Lydia makes you want to jump, jump

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Yesterday I did Tae-Bo for the first time in almost a year and it actually felt pretty good to be exercising again. I've got about ten more pounds to lose and I'm hoping that this does the trick like it did before. I did manage to fit into some non-maternity pants the other day, but talk about "freshly-squeezed." :P

Today I had my dentist appointment with my neighbor Tami (Lily's mom) as my new dental hygienist. As a new patient, I had to go through all the charting and assessments again, and it seems that my teeth are doing just fine. I do, however, have some receding gums and a vertical fracture in a molar due to my past teeth grinding. I know that I used to grind my teeth pretty hard during my "stressful" high school and college days, but I don't know if I still do, so I'm going to test myself out with a cheap, rubber night guard from Walgreen's. Tami said that the rubber will give a quick indication of 1) whether or not I'm still grinding and 2) where I am grinding. If I am still grinding my teeth, it looks like I'll have to invest in a $400 night guard, which, of course, my dental insurance does not cover. :/

Oh, and on the way home, the rubber lining along my right headlight started coming off again...this would be the third time that it has done that. Fortunately, the body shop is quite close to my house, so I dropped by again, and the manager himself super-glued the lining back down again. I certainly hope it does start flying up again because it's becoming quite a nuisance.

Tonight on Dancing with the Stars, I was sad to see Shannon Elizabeth go when I thought that Cristian should have left before her. If he hadn't had his strained muscle, I'm pretty sure that he would have gone, but who knows. My picks for the top three? Kristi, Jason, and hmmm, this is a toughie...I'll go with Mario. I'm interested in seeing what's in store for next week when the dancers can do lifts; there has always been a pretty thin line with that lift policy if you ask me!

Allergies?

Lydia has had a dry cough and (recently improved) runny nose ever since Sophie came home. She first had these symptoms a couple weeks before my due date as some of you may recall, and I was almost certain that I would get sick, but strangely and thankfully enough, I didn't. Well, Lydia stopped coughing and the nose stopped running soon before I delivered, but came back again about a week later. I honestly didn't think much of it because I used to have a lingering cough, so thus the stalling of the doctor's visit. When we finally went, the doctor said that even though it was allergy season, it didn't seem that Lydia had allergies and she really couldn't determine what was bothering the kid.

Regardless, per the doctor, we tried Claritin for a week, but since that didn't seem to help much, we are on to prescription medicine now. I really hope it helps because Lydia has been waking up at least a couple times every night coughing or upset, plus, she's been waking up at 6:30 AM now. For now, it's not too bad with my mother-in-law in town and is helping watch Lydia in the mornings, but when she leaves next week, Trung will be suffering since he usually has the morning shift with Lydia. Hopefully Lydia's sleeping schedule will return back to normal very soon and we can be one big happy family once again.

Favorites

One of Sophie's favorite poses; I like to call it "The Thinker". Lydia's favorite neighbors Lily (left) who lives across the street and Annie who lives next door (middle). Lydia has enjoyed playing outside in the front yard with them these last couple of weeks. Oh, I might as well point out Lydia's favorite camera face while I'm at it. :)

Sleeper

Apparently my girls love to sleep just as much as I do. Lydia started sleeping through the night at two months old and nowadays averages about 12 hours of sleep a night, plus a one and a half hour nap . (It's no wonder she has so much energy throughout the day). Sophie has been sleeping for three to three and a half hour intervals through the night, and going right back to sleep after each feeding. I remember the late nights trying to get Lydia to go to sleep when she was an infant; she was awfully gas-y. Sophie, on the other hand, seems to pass her gas just fine thank you. :P

In His Shoes

Way to go, Kristi Yamaguchi! I knew that perfect 30 was coming very soon! Poor Shannon, she tries so hard and she looks great, but she's just not mastering the dances. I think Marlee will be leaving the show tonight because she's had flaws in back to back dances; it will be sad to see her go though as she is fun to watch.

Daddy's Little Girls

Trung gets double duty on the weekends. hee hee

Latest and Greatest

I took Sophie to her two week visit yesterday and she has surpassed her birth weight by half a pound, thus weighing in at 7 lbs, 7 oz. Like Lydia, she lost about 10% of her weight by three days old, so I had to supplement over the weekend. I wasn't too concerned about Sophie gaining the weight back nor about her having nipple confusion because that first weekend was the one and only time Lydia had to have formula; I figured the same would happen with Sophie. Everything has been going really well with the baby; I really couldn't ask for anything more...now if only Lydia would just stop acting up. :/

Dancing with the Stars is really the only television that I watch nowadays, besides PBS programs and Baby Einstein, and it certainly has not let me down. Kristi and Jason are still my favorites and I'm almost certain one of them will win, though Mario, Shannon, and Marlee are fighters. Okay, is it just me or was Mark Ballas exceptionally hot dancing the rumba?! I don't know if it was the lavender get-up, but he sure was steaming! :P Needless to say, I was delighted when the judges asked him and Kristi to do the encore dance.

Sisterly Love

I dedicate today's post to my brother Mike who is currently in Dubai. Happy birthday, Mike! We love you and miss you very much!

Oops!

My cousins came over Saturday for lunch while my mother was in town. Lydia enjoyed the extra attention, but had a little too much fun...

Life as a Big Sister

Lydia has been doing okay adjusting to her little sister; after all, it can't be easy sharing the only world that you've ever known. Her sleep times are shorter by about an hour and she cries quite a bit now, but she has improved since the first few days since we brought Sophie home. Overall though, Lydia seems to like Sophie (at least poking at her eyes) and wants to go to her when she (Sophie) cries. Wednesday will be the real test when Trung ends his two week paternity leave and starts working again; he has been so helpful dealing with one child while I deal with the other.

Sophie, on the other hand, has been doing beautifully; she's already got her days and nights figured out. During the day, she eats every two to three hours or cluster feeds twice in an hour and then sleeps for about three hours at a time. At night, Sophie goes to sleep around 11 PM, eats every three hours, and usually goes right back to sleep. Trung and I try not to pick her up and hold her too much, which she does perfectly fine, though she does like an occasional hold to help her fall asleep. It is quite interesting how different each child is even as infants; we're looking forward to seeing what kind of personality Sophie will have.

Walking on the Moon

Our neighbors across the street celebrated their daughter Lily's birthday on Sunday; she shares the same birthdate as Sophie. They had a moonwalk set up in their backyard, so Lydia got to experience the fun for the very first time. She didn't do much jumping (actually, none at all), but still had a blast. As a concerned parent, I came find that moonwalks are pretty much harmless, even if another kid runs into yours.

No Foolin' on April Fools

These last few days have been pretty crazy, but everything seems to be more under control now. So what exactly happened on April Fool's day? In the morning I started contracting; they were bearable, so I just breathed through them or walked them off, holding off until my 2 PM appointment. Trung had a busy day ahead of him, so I took Lydia to the Arboretum, Costco, and the mall. Every time I had a contraction, I felt like driving back home, but then it would pass and then I'd be alright again.

Wendy and I had planned to have lunch together, but I thought it would be safer to postpone with me going through early labor and all. Instead, she dropped by with some food for Trung since I figured that I shouldn't eat. As I was waiting for my appointment, my contractions got stronger, so I finally had to mention to my Obgyn's nurse that I was in early labor. (they seemed to be a little behind that day). Deb immediately took me back to a room, but I still had to wait a bit for the doctor to come see me. When she did, we found out that I was 8 cm dilated, and since I was GBS positive and needed the medication IV done ASAP, they needed to "rush" me to the hospital side of the building. As I was waiting for someone to wheel me over, I called Trung back around 2:30 PM. Lydia apparently had already woken up from her nap, he was on a conference call, and he was expecting another call...all to which I responded that I was expecting our second child. *silence and then a "huh?"* Apparently he was so busy that he had forgotten that I had been contracting all morning. Um, yeah. I had our car, so he needed to figure a way to get to the hospital...fast!

I got to my labor and delivery room where the nurses got my IV going. They were so busy with their paperwork that no one really breathed with me through the contractions, so I just grasped the bed and my cell phone. At one point I heard a "pop" when my waters broke; the nurse then asked if I wanted to start pushing, but Trung hadn't arrived yet. As I was about to call him, but a contraction came, so I had to hang up. Trung walked in at that moment and Sophie was born about fifteen minutes later. Funny how the night before I was just telling Trung that I hoped Sophie wouldn't be born on April Fool's Day; she sure "fooled" us! :P

Slideshow of Sophie's First Days

Announcing Sophie!

SOPHIE MADELYN LY

Born April 1, 2008 at 3:22 PM

Weight:
6 lbs, 15 oz

Length:
19 3/4 in