Moving On

Mom had a going-away-to-Germany party for Nick on Friday and during the party we had another family photo shoot (we had one a few weeks ago at Grandpa's 80th birthday party with the entire extended family). Since I don't have the time to put a caption with each picture, I'll just generally tell you about them! We did a mix of family members, generational pictures, family pictures (D was moonlighting, so our family pics consisted of M and me...and Baby who has quite the personality already. Ugh?), and you'll see M there at the end taking over Auntie Karen's camera and doing his best to capture the surrounding activity. I told Auntie to email me the pictures he ended up taking (a lot with his chubby-chubby finger(s) in view), so I'll post those when I get them. He is now into photography (not to be confused with his on-going and simultaneous interest in animals, tools, trucks, kids' songs on YouTube, swimming, Richard Scarry books, and LEGOs...), so Auntie said she'd give him the digital camera Dad gave her to give to Ana many years ago that is still in working order! He'll have a blast with that. And so will anyone who can stand his repetitive orders of "Mimle" (as in "Smile") and "Cheeeeeese." It was a fun time, per usual, and the pictures seemed to have come out great. We'll have to schedule a photo shoot when D can be there, too. It's hard to keep track of him these days...M didn't see him for two and a half days last week because of his busy schedule. Granted the pool was great compensation, but he was so glad to have Daddy back on Saturday. Now for the photos, get ready to see the cutest 22 month old ever...

I’m not sure how I found out about library passes, but I’m sure glad I did because we used one to get into the Beardsley Zoo for free yesterday. Since you have to reserve the pass and then pick it up the day before you go and because D took the day off, the date we were going was pretty much set in stone, unless we just cancelled the entire trip. I say that because it was one of those hot, hot days that should be spent in or by the pool, but we went early enough and left early enough that the heat wasn’t a big issue for us. I even packed a spray bottle at Mom’s suggestion to cool us down throughout our adventure. It worked quite nicely!

The zoo itself was perfect for doing in the three hours we were there. It was hot, so a lot of the animals were just lying in the shade (can’t blame them), but they had roaming peacocks and chickens that fascinated M. And he was able to feed the goats. If that was all that the zoo entailed, he would have left a happy little boy. He could name just about every animal we saw, even the vulture, to D’s surprise. The number of animal books we read in any given week should qualify him as an expert in the field. We meandered our way around the zoo at a good pace, ate lunch, and left so we could get home for M’s naptime : ). Since the ride was just about an hour long, I borrowed two zoo/animal DVDs and a few zoo books from the library and he was fascinated by all. One of the DVDs was by Brainy Baby, not to be confused with Baby Einstein or baby genius or however how many other companies trying to get in on the act, but I was totally impressed by Brainy Baby and checked more of them out of the library to review.

We made it home for M’s nap, which ended up being over three hours, and since it was technically a vacation day, D said we could go to my favorite pizza restaurant in CT (Naples) for dinner. That made Mama and Baby…and Micah…three very happy people. And D is never disappointed with food, so he enjoyed himself very much, too. To round out our perfectly enjoyable day, we went to Mom and Dad’s for a swim and some watermelon before heading home. My grandma from Florida is visiting, so M had lots of fun following her around and Grams had lots of fun going on and on about his “curls like Donald.” When we left, M kept saying, “Nana, Nana, Nana…” Good thing she’ll be here for a while!

I have a few more outings planned for us this summer and it would be fun to get to do them all, but with this heat and with my growing-by-the-minute belly, I’m not sure what we’ll end up doing. There’s a petting farm nearby that I have a coupon to, I’d like to pick-your-own fruit at a local farm, go to the man made lake we went to as kids, and definitely a day (or afternoon/evening) at the beach. We’ve already been to a few libraries and parks and I’m sure that’ll keep up as the summer wears on because we both enjoy those outings. M is just as content to stay home and play with his toys or visit Grammy and Grpa and BreaBrea, it’s me that likes being out and about and I’m trying to get it all in before I’m housebound for at least six weeks with Baby (who is still quite active with boney heels and elbows and fists!).

Speaking of out and about, we were at a local library today that offers a summer reading program for which I signed M up and his first prize for reading twenty minutes for 10 days was a very nice goody bag filled with coupons to local restaurants for free kids’ meals and free tickets to sports events. It was crazy! The program is neat, though, in that you log your minutes online and you can even enter the book’s ISBN number and it’ll list all the books you’ve read. We snuggle and read for twenty minutes in our bed as soon as M gets up, so it’s only ten more days until prize #2 (which is a free book or two, I think)!

I'm completely into another book (Stones into Schools, a follow up to Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson), so if you don't hear from me for a bit, that's what I'm doing!

D's mom got Micah this Lego starter set for Christmas last year and he hasn't been too interested in it...until now. Until his interest in all things trucks and cars and transportation has been sparked. He especially loves construction trucks, and they're usually on building sites, so I think building things (instead of knocking them down) is more appealing to him now.

Actually, now that I think about it, I should probably clarify: this is M's first Lego creation he build all on his own. The first one he build was also a car, but copied it off of the side of the box. He brought me the box and pointed to the picture of the car, so I handed him the four or five pieces it took to make it and let him at it. He put all the pieces in the right spots, but some needed to be turned around to make it look exactly like the picture. Nonetheless, I was very, very impressed with his building skills.

We designated these as our life verses more than six years ago and am still amazed that we are already six years into forever. Six years makes us seems old, but it feels like we just got married and moved to PA. The Lord has been so gracious to us through three (well, technically 4) moves, four years of med school, one year of internship with a newborn (not sure if anyone can truly appreciate that unless you've been through it. Four words: Thanks Mom and Dad!), purchase of our first home, and the welcoming of our second child, Lord willing, in about 99 days. That being a very general summary of God's goodness, we are thankful for all the days and hours and minutes we get to spend together; those little memories are probably the most precious.

I was reminiscing last night on the difference between how we spent our first anniversary and how we're spending our sixth: D's parents sent us on an overnight to a resort in the Poconos for Year One. Tonight, D is going on his first moonlighting experience until 9pm while I care for our babies. We had a good laugh. We were planning on making dinner together and possibly renting a good movie tonight, but this moonlighting shift came up last minute and since I knew D was anxious about starting, I told him to go ahead and take it and we'd just move dinner to Saturday night. Poor guy triple checked throughout the day yesterday to make sure I was really okay with it (which I was) and went ahead and accepted it. We weren't planning on really celebrating until August this year because of busy schedules, so this way D can make an easy couple hundred bucks and we can spend some of that on our overnight :).

Dinner tomorrow promises to be yummy, though. I planned the dinner portion and D planned the dessert part and we don't know what the other one is planning. I do know that D said he ordered the dessert from Whole Foods so it promises to be very, very yummy and as healthy as dessert can get. I'll do some prep work for the dinner and we'll make it together (probably with M's help...) after our busy Saturday. Can't get more perfect than that!

Our Anniversary Week (not to be confused with our Anniversary Month ;) started with D doing his first overnight call for Radiology. Since he’s now a second year, he has been welcomed into the 8pm-8am Call Club. By all accounts it went very well and he not only survived, but said it was a bit slow! He had to come home and sleep, obviously, but he didn’t sleep as long as I expected him to because he wanted to go check out a van we were interested in. Meanwhile, M and I went in my parents’ pool and M actually went it and had a great time. He had been wary of it until this point, probably because he only saw people standing around in it and assumed that since he couldn’t stand in it, it wasn’t for him. I didn’t force him in and he played on the deck as I swam around making up a little song on how to swim. He was definitely more interested at this point and kept staring at me swimming until he finally called, “Mitah mim” translated, “Micah swim.” He willingly came to me and we did a lap before he wanted to get back on the deck. By the end of the hour we were in/around the pool, he (his idea…) was holding my hands and jumping ("Mitah nump," meaning "Micah jump") in the pool. He was also moving his arms and kicking his legs like he saw me doing earlier (which launched a conversation about how we only kick the water in the pool and not anybody at anytime!). They learn so much by observation, it’s incredible. And by Tuesday night, he was doing this:

The three of us had such a fun evening together. The pool water was 88 degrees and not even refreshing. D pulled the hose up onto the pool deck for the water balloons, but we ended up putting it in the pool in hopes of cooling it down (and raising the water level, D said). M really enjoyed the “wata booms” (aka water balloons) and kept asking for “Mo, mo” (more, more). I got the hose attachment and a hundred water balloons in a package for a dollar at the Dollar Store. Can’t beat that cheap fun! The entire night was so enjoyable; summer nights are my favorite and summer nights by the pool with my two (maybe three?) men just can’t be beat.

An aside or two:
Summer Reading Book I’m Thoroughly Enjoying: The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson. I have her second one, The Ministry of Motherhood, and can’t wait to read that, too.

Best Pizza Ever Tips:
* Use this dough recipe and directions: YouTube Video Link
* Use at least two cheeses (I used three: parm, mozz, and sharp cheddar)
* Cook at 425 degrees for 9-10 minutes

First, David has officially received his CT physician’s license and is able to moonlight whenever his schedule allows. It’s one less hoop he has to jump through now, although he’s not board certified yet and won’t be for a few more years (aka a lot more tests and money to go!). Moonlighting is a good thing, even though it means more time away from us, because he can rake in some cash for med school bills…and some fun things too : ). Needless to say, he’s awesome and everyone is very proud of this accomplishment…poor guys is slightly embarrassed that Mom keeps telling everyone and making a big deal of it!



And this is me at week 24 (first picture), even though I look bigger at week 20, the second picture. I had my monthly doctor’s appointment yesterday (and am thoroughly enjoying my doctor, he reminds me so much of David in his speech and mannerisms) At my twenty-four week mark, in which I’m supposed to measure 24cm across the belly, I am already measuring 26cm. I don’t mind if this baby is big a) because I’m not pushing her (or him) out and b) M’s “love and affection” will probably be more than any average baby can withstand on a constant basis. And to be completely honest, I don’t mind big babies, I probably actually prefer them, if I had a choice in the matter. I probably wouldn’t prefer a ten-pounder like David, but he was way too late in making his appearance, so I guess 10 lbs to be expected when you’re gestating a month longer than the average baby! I think if M was that late, he’d have been 12 pounds by then! Ok, enough of those kinds of thoughts…

Baby, dare I say, is more active than I remember M being. And he was active. This little one has quite the personality already and is always ready to play. If I lay a certain way, the kicking starts; if I go a bit longer in between eating, I hear about (or feel) it; if I poke and prod where she’s at, the punching will begin. I’m thinking that if I think about her, she starts…. All this movement doesn’t wake me up at night, but I am enjoying every second of it during the day. At least now I know what I can possibly expect (and the tricks that go along with having an active one!), since M was so active in utero and has continued to be to this day. However, I am still praying for a quiet, sleepy little person if that’s what the Lord can spare (I’m sure they’re in high demand : ). I play Mozart daily as part of our morning routine, so that could possibly have the calming effect it’s supposed to one day. But I know that she does in fact sleep because the doctor woke her up yesterday when he was checking for a heartbeat. The heartbeat went from a calm low-140s to a very active mid-160s during the twenty seconds we listened to it. I’m sure she didn’t want to miss anything and just had to remind us that she was there. Anyway, all that to say this pregnancy is flying by, even though I still have three and a half more months, and I am thoroughly enjoying this part of the process.

I should mention, too, that I am enjoying M at his age. I’m not sure how he got so incredibly cute and smart, but I’m thinking it had something to do with his daddy! He’s so much fun: talking, repeating, randomly saying things I didn’t know he knew, fixing things with his ever-present tools, figuring out how things go together or come apart,. The world is his playground and he’s taking full advantage of it. And it’s great entertainment for me and anyone else watching. He’s very easy to be around and loves routine and order…and for his hands to be dirt-free. You can’t get any more boy than this one, but if his hands are messy, he’ll instantly show you and say, “dirty” meaning, can you please wipe this off? His daddy is neat like that, so he comes by it honestly. He still loves to read and that’s the only time he will be any kind of still. We read throughout the day, everyday and I noticed recently that he is more interested in and more capable of sitting through longer books. I made a list of some read aloud books that kids his age have enjoyed and plan on taking him to the library tomorrow to check some out. He won’t stay still enough to read in the library, with its toys and other kids, but I’ll test them out when we get home!





And that’s about it as of recent. I’ve been starting to do our Christmas shopping and have bought for everyone under the age of 5 at this point. I’m also putting together a few activity bins for M that I’ll rotate on a daily basis and then change them around each month or two (one bin for Mondays, one for Tuesdays, etc). Along with gathering the few items I’ll need for the hospital, I’m collecting a few things for M to open each day while I’m in the hospital. I think it’ll end up being a few new things and few favorites from home, along with a bible story, but it’s still in the works. I’m also on the lookout for a girl and a boy coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit. Like last time, I don’t mind everything else in his/her little life (for the few weeks at least) being neutral, but I want something gender-specific for coming home and for keepsake purposes. Oh, and then shopping for a few items to replace those which were in our stolen van. I’m working on that story…it’s a good one…

We are technically celebrating Father’s Day a week late this year due to my grandpa’s huge 80th party that had been in the works for months and was successfully carried out on Saturday. Everyone from the extended family was there, except for Nick, and my grandfather was totally surprised and very overwhelmed. It was an all-day event with breakfast and a family photo shoot, a slideshow and lunch at the Stonewell Restaurant, and finally cake and presents, dinner, and another slideshow of pictures from Grandpa’s life. Mom did most of the planning and of course it was a party to beat all 80th birthday parties. Anyway, all that to say that there wasn’t much time to plan for Father’s Day the next day, so us girls will be making dinner for our men after church on Sunday at Mom and Dad’s house. Starting next year, I think it will become a new tradition, though: spending Father’s Day at home with David and our kids and then celebrating our dads’ part of Father’s Day the following week. It’s too much trying to get everyone in, going to church, and [gasp] trying to relax and fit in naps.

On Sunday, I did manage to make D’s requested dinner: baked ziti. It really couldn’t have been any easier, which is nice. We were going to bring it on a picnic after church, but it was brutally hot and threatened rain, so we went home instead. Throughout this week, M is giving Daddy some special treats with sayings attached, like what he loves about his daddy and things he like do with him and things he is thankful for about him. I’m just sticking address labels, with these Micah sayings, on D’s gifts. I even made up a few sayings from Baby :). Here are some cute pictures of my handsome men (I’m attempting to take pictures of D and children each Father’s Day, we’re two for 2 so far! And D is doing the reverse for Mother’s Day…):

Tonight, though, we'll be stepping out of our Daddy and Mommy roles and will be going on a semi-date. The fourth year residents in D’s Radiology program are graduating and there is a dinner for everyone in their honor at The Hartford Club. It’s as fancy as it sounds: Hartford Club. Mom and Dad are watching M and we’ll be on our way just before 6pm. It'll be so nice to have extended conversations with my man before he has to study after a long day or I fall asleep before 10pm :).

We had Baby #2's ultrasound a week and a half ago, but D just got around to scanning in the [many] pictures the technican gave us. Short story: all is well in Babyland. We didn't find out the gender, but the technican said she had to put it in the report, so I guess she and whoever reads the report knows. Yana said she was going to call the office and pretend she was me to find out, so I guess that's another way of knowing!

Mom, Dad, and D were all along for the experience and it was so neat seeing our newest little one for the first time. She (as in he or she...I called M "he" all along, so I figured I'd alternate each pregnancy) was semi-cooperative. She was smushed up right against the placenta, which made it kind of difficult to get great 3D photos, but we did end up getting a few. She was moving around and doing her usual acrobatics during the procedure. At one point we saw her move her hand from down by her side to all the way above her head. Which means I felt a poke and now I know what kind of poke a hand makes and what kind of poke a foot makes (and where...). It was the first time we got to see her and she just looked so cute just laying there doing her little routine. We are super excited about meeting Baby and even have a date to look forward to: October 14th. My due date is the 16th, so technically I could go into labor before the C-section, but if this one is anything like Micah, she'd still be in there at Christmastime. The doctor said something about not being able to do a section before 39 weeks, but that date is a Saturday and somehow I didn't make it on the schedule until the Thursday before my due date. Anyway, it'll all work out in the end! It's kind of neat: our little family will have birthdays in September (M), October (Baby), November (me), and December (D). Mind as well try to shoot for August with the next baby...

Oh, back to the ultrasound: since D is our budding Radiologist (actually, he's probably a lot smarter than most of the people who are graduating the program this year, but that's just my humble opinion...), and the technican had read about him in my file beforehand, she said she'd just have D turn away when she was down in that area. Well before saying anything like that, she announced she was done. So I asked, "Could you tell if the baby was a boy or girl?" and with a sly smile, she said, "I don't know, maybe." D and I figured that she probably found out that information when I asked D to hand me my water bottle behind him, since he had to turn around. Sneaky lady, she's really good at her job :)!

I'm feeling really good, besides the constant hunger, and am just now starting to realize that I should probably slow down a bit. I totally forget I'm pregnant throughout the day because I'm still able to move around so well. Getting out of bed is just starting to be a bit uncomfortable, but that's only because my hip and pelvic bones are sore from sleeping on them throughout the night (I'm usually a belly-sleeper). I keep having to remind myself that I just can't pop out of bed like I am used to! Speaking of bed, I'm really thankful that I don't have to pop out of bed at an unreasonable time in the morning. Most days M sleeps until 8am or 8:30am and just recently I've started to get up earlier and do some things before he's up. It's lovely, what a difference it makes in the day! I was finding that I was getting too much sleep (how's that for a problem?!) and would be groggy from that. So now I'm up and about when I feel I've had enough rest, instead of forcing myself to go back to sleep until M wakes. I'm glad I can move around well, too, because M l.o.v.e.s. the outdoors and that is where we spend the majority of his waking hours. He loves to explore and tinker and observe, he's all boy. Just 18 more weeks until he finds out if his sibling will be a boy playmate or of the girl variety like his cousin BreaBrea whom he loves so much!

D's on call at the hospital today and tomorrow, but has his 5-11pm shift all next week, so we'll finally get a chance to see him then. He had a big end-of-the-year presentation yesterday and put together an amazing PowerPoint slideshow that was impressive from beginning to end (he even included an ultrasound picture of Baby :)). He said it went really well and in just a few more weeks, he'll be a second year Radiology resident! Hard to believe he graduated med school two years ago and that we've been married nearly six years. Time is flying.

Mom's been on a scanning-old-pictures kick lately and tonight a few of us got an email entitled, "Does this child look familiar to anyone??!!" Besides the obvious answer (it's me when I was two), if you haven't seen M in a while, well, you're looking at him. I've always been able to see Dad and Ryan in him from their baby pictures, but never me...until now. Genes are crazy things.




Speaking of genes, we'll be visiting with our second child tomorrow morning. David and Mom, and possibly Dad, are coming along to introduce themselves. Little Man is staying with Auntie Yana and BreaBrea and will be having a lot of fun with them, I'm sure. He is still very interested in caring for Brea, poor girl. I think I actually want a big baby this time, in his or her best interest, in order to withstand Micah's love and care. Baby has been an active little one as of late, but nothing compared to M, it seems. So maybe there's hope for a calmer baby? A mommy can hope and pray...and dream.

D is on a CT rotation now and that involves a regular day shift for two weeks and kind of an odd evening shift from 5pm to 11pm. He's on the Night CT shift now and it's so fun having him around all day until 4:30ish. M is loving it since he didn't see D four days last week when D was on long call. Every third minute we hear, "Daddeeeeeeeeee" belted out for no reason in particular. And he wants Daddy to follow him around or wants to follow Daddy around with a truck or two of some sort. It's very cute. And I'm not minding mid-day errands without a toddler in tow (although I enjoy his company and he's always very well behaved in stores...it's just nice getting things done in half the time and not having to stop and wave or say hi to every person or inspect every rock or ant on the ground...). Anyway, that's for two weeks out of this month and I'll enjoy every day of those two weeks!

That's all for now, off to read more about my garden. Just picked up Purple Beauty Peppers, Celebrity Tomatoes, pickling cukes, and a few herbs for which I have to find room in my garden.

M is taking one of his long naps and I am caught up on chores, Bible reading, and rest so I actually have time to blog...yay! If you can't tell from the above pictures, our little man is a big cheese. It's hard to catch him with a natural smile because every time he sees the camera now, he pulls out "that" smile. Oh well, he's still the cutest kid I know (until October when I'll have two of the cutest kids I know...).

Days just keep going by without me knowing it. There was one day that I would have promised you it was Tuesday when, in fact, it was actually Wednesday. All fun times, though, as we are enjoying the beauitful weather (past two days have been rainy, but the next week promises to be sunny and 80s!). M is a big "help" with my garden, which turned out to be mostly container gardening this year. Really convenient and saves the back and the belly from the work of tilling the ground. I am planting a few things in my in-ground garden, though: herbs, one cucumber plant, spinach, potatoes, and carrots. Everything seems to be growing well, we just need those sunny days to really get things underway. Dad helped me plant a few containers at his house, mostly pumpkins and zucchinis and a few tomatoes. He also bought some tomato sprouts to plant, so we're guaranteed some yummy home-grown tomatoes this year! I bought one sprout this year: a jalapeno plant for David for only $1.18. He LOVES those things, so hopefully they'll produce some good ones over the summer. I also bought an aloe plant for medicinal purposes: a drop or two of aloe juice in your nose clears it up instead of using all those chemicals in nose sprays (which you can't use on kids anyway!). I've used it on M a few times and Yana has used it on Brea and it works beautifully. I snip a tip off and it seals itself back up and keeps on growing. I guess it's good to drink and good for your skin, but I haven't looked into that yet. My grandma in FL always kept (and still keeps) one.

Baby seems to be doing nicely, we go for our ultrasound in a few weeks, so it'll be nice to see her (or him) for the first time. I feel her moving around the most after I've just eaten, but not much more. She's probably moving a lot and I'm just so busy I don't notice or my constant motion rocks her to sleep during the day and she's up at night but not enough to wake me. This is where all the day/night confusion starts, I'm convinced. I had a plan to sit during the day and move around a few times during the night to avoid this confusion when she enters the world, but, yeah, that's not possible. I'm still eating like crazy and wishing I could hire a cook to think of yummy, healthy snacks to create so I didn't have to. Meals are easy, it's the inbetween that's annoying since most snack food is junky. D scolded me for going overbudget on our grocery bill last month, but I told him that his toddler eats like a teenager and his baby makes me eat like a teenager, so just be happy it didn't double (notice they are "his" babies to make my case more pitiful...). Haven't heard another word from him, poor guy. I'm making a pot roast in the slow cooker right now and it smells delicious...

D and I have our monthly date night on Friday. He's working til 8pm every other day, so we see each other in glimpses on those nights. He doesn't usually get home til 9ish and I'm usually making myself comfortable for night by 10. He's such a great guy, I couldn't do any of this without him. He's so helpful and patient and loving and supportive. He's always texting me nice things throughout the day even though he's superbusy. We'll be married six years this year and it doesn't seem like it could be that long. We still have tons of fun together and thoroughly enjoy being together whenever we can. I love him. Ok, enough mushiness...

To end, there was one day that Dad was reading M a lift-the-flap firetruck book that is a new favorite and all of the sudden they both pop out of the seat with Dad announcing, "I'm going to bring him to the fire station around the corner if you don't mind." M got his "fireman boots" on (snow boots that are at least a size too small for him but he jams his pudgy feet into them anyway...all by himself...) and Dad loaded him into our van and off they went. Not only did he get to see and touch and sit on a firetruck, but he got to sit on a steamroller and a rescue boat, too. Dad couldn't tell which he enjoyed most, but sufficed to say that every time he sees or reads about a firetruck he says, "Grpa" and "Minah" and points to himself, meaning that Grandpa and Micah went to see the firetrucks. As if Dad wasn't his favorite person in the world already...