Please don't meet the Spartans.

So, Friday was my Monthly Mystery Movie Night. Same old thing - I went to the theater, got a ticket to the latest show (before 11 p.m.), and went into it with no idea what to expect. This month was a total bust. The movie, which I had never even heard of, was 'Meet the Spartans'. It was a spoof of '300' and it was just... stupid. And not in a funny way.

I sometimes appreciate stupid humor. I saw 'Balls of Fury' and thought it was hilarious! Extremely juvenile, but hilarious. I got so disgusted with this movie that I left after less than half an hour. I wanted to leave after five minutes, but I made myself stick around to see if it got any better. I did pay $8.75 to see it, after all. Ugh! I had much more fun watching 'Groundhog Day' with Doug on Saturday!

On a more pleasant note, The Boy is up to about 13.5 inches now, head to heel. He was using some of those inches to try and push his way out through my side yesterday, but it didn't work. He weighs a pound and a half. So much bigger than the speck he started out as, but still so bitty! If you'd like a food to compare his weight to this week, try a rutabaga. A long, lean rutabaga. Or a baby.

I don't talk about much besides my kids, do I?

While Doug was in the shower this morning, Lila woke me up by crawling into bed and trying to stick a pacifier in my mouth. That was a unique experience...

A little while after that, I had her on the bed with me and was "eating her belly". Through her hysterical laughter, she said, "No, I'm not tasty! I'm spicy!" And then, "Put my shirt down. I'm too spicy!" It was hilarious!

The Boy is growing steadily in there. I find it ironic that he weighs about 1.25 lbs, but I have gained more than 20! How is that fair? He's almost a foot long, which is about the length of an ear of corn (before it's peeled and cut, i'm thinking). If we could see him right now, he'd look pretty lean, but he'll start filling out fast over the next few weeks.

We still haven't picked out a name, hence my references to 'The Boy'. Lila is sticking with her opinion that we should just name him Boy... and that may be what happens if Doug and I can't agree on something soon! I could give you a list of the names that one of us has suggested and the other has rejected, but what's the point in that, really?

Aquababy

Today was Lila's first day in her new swim class, Aquababies! It's just her, three other little girls, and the teacher. No mommy in the water! She did a fabulous job - really, I've been gushing since we left the pool. I took nearly 100 photos, so you can expect to be seeing them for a few days. :)

Lots to say for a change

I come armed with four new stories today, so this could be a bit long.

#1: I mentioned before that our friends, Chip and Sara, had a baby last week. On Saturday, we went to bring them a meal and meet little Jace. I held him for a little while and Lila just kept going on and on about how little he was. "He's so little!" "He's tiny!" "He's itty bitty!" My favorite was, "He's got itty bitty toesies!"

Then Lila announced that she wanted to hold Jace. We got her up on the couch and I put him in her lap (with a little support for his head). It was painfully cute because she was being so sweet with him. She rubbed on his little belly and patted him and kept talking about how little he was. Since then she has been talking about how she's going to hold "her" baby like she did Baby Jace.

#2: Every day, Lila and I have what I call 'Bible Time'. I read a little devotional to her from a preschool devotional book I have and then I read a bit from the Bible. Each day's devotion is about a particular subject. A couple of days ago, the topic was 'comfort'. I said to Lila, "Did you know that Jesus is always with you to comfort you when you are hurt?"

She respoded with, "Yeah! [something something] Jesus helped me puke! [something something] And Jesus helped Mommy and Daddy puke!" Okay, yes, it was very funny to hear a 2-year-old saying that Jesus helped her puke, but the understanding behind this answer just blew me away! She understood that Jesus was there to help her when she was sick.

And she was also able to transfer that understanding to knowing that Jesus helped Mommy and Daddy when we were sick too. And in her little mind, the puking might have been Jesus' way of helping her feel better because I'm sure her tummy felt a lot better after she was done! She was also able to answer both of the 'comprehension questions' that I asked her after we read the accompanying story!

#3: I have this habit of kicking people in my sleep. Right after Doug and I got married, I woke us both up a couple of times by kicking him. We are pretty sure that I still do it, but we just sleep through it. Today, Lila and I were both taking a nap (in our own respective beds) and I was having this strange dream that was no doubt reflecting my anxiety over Doug's upcoming two-week trip to Asia.

In the dream, Doug told me that he was leaving later that afternoon to go to Houston on business for a couple of days. I was upset because he had left me no time to find someone to come stay with me. Then I come home and find that he's given our house key to a Chinese coworker who was in town for a few days - without telling me. I was completely ticked off and waiting for him to come home so I could gripe at him.

He finally did come home (we're still in the dream here) and apparently there was another person there, who might have been some representation of one of my brothers. This guy decided it would be funny to put a cold carton of milk against my back. When he did, I turned on him and started trying to strangle him, literally. I was fighting to get my hands around his neck and I think Doug was trying to stop me.

I'm guessing that hew as behind me, trying to pull me away and I was trying to kick him and strangle the other guy at the same time. Anyway, what happened in real life was that I actually did kick my leg out behind me and made contact with my poor, sleeping cat. It woke me up and I felt so bad, but I couldn't help laughing too. Poor Charlie! All he knew was that we were peacefully napping together and then I hauled off and kicked him! It didn't offend him enough to make him leave though.

#4: I was sitting at the computer a while ago and Lila came up next to me. She was holding my hands and looking up at me and I looked back down at her. She just stared at me for a minute and then said, "I really like you." I almost died it was so sweet!

We all need a massage.

Another seven days has passed and now I'm 23 weeks pregnant. For the record, I'm still not sure on some days that I'm ready to have another child. Nonetheless, there is a baby boy in there who is 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. That is, apparently, as much as a large mango weighs, but I'm pretty sure that he doesn't look like a mango.

They say that The Boy can feel my movements now and encourage dancing around. At the moment, I just feel like taking a nap, but thanks for the suggestion. Apparently, the baby's skin is transparent and reddish. That sounds rather odd to me. As long as he's pink when he comes out, then it's fine. Or he could be a kitty when he comes out. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing, but his lungs won't be fully developed for many more months. So keep cookin', Kid!

Hehehe... Lila just crawled up into our massage chair and is pushing buttons on the remote, trying to turn it on. The funny part is that she doesn't want to lean back and have the massagers touch her. She wants to turn on the heat so that the massagers turn red, and then watch them move around under the fabric. Sometimes Cordy gets up in the chair, which I can only assume means that she wants a massage. However, she always leaves as soon as I turn it on. Odd.

Free at last...

I think it is finally gone. No one has had diarrhea or vomiting for over 24 hours now. I'm tempted to go around and coat the house in Lysol again, just for good measure. Whew! and Praise God! I can't believe that tomorrow is already Saturday again. I mean, wasn't it just Sunday? Oh, no no, that was a couple dozen vomits ago. My mistake. Okay, and I'll try not to use the words diarrhea or vomit, or any of their synonyms, for a long time.

I have fantastic news about Cordelia. She has finally learned a valuable lesson that we've been trying to teach her for roughly five years now. If you want attention, then you should come and get it. Pouting, in another room, in the dark, does not get you what you want. What you see in this photo is Cordy consenting to lay in Doug's lap and get scratches, rather than insisting that he follow her to her favorite spot in the floor. This is a big breakthrough for Cordy and we're quite proud of her.

I bought a cute little onesie for The Boy today. It has teddy bears on it and says, "One of a kind." I used to think that boys clothes were boring, but now that I'm shopping for them I find them to be excessively cute. I guess the beauty grows when you're contemplating what's going to be inside those clothes. And speaking of boys, it seems like everyone I know is having a one! I can think of one friend who just had a son and at least three people, including myself, who are pregnant with them. Obviously it's got something to do with the moon. Or the drugs in our water. Or cow hormones. Or maybe the aliens. (the ones from outer space, not other countries)

Other things

Things around here are still pretty disgusting, but I'm tired of talking about that. What else can I talk about? . . . Oh, our dear friends, Chip and Sara Reed, gave birth to a son this week! Hooray! Jace was born on Monday, January 14 at 8:12 p.m. He weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and 20.5" long. Baby, Mom and Dad are all healthy and doing well. I've seen a few photos and he's definitely cuter than your average newborn! Chubby, too!

Let's see. I don't have a lot of fun stories this week since we've been sick and have hardly left the house since the weekend... Oh, today is my step-dad's birthday. Happy Birthday, Frank!

We are supposed to be having a brief visit from Grammie starting tomorrow, but I just don't know if that will be happening. Since this illness is lingering in Lila, I just don't know if she's still contagious or not. I would really hate to pass this on to anyone else. Especially since Grammie will be heading on to visit the other grandbaby after she leaves here. I don't want to send the bug to them!

Well, obviously I can't get away from the topic of being sick, so I'm giving up. Goodbye.

Warning: This is gross

Wow. It has sucked to be us for the past few days. This is how it all went down. Lila threw up Sunday morning and early Monday morning. On Monday afternoon, Doug came home from work early because he was sick. By the time I went to bed that night, I was sick. He and I each spent approximately 7 hours with stuff coming out both ends (for me, at the same time) every 30 to 45 minutes.

Lila threw up again in the middle of the night Monday/Tuesday. During the day on Tuesday, Doug and I both felt horrible and completely exhausted and Lila mostly just felt like we were boring. Then she had a blowout on Tuesday evening. Apparently she threw up sometime in the night last night and then went back to bed without telling us. This morning she had another blowout and has been at it every couple of hours since then.

I do not ever want to be that sick again and I'm so paranoid about us passing this bug back around that I've been spraying things with Lysol and washing my hands obsessively. I've even been wearing latex gloves when I clean up Lila's poopsplosions. Hopefully, for everyone's sake, this illness will be done with our family soon!

Oh, and the bonus points go to Ellen for guessing the movie. It was The Wizard of Oz.

Much like yesterday

So, this is weird. I mentioned yesterday that Lila puked before church. She was then totally fine for the rest of the day (except for a weak appetite). Well, she did it again sometime early this morning! We don't even know when it happened. She came and woke Doug up around 4 a.m. saying she wanted her water. He went to her room to help her find it and discovered two different places where she'd thrown up. Ew!

And, naturally, she's been completely fine since then. I'm not worried about her or anything, but I do wish this would stop. We couldn't put her in the nursery at church yesterday and I had to skip going to the gym today because childcare rather frowns on being given a child who has recently puked. But anyway, enough about these gross things.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Doug's cell phone is dead. "It's not only merely dead. It's really most sincerely dead!" The battery still works, but the phone itself is no more. I think Doug was perusing EBay this morning, looking for another one. He called Cingular, but our phone warranty does not cover death by washing machine. Oh well.

* Bonus points if you can tell me what movie that quote was adapted from.

Somebody puked, but it wasn't the pregnant lady!

As I mentioned last time, I'm 22 weeks pregnant now. That leaves 126 days go to (119 if you account for the c-section). The Boy now looks like a miniature newborn -- and kicks and squirms like a miniature octopus. He checks in at 10.9 inches, which is the length of a spaghetti squash. He weighs almost one pound... more or less. Just a wrinkly little baby, growing away!

Poor Lila puked this morning, for no apparent reason. She was a little whiny from the time she got up, but that just happens sometimes. Shortly before church, while she and Doug were playing with Play Doh, she announced that her tummy felt funny and then threw up all over Doug. She hardly ate anything all day (until she ate an entire apple around 5 o'clock), but she hasn't thrown up again. Who knows...

The one who really suffered in this situation was Doug's cell phone. It was in the pocket of the jeans that got puked on and all of the dirty clothes got put right in the washer, so... yeah, Doug's cell phone is very clean. We are letting it dry out completely and will check tomorrow to see if it still works. Hee hee.

Nothing, really.

You know, I opened this post to give a baby update, but I just realized that I'll be hitting 22 weeks tomorrow and I'll have new and different information to share. So I'll wait until then (i get a lot of my 'helpful tidbits' from a weekly email i receive). Until then, you can look at this photo of Lila playing Guitar Hero. Shortly after this photo was taken, we spotted her standing up, with the guitar on, swaying to the music. It was so hilarious, but she stopped before we could get the video camera out. Naturally.

What that is?

Well, it's been a week, but Doug's still Doug, I'm still pregnant, and Lila's still nuts. Not that I expected any of those things to change. . . . Wow. I'm sitting here with my hands on the keyboard, but nothing is coming out. Plenty has happened in the past week, but I feel uninspired to describe any of it. Today has been a long one due to an extra dose of insanity from Lila.

Right now I'm hiding and waiting for Doug to get home so that she'll have someone else to follow around and talk to. She's started asking a lot more questions; her favorite one being, "What that is?" The really maddening part is this: if she doesn't like your answer, she'll just keep asking the same question over and over. And, even though she has no concept of time, she's suddenly started asking us what time it is.

She discovered this question on the way home from dinner a couple of nights ago. She started with, "What time is it?" Doug said, "6:41." She said, "What time is it, Mommy?" I said, "6:41." She said, "What time is it?" I said, "It's still 6:41." She said, "What time is it, Daddy?" This went on for a very long time. Actually, it was about one minute, but you'd be amazed at how many times we went through this in that one minute.

We tried explaining to her that it's the same time for everybody (at least everyone who was in the car at the time), but it didn't help. We then started answering with things like, "Time for you to stop asking that question." At some point, Doug resorted to pestering her with questions instead. "Lila, do you have a face?" "Lila, do you have a nose?" "Lila?" "Lila?"

She took the approach of just ignoring us. Funny, that doesn't work when I try it on her...

Back to Work

Yesterday was the first day back at work for Doug and myself and boy was it exhausting! Somewhere during the three weeks that Doug was off work, I forgot why it is so important for me to take a nap when Lila does. By the end of the day yesterday, I had remembered. This pregnant body needs rest to make it through a day without turning into a big bear by evening!

I feel like giving you more baby information, so I will. A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats BBP's entire body to protect his skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. Kinda gross, huh? There's a reason why babies are not so pretty when they first come out of your body. Actually, there are several reasons. Of course, by the time I got to see Lila, they had already cleaned her up.

I don't have any new Poopie Diaper Dodging techniques to report for Lila today (she has decided to stick with a simple, "Don't check it."), but I do have one for Doug. He left for work yesterday in full knowledge that our child had a big stinkie in her pants and he didn't even tell me. I told him later that there was no way he could convince me that he didn't know (you could smell it from three feet away) and he just laughed!

The Boy

Well, for further information on BP 2.0, henceforth known as Baby Boy Peeler (BBP, for short)... I'm halfway to the end - woohoo! It seems to have gone by very quickly, but that's partly because I had no idea I was pregnant for the first five weeks. Based on yesterday's measurements, the doctors are estimating that the boy weighs about 9 oz. That's a wee bit below average, but following the same trend as Lila when I was pregnant with her.

Based on averages, he is about 10 inches from head to heel (the length of a banana). They didn't tell us that measurement from the ultrasound, but I'm sure it's close enough. In case you are interested, up to this point, the baby's length was always from head to rump because in the first half of pregnancy the babies are too curled up to measure their legs. From here on out, the measurement will be head to heel.

Lila now informs us a few times a day that, "It be a little brudder." Ah, my dear, if only you knew what that really meant... :) My head and neck are hurting, so I'm going to go sit a spell in the new shiatsu massage chair that Doug and I gave ourselves for Christmas. It's a happy toy.

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. :)