Wordless Wednesday

Kodak Moments

My daughter is a beautiful baby. I know I am biased, but I am quite certain if you saw her in person you would agree with me. Unfortunately, I cannot take a decent picture of her to save my life. I have friends who capture adorable photos of their children. I, on the other hand end up with pictures like this:



and this....



and this....

I can just imagine when she is in school and has to bring a baby picture to class for some project. I'll have to send her with something like this:

or this....

or one of these....

Some day, when she gets married, maybe she will ask me to contribute baby pictures for the photo montage. I'll have to send her something like this.....

If you don't get a Christmas card with a great family photo this year, maybe you'll understand why..... :)

Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa...

Every night we pray for our family members before Evan goes to sleep. This afternoon, he was going through all of the family members. He listed off all of the family members in Pennsylvania, and then all of the family members in Iowa: Nonna, Pop Pop, Aunt Dee, God.

The last one surprised me. So, I asked Evan where God lives.

In Iowa.

My family will be happy to hear that.....

Popped Right Out!

At least, that is what Evan said the first time he saw his baby sister. He looked at her, looked at me, looked back at her and said, "Popped right out, mama!" Out of the mouths of babes...

My last day at work was Friday and that evening I started to have some mild contractions. Unfortunately for everyone in my house, I thought I was having contractions for the last month of my pregnancy. And, I WAS having contractions - they just didn't result in full-on labor. I think everyone was tired of hearing me say "I think today is the day!" only to watch me go to bed and sleep peacefully through the night while they were on edge wondering if that night would be THE NIGHT. So, I decided towards the end of my pregnancy that I wasn't going to say anything more about going into labor until I was certain that I was, in fact, IN LABOR.

So, I started having mild contractions about 10 minutes apart on Friday night. But, I slept through the night. In the morning, the contractions were still there but they were about 8 minutes apart. I had a hair appointment that morning and decided to go. In hindsight, that may not have been the best decision. Could you imagine if I had gone into active labor with permanent hair dye all over my head? Fortunately, the Lord had mercy on me and my sweet stylist and we avoided that scene. I think I made her a little nervous though because I kept checking my watch. She asked if I was in a hurry. I assured her that I was not in a hurry, I was just timing contractions. Based on the look on her face, I think she would have preferred that I was in a hurry.

By that afternoon the contractions continued and they went from 7 minutes to 5 minutes apart and stayed that way for about an hour and a half. I decided to call the doctor on call to see if this was the magic formula for going to the hospital. The doctor didn't seem all that convinced that I was actually in labor, but suggested that we go in anyway to be monitored.

In my attempt to avoid being the pregnant lady who cried wolf, I hadn't mentioned anything to Dave about the contractions all day. So, I think he was a little surprised when I woke him up from a nap to say that it was time to go to the hospital. (My wonderful husband was terribly sick that day, and he was such a wonderful support to me despite how terribly he was feeling at the time!)

When we arrived at the hospital, they confirmed that Iwas indeed in labor. We were admitted around 5:30 that evening. I'll spare you all of the details, but the highlights included the epidural, a nap, and a few interior design shows on HGTV. (NOTE to Genevieve Gorder: PRODUCE, especially lettuce, does NOT make a great design accessory. That is just a stupid idea. My husband and the nurses agree with me - and I'm pretty sure it wasn't just because I was in labor.) Of course, the real highlight of the night was Lauren's arrival at 11:36 PM. She is beautiful and perfect, and has brought new joy into our lives.

Evan is adjusting pretty well to his new sister. But, he has told me that he wants to be "tiny" several times. Oh, and he keeps climbing onto my lap and announcing that he wants to "be born"....

I am finding everything a little easier the second time around, and loving my time with both children. Dave continues to be fantastic with them and we are enjoying our expanded family!

So, without further adu, we would like to introduce you to Lauren Anne...

Verbatims

The following conversations occured in our house this morning:

Evan: What dis momma? (pointing to Dave's shampoo in the shower)

Me: That's shampoo, honey. Daddy uses it to wash his hair. Do you use shampoo to wash your hair?

Evan: No momma! I'm a big boy!

*****

Evan: What doing momma?

Me: I'm going to blow my hair dry.

Evan: I do! I do! I help you momma! (proceeds to lean over and start blowing on my wet hair)

Cute! But not so effective.... :)

Confessions....

Okay. Newsflash for anyone who hasn't gotten the memo yet - I'm pregnant these days. Like REALLY pregnant. It's actually not a very pretty sight. Thus, the reason that recently you either a) haven't seen any pictures of me, b) have only seen pictures of me from the neck up, or c) have only seen pictures of me hiding behind a two year old.

So, this afternoon I innocently walked through the kitchen at work to get some water. Only water. I swear. But then I saw some Skittles in the vending machine and I knew things were only going to go downhill from there. I'm not a big Skittles fan, but for some reason they seemed like the perfect snack today. Don't judge me.

So, I walked back to my office to get some money for the Skittles. When I returned to the machine, I purchased the Skittles. BUT, the bag got stuck. And I really wanted the Skittles. And it wasn't really THAT stuck, but just enough that it didn't quite fall out. Just enough that I was certain a little "hip bump" from an 8 month pregnant person would definitely dislodge it.

But, a little hip bump to the front of the machine wasn't quite enough. I looked around and didn't see or hear anyone else. I was quite certain that a little hip bump to the side of the machine would do the trick. No such luck.

Just as I was about to take more drastic measures, I thought about being 8 months pregnant and caught in the act of trying to dislodge the Skittles from the machine. That thought alone was embarassing enough for me to stop acosting the vending machine and go back to my office.

For another dollar bill. To buy a SECOND bag of Skittles. To dislodge the first bag. :)

Big boy bed. Big boy bed! BIG BOY BED!

As you know, we are expecting baby number two in August. So, Evan needs to vacate the crib to make room for his sister. I need to have the room ready for the baby so I can satisfy this nesting phase I'm in. So, that can only mean one thing... Time for Evan to move to a "big boy bed".

We have been talking about moving to said bed for several weeks. Last Saturday morning I asked Evan if he wanted to get a big boy bed. For whatever reason, he totally latched on to that idea. Throughout the day on Saturday, he probably said "big boy bed" 3,000 times. (I'm totally not exaggerating here....) When he took his nap, I'm pretty sure the last words out of his mouth were "big boy bed".

So, we decided to go to Ikea for the big purchase. Throughout the entire store, he kept repeating "big boy bed... big boy bed..." It was really sweet....

You know what wasn't so sweet? What happened towards the end of the trip. As we were waiting in the eternal check out line, Evan decided that he wanted to get out of the cart. When we did not oblige, he started looking at complete strangers yelling "Help me! I NEED HELP!"

After some disapproving looks from fellow shoppers, we finally made it home with the famed big boy bed.

On Sunday, Dave and Evan set up the new bed. Here are a few pictures:

I know that a picture might be worth a thousand words. But in this instance, I really think that the words do it justice. Take a listen:

Sweet Dreams!