Another Look at Piperbean #2

We went for our 24-week ultrasound yesterday. They said he's approximately 1 lb. 11 oz. right now, has a heart rate of 144 bpm, and is actually measuring about a week ahead (per his head circumference). He's positioned side-to-side right now; his head is on my left side and his feet are over on my right side. Everything looked good ~ the baby, my fluid, etc. This little booger didn't want to cooperate completely with us. He kept his face up against my placenta, the umbilical cord kept getting in the way, and he kept putting his left hand up to his face. This was actually a 3D/4D ultrasound, so the pictures provide a little more detail. Keep in mind that you're still looking at the baby via sound waves and it picks up other stuff that makes the baby look a little odd. I'll do my best to describe what you're seeing in each photo. {NOTE: If you want to see all of the ultrasound photos from yesterday, look over in the right-hand column under the heading More Photos of Piperbean #2, and click on the link: Piperbean #2's Ultrasound Photos. There are actually 22 photos, but I'm only posting 4 here on the blog.}

The first photo is probably my favorite because you can see his left hand so clearly. You can see all 4 fingers and his thumb. His arm is bent, so you can see his elbow. And you should be able to make out where his eyes, nose, and mouth are located. On the left side of the photo (which is the right side of his face) you see a big blurry area ~ that's the placenta getting in the way of the photo.
In the next photo, you actually get a decent view of his face. It is still a little distorted by the placenta on his right side... because he just loves hugging up to it! But you can see the shape of his sweet little head, his eyes are closed, his cute little nose, and his mouth.
In this photo, it is a similar view to the one above. You're still seeing a big area of placenta on the right side of his face. He must really be pressed up against it good here. But you can still see the shape of his head, his eyes, his sweet little nose, and his mouth is open! On the left side of his face (right-hand side of photo), you'll see two weird looking tube shapes. That's actually a cross-section of his left arm, bent beside his head. It's a little strange looking, but if you think about it for a minute, it makes sense.
And the last photo shows more of a profile of his face. You can see his forehead, his eyes, his nose, and his mouth (which is open). Ignore the dark black "ring" where his right eye is located. That's just the machine picking up the bone structure of his eye socket. His eye is not deformed. Below his mouth and chin, you can see that he has his left hand pulled up next to his cheek. He was actually sucking on a finger at one point. And one time, we saw him rubbing his left eye with his hand.
He actually looks a little like Fenn at this point. Looking back at Fenn's ultrasound photos, their noses are identical.

Almost 14 Months Old... and even some stuff about Mommy

This is going to be one of those hodge-podge posts. Fenn has changed so much over the past month and a half. So I thought I should do a blog post to document some of the new things he's doing and saying. I am amazed at how much he has learned in such a short period of time.

~ At the time of his birthday party on December 6th, he was only taking 6 to 8 steps at a time. By Christmas, he was walking all over the house.
~ He has mastered the squat. He squats down, picks something up, and then comes back up to a stand with ease.
~ He can come up to a standing position from a kneeling position without using his hands to assist him.
~ He likes to stand at the top of the stairs and throw things over the baby gate (balls, plastic stars, plastic food storage containers, whatever amuses him). He laughs when he sees them going down the stairs.
~ If you ask him if he wants to take a bath, he starts repeating the word (for him, it's more like "Baa") and will walk to the bathroom.
~ He finally learned how to say "Bye Bye", wave goodbye, and blow kisses. He'll blow me a kiss when I drop him off at school and he'll blow a kiss to daddy when daddy is leaving for work each morning.
~ He'll hit you on the face (not realizing what he's doing, of course). When you tell him, "No, don't hit.", he'll nuzzle his head against you as if he's saying "I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me." Total master of manipulation at 13 months old!
~ He's been wearing shoes (Robeez, some StrideRites I got on consignment, some cute infant Converse Chuck Taylor hightops), but I had not had his feet sized so was only guessing at what size he should be wearing. I took him to a local shoe store and he is a size 5 wide (but they actually put him in a 5 1/2 for growing room). Now he has real big boy shoes that fit properly.
~ We're in the process of getting rid of his pacifier and the bottle. He's already off of formula and drinking organic whole milk. He only uses his pacifier during naptime and at night. And we're down to only one bottle at night. He drinks the rest of his milk from a sippy cup during the day.
~ If you ask him where his belly button is, he'll pat on his tummy area. And if you ask him where his head is, he'll pat his head.
~ He likes to dance (well, it's more like a bounce) and even taps his foot to the beat of the music.
~ When Dan was reading a favorite book to him the other morning (The Big Red Barn), he pointed to the cow and the rooster when Dan asked him to do so.
~ He likes to make sure Petey has on his collar each day. When he finds it, he'll pick it up and take it to wherever Petey is and hold it up to Petey's neck.
~ When I took him to the doctor last week, he weighed 23 lbs. 15 oz.

I'm sure there's more I could think of, but I'll stop here.

Plus, I just wrapped up my online photography workshop and thought I would include a few of my favorite photos highlighting some of my new skills. These photos were related to different Assignments I had during the class. I still have a ton to learn and will have to practice every single day. But I do feel like the class was totally worthwhile and I now have a better understanding of the exposure triangle (ISO, shutter speed, and aperture). I can actually take a photo in full Manual mode now! And I never shoot in 'Program' mode anymore; I mostly shoot in Aperture Priority mode. Now I'm looking forward to getting to the point where it is more like second nature and I don't have to think so much (and so long) about what settings to use and can concentrate more on the creative side of taking photos.

I just like the lighting on this first shot. Sweet photo of Fenn with his daddy.On this shot, my ISO was set too high and it caused some digital noise in the photo, but I still like it.This is a photo I took looking up into the Winterking Hawthorne we have in our frontyard. I used a wide aperture and focused on one branch causing the other branches in the background to be blurred.And this photo is one that I'm most proud of. Our assignment was to think of a creative way to either freeze motion or imply motion. I decided I wanted to freeze motion. Dan put the hose up on the roof to get the water coming down the rain chain next to our front porch. This is moving water... NOT ice. Check out the lens flare off that one droplet of water!

Snow Day!

It snowed on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Even though it snowed all day on Monday, we didn't really have anything stick until early Tuesday morning when it snowed some more. That caused daycare to be closed. So I had Fenn home with me for 2 days ~ Monday because of the MLK holiday and Tuesday because of the snow. Fenn wasn't feeling 100% on Monday, but I bundled him up and took him outside anyway. I wanted him to see the snow just in case we don't get any more this year. Am I a bad mommy??? It was only for a few minutes! Then I took him out again on Tuesday morning... once again, only for a few minutes. We had an appointment to go to the doctor that afternoon because he ended up running a low-grade fever on Monday afternoon. He has yet another ear infection. His doctor said he's borderline for possibly needing tubes in his ears. She said we'll watch him over the next couple of months before deciding to have him evaluated by an ENT doctor. So say a prayer that he won't need tubes. And before you scold me for taking him out in the cold with an ear infection, keep in mind that being outside in cold weather does not cause colds or ear infections. Colds come from viruses you pick up from being in contact with other people. And ear infections are caused when the fluid in the middle ear (from a cold or respiratory infection) doesn't drain properly and bacteria builds up. Anyway, I managed to get a few cute shots of him in his big winter coat and doggy puppet hat. He seemed to like the snow falling on his face.The first photo was taken just after it started snowing. You can barely see the snow flakes in the picture. The next 3 photos were taken during lunch when it was snowing a little harder and I had daddy here to help me. And the last photo was taken on Tuesday morning when we actually had some snow on the ground. I had to snap quickly because I didn't want him outside for very long.

Do You Smile When You Go To The Dentist?

We just got this card in the mail. The dentist had told me they would be sending it, but I had actually completely forgotten about it since it has been a while now. This is a photo from Fenn's very first visit to the dentist back in November. If you missed that post, Fenn somehow somewhere broke his upper left central incisor. It broke off at an angle and left a sharp point on one side. We have no idea how he did it because he never cried. I just noticed it one night after a bath. This little accident has led to several visits to the dentist so far for follow-up (seems a little like overkill to me... but what do I know?). He's had several x-rays and even had the tooth filed down to soften the sharp point. So far, the dentist hasn't detected any nerve damage so we think his tooth and future permanent tooth are both fine.

We've hit the ground running in 2009. We have already cleared out the guest bedroom upstairs to get ready to paint for Fenn's new big boy room. He'll still be in a crib for a while longer, so we'll decorate minimally for now. But when the time comes, we'll get him a new big boy bed and decorate the room in an airplane theme. (I think this is the bedding we'll be using. Just the airplane quilt on the wall, the Flight School sham, and matching pillow... not the other stuff.) We realized we have to get the room painted and set up for him BEFORE Dan gets busy with tax season, or else it won't get done in time. We hope to get it painted this weekend.

As for baby boy #2, I forgot to mention that I have been feeling him move for a few weeks now. And on Christmas night, he was moving so much that Dan was able to feel him for the first time. So that was a nice Christmas present. Most of the time, the movements are much more subtle than that. I guess he was excited about Christmas! No name yet for this little bean. We're tossing around a few ideas, but are no where close to making a final decision. With Fenn, I don't think we decided for sure until about 1 to 2 months out.