Tuesday, October 31, 2006

21 months

The poo monkey has come of age, and is already expecting her own set of keys to the house. And well she should, for over the last month she has become even more of her own little person, very adept at telling us exactly what she wants and when she wants it, in addition to a constant running commentary on her life.

“Aye- bee- eye…ABI!”
“Turn telly off!”
“Mummy lie down too”
“Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles!”
“Another cuddle”
“Don’t like it”
“Our turn”
“Run run run jump!”
“More stories pliz”.

Counting from one to ten has well and truly been mastered, as has the difference between red and green lights…and arrows. No that is not a misprint, little miss is the finest backseat driver there is.

Our girl is also a budding singer, singing along to so many songs that it is quite amazing to watch. The aforementioned LCA Wiggles song, all the Dorothy ones (“Dorofee! Dorofee!”), twinkle twinkle little star, I’m a little teapot, the ABC song, five little ducks…you name it, she’ll sing it. And do the relevant actions. Funniest of all is “Rolling down the Sandhills” as she rolls form one side of the room to the other, just like her beloved Cap’n F’sword.

Little miss has mastered the fork, and is even starting to try a few new foods again now that she has moved to a later shared dinnertime, but there are no new teeth to report. I’m willing to bet we will have the first two year old who still doesn’t have her second top incisors.

Our girl is also gaining confidence in the running, jumping and climbing department. She especially loves climbing into and out of the car and car seat, so much so that you have to build in an extra ten minutes whenever we go out so that she can have a few practice turns. We’re also back at swimming, and although she is still not clean on going under water (“Mummy wipe it away” is a common command when she resurfaces) I think she is rather enjoying the social aspect.

Speaking of social skills, the poo monkey is definitely like her Dad, preferring to stand back and watch other kids before slowly integrating herself into the action. And she doesn’t half love to tell you about what happened on the way home from any social outing (“kids cry…abi no cry”, “held the baby”, “good dinner” and so on).

Books are still a major love, with the poo monkey loving to play anticipatory games as we read her favourite stories:
Me: “It must be your turn…”
PM: “Head!”
Me: “Shut your…”
PM: “Ears!”
Me: “Bless you…”
PM: “Nose!”
Together: “Can you smell the sleep?”

All Spot books are much loved, as is the Daddy book. We’re also getting right into “Where is the Green Sheep?”. Little miss is forever trying to stall bedtime with her calls for “More stories”. It’s hard to resist.

She’s hard to resist. I’m crap at discipline…but she is really good with the few firm but fair boundaries in her life. Except for those relating to yummy food. Then again who isn’t? Although in this department I’m trying to be firm as the poo monkey is still a beautifully cuddly girl, however I think she is starting to plateau as her tummy is less protuberant nowadays. To be honest I think she is very much in proportion, especially given her rather large cranium courtesy of her Mum. Maybe she will also be a six footer just like me.

Love you so much sweetheart, you are an absolute pleasure to have around and your zest for life so re-energizing.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Let's make this official

Yes I'm pregnant. 6 weeks and 1 day in fact. Due 20th June 2007.

What a relief to confirm* that:
a) Dottie is in my uterus and not my fallopian tube
b) Dottie is showing the beginnings of heart activity
c) Dottie is singular and not plural.

Where to from here?
Week 7: GP for referral and bloods
Week 8: Endocrinologist to work out how best to manage my pesky thyroid (don't want to think about it at the moment)
Week 9: IVF docfor for a heartbeat scan...

..and finally, hopefully, everything crossed, the obstetrician the following day.

This is really happening folks!

* So sick of riding the wand, but hey, what's a transvaginal when you are getting such good news? Will miss you, cold plastic friend. Not.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Serenity now

After a rather hectic week to say the least, I am pleased to report that all is going well with the microdot, in that my thyroid appears to be behaving and I am actually starting to fill out a bra again.

What I am not so pleased to have to discuss is gossip, and why those who indulge in it need to stop. Now. Without naming names, I was rather disappointed to find out that someone has been sharing the fact that mr hissychick and i have done ivf with people outside of the immediate family.

Whilst I am certain that no malice was intended, and I am in no way ashamed of the means by which we are creating our little family, I do not think such personal information is a topic for general discussion within the extended family. I know for a fact that those I have chosen to speak to are people who by their very nature would not tell others. That's precisely why they know.

Put another way: it is up to mr hissychick and I to determine who we disclose this information to, and that it is us who do the telling. What worries me most is that I am sure news of our latest pregnancy has already been broadcast around the country.

And I simply cannot think about that.

It's a common adage that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. I disagree. Try gossip. Use your brain cells to think about and discuss other issues, rather than living vicariously through what you think you know about other people.

OK, time to shut up before my cortisol levels shoot through the roof again. One week until scan day.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Well what do you know

According to yesterday's beta there is a teeny tiny bunch of rapidly dividing cells that are producing hCG somewhere in my body.

Now please please please:
a) Be in my uterus and not my remaining fallopian tube
b) Behave yourself oh thyroid of mine ( don't hate me, but I lost weight during this IVF cycle..).

Thyroid function test results available today after 11 am, first ultrasound in two week's time.

In the infamous words of the poo monkey, "seat belt on mummy".`

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Testing times

Know this: My MIL is arriving on a week long visit tomorrow evening. My beta is Thursday morning. She knows that I am doing the test. To say that I am pissed off about the lack of privacy at this critical time in the cycle is an understatement. However, it is no one’s fault but mine for sharing cycle details with family. Mine out of necessity so that the poo monkey could be cared for at EPU, mr hissychick’s so that there would be no jealousy or implied accusations of unequal treatment. And I’m the winner. Yay me.

Know this: Life has not stopped following ET. I have had the occasional glass of wine. I have enjoyed several cups of tea every day. I have not taken it easy, work has been busy and the poo monkey has had some broken nights of sleep thanks to a cold/hayfever that won’t go away. In other words I am living life as opposed to waiting for something over which I really don’t have any control. I am tired of fear and fortune telling.

Know this: In absolute contradiction of the above statement, I have been and will be testing each morning until my beta, yesterday being the first time I dipped a stick, when I could be sure that 14 days post trigger shot I wouldn’t be getting the good old hope crushing false positive that are yet another bonus of IVF. The two tests so far have given the same result. But guess what? I’m not telling you a thing until the beta is done.

Poo monkey’s word for the day:
crusty (in reference to the state of her nose).

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Progestermoan

I am so blah
I am so blah
Blah blah blah
I am so blah.


It would appear that Crinone is dong squishy things to my mind as well as my nether regions. I'd honestly forgotten about this aspect of the stim cycle.

The luteal phase has never been a good friend of mine, usually resulting in pustular eruptions on my face and mini meltdowns of my mind, hence the reason I love shutting it the fuck up with those wee tablets that come in a pack of 28.

Now it would appear that the nightly squirt of cooter cream is not only making me doubt my worthiness as a mother to the poo monkey, it is also making me eat salty, salty two minute noodles and rare bloodied lamb chops- laughing maniacally at the fact I was once a vegetarian- as I frantically order 10 cheap HPTs off the ‘net because, of course I’m not even thinking of testing before my beta next Friday.

This morning my girl said “I gorgeous” to me. You are, my darling. Wish Mummy wasn’t feeling so ugly though.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Twenty months

Can it really be possible that the poo monkey has reached her twenties?

Two new teeth are on the scene (another bottom jaw molar and eye tooth...when are you going to get your top second incisors?), you are taller and still delightfully rounded in that delicious way only toddlers can be.

Over the past month we have again seen you take great leaps with your speech, you love to parrot sentences and love to use your action words and personal pronouns of sorts. As I have written earlier, you occasionally use "I do it" and "you do it", although mostly you stick to "abi x..mum x, daddy y" etc etc. You continue to astound us with the number of words you know and add to your vocab every day. "Up", "down", "on/off", "in/out", "yucky/better" are all used in their appropriate contexts.

You also own everything, it's not our car it's Abi's car, Abi's 'puter...

You also speak many universal truths, like "Red stop" and "green go"...our little backseat driver!

Conversations with you are gorgeous, going along the lines of:
Poo monkey: "Dip! Daddy dip!"
Daddy: "Do you want to go on the slippery dip"
Poo monkey: "Okay!"
....as if it was our idea in the first place!

Mummy: "We're going to put your socks on because it's cold"
Poo monkey: "Ahhh....better!"
...this Poo monkey seal of approval is particularly cute.


You are also developing manners, always saying "Thankyou Mummy/Daddy/Nana"...and even "Thankyou much". We're also getting the occasional "Pliz" too. Let's hope this stays with you during the teenage years.

It is utterly hilarious to hear you say "Abi burp" and then fake one. Then again, your mum has always had a sophisticated sense of humour.

You can count from one to ten, well mostly-nine is your stumbling block- and if you don't feel like counting all the way you just go "...ten HOORAY", all pleased with yourself as you should be.

It is utterly adorable to hear your attempts at singing "Twinkle twinkle little star", complete with actions. And it is recognisable to persons other than your mummy! You also love to unambiguously do the actions and sing along where you can to assorted Wiggles songs, especially "Quack quack", "Jonie works with one hammer" and "Five little ducks", rapidly improving on the skills you were only starting to display a few months ago.

Your love affair with the Wiggles grows everyday, as does your associated Wiggles vocabulary ("henry puss" "wags woof", "jeff", "murray"). So far your parents are using your brand recognition skills for good rather than evil. When you need a top up of dairy food all we need to do is pull out a Wiggles yoghurt and you're away ("'iggles ogurt..yay!).

You are starting to enjoy more grown up activities such as Play dough ('Tay-do! Tay-do!'), cutting the dough (Abi cut it), flattening the dough ('hammer! hammer!') and pressing moulds ("press down"). You still love your stickers and drawing. And reading of course. Nowadays you love to tell us the story from your favourite books, especially "Goodnight me".

You love to 'help', especially sweeping, pulling clothes out of the basket and 'cooking' with your very own cupboard of plastics. "Abi too" is heard an awful lot around these parts.

Your fine motor skills are amazing, you love to undo and put on lids and caps of all descriptions, which has led to your Daddy and I having to be a bit more vigilant with objects previously safe from your reach. Especially Mum's lip balm...there is nothing in this world you love more than your "lippy".

We're making lots of progress in the gross motor skills department too. You are absolutely delighted with your ability to climb on and off things like your see saw rocker and ride on car....doesn't mean you like to use your own legs to push though..."Mummy/Daddy do it...better!". You love nothing more than to climb on and off the sofa nowadays too, and are attempting to jump and sometimes run.

I could go on and on...and I usually do...but you are now up and happily eating a yoghurt all by yourself in the chair adjacent to mine- and this yoghurt won't last forever.

Love you so much our little girl, for you truly are a little girl now.

Mummy will also let you in on a secret: if all goes well you might be on your way to becoming a big sister next year. Whether or not you'd appreciate that remains to be seen!

[ETA: How could I forget to mention how many colours you know: red, orange, pink, green, purple, yellow and blue? Or that stand your ground with a strong "Enough"?]