Sophia standing up all by herself
Gerritt is riding his car while going commando (don't ask me why). His likes to play the game of getting stuck on the bricks & yelling, "Help, help, help!" Our neighbors were concerned hearing his screams until they realized it was a game.
Another visit & a sling ride at Korean grandma's house
Sophia practicing her standing skills with Gerritt's bike
Proud Gerritt "driving" his sister Sophia
Our first 2 weeks with our new Russian nanny Irina went well. Sophia likes her & even allows Irina to hold her in my presence. Irina is a hard worker, organized, very cleanly, & loves children. She is pretty strict & reminds me of my Mom & former teachers in Russia. I usually find the house the same way I left it in the morning (often cleaner) despite 3 kids under age of 4 being there all day. My house is the cleanest it has ever been, mostly because I pick things up before Irina comes & at the end of each day. It is too embarrassing to leave a messy house for her. I love not having to drive in the mornings in order to drop Sophia off at the daycare & enjoy coming home for lunch (another chance to snuggle with my little chub muffin). Irina is a wonderful cook & the whole family has been enjoying her delicious meals!
My job Nurse Practitioner job is going well. I referred a patient to the ER this week due to abdominal guarding & positive rebound tenderness (signs of peritoneal inflammation, which indicate possible appendicitis). It turned out she had an ovarian cyst, which ruptured later that day. Better safe than sorry... Last week I also had Implanon insertion & removal training. Implanon is an implantable (under the skin of an inner side of the non-dominant arm) progestin-only contraceptive device. It is similar to Norplant we had on the market a few years ago, but much simpler (1 instead of 5 rods). The next step is one supervised Implanon insertion, & then I am on my own!
It is getting harder & harder to work as a nurse at the hospital. I don't really want to be there since my mind is elsewhere. Thankfully, it has been pretty easy since as a per diem RN I am the first to float to other departments. For example, last weekend I was a one-to-one caregiver to a suicidal patient, & after a few hours took care of a confused elderly man. Most nurses love the fact that I am a nurse, so I end up doing many nursing tasks (dressing changes, medication administration, tube feeding, peripheral IV starts, etc.). It is not easy to say goodbye to almost $45/hour, so I'll continue working as a nurse for now. Nursing got me through the tough times (like when the economy took a downturn & there were no Nurse Practitioner jobs for a while) & is my "bread & butter," so to speak.
Gerritt, Sophia & I continue our weekly library visits. Gerritt loves to play the educational games on the library computer & enjoys selecting a few new books to read every week. The list of his favorite books includes:
The Bouncing, Dancing, Galloping ABC by Charlotte Doyle
Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood
I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
We've actually had to order the Little Blue Truck book from amazon.com since Gerritt wants to read it every morning & night, sometimes several times in a row. He has it practically memorized. He likes this book so much he takes it to bed with him & even to the store when I need to pick up a few groceries!
I've started to read some Russian books to Gerritt as well. Surprisingly, he enjoys repeating the Russian words & rhymes. Our library at the Crossroads Mall has a nice collection of Russian children's books, so we've checked a few out.
For the past couple of weeks Sophia has been standing up more often. She used to stand for short periods of time with my support, however, has been standing longer on her own while holding on to a window sill, bench or chair. She also learned to lower herself from standing to sitting position without falling. I believe walking is not too far away!
Gerritt & Sophia have bonded really well. They love to play together. Sophia follows Gerritt everywhere so they often end up in the bathroom. Gerritt likes to shut the door & then play with flickering lights in the dark. Sophia laughs hysterically, & everyone is happy. Gerritt also runs around the house pretending he is the superman with the kitchen towel draped around his shoulders. I lift him up in the air & do "twirly, twirly" to simulate flying. Gerritt gets plenty of exercise jumping on our floor mattress. He usually gets a running start & then falls on top of it laughing. He then proclaims that it's "Mommy's turn," so I have to do the same.
When we go to the mall for a toy car ride, Gerritt often insists Sophia join him too. He has such a proud smile on his face pretending he is driving her around. I usually hear many comments from people walking by how adorable the two of them look together. :-) Every time I see Gerritt & Sophia playing together, I feel so happy that have each other & will not repeat my experience of being an only child. All of our hard work of having 2 kids so close together has been worth it!
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