4 weeks

Um, how exactly has it been 4 stinkin' weeks since my baby girl was born? I am baffled. Here she is, held by one of her Papas (as Henry would say, "That's the Papa with the beard that lives with Nana."):

And here are both Papa & Nana with their 5th grandchild, the third girl:

My parents are in town and are just in total love with her. Henry has been treated to some great fun with his grandparents. He is particularly thrilled anytime Papa wants to read a book or play with his toys in his room. They took him to an interactive play museum the other day and he had a blast playing on the firetruck:


Maria had her one-month checkup today. I was SHOCKED to hear that she weighs 8 POUNDS! That's a 17 ounce gain in 2 weeks. She has grown almost an inch in length, too. I guess the nursing has been doing some good. (OH! I can't believe I haven't written this before now... Henry refers to me nursing Maria as "milking." As in, "Mommy, whatcha doin'? Oh, you're milking the baby." Is that not HYSTERICAL?!?) She has had a few bottles from Timon and has gone back to breastfeeding with no problems or confusion. She's so, so awesome. Right now she's swaddled and sleeping in the swing. She fits right into our little family.

(let's go rays!)

oh, for heaven's sake.

This is our local weather forecast for tonight (emphasis is mine):

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Near record low temperatures. Low 72F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.

Well, we'd better bundle up and cover the plants. If that's not the most ridiculous thing you have ever read, I've got another one: This morning, Henry went out the door to school and said, "It sure is cold out here!" It was 75 degrees. I'm not sure if you all can truly understand how sad that makes me; that my preferred HIGH temperature is what qualifies for COLD in my son's mind. Seriously.

two score minus 2

Well, it's Labor Day. I wish it were labor day, to be honest. Two nights in a row I've had several contractions over a few hours - not ever closer than 20 minutes apart, but still enough to get my hopes us that this was it. But then I'd go lay down thinking I should rest in between cause, duh, who knows when I'll ever get rest again... but then they'd stop completely. Bummer. Doula Robyn suggested yesterday that I'm probably dilating more and that if I haven't progressed further by Tuesday's OB appointment that the exam done then might be what pushes me over the edge. We shall see!

Even so, we've had a mostly lovely morning here in casa de Henry - he let us sleep in till 8, then we had fun making faces in bed for a while. I got up and decided to make pancakes, Timon wanted to mow the lawn before it got too hot, and we each did our thing. Henry ate 4 pancakes and some melon and 2 (small) cups of OJ, all while getting a treat of PBS kids on tv. Then after I ate, cleaned up the kitchen and Henry was dressed, he wanted to color. Check this out:

I think it's some of his best work yet. He decided all the colors and placement. Right now he's rocking out to U2 using Friend as a guitar. Just a refresher for those of you not familiar with Friend, Henry's loyal and constant companion since age 2 months:

Our only disappointment of the morning has been when Timon decided to put together the crib we bought off a Craigslist posting yesterday. Not only is there hardware missing (which is why we needed to get a new crib in the first place - we've lost the hardware to the crib we used with Henry which is very sad since it was a gift from two people we love very much and it's a gorgeous crib) but there are actual wooden parts missing, too. So we've put in a phone call to the person to whom we paid $50 to and hopefully return it - she did say that if we weren't able to put it together that she'd give us our money back. I hope she'll honor that. Before you all get preachy and say, but DUH, don't buy anything without being assured of having all the parts first! let me just say it looked like everything was there and accounted for.

SO, our plans for the rest of the day: leftover lasagna for lunch, naptime, maybe a little movie time for Henry if he obeys at lunch and nap, rest, relaxation, get our $$ back and return the crib, meatloaf for dinner, and maybe a real live grown-up movie for the adults. And, yes, if contractions began in earnest, I would not complain. She's got a little less than 12 hours to make this a very appropriately named holiday.

henry's take on a classic

Until I can emerge from preparations from Youth Sunday (a week from today), here's a gem from my son. I also recommend clicking the category "cinematical" below and re-watching Superwhoop. And also that one where he falls from June 2007. I'll be back in a week.

um... surprise?!?

Last night at our monthly women's Bible study the ladies threw me a "surprise" baby shower. I put it in (unnecessary) quotes because last week one of the women who wouldn't be able to be there spilled the beans. I promised to be discreet about being in the know, but then she spilled the beans about spilling the beans to some of the other Bible study women. Oh well. I had an act all prepared and everything! These women were exceptionally sweet to plan and put on this unexpected party to celebrate Bertha.

Anyhow, as you might expect there was a flood of pink at this shower. They were very, very generous and this little girl is going to be very well dressed, at least for her first 2 months! 'll put up some photos of the cutest dresses another time. Timon and Henry were a bit overwhelmed by the haul which took me and 2 helpers with very full hands to carry home. Henry looked at it all with rather wide eyes and we told him all these things were for his baby sister. He said, "For her birthday?" One bunch of gifts came in a rather large bag. What you see here is what followed:

4 hours

That's how much sleep I got last night. Full-on insomnia has struck. I made the mistake of taking a nap yesterday after work (about 45 min) and so I was wide awake until 11:30. I felt sleepy, went to bed and then laid there for about an hour before getting up. I didn't make it back to bed until around 3:30. Urg. I'll try my hardest NOT to nap today so I can break the cycle.

I also felt what I am guessing was a real live contraction yesterday. It was not the typical Braxton-Hicks tightening, but more like a cramp lower in the uterus, lasting for about 60 seconds. I wouldn't say I was in tremendous pain, but there was a significant difference between this and a BH. I did practice breathing through it. It was the only one, but I had several more BH later. I've been sitting on an exercise ball sometimes at night while watching tv, rocking back and forth which helps with my restless feet and legs. I can imagine it will be very helpful during labor because my pelvis feels very open when I sit on it (open in a good way, not the painful way it used to when the SPD was really bad).

I got to speak with Timon and Henry from here last night. They went canoeing yesterday with the big group of family members and had a blast. Henry's been enjoying all the good eats up there (basically my favorite part of going on this trip) and has had a few ice cream cones - which give him the amount of joy equivalent to giving me diamonds, basically. He talked to me for about 2 minutes before he said, "Um, Mommy, I want to say goodbye now." I guess he's enjoying himself.

Happy Birthday, Avery!

Happy Trail-aversary, Chad!

goings on

For 8 hours on Saturday we worked on getting Henry's room ready for Bertha's arrival. With our small two bedroom house, you can imagine that we're already packed to the gills with stuff. There was really only one solution for that problem in Henry's room - find a place for the toys. The baby will be in our room with us for a while in the pack&play, but eventually she'll have to move to a crib in Henry's room, for which there was NO spot... before Saturday. Timon built this awesome bed for Henry, and ALL of his toys and books are underneath in sorted storage bins.

This corner shows Henry's little table, in a much better spot than before under one window. On the right you can see the crib pieces against the wall, this is where it will stay. That is, if we can find the hardware for the stinkin' thing. Obviously when we took it apart two years ago, we put the hardware in a VERY safe spot. So safe that it may never surface again.

And here I am, at 33-ish weeks. I went to the OB today, all was well. No weight gain again, baby's heartbeat was great, I am measuring right on for 33 weeks. It's sort of comforting to not have much to report. My doula Robyn came with me to meet the doctor, which was nice. She is awesome, and I will be so glad to meet with her more over the next weeks and have her with us during delivery.

Wait, what is this? (I am telling you, this is everyday life with this child.)

superwhoop

In this little vignette, my superhero son explains exactly what his powers are, how he uses them, and what it is that makes him nuts. (My apologies for the camera shakes, caused by the rolls and waves of my large abdomen when I laugh.)

light show

After a lovely meal Friday night with some friends we braved the downtown traffic, heading up to the top floor of a parking garage near the movie theatre to catch the fireworks. Since the last time any of us have done this very thing, a new condo was built up, partially obstructing the best views - but we still managed to enjoy the show. I played with the fireworks setting on the little point&shoot I use at work, and even without a tripod (which I'd use another time) we got some decent shots.

The other thing occupying our time this past weekend was house-and-pet-sitting for some friends of ours. They have 3 cats, 2 dogs, a turtle and a fish - and Henry is quite enamored of one of the dogs and the turtle, particularly. He and Molly the dog are becoming fast friends.

Henry's also enjoying their pool - and yesterday he and his good buddy G started swimming lessons. Apparently Henry has become a fish since last year's swim lesson incident. I blame this (quite happily) on the fact that all last week we got to watch the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials on tv - the races made quite an impression on him. Now when he jumps in the water he puts his head and hands down, makes a beeping noise, and jumps in for the belly flop. Next up: flip turns. Who'd have EVER thought I'd pass any kind of athletic passion on to my son? Certainly not my high school swim coaches.

mrs. my-last-name-here, you have a lovely daughter

Yes, it's true! A female! The ultrasound tech only did one measurement (the abdomen, which she pronounced perfect, of course) before she got to the good stuff; she calmly announced that this baby was a little girl. I think both of us were surprised - I mean, duh, we knew that this was one of the two options, but still, when you've been saying he/his/boy/son for over four years, it takes some getting used to, all these female identifiers. She did move on and measure everything else and the placenta location - all is well in every area.

Now to your questions: Yes, we have a name picked. And sorry, it's a secret until she emerges from within. It's not bizarre, but it's not terribly common these days either - sort of like Henry was five years ago when we picked that one. Now everybody's naming their kid Henry. Maybe we'll begin the resurgence of this name, too. For now, I'll refer to her as Bertha. Other names suggested have been: Matilda, Shaniqua, Cherry, Andrea (nice try, sissa), and all my girl youth group members have offered their own names, of course. I will tell you that Bertha's real name is made up of family names, and that it's a gorgeous name.

Henry was funny when he heard the news. He was perfectly pleasant about it, even when he said that he thought it was supposed to be a boy baby. He was more tickled by the mouse arrow the tech left on the screen for the picture he looked at. He did say one funny comment though - "Now I'll have a girlfriend!" Ay yi yi.

Thanks for all the sweet comments, everybody. It's nice to know at least 7 people are reading. I'll be away this weekend so I won't get to read or post, but hopefully I'll be much more relaxed than I've been the last 2 weeks.

Here's two of the pictures - the tech was AWESOME and turned on the 3D so we could get a look at her face, which she did not have to do, especially since we weren't paying extra. The first one is a regular 2D profile, with little Bertha showing us her gang affiliation. The second is our first view of her beautiful self, and I think she looks quite like her big brother.

oof.

When my husband (who is utterly convinced that I spend far, far too much time browsing the world-wide interwebs and claims my fondness for frequently checking email surpasses my love and committment to him) points out that I haven't posted in quite some time, it's time to post. And so, as it says in scripture, "Wives, submit to your husbands in all matters of blog posting...", here I am.

It's been a very, very busy week and a half. Last week the youth renovated the upstairs rec-room in the church completely - new carpet tiles, 3 colors of paint, and an awesome new purple leather sectional ($800! What a steal!) have transformed this area from gross torn up gray carpet and white paint into something really cool. Here it is after we cleaned it out (the boxes in the middle are the carpet tiles):


And here is an example of the fantastic teamwork the youth showed off almost every moment of the week:


I'm so glad that I had this week with them - it has restored my faith in teenagers that had been so shaken during the lock-in from Hades. Here's two views of the (almost) finished space:



In Henry news, he's continually killing us with his comedic timing and turn of phrase. One recent example is when he so innocently asked his father, "Daddy, what is those things that suck your brain out?" Timon replied, "Umm, you mean aliens or something?" Obviously satisfied, Henry answered back with an assured, "Yeah, aliens, that's right. Watch out for those." Of course. He's also become quite the artist. Here's a recent sample of a family portrait (signed by the artist):


And because nobody asked, here I am at 27-ish weeks:


I feel like a giant. My pelvic pain is much more manageable between the brace and the occasional Vicodin. What's happening now is the baby's growing so much that my ribs are starting to feel the pressure. Sea Monkey moves all the time and has even made him/herself seen and felt by several other people. Two more days until we'll get another look at the little bugger and hopefully get a good view of the parts. I still have no concrete feelings either way, but I am excited to discover whether we'll have to start unpacking the blue or gathering up the pink. Any guesses?

okay, back to you

After yesterday's post, I got some very kind and encouraging comments. Thanks, ladies. I'm hoping things will change once my pelvic belt arrives from Mars Freaking New Zealand. It remains to be seen if Flight of the Conchords aren't the only awesome import from that lovely, but terribly, ridiculously far away country.

In the spirit of folks leaving kind comments, here are two places you should check out that aren't in my blogroll over to the right. One belongs to a lovely woman named Emilie who has two gorgeous young sons, is an excellent writer, and happens to be struggling right now with invasive, fast growing cancer. I can't even remember how exactly I found this blog, but I know that Emilie is an amazing person.

The other blog you should spend some time with is that of Matt, Liz, & Madeline. Matt & Liz were overjoyed at the birth of their first daughter several weeks premature after 5 weeks of bed rest for Liz. While she was getting ready to leave her hospital room the next day to hold her daughter for the first time, Liz went unconscious and passed away suddenly from an embolism. Matt has done a phenomenal job paying tribute to his lovely wife and documenting his process learning fatherhood on his own. It's not an easy blog to read, given how tragic the circumstances surrounding its development - but I promise you'll come away with compassion and awe of this man's love for his wife and daughter; AND of the many, many strangers who've sent Matt & Madeline gifts and notes, which he lovingly posts photos of as he receives them. And if something good can come out of something so horrific, then I can be sure God's still working in the world.

Not that I can have much doubt - last night I was in tears because of this pain, and Timon began rubbing my feet, and Henry snuggled up to me and told me it was okay. *sigh*

forty-eight months, or, the blink of an eye

Dear Henry Carmine,

Today you turn four years old. If I can sum up your past year in one word, it would be hilarious. You have developed into the goofiest child I've ever been in the presence of. It's almost become too much, your zany antics. For instance, you will occasionally come out of your room like this:

And we will wonder what on earth Elton John is doing in our house.

I remember when you were one and hadn't said a single intelligible word, but had sung and babbled endlessly. We started signing with you and then you haven't stopped talking since. I have to remind myself that one day, likely in less than ten years, you probably won't communicate in anything but grunts and shrugs. It makes me a smidge more tolerant of your incessant talking, singing, and hoots/hollers. You say hysterically funny things sometimes, like the other morning when you told your father that when you were a baby you had three hands. When he asked you where the third one is now, you replied that it was in your tummy, for you had eaten it. Obviously.

Henry, you also fancy yourself a musician, alternating which member of the praise band you "are" each minute. You are in love with your guitar and have quite the sense of rhythm, even if your pitch matching ability sadly more resembles your father's rather than mine. I imagine that the intense daily 3-hour music theory and ear training classes we've enrolled you in for the summer will assist with fixing that. (Ummm, joke.)

Last night we went swimming in a friend's pool, and for the first 45 seconds, you refused to put your face in or attempt to swim on your own, since we had (intentionally) left the arm swimmies behind. But once you did it, we couldn't stop you. In fact, you had to get out and sit on the side for a few minutes because you once started swimming to me from the steps when my back was turned without telling me ahead of time, like we have taught you. You suddenly became fearless in the water in a matter of minutes. This is quite a change from last summer's swimming lessons.

I realized recently that I've never told your birth story on this blog. I want to do that soon, before the cobwebs completely obscure the memories. You are the sweetest big brother already, you know. Every time you are near me you want to kiss or hug or zerbert your baby, or tell the baby a story, which generally goes like this: "Once upon a time, there was a bear necessities. Aaaaaand, the boy - what's him name, Mommy? - oh yeah, Mowgli, that's right. There was Mowgli, and they sang I mean the bear necessities, the simple bear necessities, forget about your worries and your strife... The end." Because that's exactly what you want your baby sibling to know.

Just when we've lost our minds trying to keep up with you and getting you to slow down for ONE.DANG.SECOND, and we're ready to send you to live with your godfather Chad so he'll take you on a four-month mountain hike to maybe, possibly get you tired enough to STOP.THE.NOISE you are making, we send you to your room to get ready for bed, and you emerge like this (and he was waving the pennant):

And then we remember why we wanted to start all over with another baby. Because you have given and taught us way, way more than we have you. I know we're not perfect parents, but our successes hopefully outweigh our failures. The other day I asked you who Jesus is, and you told me that He is the Son of God. So, I have hope that we're doing some things right. We love you. Happy Birthday, my first baby.


Love,
Mommy

what it's about

"I really love you, Mommy, all the time." - Henry, this morning

destiny

Looks like Henry is gonna have some fun with his wrists later in life, just like his mama, nana, aunt, cousins, etc. Oy.

ironman

Last night some friends and I went to see Ironman. Normally I try to keep this blog cuss-word free, but there is no other way to describe this movie other than to say that it KICKS MAJOR ASS. We loved every minute of it. Robert Downey, Jr. has spent some good years cleaning up his act and restoring his health after years of addiction and he has never looked or acted better. He was always talented, but no one would hire him because no insurance company would take the risk knowing he was in the habit of coming to work drunk and high, if he showed up at all. It is really great to see someone who's overcome this disease.

But the movie - holy crap! It was amazing, and you should all go see it in the theatre - the big screen is a must for this one. I've never been in a movie where people clapped and cheered spontaneously and en masse, which this audience did several times. And we were treated to some great previews for once - the new Indiana Jones movie looks like it will be awesome, and the new Batman movie trailer wowed us too. Heath Ledger looks terrifying as the Joker. It will be strange to watch him knowing this is it from that very talented actor.

On the baby front, I'm having TONS of movement. S/he seems to be very active, but so far has mostly kept the kicks and rolls just between me and him/her. I'm sure that soon enough my stomach will be jumping and jiving for all to see and feel. I am starting to have trouble being comfortable at night, which doesn't bode well for the summertime. Sleeping on my back is all but eliminated at this point, which stinks since I like a good mix of being on both sides and my back, too. Henry is just enthralled with the thoughts of "his" baby. He loves to hug and kiss and zerbert my stomach, telling the baby good morning or night and that he loves him/her. We didn't plan for this much space between children, but it's really neat to see how much he grasps of the fun we'll have with the new baby. I cannot believe that my first baby is getting SO close to four years old. It's gotten almost easy to be parents to Henry because he is so sweet and smart and fun. I hope we're ready to start all over.

handy

I've got some work that needs doing around the house. Which of these workers would you hire?

I just can't pick.

technically, he IS a preteen

"Mommy, I'm mad at you." -Henry, 7:22a.m. today




*************************
Everybody go say felicidades to LadyB on the birth of her (presumably, no pictures yet) gorgeous baby boy, Oliver! He was born yesterday and joins big sister Avery, my future daughter-in-law. Happy day!

weekend

Soooooo, how was everyone's weekend? Ours was busy, but nice. Friday started things off with quite a bang... I took 6 youth to a concert in another part of the state, purportedly headlined by our favorite band ever, downhere. It took us 2.5 hours to travel a distance that should have taken 1.5 hours. Nice. But we kept being reassured, thinking that we'd just miss a little of the two opening acts and be right on time for the boys. HA! We walked in the door of the mega-church where the concert was being held and heard the sounds of downhere coming from the sanctuary! WHAT? So, yeah. They were the opening act. But we only missed one song, and their show, while much, much too short, was incredible, as usual. Frankly, even if they'd played for 3 hours, I'd still want more. The upside to them playing early was that we had plenty o'time to chat with the band after they played. And that's some of the best part of downhere - they love to take time with their fans. After I re-introduced myself to Jason and Jeremy, they remembered me from previous shows and their two visits to our church (even though the most recent of which was in 2003). And, I wasn't my usual starstruck dork moron around them this time. I actually conversed like a grown-up, a fact about which I am exceedingly proud. *sigh*

Then Saturday I had confirmation class most of the day. Not much else to say about Saturday except that we watched The Kite Runner, and it was incredible. Just as awesome as the book, although I'm weird that way, and usually like both the movie and the book it's based on. When you watch it, you'll probably be as incredulous as me at how amazing a country Afghanistan used to be, and how wrecked it has become, first by the Soviets and then by the Taliban.

Yesterday we went to church, then to the church picnic for a short time, then we headed to the ballgame, to see our mailman pitch. He did great, even though I got a crummy picture of it. The game was crummy too, with our hometown ballteam losing 6-0. Oh well. We were able to get close to the field before the game and Henry was pretty focused watching the players warm up and the mascot fooling around. The giveaway at the game were some wristbands, which Henry promptly put on and posed with. They didn't come off until we made him do so at bedtime. He wore them to school today.

Okay, now for the pictures!

Mailman Eric winds up to pitch

what'cha lookin' at, henry?


oh, him. that's the starting pitcher, warming up.


still wearing the wristbands, even while eating
cereal for dinner (we are the parents of the year)

One more photo, and I can't even believe it - here's the bump, at 19ish weeks:

dream

Last night's dream was awesome - I dreamt (dreamed?) about our baby, who was a girl, and that she was an excellent nurser, and that I felt amazing after the birth. Then in the dream I got an email from my cousin A that said she'd be here to visit soon, and I was so excited.

Wouldn't that be a nice dream to have come true?

In other news... I'm feeling lots of baby movement, particularly after eating Breyer's Coffee Ice Cream. Who wouldn't jump for joy getting a taste of that deliciousness? As a related note, I just weighed myself on the scale in the church gym and I still haven't gained anything. Obviously I don't expect that trend to hold for much longer... I feel pretty good, just tired sometimes. Heartburn and nausea still enjoy visiting occasionally, especially if I make the mistake of say, eating lasagna out at a restaurant at 10pm like I did Friday night. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But we couldn't get into the restaurant to which we had a gift card until after our movie was over. We saw 21; it was pretty good. Fairly predictable, but still entertaining. Henry spent the night at his surrogate grandparents' house and had the expected fabulous time.

I'll close this up with a photo Henry took a few weekends ago when my mom, aunt, and gram were here to visit. I think he did pretty well, don't you? And aren't we posing so prettily?