Rainy Saturday

I just spent a rainy Saturday afternoon napping, watching football, and sitting on the front porch watching the boys.  Life is good.

Dex just spent a rainy Saturday afternoon napping, watching football, playing an annoying monkey game on his IPad, and romping around the front porch splashing in puddles.  Life is good.

John just spent a rainy Saturday afternoon tuning up the lawn mower, cleaning out the gutters so the rain could actually go down the downspout, getting pizza, and sitting on the front porch.  Life is probably not quite as good for him, poor boy.

I think today was our last day of hot, and we've been promised a nice cool week with temps in the 50's at night.  I shall have the windows open and enjoy actually needing a sheet.  John shall be wearing flannel PJ's and will have every cover we own on his side of the bed.  Babies make me hot.

Lemme see if I have any pictures for you.  I think I can rustle up a couple from the last few weeks.

This is from ages ago, at Port Discovery in Baltimore.  It took YEARS off my life and we shall not be going back until Dex is at least 7.  Holy hell.  Huge climbing structure in the middle, three stories high.  When you're 8 months pregnant and can't climb through there with your kid, and you just trust him to go and not get lost or die...  Nerve wracking.  I can't go back any time soon.  I am traumatized.  Dex, however, thought it was fantastic.  Save for the flashy lights at the entrance, which he was terrified of.

Trike riding in the garage.  Usually when we are coming home from any trip I ask if I should leave the car out of the garage so Dex can ride his bike.  Usually he says yes.

Plasma car riding

Bike riding cuteness

Second day of beach mini-vacation.  Riding the bike around the 'hood.

Spent the morning at the beach

The waves were much bigger this day.  And John said when he took Dex back on Sunday morning the waves were huge.

Still so proud of this child for being so brave this year at the beach.

Trying desperately not to smile

Proof that Mama was actually at the beach

Don't Look Now - I Think He's Learning

This school thing is pretty cool.  They actually TEACH him stuff.  And stuff.  This week they have been focusing on feelings at school, so tonight at the dinner table we had a really nice conversation about what hurts my feelings, and what hurts his feelings.  We've been making faces all week and trying to guess what the person is feeling.  Today he came home with a Feelings Clock that he made at school.  When he pet Buddy a little too hard, he ran in to get his Feelings Clock so he could give it to Buddy, and he put the clock on "sad" because Buddy was sad.  Because Dexter pet him too hard.  It's pretty remarkable to watch.

Also amazing are his writing skills, which I pretty much have nothing to do with.  Today we got out the sidewalk chalk and wrote a few things on the driveway.  This is the first one:

It says "Try it out."  The only letter I had to help him with was "Y."  Yes, he still has issues with his "T's" and I don't know why because he has to write a T every damn time he writes his name.

Here's the more impressive second one, which he wrote when he was giving his Feelings Clock to Buddy:

I'm not even gonna tell you what it says, because it's clear as day, right?  I helped him with the "M" and the "Y" and the rest he did by himself.

He's wicked excited about riding the bus.  I don't know if that excitement carries over to school, but the bus is the highlight of his day, I think.  At 8:30 this morning he asked if his bus was in the driveway yet.  Well, no.  Your bus comes at 12.  Right now it's 8:30.  We have a long time.  At 9:30 he asked again if his bus was in the driveway.  Nope.  Sorry, kiddo.  Not yet.

I toss Buddy outside a few minutes before the bus is supposed to come because it's hard to see the driveway from anywhere in our house, and Buddy barks when it comes up the driveway.  So we know the bus is here.  And Dexter RUNS to the door, yelling "My bus is here!"  He says hi to Ms. Loretta (his very nice bus driver) before he even gets out of the garage.  And apparently he talks her ear off in the bus, same as he talks my ear off in the car.

So all is well.  School is good.  My new Fair Hill website is good.  Swimming lessons seemed to go fine yesterday for Dexter.  The baby is doing well in my belly, and the past couple non-stress tests have been fast and uneventful (after one eventful NST when I was apparently having contractions.  I couldn't feel them, but the monitor picked up on them, and I had to stay and chug juice til they stopped).  And Dexter has continued to help with baby prep.  Now that we've got a few things in the baby's room, he prefers to play there, and tonight he asked if he could sleep in the crib in the baby's room.  Ummmmm.  NO.  And here's why:

You are, perhaps, just a LITTLE too big for the crib now, kiddo.  Which is insane, because I swear you were not this big when  you left the crib and got a big boy bed, like four months ago.  How many feet have you grown this summer?

Here's a few more baby prep pictures:

Putting circle decals on the walls of the baby's room

He did an awesome job.  I went back and smoothed out a few circles, but otherwise he did all the circles all by himself.

And look!  His butt was even covered up this time!  Yes, it was another Sunday afternoon.  And yes, he has no pants.  But he has SOMETHING covering his butt.

I think it looks pretty great.  We might even get another pack some time, and put up more.

Fairly typical Buddy positioning.  Dexter insists on locking him in the baby's room whenever we are in there.

Beachy

We're at the beach!  I went to the hospital this morning for another weekly ultrasound and non-stress test, which went well and quickly.  So we were on the road by 10:30, off to Ocean City, MD.  Just south, really.  Just a few miles from Assateague Island.  Which is, of course, where we went this afternoon.  It was fabulous, and WOW what a difference a year makes in the bravery of this child.  He went to the beach saying he didn't like the ocean.  Then he remembered that he jumped the waves last time we went to the ocean (last summer) and he liked that, so maybe he DID like the ocean.  I wasn't sure it was going to go so well when we first arrived, but once the small one decided the ocean was A-OK, there was no stopping him.  He loved it.

We're staying in a cute, TINY little house.  It was one of the only places I could find that would just let us rent for 2 nights.  It's cute and clean, and they let us bring the mutt with us so we didn't have to board him.  Dex got out of the shower this evening and said "I almost like I this bathroom."  He also said, when we were at the beach, that "This looks like a good place to live.  We can live here."  Ten-four, little man.  We can live here.

We were at Assateague.  So of course there were wild ponies.  I didn't quite expect them to just be hanging out on the beach with a trillion tourists swimming and romping around them.  But there they were.

Getting closer to the water, but still not willing to go in.

Bravely getting his toes wet in the tidal pool, where there were no waves.

Braver.  Getting braver.

Brave enough to try a little wave jumping (note ponies.  Just chillin).

A little wave jumping video (click above to play)

Brave enough to let go of Daddy's hand

After jumping in shallow waves for a while, I went in deeper to swim a bit.  And lo and behold, the boys followed me out.  John carried Dex, but he LOVED being out in the deep water, jumping the big waves out there.  Finally he got cold, so we went back on the beach to get a cookie.

We had cool sand castles to make.

Off to jump waves again

I have no idea what the above video is, as our internet is spotty.  Click and find out.

We started a new game - run down, touch the water, run back.

Thusly (click above for video)

Finally we headed back to our home away from home, cooked some hot dogs and mac and cheese from a box (which I haven't had in YEARS), and tossed the small one in to the bottom bunk of a bunk bed.  He really wanted to sleep up top.  We really didn't want him to fall out.  He passed out after about 3 seconds.

More fun tomorrow - bike riding, pool, playground, more beach, naps, more beach, etc etc.

Remember when?

Remember when we were worried that Dexter wasn't talking?  When he was almost two?  Holy crap, is that ever NOT a problem now...

Me:  Let's go to Applebee's for lunch.
Dex:  Will it be the Applebee's that plays Tanking Bear of Business?
Me:  What??????
Dex:  The Applebee's that plays Tanking Bear of Business.
Me:  OOOOOOH.  Taking Care of Business.  No.  That Applebee's is at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Riding the carousel at the Camden Childrens Garden

Dex (while on the phone with Grandma):  Do you love me more than anything?

Dex (randomly, while eating dinner):  What happens if you are big enough to drive by yourself and you don't need a Mama any more?
(so glad my job, to him, is perceived merely as the driver of the car)

Dex is a baby dinosaur

Dex (while at baby's non-stress test):  What happens if there's a star instead of a heart?  (He meant on the fetal heart rate monitor - a heart flashed every time baby's heart beat)
Me:  I dunno (my standard response to these questions, because sometimes I really DON'T know, and because usually the child already has an answer to these "what happens if" questions)
Dex:  Then I think the baby would have a star beat instead of a heart beat

He also is a lovely cup of tea

Dex:  Why is there star on the Wal-Mart sign?
Me:  I dunno
Dex:  Because then they call it Wal Star Mart

At the air show with Daddy

Dex:  What happens if Longwood isn't called Longwood?
Me:  Ummmmm.  They would call it Shortwood?
Dex:  Yes!

Daddy:  What was the favorite car you looked at today (we went to check out some Mazdas on Sunday)
Dex:  All the ones with the American flags!
(He was, really, pretty excited about looking at cars.  He liked all the colors, and he liked seeing how much each car "weighed" (cost), and he LOVED it when he found a car that was unlocked and he got to get in and drive.)

Dex:  What happens if I eat all the table, and the couches, and the whole house?
Me:  I dunno.
Dex:  Then I could go work at my ice cream store.  And I would give people's orders for water ice.  And I could bring you all the chocolate and all the ice cream and all the water ice.
(I am totally down with this idea.  The ice cream store is a FABULOUS place for Dexter's first job)

Dex and Daddy inside a C-47

Dex (to Buddy, while he was taking him for a walk):  Do you have your listening ears on?

Dex (as we're driving in to the garage):  What happens if you don't stop at the end of the garage, and you just drive right through the wall?
Me (wondering how he ever got that idea, because I certainly have never hit the garage wall...):  What do you think will happen?
Dex:  I think you will just drive right through the wall, and the whole house will fall down, and then I will go live in a purple house.
Me:  Huh.  Cool.  Can I come live in the purple house with you?
Dex:  OK.  You can, because I love you.

I'm a Big Kid Now

Here's a picture of Dex, on the bus at noon today and ready to go off to school.  Afternoon school.  Meaning naps are pretty much done now.  Meaning Mama is sad.

Also, on the BUS!  Which freaked Daddy out a bit.  Granted, he's the only kid on the bus right now.  And it's not really a bis, it's a van.  With car seats.  And a very nice driver who pulls right up the driveway.  Gotta love door to door service.

No word from school this afternoon, so I assume Dex made it there ok and is fine and will make it home safely and is not so freaked out by the bus and the new time and all that he won't want to get back on the bus tomorrow.  We did go to Open House on Thursday afternoon to see his teachers and some of his old friends, and meet some new friends.  So school is not a totally foreign concept for him.

Daddy came home to see Dex get on the bus, and to support me.  Pregnant chick with raging hormones.  I was actually fine with all of it, but having John there was helpful.  Mostly because I knew he was just as worried about it as I was.

20 minutes til the small one gets home from his first day of afternoon pre-school.  Such a big man now.

Burn

Hi, Baby Girl

You are not so much making life easy for your Mama.  I know I still have 7 weeks or so til your expected arrival, but man, I can't wait.  I think this entire pregnancy I've had about 10 weeks of feeling pretty good.  The rest of the weeks have been pretty much filled with the feeling of needing to vomit all the time.  Given how much I HATE to vomit, it's...  not fun.  Currently water makes me ill.  WATER.  You know, that fluid that's kind of imperative for life's functioning.  Yes.  WATER is making me want to puke.  So I am filling up on juice.  Empty calories are my friend.  And if the doctor tells me to lay off on the juice because I am gaining too much weight, I shall soundly punch her.  Right in the nose.  OK.  Not really.  But I will want to.

Anyway.  Enough of me grumbling.  Pregnancy sucks, blah blah blah.  You, my dear girl, are doing well.  I now go to the hospital twice a week - once for a non-stress test where they put a fetal heart rate monitor and some sort of belly movement monitor on my belly and watch you roll and kick and see how your heart rate responds when you are kicking my guts out as compared to when you are relatively quiet.  And once to do an ultrasound to see how things are measuring, how huge you are, how much amniotic fluid you have to swim in, how the placenta is looking, etc.  We follow up the ultrasound with another non-stress test to listen to your heart again.

I saw you on Friday for the first time since week 19 or so.  You still look a bit like an alien.  No offense.  All babies do.  You were sticking your tongue out at me.  Many thanks.  I see how this relationship is going to go.  You're going to be like your Aunt Jeanne, aren't you?  Anyway, the ultrasound tech said oh, yes, you are a girl.  Definitely a girl.  She's never seen so clearly that a baby is a girl.  Your daddy laughed until he cried when I told him that, because he knows I've been holding on to that tiny sliver of hope that maybe the first ultrasound was wrong.  Not that I don't love you, little one.  But, in all honesty, girls scare the living CRAP out of me.

Your brother is excited, I think, about your upcoming arrival.  Today at Longwood we talked about you, and Dexter said he would show you all his favorite fountains.  He has promised to teach you how to swim, and I think one time he might have told me he would teach you how to play with trains.  Although when that time comes, he may well take it back.  He's not big on sharing sometimes.  He's being very helpful in trying to curb the dog's barking while we are outside.  And he also helped Daddy put together the crib this weekend, so you would have some place to sleep.  I do believe he fully expects you to come out walking and talking and ready to play.

So I think we're kind of ready for you, little one.  We've got eight trillion clothes in the basement for you, with thanks to the huge generosity of friends who have girls.  We have a crib.  We've got lots of other stuff in the basement that needs to be set up.  We have a car seat.  Not installed, mind you.  But it's in the house.  If you came today we could manage.  Except that we have zero diapers.  But we can steal some from the hospital.  It'd be fine.  And then maybe I could drink some damn water again...

Look forward to meeting you soon!

Love,
Mama

Here you are, swimming in the creek with Dexter on Saturday

Your brother and I, on my birthday.  He looks psyched, right?

Dexter and Daddy try to remember how the crib goes together

Dexter is in charge of hammering.  I know, I know.  Lack of pants.  Sometimes pants are just too much work.

Dexter also takes a turn with the allen wrench.

Teamwork from the boys to build you a bed.  I did nothing.  Except take pictures.

Dexter finishes up the frame.  And then Daddy put in the mattress, and Dexter picked out a sheet for it.  And then he got in your crib.  And, yeah.  He is WAAAAAAY too big for it now.

So here's your crib.  In your room.  We installed some new blinds and curtains to keep your room pretty dark during the day (it faces the sun, all day long).  And we cleaned all the stuff out of the closet.  Aaaaaand, that's pretty much it.  I have a dresser on order for you.  Grandma's going to bring you a book case she doesn't need any more.  And I need to figure out what kind of a chair I am going to get for that room.  And then I guess we'll be ready.

Here you are with Daddy and Dexter, getting ready to eat some of Grandpa's OMG AMAZING Too Much Chocolate and Chunks ice cream.