Baby Braham #2 - Ultrasound & Belly Pictures at 8 weeks 5 days

We had our second ultrasound on Thursday, January 29th.  It was a very quick ultrasound, but so nice to see the baby.  The heart rate was 174.  I go in for the Maternity21 test on February 11th.  This test will give us a 99% accuracy for genetic issues such as Downs and will also tell us the sex of the baby.  We are very anxious and nervous, but will hopefully get negative results.  As far as the sex, I always saw myself with all boys.  I would love either one as long as it's healthy.  

Here's what BabyCenter says about 9 weeks:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Baby Braham #2 - Ultrasound & Belly Pictures at 6 weeks 5 days

We had our first ultrasound on Friday, January 16th.  I was so nervous my heart was racing out of my chest.  I have been in this situation 5 other times and the anticipation of finding out the results is awful.  This time however it was the best news...we see a baby and a heartbeat!  They took two pictures of the baby. (one baby, two pictures)  The heart rate was 120, which is normal for the age of the baby.  They gave me my due date, September 6, 2015 (one day after Grayson's birthday).  It took us over 6 years to get pregnant with Grayson after multiple attempts of IVF and this time we got pregnant all on our own.  It's amazing how powerful the mind is and what can happen when you are not thinking about it or stressing out.  We are so blessed and happy!  This was truly another miracle.         

Here's what BabyCenter says at 7 weeks:

The big news this week: Your baby’s hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny baby fingers and toes you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.  If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

Grayson ~ 16 Months

~ 16 Months ~

 

Another month has gone by and our little guy is 16 months old!  He is a lot more vocal now and tries to communicate with us all the time, although most of the time his is talking his own language.  He will repeat almost every word and now says the new following words: cookie, cracker, chocolate, pickles, Juju, no, no, no (while shaking his finger), ca-ca (oranges in Grayson's language), eggs,     .  He can now open doors and loves to get in our pantry.  The lock broke on the pantry so it is a challenge as he loves to take everything out of it and snack all the time.  We are getting this fixed ASAP as it drives us crazy.  He would snack all day if we let him.  

Grayson on most nights fights going to sleep.  I guess he knows what he is missing now and does not want to miss a beat.  He stalls and wants to read more books.  We started reading together with Daddy, Mommy and Grayson on his big stuffed elephant.  We used to take turns putting him to bed, but thought it was more fun to all read together and he loves it.  Most of the time he says bye bye when we put him in his crib and will keep saying this as we walk downstairs.  It's his way of saying night night and it's so darn cute.  He will say it about 5 times until we can barely hear him.  

Our sweet little Grayson has now started screaming when he gets frustrated.  He loves throwing things over the gate and sometimes he will try to throw the pantry keys and they stick to the metal gate so he gets so mad and screams.  I keep telling him to use his words, but he doesn't understand that yet.  He has also started throwing fits.  The other day he wanted to play with the over the door hanger for the wreath and I wouldn't let him play with it so he threw a major fit and was almost hyperventilating.  He did it again when Daddy wouldn't let him take the swifter in the car.  

He got a new pretend kitchen for Christmas and loves to play with it.  He will pour us a cup of coffee or tea when we ask for it and even pretends to drink with us.  He will also serve us a hotdog or hamburger on a plate.  He likes his new grocery cart and pretend cans of food that he got for Christmas as well.  

He is very opinionated about what book we read him now.  He will say no until he finds the right one and then gets really excited.  He loves any pop up book especially the ones by Karen Katz.  His new favorites are Good Night Chicago, Daddy and Me, Chicago Baby, Llama Llama books (from Oma) and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that Oma recorded.

Our little mischievous boy stands on his train and jumps over the side of the couch.  I caught this on video and crack up every time I see it.  He also props himself up on the ottoman and gets up on the couch and also does this on his rocking glider and ottoman.  He likes to stand on the ottoman and dance to Sesame Street songs.  Any time he hears music he starts dancing and our little boy has some moves.  

Grayson is obsessed with airplanes so we took him to the airport just off the runway and watched as several planes came in.  I have to admit it was a really cool experience.  We took lots of pictures and videos so he can always remember this cool moment.  We have actually already taken him two times and I'm sure we will be going back again soon.  Grayson absolutely loved it!

Oma and I took Grayson to a pottery making place and made an ornament for our tree.  He was a little too young and was more interested in the dust pan and brush.  It was a challenge because he wanted to run around the store and when he was painting he wanted to do it all by himself.  It turned out great, but we were hoping to do several so Oma could have one too, but maybe next year.  

Our poor little boy had a bad experience with the bath tub and wouldn't take baths for a week.  Craig and I left for less than 24 hours to meet with Craig's clients in MI so Oma and Julia watched him.  His bath went okay with them, but for some reason he would not take a bath for a week.  A couple nights we tried and he screamed bloody murder so we had to skip it and then we started doing showers instead.  A little over a week later he finally was okay with baths again.  It was such a strange thing, but I'm just glad he is back to normal.