18 months, a little late

K turned 18 months on October 8.
She is says quite a few words including please and thank you.   She copies a lot of what we say.  She loves watching the school buses outside her window (her window faces the driveway of the school that is next to our house.  She asks for buses when she wakes up.
She is still a pretty voracious eater, although the toddler pickiness seems to be manifesting by eating only 1 or  2 foods at a meal (though eating large amounts of them).  Yogurt is almost always something she'll eat as are cheese, blueberries, raspberries and sweet potato.  She does like to throw me for a loop on what her food of the meal will be.  Many of her words are food related like blueberries, more, strawberries, raspberries, avocado, cheese and meat.
She's doing pretty well with going on the potty most of the time for BMs.  I know pretty much when she generally needs to go (timing and gas) and she is 50/50 on telling me if she needs to use the potty.
She loves to read books.  Sometimes I think she is just asking to sit on the potty because she likes to read there.  She is starting to point out different things in her books when ask about them like animals.
K loves to dance and will dance to my phone alarm or other things like that.  She loves to do the songs at the library story time especially If You're Happy and You Know It and 5 Little Monkeys.

It showed Monday afternoon

I finally started my cycle on Monday afternoon.  I finally got a call for my cycle review from PPVI this evening and they are supposed to call me back in the morning.  I'm hoping that the significant reduction in K's nursing will helping and that we won't have to wean completely anytime soon.  I'm definitely disappointed and I hope that we can at least have decent timing this cycle.  Last cycle cut it close only using P-2.

My progesterone and estrogen continue to look good and I'm wondering what Dr. H will suggest this time around.

Negative test, still waiting

I had a negative test this morning at P+14, but I'm still waiting for CD1 to show.  I tend to only go to P+13, so I had some hope that I might actually get a positive test.  After a long cycle (didn't ovulate until CD 25), I'm still waiting and I'm frustrated.  I don't want to deal with another cycle of TTC right now.  I'm tired and our schedules are not meshing well on that front.  If I do have to deal with another cycle, I just want to hurry up and get it started and do my cycle review and everything.

The last couple days we have been able to go to where K only nurses when she wakes up, at naptime, when she wakes from nap, at bedtime and then once in the morning between 4 and 6.  This is a vast improvement since she still sometimes nurse an hour apart even a month ago.  I do have to tell her no when she asks to nurse outside of those times (she signs milk please), but she seems to handle it pretty well until just before sleeping.  I have no problem continuing to nurse for at least 3 more months, especially if I can manage to get pregnant.

K had been doing really well with having BMs on the toilet, but she has started going in her diaper again the last couple days.  Yes, she is only 17 months, but it's frustrating when she had been having maybe 1 a week in her diaper for months and now she's gone 5 times in 3 days and isn't telling me.

Trying to trust God and my husband

After some frustration with the "trying" aspect of TTC, I am trying avoid it feeling like work.  I'm working on trusting that if God wants us to  have a baby, he will make sure that we get together at the right time (as long as we are not actively trying to thwart him).  Me initiating and pushing is removing the unitive aspect, and so I need to back off and let my husband let in that department.  It's not easy since we are doing our 21-day antibiotic right now and it's hard to feel like they aren't being wasted if we don't have good timing.  Also, I'm trying to trust that whenever my husband decides to initiate will be fine whether it means our timing is good or not.  Our schedules right now make it a challenge to find time for it after K is asleep.  This cycle's late ovulation is making it more difficult, and I think that I may have finally ovulated yesterday, but we only used P-2.  I need to work on releasing control, especially over my fertility (or lack thereof).

Frustration

I feel terrible saying this when I have already received the blessing of one wonderful, smart (although very intense) daughter, and others are still waiting for even one.  I'm jealous of pregnant women.  A friend of mine recently announced her pregnancy with their 3rd child.  My body does not seem to be cooperating this cycle and I'm on day 24 or so and haven't ovulated yet, and the scheduled marital act is getting old, although we did have a talk about it last night after some frustration on both sides.  I'm not really yet secondary infertility and I am still breastfeeding relatively frequently.  We are on the 21 day antibiotic this cycle, so I have 3 weeks of nausea without the benefit of even being pregnant yet (I had it with the cyclical before conceiving K as well).  Well, I'd better get to bed since I'm done working for the night and K will be up in about 6 hours or so.  I need to balance out by posting about K soon.

New Cycle (#4 TTC #2), What to do?

We are onto our 4th cycle TTC #2.  I'm trying to figure out what I need to try this coming cycle, since I'd like to try a few more things this cycle to feel like we are making a strong effort.  I need to figure out what else to ask Dr. H.ilgers about during my cycle review.  I'm still breastfeeding K (16 months tomorrow) fairly frequently and want to continue to feed her on demand until 18 months at which point I will try to wean to about 4 feedings a day (early morning, after wakeup, before nap, before bedtime).  I do try to offer her other options like water or a snack and she has to ask with signs for more milk.

I didn't need any ovulation medication to get pregnant with K although I did take either Vitex or a fertility blend herb that cycle.  I wasn't on progesterone until after the post pregnancy test.  We did take the cyclical antibiotics that cycle.  I am already back on Hydrocort and T3.   I did do the Benadryl P+5-P+9 when I got pregnant and this past cycle, and I will probably do that for future cycles.  Four months before getting pregnant with K, I had a laparotomy for endometrosis.  Dr. H also found inflammation and yeast during my surgeries.  I took Diflucan a few cycles before getting pregnant with K.  My progesterone and estrogen are both around 20 P+7 for the previous 2 cycles that I have had tested.  Is there anything else that I should try or ask Dr. H about?

On Bloomburg and formula, i.e. Formula IS medicine

Bloomburg is a crazy nanny statist, but in the formula area (not a ban if you actually read about it, just having nurses not hand it out like candy really), he is right.  Formula is medicine.  This is coming from someone who had to supplement with formula for 6 months of her child's life (I still continued to breastfeed and am breastfeeding her still at 16 months old).  All  they are doing is having mothers request the formula instead of formula being pushed on them by nurses find it easier to hand out formula than give a mom who is trying to breastfeed the support she needs to be successful.  Breastfeeding is hard work and many mother fail at breastfeeding successfully because of lack of information and support, not necessarily the true ability to do it.  Moms should be given every possible resource to help them to breastfeed their children and women should not encouraged to automatically pop a bottle of formula in their child's mouth at the first sign of problems.  The formula companies spent the 50s convincing mothers that formula was better than the "old-fashioned" breastfeeding, and it has taken decades for people to realize otherwise.   Lack of breastfeeding knowledge from older generations is why we are still having so many mothers chose not to breastfeed or not have success at it.

Biting

K (15 1/2 months) has started biting, but thankfully she is only biting me and not her friends.  It seems to happen when she is frustrated.  I tell her no biting, and put her down and walk away for a minute, during which time she usually cries.  She's been teething, so I'm also giving her a toy that she can bite on afterwards and telling her that if she needs to bite, to bite the toy instead of Momma.

Any additional suggestions?

15 months and TTC #2

K turned 15 months yesterday.  She has been walking full time for about a month or so now.  She is still a pretty good eater, although she is eating a little less at every meal.  She is still nursing all the time.  She started taking 1 nap a day about 2 or 3 weeks ago even though her nap is usually only between 1 and 1 1/2 hours long.  She has been pretty good about waking up for a brief nursing between 6 and 7 am and then going back to sleep for another hour or so, especially since we got some new curtains for her room.

K is saying quite a few words.  She says momma, dadda, yeah, no, hi, bye, na-na (for thank you), night-night, more (and she signs more), book, wow and "itsy" when she wants us to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider (which she is obsessed with...she also does the motions for it).  She signs all done (in many contexts).  She is getting to be very talkative around familiar people even though it's not really English yet.

I'll know her weight and height when she has her well-child visit tomorrow afternoon.  She's wearing mostly 12 month outfits with some 18 month outfits thrown in.  She is still quite petite, but she is perfectly plump for her age.  She has 5 teeth (3 top, 2 bottom) and 1 coming in on top.

She loves to swim.  She's been swimming at my SIL and BIL's house in a big pool as well as going to the splash park and playing in the baby pool at our house and friend's, and she always loves it and doesn't want to be done.

I'm feeling a little anxious about what I should be doing for TTC#2.  I feel like I need to go a bit harder core if we aren't pregnant this month.  Yes, I realize that this is only our 3rd cycle TTC #2, but I want to get as many things in order as possible and it took 3 years for K.  I'm currently on T3 15 mg and hydrocort as well as a relatively standard prenatal.  When we conceived K, I was also on Pain and Brain (a curucumin supplement), sustained release B6, Mucinex, the cyclic antibiotics CD 6-15 for both my husband and I, Benadryl P+5 through P+9 and did acupuncture.  My progesterone and estradiol have been ok but not as good as when we conceived K.

Onto cycle #3, round 2 and K is almost 15 months

K will be 15 months on Sunday and I just had cycle day 1.  We only used 1 fertile day this time and it obviously didn't work.  I'm back on T3 and hydrocort and I've called for my cycle review and we'll see what  Dr. H has to say.  I'm still breastfeeding K pretty often at least 6-8 times a day and that doesn't seem to be changing very quickly.  I definitely plan to breastfeed on demand until at least 18 months and if I'm not pregnant by then maybe try to get down to 3-4 times a day.  This upcoming cycle is odd since I'll probably ovulate around our 5th anniversary and if we actually conceived, the new baby would be due around my husband's birthday and K's birthday (they are 5 days apart).  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  We aren't going to avoid, but I'd almost rather a new baby got a separate time.

K is down to 1 nap a day.  She usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8 (with a quick feed at between 5-7 and back to bed), then naps around 1 for about 1 1/2 hours and then she goes to bed about 8.  She is still a pretty good eater most of the time.  She is also now a full-time walker and says quite a few words and does a couple signs.

I've been super busy with traveling quite a bit, taking care of K, watching a friend's baby twice a week and getting ready to work from home doing medical transcription.  I'm going to try to do a 15 month post for K.

Cycle #2 of Round 2

I'm on CD 3 of my second cycle.  We had had good timing and I felt really hungry and then nauseous, but it turned out the nausea was just a horrible stomach virus so I felt terrible most of Tuesday and Wednesday.  I had tested Tuesday morning and it was BFN obviously.

I had my annual with my new OBGYN (my old one who delivered K retired and this doctor took over the practice).  I really like her.  She seems to have the same philosophy on birth as I do (minimal intervention).  The only thing that I didn't agree with was that she didn't want me to get pregnant while I'm breastfeeding.  I don't have any plans to wean K soon, and I don't think that it's something I'm going to worry about.  If I can get pregnant while breastfeeding, so be it and we'll continue as long as we both want to.

I did my cycle review with the PPVI nurse on Friday afternoon and they are going to talk to Dr. H and call me on Monday if there is anything in addition to doing the P+7 bloodwork that they want me to do.  By the way, my P+7 levels this past cycle with K still nursing 6+ times a day were progesterone 21 and estrogen 16.4, which is pretty decent.

K will be 14 months on Friday and she is walking indepently part-time.  She still crawls a lot and insists on holding onto my hand, etc.  I'm still hoping she'll be walking full-time by my SIL's wedding, but it's only 2 weeks away now, so I don't know.  She has been having a cranky couple days; we're pretty sure it's the teeth that are trying to come in.  It's really trying dealing with the whining all day long.
 

2 weeks wait

It looks like I ovulated last Thursday, so I'm in my first 2WW for TTC#2.  I had a pretty good period this time.  TMI ahead.  It was so much better than before my surgery with no clots or brown bleeding, plus only 2 days of spotting after a 5 day full flow.  I had a pretty good mucus cycle without B6, Mucinex or hydrocort.  PPVI went ahead and sent me an order for a peak+7, suggested by my practioner, TCIE.  If I'm not pregnant this cycle, I'll have a cycle review on CD 1 and we'll see what they suggest for the future.  Of course I have my annual with my new OBGYN (the one who delivered K retired and the new doc is the one who took over her practice) next Tuesday which will be peak+12, so probably too early to test or anything (although I am tempted).

K has been walking a lot more, although she still not walking full time yet.  We think that she'll probably walk full time around mid-June.

I have had it pointed out to me lately that I am quite controlling, so I am trying to work on that.  Any suggestion would be helpful.  Because I'm controlling, I also feel like any problems in my life (or that of our family) are related directly to my failings, such as when K has napping issues.

K woke up after napping only about 40 minutes or so and she definitely needs nap at least an hour.  I know she is still tired, but she is in her crib screaming bloody murder, and going in does not calm her down.  Yesterday she finally ended up going back to sleep for another 1.5 hours.  I just don't know what is best for her sometimes.

Is there anything that I can do to encourage someone to exercise and eat better other than offering to exercise with them that wouldn't be rude or controlling?

How do you do with times were there are household projects that need to get done but aren't (if you aren't the one who needs to do them) without nagging and being pushy and annoying.

K is starting to have more frustrated tantrum times.  I'm not sure what to do about it.

I'm sure that I' m still waiting for ovulation, and I'm on CD 21.   I'm pretty sure this will go on for a while since K is still breastfeeding quite a bit.

Steps

1.  I had a 6-day period quite possibly.  This is quite exciting for me since I used to have 7+ day period before my surgery and pregnancy.
2. K has been starting to stand without holding on to anything for longer periods of time, has started taking a couple of steps and stood today from a squat.  She is obsessed with having us hold her hands and help her walked.  She also loves her stoller push walker.  We may finally be getting close to independent walking pretty soon.  She'll be 13 months on Tuesday.

Part II Round I

So my cycle started back on Sunday.  It's a bit weird to start again after having a 22 month break.  My cycle doesn't seem really horrible like some people have described their first cycle after pregnancy.  I'm still nursing but my cycle seems to have started about 6 weeks after nightweaning.  We'll see how a few cycles go (I had taken a break from charting, but I'm going back now) and we'll be TTC, but won't be doing any meds, bloodwork or anything until at least July or August. I'm not going to push weaning.   I'll continue just to offer her other options for something to drink or take her outside so she's not bored.

I finished my class and passed the final, so now I'm looking for a job.  The nice thing is that I'll be able to work from home, although I'll probably be working like 10 pm-2 am and not getting a lot of sleep.  Thankfully K does usually sleep until 8 am or so, so hopefully I'll be able to get a few hours and then nap some during her naps.

Spotting that makes me happy

It's weird that I'm happy about spotting, but I may actually be getting my cycle back!  I'm not going to fully wean K anytime soon, but I am trying to offer milk or water first and trying to keep her from getting bored to try to cut back a bit.  The little girl is quite persistent when she wants something though.  I'll update again soon with what happens on if I get my cycle back soon.

To (partially) wean or not to wean?

K is still nursing probably 10 or more times in a day, even though she eats solid food great generally and is pretty much night weaned. I'm not planning to completely wean anytime soon, but I still haven't had a period and we want to start trying for baby #2 and have wanted to for a while.  I'm not sure how to gently reduce her nursing.  She is pretty persistent and know where the milk comes from.

 She nurses right before bed between 8:30-9 pm, and then usually wakes briefly between 6-7 am to nurse and generally goes back to sleep for another hour or so.  She nurses again when she wakes for the day between 7-8 am.  Once she up, I make our breakfast and she generally eats some fruit, an egg yolk and some yogurt.  Then about 9 we go to take our shower and she nurses again.  She then nurses before nap about 11, but sometimes she will even nurse before that.  She nurses again after her nap (between 12-12:30 pm).  Then we have lunch (meat, veggies, maybe rice, etc.).  She usually nurses again after lunch.  I do try to offer water when I remember, but a lot of the time she just wants to nurse.  She nurses again before her second nap usually between 3:30-4 pm.  She nurses again when she wakes up between 4:15-5 pm.  We usually eat dinner around 6-6:30 pm and she usually has a slice of cheese as a snack before that.  She usually nurses once or twice between finishing dinner and getting ready for bed.  She has a cup of kefir (cultured milk, kind

She seems to tend to nurse more when she's teething (she's getting 3 top teeth right now) or when she's bored.  She also wants to nurse when she is sitting on the potty.  I've started to take her on more walks to keep her from getting bored.  I definitely want to continue nursing before bedtime and naps and first thing in the morning.  Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

K at 1 year old

I just finished my class yesterday except for the final exam so I actually have some time to post.

K's doctor appointment last week went well.  K weight 17 lbs 14 oz, which is up over 2.5 pounds from her 9 month visit when she was 15 lbs 5 oz.  The doctor was very happy with her weight gain.  She got one of her shots, and only cried for a second.  She didn't really cry when they got blood from her finger (they test all kids at a year for anemia).  The only problem we had was that she almost immediately took the bandage off and got blood on her dad and herself.  They ended up wrapping her thumb and the palm of her hand so that she couldn't get it off.  I have pictures, but I'll have to post them later since they aren't on this computer.

K still isn't quite walking yet.  She climbs stairs and will even scoot down the stairs.  She cruises like crazy but just doesn't seem to be ready yet for independent steps.  When she walks holding our hands, she practically falls over because she seems like she's trying to run and she can't get her feet to move fast enough.  She has been standing independently a bit more, but she reminds me of a Looney Tunes character, when she realizes that she's not holding anything, she falls down.  

We have been working some on K using the potty, but we've had a pretty crazy schedule in the last couple weeks and we haven't been able to do much on that front. 

K is starting to talk some.  She says bye a lot and waves too. She's says some other words, but not very consistent.

Despite the fact that she's only about 18 pounds, she is wearing 12 month clothes.  She even has a few things that are 18 month size.

We went swimming this past weekend at my SIL's house, and she just loved it.  It took her a little while to get used to it, but after that she was in for probably an hour.  I'm glad she likes to swim so much, because we both like to as well. 

Sleeping has generally been better.  K now goes to bed between 8:30 pm and 9 and I don't go in to feed her until she wakes up between 6-7 am. Most of the time she goes back to sleep for another hour or so.  Her naps are so-so.  Sometimes she naps well in the morning taking a 1.5 hour nap or so, but about half the time she only sleeps about 30-45 minutes.  Her second nap is generally shorter and is about 30-45 minutes most of the time. 

K loves being around other people, especially babies.  She did really well with everyone on Easter for the party and everything.

K is 1 and Happy Easter!

My computer broke on Thursday, so between that, working on my class and getting ready for Easter/K's birthday, I haven't had time to post.  I'll try to do the big detailed 1 year post tomorrow after her 1-year appointment but here's a picture.

Bread recipe?

Does anyone have a good bread recipe for a whole grain bread recipe that they want to share?

Belated 11 months

K will be turning one year old on Easter.  We'll be having our parents and my SILs for Easter, as well as a get together with some local friends for cake.

K is doing pretty well.  She still isn't walking but she is crusing and climbing like crazy.  She can climb stairs, even though we don't have any at our house.

K still eats pretty well.  She had a little food strike this past weekend, but is back to eating pretty much anything we give her at most meals.  She loves yogurt, egg yolk and cheese as well as meat.  She continues to breastfeed pretty often still and starts digging in my shirt when she wants to nurse.

We are very slowly and mildly doing potty learning/elimination communication.  She has been having BMs on the toilet most mornings for months now, and I'm moving toward trying to get at least all BMs on the potty.  We've done pretty well.  I've only had to change a dirty every 3 days or so in the last week.  She also has urinated on the little potty that I got her as well.  I'm trying to relax about it.  I'd love to have her out of diapers by 18 months.  We are working on figuring out her signals that she needs to go and what times she generally needs to go.

She probably weighs about 16 pounds.  She wears a mix of 6-9 month and 12 month clothes.  She still is in the medium prefolds and the Flip covers.  I haven't used a true disposable since she was about 2 months old.  On long trips when we fly or at the church nursery during my bible study, we use the G diaper liners in the Flip covers.

I can't believe my little girl is almost 1.

Not walking yet

So we are a little surprised that K isn't walking yet.  She rolled over back to tummy at about 11 weeks, started scooting on her tummy at 5 months, was crawling and pulling up at 7 months and cruising at 8 months, but she seems to have stalled out on progress toward walking.  She's 10 months old and I really thought that she'd be walking by now.  I mean I know that most babies aren't walking at 10 months, but she really seemed like she was going to be an early walker.

Double digits

K is 10 months old today.  She is between 15 and 16 pounds.  She's still crusing like crazy but not really trying to walk independently yet.  She waves hi and bye and even says hi.  She can clap her hands.  She says mama and dada but don't know that they only refer to us yet.  She's mainly wearing 6-9 or 9 month clothes, but she does have some 12 month clothes that she wears.  She still nurses a lot and has figure out that she can nurse from both sides when I'm lying down.  She pulls on my shirt and crawls down me when she wants to nurse.  She is happy a lot, but when she is angry, she's really angry and even throws herself around.

She is doing pretty well going to sleep at night in her crib but she still wakes up a few times in the night to nurse.  Naps have been kind of hit and miss the last few days.  She was taking a good 1-1/2 hour morning nap, but she had some problems for about a week there.  She is doing better letting other people hold her and was pretty good for my ILs this weekend when they held her.  She is a great eater and eats all sorts of food and quite a bit of it.  She eats whatever foods I eat.

Only 2 more months until her first birthday.  We already have her Easter dress.

Food :) Sleep :(

Sorry I haven't posted in almost a month.  I'm super busy trying to finish my class and taking care of K.  K didn't gain much (4 oz) between 7 and 9 months, but she is eating solids well now so we aren't overly worried.  We now just feed her whatever we are having for dinner.  She really likes meat, and ate the mild curry that I made really well.

She is still nursing a lot, although I'm not sure how my supply is.  She's often just nurse for a minute or switching back and forth.

Although food is going really well, sleep is not.  K now naps in her crib, which is good.  When we traveled at Christmastime, she was only sleeping in the carseat driving or on walks, so once we got back I started putting her in the crib.  For a few weeks, she was napping in the morning for about 1 1/2 hours, but the last week or so  it's been only 30-45 minutes.  Wednesday night she was up from about 4 am to after 5:30.  She is nowhere near sleeping through the night.  Often she's waking every 2-3 hours to nurse.  She is still in our room, and we are doing a mix of her sleeping in her crib and cosleeping.  She goes down for the night in her crib, and I try to put her back in after feedings or if she is tossing around a lot.  However, she seems to have a hard time settling without us getting her if we are in the room (I'm pretty sure it's that she sees us and wants us to get her).  We may need to either move her to her own room or put up a curtain to block her view of us.  We need to discuss it.

K will be 10 months on Wednesday, so I'll try to post again then.

Meal ideas?

I need some meal ideas for K (now 9 months old).  She loves to feed herself, although she will let me feed help her feed herself soup or applesauce type things.

Here what I have been giving her:
Breakfast: A slice of peach or steamed apple, applesauce, part of a no sugar fruit muffin made with whole wheat and oats.
Lunch: Sometimes I give her soup, a green bean or two, possibly some sweet potato, part the vegetable version of the muffin from breakfast.
Dinner: Similar to lunch, possibly with the addition of a meatball.

I need ideas that she can mostly feed to herself.  She has only 1 tooth so I cook/steam her most of her foods including fruits and vegetables.  She has had cheese and yogurt as well.  TIA.

Longer Outside...9 Month Quick Post

K is 9 months old today.  I'll trying to do a longer post after her appointment.   She isn't walking yet, but she is pulling up like crazy and cruising some.  She has started "talking" a lot and says dada all the time.  She very recently started eating significant amounts of solids at every meal and loves the vegetable/fruit (no sugar) muffins I've been making her.  She has 1 tooth on the bottom and seems to be teething for the one next to it.  She is really funny sometimes, but she's still pretty clingy to me even sometimes when it's just going to her dadda.