General Update and Nine Month Checkup

We are doing pretty well up here in the great white north. Errr . . . Well, it's not white yet, thankfully! I had a tough couple of weeks. I had a migraine for the better part of last week and then the flu this week. Fortunately, I feel pretty well now and I sincerely hope that continues. Dave has started complaining about not feeling too well, though, and Sylvia is especially whiny and clingy today . . . No worries, though. I am quite certain it's not the swine flu!

Sylvia had her nine month checkup last week. She is as healthy as can be and is growing like a weed. Once again, the stats: She was measured at 29 inches; although, I think she is actually closer to 30. (She would not lie still for the nurse.) Regardless, 29 inches is still the 90th percentile. Her weight was 18 pounds, 13 ounces and this keeps her in the 50th percentile. Her head circumference was still in the 25th percentile at 17 inches. We did begin to discuss tests that will need to be performed at her one year mark to check for any manifestations of her VHL. I will be sure to keep you all updated.

Speaking of VHL and our children: We are planning on having another amniocentesis with our second child to test for the disease. Right now the procedure is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of September but I suspect the date will change at least one or two more times. We will also learn the gender and will be sure to let you know.

Nine Months

Sylvia turned nine months on Friday. This is, of course, so very hard for me to believe. It felt especially potent as her nine month birthday fell on a Friday, the same day of the week that she was born. To celebrate we went shopping for some new clothes-- including an adorable outfit for her photo shoot the next day.

She is now officially crawling on all fours and late last week she figured out how to pull herself up to standing using furniture. This morning was the first time I was greeted by my daughter standing in her bed:

It is so fun to watch her make these accomplishments, as she is obviously proud with herself. She is just so much fun right now and I find myself kind of excited when she wakes up in the morning, eager to see her again and watch her play some more. Her playroom is working out great and she seems to really enjoy it. We leave her toybox open and she crawls over there and is able to pull her own toys out and spread them all over the room. She simply loves to play with us and this has made bedtime kind of difficult lately.

In other news, Lovebug (this is what we have decided to call baby no. 2) is obviously growing. I have been quite nauseated this pregnancy, something I rarely experienced last year with Sylvia. Hopefully this will all pass in a few weeks but it has made for some really rough days in the meantime. I like to think that this is a good sign and means that all is well.

No. 2

I had a bit of a birthday surprise this year: We learned that we are expecting our second child! I had an ultrasound today (which Dave was also able to attend) and everything looks good. In the picture above, find the circle (looks like a ring). This is the yolk sac (where the placenta will develop). Directly to the left is the baby's head. Not much more than a little bean right now, but there is a tiny little heartbeat present-- that we got to both see and hear! In the picture below, in between the squiggle lines over the baby, is the baby's heart and on the bottom of the image is a "picture" of the heartbeat.
I am due toward the end of February. This puts us having children only sixteen months apart. We envision the first couple of years being a challenge but then look forward to all the fun after that! The Little Pumpkin, of course, has no idea what is about to happen!

In other news (but slightly less exciting), we converted our sunroom into a playroom for Sylvia. Now that she is a mobile woman we needed a "safe zone" for her. She seems to really enjoy it, especially having the sliding doors that lead to the porch where the outdoor cats live. She sits there and pounds on the glass and squeals at the cats and kittens outside.

Sylvia now has THREE teeth. Two on bottom and one on top. They just keep popping up! Fortunately, they don't seem to cause her much pain. She can also crawl about two steps and then drops back down to her belly and commences with the army crawl. She currently spends her days playing and giggling and I love every minute of it!