So Nissa is reading a recipe from the cookbook "eggs, celery, and cookies"

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the dinosaur

nissa has developed a love for dinosaurs. it's true. because she's an avid watcher of dinosaur train, her favorite is the star, a t-rex. after receiving a generous gift from her cousin of some dinosaur figures (12" hard plastic t-rex and parsaurolophus) and nissa insisted on bringing them everywhere, including bed, i knew it was time to look into alternatives. plushes were lame, or huge, or ugly. then i stumbled upon a brilliant amigarumi designer on etsy and i was sold. a plush, cartoon-y but not too silly, t-rex was in nissa's future.

it's taken me far to long to complete it, but mostly because i dragged my feet for the final assembly: the pieces were easy enough to work up. i modified the arms a little, but otherwise followed the pattern closely and was rewarded with an adorable finished product. his head is huge, and thus heavy, so he can't support its weight. still adorable.




i started finishing the assembly friday morning and was done saturday afternoon. our big plans to go out and about on nissa's birthday were thwarted by her coming down with a cold. . . we thought it best to have a restful day at home instead. the constant question during that whole time was "are you done yet?" no dear, but you'll be the first to know, i promise!

she loves it. and has said so quite a few times since his completion. and mommy made it for me. it's not real, it's made of yarn. it's yarn-y. it's so cute!

mission accomplished!

so nissa went to bed with her new dinosaur yesterday for a nap, slept from 6 -10. then was up till about 1. we both went to bed then. i woke up around 4 (for my regular bathroom break, ah, pregnancy!) to find her curled up in my arms. adorable, but confusing. and really messed with my dreams too, by the way. i tried unsuccessfully to move her to her own bed, so she ended up with us till morning. not sure what put her in our bed in the first place, but apparently she made herself quite comfortable and i was too tired to even notice. how sad.

in all, this pregnancy has been quite kind to me. rough in the beginning, plagued with occasional heartburn, but otherwise OK. i'm carrying much higher and centered this time, as opposed to low and across my hips. . . so bending over and slouching have been tedious for a few weeks now. there's something rewarding about sporting a high, round belly: it's so obvious and i like it. and nissa gets a kick out of it too:



she's been good about the belly: limiting her roughhousing, offering the baby (my belly) kisses, the whole nine yards. just saturday she hugged the baby, kissed her and offered to keep her warm (laying across me) and was very affectionate. i told nissa that soon we'd be able to do all those things in person (after the doctor helps me get the baby out, of course), and she seems ok with that idea. man, things are going to change around here. it's times like that that i hope nissa adjusts well. she's such a good kid, i want to do everything i can to keep her that way and keep her happy. maybe it means a few more trips to the park and fish store, but it'll always be worth it.

happy halloween!

just wanted to jot down some funny thoughts as all hallows eve starts off.

yesterday we put together the bunk bed for nissa's room. she'll only be on the bottom for now, but we thought it would be good to plan ahead. it's a little smaller than a full twin, so it works in the room with the crib. she's been big into forts lately, so introducing it as a fort-bed was the best thing we could have done. can't wait to hear how she liked it come morning.

saturday, while driving home with nissa, we passed a tree that had no leaves on it- either due to the season or to being dead; i couldn't tell. nissa pointed it out and said, "a hadrosaur ate all the leaves off that tree!" um, yes, kinda. good observation, nissa! but hadrosaurs don't exist any more. so i explained how when autumn comes, most trees' leaves change colors and fall off before winter comes. the rest of the weekend was filled with things "changing colors." oi. adam's response? why can't nissa know something useful? we'll have to work on that.

nissa's very excited to be a ghost for halloween. she's been talking about it for weeks and loves the costume i made for her. every night for at least two weeks she's asked if we can go trick or treating that night. sorry kiddo, not till halloween!

Misery, not beloved. Sorry.

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Was told by a homeless man in a white sequined sweatshirt that i reminded him of kathy bates in beloved. "say something funny," he says.

Was told by a homeless man in a white sequined sweatshirt that i reminded him of kathy bates in beloved. "say something funny,

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my amazing daughter

things are truly crazy, so i don't get to post often. ok. but i had to mention a couple of shining moments that have happened recently.

last night, we were enjoying some soup and saltines. one cracker had fallen out of the package near nissa, but about a foot away from the top edge of her placemat, so out of her reach (and mine too). after she dutifully consumed all the saltines i had allocated (she'd eat the whole sleeve if i let her) she eyed the one last cracker out of reach. since she had already declared being done with her soup, i had moved her bowl, leaving her placemat open. she picked up the close edge, slid it along the table under the distant cracker and pulled it in like a skilled fisherman. at that point, i couldn't argue against another cracker- she had earned it.

speaking of fisherman, my little gal does love to fish. we did some fishing up at camp this year and she pulled in some nice sunfish! she'd get distracted easily, but still had fun reeling them in and saying hello to the fish. she also enjoyed the live bait (worms) we used and we had to curb her becoming too fond of any one worm. it's never good to befriend the bait.

we've started watching movies as a nighttime family activity and it's been a hoot. a while back we watched labyrinth and nissa was concerned if the big sister was going to save the baby. we watched kung fu panda and she called herself a tiger and did kung fu (which she called tai chi, thanks to grandpa armin) all night and the next day. we watched tangled and nissa was determined to grow long hair (magic hair seemed optional, though, thank goodness). we watched monsters vs aliens and she was susan for the rest of the night, with super strength! mind you this was the first time she'd seen any of these movies and was identifying with characters after one viewing. she has an imagination, for certain, and a decent memory too!

the memory skill was very apparent recently. the other night i washed 2 potatoes for making mashed potatoes, left them on the counter. nissa comes up and takes one and proceeds to sing "hot potato hot potato, like at sarah's house!" the wiggles strike again! it's been a few weeks since we've watched the wiggles video at sarah's house. . . but apparently that doesn't matter.

in other news, baby #2 is coming right along. a few weeks back we found out #2 is a girl. i didn't see anything specifically female, but we also didn't see anything specifically male, so in theory, it could go either way. i think it only took adam the car ride home from the ultrasound to declare that we needed to move; we'll have to try for a boy on #3 and our house can't hold 5. oh, i can only worry about so much at a time. nissa's been very excited about being a big sister. she will even take time on occasion to rest her hand on my belly to feel the baby move. last night we tried this and the baby was moving and nissa declared that she liked candace' music, since we were watching P&F at the time. nissa will give the baby kisses, be more cautious around me and even talk about the baby. it's reassuring, but i know the true test will be arrival.

good bye!

alas, today marks the end of an era for us. the jeep will get towed away this afternoon by state farm. the hail storm of 6/30/11, that pummeled parts of the city with nearly baseball-sized hail got the better of it, leaving it resembling a golf ball. it fared better than some cars nearby, as it still had its windows; though the windshield was so badly shattered that it had to be replaced right away.

our first big trip was to detroit, where it was christened with the fair hair of aiko (after she ran me around the neighborhood, of course). we also went camping several times, drove down to mobile and back and carried us all over the chicagoland area. it even brought nissa home her first day home from the hospital.

but several radiators later, it had put in a good run but was nearing the end of it's useful life. the hail storm let us let it go without cursing it as a money pit or being unreliable.

farewell, old friend. your 11 years were appreciated!

Nissa is one unique character. Most days she loves her dinosaurs; stomping around and roaring like a big t-rex. But then there's other days like monday: she was in undies and a t-shirt for other reasons, pulled on her tutu and insisted on listening to ballet music only. Of course we danced with each other and the dinosaurs. Couldn't leave them out!

And so it begins. Last night nissa woke up around 3am asking for daddy. When he didnt come up, i assumed he was asleep and went in myself. I was greeted with louder wails, only daddy would do. I was not acceptable. I know she will be a daddy's girl, i just wasnt expecting it so soon or so harshly. Boo.

I hope not every pregnant mom experiences this morning workout: abs of steel, dry heaves in the shower.

Roses are peonies

We are eating lunch and she is carrying on about all that she sees. I tell her that i see a sandwich with her name on it that needs to be eaten. "where? Where?" in your hand. "where? Where?" oh, not literally, i was just joking. Hee hee.

I'm carrying a bag of groceries with bottles of 7up inside. Nissa looks up and asks, "do you have beers?" no, nissa, just soda.

stupid brain

it a fitful sleep, i spent most of my sleeping time trying to think of and old friend's name. it came to me shortly before i got up, after looking at a computer screen and typing it in in my dream. weird. appropriate, but weird.

my first friends at loyola were lee and brian fitzpatrick. they worked in the admissions office where i started working the summer before i started classes. for the life of me, i could not remember lee's name. i could remember his face, the fact that we dated for a little while, even where they used to live. i'm not sure why it was so important to remember this, but now that i have, i'm writing it here so i can shut my brain off for a little while.

i think this was inspired by the loyola gossip update i had at the show on saturday, learning all the latest scoop on the bio department. and learning about some of the changes being made to the lakeshore campus. it's been a while since i've been there, i'm considering signing myself up for a tour. funny to think i used to give those tours when i was a student. hmmm, did i give tours before i started? that would have been funny, i think i would have remembered that. again. stupid brain.

bump in the night

after being away far too long yet again, i'm compelled to jot some thoughts down here. work and home life have been hectic, but satisfying. looking forward to a break, but not all the work i need to complete before taking that break. oh well.

so yesterday, while changing nissa's sheets, i decided to take one of the rails off of her crib and let her try out sleeping in a "bed" instead of a crib. i've been considering this for months now, but adam had resisted. nissa never tried to climb out, so we never had that as a motivator. though last weekend nissa climbed from her crib onto her dresser, giving both of us heart failure. with that as a motivator, i figured it was time to change the sleeping dynamic. she napped well there, getting up a couple times to get some toys at the start, but always returning to bed to play with them. she went to bed without a diaper, but also without a potty check, so she woke up wet. i'm still hoping that'll change soon. anyways, with the nap a success, we went to bed that way too. nissa didn't like her bed being apart and asked for me to put it back together, but adam and i insisted she try out this new "big girl" sleeping situation. she's not really into the "big girl" thing, but i always like to toss it out. it's the lazy, go to move, i know, but when it's what you grew up with, it's hard to shake and comes out almost automatically. all went well (even slept through a loud thunderstorm) until just after my alarm went off this morning at 5:15. i laid in bed collecting my thoughts and i heard a thud, then crying. not hysterical crying, but crying enough that i knew it wouldn't subside quickly. i scooped her up, soothed her and tucked her back in. all in all, not bad. i'll have to wait for adam's report later.

peter is. . . . a boy

i asked, nissa answered. she mentioned peter, i asked "what about peter?" and she said "peter is (long pause) a boy." well, yes he is. very astute.

nissa is full of interesting things to say, and it's great. every minute is an adventure to see what observation she has to offer or thought she'd like to share. school bus next to you. daddy on his way home. daddy at work. gibson is smelling. i'm going pee pee. house tunnel (her name for the gangway). you get the idea.

tumbling class was a good time today. before class, she went over to where the markers were to do cartwheels and she did some. her version, but feet on the feet, hands on the hands and jumped. i was impressed. she was also playing well with one little girl. the girl was very kind, barely flinching when nissa spontaneously offered up her t-rex impersonation with a huge ROAR right in the girl's face. what did offend her was nissa yelling at the poor girl when she climbed into the "pool" by the rings where nissa was swinging. i had to have a chat with nissa about how to nicely address people and asked her to apologize. that's a work in progress, to be sure. during class nissa did a fantastic job following the course, including the cartwheels, handstands, walking "like a monkey" laterally across the uneven bars, walking across the beam (by herself!) and even doing a summersault on the beam. i really think she's getting the hang of this tumbling class thing.

we discovered nissa finally has one of her "two year" molars coming in. upper left. not great, but at least it explains why her fingers are always in her mouth and she's been on the cranky side. i guess buying chew toys for both nissa and gibson the other day were well timed! i still am considering a dog chew toy for nissa, for two reasons. 1. most of the teethers are designed for infants with NO teeth. nissa has a full array, so she could, in theory, break into gel-filled ones or otherwise do damage i'm not interested in supervising. 2. if gibson accidentally gets a hold of the toy, it wouldn't be instantly destroyed. learned that lesson when grandma and grandpa a mistook nissa's teether for a dog toy and let gibson have at it. he punctured it and since it was gel filled, it's in the garbage now. bummer.

nissa continues to do a great job using the potty during day time. twice now, she has gone on her own into the bathroom, set up her seat and stool and sat down. the first time i was going myself and she went downstairs and peed in the dark and everything. the second time was just a little too late, so she sat with wet clothes and no pee pee came out. accidents happen.

so we've been kind of trying for a second baby and it makes me very contemplative. i wonder how nissa will react to having a sibling, a rival for attention, a new little friend all her own. i wonder how i will manage juggling my time between two children, when for two plus years i've dedicated all of my attention to nissa. i wonder if i'll have miserable morning sickness again, and more weight gain. i never lost the weight from before, so i hope not. i'd like to keep going to tumbling class, so i hope the morning sickness is gentle. i wonder how the grandparents will manage with another little one, but more importantly, deal with a little one and my crazy daughter that finds more wacky things to do daily. at least nissa listens well most of the time and likes to help (so far).
new molar
pee by herself success, not quite
number two thoughts

counting to 6!

yet again, it's been way to long since i've posted, so here goes.

last night, while sitting on the potty one last time before bed, nissa and i were reading the "time to pee" book. about half way through, there is a page where you count, "1, 2, 3, PEE!" and when nissa read that part, she kept going after 3 all the way up to 6! this is a big deal because although she can count and count to 2, once she gets past 2 she skips/jumbles the numbers. *i* was excited.

we had a fun visit with our neighbors yesterday. their daughter is just a few months older than nissa and they get along well and are close developmentally. of course, they would have gotten along even better, had either of them had their naps, but such is life for a toddler. i am so grateful to have neighbors that we have so much in common with, it's such a blessing to have a sounding board for all the craziness we experience.

on weekends lately, we've been trying to mix things up by watching movies instead of more phineas and ferb. it's funny how once you view a movie as a parent, you have a whole new perspective. i thought lilo and stitch would be a great movie for nissa, but it turns out it's really depressing and sad. nissa was sad when stitch left that night, when lilo got taken away in the spaceship. she asked about them and everything. watching her face is really interesting too, as she looks surprised, angry, upset as the story progresses. once again, i underestimated my daughter when i was surprised to see her understand the movies and react to them. silly mommy.

we've been working on "first names" again with nissa. mommy's name is still mommy, but her "first" name is rachel. we're working on last names too, but everyone having the same last name is proving challenging for her. nissa's last name? nissa. ok, nissa, you're the boss. "no, i'm nissa." she says that a lot. are you a big girl? are you a cutie patootie? are you a monkey? "no, i'm nissa." the only exceptions are: puppy, t-rex, and volcano. go figure.



we went ice skating a couple of weeks ago and had a really good time. we walked over, rented her skates (size 9!?!?!?) and hit the ice. i swizzled backwards holding her hands and tried to get nissa to take steps. she did ok, but occasionally slid her feet ahead or behind her, so it was challenging for me. my back was a bit tense, but nothing a break every 10 feet couldn't make manageable. i just kept my knees bent as far as i could manage, keeping my core tight, and i was good. awesome work out! we made it around twice before out time was up (about 30 min on the ice, i think), so i was happy. nissa loved it and can't wait to go back. i considered going on president's day, but feared large crowds of kids, so i skipped it. we'll be back soon, i hope. what i really should do is look at thrift shops for skates.

so my cousin saw the video of nissa and gibson tugging over a plate and says she peed her pants. as soon as i took the video i had to take the plate away, that was a disaster waiting to happen! that's life with nissa- always a moment away from peeing your pants. seriously.

of course, i've completely glanced over the huge snowstorm we had. not sure what the official damage was, but it felt like about 2 feet, with drifts in our yard up to 4+ feet. no fun to shovel, but ok fun to run around in. too bad it got cold right away, because we would have loved to play in it some more with nissa. it got beyond frigid, so we couldn't enjoy it beyond the first day, so i was bummed. oh well. one day i'd like to get over my fear of sledding and go with nissa. i'm sure she'd love it, my little thrill seeker. i had some fun with photography. here's me back in '79, then nissa in '11.



just to recap on the ol' potty training thing, it's been working well. accidents are few and far between, though we are still in dipes to sleep. she's moving up to asking "sit on the potty, please" with results to boot. it's the little things like that that make being a mommy an incredible and awesome experience.

scared for the first time

of my little girl growing up. one of MANY moments, i know, but this has been one of the scariest. nissa is improving with using the potty and all of a sudden she seems so grown up, comparatively. something about being in undies instead of diapers and doing something so cognizant, it kinda takes me by surprise when i see it. i like it, but don't at the same time. i guess that's what being a mom is all about.

my little kiddo is also finding new ways to be wacky. during meals recently, she has taken to pretending her food is us. she's pretended the food is various animals (parading them around) but now it's us. the other day during breakfast, a piece of toast became daddy toast and a little piece became nissa toast. the two toasts went off to play on the bed, something adam and nissa do regularly while i make dinner. it usually includes jumping (hoppity doo), hiding under blankets and pillows, doing somersaults, etc. then, while enjoying broccoli, it was mommy broccoli and nissa broccoli. mommy broccoli was sleeping and nissa broccoli gave her a kiss to wake her up (this is how we wake up daddy on weekends, i'm always the first one up). then the broccolis went to the couch to watch bloo. then daddy broccoli came along and they all three watched tv and relaxed together. i guess the real mommy and the real nissa need to do more together! though, to be fair, daddy's the chief tv watcher and i try my darnedest to do other stuff.

a couple of weeks ago nissa did something really cute. daddy left for practice and nissa declared "nissa practice" and made a bee line for her toy box. she pulled out her guitar, asked for assistance to turn it on, and began to practice (play the guitar). even better, the other day when she pulled out her guitar, she declared the guitar "rocks." a few minutes later, she was "rocking." then, to ruin a perfectly awesome path with perfectly toddler logic, she was "a rock." too much.

spring training

ok, it's hardly spring yet, but i do hear the birds in mobile are considering their northern migration, so it can't be all that far off.

this weekend adam and i tried our hand at potty training. we figured she's old enough to figure it out and is quite accustomed to the potty, so it was worth a shot. besides, we were both around, cleared our schedules and adam was enthused, so we had to take advantage of the interest.

now that it's monday, i have mixed feelings about this weekend's efforts. nissa's a pro at holding for long hours, is able to warn us and get to the potty in time, just not good at remembering to do so. we may be far enough along to stick with undies during awake hours, though.

the shining moment was saturday night while we watched "up." she said "mommy" and walked toward the bathroom. i helped her up and after a few brief seconds, we heard tinkling! sunday was a bit of a downer because we were more worried about her bowel movements then the potty, so i think we pushed a little too hard. she hadn't gone #2 since thursday. fortunately, that streak broke monday late morning and we may or may not be back on track.

we spent the weekend naked from the waist down (nissa only, i was in underwear and/or a skirt, to keep up with temperature fluctuations) and i think it worked well. today we tried undies (hello kitty, the best i could find) and i'm not sure how it's going. she's pooped twice, both starting off the potty but finishing on. she peed twice, once while on for pooping, once off. she's got a diaper for nap time, so we'll see what the evening brings.

so yeah, undies for awake time. i think she'll get the hang of it soon enough.

2 yr doc visit

so we went to the doctor today, since i totally blanked on her original appointment back in november! man, that was a hectic week. what was i thinking scheduling an appointment 2 days before we go out of town? sheesh.

the doctor visit was nothing but positive. nissa's up to 25.5 pounds, 34 7/8 inches long; putting her into the 25th percentile for both. didn't get her head measurement, though. i'll have to look at that one myself. after all the poking and gut massaging, the doc gave her a clean bill of health. we both got a good chuckle when we noticed nissa holding her breath while the doc listened in with the stethoscope. her speech and motor skills are up to par, so it's all good. iron levels from the blood test came back perfect - a rarity according to the doctor. not shots either, just a flu mist and we were done. best appointment ever. BONUS: we didn't get charged the missed appointment fee either.

after getting back home and giving adam the run down, he was off to practice. the first thing nissa did was to announce "nissa practice" and head for her toy box. she pulled out her play guitar and proceeded to practice, of course. after that, i proposed a chat with grandma and grandpa g, and nissa liked the idea. so nissa and i called grandma and grandpa g on the webcam. nissa and grandpa had a good time passing things thru the camera: goldfish crackers and cotton balls. you could see the doubt and confusion on her face, but her young innocence took over quickly enough. it was terrible slight-of-hand on my part, but if it works, i'm not complaining! the call was ended in the perfect way: my little bucket head (from the blocks, blocks on the floor next to the desk) blew kisses from inside the bucket. puckering on the inside, hand motions on the outside. too hilarious to watch. hand on the inside was found to not work as well at all.

ok, funny story time. we're in the van the other day and we're listening to none other than the loop (rocks!). a geico commercial comes on and nissa shouts "gecko!" she remembers the gecko from the geico commercial, i guess from recognizing the company name and voice over guy? too bizarre.

nissa had art class again today and it sounded pretty fun. they made cotton ball polar bears, construction paper penguins, colored a picture of a penguin and got to use scratch off paper (with sparkly colors underneath). plus, she brought home her clay and tile mosaic.

terrific!

so yesterday, in her usual way, nissa ran around the house doing what she does. she came into the kitchen with adam's green exercise band around her neck, stating she was "terrific." she took me by the hand to the front room and took the other exercise band and suggested "terrific too!" so i followed suit and placed it around my neck. "both terrific" was the verdict. not sure what having a big green rubber band around your neck has to do with being terrific, but i went with it. of course, i had to share my terrific-ness with adam when he came home!

yesterday, nissa went to her first art class with grandma a. it sounds like they had a good time! they did a paper mosaic, played with funky clay (softer than play dough, resistant to drying out, kinda rubbery) that came home too, and colored a picture of buddy and dawn, the dinosaurs from dinosaur train. i really need to look into more pbs shows for nissa. a child cannot live on phineas and ferb alone. we introduced foster's home for imaginary friends, and of course she LOVES bloo. and while that's awesome for us, i feel like i should have something slightly more educational on the table too. we watched a little electric company the other day and nissa seemed to enjoy it- lots of dancing and music, she even started beat boxing during a segment! too awesome.

happy new year

we spent new year's eve enjoying a meal with friends, but quickly learned that nissa continues to get jealous when another baby is on my or adam's lap. where should the baby go? to "that" - the person whose name she couldn't remember, but sitting across from her - the baby's mommy. was quite upset at that. nissa got a bit crabby at times, but did manage to stay up all night to midnight, repeated "happy new year" and clinked glasses with everyone (she enjoyed apple juice and water in a tilty, we enjoyed some bubbly in wine glasses, totally clinky but safe). after some running around, it was off to bed.



new year's day we spent at uncle aaron's house. nissa loves the piano and insists that peter play a song. cousin johnny plays a song, and nissa dances to it. nissa has a fun time playing with the cousins, but has the best time playing dinosaurs with peter. purple plush monkey? no thanks, dinosaur - t-rex - rawr! ooh, someone has cheesits! nissa "please? have some?" and when she does, "thanks!" it's too awesome and really makes a parent proud. even heard "thanks" after subsequent cheeseit offerings. too bad that turned into the girls taking turns feeding her, like a dog, but nissa was happy. nissa found a bag of rocks in the toy collection- i suggest it might be peter's. she seeks him out, gives him the rock and then asks him to come downstairs to play. someone has a fan!

we come home in time to put nissa to bed and we enjoy some epic mickey time. i guess the new year is off to a good start!