Friday, May 28, 2010

Friday Five

In the winter, our family purchased a membership to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum.  This turned out to be a great activity for those long, never ending cold and snowy days.  And, as a bonus, during certain months our membership also gets us into other cool places around Grand Rapids.  In May, we were able to take advantage of free admission to Meijer Gardens.  We visited on a hot, sunny day this past week to hit up the children's play area and the Chihuly exhibit.  For this week's Friday Five, here are my top five favorite pictures!





Friday, May 21, 2010

Toddler Sound Bite

The other day Emily requested some juice mid-morning.  She hadn't had any at breakfast (we've been making smoothies!) so I granted her request and filled her sippy cup.  A few minutes later she brought me her favorite baby doll, complaining that she was all wet.  Taking a look I confirmed the wetness, and the stickiness.  Ever the quick one, I assessed that Emily had tried to feed her juice to the doll.  When I asked, she confirmed this.  I didn't want to give her yet another thing NOT to do, because sometimes I feel like I'm saying "No!" all day long.  Instead I tried this. "Emily, baby dolls don't like juice, so you shouldn't give them any.  OK?"  She thinks for a moment and responds "OK.  I get milk."

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Mom FAIL

Yesterday was not my finest day as a mom.  It seemed as the day progressed that things went from bad to worse.  Emily cried (a LOT).  I cried (some).  Granted, this was to be expected because it's always hard to be by myself with Emily (while Eric works a 12+ hour shift) after we've spent time in PA visiting family members who are able to dote on Emily all the time.  I think the hardest thing Emily had to do during her time at grandma's house was choose between gold fish crackers or animal crackers for her snack.  Still, looking back on the day I can see that I didn't read books with much enthusiasm at all, I spent far too much time worrying about washing laundry and unpacking while ignoring protests from the toddler at my legs, and I yelled (twice!) when there were potty accidents.  Yes, I know this probably doesn't help her.  Yes, it was out of frustration and unfair to Emily.  I guess it's a good thing little kids are so good at forgiveness because at bedtime, she still reached her little arms around my neck while we sung our songs and said "I love you too, mommy" (which is what she says whether she is the initiator or not) and gave me a big smile.    Amazing grace indeed!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Toddler Sound Bite

Emily says so many funny things all the time I'm afraid I'm going to forget them all!  So, I'm going to record some of them here, in the form of toddler sound bites.  Yesterday, she was categorically placing all of her stuffed animals into our cat Oscar's kitty carrier.  This was a re-creation of a display at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum that Emily loved where kids could put all sorts of animals into crates.  Oscar decided that he wanted to get in on the action and tried to climb in.  Emily was quick to tell him "No Oscar!  This for animals".  I then explained to her that Oscar was in fact an animal, and she responded "No mommy.  Oscar a kitty".  You've got to love the logic!

Friday, May 7, 2010

The Friday Five

I'm having trouble coming up with a topic for this week's blog post.  My head is a little bit all over the place, and I can't seem to categorize my thoughts enough to order them in any particular way.  One of the biggest things that keeps percolating is news that we've recently begun to share more widely; we're expecting a new addition to our family in November!  Emily is going to be a big sister, and though she really isn't too engaged with the idea yet, Eric and I are rather excited.  And, truth be told, also a little terrified of having two small children!  And so, this week I'll share five random thoughts about being pregnant the second time around:

1.  Why didn't anyone tell me that I would start to look pregnant the second the pregnancy test showed a positive result?  Seriously, I'm almost 12 weeks along, and already, my jeans are a little snug.  I don't really understand this, as I haven't actually gained any weight yet, but there it is.  I seem to recall making it at least another month the first time around before I even began to think about maternity clothes.

2.  I forgot how rude people can be when you're pregnant.  I had one person, who shall remain anonymous, make the following comment to me after I told this individual that I was expecting: "you know, I thought you were looking a little plump".  I mean, really, in what context is that an acceptable comment to make?!

3.  My unwanted pregnancy symptoms - tiredness and nauseousness - have been much worse this time around.  I've felt sick off and on all day long, suffered a rather violent stomach virus in the middle of it, and am only just starting to feel like my normal self.  I've also found myself falling asleep on the couch shortly after Emily is in bed for the night on several occasions, and once I laid down on the couch in the middle of the day, while Emily was playing, and was woken up by her several minutes later.  That was a little unnerving!

4.  I have been very disappointed that coffee has been completely unappealing to me.  For my birthday recently, I was given a Keurig single-cup brew coffee maker (thanks mom!).  I used it daily for about two weeks, and since then, haven't been able to stomach the thought (or the smell) of a cup of coffee.  I'm truly hoping that changes soon.

5.  I'm going to know this baby's birthday way before he or she is born.  I've chosen to schedule another c-section, a decision supported by my doctor 100%, and she informed me yesterday that she can schedule this anytime after 20 weeks.  She gave me a due date of November 24th, but said they like to do as few surgeries as possible in the days before Thanksgiving, so I will likely deliver on the 18th or 19th of November.  It will be a completely different feeling to know exactly how much time  is left with this pregnancy!  Of course, the little one could always come early and surprise us.  Early isn't bad.

In all seriousness though, despite the complaints, I know just how blessed we are to be pregnant and almost through the first trimester.  It's been a more turbulent ride this time around, fraught with more worries and panicky moments about what could still go wrong, but God is good all the time, and we're thrilled to start a new adventure together as a family.