Naps, reorganizing and life

Oh the naps! It will be a mystery to me for the rest of my life. How is it that my Ava doesn't like to nap like I think she should? I have been experimenting with the one nap a day thing,but every day is different. For a couple of days, Ava slept in until 7am!!! Those days she woke up happy and all giggles. It was easy to keep her up until 11 am or 12. Now you would think she would take a long nap, but nope. She slept her usual hour and a half. Actually one day she slept a little over 2 hours. The hard part is she usually wakes between 5:30 and 6 am and is ready to go to sleep by 10 am and then wakes up around 11:30ish. Then is the debate whether to put her down around 3:30 ish for a "snap" (a.k.a short nap). If my mom isn't here, she will usually go down, but when she is here, I think Ava doesn't want to miss out on anything and it usually takes her 30 minutes to settle and then she only sleeps 30 minutes and then wakes up cranky. If I can just get her to sleep in until 7 every morning. Then if we go out and about any time after 9:30 am, chances are she is going to fall asleep being toted around. The other day, I was craving Quiznos (my newest craving- Turkey Ranch and Cheddar-yummmmmy!) and I went to get it at 10:15, so I could get back, make Ava's lunch and get her down by 11 because she was a crank-a-soraus that day. She fell asleep in the 5 minute car ride home. Go figure! Nothing was going to wake her at that point. I guess it will come in time, but in the meantime, she dictates her nap schedule.
The good news is that she is starting to sleep through the night again. Prays the Lord. That was a rough couple of weeks.

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Well, Today I was nesting, for lack of a better word. I wanted to reorganize and get rid of all our junk. The current guest bedroom closet, which will be baby Leptuch # 2's room, is where we have stored all our crap. We have photo albums, our china, games, gift wrapping, big pots and platters, my wedding dress, etc. You name it, it is stuffed in that closet. We recently got new custom cabinets installed in our garage, well, I should say more cabinets installed, so that we can move a lot of that stuff out there, but not all of it can go. So I started cleaning it out and making piles for donation. I honestly don't know why I hold onto a lot of it. I know myself and if I want a new trinket to decorate the house, I will probably go buy one and not use the old one that I have already seen.

Then I started in at our office. That room is going to become the office/craft room/guest bedroom. We are going to get rid of one desk and chair and put a twin bed in there and get some more storage shelves/bins/cabinets to hide everything. My mom visits often enough to have an actual bedroom and not just a blow up mattress in the living room. Also, when baby # 2 arrives, I would love all the help I can get for as long as I can get it and if this one is like Ava, we will be pacing around the living room/kitchen/family room at the wee hours of the nights, so it will be nice that our guest can get some sleep and have some privacy. I started getting rid of a bunch of stuff in that room and putting things away that I just didn't need. We are by no means close to being done. My donation pile was huge. I invited my younger sister over and she cleaned out a bunch of stuff. I also went through my closet and got rid of some shoes and some old clothes that I know I will never wear again. I love to get rid of stuff and declutter.

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About me, well, I still really tired and now my old clothes are starting to fit a bit tight. I know that that is what is going to happen, at least until I am finally in maternity clothes, but this is the worst time of it all. I know all the women out there can understand. Mike does not. I told him the other day that I felt fat and he just didn't get it. I don't mean it in the "I am not pregnant and bitching about the way I look" kinda way, I just mean it in the " my clothes don't fit and I don't have anything to wear and I just look like I ate too many candy bars" kinda way. All my shirts are too tight, so I look like I have a muffin top. I did buy a couple before I got pregnant that are a bit looser in the belly area, but that didn't account for the upper area. I guess, I will have to go and buy a couple of new tops. Darn! I am fine on the bottoms because I just pulled out my "fat clothes" and those are a little loose still. I guess I will have to start wearing dresses again too.

This is my 9 weeks shot (from a week ago, I am 10 weeks now). See what I mean, not so cute. I was so tired in this picture, which is not unusual these days! I live in my black Nike capri's.

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Ava is a hoot! She is learning new things everyday and trying to talk so bad. She babbles all the time and tries to repeat what we say. I have got to start watching the language as the other day in the car, I might have said Shit and she did repeat it in her own way. No one else would know what she is saying but us. If you ask her to point to things, she will. In one of her books that you open things up in to see what is behind it, she will point to the TV right after she opens it becuase that is what is inside the cabinet in the book. She loves her videos now too, which is not really a good thing. We wanted her to be a non-tv kid and I guess for the most part she is, but when you say something that reminds her of her videos, she will go and get the video and stand by the tv and wine/cry until I put it on or distract her. She does learn things from them, so that is good, but I don't want her watching too much TV. Some days she will watch her video twice and others not at all. She is becoming increasingly picky about her food. She will just shake her head no if we bring her her food and she doesn't want it. I just get her to eat what she will and make up for it with a snack later. No need to battle it just yet. As long as I get a balance of fruits, veggies,protein, I am ok with that. Here is Ava helping Mike put away our baby pool. She loves to help out or should I say be in the "mix". Where ever daddy is, Ava has to be. She loves her daddy.

The reality of two

The reality of having two kids is starting to set in. I was talking to Mike about it last night and realized that I will probably be home bound a lot in the beginning. Running errands won't be as easy because the shopping carts, with the exception of Costco, only allow one to sit in the front. Our current baby car seat doesn't have the cut in to put on top of the carts and I wouldn't really want to do that and have Ava standing inside the cart. That would be a recipe for disaster. We really don't want to buy 2 strollers for two kids. I want a jogger one, because I will be going for walks and to the park A LOT and once I can start running again, I will. The joggers are so big, that I don't want to be toting it to the mall by myself. Also, what do I do with Ava when I put #2 down for his/her nap and vice versa. It is not just a walk in and put the baby down, I usually do a 5-10 minute nap routine. It will be very interesting and I know it can be done as many of you out there have more than 1 child, but what is the secret??

In and Out Burger

Ava enjoyed one of our favorite food joints yesterday, In and Out Burger. We haven't had it in over 6 months and hamburgers were one of my cravings with Ava. I have been trying to hold out on eating it with this pregnancy, because I knew that once I had it, I will want it and that holds true. We got it for lunch on Saturday and Ava was still sleeping, so Mike cut a piece from his and wrapped it up for her. I was a bit hesitant if she would like it or not. So when she woke up, I cut a piece for her and gave it to her. She was a bit unsure with her first bite, but scarfed it down after that. I gave her a couple of fries to top it off with. Mike was so happy! Not sure I am, as I have said that I don't want to be a fast food family. Since Mike is trying not to eat fast food, this being his first time this year, I hope we can stick to it and make it a "treat". We will see how it goes through this pregnancy though. I do crave hamburgers and McDonald's hot fudge sundae's.

Well, the sicknesses still plague this house. I am hoping that what Mike got this past week was from Ava. He finally went to Urgent Care on Saturday morning. He was the first one there. He even got there before the doctor. He had to wait 20 minutes for the doctor. He has a sinus infection. He has been down for the count since Thursday. We were able to relax yesterday and sit and watch the golf tournament, which was actually really nice to do.

I think Ava is over her sickness, but her sleep has been a wreck ever since. She has not been sleeping through the night and is having a hard time getting settled when she goes down for the night and for her afternoon nap, which I think she is getting ready to drop. When she was sick, we would go in when she cried and pick her up to soothe her and she learned quickly that we will do that, which is what I think she wants now. Since I am a baby whisperer mom, I learned that we can't do that and we just have to settle her in her crib. The other night it took an hour, some nights, it's just the paci and she might cry for about another 15-20 minutes on and off to settle. It is frustrating, because we were doing so well. I guess I just have to stay with it. Some of it might have to do with the fact that this also started when my mom starting watching her 3 days a week. I have read that change can cause night sleep disturbances and Ava is very sensitive to routine changes. She was also having a hard time going down for her afternoon nap, so for the past 2 days, I have been keeping her up a bit later in the morning so that she can get a good nap in and then not take an afternoon one. I was also hoping that would stop the crying after I put her in her bed at night and hoping that she would be so tired she would just conk out, nope! Oh well, such is the life of decoding your child needs. We will figure it out.

So it was brought to my attention that I may not have mentioned that I believe that Ava now has 12 teeth. I guess next are her 2 year old molars. I hope they aren't as bad as the "eye" teeth, for lack of a technical term were. She is growing up so fast. She can point out many parts of her body. She knows, hair, tongue, eyes (which she just blinks when you ask where her eyes are), nose (although she sort of points to her mouth), ears, belly button, chest, back, arm, feet, and hands. She can jump, and loves to dance, which is hilarious to watch. She kinda bounces up and down with one hand in the air. I will have to post the video because it is funny. She shakes her head for yes and no. She is pretty good with sign language, but sometimes i think she does what we say. She can do "all done" and "more" and "please". She still babbles a lot and not a lot of words. She is saying "hot", "hat", "bug", "blow" and we got "bubble" the other day. She mostly says the beginning of the words, but I have learned to decode. She is working on "book" and can say mama, but doesn't say it to me. She loves to put a million things in her hands and bring it from one place to another. She is also very good at letting us know when she is upset. Boy are her meltdowns heard. If she wants something and we don't give it to her that is usually when they occur and on the changing table. She hates to have her diaper changed. Overall, she is a really good baby and so curious and is keeping us on our toes. She will be 16 months old on Monday.

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So far things with this pregnancy are uneventful, just they way I like it. I am 9 weeks now and I feel like I am starting to show. I was looking in my pregnancy journal from when I was having Ava and I was wearing maternity pants at 10 weeks. When I first saw it, I thought it was a bit early ( I must have pigged out), but now I see why. I won't be in maternity pants as early this time around because I kept all my clothes from before I lost weight, so I am just going to start to wear those soon as I put on a pair a shorts yesterday and they were feeling a bit snug, at least when I sit. The morning sickness comes and goes. I have found that if I am busy doing things and distracted, I feel good, but on days where we are lazy at home, I feel a little bit yucky. I go back to the doctor at the end of this month. I am not real happy with the practice that I go to. The other day I spent a while on the phone with the billing department. They are trying to get me to prepay for my delivery. They say it isn't due until I am 6 months along, but I think that is bullshit. I told her that I refuse to pay for services that have not been given and she said that it is their policy. When I asked if I signed something saying I was aware of this policy, surprise, surprise, she couldn't find it and said she will get it to me on my next visit. I am not signing it. If they want to bill me after every visit after it has been submitted to my insurance, then I will pay. Who knows if I will be somewhere else and they don't even deliver my baby. She says they will reimburse me, yeah right! So if they insist, I am going to have to find another OBGYN. I never had to do this with Ava. She said there was someone else in charge then. It is bullhonkery if you ask me.

Well, I hope everyone has a nice Father's Day. We are going to watch the last day of the US Open.

Sorry it's been so long

Sorry it has been so long, but it has been death warmed over at the Leptuch house this past week. Ava started not feeling well on Tuesday, which coincidentally, is the same day that my morning sickness decided to kick into high gear. My mom started watching Ava that week, last week, and I had a vendor meeting on Tuesday morning and when I got home, the nausea kicked in and I was down for the count the rest of the day. That night Ava woke up a couple of times coughing and just not feeling well. I was exhausted Wednesday morning from the lack of sleep. She had about a 100 degree temp all day Wednesday, which Tylenol brought down. Below is a picture of her falling asleep on the family room floor. She has NEVER done that, but she was so tired from not sleeping well the night before that she just conked. We left her there and she got about an hour sleep, which is good for her. When she is sick, her sleeping is the worst.

Thursday, she appeared to be on the mend, so I assumed teeth, but Friday morning she woke up and started coughing and touching her chest, as if to tell me it hurt. Friday was rough, i was still not feeling well, Ava didn't feel well and daddy was in Globe (2 hours away) at a work conference. I texted him about 10am and said if he could come home that would be a ton of help and he did!! He rocks! Friday night was the worst. Ava was up most of the night and finally about 11 pm after going into her room every 30 minutes trying to put her to sleep, we all got up and watched baby Einsteins. Finally at midnight we put her down, which didn't last long, so I brought her into our bedroom, thinking that be propped up on a pillow would help and it did. Ahhh, sleep. we got about 3 hours and she woke up at which point we put her in her crib for another 2.5 hours. That was it. She was cranky all day Saturday and we all went to bed at 6pm. Mike's mom was in town and she came over Friday night for a couple of hours and then came over on Sunday, in which Ava was feeling much better, expect for not napping that day.

I think we are all starting to feel better. yay! That was rough.

This is Ava playing with grandma nini's camera

We discovered Popsicles this week and she loves them. we make her eat them outside because they are messy.

The Gratrix clan came to visit us 2 Saturday's ago and that is Ava and Adam playing. They are about the same height. Adam will be 2 in September.

mama and Ava

Vacation and Dr. Visit

We have been enjoying our vacation. I wish I had pictures to show, but I am the worst when it comes to that. I have brought my camera everywhere with good intentions of documenting our time off and did not take one picture. I have to get better at that.


Anyway, last Saturday morning, we met up with Mike's sister's, Nancy and Susan, at Joe's Farm Grill for breakfast. Nancy was in town for some girl time before she gets married. It was a really nice morning to be able to sit outside. Joe's is a great family place to eat. It was nice to catch up.


On Saturday afternoon, we went to our friends house for a pool party. That was a lot of fun. I was curious to see how Ava would do in the pool. She was fine. We just held her and walked around in the pool holding her. She spent most of her time collecting rocks in their backyard. It is one of her favorite things to do. There were 3 of us that were pregnant at the pool party and all due within 2 months of each other (more to come on that).


On Sunday, we headed up to Prescott to stay with my mom for a couple of days. It was nice to escape the heat and have some time to relax. The altitude definitely affected me. I was more tired than ever. Ava had a blast at my mom's house. So much so that she didn't really eat while she was there. There was just too much to look at. My mom has 2 small stairs to walk down into her family room and Ava just wanted to walk up and down them. By the end of our time there, she was getting the hang of walking down without having to sit down, scoot and then get down the step. She had no problems walking up them without any help of climbing. She found this toy there that we have named Jose Ole. It is a stick that has a sombrero on the top that is attached to a string. She walked everywhere with it in her hands. She loved the dog too. She was always looking for the dog. It was nice to have someone watch Ava and let Mike and I relax. Actually, Mike has been watching Ava a lot this vacation, which has been a nice break for me. I have been catching up on couch time. Mike and I went out to dinner on Monday night. It was the first time in quite some time. We had a nice time. We came home on Tuesday night and on Wednesday, Ava's Nana Patty came into town. She is staying at my step brothers house to watch their kids while they go on vacation. Since they were all working, she got to come over to our house and get some one on one time with Ava. It didn't take long before Ava was sitting in her lap. We went over to Brian's house later that night for Pizza and wings. Ava had fun exploring the backyard. She loves to be anywhere new. She just takes it all in.


She has been way off her nap schedule and sleeping schedule with everything going on. Today, we got her back on. I thought it would be more difficult, but it wasn't. She is trying to catch up on her sleep. We will see about tonight as she has been going to bed at 7:30-8 every night and she usually goes down about 6:45pm.


We had our ultra sound today. It was pretty exciting to see our little baby growing. The doctor said that he/she is very small and they actually moved our due date out 8 days. So we are now due on January 21st 2011, which is one month exactly before Ava's birthday. It is exciting,but sad too. I have lost a week in my pregnancy. So I am 6 weeks, 6 days along today and I thought I was 8 weeks. Oh well. Because the baby was so small, we couldn't hear the heartbeat, but it was beating at 141 beats per minute. Below are some really blurry pictures of it.





This first one measures the heartbeat at the
bottom of the screen. Each bump is a heartbeat
and they measure 2 of them to get the actual
heartbeat.




The arrow in the one below is pointing to our baby. The little black dot inside the small white sac is the baby's heart

They are a bit blurry as you can see.

So far, I have been feeling ok. I have a little bit of nausea here and there, but like I said before, I am really tired. It doesn't help having a 15 month old to chase around. I have been lucky to have mike help out this week, so I have been trying to take naps. I have been wanting to eat about every 2 hours. I guess it is good, that way I don't eat a big meal and keep the nausea at bay.