Lost tooth #4

Yesterday, Sasha lost her 4th tooth, a bottom left tooth next to the center teeth (I guess it's also an incisor). She is still growing in that top left front tooth, so she is starting to look quite gap-toothed.

The story of how this one came out is kind of amusing to me. I had seen over the past week that the tooth was becoming increasingly loose, but I underestimated how soon it would be falling out. Yesterday, the weather was cooler than our usual heat. It was cloudy and breezy, so I decided Sasha and I would eat our lunch outside in the warm and breezy shade.

I made a simple dish of spaghetti noodles with butter, parmesan, and italian herbs for Sasha for her lunch. She and I sat at our outdoor furniture comprised of 2 outdoor chairs and a table. We ate and played with our iPads.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Sasha starts spitting out her noodles onto the table. And I mean spitting. I was horrified. My mom-instincts took over and I started scolding her fiercely for being so impolite as to spit noodles on the table.
"But Mom! That's the only way I can find my tooth in the noodles", she exclaimed. I was taken aback by her response, not quite sure what she was talking about. She searches through the noodle and spit puddle on the table until she finds what she was looking for: her tooth. She holds it up for me like a trophy.

I apologized for yelling at her, and she and I had a good chuckle together over the misunderstanding.

DIY Rebozo Wrap Complete

From top left clockwise: Hemming the osnaburg, gradient dying the green side, gradient dying the blue side, and finished wrap.

I definitely intend to do a lot of baby wearing when Killian arrives. I had previously posted about the Mei Tai carrier that I had sewn, but the Mei Tai is actually the third baby carrier I now have for Killian. About a month ago, I made this DIY short wrap, called a Rebozo, out of osnaburg fabric. Osnaburg is strong, light-weight, but only comes in a plain off-white color, so it had to be hand-dyed. I performed a gradient/ombre dye job on the fabric after I got it prewashed and hemmed. The dying job took me about 2 days.

Can't wait to carry my little guy in this wrap!

C-section is scheduled. Week 33 pregnancy update

It's a Boy! 20 week ultrasound (old but I hadn't posted this here yet).

I had my 32-week prenatal appointment last Tuesday and all is well. These weekly appointments seem to be a waste of time, as I am healthy and all is normal. I have a 40 mile drive to get to my appointments, so they can be a bit inconvenient.
My weight was 139 pounds, up 3 pounds from my last appointment. My starting weight was around 115 so I guess that's a total of 24 pounds so far. I was over 150 pounds at the end of my pregnancies with each of my girls, so I'm not too worried. It is still a bit disconcerting to see such high numbers on a scale but I seem to be almost all baby and breasts.

My blood pressure was up quite a bit this visit compared to my last. At my last appointment, I had low blood pressure, around 100/60-something. This time it was 120/60-something. Not quite sure what that means, if anything. Probably nothing.

I had 2 prior c-sections and I am not doing a VBAC, so we scheduled our cesarean section date! My son Killian will be born September 18th at 7:30am, unless something changes sooner. It is a relief to actually have a date to plan for.

Doc measured Killian's heart rate, and it was in the 140s. I told him I thought he was in a head-up position. Doc checked and said in his opinion, he thinks Killian is head down. I guess I could be wrong. I knew for certain with both my girls so it feels strange not to be able to tell a head from a butt, but he has been moving a lot more than the girls did. The girls each chose their position and held it like a strategic warfare point, but this guy flips around and even lies sideways/transverse sometimes.

I have been quite uncomfortable. I am short and ran out of room long ago. I get short of breath often, especially after eating. My ribs hurt sometimes. But as of today, 45 more days to go!

Chores

Lately, Sasha has been quite the computer gaming addict, and not in a good way. So I decided to try to solve two problems at once.
Firstly, Sasha now has to perform 2 chores daily of her choice. She is 6 and this is an introduction to chores and house work for her, so I'm starting her off easy. I have a list of chores that she can perform, and for each chore she does she earns one hour of computer time. She can only earn a max of 2 hours of computer time daily.

Sasha is a meticulous perfectionist. So if she chooses to do dishes, it may take her forever to do them, but they are perfectly spotless. Right now, I have to bring a step stool up to the kitchen counter for her to reach the sink, but she does a fantastic job.

Other chores include vacuuming (she doesn't do this one very well yet. I think the vacuum might be too heavy for her), pulling weeds, watering plants, sweeping floors, mopping floors, dusting, and sorting laundry. I am still trying to think of more options for her but it is a good start so far.

DIY Mei Tai Complete

Sasha models a front carry on my Mei Tai with her favorite stuffed animal.

I made a mei tai (baby carrier)! It was quite a major sewing project for me as I am not very experienced at sewing more than hems. The carrier is reversible (khaki canvas on the 'man side', and a blue/white/tan stripe fabric on the other), has a hood that can turn into a newborn head support, has padding on the shoulders/belt/hood for comfortable wearing, and has pockets. My model Sasha demonstrates a front carry with her favorite stuffed animal, but it can also do hip and back carries. I still have a few more DIY projects to go but I am having fun learning new things.

Lost: First Top Front Tooth

Sasha lost her first top front tooth. In my opinion, the loss of a top front tooth and its subsequent replacement with an adult top front tooth is a very appearance altering event. It feels like such a transition to me.

So, the tooth had been loose for a while, and a gap had opened up in the top row of Sasha's teeth. The gap was so large that it looked like she had already lost 2 teeth. People were asking her how many teeth she had lost, much to her annoyed confusion as she hadn't lost any yet. She had started to grow cautious with how she bit her food, and even avoided corn on the cob, one of her favorites, to prevent the discomfort of biting with a loose front tooth.

Eventually one evening, it happened. The tooth became so loose that it was barely hanging by a thread. One tiny little pull would set it free. But this is Sasha we are talking about. She was terrified. She accidentally bit the dangling tooth and it poked her into her gums and set her into a frenzy of anxiety. She wouldn't pull the tooth. She wouldn't let her father or I near her mouth for fear we'd just grab the tooth and pull it on her. Of course I was tempted to just hold her down and pull it. It was just dangling there temptingly. But no, we tried to calm her down instead.

I had to work at my in-laws restaurant the next morning, so I needed to get some sleep. As the evening approached midnight, we still couldn't get near the tooth. Jon stayed up with her and let her sleep with him downstairs, as we worried that the tooth would fall out in the night and that she would choke or swallow it in her sleep.

Sure enough, it did indeed fall out in her sleep. She woke up in the morning (while I was at work) and found the tooth in her cheek.

A Coincidence at the Park

My husband is in the Army National Guard, and this last weekend his unit had its annual summer picnic in the park. Sasha and I met Jon at his armory and he drove us over to the picnic location. We met some of his platoon and squad members, and ate barbecue.

The park that the picnic was held was one of the nicest I've ever seen. There was a large busy outdoor pool and water park, multiple play areas for the children, and the playground equipment looked very modern and high quality. So it didn't take long before Sasha was itching to start playing at the playgrounds. They did look fun! After we finished our meal, we all went to the playground to play. Yes, all of us. The cool thing about having kids is being able to play on playground equipment with your children! I was a little tired of standing and looked for somewhere to sit, but there were so many pregnant women sitting on the park benches that I didn't see a spot to sit down. There seems to be a baby boom around this town.

The swings were open, so I decided to sit on a swing. Sasha followed me to the swings and sat on the swing next to me, and Jon pushed the both of us. It was fun and amusing for all of us. Because I was being pushed, I was swinging quite high and fast. I started to wonder aloud at what my poor unborn 30-week baby in my belly thought of all the swinging, and Sasha found my musings on the topic hilarious. She made a little baby voice and pretended to be the baby, all confused at the back and forth motion going on.

Here is where I mention that we have been referring to our unborn child by his name, Killian. There, now you know his name. Sasha was laughing and yelling "Killian is like, (baby voice) 'Hey what is going on?'". There was a woman pushing a toddler on a swing next to me, and she just halted when Sasha mentioned the name.

"What was that name she just said?", the woman asked me. "Who is she talking about?".

Jon and I explained to her that I was pregnant, if it wasn't obvious, and that we were naming our unborn son Killian.

She dropped her jaw in astonishment. She was also pregnant with a son, due a month after me, and her top name consideration for her unborn son was also Killian. She had never heard the name used before, and explained that it was a name of her grandfather. I also chose the name after my grandfather, so we bonded a bit over the coincidences. She explained that her mother-in-law hated the name and worried that a child named Killian would get called "Killer". I told her we'd embrace the nickname if that occurred, and that nothing sounded more awesome to me than imagining my future son going up to bat in a little league softball game, cheering "GO GET 'EM, KILLER!" at him to urge him on to greatness. She said that for the first time, she felt good about the potential nickname if it should come up, and that she really felt that Killian was the name of her son. I told her I don't even mind sharing the name with her, even though I expected that there would probably not be any other Killians in town. She did live in a different town, I rationalized, so the two would not be in the same classroom anyways.

As I parted with the woman, she and I walked to where her mother-in-law the name-hater was sitting. She told her mother-in-law that I was also naming my son Killian, to which the mother-in-law haughtily replied, "Good, she can have it". I walked away as the poor woman continued to try to convince her mother-in-law that it was a good name for the baby, but the mother-in-law looked unconvinced.

I suppose I shall never know if she is ever successful in naming her child what she wants. Some day, perhaps the two Killians will meet in the city again. Maybe the woman will bow to the pressures of her family and find a new name, or maybe she'll stick with it and it'll grow on her family like it did ours.

Swimming Sasha

Sasha with a swim instructor

Two weeks ago, Sasha started swim lessons at the local pool. Unfortunately, her first swim lesson was her first swimming pool experience (not counting bathtubs or kiddie pools), so she was terrified. Her fear and apprehensiveness got worse each day. My husband and I experienced quite a mix of emotions as she refused her lessons and stood crying poolside. I was very frustrated that she wouldn't try. I was sort of ashamed that my child was the only child crying, screaming, and refusing to go in the pool or do lessons, while the other kids were running amok and fearlessly having fun. Sometimes I wished that she was a bit more dare-devil and adventurous.
But Sasha is just Sasha, and that's just who she is. She is a cautious child. She rarely gets in trouble because she thinks deeply before acting. And she is just like I was at that age. It hurt to see it sometimes, but her swim lesson experiences were identical to my own. May we each be blessed and cursed to have a child exactly like ourselves. Our children are unforgiving mirrors, forcing us to see our own faults and blessings with brutal honesty.

I did eventually sort things out in my own head. There are blessings to having a cautious child. Jon and I took the opportunity daily to take her to the pool during free swim, and swam with her to build up her water confidence. (My mother-in-law purchased a maternity swimsuit for me so that I could swim with Sasha, and I am grateful for that). And as I swam, it became apparent I am not exactly a good swimmer either. But we swam together and had some fun quality time. It was excellent exercise for me for pregnancy too, so there's that bonus!

Today Sasha had her final lesson and test. She failed her test and will have to repeat level one swimming lessons next year, but she gave it a very good try today. When I think about it, she had no swim pool experience at all, so why should I be surprised she would balk at it. If I had never been to a pool before, would I start diving, floating, jumping, and holding my breath immediately? Yeah I didn't think so. She's come a long way these past two weeks, and overcoming fear of the unknown is hard work.

Good job, Sasha!

A soldier visits home

The past two weeks were very busy around here. Cassie graduated from her Army AIT (advanced training) and returned home for a two week visit. Those two weeks coincided with Jon's 40th birthday and Cassie's 19th birthday, and Cassie was home on recruitment efforts which kept us somewhat busy.

She returned home on a late night flight the same day she graduated from her AIT. Some of her high school friends met her at the airport with us for her arrival home. It was an emotional homecoming with lots of hugs and a few tears. Cassie and I had a lot of text exchanges during that day as she flew home.
She had to wear her military uniform on her flights, so she was patriotically thanked for her service every few minutes as she walked around the airports. At one point, I asked her via text if she was in her ACUs (camo uniform) or her Class A's, and she answered that she didn't know. She was trying to be evasive and said I would just have to wait and see. I responded with something along the lines of, "How do you not know what uniform you are wearing? You ARE wearing clothes right?" and she sarcastically responded that she was not. I replied, "Well that changes the meaning of all those strangers thanking you for your service". BAM!

Cassie had a long list of things she wanted to see and do and eat on her leave home. Mostly stuff that she was homesick for while spending the previous year in the military. She had missed a local sushi restaurant. We took a few trips to the book store and the mall. The weather was a bit hot and stormy, and I was feeling unenergetic, so we didn't get to accomplish everything we wanted.

For Jon's birthday, he wanted something simple that Sasha would enjoy, so we went to a local amusement park. We celebrated with go-karts, bumper boats, a game of laser tag, and some video games at the arcade.

For Cassie's birthday, we celebrated with a barbecue with her friends. I was running behind schedule on the party preparations and didn't start baking her birthday cake until her friends arrived, so we made an event of it and let her friends frost and decorate her cake for the party. It was amusing. They put the candles on the side of the cake instead of on top.

There were some major festivities around town as well. The city we live in celebrated its 100th birthday, so there was a parade and a town-wide rummage sale event. Cassie went to the parade in uniform to support her friend, who was crowned "Miss Stillwater", and Cassie was almost put in the parade on the spot. Cassie, her friend, Sasha, and I went rummage sale browsing for a bit that day. Later on in the evening, Cassie went with some friends to a local Hill Climb event, which included night fireworks.

There was a day where Cassie's friend came over and they had a water balloon fight with Sasha. Cassie was being silly and hid some water balloons in Sasha's shirt so Sasha could pretend she had 'boobs'. Then a little while later, Sasha ran up to Cassie and pointed and yelled, "I see what you have there!". Sasha grabbed Cassie's chest, thinking that Cassie had hidden some water balloons in her shirt, but no, it was just Cassie's own chest that Sasha grabbed. That was some funny comedy.

Finally, the sad day came where I had to drop Cassie off at the airport so that she could fly to her next duty station. She safely arrived at her destination and is currently in-processing at the reception of her new post assignment.

Last Day of Kindergarten

So today was the last day of school, and the last day of Kindergarten for Sasha.
I should catch up on the school year for her, since I did not post about it before. Her first day went well, and as I was taking pictures of her on that first day, I took this one which amused me:

 

It reminded me of the meme picture "McKayla is Not Impressed", so I call the picture "Unimpressed Kindergartener". She did well in school this year. Kindergarten these days isn't like it used to be. Sasha had full days, non-stop full of education, and no naps. Much unlike when Cassie went to Kindergarten with her half days and naptime and cute little art projects.

Sasha had a few interesting encounters this year. She has kept her feisty spirit. She has always been a picky eater, and so we had a problem a few times with lunch. I had her eat the school's hot lunch to try to encourage a more varied diet, but there were a few times it backfired.

One day in particular was taco day. There is nothing specific about tacos that she hates. When you look at it in parts, she likes every individual part of a taco. But when you combine those ingredients and call them a taco, she engages full stubborn mode. So on this particular taco day, she marched herself and her tray straight up to the school principal and announced, "I hate tacos!".
The principal tried to coax Sasha into eating it. She said that maybe Sasha could break the taco apart and eat the parts that she liked. Sasha scolded, "What part of 'I HATE TACOS' do you not understand?". This shocked the principal, and Sasha was sent to the principal's office to eat her lunch in solitude. That was the second time in the year that Sasha was sent to the principal's office. (The first had no amusing story; she was disruptive in reading class.).

Anyways, Sasha is glad to be done with school. She had been hinting lately that she missed the days before kindergarten, where she stayed at home all day. It hasn't quite sunk in yet for me that we are now on our summer break, but I suppose it'll sink in by the middle of next week.

Dusting off the cobwebs

So, it's been a while. 2 years? Of course, a lot has happened in 2 years.

Sasha is in her final week of Kindergarten. We've had some cute adventures there. She's grown into quite a stubborn and feisty child with her distinctive personality. I have a few amusing anecdotes to share about her, most likely in upcoming posts.

Cassie has graduated high school a year ago and is serving in the military. We are expecting a visit from her in a few weeks, which we are looking forward to. I miss Cassie so very much. It's amazing and sad to watch a child grow and leave off on their own life, but I am so proud of Cassie. She has grown into a successful, fantastic, and productive adult member of human society.

 And I am currently 22 weeks pregnant with a third child now! A boy! How strange that is, to have a child grow up and leave as an adult, then find myself expecting a newborn. The age gaps will be interesting. Cassie will be 19 and Sasha will be 7 when this new child is born. The girls seem happy and excited, especially Cassie. Cassie says she always wanted a brother. I hope that Cassie can come home on leave at my due date to see her newborn brother.

So a new baby upcoming and I figured I could dust off the cobwebs on the baby blog. Especially so that Cassie can keep up with updates on her younger siblings while she is away from home. My Baby Sasha posts were for Sasha to read someday when she was grown, and now I think for my future posts, I shall address them all to Cassie so that she can still feel connected to her family while she serves her country.
Love you Cassie!

Growing Big and Strong

And pretty too. I had to include this nice picture of her. I know every mom thinks their child is beautiful but to me she is a beautiful child.

I got a new hiking backpack the other day. A really awesome fancy one in the hopes that someday this summer, my husband and I can go on a hiking/camping trip together. Anything that won't fit in our packs that we can't carry with us easily while we hike to our campsite won't come with us. So a good pack is important, especially for someone of my small stature. I'm not all that strong. This pack should help a lot with that.
So anyways, I took my new pack home and we were all admiring it. Sasha wanted to put it on. Fortunately it's empty but she was easily able to wear it. The pics above are her with my new, empty, light pack.

My husband brought out HIS pack, which is loaded with stuff and Sasha wanted to try THAT pack. We were impressed she lasted as long as she did:
Dad helps her hold it but she insisted he let her do it herself.
Wow, she was able to wear it by herself. It's not a light pack.
Nope, there she goes. Dad caught her when she fell backwards. She wanted to go back to my lighter pack after this.
I probably would have fallen over too. It was heavy by my standards as well.

Easter 2010

These pictures were taken on Easter at our family easter party at my mother-in-law's house.
Bunny ears and blowing bubbles.
Crazy bunny girl.
Aww look, a puppy. A family friend (Sasha considers her an extra grandma) got a new puppy named Muffin. Sasha loves that little puppy. Jack is the black dog and he looks on protectively. (Jack was a shadow to that puppy all day. They are both Lhasa Apsos).
Driving her new wheels that she got for her Christmas present (Thanks Mike!). It was finally nice enough outside for her to drive it around.

Aww, isn't it cute?

A drawing by Sasha. I think it's cute actually. He's got the crazy eyes and that one insane eyebrow.

Reminds me of the Cyanide and Happiness comic strip.

Reading lessons

Two days ago, when it was nice outside and Sasha was playing on her swing set, I grabbed the book that I used to teach Cassie how to read, and started working on it with Sasha.
I should explain. Many years ago, when Cassie was four, I grabbed the same book and started to teach her phonics. Back then, in the early 90s, phonics were still not really the primary method of reading instruction. I believed so strongly in phonics that I took it upon myself to teach her. And thank goodness I did. Her kindergarten and first grade classes were still using methods of reading instruction that make me cringe (memorization, NOT phonics. No wonder we have so many problems with dyslexia!).
A strong reader right before her fifth birthday, Cassie was definitely a reading success. She has been a perfect speller, and a grammar fiend her entire life. When she was five, I could hand her a newspaper and have her read aloud any article to me, without fear that she'd encounter words that she couldn't pronounce. She may not have comprehended an article about economic implications of middle east sanctions, but it sure sounded cool when she read it out loud. I have video of her, at age 4, writing letters to people by herself, and sounding out words so that she could spell them. It was awesome.

Since I have the experience of teaching a child to read, I realized back then that if I had more children, I could start the process sooner. I will be better at it the second time around. I have a few benchmarks of readiness and Sasha has passed my prerequisites (a few games we play). So it's time. No pressure though. If there is any problems, I will gladly put this project off for a break.

But it's been fun! And Sasha is honestly catching on! She read her first word, phonetically today. It was the word "am". It's a start. She is able to phonetically identify the letters M, A, and S. The lessons themselves are very tiny micro-lessons. Barely 5-7 minutes each, one per day, and only done when we're both in a good mood and having fun with something else (like on the swing set!). I am flexible and patient, so if I encounter any resistance, I just stop. Toddler attention spans are very short. So far, she enjoys her lessons, and we catch her repeating her phonics to herself very quietly when she's playing by herself.

Children's minds are amazing little sponges and will absorb what they are taught. We'll see how it goes.

My resources:
Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is the book I'm using today
Why Johnny Can't Read: And What You Can Do about It Good book for it's time and has a reading primer to teach reading at the end of it. Phonics are more accepted today than a decade or two ago, so the first half of the book can be skipped.
Both books might be "outdated" but they worked for me in the 90s with my first child and I stick with what I know.