A Good Reference Tool

About a year ago or more I was recommended a book/tool for biblical child training and I made plans to purchase it later. I did order last week and I recieved it two days ago. I can really recommend it now that I have it and I am a little sad that I didn't order it sooner. It is called For Instruction in Righteousness . It is so helpful to find verses and stories relating to different sins. It has suggested memory verses for each topic. I really see how much reading and memorization I need to do and that is why I needed it earlier! The site has other products like charts and such that would be great for older children.

Another couple of books I can recommend are Susan Hunt's ABC Bible Verses and Big Truths for Little Kids .

Time is flying!

I was just trying to arrange a babysitter for my doctor's appointment next week and while looking at the calendar I realized how close it is getting. I am going to the doctor every two weeks now (I can't believe it was only a week ago that I was there!) and I noticed that our childbirth classes will start before I have a chance to go again (after next week's appointment). And the classes are scheduled for a normal time in the pregnancy. Usually, I would schedule things way early just like I get to the movie the recommended 30 or more minutes before the start. I played it cool this time because I realized that I couldn't require Adam to change his work schedule to accommodate the classes when we could have taken them later...

I am pleased right now because it is raining (though a fly is putting a damper on my blogging experience right now, by making me smack myself repeatedly like a crazy person) and the house was supposed to be shown this afternoon but was switch until tomorrow. This gives me more time and a reason to not let the house slip back to the way it was last night. The floors are mopped, 5 loads of laundry are completed (folding and putting away included!) and Sydney is taking a nap. I did eat 4 oreos though.

Anyway, back to time flying. I have already found several events that I can uses as little markers along the way. This always helps me pass the time. I think that may be one of the reasons they have you come to the doctor so often towards the end. They must know that time gets slower as you get bigger.

Last night we took Sydney out to eat and I am proud to report that it was actually a good experience. We had given up taking her out for a while but realize that she really needs the practice more than time to get into a different stage (right now she wants to walk everywhere not to mention her constant whining. I know the grandparents don't believe the whining part, but you are entertainment when you are here). Our trick last night was to hold her until the food got to the table. That way she wasn't too tired of the high chair. It actually worked.

Something to make you giggle

Sydney had a toy that played this tune and Adam and I would sing the first verse all the time and when we tried to find the rest of the song we came across this version. It is so hilarious. I will have to remind Adam about it because he had it memorized last year and could barely sing it because he and Sydney would laugh so hard.

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o'er your shoulder
like a Continental Soldier?
Do your ears hang low

Do your ears stretch wide? Do they reach from side to side?
Can you use them as a parachute
or wings that let you glide?
Can you cast a cooling shadow
over most of Colorado?
Do your ears stretch wide?

Are your ears too big? Are they heavy as a pig?
Do they bruise your cerebellum
when you dance an Irish jig?
Can they function as the anchors
for a fleet of oil tankers?
Are your ears too big?

Are your ears real small? Barely visible at all?
Do they look just like two peanuts stuck onto a bowling ball?
Can you store them in a thimble when you're feeling rather nimble?
Are your ears real small?

Are your ears quite clean? Do they have a lovely sheen?
Did you harvest all the vegetables that grow down in between?
Did you wash out all the soil after all your farming toil?
Are your ears quite clean?

Are your ears so thin? Do the breezes make 'em spin?
Can you shine a light right through them like the finest onionskin?
Can you wrap up a salami? Do they fold like origami?
Are your ears so thin?

Mom my Ride

Check this out. Mom my ride
Mara Petersen told me about this. Sadly, this is what my car looks like at times.

Parenthood

Last night we fried catfish with friends and Sydney was having such a good time that we just let her stay up way past her bedtime. She is now taking the world's longest nap this morning. While I should be taking advantage of this time to clean and get the house in showing condition, I am too tired after staying awake after yet another strange dream. Instead I have been reading our former blog from the beginning. I love all the comments. So many people were right behind us. It feels good to have so many people in our lives so willing to give help and advice when we need it. Man, that feels like a million years ago. I can't help but think that having a new baby will remind me of that experience. Isn't that funny? They are so different, but I just know that the feelings are exactly the same. Worry, anxiety, joy, happiness.

Adam and I couldn't enjoy being parents more than we have the past year and three months. It is amazing to us to see this little thing walking around and we are responsible for taking care of her. It feels like a privilege. Lately, we have had some problems with little butter bean (Sydney) fussing a lot and we have felt discouraged and worried that maybe we haven't been doing what we could have/should have as far as correction and this is the result. It isn't fun staying on her, but we are already seeing the improvement and it makes you very proud as a parent to see your baby learn and grow from correction. She has such a sweet personality. She is so sensitive! (What are we in for?) Last night she saw little Will O. fall and being tough he just got up. (What is funny is that Sydney probably would have to.) She just broke down when she saw him fall and walked over to Adam and cried in his lap. We told her that he was fine and to go see if he was ok and she got down and tried to pat him on the head.

Even after a year we rush in to get her when she wakes up. We talk constantly about how cute she is. Though I know we can always do better, our constant devotion is to training her to be the girl God wants her to be. Now what about Butter Bean II ? We just can't wait for him to be here (and for more reasons than the hot weather I will have to endure). Adam finally was able to feel him move instead of just kick. It makes it real to feel some body part pushing back when you push them. Last night he was rolling around and it felt as real as if he were here kicking me in bed. I know Adam is ready for my emotional mini-breakdowns to end. Yesterday I bought three boxes of some special oatmeal that I am addicted to because apparently they aren't going to make it anymore. Being lazy, I left the boxes on the counter and they got wet later when the cutting board formed a channel for the water while Adam was washing dishes. The boxes soaked up the water and the oatmeal's integrity was compromised. This upset me and I blamed myself for not putting the oatmeal away as I should have done. Adam's response..."I am not equipped to understand this situation". Oh, sweet Adam. He makes me laugh.

Fun in the sun...

My mom bought Sydney a pool (or seahorse play center with detachable rainbow) for our backyard. She was very excited about this and though it has created another reason to cry when we stop doing something fun it is still worth it. About 75% of the time she just sits there and laughs really loud. She has started playing with toys in it now and is having a lot of fun. It is in our garage right now (Adam moved it yesterday) so Bailey won't pop a hole in it. We plan to get a tarp to cover it so Bailey will be less interested in it and Sydney won't keep looking at it longingly from the sunroom all day. The only other problem we still have is that it will kill the grass under it and let's just say our backyard isn't the best anyway and I don't think a big dead spot is going to help it sell. We may have to come up with a system for moving the pool every other day or something. Then again, I was supposed to water my plants every other day and I failed to do that too.

Diaper Rap

Adam's Rap

I can tell from the smell
that you gotta dirty diapa
We gotta get her home
and wipe, wipe, wipe her.

Projects

As I clean out our guest bedroom this weekend, I plan to organize my projects so I can actually start or finish them. We are getting new carpet in there. This is only room in our house that has carpet and it is pink so we are hoping that a change will help our house sell soon. Here are the projects that I need to complete.

Sydney's First Year Scrapbook/baby book (this is most important because I will need to begin a new one soon) - see my ideas on scrapbooks below

Transferring mini dv tapes to DVD and possibly editing some into cute videos with music

Printing pictures in general and getting them into family albums

Finish a smocked dress that I am working on for Sydney.

Sew some shorts for Sydney (I already have them cut out and ready to go, but I can't find the red thread)


My Plan/Theory on Scrapbooks for children

I have found that baby books don't have the room for all the stuff that they should (unless you can find the three-ring binder kind like my friend Christy) so I plan to supplement a baby book (mine has space for a few details up until kindergarten) with a first year scrapbook. I figure I can do one year. After the first year, I plan to start a birthday scrapbook for each child and do a one or two page spread on each birthday party. That way they will have their parties, guests and themes documented in one place and you will really see how they grow. When they get older they can do it themselves. I will consider helping with one in high school because I have a friend that hired someone to do her daughter's (she would take her the pictures, letters and stuff each month during her senior year) and it was so awesome.

I just don't have the time to dedicate to scrapbooking so I am not going to do it. I will do family picture albums by year and save pictures they colored and cards they made just like my mom did. Another friend of mine put all her pictures in a scrapbook (not the post-bound kind but the strap kind) and just lined them up (she even rounds the corner, which looks awesome) and uses a black pen to label them under the picture. She covers the page with a plastic sleeve. The result is unbelievable. I am inspired!

A Good Day

We have had a good day. I needed one. It started with Sydney sleeping until 7:15 this morning. Last night Adam and I were sitting around after she went to bed and Adam said "she is so cute, I want to go wake her up and hold her". I said, " if she makes a noise in the next 15 minutes I am going to go get her". This was at 9:30pm. You would think that people who were so desperate to see and hold her would have been happy to accommodate her when she started whining at 1am but we were much different people at that point. Somehow I have Adam convinced that she would rather see him during the night (this was achieved by making the observation that she looks for him when I go to her), but last night he got firm and she that she needed to work it out for herself this time. So we waited to see if the fussing escalated. It didn't and she was fine. Had the noise gone to another level we would have gone to see. This morning there was a paci still in the bed so I think she was just wanting to see what we were doing.

This must have helped her with her day because she took a good nap this morning. We did our play and learning time after lunch and now she is asleep for a late nap. I have been wanting to get her napping later instead of right at noon. Maybe this will be a change for us. Sundays are always hard and we tend to get off schedule that day so we may have to adjust something next week.

Last night Sydney was visited by her Mimi and Pop (Adam's parents) and they brought the tiniest, cutest little crocs for her in lime green and another pair in pink. She thought she was something in those shoes and pranced around clapping at herself. We would all applause over nothing and she was ok with that. I will post pictures of her in the shoes when I can get some.

Maternity Wardrobe and other things

A few weeks ago I was thinking that I was happy with my three t shirts and capri pants for the week days. Now I am tired of them. They are shrinking! Ok, THEY are not shrinking and neither am I. I hesitate to share this because I dread the comments that come with it, but there is no way to keep it a secret. Ready? The baby is huge! I am not saying this because I think that I am huge (though sharing this fact has gotten a few "I thought your stomach looked bigger than usual" comments). This was confirmed by an ultrasound and the doctor. 3.4 pounds at 27 weeks. 97% percentile. My "book" and baby center emails say that most babies are 2 pounds at this point. I decided to share because I know that a few of my friends carried big babies and I need some encouragement and consolation. I think because of the increased size of the baby and my low iron, I am experiencing some of the inconveniences of late pregnancy a little early. I can't tie my shoes without a struggle and turning the air conditioner on full blast. If I even sit on the couch without a pillow behind my back I immediately have trouble breathing. Forget laying on my back for a few minutes to read in bed. I am staying on my left side like a good girl, but my left hip and leg either become numb or radiate pain throughout the night so I wake to find a better position. One good thing is that I have something else to complain about instead of my sinuses.

Ok, I will talk about something happy now so you don't think that I am not pleased to be having a baby. I am very happy that we will soon have a baby and I can't wait until he is here. I am trying to pick out announcements and actually had myself looking at ideas for making them. I am going to be realistic and just buy them. I will print them myself though. I like to get them out before it is old news. I might treat myself to looking at some today before we look at a house (pointless probably since everything sells so fast). Ours is still ours. :( Looks like the likelihood of us moving during the birth or possibly not having a house to come home to is increasing. I can go with the flow though. I can make box labels between contractions while at the hospital.

A few things...

Mangoes smell weird. How do you know if they are ripe?

Also, don't look at Martha Stewart Craft supplies online and especially at Michael's. They will convince you that you are crafty, that you must have them, that you have time for them, and that no other kind will do.

Little girls!

Yesterday afternoon I decided that I needed to organize Sydney's toys AGAIN. Unfortunately, her room has become a haven for bags of clothes, toys, and other baby items that she isn't using. It is hard to pack things up and put them away. I am tempted to be organized as I pack away her clothes but I know that matching tops and bottoms are not ending up in the same bag sometimes. I really want to get her summer clothes down from the attic so they can go to a consignment store. Her winter clothes would not be desirable at this point so I will have to remember to get them out this fall. After almost a year and a half, I still can't decide if folding or hanging clothes is better for her/me. It would make sense to hang dresses and fold other things but you would need to actually be able to get into her closet to get to the dresses.

Anyway, back to the toy organizing. I gathered all the toys yesterday and put them in the sun room. This morning I sorted them and found all the coins to the piggy bank toy, the rings to the ring stacker thing, and the shapes to the shape sorter. Those are now going on a shelf in the closet with the puzzles and we will play with them during a concentrated play time. The toys are no fun when you can only find two of the pieces. That makes for a really short game. Of course our house is a wreck now and Sydney keeps taking the toys out of their respective piles as I put them in.

I went to the doctor on Monday and I am now to go every two weeks. I had very low iron so now I am taking supplements. I hope if feel better soon because I have been really tired lately.

Sydney has been playing with her baby doll a lot lately. She is very interested in my belly button (or what is left of it) but refuses to touch it so she grabs my finger and makes me touch it instead. She said nana for banana the other day and last night she was humming to the alphabet song on one of her toys. When we were in Monroe the other week she and Ava (my friend's little girl) sat in one of the car carts (this was the one with the car on the front bottom) and had a great time. Yesterday my plan was to put her in one so our shopping trip (the one where she is up by me and facing out) would be potentially less of a pain. When we got there though I just couldn't do it. Have you seen the size of those things? It looked really dirty too. I have said for a while that they need to make regular carts so you can turn them towards the basket. She is always wanting to turn that way to see everything. At the store we bought some new fruit (kiwi and papaya) for her to try. I think we will do that today during our snack. We discovered that she loves strawberries the other night so she has been eating them quite a bit.

Well, back to the house while she is sleeping!

Good Site

I have been using a great site and wanted to tell my friends about it. Especially the ones that have babies coming and won't be registering for gifts again.

www.thethingsiwant.com

I find this useful for keeping track of things I plan to buy and I let close family know about it so they can see what we are needing/wanting for birthday, christmas or new arrivals.

hello

Sydney swinging. Notice the scraped knees from some serious play.

Well I think the tiring stage is here. I don't know why I am surprised that I am tired. Adam and I both are tired. The night before last I was hopeful that I might get some sleep and as Adam slid into bed he aggravated a pinched nerve (sustained years ago while helping someone paint) while taking his shirt off. If he had only fallen asleep in his daytime clothes like I had he could have avoided this. Unfortunately this was at 12:30 am so by 1 am I was calling family members trying to procure a muscle relaxer (never found one) and by 1:30 am I was emptying frozen pecans from the only available ziplock bag to make an icepack. By 1:45 Adam was asleep and I was laying in bed listening to the unusual sound he was making from sleeping on his back with a crumple-y ice pack under his neck. This must be practice for what is to come. Sleepless nights. Thankfully, Sydney is pretty good about sleeping all night.

Yesterday I went to Target while taking advantage of the last Mother's Morning Out of the school year. Remembering how tired I was that morning as I rushed around the house getting it in showing condition (we are still trying to sell) in case someone wanted to look while we were out, I came up with the brilliant idea that I should go ahead and buy everything I need for the summer because I will only feel worse as it heats up and will probably only leave the house when the world becomes air conditioned or when I have the baby (whatever comes first). The other day I made a list of things that I need for the new baby and for going to the hospital. I listed everything down to travel shampoo for me. So 1 hour and 2 or 3 bathroom trips later I had my cart full of lap pads, bibs, travel toiletries, a father's day gift, a teacher gift, metallic gel pens (for me...I am not sure why), wrapping supplies, pacifiers, one snickers, bassinet sheets, bottles, a hanging closet organizer, one diet coke to counteract the snickers, a new sleep positioner with a flat head prevention system (we loved the one for Sydney but it was worn out) and more. I still have a lot on my list but I think most can be achieved through Walmart or baby boutiques.

I keep calling my friends and asking them if symptom here is normal. Finally, Amy said that anything unusual can be considered a side effect of pregnancy. Each time a new month rolls around I check my "Everything Pregnancy Book" and see that I am right on track with most the symptoms. Thankfully I have been able to avoid some of the more undesirable issues. Yesterday I felt the baby moving and I was able to actually make out a real and continuous movement. Usually it is just a kick, but this was different. I could press back and he would press and slide whatever it was, hand, elbow, or foot, from side to side. It was a weird feeling and I described it to Adam as the point where I really thought "there is a person in there". I have known that all along, of course, but I just hadn't connected with the thought.

Hey

I am not sure who still reads this. I guess I will update it for myself if anything. So what have we been up to lately? Well, presently I am sitting on my bed watching my stomach lurch from the baby boy kicking me constantly. Adam is in Las Vegas for work this week. I made a trip to Michael's craft store and am now feeling crafty. I am a little annoyed as I bought the wrong item today. I will have to make an exchange tomorrow. Sydney is walking everywhere and we are working on our attitude when I don't let her do something that she feels is very important for her to do. She just gets cuter every day. She makes the cutest words and though we have no idea what she is saying, it all sounds very important.

We have been trying to sell our house. Some days I don't think it will ever sell. This weekend we will be replacing light fixtures and ceiling fans. When I say "we" I mean "Adam". I have been doing a little sewing. Right now my planned projects outnumber the actual completed projects. I think I may need to bring the sewing machine from my mom's to my house for a few days. I have hesitated to bring anything else into the house that could potentially clutter it, but we have really been doing a good job with keeping it eveready so I think I have earned a few days with the machine in the home. I am promising myself that I will only bring out supplies I will actually need for that particular project. There went my stomach again. What a weird feeling.

Tomorrow is Sydney's next vaccination appointment at the doctor's office. I hate watching that. It is really pitiful and barbaric. The pool is open in the neighborhood and I still can't figure out why I am planning to actually put on a bathing suit and go down there. My mom is right. You will do anything for your kids. I don't even own a regular suit and haven't been swimming in at least 4 years and yet I pick this time in my life to say "I need a suit so I can swim!". Sydney really does love it.