Farewell March, Hello Flowerbeds

JAN 2011

MARCH 31, 2011

March 31, 2011

JAN 2011

MARCH 31, 2011

Do you see what I see?  Dirt!

Luke logic:

"I need some fish crackers.  That will make me sleep."

"It's cold outside.  I will watch Blue's Clues and that will keep me warm."

"I needed some deodorant because I wanted it."

"The dark is getting on the trees."

and because Luke can't whistle yet, this is how he calls the dog:  "Fru fru, Linus!"

Listing

We are listing.  In more ways than one. 

For example, these are just the lists on the counter beside the phone (there are more in my journal and bedside table):

To Blog About:
To Do Today:
To Do Around the House on a Regular Basis:
To Do Before Baby's Born:
Garden Tasks:
Groceries:
Menu:
Photo Editing:

Derek mentioned to me today while we were waiting at the doctor's office that he's having trouble keeping all of his lists straight at work.  The papers with the lists get lost and then old things go on new lists and old lists have new things, and most things tend not to get done when you want them to.  

Then there's the fact that these lists just keep getting longer because we've all been sick for what feels like forever!!!  First me, then Luke, then Derek, now Luke again, and me, and then Luke, oh and then Derek again somewhere in there.  I will "list" what all we've had:
each of us has had the stomach flu (including vomiting and diarrhea)
each of us has had a head cold
we think Derek had food poisoning
I have some sort of tonsil infection
Luke had a throat infection
now Luke has an ear infection
and of course there is the ever-present pregnancy which goes on this list because it often includes sleepless nights, evenings full of uncomfortable contractions, mood swings, heartburn, and general lethargy.

We, all of us, are listing.

Instead of blogging about something that's on the list....

Walkabout

 Luke, Linus and I went for a very long walk yesterday.  It was colder out on the dyke than I had counted on and so instead of coming home the shorter, more exposed way, we took the long way home through a neighborhood and boy did my hips make me pay for that decision.  I am one sore pregnant lady today.  Luke and Linus had fun splashing in the puddles though, and that cheered me up a lot.  They are a trouble-making team, but so fun off-leash. 

Earlier in the day I took a walkabout our yard.  I am just itching to get out in the dirt.  For now I will have to be satisfied with photographing it as it comes exposed.  I had really hoped to get peas and carrots in the ground before baby comes, but at this point it looks like I may just have to wait to do all my planting until after baby's here.

35 Weeks

Here's the sleeper I bought for baby to wear home from the hospital.  I suppose it isn't terribly girl-y.  But I just love the little elephants!  If we have a little girl she's not going to be a frilly princess anyway, right?

I've been gaining weight pretty well these last few weeks and am only 3 pounds under what I weighed at the hospital the day Luke was born (before he was born).  It's always strange seeing those numbers creep up so high...even though I know they go down pretty easily once we start breast-feeding.  I guess a large part of the shock is due to the fact that I don't keep track of my weight at any other time in my life...and never have. 

Anyway, everything seems to be on track.  Baby's heartbeat is consistently above 150 bpm, and the little one is getting the hiccups three or four times a day - once always just as I'm trying to fall asleep at night.  Luke is getting nervous about sharing his toys with baby, and I'm getting nervous about getting around with two little ones, and Derek...well, he doesn't say much, but the other day when my contractions were coming regularly for about an hour and we were thinking we may have to go to the hospital he said he was "actually getting excited about having a little baby again".  So we're all beginning to wrap our minds around having family member #4 in the house, and I think we're pretty much thrilled (aside from learning how to share - which will be difficult). 

And one of us is getting impatient with lack of sleep.  One day I will have my hips back to myself.  That will be a good day.

Prairie Baby

by Laura Thiessen

Northern prairie’s

Summer days

stretched

like sweaty rubber gloves

over too-big hands

Full of labor

Melon coolness

a sweet rain

Southern torso’s

Round abundance

stretched

like taut dome tent

waving in a thrashing wind

Full of living heat

fresh deliverance

an open door

Green

As I sat here uploading photos Luke sat on the living room floor whispering to himself.  I heard him saying, "Yum yum yummy" over and over again.  I looked up just in time to see him take a bite of a sticker, begin chewing, turn and hand the other half to Linus as he said very sweetly, "Here Linus, you can have the rest".  And Linus did.

PS- Luke's suggestions today for a name for the baby girl he's convinced we're having were Wopsy, or Taffy. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ready for Baby

Well, the blanket's ready at least.  The pattern is from Lion Brand Yarn, and the yarn is from Ram's Wool in Winnipeg.  Several people have asked me what I have left to do/prepare before baby arrives and the list is rather short.  Baby's going to be sleeping in the playpen/bassinet in our room for the first few months, so there's no crib to set up.  And since Luke is staying in his room a while longer the pressure's off to finish his bedroom in the basement (sorry visitors...your guest room will still not have flooring!). 

So we're sitting at 34 weeks this week (out of 40), a doctor's appointment every week from here on in, a baby blanket to put on the car seat to bring baby home in, and...I bought a tiny outfit a couple years ago when we first started trying to get pregnant with baby #2, so we even have a leaving the hospital outfit that (I hope) is gender neutral.  Derek thinks maybe it's a little masculine.  I just love it too much to not put my baby in it - boy or girl.  Pictures of that later.

Now for a name....

Mud and Puddles

The backyard is pretty muddy and the dog had to be carried to the tub after this outing. 

view from the kitchen window.

Today we went out front.

A sick day for daddy

It's finally Derek's turn to be sick.  On Saturday after Luke had had his meltdown, and I'd had a meltdown of my own I told Derek that it was his turn to cry and be whiney...he didn't take me up on the offer.  The next day he did, however, come down with a cold (or the flu?  I don't actually know the difference anymore), and he's still down for the count.  I can't remember the last time Derek took a sick day!  But I'm glad he's resting.

This weekend was a busy one for Luke.  He got into LOTS of mischief.  And was, also, his most charming and intelligent self.  I will start with the mischief:

• Luke went upstairs and Derek and I didn't follow fast enough.  When we came up we were greeted by the site of an overflowing milk glass on the table top and Luke and Linus both on the floor licking up the puddle that was still growing from the drips off the table.
• Luke stuck his stockinged feet in the toilet after he peed...before he flushed.
• Luke poured an entire (new!) bottle of hand soap out over the bathroom counter and smeared it on the cupboards.
• Luke peed on the floor (one of very few accidents in the last week, I should add), and proceeded to tromp through it and then run down the hall.
• Luke found Derek's Vicks, opened it, and smeared it all over the alarm clock on our bedside table.

Now for the genius:

• Luke was playing with his race cars in the living room. I was in the kitchen when he looked up at me and asked, "Mama, do you know what visualize means?"  I asked, "Do you?"  "Nope. What does it mean?" he asked.  I told him it was to picture something in your head.  A few minutes later Luke asked me again, "Mama, do you know what visualize means?"  "Yes," I said, "Do you?"  "Yes," Luke said nodding vigorously, "It means to make a picture in your head.  Yeah, uh-huh".  Not long after this exchange I heard Luke narrating a conversation between his race cars that included a sentence something like, "It is fantastic if you visualize it."
• Derek asked Luke how his day was going and Luke responded with, "My day was a little long actually".  When Derek asked why it was so long Luke said, "I was crying for a little bit because of the time-out and I wanted a hug."

Expecting

With this guy, I am always expecting...something unusual!  Yesterday he told me that when the snow goes away we can have a baby girl to bring home from the hospital.  *sigh*  I sure hope the snow is gone in 6 or 7 weeks, but sadly, the thing we're expecting tonight is:  a blizzard.

Winkler

BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT

Issued : 11:00 AM CST Friday 11 March 2011

Blizzard warning in effect.

Today

Cloudy. 60 percent chance of freezing rain near noon then 60 percent chance of rain showers early this afternoon. Snow and blowing snow beginning this afternoon. Snowfall amount 5 cm. Wind south 30 km/h becoming northwest 30 gusting to 50 this afternoon. High plus 1.

 

Tonight

Snow and blowing snow. Blizzard developing this evening. Snowfall amount 5 cm. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 increasing to 50 gusting to 80 this evening. Low minus 18. Wind chill minus 33.

Peeps - #1, and #2

We've been potty-training off and on for some time with limited success (mostly due to constipation and Luke's refusal to poop on the toilet).  But a few days ago when we had friends over and Luke took off his poopy diaper and ended up smearing poop all over toys and books I had had enough.  If a diaper is no longer containing the poop, then why aren't we just wearing underwear?!

Into underwear he went.  That first day was sort of rough.  He peed on the floor twice!  And peeing was the one thing we thought we had control of.  The second day a package arrived in the mail from Luke's Auntie Lissa.  It was full of nothing but peeps.  Blue, green, yellow and pink peeps.  Luke was sitting on the toilet under Derek's supervision when I opened the package and I ran into the bathroom and declared, "Any boy who pees on the toilet gets a peep.  If he poops, he gets TWO peeps."  And Derek quickly revised my statement, "Poops on the toilet..."  Thank goodness for quick revisions.

The next day was delightful.  Luke took himself to the bathroom, pulled down his pants and underwear, climbed onto the toilet and only let us know he'd peed after we heard the flush!  We were thrilled.  But there was still the pooping to deal with.  Yesterday (tuesday), we had Mom's group and I was running the photo booth, but Luke insisted on wearing underwear.  He made it through the morning without wetting his pants, but wouldn't you know it...he pooped a little in his underwear.

Then he pooped a little in his underwear again later in the evening.  And then this morning he did it again.  And again.  And again.  And finally I was so SICK of wiping up stuck on, stinky, disgusting poop that I told Luke I'd had enough.  "I'm taking this another direction," I said.  "If you poop in your underwear, you will get a swat.  (here I was interrupted by muttering from the peanut gallery with, "Swats hurt".)  However, if you poop on the toilet you will get two peeps.  Now you decide how you want to handle pooping from now on."

About an hour later I saw Luke stand stock still.  He looked at me with an expression of surprise, and - perhaps a bit of fear?  Next moment he was running to the toilet, he pulled down his underwear, climbed up on the toilet, and delivered the biggest bm I've ever seen - bar none.  What a guy.

He immediately requested his TWO peeps, and I gladly handed them over.  My kid may be downing more sugary treats this week than in the rest of his life combined, but 7 weeks before baby number 2 is due to arrive, you won't be hearing a "peep" outta me.

(apologies! I just couldn't resist the pun)

Friday photo fun

This photo pretty much captures their relationship. Luke: "I'm bigger 'n you.  In your face"   Linus: "you'll get what's comin' to you little boy".

Luke says,

"Stand aside!  I have a big responsibility to play baseball."

Seeing God

32 weeks

People talk about "I felt God was telling me", and "It was a God thing", and they speak about ways that God has blessed them.  I am really uncomfortable with language like this...Christian-ese, it can be called.  It falls into this category of pop-culture Christianity that I have little or no respect for.  The problem for me arises when I hear someone use these phrases and I automatically turn my ears off.  I too quickly give up on the conversation, the sermon, the person sharing their testimony and think, "This is one of those things I won't relate to".

Derek and I were talking about this the other evening.  I feel skeptical of the authenticity of any story that uses what seems to me too-easy language to talk about God, our relationship with him.  I feel like in my own life that relationship is much harder than, "It was a God thing".  I struggle to hear and see God.  But what I want to learn is to try to understand what people feel when they talk this way.  I want to learn to relate to people who use a different vocabulary than I do, even if it makes me uncomfortable.  I still don't always want to be associated with people who call themselves Christians.  But I need to be a better listener.  And, more importantly I think, I need to try to see the Holy Spirit working in the world in ways that I might not automatically assume He would (ie: God blessed me with finding cheap gas today.  God blessed me with a really good night's sleep).  I tend to think of God as more hands-off.   But if I believe Satan is working in the world, it follows God would have a hand in things too, right?

I just get hung up on phrases like, "God answered our prayers".  Well, okay.  But if God answered your prayer and healed your sister/brother/mother, how come he didn't answer my prayer and heal my aunt or allow me to conceive?  Is that God withholding his blessing from me?  Or is it Satan winning a skirmish in this epic spiritual battle?  How can I hold in tension the idea of a God who wants only good things for me, and a God who allows death and broken relationships?  I suppose partly it's the idea of Christ's victory, "already but not yet".  We live in a strange middle place where we know God has power, and is working for His purposes, but His ultimate purpose hasn't yet been fulfilled and so brokenness still exists in the world.

I am really rambling here.

All this to say that although I struggle with how exactly to phrase it so as not to alienate people who feel as awkward as I do with Christianese, I see God at work in the world.

And I see his handiwork in my womb.

And I rejoice each time I feel this child stretch, or get the hiccups, or jump on my bladder.  Not just because I love the baby, but because I know this baby is an answer to prayer and not just a coincidence or an accident or even simply/scientifically because an egg and a sperm met.  This baby is with us because of the work of the Holy Spirit.   Thanks be to God.

Knock Three Times on the Ceiling

I asked my belly to thump once if it is a girl, twice if it is a boy.  I got one big thump.

We will have to wait and see if the baby and I are good communicators.

Three sentences that (I swear) came out of my 2 year old's mouth:

"I managed to kick it right over his head!"

"It would be lovely if you would share your muffin with me."

"Wow, train.  That's a terrific new paint job."