For those in need of pictures...

We still don't have a charger cord for the camera, so I have attempted to take pictures on my camera but they never turn out very well. :-\ However I will post a few since it's been FOREVER since I've put any up.

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Ava is doing well these days...we rescheduled her ear checkup and everything looks great! Next week is her 15 month checkup so I'll have new stats, but I'll tell you right now she's still huge. ;o) This week she's had a lot of fun identifying my belly button, and occasionally her own. Twice I even heard her say, "But-ton!" She also pokes me in the eye and says, "Eye!" We play "peek" with her (like peekaboo without the "-aboo") and now she'll cover her face, uncover it, and yell, "GEEK!" Either she means "peek" or she's expressing an opinion about her parents. ;o)

Anyhow, we're still really up in the air about whether or not Ava will ever get a sibling...if so, it won't be for awhile yet. I mention this because I've been thinking lately of things I would do different the second time around. I think these are the biggest ones I've come up with thus far:

1.) I will take an SNS kit to the hospital so that the poor baby doesn't dehydrate while my milk takes its sweet time to come in. :-\ And I will not meet with any lactation consultants in the hospital because last time, every single one gave me different information...I really wish they'd all been on the same page. I think I know enough from my first experience to figure out what to do and I'll just call someone if I have a problem.

2.) I'm sending the next kid to the nursery so I can sleep when I'm in the hospital, since I know I won't get any at home. Someone gave me that advice last time but unfortunately I only listened the second night. The nurses still bring the baby in for the feedings every three hours so why not?

3.) Two words: VIDEO MONITOR. I thought that was stupid the first time around, and a waste of money....how lazy to not just get up and check on the baby! Oh, if only I had known how much I'd regret that.... ;o) It would be SO nice to be able to peek in without disturbing the baby so that I can see if (s)he needs something or is just fussing.

4.) Breastfeeding/pumping after going back to work: been there, done that, over it. It was great while on maternity leave and I'll still feed the kid at night for a couple of months if my milk sticks around once we cut down to once a day but everything else will have to be formula. I know some people think it's child abuse to not breastfeed but frankly, I don't really care...they can stage one of those protests outside my door if they want. ;o) When Ava nursed it was like she was sitting down for a seven course meal, it usually took about 30-40 minutes (and she didn't mess around, she was EATING) and if I have a second child, I'm not going to be able to do that. (Besides, we both got spoiled once she started downing full bottles in 5-10 minutes...Ava was just as much over it as me!) Don't even get me started on pumping...I had to stick to doing it during planning periods and if I had a meeting or parent conference, it's not exactly like I could whip out the pump and take care of business in front of everyone.

5.) I'd really like to stick with baby-sitters instead of day care. What still bothers me about day care was the lack of a separate room for naps....probably other day cares have them though and it was just the one we were at.

6.) I'm starting Mylicon immediately if the kid shows even a hint of being gassy. Forget that! She was in pain and I was losing my mind from the screaming.

But like I said, it's still up in the air...sometimes I just don't know if I can go through another year of killing myself, between nine months of pregnancy followed by three months of newborn baby! We shall see. My feelings are towards a new kid are most positive when we've had a full night of sleep!