Inside the mind (and mouth) of Anna-Kate

I was putting Anna-Kate in bed and was so tired I laid down with her and she patted my cheek and said, "Oh you just rest your sleepy little head right here."

As I was getting up to leave I kissed her and she startled stumbling over her words trying to stall. She said, "oh, uh mommy, I umm, I really like, um, your, uh, nose. Yes, your nose." The sincerity is touching.

Chris then went in to tuck her in and she said, "you lay down, I am just sooo busy. I have so much work to do." She then began rubbing her hand in a circle on the bed and then began singing, "sing sweet nightingale, aaaaaaaah!" (in case you are unfamiliar or a bit fuzzy, that would be Cinderella's song while she hand mops the floor.)

The other day I told Ryan that they could watch a show as soon as he went potty (because if he has to go he holds it to avoid missing his show and in the process of running to the bathroom he pees...). Anyway. Anna-Kate was tired of waiting on him and said, "why don't you just stick him in isolation so he can't see the show and I can just watch it. Isn't that a beary good idea Mommy?"

When I told her that I had gone to the doctor to see Jack on Tuesday she said, "Oh, did he take Jack out of your belly?" I said, "does it look like he's out of my belly?" Her response? "Um, no. Not beary much at all."

The other day we were talking about how there is only One God and she began asking about God and Jesus and saying "well we have two Gods, right?". So I tried to explain the Trinity. (Yes, she's still 3). After I finished my best shot of explaining this highly complex abstract concept I asked if that made sense to her. She said, "well, it does a little bit but not beary much I don't think." I'm counting on the Lord blessing my efforts and helping her understanding despite me and my efforts.

Curse you groundhog!

(and your blasted shadow!!)

It snowed here today. Again. I thought this was one of the (be they many) reasons I reside in the South. Predictable weather. But blast it all, though snow down here is fun and all, this is the 3rd time this year and I'm tired of the mess and school closings! At least I got my doctor's appointment in, alone, today.

Anyway, I am ready for spring. Ryan's pants are getting too short and the spring clothes I have bought and made are SO cute, I am just itchin' for the kids to wear them (and, not being pregnant and experiencing all of the final-weeks-of-pregnancy-funtimes isn't gonna be too bad either, if I'm being honest. But, I digress.).

These are the outfits I made for the (THREE) kids a few weeks ago. There are more, but these are some playclothes that I have downstairs (and I'll just be honest, it's not worth it to me to walk upstairs right now.).

(Ryan has shorts and a little shirt appliqued with the same fabric into a truck, just not walking upstairs to get it right now...you understand, right?)



I am obsessed with this fabric. Anna-Kate's has embroidered hot pink flamingo's, the boys' has embroidered alligators.



More pictures to come...

I'm back, with quite a potpourri

(from birthday/birthday/sickness/Olympic watching/scrapbook palooza)!

Did you miss me?

We went to Macon on my birthday, where I promptly got sick. The "thank you Jesus that my Mom is here to watch the kids so I can not move" kind of not feeling well. Sigh.

In other news, last night at 1:30 am, (OK, so technically today, but still) not too long after the closing ceremonies, I finished my Scrapbook Palooza. I am caught up through Valentines Day and did all of the pictures I had printed. I am missing 3 pages from '09 and Ryan's birthday (and of course I have none from my own, whatever). You can go ahead and applaud me now. It is suuuuch a sense of accomplishment! Woo-hoo!

I'm always sad to see the Olympics end. It is always a good dose of pride in the good ol' U.S of A. I feel like I age 10 years every time I watch though...I get so nervous for these people who spend four years, though really their whole lives, training for a few minutes. I think I would just die if one of my kids were ever an Olympian, obvously, it'd be awesome, but good gosh, how nerve wracking. (And yes, I teared up every.single.time I saw a "go mom" commercial.)

That's all I've got. Nothing witty today. I'll be on that for tomorrow. :)

Happy birthday to me...

What, can't I sing to myself? Is that weird?

Today has been wonderful so far. I got up 3 minutes before my alarm went off (which is super to wake up sans beep) and when I walked into Anna-Kate's room she was sitting there smiling and said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!". We (mostly uneventfully) got out the door to school and were only 4 minutes late. A personal best for a Thursday for me. I left my kids (and Ryan didn't even object) drove through Chick-fil-a for breakfast on my way to the spa to get a prenatal massage. Heaven will have massage available. I'm convinced of it. (Sidenote, upon much thought and contemplation, I think that "receiving massage" might be my love language.). After I was completely relaxed I took a shower...for 30 minutes...and got ready, really slowly and all.by.myself. It was glorious. I drove through Arby's for lunch (Hey, I'm pregnant and it's my birthday. I'm allowed to.). As they serve Pepsi products (insert gagging noise here, I would rather eat dirt.) I opted for the chocolate shake. Unfortunately for me, I had to pick up my kids about 3 minutes after getting the shake and they drank about half of it. O well, probably better for Jack anyway, and I know it's better for me...

Kids are down for naps while I get packed up and try to finish up my scrapbook palooza. My friend even brought me a diet dr. pepper as I had neglected my stockpile and had none to keep my eyelids open during the afternoon slump. After naps we are headed to my parents' house for a couple of days. They are taking us to Carraba's for dinner tonight. I'm having visions of bread...yum.

So, like I said, happy birthday to me! :)

Wow, I'm really pregnant.

So I'm going to the OB every week now (because, you know, I have time to do that). While I was there today I had a few interesting discoveries.

1. Baby Jack is breech. Evidently this is better for a C-section. I'm guessing because they just pull legs, not head, out? Or so if they cut too deeply bum gets nicked instead of forehead (like Anna-Kate's was). This also explains why I can't effectively pick things up off the floor or breath. His big ol' noggin is all up in my lungs and upper belly area. Interesting. This would also explain the Olympic like precision with which he flips and turns…I thought I’d been feeling some twizzles in there!

2. I've gained 22 lbs this pregnancy thus far. I consider this to be a personal victory (though I'll add, not because of anything I've done. I've personally eaten half a box of Samoas and half a box of Tag-a-longs this week, curse you Girl Scout Cookies!--in addition to my share of the Mickey cake).

3. He's a big one. I'm measuring 2 weeks big, though the doctor was quick to say it wasn't because I was too big. Good man. These Kaiser docs are getting a little better, at least with tact...

4. My afore mentioned doctor who has acquired tact will not be doing my C-section. No, much worse. He has lost all feeling in his fingers so is off OB call and not doing any other surgeries (today was his last and the woman he was performing a hysterectomy on was aware of the numbness. Seriously?? Whatever, when she turns up pregnant in 3 months, it's not my problem I guess). Anyway, since the other docs are out that week, I will be getting whichever Kaiser doctor in the city is on call that day. Super. In better news, I found out that I got a 10 am schedule which is perfect as far as not having to wake up at the crack of dawn or depriving myself too long of food before surgery.

Again with my silver linings.

If you follow my life via status updates on Facebook, you will know that I spent all day Sunday with contractions. Seriously, all day. All through church, came home and took a nap and was awakened from my precious slumber. They got to be 5 minutes apart and didn't hurt, but definitely were attention getting. Anyway, he was completely unphased by them as I am fast approaching "full-term" status (isn't that 37 weeks?). So, I guess it is what it is (though I will add that it is shocking how my idea of life and God's differs sometimes. I've had more than one friend say to me that God laughs when we tell Him our plans. I can only imagine that to be true. And yet, I try to keep planning and controlling. Thankfully, He loves me anyway.).

Not my finest mothering moment

That's right, I'll admit it. Poor Ryan, on his birthday no less, received the brunt of my anger.

Here's the situation. I put Ryan on the potty and he said he didn't need to go. We sat there for a few minutes and then I got him off. In the time it took for me to walk from the downstairs bathroom to the (downstairs) laundry room (to get him underwear) to the sofa halfway in between, I found Ryan, in the process of sliding off of the sofa, a trail of poop behind him.

I took a picture. Will someone please assure me that this will be funny one day?



I ran him back to the potty and had to walk away I was so grossed out and irritated and angry. There, I said it. Now, before you feel too sorry for him, the reason I was angry isn't because he had an accident per say, it's because I know he's capable of more and was being lazy. The night before he had made, uhh, poop noises we'll call them (you know, grunts) in the car. I told him to hold them in until we got home. Which he did--10 minutes later. I was so proud of him. So, why I have trouble with this is because I know he can hold it if he wants to, and not only didn't he hold it, he told me, not 2 minutes prior, he didn't need to go.

Anyway, after I composed myself, I asked him if he was a baby or big boy. He said big boy. I said that big boys don't go pee-pee or poo-poo in their underwear (which, thanks mom for pointing out that he didn't technically go in his underwear...issure remains...). I asked him if he needed to wear diapers again like a baby. He emphatically shook his head no and said, "No meehm" (no ma'am). I told him that if he kept going in his underwear he would have to wear diapers again. No more accidents the rest of the day or today, so we'll see how effective that is.

Afterwards, I went to Ryan and told him I was sorry for getting angry and asked him if he could forgive me. Sweet boy, he said, "yes meehm" then gave me a big hug and grabbed my hand and kissed it. What a precious, precious boy.

It's official, Ryan is 2.

Seriously? How did this happen so quickly?? It seems like yesterday we brought him home from the hospital.



The day started off well, (I took a 2 hour nap yesterday and then proceeded to sleep for over 9 hours last night. I believe that is a record for this 36+ week pregnant Mama!). Anna-Kate and I went into Ryan's room to serenade him with "happy birthday" this morning. He immediately jumped out of bed saying, "ere I-an's choo-choo's?" (where are Ryan's trains). While the kids played I made a yummy breakfast of eggs with ham and cheese and blueberry muffins, Ryan's favorite breakfast! I thought I was so smart to put 2 little candles in his muffin and sing (yes, again. I like birthdays, what can I say?). After he blew out his candles, I made a realization. Muffins that just came out of a 400 degree oven are hot. I know, earth-shattering news. They are so hot in fact, that they melt candles producing a blue wax pretty evenly distributed throughout the muffin. O well. I took that one for the team.

Sweet birthday boy:



(Notice the leaning candles...)



Poor candles post being thrust into piping hot muffin.




We went to Ryan's playgroup, naps, then ballet. Finally, we went out to dinner and got some yummy burgers, headed to Target to let Ryan pick out something special for his birthday then home for the conclusion of the Mickey cake and to open presents. When Anna-Kate and Chris went to the hockey game last month they bought Ryan a toddler sized hockey stick and puck/ball set. Anna-Kate could barely contain herself--she's been dying to give it to him for so long! He loved it! We gave him a rug for his room that he can drive his trains/trucks etc on, a frog umbrella, (I know it sounds lame be he LOVES it and has always been jealous of Anna-Kate's umbrella), and some new tag jr. books. He was beside himself.

Not interested in holding off on the cake for a picture with Mama.



Testing out the driving capabilities of the new rug.



Thanking big sister for the gift!



Testing out hockey set.











It was a sweet day. Happy 2nd birthday Ryan, we love you!