5.29.11: My Little Oedipus Rex

In Greek mythology, Oedipus's mother(the Queen) went to an oracle when Oedipus was a baby and learned that her son would kill his father and marry his mother. She was horrified and knew she must prevent this from happening so she sent Oedipus to the country to live and never to learn of his identity. When Oedipus grew up, he did end up (for reasons that I can't remember) accidentally killing his father, which for some reason allowed him to marry his mother, whom he did not know was his mother because he didn't know his true identity, and thus became King (Rex) of the land. He later somehow discovered what he had done and burned his own eyes out. Kind of a gruesome story and that's not even all of it, but that's where the term Oedipus Complex come from, thanks to Freud. An Oedipus Complex is thus to be inappropriately attached to one's mother and jealous of one's father--toddlers experience this often, but grow out of it.

So my oh-so-appropriately named Rex has quite the Oedipus Complex.

Let me share some examples:

1. Friday morning after waking up with Rex at 6:30 am, I decided I needed a nap around 8:30 so got back in bed while Greg got ready for work. Before leaving for work, Greg climbed back in bed for a minute to say good-bye. In comes Rex. He immediately also climbs into our bed and begins to say "PUSH!" as he tried to push Greg out of the bed. Once Greg got out of the bed, Rex got right into Greg's spot and started to cuddle with me.

2. Friday afternoon, Rex woke up particularly cranky from his nap, so I was holding him on my lap on the floor while he got over himself when he sat up and started saying "PUSH!" as he tried to push my now fat belly back to it's previous six-pack (sure) state. He did not want to share my lap. Ok, so that's just regular jealousy, but I still thought it was funny.

3. On the weekends, Greg makes it a habit of eating breakfast and then getting into Rex's bed. Rex does not approve and does everything in his power to get Greg out of his bed. He jumps on Dad, pulls Dad's legs off the bed, shows Dad that he's sleeping on monkey sheets, which are obviously Rex's, and shows Dad where his bed it. I, on the other hand, am frequently invited into Rex's bed to sleep with Rex.

4. Rex has a habit of walking in on people when they are in the shower. He also recently discovered the difference between boys and girls while he was helping me change Reagan's diaper. Rex also just learned the difference between tiny and big. On Saturday, Rex walked in on Greg when Greg was getting out of the shower. Use your imagination on what went on in this one. In the end, Rex insulted Greg gravely. I thought it was funny.

We picked a good name for our little Oedipus Rex.

5.29.11: This week #3

This week's lesson: Really there wasn't one but I'll try to make something up...families are fun? Which is true, but I already knew that. I've always had a pretty awesome family and now I have several awesome families (the one I grew up, the one I married into, and the one I live with).

Anyway, on to the play-by-play of my week:

For the first part of the week, I tried to look on the bright side of things. I discovered that: the more it rains the smaller my water bill and the longer and hotter I can justify my shower being. Obviously, the weather still was not in my favor and I even threatened to break up with it. I did, however, persist in running even on the gloomy days--and only got rained on for the last mile of my run on Monday so things worked out. In fact I felt so good running, that I overdid it on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday I had to walk part of the way home, and Thursday I decided that my pelvic floor muscles just needed a break, so Rex and I did some yoga instead. Really, Rex did it with me. On Friday I did a short, slow run and now I'm feeling much better and am ready for the Provo 6th ward 2nd Annual Memorial Day 5k run/bike/walk tomorrow morning.

Other good things: I found a super good deal on brand new cloth diapers for Baby Alice and then my friend Amy found me another good deal so I'm almost set in the diaper department. I still need a few more things for my new cloth-diapering adventure. You may check them out at my Amazon wish list here--sly I know. My same friend Amy found me another good deal on carpet cleaning--3 rooms and a hall way for $35. Sweet. All-in-all she saved me about $150 this week--if I were really nice and rich, I'd give her that money, but I'm neither so I won't.

By Friday, I had pretty much forgotten how crappy my previous two weeks had been. I finally (I know two weeks really isn't that long, but it sure did feel like it) have a handle on my school work and only spend most of my free time doing that.

On Monday while I was in class, Greg and Rex built a fort in the living room that just came down last night (Saturday), and that was only because Greg built a new fort. Rex spent most of the week in the fort. He ate in the fort; he played in the fort; he read in the fort; he even tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep in the fort. He loved it.

Friday night, Greg and I finally got to go on a date--it feels like forever (again only 2 weeks) since we've been on date. Greg was so kind as to take me shopping and help me find a dress for Emma's wedding. He insists that not only does he enjoy spending time with me, but he likes shopping with me because he likes to see me try on all the different clothes. I'm going to choose to believe that he's telling the truth--and even if he's lying, isn't that sweet of him to lie?

Anyway, after looking online and whining and complaining a lot about not being able to find a dress, Greg picked this one out. And if you'll notice, it's not orange. It's black. But I have some pretty orange beaded jewelry and I plan to buy an orange cardigan and maybe even a little flower to put in my hair. I think it will work.

A side note on why finding a dress was so hard: I'm fat. I thought it was because I just couldn't find anything, as in there literally was not a single orange dress in the entire world. But the fact of the matter is is that there are plenty of orange dresses; I just didn't feel cute or even presentable in any of them because of my recently increased size. In fact, I didn't even like this dress, but Greg did so I bought it, besides, it was on sale. I've tried it on a few times since and have decided that for a maternity dress, it's pretty sexy and with my hair done, I will look nice.

After Rex went to bed on Friday, I again began doing homework, and Greg pondered. And then decided that he needed to build Rex a new cardboard fort to accompany the cardboard house that's been in my living room for over a year now. So off Greg went in search of boxes. It was about 10:30 pm. He decided to go to Wal-Mart because they restock around 11 pm. I stayed home, watched me some Desperate Housewives, and worked on my research paper. Around midnight, I get a call from Greg. I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long anyway, and he said he had locked his keys in his car and wanted me to bring him a spare. But even though Rex was asleep, I didn't want to leave him while I drove to Springville and back. What to do? What to do? Married people (except us) go to bed around 11 pm and most of our siblings went home for the summer, except Noah who was working. Luckily, my cousin Calvin was still awake and was kind of enough to bring his date over to our house while I sped to take a spare key to Greg. I got home around 1 am and went to bed. Greg went back to Wal-Mart to obtain even more boxes.

Saturday we went on a family date. Greg planned the whole thing. First we went to the aquarium in Sandy, which we hadn't been to since Rex's first birthday. We thought Rex would love watching the penguins, since his favorite show is Pingu, which is about a clay-mation penguin. He watched the real Pingu's for about 2 minutes.

But Rex also got to drive a boat in the section about Utah's wetlands.

He got to pet a sting ray--he didn't actually pet it--he just stuck his hands in the water and then pulled them out every time the sting rays came by, but he thought it was fun anyway.
He even posed next to an emperor penguin cutout. I hadn't realized how big penguins are.
After the aquarium, Greg treated us to The Mayan--it's one of those gimmicky restaurants that has cliff divers and rainstorms. If you were to eat a meal while on the Indian Jones ride, that's The Mayan. Rex thought it was pretty cool at first and was amazed at the divers. And then the simulated thunder storm started...and he started to cry. Like a lot. His daddy held him for a while, but that didn't help. He kept pointing to the exit and saying "Home. Home." But we hadn't even gotten our food yet so I took Rex down to the lobby to recover. Greg came and got us when our food arrived. Rex was anxious still. And then more anxious. And then he was screaming again. And we could not comfort him. So we got boxes, paid the check and left.

Once we got to the car, and for the rest of the day, and even this morning, all Rex could talk about was the restaurant. "Dark Mommy. Jump. Rex sad." He just kept repeating it. Apparently we traumatized him.

He fell asleep in the car but didn't stay asleep long once we got home so Rex and I walked to the library for the summer reading kick off while Greg ran some errands and then met us at the library. We all signed up to read. Rex already put stickers on two of his boxes. Greg and I, well...not so much.

After the library we got Daddy Juice (slurpies) and went to the park. Then we came home. Rex and I read and made dinner while Greg finished up his errands. Then Greg and Rex built a new fort (as mentioned). We ate dinner, and then we all got in the fort and watched a movie. It was lovely.

Then today we went to church. Rex was very good during Sacrament and only left our row once when Daddy got up to get some Tylenol. During the actual Sacrament, Rex sat on his own chair with his arms folded and eyes closed and kept saying, "Fader, AMEN!" (He was praying). He even only took one piece of bread, and drank his water quickly and put it back in the tray without sharing with any of the other cups. He was amazing.

After nap time, Greg and Rex watched some YouTube and read while I made dinner. Then we ate together as a family (one of my personal favorite things). Then I did dishes while the boys played with Greg's new iPad in the fort. Then we called Papa and Grandma on Skype, played Find the Sheep, Hide-and-Seek, made cookies, sang songs, and now Rex is knocking on his door asking to come out. We are ignoring him.

So this week's lesson: families are fun. Couple date nights and family dates are the highlight of my week. I just can't get enough of my cute little family.

5.22.11: This week

This week's lesson: Faith

Remember this post from a few weeks ago? Well, some of you (Brian) doubted Rex's little seed. But this is what we woke up to this morning. A little bit of faith on Rex's dresser.

I have felt completely overwhelmed this week. It's not that I have anything particularly overwhelming going on, but for some reason I just couldn't handle life this week. I blame it on my schooling--we're running through a semester at double pace and I'm barely keeping up.

Monday wasn't too bad. In fact, it was quite good. Rex started being a normal kid and waking up at 6 am so I decided to take advantage of that and go grocery shopping early. I was feeling good. I had already gone grocery shopping, put the groceries away and cleaned a few rooms of the house before Greg left for work. And it was sunny. So Rex and I met Noah at a park and played for a while. Then we came home and cleaned more before I had to go to class. When I got home from class at 10 pm, I poked my head downstairs and said, "Hey Hon." The reply to which was "MOMMY!" Excuse me? Rex was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of M&M's while Greg played video games. So I put Rex to bed and started on the homework.

Tuesday at 5:22 am, Rex woke up. That's right. He feel asleep at 11 pm and was up by 5:22. As I lay in Rex's bed trying to get him to go back to sleep, I decided we had to do something about his sleeping habits. This was getting ridiculous. So at 6:30 when I realized that neither Rex nor I were going to get any more sleep, I explained the new rules to Rex: 1. You are in your room from 8:30pm to 6 am and from 1 pm to 3 pm--you don't have to sleep, but you must be in your room. And so far it's worked out pretty well. He doesn't necessarily sleep, but he plays quietly (ish) in his room.

Tuesday our tenets also informed me they were moving out. Awesome. I had 30 days to get someone new to move in. Not only are we paying twice what we have previously paid for my tuition, but now I had the added stress of finding a renter. Here's were the faith came into play and I started to get overwhelmed.

Wednesday it rained. And I was tired. And life started sucking. And I realized why I was so funny in college--because I was tired and stressed and overwhelmed and the only way I could keep going without killing someone was to make fun of everyone and they thought I was so funny. I was wallowing in my seasonally and school-ly induced depression, when I remembered what I learned last week, so I got some old magazines and glue out and Rex, Reagan and I did a little art project and then went to MacDonald's. At least I got out of the house. During nap time, I did more homework, but fell asleep and did not get as much done as I wanted/needed to do. And then I ran upstairs and noticed some water on the floor--I looked up and noticed it was coming to the ceiling. I called Greg and he came home early from work to patch the hole in the roof. He had started reroofing last week, but because of the rain had not been able to finish. But his make-shift tarps failed up. He worked on that; I went to class. I came home and started on homework again. That's all I do anymore--homework.

My week culminated in Thursday. Thursday morning I woke to a rainstorm in my dinning room. At first it was just a few leaks. But as the morning wore on, my pots and pans slowly filled with rain water and I wondered what I was going to use to make dinner. And then there was the tuition to pay and the roof to redo and the water damage to repair and the baby to pay for and the hospital bills for said baby and no rent coming in and an orange maternity dress to buy and my hair to cut and Rex's hair to cut and clothe diapers to buy and pretty soon we were getting food from the Church and begging on the streets. I was not handling life very well so I decided to get in the shower to relax and get a grip on reality again. It only was 8 am by this point. When I got out, I noticed Rex's art work on my dining room floor. Greg still had not woken up for work by this time, so I told him it was his turn to care for Rex, locked the door, and got back in bed--maybe life would be better when I woke up. I woke again just in time for Reagan's dad to drop her off. Not only was she wearing sandals (seriously people, it's raining, put real shoes on your kid), but her dad had a turtle for the kids to play with. How could life get any worse? Oh, I know, Greg's car battery was dead and he was running late for work so he took my car. I told Reagan's dad to take the turtle back, closed the door and called my mom. What was I going to do all day, stuck inside with a million pots and pans all over my dining room? Mom called Noah to come over and entertain me. He was working, but the Lord stepped in. He reminded me to do some visiting teaching and then inspired my wonderful neighbor to invite us over for lunch. I had something to do and get my mind off the pending bankruptcy. And lucky, Rex has chosen to express himself all over my dining room and living room with washable markers this time and he cleaned it. When I got home from visiting teaching, Greg was home. It had stopped raining so he took a half day off of work to fix the roof. Rex, Reagan and I went to the neighbor's house where they got out their energy and I told them of my woes and we all commiserated about owning homes and having to pay for repairs. I left an hour later feeling much better, put the kids down for a nap, and then there was Noah, who was already dressed for work and climbed up on the roof to help Greg. They worked for a few hours while I did more homework (surprise) and called the insurance company. They were wonderful. In the meantime, Greg inspected the damage himself and said that it doesn't look too bad--just some wet insulation that needed to be replaced anyway. But we're waiting for the insurance adjuster to come take a look. Thursday night Greg had to go back to work, so I made dinner for a friend and got to spend a bit of time visiting with her and her brand-new beautiful baby. I also took Rex to get his haircut and deposited the money from the sell of Greg's scooter--we weren't broke after all. Life was not so bad.

Friday was nice enough for a run again, but not nice enough for the park--still too wet. I was feeling better about life, but was still really tired and wondering how and when I was going to get all my readings and projects for school done. Then during Rex's nap time, Reagan's dad showed up, but I didn't have Reagan. I was about to start in on them about their poor communication skills as a family (in my head of course) when he told me he had some stuff for me--two and a half garbage bags full of stuff. Brand new or newly new baby clothes. It was like Christmas. My little girl is going to be so well-dressed--mostly Baby Gap. After my personal Christmas, I sat on the couch to rest my eyes for just a minute, but woke up an hour and a half later. While I needed the nap, I also needed to get some serious work on my presentations done. And then I got a few phone calls--people wanting to look at the apartment. Don't get excited, I'd been showing the apartment all week, but once people hear the utility bill, they get scared away. So I showed the apartment a few times while trying to make dinner. And then Kevin came. He looked at the apartment and while showing him the backyard, he asked how much money I wanted to secure the apartment. Still, don't get excited. People do this a lot--say they want to sign a contract and then back out at the last second. I told him that he'd need to wait until my husband got home to sign a contract because I didn't have one, but Kevin didn't want to wait--he paid, in cash, the deposit and the first months' worth of rent and was prepared to pay the last month's too. See, faith. Faith. And patience. We really weren't going to be bankrupt. I just needed a nap and a grip on reality and some patience and faith. Kevin did ask me to spy on his cheating wife though once they move in...

After dinner, Rex and I met Greg at an in-door play place for a much needed family date. We played, went on the carosaul a million times, got some ice cream and came home just in time for bed.

I tried again to get some homework done, but couldn't really focus.

We went to bed early--11 and it was lovely.

Saturday, Rex woke up late--8. I was no longer tired; I wasn't going to be broke; but I still had a ton of homework to do. But I got it done--Rex took a long nap, Greg worked on the roof and I was feeling good about life. It was sunny again. I finished my reading and two presentations during Rex's nap.

Sunday (today) Rex woke up at 2 am. I gave him a sippy cup of milk and put him back in bed. As I was leaving his room, he asked, "Mommy tired?" I said, "Yes." And then he let me go without asking me to get in his bed or to stay with him. It was lovely. He woke me up again at 4--he had been playing quietly in his room, and had found a bottle and wanted it. I filled it with milk and sent him back to bed--he again asked if I was tired and he let me go to sleep. Greg said he heard Rex still up and playing in his room at 5, but at least he was playing by himself. He is such a good kid. He slept in until 8, which means that I did too. And then we went to church, came home and slept some more, had dinner as a family for the first time in a week and called Rex's grandparents.

I'm feeling a lot better about life right now. I've slept a lot, prayed a lot, and become a little more rational about my situation in life. Yes, I have a lot of homework, and yes I still need to find a burnt orange maternity dress for my sister-in-law's wedding, but I can do those things. I also picked out the car seat I want and found some new cloth diapers on KSL for half the price of buying them from diapers.com. Life is good. I just needed to have a little faith and know that, as always because He has proven Himself in the past, the Lord will provide and support and carry me, even when I have a rainstorm in my living room.

Now let's all pray together that next week had some sustained sun or I really might just need to get some depression meds. This weather is getting really difficult to handle.

ps I'm sorry this post is so long, but not really, you didn't have to read the whole thing.

5.15.10: This week...

This week I learned a few important lessons about myself. Ok, really just one: my mood is directly proportional to the amount of sleep I get, how often I get out of the house, and the weather.

Monday, I was planning to run with a friend at 9, but then she decided she'd rather go at 6:30. I said good luck to her and decided to continue with my 9 o'clock plan. But then it poured. Like cats and dogs poured. I was annoyed. But I had to pack the kiddos up (Rex and Reagan)anyway to go to an RS presidency meeting, where Rex got into the nursery bathroom, turned on the sink, showed Reagan to put crackers in the sink, and then proceeded to drink the toilet water. I was annoyed so I took them to MacDonald's to get their energy out and then they both took naps when we got home. Life was not going too well. But I did get out of the house later (alone), as my summer classes started and I had to leave at 4 o'clock. I finally broke down and decided to pay someone to watch Rex and it's working our really well. Rex loves her and gets really excited every time she gets in the car. I don't have to feel guilty or like I owe anybody anything, because I'm paying her. I don't even have to feel guilty about my house not being clean or Greg being a little late home because we're paying her 2.5 times what every body else in the ward pays her--not that we're rich, but seriously people $2 an hour? That's insulting. Having said that, I have to work 1/2 a day watching Reagan (4 hours) to pay the babysitter the 2 hours she watches Rex. Whatever. On a side note, I feel like the amount I pay a babysitter is the amount that I value myself , I'm worth $5 an hour aren't I?

Tuesday I did run and it was fantastic. I also spent the day doing homework and was very proud of myself for getting through some pretty dense and boring readings.

Wednesday looked like it was going to rain so I decided to hold off on the running for a while to see if it would clear up at all. And it did. So I got dressed, got the kiddos dressed and was literally walking out the door when it began to pour. I was more than annoyed. But, by this point in the week, I was beginning to realize how much my mood had to do with the weather so I got out the finger paints and decided to do something fun instead of take my aggression out on innocent toddlers. And it was fun. Rex LOVES painting. He even did a bit of mixed medium this time and added some Sharpie. He's a pretty neat little painter and is pretty good about staying on the page. Many of you will see some hand-painted wrapping paper soon. Reagan, on the other hand, had obviously never painted before. I gave her her paint first and then went to get a plate for Rex. When I came back, Reagan was eating the paint--luckily it was non-toxic. She was a bit messier and showed Rex how to paint his face. Joy. After painting, we made a quick trip to MacDonald's, as I also learned this week that Rex must have at least an hour of jungle gym time a day or I don't get a nap. I had class again on Wednesday and, as usual, am quite enjoying myself and the intellectual stimulation that it brings.

Thursday was wonderful. The weather finally got wonderfully warm. I got to go on a nice long run before stopping at a park for a few hours--yes a few hours. Being inside all winter and spring has really gotten to Rex and Reagan too and they just did not want to leave, and with the weather so nice I couldn't say no. After a few hours, we got back in the stroller and I ran the rest of the way home, during which time both kids fell asleep and stayed asleep long enough for me to sneak them inside and get through some more dense, long, and mildly boring articles on educational theory.

Thursday night we had family night--I know we were a few days late, but I don't think there's really anything special about Monday night. Have I mentioned before how much I love family night? It's one of my favorite nights of the week. Not only do I get to spend the evening with my favorite people, but I also get to put some of my very expensive teaching skills to use. I love thinking of little lessons and activities to do with Rex. This week we learned about faith. Rex requested Book of Mormon stories as the opening song, which we sang twice. Then I read Alma 32 from the children's reader. Greg then shared a few thoughts from the real scriptures. And then, obviously, we had to plant a seed--which Rex had previously picked out at the IFA. We planted cilantro. We'll see if it grows. It's on Rex's dresser at the moment, so I'm not completely convinced. Anyway, Rex had a lot of fun playing with the dirt.

Friday was pretty much a repeat of Thursday , but this time without Reagan. After Rex's nap, we made cookies for the ward barbecue and I got this super cute video of Rex.

Saturday Greg decided to re-roof the house. Ok, he had decided a few weeks before but the weather promised to be lovely so he went for it. Rex and I watched from the lawn for a while, planted some flowers in place of my dead mint (seriously, who kills mint?) and then went inside to shower. I decided to take Rex to the library to keep him away from the mess and nails of the re-roofing. As we were getting ready to go, I was getting really overwhelmed with life--school, toddler, new baby (girl with no gear nonetheless), paying for the new roof, Emma's wedding, finding an orange semi-formal maternity dress for said wedding--I was not handling life, but decided to press forward with our walk to the library anyway. We left around noon. And apparently that was too late. This is when I learned another part of my lesson for the week--leave the house early, by feet if possible. As soon as I started walking to the library I felt better. All of a sudden life was happy and perfect again. I loved school, loved Rex, loved having a baby girl, loved the thought of not getting rained on while in my house (the roof wasn't that bad, I'm exaggerating) and all I could think of was that line from Legally Blonde, "Exercise gives you endorphines; endorphines make you happy and happy people just don't kill their husbands." I just needed a few endorphines. We picked out a few books and started our walk home. Rex feel asleep on the way--awesome--but not enough to stay asleep once transferred to his bed--lame. But I was tired and Greg was cleaning up so I put Rex in his room anyway and laid down for about 30 minutes before Rex got super bored and insisted that I let him out. Luckily for me, the neighbors were having a party and invited us over. Rex got his face painted (twice), jumped in the bounce house, played on a swing set, sang some karaoke, ate a cupcake was ready for nap. Not so little man. Too late for you. Directly after the party, we dropped Rex off at the sitter's and Greg and I headed out on a date. We went to Old Navy to use some 50% off coupons I found online--they do have the cutest little girl clothes. And then we went to dinner, came home, put Rex to bed, and did the usual after Rex goes to bed stuff--homework and video games. Once I followed my new rules for myself--get out of the house--I had a lovely day on Saturday.

Today we went to church. Rex loves church and got really excited when we walked up to the building--Church, church! he yelled (see how quickly I learn? I insisted that was walk to church this morning so as to avoid the overwhelming doom I felt yesterday). Rex was very good all through Sacrament meeting. He folded his arms during prayers, sang along with the hymns, and didn't run away even once. He was amazing. After church, was nap time and then dinner, which went wonderfully because of my new cookbook, and then we went to the park to fly kites and go down slides. And I had a great day--nap, wonderful weather, very little time spent indoors. I'm a pretty fast learner. (I threw in a picture of Rex on his bed because it is adorable.)

And so that was my week: a little bit of bad and a little bit of good--and none of the bad was my fault because it was all the stupid rain that kept me locked up. I take no responsibility for my actions on rainy days, so let's just hope the weather holds up until all of these crazy pregnancy hormones have had a chance to flush themselves from my system...in 5 months. Hmmm.

5.9.11: Mother's Day

It's the day after Mother's Day and I've just finished reading a series of posts about how amazing Mother's Day is, so I felt the need to respond.

My Mother's Day was the same as any other day.

And that's the way I like it.

We don't celebrate Mother's Day (or Father's Day, for that matter) at our house.

1. I get sick of giving people gifts, and of receiving gifts. I feel like that's the only way people express affection any more--I like you, here's a gift; I'm grateful for you, here's a gift; I want you to go away, here's a gift. Don't get me wrong, I love getting presents as much as anyone else, and on occasion I even get excited about giving presents (especially to Rex), but after Christmas and then Valentine's Day and Greg's birthday and our anniversary coming soon, it's just a lot. Sometimes, which is Mother's Day, I just want someone to say thank you. So every year for the past three years that I've been a legitmate mother, my gift is for Greg to get up with Rex so I can sleep in. And this year was extra nice because Rex woke up at 4:30. I let Greg go back to sleep at 8:30 to be fair.

2. I want to be appreciated and appreciative all year-round. I love my mother. She is an amazing person who I try daily to emulate. I base a large portion of my parenting decisions on my mother--What would Pattie do? My mom had has 100% success-rate (so far) of high-functioning, capable, caring (except for maybe me) children. I hope for the same success and so turn to her methods. She is the perfect mixture of guide and friend--she knows when to listen and when to give advice. But I digress, my point is that I should tell my mom these things all the time and I would like it if my children (once they can form complete sentences) would do the same. It feels so artificial and superficial to set aside a day to do the things that we should do any way. It'd be like having a Shower Day or Scripture Study Day--things we should do every day, but most of us aren't perfect at.

Having said this, I did enjoy the family dinner my dad put together for his mother for Mother's Day. I do love an excuse to not cook and to hang out with my family.

Also, I realize this completely contradicts what I said about Valentine's Day, which is essentially the same holiday as Mother's Day or Father's Day, but I'm still not celebrating Mother's/Father's Day while I will continue to celebrate Valentine's Day. Maybe I'll have to further contemplate my hypocrisy and get back to you.

5.6.11: The Ultra Sound

I could not sleep last night. I was really nervous about this ultra sound--boy or girl, boy or girl? For some reason, so much more rested on this ultra sound. It had to be boy. Rex needs a little friend. And I had about twenty boxes and nice baby boy clothes. And I love Rex's room and don't want to have to change it for a girl. And I don't like pink. So I couldn't sleep. (Besides, I actually have friends with this baby, so they kept asking and guessing and reminding me of the coming ultra sound). I had at least a million dreams about the ultra sound and every time I woke up, I couldn't remember what the gender was. It was like I was going to Disneyland, but had to take a final first. So when Rex came and woke me up at 6 this morning, it was kind of a relief to finally be able to get out of bed.

Rex and I colored for a while before getting ready. Then I packed us in the car, dropped Rex off at Great-Grandma Robins house, where pretty-good Grandpa Brian watched him, and then I met Greg at the doctor's office.

And then we waited.

And waited.

And we were the only ones in the waiting room.

And still we waited.

Finally, we got called back and it began. I have a video of the whole thing, but even I think it's a bit dry so I'll spare you, but here are a few pictures from the ultra sound. Look closely at the last one and see if you can figure out the gender. It's fairly obvious. I could tell right away.

(So the pictures are side ways...I don't know what Blogger's problem is, but I give up trying to fix it.)

Profile

Side view of body and arm #1
Mild fetal pornography

My Jedi mind tricks apparently didn't work so well on this one.

So am I disappointed? A little. My stomach dropped a bit when I notice the lack of appendage. I really wanted Rex to have a little friend. And I love boys. When I was teaching, my favorite students were always boys. There's just something about little boys that I love.

But mostly I'm nervous, and I think this is also why I wanted a boy so bad. I know I know how to take care of a little boy--I already did that. But little girls are different.

Ok, they really aren't that different.

But then again, they are.

I've spent the last few years figuring out how to build train sets and play cars. Now I have to remember how to play girl things. Not that it's that much different but it is.

And how do you dress a little girl? And do her hair? And change her diaper? And...everything else that is probably 99.9% the same as a little boy, but it's that .1% that makes me nervous.

I wasn't nervous when I had Rex because I knew I would just have him and could focus on just him, and was excited about being an experienced mom this time and things were going to be easier. But now it's a girl, and that's different.

Too different.

And I'm not so sure how I feel about all this different.

I know I'll still love this baby (Alice Chlotelle as of this moment)--I'm not worried about that in the least, and I know things will be fine once she gets here, but for now...

I'm going to go shopping tomorrow to get myself excited about how cute little girl clothes are and maybe once I have something girl-y, I won't be so nervous anymore.

On the bright side, Alice (for now) was measuring 8 days small, and Greg and I were able to convince the midwife to push the due date back a week so as to avoid the nonsense we had to deal with with Rex. This mean I get to relive week 20 of the pregnancy and that our new due date is September 24--I'm shooting for October 1 for birth day, as it is my favorite day of the year.

4.30.11: Family Date

I know this is out of order. But I don't care.

Friday night Andrea texted/sent me a text telling me about the baby animal birthday party the farm at Thanksgiving Point was having on Saturday.

Of course we had to go.

Ok, maybe not of course. In fact we almost didn't go because there was SNOW on the ground in the morning, but Andrea prevailed, and the sun came up so we wen

First we looked at the animals. The peacock liked Rex.

Rex told us all about the sheep horns.

Rex rode the brown donkey, just like his hair.

He planted and harvested some crops.

He went on a tractor pull with his daddy.

And he looked for a needle in a haystack.

And then he fell asleep on the way home.