What Not to Say to Your 6 Months Pregnant Wife

As I climb into the van on our way to the beach:

BJ: Well, I see we packed the beach ball.

Future Parenting Technique

One day, when Shepherd and Lydia are fighting and frustrated with each other, I'm going to remind them of how they used to take pretend "naps" together. They passed an hour this evening "snoring" next to each other.

My Children, In a Nutshell

We spent our first evening at the beach on Murray Lake tonight. It is one of our favorite summer past times. Shepherd was already having a pretty great day because while I was doing my grocery shopping, I came across a Monsters University mask. He hasn't been without it since I gave it to him. He even had it in his bath tonight. Here are some pictures of my very content son.

My daughter, however...oh, my daughter. Let's just say that for the most part, she was unimpressed with the whole beach thing. While we were playing on the beach, she just kept walking around griping. Once when she was walking away from me, I asked her to turn around and smile so that I could snap a picture. Here is the Kodak moment she gave me:

When Shepherd saw this picture tonight, he said: "Oh, Lydia looks mad." Yep. She does.

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

ME: What should we give Nana for Mother's Day?
Shepherd: (huge intake of breath, and then in a conspiratorial whisper) Secret crackers.

The Mother's Day gifts of my future are looking pretty bleak right now. Let's hope the little sisters are better at coming up with gift ideas.

My life is a mess. Literally.

For the past few weeks, our little family has been taking turns being sick, and when my family is sick, I sort of shut down to the outside world and just focus in on them. As a result, I am horribly amiss on blogging this month.

To reinitiate myself into blogging, I'd like the make a list for posterity's sake of everything I've cleaned up in the past 24 hours:

1. An entire bowl of oatmeal dumped on the floor.
2. An entire bowl of cheerios and milk dumped on the floor.
3. A handful of peas thrown throughout my kitchen. 
4. Half of a Starbucks drink spilled under my dining room table.
5. About 4 poopy diapers.
6. A mixture of snot and ash spread across my son's face after he got into our chiminia.
7. A full sippy cup of milk whose lid I forgot to screw on before Lydia found it.
8. An entire bottle of Benadryl that I dropped at midnight last night during a drousy effort at medicating my sinusitis-addled self.

 And last but not least, here are some pictures of the laundry "beach" Shepherd constructed using a basket full of dirty clothes along with Shepherd (aka "the lizard") crawling around in them. This is the next thing I get to clean up.

Oh, and here is a picture of the beautiful, sweet, wonderful little person who spilled the oatmeal, cheerios, peas, milk, and filled all of those diapers.

 

And the gender is...

Since the moment I told BJ I was pregnant, he has been hoping for a boy. Because I love giving him things he wants, I also was sort of hoping for a boy.

It's a girl.

It's a girl, and I feel so deeply grateful and excited about her. When I asked BJ after the ultrasound if he was okay, he excitedly said, "Yeah. I got over that in about 2 seconds."

I've heard a lot of stories about people being disappointed by the gender. This is my first time going into the ultrasound room hoping for one thing and getting another, but I can honestly say that 'disappointed' doesn't come close to describing how I feel. As the ultrasound tech measured each body part (the brain, the heart, the legs, the spine) and declared each one just right, all the images I'd built in my head melted away and were replaced by the real, actual person currently taking residence in me. We've set a place at our table. This is the amazing little person God is sending to fill it.

I can't wait to one day tell are youngest daughter that she was the oops who was supposed to be a boy, and that we couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. I hope that she sees in this the folly of human plans and the infinite wisdom of God's.

I have a face.

After a wonderful weekend with my parents in town, many moments stand out as special. But one conversation in particular between my mom and Shepherd will go down into history:

Mamm: Oh Shepherd, you're so cute I could just eat you up.
Shepherd: Mamm, you can't eat me. I'm not a cookie or bacon. I have a face.

The lesson to be gleaned from this: when talking to a toddler, keep in mind that everything you say can and will be taken literally.

A New Take on a Classic

This afternoon while playing in the yard, Shepherd was pretending to be Jack from the nursery rhyme, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick; Jack jump over the candlestick." He would say the rhyme, and then jump off of his little orange slide.

During the middle of this play time, he told me he had to go to the bathroom, so we came in. He headed to the bathroom while I sat on the couch and read my book. After about five minutes, I overheard his little toddler voice doing its characteristic mumbling narration of everything he does. Here is what I heard: "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick; Jack wipe his butt and be ready to jump the candlestick."

As soon as he was done, we headed out and resumed the candlestick jumping.

 

 

Unforseen Complication with Shepherd's Name

A conversation in the park

Me: Shepherd, look at that big dog.
Shepherd: What's its name?
Me: I don't know, but it is a German Shepherd.
Shepherd: No, I'm a German Shepherd.
Me: No, you're a Croatian Shepherd.
Shepherd: Oh, yay, Mom. That's right.

Spring

I love the first days of spring, the days when it seems perfectly reasonable to wear short in upper-50s weather. Today is on of those first days. BJ had to go out of town for a meeting, so the kids and I are spent a very typical spring morning at home. 

First, we waited out the early morning chill by racing cars down the hallway.

 

 Then, we headed outside in our shorts with light jackets.

 

At one point, Shepherd insisted I take a picture of the boo-boo on his knew.

Somewhere along the way, Shep got ahold of the camera.  Oh well.

 

Happy Spring, everyone!

Siblings

Shep and Lydi are starting to fight. They bicker. They pick on each other. Shep finds new and creative ways every day to irritate poor Lydi to her breaking point.

I do a fair amount of refereeing these days, but for the most part, I let them fight. I love seeing that their relationship is growing and deepening. Maybe I'm crazy, but I see the fighting as evidence of this. My brother and I fought all the time growing up. It was in that relationship that I learned how to get over being angry and move on.

Fortunately, they don't just fight. After Lydia's nap, Shepherd always wants to be the one to open her door and greet her. She bounces up and down in her bed excitedly every time. And when they reunite after one has been away running an errand or shopping with mom or dad, they hug. Before they go to bed, Shepherd has to kiss Lydia's cheek, and Lydia has to say "nigh-night" to Shep. There is plenty of evidence that there is no love lost between these two little warriors.

Post-Vacation Chaos

I love the anticipation part of trips. I like packing and planning and making list after list after list. I find the actual vacation part slightly less enjoyable (although I do LOVE being around family and friends). For a stay-at-home mom, leaving home is really just doing your job under less ideal conditions. We stay-at-home moms build sacred routines that keep our toddlers from being crazy. Trips tend to shatter those routines, thus making our jobs much more difficult.


However, nothing compares to the chaos of returning from a trip. I loath unpacking. I hate the disarray into which it plunges my house. I feel frazzled by my overly-exhausted, hyper-emotional offspring (and it takes a good two weeks for them to get anywhere close to back to normal).


Thankfully, all bags are officially unpacked and put away. The kids are almost back to normal. And my house is clean in parts, so I'll take it.  Maybe now, blog posts will start coming up with a little more regularity. But until then, here is a picture of Lydia demonstrating the way I've been feeling the past few weeks: like my world is flipped upside down.

To the fair!

 I found out today that toddlers love fairs! Who knew? My parents, the kids, and I headed to San Angelo this afternoon for a day at the fair, and we had a marvelous time.  Mostly, we let the kids ride all the fun rides for little ones and try to win some stuffed animals.  Oh, and there might of been one or two funnel cakes thrown in as well.  Here are some pics of the day!

 



One week down...

Well, once again we find ourselves on a two week separation from BJ as he goes off to school for his doctorate.  This time, the kids and I have come down to my parents' house in Texas to pass the time.

 

We are one week in, and as much as I'm enjoying my time with family, I'm officially done with the being-away-from-BJ bit. And yet, I have another week to go.

 

In the past year, BJ has missed our 7th anniversary, Lydia's first birthday, and now (much less significantly) Valentine's Day. It is a clear reminder that for anything worth having (in this case, a doctorate), there are many sacrifices to be made.

 

Leaving "normal life" for two weeks also tends to remind me of all that is meaningful, important, and even sacred in my day to day life. Before we all left, an elder prayed for our family's safety while we all stood around the church's kitchen. Elders pray for me and my family all the time, as they pray for all of the people in our congregation. Their "normal" little prayers for me feel so holy, and I am so deeply grateful for them.

 

A few days after our arrival, BJ said he was really starting to miss the kids.  I jokingly said, "You're missing the chaos, aren't you?" He said, "No. I'm just missing them." The people within those two tiny little bodies are so momentously special. I am also deeply grateful for them.

 

And then there is the sudden absense of BJ.  I turned 29 last Wednesday. I was 19 when we met and started dating. We've spent a decade side by side. Today is Valentine's Day, so I guess I could list all the things I love about him, but somehow, he can't be made into a list.  I can't even seem to coherently say why we work without it sounding trite.  All I know is that day after day after day, we are together in almost every obstacle and joy that particular day brings, and I'll be very ready come a week from now to resume my place by his side.

What I Learned Today

You would think that by the third child, the first ultrasound image and the first sound of their heartbeat would start getting old or loose a bit of its wonder. It doesn't.

From a Three-Year Old

Shepherd's verbal skills keep expanding with each passing day. Sentences are getting longer and more complex. However, the most stunning part of a conversation with Shepherd is usually not the vocabulary or sentence structure. It's the logical conclusions he draws about the situations all around him. Here are three examples from the last couple of weeks.

1. Two weeks ago, the whole family got stomach bugs at the exact same time. Four people, one bathroom. It wasn't pretty. Thankfully, it was a swift bug, and we soon all recovered. After reflecting on how much better he was feeling, Shepherd thoughtfully posed the following question to BJ and me: "Did the stomach bug go into the potty and go for a swim?" Something like that.

2. I made a quick weekend trip mid-January to Menard with the kids to give BJ some much needed homework time after the holidays. As soon as we got there, Shepherd wanted to tell Mamm and Pap about the baby in my tummy. Here's how that story went: "Mommy has a baby in her tummy, and she is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger (making hand gestures that denote a growth in height) like the giant and the bean stalk." Soon after, I clarified what part of mommies get bigger as babies grow.

3. After lunch today, Shepherd was poking BJ's slightly (oh-so-slightly) rotund stomach. He then observed, "Daddy, you've got too much water in your tummy." BJ burst out laughing and said, "I've got too much of something in there."

On Baby Number Three

Well, I haven't really put it out into internet land yet, but I am pregnant with baby number three.  I'm 11 weeks, nauseous every moment of every day, and absolutely exhausted. So, a typical pregnancy for me.

However, there is one thing about this pregnancy that isn't typical. Shepherd and Lydia were both planned, and those pregnancies were at least somewhat expected. Number three, though, is an oops baby.  We weren't trying. In fact, we were actively trying not to get pregnant.

On December 10, I took a pregnancy test feeling foolish for even taking it, certain I couldn't possibly be pregnant. However, I couldn't ignore the little voice in my head saying, "Are you sure?" When I saw the result, I immediately started shaking from head to toe.  Happiness kept trying to creep into my emotions, but I was much too overwhelmed with shock to allow it any residence. So I did what any girl in total shock should do; I called my mother. In tears, I told her what had just happened. She laughed hysterically. It sort of put things in perspective. Oh yeah, babies are good things.

So I spent the rest of my afternoon frantically trying to put everything in our house and our life in perfect order so that the shocking news could be delivered with as much peace and tranquility as possible. By the time 5:00 rolled around, our house was immaculately clean, a hot dinner was on the table, I had a new budget plan typed and ready, and I had research printed out for different doctor/midwife options we could use for this pregnancy.

By what I am convinced was the grace of God, Shepherd and Lydia were cheerful and well behaved the entire evening. By the time we put them to bed, I was prepared to tell BJ. So I took my stack of research into our very clean bedroom, sat down on our neatly made-up bed, and told BJ I needed to talk to him for a minute. He took one look at me and said, "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

The next morning, BJ crawled out of bed and trudged into the kitchen in his characteristic surly-morning mood. I paused my breakfast preparations, looked up at him, and asked, "Well, how are you doing this morning?" Perhaps it is because BJ gets paid to be profound on a weekly basis, but in that moment, he said the exact thing I needed to hear as I sat in my personal little boat, rocking from terrified to happy and back again. He didn't say "I'm so happy" or "I'm so ready for number 3" or "This was the best news ever." Instead, he gave an answer as honest and to-the-point as I have come to expect from him: "I'm not happy about it yet, but I'm grateful." And we are.

Sundays at the First Christian Church of Ardmore

I'm usually so good about blogging once a week, but the holiday season got me horribly off my schedule the past few weeks.  I still haven't caught up on house chores and getting the kids back into a somewhat normal schedule. Also, there is the nausea and fatigue of growing a new baby, but I'll save that for a blog post later this week :).

For now, I just want to take a moment to list my favorite things about Sundays:

1. My teen class. About seven months ago, I started teaching the teen class at our church. I was a bit intimidated by the challenge, but I decided to jump in a give it a try. What I didn't expect was that I would fall in love with my girls. It was supposed to be a three month stretch, but obviously, I haven't felt compelled to stop yet.

2. Hearing Rev. BJ Gensic preach. I know I'm biased, but he really does always deliver a great sermon. And he isn't the type of preacher you zone out on while listening.  I'm always glued to the message from beginning to end.

3. Taking the Eucharist. When I have to miss a Sunday morning service for whatever reason, I always miss having this meal with my family. And yes, my church is family to me.

4. Watching Shepherd eat his donut before class. He always sits at the men's table in the parlor with several men ages 50 and over.

5. Smelling Lydia's hair for the rest of the day after church. She always smells like the perfumes of all the ladies who held her that morning.

6. Last but not least, singing. We seriously have the best worship leader and accompanists.

Gearing up for Christmas

Like everyone else, we've been super busy getting ready for Christmas.  Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks to get my blog caught up!

We've been dressing festively...

...and doing art projects to decorate the house...

...and going to the park during the brief spells of decent weather...

...and caroling...

...and dressing in our very best for the Sunday before Christmas.

 

Now, we are really, really, really ready for Christmas! That pretty much sums up everything!