tonight we had our hospital tour where i will have little baby very soon. uncle lucas is in town visiting so he stayed home with adam.
i did NOT expect to feel a lump in my throat the entire tour, to have my eyes get hot and stingy with tears as we walked through. i just can't believe we'll meet this baby soon, that we'll be this blessed, that we'll have another little tater tot to love and see grow.
of course, we got to see a tiny little baby in the nursery and it was so cute and pink and TEENY. it's feet were the size of my thumbs. i remember when adam was a baby and people with kids would hold him and say that they couldn't remember their own children being this small. and i thought, back then, i won't let that happen, i will always remember how small he is. but i have to admit that the baby we saw seemed AWFULLY small - tho i am sure adam was that size once. it brings a whole new level to cherishing each moment with him and with this new baby. it isn't a joke - the time passes so fast and so much changes so quickly.
very excited for the changes the next couple months have in store, tho they won't be easy.... we found out today eric will be away quite a bit in april, while i am packing, chasing adam, running the studio and wrapping up at work. regardless. i know we will make it through and be elated to meet this little one soon.
March 22, 2011
March 10, 2011
notes to self
- this morning, while watching blue's clues, adam said to me: mom, steve don't pee pee in his pants. i was so taken aback i asked him to repeat it, and he did with shaking his head to emphasize the "don't". i told him - that's right, steve pee pees in the potty. everyone has a celebrity fan right? steve is adam's.
- adam is getting a molar, bottom left and it's about half way in. first one.
- adam's size 7 shoes are really getting to be too small and i will be buying him new ones this weekend. his snow boots are size 8 and i'm gonna push them through to the end of winter (which i am praying is soon... for more reasons than adam's foot size).
- adam is getting a molar, bottom left and it's about half way in. first one.
- adam's size 7 shoes are really getting to be too small and i will be buying him new ones this weekend. his snow boots are size 8 and i'm gonna push them through to the end of winter (which i am praying is soon... for more reasons than adam's foot size).
March 8, 2011
a year... almost
before i beat myself up for not keeping up with this family/baby blog project, let me say it was a BUSY year!
now.
i am really sad that i didn't keep writing, through all of our family transition this year. 1- i know there are so many things i will forget. so much of adam's little life i didn't write down in the past year (but goodness we have PLENTY of photos! at least i didn't slack there) and 2- i am CERTAIN that next time we move i'll wish i had kept a record of how i managed everything.
sigh.
what prompted me to get back at this was not just that i felt guilty and want to.... but i saw a plastic egg. i thought to myself, man, adam was really into those plastic eggs last easter and .... then it hit me. easter is coming right up again! a whole year has spun past us. well, almost.
so - here is the abridged version:
we did sell our house and we did move to maine. we spent a few weeks in SC with family and friends before starting the long 2 day trek north, with a dog and baby and trailer behind us. all our of stuff arrived the day after we did, all in tact, all there, nothing broken or missing, woo hoo! four days after we arrived in maine, eric left for 2 weeks out to sea and i thought i would die. (i now laugh at how i thought i couldn't handle a mere two weeks, but i'll get into that later...) i explored our new town, unpacked ALL of our things and spent time with adam. eric came home to a totally clean and unpacked apartment. i didn't work all summer, and eric was in and out on trips for work, so adam and i really got to know portland, on foot. we took walks every day for miles, we went to library story hours, tons of parks and playgrounds, swimming pools, markets, and the BEACH at least a few times every week. my mom joked that she wanted his life! it was true - it was a nice summer. we fell in love with portland - such a great place to have landed, perfectly fits us (aside from being so far from family...) both sets of parents visited, lucas visited a few times. we visited rhode island, took a mini vacation to cape cod, went to acadia national park, hiked maine mountains, biked islands, etc. heavenly up here. then, around the end of august, eric left for boston and rhode island.... and didn't come back home (other than weekends) until the end of december. after getting through that, i feel very confident in myself on my own. don't get me wrong, i prefer eric home! but that was definitely a challenge and we definitely made it through. adam turned TWO in september and i made him an elmo cake, which he still talks about at 2.5 - this makes me very proud of myself :) his mamama and pop pop were here for his birthday, so that was really nice. in september, i also started working a part time job just a couple blocks from where we live and we enrolled adam in a preschool part time. the preschool is NEXT DOOR to my office, and adam and i have even waved at each other from the windows. also in september, sometime after adam's birthday, i found out i was expecting #2! more on this later... in october adam and i flew back to sc for the first time since we moved to maine, enjoyed the WARM weather and went trick or treating. adam was elmo and a fire man - we had a costume change mid evening. it was a LONG flight(s) and for the first time it really hit me how far we are from home. even flying took us all day long. i am just thankful we're in the same time zone.
for thanksgiving, adam and i drove to rhode island, picked up eric and we all went to PA to spend the holiday with eric's family. it was not a bad drive and it was lovely to see all of them! we started *seriously* potty training adam around this time, which means we gave up diapers completely. he wore underwear all day, pull ups (or "nite nite pants" as we call them at our house) for naps and overnight. he had an occasional accident if we didn't remind him to go about once an hour.
at christmas, eric was miraculously able to get off work (i say miraculous b/c i don't think in our history together eric has ever, ever had off both thanksgiving AND christmas....) and we all flew to sc to spend the holiday with my family. after dragging a toddler through the holiday rush at the airports, a ton of gifts, and shipping many boxes back home before heading to the airport to fly, we told everyone they are invited to maine for christmas next year! two babies? plus the strong possibility that i might have to fly alone? well, just think how nice the white christmas will be up here! :)
january is when i personally feel "real" maine winter set in, and it has only just now started to let up. adam has spent many days right here in our house, and i hate it for him. we do get out to the children's museum, eric has taken him to the playground in a snow suit, we took him sledding once (fail. he hated it!), and i know at school they play outside in the snow. but, still. people weren't kidding when they warned us: it's not the COLD or the SNOW that will get you, it's the length of the winter. i've lost count of how many FEET of snow we've gotten, though someone told me today we're 14 inches above normal for snowfall this year. it's icy and super cold. and being on the ocean, the breeze is biting. i mean, from the walk to the car from the building, w/o gloves somedays, your hands will ache. luckily, being pregnant, i haven't fallen on any ice. i have spikes that go on my shoes.
these months, adam has become potty trained and it's SO NICE. sometimes we remind him to go, but most times he tells us he is going to go. he can go in the bathroom alone and pee or poop (stands to pee), and only needs help cleaning up if he pooped. i love that he can tell me has to go and all i have to do is turn on the light! we gave him m&m's in the beginning for pooping and peeing, but now he only gets one for making a poop. his pull up is often dry when we wake up from naps, but still soaked in the mornings from overnight. i don't even know where to begin tackling this and am sort of ignoring it for now... :)
adam is OBSESSED with books. he "reads" several of his books to us from memory. every night we leave the light on his room so he can "read" after we leave, and i hear him in there reading out loud to himself. i usually go in to turn off the light 15 or so minutes later only to find him asleep on top of a book's pages. i am so happy he loves books and we continue to read to him a lot. his favorite books are little blue truck, curious george, wheels on the bus, "poop book" i don't know the real name of this book but that's what he calls it - it's a lift the flap book where you look for the baby animals poops (gross, i know), big brother book, corduroy.
adam's other obsession lately is blue's clues. this is a great little show and i don't mind him watching it, but sometimes that is the FIRST thing out of his mouth in the mornings - mommy, i watch blues clues now? it's crazy! we limit it to 2 episodes a day, period. though if we said yes for every time he asked, he would be watching blues clues for 10 hours a day, at least!
adam likes coloring and painting and playing with play-doh ("tay doh"). he LOVES playing with cars and trucks, especially tractors and dump trucks and fire trucks. he loves playing with balls too and is great at kicking and getting better at catching.
he can write an A and draw a smiley face (most of the time...). he knows all his colors. he can sing the ABC's fairly well (letters btwn L and P are sort of mumbled, and we pick back up strong at Q, haha) and does an ok job counting to 10. the funniest thing is he CANNOT remember the number 4 to save his little life. no matter how many times we count, he leaves out 4. he knows 4, from puzzles or if i write it. but in counting, he always skips it.
he sings the "i love you" song from barney (tho he has never seen this show, i only taught him. i think he'll be blown away when he sees it on tv someday), twinkle twinkle (which includes a part that goes "up papapa world so high..." hilarious), baby beluga, better watch out (santa is coming to town), jingle bells, how much is that doggy in the window, three little ducks, wheels on the bus, old macdonald, and maybe some others i am not remembering right now.
he can put on his own shoes (tho not always on the right feet...), is getting pretty good at brushing his own teeth (i always do a clean up job after him just to be sure!), knows that "daddy work on the boat" and "mommy work in the building" and that he goes to "kool". he knows and can say his name is adam ciuca. he knows and can say eric's full name and my full name, and that he is 2 and lives in "poht-land"
adam LOVES to be a helper right now, and loves to do things himself (no mommy, let ME do it!) and i am hoping this continues when Little Baby comes along. he likes to help take out the trash (1 small little bag), carry in groceries (i often give him a bag with bread and chips...), and load the dishwasher (he puts in the forks and spoons...). he likes to zip and unzip his own coat, put on his own shoes, carry his own plate, etc, and gets mad sometimes if we do it for him.
soooo.... Little Baby. eric and i tried for this baby for a while. we wanted to have our children close together in age (which we definitely still are!). but with all the transition (read: stress) this year, i think it just wasn't happening yet b/c we weren't ready. as *soon* as we were settled here in maine, poof! baby appears. i found out while eric was out to sea (of course) and unreachable, so i had to wait several days to tell him. when he came home, i dressed adam in a big brother tee shirt and waited for eric to see it. he was so happy and surprised.
this pregnancy has been different in just about every way possible. most obvious is that i am chasing around adam, so i have less time to focus on this baby coming. but i have also gained far less weight, i don't have the same cravings, i didn't feel sick in the beginning, i am more tired, etc etc. you name it, it's different this time.
the baby is doing very well. healthy and right on track for growth, etc. this week i am 29 weeks. i feel like this baby is a girl, and adam tells me it is a "girl baby" but only time will tell! we opted to keep it a surprise. when the baby comes into the world, eric will be the one to announce if it's a boy or girl. thinking of this moment coming up soon makes me so excited and happy.
it is still totally surreal that we are having ANOTHER baby - but i am so happy and SO ready to meet this little one! i was worried about juggling everything with a newborn added into the mix (i also opened a business in january...), but i met an older woman recently who told me that when her second child was born, she felt a completeness she'd never felt before come into her life. she felt like, ahhh, ok, here i am. this i can relate to and this is how i choose to view the near future. i have always wanted 2 children and here i am. how lucky are we?
i REALLY need to get started trying to find baby items in storage. i have made a "find it or buy it" list, but that's as far as i've gotten. i keep thinking i have tons of time, but really... we don't. not only are we moving may 1 to a new house, it's only a matter of weeks before i feel like doing NOTHING. this weekend i must start tackling some boxes in storage, looking for tiny clothes, bottles, anything that we saved...
i feel the baby moving strongly all the time, seeing my belly jump and twist. i feel this baby much much lower than i remember feeling adam and wonder what that means. the last time i had an ultrasound (around 24 weeks) the baby was breech, but they said it has plenty of time to turn around, which i hope it does!
i am still teaching yoga, three classes per week, running a business with 9 employees, caring for adam, working part time, and being alone about half of the time with eric's schedule. things are a little insane, and i'm sure that after baby arrives, i am going to have to cut back on some of those things. but i do love our life and my family and couldn't be happier or more thankful.
so... now i think we're ALL caught up! here's to an exciting spring!
now.
i am really sad that i didn't keep writing, through all of our family transition this year. 1- i know there are so many things i will forget. so much of adam's little life i didn't write down in the past year (but goodness we have PLENTY of photos! at least i didn't slack there) and 2- i am CERTAIN that next time we move i'll wish i had kept a record of how i managed everything.
sigh.
what prompted me to get back at this was not just that i felt guilty and want to.... but i saw a plastic egg. i thought to myself, man, adam was really into those plastic eggs last easter and .... then it hit me. easter is coming right up again! a whole year has spun past us. well, almost.
so - here is the abridged version:
we did sell our house and we did move to maine. we spent a few weeks in SC with family and friends before starting the long 2 day trek north, with a dog and baby and trailer behind us. all our of stuff arrived the day after we did, all in tact, all there, nothing broken or missing, woo hoo! four days after we arrived in maine, eric left for 2 weeks out to sea and i thought i would die. (i now laugh at how i thought i couldn't handle a mere two weeks, but i'll get into that later...) i explored our new town, unpacked ALL of our things and spent time with adam. eric came home to a totally clean and unpacked apartment. i didn't work all summer, and eric was in and out on trips for work, so adam and i really got to know portland, on foot. we took walks every day for miles, we went to library story hours, tons of parks and playgrounds, swimming pools, markets, and the BEACH at least a few times every week. my mom joked that she wanted his life! it was true - it was a nice summer. we fell in love with portland - such a great place to have landed, perfectly fits us (aside from being so far from family...) both sets of parents visited, lucas visited a few times. we visited rhode island, took a mini vacation to cape cod, went to acadia national park, hiked maine mountains, biked islands, etc. heavenly up here. then, around the end of august, eric left for boston and rhode island.... and didn't come back home (other than weekends) until the end of december. after getting through that, i feel very confident in myself on my own. don't get me wrong, i prefer eric home! but that was definitely a challenge and we definitely made it through. adam turned TWO in september and i made him an elmo cake, which he still talks about at 2.5 - this makes me very proud of myself :) his mamama and pop pop were here for his birthday, so that was really nice. in september, i also started working a part time job just a couple blocks from where we live and we enrolled adam in a preschool part time. the preschool is NEXT DOOR to my office, and adam and i have even waved at each other from the windows. also in september, sometime after adam's birthday, i found out i was expecting #2! more on this later... in october adam and i flew back to sc for the first time since we moved to maine, enjoyed the WARM weather and went trick or treating. adam was elmo and a fire man - we had a costume change mid evening. it was a LONG flight(s) and for the first time it really hit me how far we are from home. even flying took us all day long. i am just thankful we're in the same time zone.
for thanksgiving, adam and i drove to rhode island, picked up eric and we all went to PA to spend the holiday with eric's family. it was not a bad drive and it was lovely to see all of them! we started *seriously* potty training adam around this time, which means we gave up diapers completely. he wore underwear all day, pull ups (or "nite nite pants" as we call them at our house) for naps and overnight. he had an occasional accident if we didn't remind him to go about once an hour.
at christmas, eric was miraculously able to get off work (i say miraculous b/c i don't think in our history together eric has ever, ever had off both thanksgiving AND christmas....) and we all flew to sc to spend the holiday with my family. after dragging a toddler through the holiday rush at the airports, a ton of gifts, and shipping many boxes back home before heading to the airport to fly, we told everyone they are invited to maine for christmas next year! two babies? plus the strong possibility that i might have to fly alone? well, just think how nice the white christmas will be up here! :)
january is when i personally feel "real" maine winter set in, and it has only just now started to let up. adam has spent many days right here in our house, and i hate it for him. we do get out to the children's museum, eric has taken him to the playground in a snow suit, we took him sledding once (fail. he hated it!), and i know at school they play outside in the snow. but, still. people weren't kidding when they warned us: it's not the COLD or the SNOW that will get you, it's the length of the winter. i've lost count of how many FEET of snow we've gotten, though someone told me today we're 14 inches above normal for snowfall this year. it's icy and super cold. and being on the ocean, the breeze is biting. i mean, from the walk to the car from the building, w/o gloves somedays, your hands will ache. luckily, being pregnant, i haven't fallen on any ice. i have spikes that go on my shoes.
these months, adam has become potty trained and it's SO NICE. sometimes we remind him to go, but most times he tells us he is going to go. he can go in the bathroom alone and pee or poop (stands to pee), and only needs help cleaning up if he pooped. i love that he can tell me has to go and all i have to do is turn on the light! we gave him m&m's in the beginning for pooping and peeing, but now he only gets one for making a poop. his pull up is often dry when we wake up from naps, but still soaked in the mornings from overnight. i don't even know where to begin tackling this and am sort of ignoring it for now... :)
adam is OBSESSED with books. he "reads" several of his books to us from memory. every night we leave the light on his room so he can "read" after we leave, and i hear him in there reading out loud to himself. i usually go in to turn off the light 15 or so minutes later only to find him asleep on top of a book's pages. i am so happy he loves books and we continue to read to him a lot. his favorite books are little blue truck, curious george, wheels on the bus, "poop book" i don't know the real name of this book but that's what he calls it - it's a lift the flap book where you look for the baby animals poops (gross, i know), big brother book, corduroy.
adam's other obsession lately is blue's clues. this is a great little show and i don't mind him watching it, but sometimes that is the FIRST thing out of his mouth in the mornings - mommy, i watch blues clues now? it's crazy! we limit it to 2 episodes a day, period. though if we said yes for every time he asked, he would be watching blues clues for 10 hours a day, at least!
adam likes coloring and painting and playing with play-doh ("tay doh"). he LOVES playing with cars and trucks, especially tractors and dump trucks and fire trucks. he loves playing with balls too and is great at kicking and getting better at catching.
he can write an A and draw a smiley face (most of the time...). he knows all his colors. he can sing the ABC's fairly well (letters btwn L and P are sort of mumbled, and we pick back up strong at Q, haha) and does an ok job counting to 10. the funniest thing is he CANNOT remember the number 4 to save his little life. no matter how many times we count, he leaves out 4. he knows 4, from puzzles or if i write it. but in counting, he always skips it.
he sings the "i love you" song from barney (tho he has never seen this show, i only taught him. i think he'll be blown away when he sees it on tv someday), twinkle twinkle (which includes a part that goes "up papapa world so high..." hilarious), baby beluga, better watch out (santa is coming to town), jingle bells, how much is that doggy in the window, three little ducks, wheels on the bus, old macdonald, and maybe some others i am not remembering right now.
he can put on his own shoes (tho not always on the right feet...), is getting pretty good at brushing his own teeth (i always do a clean up job after him just to be sure!), knows that "daddy work on the boat" and "mommy work in the building" and that he goes to "kool". he knows and can say his name is adam ciuca. he knows and can say eric's full name and my full name, and that he is 2 and lives in "poht-land"
adam LOVES to be a helper right now, and loves to do things himself (no mommy, let ME do it!) and i am hoping this continues when Little Baby comes along. he likes to help take out the trash (1 small little bag), carry in groceries (i often give him a bag with bread and chips...), and load the dishwasher (he puts in the forks and spoons...). he likes to zip and unzip his own coat, put on his own shoes, carry his own plate, etc, and gets mad sometimes if we do it for him.
soooo.... Little Baby. eric and i tried for this baby for a while. we wanted to have our children close together in age (which we definitely still are!). but with all the transition (read: stress) this year, i think it just wasn't happening yet b/c we weren't ready. as *soon* as we were settled here in maine, poof! baby appears. i found out while eric was out to sea (of course) and unreachable, so i had to wait several days to tell him. when he came home, i dressed adam in a big brother tee shirt and waited for eric to see it. he was so happy and surprised.
this pregnancy has been different in just about every way possible. most obvious is that i am chasing around adam, so i have less time to focus on this baby coming. but i have also gained far less weight, i don't have the same cravings, i didn't feel sick in the beginning, i am more tired, etc etc. you name it, it's different this time.
the baby is doing very well. healthy and right on track for growth, etc. this week i am 29 weeks. i feel like this baby is a girl, and adam tells me it is a "girl baby" but only time will tell! we opted to keep it a surprise. when the baby comes into the world, eric will be the one to announce if it's a boy or girl. thinking of this moment coming up soon makes me so excited and happy.
it is still totally surreal that we are having ANOTHER baby - but i am so happy and SO ready to meet this little one! i was worried about juggling everything with a newborn added into the mix (i also opened a business in january...), but i met an older woman recently who told me that when her second child was born, she felt a completeness she'd never felt before come into her life. she felt like, ahhh, ok, here i am. this i can relate to and this is how i choose to view the near future. i have always wanted 2 children and here i am. how lucky are we?
i REALLY need to get started trying to find baby items in storage. i have made a "find it or buy it" list, but that's as far as i've gotten. i keep thinking i have tons of time, but really... we don't. not only are we moving may 1 to a new house, it's only a matter of weeks before i feel like doing NOTHING. this weekend i must start tackling some boxes in storage, looking for tiny clothes, bottles, anything that we saved...
i feel the baby moving strongly all the time, seeing my belly jump and twist. i feel this baby much much lower than i remember feeling adam and wonder what that means. the last time i had an ultrasound (around 24 weeks) the baby was breech, but they said it has plenty of time to turn around, which i hope it does!
i am still teaching yoga, three classes per week, running a business with 9 employees, caring for adam, working part time, and being alone about half of the time with eric's schedule. things are a little insane, and i'm sure that after baby arrives, i am going to have to cut back on some of those things. but i do love our life and my family and couldn't be happier or more thankful.
so... now i think we're ALL caught up! here's to an exciting spring!
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