The Beginning of the End

Here is our new son or daughter. This image was captured over 7 weeks ago and the change between then and now is significant enough to jolt me into the reality that I am, in fact, pregnant. I'm not going to talk about our new addition - we'll be talking about him or her for years to come. Let me bask in the glory of all the attention, sympathy and non-verbal "Bless her heart" looks I can these next 9 weeks and I'll be more than excited to give our new child the next 30 years after that. Deal?

Things have changed drastically since the beginning of February for me, for us. I kept warning others, mainly to remind myself, that come the end of February the glow and energy of trimester #2 would be replaced with the sweat and weariness of trimester #3, which I fondly refer to as the "beginning of the end". Thankfully, I've found I've been laughing more than crying at myself, which shows that God certainly has a way of graciously preparing a woman for change as a new life grows and takes over her body. Here are the things that keep me humble, and giggling:

I drop everything. Everything.

Almost everything I drop stays where it lands, with the exception of car keys and knives. The house is littered with papers, chapstick tubes, socks without mates and tiny hair rubber-bands.

With the exception of the workers at Nancy's mom's day out program, strangers are finally asking me "When's yo baby due?". Apparently there is now no question of if I am pregnant or have gained massive amounts of weight, but those teachers at Nan's school are still scared to ask. I wonder if I'll have to wait for them to ask until they see I'm carrying a car carrier with an infant in it into the school to drop Nancy off.....

Heartburn wakes me up at 2:30am. And again at 5am. Just like our new baby will once it arrives.

I can't catch my breath, and my 6 year old can out-walk me.

I caught Nancy Rose using the heating pad for her back, eating a snack and watching tv. When caught, she confesses "whew, I needed a rest."

Since I can't bend at the waist well, sometimes I find myself with my head inside the dryer trying to pull the clothes out. And then find I can't get out by myself. Ryan is often called from his desk to my assistance.

My shoe laces are tied to the inner part of the shoe towards my arch, and I know my toenails will not be trimmed until June.

If I have a shirt I like to wear, I will not wash it because I know if I do, it won't fit the next time I go to put it on.

Once a secret I tried to keep, I'm no longer ashamed to say I'm in pjs by 4pm most days.

I've started to daydream about sleeping on my stomach again, no longer giving my husband side-hugs and lying on my belly on the floor coloring with my girls.

I my hormones are so crazy, I have used shampoo only 3 times in the past month and have almost no need for face wash. Nonetheless, my hair is dry and brittle and my face ashy and flaky. My nose bleeds daily and my nails are growing at warp speed.

I fall asleep spontaneously, usually without realizing it. I realize it once one of the girls wakes me up, in my face, saying "MOMMY! Are you tired!?!"

Ryan's gazes of affection have slowly turned into pouts of sympathy, with eyes that say "oh, baby, I'm so sorry."

All these, and much much more that I won't share for fear of getting too personal or sounding like I'm complaining, I do believe are ways that mothers are prepared for welcoming their new child into the world. By the end of this pregnancy you better believe I will be more than happy to welcome the temporary excruciating pain of labor in exchange for this daily morphing and grating sacrifice of my body and sanity to grow a living creature. And really, when I look at the picture of that little face, I know it is all well worth it.

Nancy Is Three!

The main reason I am posting is because I feel very obligated to share about our second child's most recent birthday before our third child debuts. Whew. And y'all can forget about seeing Christmas - those pictures were boring anyway.

February 17 was Nancy Rose's 3rd Birthday! I remember (better than I remember with Kate) holding her in the hospital, she was red and screaming for 30 minutes straight, and Ryan and I looked at each other and thought "uh oh. too late to take this one back!" But she calmed down very quickly after that, and was the absolute easiest, most laid back and content baby I had ever had. I am hoping she gets one-upped come May, though. For her birthday dinner, Nancy requested nuggets, apples, peanut butter, Cheetoes, shredded cheese, carrots, and applesauce cake. I decided to divide all this up over the course of a couple of days, because the combo to me sounded like some kind of daycare snack-time on steroids.

Nancy has brought us so much joy and laughter! She filled our home immediately, and it feels like she has always been with us; I guess in a way she always has been, since Ryan and I knew we'd have more than just Kate and had been anticipating another child in our future since Kate was born. I just didn't know it would be this good, this much fun, or this much hard work. Nan's eyes are always smiling and she is great at finding ways to may fun things more fun. Nan, I could eat you up I love you so!

Eating "breabast". I wonder how long I can get away with Valentine's themed parties for her, complete with discounted paper goods and free leftover Valentine's balloons.

Trying to make 3. I love how she has to curl the fingers on the other hand at the same time.

Oh, my baby Nan! You are a big girl now!

Our "friend Belle", not our "dog Belle". And Belle's little sister Lucy in the background. Belle and Lucy did not nap later that afternoon because of all the sugar from the party! Sorry Elizabeth!

The party girls, minus our friend Amelia, who had a cold.

It's my party, I'll cry if I want to.

Birthday Round 2 - Family Dinner, complete with applesauce cake. Kate did the heart decorations all by herself! And that's Nancy's Great-Grandmother, "Monie", trying to avoid being in the picture, to no avail.

My folks got our family tickets to the circus, which was in town just a couple of days after Nan's birthday. She loves animals and the zoo, and now loves the circus.

If you saw this, wouldn't you have an expression like...........

....this?

Thank you, Mo & Poppa!

Funnies

From the 3-year-old:

"Bye bye tinkle!! Bye bye twirl-it paper!! Mommy can I stick my hand in there?"

"I like chwocwate and smarshmallow gramilla bars. Yeah."

"Mom, why do we have to vacuum?"

"Hey, oh, mom! Can you pwease cwose the door? I need some priva-seat."

"I need some lovin'. Wet's hold hands."

"Ooops. 'Scuze me. My fanny burped."

"What's for breabast, Mommy? Eggs? or Pop Tarts?"

"Daddy, I like your belly."

From the First Grader:

FG: "Mom, my neck really stings. Can you please put some of that gasoline on it to help it feel better?"

Me: "Um, do you mean Vasoline?"

FG: "Riiiiiight. VAsoline."

Me: "Hey sweetie. What did you buy for lunch today at school?"

FG: "I got the yogurt flake."

Me: "Um, do you mean the yogurt plate?"

FG: "Oh, I thought it was a yogurt FLAke."

For the 3 year old, all trains lead to the zoo, all poops in the potty warrant some candy and pigtails are "big girl hair". Nancy also closes drawers with her hips or knees like mom, and also grunts when she's frustrated....like mom. The first grader found out that there is more of a difference in boys and girls than boys being taller and girls being smarter than boys (not too much info, but it is really hard to keep her curiosity at bay) and that if she could be any flower, it would be a ranculous and wants to be an artist or a mommy when she grows up. She answers most questions with "I know", just like mom.

When we have eggs and toast for breakfast, Kate eats her toast, Nancy all her eggs. If we have chicken nuggets and french fries, Nancy eats the nuggets, Kate the fries. Kate likes ketchup, Nancy does not; Kate likes pancakes, Nan prefers grits; Kate does not like yogurt, and Nancy would celebrate if we put her on an all-dairy diet. When we sword fight, Kate just swirls her sword around in circles, Nancy aims for the legs or the stomach for a direct hit. Nancy keeps Kate up at night with all of her talking.

They both want a baby sister, and the 3 year old calls her Sally. If given the choice, they both would prefer to live on a farm and have their friends come visit than live in a neighborhood full of kids. Kate wishes leprechauns were real, and Nancy, at this moment, cannot find her baby unicorn anywhere.

I love these sisters.

How Do You Like This Pink?

I had so much fun getting advice from everyone about the room color. We seriously considered most of the ideas, but realized after much deliberation that 1. we were not willing to put all the extra time and effort into painting 2 colors, painting trim, painting a border, etc. and 2. putting all that time and effort into painting 2 colors or painting trim or a border would negate the money saved on buying and using the $5 gallon of paint. All that to say, I think the room is fun but wouldn't say I love the color.

We painted one night, while the girls slept in sleeping bags on the floor in the baby's room, and Ryan finished up Saturday morning. Then last weekend was the girls' Christmas present trip to Boone to visit their cousins, and Ryan and I finished hanging all the lighting and adding the finishing touches. I also organized their closet and desk drawers, which was heaven. I was totally uninterrupted and had nothing but time to do something I really love to do! What a treat! Sick, I know, but if you'll pay me, I'll come organize something for you, too! Let my sickness benefit you!

We let the girls "help" paint, which lasted all of 15 minutes. Here is Nancy painting over a spot she colored on over a year ago.

Can you see me in the background, totally stressing out?!

The mirror over the bureau. I decided to use the light pink "sample" paint to do a border around the mirror. Kate loved it, and said "now we both have the colors we wanted." She liked the light pink better than the dark. She was a good sport about it, for the most part.

Desk we found at Goodwill. I'll get around to painting it, one day. Most excited that it holds a lot of craft stuff and we didn't need an extra bookshelf in the room.

All (most) finished! Since this photo, my mom has painstakingly sewn 2 pillow covers for some giant floor pillows under the canopy where the girls can sit and read or make a fort. I'd like to get some kind of fabric above the window, and don't know what to hang on the wall by the window. We had paintings for each of the girls with their names on them, but it was too much color, too busy. I'm totally open for suggestions!

Hopefully the girls will enjoy spending time in here together, and hopefully it's a place where they can relax and all of their favorite things have a place. Next we'll be conquering the baby's room, where all the extra stuff has seemed to land. Although there's not much to be done besides clean out all the stuff from redoing the girls' room and put up the crib! We'll have to wait until May to see which bumper to use and if I can get down our baby girl clothes.

May. Doesn't that seem so far away to you?

Breakfast for Dinner

Which egg would you choose?

Seriously, which one do you think looks more appetizing? And how do I get one of those poll-thingys on my blog?

Making A Home

What do I do during the day? What do I have to show for my work at home? Why do I really like looking at pretty fabric to hang from our windows, or choosing plants to bring some fresh air into our January house? Why am I so obsessed with making a comfortable, inviting, warm space for our girls to grow and learn and share?

I read this today and just have to say a big "YES!!" This is how I feel about my home. The Nester says it exactly the way I would have wanted to if I even had the time to complete a good thought. But her kids are a bit older than mine, so maybe in a few years, I can hope to at least finish my thoughts. Then later on after that, maybe the laundry. Click on the link to read her thoughts. Maybe it'll make you say "YES!!!"

Setting the Stage

Our Friends the Pattersons

Our friends Natalie and Josh have been at the hospital all week with their daughter, Adri. Nancy and Adri are only 5 days apart, Natalie was at Clemson with Ryan and me and they are highly involved in our church here in Greenville.

I will try to make it brief, and if you want more information click on the links that will take you to Adri's site and Josh and Natalie's site. At the beginning of the year they noticed Adri having what seemed to be "absence seizures" and scheduled an EEG to monitor her brain activity. The night before the EEG, they were to keep Adri up as long as possible, but she began seizing and they rushed to the hospital, where an MRI revealed she has a brain tumor the size of a tangerine. This morning was her surgery to remove the tumor.

Please be praying:

That Adri will recover fully to her spunky, talkative self

That the tumor is benign

That the doctors removed the entirety of the tumor

Relief and sleep for Josh and Natalie

In the midst of all this, they were in the process of moving houses and Josh preparing his dissertation for his PhD. Also pray that these things will not be things that are overwhelming to them but that they will trust God's timing in all things.