From February 24 to March 2, you can save up to 20% on Britax carseats at Amazon and a lot of them have free shipping, too. I need to get one for Baby Two. I just have to decide which one. I’m going to get the Companion Onyx. These are about the safest car seats you can get and the girly ones are really cute. We have a Decathlon Tiffany for Rinah and I love it. It holds babies 5 to 65 pounds and she’s not even 20 yet so she’ll be in it for quite a while still.

baby stick boy artwork by my cousin Matthew Kou (HisSpace)

For some reason, my daughter loves her big toes. When she’s barefooted, she gets all excited and repeats, “Big toe, big toe,” over and over again while touching them with her forefingers. She likes to walk around holding her ear and saying “ear.”

She’ll say “down” when I’m holding her and she wants to get down. But she can’t say “up” and says “ba” instead.

Potty training has come along really well the last few days and when she needs to pee, she’ll say “pee pee” or “diaper” which has been really helpful. When her diaper is dirty, she’ll say, “Ooooh, myyyy.” I have no idea where she picked that up.

In the mornings or when we are getting ready to go somewhere, she’ll smile a huge smile and squeal, “shoes!” and “pretty!”

She loves to point and say “baby” whenever she sees a stuffed animal or a baby who is smaller than she is. She likes babies and I’m hoping it means she will be a doting older sister and not a jealous one.

Of course, there is her favourite toy, the phone. She sort of says “phone” but it sounds more like “ba.” She says “ball” which also comes out as “ba.”

We take a bath together almost every day and play with her foam alphabet and numbers in the water. She tries to repeat all the letters. She likes “A” and “I” and “H” the best.

Her overall favourite and the word she says more than anything else is “eat” and next is “please.” Sometimes she tries to say, “thank you” but it doesn’t quite sound like how it’s supposed to yet. She usually nods her head instead. She can say “bread,” too, and “banana.”

She can say “bye bye” when it’s time to leave or when I flush the toilet. It’s funny to see her waving to the toilet boil as, uhh, stuff goes down the drain.

First thing in the morning, she sits up and says, “Eat! Bread! Downstairs!” and repeats until I get going. Sometimes I lie there trying to wake up till she suddenly sits very still, gets a weird look on her face, and says, “Pee pee.” Then I jump out of bed, grab her, and rush her to her potty while stripping her sleeper off, because she can hold it for about 4 or 5 seconds and it’s all over.

Every day, I recite the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6-21) to her and chant the Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 95, the Te Deum, Psalm 100, the Apostles Creed, Gloria in Excelsis, Psalm 51, and the Nunc Dimittis. She usually gets very quiet during the Ten Commandments and recently has been trying to sing along with the chanting. It’s really cute.

I wouldn’t trade this for any job or anything else in the world. I am so happy with her every day and it’s always so exciting to see her learn and discover everything around her.

She said “Please” all by herself last night without any prompting from me, while signing it. She even pronounced the L instead of of saying “Peas” like she first did. So I gave her a tiny nibble of the rum-soaked fruitcake I was having. And tonight, she signed and said, “Eat, please.” Who can say no that, tell me. And she got some sushi. Ohhh, she’s growing up. *sob sob*

Here she is playing a bit in her new $2 outfit from the $1 clearance rack. And in her beautiful car seat. Every time I put her in it I am so happy we got this one (Britax Decathlon Tiffany). It’s not only one of the safest ones on the market, it’s the cutest!

Last night, Baby Two was kicking up a storm. I love that feeling and am enjoying every little flutter and bump. I can’t wait to see this new baby but I’m going to miss feeling it inside.

Every day, I discover more and more how girly my little girl is. She loves shoes, bags, and necklaces. She watches intently when I wash my face and slap on some lotion. And she doesn’t know very many words, but she does know the word “pretty” and tries to say it when she puts on a necklace. I marvel at how God made women to be beautiful and adorned and she seems to know it already!

… I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful … and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 16:9-14)

The necklace she is wearing is an amber teething necklace, by the way, a present from my friend. (For more info about amber and teething, see this article or Google.)

When my mother was pregnant with me (her first), her mother bought her a sarashi to wear. It’s a strip of cotton about 15 feet long which you tie on in to support your back and lift your belly a bit. Basically, you mummify your midsection. It works SO well. I don’t know how I would have gotten through my pregnancy without it, especially around the end.

I’ve seen some really scary stretch marks on some mommies but I didn’t get any (not around my stomach anyway … LOL, nm, TMI) and the other mothers I know who used it didn’t get any either.

I can’t find anything about it except a book called Shiatsu for Midwives which I found on Google Book Search. It’s probably the next book I’m going to buy as soon as I get some extra spending money. (Ooooooh, how I miss single money. There’s so much more single money than married money somehow. LOL.) I posted a screenshot of the excerpt about sarashi on the left. Click on the thumbnail to see it in full size.

If any of you are interested, I’m going to Tokyo this March and will pick some up for you if you want, ’cause I haven’t been able to find it for sale in America, online or offline. Just e-mail me or leave a comment below.

EDIT: Dawn asks, “If it’s just a strip of cotton couldn’t it be made? Is there anything special about an official Japanese one, besides sounding cool when you tell everyone it’s from Japan? :)”

Well, I think you can see from the videos I made that it’s not “just” a strip of cotton. I don’t know enough about fabric to explain it properly, but it’s different. LOL. Sarashi is the name of a particular type of Japanese fabric (see Google). Of course, you can try making one yourself from American stuff if you want to….

Here she is. Eating is such serious business. First thing in the morning, she bolts upright, crawls over to me, and signs “more” while saying “Eat, eat, eat” over and over again. Such a funny girl. And throughout the day, she likes to put her hand to her ear and say, “Hi, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, hiiiiii.” So cute. *sigh*