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. :)