The Warm Soggies

Last night, Wendy and I were enjoying some bonding time as James made dinner. She was sitting on my lap (well, my leg; there isn't much lap available right now) watching YouTube clips of zoo animals. Her favorites are the giraffes & elephants.

While she watched the animals, I watched her, and was overwhelmed with a surge of love & gratitude.

What a beautiful, strong, healthy little girl!
What a blessing!
What pretty blue eyes!
What sturdy, strong legs!
What smooth, pink skin!
What shiny, silky hair!
What...

And then she peed on my leg.


It's a good thing she's cute.

Things I Love Thursday

I really enjoy reading Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries. I haven't participated until now, but she's having a giveaway that I'd really like to enter, so I'm playing along!

In honor of spring, I thought I'd share a list of my favorite easy-care plants for the flowerbed. I'd love to show you pictures, but my flowerbed hasn't yet been cleaned out after the winter, and it's a MESS. I don't know when it will be tidied up - not any time soon, with Baby David arriving in less than two weeks!

Anyway, here's a list of my favorites:

1. Dianthus: a very forgiving, pretty inexpensive perennial. I've got some in shade and some in sun, and it seems to thrive pretty much wherever. It grows nicely, and can easily be split after a year or two to spread to other parts of the flowerbed. It has a nice full bloom in early summer, and if you cut it back, it'll have another full bloom in late summer/early fall.
2. Don Juan climbing rose: I first tried these when we lived in Missouri, and I liked them so much that I went looking for them again when we moved to Tennessee. They're a deep red color, with an incredibly yummy rose scent - I think these are the best-smelling roses I've ever had. You do need something to tie them to; they won't naturally twine around things like a vine.
3. Coral bells: a shade-loving perennial with nice big leaves. It comes in many varieties; I've got some purple ones and some light speckled-green ones. I pretty much bought these at Lowe's, plunked them in the dirt, and ignored them, and they've done amazingly well. I don't do any kind of pruning or cutting on them, and they do just fine & come back every spring looking great!
4. Tidal Wave petunias: the only annual on the list. I LOVE these petunias. They're a bit pricey for an annual, but they grow so BIG and provide so much beautiful color, I can't help but buy them every year. They're best in full sun, and look great in containers as they grow & spill over the sides.
   

What are your favorite easy-care flowers? For other lists, go to Things I Love Thursdays at The Diaper Diaries!

WFMW: Washing Baby Socks

This is by no means a new tip; I think I learned it from reading WFMW a couple of years ago. It's recently come up in my life again, so I thought I'd share - maybe someone out there hasn't heard this tip & will benefit from it!

Baby socks are notorious for getting lost in the wash. After all, they're tiny, and thin, and can fit in any number of crevices in the washer & dryer. A simple fix - gather all the baby socks & zip them into a lingerie bag. You can pick up a lingerie bag at any grocery store or supercenter; I'm pretty sure mine was about $3 at Target.

Put all the socks in the bag, zip it up, and toss it in the washer. Put it in the dryer as-is, and when the dryer is done, all your baby socks are still there!

Keeping baby socks together works for me. For more tips & advice, head over to Works-For-Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

WFMW: Best Shampoo & Conditioner

I have good hair. I don't mean stylish hair, I mean good hair. Healthy hair. Thick hair. Most of that is genetic, and it helps that I almost never blow-dry or heat-style it. But something else that helps?

My favorite shampoo and conditioner.

The best shampoo and conditioner I've ever used.

It's my Dove Daily Moisture Therapy Shampoo & Conditioner.

I started using Dove shampoo & conditioner several years ago, and was pretty immediately impressed with the texture of my hair. It makes it shiny & silky, so much so that I keep touching it. (I even made James "pet" my hair to see how silky it was.)

I've been lured away from time to time by various other products, but they never keep my hair in the same kind of shiny, silky, healthy state. I always come right back to my favorite Dove products.

That's what works for me. For more tips & advice, go to Works-For-Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Before 9 a.m.

One of the strangest things about my third trimester this time around has been my sleep patterns. For the first time in my life, I'm waking up around 6 a.m., and can't go back to sleep. Trust me, it's NOT that I'm not tired, or that I'm sleeping too much. It's just...I don't know. It's like my brain switches to the "ON" position and won't turn back off so I can go back to sleep.

This puts me in quite a predicament. It means I get up & start doing things around the house, and then am ready to crash by 9 a.m. Once Wendy wakes up at 6:30 or 7 a.m., she's raring to go, too, and she definitely keeps me busy.

Today, for example, she woke up at 6:30 a.m. Here's what she managed to do by 9 a.m.:

• Ate a banana while watching Curious George.
• Insisted she had to potty. Refused to perform. Threw a tantrum because Curious George was over.
• Ate some Mini-Wheats. Insisted she had to potty. Success.
• Got into a basket of supplies from when she was a newborn. Managed to string old Binkies, nasal aspirators, thermometers, baby hats, etc. all over her room.
• Found a Hello Kitty Band-Aid. Opened it. Couldn't find a suitable owie, so placed it directly over her belly button. (Which was pretty cute.)
• Demanded to wear princess tutu. Demanded to have princess tutu removed when it rubbed on the Band-Aid on her belly button.
• Asked me to remove the Band-Aid, then cried because it hurt.
• Found her container of earrings. Spilled entire container on our deep-pile, cut-loop carpet. Did not help Mama pick them up. (And in case you were wondering, 20 pairs of little stud earrings are hard to find once they get to the bottom of deep-pile, cut-loop carpet.)

Looking at that list, it's no wonder I was ready for a nap by 9 a.m.! I ended up confining her to her room & letting her watch her Wiggles playlist on YouTube, while I rested on the couch.

It's hard to take care of someone small, active, creative, and stubborn - especially when they have twice your energy!

Counting Down

This morning we had our next-to-last regular OB appointment! It seems like the first 6 months or so of this pregnancy just dragged by, and now, here we are, almost at the end! We're 33 weeks tomorrow. (And please, ignore my skin. Rosacea + hormones = AWFUL.)

We had an ultrasound, and David is measuring 4 lbs, 9 oz, which is at the 46th percentile - right on track. He looks healthy, and is growing well, and is active and STRONG. We reconfirmed that he does, indeed, have boy parts. (I know ultrasounds are pretty reliable these days, but I have a fear of having everything prepared for one sex & then having the other.)

We scheduled the amniocentesis for Friday, May 8th. Because it's a Friday, and my doctor isn't in on Monday, we'll probably get the results on Tuesday, May 12th, and then have him Wednesday or Thursday. I'm starting to feel a little more calm about the whole thing, and I really hope that calmness continues through the procedures.

And I just can't believe I'll be holding my little guy in 3 1/2 weeks!!

**Edited to add:***
Also - I'm pretty sure my OB has given up on me gaining weight at this point. I think I've done pretty well to only lose 25 pounds this time - with Wendy I lost 45. Now let's just see if I can keep it off after David arrives...

WFMW: Stickers

One of the hardest things about parenting an active, intelligent 2 1/2 year old is keeping her quiet & still when she needs to be quiet & still. We definitely don't have it all figured out, but one accidental discovery has helped tremendously during church: the girl loves stickers.

It started with a little sheet of tiny stickers that came with a Happy Meal toy. I took the stickers along in her bag, thinking they'd be good for 5 minutes of distraction. I was wrong - she played with them for a solid 30 minutes, without making a single peep.

When we got our egg-dyeing kits for Easter, I was thrilled to see a big sheet of tiny stickers in each box. There are probably 6 dozen stickers on each sheet, and since I only let her play with 12-16 at a time, they will last us quite awhile!

Tiny, cheap stickers keeping my girl QUIET and occupied during church? That definitely works for me!

For more tips, head over to Works-For-Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

Easter

Matthew 28:1-10 (New International Version)

The Resurrection

¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Isn't that the best news you could hear this morning? He is risen!!

Early "Reading" Skills

One of Wendy's favorite books so far is "Click Clack Moo," by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin. I was introduced to this book by my friend Kristi, when I read it to her son Mason about a hundred eight years ago.


Anyway, the book is charming, and silly, and funny. Wendy likes it, and it's one I don't mind reading over and over. I read it to her at bedtime tonight, and then let her have the book to look at in bed.

As I sat in the living room, I could hear her "reading" to herself, and it made me wish I had the video camera handy.

"No miwk today. Dat too trouble. Kik kak MOOO! Dat funny..."

I've really got to record some of this cuteness, before she's all grown up.

She Keeps Me Busy

It was quiet in the house (never a good thing) and I suddenly heard, "Help, Mommy! I 'tuck! Help!"

I went to investigate & found Wendy climbing the stairs - which she has no business doing - on the OUTSIDE of the banister. Her little toes were clinging to the one-inch carpeted ledge, and her little hands were on the top of the rail.

Fortunately, she was only two steps up before she decided that was a bad idea.

Even When I Sleep, I Can't Rest

The longer I am pregnant (and make no mistake, I feel like I have been pregnant for a LONG time), the more convinced I am that hormones can cause just about any symptom in the book.

Headaches? Yep.
Moodiness? Um, yes. (Just ask James. Nevermind, don't.)
Strange appetite changes? You betcha.
Weight fluctuation? Absolutely.
Sleep disturbances? YES.

I have always had very vivid, disturbing, convoluted dreams when pregnant, starting at about 6 weeks. Most of the dreams are just bizarre without really being scary or stressful.

Last night's dream was definitely scary. Definitely stressful. Definitely capable of getting my emotions riled up in a huge way.

My dream took place in the future, maybe 4 or 5 years from now. I was a widow; James had died suddenly about 8 months before. I don't know the circumstances of his death, just that he had died and I was a single mom. After 8 months, we had started to find a "new normal" place from which to operate, and our little family was settling into some sort of routine.

But then I was diagnosed with some kind of terminal cancer. The plans were for surgery & aggressive treatment, but even then I would most likely die within a few months.

The dream involved me explaining that to the kids. I had to tell my children that Mommy was very sick, and that we were going to pray hard, and do whatever the doctors told us to do, but most likely, Mommy was going to die soon.

It was not a good dream.

It took a lot of praying, some snuggling with James, and reading of a totally unrelated work of fiction to calm myself down enough to get back to sleep.

I'll be glad when this baby comes.

Oh, Be Careful, Little Ears...

I've always heard people say that young children are like sponges, soaking up all kinds of details of the world that surrounds them. I've seen it to be true now that I'm a parent; I will occasionally hear things that I say come out of my daughter's mouth, and it makes me pause.

One thing that I've become convicted about in the last several years is the kind of music we let into our lives. I love music, just about any kind of music, especially if I can sing along. But there were times I caught myself singing along, especially in the car, and realized I should not be singing those particular lyrics. Instead, we mainly listen to CDs in the car, and when we listen to the radio, it's our local Christian station.

And I'm glad, because the other day I was driving home from my parents' house, with Wendy in the backseat. I was singing along, as I love to do, not even really paying attention to the song.

From the backseat, a sweet 2 1/2 year old voice says, "Mama, what holy?"

I'm so glad we were listening to something good, and that she asked such a good question!

Here is what we were listening to:


I don't think I answered her question very well (how do you explain holiness to a toddler??) but we were able to have a teachable moment, and she's asked me a few times to sing that song for her.

Joy in the Simple Things

What does it take to delight a 2 1/2 year old?

Chocolate-chip pancakes.

They made her day...and so, they made mine, too.