Winter Wonderland

Though we missed out on the 18-ish inches of snow that fell in Rye's hometown this holiday season, we enjoyed a white Christmas week of our own. As you can see from these pics, Elynor has inherited some of the Westrom family's Scandinavian blood. She loves almost any opportunity to be out in the snow, even assisting with shoveling duty (any chance this will still be the case in 13 years?). Her only unsolved mystery is why Mommy doesn't rush outside with her & Daddy. For now we'll let her think it's because someone has to stay inside and make the hot chocolate.

Prepping for a Christmas night adventure (yes, she's still in her pj's).

Christmas night on our winter playground.

Proof that Mommy does go out... even if she can't zip up her coat (I think there was a Starbucks incentive involved).

Finally, a sunny day on the winter playground.

31.5 weeks & counting...

Looking back over this blog, some of you (especially those who followed the progress of Elynor's pregnancy) may be wondering if I'm really pregnant. Poor Baby Girl #2... hopefully my lack of pregnancy documentation does not predict the documentation pattern for her future!

At any rate, the answer is YES!, I am preggo... actually feeling oh-so-preggo in recent weeks. The back aches are still not as intense as those I experienced with Elynor, but they have snuck in. So, too, has the difficulty sleeping and fatigue by the end of each day. But, alas, that's par for the course, right!?

At last week's ultrasound we learned this little girl (or Coco, as Elynor sometimes calls her!?) is tracking at the 80%tile (currently 4 lbs. 3 oz.)! For those comparing, this is really exciting because it's smaller than Elynor was at this point. I suppose many of you would argue this isn't too difficult to accomplish, considering E was 11 lbs. 3 oz. at birth, but given my diabetes and genetics, bigger babies seem to be in the cards. If she gains approx. 1/2 lb./week and I deliver at 39 weeks (they won't let diabetic women go later), we could be close to 9 lbs! Of course, there is no guarantee... the next several weeks will be critical with my blood sugar management directly impacting the final birth weight. But this has renewed my resolve to keep the blood sugars tight. We'll reassess her growth in about 4 weeks.

Here's what she looks like (Rye & I think very similar to E's ultrasounds):


And here's what I look like (what woman willingly takes these shots?! this is for you, later, little girl...):

For comparison, this is approximately the same point in Elynor's pregnancy:


I'm looking a bit bigger this time around... probably because that tends to be the trend with subsequent pregnancies and there's a little extra fluid in the placenta (evidently this happens w/ diabetic women, for reasons they can't explain). The good news is the extra fluid presents little concern other than my water may break a little early (darn!). Mostly it's just an inconvenience for me carrying bigger (but praise God, it will disappear upon delivery).

A Haircut House Call

How awesome is it that my hairdresser is our neighbor and makes house calls!? Especially when a squirmy 2-year-old is desperately overdue... Even with some Barney entertainment and a brownie treat for distraction, Elynor was finished after about 10 minutes. Fortunately Gina was too! And E now has much more manageable, healthy looking curls to prove it (I'm still getting used to caring for the curly hair).

First Snow Fun

Note: Elynor has not been skiing, as the label on her coat suggests. I just haven't gotten around to cutting it off of this second-hand find. Better do so before the questions start coming!

Halloween in NYC

Better late than never seems to be the theme of my life these days... so here goes with a Halloween post -

The weekend of Halloween we took a family babymoon to NYC. My cousin Maggie had recently moved there and graciously hosted us for 2 nights (I pray she's no longer having nightmares about E's crazy 2-year-old antics...) on the Upper East Side and we then ventured to a B&B in Brooklyn for 2 more nights. As usual, we had a blast exploring all that NYC has to offer (though it wasn't at our typical pace with a toddler and preggo in tow). Here are a few highlights from our adventures. We love you, New York...

E practicing her "stay away from me paparazzi" pose.

Happy to be sitting after a LONG hike to the LES for some raved-about gluten-free goodies (sadly, we didn't find them to be as amazing as the hype or the price).

Our little ladybug trick-or-treats NYC style - to the businesses on 2nd Ave.

Trying to wrangle the choking-hazard cinnamon disk from the ladybug. She's clearly already on a sugar high.

Watching the NYC Marathon from the comfort of Maggie's 8th floor balcony!

A rainy, cool Monday morning is apparently not the most happenin' time at Coney Island.

I shy...

While saying our standard goodbyes on Friday morning, I told Elynor to tell her friend's mom thank you. Instead, she turned her head away and said:

"I can't Mama. I shy."

Huh? What? I thought. 1. You are NOT shy! and 2. Where on Earth did you come up with this one Miss Personality?

The next night after dinner Ryan asked Elynor to sit up so he could clean her hands.

"I can't Daddy. I shy."

Close. But we'll have to work on the use of this excuse.

Honesty & Consequences

Here's a fun story relayed by our beloved nanny, Heather, this week - providing a little peek into the developing mind and heart of this little girl. Enjoy -

I went upstairs to get Elynor up from her nap and she had the Jonah (as in, Jonah & the whale...) book in bed with her (it was not there when she went to sleep).

"Elynor reading Jonah," she informed me.

"Oh, should we read Jonah together??" I asked her.

She readily agreed.

We cozied up in the big blue chair and I read the first page about how Jonah didn't do what God told him to do, and then tried to explain in E terms what Jonah did.

"Jonah disobeyed God," I said.

Elynor turned to look at me. "I got out."

At this point I wasn't tracking with her. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"I got out of bed," she answered.

"Do you mean that you disobeyed by getting out of bed?"

She nodded. (Note: My biggest fear in going to a big-girl bed was Elynor freely roaming about upstairs when she should be sleeping... so we initially told her - and she has really taken to heart - that she is not to get out of bed unless we come get her.)

"Well, do you think that Jonah got a consequence for disobeying?" I asked.

"Yes."

"What do you think his consequence was?"

"A pinch," she answered without hesitation! (Note: Elynor often gets a pinch on her leg when she disobeys. It's kind of funny how effective this consequence is!)

"Well, let's see what happened to Jonah after he disobeyed."

We finished out the story and saw that Jonah's consequence was getting thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale and that in the end he obeyed God.

"So, do you think that you should have a consequence for disobeying and getting out of bed?" I asked.

"Yes."

And she willingly sat out a two minute timeout with no murmur or movement... and was a happy kid when she got out!