Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Left Out


I enjoy adding a little challenge to my day by feeding my son the most sugary cereal I can find. Unfortunately for Dean, his brother's the only one that gets to partake. Oh pregnancy and bad for you foods. When will I stop!?

Tiny


I absolutely love to look at Dean's little feet. His tiny toes are absolutely adorable and I often cannot refrain from reaching out and tickling them.

Today, those thoughts were absolutely crushed...destroyed even...as I unpacked all of Dean's newborn clothes for the new baby. Just look at those socks. Can human feet really truly come in that size? I'm having a really hard time imagining Dean's chunky feet squishing into those tiny finger puppet socks. And yet, I know that they used to fit him, even with a little room left over. I'm finding that I feel as though I have lost that part of Dean. I guess I have, but what I've gained is so much more fun.


Which brings me to my next flow of thoughts and hormonal feelings. I am going to have another little tiny baby with the cutest little toes that can absolutely swim in those same petite socks. And he will scream and cry...a lot. Only this time, I'll have that big toddler boy running around causing ruckus to remind me to enjoy all of the "little" things about new baby while they're still little. Entering my third trimester, I'm feeling a little freaked out by the whole thing. Mostly, I'm feeling so very, very blessed. I am one lucky woman to experience this not only once, but twice. Not everyone gets that chance. Sniff. Does anyone have a tissue?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cooling Off

Note: To skip all of the wordiness and go straight for the pictures, scroll down.

The weather here has continued to be in the 100s, so we took a mini-vacation to the beach at the end of last week. Our original plan at the beginning of the summer was to go camping. Knowing it would be so hot, we were trying to decide between the mountains and the beach as they are generally cooler than here in the valley. Well, eventually, the tent camping idea became a trailer camping idea and before we knew it my rather large pregnant butt had decided that what we really needed was a nice hotel stay with lots of pillows, a comfy bed, and a shower.




I really love to camp, but have some pretty horrid memories of our last camping trip. On that trip I was also pregnant, and just overcoming the morning sickness stage. I thought I could be a tough girl and rough it with the best of them, tentless in the late fall, and just skip the extra long hike everyone was planning on. I had a really good book and nature. I'd be fine. About an hour after we laid down to sleep, I got the chills and started loudly vomiting. How embarrassing. Lucas and I were trying to decide whether to go home or just stay. After all, it was just morning sickness. Nothing new or life threatening. 20 some odd hours later I was in the emergency room with an IV to give me both fluid and potassium and a bunch of meds to try to stop the vomiting. Somewhere on the trip I'd gotten food poisoning or came down with a stomach virus. ICK!





This "camping trip" was much more pleasant. The hotel room was nice and clean and included a continental breakfast. We had only to walk down a steep hill to reach the bay and a very short drive to hit the sandy beach. I found everything Dean did or said hilarious. Each action and word from Lucas seemed endearing and nurturing. I hardly had to pick Dean up and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I was really sad when it was time to leave my little piece of heaven.





In these pictures you will notice that Dean is carrying around a large piece of tubular seaweed. My engineer, very straight and narrow husband is sometimes creative in that he thinks of solutions for problems that I would never think of. Sometimes he's even a little goofy. This weekend, I saw a brand new side of him as he introduced Dean to the tube seaweed and told him it was a rat tail. Then they proceeded to run up and down the beach with their "rat tails" making ridiculous noises and having a grand old time. I wish I'd had my camera for that one, but I had to run back to the car to get it. By the time I came back the rat tail had become some tubular thing coming out of the sandcastle. Dean held the other end of it for hours and made water hose and vacuum cleaner noises while daddy excavated the mote. Tons of fun!





Oh and because this entry just absolutely isn't long enough. You can check out the progress on my pregnant belly by double clicking on the picture to the left.

Monday, July 28, 2008

A Nice Change

Oh, changing table, you wonderful invention. I adore you more and more each day. No longer do I have to twist my body awkwardly to pin my son down with my legs while changing poopy diapers. Breathtaking kicks to my inner thighs and tummy have not been experienced in weeks. Instead my son has been placed lovingly close to my face so that I can smile and sweetly talk to him while he high kicks me in the nose.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Lipstick and Crayons

Melted Crayon Before and After


Thanks for the advice on removing lipstick and crayons from the seat of my car. I didn't realize what WD-40 even was. I guess I thought it was an oil of some sort to use on bike chains and door hinges. It cleans things...who knew?
I was able to get most of the crayon out, though there are two faint orange spots left behind. The lipstick took maybe three blottings and then it was totally out. That stuff is amazing.


Dean has a hard time going down for a nap. Unless he is in the car. This is him at the stoplight outside of Target where we were shopping and he was wide awake. Funny...

Monday, July 21, 2008

It's Curtains for Night Time Lights





I've whipped together some curtains for the boys rooms to keep Dean from ruining the blinds. He likes to pull on them, usually bending them in the process. Now by whipped together, I of course mean, hastily sewed as quickly as possible so as to be finished. As in, don't inspect too closely or you will find very crooked seems, uneven bottoms, and a bunch of sloppy work. When my mother taught me to sew, I remember her telling me that her grandmother had said that the back should look as nice as the front. Well, mom, don't look at the back...or the front for that matter, because, well, I didn't take my time and and do the neat job that I am perfectly capable of. They did turn out kind of cute, and definantly functional. As we all know, in a year or so we'll move from this place to another and start our window treatment adventure anew.


You can see some of my other "nesting" projects in these pictures too. We've got wall stickers up and the baby's room is mostly ready to go. I've only to wash his clothes and place them in the drawers. If we had him tomorrow, we'd be ready.
As always, double click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Mess

Does anyone know how to get melted crayon out of the seat of your car...oh and lipstick too.

I take complete blame for the crayon because I didn't see Dean sneak it off of the kitchen table and into the car. It must have been in his pocket. The lipstick is Daddy's fault though, because he let Dean play in the car while he was washing it. He didn't realize that I keep some potentially messy things in the center console.

Monday, July 14, 2008

How Roomy

I've been working on turning the guest room into the baby's room. It's mostly done now. I added some curtains, put up decorative cloud stickers on the wall, bought a dresser, and arranged furniture. We were wanting to buy a four drawer dresser to double as a changing table, but were unable to find what we were looking for. We broke down and bought a changing table too. A very good friend of the family had offered to buy us a changing table for Dean, but at the time we were living in a tiny house without enough room for one. In hindsight, we should have accepted the offer and crammed it in our tiny house. Who'd have known we were going to move?

Yesterday we were putting the changing table together, and Dean fell right into one of the corners of it. He hit his chin so hard that it jammed his lower teeth into the roof of his mouth causing a some bleeding. Thankfully we were able to stop the bleeding and there was no need of stiches, but the little tike is pretty bruised and sore.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Weather and Other Exciting Things

In my truest writing fashion, I am going to jam a whole bunch of things into one blog posting just like on my favorite news stations. Only I don't watch those anymore because...well, who has the time?

I will start with the weather, because I hate waiting for it on the news. The weather here is totally crummy. Not only do we have low temperatures averaging at 84 degrees, but we have highs averaging at 110 degrees. I guess it has reached 115 a few times. Now, I say the weather HERE, but really it was the same at the last place we lived. As if the temperatures weren't bad enough, the area we live in has one of the worst air qualities in the state in any given season. This summer, we are badly off, because we have some pretty big fires to the east and west of us. Between the smoke and heat, I imagine some people are getting pretty sick. I am grateful for the airconditioning that I have been enjoying.

In night time sleeping news. Dean officially sleeps through the night. He generally yells at me at his door for a bit, then crawls into his bed and goes to sleep. Naps work about the same. He does all of this without any bottles. The only time he seems to awaken at night is when he is teething.

Dean is teething now. The poor baby apparently grew two molars at my mom's house. I was so busy watching for a tooth to match the one he'd just gotten in the front, that I didn't think about molars. His grand ol' daddy crammed his finger into Dean's mouth one day and found two molars that are almost completely in. He's up to 7 teeth, an additional two molars are starting, and then the mysterious matching tooth I imagine will show one day soon. Thank goodness for teething tablets.

We went to have an unltrasound done this week. We'll be having another boy. I am glad the little dude sat on the camera for us, because it is kind of neat to know this time around. Now when I go through his big brother's clothes to prep for birthing time, I know to stick the "boy clothes" in the drawer without any little bows sewn on. There are so many neat things about having another boy of which I am glad.

That said, I found myself feeling a little sad, because I don't know if we'll afford another child. Though, I don't care if I have a girl, it does bring up the question of who I would pass on our family cradle which has held many generations of babies. Traditionally it is passed from oldest daughter to oldest daughter. I've grown up knowing that it would come into my hands one day and wondering if I'd have a little girl to pass it on to. I may still, who knows.

A special thanks to all of you who sent encouraging messages as I went on my sleeping quest. I have started a new one. I am trying to get my husband to sleep through the night. He is often up for a few hours in the middle of the night tossing and turning. I plan to start him off with quiet activities before bedtime (no power tools, internet, or guns) and let him cry it out instead of allowing him to get up every time he awakens to browse the internet. If all of this fails, I will confine him to his room and move into the guest room. I halfway tease, though I do have a dream of one day receiving a full nights rest. I know what you are thinking...umm...second baby in November. I know. I get it. BELIEVE ME, I get it.