Hooray for Scout!

Yesterday, my dear friend Sara threw me a shower for my impending bundle of loveliness.  And in Sara Luke fashion, it was incredible.  The food, the decor, the company -- all contributed to a perfect Saturday afternoon topped off by the fact that I was not responsible for watching my child for three hours.  I received some great gifts and am feeling more ready for the blissful chaos that will descend upon my life in T - 5 weeks.  sweet mercy.

 Thankful for all these lovely ladies (and those who couldn't make it).  My friends are such a blessing!

 The genius behind the day.  Thank you, Sara!

 My 34 week belly.  Pardon the lighting...I am currently taking donations for a camera upgrade.

Eli is 2 1/2

I haven't written an update for you in 6 months!  I have been writing things down using, what historians will later call, pencil and paper as you've grown these past 6 months, but I haven't gone all fancy and typed them up on this fancy computational machine.  Why, you ask?  My dear child, I have no reason other than you turned two, I turned pregnant, your father started a new job, and we moved; and my initiative to write took a backseat to all those things.  I'm sorry.  You'll probably hear me say that a lot as you grow, but I am sorry if you feel slighted by the absence(s) of an update. 

So here's how this is going to go down.  I'm going to post some pics from each month that I did not update, along with some fun facts about you from each month (referring back to my archaic writing methods).  Thennnnn, I'll do another post wherein I go into more detail about the little man you're becoming.  Then, there will be no homework.  Any questions?

Here we go:

24 Months: Jan - Feb:

• You turned 2
• You were dedicated 
• Your adoration for Thomas and all things trains has grown to President of Fan Club status
• You love to finger paint
• You love to ride the elevator in our building (former building)
• Temper tantrums have become more prevalent
• You looooove beans and rice 
• You found out you will be joined by a sibling

 

25 Months: Feb - March:

• Your great-grandpa and Laura Jean came to visit
• You enjoyed unseasonably warm temps
• Your "will of your own" has tested my patience on numerous occasions
• You like to exert your "will of your own" in public, especially at Target and family dining establishments  
• Your mom is sick a lot due to sibling in her tummy
• Your favorite book is Pigeon Wants a Puppy and you mimic the voices I make
• You can point out a McDonald's within a 2 mile radius 

26 Months: March to April:

• Your daddy started a new job, which means he's not around as much, something for which you vocalize your disdain on a regular basis in the form of screaming fits...it's awesome.
• It snowed in April and I cried.
• You will play with your matchbox cars for hours...and love to bring them all out to the lobby of our building.
• You love collecting rocks...after a walk you will come home with a batch of new rocks that sit in your wagon until our next venture.
• You're starting to become fearful of people and things and have become very clingy with your mama.
• Your memory of things both astounds and frightens me.

 27 months: April - May:

• We started looking for a new house.
• You loooove hanging out with your daddy's RAs and being one of the guys.
• You're not adjusting well to your daddy not being around as much.
• You threw the mother of all temper tantrums at a mall in Grand Rapids during which I'm sure child protective services was called, b/c I took you in a bathroom and you screamed for 10 minutes straight...screamed like you were being beaten (which you were not).  And then I cried most of the way home due to frustration and a feeling that I was failing you as a parent.
• Time outs are becoming more prevalent.
• You looove hanging out with your friends Ben, Bryleigh, Avery, Nolan, Bailey and little Aubrey.
• Sharing with your favorite friends is a concept that escapes you.
• Church nursery scares you and you cry the entire time.
• You are turning into quite the comedian and crack me up with your expressions or what you say on a regular basis.
• You loooove spaghetti.
• You love rice. 

28 Months: May - June:

• We moved!!
• You started sleeping in your awesome big boy bed (that your dad picked out, so it comes equipped with a built in fort).
• You get to see your friend Ben a lot more because we moved across the street from him.
• It is the hottest summer since the earth cooled from its lava state, and we have no air conditioning.
• You are talking a lot more; you and I are having conversations, which is awesome.
• You loooove being outside at your new house.
• You found out you are having a baby sister.
• You and mommy have breakfast dates at Dunkin' Donuts once a week where we share a big thing of chocolate milk...oh, and we eat donuts. 

 

29 Months: June - July:

• We got to spend a week and a half disrupting visiting with your Grandma and Grandpa Parker.
• You watched fireworks for the first time (in the safety of a car, b/c you are currently afraid of loud sounds...like clapping).
• Your favorite new expression (which you learned from your grandma) "Go away, go see your mom"...usually said to bugs.
• Both you and mom were sick and miserable together.
• I thought we might melt in our house due to alarming summer temps. 
• We swim at your friend Nolan's house A LOT!
• We swim at your Grandma and Grandpa Rick's house A LOT! 
• PACIFIER IS GONE!!!  You gave up your pacifier around the time you got sick, b/c you were throwing up.  It was much easier than I thought.  I canceled our appointment with the hypnotist.

 

30 Months: July - August:

• I'm really at a loss on how to help you feel unafraid of things.  I went through a similar phase when I was your age (so I've been told) during which I was afraid of men with beards and lawn mowers and basically anyone other than my mom...so maybe it's genetic.
• You're talking has skyrocketed since the pacifier took its exit.  It's insane.  Your father turned to me during a particularly talkative car ride and said in a voice that mimicked mine "Ben, do you  think he'll ever talk?"
• Whenever we ask you where your baby sister is, you lift up your shirt, point to your belly and say, "in Eli's tummy". 
• I'm trying to be consistent with church nursery, so you'll get over your fear.  I don't think I've heard an entire sermon from beginning to end in the last two months. 
• Your current toy obsession is your water table that your grandma and grandpa bought you at a garage sale.  You brave the vampire mosquitoes just to be able to play outside with it.  
• You went to Lake Michigan for the first time with mama and some of her college friends.  You l-o-v-e-d it, as well as my friend Mandy's little girl, you little Casanova, you.
• Count down to big-brother duty (hee hee - duty) - 2 months.   

To Do List

The following is a list that has been clogging up my synapses for the last week and has caused me to occasionally hyperventilate in a corner.  I'm hoping if I write it down, my ulcer will cease and desist.

ahem...

THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE WITHIN THE NEXT 6 WEEKS, OR THE WORLD WILL END:

(the abridged version)

1. Paint bathroom
2. Remove remaining wallpaper backing in said bathroom prior to painting
3. Hang items in Eli's room
4. Arrange/Organize Scout's room
5. Wash Scout's bedding, blankets and clothing
6. Buy Dreft
7. Hang frames in living room
8. Finish painting Scout's dresser
9. Line Scout's dresser drawers
10. Go to Ikea/Michaels to buy finishing nursery touches
11. Clean the bathroom
12. Paint my toenails (or bribe someone else to do it, as I find it increasingly difficult to see my toes)
13. Cut my hair (or whatever you would call the current hot mess atop my head)
14. Get Eli over his fear of church nursery, clapping and loud noises (which will be detailed in another post)
15. Get Eli's hair cut
16. Buy a big brother gift for Eli
17. Continue to pray that this child will be easier to breastfeed than Eli was
18. Sterilize breast pump accessories and bottles
19. Buy bottles
20. ...

Okay, never mind, this list is making it worse.  I think my blood pressure is dangerously high.

Eight is Great

 All kings, and all their favourites,

All glory of honours, beauties, wits, 

The Sun itself, which makes times, as they pass,

Is elder by a year, now, than it was 

When thou and I first one another saw:

All other things to their destruction draw,

Only our love hath no decay;

This, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday,

Running it never runs from us away,

But truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.

                 -John Donne

Happy 8 Years, Benji...I love you.

Wide Load

12 weeks

• still wearing non-elastic waste pants
• looks like I have a food baby
• nauseous all the time
• bathroom not cleaned

22 Weeks

• Found out we're having a Pheobe (vs. Pheobo)!!!
• Have adopted a no-do-hair-ever attitude
• Elastic pants for sure
• Sweating all the time
• Bathroom still not cleaned

 25 Weeks

• Somehow, belly looks smaller in this picture -- must be the non-tent shirt I'm wearing.
• Baby is kicking her way out of the womb
• Escaped up north to in-laws' for a week for sweet, air-conditioned relief.
• Heartburn in full effect...threw up on the side of 127 on way up to in-laws' due to acids of fury clawing their way out of my esophagus

 

 28 Weeks

•  3rd trimester
•  Sweating more than is natural for any large mammal
• Pretty sure I'll test positive for gestational diabetes due to all the chocolate I've been consuming
• Scout has hiccups every morning and night at the same time
• We're not naming her Scout despite my pleadings
• Thankful for Hostess cupcakes (see picture)
• Reconsidering stripes for my next picture
• Had a mini-panic attack in the baby aisles of Toys R Us
•  When I tell people I'm due Oct. 23 they ask if I'm having twins 

 
Now, I know you're all jealous of a.) my sweet photography skills, b.) the raccoon-like freckle clusters under my eyes, c.) my personal grooming, but with great awesomeness comes great apathy.

Whose Child is That?

Heard whilst out and about with my toddler today:

"Don't worry, I had one just like that...he'll grow out of it."

"He's a handful, huh?"

"Let me help you with your cart, you've got enough to deal with with that one."

"Good thing he's cute, huh?"


If 3 is worse than 2, I might have to take up drinking.

This One's for the Fans...

I know...I know...I haven't updated since Moses was a boy, but I've been busy thinking about unpacking from our move while watching free HBO.

So here's something that's been swirling around in the recesses of my mind for the last couple of days...and then I promise I'll update with pics of house and Eli (sans pacifier, people...parents: 1, Eli: still more than the parents) and maybe a pregnancy picture so you can see another beautiful life contributing stretch marks to a previously Olive-Oil-like frame. 

So, since we moved to Jackson, I've encountered a whole new culture group.  If you've never visited Jackson, MI (the supposed birthplace of the Republican party, home to Cascades Falls -- they light up, people, and the Hot Air Jubilee), you should drive through some time on your way to that U of M game, eat some White's Chicken and just take in the general societal splendor that will surround you.  If you're feeling really daring, head on over to Wal-Mart at 11:00 at night or just watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -- you will feel the same after either experience.  Anyway, people here often remind me of a bad In Living Color episode.  You don't know why you're watching, but you can't tear yourself away.  Not to say that people here aren't lovely...they're just different from the Christian liberal arts community we've sequestered ourselves in for the last 8 years.

Anyway...I usually get gas now at a gas station 2 seconds from our house.  It usually makes for great social theater.  So I've noticed that every...E.V.E.R.Y. time there are two guys who are also getting gas who realize they know each other from that softball league they were in two years ago.  The exchange goes something like this:

"Hey, bra...what's up?"

 "Not much, bra...good to see you.  You playing in the league again, bra?"

"No, bra...hurt my shoulder last year."

I'm not lying.  Every time...there is a "bra" reunion whilst I'm getting gas. 

Now, here's my question: Why do guys call each other bra?  Is this a Jackson thing...b/c I know we tend to be behind on social trends.  Was bra an accepted term at one point?  Because I don't think Christian liberal arts college students ever called each other bra.  Do they not realize they are using the same term for a device perfected by Victoria's Secret?  It's a bit feminine. 

Also, it's stupid. 

So yesterday, whilst I was taking my fever ridden child for a car ride so that he wouldn't entirely rot his brain from all the Shaun the Sheep we had been watching, I stopped to put gas in my husband's geriatric-mobile.  And again,  there was a "bra" convention happening at pump 3. 

I got back in the car and turned to my son for an explanation as a representative of his sex.  I expected some type of archetypal answer.  "Because, mom...it's how we let the world know we have testosterone,"  or "It's a tribal secret, mom. You'll never understand."  But my sweet little boy looked back at me with those gorgeous brown eyes and said:

"Go to town, mama...get fench fies." 

A man after my own heart.