My Kitten/Horse

In general life, Beth most closely resembles a kitten - very cuddly, tiny little cries, just very cute and adorable. When it comes to eating, however, she is a horse. Case in point: born 18 days ago at 5 lbs. 14 oz., 17 1/2 inches. 2-week check-up today weighed in at 7 lbs. 1.75 oz., 20 1/2 inches. Normally they are just hoping to have the kid back at birthweight by the 2-week. So I ask, do I have a kitten or a horse?

Food!

Yay! I'm (day)dreaming about my freezer right now, as the mommies from playgroup brought over a bunch of casseroles and soups for us to eat. How awesome is that?! We hosted playgroup today, so while trying to finish up getting ready this morning (thank goodness Jenn and Henry were the only ones *really* on time, I don't mind looking frazzled in front of them!) I was trying to figure out what we were going to have for dinner. I was drawing a total blank, then Jenn and Henry arrived bearing a dish of lasagna rolls. Those went straight for the fridge so we can have them tonight - then everyone else started showing up with more food for the freezer! Everything sounds delicious, I can't wait to eat them all. My mouth is watering just thinking about dinner tonight!
Playgroup went really well, though for about 20 minutes there pretty much all the kids decided to take turns having a crying break. We (the mommies) couldn't figure out what *that* was all about, but the time passed and everyone was happy again. Lots of fun getting to hang out - thank goodness my mom was here for those 2 weeks, it was easy doing the little bit of tidying needed for everyone to come. Somebody else had been signed up to host this week but sent out an email Tuesday that her son was sick so she wasn't going to be able to (not that any of us would have wanted to bring the flu home anyway!) I figured we might as well, I think all of us mommies care more about having a place to gather and let the kids play while we talk than we do about inspecting each others' houses with white gloves. Not to mention that with the new baby I've got us well stocked on snack foods, so no need to run to the store. Plus, this way I won't be hosting for a while so less worries as far as interfering with the house being on the market. Anyway, it went off without a hitch, except that I've got another headache so I think I was sort of fuzzy the whole time. Jenn and Henry got to stay for lunch after which was great, but I hope I didn't bore Jenn to death since I was pretty out of it, having just taken headache meds. The boys had a great time playing - for some reason both of them have been acting up a TON the last few days, so they spent a lot of the morning trading places in time out.
Off to change (another) diaper!

First Day

Well, not really, but the first *full* day alone with the kids. We weren't actually alone all day, we went to Bible study in the morning (yay!) - Thomas even stayed in the nursery, which is great, because he won't at our church. I was worried he'd fall to pieces - at this stage, with Beth being new, I wasn't sure I could put him through the separation in addition to everything else. He did great though, had lots of fun playing with the other kids. It helped that one of the kids is from our playgroup (that's how we got hooked up with the Bible study). We did pretty well overall though, even made it there only a few minutes late (and not even really late, they were starting late anyway).
Poor Thomas is teething really badly right now, asking for "orange" (Motrin) "red" (Tylenol) and "the other orange" (Orajel). He was being quite the stinker, but when his teeth hurt like that I pretty much expect it. Why is it that whenever he has a growth spurt, his teeth seem to think they need to join in the fun? Ugh.
Crossword time!

Home alone . . .

Well, not exactly. This was my first day alone with the kids. Clay's parents went to his lecture this morning, then after we all went for lunch at Subway they headed home. I took the kids to the store to give Thomas a little more of a breaking point from our-house-with-grandparents to our-house-without. It's nice that Beth is still sleeping so much, I got a nap too!
Still looking at houses in Columbus and planning out what needs done here to put this house on the market. Fun stuff.
Diaper time!

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom's birthday is today, and we get to celebrate with her some more! Yay! She was going to head back home today, but by the time she was packed up enough she would have ended up making half the trip in the dark, and she hates driving in the dark. I'm certainly not complaining!
I've got another headache, I guess pregnancy is good for some things (other than the end result!) - I didn't have many headaches in the last trimester at all, but I've had one every day this week. Ugh.
Clay's parents arrived yesterday, so we've already had lots of fun getting to visit. I think that their being here will help Thomas (who every night and morning has taken to saying "I want Grandma" over and over) adjust to my mom going home. Thank goodness we'll be seeing her in 2 weeks again when we go to look for houses! Thomas was so funny last night, thrilled to see his Nana when she waited for him to come downstairs (he was playing upstairs to keep him occupied until their arrival) - "Nana! Nana! Nana!", gave her a big hug, backed up and started looking around, "Where's Ooh-hoo?" Clay's dad and Thomas call for each other by calling out "ooh-hoo", so Grandad is AKA Ooh-hoo.
Mom and Clay are out running, Nana and Grandad took Thomas for a walk, and I am recovering from my headache and hanging out with Beth for a little bit. She's so crazy-easy to take care of, you have to look every so often to see if she's used her diaper, she doesn't even get bothered by it! Still waiting for that other shoe . . .

Thomas is not to be outdone!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Rugrat #2

Apparently I should be playing the lottery, because I've gotten so lucky with my kids! Thomas was a really easy baby, but Beth is even easier - I can hardly believe it! Thomas was nice and quiet, just a very sweet baby, cuddly and so forth. He was a pretty spitty baby, but nothing major, no big problems or complaints (even from super-tired new parents!) Beth is even more easygoing (hard to believe, I know) and absolutely LOVES snuggling. Not to mention that she hardly ever spits up or has a hard time burping (I could *never* get Thomas to burp easily, it took forever!). I think I was pretty overwhelmed when Thomas was born, what with being a new parent and all. This time I'm able to spend a lot more time enjoying my kids, especially making sure to enjoy Beth as a newborn. Pretty cool how much love you can have for a creature that has done nothing to earn it except to exist. I love my family!
Beth only woke up 3 times last night, which was awesome, but I'm getting really tired of all these extra hormones that make me break out in a major sweat! If menopause is anything like this, I can TOTALLY understand why people so hate it. I got to sleep in bed for a few hours too - sweet!
Off to feed the baby!

Little One

Make a photobook - it's easy!

Sleep

Yay! I got to sleep in bed for nearly 3 hours last night! Actually, I could have still been sleeping right now - Beth is still asleep - but one of the disadvantages of nursing is that eventually you get really uncomfortable. Eventually, you wake up. Last night was long anyway, I wanted to get her started sleeping more in her bassinet post-feeding (we've been sleeping in the glider a lot since we got home!) but she kept waking up to eat. And eat, and eat, and eat some more. I wonder what the MPG rating is on a baby? And if you consider the cost of formula . . . makes you feel pretty good about gas prices! So it was a good night to get some horizontal sleep (as opposed to upright-ish in an extremely comfortable reclined glider). Both kids started crying around 5:30ish, so Clay took care of Thomas and I got Beth (who was presumably hungry again). Thomas didn't know what was wrong but was trying to give Clay a run for his money:
Thomas: "Daddy go downstairs!"
Clay: "You want Daddy to go downstairs? Okay . . ."
Thomas: "Thomas go downstairs too!"
Clay (catching on): "No(!), Thomas is not going downstairs, Thomas needs to go night-night."
Thomas: "Thomas rock!"
Clay: "No, we aren't rocking either."
Thomas cries.

For all that, I didn't mind getting the last 2 hours of feedings all down the front of me (twice), having to change pjs twice, another diaper, and more feeding and burping, all before poor Clay got back downstairs. I guess the first couple days of Beth being home were the Entr'Acte, now we're in Act II - "Life To The Fullest, With Two Kids".

Now I'm being paged - off to do some (more) feeding!

Moms are wonderful

Can I just brag on my mom a little here? She's out here right now helping me take care of my 2 little kids (and my husband and myself!), and hasn't even dropped all the stuff she's been doing! She's the treasurer for the board of their local theater and not only has been taking care of all of us but keeping up with a crazy-insane amount of work for that too! Since this delivery was so much easier than with Thomas (and he wasn't bad either - we went to the mall the day we got out of the hospital!) I'm in a lot better shape and able to get out and do stuff, so I've basically gotten to recuperate while not having to worry AT ALL about the condition of my house. I guess this is why people hire nannies! I hope I'm able (and allowed!) to run off and take care of Beth like this when she has her babies! I know a lot of people have rough relationships with their parents, but mine are just totally awesome. And always have been, and always will be. So are Clay's, but this is my blog and I want to write about mine right now! So there.
Post-partum visit at the hospital today, Beth is already regaining weight, and we've got the ok to go to playgroup and everything! Yay! Thomas will be thrilled next week, I know it's a big deal for him to get to play with his friends, even if they are all at the age where they do more playing around each other rather than with each other. Thank goodness for Henry, Thomas would have been in real pieces already without contact with another of the toddler set. Our pediatrician in KY was of the set that couldn't imagine taking a baby into public (read: even church) for the first month. We were at church the first Sunday with Thomas, so I was a little traumatized at that. The lady at the hospital was just like "Of course it's not a problem, just make sure those hands get washed!" Sweet.
Now I get to go play cribbage with my totally cool mom. Not only do I have someone taking care of me, I get a playmate too! ;-) Clay plays games too, but as he's grading exams and trying to catch up what he missed with Beth being born . . .

Wuv, Twue Wuv

Happy Valentine's Day! As I'm sitting down here to blog about my most recent accomplishment (duh) I'm thinking about where we were a year ago and how far we've come. I don't have the dates written down, but give or take a couple weeks a year ago we were sitting in the pulmonologist's office listening to him tell us that he just had another patient with Clay's same illness leave the hospital after a year (!) - thankfully without ending up needing the lung transplant she was on the list for (!!). Clay had gotten bronchiolitis, which is like bronchitis but of the bronchioles instead of the bronchi. Fairly common in children (well, decently common, though certainly not something every kid gets) it's extremely rare in adults, and while less dangerous in kids - well, the other lady who the Dr. talked about is a good example. He would be at the other end of the house, I would have our bedroom door closed, and Thomas' door was closed, and Clay would wake us both up with his coughing. In what was supposed to be his final semester of graduate school. Graduation ended up pushed back, his dissertation defense rescheduled a couple months later, etc. etc. Thankfully he had a terrific doctor and made it through what can keep you hospitalized for a year in just a couple months at home. Between then and July he finished his research, wrote his dissertation, defended his dissertation, applied for, interviewed, and accepted a job as a Visiting Assistant Prof. at Bucknell University in PA; we sold our house, bought another one, found out we were having another baby, packed up all our stuff, and moved to PA, where Clay basically immediately started work.
All before the end of July.
Clay loves his job, and got to spend a few nervewracking months looking for another (permanent) position for once this job is over. After applying to and interviewing for several different places, he just accepted a position as a part-staff, part-faculty member at Ohio State in Columbus, in charge of the Analytical Chem labs as well as teaching a couple classes. It's a bit more involved than it sounds, but that's the basics. We'll only be an hour away from *both* sets of our parents (yay!). In the meantime, I got more and more pregnant until giving birth on Monday to the most beautiful girl ever. And we're looking for houses and planning out getting our house ready to sell, planning for moving in mid-May.
Quite a year!
Beth is gorgeous - I know I'm obviously biased, but I really think she's one of the prettiest babies I've ever seen, even without the bias! Both of my kids are so awesome, I can hardly be more amazed. My family is so cool - appropriate to think about on a day that's supposed to be about love!
I'm sitting next to Beth right now while Thomas is taking a nap and my mom is doing treasurer-type stuff (for their local theater). Jenn and Henry came over earlier, which was totally awesome, and came bearing lunch, which was also totally awesome. Mom and I had just been looking at each other trying to figure out lunch since we had used the last 2 pieces of bread for Thomas' sandwich earlier and neither of us wanted to make a store run today, and Jenn called wondering if they could come by to hang out for a while. I was obviously totally thrilled, and then she goes on to ask if we wanted her to pick up something for lunch on the way. Wow! How cool is that?! Big thanks to them for saving our afternoon; not only did they solve our lunch issues (store run scheduled for tomorrow when we do the postpartum visit at the hospital!) but Thomas had waken up having a rough day, so Henry's visit really turned it all around for him. And us.
Anyway, I'm off to rest for a while, and figure out what we should eat for dinner. Fortunately, we've got lots more dinner options than lunch laying around, so shouldn't be quite the same issue!

The kids

Email out to the Mommy's Group

Easier to just post something I've already emailed out than typing it all over again!

Hi everyone!
We won't be there, Elizabeth Rose ("Beth") joined us on Monday at 11:27 AM. 5 pounds, 14 ounces; 17 1/2 inches long - the tiniest baby I've ever held! We got to come home yesterday afternoon, everyone is doing really well - easy labor and delivery! Well, as easy as it possibly could be - my water broke at 5 AM, didn't leave the house until 9:57 to drop Thomas off at Jenn and Henry's (thanks again Jenn!), contractions didn't start getting closer than 5ish minutes and more painful until we were at the hospital. Not even enough time for the epidural or any other pain meds, though I thought I had wanted one. I'm a big wimp when it comes to pain, but apparently didn't need one - even the pushing wasn't as painful w/o meds this time as even just the early contractions were with Thomas' labor (we were induced for him and I did get an epidural after a bit). I know all of you with girls will disagree, but I'm convinced I have the most beautiful baby girl ever to have existed!
My mom is here helping us transition from life with one kid to two, and will be hanging out for the next couple weeks (yay!) so not only are we doing really well, I have a doting grandma here to help if I want a nap! Thomas is amazed by his new baby sister, and has already associated her with pooping and crying (ie he thinks that's all she does) - he's not sure there's a difference between her and his baby doll we got to help him get used to life with a baby. Except that his is quieter.
Anyone else have a kid this tiny? Even the newborn stuff is like a tent on Beth, and when I looked at the preemie stuff at Wal-Mart it's about as wide as it is long - she's not just short, she's skinny, so there was no point in getting any of it either. If anyone has any idea where I could find something to fit her other than the gowns (also tents!) please let me know - it's going to be a couple weeks before she's big enough to not be swimming in the newborn stuff.
Hope you all are having as awesome of a week as I am!
Karen (and Thomas and Beth!)

Will post pics soon, I've got to find the camera cord first.

Welcome to Beth!

Arrived yesterday at 11:27 AM, 5 lbs. 14 oz, 17 1/2 inches. Never got the epidural, not enough time! Went in right around 10 AM, the midwife was right on. Overall great experience, and they're letting us go home today! Childbirth w/o meds is not nearly as comfortable pushing-wise, but I'd do this 100 times over induced labor. Now I'm off for a shower while Beth is snoozing in the nursery, just wanted to update in case anyone looks at this!

Oh, and by the way . . .

Labor is so much more comfortable sans Pitocin. Not that it's a cakewalk, but lots more comfortable. And so much better at home too . . . breakfast is good!

In Labor . . .

Water broke around 5 AM, I am SO hanging out at home as long as possible - I can eat whatever I want and no nurses to stop me! Midwife's guessing we'll head for the hospital sometime around 9 or 10, which is a good time Thomas-wise. Assuming we make it that long, I'll call Jenn and make sure it's alright for him to hang out with them until Mom gets home, and we can drop him off on the way to the hospital. Babysitter is available until her class at 9 if we aren't going to wait long enough. Wish us luck!

House is ready, we're ready; time to show up, Beth!

Now that the computer room is the best it will ever be (until we actually sell the house, that is) we are officially ready. Dishes are done, going to fold the laundry in a bit, Clay's been run like mad (by me) all afternoon getting stuff put where it should go, rather than the convenient piles that had formed in the computer/guest room. Got rid of a box and a half of electronics stuff too (this is very impressive, btw, Clay got rid of a bunch of cables and everything!)
Never having spontaneously gone into labor with Thomas I'm a little unsure as to when to actually be calling and telling Mom to head out. It's funny though, the midwives at the OB all know that I was induced with Thomas, but don't discount that as far as how I know what might be going on (or not). I've got a hunch that I could end up getting too far along before calling Mom and she won't make it in time - apologies in advance if that happens Mom!
I am SO hoping this "prelaboring" turns into real labor soon!

Snowy day!

The weather people had called for "a little snow in the morning" - we now have over 4 inches sitting on the ground here. The awesome dude across the street was taking his snowblower and running it up everyone's driveways, so that was more than terrific. Clay is doing a review session for his students - they have an exam on Monday. I'm getting a little hangout time just by myself right now, Thomas actually went to sleep today for his nap (yay!). I probably should try for one too, but instead I ate Oreos. Which means no sleeping, or I'll wake up feeling super lousy. Beth's still pretending to be a bowling ball, I so hope she decides to join us soon. Like, today. I am so tired of not being able to sleep (no pun intended). I know it's "preparing me for caring for a newborn" - whatever. I much prefer the feeding and diapers to not being able to sleep due to pain and discomfort. I'm now down to 64 saved properties on Realtor.com, have been going through and weeding them down, then going to make a list of my favorites so we can make a shorter list of ones to look at when we go. Wow, life moves fast - except, of course, in regards to having a baby. She'd better show soon, she's sapping all my energy the last couple days and I'm not even keeping up with the dishes and laundry (did a bunch of it today but just because it was *that* bad on my clothing situation). The ninth month sucks.

Dr. Visit

She gives me hope! Yea! Did the internal exam today.
Midwife: "Have you scheduled your appointment for next week yet?"
Me: "Not yet."
Midwife: "Well, let's go ahead and schedule it but hope to cancel!"
Me: "Yea! Are you giving me hope?!"
Midwife: "Well, don't hate me if nothing happens, but yes, I am."

Big grins.



Which means today I'll be cleaning out the guest room for everyone to get here. Yea again!

I am SO ready for this kid to show up.

And having spent about 4 hours looking at houses online today (after 2 hours last night) I am also ready to give up and just print everything out, shuffle it all together, and pull one out at random. I can't believe that 3 months from now (ok, 3 months and 11 days, give or take a few) we'll be living in another state - hopefully having given birth and survived the first bit of infancy, sold one house, purchased another, and done everything (including any necessary packing for what we'll need access to in the first week) that's required with a move. 3 months. That is, before Beth can fit into the next size up of clothing. What are we thinking?
On the other hand, we get movers this time, and they'll do all the packing, loading, and unloading. I am so very excited about this, last time I was already packing 3 months ahead of time, and still we had family helping us pack stuff to move the day before we left. My mom is also very happy about this (both sets of parents swore that they wouldn't be helping us move any more about 4 moves ago) and has (silly her!) already volunteered to come help me clean before we leave. I have such a cool mom. I just think she's nuts, does she not realize how much there will be to clean considering that we will be moving in 3 months and that will be with not only one but two kids, one of which will need my presence at least every few hours for the foreseeable future?! So either she's totally nuts (my vote) or really REALLY cool (which I already knew). Thanks Mom.
I need a hot fudge sundae.

More nesting

And I have not, in fact, figured out what Thomas is trying to tell me - it took a half an hour tonight to calm him down enough to sleep without getting through to me. I need to figure out a way to record it and post so everyone can tell me what he's saying.
Got both bathrooms clean, the entire inside of my car, took Thomas for a walk, did the vacuuming, packed the hospital bag, did all the rest of the laundry and the dishes, and cleaned the crayon off of Thomas' walls and rocking chair (he did that yesterday, I was so ticked that I chose to ignore it until today). On the bright side, I discovered that the rocking chair is about 6 shades lighter than I thought it was - I cleaned off literally decades of grime (it was mine when I was his age) that I didn't know was there. For anyone who doesn't know, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers were sent here from Heaven Above as God's Gift to Mommies - especially in regards to crayon. I ran the thing over the arm of the rocker where the coloring was, took one look at where I had taken the crayon off and took the whole thing into the bathroom so I could scrub down the entire chair. I am so impressed with it - over the years it's had a couple pieces replaced with unfinished wood, and now they surprisingly almost match. I swear nothing in our house is that gross, I just thought the icky feeling was because the finish was old on the chair - you know how some old wood finishes get grimy feeling over time? If I remember I'll take a picture of it and post it here tomorrow. Now I'm off to bed, since Clay fell asleep about a half hour ago and it's pretty sad to see a 6'4" guy curled up on a loveseat - he *so* does not fit.

YEA!

Back to Ohio we go! Clay accepted the offer from Ohio State earlier today, so starting May 18 he will be working back in Columbus! Now I guess I have to get serious about decluttering and packing stuff up and house cleaning. Which is what I should be doing right now.
Now all I need is for Beth to decide to show up . . . I am SO done being pregnant.

FINALLY!!

I think I've finally figured out what Thomas has been talking about the last several nights. I don't know exactly what he's saying (something that sounds like both "smells trash" and "more chest") but tonight he added in that he needed a tissue. I think he's talking about that his nose is stuffy (well, not actually stuffy, but he thinks it is!) and so he needs a tissue. Go figure. Here's hoping that's what it actually is.
Clay is home after traveling all day to get here - I think it would have been faster for him to drive - his first flight was delayed, so he missed his connection, and the flight he did get couldn't land at the airport for all the fog. So he was supposed to be home (our house, not just the airport) by noon, and he walked in at 6:45. Poor guy, he's exhausted, and Thomas was Daddy-obsessed, so he "got to" play with a toddler all night. They had lots of fun, but poor Clay! He's asleep now (can you blame him?) which makes for a very quiet night for me! Now off for a nice ice cream sundae again!

Now that we've gotten that out of the way . . .

Apparently the talk about nightmares being just like stories or movies (in that they aren't real) worked last night. Thomas slept until 10:30 (he didn't fall asleep until 11, so that's not a major shock except that he wasn't sleeping past 9:30 the days before) and went down fine at nap time . . . I put him down at 2 and he was out by 2:05. Now I just need to get the rest of the housework done! Clay was supposed to get back early enough for us to all do lunch today, but his flight to Philly was delayed and he missed his connection to W'port. So poor Dave gets to cover Clay's lab for the second week in a row, and we got grilled cheese for lunch instead of whatever fabulous thing we might have eaten. Maybe I'll talk Clay into dinner tomorrow night to make up for it.
Got some ribbon at the store yesterday to finish making the boyish onesies into girlish onesies, I think they're going to look really cute. Will post pics once finished. Lots more to do on the rest of the house before Clay gets home and/or before Beth arrives and/or before putting the house on the market. I'm a bit nervous about it selling, but it's such a cute house that I don't imagine it will be too bad. I hope. Sigh.
Off to more dishes, laundry, cleaning bathrooms, and general randomness.

Nightmares?

Thomas has been crazy-wild the last couple days, I thought it was just Clay being gone, but now I'm not so sure. I put him to bed tonight and he was all upset for me not understanding whatever he's been saying (still haven't been able to figure it out from the first time several nights ago). I left him to scream a bit because it wasn't going anywhere and I can tell a lot of it is a delaying device (he's good at those). Well, when I went back in and sat him down to rock, I asked him what was wrong. I didn't offer him ideas, no "Are you x? y? z?", which I would have thought I would have needed to in order to get an answer. He looked up at me, thought for a bit, and told me "Thomas scared." !!!!!!! Lots of mommy hugs at that, I held him and rocked and we talked a bit. I asked him what he was scared of, I gathered that he must have had a bad dream and is now scared of sleeping, which would explain the horrible nightmare lack of napping the last 2 days - no pun intended. That and he's scared that our cat will go into his room. Sometimes she pushes his doors open at naptime or when we're in there rocking before bed, though mostly that is fixed by shoving the "Nemo Pillow" in front of the doors before sitting down. I did some googling, this is around the age that nightmares start showing up as imagination really sets in (he started playacting with Bear a few weeks ago, so I know it's started kicking up). That and stress from things like potty training, switching to a "Big Boy Bed", other big life changes, etc. In the last 3 weeks we've ditched both sides of the crib in favor of bed rails, Clay's been gone for 2 1/2 days each week, I'm getting more pregnant (38 weeks today!), and we've been pushing the potty training. Poor guy. I think more than anything though it's the potty training - he was ok last week with Clay being gone; the baby is in fact not here yet and he doesn't really have a concept of what will change (everything) when the baby comes, or what the baby coming even means; we did the bed rails at different times and he wanted the second one, didn't really care or bat an eye. Which leaves potty training, which we've been sort-of doing for a while, but really started pushing hard on a few days ago. I'm going to wait and watch again tomorrow, see how he's doing once Clay is back, but if he's still a mess we are SO going to the pediatrician. Unfortunately, we've never seen this pediatrician, so they'll have no background idea of what he's normally like, but Clay's seen the same person (they have specialties in peds and ?allergies?, I think it is) and they sound like they're the listening/comprehending type that's not making sudden/unfounded assumptions. So right now I'm in a holding pattern but am not willing to wait long to get out of it - it really rips your heart in two to have your toddler son tell you he's scared. Out of nowhere. Anyway, now off for a big hot fudge sundae. Pregnancy heartburn sucks.

Crazy Day

Clay left for another interview today, and I'm pretty sure the day would have been a total wash without the Superbowl. I know absolutely nothing about football (Me: "Are we rooting for the blue people or the red people?"; Everyone else: Laughs; Dave: "Uh, the blue ones, that's the Pats!") but getting to go hang out made the world an okay place to be again. Thomas woke up early today and was in a Mood (you know, one of *those*), then Clay left which didn't help either. Oh yeah, before that even, when we got up this morning Dandy had peed on the floor again . . . not a good way to start a day after yet another rotten night's sleep. Anyway, we went to church, came back home and I laid Thomas down right away, no later than 2:30 - he jabbered until 4:30 or later! I ended up waking him up at 6, I didn't want to get him up any earlier because I knew he'd be a serious mess. Thankfully Jenn had invited us over for Superbowl, or I don't know how we would have made it through the night. Even *with* the promise of going over to Henry's it took 2 screaming (I mean scary screaming, not just goofy or throwing a fit) fits out of Thomas just to get in the car. I've never heard him go like that, it was actually kind of frightening. Anyway, we managed to get over there and after about a half hour of laying on my lap Thomas cooled down enough to play. He and Henry had a blast, especially later - they were chasing each other around the kitchen/hallway/dining room. It was so funny, Henry would slow down for me to be able to tickle him as they passed by. Jenn and I played a few games of Mille Bornes while half paying attention to the game, which was great - she knows more about football than I do (btw, just heard on the radio that the Pats lost - sorry Dave!) though how much that says is not much (see note on conversation above).
Back to typing from an extended break of talking to DH . . . he just left this morning, but already wishing he was home! To give a bit of an anecdote, Thomas loves to play with Lite Brite pieces (remember those toys we all played with when we were little? Still around, in travel version here!) and has been obsessed with playing with them every morning this week. I kid you not, we were up in his room for an hour playing with them Friday morning before he would ever come down for breakfast. And he didn't get up until 10:30. Anyway, before we ever even got out the door for church (which is at noon) he had managed to get them taken away. For them to have been taken away . . . it was a rotten morning. Did I mention how extremely grateful I am that Jenn invited us to crash their Superbowl party? Ok, I know I did say it a couple times already, but I honestly don't know how we would have made it through the night.
Ok, so definitely bedtime, especially if tomorrow is in any way remotely like today.

Pictures!

This is the newborn-size stuff I've made thus far, plus a couple Baby Belly pictures. The placements are being annoying with the picture versus the words, so a description of what you see:

Pants to girl-ify some of the NB onesies from Thomas.
A cute little lavender dress, I'm all proud of my decorative stitching at the bottom!
Me in my cute shirt from my mom!
A gray jumper I made - can be worn with any of the onesies (even the boy-ish ones!), though unfortunately thinner (more see-through) than I had hoped. Can't tell in regular lighting though.
A pink onesie I did today, very cute also under the jumper, as well as any of the pants.
A green sweater I crocheted ages ago in preparation, and finally get to use!

Anyone out there speak Toddlerese?

I just spent the last 45 minutes trying to decipher what my 2-year-old was trying to tell me as he lay in bed - to absolutely no avail. Totally frustrating, the only way I got out of the room was asking him to tell me a story about it tomorrow. That was my second trip in after Clay tried, too. I'm inclined to start pulling out my hair at this point, because even after pondering the entire 45 minutes what he could be saying I'm no closer. Oh, well.
Finished another newborn dress today, and made a onesie. I took an inch out of the pattern before I ever even cut it to make it thinner, and about another inch in the sewing, and it's still closer to a small than a newborn size - and can I just say that "narrow hems" suck royally when it's all curves? Next time I'm chopping off more of the pattern, and taking out the quarter-inch where they want you to "narrow hem", I'll just finish the edge then turn it under once. I want to make at least 1 more newborn-sized onesie before Beth is born, preferably 2 - one short-sleeved and one long-sleeved. We'll see what happens, I've got a lot on the To Do list. Anyway, off to hang out with Clay a bit, and eat a bowl of ice cream!