Happy New Year!

Arlo, Eva, Addison

Yes there are 7 kids in that picture! We adults only outnumbered them by one! And yes we celebrated New Years from 4 -7pm. It's New Years somewhere right?

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2010!

Sleep Therapy

Otherwise known as the Ferber method!

We started sleep therapy on Sunday night. Eva cried for three hours before falling alseep. She woke up once for 30 minutes but slept then until 8am. We used the same method at nap time on Monday. The first nap it didn't work and she ended up falling asleep later that morning on Mommy's pillow. The second nap she went down within 30 minutes and last night she went to sleep within 30 minutes only waking up once early in the night and then back down till 6am this morning.

Morning nap again didn't go so well and she is alseep now on Mommy's pillow! Attaching the pictures from Monday and Tuesday on Mommy's pillow with Bunny from Grandpa Kato!

Monday Morning Nap
Tuesday Morning Nap

Christmas!

It comes in threes...

Isn't that the old saying? Eric and I are waiting for #3. #1 and #2 Eric and I both had some news on the work front this past week. Eric's company was acquired. My current role, which I loved, is changing. My news doesn't seem to be public so I'll leave it at that :) So big changes on the job front for both of us. It will be interesting to see what January brings.

Until then Eric and I are enjoying two weeks off with Miss Eva. She's been sick with yet another cold so she has wanted lots of cuddle time and isn't sleeping well. Next week we are going to try the Ferber sleep method for her, hoping to have some good results from it.

We are excited for our first Christmas with Eva. We leave tomorrow for Michigan.

Wishing you each a wonderful Christmas!

Riddle me this, Batman....

What causes a baby to wake up numerous times a night and cry hysterically multiple nights in a row?

Yes, teeth.

Eva is teething. I took her to the doctor yesterday, worried she had an ear infection, because the past two nights were pretty rough. He said she is most likely teething. I confirmed this, I think, because when she started crying I rubbed my finger across her gums and she stopped. Unfortunately, this caused for very little sleep last night. And someone tell me, why do these things always happen when Eric is out of town?

So last night went like this...
6pm - tylenol, 7pm - bed, 8:30pm wake up, 10:00 pm wake up, more tylenol, 11:30 wake up - oragel (tracy and jessica you are saints for providing this)... 3:30 wake up, tylenol, 5:30 wake up, 6:40 wake up....

Some one tell me how long this lasts :)

Finals

Well, the semester is over. I took my last final tonight. Very relieved to be done. Only two more classes. Graduation is May 16th 2010. Looking forward to focusing now on Eva's first Christmas. Eric and I got our tree this past weekend and put out the lights outside. We plan to decorate the tree next weekend when Eric is back in town.

A Day Of Firsts

Saturday was a day of firsts. It started off with Eva falling asleep within a second on my pillow in our bed as I was sorting laundry. One minute she was talking the next asleep. We left her there to rest for 30 minutes :)

The second was our first portrait together. We went for our holiday photos to the neighborhood studio. It was so much fun. We had a ton of good shots from it, though Eva didn't smile too much!

The third was Eva's first laugh. While we were at the photo studio, Eric was holding Eva and moving her closer to me and then pulling away. She started to laugh. It was so cute.

The forth and perhaps the funniest was Eva's first taste of rice cereal. I guess I would look like this if I was eatting solids for the first time! (heehee!)

Yoga and Raspberries

It now makes sense why this yoga pose is called Happy Baby.

Eva's new way of communicating! Such a mature lady! hehee

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful time in Detroit for Thanksgiving. We left Thursday morning in Eric's new car! Eva did wonderfully on the car ride up and back. She played and slept and both trips only cried for 20 minutes max. We had Turkey Dinner at Grandpa's house. Friday we got to meet Ryan and Katelyn (my friend Julie's kids). And then Gigi had an open house for her girlfriends. Saturday it was off to Aunt Kathy's for the Romant get together. Then back to Cleveland. Overall a wonderful trip. Eva was an excellent traveller both in the car and at night in her pack and play!

Most Improved Student!

Eric and I went to parent-teacher conferences at our day care yesterday. Yes, we were suprised they had these as well. Anyway, Eva got the most improved student award for her class room! Miss Maureen, one of the providers, said that Eva has really gotten into the day care program.

This was the feedback on her progress:

To learn about self and others:
Recognizes and reaches out to familiar adults (familiar being the key word for Eva).

To learn about moving:
Tries to use whole hand to grasp and drop objects

To learn about the world:
Attends to sights and sounds
Watches actions of others

To learn about communicating:
Sometimes engages in simple back and forth vocalizing (sometimes again being the key word :)

Favorite activities:
Bumbo seat with a gym and the swing

Situations that cause distress:
Hungry and sleepy (duh!)

Next Steps in the program:
Roll from tummy to back and back to tummy
Sitting on her own
Holding her bottle

Aliens

On Saturday, my Dad and Nancy came up to watch Eva while Eric and I went to the Fabulous Food Show. Eva was sleeping when they came and still sleeping when Eric and I left. When she woke up she cried like some alien invaders were in the house for about an hour and then finally fell asleep. My Dad and Nancy were good sports about it though and said they would babysit again.

I told this to my friend Tracy and her response was:
I’m glad the aliens left your house after an hour so Eva could get some sleep.

Ha! I thought that was funny and had to share :)

On a side note, the dermatologist said my hair loss was normal and it would start coming back after 6 months. :)

Red Butts and Balding Heads

Friday after I picked up Eva from daycare I realized she had a really red bum. I ended up taking her to the doctor on Saturday and they said because of the amoxicilin that she is on her good bacteria is not present, hence the diaper rash. We have been soaking her in baths and using different diapers to get it to clear up. I'm looking forward to her being done with the anti-biotic and back to no issues. It would be nice to not go to the doctor one week!

While Eva's hair is growing in pretty rapidly, mine is falling out. In large clumps! I may be bald soon at the rate it is going! I ended up calling the dr because it has been happening for so long I was getting worried. Basically they told me to go to a dermatologist, which I will be doing tomorrow. Based on what I read though, this is quite normal for post-pregnancy and happens to 40-50% of women!

Eric and I got to see Tyler Florence this weekend at the Fabulous Food Show. My dad and Nancy came to town to watch Eva while we went. He made a wonderful Thanksgiving meal that once I can eat dairy again, I plan to try.

Perfect Day

The Katos had a wonderful day this past Sunday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, as we are experiencing Indian Summer this year. Eva was in an amazingly good mood. She took one 3 hour nap in the am and one 1 hour nap in the afternoon. Eric and I were able to rake all our leaves up during her first nap. We were also able to go on a family walk. It was a nice day.

On a somewhat funny, but also not so funny note, Eric and Eva did not have such a good day on Monday evening while I was at class. I picked up Eva from daycare around 4:30 pm. She was sleeping in her crib and they told me they tried to feed her at 4 but she did not want her bottle. We had just switched her to larger bottles, so I thought maybe she was not hungry. So I brought her home and Eric tried to feed her again. She was sucking but also crying. To make a long story short, after an evening full of crying Eric finally realized at abt 7:30pm that nothing was coming out of the bottle :) Poor Eva and Eric!

4 Month Appt

Eva is 13lbs 14oz and 24 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. She had the same booster shots that she had at two months. Luckily, the after effects were not as bad as at 2 months. At 2 months, she cried for four hours and it was obvious she was in pain. Last night she mainly slept and we even had a couple of smiles out of her. She did have a fever this morning when I left for class. Hopefully that will go away within 24 hours. The doctor gave us a prescription for her cold since it still is sticking around. She also couldn't check Eva's ears because she has some "man wax" as my dr called it. So Eric and I need to buy some ear wax drops to try to break up the wax.

Eva is allowed to start rice cereal according to the doctor, though the literature she gave us said she shouldn't start till 5 months. Who knows :) Eric and I will probably start her but not necessarily make it a daily thing for a couple of weeks. It's an exciting milestone, though I think it will be a messy one.

The doctor also seemed surprised that Eva was not rolling yet stomach to back, so I guess we will have to have more tummy time!

4 months old

Well Eva is 4 months old today. I can't believe how quickly the time has flow. I look at the pictures of her first-born and now and she looks so different. Each day has provided some new wonder or excitement. I know the next four months will provide even more.

We go to the doctor on Friday. I rescheduled the appointment for when Eric is actually in town. I think Eva gets to start trying rice cereal. I'm sure that will be interesting! Hopefully the high chair Grandma Kato got her will arrive just in time for us to test out cereal eating!

The daycare today was telling me how Eva is becoming so interested in others. How she just stares and watches the daycare providers. I've also found the last two mornings she wants nothing to do with her activity gym. Instead she wants me to seat her up on my lap or in her bumbo chair so she can look around.

I'll hopefully get a good picture soon of her at four months. This morning she didn't want to cooperate.

Happy Halloween!!!

Well I think I managed not to post for long enough! After I was sick, I had midterm week, then Eva got sick, Grandma Kato came to visit, Gigi came up, Eric and I looked at cars to replace the Civic, and we went out to dinner for the first time since June! It has been busy. Eva unfortuantely after 2 weeks of a cold still has a cough which she is not happy about. We are hoping that it goes away soon because she is not sleeping as well because of it.

We had a fun Halloween weekend though it was rough trying to keep Eva up due to the time change. We didn't want her waking up any earlier than she has too :)

Eva has been smiling more and more. She started talking louder and has a tendancy to say Ah!Ah!Ah!Ah!Ah! She now pulls and chews on her clothes and other soft things, who would have thought that would be a milestone to write about! And she touches her hand together and just recently started holding her bottle. She goes for her four month appointment on Friday. We are hoping the after effects of the shots are better than at her two month appointment.

Grandma Kato came to visit for 2 weeks! Gigi came to town to say hi!

Eric made this pumpkin at Sashi and Sharon's house. Everyone in the neighborhood loved it!
Eva was a flower for halloween!

Grace (our neighbors daugther) stopped by...she was a bee! Watch out Eva!

Drool and snot but she still is smiling! Her shirt says, I want my Mummy! :)

Rockin' and Rollin'

well almost. Eva's got the roll and Mommy hit a rock :)

Eva, I think, wants to roll over soon. I came into her room when she woke up at 2:30 this morning and she had her legs straight up in the air and started to jolt them to the side bring up her butt and far shoulder off the crib. I think it's time to transition her out of the swaddle. I'm really not looking forward to that because I don't think she will sleep as well but I'm not sure it's safe to continue.

In terms of hitting the rock, it was more like rock bottom! Ha! I ended up getting sick after only 4 days back in the workforce. (And to think I was worried about Eva getting sick from day care) Ugh! Anyway, what made it even more fun was Eric was out of town for 5 days and 4 nights. AND I found out that I basically cannot take anything while nursing. So needless to say, my second week back at work was a heck of a lot of fun. I'm just glad Eric is back tonight :)

Eva, knock on wood, is currently not sick. I'm hoping it stays that way. For that I am thankful I continued breastfeeding. Good old antibodies! Her not getting sick is worth no pizza for 3 months :)

Anyway, 3 month photos to be posted soon, once Eric is back to help me out!

D-Day

D-Day came and went. Eva and I both survived, though my day was a bit more rough than hers (I think). Eric helped me drop Eva off at Day Care on Monday and luckily we put her in a bouncy seat and she was quiet as we left. Had she been crying I think I would have probably had a hard time leaving.

I dropped Eric off at home and went into work. My day from there proceeded as follows:
9:20 am log into computer...can't get in
9:25 am on the phone with help desk
9:59 am...finally able to log into computer
10:30 am meet with CIO of L&I...find out I have a new job, new team, new boss
12:30 pm Speak with new boss
1:30 pm meet new team
2:00 onwards...trying to figure out what the heck my new job is :)
4:00 pm finally leave work to pick up Eva
4:15 pm Pick up Eva at day care
5:30 pm leave for class
8:00 pm leave for home
10:00 pm finally in bed exhausted!

The first day at day care they said Eva did well all things considered. She fussed her first two bottles but completely finished her third one.

The second day at day care Eva did much better. She fussed her first bottle but finished her other two.

Hopefully the week will continue to get better. I just need to figure out how to cope with the fact I hardly get to see my princess now. I purchased extra vacation through a program they offered earlier this year so I plan to use that 2 wks of vacation to take Friday's off to work on school work. Hopefully I can be extra productive and only will need a shorter period of the day to get my school work done so Eva and I can have more time together. Wish me luck!

Soy Joy

Eva is not allergic to Soy! So Mommy can still enjoy her Oreos!

Eva Chat

Eva recently started having longer conversations with me. We normally have our "coffee talk" on her changing table but this past week have also conversed on Mommy and Daddy's bed. I couldn't help but capture a conversation with Eva, yes I know I say Really and No Way! too much :)



Here's Eva....

p.s. sorry to those parents who have already experienced this with their children...I just think it's so neat!

Eva's First Smile

Here is an older picture of Eva taken back in August when Grandpa Kato came to visit. It was when Eva first started to smile. Eric and I haven't been able to capture a picture since. Thanks Aunt Naomi for sending it!

Click!

Somehow it is like a light bulb got switched on recently with Eva. She has been absolutely a gem. She has been sleeping either through the night or waking up just once to feed. She has been napping wonderfully through the day and when she isn't sleeping she is talking or quietly observing her surroundings. It has really been fun with her the past couple of days. I'm wondering if this is the "breaking" point that everyone keeps telling me about. If it is, I'm loving it and knock on wood I hope it stays.

We go next week Tuesday back to the doctor to have Eva's stool tested again for blood. I am hoping there is none but I have a feeling there will be because she has been throwing up more the past couple of days. Which means we either put her on formula or take soy out of the diet. Call me crazy but I am going to try removing soy for the two week period to see if it helps. Even though I struggled with the thought at first, I've been having fun trying to creatively figure out what I can eat and also have been cooking more lately (something I always enjoy but never have enough time for). And let me tell you Annie's Chocolate Bunny Grahams are excellent! Anyway, I figure it's worth a shot for two weeks to see if it works. In parallel, we will try the formulas to see if Eva will even take them. I heard a lot of babies don't like the non-dairy/non-soy formulas. We will find out for sure on Tuesday if we need to do all this of course.

I go back to work the 28th. Based on a random email from my boss it sounds like I'm going back to a new job, which should be interesting. Eva and I get to test out her day care next week. I'm hoping she does well because she still crys for every babysitter I have over. I don't understand how she could already have such a strong dependency on Mommy and Daddy :)

Daddy is coming home!

Eva can't wait for Daddy to come home! (heehee!)

GNO (Girls Night Out)

Eric was out of town last night and will be gone again tonight so Eva and I have had our first taste of girl time. Luckily, I'm surviving, thanks in part to the help from my wonderful neighbors who have ensured I am fed!

Eva and I stopped by the Drs this morning to drop off a poopy diaper so they could test for blood. Unfortunately, there is still blood in her stool which means that soy may need to be removed from my diet as well. The Dr I spoke with today wanted me to wait it out another two weeks though to see if just more time is needed. He said he would hate for me to have to take soy out of my diet as well because it is literally in everything (which is true, I've been reading labels).

That's all for now, from a tired mommy. Can't wait for Eric to come back!

2 months old!

Eva went in on Friday for her two month visit. She weighs 11lbs 14 1/2 ounces and is 22 1/2 inches long! She got her shots which was not fun at all for mommy to watch. When we got home she was tired but then later in the evening she seemed to be in pain. She cried/wailed while sleeping. Luckily GiGi was here to help out and we were finally able to get her into her crib for a long sleep that night.

We still don't have a smile picture (Tracy can you email yours!) but I posted some others including her belly button :)

Allergies

Grandpa Kato and Tracy left yesterday after a nice visit with Eva. It was a rough day not having any help. We were spoiled with back to back visits, one from Aunt Naomi and then Grandpa Kato.

I called the Dr this morning because the rash that Eva has on her body has not gone away yet. It first appeared early last week and the Drs office thought it was heat rash. Since it hadn't gone away I called again. They had me bring her in and they believe she has developed some kind of allergy. I now need to take dairy products out of my diet. We won't know for 2 weeks if the allergy is dairy or not. If that doesn't work then the next step is soy products. I am not good with dieting or modifications to my diet so we will see how well I do. I may have to give up and go to formula, which would suck since Eva is doing so well. As of today she is 11lbs 2ozs!!

I found a babysitter for Fridays until October to help me out so I have some dedicated study time. I hope that Fridays are enough to get my homework done. Tomorrow Eric goes out of town for the day so I am hoping the Eva has a better day than she did today.

Belly Buttons and Smiles

The pediatrician had told us that it would be anywhere from 7 days to 7 weeks for Eva's embilical cord to fall off.

Well 6 weeks and 9 days the embilical cord was still on and looked like it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Funny enough, it decided to fall off the morning of 7 weeks when Mommy was walking around trying to calm down a crying Eva. I didn't realize it had fallen off until I was changing Eva's pjs (spit up!) and saw it missing. Ends up it fell through her pjs and onto the carpet. Don't ask me how! Anyway, I'm glad it is gone Eva's belly looks so cute without it (pictures to be posted soon) and we were able to have our first bath in the tub!

Eva also started to smile. Though we have only seen 3-4 smiles with her eyes open they are adorable and we look forward to seeing many more (picture to be posted soon).

Eric and I went to go look a cars today, we need to replace the Civic with something a bit bigger and family friendly. The Acura is already feeling small so we know the Civic will be even smaller. Unfortunately, we had baby brain and didn't realize all dealership are closed on a Sunday! We did get to check out all the cars we were considering though and hope to make it back out for some test drives while Grandpa Kato is still in town to watch Eva.

I have my second class tomorrow night, the first one on Friday was hard. All day from 9am to 5pm. By 3pm, I was practically falling asleep in my chair. Hopefully it will get easier as Eva gets older.

What's in a name...

Eva is going to kill us as parents when she gets older.

We pronunce her name Ava or Eh-Vah but spell it with an E. Similar to Eva Mendes or Eva Peron. Every where we go though people are saying Ee-vah. The poor girl will be correcting people all her life just because her parents wanted to be difficult and spell it with an E. She will have the unfortuante luck of also correcting them not only on her first but also her last name. People always say K-toe not Cot-toe :)

Oh well....we still like it! The meaning of Eva is life but Ava means birdlike. Our little drama queen is nothing like a bird so I am glad we choose Eva! Plus she gets to carry daddy's initals EMK!

Running Water

Eva loves the sound of running water or the rain. She calms down almost every time she hears it if she is crying. Lucky for me today is a rainy day in Cleveland so Eva is sleeping soundly right now and is not demanding to be held (which is a nice break since Daddy is out golfing, don't ask me how you do this in the rain!)

I finally got a good shot of Eva and included them below.

Brown Eyed Girl

Every picture I took of Eva was blurry :) Guess Mommy needs more sleep before using the camera. Here are a couple okay ones of her at 1 month (can you tell I'm not the photographer in the family). The other photos are on Eric's expensive camera and I have no idea how to get them off! So those will be posted once Daddy has more time in the day.

I can't believe I've been off for 5 weeks already. I could not imagine going back to work after 6 weeks and am so glad I am taking the full 12. I'm dreading starting classes in 2 1/2 weeks, that alone will be an adjustment.

Eva is doing well, she had to go for a heart check and everything turned out okay. She also had to have an eye exam because I saw a mark on her pupil. Ends up the girl has a cateract which will have to be monitored closely but sounds fixable if it causing any issues with her vision. The dr confirmed for me that her eyes are indeed turning brown. She is definately daddy's little girl with her hair and eyes.

Our Fuss Bucket

I cannot believe Eva is already 3 weeks and 3 days old. I am so glad I am taking 12 weeks off for maternity leave. I could not imagine going back to work in 2 1/2 weeks!

Overall, we are doing well. Eva is growing like weed! She was 8lbs and 8ozs on Saturday. Nursing has been good but she at times seems to be having stomach issues. We are working with the doctor on this to see if we can help make her feel more comfortable.

Eric and I are behind in getting out our announcments and taking more pictures of Eva. It seems as though we only have energy lately for the bare minimum.

Eva has already met her grandparents on the Downes side and her Uncle Brian. We will post pictures soon of the visits from GiGi (Grandma Genny), Grandpa Downes and Nancy, and Uncle Brian.

11 Days Old

Well, Eva definitely came in with a Bang on the 4th of July. She had to create as much drama during labor as she did during the pregnancy. It was definitely an interesting labor process! Mommy is recovering nicely though. The first week was hard to walk around and get in and out of bed but I am feeling much better now.

Eva and I are slowly figuring each other out. Breastfeeding was easy in the hospital with so much help but became difficult once we got home. We seemed to have established a rhythm though and even though her signs can sometimes be difficult to interpret, I think we are figuring each other out. The sleep thing will be my next challenge, for me not her, though her sleep pattern seems to change daily.

Eva already has some nicknames, Eric and I already call her Drama Queen, Fuss Bucket, and Baby Cakes.

Thanks to everyone for the emails, cards, gifts, and flowers. Once I figure out how to do other things besides take care of Eva, I will be sure to get my thank you notes out (as well as more photos on this blog!).

Eva Mika Kato

Emailed on July 11th by Eric

Without further adieu, the Kato family would like to welcome Eva Mika Kato to the household. She was born on Independence Day, Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 10:37pm.Eva was 7 lbs, 11 oz and 19.5 inches in length. Currently she looks very much like Dad with dark hair, slate eyes, very long fingers! Mom had contractions at 5am, was admitted to the hospital at 1pm, started the pushing process at 8pm, and went for an emergency c-section. We were at the hospital for 3 days and today is officially a week old! GG (Grandma Genny) has been kind enough to spend time and help out during these life changes.

Some little know facts

• Has the same initials as her Dad, EMK


• Eva means Life, Mika means Beautiful
  
• Eva pronounced Eh-Vah (like in the movie Wall-E or Eva Mendes or Eva Peron)


• Was born at same time, same weight, and same length as her Dad


• Dad and Mom waited to find out Eva's gender until her delivery

It's a girl!

After Julia went into contractions at 5am, getting admittance to University Hospitals at 1pm, starting the pushing process at 8pm, and finally getting an emergency c-section at 10pm....

Eva Mika Kato was born at 10:37pm on July 4th, 2009.
She is 7lbs and 11 oz while measuring 19.5 inches.

While most of the nurses thought she looked more like her dad, we think that she took the best traits of both of us!

You be the judge:

It's Time!

...we are off to the hospital...wish us luck!

The Nursery

Well, Baby Kato is hanging in there. Not ready to come out to the world yet. My theory is he/she was waiting for the nursery to be complete. Thankfully, the crib arrived today and it is now together! Better late than never right! Below are some photos of Baby Kato's room, we are only missing the glider chair which will hopefully arrive within the next couple of weeks!

I looked up some statistics on delivery times, 50% of deliveries occur after the due date and only 5% on the official due date. I'm still hoping for the early delivery, hopefully the stars will align in my favor :)

Full Term

Well, when we started this blog, I don't think we thought we would make it to full term with all the complications/scares we had. But we did! After 37 weeks the baby is considered full term and if I was to go into labor today the doctors would not try to stop it.

Speaking of which, how do I make this baby come out sooner? I'm open to any suggestions! My PEPs rash has spread quite rapidly and I am defintely looking forward to a way to make it stop, which is in this case is to deliver. And of course, more importantly, I want to meet Baby Kato. I heard caster oil, which I am not willing to try, but also spicy foods, pineapple, and walking.

I was mainly a lump on a log this weekend, but Eric and I (ok ok mainly Eric) managed to get up the blinds in the baby room, secure the changing pad to the table, install the car seat in the car, put together the bouncy seat and set up the pack n play. Still no crib :( but we should have a carpet and bookcase by the end of the week.

Send thoughts of labor and delivery my way! This mamma is ready!

PEPs or PUPPPs

No Eric and I did not get a dog :)

So my stomach rash continued to get worse throughout the weekend. I made a call to the dermatologist today and was able to get in due to a last minute cancellation. The dermatologist said I have PEPs (previously known as PUPPPs). Basically it's a rash that is common in pregnancy after week 35 and it will not go away until 1-2 weeks after I deliver. Instead of getting better, it will continue to spread all over. Fun stuff!

The one interesting tidbit, I could find on this is the following:

One study has shown that male fetal DNA can be found in skin biopsies of the rash. Since 70% of women with PUPPP give birth to boys, a new hypothesis is that male fetal DNA acts as a skin irritant.

So maybe Baby Kato is a boy?

And in other news besides my itchy belly, my Mom helped me a ton this weekend. She repainted the nursery so we are all ready to hang pictures in the room. We also went shopping for lamps, carpets, and bookcases. Unfortunately, we were only able to decide on a lamp but I have some ideas for carpets and bookcases to purchase. Hopefully the baby room will come together soon! I'll post pictures once it is done.

The 9th Month

It's official, I've entered the 9th month! Technically only 4 more weeks on the count down. I saw both doctors this week. Baby Kato weighs 6lbs. 4 oz and passed the non-stress test with flying colors.

It seemed like Monday all my energy was taken away. I've been dragging all week and had a hard time to keep up with just work. It could be because of all the weight Baby Kato gained! I also seem to have developed a rash on my belly :( at first I thought they were stretch marks but after they have continued to itch after putting on lotion, I'm thinking it's a rash. Dr. V said to put cortaid on it, so we will see if that helps!

Eric is on his final hurrah for the year. He is in Chicago this weekend with the boys. My mom comes up today to keep me company. Nothing much else to report!

The PURGE

Thanks to Aunt Rosy and my Mom, we were able to have a very successful garage sale this past weekend. I cannot believe how much of our stuff sold! We are down to two bins which we will donate tomorrow. It was nice to get everything out of the house!


The baby room now has a dresser in it and a spot for the crib. Unfortunately, we opened up the crib box and found that it was damaged :( so we had to bring it back to the store and order a new one. I am hoping it comes within the 7 - 14 days promised. Looking forward to having the nursery set up.


Now that I'm past 35 weeks I can rest a bit easier. That was the big week the doctors wanted me to get to. On Friday I'll have officially entered into the 9th month. I still haven't figured out if I say I'm 9 months pregnant then or 8 months pregnant, anyone know?

Pregnancy Learnings

What I've learned so far while pregnant:

• I should invest stock in Brugger's Bagels. I constantly am starving in the morning and need to go for an egg, bacon and cheese sandwhich on an everything bagel.
• Carrying open liquids while juggling other things is not a good idea when your belly is big. You tend to spill all over yourself as I experienced the other day at Whole Foods, where I managed to spill salad dressing all over my shirt, pants, sweater, and coat!
• Pregnancy brain really does exisit. The other day I finished my 10 page paper and then managed to save and delete it in one movement. Thankfully Eric was able to restore it for me.
• Crying occurs for silly reasons, like hysterics over deleting my paper or spilling soy sauce.
• It's one way to get your husband to let you do some house projects! Eric let me redo the 3rd floor bathroom, fix our closests, invest in some outdoor furniture, and replace the carpet on our stairwell! He even killed the grass in the front yard and plans to reseed it! Lovin' this perk!
• Tired is a word that will be on the fore-front of one's vocabulary.
• There is no sensor for folks when reviewing the size of your belly. If I got paid for everytime someone said my belly was big I would be rich!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Memorial day weekend Eric and I went up to Michigan so that I could attend the baby shower my family on the Downes side hosted for me. It was a very nice shower! We had brunch at the Royal Park Hotel which was one of those old fashioned brunches where they served a buffet of options of both breakfast and lunch items. I haven't been to a brunch like that since I was little so I was loving it. My family did a wonderful job of following our safari theme for the nursery and now Eric and I have loads of things to set up a proper nursery! I especially am excited to put on our safari bedding (Thank you again Downes family!). It was wonderful to see everyone and celebrate with family.

We played a couple games at the shower and then the boys came to help us put the gifts in the car. Eric got to play a game as well and won the onesie he is holding up "Daddy Knows Best". I couldn't resist also posting the picture of my dad and Eric holding a sleeper suit. I thought it was cute!

This weekend my mom comes up with my Aunt Rosy to help me have a garage sale. This will allow me clean out the nursery and actually get the crib (Thank you Romant family!) set up and the baby dresser in place. Then it will finally be time to put all the cute decorations and things n place! I'm looking forward to purging the house and getting the baby's room ready to go! Only 5 weeks and 2 days more till July 10th!

25 to 14!

This has to be the oddest pregnancy ever. Either that or doctors really do not know that much about pregnancy as we think they do. Eric and I went to see the prenatal specialist this week. I got measured again for my fluid. And guess what! I went from 25 down to 14 in the last two weeks and now am in the "normal" range for fluid. I asked the doctor where it went :) and he said no one knows sometimes that just happens. He asked me if I was drinking less because I knew I had more fluid, I told him nope, that Eric was still complaining about how many glasses I use!

Baby Kato is 4lbs 9ozs and is in the 48th percentaile for weight. Eric was laughing at me because I kept asking if that was right. All the books say I should be 3lbs 5oz by now so 4lbs 9oz sounded large! I guess my books are outdated.

Eric and I also went to the pediatricans office. They have a tree slide in the middle of their waiting room and a space room in the back. If we live here long enough, I think our child will love going to the doctors office! Originally, we were going to go see a second option but I told Eric we would just go with this one because otherwise we would have two pediatricians like we have two childcares and two hospitals! (Though we did finally decide on which hospital we wanted to go to, we will be deliverying at University Hospitals near Case)

It's been a busy week at work and I'm glad to have a long weekend coming up. Eric and I leave for Michigan on Saturday for a quick visit and will be coming home Sunday to enjoy our extra day off. Though Eric, being the home project man lately, has to rake up the grass he killed on our front lawn on Monday. I don't think he is looking forward to that!

Birthday candle blowing

Eric and I went to Lamaze class this weekend. I think we were both a bit disappointed with the class. I wanted to learn more about breathing techniques for me and coaching techniques for Eric. The class spent maybe 30 minutes on this portion. The rest was spent on telling stories and going through the birthing process.

We did learn some awesome back rub techniques, which were so good. I hope that Eric can practice them lots in the next couple of weeks! They also told us that new way to breathe through the hard contractions is like blowing out a birthday candle. Not sure I feel more prepared though to go through this labor after this class!

Boy or Girl

Eric's co-work Matt keeps asking Eric what the heartbeat is for the baby. He swears that the heartbeat method works for determining the sex of the baby. It has of course been proven wrong with many births but I asked my Doctor what it was last week. He told me it was 155 and smiled saying if I was playing the heartbeat game then it would be a girl. So I decided to try out other non-scientific methods for determining the baby's sex. Here are the results:

Heartrate of the baby (over 140): Girl
Belly Position (High = Girl/Low = Boy): Boy
Numbers game (adding my age & month of conception, which results in an odd number): Girl
Linea Nigra (up to rib cage = Boy): Boy
Skin Dry: Boy
Thin and Dull hair: Girl
Lack of cold feet: Girl
Belly Shape (Basketball belly = Boy or Watermelon Belly= Girl): Girl
Morning sickness (lack of): Boy
Activity of baby (lots of movement): Boy
Ancient Chinese Birth Gender Chart: Boy
Chinese Lunar Calendar: Girl

Well, I think that settles it... it's going to be a .... ?

Shower me with love...

Sorry for my delay any blog followers. It's been a busy couple of weeks. I ended up getting into an accelerated Advanced Negotiations class and despite many folks telling me not to take it,
Eric and I decided it was best to get one more out of the way. So the past week, Baby Kato has learned how to negotiate! The class ran two full Saturday's plus Mon - Thurs evening. I am all done and just need to write a final paper which I will work on this week. I took two days off of work just to make sure I wasn't over doing it!

The weekend prior to that my girlfriends Jessica, Tracy, and Megan came up from Milwaukee! It was so wonderful to see them all! Jessica and Tracy hosted a baby shower for me here in Cleveland! The shower was so much fun. It's been so long since I could see friends or throw a party because of school that it was just nice to socialize with the girls. The shower also made everything more real! Having things for the baby just makes it feel like it is really happening!

Schools out for the summer!!!!

Nuf Said!!!!

Baby Love, My Baby Love...

Sorry Supremes song stuck in my head!

Gestaintional diabetes test #2 is negative! But my fluid is still measuring high, I'm 28 and normal is 14 (not sure the metric on those numbers). My belly is measuring 5 weeks ahead. Baby Kato is 3lbs. 4oz! And is loving all the room in my belly to float and flip around.

What we found out about Baby Kato:

• Baby Kato has mommy's toes. The second toe is longer than the big toe.
• Baby Kato most likely has daddy's build. Longer torso and shorter legs (I think Daddy took this to mean he is short :) but I took it to mean Mommy has a shorter torso and longer legs than Daddy.)
• Baby Kato (I think, Daddy does not) has daddy's nose.
• Baby Kato has a lot of hair already! and they predict will have a full head of hair when born! I'm wondering which side of the family that is coming from...Eric and I have to ask our moms!

Both the prenatal specialist and my OB-GYN are advising what I am calling limited bedrest. They want me to go to work, come home and put my feet up. The prenatal specialist especially said he wants me to get 3-4 more weeks in. Eric and I pondered over that statement later wondering if that meant this baby was coming that quickly!

They also wanted to ensure I was comfortable. If I have any contractions or shortness of breath they want me to have some of the fluid drained which is called a theraputic amnio.

I have one more final to make it through and then this semester is over! (posted Sanibel Pictures on Beach Bum Blog).

This baby needs a name!

Well, we finally decided it was time to start talking about Baby Kato's name! We picked up a baby name book on our way down to Florida and started to pick out names we liked. We still have some research to do but we thought we would open it up to everyone to cast their vote! Attached is a link to our poll for what to name Baby Kato. Feel free to vote on what you like! Or add a comment to the blog for other names you think we should consider.

http://www.babycenter.com/403_baby-katos-name_9782024_165381470429.bc

Beach Bum

Baby Kato had a great time in Sanibel. Eric and I discovered that Baby Kato loves the beach. Every time I would be down there it would go through a heavy kicking spell. The kicks were so strong it would move my book off my stomach! We also found out that Baby Kato loves the new Black Eyed Peas song. Every time it played in the car it also started kicking like crazy!

I'll post pictures soon of our vacation. My mom has them on her camera so I won't get them until next weekend. We had fun though and it was nice to relax for a while!

Two more weeks of school!

We've Registered!

We finally did it! We made it to Babies R Us and registered. Though I still have some clean up and cross checking to do on our registry we got through the larger items when we went shopping. Eric was very patient and was able to help me pick out a stroller, high chair, car seats, as well as some other things.

We decided we liked the safari sheet set at Baby Gap so we are going with that for our theme. Because Baby Gap doesn't have an online registry, I created a Kaboodle site for the sheet set and some other things that we wanted that were not offered at Toys R Us. Our kaboodle site link is http://www.kaboodle.com/juliakato/baby-registry.html.

Eric and I also signed up for our classes. We will take our Lamaze class in May and then our Baby Basics class in June.

We leave tomorrow for our vacation! Very much looking forward to it though I have to try to write two papers while on the beach! Baby Kato will get to be at Sanibel earlier than my brother was! My brother first went when he was 4 months old.

When we get back from vacation it's back for another diabetes test. Baby Kato though seems to overall be doing well. The kicks at times are stronger so I know the baby is growing!!

Happy Mamma

Ok I'm a happy mamma now, sorry about the last blog! I just got back from the sports medicine doctor and he said I tore the muscle in between the rib bones so I didn't crack my rib! The cracking I heard was the muscle tearing. The fact that my pain has gone down from a 9 to a 3 also tells him it was the muscle. I am a happy camper, was not looking forward to the pain I was feeling for 6+ weeks (the amount of time it takes a cracked rib to heal).

This weekend Eric and I are finally going to register. We aren't nearly ready but thank you to all my friends to sent me lists of things to get. I'll be consolidating those and we will use those as our guide! I'm excited to do something fun for the baby.

We visited two hospitals the last two weekends and decided we like UH better. I'm trying to find out if the pre-natal specialist would be there for the delivery because the one we have is part of the other hospital Hillcrest.

Oh, and both my OB-GYN and Prenatal Specialist approved my vacation next week. Sanibel Island here I come!! Once I get back from that there is only 2 1/2 more weeks of school!

April Fools....I wish :(

WARNING: If you are looking for a happy blog posting, skip this one.

After my 4 days off of work and school, I was finally feeling well enough to take a stab at working and get caught up on homework over the weekend. During the time I was dealing with pain on my right side when coughing, making sudden movements, and sleeping. It was bearable but didn't seem to be getting any better. Yesterday, I started to get worried because it felt worse so I moved up my Drs. appt to today from Friday. I also left a message for the dr on call.

Ends up I go to school last night and as I get there I sit down and cough. I hear a nice cracking sound and feel pain through my right side. I then realize that the pain is immensely worse. It hurts now to walk and basically do any movement. I called the on call doctor again and she said I probably cracked my rib. As my friend Sarah says, "Seriously!"

Now I have to go see a sports medicine specialist on Friday to take a look at my rib. In the meantime it's slow movements and OBGYN approved Tylenol. I think somone is trying to tell me something, I just don't like the way I'm getting the messages! It's starting to become a little to much for crazy Julia to handle.

The next blog will be happier, I promise.

Sick, sick, sick

Pregnant women should not be allowed to get sick! This is the third time I've had a cold or flu while pregnant and it seems to last so much longer! I was out of work and school Monday - Thursday this week because I basically couldn't do anything except sleep and eat! At least I'm finally getting better, just in time to do homework all weekend. Fun stuff!

And the Oh Wows win....

And the Oh Wows win. I saw my doctor today and told him my concern about my HUGE belly. He measured my belly and I'm measuring for 29 weeks but am only 24wks. He quickly rushed me to the Ultrasound specialist who started our New Years Eve scare. She measured my fluid. I'm measuring at 24 and should be at 16. Soooo what does this mean?

Well, even though the lab drew my blood at 40 min instead of 1 hour, I tested negative for gestational diabetes. My doctor said the early draw would have if anything given me more probability for a positive result. Iwill retest at 28 weeks but for now this means my large belly is not due to gestational diabetes.

The only other explanation I could really get from the doctors I saw today is that sometimes it just happens. The bad news is my OB-GYN now wants to see me every two weeks and that may quickly turn to every week. He also mentioned the possible need for bed rest (no work) and then listed off all these complications I could have with delivery.

Oh well, it was nice to have the past couple weeks off of tests but sounds like now Baby Kato will go back to getting lots of attention.

The yummy (not!) Orange Drink

Well, my breakfast this morning was a lovely syrupy orange drink! I went in to have my blood drawn after drinking it and getting ready for the day. I hope that they did not mess up the test though because I think they were not supposed to draw my blood until after 1 hour of drinking the orange beverage, but instead they drew it 40 minutes after drinking. I mentioned it a couple times but they were insistant that they could draw after 40. I really don't want to go do that again :)

I should have the results by Monday for the diabetes test!

Baby Kato has only been kicking a bit today, yesterday though I thought there was a soccer game going on in my stomach. The baby started kicking around 8am and didn't stop all day, was even kicking as I went to sleep! I swear it is going to be a soccer player like his/her dad!

Wow...what a belly!

Thanks to all of you telling me how small my belly looks but the last picture was posted a month ago! THIS is truly what it looks like! It is so big to me, I cannot imagine how much bigger it is going to get. I'm driving my husband nuts because I keep commenting on it.

I will feel better I think once I get my diabetes screening on Thursday and see my doctor on Friday. Hopefully these two things will put my mind at ease in regards to the size of my belly!

I love how people react now when they haven't seen me for a while. I've gotten the "oh wow" or "should it be that big", which I ask what does this mean? Oh wow it's so big? Oh wow, you really are preggo?

And then I've gotten the "It's all baby", "I wouldn't have known you were preggo from behind". These comments I like :)

Yes, I'm a sensative preggo lady!

Congrats Peggy and Ken on their new addition Sarah Jane born March 15th!

Nesting....

This weekend my mom came up to help me clean out all of the stuff Eric and I do not need. We plan to have a garage sale after school lets out towards the end of May, beginning of June. It was a relief to go through everything and purge! Thanks Mom for all your help! Our once full attic crawl space is still full but over 3/4 of the stuff in there is to sell!

My mom also helped with some ideas on how to organize the baby closet. I need to find a new home for my sweaters so we plan to make our cedar hall closet into a sweater closet. Then the baby will actually have it's own closet.

Other than that was just a good feeling weekend, less homework due to Spring Break and lots accomplished in the organizational front! Hopefully Eric can take my picture tomorrow so I can post a new one. This week he is off to Indiana and I have the dreaded diabetes test on Thursday.

Kicking!

This morning Eric got to feel the baby kick a couple times this morning. It was really neat. I kept saying "baby are you kicking" and the baby kicked immediately after. If only it listens so well after it's born! ha!

Eric started working on all the baby planning finances with our finanical advisor. We have a check list of 4-5 things that we need to do. The big one is a will!

Will post pictures soon of my HUGE belly. I can't believe how big it is....can't imagine it could get much bigger.

Spring Break!

We survived midterm week! I took the worst exam of my life in Marketing. Who would have thought Marketing would have been hard! The professor was testing more how much we could write per minute vs. our knowledge of the topic. Hopefully I did ok.

Eric and I saw our second contender for childcare last week. We will hopefully decide soon on which to go to, there are pluses and minuses for each. My mother-in-law, Carol, is willing to come help us out in October if we do go with the center that has an opening in November!

We went out into the spring weather this weekend and looked at baby furniture. We stopped at Target, Babies 'R Us, Burlington Coat Factory, and Pottery Barn Kids. Eric wasn't as happy about the last one as I was :)

I hope to schedule our hospital visits for this weekend so we can make a decision on which hospital we want to deliver at. My doctor services two so it's nice to have an option. After that Eric and I get to sign up for all those fun classes like Lamaze, childcare CPR, etc.

Baby Brain

It's not a myth. I totally have it. I have been finding it hard at times to articulate my thoughts. Today I sent out an email and I meant to put everyone on the bcc line and didn't. Then I sent out the hyperlinks wrong twice to the website I wanted people to go to! They say all your brain cells come back after the birth. I sure hope so!

Eric and I saw two child care centers today, one I had seen before and one that was new. We both agreed that we liked the one I had seen before which is only 4 minutes from our house! We met with a new lady there than who I had met with before and at the end of the tour she told me there was no availability in October. I was so confused by this statement (again the baby brain) because the previous lady made it sound like it was to early to tell me if there was availability. Oh well... we did end up putting a deposit down to secure a spot in November and we are on the wait list for an October start. We go see the other contender on Tuesday. I think seeing that will help us make a final decision or at least sign up for two child care centers! HA!

Baby Kato is moving around and around. I feel like my belly has a roller coaster in it! When the baby is higher up closer to my chest it's actually very uncomfortable. I can't even imagine what it will feel like in a couple of months! I saw my prenatal specialist on Thursday after the heart scan and he was adamant about me going for my gestational diabetes test now, he thinks the baby has too much room to move in there! I called my OBGYN today and he still wants me to wait till week 24. These doctors! Can't make up their minds. Anyway, week 24 is the winner for now. I should probably listen to the guy more likely to deliver the baby. Am just glad to have a couple weeks without an ultrasound (this week we had 2) or some kind of test. This baby is going to be so thoroughly tested and is going to be completely fine when it comes out.

Grandma Downes's 90th is tomorrow so Happy Birthday Grandma! I am sorry Eric and I cannot be there to celebrate! Mid-terms next week!

I Heart You

Though it took 45 minutes, Baby Kato was able to move in the correct direction for the heart scan today. I was suprised because Baby Kato has been more active the past couple of days. Lots of movement in the belly! Luckily, he/she was still long enough and the heart specialist found no issues! Though the heart specialist did comment that the baby had it's chin up instead of on it's chest, not something he normally sees (though nothing to be worried about). I told him, Eric and I had a proud baby! So now it's not only shy and active but proud! This was the final test we were scheduled to have!

Eric comes with me to see two child care centers on Friday and next Tuesday we see the final one. Hopefully this means that we can make a decision sometime next week.

This weekend will be full of studying! Midterms are next week. Following that I get a week off for Spring Break! Cannot wait!

Crying over spilt Soy Sauce (not Milk!)

It's been a rough week at work! I hope things slow down soon because it's becoming hard to manage this plus school. Anyway, it has brought out the emotional mood swings that you expect during pregnancy. For instance, the other day I spilled soy sauce and started crying! ha! I had to have Eric come clean it up (thank you Eric for being such a good husband). I find this extremely funny looking back on it. Anyway, send good thoughts that things slow down at work. Looking forward to this weekend and plan to take next Friday off to ensure I have enough time for studying for mid-terms.

Next Tuesday is our heart check. Last test they want to run after our New Years Eve scare!

The Belly

We have some pretty colorful people at our gym. There is one guy that randomly comes up to me from behind (before I was pregnant) and asks me if I'm reading on how to save the economy. He does this about once a month. One time I was actually reading a book on Enron for my class so I threw him off with some long answer about financial statements, corruption, and trustworthy leaders. He was speechless for once, it was actually quite humorous.

A couple weeks ago, while Eric was out of town I was at the gym one day and a random guy asks me if we were having boy or girl. This totally threw me off because people at work haven't even said anything to me, except the people I have told. I told the guy that we weren't going to find out. Then his buddy asks me if we picked out any names and I said no. Then they ask how far along I was and I told them 4 months. They go, Oh good so we won't have any babies popping out now.

Anyway I found this conversation quite humorous as I know I'm showing but I didn't think the first people to call me out on it would be some random guys at the gym.

I'll let you judge for yourself if I'm at a point for random people to start asking about my baby. I know if it was me, I would be scared to ask anyone unless I absolutely knew for sure. Posting a picture to show "the belly" above.

Also added a picture of Eric and I before we went out to our lovely Valentine's day dinner at Sergio's. They had a three course menu and everything we ordered was delicious. We came home to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was actually quite good.