It’s been an eventful couple of days for the Little Man. Last night was the 2nd night in a row that he slept all the way through the night, from 8ish to 6ish — now if he can do that while he’s in the crib, we’ll be all set!

AND, literally minutes ago, he rolled over for the first time! Go Nate! Crawling, here we come!

So, I’ve been up well over 24 hours now, travelling.

Seoul is a bit depressing. Or maybe that’s just me. Sitting on the airport bus for another hour after getting off a 12 hours plane ride is thrilling. The skyline of the craggy mountain-hills of this penninsula can barely be seen by eye on this gloomy, grey day… but not by my camera. The buildings are mostly industrial-boxy, with little effort for beauty and design available – but I suppose that’s what you get in a nation where a 5% growth rate is considered depressed.

I banged up my elbow somehow, before I left. I don’t remember doing it, but I don’t know what else it could be. It did not fare well on the plane trip. And apparently there is a difference between a drug store and a pharmacy here; the former has grooming, band aids and snacks. The latter is required for anything else, even a simple analgesic like ibuprofren. Fortunately, I was able to find one in the giant underground mall — yes, in the mall — that is the COEX mall. The hotel staff was not as helpful as I hoped, directing me to a different one, which was closed.

The beds would suit April well — very very firm. We’ll see how I fare. I suspect it won’t matter one way or the other, tonight.

I miss my girls already.

Nathaniel and I took a tiny field trip on Wednesday to the doctor’s office for a quick weigh-in, just to get a sense of how well he’s growing. Pretty well, it seems! He weighed 8lb., 12oz., a full 2 pounds over his birth weight and 26oz. more than what he weighed at his 2 week appointment (16 days before). No wonder it feels like he’s been sucking the life out of me! But fortunately he’s doing fabulously. Now if only he would sleep just a little bit more…

First, please note the title change of the blog! Yeah, not very original — someday, maybe 3 or 4 years from now, I will have enough time to work on it properly.

This post is all about Meredith and the awesome job she did at the dentist yesterday. It was official family dentist day, including Nate, who made the trip with the rest of us, even though he has no teeth and barely has any idea what his gums are for. Meredith’s last trip to the dentist was pretty much a non-event — she was content to watch us get our teeth cleaned, but didn’t want to let the dentist look at her teeth or clean them.

Well! What a difference 6 months makes! Our big girl watched me get my teeth cleaned (while Dad quieted down fussy Nate), reorganized the toothpaste stash :\ and played with their display electric toothbrush. She was still scared to sit in the chair by herself because the hygenist wanted to recline it all the way, but she sat in my lap and laid down on my chest so that she could have her teeth not only examined BUT cleaned, too! She balked at having the water sprayed in her mouth, but more because of the mouth vacuum-sucker thing than anything, I think. So she submitted to having her teeth wiped off with a piece of cloth. All in all, head and shoulders above how she did the last time, and the dentist is very pleased with her teeth. (AND says that they’re nicely spaced in her mouth — we may luck out and not need braces for her. Cross your fingers!)

Next up: first haircut!

Nothing much going on. Just growing a baby. But big news regarding our firstborn — today was our first official detectable potty use! Just before bathtime, I decided to ask Meredith if she wanted to sit on her potty and she plopped herself down. The bath water was running at the time (which might have helped things along) so I didn’t hear it, but as soon as she stood up, there it was! Good job, little girl! (Of course, she went to her room for jammies and immediately piddled on the floor as well — one step forward, two steps back… :>)

Hey, remember when we had a blog? *sigh* It probably seems like nothing is happening, which is partially true, and partially completely wrong. Of course, lots of stuff is happening, but all in the context of a normal day, which makes it seem like not worth blogging about, really.

Meredith cracks us up daily with her developing personality. Thursday, when Billi, the nurse who gives me my weekly “butt shot” (as M calls it) visited, Meredith decided to play nurse assistant. She stood and watched Billi and Daddy get the shot ready, then, afterward, got out Billi’s stethoscope for listening to the baby for her, including pulling out the earphones and the tube of ointment she uses. Then she helped me get a Kleenex to clean up the ointment (getting one for herself, of course, so that she could clean her own belly. CLEANING. Still a favorite activity.)

Tonight we introduced her to the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special via my DVD. She was very aware of Rudolph (or as she calls him, Rudolph Brightnose) from our trip to the mall and seeing Santa and his reindeer. So she’s been walking around all week talking about Rudolph. We watched Rudolph while I made dinner and when it was done, she went BALLISTIC when he wasn’t on screen anymore. Wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Of course, that couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that she was worn out and tired from Christmas shopping all day with Daddy, could it? Naaaah. :>) I have a feeling we’ll be watching Rudolph quite a bit from now on…

And, on the other side, of course, we have Numero Dos coming along nicely. Kevin’s kid seems determined to make sure I don’t forget it’s still in there, kicking up a storm every chance it gets. Although I’m not looking very pregnant, I’m FEELING more and more pregnant — I think I’m just displacing all my internal organs instead of growing a stomach. Even at that, the pants are definitely getting tight — I’m wearing them unbuttoned more often than not these days. Fortunately, sitting at a desk all day affords me that luxury. :>

So apologies for the absence — we’re here, just working on keeping up with everything else first… :}

…a baby! You didn’t think we’d let it slip THAT easily, did you?

Kevin and I had our 19 week ultrasound this morning, and we got our second good look at Bingham the 2nd. (Well, Kevin got his first look, since he wasn’t able to be at the first ultrasound.) It took much longer than we thought it would, owing to the fact that one of our technicians was a student who was practicing, but that just meant we got to watch longer.

With this kind of thing, I think no news is good news — I certainly didn’t see any concerned looks or emergency consultations about such-and-such, so I’d like to take that as a sign that everything’s going great. We got a look at two feet, two hands, the seeming requisite number of fingers and toes… We didn’t get very many great pictures this time — just one scary scan of the face which looks like an alien skull, but I’ll scan it and post it as soon as I can.

Mostly, Kevin and I are having what looks to be a healthy little one, and we can’t wait to meet them!

(And yes, we know what it is. And no, you’re not going to until Labor Day, so to speak… :>)

Tomorrow, assuming our final meetings go well, we’ll wrap up arrangements for a new nanny for Meredith and a new family to share that nanny with. Although we are sad to see Esme go, she is moving on to make a better life for herself and her fiance — can’t fault her for wanting bigger and better things than chasing after Meredith. (Although what could be better?? :>)

Our new nanny’s name is Shelly — she’s a mother 5 times over(!) and a grandmother to 2, so I have to expect that she’s pretty much seen and done it ALL. Certainly more than two little ones can throw at her. Meredith’s new partner-in-crime is named Hank, a little blond cutie whose mom and dad, Saffa and Tim, are very enthusiastic and VERY organized and together. I have every confidence if they say something is so, it’s so. And they have nothing but GREAT things to say about Shelly, so I know that Meredith will be in good hands.

So that’s a load off our minds that we’ll have childcare for Meredith taken care of soon. (I was going to say that we’ll have a replacement for Esme, but we’ll never be able to REPLACE Esme!!) All this means that we’re going to hold off placing Meredith in the daycare up the street for another year or so, but as long as she’s having fun and getting plenty of social interaction with others (which it sounds like she’ll get, plus more if and when we place her in a few little activity classes here and there), there’s plenty of time to get her into a structured program. We’re not worried about it.

Think good thoughts for having everything buttoned up by the end of the week!

Well, statistics, anyhow.

M had her two-year checkup a month late. Essentially, she’s doing quite well! 75th percentile for height (TALL), 75th percentile for head size (BIG HEYAD) and 10th percentile for weight (MOORE MILK PEAS?). Verbal and physical skills are on track or ahead, and the doc and I are pleased with her status in general, but she won’t being going on 1% milk like many others of her age are encouraged to… we’ll be on whole for a while longer yet.

Besides… I kinda like having some around for baking.

-K

You probably already know our latest big news and have been checking in vain day after day for the big announcement to show up here. Well, your prayers have been answered! Yes, it’s official — Kevin and I are expecting our second child. Meredith’s little brother or sister will be joining us March 9, 2010 (at least if they stay in there the whole time this time!)

Checkups so far have been sporadic but good — the heartbeat is strong and the ultrasound showed that as of September 16, we are at 15 weeks and counting! (Ultrasound picture to be posted as soon as I find the power cable to my scanner… )

We will continue to post progress and pictures as our new addition develops!