Here you go

OK ok. Here is THE BELLY. Pictures taken from this angle always make the subject look bigger, am I right?? 25 weeks down, 15 to go! I'm worried this girl will be huge.

P.S. After a brief tutorial, Emma is the one who took this picture. No one else around to do it, and I don't know how to work the timer. Pretty good, huh?

To be a Hero

Most people know that Tyler pretty much adores me. I mean, I'm his mom - not too weird, right? He is quite the momma's boy, and most of the time I don't mind it. Now I can add another title to his perception of me - Hero.

A couple weeks ago we went swimming at a friend's house. Tyler loves the water (just recently) but is terrified of me letting go of him, no matter how many flotation devices are keeping him up. So while I was swimming with Emma, he decided to jaunt around the pool to the deep end where the diving board is. He loves to watch me when he runs, grinning and smiling (and wearing floaties, of course, which are basically useless to him), and watching my reaction. Well, I guess he forgot the in-ground hot tub was there and while he was watching me he fell right in, face first. There were a few "luckily's" in this: 1) The hot tub hadn't recently been heated, so it was maybe 80 degrees; 2) He was, like I said, wearing his (not-so-useless after all) floaties. I was quite amused by this, seeing no real danger, and while I booked it (as fast as I can "book it" in my state) to grab him, he started screaming bloody murder. He was above the water, but was floating on his stomach, not knowing how to get his feet underneath him. I can't imagine his terror, probably thinking he was going to drown, just waiting for me to reach him. By the time I got there he was a complete mess.

After he was calm, I used the experience to (nope, not to tell him that running around a pool is a bad thing) tell him that his floaties had saved him. I reminded him that they help us float, and now he can do it by himself (ha!). That didn't go over well. A little while later, he started saying "I fell in, and you saved me Mommy!" I told him it was the floaties a few times, trying to get him past his fear of floating/swimming. But he stuck to his guns - as far as he was concerned, I had been the one who saved him from drowning.

I have now decided that it's ok if he thinks I am what saved him. I guess I didn't necessarily save him from drowning, but I surely saved him from his state of terror. And what's so bad about being the one your child sees as the hero??

Also, today I read Letters for Emily. I really enjoyed it; it's a fast read (like I said, I read it today). There's one part of the book where the father, who is writing letters to his granddaughter, recalls how his son fell from a tree branch and was dangling from another branch, screaming for help. The father points out that his son was only a few feet from the ground (no immediate danger), but was terrified nonetheless. Once his father was able to get him down, the son told everyone his father had saved him. The father loved that feeling. That same boy fell out of a tree several years later, breaking an arm. The father felt that he had failed his son because he wasn't there like he had been before. So, I will enjoy being Tyler's hero for as long as it will last, hoping he never feels like I've failed him. And I do recommend the book - it had a great message and even made me cry. Well, most things make me cry these days.

Thoughts

Time to count my blessings. Spencer has worked 80 (chargeable) hours in the last 5 days (Sat, Mon-Thu). The only comfort I have during the night is waking up at 3 a.m. to use the restroom and seeing that he's there. I don't know when he gets home - probably between 1 and 2 a.m. - but he gets home. This is part of life for us - a few crazy times at work every year - though this seems a little more extreme than in the past. I'm still blessed.

This morning Spencer and I got a few minutes to talk before he left. He works with several women, and two of them have young kids (and yes, they are putting in the same hours he is). One of them last night was so frustrated with work (rightly so). She said something in her frustration to the effect of "They're only young once." So today I have been so thankful that I can stay home. Sure, we may never be able to afford a house here, but Spencer is doing all he can, and I'm doing the best I can. To those women who choose to work full-time, great. But those women who work full-time because they have to (and don't want to) - I feel for them. I know it's a sensitive area, and is such a personal decision and matter, but I can't imagine working those insane hours as the MOM - the one responsible for the nurture and care of the children. In light of this, I am counting my blessings:

*First, my usual little stinkers have been practically angels this whole time. Emma, when I put her to bed at night, says "Will Daddy take me potty in the nighttime when he gets home?" So, Spencer does it. Emma is queen of going potty in her sleep, and I think Spencer likes taking her right now because he actually gets to carry her to the bathroom and have some contact with her. And every night she asks me if she'll get to see him in the morning.

*Swimming lessons have been a blessing. Not because Emma's doing anything even close to resembling swimming, but because we get out for a couple hours every morning, and three of my friends have kids in lessons at the same time. Some form of adult conversation is a wonderful thing, my friends. And Emma's cute with her teachers, using her charm to get out of doing things she's scared of.

Hmm, maybe I'll honor Emma's request and read that extra story tonight when we're all three lying in her comfy queen bed together, and be grateful that I'm even home to read to her. Maybe I won't be so frustrated when I wake up to Tyler next to me in bed at midnight instead of Spencer. That awful habit of his can wait a couple weeks to be broken (again).

The Simple Pleasures

I felt rewarded this afternoon in a strange way. Maybe someone decided to throw me a bone for: 1) Being ALONE all week with the kids, or 2) Getting a flat tire, which resulted in sitting at the Costco tire center for 5 HOURS on a Saturday with two kids, or 3) Feeling like a pregnant hippo and trying to enjoy it. :)

Lowe's is next to our Costco, so while we had plenty of time to kill while waiting for 4 new tires to get put on the van, that was one of the walks we made. I was just going to look around and dream like I usually do (I know people other than me do the Someday when I'm rich... thing - I usually covet those awesome HE washer/dryer combos). Lo and behold there was a brand new dryer that was being discontinued. For $98!! Now, I am blessed to have a dryer (and a washer) - I know how hard it is to not have a washer/dryer - and I totally don't know how people can do it. But let me tell you about my dryer. About a year ago the timer broke, so it runs and runs and runs. And not only does it run forever, but it only heats on the HOTTEST (translation: nearly on fire) setting, so my clothes come out feeling fried, and everything shrinks. It gets to be annoying to set a kitchen timer so I can remember to open the dryer to get it to shut off. And I can't go anywhere when the laundry is in. I've found lots of used ones for $100-$150 but never made the purchase. So this $98 find was like Christmas for me! Who cares that I had just forked out $400 of hard-earned money for new tires - this was a deal I wasn't going to pass up!

I scored a two-year parts and labor warranty (for $9!) and paid for it, telling them I would return when I once again had a car. We skipped back to Costco (a little more optimistically than we had done all morning) and waited. Tyler thought he'd died and gone to heaven as he got to watch the "cool" tire guys put the new tires on the van. We got the keys back and drove - very smoothly, I might add - over to Lowe's to get our new dryer. We rolled home with a lot of new stuff and a lot less money. Now I just need to find some strong men to bring it inside and hook it up for me! That may have to wait a few days while I wait for a husband again. But, I can't WAIT to do laundry!

On a totally random note, I've been procrastinating putting a really attractive "belly shot" on the blog but I've had some requests, so I'll get up the guts and maybe do it in a couple weeks.

Also, I've been itching to be crafty so this last week I neglected some things that needed to get done to work on these items. The first is a sign meant for the baby's room...I don't love how PINK it is, and haven't decided to use it for sure. Gotta love vinyl. Then, I did Emma's name to hang in her room (the colors didn't show up). And finally, I decorated one of those rustic metal stars that everyone seems to have; I wanted mine to be different and unique and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I have a lot of black frames/etc. on my wall so this will fit right in. In addition to doing lots of digiscrapping, I know I've met my craftiness quota for at least a month, so I think I'll take a break and get my house back in order!

Gualala update

Remember the camping post I did about two months ago? How I am SO not a camper? Well, thankfully we had a good time....because today in the mail I got a notice from the campground informing me that we were the winners in their drawing and the prize is two free nights there! I have to laugh because I believe I posted something along the lines of "I don't know if we are going to make this a tradition," but now I guess we are! BTW, it's $40 a night there so it's a relatively valuable "prize"...not one of those $9 a night campsites.

Anyone wanna camp next to us? We'll have a baby...I know, tempting. :)

Vacationed Out

After logging 2500+ miles in the car in the last ten days, the last thing I feel like doing is posting all about it. My kids were incredible, we had a great time, and we have some awesome pictures. Maybe I'll find some time (and desire) in the not-so-distant future to do it. A few things on my mind (random, yes):

*Tyler told me today he either wants to name this baby Lightning McQueen or McDonald's. The poor kid needs to get out more. And I guess he doesn't care that the baby is a girl.
*Emma really (and I mean really) needs a sister. This morning she dressed Tyler in one of her dresses and a pair of high heels.
*I have loved having Emma feel the baby kick the last two weeks. At first she was offended ("Why would she kick ME?") but now she thinks it's fun. She even talks to and sings to her.
*Growing up, in the summertime I'd get to can peaches with my grandma. We ate everything PEACH for those few days, and my favorite was when she'd make peach milkshakes. Today at Costco the peaches called my name and I bought a box. It's 100 degrees all week long here, so I will be drinking lots of peach milkshakes and thinking of my grandma. And gaining a lot of weight.
*Today was a sad day as I emptied all my shirts from my closet - temporarily - and moved in my maternity clothes. I wasn't quite ready to do this so soon (21 weeks) but regular shirts were starting to get snug and I needed to face reality. At least I bought some cute stuff this go-round. Lesson learned: Have a big enough closet (and enough hangers) to fit regular shirts and maternity shirts.
*I have another vacation/reunion at the end of this week that I'm excited for, but at this moment I'm too tired to think about it.
*I will never let one of my children run for senior class president. I've seen firsthand (secondhand?) how crazy it is to throw a 10-year reunion (from out of state no less). Spencer was a good sport (Mr. Senior Class President himself) and I think I was too; I didn't know a soul there! It turned out a success but the stress beforehand about put us over the edge.

That's all for now. I'm off to find the vanilla ice cream.