4th Month Visit

Our visit to the gynecologist is always an exciting event. She's got a 3D doppler machine (or is it 4D?) so we get to see not only the black and white images, but the 3D image as well. She's even saving the images on a CD, great for sharing with family and friends.

The highlight for this month's visit is that:
- the risk for trisomy 21 is very low at 1/2308 so I won't undergo amniocentesis (risky at 1/250).
- they found the presence of nitrite on my urine analysis so I had ECBU analysis which revealed nothing alarming.
- we tried to peek on our child's gender and it seems to be a girl. Another one! To be confirmed on next month's visit. Though we preferred it to be a boy, the fact that maman and baby are healthy is more than enough to be thankful for.

Maman

Getting rounder by the day. Gained 4 kgs from the start of pregnancy, that's one kilo a month! Wow. Average gain weight at this point is 2 - 4.5 kg, needless to remind me that I'm on the borderline. I need to be more responsible. I probably need to stop sneaking on my M&M pack in my drawer. Ang sarap naman kasi.

Weight gain graph comparing 1st and 2nd pregnancy.

Baby

Heart busy pumping at 144 bpm. 17 weeks and 3 days.

So far so good. No nausea. Baby's starting to kick left and right. Papa, a bit disappointed, but supportive as ever. Louna, a promising doting ate starts to practice feeding and changing diapers with her doll.

Life is good.

Link to Louna's pre-natal visit at 4th month.

The Blabber

I knew she's got the potential. I saw it. And I was quite sure of it. I talk pretty much. And so does Papa. An apple tree bears apple fruits, no mystery.

She's been trying to communicate at an earlier age. Though not clearly, she's nonetheless able to express what's in her mind and get what she wants most of the time. A mix of baby talk and body language are this girl's secret.

Here's some tricks and phrases of the moment:

Me trying to play Dora the Explorer DVD on my SIL's computer, but the computer was only able to read sounds without the images. Then there was Louna, playing narrator to her grandparents, auntie and cousins started:

Meow.. dans l'eau.. il pleure.. Diego.. il fait calin.
Meow (the little jaguar) .. fell on the water.. it's crying.. Diego.. cuddled him.

In trying to help her wear her shoes, or anything for that matter:

Je vais le faire.
I will do it.

In trying to accompany her to her potty, to her room, etc..

Reste là.
Stay there.

In trying to push her to eat something:

Aime pas ça.
I don't like that.

If she did a mistake:

Oh no! (With Dora accent please!)

In trying to help me or Papa finish our yoghurt:

Aider Maman?
Can I help you Maman?

The way she expresses herself just shows how independent she had become. My baby is a big girl now.

Oh Merde!

Rule #1: If you want to effectively educate your child, don't forget to educate yourself first.

I thought I heard her say Oh men! (I think it was more like - I wanted to believe I heard her say Oh men!) Then I heard her say it again last night... after Papa said Oh merde! (Exact translation of Oh shit!)

Oh men!

4 Months On the Way

My tummy's getting rounder and rounder since the preggy announcement and I hate that I needed to purchase some preggy clothes because the ones I used during the first pregnancy were summer clothes and that, obviously, were out of style.

Last night, I had this brilliant idea of getting Papa behind the camera and capture Louna and the growing bunny at play time. The result ain't that bad so this would become a monthly pictorial series till the bunny's out.

Our 29 month old little mademoiselle is a certified chocolat addict. In fact, it was hard to really capture a good portrait with her running around. So we bribed her with a bar of chocolate. Instantly, she was cooperative and the result was awesome. But just after the pictorial session, she was already claiming her chocolat.

We're slowly introducing her the art of partage (sharing) since she will soon share her Maman and Papa. Below is the scenario at lunchtime: An Easter egg to be shared between the 3 of us.

Louna dividing the chocolate, giving a portion to Papa, then to Maman and the biggest share infront of her (I was still eating some fruits). They ate their share of chocs then afterwards, Louna moving out of her chair walked to my direction. With a big smile, she asked me:

Louna: T'aimes pas ça? (pointing to the chocolate) You don't like it?
Maman: Non, j'aime bien. No, I like it a lot.
Louna (insisting, again pointing to the chocolate): T'aime pas ça? You don't like it?
Maman: J'aime beaucoup. I like it a lot, Louna.

The question and answer portion were probably repeated 5 times with her fingers getting closer and closer to the chocolate. Then she looked at me again and said Partage (Let's share) dividing the chocs into 2, one for her, another for me.

That T'aime pas ça and Partage conversation went again and again till I was done with my fruits. In the end, I only had 1/8th of what I was supposed to have.

Well, at least she understood the principle of sharing - and it always works to her advantage.

Pssst: please watch her dance We did it! with Dora and Boots: