The Dirt Finder

My oldest, X-man, was born clean...and has stayed that way.  He hates to be dirty unless dirty was his mission (he is still a boy, afterall).  He insists on having a napkin at dinner and comes away looking flawless...not bad for 3 1/2 years of age, and this has been going on for a while.  Then there is Gokey.  He is a totally different story!  He will find a way to make a mess out of something I completely think will be mess free when I hand it to him.  Dinner time is just proof that a bath is REQUIRED following (you should see what this boy can do to a peanut butter sandwich) and he is content to sit in a dirty diaper for hours on end if you let him.  He has proven to be a mud-magnet.  Today was no exception! :)

After a rough morning of boy brawls and all out uncontrolled chaos in our little home, I decided that a trip to the park was warranted.  Of course, in order to make that happen I would have to get dressed without them killing each other in my short absence.  Luckily, we all survived relatively unscathed.  We headed off to a little park that we don't often visit, but is relatively close by.  After the boys played on the equipment and with a few other kids for a while we decided to put our shoes back on (shoes were absolutely optional on such a beautiful spring morning) and explore.  This park has an abundance of trees surrounding open fields and a good sized pond, which happened to be nearly dry on this trip.  X-man was determined to find us some frogs, so off to the dwindling pond we marched.  We stood on the cracked, dehydrated pond bed discussing how it got that way and Gokey suddenly decided to heave the stick he had harvested on the way there into the water.  His mistake...running toward the water's edge to get close enough to do said heaving. Since the pond was a mere shadow of what it once was, the ground was very dry farther out, but nearing the water's edge it turned into the thick, gooey sludge that, if you have have ever been brave enough to stick your toes into the bottom of such a pond, you know there's a chance you may never see them again!  Before I could even yell his name he had planted both "fast shoe" covered little feet in the grime and as I reached for him he fell forward and both hands disappeared as well.  I literally had to pull him up by the belt loop on his tiny shorts and this is what we had:

They certainly have a way of keeping me on my toes...and elbow deep in dirt! :) 

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

Boys...it's just what I know!  I have "known" that this little "Chip" that I carry was a boy from very early on.  I was convinced...I don't know why.  This pregnancy has been much different than both of my previous pregnancies, but I don't put a lot of stock in that.  Every pregnancy is different, right, and shouldn't something be said for mother's intuition?  So...I had my sonogram this morning and, unfortunately, since my whole house seems to be horribly ill right now, I had to go it alone.  It made the whole thing kind of anticlimactic.  It's such an amazing thing to be able to see that little baby from the outside and I have always been lucky enough to share that with my husband, but it is what it is.  I went in, the technician went through all of the routine checkpoints...saw ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, saw that little hearbeat flashing away, saw that elegant little spine and even got a little wave from our little "Chip!"  Then the technician asked if we wanted to know the gender, and my response was, "of course!" :)  However, this little baby was MODEST!  That's something new...both of my boys showed the goods willingly, laying there spread-eagle in their pride.  This one had those little legs all tucked up and crossed and wouldn't budge.  The technician said, "we'll come back to that," and found a few other measurements to be taken.  When we returned, we found those little legs still all tucked up and crossed.  I recalled a conversation with an ultrasound technician during my 20 week scan with my first baby.  She said that 90% of the time those innate female and male things are ingrained within the womb already and boys will willingly show the goods, while girls tend to hide it all...interesting, huh?  The technician took the probe and gave baby a good jiggle and, voila!  She pointed out baby's little hiney, and 2 legs coming down and then these 3 little lines..."this is a baby girl!"

"WHAT?" I exclaimed in shock.  "I have two boys and I just knew this was a boy, I am floored!"

"This is NO boy," she confidently stated.

I am STILL in shock!  I have just gotten so used to the boy thing...I have fantasized about a little girl and oohed and aahed at all the adorable, pink, frilly little outfits (which is odd, considering I am SO far from frilly), but just figured that we didn't "do" girls.  I guess I should have listened closer to X-man who has insisted from the beginning that he was having a baby sister.  If you suggested that it might be a baby brother, he would adamantly, almost scold, that he was indeed having a baby sister and refused to believe otherwise.

So...here we are!  Entering a new realm of pinkness!  Time to put away the frogs and snails and puppy dog tails!  :)

Baby Bliss!!!

Anybody who has been near and dear to me during my last two pregnancies can vouch that I spent more time vomiting than I spent daydreaming about the baby-to-be.  Which makes my neglect of this blog reasonable.  Yes, we are expecting Numero Tres...sometime in mid-July!!!  And...I'm sick, of course, though not nearly as bad as I was with the boys.  For that I am grateful.  I had my first midwife appointment this morning and we heard the sweet sweet "whoosh whoosh" sound of that itty bitty heartbeat to Daddy and the boys' delight and to my great relief! :)  I think I have been beaming ever since.  You would think that after going through two pregnancies with great outcomes, this would be old hat, but my anxiety has been much greater this go around.  I finally feel like I can get excited after this morning's appointment though, so that is my plan.

The boys, on the other hand, started their excitement weeks ago.  X-man is convinced that he is having a baby sister.  If you suggest that it might be a baby brother, we just don't know yet, he will adamantly insist that, "no, it's a baby sister."  I guess he has been there, done that with the baby brother thing, and is pretty sure he doesn't want another one of those.  Anytime you mention anything about a baby, Gokey comes straight to me and mumbles something about "baby" and "mommy" as he pats my belly.  I am actually surprised he gets as much of it as he does.  Since we told the boys about the impending arrival, Gokey has been carrying around my childhood Cabbage Patch doll and refers to him as his baby.  He's at an age where he just accepts the fact that there is a baby in mommy's tummy and that is good enough for him.  The process has been a little funnier with X-man.

Early on when I explained to him that I had a baby in my belly his next assumption was that it would somehow crawl out of my mouth.  After several very toddler appropriate conversations about how a baby would exit mom's body, one morning he put his hand on my belly as we were sitting on the couch together and said, "the baby is in your tummy and it's gonna grow and grow and grow, right?"

I responded, "yep," thinking that it was starting to click for him.

"And the baby is cute, right mom?" He questioned.

"I'm sure," I exclaimed, "both you and your brother are!"

"Mom, say 'Ahhhh,'" in his little toddler voice.

"Ahhhhh," I politely complied thinking we were changing subjects as 3 year olds are apt to do.

"Mom!  I don't see it!"

I suddenly realized he was peering down my throat in hopes to get a glimpse of his "baby sister."  Ok...maybe it's all a little over his head.  That conversation then turned into a vocabulary lesson about the little hangey-down thingy in the back of your throat and uvula is now one of his new favorite words.

Several days later it was very early in the morning.  The boys had just gotten up and Gokey was demanding cereal.  I was in a rush to get it together because if I don't get something in my stomach very quickly then I end up sick in the bathroom (hopefully that's where I end up sick, anyway).  I was delivering Gokey's gourmet meal to him to the sound of X-man asking for cartoons when I realized that there was no hope of breakfast for me because I needed to get to the bathroom ASAP.  Gokey was occupied with his cereal, but I didn't even have time to flip on the TV as I sprinted to the bathroom.  Obviously, X-man followed to see what was up and walked in to me kneeling in front of the toilet as I heaved.

I could feel him peering over my shoulder and he suddenly gasped, "OH NO!  The baby sister! It's gonna fall in the toilet!"

Between heaves I was trying to explain to him very calmly that the baby was just fine and was just making me a little sick.  He then proceeded to pat and rub my back as I finished up.  What a kid!  :)

I can't wait to see what precious moments are to come!  Yay for babies!

Ho ho ho...

I know, I know...I'm neglecting this thing!  We is busy, though!  Isn't everyone this time of year?  Thanksgiving came and went and we jumped head first into the Christmas season...what a wonderful and nostalgic time of year.  Having the boys around pulls the magic right back into the season, just when adulthood had almost succeeded in sucking it all away.

We spent Saturday after Turkey Day in a very festive spirit, starting with our annual trip to the tree farm to cut down our tree.  It was a beautiful day and X-man is at the age this year where he totally "gets it."  He could hardly contain himself, he was so excited.  We marched through the fields inspecting tree after tree, and when Tyler, a very helpful college kid working weekends at the family tree farm, showed up to assist us, X-man made fast friends, immediately grasping his hand and tugging him along on our journey to find THE perfect tree.  Oh to be 3 again...he makes friends with such ease!  Tyler suggested we take the tractor out to the "south field" to see if we could find something suitable.  The boys were THRILLED with the prospect, and off we went.  Upon arrival, I hopped off of the trailer, scanned the field and knew I had found our tree.  I honed in, like a heat seeking missile...our tree!  J insisted he do the cutting, though Tyler offered to do the job and the boys both "helped."  Our tree was hauled back to the shed where we enjoyed some warm apple cider as our tree was shaken...it was there we found our lovely "little" tree (it was little compared to it's friends) was 8 1/2 feet tall!  Definitely the largest tree we have ever had, but it is beautiful.

The tree-shaker was fascinating!

Daddy's little helpers

X-man's handiwork

Upon arriving home, we told the boys that we were going to eat some lunch, they were going to take naps and then when they would wake up, the tree would be up, lights would be strung and they could decorate the tree!  There were immediate protests...we won in regards to Gokey.  He was exhausted and when push came to shove there wasn't much fight left in him.  He crashed hard.  X-man reluctantly went to bed and J and I went about preparing our tree.  20 minutes later, X-man emerged from his room, "I done sweeping!"  He spotted the tree...there was no talking him down.  The battle was futile and his excitement too great.  And we learned that he is a decorating pro!  He immediately went to work hanging ornaments on the tree and was so proud of his work, that we didn't dare rearrange until he wasn't looking.  J was concerned that the 30 ornaments hanging on that 6 inch strand of lights was going to cause a short and probable fire, but we all survived the day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...now if we could just get some of that white stuff! :)

Thankful for forgiveness...

...because I have failed at this daily thankfulness exercise!  And since I need to make up for the 4 days I missed, here goes!

I am oh-so-thankful for a very tolerant Stella-dog...she's such a good beast! :)

I am thankful for failed self-portraits...just means I have healthy, ornery, WIGGLY, uncooperative little boys!

I am thankful for GIANT accomplishments for my little Gokey as he made it to the top of McDonald's Playplace this week...and almost didn't come down.  The second picture is taken, yes, at the very top where I had to crawl to retrieve him after his big brother tried to pull him down by his shirt, nearly leaving him naked!

I am thankful for chilly, fall morning strolls outside which give us a good excuse to put on our knitty's and sweatshirts and then come in and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate (or coffee, as X-man likes to call it).

Thankful for Persistence!

Today I am thankful that my lovely husband has the persistence of the sun that rises and sets EVERY day! :) Nine years ago today I woke up alone and happy.  Things were going well...I was nearing the end of college and content.  I had this nagging, lovely friend, J, however, who pestered me everyday at work to "just give him a chance."  I was really great at saying, "no!"  A protection mechanism, really.  I had convinced myself it just wouldn't work out...we were polar opposites, and though I loved our conversations and our friendship, I didn't want to break his heart...or mine.

In the several weeks leading up to this day we had been out to lunches and dinner, had long conversations and then I was offered a new job and I turned in my notice at the place of employment where J and I had met and had our daily contact for over a year.  My last day was on a Sunday and he was convinced we would never see each other again...that I would brush him off and disappear forever.  I tried to convince him otherwise, but he was skeptical...an emotion that I usually excelled at in our friendly relationship.  He made me promise that we could get together to watch "The Usual Suspects," one of J's favorite movies that he discovered I had never seen in a previous conversation.  I agreed and we set it up for Monday evening, November 19th 2001 at my place.  He was chipping away at my guard.

There was something different about that night...he showed up at my place and instead of our usual comfortable bantering, we were quiet and almost awkward.  We sat down on the futon to start the movie and I noticed the rising flutter of butterflies in my stomach.  He started out with his arm stretched out on the back of the couch behind me, but midway through the movie, my butterflies alerted me to his hand lightly resting on my shoulder.  Was I in high school?  I certainly felt like it.  The movie ended, and we casually chatted about it...and then it happened.  One perfect kiss...and then maybe a few more, but it was the first one that pushed me over the edge.  The one that said, "FINE...I give up...I'm yours!"  :)  The rest is history!  As my mom once said about my quick turn-about, "most people fall into love...you tumbled!"

So...thank you, J, for never giving up!  I can't imagine how boring the last 9 years would have been had you not persisted...

And they lived happily ever after...

Week of Thankfulness...

In the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and since it seems my time to blog has been so limited recently, I am going to try my absolute hardest to post daily for the next week my thanksgivings.  It's the little things...I think it is a given that I am thankful for my family, home and the love that surrounds me.

Today I am so thankful that my boys have each other.  That they have someone to pick on, laugh with, hug, wrestle and lean on.  They are giggly sounding boards for each other and I love that their energy is contagious to each other and those around them. :)  Thank you, God...and J, for those little brother buddies!