin is still not as clear as it was with him. I think the old wives suggest that means a girl - we'll see!

Fwed notes: 12 weeks

I have not been nearly as good at writing about Fwed as I was Phred. I think because most of what I have to say now is simply for my own interest in how different my symptoms are with this pregnancy than they were with my first. I feel like this is a completely opposite pregnancy which I really wouldn't have thought possible.

Although I have not had nearly as hard a time of it as Emma, I have felt much more queasy, and for much longer (5-12+ weeks vs. 6-8 last time). My skin isn't nearly as clear as it was with Ant. I haven't been either as tired or as hungry. I've been having very vivid, bizarre, dreams which is highly unusual for me and didn't happen before. (I had one about how I was super strong and squeezing about twenty cars into our driveway which normally holds four by picking them up with one hand and packing them in. Followed by pulling up thousands of maple seedlings out of the asphalt. ???) My digestive system doesn't seem to have slowed nearly as much. No food aversions.

And despite weighing about 8 pounds less, I'm showing so much more! I look about like I did at 18 weeks with Ant. Here is a pic, if you're interested - on the left is 15 weeks with Ant, in the middle is 11wks with Fwed, and on the right is 18 weeks with Ant. I had to start telling people at work already because I was getting questions and pointed stares!

I have my NT scan on Monday, and am looking forward to seeing the little guy again. And, of course, hoping for good news.

Ant diary: 18 months

Growth check: We had Ant's 18month appointment yesterday. He was 35 inches (98%), and 24lb 12oz (34%). Which makes him 4th percentile in weight for height. Very tall and skinny, although he looks perfectly well proportioned and not at all emaciated to me. His head size was 41%, which is about where he has been for a while. So that's all good.

Talking: Ant is getting closer and closer to real sentences. He's saying a lot of three word phrases now, and even four-word ones on a fairly regular basis. His first four-worder was "put it Diaper Champ" in response to me asking where we should put his dirty diaper. The other day it was "see ight on pees" (see light on, please). He seems to skip the L's rather than substituting for them. The best phrases have been "Mommy/Daddy, I ove you" - totally out of the blue. Awwwwwwww. Other advances with talking have been the occasional use of pronouns (I, me and my). Also, he added the ABC song to his repertoire. And when "pop goes the weasel" was playing at my sister's house the other day, just the tune, he said "pop the weasel" at the end of it. It is completely astonishing that all this stuff is already in there! He has also started "counting" - he gets the number 2, but I don't think anything beyond that. But he has memorized the sequence - I've heard him say "one two see" quite a few times, and "see sowah sive six seven" (funny how they all start with S), and for Mark he said "eight seven" counting backwards with the microwave. So I think he'll be putting those together soon. He also likes to kiss things (including his milk before I put it in the microwave), and says "mwah" as he does it, just like I do when kissing him. It's funny what little mimics they are!

Movement: Not too much new here. He has taken recently to spinning round and round in circles, often laughing the whole time. Very funny. He also can really ride his fire truck now, pushing himself all the way around the first floor, including turning and backing up. "beep beep beep".

Mental: Ant seems to have a very good memory for words in stories and songs. He can't yet seem to help me find things I'm missing though. I can't wait for that to come! I said last month that it seemed like he was starting to get shapes and colors. Shapes, definitely. He is easily able to get all the shapes into the shape sorter at Mom's house (except the heart, that proved to be a bit of a problem as there's only one way it can go in), and can find the correct shape. Colors he will occasionally get right, but not much more often than random chance. When he does or doesn't want to do something now, he really lets us know, mostly by throwing tantrums. He screams, arches his back, and occasionally has come close to throwing himself out of the arms of the person holding him. It has been particularly bad when we want to put him in the car seat, but he wants to play in the car instead. The doc said that we *cannot* let him play in the car anymore, because then he never knows when we go to the vehicle if it's to play or to go. Made a lot of sense to me. It's going to be tough though, because he really loves playing in there. We have spent hours!

Toys and games: I decided to pull out a couple of puzzles Ant had gotten for Xmas this month, without much expectation. Much to my surprise, he was able to get all the animals in the farm puzzle back in the right places (when I handed the pieces to him one by one), as well as each of the vehicles in the other puzzle. He had the most trouble with the airplane, which he really thought should go in upside down. He still loves his Donald Ducks, and has started to show more interest in having a blankie. Also still really enjoys the school bus, making/crashing towers, and playing in the car. He likes playing taking turns with various things - spoons/forks when we're feeding (we often swap - "Mommy's turn... Antee's turn"), or with the fire truck he sits on (he likes me to sit on it too, but man, the handles stick into my legs!), or taking turns twisting the net on the hockey set with Granny.

Feeding: This has been our first really rough month food-wise. He is turning his nose up at what we offer much more often, and has had a few meals that consist of either practically nothing or something I'd rather he not eat too much of, like cereal bars. One day he had a cereal bar for afternoon snack, then two more for supper. Ugh. He is still gaining weight at the rate of about 1lb/month though, so even when he barely eats I console myself with that.

Sleeping: Same as last month, mostly one nap except when he's under the weather. Going to bed at 7:30. Although I did a bad thing and taught him how to turn on the light in his room. Which means he does that when he wakes up ("ight ON" is what we hear through the monitor), and is no longer happy in his crib until 6:45, wanting to get up closer to 6:15. Bad mommy!!!

Personality: We went to visit our friends M, K and their son B (five weeks younger than Ant) Pres. day weekend. It was so interesting to see the differences between the two kids personality wise. B immediately warmed to me and Mark, and wanted each of us to pick him up quite often. Ant, on the other hand, A) didn't like it when I had B, and B) really was not interested in interacting with M or K. He was either doing something on his own (or with Brendan) or with Mark or me.

We have a Fwed!

I had my first ultrasound for my new pregnancy yesterday. I was *nervous*, as I'm not feeling much of anything - not that I felt much when I was pg with Ant, but I have even fewer symptoms this time. So nervous. However, thankfully, those nerves were for no reason. Everything looked great.

Here's Fwed at 7w4d. You can see Fwed him/herself, as well as the yolk sac, and gestational sac (the whole of the big black blob). The white area toward the bottom is apparently what will become the placenta. And if you look very carefully around Fwed in the left picture, you can see what will be the amniotic sac. Everything seemed to be measuring right on target!



I think it's interesting to compare with our 8w ultrasound from Antony. The picture somehow seems so much clearer. You can definitely see arm buds, as well as a rudimentary face. The placenta to be seems a lot thicker / more obvious. And the yolk sac is nowhere to be seen. I'm surprised that it would disappear so quickly!



Hopefully everything will contine to go well! I have my first OB appointment on Feb-21.

Ant diary: Seventeen months

The way I write these diaries each month is to go back to the previous months' entry, read each section again, erase, and write the new entry. It's quite amazing to see each month how much progress has been made since the previous one!

Talking: Two-word phrases are now de rigeur for Ant. He's got the 'belonging' concept down - "Mommy's cah", "Mommy's heah" (hair), "Daddy's petah" (computer), "Antee's shoes", etc. He's using a bunch of other phrases with regularity; "sit down", "cookie monsah" (monster), "curiou Geohge", "ight on/off", "plug in" (or "plug it in"), "Mommy coming!" are just a few examples. Three word combos also pop out quite often, "Happy Buhfday Geohge" is a favorite (one of his favorite curious george stories), this morning he said "Antee coat on" when I opened the closet to get his coat out. The other new thing is singing! So far he "sings" Baa baa black sheep and twinkle twinkle. Doesn't get too much beyone the first couple of lines, although he can fill in words quite a bit further on in the songs.

Movement: He's finally started getting interested in climbing on things like the coffee table and ottoman. And feeding himself with a fork or spoon.

Mental: Ant is surprisingly good at sharing - it will be interesting to see if going to daycare helps or hurts with that. If he's asked nicely, he will almost always hand over a toy he's playing with to another child - at Alexander's birthday party, for example, he was playing with some of Alex's trains. Alex was not pleased with the situation... I asked Ant if Alex could have a turn and as calmly as could be he picked up both trains he had and offered them to Alex. Mom took him to the library yesterday, where Ant played with another boy's train, while the other kid played with Ant's truck. When he decided he was done, he walked over to the other little guy, holding out the train to him!

He absolutely adores his books these days. We start the bedtime routine at 6:45; by 7 we're reading books and usually stop at 7:30 because we think it's bedtime, not because Ant is showing any signs of disinterest. As I mentioned above, he absolutely adores his Curious George book. He has his favorite stories and pages, and will request them by name. What surprises me is that in a LOT of places, if I stop and leave a word blank for him to fill in, he will. Things I would never guess he would know! Like one place where there are footsteps, and all of a sudden they're passing George... I didn't read it quickly enough the other night, and And said "passin Geohge!".

I think he's starting to distinguish colors a bit. In the CG toy store story, there's a page with yellow, blue, green and red hoops. I'll ask him to point out different colored hoops, and he will. I'm not positive on this one yet, will have to do some more querying . He's also got a few shapes down, circles, squares and triangles. He hasn't shown much interest in his shape sorters for a while, I'll have to take those out again and see if he can now get the shapes into the correct holes on his own. Hasn't shown any inclination to do that up 'til now.

Toys and games: Ant has really enjoyed drawing this month. He will often come up to one of us and say "daw, daw!". We've tried different implements, pencils seem to work best. Crayons go in his mouth, markers get on everything (nice big green mark on the ottoman, for example). He still really enjoys taking anything and everything out of boxes, bags, cupboards etc. He also likes his toy screwdrivers and hammers. Still spends an amazing amount of time with the Parents school bus I got for him ages ago, that was definitely a good investment! Another favorite game is playing with water in the sink. He'll say "meas cup" (measuring cup), we'll get one out of the drawer, then "Ahdah, ahdah" (water, water). We take him over to the sink and hold him so he can reach the faucet. He likes to get the water in the cup and drink, pour, turn the faucet on more/less - for a good half hour or more (we usually stop when our arms can't take it anymore!)

Feeding: He's gotten quite good at feeding himself with a spoon. Almost always uses his right hand, although occasionally the left. He can also use a fork fairly well. I was telling him he needs to stab the food with the fork, so now he says "tab, tab!" any time he's using it. Seems to be going through more phases of liking/not liking foods. He was off grapes for a while but is eating them again now, and turning his nose up at bananas, which he used to eat tons of.

Sleeping: Almost always on one nap now, except when he's sick, when he's more likely to do two. He's going down at 7:30 most nights and gets up at around 6:45. Not bad! Occasionally he'll let out a yell or two at around 10pm, but he settles again very quickly.

Daycare: Actually going quite well. Ant still cries when we drop him off, but stops before we even get to the door. Which is nice. He also seems very contented when I look in the window in the afternoons when I pick him up. He really enjoys playing with the other kids - when I picked him up on Tuesday, he was saying "home, home" for a little while, but after I had his jacket on he and his friend Megan were just cracking up at each other. Just standing there, one would laugh, then the other. Back and forth. Just adorable!