No doubt about it...

It's a boy!

my daughter, the comedienne

My child says the strangest things sometimes. For example, some of you know about her creative efforts to distract our attention from her poopie diapers. Well, she came up with a new one yesterday afternoon. I asked her if she had a poopie diaper (i could smell something odd) and she replied, "No, sank you. Just smell it - don' check it. Just smell it." Umm... okay.

This afternoon, she had a very sad nap wake-up. Sometimes that just happens and all that can be done is to sit and snuggle her for a long time, until she's ready to talk. If you try engaging her too soon, she'll just get bent out of shape. Anyway, I had been rocking with her for a long time and she finally perked up and started talking. I asked her if she was hungry and she said, "No, sank you. I just had pretend eggs." Umm... okay.

Oh, this is not a Lila story, but is amusing. I had a dream last night that I had my ultrasound (which is tomorrow, by the way) and found out that I was having triplets! Just before we went to bed, I was discussing my paranoia about having twins and I suppose that carried over into sleep. I'm pretty sure I also dreamed about kitties.

Quick Update

We finished up all our family Christmas events yesterday afternoon and I think I'm finally starting to recover. Will post more when recovery is complete.

busy bodies

I'm feeling highly inspired today to get things done. Usually, when Doug is home, all I want to do is hang out or have all of us go somewhere together. So it's a refreshing change to have both of us puttering around the house (rather than doug doing the puttering and me doing the following and hovering). I'm really itching to get the rest of our Christmas shopping done, but that will have to wait until Monday. Neither of us wants to brave the shopping crowds on a Saturday this close to Christmas! Thankfully, Doug is off all week and we can do mid-week shopping together.

I can't remember if I already said this here, but Lila seems to be settling in to a 5:45 wake-up time. We will probably try a few more things in an effort to get her to sleep later (my current theory is that perhaps she's too hot, so we're adjusting the thermostat and vents). However, if we try all we can think of and she's still waking that early, then we might try ooching her bedtime back out to 8 p.m. That will either lead her to sleep an hour later or she will still wake up at 5:45 with less rest. If it's the former - fantastic! If it's the latter, then we'll just ooch right back up to 7 p.m. and adjust to an early riser.

Boooring

I am terribly bored this afternoon. I decided this at 3:45, when it was too late to really go and do anything. Lila eats dinner at 5 p.m. now and her bedtime routine is inflexible until she starts waking up later than 5:45 a.m. And since it's cold and rainy, we can't even play outside (i'd be all for it if it were only cold or rainy). I suppose I could take Doug's suggestion and do my cleaning routine...

Stuff

It is deliciously cold in Austin today! The high is 48 today, but it's supposed to be back up to nearly 80 tomorrow, so I'm enjoying the chill while it lasts. I hope our weather for Christmas is more like today than tomorrow!

If any of you are interested in seeing the family photos that we had taken this year, you can view them all here. Lila also had some photos taken in her birthday dress and Halloween costume recently (by a different place). Those were supposed to go online as well, but I never got a notification that it happened. I'll put up that link too, if I'm able to get it.

I have an appointment tomorrow to get my teeth cleaned, which I'm very mildly nervous about. Last time I went for a cleaning while pregnant, I nearly passed out. They put you in that chair and lean you so far back, so that they can get at your teeth more easily. I know why they do it, but my pregnant body didn't appreciate having all the blood rush to my head. You can pray with me that I make it through tomorrow's cleaning without any such problems.

Kids

Here's the latest on BP 2.0:

He or she weighs 5 ounces now, which is about the same weight as a turnip. I now understand that these produce comparisons I've been reading are things that have a similar weight, not necessarily similar size. Baby's around 5 inches long and the umbilical cord is getting stronger and thicker. Have you ever seen an umbilical cord in person (or a good photo)? They're really kind of... gross.

We had Grammie (Doug's mom) in town for the weekend, which Lila just loved. The girl has a multitude of grandparents and they all know how to spoil her!

Aww, maaan! She just came running in here, naked, and I grabbed her up for a big hug. Now I'm a sticky mess because she had yogurt for dinner and seems to be wearing as much of it as she ate! She's naked because it's bathtime. I think I might need to take a bath now! We've moved the bathtime earlier in the evening and that seems to be helping her attitude toward the experience. She had gotten intolarably fussy/whiny during baths, but she's been having fun again since we changed the time.

A different kind of Lila story...

I am so angry with my child right now. To start with, she woke up at 4:30 this morning. Which means that we all woke up at 4:30 this morning. Doug got up with her that time and again at 5:00. I, thankfully, got to snooze during that time. When she came ratttling at our door again at 5:30, I got up with her. I took her back to her room where she proceeded to throw a kicking, flailing, screaming fit.

She has done that before, when she's angry because she can't get back to sleep, but not in a long time. I was not prepared and reacted by getting very angry myself. Twice I put her down and walked out of the room to calm down and to let her scream herself out (theoretically). The second time, I was standing outside her door - had to guard it because she kept trying to escape - and Charlie decided that was a good time to start yelling at me too.

With great self control, I walked past him and got the squirt bottle. I gave him a good squirt and then took up my position by the door again. This was where things stood when Doug came to tell me that he couldn't go back to sleep, so I could if I wanted to. I'm sure I must have look funny, guarding Lila's room with a squirt bottle. Or, it would have been funny in other circumstances.

I gratefully gave up my post and went back to bed. However, it took me 45 minutes to get back to sleep. For starters, I was really worked up. Also, Doug gave her a snack and put her back in her bed, then came to take his shower. Five minutes later, Lila showed up again and spent the next 10 minutes opening and closing the bathroom door. The noise and light show did not help my efforts to go back to sleep.

I finally dozed off between 6:45 and 7:00... Then my alarm went off at 7:15. [sigh] The alarm was set because (a) we were supposed to go to BSF this morning, and (b) Doug had to leave the house at promptly 7:45 because he's spending the day in Houston (for work). I hit snooze a couple of times and then finally oozed out of bed. Doug left and things were fairly uneventful for a while.

At 8:15, I figured I'd better call my BSF discussion leader and let her know that we were not coming because there was no way that Lila was going to make it to 11:15 (when bsf ends) with no nap. As I'm dialing the phone, I walk in to find her on the floor with her eyes closed. Looks like I made the right decision! I got her in bed and we both took a brief nap - only 45 minutes.

She was really in a pretty good mood after that and we mostly just played together until 11:00. At this point, I made what I thought was a good decision. It turned out to be a very bad one. Since we hadn't left the house yet and it was lunch time, I thought we could go and have lunch together at Schlotszky's. I figured we'd eat and come home and try another nap.

This is where my daughter turned into an absolute nightmare. When we were ordering, I asked her if she wanted pizza or a sandwich. She said sandwich. Do you want ham on it? No. OK - kids' cheese sandwich. We get our drinks and our food and sit down at the table and she becomes possessed. I don't know exactly what happened first, but something led her to go on a hunger strike.

She was not going to eat her sandwich. Not even one bite. No way. She knows that our family rule is this: You must take one bite of the food you are given - that means keep the food in your mouth, chew it up, and swallow it - and if you don't like it then you don't have to eat any more. She usually complies with this rule, though it has often required at least one timeout lately. Not today.

This time she would not keep the food in her mouth. I forced her to take a bite and she spit it out screamed. I put it back in and she spit it out and screamed. Over and over. I was starting to get very angry again, so I went and got a high chair and put her in it. (i had warned her of this consequence if she did not obey.) She continued screaming and started trying to knock everything she could reach off the table.

I moved everything out of her reach, told her I was not talking to her again until she stopped screaming, and went on with my lunch. She leaned forward and started deliberately snotting on the table. I wiped her nose with a napkin. She was out of snot, so she started trying to spit on the table. I moved her back so that she couldn't reach. She then began spitting/drooling on herself. Have fun!

That wasn't getting my attention, so she went back to screaming. I did my best to ignore her and enjoy my food. At some point, she stopped screaming long enough to cry that she wanted out of the high chair. I told her, very calmly, that she had to eat a bite of her sandwich if she wanted out of the chair. She said, "No!" and went back to screaming. We had that conversation a few times.

I was being THAT parent (the one who lets their child scream in public and doesn't do anything about it), but I was not going to let her run me out of the restaurant just because she was tired and didn't want to be there. I finally finished eating, cleaned up, loaded up and picked Lila up. At some point while I was packing up, she had the audacity to tell me she wanted the cookie that came with her meal. As if!

We came home, with a lot of whining and crying along the way. When we got home, I basically had to carry her into the house because she just wanted to throw herself on the ground and cry. Oh yes, and also snot/spit on the carpet. I really hope that little phase passes soon! I put her down for a nap with minimal drama and she has, thankfully, been asleep for almost half an hour.

If this story makes you feel sorry for Lila, then please don't tell me about it because right now I do not feel sorry for her. Mostly, I needed a place to vent. Did she HAVE to do this on a day when Doug won't be home 'til after she's in bed?!? Ugh. I think I'm going to go spend some time with God. You can pray with me that He'll bless me with an extra dose of patience and love today. :)

... and boy are my arms tired!

It's very difficult to use your computer when there is a panda trying to use it at the same time. Particularly when that panda is a hand puppet that is being controlled by a 2-year-old... And speaking of that 2-year-old, I thought of another cute word she says: mizgik (music).

This girl has been amazingly content and well-behaved this afternoon. She was quite fussy and defiant this morning and I was afraid the whole day would be that way. But she has disappeared to play by herself for so long at a time this afternoon that I almost forgot she was here once. She even let me do a solid half-hour of laundry without interruption! I would not have asked that from her, but she kept playing so I kept folding.

Do you ever wish you could take your eyeballs out and soak them in a cool, gel-like substance? Ooh, and then fill the empty eye sockets with the same substance? Yeah, that's how I feel right now. Just very tired and scratchy in the eyeball regions. But I got a lot of laundry done!

Huff and Puff and Huff and Puff

I was so excited to get back to the gym this morning! Between being ill, being out of town, and having an absurd number of doctor's appointments, I hadn't worked out in about three weeks! I was just itching to get back on that machine and walk walk walk (i'm not a runner, but i love to walk until i sweat). What I didn't take into account is that I am three weeks more pregnant than I was last time I worked out.

It was just pitiful! I only made it five minutes on the machine I normally use before I had to give up and down-grade to a treadmill. Even then, walking at a relatively slow pace and using the rails for support, I only lasted ten more minutes! My endurance was shot from the long break, I have a growing child pushing all my organs around, and I haven't been able to breathe properly since I got sick last week. I never even broke a sweat!

Anyway, enough complaining... Lila has started consistently going pee-pee in the potty before her bath! :)

Stuff

Oogie! I've been sick for days - sore throat, headache, can't breathe, body aches, exhausted - but I'm starting to feel better. Actually, I still don't feel very well, but I refuse to be sick any longer. Three days is my limit. So there.

As of yesterday, I'm 16 weeks pregnant - 161 days to go! More or less. The baby is 4.5 inches long, from head to bottom. It also weighs 3.5 ounces, which puts it at about the size of an avocado. (forgive me, but aren't apples bigger than avocados...?) The baby is supposed to go through a big growth spurt over the next few weeks. It will double in weight and add inches in length.

Poor Lila has a big bruise under her left eye. She was standing on a toy in her room a little while ago and fell off. How many times have I told her not to stand on toys?!? Anyway, when she fell, she hit her face on the edge/corner of a table. Ouch!

Well, as much as I enjoy stalling, I really should be helping Doug straighten up the living room. We have people coming over in an hour or two for a Gateway Leadership party. We're having Rudy's BBQ. Mmm... Yummy!

A fitting follow-up...

Lila and I were just sitting at the kitchen table, eating our dinner - scrambled eggs, in case you were wondering. Doug is gone to small group this evening. Cordy is feeling neglected because Doug is not here and started doing mad runs through the house (her normal way of expressing this particular emotion). Cordy ran through the kitchen and into the dining room with Charlie chasing after her and growling.

Lila said, and I quote:
"Woah! Dey were running! . . . Come hewe guys! I want to talk to you..."

She then started lecturing the cats. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember everything she said, but it had something to do with little bitty kitties and asking, "Why were you being mean?"

Ah, yes, and now Charlie is in the living room, monologuing, and Lila is behind me, mocking him.

I'd also like to point out that Lila was making her eggs quack at me at one point. It's like living in a nut house sometimes... :)

Some of the Funny Things that Lila Says

* Kunkle Keith
* Kwipets (crickets)
* You are cwazy!
* Elegator (elevator)
* Up please Mommy please!
* Somebody woofing! (when she hears a dog barking)
* Mommy's belly get weally bigger! (talking about me having a baby in there)
* Actually, it's... (when she's correcting you)
* She calls all women that we meet Lady
* Oh! I found a little bitty baby!

Not an eloquent post

We three kids had a lovely Thanksgiving in Houston. There was an absurd amount of eating that went on, of course, and lots of action with nine people in the house (six adults and three kids). This photo is of Lila and her cousin Olivia taking a bath together. They did that every night (i think) and played together remarkably well. It was really cute to watch.

I had my latest appointment with the OB yesterday and she said, "Yep, you're still pregnant. What do you want me to do about it?" Okay, maybe that's not quite how it went, but some of these pregnancy visits feel about that helpful. (yes, yes - i know full well why prenatal care is vital, but yesterday was a looong day.) My next appointment is in five weeks and that's when we'll have THE ultrasound. (don't call me, i'll call you.)

BP 2.0 measures about 4 inches now, from head to tushie. It only weighs roughly 2.5 ounces, but it's the size of an apple (not those gigantic ones they've had at the grocery store lately). It has started "breathing" amniotic fluid, which helps the lungs develop. The legs are longer than the arms and all those extremities are on the move (though i can still barely feel it).

Me is so tiiired!

I love this photo of Lila. She looks like she's being frisked, for starters. Then there's the GAP bootie. And, to top it all off, there's a small Snoopy sticking out of the back of her shirt. How all this came to be is a long story. (In case you're wondering, that hairy leg in the foreground belongs to my dad.)

Forgive me for not writing more today, but my brain is operating at a very low level right now. It doesn't take much to wear this pregnant lady out!

it's been forever again, i know

Lila spent all of last week sick. It was another one of her mystery fevers and once again they could find no cause. She has an appointment with a specialist on Monday to see if they can figure out why she keeps getting sick. The fevers just seem to be getting higher each time and this one lasted longer than any of the others. I would love for her to just stop getting sick, but I'll settle for a diagnosis.

Baby Peeler 2.0 is doing fine. (Can I shorten that to BP 2.0?) S/he has fingerprints now! and veins! Can you imagine how tiny they must be?!? His/her body is kind of see-through and is catching up with the giant head. Aren't you glad that your head doesn't make up 1/3 of your body size? Further craziness: If it's a girl, then she already has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries! Growing a baby is nuts...

I am exceedingly happy to announce that my hair is no longer frightening. That lovely orange color that it used to be had faded out to a bleached strawberry blond that was not flattering. On top of that, my roots had gotten about three inches long because I was trying to grow the color out. (See photos below.) But, on Thursday, I went and had it high-lighted/low-lighted and chopped off and now it's cute again! Oh, Sweet Day!

A Milestone

This is my 1000th post! Wow! I feel that it should be really memorable or something. I did change the look of things, as I like to do occasionally. You're lucky I don't have more time on my hands or I might change it weekly! I seriously need to take the time to back-up all these old posts. This is better than any baby book and I would be in big trouble if Blogger ever crashed (or something) and ate my archives.

Physically, I am doing much better than I was a few weeks ago. The nausea is minimal and manageable and my allergies haven't been as bad lately either. I think I'm supposed to have more energy now, but I'm still pretty tired. Mentally and emotionally, there's a lot going on inside this wacky old head of mine! Moving to a new house and getting pregnant a month later is a pretty powerful combination!

Baby Peeler 2.0 is doing fine, so far as I know. It should be just over 1.5 inches long, which is roughly the size of a fig. That comparison means nothing to me, however, as I don't think I've ever met a fig. Apparently the baby is almost fully formed and moving now too. He/she even has tooth buds under the gums and the bones are beginning to harden! Crazy, man, crazy...

Doug is feeling the stress of things too. He has been very gracious since we found out that my getting up at all early contributed to feeling ill. He has been allowing me to sleep until 8:30, so he's not getting into work until 9 or 9:30. There have been nights when he had to work more after Lila went to bed because he is behind. I'll be getting up earlier again next week - pray that it goes well!

Lila is as cute and crazy as ever. She has made the transition to sleeping in a Big Girl Bed and it happened more quickly and smoothly than I ever would have hoped! Of course, the past couple of nights, she's been insisting on sleeping in the floor... that's where the 'crazy' part comes in. And she is completely obsessed with the Peanuts Halloween special. She's been talking about it endlessly for days!

Our families are as well as ever, except for Grandad Dorsey. He has begun chemotherapy treatments for lung cancer and somehow managed to get shingles at the same time! He's having a hard time kicking the pain of the shingles, which is making it harder for his system to handle the chemo as well. All around, not a good situation. My mom and aunt are taking it in turns to stay with him.

I haven't seen much of my friends lately. I have been so tired, physically and mentally, that I've been neglecting... pretty much everyone. I will be taking a trip to Fredericksburg this Saturday with a few of my good friends (and some of their sisters/mothers/etc.). That should be fun and, hopefully, refreshing. Meanwhile, everyone we know seems to be cranking out babies!

I recently realized that I've been trying to avoid God (emotionally, if nothing else), roughly since we moved. I'm working on identifying and processing the reasons for that, but just realizing it has made a huge difference. How often I forget that God is the source of my strength! the source of my rest! the source of my joy! the source of my life! I'm so thankful that He never leaves me, even when I run from Him.

Hurley is doing well, now that we've adjusted the a/c-heat settings. Since the nights have gotten cooler, we've discovered that our bedroom is the coolest one in the house. If the heater is set at 72, then our bedroom temperature will be 68. Hurley was really not appreciating the cold and had become rather sluggish. We bumped the thermostat up to 74 a couple of nights ago, which is more to his liking.

The kitties... [sigh] ... where to begin? They are quite well - don't get me wrong. They are just such cats! Charlie is not happy unless I am laying in one place, preferably petting him. Cordy is not happy unless Doug is giving her all of his attention and scratching her belly. Pesky little dictators. It's a good thing we're so crazy about them!

There you go - a long post with lots of photos. That seems memorable enough to celebrate 1000! :)

Okay, sorry for the long silence. I have no excuse except that I don't feel well much of the time and have gotten out of the habit. I will now buy you off with a Halloween photo. :)

Afternoon in the Park

Lila and I had a fun time hanging out with our friends this afternoon. We went to Central Market, which is one of my favorite places to play. The girls played on the playground while us mommies sat on a bench and talked. The playground there is shaded by huge trees so that it's nearly always cool and comfortable. After that, we walked down to the water to feed the ducks.

Unfortunately, there were no ducks to be seen today, so we ended up feeding the little fish and the turtles. And then, just as we were getting up to leave, a couple of ducks showed up. By that time, however, we were out of bread and VERY hot (there's no shade by the water) so we left the ducks to pick up scraps left by the fish and turtles. Maybe next time...

Then we did our other favorite thing there - we actually went into the grocery store. They have a huge selection of bulk items, such as trail mix and animal crackers and all sorts of goodies. We usually get a little bucket of some sort of treat and that is Lila's 'special treat' for the day. It was an all around fun time and we were both happy and tired by the time we got home.

Funny story: We were at Double Dave's for dinner this evening and they had the music blaring, as usual. It was oldies today, which is my preference (over the hard rock or sports they have blaring at other times). The song 'Barbra-Ann' came on - "A Bar bar bar bar Barbar Ann..." Lila decided to sing along and her interpretation was "Blah blah blah!" I was laughing over that one for five minutes!

Prego (not the pasta sauce)

I'm 8 weeks pregnant now - 222 days to go! (Well, actually, it's more like 215 days because they will schedule my c-section for one week before my due date, but let's not worry about things like math.) The baby is now about 5/8 of an inch long, which is roughly the size of a kidney bean. Last week they said it was the size of a blueberry, which honestly sounds bigger than a kidney bean to me...

Smells of all kinds continue to disgust me. I tried emptying out some old leftovers from their tupperware last night (just a little old - they weren't growing anything) and I was so disgusted that I had to stop and ask Doug to finish because I was gagging! I'm not sure if I ever made it clear, but I did have an ultrasound at my first appointment and we saw a tiny blob with a tiny flicker of a heartbeat. I have a picture, but there's really no point in scanning it because it doesn't look like anything but a little blob.

I'm kind of disturbed by the fact that my clothes are already starting to get a bit snug. I was so ill during my first trimester with Lila that I actually lost weight, so to be gaining weight so early this time seems odd. What does not seem odd is that I could sleep about 18 hours a day if I wanted to. I've considered going to bed at 8 or 9 o'clock so that I can sleep more during the night, but I enjoy those two hours of evening child-free time too much to give them up!

Odd Couple

Lila and Hurley get along amazingly well. She is much more gentle with him than I would have thought her capable of. And he is much more tolerant of her touching him than I ever expected. He even lets her pick him up and rarely, if ever, gets all huffy and pointy with her. In fact, I think he's more friendly and patient with Lila than he is with Doug or I!

Doug and I were also discussing this evening how Lila does not seem really to understand the meaning of the word 'scary'. She's started saying it, but in odd ways. Like this morning, she was talking about seeing Elmer the puppet at church and she said, with a big grin on her face, "Yeah and he was a little bit scary!" Or this evening, when I put Hurley back in his cage and she was watching him poke around in there, and she said, "He's bein' kinda scary!" Again with a smile on her face.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

On an unrelated note, I'm happy to report that I resisted the urge to eat my body weight in fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies this evening.

Say it Loud (I'm Fuzzy and I'm Proud)

When I was pregnant with Lila, we waited until about one month before she was due and evicted the kitties from our bedroom (at night). We didn't want them in there while the baby was sleeping, but we didn't want them to associate their eviction with the baby. Anyway, we were both expecting them to put up a major fight and drive us crazy, but they acted like they didn't even care!

Well, we've had to kick them out of our room (at night) again, this time for the sake of my allergies. And again they are putting up no fight. True, if I take too long between feeding them and closing us into our room, they'll come wandering in and then they give us very withering looks when we have to send them out. And then there was that one night when I, apparently, did not shut the door all the way and they just waited until we were asleep and let themselves in.

But overall, they aren't putting up any kind of fight. It's a little disturbing, really. Every night, for years, they sleep in our bed - Charlie by my face (sometimes this seems like a passive-aggressive attempt to smother me) and Cordy by Doug's feet. And when we suddenly put them out of the room... they don't care?!? I can't even go to the bathroom and shut the door without at least one cat and a toddler trying to slither under the door or beat it down! It just doesn't make sense.

Peeler 2.0 Update

I'm 7.5 weeks pregnant now, which means that I have approximately 225 days to go! (not that i'm counting.) The big news in my uterus this week is that little hands and feet are emerging from the developing arms and legs. They look more like paddles than hands and feet, but still... Technically, I have gained two pounds since I found out that I was pregnant, but my weight can fluctuate that much when there's not another person growing inside me.

Sadly, the morning sickness has caught up with me (with a lot of help from my allergies). I was livin' large for a couple of weeks, thinking I'd get off easy this time, but the baby had other plans. The really sad part is that I tend to be ravenous in the evenings (usually for meatloaf or something equally hearty), but I feel horribly full after just a few bites. I've had to learn the hard way to listen to my stomach and not my mouth.

And I'm now back in Cracker Land, which is a lot less exciting than Candy Land. I eat crackers before bed, every time I wake up in the middle of the night, and as soon as I open my eyes in the morning - all in an attempt to ward off the early morning nausea. I'm also still paranoid that I'm having twins. You'd think that my ultrasound would have dispelled that fear, but Dr. G had a hard enough time finding one little baby blob - there could easily have been another one hiding in there!

Pretty Woman (or Baby)

This is a photo of Lila in part of her Halloween costume. We (Lila, Mammaw, and I) went shopping this past weekend and had a much harder time than I expected. We went to Babies R Us first and found their selection to be abysmal. I think I just waited too long and they were already picked clean (though i did find some really cute jammies). From there we went to my favorite place for clothes - Once Upon a Child.

They had quite a selection, but most things were the wrong size or not very cute. I finally found a couple of options that seemed right (a dog and a clown) and we showed them to Lila. Her first choice was the dog costume, so we tried it on. She quickly decided that she didn't like the way the hood/dog head felt, so that one had to go. She was objecting to the clown outfit before it was all the way on her body.

My mom had already spotted this (pseudo) leather jacket and one of us had the idea to make that part of her costume. So we did! I got her the jacket, a shirt, jeans, and those cute little boots and she's all set to be a (very fashionable) little biker chick! And I don't have to worry about her deciding she hates it 10 minutes into the evening because it will just feel like clothes to her.

Um Um Um Um Um Um

Hurley has had another bath. For those of you who were concerned last time about Lila getting some kind of strange hedgehog germs from him, you may rest assured - he went in after Lila came out this time. And he hated it just as much as before. In fact, he probably hated it even more because I used soap on him this time! I tried to perk him up afterward by telling him what clean and soft toes and belly he had, but it didn't work. He pouted for two days. Literally. And it's not difficult to tell when a hedgie is pouting.

We kind of saw another hedgehog today. We had to go pick up a new bag of food for Hurley (that's a story in itself) and the pet store had another young hedgie. It was asleep, of course, so we didn't disturb it. Lila did get to hold a snake though. Actually, we both did. We held a couple of small corn snakes... and even wore them like necklaces! Lila was a little nervous at first, but quickly got over it. She loves going to the pet store and I knew this place was pretty good about letting you hold things that you don't intend to buy, so I just asked. I got a couple of photos, but they're on my phone and I don't think I have a cable to transfer them to the computer.

It's not an alien!

The baby is starting to look like a little human in there. The nose, mouth, and ears are taking shape and it's got a big ol' head! I don't know this first-hand, of course, but that's what I've read. And I've developed a total split personality. I can go from joyful to completely sour in no time flat! I know this is perfectly normal, but it's still not pleasant.

The paranoia I was experiencing last week seems to be fading a bit. I'll still feel better after the appointment with my OB tomorrow, but I think it's helping that I'm starting to really feel pregnant. Now I have moved on to wondering if there's more than one baby in there because I already feel like my insides are getting all stretched out!

Doug is, of course, excited about the pregnancy, but it probably won't seem totally real to him until there's some visual evidence or reminder. I am not holding my breath that they'll do an ultrasound at my appointment tomorrow, but that would be cool! Sadly, Doug won't be able to come to the doctor with me because my appointment (the only one i could get) overlaps with Lila's nap and he'll be here babysitting.

Oh, the Bean just bonked her leg on the door and is sitting in the floor doing some very pitiful whimpering. I think I'll go give her some snuggles... whether she wants them or not! Mwahaha!!!

Showdown at the Park

To explain yesterday's photo (as well as today's), Lila and I had a playdate at the park on Friday morning. We met up with a friend and her daughter for a while, which was good for Lila and I both. We haven't seen a lot of our friends since we moved because we've been so busy and I've just gotten out of the habit of scheduling regular hang-out times.

Anyway, yesterday's photo showed a stand-off between the two little friends. They get along well for the most part, but there was a bit of pushing and "Mine!"-ing at the park. In the picture, they are staring each other down with a definite "Bring it on!" attitude. It was really funny and very hard not to laugh. I tried to contain myself though because I didn't want to encourage the quarreling.

Yesterday, we had to miss another friend's very fun-sounding karaoke birthday party. (Happy Birthday again, Ellen!) Let's face it - I've been a hermit lately. I will know that things are coming up, but I've been so unorganized that I forget about them until it's too late to schedule a babysitter or make plans to have Doug babysit. Before this week is over, I WILL have my calendar out of the box and on my desk!

You kids have fun out there!

I am an itchy sneezy mess today! I don't know why it's worse today than it has been for the past week, unless it's my body's way of retaliating against me for getting up at 6 a.m. I was in a skit at church this morning, and had to be up there for practice at 7:30. It was still dark when I got up - not cool. I know there are those of you who get up even earlier than that and every day, but I am not you. Sorry.

Lila is currently outside, playing with her Daddy. Last I saw them, she was using a giant outdoor broom to push leaves off the driveway. We've made it the habit lately to play outside between dinner and bath time. The weather has been beautiful and I get to pull weeds while we're out there. Lila has mostly been avoiding the outdoors this summer because she's no more a fan of the heat than I am. But on these nice evenings, she's been loving it. She'll play on her slide and in her swing and do jumping jacks and all kinds of fun stuff!

At dinner this evening, she condescended to join us in our pre-meal prayer (she goes through phases - sometimes she loves participating and other times she wants nothing to do with it). Her prayers always go, "Thank you for da [fill in the blank]." Tonight, she thanked God for the dinner and something else I don't remember. And then she thanked God for "da Mommy acting!" (referring to my skit at church) And she kept thinking Him over and over again. Periodically, all through dinner, she'd pause and say, "Thank you for da Mommy acting!" I have a fan! Very cute!

pregnant ramblings

I got in trouble with one of my friends yesterday for talking about being pregnant here on my blog before I had told her about it first hand. Oops! When I found out that I was pregnant with Lila, we called everyone we knew. This time around, we called and told all the parents/grandparents, but then I ran out of energy. I have been telling people as I happen to talk to or email them, but I was kind of hoping that it would mostly spread by word of mouth. Now I know better. [she says humbly and solemnly, and without the slightest trace of sarcasm.]

As always, I know several other ladies who are pregnant. I don't think there's anyone with a due date close to mine this time around though. Of course, I found out that I was pregnant pretty early and told everyone right away. So there could be someone slower on the discovery and/or more cautious about spreading the news who will pop up soon. It was kind of fun having a friend to compare notes with. (for those who have no idea what i'm talking about, my friend sally was due the day before me last time and her son was born two days after lila.)

On an odd note, I think Charlie has known for a few weeks that I was pregnant. He mysteriously started yelling at me a whole lot (as i mentioned before, on this very blog) a couple of weeks after we moved and I hadn't been able to figure out why. Now, it could be that he's just punishing us for moving or it could be, as I speculated earlier, that he wants me to start accompanying him to the food bowl. But maybe, just maybe, he's yelling at me because he's not too happy that I'm pregnant again!

No Swim Class

Today has not gone quite as I expected. This was supposed to be Swim Class Day, but we ended up with our cars trapped in the driveway all morning. We had gotten a notice that they would be putting a protective layer down on our street today, starting at 8 a.m. And... I guess we didn't take it seriously. I mean, I thought they'd start at one end of the street and we'd be able to leave for swim class before they made it to the middle (where we are).

Well, we didn't make it to swim class (Lila was very upset) and Doug had to work from home. I did finally move some cones and escape for a Community Leader Team Lunch at the church. They still had the street barricaded when I got back, but Doug moved the cones again and went to work anyway. That's not as rule-breaking as it sounds though. [justification alert!] There's a road that dead ends across from our house, so we only had to go across the street, not all the way up it. Plus, the stuff would appear to be mostly dry.

This is totally unrelated, but we have discovered a fun new game with Hurley. Apparently, he really likes to tunnel around under the covers while we read in bed. He mostly plays around Doug's legs, probably because I move mine too much. There was one night that he burrowed himself right off the end of the bed! Thankfully, the sheet was tucked under the matress, so he didn't really fall. He just dropped into a sort of hedgie hammock. :)

cute and funny

You know, Lila says and does funny things all day long. But lately, when I sit down in front of the computer, I can't think of any of them! I do remember one funny story that I've been meaning to share...

On Friday, we were doing our grocery shopping when she suddenly said, "Mommy loves you!" Then she reached out and grabbed me (she was sitting in the cart) and gave me a hug and a kiss. It was super sweet! I turned back to the food and started shopping again (i believe i was trying to choose a bottle of soy sauce). Then, in her best monster voice, she said, "Gimme da kiss!" The next few minutes were spent with her demanding kisses in her monster voice and me giving them quite willingly. It was hilarious!

Another funny thing she's started doing is jumping jacks. We had some friends over on Saturday and they have a five-year-old son. While we were all hanging out in the back yard, he started doing jumping jacks and counting them. She thought it was really cool, so now, mostly when we're in the back yard, she'll start doing her version of jumping jacks and counting.

It would really be best if I could show you a video of how she does them, but try to picture this. She plants her feet far apart, bends her knees, leans forward at the hips, and swings her arms back and forth from out at her sides to in front of her. Too funny. And her counting is really good. She can actually count from 1 to 12, though she tends to forget the number 5.

Sesame Seed

For those who are interested, Baby Number Two is roughly the size of a sesame seed and looks like a tadpole. Last week, we were calling it 'poppy seed' - I guess we'll switch to 'sesame seed' this week. I'm not feeling too pregnant yet, but I'm sure that will come. Right now it's the little things like getting cold easily, being extra tired and hungry, and finding nearly every odor to be horribly offensive.

And the pregnancy paranoia has already kicked in, hard core. "Oh no - I didn't start taking prenatal vitamins until I was 4 weeks pregnant! Oh no - I didn't stop taking my allergy medicine until I was 4 weeks pregnant! Oh no - I had a rum and coke and a Happy Hour a couple of weeks ago!" I have an appointment with my OB in a couple of weeks and I'm counting on her to reassure me that I have not already ruined my child for life.

Doug is trying to cook dinner right now and I hear some whining going on, so I'd better go make myself useful. For the record, it's Lila that's whining, not Doug. This time.

Pirates and Painting

Doug and I got to go on a date last night! Woohoo! (Thank you, Lindsay!) We didn't do anything overly exciting, but we got to do not-overly-exciting things with no child around! We had dinner at La Margarita - they have very good cheese enchiladas, but don't bother with the chili con queso - and then saw 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'. I'd seen it before, but Doug hadn't.

Anyway, it was nice. Now Doug and Lila are painting one of the walls in our living room. Doug does most of the work, but every few minutes it gets to be 'Lila's Turn!' and she does a little painting. This works out really well for everyone. Doug is able to paint without a lot of fussing from Lila because she's involved and not feeling ignored. She gets to feel like she's helping Daddy and it keeps her very well occupied. And I get the benefit of being able to complete an entire task without interruption! Like, typing up a blog post, for example.

Frank, my step-dad, and a couple of his friends are in town this weekend. They are staying at our old house and are primarily here to lay the new tile over there. Frank has been so helpful since we've moved and there's no way we'd have the old house ready to rent by the end of the month (or the end of the year, for that matter) without his assistance!

I just have one thing to say.

I'm pregnant! We're having another one of these!

wrap me up like a pizza roll and put me to bed!

I don't feel I have much to talk about this evening. I had a burst of productivity today, perhaps inspired by yesterday's comments on the subject, and now I just want to relax. The morning started with swim class, then Lila got a haircut, then we ate a very cheap lunch at Taco Cabana and wandered around Half Price Books while I had the oil changed in my car, then back home for a nap. Well, Lila had a nap and I did a number of other things. This afternoon, I got my hair cut too and we just got home from our Tuesday night tradition of Peproni Rolls at Double Dave's. Whew!

In case you need further proof that my daughter is being well-trained in silliness: Doug reminded Lila this morning that we'd be having pizza rolls for dinner this evening and she talked about them ALL DAY! Every time we went somewhere, she was disappointed because it wasn't the restaurant with the pizza rolls. Finally, on the way home from the salon this afternoon, she was sitting in the backseat saying (i'm not making this up), "Piiizza wooolls... piiizza wooolls... where are you pizza wolls?"

from busyness to silence

I'm currently enjoying the rare privilege of being home alone. Doug and Lila are at the old house, meeting a guy to get an estimate for laying tile. They really should be back by now, but I'm not complaining because the peace and quiet I'm experiencing is too good! I am so used to the noises associated with a 2-year-old that I don't even think about them until I find myself in a quiet place. Ahh...

We had a pretty busy day, Lila and I. Nothing worth describing in detail - gym, shopping, library - but busy. I truly do not know what I did with my time before Lila came along. I mean, I worked out, that hasn't changed. And I did make shopping trips, but they were much shorter! However, there were no trips to the library or swim class or brushing any one's teeth but my own or diaper changing or wrestling matches in the floor. How was I not the most productive person in the world?!? I don't get it.

Charlie (whom you see in the photo, defiantly sitting in lila's bed) has instituted a new method of trying to drive me crazy. He follows me around all day and yells at me. Well, all of the day that he does not spend asleep in my closet. I think he is trying to train me to come and stand by his food bowl while he eats. The simple way to verify this theory would be to do just that and see if he stops yelling. I'm not willing to experiment, however, because if I do it even one time then he will think it's the new routine and will re-double his yelling when I don't comply the next time. He's such a weird cat.

You did what?!?

I never thought the day would come when I'd willingly watch an NFL game. Don't get me wrong, I like football, particularly when the players are in their early 20s and wearing burnt orange. But I have not enjoyed watching professional football since I was in high school. Maybe it's because Austin does not have a professional football team or because college players (and younger) just seem so much more excited and motivated. I don't know.

Well, last night I willingly (intentionally, even!) watched the last half of the Saints vs. Colts game. A group of our friends has formed a Fantasy Football League and I signed up to lead a team -- which I named 'Melted Cheese'. I know nothing about it, but I am a competitive game player and it sounded like fun. I have a feeling this is going to end up being very addictive and I will (occasionally) wish I'd never gotten started with it.

Incidentally, I was rooting for the Saints, so it was a pretty dismal game to watch.

For those of you here to get a baby fix: Lila was walking around this morning, playing with a small pair of pliers (don't worry, i was watching her). Once, she was standing next to me, fiddling with the pliers and a large box and she said, "What Lila doing?" So I said, "Oh yes, what is Lila doing?" And she said, "I fixing da box!" She went on to fix a piece of paper and a few other things. I finally had to intervene when she decided to fix her Daddy's computer screen. :)

Not much of a post

As I started to type this post, Doug told me he needs me to move (he's putting together one of our new desks), so I will just give you this photo of Lila drinking her First Very Own (watered-down) Dr. Pepper and go on to clean out the litter box. Sorry. :)

Where No Hedgie Has Gone Before

I put a hedgehog in the bathtub with my daughter last night. I took Hurley out to clean his cage, and it occured to me that I'd given him a Severely Unappreciated Bath before (he doesn't even like the sound of running water now), but it was not water deep enough to swim in. I wanted to see him swim, so in he went! It was very funny to watch those little legs propelling his round body through the water. He didn't really care for the activity and he smelled rather odd when he got wet, but the rest of us enjoyed it. I think I will wait a couple of weeks and do it again, but use some pet shampoo on his little belly and feet. For those who might be concerned that I am being unkind to my pointy little pet, don't worry - baths are recommended for hedgies. Besides, I've seen the kind of thing that gets stuck between those tiny little toes...!

The photo you see here is of Hurley investigating one of our kitchen windowsills. I plopped him on the kitchen counter while I did something else (don't worry - i clean up the path where the aforementioned dirty little feet tread) and when I turned around he had climbed up onto the sill. I actually got quite a few good pictures of him. He usually refuses to do anything remotely cute and/or hides when I get the camera out, but he was having too much fun this time. I just let him climb around and kept snapping photos until he started showing a bit too much interest in my plant.

I know that the devoted fans of my daughter will be disappointed in this post, but I haven't talked about Hurley in a very long time and I wanted to show off one of my cute pictures!

Departure and Illness

Well, Jessica went back home today. We're really going to miss her around here! It's amazing how quickly you can get used to having someone around, especially someone as good-natured and affectionate as Jessica. I think it's going to take a few days for Lila to get used to her being gone. She hasn't said much about her absence yet, but I suspect that she'll be asking for "Ge-ge-kuh" tomorrow.

Poor Dougie is not feeling well this evening. His tummy is all messed up, so I made him some ginger tea and then sent him to bed early. He definitely didn't complain about that. Besides not feeling well, the poor guy hasn't gotten to bed on time in at least two weeks! I just hope that his healing rest isn't sabotaged by any early morning insomnia...

The three of us went to Bed Bath & Beyond this afternoon to get a few things we needed for the house. Specifically, we were looking for a new bedspread for the guest room, a drain rack for the kitchen sink, and a "shower caddy" for the shower stall in our bathroom. Did you know that you can use up to five of those '20% off any one item' coupons at one time?!? We used three and I left feeling Quite Thrifty.

No Boys

Lila had her 2 year check-up with the pediatrician today. Everything looked great and her stats are as follows:

Weight: 24 lbs 10 oz (30th %ile)
Height: 33 in. (25th %ile)
Head Circumference: 48 cm. (70th %ile)

Tonight it will be just the girls and I because Doug is going to small group. Maybe I'll just take a shower with Lila instead of doing a normal bath for her. Is it terrible that I don't enjoy doing bath time? (that's a rhetorical question - please don't answer it) It's such a bummer that Doug and I don't get to go to small group together anymore! Besides the obvious effect of each of us only getting to hang out with the group every other week, it means I only get to see Doug for about an hour and a half all day (including breakfast). Oh well, I'm still hoping to find a regular Wednesday night babysitter so we can both go every week... Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I'm hoping a regular Wednesday night babysitter will fall into our laps. [tee hee]

House full of crazy people...

Lila, as I speak, is laying in wait (literally) for her Daddy to get home. One of her birthday gifts was a big bag of plastic balls, like the ones you see in the ball pits. We cleaned and inflated her wading pool and poured all the balls in and that's where she's sitting. In the wading pool full of balls. According to my spy, Jessica, she's picking the balls up, one at a time, and talking to them. Weird kid.

I am so tired! I think the situation is this: I didn't sleep well at all for the first week we were here. Between being in a new place and all the stress that was happening, I slept horribly! Now, I have finally settled down and chilled out and I'm sleeping much better. Since I'm sleeing well, I don't want to wake up in the morning. Whatever the cause, I'm tired.

I'm also finding it difficult to concentrate on anything; like typing a blog post, for instance. Jessica, I've found, is much more difficult to ignore than Lila. That's not to say that I spend a lot of time ignoring the kids, but there are some things that cannot get done unless I tune them out. I currently have Jessica drawing a picture nearby and asking me every ten seconds if I can guess what it is...

When Snoopy Attacks

I am busy busy busy with preparations for Lila's birthday tomorrow. I think I'm more excited than she is. In fact, I know that I am because she is asleep and I'm the one who's up, wrapping things and making plans. I'm more excited than Doug at the moment too. He's a very sleepy boy. :)

Sick Girls Everywhere

Poor Lila has been running a fever since yesterday morning. It got up to 103 degrees yesterday afternoon, so we took her to the doctor who, of course, could find nothing wrong with her. She has no other symptoms, so they said to watch her and bring her back if the fever spikes to over 103 degrees or continues for five days. She'll be going back to the doctor tomorrow because her fever got up to 103.8 this evening.

I woke up this morning not feeling well myself. Nothing I can put a name to, just general ickiness. My head hurt and my body was aching. Doug worked from home for most of the day (apparently he also built a fort with Jessica and they hunted buffalo in our hallway - all the exciting stuff happens when i'm asleep!). Anyway, I still feel a little icky, but I have no fever and I'll get over it.

This evening, Jessica was complaining a bit of not feeling well. I thought maybe she was looking to bank off of Lila's sickness attention, but I checked her temperature and she's got a fever too! It's not nearly as high, but a fever nonetheless. I went out and bought some Children's Tylenol (all we had was infant's and extra strength) and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow!

Sheesh!

Moving Day Approaches

Well, we're moving tomorrow. Kinda crazy! I'm a little sad to leave this house. Not because I love the house itself - I don't, really - but because all of my wife and mommy memories have been formed while I've lived here. I wonder how long it will be before the new place really feels like home.

My second cousin (i think that's right - i'm not sure how all that works) is staying with us for a few weeks. We invited her to come and I'm glad to have her here. It's been a little difficult, adjusting to suddenly having a second child around in the midst of all this other craziness. We're having fun though, and I'm sure we'll settle into a new routine soon enough. You know me - as long as I've got a routine, life is good. :o)~

I think Lila is tired of how much of our time goes into this "packing" business, but she's doing alright. She's totally diggin' the fact that Jessica is around and she wants to follow her and do whatever she is doing. Jessica told me a couple of days ago that it's tiring having a toddler around all day. I just laughed out loud. Tell me about it...

No Time!

I don't have much time to write because Lila just woke up from a nap, but I wanted to check in. We spent four solid days of last week/weekend painting at the new house. What you see in this photo is the color of Lila's new room. Purple is her favorite color these days, so she got a purple room! There are those who seem to feel that our choice of wall colors reflects some sort of character flaw, but frankly my dear... TAKE A HIKE!

And now I must go. Things around here are NUTS!

Paperwork

We couldn't find a babysitter on Monday, so we had to take Lila to the closing with us. This is her helping us with paperwork. She was taking her job very seriously!

It was hilarious, actually, because she was totally studying the actions of the lady from the title company and then copying them. The lady would make marks on papers, hand them to us to sign, put them upside down on another stack, flip through the them, etc. Lila was doing all the same things and totally looked like she knew what she was doing. I told Doug it was a good thing we had her with us because we never would have gotten through all that paperwork without her!

By the way, Grandad Dorsey was in the hospital for a couple of nights because he needed a blood transfusion, but he is back home now and doing alright. You keep praying and I'll keep you updated!

Disregard this Photo

The Real Work has begun...

I think the three of us are finally starting to feel the stress of this move. It's not terrible, but the strain is definitely there. I'm extra sensitive, Lila's extra whiny, and Doug's extra irritable. And the kitties and hedgehog are fuzzy and pointy, respectively.

The good news is that the house is ours now! We closed yesterday morning and picked up the keys yesterday afternoon. As soon as Doug got home from work, we loaded up everything we would need for dinner and went to the new place. Lila and I were back over there this afternoon, cleaning. The house is in great shape, but the baseboards and doors need wiping down and some of the walls need cleaning too. (Also, the cleaner I can get the doors, the less likely Doug is to insist that we need to paint them!)

In spending so much time with my face that close to the floor, I became well acquainted with several tiny spiders. I didn't tell them they'll be going the way of the fire ants soon. (my first act today was to sprinkle amdro on the ant mounds in the back yard.)

Well, I'm pretty sure there's something important I should be doing right now, so I'll stop. I wonder if the outer doors of the post office are still open at 9 p.m. We still need to fill out a change of address request...

Insomnia

We close on our new house tomorrow morning and I'm so nervous that I can't get to sleep. Not nervous in a worrying kind of way. Just nervous in an expectant kind of way. Or, I suppose, it might be the fact that I can't breathe through my nose that's keeping me awake. Either way, that's why I'm posting to my blog at midnight.

This photo is of Lila with her friend, Naomi (daughter of my friend, Ellen). This was a particularly cute day for the two of them because it was the first time that Lila actively played with Naomi (who's roughly a year older). When this picture was taken, they were sharing a snack of pita and hummus while laying on the coffee table. Not long after this, they began collaborating on some kitty torture. As cute as their interactions were, I had to intervene at that point.

And speaking of photos, I have been terrible lately about having any pictures printed. I usually do that monthly - pick my 10 favorites from the past month, upload them to the Walgreens website, have them printed, and put them in our photo album. I like having physical photos to flip through now and then (and to show off). I get double prints of some of them and those get sent to various family members who don't make it down here to see her very often. Anyway, I'm about three months behind on this and I need to catch up! . . . after we move.

The Good and The Not-So-Good

Some family and friend updates for you:

One of my grandfathers, Dorsey E. Jordan, has been having some health problems lately and I would love it if you'd join me in praying for him. The short version of the story is that he had an artery that was 75% blocked, which they cleared out and put a stint in. He is also anemic and they found masses on his kidney and lung. He is going to start receiving injections for the anemia - something to try and prompt his body to produce more red blood cells. The masses are still being explored and I don't have anything more to report on those yet. I will keep you updated. They did, however, just tell him that his kidneys are only functioning at 50%. That is bad, but not bad enough to need dialysis. They can't reverse the damage, but they think they can stop it from progressing. Whew! Please pray for him.

Our friends, Wilson and Melissa Wicks, had their baby girl, Bryce Michelle, at 10:20 this morning. She is 8 lb. 9 oz., 21" long, was delivered by c-section, and she and mommy are doing well. Hooray!

Achoo! Waaaaaaaaaa!

Since I started taking allergy shots and prescription antihistamine/ decongestants again (couldn't take them while i was breastfeeding), my health has been SO much better. I only get sick occasionally now, instead of monthly. And when I do get sick, it's not as bad and doesn't last as long. Praise God for allergists! Sadly, all this dust that we're stirring up with packing has been too much for my poor body to handle.

I was sick sick sick this weekend, but felt mostly better by yesterday evening. I started packing again this afternoon and have become a sniffly sneezy mess. [sigh] It makes me want to stay up for 24 hours straight and get all this packing done so I don't have to worry about it anymore. That would be way better than a few weeks of prolonged torture. Doug seems to think that plan is not in the best interest of my health. Oh well.

I think Lila had a bad dream last night about bumping her head on something. :( She has had a few more incidents than usual recently where she fell down or got a boo-boo in some way. Early this morning, I heard her start crying and I could tell from the way she sounded that she was crying before she even woke up. It just sounded like a bad dream cry. When I made it into her room, she sat up and said, "Bump on da head," and kept crying. She was really upset - tears and everything. I rocked her for a long time and she went back to sleep, but I felt so bad for her! Poor baby...