Blendy's Baby Blog - Preston & Maxwell

can't even lie still for 10 seconds

2010-05-31T21:48:00.003+12:00

In an attempt to get Preston to sleep (after hours of not sleeping), we let him lie in our bed on the condition of 'no squiggling around, or you go back to your own bed'. "I PROMISE", he assures us. After we'd said about 50 comments like 'stay still!', 'stop kicking me' and so on, I exasperatedly said 'Preston, I don't think you could even stay still for 10 SECONDS!'

Well, that's a challenge to any kid (I did this at Brownies last week - they nearly exploded after 6 seconds of keeping quiet, which to them meant they had to hold their breath and shut their eyes - it was very funny).

So I counted. Every time he squiggled, I started at 1 again. For quite some time, we didn't get past 2. It was getting a bit silly (and funny). Preston, you can't even last 2 seconds, I exclaim. Right, he says, THIS TIME.

So in the dark, I begin counting again. He's trying hard - Purple Bear is firmly pressed over his eyes. 1, 2, 3, 4. Then I feel the bed jiggle with contained laughter. But Preston was still. 5. Then I realised it was Dan who was trying really hard not to giggle. It was contagious and I couldn't help myself. Soon I had tears streaming down my cheeks, especially when Preston got all mad at us and said "what are you two doing? Why are you laughing? SHHH!!! I'm trying to be quiet so we can get to 10!" This made us giggle even more and we were a total mess! Poor Preston was so annoyed. Especially when I started counting again from 1....

May 2010 Update

2010-05-18T20:57:00.003+12:00

Oops, I haven't been updating as much as I should, and reading back over the detail I included about Preston's development has made me realise I should really be doing the same for Maxwell.

He is nearly 15 months now and is a very busy little boy with 7 teeth. He runs around after Preston and he wants to be just like him. He loves coming along to Kindy when I drop off and pick up Preston - he feels like a big boy when he stand on tiptoes and reaches into the water trough to splash about.

Last week he started daycare for two part days a week. It's a lovely daycare, much better than the one Preston went to. It will take him a while to get over the separation anxiety, but he will be fine. Lots of other people look after him at home and he's ok with that - it's just a new location with lots of strange (but friendly) faces.

Maxwell is desperately trying to talk. He tries really hard to say words especially these:
Mama, Dada, Mummy (mummeeeeeeee!), Daddy, kitty, please, thank you, nose, shoe, sock, bag, keys, cheese, dog, kindy, eat, (ba)nana, Nana, MINE! and a whole lot more that I can't think of. He still does some baby sign language.

Preston is nearly 4½ and is a total know-it-all. Today he said "Mummy, I just bought a new game on your phone." I said "what? how?" He replies "I downloaded it from the App store - don't worry, I didn't need your password." Oh.

He loves playing video games, and on Dan's new iPad. I'm not sure if he realises that probably none of the other kids at kindy have all the tech stuff he's allowed to play with!

And on the days that Maxwell is at daycare, Preston has really missed him. I'll pick him up from kindy and he'll ask where Maxwell is, and then spend the next few hours pestering me with "is it time to get Maxwell yet? What about NOW?" So that's cute.

April visit to One Tree Point

2010-05-01T23:29:00.004+12:00

Haven't had time to update this blog, but don't forget to check Dan's flickr page for recent photos www.flickr.com/regen.

We went to stay with Dan and Karon at One Tree Point for 4 days when my friend Melanie got married. It was a wonderful holiday - I got to catch up with my girlfriends, and also Preston and Maxwell had so much fun. They played at the beach, went fishing, built sandcastles, played Lego, got to come to a post-wedding lunch - it was great.

The boys are growing up so fast and they really enjoy each other's company. Maxwell is running around now and can understand verbal instructions and does whatever we ask. It's amazing! You can tell him to find an object and he'll get it for you!

Bagels!

2010-03-23T11:30:00.002+13:00

Dan & Preston made bagels from scratch. Dan was inspired by an Iron Chef America battle, where Morimoto’s team made bagels in less than an hour. These bagels were made using a Hamelman recipe, basically just flour, water salt and yeast.

Images (left to right) show kneading, dough, on tray to go to fridge overnight, boiling, resting in ice bath, tray for oven, baked, cream cheese and jam.

And I felt a bit like the Little Red Hen's friends who didn't help, but I still got to eat them - they are delicious!! Thanks Dan and Preston!

Maxwell is clever

2010-03-05T23:44:00.002+13:00

Maxwell now has two teeth which he is rather intrigued by, and he is now walking a lot more - it seems he prefers to walk (unless speed is required). He can walk across the room quite happily, so it will not be long before he and Preston are running around together. They play together a lot now, especially since Maxwell is so much stronger and can handle a bit of roughness.

He's also picking up baby sign language quickly now - I taught him grapes yesterday and he picked it up immediately, and then repeated it today a few times when he saw them again. I also signed him instructions (accompanied with verbal) for 'where is the other shoe?' and he knew what i meant, located it, and went to get it for me. He was so happy when he completed the task, and did the shoe sign! What a clever boy!

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

2010-02-24T15:46:00.003+13:00

Maxwell turns 1 today - at last! We had a little party for him with banana cupcakes (with whipped cream on top), and presents, and a lovely lunch with Nana.

Maxwell's birthday eve

2010-02-23T23:01:00.002+13:00

Tomorrow Maxwell turns 1! At last - he is so grown up and I can't believe he is not 1 already.

Today Preston was so well behaved that for the first time ever, I let him hire a Wiggles cart at the supermarket! He always asks and then we have the obligatory tantrum when I say no, but today I had no help and no stroller, and both boys at the supermarket (normally something carefully orchestrated to avoid). The cart was very good actually - both boys were strapped in with doors locked and they had their own steering wheel, and they could hear Wiggles music and stories playing on the inside (thankfully I couldn't).

It was the quietest, most uneventful shopping trip ever, and we left the supermarket without a single tantrum, or stern glare from other disapproving shoppers. Amazing! $2 well spent. However, since I don't plan on using this treat every time, I image the tantrums will be even worse when I say no....

Knight Preston

2010-02-20T00:01:00.003+13:00

Preston went to a birthday party that was a Princess theme, so he went in this cool Knight costume. He was the only boy and apparently slayed a dragon bravely to save all the princesses, and they all love him. It was a big adventure - he had to catch the ferry to Devonport with one of the other mums (I wasn't going), and they went on an exploration through the tunnels over that way.

Preston is getting very popular at kindy and has been invited to 3 birthday parties this week! Wow!!

Maxwell update

2010-02-11T00:09:00.002+13:00

Just a quick pre-1 update on Maxwell's developments. He is taking steps all the time now - his biggest streak is 6 steps, but her regularly does 4, and seeks praise which is very cute. We all celebrate with him! He spends most of his time standing now, and crawls just for speed. (eg to get away from nappy changes etc)

He's trying really hard to communicate and say words - he has got 'mama' and 'daddy' and 'uh oh' sorted, and he's attempting to say other words. He's figured out what 'stop' means, and he says it to us - hand up in the correct format and 'DOB!' It's pretty funny (and clever). He's pulling out a lot of baby signing now that I had taught him a while ago but I though he didn't get and I've kind of let it lapse - but he has remembered and he's trying to use it. He was having a giant signing explosion the other night over Preston's toothbrush - he really wanted to touch it and he was signing 'cat' over and over and pointing at the bristles, so maybe he thought they were soft and furry like a cat? Clever logic really.

Maxwell takes his first steps!

2010-01-31T09:17:00.005+13:00

Hooray! This morning Maxwell took his first steps! He's been standing for a while and is really steady on his feet, and if he holds one of our fingers for balance, he can walk around the room. Then this morning finally figured out that he can move his feet without holding onto anything. Won't be long now before he is chasing Preston around. I should also point out that the first steps were Preston-related - ie, Maxwell was trying to get to Preston.

Here is a list of things Maxwell should be able to do at 11 months:

MOST KIDS CAN:
Says "mama" and "dada" to the correct parent
[yes]
• Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo
[yes, doing this for months]
• Stands alone for a couple of seconds
[yes, for ages]
• Cruises
[yes, has been doing this for months]

HALF KIDS CAN:
• Understands "no" and simple instructions
[yes, and understands when i do baby signs]
• Puts objects into a container
[yes, this is a favourite game - especially with lego]

FEW KIDS CAN:
• Says one word besides "mama" and "dada"
[yes, says 'uh oh' every time he drops something. also tries to say a word for the cat and preston. Also does baby signs for more, food, flies, hat]
• Stoops from standing position
[yes]

Clones again

2010-01-24T23:27:00.003+13:00

I thought Maxwell was starting to develop his own look and wasn't so cloney anymore, and i think generally he is looking less like Preston, but i caught them watching tv today with the same expression and they do have the same facial features....

Maxwell is 11 months old!

2010-01-24T23:08:00.002+13:00

He's standing for ages now, and can stand up from crouching position without holding onto anything, so i don't expect it will be long before he takes a step!

Also today he FINALLY started saying 'Mama' properly (I've been teaching him for ages but it's been no use, i've been 'yaya' instead). So his current words are Dada and Mama. He says something like 'daidai' for Preston and he tries to say something for the cat. He hasn't bothered with signing for any of those words, but he knows what i mean if i sign it. He's not that interested in doing signing much any more since he can get his message across in other ways, but he does occasionally do milk, more, all gone, again. I think he just wants to talk - i was trying to get him to copy sounds like 'ssss' and he tried to copy me straight away which was really cool. Don't know why he wouldn't say mama all this time.

Maxwell and Preston are best friends and they play together so nicely (mostly). They love to laugh and be silly together - it's very cute!

Preston's had 2 weeks of swimming lessons every day, so he's quite competent now. Tomorrow he starts a week of art class every morning, and then it's back to kindy the week after. He is not into art much at all, so hopefully this class will encourage him to do some drawing/painting/writing etc, especially since his world is all about interacting with a touch screen or controller or keyboard... but wow, he is so clever at playing games. I want to find some kids gaming championships for him to enter!

Maxwell can stand on his own

2009-12-28T22:16:00.000+13:00

Maxwell standing from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Maxwell is 10 months old!

2009-12-28T18:43:00.003+13:00

Maxwell is very quickly turning into a small boy. He is so determined to be doing whatever Preston is doing, that it is spurring him on to develop a bit faster. He races around everywhere with expert crawling and climbing around the furniture abilities, and the last few days he has been practicing standing up without holding on to anything. The look of extreme pride on his face each time he lets go is so sweet! Since yesterday, he has increased from not being able to stand on his own, to standing for about 5 seconds. He initiates all the attempts on his own, so it is something he has decided he's ready for, and I would say over the coming week he will be a pro. Then he'll be walking in no time!

His baby signing is also developing in leaps and bounds. We are now at the exciting stage where he will point at something of interest and I can say the name of it and show him the sign, and he will repeat it after being shown it only once or twice. This is very exciting for communication!

And yesterday I discovered that Maxwell can play a game of bouncing a small ball to each other - he loves this! He understands the concept, and it's so fun, especially when Preston joins in and we all play. They love each other so much, it melts my heart. :) Cute boys.

Preston is 4!

2009-12-28T18:27:00.006+13:00

Wow, Preston is finally 4, after acting like he's been 4 for ages and surprising people when they ask how old he is and he says '3'. He's had a pretty exciting year and has developed all sorts of skills, including being able to play computer/video/iPod/Nintendo games on his own and actually very well (Dan and Preston play co-op games all the time now where they have to work together), and swimming, and also Lego. He is very good at following the diagrams to build things - it's quite impressive to watch. He had a Lego birthday party, and he's going to a Lego school holiday program (and also a swimming program too).

Here are a couple of party pictures - I made Lego cupcakes and Lego crayons:

Thanks everyone for all the amazingly generous presents - he now has more Lego than some toy stores, and also lots of new inspirations such as drawing with magic reveal pens, and books. And with the added bonus of Christmas a week after his birthday, it's been very exciting for him lately!

Preston builds a Lego Tie Fighter

2009-12-28T18:09:00.000+13:00

Lego Tie Fighter from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Kathy draws our life

2009-12-28T11:57:00.003+13:00

My lovely friend Kathy made us this amazing piece of art for Christmas - it details our life, it's so clever! In case you don't know us as well as Kathy does, here is an explanation for everything in the picture, starting top left:

Baking Delights: I do heaps of baking, especially cupcakes, and I bought a fancy cupcake display stand while Kathy was staying with us
TradeMe Sales Parcels: Kathy and I did an intensive Trademe few weeks of selling all sorts of random stuff, which resulted in millions of parcels to pack up
Blendy: I'm playing Rock Band, singing and being an Expert Guitarist, and sock knitting (the pink socks that I knitted for Kathy, and because I'm writing a sock knitting book so i'm always knitting)
Zombie Garden: Preston was quite addicted to a game called Plants vs Zombies for ages, so we planted a zombie garden (to protect our brains from being eaten) with the plants in the game. The yellow flowers were the power-producing plants, and the pea shooters were peas that could shoot the zombies (who said 'Braaaains!' and some wore road cones on their heads for extra protection)
The Too's: our family. And put on a drum kit. We play a lot of Rock Band.
Dan: He is playing Expert Drums and singing, plus holding a chef spoon as he is an excellent chef, and also conducting international commerce on his computer.
Christmas Tree: decorated with socks that i've knitted - i designed some patterns for christmas tree decoration socks :) It is also covered in World of Goo - this is from another game that Preston was very addicted to.
Preston: He is jumping off the couch (typical), wearing a cape saying 'Presto!' which is what the Little Einsteins (tv show) say when they want to go super-fast. He is singing the zombie song (from Plants vs Zombies), and is playing both the iPod Touch and the Wii. He is leaping over his Lego city (his new obsession), and past his games of Tantrix and Magnetix. The TV is showing NumberJacks, (Kathy and I call it 'NumberJerks') which is a really annoying kids show with some weird characters trying to teach something about numbers.
Maxwell: He is dancing to the music, while rattling something, and eating asparagus, and has food on his bib, and is also rather obsessed with Lego.

Maxwell learns baby sign language

2009-12-10T11:51:00.001+13:00

Baby Sign from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Maxwell has just started to figure out how to do some baby sign language himself (we've been doing it to him for months, and now he has the dexterity to do it properly). It's very exciting - now we can have signs for everything and can communicate so much better!

Preston builds a Lego Millenium Falcon

2009-11-28T15:37:00.001+13:00

Lego Millennium Falcon from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Pictures at last - Preston 3 years 11 months, Maxwell 8½ months

2009-11-26T00:02:00.003+13:00

Maxwell is 9 months!

2009-11-23T00:08:00.002+13:00

On Tuesday Maxwell will be 9 months old! Wow! And, as usual, my apologies for not updating this blog in ages - this time it has been much too long though. However, you should keep an eye on Dan's Flickr album for more frequent updates.

Maxwell has been crawling properly since about 7½ months (since around 6 months, he could crawl backwards only which was very frustrating for him), and now he is a super speedy crawling professional, and he loves chasing Preston around the place. He can pull himself up against furniture to stand up, although is not at the creeping stage just yet, but give it a few more days and he'll figure it out.

We've been taking both boys to swimming classes - Maxwell is very good about swimming - he neither dislikes it nor likes it particularly, but he doesn't cry, even when he goes under the water. Preston is enjoying his swimming class - finally we have found something that suits his personality (ie, not a team sport!) and he even listens some of the time, so that's a bonus! Soccer did not work out at all so we quite that after 2 terms of extremely bad behaviour, and now he also goes to Playball which is a great ball handling skills program, but he's not that interested in following instructions...

Instead Preston loves video games and lego. In the last few weeks, we've noticed his skill level has increased dramatically, and he can play games like Super Mario Bros on the Wii and Lego Batman on the DS and all sort of online games, and he was playing the drums on Rock Band and actually hitting the notes - and these games keep him occupied for a while. This weekend, Preston and Dan have been playing co-op games together, so that's really awesome! He is learning so much from playing games, and the skills he figures out are amazing, especially considering they are not designed for 3 year olds. He is right into lego as well, and he astounds us with his ability to follow the instructions to build things.

Maybe I'll have to give him all his instructions via pictorial charts. That might actually work.

I'll have to find some photos to post. We even had a photo shoot last weekend. The boys are growing up fast. Preston will be 4 next month, wow! Actually, now that I think about all the things he can do, that's not so unbelievable. And he is Maxwell's idol, so Maxwell is so lucky to grow up learning all the things that Preston is teaching him. They are so cute when they play together!

Holiday at Grandad and Nana Karon's

2009-09-28T18:30:00.005+13:00

We went to stay at Grandad and Nana Karon's for the weekend while Dan was in Australia. Here are some cute pictures of the boys.

Preston went on his first ever fishing expedition and caught lots of fish! We fished from a wharf into the new canal at Marsden Point and it was so much fun, especially for proud Grandad.

Who can fit the biggest bit in their mouth?

Grandad reads bed time stories

Boys playing together on the iPod

Mr Mischief 7 months old

Maxwell is nearly 7 months old

2009-09-21T23:15:00.002+12:00

Oops - haven't found time to update the blog in ages. I will try to add some photos tomorrow.

Maxwell is just developing so fast at the moment. He will be 7 months old this week, and has grown out of the 'baby' phase, and into the pre-toddler phase. He's picked up the concept of baby sign language really well, and responds to various signs that we've taught him, and can sign for himself a few things - 'milk' 'more' 'puss puss' and 'rusk'. It's just amazing watching communication.

Preston and Maxwell are the best of friends and love playing together. Their favourite thing at the moment is making each other laugh, and Maxwell ends up in fits of giggles at Preston's silliness which of course spurs him on to be sillier and laugh even more. Watching them play together is my absolute favourite thing in the world - it really is a dream come true to have two super cute little boys who love each other and play so well. Long may it last!

They love each other so much that in fact they are sharing a room! We bought Preston a new bed (his next stage of growing up) and intended to turn our spare room into Maxwell's room, but in the process of bed construction Preston excitedly asked if Maxwell was going to share his room - so we thought it was a great idea too! It is working out perfectly - Maxwell only wakes about once at night, and Preston is a heavy sleeper so isn't bothered at all. And in the morning they play and chat which is very cute.

Maxwell is eating solids now and loves his food. We've started with an array of vegetables and minimal fruit so that his tastebuds get set up nicely and so far it is working well - he hasn't rejected anything yet. I think we are ready to move on to more advanced foods like dairy, grains and some types of meat.

He has been crawling backwards for nearly a month now, and hopefully soon he will figure out going forwards as it frustrates him a lot.

The boys are busy with activities - Preston has been going to an accelerate preschool class one day a week which has been interesting, and kindy three afternoons a week which he loves and has finally made some friends, and soccer which he does not like (yay, last session this week - the teacher breathed a sigh of relief when we said we were not re-enrolling), and we've just started preschool swimming which is really good - although Preston doesn't necessarily follow the instructions properly, he actually enjoys it and participates pretty well, and next term he starts a preschool sporty program (something to replace soccer). Preston is completely addicted to computer games (all kinds) and knows how to find and play games on the computer, internet, iphone, ipod, nintendo, xbox...... he is amazingly skilled at a lot of games he plays. Maxwell loves to watch, so he'll get wise to it all too.

And next term Maxwell starts his baby swimming class! Fun!

Preston's behaviour has also improved a lot, and consequently so has my sanity. He loves his 'girls' who come to look after him after school and the nanny we have one day a week has worked out really well. Having some extra help has really made a difference. (plus he's taught them all how to play his computer games!)

I'll try to post pictures later.

Maxwell photos 5ish months

2009-08-11T18:07:00.002+12:00

Preston helping Grandad

Preston loves Maxwell

2009-08-10T17:07:00.000+12:00

Brotherly love gets a bit out of hand...

Funny boys

2009-07-29T23:51:00.002+12:00

They are not really clones, but they do have matching expressions while watching something obviously quite serious on Playhouse Disney.

Maxwell figured out how to hold his own water bottle which he chewed on during our flight to Wellington. Worked out really well - the chewing cleared his ears, so I didn't have to feed him the whole time to console him! He was a model baby for the entire day - I don't even think he cried at all. And of course being so cute attracted lots of attention which he loves!

Maxwell is 5 months old!

2009-07-24T18:49:00.002+12:00

Aside from being a clone, Maxwell is growing fast and learning all sorts of things. He can sit very well now for extended periods, and reaches for toys and loves to inspect them thoroughly. He's getting the idea about crawling - he can nearly get up on his knees, so we'll see what happens over the next month.

He's not really too much of a clone - he's actually a lot rounder in the face than Preston was, but there is a general similarity between them.

We will be starting solids in maybe 3-4 weeks - then he will really be grown up!

Tomorrow Maxwell and I are off to Wellington with my friend Fiona to visit Craft2.0 - can't wait!!!

more clones!

2009-07-23T12:08:00.002+12:00

our cloned children: 5months old, Preston 2006 left and Maxwell 2009 right

Blue is for boys

2009-07-17T22:15:00.001+12:00

time for a new look :)

Preston and Maxwell are both so clever!

2009-07-16T13:11:00.003+12:00

Yesterday Preston went to try out Small Poppies preschool, which is part of the Gifted Education place. We went with an open mind, fully expecting weirdos and pushy parents. Luckily it wasn't really like that at all, and Preston had an extremely fun time with a class room full of fun science activities and edu-games to occupy him. It was actually really interesting, and while quite advanced, was good for Preston. He will be going for a weekly session now.

His mind completely exploded when he saw this - a whole box of his favourite multi-sided dice! He proceeded to put them in a row with all the 3's showing face up, which made all the teachers go 'ahhhh-hhhhaaa'.

Maxwell is a little clever-clogs too! He can sit up now - here is some blurry photographic proof (he's a bit unstable as a beginner). I'm so proud of him - 4½ months and he can sit and roll. AND, he has started doing his baby sign language for 'milk'! What a clever boy!

The baby sign books say not to really bother teaching it til around 10ish months when they have good motor control of their hands, but I've been doing the milk sign to Maxwell pretty much since birth, just for fun. He has been responding excitedly to it for about a month if I do the sign to him, and in the last few days he has started doing it himself when he is hungry! Initially we thought it was just fluke or co-incidence, but it definitely seems more deliberate. For example, last night I asked him if he wanted milk, and he looked at his hand and did his sign.

Maxwell on skype

2009-07-13T10:18:00.002+12:00

Preston video

2009-07-12T17:22:00.000+12:00

Cute Maxwell pictures - 4 months

2009-07-06T16:13:00.003+12:00

Loving the Jolly Jumper

Bubble bath time!

With Great Grandad (about 3½ months)

K-pow!

Hahaha! Naked!

Maxwell and I have been a bit sick the last few days, but we are getting better. He is in very good spirits today, despite having a blocked nose. He absolutely loves jumping in his jolly jumper, and Preston thinks it is hilarious when he sees Maxwell jumping around and not acting like a baby. He smiles and laughs at all sorts of things, but he especially finds anything Preston does to be the funniest thing ever and he chortles and laughs for ages. His hand-eye co-ordination is getting better and he can grab things more easily. And he recognises us - if you ask him "where's Daddy"( or Preston or Mummy) he looks around to find them, as though pointing with his eyes. Clever boy!

Preston's new schedule

2009-07-06T10:42:00.003+12:00

Preston has been driving us crazy with his constant need for attention and defiant behaviour. I think this is simply because we can't give him 100% attention all day long - for our sanity and also because we do need to get things done during the day. His behaviour issues seem to stem from boredom (he is far too clever and most things don't hold his attention for more than a minute) and tiredness (we fight a multi-hour sleeping battle every night, only to be rudely awoken very early in the morning).

So, since I can't get anything done at home usually, and my patience has been worn dangerously thin, I'm getting some help. Starting this week, I am having either a nanny or a high school aged babysitter come for a few hours each day to play with Preston! This will give me time to deal with Maxwell plus all the other things I need to do around the house, and hopefully it means I will be able to finish a job rather than being interrupted every 2 minutes! I have a nanny/preschool teacher starting next Friday who will come for the whole day. Preston also likes this idea because it means I'm taking him out of his daycare, which he no longer enjoys (all his friends left, including the good teachers, and now the remaining kids are either mean to him or are generally too young for him to play with properly).

I'm also enrolling him in an accelerate preschool class. For a long time many people (both friends and doctors etc) have told us that Preston could be 'gifted' and we should look at special schools for him. We have been pretty much against this idea as we don't want to label him or push him or whatever and figured we would wait until he is at school to see what additional educational needs he has. However with his boredom-triggered behaviour and persistent need to figure out how the world works, I've looked up the Small Poppies preschool after reading about it yesterday. Out of curiosity, I got their enrolment pack which had a series of questions relating to behaviour, mental and physical development and skills etc to help determine whether the child fits into their category. As I ticked nearly all the boxes on 2 pages of questions, it felt like they must have snuck in and monitored Preston for a while, because it very accurately described him!

So while we have been against the concept of sending him to a gifted school, it seems that it might actually be quite appropriate for him, and let's face it - since I'm having a constant battle with him, if there is a structured program that is designed to help, then it's worth a try. The preschool is only one morning a week, and I'm very curious to see what it is like.

I should mention though that we are extremely proud of Preston and his abilities - he is so amazingly clever and has the most interesting 'true' logic (unspoilt by decades of 'exceptions' to rules). When he is being good, he is such a lovely boy with perfect manners and a very caring nature. We spent the whole weekend pretty much giving him 100% attention and despite not getting anything else done, we had a lovely time with him, and I think there were no time-outs for two whole days!

Maxwell is 4 months old!

2009-06-26T15:49:00.002+12:00

Maxwell is very very good - we can't believe how much of an easy baby he is! And he is growing so fast - I've just got a pile of new clothes out of the cupboard to wear and he doesn't fit them! :( He is still determined to roll over, but hasn't quite got it yet. However, he is mastering his hands better now and can reach for things and hold onto things to suck or rattle. I made him a really cool ribbon blanket and he likes to hold and feel all the ribbons. He also smiles and laughs all the time, and especially responds to Preston!

Preston pictures

2009-06-26T15:34:00.002+12:00

New Purple and Yellow Bears (taken by Preston)

Snuggled up with blankys and bears!

Preston is becoming a very clever big boy now and spends a lot of time on the computer, playing Nintendo and buying iPhone apps and that sort of thing. We are very proud of his abilities and talents! He loves singing and making up songs and rhyming at the moment which is pretty entertaining. However he has also been testing our patience quite a lot with his defiant behaviour and selective listening issues... grrr. Things have been getting me down lately and reading debate on the upcoming referendum has been making me feel like a terrible mother, and makes me feel quite depressed when I see how many people I know have the complete opposite view to me. At least Dan and I have the same view on parenting, and sometimes (very rarely) we just have to do what it takes to discipline an extremely disobedient child and in those cases, the situation is instantly diffused. There is only so much verbal negotiation that a violently angry 3½ year old will respond to....

Matching boys

2009-06-26T15:32:00.003+12:00

Maxwell and Preston have matching shoes :) The tiny Vans were Preston's when he was a baby, and now they are getting worn again. So cute!

Maxwell at One Tree Point

2009-06-15T14:46:00.005+12:00

Maxwell, Preston and I went to stay with Grandad and Nana Karon for the weekend. Maxwell is 3½ months old now, and determined to roll over! Maxwell is a bit chubbier than Preston was, but looking through baby pics, they both look very similar. I'll see if I can find some good examples.

Look at my big eyes! Just like Preston's.
(Maxwell above, Preston below, both 3½ months)

We had to replicate this photo! Maxwell above, Preston below.

First time in the sand: "what is this stuff?"

"it's not so bad!"

Preston & Maxwell in the sand

Snoozing after a hard day being cute

Preston at One Tree Point

2009-06-15T14:22:00.003+12:00

Swinging at the beach

Preston's footprints and a dog's footprints

Exploring at the beach

Preston, the spider and the cat spew

2009-06-08T18:58:00.002+12:00

Our cat had been sick down the back of the couch (yuk) and when I pulled out the couch to clean up the wall and floor, Preston and I had this conversation:

Preston: Oh no, the poor spider is sad!
me: what spider? why is it sad?
Preston: (pointing at an old cobweb) The spider that lives there is all sad because he's trapped!
me: why is he trapped?
Preston: Because the kitty spew is blocking his front door and he can't get out!

??? That's quite an imagination!

Maxwell is 3 months old!

2009-05-24T13:40:00.005+12:00

Wow, Maxwell is 3 months old today! He is getting so big, and thinks everything is hilarious. He loves to laugh, and he loves games where we count and lift him up in the air - he seems to understand how it works and anticipates the lifting by getting ready to spring up from my legs, and he even vocalises while we count. He talks so much, and has a wide range of different sounds, it's very cool. I guess he might be like Preston and just keeps on talking and talking...

I haven't updated the blog in a while, so here are a bunch of photos of Maxwell 9-12 weeks old, plus Preston who is about 3½ now!

Preston at the playground - he's such a big boy now and loves playing on all the equipment.

Preston dancing (he loves to dance) while modelling the jersey I knitted him. I'm a mean mummy and have knitted a matching one for Maxwell!!
Here is Preston at Soccer. He has a great time, and it teaches him important things like taking turns and following instructions.

Smiley Maxwell

Maxwell in normal mode. He is so much bigger than Preston at the same age!

Two cute boys

Maxwell 3 months - snoozing while Daddy watches the NBA Playoffs

Two cute boys again

I think this is about 10 weeks - he's beefed up in the last couple of weeks!

Preston goes to Soccer!

2009-04-28T23:56:00.002+12:00

Preston had his first day at soccer class today. He's joined a pre-school soccer class that helps develop confidence, ball handling, co-ordination, turn-taking and that sort of thing. It was so fun! He had a great time kicking the ball around and running relays with shooting into the goal, jumping over obstacles and racing with the other kids. I think he will get a lot out of it and i'm really glad we signed him up.

It's my birthday this weekend! I really only just realised how close it is, yikes! I'm having a coffee & cake night with lots of dessert treats and also a mobile cafe in a van is coming to do the drinks. A few people have asked what I want for my birthday - I really don't need anything, so no presents required. However if you insist, I am loving knitting magazines at the moment (available at places like paperplus).

Preston playing guitar.

2009-04-26T11:29:00.001+12:00

Maxwell is 2 months old!

2009-04-25T21:04:00.007+12:00

Before we get to Maxwell, here are a few cute pics of Preston.

Preston and I at Grandad Max's funeral.

Preston & Amber climbing a tree

Preston and his bear collection

Preston using 'his' iPhone

And now onto Maxwell....

Wow, time is flying, Maxwell is 2 months old already. But in some ways it feels like it's been much longer, and he seems so much more grown up! He's got the hang of communication and 'talks' to us in little coos and other sounds that are his vocalisations when he's happy. He talks to us and to toys or pictures that appeal to him. He just had a 10 minute conversation to 'The Very Hungry Caterpiller'. He also smiles and laughs lots!

Preston and Maxwell adore each other and Preston can't wait until Maxwell is big enough to play with him, and Maxwell appears to be interested in everything Preston does and I'm sure he wants to join in, if only he knew how. This is a photo of Preston when he was a little bit older, but they are both hoody boys with big eyes!

His growth rate is more than Preston's was - he's about 650g bigger at the same stage. His cheeks and chin are bigger and I guess he's just a little chunkier all over. Preston at the moment is looking quite lanky compared to the other kids at his daycare. But he's had a bit of a growth spurt too - I've had to buy him new shoes as he's grown out of everything.

Here is our first family photo - isn't it lovely? It was taken at my Grandad Max's funeral last week, which was an amazing celebration. Preston had a great time meeting his cousins and running around showing off. At least he looked cute in his trousers with braces and tie!

Maxwell 4-5 weeks

2009-04-05T22:45:00.002+12:00

Maxwell is 1 month old! And Preston goes to Kindy

2009-03-24T18:31:00.005+13:00

Wow, I can't believe it has been a month already. I am feeling really good (a bit tired, but nothing too bad), and am actually quite a lot more positive about parenting x2 than I was expecting.

Preston is so good with Maxwell and likes to pat his head surprisingly gently and says 'Hi Maxwell it's me, Preston!'. The other day he wanted to play blocks with Maxwell and I said that he is too little to even know what blocks are and he is waiting for Preston to teach him. So Preston launched into an elaborate description of what blocks are and what they do and how they work - followed by 'so can Maxwell play blocks with me now?'

Maxwell is very good and eats well, and isn't too bad at sleeping. Evenings have been annoyingly unsettled lately, so by the time Preston is asleep and Dan and I want to relax and hang out together, Maxwell wakes up and cries for a while. Hopefully that will sort out soon.

He is quite alert and aware of everything around him, just like Preston was so we think we've got another little super-dude on our hands. He is sooo strong too.

And a nice surprise - Maxwell has learnt to smile much earlier than we expected and he smiles lots! Here is his silly grin - it's a bit hard to get a cute smile at the moment :)

Today I've decided he has grown enough to graduate from his Newborn size clothes to the 0-3 month size clothes. His growth rate has been a lot more than Preston's was - I think a few factors have resulted in this. I started my amazing milk-enhancing tea as soon as he was born, but with Preston, I didn't discover it until he was 6 weeks old. Also the pain of breastfeeding that i had last time was over in about half the time with Maxwell, so I haven't been 'witholding' feeding like I probably did with Preston simply because it was so sore I cried.

So Maxwell is doing amazingly well, and Preston is a great big brother. Dan and I are coping pretty well too.

And Preston is growing up fast as well. In fact, today was his first day at Kindy! Hooray! He's been looking forward to this for ages, and his name finally came up on the looong waiting list. He's been at daycare for a while and this is fun but now it seems like he is hanging out with lots of 2 year olds and under, and he is pretty clever with all the hi-tech stuff he knows, and even things like the alphabet (they decide to teach the kids the alphabet at daycare, but realised that Preston knew it all already and he has done for at least a year) - so he is totally ready to hang out with older kids and expand his learning.

So off we went to Kindy and what fun it was - so much fun messy stuff to play with that we'd never do at home, and a great big playground and sandpit and even bunnies, and this giant slide!

Pictures of Maxwell (up to 3 weeks old)

2009-03-20T23:53:00.002+13:00

The Birth Story

2009-02-28T21:57:00.007+13:00

Hi! I'm home from the hospital now and I have a gorgeous little boy who we are so in love with! We are so lucky. And now for the birth story...

We went in for our induction on Monday night, and the procedure was to be identical to Preston's induction so we knew what we were in for. I was given prostaglandin gel to work overnight - with Preston I was given it for 24 hours and spent the latter half of that labouring only to get 1cm dilated, so I wasn't expecting anything to happen this time, since I was only being given it for 12 hours. After a night of mild cramping but nothing too major, I was examined and to my suprise, I was 3-4cm! Hooray! And since I'd had some sleep, I felt pretty normal.

My waters were broken at that point to move things along a bit, which started proper contractions immediately, and I walked to the delivery suite (having several contractions on the way, and feeling very proud of myself). There I had my epidural put in which is a pretty scary experience, and this was in preparation for the hormones I was about to get which brings on a quick and painful labour (so epidural is to make it more comfortable). The epidural seemed to be a bit much for me and it numbed almost my whole body including up to my eye so this caused a bit of drama amongst the anaesthetic team since they couldn't figure out what the problem was. (Anyway, by the time I was ready to push, it was started to wear off a little so that I could sort of feel what was going on. My eye was a bit droopy and wouldn't dilate for the rest of the day but wore off and is fine now.)

The hormones kicked in really fast and when the midwife told Dan to get the baby clothes on the warmer I was really shocked - I thought it would take the rest of the day to have the baby, but no, apparently I was 8cm and fast approaching full dilation and we would have a baby before we knew it! I was still feeling pretty normal (although I'd had quite a few contractions before the epidural kicked in) and had heaps of energy and it all felt a bit surreal that I was about to give birth under such good mental conditions.

And it wasn't long before I was pushing out Maxwell! He had his hand up by his chin so I ended up with a bit of a tear but not as bad as with Preston. I couldn't believe it when I was holding him at last after such a long stressful pregnancy and nothing was wrong with him after all the tests we had to have.

I had told Dan I didn't want any horrible photos of me straight after the birth when I'm all fatigued and sweaty and gross, but I actually look normal and I felt great! It was a fantastic birth experience - really controlled (from all the medical intervention) which I guess is not really the norm of the birth experience, but it was so reassuring to have everything all organised and planned and then feel so full of energy afterwards and ready to be a new mother.

We transferred to Birthcare for 3 nights which was good - I didn't necessarily need to be there that long as I know what I'm doing and Maxwell is the perfect model baby who does everything right - but it was good for us to have some special bonding time together.

We can't believe how much of an easy baby he is compared to Preston - he sleeps a lot (what a novelty!) and doesn't cry much (we will have to buy a baby monitor this time) and then just like Preston, he knew straight away how to latch on and gulp down milk. I have so much milk that yesterday I thought I was going to explode! I've been doing controlled feedings today so now I have the supply under better manufacture which is more comfortable. Although both boys are/were such vigorous feeders that I again have extremely painful bleeding nipples :( A couple more weeks of intense pain and then they should be desensitised hopefully - I managed to feed Preston for a year! He's growing well - he has already put on 100g in 5 days, and comparitively Preston had put on 35g by 7 days. They were only 20g difference at birth, and born on the same day of gestation.

Here's a comparison of them both on about day 3 sleeping at Birthcare:

So now we are adjusting to being a family of 4. Preston is being so lovely to Maxwell - he sings to him when he cries which is soooo cute, and he is really interested in helping with any tasks for him, like getting nappies and things. He's so excited to show him off to people and he explains (with big arm movements for accentuation) how 'Maxwell just popped out of my mummy's tummy!'

Maxwell is so cute and adorable, and we just love him so much :)

Introducing Maxwell ShenJie Too (朱深杰)

2009-02-24T23:02:00.004+13:00

At 11:12am this morning, Belinda gave birth to Maxwell! He was induced 12 days late in what turned out to be a relatively easy natural birth - especially compared to Preston's.

Maxwell weighs in at 3.82kg (8 pounds 7), and looks fairly similar to P at the same age. You can see P's birth pics here, and in comparison, I'd say Maxwell has a smaller mouth and a slightly bigger nose.

We had some minor concerns during the birth, mainly to do with Belinda's reaction to the Epidural, but everything seems ok now.

I'm too tired to write much else, so here are some pics

D.

It's eviction day!

2009-02-23T13:53:00.003+13:00

Tonight we go into hospital and start the induction procedure to help our baby be born. He should be out by tomorrow afternoon I suspect.

Here is my final pregnancy photo - don't I look ridiculous? I'm surprised I don't topple over, or bash into more things than I do.

Approx 41½ weeks, and I've put on 15kg during this pregnancy, but ONLY in my abdomen! I'm hoping most of it is baby/tissue/fluid/blood and that my tummy springs back ok (doubt it though)...

So, we are just enjoying our last few hours of (relative) freedom before our lives change. Got some movies ready to watch to pass the time while the induction starts to work, and I'm determined to finish my Mr Men alphabet cross stitch that I started when I was pregnant with Preston!

News and photos will follow as soon as there is any :)

Hospital assessment update

2009-02-20T13:54:00.002+13:00

Today we went to the hospital for an assessment of the baby's activity and space issues. I had another blood test to check my platelets which have actually dropped a bit which is not great, but i don't know if that is simply due to being overdue and with a larger demand on blood volume etc. I also had a scan to check for amniotic fluid quantity, which is still fine.

I was hooked up to a machine for about half an hour that read the baby's heart beat, movements and my uterine contractions (I apparrently had 2 during that time!). Everything looks amazingly great - I just have a baby who is too happy where he is to bother coming out.

But he can't stay in there forever so we have booked an eviction for Monday night. Same deal as with Preston - time's up Mr, so if he doesn't come out on his own before then, we go through the induction procedure to trigger labour. Should have a baby in our arms by Tuesday (if not sooner!).

Latest update - still no baby

2009-02-18T15:31:00.003+13:00

Well, it seems like I'm following the same pattern I did with Preston. My babies are so happy and cosy inside me they don't want to come out on their own!

I'm 6 days overdue. So far this week I've had another blood test to check my platelet levels are increasing so I don't have a hemmorrhage. Still waiting on results, but I'm very curious as I've been taking special supplements that theoretically should improve them and I want to see to what extent. I also had an ultrasound yesterday to check there is still enough amniotic fluid for the baby to survive (there is). The current estimated weight is about 8 pounds! Then today I had a membrane sweep with the midwife which I won't go into the details of, but let's just say it was a very invasive procedure designed to speed things along. So far, no contractions but I do feel a bit strange in the hormonal-change sort of sense so something might happen soon?

We are booked into the hospital at 10am on Friday for a morning of assessments to see where to go next. If nothing has happened by then, I'm hoping they will induce over the weekend.

Preston has been very good lately - he is definitely growing up a lot. One new thing is that he is now quite petrified of noises like alarms. We had some power cuts recently which set off the neighbourhood burglar alarms and he got a huge fright so now anytime we hear a loud noise it upsets him. He is concerned almost daily that a powercut might happen. Co-incidentally, the developmental email I get from babycenter.com this week was all about frights and night terrors so it must be something reasonably normal for his age.

I'm overdue!

2009-02-13T17:21:00.000+13:00

Well that's no surprise. I think I've done really well to not get at all impatient before the due date. But now it's time to hatch, come out come out!!

The last few days, I've been getting lots of crazy acrobatics in my tummy that make it go in the most unnatural shapes. Not really any proper contractions or anything that feels like I'm about to start dilating though.

Tomorrow if nothing has happened, we are going to have a nice Preston day at Kelly Tarlton's as it will likely be his last chance for full attention from us....

Induction plan in place for backup!

2009-02-11T12:49:00.002+13:00

YIKES - I'm due tomorrow! That is so scary. I have so much to do today that means! But I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go into labour in a hurry, and to be extra prepared, I now have an induction plan in place.

IF nothing happens, I have a scan booked on Tuesday to check there is still enough fluid etc, then a midwife appointment on Wednesday, and then a session at the hospital where they assess everything on Friday. Then I will be induced probably over the weekend or Monday. So that's my backup, now this little guy just has to get himself ready to come out on his own.

Yesterday I felt like things are definitely starting to get going - I had a whole day of fatigue (first tiredness in ages), plus the craziest tummy somersaults and lots of weird pains. It didn't feel like I was going to go into proper labour, but it did feel like some action is taking place. The head has dropped down more as well, and my tummy is pretty big. Not long to go now, either way :)

9 month Swimsuit Edition photo!

2009-02-06T21:57:00.004+13:00

Wow, the day you've been waiting for is finally here - my Swimsuit Edition shot of my 9 month/39 week tummy! I can't believe how ridiculous I look, and that I actually went to the pools recently...

The blue togs photo is from today, and the pink togs are from Preston's pregnancy. I seem to have dropped lower this time, although the baby is sitting in a different position to Preston (he's lying with his back to my side, while Preston had his back to my tummy).

Above: February 2009
Below: November 2005

In general, I feel fine - in fact I feel like I'm just carrying on as usual each day and that one day soon my day will be rudely (and painfully) interrupted! I'm not feeling tired (my vitamins are amazing), just super hot and disgustingly sweaty and smelly.

Preston's growing up and being super clever and funny. His most frequent saying at the moment is 'Mummy I've told you THREE TIMES ALREADY' (ie, I should stop trying to ignore him and do what he says), and he also loves to correct people using the word 'actually', eg 'Would you like to do a puzzle?' "ACTUALLY that's called a JIGSAW puzzle". It's pretty funny! And tonight he wanted to show me his new pencil case with his new pencils in it, but I got totally owned when I asked to have a look and he said "Only looking, no touching, it's VERY expensive"... oh dear....

38.5 weeks - there are claims i affect the tides now

2009-02-03T21:46:00.002+13:00

Yes, I'm getting rather large now. Preston took this photo of me today so I thought I'd post it. Random people I see in the street comment on how perfectly round my tummy is and how I'm 'ALL BABY' (the standard comment that has run through my two pregnancies).

Hmmm, as far as my comparison photos go, I seem to recall (dread) that my 39 week photo is the swimwear edition....oh dear. Well I suppose you'll have to check back here on Friday to see me in my togs.

Not long to go now. Seeing the midwife tomorrow, and I assume another barrage of blood tests too.

Preston and I had a fun day today - we went for a walk, which after about 10 minutes Preston claimed to be 'tired and needed a piggy back'. Those of you who know Preston know that he does not get tired (in the sleeping sense), so I suspect he was actually being LAZY.

Anyway, after abandoning our walk I decided to properly tire him out by going to a playground. By chance there was another little girl who he knew from his daycare, so they played together for ages which meant i could relax in the shade! Eventually, we left after having a nice picnic lunch, and came home. But unfortunately for Preston, a power cut spoilt our afternoon - he was absolutely petrified of the neighbourhood noise of people's alarms going off that he insisted we both hide in my bed. With his hand firmly over his ears for quite some time, this actually ended up working out quite well as he fell asleep for ages. Eventually I decided to wake him up and in his waking delerium, he asked if the power was all fixed and had the noise all stopped - he was very relieved that it had!

So we ate an afternoon treat and then cut up last year's animal calendar and put up cute posters on his wall. He thought Blu Tack is a pretty cool invention.

Some cute pictures

2009-02-02T10:52:00.004+13:00

Here is Preston and Amber being cute - they were running down the path holding hands and turned around to us :) They are still such best friends!

This is the fairy birthday cake I made for Mia's 1st birthday in the weekend.

It was such a fun morning party at the park! Preston learnt how to use a rope swing which he was very proud about.

Stupid blood test results

2009-02-02T10:05:00.003+13:00

Well it seems that this pregnancy has been plagued by fuzzy results from all tests which has been very annoying. Nothing actually wrong has eventuated from these fuzzy results, but they have all been a little stressful while waiting for further clarifications.

So my last round of blood tests revealed two things that may or may not be a problem:

Group B Strep
Gestational Thrombocytopenia

What are these strange things? Well, Group B Strep is a normal gut bacteria that about 40% of women have and it doesn't seem to have many symptoms unless you get an actual infection from it, but during labour it can pass on to the baby and if an infection develops it can be quite serious. I haven't been tested for this before, and neither have my friends with children, and apparently it is one of the 'new' maternal tests that are being done now. It is routine in the US and if you don't have the test done, they assume you are positive and treat during labour as a precaution.

So the test shows I am a Group B Strep carrier. I can only assume that I exposed Preston to this when I had him but since I didn't know about it, it wasn't a problem. Now that it is a known factor, I have to have treatment which I'm not very happy about. As soon as I go into labour, I get IV penicillin as a precaution on the off chance that on that day I suddenly develop an infection. Antibiotics during pregnancy and breastfeeding pretty much goes against all my values so I'm in two minds of what to do. I suppose I could risk not taking the treatment and hope for the best, or do I take the medically sensible route to prevent emergency? I'm quite concerned about the effects of antibiotics on the developing baby's digestive system and subsequent risk of allergies and health problems.

The other thing the tests showed is that my platelet levels are dropping and I may be at risk of developing gestational thrombocytopenia which is a blood clotting problem and could lead to haemmorrhage. This is a bit annoying too obviously, but thinking back, every surgery I've had (and Preston's birth) has always been followed with the comment "Oh you lost quite a lot of blood which we weren't expecting". But I think it was manageable and I didn't need a blood transfusion (as far as I know). So I think for me, this risk is fairly normal.

However, I've been doing my research and I've found the supplements that should do the trick for both issues, to prevent any outbreak of the strep b, and also to raise my blood platelet levels. I have to have another blood test this week so I'll be really curious to see how things have changed.

None of this requires you to be worried, it's just the results of over-testing for things and being super-aware of what could potentially happen.

Not much happening

2009-01-28T15:03:00.002+13:00

Not much to report really, but I haven't written an update in a while. No I haven't had the baby yet!

Went to the midwife this morning and all is well - the baby's head has started its descent into the pelvic bone area so that's good. There is not a lot of room left in my tummy now so every time it moves, a foot or elbow pokes out (painfully).

Had a blood test yesterday with the most elderly nurse I've ever seen, but surprisingly she was extremely efficient and generally painless, even though I had worked myself up A LOT.

So two more weeks to go, give or take - who knows, it could happen today!

I've been doing lots of tidying and sorting and throwing away - Preston's room is sparkling and clothing of all age groups has been neatly folded and stored. We have a cupboard full of soft toys that Preston doesn't play with, so hopefully the new baby will find something from that collection to make his favourite. (please don't get us any soft toys!)

36 Weeks gratuitous tummy photo

2009-01-16T15:56:00.005+13:00

Here I am! 36 weeks (8months 1 week apparently), and 4 weeks to go. I'm getting rather uncomfortable now, and although the baby can't do somersaults anymore, instead I get poked and prodded and headbutted and wriggled from all directions on the inside.

It's a wonder I can still do normal things like eat and digest when it seems there is no room left! The other day I had some thing frozen and i got a tummy freeze - it felt like my stomach has been pushed up somewhere into my upper ribcage - and if i don't swallow all my vitamins with enough liquid (and sit down quietly until they are all processed) then i get gross tablet reflux. Blecchh!

As soon as Preston woke up this morning, he asked me if the baby had popped out of my tummy yet - I think he was a bit disappointed.

Just for fun, here is my 36 week photo from last time. (November 2005)

They are both taken from different angles so its a bit hard to compare. I haven't put on weight in my face like I did before.

Another scan

2009-01-09T12:47:00.004+13:00

Went to the midwife the other day and she was minorly concerned that my tummy wasn't measuring correctly (the height of the uterus apparently and rather 'conveniently' for biology is supposed to increase by 1cm per week of pregnancy). Normally I am about 1cm short, but that's no big deal as both Dan and I are small anyway so it's unlikely we'd have an 'average' sized baby. Interestingly, I was reading my blog from the same stage last time and I also had the same concern at this point. So off I was sent to the scanning place to check the baby was growing properly.

Turns out, Mr #2 has folded himself tightly in half and has his knees to his nose, instead of being nicely stretched out, so that's why my tummy was not as high up as it should be. And no wonder I get elbowed and kneed in weird places so often! The measurements were fine - in fact they are even a little bigger than what Preston was at the same stage! The current estimated weight based on yesterday's measurements is 5 pounds 6oz, and at the standard growth rate, that would be around 7½ pounds at birth. Preston 's estimated birth weight from the same scan was 7 pounds (he ended up being 8½ pounds because he was 12 days overdue). Anyway, all looks fine so that's great.

40 days to go...

2009-01-04T19:51:00.003+13:00

Wow, only 40 days to go! It's funny thinking that this time with Preston, I was keen to have him, but now since i know what I'm in for, I'm happy to wait out the 40 days, and even extra if required. I just hope our new little friend doesn't decide to come early! I packed my hospital bag just in case though...

My tummy is getting bigger and filled with a super squirmy, arm and leg stretching baby. It's pretty uncomfortable being elbowed from the inside in both directions at once. I think he is lying head down but his back to my side, while Preston had his back to my stomach.

I've been sorting out all Preston's baby things - we have clothes and toys galore, so since there is nothing we actually need, we are thinking of asking family who might want to give us gifts that instead of gifts perhaps a token donation could be made to a bank account for the new baby to go towards the cost of experiences Preston had such as swimming lessons, baby gymnastics, etc.

Preston is getting quite excited about having a new baby brother and talks to him every day about things like instructions for games they can play together, or rules for who is allowed (and more importantly NOT allowed) to play with his favourite bears, or to teach him what foods are delicious. It's very cute, and he loves to cuddle and kiss his brother in my tummy. I just hope he continues to be so loving once the baby is born!

We've had lots of people staying or visiting over the holidays and that has been very fun for Preston, who has managed to make himself be the centre of attention pretty much at all times. There has been a bit of behaviour fall-out for a few days after each lot of people leaves and the boringness and discipline of mummy and daddy is realised. Bed time has been particularly tough and many nights it takes us until 10 or 100pm before he finally gives in and goes to sleep. Tonight he went to sleep at about 7pm which is so unusual - in fact i fell asleep on his bed as well! I hope he stays asleep for the rest of the night - in any case, I suppose we are in for a 5am awakening...

And Preston's finger is better! Last week most of the scab on his fingertip soaked off in the bath, leaving just a tiny speck of scab between the underneath of the nail and the cuticle. So we decided he could go without a bandage now - he thought that was pretty strange after having it wrapped for 3 months, and today he must have had some bandage anxiety as he found himself a bandaid and put it on! Anyway, the nail bed and nail has completely grown back which is absolutely amazing and if you didn't know any better you wouldn't notice any difference. Upon close inspection though, the roundness of the very tip of the fingertip is not quite there, but I think it is still healing and probably over the next little while it will fill out a bit. We are so grateful that all has turned out so well! But slamming doors completely freak us out.

Preston's birthday at daycare

2008-12-19T15:03:00.003+13:00

Preston was at daycare on his actual birthday, but it sounds like he had such a fun day! The older children were going on a walking field trip to the library and since you need to be 3 to go on these outings, Preston was very excited to finally be included. The teachers have a rope with knots tied along it so each child holds onto a knot, and this was a pretty fun novelty for Preston. They had to walk half an hour to the library - and I knew that it was highly unlikely Preston would manage this! We usually get to the end of our driveway and he is insisting on being carried. However, I assume that when not in the presence of parents, he does what he's told.

So they walked to the library for story time, and then went to a cafe for a fluffy and bread roll! What a fun birthday treat. And THEN, to make it even more exciting, they caught the bus back to daycare! Public transport is also a great novelty - every so often Preston and I catch the train and he loves it. The highlight of the bus trip was the 'mean bus driver' - hahahaha.

Preston tells me he was 'very tired' after all that and he apparently fell straight asleep at nap time. For afternoon tea, I had whipped up a very quick and cheap imitation of the 5 little duckies cake from Preston's party so that all the children could have an afternoon tea party together. They all loved it, and I'd bought them all a party hooter thingy so it went down well.

What an exciting 'actual' birthday day!

31 week tummy

2008-12-14T22:42:00.002+13:00

Here it is! My tummy at 31 weeks. It's 10 days after this photo from when I was pregnant with Preston. I think I'm probably about the same. From reading my blog at that stage, my pregnancy sounds pretty much like what's going on at the moment.

Every day, almost without fail, I get multiple instances of people (mostly strangers) saying these phrases: 'oh, you can't tell you're pregnant from behind!' and 'what a tidy bump, you carry so well' and a mixture of 'you're so big' and 'you're so tiny'. And then I get quite a few commiserations about having another boy like 'oh well, you can always try again next time' (yeah right!), and a lady in a shop the other day said 'oh no, that's awful! What are you going to do? Two boys will be terrible!' Er, well there's not much I can do apart from get on with it and enjoy a fun life with my boys!

Today we had Preston's 3rd birthday party which was lots of fun. He and his friends went to Lollipops Playland in the morning for a major energy-expenditure session, and then we had a big picnic at the park with heaps of family and friends. It was a great day and Preston has been completely spoilt. After staying awake all day, he was happy to have a bath and jump into bed with no complaints, nice and early tonight, hooray! Check out my cool Duck and Nintendo cakes I made.

And in the bath tonight, Preston's old fingernail managed to soak off, revealing a virtually normal looking newly grown nail bed and nail underneath! YAY! It's slightly bumpy and I'm hoping as it regrows again that it will be flatter, but essentially the new nail bed and fingertip has grown back enough to look like a normal finger. There is a small scab left at the fingertip and it looks like that will fall off in the next week or so, but in the meantime it is just allowing some extra growth and healing underneath.

Preston's Finger News

2008-11-21T19:51:00.002+13:00

Preston's finger has been making some great progress over the last few days. The sewn on piece has shrunk down quite a bit and it seems that it is getting thinner from the inside-out - meaning that the inner core is healing nicely and is working its way to the outside layers. We expect the outer skin layers to come off like a scab and leave a reasonably normal looking finger underneath. Our checkup at the hospital today confirmed this - they are extremely impressed with the healing and say it's just a matter of time before the scab falls off and we can see what is left.

One exciting bonus is the doctor said we can now get it wet in the bath or shower! All this time, we've been wrapping Preston's arm in gladwrap to keep the finger dry which he does not like, and so we've been a bit sparing on the cleanliness... Anyway, Preston was SOOOOO amazed to be allowed to get his finger wet after all this time, that he asked me about 20 times before his bath if I was sure it was ok, and then about 10 times once in the bath. He eventually plucked up the courage to dunk it (I realise now he has a strong sense of what is right and wrong when it really matters) and then proceeded to have the most fun bath in ages (we've generally avoided baths and have showers instead) and spent the whole time singing "I'm allowed to get my finger wet!".

However, things got a little over-excited and in a moment of bathtime adventure, he slipped over, and slammed the side of his face against a bottle lid at the bottom of the bath. He now has a big red imprint of the lid on his face below his ear which hasn't bled too much but has bled under the skin. Sigh. I hate accidents! Anyway, we have quite the collection of bandaids and first aid equipment now so all is well.

A day at a farm

2008-11-16T20:56:00.003+13:00

Today we went to Manea's 3rd birthday party at Butterfly Creek. Preston was absolutely amazed to be allowed to hold a baby bunny!

6 Months Pregnant

2008-11-12T09:45:00.005+13:00

Right, so I'm 6 months pregnant. I was reading my blog from when I was 6 months pregnant with Preston and I seem to be experiencing the same things - I have a 35cm long super kicking baby in my tummy! It's rather uncomfortable and I have a lot of pressure at the very base of my abdomen where the skin is being forced outwards. I can feel a foot every now and then when it pokes out against my skin which is pretty cool. Probably the only additional symptom this time is that I have at least one nightmare every night about Preston's finger accident (I think I had nightmares when I was pregnant before though, but not so many), and my sleep is very bad at the moment.

Just for fun, here is my 6 month tummy photo from August 2005 compared to my 6 month tummy photo November 2008. I even wore the same tshirt for more accurate comparison! (But I forgot to stand in the same position, doh!).

August 2005

November 2008

Preston loves kissing his baby brother!

New scan pic and Preston's finger update

2008-11-05T13:34:00.004+13:00

Here is a cute picture of our growing baby at 23.5 weeks. You can see the side profile of the face and a little hand up by the forehead. I had to have this extra scan to double check for any heart abnormalities after my annoying (and stressful) nuchal measurement problem. Luckily there is nothing wrong! Now I can get on with this pregnancy and I finally feel like I am beginning to look forward to having a new baby in 100 days... And there is the potential this baby may be slightly bigger than Preston as the growth rates are slightly above 50% and I'm pretty sure Preston was around the 40th percentile most of the time.

Preston's finger update: We are kind of in limbo about how this is going. We went to the hospital on Friday and had a look at his finger for the first time in two weeks and they said the prognosis is 50/50. It should either look withered up and fall off, or show signs of circulation, and it is kind of in between. There are parts that are black and dried up, but then other parts that look reasonably hopeful about healing. I think what is happening is that the sewed on bit is acting like a perfect covering for healing to take place underneath, and the very outer layers of skin that are like a black scab will shed off and hopefully reveal as much finger as possible under it. I'm going to be very sad when any pieces fall off...

Preston's Accident

2008-10-17T14:42:00.002+13:00

Here is Preston being a cute Katamari snow person.

Sorry for not blogging for so long, but we've had rather a stressful time recently as Preston had quite a nasty accident. We were supposed to be having an exciting holiday at the mountain where Preston enjoyed his first snow experience, but it ended early after Preston lost the end of his finger in a door. It's all been very traumatic for us all (mostly Dan and I, as somehow P has dealt with it amazingly well), but we had some excellent public hospital service and surgery and I think we will be ok.

After the accident, we had an ambulance ride to Taumarunui Hospital, where they repackaged P's finger and piece of finger for a stressful drive to Middlemore Hospital for surgery. We were not even sure if surgery would be an option, but luckily the plastic surgery team at Middlemore were outstanding and decided it would be worth saving - and even managed to slot P into a quick midnight surgery before the more complicated dog-savagings and knife fight wounds were scheduled.

Preston's been a real trouper and has had his hand fully bandaged for about 10 days and has figured out how to do things with his left hand. We had the scary unwrapping on Wednesday where we would find out if the surgery had been successful. It was extremely disturbing for me, but P was unfazed and enjoyed helping the nurse with all the medical bits and pieces. It seems that the finger piece is attached perfectly and while it is still a horrible sight, the doctor was quite confident that it will 'take' and survive. At least it wasn't shrivelled up and dead - it looks like circulation is functioning so I'm very hopeful that all his extra vitamins etc i've been giving him for cellular growth and repair are doing their job.

Now we have a long process of having the dressings changed at the doctors every 2-3 days until it is properly healed.

Halfway!

2008-09-28T20:42:00.003+13:00

Here's a cute picture of Preston and I with my 20 week tummy! As a comparison, here is my 20 week photo from when I was pregnant with Preston. I wasn't even wearing maternity clothes at that stage... I guess since I got soooo big towards the end that my muscles and ligaments are a bit over-stretched so not as elastic and firm as I was the first time around.

Nearly half way!

2008-09-22T23:10:00.002+12:00

Wow, can't believe I'm nearly half way through my pregnancy. With Preston, every week seemed to drag on forever and I couldn't wait, but now that I know what I'm in for it's less 'exciting' and more practical, plus I'm usually too busy with Preston to be thinking about much else! On Friday when I am officially 20 weeks, I'll post a picture of my growing tummy - I'm sure it's bigger at this point than with Preston (I'm probably saggier I guess).

Here is the latest developmental news from Babycenter.com:

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you. Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

And this is what Preston should be able to do at the moment:

Names one color - well he knows pretty much all the colours
Count to 3 - er, we taught him up to 20 ages ago, and he counts backwards from 10
• Names one friend - he knows the names of EVERYONE
• Carries on a simple conversation - at great length, and often quite complex conversations!
• Alternates feet going up and down stairs - yes
• Uses prepositions (e.g., on, in, over) - yes, he thinks it's hilarious when we purposely get it wrong and he corrects us
• Speaks clearly most of the time (75 percent can be understood) - that's about right, maybe a little more
• Stacks eight blocks - block stacking is soooo last year, but he likes to build towers with his Duplo and Lego
• Is toilet trained during the day - pretty much
• Wiggles thumb - i'm sure he could do this when he was a baby as he would have done that for his baby sign language
• Expresses a wide range of emotions - most definitely!
• Draws a stick figure - the drawing has kind of been put to the side a bit (although he does a lot of art at daycare), and instead of drawing at home, he's become the master of technology. His precision with the stylus on the Nintendo is amazing and he is really good at lots of games. He also loves his computer and plays fun educational games and likes to type his name whenever possible. I'm sure he'll get to drawing stick figures eventually - it's just the computer literacy came first!

Clever Preston's morning news

2008-09-15T10:12:00.002+12:00

At daycare, they have morning news where the kids get up and talk about something interesting. Usually it's a new toy they've brought along or something. I was there this morning at news time and Preston managed to completely bewilder his teachers! He says:

"Good morning everyone" (good morning Preston),
"I bought a snow suit on the internet." (the teachers were completely confused and laughed at the thought of Preston understanding the concept of internet shopping. I said it was true.)
Then, "Daddy's friend Jonny came to stay in the weekend to play Rock Band." (They didn't understand what this meant so made him say it 3 times to be sure, and each time he repeated it clearly. Eventually they decided that Dan and Jonny are in a band. Preston said he plays too, and they were confused even more so I explained it was a playstation game.)

I just thought it was so funny that he is so high-tech that other people just don't get him sometimes.

18 week scan

2008-09-12T14:10:00.003+12:00

Here is our baby at 18 weeks gestation. We had our anatomy scan today - all is looking great! They wouldn't do the 4D scan like we had with Preston because it's too early (we had Preston's scan at 20 weeks), but we have to have a heart scan at 24 weeks so should get some better detail then. The heart scan is just because the baby is at a slightly higher risk of having a heart defect since there was the enlarged nuchal area, but from what could be seen today, the radiologist didn't expect there to be any problems at all. Also the nuchal area has resolved so that is a relief too.

So they scan through all of the baby's anatomy to check for problems and to check function. Everything was in the right place and doing the right thing so it makes me feel much more confident that all will be ok and the stupid stressful scare we had was just a precaution and there's nothing to worry about.

We've got a video of the scan, so I'll get Dan to edit the interesting bits and post it up.

It feels a lot more real now that I can see a properly-forming baby growing and can feel it kicking me. I told Preston this morning that the baby was kicking me and then I had to take it back as i could see his little mind ticking over the fact that maybe he could kick me and I might not be mad!

Preston's checkout

2008-09-11T13:02:00.003+12:00

Not much to do today so in an attempt to keep the peace, I gave Preston a big toy that we bought him ages ago to pull out whenever we needed. It's a supermarket checkout! It has little pretend groceries and a till with money, buttons, lcd screen and even a little scanner area that you put the groceries on to find out how much they cost. Then when you're ready to pay, you can choose to pay by cash (notes and coins provided) or by credit card with the little eftpos machine. Oh, and there is even a microphone so you can say "Preston to checkout 3 please!" which he finds extremely entertaining!

We have our 18 week scan tomorrow which is exciting! I'm feeling lots of kicking now that is growing in intensity daily. I think I'm going to be in for another pregnancy kick-a-thon like I was with Preston.

Been doing knitting and cross stitch lately - I must get Preston's Mr Men alphabet chart finished before his birthday (since it wasn't done for the last 2!), and I've decided to do some more of the dinosaur I started last year.... it's very tedious but I completed a leg last night so now I feel motivated to do another.

Will add photos/video of our scan tomorrow.

locked in the car, and holidays

2008-09-08T20:33:00.005+12:00

Had a bit of a crisis on Friday. I picked up Preston from daycare and he was being a mischief and running around inside the car, pressing any button he could see. I put my bag in the car so I could reach in and I eventually caught him and buckled him into his carseat and shut the door with a sigh of relief. Then my relief turned to horror as I saw that in his button pressing, he'd locked the car! With him strapped in, and my keys in my bag! OH NO! Luckily daycare was still open so I ran back in and called Dan, who had just battled through rush hour traffic to get into town. I had to make him battle the traffic all the way home again so he could pick up my spare remote (lucky I just bought one) and come to save us (before battling the traffic again back into town, poor Dan!). This all took quite some time as you can imagine, and all I could do was talk to Preston through the window. All he wanted was a cuddle, and he was getting extremely upset that I wouldn't just open the door and give him one. I decided to try to get him out of his seat so he could get my keys, and explained to him how to undo his carseat. Of course, they are completely childproof so he was getting very upset and yelling over and over, "Mummy I'm not strong enough! I need help!". I tried to get him to take his arms out from under the straps, and he got one out, but the other was just too tight, and this made him even more upset. We were completely helpless. I was trapped outside and he was absolutely beside himself trapped inside. Luckily, Dan turned up eventually and saved us! We all had a big cuddle and found some yummy treats for poor Preston. What an ordeal!

We went away for the weekend to One Tree Point for a Dad's birthday / Father's Day combo. Andrew and Natalie came up too so it was a big family weekend with lots of yummy food and beach fun. Check out some cool photos Dan took at www.flickr.com/regen, especially my fancy profiterole tower I made for dessert!

Here is Preston having fun sliding down a sand dune at Ruakaka beach:

This wasn't taken over the weekend, but is an example of how cool Preston is:
We've been invited away for a weekend at the snow next month, hooray! So today Preston and I bought this from Trademe so he can be dressed for the mountain. He's very excited about wearing it to make a snowman.

As big as an avocado!

2008-09-03T11:33:00.002+12:00

Our baby is about as big as an avocado from head to bum (legs are not counted in the length as they get all folded up and are too hard to measure). I have more than an avocado sized tummy however and am rapidly outgrowing my normal clothes. I've got a whole lot of maternity clothes all ready but I'm not sure if I want to jump into them yet. But... some really nice maternity jeans just arrived by courier and I tried them on and they are sooooo much more comfortable than anything else I've been wearing lately so they might become my new favourite jeans.

Each day is a little better

2008-08-30T17:26:00.002+12:00

This recovery is pretty slow, but all my sickness symptoms have gone, just leaving me with painful lung-lining. I think what has happened is that when you are pregnant, hormones race around and loosen up ligaments and things so that expansion can take place without much effort. While I was sick and had absolutely violent coughing attacks, I think I have over-stretched the ligaments or whatever around my lungs and I just have to wait until they heal properly. Breathing is still difficult and I'm ok as long as I don't exert myself too much. Sleeping is pretty painful though and I wake up feeling like I've been steam-rolled. But during the day I'm ok and I've even been at work today with no major problems. And I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight now - I've eaten a kilo of protein powder and put on 4kg in a week - that's some pretty fast weight gain! It's all gone to my bulging tummy and I definitely look pregnant now :)

And, no morning sickness for over a week! Hooray!

Preston's been reasonably good - he had fun at swimming today with all sorts of new tasks to do, like lying back and pushing off from the wall with his feet, jumping in and swimming around dan and back to the side, and the usual running/jumping/diving fun. Summer time at the pools and beach will be really fun this year! (Except i'll be so pregnant and uncomfortable).

I've just finished my last assignment for my Food Allergies Diploma and I think I have to do an exam and then I'll be done :)

Preston at his computer and with Clifford

2008-08-27T14:57:00.004+12:00

Here is Preston at his computer playing games. He's going to be programming before he goes to school!

And here is Preston meeting his buddy Clifford the Big Red Dog (from the stories and TV shows) at the mall. He was so excited to meet Clifford and kept saying things like "Clifford, follow me!" and "Go down the stairs Clifford!" It was very cute.

I'm also feeling much better now - thank you to everyone who has sent me messages of concern. All my sickness symptoms are gone, apart from what feels like a painful diaphragm and I think I may have pleurisy which is an inflammation of the casing around the lungs. Seems time and pain relief is all that can be done until I'm better, but each day is much better so hopefully it wont be long now. Yesterday Preston and I had a really nice day together - we went to Sylvia Park and did some shopping, had a picnic morning tea, played in a few places and had pancakes and a fluffy for lunch. Then after his sleep we enjoyed the sunshine and blew bubbles and decorated the patio with chalk drawings. So things are much better!

On my way to being all better

2008-08-25T13:20:00.002+12:00

Things are getting better now - i've put on 3kg in the last 3 days! Yay for no throwing up for 3 days, and also my 3x daily protein drinks with almost capacity powder to water ratio are really helping. My tummy has grown back and I can feel some kicking now which is good.

Preston is very clever these days so I thought I'd write about his latest things. He is extremely computer literate and knows the difference between using the mouse and using the arrow keys for directions in games. He plays lots of online games by himself at www.playhousedisney.com which are games of all his favourite tv shows on the Playhouse Disney channel (the one with no ads, so really good!!) He understands all the instructions by himself and gets through all the games and their varying difficulty levels - it's very impressive to watch. He also likes typing his name and knows how to correct any mistakes! And his current favourite bedtime activity is taking Dan's DS to bed and he gets out the little stylus and plays his game until he falls asleep.

getting a little better today

2008-08-23T21:54:00.003+12:00

I haven't thrown up in two days, and i've been having protein shakes 3 times daily containing pretty much maximum powder:water ratio that still remains in a drinkable consistency. I've had nearly half a kilo of protein powder in the last few days! This morning I was very pleased to see I had put on 1.5kg since yesterday, and the way I've been eating and not being sick today, I'm sure tomorrow I'll have some more weight added.

I've been feeling a lot better today, although this cough I have is just so bad and my ribs are aching. Coped much better with Preston today as well because I had a bit more energy.

The results for my tests came in the mail today in an envelope stamped Private & Confidential all over it - the privacy rules are just ridiculous - I wish they'd just given them to me yesterday. So to spite them I opened the envelope in front of Dan and Preston (who are just as entitled to see them as I am, duh!!), and of course everything is fine. Karyotype is 46XY (you can figure out for yourself if that's male or female) with no abnormalities detected. If anyone knows much about chromosomes, let me know as I have the codes for the particular chromosomes with what I think is placement of the centromere perhaps.

Well I had better down my next protein drink before bed. Luckily they actually taste nice!

not having a very good time

2008-08-22T14:07:00.003+12:00

I've had a really rought couple of weeks. We had a brownie sleepover and some girls came with germs which then combined to make a supergerm which knocked out a number of girls including me. I had only just had my procedure done so was probably more susceptible to infection. I can honestly say that I have never been this sick in my life and have had no appetite for about 10 days, no energy, i have a terrible cough that keeps me from sleeping (I even slept sitting up on the couch one night which helped a little bit) and doing pretty much anything - every time i cough i feel my uterus get crunched, and i still have morning sickness! I usually throw up in the morning, and then again once i've spent about an hour eating dinner. What a waste! I've ended up losing 4kg which probably makes me technically anorexic now, and i have no fat on my hips, legs, face, stomach anymore. My hips are extremely painful as I can only sleep in one position (to minimise coughing) and there is no cushioning anymore. I am just a bag of skin and bones! Things are very bad.

Poor Preston has taken the brunt of my lack of energy and lack of interest in parenting. I've spent days and days just yelling at him and wanting him to get out of my way and leave me alone. He has been particularly naughty but it's probably mostly my fault as I have had absolutely no desire to play with him or do anything at all for him. I've desperately needed family help at times when i've wished i wasn't a parent, but our Auckland family are unreliable/disinterested which is very frustrating.

I thought the pregnancy was all over the other day when after a week of violent coughing i had a few days of spotting, indicating potential miscarriage. Luckily when I went to the midwife today I heard the heartbeat so it's managed to pull through. I've been able to eat for the last 2-3 days and i'm downing protein drinks 3 times a day in a desperate attempt to put some weight back on. And i haven't thrown up my dinner for the last 2 nights so hopefully i'm getting back on track.

Still no final results for my chromosome test - seems like there is a lot of unnecessary red tape surrounding privacy and even though i've given consent, they can't be faxed to me or my midwife - they are finally being posted to me... that's not very secure either. What a waste of time.

Results are in!

2008-08-13T11:30:00.002+12:00

Oops I've been so busy emailing and phoning people with the results, I've forgotten to blog them. The preliminary results came back fine! From what I understand, the placental cells are tested directly for about 8-10 known chromosomal problems (which is about 98% of the full results), so we know there is no obvious problem. The full results will pick up anything additional that would be an unusual problem, but we are confident that since the baby's structure is fine that there are no actual problems.

AND.... we know the gender! I know some people (stupidly!!!) don't want to know, so I won't post it here but if you want to know, just message me and I'll tell you.

And for those of you thinking of getting pregnant at some point, just remember that the test I had is standard procedure for all pregnancies once you are 35+ as your risk of chromosomal problems escalates the older you are.

So we are very relieved and can now get on with enjoying the pregnancy. I've managed 5 days in a row with no morning sickness, although that was broken a couple of days ago so I'm hoping it's just about over now.

Just had my uterus stabbed!

2008-08-07T17:14:00.002+12:00

Yep, had my Chorion Villus Sampling (CVS) test today which involves using ultrasound to guide a needle through my abdomen, uterus and into the placenta where it digs around to loosen up some villi and then sucks them out to send away for testing. It was the weirdest procedure. Mostly painless, but felt pretty strange, and seeing it on a screen was also interesting. The baby jumped when the anaesthetic went in and didn't seem to like what was going on, but I didn't like it much either.

Good news though - results are faster than I expected and we get some preliminary results on Monday and then full results in 10 days or so.

Also the baby's good structural development and hand movement co-ordination ability makes it less likely that anything is wrong.

Will post results when they are available.

Appointment's set

2008-08-05T15:15:00.003+12:00

Finally got an appointment after much mucking around from the inefficient hospital who after 2 days of sitting on my request, can't fit me in until NEXT wednesday! I insisted my midwife find somewhere else and I've now got an appointment this Thursday at Fertility Associates, yay!

To help me calm and relax and destress, I've booked in a two hour session at the beauty clinic tomorrow.

Hopefully the results will be speedy.

Waiting, waiting...

2008-08-04T12:48:00.002+12:00

We are currently waiting for news of an appointment to have a chromosome test. It is pretty hard just waiting and trying not to worry. I was hoping to have an appointment today, but it doesn't look like that will happen, grrrr. The more reading I do, the more hopeful I get about a positive outcome, and then I read some convincing studies that make me more depressed.

Preston has had a fun weekend - yesterday he and I went on a shopping/lunch/playground trip to the mall and we had a nice time. I bought him a new pyjama suit, and this morning when he woke up the first thing he did was run into our room and say "Daddy, check out my cool new pyjamas! Mummy bought it at the clothes shop". We also made popcorn yesterday in a popcorn machine, and he exclaimed 'this is the most fun thing ever!'.

12 week scan

2008-08-01T13:20:00.005+12:00

Here is our baby at 12 weeks! It is just as squirmy and active as Preston, so I'm sure that's a good sign. We got to see everything in a lot of details - fingers, toes, brain, spine, beating heart, internal organs, all sorts. It was really exciting seeing the baby at last and knowing that I'm not just making up my pregnancy!

Here's a top down view showing the hands (and a bit of a foot).

Everything looks great structurally, but I had an abnormal nuchal test (which calculates risk for certain chromosomal problems) so I have to have another test where they take a piece of placenta to actually check the chromosomes. Results in about 3 weeks. Hopefully all is ok though. Will keep you posted when I know anything.

"I'm Preston 2½"

2008-07-31T21:50:00.002+12:00

Preston's getting slightly confused. We've been teaching him to say "two and a half" when he is asked how old he is, and that's going well. But he has also just properly learned his full name, but gets is a bit mixed up and says "I'm Preston Too and a half!"

It's so funny :)

He now has his own computer which he can operate with minimal assistance (it is easier for us that he has his own, as then we can actually get some work done!), and he has mastered many of the games on the Playhouse Disney website.

12 week scan tomorrow - will post a picture and details.

Preston's going to be a big brother!

2008-07-28T13:56:00.003+12:00

Yes, that's right, we finally decided we'd better bit the bullet and brave having another baby. Yikes! We are due Feb 12 2009. It has been a long and hard decision for us as Preston is so energetic and time demanding, and Dan and I both still want to work so managing to juggle everything will be rather hectic. Anyway, Preston has been putting on the pressure for quite some time since all his friends either have new babies or have babies in their mummy's tummy so he feels he is missing out... "Mummy, when can I get a baby brother?" he says. Initially he only wanted a girl "NO mummy and daddy, NO BOYS, only GIRLS!" he determinedly instructs us, but now he'd quite like a boy so they can play trains and computer games together. He's somehow figuring out that some activities and tv shows are for girls (only) and some are for boys (only), but SOME activities (like Brownies) are for 'girls and Preston' so luckily there is a loop hole for clever boys.

So back to the pregnancy. I'm 11 weeks now and morning sickness is annoying but not as violently bad as with Preston. I've been feeling more nauseous than actually being sick, and it seems to get worse each week on Fridays which is my new week, eg week 7 - felt sick a lot of the time; week 8 - started to have occasional dry retches; week 9 - more regular dry retches and sometimes vomiting; week 10 - actual vomiting after eating; week 11 - feeling sick ALL DAY and throwing up if I eat. Luckily the last 2 days have been sick-free!

My major issue this time around has been emotional outbursts. I seem to be a lot less tolerant to misbehaviour (ie Preston's) and hopefully it's just hormonal and will go away soon (I'm getting better). I've taken this long to update my blog because I've been in such an angry state of mind that you'd all wonder what on earth was wrong with me when I'd be ranting on in an anti-parenting style. Poor Dan's parents - they were staying here when I was at my absolute worst. I don't think I've ever been so angry and mean in my life and Preston was being quite naughty and I just couldn't take it. They must think I am such a terrible mother.

I was reading my blog this morning from the same stage with Preston and it was quite interesting how similar my body changes are (although I didn't have the miscarriage scare this time). My tummy is definitely poking out and if I wear a dress I look really pregnant. I've had to retire my tightest jeans, and have been wearing other jeans not done up properly. I've done lots of maternity clothes buying from trademe and the end of season sales (I sold most of my maternity clothes after Preston was born as I'd worn them so much I never wanted to see them again), so I have a good stash of some comfortable and interesting options.

Even my cravings have been the same - cheese and crackers, cherries, necatarines and peaches. Although this time I've also added macaroni cheese and raisins.

We have our first scan on Friday so I'll post a photo then.

Preston is so clever these days. He is very computer literate and knows how to use a mouse to navigate and he plays games by himself on the disney website. We have also been playing Toontown together! This was a game Dan and I were quite addicted to from 2001-2002 when we were beta testers. Preston loves playing it with me which is really cool. He also uses the Nintendo DS (the one with the stylus) daily, and likes playing Rock Band and texting on the iPhones. Yes, our son is quite the techno-geek. But what did you expect??

He's also got the alphabet song totally sorted (I'm going to teach him the alphabet backwards soon), he can read individual letters and numbers, counting is good up to about 14 (then he misses out 15,16,17 before yelling 18,19,20!). He knows all his colours and shapes and is really into jigsaws. He's mastered a Hairy McClary jigsaw so I bought him another one in the series and then noticed they say 'for ages 4+'.

Another interesting thing - he's had a few nightmares lately and I asked him what they are about. He's had a recurring one which is actually quite funny but must be scary for him. He says "The baked beans were chasing me and I fell in and they started eating me!" Oh dear :)

Potty training is going well - he is totally getting there and we have hardly any accidents any more.

Next Friday we are having a Brownie sleepover for the Olympic opening ceremony and Preston is sooooooo excited that he can come on 'Brownie Camp' with us and sleep in his sleeping bag. He LOVES coming to Brownies with me if Nana can't babysit and they all adore him. Sometimes he gets a bit overwhelmed by all the excitement but loves joining in the games and activities.

That's probably it for now. I need to satisfy my macaroni cheese craving :)

Preston is 2 1/2 years old

2008-06-18T00:09:00.000+12:00

And on this day he is 13kg and 89cm tall.

2008-06-05T19:36:00.002+12:00

It's been a while since we have posted, so Preston has obviously gone through a whole bunch of development since last time. We've been trying to Potty-train Preston for many months now and have had mixed success. He's great at using the potty, but not so interested in initiating the use of it. This has definitely led to many many many messed up pairs of pants and lots of loads of washing!

Preston is also amazingly proficient at using technology, particularly my iphone. As I write this, he has found my iphone, opened it, unlocked it, browsed to the video section, exited out of the last video I was watching, and started up an Electric Company skit that I left on there for him! WOW.

His conversation is slowly starting to change dynamic too. Preston generally talks in the third person ("preston wants that") but Belinda has been teaching him to say things like "I want...". The last week he's been saying "I want a cuddle" and "I want my mummy" which is awfully cute.

This week Preston has also begun his foray into the question-asking phase. He's not quite 2 1/2 yet! Yesterday we went through the entire contents of a drawer and he asked "Who bought that?" for every item. Other favourite questions have been: "Where is [insert name here]" and "Who's is that one?"

A picnic on a perfect summer's day

2008-01-28T21:09:00.000+13:00

Kitty!

2008-01-13T08:04:00.001+13:00

Preston playing with Tosca. She's slowly getting used to him

Feeding the ducks

2008-01-12T21:22:00.000+13:00

We discovered a cool quiet park where Preston can go to feed ducks. He has a great time yelling "Yummy Bread!" to all the ducks - as if they didn't know!

Preston auditions for the next Spiderman movie...

2008-01-04T17:19:00.001+13:00

Preston's 2nd Birthday at the Zoo

2007-12-23T14:05:00.001+13:00

We went to the zoo for Preston's birthday, and I made a Blue's Clues cake!

Preston at Mark and Leanne's Wedding

2007-12-23T14:00:00.000+13:00

Preston was a very cute page boy :)

Preston and Amber looking cute!

2007-11-17T11:10:00.001+13:00

preston_space invaders 1 small.jpg, originally uploaded by amysinger.

So cute in fact that they made it to the Honorable Mentions in the Knitty competition. Yay!

Preston's Space Invader Jersey gets another special mention!

2007-11-17T11:09:00.001+13:00

preston_space invaders 3 small.jpg, originally uploaded by amysinger.

Yay! Well I didn't make it to the winning 12 photos for the calender, but it's very cool that 2 of my 3 entries made it to the Honorable Mention section!

Preston counts and calls the cat

2007-11-07T20:45:00.001+13:00

Preston can count to 10! He has counted 1,2,3 for a while, and he hasn't quite got 4,5 but he knows 6,7,8,9,10.

The other day we were at Nana's and he fed the cat (read: tips biscuits everywhere). He had scared away the cat in his excitement, so Nana says "Preston, lets call puss puss." Preston responds by running away and she says "Come back, we're going to call puss puss". He was actually running to the phone, which he picks up to his ear and yells "pusspuss!!". So he 'called' the cat... so funny how his logic works!

Here are some recent pictures:

What can Mr Mischief do now?

2007-10-27T17:39:00.000+13:00

Preston is such a mischief boy - he even does the shifty eyes action when he wants to do something sneaky. He has some amazing planning skills - he thinks two or three steps ahead so he can get the item he wants. He also has a good imagination and talks to his bears and other toys all the time and gets them to do things (like share his food, or jump on the couch, or 'fly' off tall objects....). His communication gets better every day - he copies words or phrases much more correctly, and is he says a word to us that we don't understand, he will eventually try another method to describe it, like tell us that it is in a blue bowl for example, and then we can figure it out. He's got the hang of intonation, so he says 'Muu-mmyy-yy?' with a sort of 'whyy-yyy?' feel to it, or 'Mama where are you?' with either a cheeky 'i want to play' inflection, or a 'wake up!' urgency if he's bored in his cot and I haven't woken up yet.

He's also figured out knock-knock jokes somehow! So the other day we came home and i said to knock on the door. Preston says 'knock knock, who's there, ME!' Totally cracked me up! He also tells knock knock jokes to his toys which is hilarious.

Preston is quite the tech-savvy toddler. Dan thought his iPhone would be safe in locked mode, but its intuitive touch screen is so simple to Preston to figure out, so he knows to swipe to unlock, then click on the photo gallery, then swipe through all the family photos - turning the screen for a better view where necessary. He can also operate the tv and xbox - the other day he wanted to watch his Mr Men DVD, so ejected the current dvd, put in Mr Men, closed it, found the remote, turned on the tv, chose the story he wanted to watch and pressed play - then sat on the couch with his bears. Some of this might have been fluke, but he knows what he's meant to do which is quite amazing!

Preston is really cute with other kids, particularly his faithful friends, Amber, Manea and Carmen. Amber is totally his best friend and he talks about her when they haven't seen each other in a while. At daycare, the kids each have a photo book with what they've been doing, and Preston and Amber have a special page titled 'Best Friends' and there are photos of them cuddling and the two of them playing without the other kids. They both light up so much when they see each other!

It's nearly time for birthday number 2... I can hardly believe it. I'm knitting Preston a big toy dinosaur (he loves dinosaurs) but I doubt I'll get it done in time - might have to be for another time instead.