Summer Days

What Shepherd plans to do this summer:

What Mommy plans to do this summer:

That is, until Baby Girl arrives. Then, it is all the aforementioned, plus a baby and a breastfeeding cover.  Yeah, that pretty much covers the summer.

Baby Girl Gensic's Painting

At pretty much this exact same time in my pregnancy with Shepherd, I painted him a watercolor painting for his room. The idea was for him to always have a painting I did specifically for him while I was waiting for his arrival. Thursday, I finished my little girl's painting. This isn't a great picture of it, but you can get a general idea.


Overall, the nesting instinct is starting to kick in pretty severely. I know I'm nesting when I start cleaning in the places no one ever actually sees, and that is what I've been doing every day for the past week. It makes sense. The third trimester officially kicks off tomorrow. Even though this pregnancy has gone fairly quickly for me, three months still sounds like an eternity. I can't wait to have my daughter here in our crazy little home. Shepherd and BJ are currently practicing drum technique with BJ's old sticks and practice pads. Basically, she won't have a quiet house to come home to, but we will make it fun for her.

Things 18 Month-Old's Do

They eat goldfish. Lots and lots of goldfish.

They ask to have their shoes put on at the most nonsensical times, such as on their way to bath time.

They get really happy when they are naked.

They give Sesame Street their undivided attention. (Incidentally, this means that for the first time since Shepherd was born, my hair and makeup are done most days.)

They use their pointer fingers to make they gibberish sound more authoritative. It is actually a pretty effective rhetorical technique.

They know exactly what to do with a steering wheel.
And when their face is positioned just so, their fat cheeks make them still look like a baby in their mother's eyes.

A Few Pictures from Easter

As seems to always be the case, Easter day was wet and cold. Fortunately, Shepherd's expectations of an Easter egg hunt are pretty much non-existent, so we just did a little hunt down our house's hallway. Each egg had a chocolate graham cracker bunny in it, so he just made his way through his afternoon snack one egg at a time.
Shepherd also got some an Easter package from his Mamm and Pap. Here he is opening it!
One last picture. This is Shepherd all after we got home from church. Isn't he so cute in his little suit?!?

The Family Tree

Shepherd and I are spending a few days in Menard so that we can help my dad celebrate his 60th birthday tomorrow. Being around family has reminded me of the gene pool where my son's eclectic personality comes from. So, briefly, here is a list of the parts of our immediate families that I see in Shepherd:

BJ: Just look at them.

BJ's Dad (Papa): Inquisitiveness. Papa is a chemist.

BJ's Mom (Nana): An outie. Everyone else in the family tree has an innie belly button. Incidentally, this is the feature of which Shepherd is by far the most proud and the most apt to show off.

BJ's Sister (Auntie Al): Busyness. Just plain old busyness.

Me: A shy streak. When meeting new people he always breifly looks down at his shoes before offering them a smile.

My Dad (Pap): Gluttony.

My Mom (Mamm): Sociability. Mom is the only other person I know who socializes as much as Shepherd when they go to church.

My Brother (Uncle Bro): A love of books.