Surgery today

It's not until 12:30 pm Central Time, so i have some time this morning to play with my baby while the house sleeps. Well, one dog is up and eXUBerant this morning, too :).

MIL came last night, and was bowled over by the concept of EC, but when she saw that it works (there was a successful number 1 and a successful number 2 both last night), she just said, "That's amazing!" (And maybe acted like D is the smartest baby in the world lol, but she is so it's okay).

D also ALMOST took her first step yesterday. She let go of me and twist-turned and stepped toward MIL, but she fell to her knee so i guess it doesn't count. But OH she's so close! If she hadn't turned, i know she would have made it! Her other news is that she waved Hi for the first time the other day. So cute! i love love love her wave! And she JUST did it for me again! Squeeeeee!

Okay, so, surgery time. First off, i didn't get sick from D's cold. Hallelujah! So hopefully they will not reschedule and all will go as planned. Or at least i'll have surgery lol. Realistic scenario: He will get *most* of the endo, i will be pain-free or much less pain for much longer than after the previous surgery (only 6 months!!!), but nothing will change for me fertility-wise. i told him that if my tubes don't seem to be causing me pain, don't remove them, but try to repair them. Of course, there's a good chance they could just re-close again within a month, before i could even conceivably conceive. If they appear to be causing pain or are in TERRIBLE shape, just remove them. Which would increase success if we ever tried IVF, but considering we HATE the local IVF clinic and we're thrilled with the direction our family is going through adoption, the chances of doing IVF before i'm too old are pretty slim. Someone's insurance would have to change drastically, i would say.

i probably won't update until tomorrow, if then, because i tend to get pretty knocked out from surgery and anesthesia. My first lap i had surgery on Friday and didn't wake up until Sunday evening. But since i've been fasting for 2 days already, surely hunger will kick in at some point and wake me up lol. i actually had a dream last night about pizza!

Suuuure... you can't stand unassisted

Dear D,

Yesterday i caught you standing on the thin edge on the side of your walker wagon. It's MAYBE 3/4" wide. And slanted. And you were standing on it on one foot, holding on to the handle (backwards) with one hand, trying to decide what to do with your other foot.

i am no longer buying your story about not having sufficient balance or nerve to stand unassisted. Or walk for that matter. We all know it's just a cover and you have a secret life as a walking baby.

Mommee

P.S. i am really proud of you. This morning you woke up with a fully dry diaper after about 10.5 hours overnight, and you even oke up several times last night. And then you pee pee'd on the potty for about 20 minutes straight. Way to go!

Crazy proud mama!

D had her first 100% poop in the potty tonight! A few weeks ago i was able to catch her poop after she'd gotten started once (or maybe twice), but never when she hadn't. Putting her on the potty just distracted her, but yesterday she was grunting heavily and kept going on the potty. She may have been a little constipated so she didn't ever actually poop, poor thing.

Today, as soon as she started grunting, i took her up to the potty. She tried for a bit and gave up. Then she grunted some more and this time she succeeded 100% on the potty. Amazing!

And the weird thing is when she was a (little) baby she used to poop while eating a bottle. Now she poops while eating solid food in the high chair. Odd.

Come to laugh, stay to pray

Probably my favorite Thomas Hardy quote ever. Why? Because it shows that even in the 19th century, not everyone went to church and there was a (not tiny) group who shunned organized religion.

After yesterday's post from "D", i'm guessing some of you think i'm crazy for putting a 4 month old on the toilet. And, maybe i am. i think this would qualify as a "Come to laugh, stay to pray" situation.

There's this line of thought called "Elimination Communication", which in my mind is probably THE stupidest phrase i've ever heard lol. Basically it's about concentrating on the baby's signals for when s/he needs to "eliminate" (ugh, there it is again) and starting toilet learning early. Well, to say i'm not totally on board would be putting it mildly. And the website i saw first on the topic doesn't help. The image of a 6 month old being held over a toilet, cheeks spread, well... not appealing to me. And when i realized that D mostly pooped while eating, ha ha! No way was i going to try to balance her over a toilet in one hand with a bottle in the other!

The one thing i thought was appealing about the concept of EC was that it provided positive experiences on a potty seat for babies, so that there's no huge transition when they're a toddler and going through the big potty training ordeal. If you provide positive experiences all along, little by little, it will be more natural for baby to slowly learn the concept of what a potty is for instead of having it thrown in their face at 18 months of age. So... when D was about 3 months old, i bought her a potty seat: the kind that fits over the regular toilet. And i put her on it usually about 7 or 8 times a week, once a day weekdays but skipping days occasionally, and a few times a day on weekends, for maybe 1-2 minutes at a time, usually before bathtime. And we've had very few "catches"; probably 2 total in the last 6 weeks. Considering how rarely i actually attempt "EC" (if you can call my complete laziness EC), i'm not surprised at our lack of success.

i am completely surprised by the success this weekend, though! Yesterday i put D on the potty 4 times, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. And she peed in the potty 3 times! And the one she didn't pee pee, she actually peed before i got her on the toilet as i took her diaper off, so i can't really call that a failure (maybe a laundry problem lol). Today she's already gone twice out of two attempts. Now, i have no idea if she's "getting it", or if i'm "getting it", or if we've just been lucky or whatever. But it's still pretty neat that we've saved a few diapers, and for someone who really would like to cloth diaper (but whose husband thinks it's gross), saving even a few diapers feels like a success :).

My day so far

Hello adoring public, it is me, Baby D. Actually, I wanted to talk about that nickname. I feel that, as I am no longer a baby, I should not be called Baby D. I mean, I can sit up practically unassisted. I think I am nearly a toddler, so I should be called a Pre-Toddler. Pre-Toddler D. What do you think?

I'm going to tell you about my day. It's pretty exciting so far. I barely got any sleep and was up 5 times last night. Finally I let Mommee get some sleep until 8:30. Then I ate just a few ounces of food, and then I went pee pee on the toilet and got dressed in my "Daddy loves me" outfit. Then I puked all over my "Daddy loves me" outfit, went pee pee in the toilet again, and got dressed in my blue kitty cat hoodie outfit. Then I puked on Mommee, but didn't mess up my hoodie, so I was happy about that.

After Daddee got up, we went to the Mexican restaurant where I saw my favorite waitress, Home Depot to buy me neat new stuff for my house, and then to Kohl's where Mommee exchanges some clothes she'd bought herself for some clothes for me. Yippee! Here's my new Christmas outfit:

Isn't it BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL?!?

Well, I thought I would say hellooo to you adoring fans and remind you that I am no longer Baby D but prefer to be called Pre-Toddler D. Thank you.