Getting older

I'm falling behind on posting. I guess it's been a little crazy around here with Nyla's naps. Yesterday she only slept about 20 minutes in the car. Bohdin had a nice long nap and was the last one to go to sleep last night.

Saturday, Buddy took the kids to yard sales. Nyla got a new doll which she loves. I'll make her some doll clothes for her birthday I think. Bohdin, or really Buddy, got a new tv. Bohdin missed the tv a lot less than I thought he would. Buddy and I missed it more. I missed it because Bohdin watches tv quietly while Nyla is napping and without the tv he was constantly bothering me. I like that time to recharge. Buddy missed the tv because he watches it at night. Bohdin did ask to have the tv repaired one time. I explained that the repair man would cost more than buying a new to us tv. Bohdin said he didn't want to use his money to buy a tv and asked if he could use my money. I never told him he would have to use his own money but it is a pretty good idea.

Yesterday we went to a playgroup at somebody's house. The same two women whom I had met before were there and nobody else. Bohdin was the oldest child by over a year. He was hot and bored but mostly hot and asked to go too many times. Nyla liked it because there was a swingset in the backyard and everybody took turns swinging her for about an hour. I cut her off or she would have stayed in there all day. Bohdin was incredibly patient and kind with the younger kids until the end when he started crying when a two year tried to play cars with him. Bohdin wanted to play alone and this kid was just being friendly.

Today N- came over here. He hasn't been here in a long time and for good reason. They don't play well together indoors. They mostly just go off in opposite directions and sort of do their own thing. Today was completely different. At one point Bohdin went in his room with N- and closed the door. They were lining dimes up on the rug. They played together really well. I'm so glad that N- is working out now because Bohdin needs a friend. We'll be seeing a lot more of him this summer since it's going so so well.

Nyla finally has the ability to fall back asleep herself if she wakes up during her nap. She must be the oldest baby ever to achieve this. It's not 100% but if she can do it once then there is hope for her to do it again. I also forgot to mention that Nyla stays dry through the night now. I can't remember the last time she had a wet diaper in the middle of the night. Nyla also climbed up her first big slide this weekend. She refuses help going down the stairs but I've mostly convinced her to at least hold on to the rail to avoid giving me a heart attack. Nyla loves corn and can eat an ear per day. I think it helps with the pooping because lately she just poops in the potty without the drama. Sometimes there is a 3-4 hour lead up of whining about needing to poop before actually pooping.

Flavor

Bohdin and sometimes Nyla eat what we call second dinner. Before bed they become ravenous beasts who act like they haven't eaten in days. Last night Bohdin wanted tea and soup. With the hot water I just added a concentrated chicken broth, chopped up leftovers from the dinner he didn't finish and a splash of cream. I tasted it and the soup was fine but not great. He ate the whole bowl and I had to make some for Nyla also. This morning he told me that he had wanted the other soup last night. "You know. The one with the flavor."

Nyla's vocabulary has been improving. Yesterday she said fish and mess. Bohdin is usually the most excited about her progress. This morning Bohdin grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the refrigerator. Nyla wanted something to eat so I asked her if she wanted a sandwich. "Bam bich" was her reply. Bohdin heard her and told me that bam bich means yes. I don't know why I burst his excitement bubble by telling him she was probably saying sandwich.

 
 
 

Distracted

Nyla is finally taking a nap (it was only 10 minutes long yesterday) but Bohdin is playing a computer game that is above his level so I have to help him spell words while I write this. Great. Nyla just woke up.

Bohin an Nyla playing quietly while I clean the kitchen.
 

Bohin making cookies. He did it almost by himself. I measured the baking powder and formed the cookies.
 

We met N- at the playground this morning. They played well together almost from the beginning. N-'s 4 year old and 7 year girl neighbors came along also. They had fun together especially when we went to the sprinklers at the nearby apartment complex. We will hopefully see them again next Tuesday. I may have finally found a playgroup for Bohdin at least until school starts.

Stories

The Dog with the Sisters
Once upon a time there was a dog. He had 279 sisters. And there was another dog and he had 835 sisters. The dogs played and ate drank and take a nap with their sisters. The end.

The Dogs with the Brothers and Sisters
Once upon a time there was a dog that had 53 sisters. And there was another dog that had 99827 brothers. And they ate and slept and drank and played and read books also. And they slept again and then they had a party. It had a pinata and a cake. The cake was chocolate iced with orange and green and pink icing. And it was sprinkled. The end

The Dogs That Had Some Bothers and Sisters and the Baby
Once upon a time there was a dog that 289 sisters. And there was another dog that had 3579 brothers. And there was a baby dog. And they slept and ate and they read books two times. And they had two naps. And they had two parties. And the first one had a pinata and it had a cake with chocolate icing. The second party had a cake with sprinkles and green and orange and yellow and pink icing. The end

The Dogs with Brothers and Sisters and Two Babies
Once upon a time there was a dog that had 3798 sisters. And there was another dog and he had 2598 brothers. And each dog has one baby. And they had three parties and three cakes. The first party had a pinata and a cake. And the cake had sprinkles and green and white icing. And the next party had a cake with orange and pink frosting with sprinkles. And the third party had a cake and a pinata. And the cake had sprinkles and chocolate frosting on the bottom and yellow frosting on top. The end

The Dogs with the Four Babies
Once upon a time there was a dog that had 583 brothers. And there was another dog that had 992 brothers. And they had one party. And they took naps four times. And the cake had black and white and orange and pink and green and yellow frosting only on top. And the party had a pinata. The end (Did I forget to write down the baby part?)

The Dogs with 982953 Babies
Once upon a time there was a dog that had 953 babies. And there was another dog that had 982 babies. And the dogs and babies took six naps. They didn't have any parties. And they read books six times. The end.

 

This was the inspiration for the stories. He would spell dog, change the numbers around, and tell a story. I'm not a fast transcriber which is part of the reason for all of the ands in the story.

I was asked how Bohdin reacted to the miscarriage. I meant to mention it but forgot. Bohdin didn't want to step on any of the blood on the floor but he wasn't bothered by it beyond that. In fact after getting out of the tub the first time he cleaned it with a sponge. I told Bohdin the baby had died because I knew he could handle it. Nyla cried and fussed the whole time because she wanted to nurse and I said no.

I'm feeling a million times better so yesterday we headed to the library and comissary. The library had a program for kids that I thought we might enjoy. They have numbered entry and I was 126. There was no stage and we all sat on the floor. The group was tap dancers with no music. There were too many people in front of us to see anything. Standing was not allowed. We just left. We were the first of many. Next time we'll show up really really early so we can sit at the front.

It's over

I was told by the midwife to expect a really strong period. She was way wrong and I wasn't ready for that. I didn't know anything about miscarriages. I also didn't know what women need during miscarriages because I had no idea what they were like. I feel like an asshole now for all those times I just gave an obligatory I'm sorry and then nothing else. I appreciate all of the support I received and I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad if they didn't do more. I wouldn't have known myself a week ago. People don't unerstand this process and there is not a support process in place for when it does.

If you want to know how brutal a miscarriage can be and you should because somebody else you know will go through this then read on. If not skip to the pictures.
The spotting started last week. I didn't think anything of it even though it had never happened before to me. There was bleeding after the ultrasound but I thought that was caused by the transvaginal ultrasound. It didn't last long. I took the kids to the mall playground after the appt and by the time we were home it was back to brown discharge. I looked up what to expect on the computer and it sort of fell into two categories. One was a strong period and the other was incredibly painful. I sort of glossed over the painful stories. Everything was going okay so far. I had light bleeding and light cramping. I expected heavy bleeding to start anytime. I wasn't worried.

At 2am Friday morning I woke up to pee. I was experiencing moderate cramping. I sat on the toilet and felt a plop. A large something (not a baby) came out. I thought it might have been the placenta. I went back to bed and experienced about 30 minutes of contractions with 1-2 minutes in between. I had to breathe and focus through them. I woke up Friday morning feeling fine. I thought I was done with the worst now and the heavy bleeding would start. Bleeding was really light. I had some moderate cramping through the day that cleared up about 5pm. I wasn't hungry but had hardly eaten that day so forced myself to eat a bowl of cereal. I went to bed a little crampy. I woke up at 5am to pee. There were some clots in the toilet. Every time I peed on Friday clots and blood would come out so it was more of the same. I went back to bed and then felt like I had to get back to the toilet and sit there a while. I didn't make it in time. As I was getting up my uterus erupted. There was blood everywhere. I left a huge trail of blood from the bed to the bathroom. It looked like a crime scene. My legs were covered in blood and I needed help. Bohdin had been sleeping with me but my husband and Nyla were in the other room. I heard Nyla waking up crying and I hoped my husband could hear me. He came and everybody was awake. I spent the next four hours in tremendous pain. The severe cramping would come in contraction like waves. How they could give an epidural to women in labor but nothing when having a miscarriage is beyond me. I had no idea how long this would last and if everything was okay. This was not like any period I've ever had. I got into the bathtub to relieve the pain. With every cramping session I pushed more clumps of tissue out. I think the pushing helped. I got into the bathtub several times. The last time I got in the water Bohdin came in and asked why the water wasn't bloody. He came back a minute later to deep red water. I had no idea if this was normal or if I needed help. I guess it was okay since I'm alive to write this today. I called the midwife on duty but couldn't talk to her since the pain was so severe. I handed the phone to my husband and she called in a prescription for Tylenol #3. I took one about 9am and it seemed to help. I also think the worst was over at this point. I was spent. I continued cramping and passing blood and clots the rest of the day but the severe pain never returned. I hope I'm done now but I don't know.

I'm mad that I received so little information and the information I did receive was wrong. I'm sharing this experience so others will know what a miscarriage is. I think it would have been slightly better if I knew what to expect. The pain in labor is similar in intensity but I know it will end when the baby comes out. I had no idea when the end would come. After rereading the stories, 4-6 hours of severe pain is common. If I could redo this I would choose the D&C.

On top of everything else Buddy, Bohdin, and Nyla have colds right now. Bohdin who usually takes illness in stride was grumpy with this cold. Last night as his nose was stuffed up he was tossing and turning in bed muttering "This sucks". It looked like he was copying my actions from that morning.
 
 
 
 

Pee

I was sitting on the bed yesterday and Nyla wandered in. Her shirt was wet and she smelled. I asked her why she was so stinky.
Nyla: Pee!
me: Did you pee in your diaper?
Nyla nods no and points to her knee.
me: You peed on your knee?
Nyla nods yes. Bohdin had wandered in at this point and said "Nyla peed on her head!" I asked him if he could pee on his head and he said "No! My penis is too short. Do you want to see how short it is?" He then pulled down his pants to show me.

Buddy was sent home from work early yesterday and again today. He was told not to come back until Monday. He caught me just in this time this morning because we were about to go to the library and Costco. I don't know when or if the painful cramping will start but life goes on until then. Buddy is running the errands instead so at least for a little while I'll be able to take it easy like I was told to do.

I was told that my post was too brief yesterday. There is a fine line here between not enough information and too much. I'm going to continue to err on the side of not enough. If you want the grisly details you can call. I'm doing fine right now. I know people don't really know what to say in these situations but I'm really okay.

Waiting

I had my ultrasound this morning. I don't know the exact details because the radiologist refused to say anything. They called the midwife and handed me the phone. They saw a gestational sac but no embryo. Actually they said fetal pole but that term isn't usually used at this point in the pregnancy. The midwife told me to expect a miscarriage in the next two weeks. My body thought it was pregnant but there is no baby. I feel fine physically. Just like I did yesterday and all of the other days. It's just time to wait patiently.

Sort of Lucky

We went to playgroup yesterday. As I was standing in a patch of clover talking to the other two moms Bohdin bent down and picked one up. I took it from him. He bends down again and says "This one has four leaves." He found a four leaf clover like it's the easiest thing in the world. When I told Buddy about it later it turns out they had talked about clover about two weeks ago and Bohdin has been nonchalantly looking for one since then. Neither Buddy nor I have ever found one before. I think Bohdin is lucky.

He's not just lucky finding clover, he's also lucky at games. We play several games with him and he always wins. It's not that we're not trying. We try to win but we don't screw Bohdin to do it. We would probably win then but he's not ready for cutthroat play. It kind of sucks that he expects to win now and if it's not as easy as usual he doesn't like it. Today at Trader Joes they were doing a giveaway. Five people were able to pick a number. The person closest won a free item. I asked Bohdin for a number but he was taking too long to decide so I just chose. After the employee moved on I asked Bohdin if he wanted to change the number. He did but I couldn't change it in time. If I had been able to change the number Bohdin would have won cookies.

There has just been one thing that happened that was not lucky. Well two. One is that his tv doesn't work anymore. He hasn't minded yet though. The second thing is his biking accident last night. He skinned both knees and a hand. It wasn't too bad physically but it will probably shake his confidence for a long time.

Last night Nyla figured out how to blow spit bubbles. She is really really good and it was hilarious to watch.

We went to Whole Foods today for story time. Everybody seemed so restless. Nyla was running on the long bench and the other kids were really fidgety. By the end, Bohdin sat alone on the carpet listening to the end of the last story. The 15 or so kids that had been there earlier just spread out talking and standing.

I had another midwife appt today and this midwife was a million times nicer. They are still having trouble dating the pregnancy so I will need to sneak the kids into the ultrasound appt somehow.

Cavity free

Bohdin had a dentist appt Thursday morning to take care of two cavities. A new one had developed between the two appts so they took care of all three. That meant that Bohdin needed three shots and almost his entire mouth was numb. He did really well throughout the appt. They put a topical anesthetic on before the numbing shot and he handled that fine. That's always my least favorite part but they don't give me the extra anesthetic first. The hardest part of the appointment for him was choosing which toy to take home. He has been battling a giant case of indecisiveness lately. He actually broke down in tears because there were too many choices. I chose for him and told him I would show him at home. Bohdin didn't like the way his mouth felt when he came home. That much numbness is not pleasant for anyone. It's good that his teeth are great again. Now we need to focus on Nyla. I know she wouldn't sit in the chair so nicely. Her top front teeth are looking worse and worse.

Bohdin has been fixated on words with multiple meanings recently. Every time he thinks of one he points it out. "Cool can mean cold or it can mean neat." We've been slowly making our way through the phenomes for Bohdin's spelling because of me not him. Some days I just never get around to pulling a new letter out for him. This morning I pulled all of the letters he knew out and we went over those. Nyla was standing next to him and tried each one herself. She was always wrong but corrected herself when Bohdin said the right one.

Bohdin doing a dance.
 

Nyla and Buddy reading. Nyla loves to be read to except if it's a book that Bohdin picked out. Then she pouts and whines until it is time to read her choice.
 

Sitting in their pillow house.
 

The other night Bohdin wanted to get something from the other room but it was already dark. Bohdin doesn't like the dark or the quiet so he wouldn't go alone. I told him to take Nyla with him. He grabbed her hand and together they walked across the dark house. Sisters have many uses.

Losing my humanity

Last night was the first day of competition of So You Think You Can Dance, my favorite summer show. Bohdin usually starts dancing when he sees them and this time Nyla did also. Buddy taped it. I spent all day cleaning yesterday and that bedroom is the one room I didn't get to. I'll see if I can make her dance today in a clean room.

Bohdin feel asleep while I was still watching the show but Nyla couldn't. She got out of bed and went through the nightstand drawers. She was quite excited to see a picture of herself. She also found paper so went in the dark to the other room to retrieve the box of crayons. She colored for a little while then put the crayons back. She came in ready for sleep. I checked her diaper and felt that it was wet. I took her old diaper off and was getting ready to put a new one on her when she walked off. I asked where she was going and she said pee. She came back from the potty, had her diaper put on, and went to sleep. She seemed so much calmer than usual. It was nice. In fact she just had a pretty good day overall. When she's not crying or grumpy, she can be funny and very charming.

Nyla did learn two new words yesterday. No and now. It's kind of hard to believe that she just first used them yesterday because it seems like she has been saying that since birth.

Bohdin and I have been working our way through a kitchen science experiment book. We've done bathtub science also. I don't think he's learned anything but he has fun doing it. We failed at making invisible ink but he enjoyed the pH indicator. It's really hard to explain pH.

That reminds me of an article I read last week written in the 30s. An educator did an experiment with the students. One group was taught the regular way. Other classes were not introduced to math until middle school. The students who did not have math were much better communicators. He asked both groups to explain how you can tell which of two fractions is bigger when the numerator is the same. The kids in the regular class knew the answer but they sounded like bumbling idiots because they had never learned to communicate clearly. The second group was able to give clear concise answer that actually made sense. By this time both groups were in 9th grade I think and the non math group had easily caught up on math skills. Buddy and I definitely fall into the bumbling idiot group. It's quite clear when we try to explain things like pH or what a ceremony is to Bohdin. I want Bohdin to be able to express himself better than we can. I think the kids in the study were able to focus more school time on English since they weren't learning math. We're not going to delay math but will focus some time on Bohdin learning to express himself. He already seems to do pretty well verbally.

We started the spelling program. The first step is learning the sounds letters make. He knew about half of the initial set. He knew every letter that just had one phonogram. It will take at least one day for him to learn one new letter. Some of them, like the letter y, have a lot to remember.

At the library last week there was a display of summer reading for kids in different grades. Nyla fell in love with a 7th grade book titled Eggs. There is a picture of 6 eggs on the front. She carries the book around with her and flips through the pages.

I've been living in Maryland too long. The people are starting to rub off on me. I heard about the shooting at the Holocaust Museum in DC yesterday shortly after it happened. My first thought was that it was really going to mess up traffic. My second thought was that it's been a while since we've been down there and I should take the train down soon. Maryland is sucking the humanity out of me like it does everybody else.

Underwhelmed

I had my first midwife appt and was pretty underwhelmed by the experience. I have had a lot of recommendations that they are the best around. That makes me feel sorry for the people of this area because they suck. I can only imagine how bad the rest are. I came out of the appointment feeling ignored and not respected. I don't know what I'll do about it yet. I was given a referral for a dating ultrasound because I didn't appear to be as far along as the dates would indicate. I'm not surprised and should have just lied about the dates to begin with. I told her that I thought I ovulated late but she didn't care what I had to say. I called for an appt and was able to get one quickly. Then I was given the instructions and Bohdin and Nyla can't come. Buddy gets off work early on Wednesdays but they were booked up the rest of the month for Wednesday afternoon. I don't really care. I can get a 20 week one and find the date then. It was pretty spot on for Bohdin and Nyla. The midwife didn't believe me but whatever. I guess it matters a little because they will do testing once I pass 40 weeks which I will if they just go by my last menstrual period. It's a bit of a mess. Bohdin didn't understand why kids couldn't go to the ultrasound. He asked why they don't like kids.

Bohdin has been having trouble going to sleep lately. He complains of being tired during the day but can't go to sleep at night. We finally turned the AC on so now we can get the black out curtains and hopefully that will help. The next idea would be a nap. The closest Walmart is rearranging and the curtains were unavailable today. I'll just keep the blankets I have up right now for a little while longer.

When we passed the lobster display at the commissary this morning, Nyla pointed and roared. It reminded me of Maine.

Yesterday after getting out of the car Bohdin was red and sweaty. He always comments about hating summer and wishing it would snow. He was giving me examples of how the body cools itself. Only sweating was correct. Perhaps drinking a cold glass of water could be considered radiation. Today in the car Bohdin was spitting which is annoying and something he is not allowed to do in the car. I told him to stop and he told me was spitting in his hand and then rubbing it on himself so he could cool off. The poor kid gets so miserable when he is hot. Of course Nyla had to copy him so when I took her out of her seat she was rubbing spit onto her cheek.

On his own

I'm feeling unexpectedly better so it wasn't a long break. I finally was able to make my first prenatal appt. I called Friday and talked them into giving me the first one available so I'll go tomorrow afternoon.

After I went to my general practitioner on Friday we stopped at the commissary. Nyla has been loving corn on the cob this summer so Bohdin and I tried to find a few good ears together. After we had found a few Bohdin asked if he had done a good job finding corn that wasn't too moldy. You know you're shopping at the commissary when one can be excited about that.

Bohdin was busy cutting out pictures in the newspaper yesterday and gluing them. Buddy had to go to the race track to place bets on the Belmont for people at work. Nyla was tired and I thought she might need a nap despite the time so I was in the bedroom with her. Bohdin was in the living room working on his cutting. Buddy left and I thought all was fine. Soon I heard loud voices in the hallway. I knew the front door was open. I went to investigate and sure enough the door was open. Bohdin was also nowhere in sight. I walked downstairs and called out Bohdin's name. The door to the building locks but Bohdin knows to put a newspaper there so he can get back in. The door wasn't propped open. I left it open for him just in case. I came back upstairs to grab the phone and ask if he was with Buddy. He wasn't. Nyla was naked so I quickly gave her some pants and we went back outside to look for Bohdin. Before calling the cops I was going to take a quick look around. As I stepped outside I saw Bohdin coming down the sidewalk with a man and a police officer. The cop told me that Bohdin was found about to cross the busy intersection. I actually wasn't too worried about that because every time we go outside I have him tell me when it is safe to cross. He's never wrong. Eventually I got the story out of him. Buddy, Bohdin, and Nyla had gone to the grocery store nearby earlier. They were going to buy donuts but Buddy didn't have his wallet. When Buddy left, Bohdin thought he was going back for the donuts and was going to walk to the store to catch up with him. Bohdin had been playing so quietly when Buddy left that he didn't tell Bohdin anything. I had a talk with Bohdin about going to the store by himself. He didn't understand why he couldn't do it but he did agree to not do it until he is older. He is perfectly capable of walking to the store by himself but I don't think it's a good idea. There was an attempted abduction about a mile from here last week. I didn't tell Bohdin about that.

In one of the storage boxes were most of Bohdin's books. I pulled out a kindergarten workbook and he finished the whole thing in two days in under one hour. He kept saying it was so easy. It was easy for him. The first grade workbook involves a lot of writing which he can't do yet. I decided to go ahead and start educating him. Pretty much everything he has learned to this point is from his observing the world around him and figuring things out. It might be time to actually teach him things. I ordered a spelling curriculum and I'll do the same for math and science. We'll wait on history until he's older. I'll probably also find something for handwriting. He wanted to write some new signs on Friday so he's closer to writing now than he was a couple of months ago. I don't know how well this will go. Bohdin does not like to be challenged and he might be with the spelling. We'll see how it goes. I don't know how much time we'll devote to schooling every week.


Nyla multitasking on the potty. Who says you can't eat in the bathroom?
 
 
 

Bohdin and Nyla washing windows. Luckily it is just water in the bottle because Nyla squirted him in the eye. I'm not sure the windows are any cleaner but it did occupy them for at least 15 minutes.
 

Break

We were in the car yesterday and Nyla saw a school bus. "Bu bus! Bu bus!". Here was the ensuing conversation:
Bohdin: What is Nyla saying?
me: She's saying school bus. She's doing the best she can.
Bohdin excitedly: She's sooo close. She has the bus sound. Now all she needs is the school sound.

We went to story time at Whole Foods yesterday. Bohdin was one of the oldest children there and participated a lot. He loves story times. We attended a new playgroup on Monday and Bohdin is the oldest child in the playgroup by 1.5 years. Four year olds don't exist out here. Well I suppose they do but they are in all day preschool followed by dance and soccer. Unfortunately not at story time and playgrounds.

It was warm yesterday and we headed to the pool. The kids had already been one time with Buddy on Sunday. Nyla did really well in the pool compared to last year. She was able to walk around by herself. I was so pleased to see how well she was doing. I was sitting on the edge of the pool with Bohdin while Nyla was a few feet away. I turned my head to answer Bohdin's question. One of the parents made a sound and I turned to look at Nyla. She was completely underwater and flailing about. I quickly took the few steps and scooped Nyla up. She was okay. I didn't have to do anything for her but it was pretty scary. She went right back in the pool afterward. My guess is that she bent down to touch something and became flustered. There was a boy there doing flips under water so she may just have trying to imitate him also. She copies Bohdin blowing bubbles in the water or tries to anyway. Either way I'm glad she's okay and hope she doesn't do whatever it was she was doing again.

I probably wont' be updating the blog very much for a while. I'll do what I can but I don't know how much that will be.

How I'm doing

The reason I started this blog is to have a recording of our lives to look back when the kids are grown. I published last year's blog in a book although only my mom has a copy so far. Because of this I tend not to mention too much negative stuff since that is usually not the stuff I want to remember. I haven't posted much recently because there was a lot of negative stuff. While I'm having a really easy time physically with this pregnancy I'm having a really tough time emotionally. I told some of my Colorado friends and the support was so helpful. I don't want to go into too much detail because it just makes me cry. I guess I don't want to go into any detail at all right now. That's what's going on. Physically I feel great. I've gained five pounds already which sort of sucks but is also within my goal weight of 40 pounds. I lost 45 pounds nursing Bohdin and Nyla as newborns and expect the same this time. I gained 50 pounds with Nyla and held onto 5 more pounds than I would have liked. I gain weigh when I exercise (I realize that is uncommon and odd but it is very much true). I might start exercising now since it won't matter that I go up a size. My friend has been chronicling her progress through the couch to 5K program and it is so inspirational. I may do the same.

Nyla is getting older and saying so much more. She doesn't enunciate really well which I think is common. She does however understand a lot of what Bohdin wants her to do. She and Bohdin have been playing together a lot more recently. She is able to follow his directions finally so he has more fun with her. It's generally nice for me since they occupy so much of each other's time but there is a price to pay. There is also bickering. That can be so annoying especially in the car. I know it's part of having a sibling. I just wish they would fight in a different room.

When we were rearranging this weekend we pulled out some old baby toys. Apparently one is never too old for the baby stuff. Nyla loved laying on this seat that strained under her weight and height. She looks so different than she did as a brown haired baby.