Differences

These two are so remarkably fascinating to me.  He could turn a Barbie into a hammer and she could make a family out of wrenches.

 I am in total awe of God's perfect design and engineering of us creatures.

We're having another...

So I must tell a story to go along with the revelation, because the story is priceless.

The whole fam went to the ultrasound facility: The dad who is beyond excited about this little bump forming in my belly; the princess who is hoping for twins, a boy and a girl; the boy who is learning to use the potty and likes to bang everything and ... the exhausted mother. We were a sight to be seen walking into the lobby out of the uncommon freezing FL temperatures.

Jackets started peeling off of the princess (who must have some crazy high metabolism because 19-degree weather doesn't seem to phase her). I was given the task of filling out three sheets of paperwork while trying to answer a question from the princess every 10 seconds. Potty boy was faithfully being asked by dada if he needed to go to the bathroom while trying to keep him off the floor and out from under the end tables and not stand in the way of other patients trying to enter and/or exit. Thankfully, we had some pretty patient grandparent-ish looking people willing to wait for the mini-michelin-man to roll out of the way.

We were called back to the warm and cozy examining room (isn't 'cozy' the word realtors use instead of cramped?). Dada, with little tyke and princess in tow, was directed to squeeze inbetween the paper-covered examination table and the wall for them all to watch, and I, well you know the drill. After successfully launching myself up onto the examination table without totally looking like a one-legged walrus, I pulled open my garments to expose my emerging belly.

Just to get it out first so there's no questioning her abilities, our ultrasound tech was very kind, accommodating of us all and knowledgeable.

Picture this: Dark, cozy, warm, room with 5 of us in there. Me, flat on my back, literally. US tech doing her job and taking measurements. Katherine standing quietly next to the exam table, with her chin and fingers resting on the side, staring at everything going on baby-related. She's watching the gooey gel be put on my belly, I'm explaining the wand the tech uses to scan my belly, pointing out to her on the screen the baby's parts, asking her if she can see the baby, showing her the baby's heart, etc.

And then there's Nathan, the one people affectionately refer to as "all boy."

He's pulling on cords or trying to stick his finger in electrical sockets, trying to rip off the exam table paper I'm lying on, insisting on watching tractor videos on the computer monitor, kicking the metal casing along the bottom of the exam table or his sister, performing the arched-back parental-release technique when Jim tried to hold him still, wanting to take off most of his clothes and insisting on going pee-pee NOW!

Thankfully no blood-pressure stats on me were being taken and I quietly and calmly told Jim, "If you'd like to take him outside, that'd be okay with me."

The US tech kindly said, "He's not bothering me, so don't feel like you have to. He's fine in here."

And within a minute that's when I knew what we were having. Not because of a picture I saw on the monitor, but because of this one question being timidly asked, "So, were you wanting to know what you are having?"

You see, if it she had asked with a sparkle in her eye while winking at Katherine, I would have known then also. But it wasn't.

She showed us the three dots that signify a boy. It was as plain as day. There were no lines to look at, just dots. So, after we showed the US tech our excitement, she then explained that that part of her job is usually the hardest because she never knows how people will react. We reassured her that we were not 'those' people, that we were happy with whatever God had decided to bless us with.

Looking back in hindsight, her timid questioning was more out of experiencing not so happy parents rather than what our Captain Destructo was doing. But, at the time, it seemed otherwise.

Girl's Night Out

"These economic times" have really opened up a new and exciting time of getting creative when it comes to finding fun and inexpensive things to do, and this just happens to be a perfect time of the year to take advantage of many of them. Our latest outing was special in so many ways...

We went to a free ballet here in town. It was put on by a local Christian ballet school that's been around for over 25 years. Katherine was excited about wearing her new super-twirl dress and seeing big girls in "beau-tee-ful" dresses, dancing. She was also very excited that Mer and Bamah came along. And the icing on the cake was our best buddies Miss A and AC coming along also.

Are these two cute or what?

What made this trip so extra special (for me at least) was knowing that our little girl has both of her grandmothers living close that can do special things like this. Not many little girls can say that. It was a girl's night out and with her being a card-carrying, registered-and-paid-the-fees girly-girl, it was very exciting for her. What more could a girl want? Twirl dress, mommy, both grandmas, best buddy, dinner at her favorite restaurant and refined, up-scale entertainment.

Little Miss Shy decided to poke her head out of the shell a little bit that night also. After the show was over, she thought it would be the perfect time for her to perform. Up on the stage, she practiced twirling and jumping all with hands in the air.I enjoy having a girl so much. My girly-girl side was put on the back burner, if not lost for a loooonnnng time, so painting fingernails, getting dressed up and talking about girl-stuff is so much more special now, because she's the one that brought it back.

The turkey-day-thru-new-year mania begins

It's been a while since a post. "We've just been busy", is my excuse.

I'm sure I've been hit by the crazy bus. Hit harder than normal at least. I have practiced for, registered and paid for a 5K run I plan to participate in tomorrow. Although my practicing has been more like a boa constrictor eats; a LOT in a short amount of time. I don't enjoy running. It's one of those exercise things. I'm much better at restricting my diet than actually making time to exert extraneous amounts of energy. Cleaning the house from top to bottom is way more interesting and exciting to me than running. I think this little "crazy moment" of mine is stemming from the pinnacle of being frustrated with having no life when Jim was at the tail end of finishing up grad school. I think something to the effect of this was said, "You just wait. When you graduate, I'm going to do something where I can get out of this house and release lots of energy, like go run a 5K or something." My intentions were to get on a schedule of regular running, even if just a mile or so, and hopefully build up to a 5K. Well the best-laid plans sometimes don't go as idealistically as we hope. I am officially the slowest "runner" of our church group (we're running together). The pastor's wife deemed herself the slowest but our 5am practice on Tuesday showed her that there was one other who had more turtle genetics pulsing through her veins. Good news is that I haven't fallen while running, passed out or had severe aches afterwards. Oh well, it's all in good fun, right?

Poor Katherine, she has to endure the painful journey of growing out her bangs with her mother, just because it's something I feel I must do about every 5 years or so (trying to stay hip you know?). I think an all-one-length cut will be cute on her petite face. Here, her and Nathan are enjoying snack time together.
Her and I got to do something extra special tonight. I am a self-proclaimed non-girly-girl when it comes to fashion, hair, make-up (overall appearance I guess). My daughter is all girl. Some comments she's made lately, "Mommy, I do not want to wear pants because they do not make me look beautiful" or "Will you make sure my hair looks like a princess" and one that prompted a conversation regarding her inner beauty this morning was "I need make-up to make me look prettier." (It's hard to have a conversation about inner beauty as I'm slathering the foundation on myself) So tonight the treat was that I painted her fingernails. I am a horrible mother for not painting her fingernails more often; it happens about 3 times a year. She LOVED it. The lighter mauve was there for color and the pink glitter on top was added for pizazz. I enjoyed holding her tiny hands in mine, watching her be careful not to touch anything until they dried and remembering how less than a year ago it would have been smeared within minutes. We topped it off with watching a full hour of "Say Yes to the Dress," one of her favorite big-people shows in addition to "Toddlers and Tiaras." She's declared she wants a long, white, flowing dress that twirls. A little princess, she is.
Jim is growing a beard in preparation for our church's annual Nativity Pageant. Katherine's question to him earlier this week was, "Is Nathan going to grow a mustache and beard?" It is just fascinating to me to watch their minds expand and figure things out.
Speaking of the Nativity Pageant, here's the flier. Come if you can, it's a top-notch production, very kid-friendly and an opportunity to create great memories for your family.Nathan's first attempt at eating an ear of corn. The child has another 3 teeth coming in: 2 molars and a third on the bottom. His teeth come in waves: all or nothing.

Daddy is so much better at finding time to play the fun stuff than mommy is.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I think the fascination with the diaper rash creme has more to do with me not wanting them to play with it. She wants to put it on her hands like lotion and he wants to carry it around, open it and occasionally suck the open end.

I made the mistake of leaving Destructo in the same room as the shredded paper container I was seconds away from emptying...I tried to make the best of it and turn it into a fun tactile experience but he was disturbed that some of the papers were down his shirt scratching him.

And lastly, yesterday was the perfect example of how busy my mind has been all this week. I was in charge of giving my testimony to our MOPS group of about 60 ladies; a little nervous was I? So nervous, I locked my keys in the car, had my wonderful friend Miss A. drive us home to pick up another set of car keys after our wonderful neighbors opened the house door using a spare key and kept Nathan for about 45 minutes, then Miss A. drove me to pick up Katherine from her school before the severe late penalty started accruing, then to pick up the car and back home for lunch. I have AWESOME friends! There's no telling how much money and grief could have happened if those three weren't there for me. God Bless you!