Holiday Cheer & Happy New Year to Y'all!

Signs you've had a little too much holiday cheer (hee, hee):

1. You take off your shoes and wade in the potato salad.

2. You hear a duck quacking and it's you.

3. You refill your glass from the fish bowl.

5. You hear someone say, "Call a priest!"

6. You complain about the small bathroom after emerging from the closet.

7. You ask for another ice cube and put it in your pocket.

8. You tell everyone you have to go home... and the party's at your place.

9. You have to hold on to the floor to keep from sliding off.

10. You pick up a roll, and butter your watch.

Can't Complain

I have three particular friends in mind, all of whom nearly never complain, no matter what's going wrong for them - -

One friend in particular, she really could lodge some very, VERY valid complaints against life.  Whenever I try to persuade or all out push her to vent, thinking she must need to with all that she has on her plate, I almost always get nothing from her - - She's sooo focused on all the good things in her life despite the rest; sooo incredibly grateful for what she does enjoy, rather than waste her energy complaining about what she doesn't want or doesn't have.

She often serves me as a major reality check, if and when I ever find myself pouting. Memories of my own mum also serve me in the same way, indeed.

I'm so grateful for my dear friends and family who serve as voices of hope and love, optimism and positive outlook, resilience and perseverance, and all that good stuff that makes the world go round!

Halloween Humor

An extremely modest man was in the hospital for a series of tests, the  last of which had left his bodily systems extremely upset. Upon making several false alarm trips to the bathroom, he decided the latest episode was another and stayed put. He suddenly filled his bed with diarrhea and was embarrassed beyond his ability to remain rational.

In a complete loss of composure, he jumped out of bed, gathered up the bed sheets, and threw them out the hospital window.

A drunk was walking by the hospital when the sheets landed on him. He started yelling, cursing, and swinging his arms violently trying to get the unknown things off, and ended up with the soiled sheets in a tangled pile at his feet.

As the drunk stood there, unsteady on his feet, staring down at the sheets, a hospital security guard (barely containing his laughter) who had watched the whole incident walked up and asked, "What the heck is going on here?"

The drunk, still staring down replied:   "I think I just beat the shit out of a ghost."

Things You Think of Inbetween Feedings

Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have a "S" in it?

She's Here Now and 2 Weeks Old Already

So, I haven't been online much since the arrival of our new lil' addition to our family, who is, by the way, 2 weeks old as of today and is totally adorable - - I cannot lie, she's gorgeous! And she is a ridiculously effortless baby, no less.  Yup, she's sooo easy - - easy peasey, lemon-squeezy, as our lil' Jellybean would say.

Since her arrival I've been posting stuff to Facebook via my Blackberry, but that's been about it until today.  Plus, I never really had the chance to write much about my pregnancy, compared to my first -with or without comparisons really- and I've missed writing anything about my repeat c-section or the past 2 weeks' time. 

For now, I'll just say that I've spent the last 2 weeks trying hard to not repeat the same mistakes I'd made after Jellybean's c-section delivery.  Consequently, my coming and goings have been strictly limited, including my ability to sit up in bed with a laptop.  Due to my diligent determination to rest and take things slowly, I stopped taking my pain meds this past Saturday at midnight, to be exact, and although it's slowed me down some (which is NOT a bad thing), I'm much improved and I'm clearly on my way to a solid recovery, which will include some backlogged blogging.

Lastly, our lil' darling daughter arrived June 11th, 2012, Monday morning at 8am, sharp. The cesarean delivery was flawless, as is she.  As for her full name, it's got two Vs, three I's, two N's, 5 E's, 2 M's, two L's and two T's - she's gunna complain when she's old enough to write it all out, I'm sure!

In 6 DAYS

In 6 days -the maximum- we will have ourselves a new lil' addition to our family! woot! woot!

The Way It Is

How does one know she's a bit hormonal = Listening to iTunes on shuffle, I turn the volume down to take a serious work call, and thereby, lose track of what's playing... then I turn the volume back up nearly 2 hours later to discover Bruce Hornsby & the Range is playing, and inexplicably, the tears flow like a faucet's been turned on... dripping off my chin, and I sit there, perplexed... what the heck is wrong with me?  And I place the music along the timeline of my life...

'The Way It Is' is an album that had been played a great deal the two years preceding my mum's death, and I remember one particular time, listening to it in the car with my father, shortly after her death, driving down from Billings, MT, through the Gallatin Gateway on our way to Bear Lake, Idaho.  I was watching for sand cranes, staring west out the car passenger window at the waters of the glistening Madison River, and remembering trips to Yellowstone with my mum and dad, wishing I could just stop time from moving forward, to just remain with my daddy, driving together in the car, indefinitely, listening together to the music of my childhood to date, 1987 at that time.

The music we listened to during my childhood years, it still sustains a great deal of my childhood memories of my mum.

So I Know I'd Said I'd Be Writing More...

...And then I found out 4 weeks before my due date that my assistant had secured a new position elsewhere and his last day would be 2 weeks before my maternity leave is to begin.

So yeah, no time for blogging much, no time for a lot of things lately.  Only a few moments of sobbing the first week the news hit, and generally keeping my head up since then  - - none of it amounts to the end of the world; just reeeeally poor timing for me.  Oh well, but that's why I'm not blogging much, pre-baby delivery.  I guess I'll have to try to catch up post-delivery, which is scheduled for June 11th, by the way! Yup, just two weeks away is all ~

This past weekend was chock full of domestic honey-Do's for my honey-man to accomplish, and I have my own lengthy 'before-the-baby-arrives' to-do list to work at.  In the past, I would detail that list of mine right here and include all that my honey-man had accomplished as well, but these 5 minutes before 4pm this afternoon, they constitute my first non-potty related break of the work day, and I need to get back to work already.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 79

Because I have discovered tonight, for the first time ever in 2 years' time, that my honey-man uses the sound of a quacking duck for his iPhone calendar and appointment alerts-reminders setting...

I'm sitting on the couch and I faintly hear:  "Quack, quack, quack - Quack, quack, quack"

What the??? and he pops out into the room, "Do you know where my phone is?" and I say, all befuddled, disregarding his question entirely, "Do you hear a duck quacking?"  And he smirks at me, sheepishly, and realize, indeed, I am in love with a TOTAL geek. I love him so.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Seven Pounder Thus Far

Baby Nacho -still in-utero- weighs in at 7 lbs right now

28 Days

We're officially scheduled for a c-section, June 11th at five-freakin'-A-M in the morning! As long as she doesn't make her grand entrance before that time, our Baby Nacho will have a birthdate of 06/11/12!

Spoken Too Soon

So last night, just TWO DAYS after I announce that we may have settled on a baby name, my honey-man tells me he's just not sold on (fill in the blank), and without that name, I'm not sold on his middle name choice, sooo we're back to the very start, square one, without a name for this baby.

We have 4 weeks to figure it out - - and we've been debating names for the last 6 months, and we're basically agreed upon nothing but the two names we've had, sooooo, I don't know what we're gunna come up with now!

Maybe the original name we first had in mind for the lil' Jellybean.... Niagara Mitochondria!

Needin' a Tear Jerking Trigger

Ever get so tired physically and emotionally, and so generally overwhelmed that you constantly feel like you're on the verge of tears, but you can't name exactly what's wrong, if anything at all really?  I just feel like I'm going to burst into tears at any moment.  If the right trigger presented itself, I'd be a puddle of tears. It might be hormonal, or maybe not, but that's how I've been feeling for the last 24 hours. 

I think I need a good cry.

We're in Agreement Now, well, Ahhlmost

BACKGROUND INFO:  I've had a particular baby name in mind for several months now.  I've tried on several other names --really, I have tried-- but I keep coming back to this particular name every time; frankly, nothing else has stuck for me.  Meanwhile, my honey-man, he has either revisited the very same names he had had in mind for the naming of our lil' Jellybean -all of which were, sadly, vehemently rejected the first time around- OR he's been consistently coming up with new, quite lovely French names - - names that, unfortunately, no American will be able to either spell or ever pronounce correctly.  There's this one name in particular that he's been repeating most frequently, that he keeps coming back to... it really is so lovely, and I do love it, I do, HOWEVER, I can't rightly say it myself, nor could I spell it without looking having to first look it up 3 and 4 times before the spelling finally stuck with me, but I still can't pronounce it correctly, although I love it whenever HE says it as it should be spoken.

MORE BACKGROUND: Earlier today, we were swimming in the pool together as a family and we have these two new floating lounger-type chair things for in the pool, one for the boy-O -and general adult use- and one for the girlie that was gifted to her for her 3rd birthday.  So, Jellybean was loving her new floating lounger, but insisted that she float right alongside me, holding on either to me or my lounger itself at all times.  Due to the close proximity and her placement, perpendicular to my belly most the time, she had a great view of my bulging pregnant belly (as long as she hadn't turned her head to look elsewhere).

SOME MORE BACKGROUND INFO: Earlier last week, one night just before her bedtime, our Jellybean was on our bed with me and she'd laid her darling sleepy head on my big belly and just then the baby began to repeatedly kicked right where Jellybean's head was resting, and so, for the first time ever, she reeeally felt and recognized the baby moving inside me. Before then, I'd hold her hand to my belly to have her feel baby-movements, but she really couldn't distinguish the baby's squirming from my own breathing or my own muscular movements caused by my laughing.  Well, since that night last week, I've found her often staring at my belly, watching for baby movements, and if and whenever she sees anything major, she'll whip a little dimpled hand over immediately, to be placed atop my belly, little dimpled fingers splayed, so that she can feel her baby sissy moving.

So today at the pool, Jellybean was watching my belly for baby actions, lunging for my belly in order for her to reach and place her little hand on my belly while floating alongside each other - - and each time she made a move to feel the baby, she kept calling the baby a to-be-given name, rather than the usual 'my baby sister', announcing to everyone there at the pool that she could feel "baby (fill in the blank)!" Hearing her refer to the movements of her unborn baby sister by any particular name, with her little hand placed so deliberately on my belly, it was a defining moment of sorts for me.

And so, later this afternoon, we finally had a conversation that may very well be the final wrap on the whole 'what to name this baby' dilemma.
 
As of today, the name that's stuck with me, plus the aforementioned gorgeous French name I cannot pronounce myself, they might be known together as our Baby Nacho's chosen name, first and middle, respectively ... Looking at what her monogram would be, a potential nickname would be 'Vroom, Vroom!'

Hiccups!

When I was pregnant with our lil' Jellybean, she had hiccups off and on, felt from the time I first was able to feel her move, up until she was due.  Well, I'd forgotten all about this... cuz this baby? If she's had the hiccups before now, it must have happened while I was sleeping... although, Jellybean's midnight hiccups woke me many a time!  And well, actually -and DUH!- it was not until last might, around MIDNIGHT, I realized Baby Nacho had the hiccups!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 78

Because as I was at our front door this morning about to leave for work, I was whistling a song that's been a major ear worm for me, stuck with it for the last 3 days in a row... and off somewhere in the back of our home, wherever my honey-man was, brushing our daughter's hair, he began to whistle as well, completing the next part of what I was whistling... how he recognized it, I don't know, and then to have actually known how to reply to my whistling with the song's own chorus melody, I have NO idea...

Who knew he was that familiar with Joan Jett's 'Do You Want To Touch.'  LOL

And how exactly did this song got stuck in my head, oh help me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XELpxApT8Kc

Found in a Notebook from 1994: At the Top

Found in a Notebook from 1994: Below the Top

Found in a Notebook from 1994: Written Behind all That

My New Favorite Quote: "Action Expresses Priorities" -Ghandi

This is fantastic: sometimes I wish that I had this kind of fearless confidence when I was younger

http://vimeo.com/40004005
 
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

New Apples on the Preschool Trees

New apples growing on the trees at our lil' girlie's school. She's thrilled outta he lil' mind!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

With Finality

Some background info:  We had Jellybean's 3rd birthday party on the 31st, and a mommie of one of her lil' classmates had come to the party despite the fact that she was due to have her baby that very day.  She told me how her first birth had been by cesarean and that she'd been told this second pregnancy would be a c-section as well due to her first.  Her doc's scheduled vacation wound up overlapping with her due date, so they had initially set a date for a scheduled c-section to happen the week before he was to leave town. She'd gone in as scheduled, was all dressed in her hospital gown, IV line in and everything, waiting only to be wheeled into surgery, and then she changed her mind and she said no thanks. She hadn't met her due date yet, and she told them that it felt altogether wrong, and sure, she knew she'd have to use a substitute doctor, but she was going to give her baby time to arrive on its own time. She left the hospital and she and her husband went home, and there she was still preggers a week later, and at our Jellybean's party on her due date. Three days after the party, the mommie had her baby and without a cesarean. And after seeing her up and about at Jellybean's school, just 4 days after giving birth, I was not only envious, I was hopeful; hopeful that I, too, might be able to pull off a post-cesarean vaginal birth (VBAC). In fact, by yesterday's scheduled appointment with my OB, I was not just hopeful, I was kinda fired up, ready with research and statistics handy, and various specific questions as to a repeat c-section versus his facilitating a non-surgical VBAC delivery. Admittedly now, it was kinda silly on my part. 

The Latest:  Well, my OB doc told me yesterday afternoon that it's not up to him and it's not up to me either, nor is the matter to be decided by what's most medically sound and/or safe for me and my baby.  With 100% certainty, due to my two hospital options determined by the limitations of my health insurance, I will be made to have a repeat c-section as official hospital rules for those who've already had a cesarean birth.

Although my OB had forewarned me months ago that due to my cesarean scar tissues I'd likely wind up having another cesarean, there was some wiggle room in our first few conversations on the matter, that we'd wait and see how it goes. The absolute finality of yesterday's news kinda slapped me backwards and it had me reliving the realities of my first cesarean, remembering with full detail how, um, awful my recovery was. Consequently, by 11pm last night, I wound up bawling like a baby for about an hour before finally going to sleep. And then I slept like total ca ca and had birthing nightmares all night long.

Ultimately, I simply want the wee one to get here safely - - but I would also like to be given the chance to immediately hold and kiss my baby, rather than be made to crane my neck to get a mere seconds' glimpse, and then wait over an hour to meet her. Yeah, and I don't want the bladder catheter re-insertions sans anesthetic, nor do I want the busy maternity nurses neglecting my meds less than 12 hours post-surgery, and then there's all the percocet -and feeling dopey- and the resulting chronic constipation, nor do I want any of the swollen, oozing, on-fire and peeling allergic skin reactions to the glue of the steri-strips across my already tender incision. Oh, and I reeeally could go without the 'blood patch' to fix my spinal block headaches. Well, and yeah, I could do without those headaches, period. I'd also like to be able to hold/lift/carry my toddler, and to clean my own home, and to do my own grocery shopping, rather than have to wait 6-8 weeks before I'll be able to do any of that. It also hit me incredibly hard like a gut punch last night that I do not want the chronic pain caused by healing scar tissue, limiting my activity for nearly a year --whether I'm to fight a post-pregnancy libido flatline or not.  I want to be able to hit the ground running after this pregnancy, and I've essentially been told that will be a no-go. Yes, it ALL came flooding back to me last night and I totally lost it.
 

I know, bitch, bitch, bitch, and pouty-pout, pout about it, I know, I know... IT COULD ALWAYS BE WAY, WAY, WAY WORSE. I know. I do know.

I've been telling people for months now, openly and without complaint, that I'll likely have to have another c-section, and I'd been acting like it's all fine with me and I'd thought I was in a state of acceptance already. Then we had Jellybean's birthday party....  I hadn't realized how much I'd been hoping there was chance, no matter how slim, that I might get to delivery our baby myself.

Now that I've been told there's no way it will happen, and with such finality at that, I am really feeling it. So I'm spending the next 24 to 48 hours to get over it (like the first time I was told Jellybean would have to arrive via c-section), and thereafter, I'll accept it as truth, and 8 weeks from now I'll happily welcome our new baby into our world, and I'll grit my teeth, even post-cesarean.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 77

Because we get up this morning, and before the Jellybean has woken up, he's already in the bathroom, and as he's brushing his teeth, he very casually, sleepily -with toothpaste in his mouth, no less- he asks me:  "That video with that guy and that girl, have you seen it?"

Long pause - - me expecting him to laugh or make reference to that scene in Oceans Eleven about "the thing with that guy in the place, I'll never forget it."  And him, turning to look at me, waiting for my reply....

WHAT?! THAT video with THAT guy and THAT girl - - ?!? and have I seen it? He sent me into such a crazy tummy-crunching, contraction-inducing giggle fit - - really? That guy? and that girl?

Turns out he was referring to the very popular song/video, "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Goyte, and he was aiming to tell me he had both that song and Feist's Sesame Street version of '1-2-3-4' stuck in his head for the last 48 hours.  And he wasn't fully awake yet.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 76

The man has a necktie with eggplants on it.

Emailed to Mah Honey-Man Today

Subject Line:  With alllll your abundant freetime, I want you to take this test

Text:  http://test.personality-project.org/

How About this Curveball?

How does a total move-out party sound, just one month after we moved in, due to the owner's tile installation building violations? Every inch of our rental is tile flooring and they have "30 days to remedy/remove/reinstall the tile" - we'll see how this one pans out. Joy, oh joy!

Most Awesome 'Awesome'

Just found this via PostSecret... and so I must share:

  http://1000awesomethings.com/

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 75

Because he loves our lil' Jellybean so much, but he's also honest about his own needs just the same.

Our lil' Jellybean's preschool always closes for our 'spring break,' which would be FABULOUS if we didn't both have to work throughout the entire length of spring break, but we do both have to work. 

And so, for the past 3 years now, every 'spring break' has always been more of a difficulty than anything truly fun or relaxing like a 'break' or vacation; us having to juggle our two work schedules, me taking a couple days leave time off from work despite the need to work, me bringing her to my office for a morning and/or an afternoon, passing our lil' Jellybean over to willing and able friends, hiring a babysitter for a day or two, and my honey-man often staying home with the girlie, thereby, unable to get any work done. It's always a bit challenging and we do get it done, but by the break's end, we're utterly exhausted and so is she.

She returned to school this morning and after my honey-man had dropped her off, he called me... 

Taking her to her classroom and seeing her teacher, he said he was nearly brought to tears.  At first I totally misunderstood him - - ahhh, how sweet, her daddy sad to return his little girl to school.

And then he continued....

He's finally going to have a full, productive day at work for the first time in over a week!

"Zee Things She Sayzz" or "Happy 3rd"

"That's not an option." -after being told we aren't headed anywhere other than home, when I pick her up from school.

"That's not a choice." -after being told there's only spaghetti and meatballs -or whatever else she doens't want- for dinner.

"I'm the Swedish Chef, momma! [while tapping the handle end of her butter knife on the kitchen table] Mork, Mork, Mork!"

Singing in the car on her way to school with her daddy driving:  "Hot man in misery, Hot man in misery" - - She's singing "Misery" by Maroon 5, recognized by her teacher upon arriving to school.  My honey-man had no idea what she was singing, although she repeatedly told him it was Maroon 5 from mommie's car.

"I will not ever do that again because the kitties walk on the table." -after being told that if she spits her food out on the kitchen table again, rather than simply eat it or place it back on her own plate, she will be made to eat it from the table. She then clarified, "I don't want to eat off the table because the kitties walk on the table sometimes and that is gross."

"I'm the birthday girl at school today, momma!" -because she IS three years old today!  She is such a happy and clever girl, and from day to day, it thrills me to have such a wonderful lil' being in my life.

She is such a joy, and I feel infinitely grateful to have watched her grow sooo much over just the past 3 years.  I cannot imagine all the more in store for us as she continues to grow.  Her personality bursts with energy and enthusiasm and real spunk, and I find that as the lil' person she is today, and even since the time she was born, she has lightened my being and my hope for this world on a daily basis.

Happy 3rd Birthday, my darling girl.  I love you so.

U2's 'Acrobat'

How funny.... My iTunes shuffle play has brought up U2's 'Acrobat' - - I remember playing this song (on cassette) at an inherently dramatic volume, driving in my beige 1985 Delta 88 Oldsmobile [my friends called it the "Fud-mobile"), singing the words as loud as I could, crying.

Long sigh - - - I am sooooo glad I'm not a teenager anymore.  Reliving my 20s might be nice (as long as I'd wind up exactly where I am now), but no one -NO ONE- could ever pay me enough to relive my high school years.  No freakin' way.

For the Love of Kitty-Kats ~ #23

"The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry."

- French Proverb

The Way to Love Isn't Any One Way

I Can Hear Mah Jellybean Saying This

A little girl asked her mother, "Can I go outside and play with the boys?"

Her mother replied, "No, you can't play with the boys, they're too rough."

The little girl thought about it for a few moments and asked, "If I can find a smooth one, can I play with him?"

P.S. Although I would NEVER tell my girl she can't play with the boys because they're too rough. That's just silly!

The Sky is On Fire!

Kiss with a Gaze

"The soul that can speak through the eyes can also kiss with a gaze."

- Gustavo Adolfo Bequer

Happy Valentine's Day!

Something

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

- Joseph Addison (1672-1719)

The Optimist & The Pessimist

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true."

 -James Branch Cabell

The World of Politicians

"As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand." 

- Josh Billings

Many Little Things

"To do carefully and constantly and kindly many little things is not a little thing."

-Author Unknown (quoted by Steven Covey)

Man's Inhumanity

"There is only one way in which one can endure man's inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one's own life, to exemplify man's humanity to man."

- Alan Paton

Nyce Name (heh, heh) ~ I'm Sure It's Delicious!

Things Which Matter Most

Things which matter most should never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

- Johann Von Goethe

One's Responsibility as a Free Man

"To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man."

-Alan Paton

Altering One's Attitude

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."

- William James

AND

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind."

- James Truslow Adams (1878-1949)

The Right Track

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

- Arthur Godfrey

Misery

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy."

-Robert Anthony

Baby Growing in dah Tummy

A mother once said...

"When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my four year old came into the room when I was just getting ready to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!"

I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy." 

"I know," she replied, "but what's growing in your butt?" 

Broken Things

"The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that they are not mended again."

-Alan Paton    

The Halfway Moment

Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it may be recalled and perhaps remedied.

- Pearl S. Buck

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 74

Because we were listening to Led Zeppelin yesterday morning while making and eating breakfast together, and we all, including Jellybean, were enjoying the music a great deal, and my honey-man began this conversation (well, really, I just sat there grinning, eating my toast, listening to him go off) about the best classic rock bands of all time.  He mentioned early Genesis and Rush in this conversation of his, and at some point he paused and he somehow solicited an answer of agreement from me.  It was then that I made some snarky comment about how his opinion only dates him and severely so, but he didn't really hear my snarky comment clearly, so he responded in this way with great earnest:

"Wait, what did you say? I didn't hear that."

(I begin to giggle and laugh and he shakes his head to emphasis that he really means he did not hear me)

He continues: "I know that it something witty and demeaning, but what did you actually say?"

He is such a darling geek and I love him so.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: I let it slip late last night (Tuesday the 2th) that I'd blogged about this (above) and as I explained to my honey-man what I'd written about him, he was aghast to hear I'd misreported he had said 'classic rock', when "I said PROGRESSIVE rock, not classic. Progressive!"  And he wanted to be sure that I had emphasized EARLY Genesis, "before Phil Collins ever came into the picture, hell no."

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 73

Because of the six loads of laundry I'd washed over this past weekend, he had it all folded before Sunday afternoon.  I love that he folds the laundry - - folding clean clothes is what I hate most about doing the laundry.

Our Prince Will Reign Supreme

Whoops - found this sitting in my Drafts, written January 11th:

We found out today [January 11th!] that we're having another girl!  This makes me soooo happy for a number of reasons.

Most obvious, there's the simple practicality of it:  We already have baby girl clothes and girl stuff, and two girls could share a bedroom together -- I'm envisioning bunkbeds.

Secondly, April of last year, there was a study commissioned by Faye Mingo of Bounty.com to investigate parents' believed best sibling combination for a peaceful homelife. The polling results from  2,116 parents surveyed = Two girls are unlikely to fight, will play nicely with each other, and confide in their parents, according to the study. Granted, this is NOT a rule, and even if it were, exceptions will always arise in any case. Yet, it does sound good, doesn't it?

Some have asked me, don't you want one of each?

Yes, we already have ourselves a daughter, but we do already have a son as well, even if the angel boy-O is not of my womb.  Foremost, beyond the practical reasons to favor two girls, I like the idea that our having another girl will allow the angel boy-O to be our one and only boy, our reigning prince supreme!

Yes, I knoooow, older siblings of step-family arrangements do, and often, have to deal with the reality that younger sibs may come along, be they of the same sex or not.  Comparisons can and will be made between any sibling arrangment as to the differences between their upbringing.  Children grow up and they survive it, but it can be a challenge no matter what to varying degrees.  I know this from my own experience.

It is my mere humble opinion that in my own experience it is easier to make LESS comparisons between siblings if and when they are of the opposite sex, because, well, they're not the same.

Overall, the image I have in my mind of our angel boy-O, grown older and taller, with a lil' sissy's hand held in each of his? This image warms my heart to the point I feel my heart might EXPLODE!  He is already such an awesome big brother to his lil' sissy, and now he will get to be the protector and prince for TWO little sisters.

Will Never Tire of Hearing 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love'

Doesn't matter the mood I may already be in, whenever I hear "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," by The Darkness, I escape entirely into major glam rock mode and I can't help but sing along.

Overheard

"My mommie is very tall and she takes really good care of me and she loves me and I know that she loves me. Cars are dangerous you know."

Baby Chubb

Nearly two weeks ago, my toddler told me flatly that she's chubby, poking at her tummy with a delightfully dimpled finger as she said it. 

We'd just gotten out of the tubby, our hair still dripping, our faces clean and flushed. I was all wrapped in a towel, and she had already shed hers in record time, standing naked atop her step stool at the bathroom sink, looking critically at herself in the bathroom mirror.  

I had been expecting a moment like this to happen someday, when she's, ohhh, 8 or 10 years old - NOT when she's merely TWO and successfully potty-trained just last November.  

Seeing her looking at herself in the mirror, her lil' head turned to the side, brow furrowed, chin down and frowning, and utterly gorgeous, all smooth and flawless and perfectly healthy, I could not believe my eyes, nor my ears.

She then specified: "My belly is chubby."

I did not tell her yes or no.  Instead, I snatched her up in my arms and I kissed her belly all over and blew countless raspberries upon her cheeks, neck, arms, belly and legs, telling her over and over again that I LOVE HER GORGEOUS BELLY and I LOVE EVERYTHING about her darling body, and that she is BRILLIANT, and WONDERFUL, and AMAZING, and AWESOME, and PERFECTLY HEALTHY as she is.

She giggled like mad, squirming and kicking in my arms, and breathlessly, she told me she loved me and that I am her momma.  And I held her tightly in my arms and I gently, softly kissed her forehead, and I kissed the darling dimples of her baby hands, and I told her yes, I am your momma and I LOVE YOU as you are.

Dressed in her footed jammies and 6 bedtime stories later, she was in her bed and I had quickly forgotten (thanks in part to being preggers) that my two year old had somehow gotten it in her head that she's chubby and this is somehow a bad thing.  I only remembered our exchange today, after reading an article via a friend's Facebook wall post, and then it all came screaming back = My daughter, not yet 3 years old, is already at risk for female body image issues - What the !?!?  

I knew well before she was born that we would have to fiercely combat society's stereotypical treatment of little girls; pretty, cute, darling, beautiful little girls. Nonetheless, I did not expect an introduction to body image issues so soon, well before she'd reach grade school.

Jellybean hasn't said anything more to me about the matter since that night, but I'll be bracing myself for more.  The aforementioned / linked article, I'm sure I'll be using it for future reference when the time comes again.

Recounting the Day, as to Why I'm So Tired

Beginning at 6:30-ish am -

Began a load of laundry in the wash.
Helped my honey-man steer the angel boy-O through his morning's departure, for him to head out with his dad for the airport to return to Utah.
Breakfast of pumpkin waffles with peanut-butter refused by the toddler, in favor of nothing but 1/2 a cup of milk and nothing more.
Cleaned the kitchen; cleared the dishes, wiped down the counters and kitchen table, began a full dishwasher's load, and swept and mopped, all while Jellybean read stories to her lil' furry friends in the front room.
Changed over the load of laundry to the dryer and began a 2nd load in the wash.
Played dress-up together for nearly an hour. I was the evil witch, commanded to cackle every 10 minutes or so.

Tried for 10 minutes to get Jellybean to consume something non-liquid, to no avail; "No thanks, I'm not hungry, mommie."Painted fingers and toes, hers and mine, while watching an episode of Dr. Seuss (a first for us both) and her 1st time ever at-home TV watching of Sesame Street, brought to you by the letter 'J', no less!
10:30 am -
"Mommie, I'm hungry." Me: Okay, you can eat your untouched waffles leftover from breakfast. Her:  "No, I'm not hungry, mommie."
Made Tapioca pudding together - her 1st time, both making it (she loved it!) and eating it (she absolutely hated it!).
An an early lunch together at 11am, and yes, she did eat her waffles first.
Changed over the 2nd load of laundry to the dryer and began a 3rd load.
Over 2 n' 1/2 hours -no exaggeration here- of playtime together at the kitchen table with Playdoh.
Followed by 30 minutes of Playdoh clean up.
Watched 2 episodes of The Muppets, season 3.
Read 6 libary books and then laid the Jellybean down for a late afternoon nap.
Made 'Bean with Bacon' soup on the fly to satisfy an enormous preggers craving.
6pm -
Had dinner with mah honey-man before Jellybean woke (very late) from her nap.
Fed (read 'forced' and/or 'bribed') Jellybean dinner, negotiating 6 big spoonfuls of soup for 3 SweetTart hearts from our candy dish, purple, orange and pink, to be exact in her request.
Remembered the last load of laundry, waiting still in the washer, to be moved over to the dryer, and asked my honey-man to do it please.
30-minute long shower with the Jellybean, complete with the drawing of a dozen or so different zoo animals using her bath crayons, which Jellybean dutifully cleaned up at the end using her "brown brush with soap, please."
Bedtime for the girlie by 8:15pm, followed by 20 minute visit with my honey-man, folding laundry together, and 30 or so minutes tidying up, aka attending to the explosion of toys left downstairs.
Bedtime for mommie...after I finish this via cell phone-written blogpost... 10pm-ish.

P.S. My thumbs are sore now! and I'm tired. and oh yeah, I'm pregnant.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry.

For the Love of Kitty-Kats ~ #22

"The trouble with a kitten is that eventually it becomes a cat."

- Ogden Nash

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 72

On Jan 3, 2012, at 12:48 PM, "Ang in Sin City" wrote:

Subject: For Halloween this Year!

I want you to be a farmer, complete with overalls and either a straw hat or John Deere cap, and I'll be a chicken, as will (Jellybean) - - and maybe we could get (angel boy-O) to be bacon slices and the baby will be a sunny side-up egg. Maybe we could get (Wendy) and her (Lovin'-man) to dress as pancakes and/or hashbrowns! hee hee

And my honey-man's email response to my email:

"Okay. You've lost yer mind!"

A Conversation with My Two Year Old

Found this after this past Christmas, sitting amongst unpublished post drafts.  It's from July 2011, written while we were driving in the van on our way up to Utah for the 4th of July holiday, and for the angel boy-O's 13th birthday celebration:

Jellybean: Where do we live?
Me: We live in ----
Jellybean, interrupting me, squealing at the top of her lungs: --Las Vegas, mommie! We live in Las Vegas, Nevada, mommie!
Me, chuckling: Yes, we live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jellybean: My big brother, he lives in Ogden! Ogden, Utah, mommie!
Me: Yes, that's right.
Jellybean: Momma, how old is (angel boy-O)?
Me: He'll be 13 years old on his birthday.

Jellybean: When's my birthday?
Me: Your birthday is ----
Jellybean, interrupting again, squealing at the top of her lungs again: March 26th!! And I will be THREE years old!
Me, laughing: Yes, you will be three years old come your next birthday.
Jellybean: Mommie? --followed by a long pause, a little sigh, and no continuation--
Me: Yes, punky? I'm listening...what?
Jellybean: Mommie, I love you too.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry