My favorite time of each week is when I wake up every Saturday morning and Jim's breathing softly beside me, the dogs are quiet in their crates, the cat is curled up somewhere on the bed, and all is quiet. This morning I woke up at 8am and nothing was stirring until around 9. I love the quiet on Saturday mornings. I love living someplace without sharing a wall with a neighbor, without people who vacuum at 7am or play music until 2am or walk like elephants on their floor above our ceiling. I love the peacefulness that having a home can provide. And I love my family: Jim and our daughters and the hairy members of our family who make life more fun.
I know that the peace won't last forever, but please don't start sharing any unsolicited advice about the noise that occurs when you're a parent, because I will gladly welcome Eddy's cries anytime of day or night, just to be able to hear my child, hold her, soothe her and love on her.
(And, really, it's NEVER quiet when you have children? Because I'm pretty sure kids sleep a whole lot. And I'm almost positive they aren't making noise 24/7 when they aren't asleep. Seriously. And the whole "sleep when you can" advice? Again, kids sleep a lot. And pregnant women don't/can't, no matter how hard we try. And I know children's sleep is intermittent and it's not consistent and they cry at inopportune times, but again, I am so excited about having a baby that lives that I don't care about the noise, or the time of night. Plus, I'll probably be so scared and such a crazy helicopter - always hovering - mom that I'll check on her a million times a night when she IS sleeping quietly.)
I've been having really crazy vivid dreams lately, many more than usual and many more than during my first pregnancy. They are really weird and I can't quite figure out what my subconscious might be trying to tell me. Last week I dreamed about the post-apocalyptic world and Jim and I trying to escape with our dogs from some madmen and figuring out that it was a staged apocalypse and everything was actually okay, outside of the area where we were. Last night I dreamed about Michael Jackson doing a Super Bowl half-time show but he denied it was himself, even though he couldn't account for the time and the dance moves were clearly his. And at the Super Bowl show (there was no game in my dream, only the show), Tom Hanks (my favorite actor) was there in a tux and I asked him to take a picture with me and we used a weird, old, polaroid-type film but you had to set it on fire and the picture remained when the flame burned out. I also recently dreamed that a friend and I were both pregnant and we had to travel out-of-state to confront a guy who was trying to steal another pregnant friend away from her husband. Weird because the friend with whom I was traveling isn't pregnant in real life (unless that's what my subconscious was telling me), and even if someone was trying to steal our other friend (who actually IS pregnant) away from her husband, she'd never go and she can take care of herself. But on the way to save our friend we got sidetracked on a bus with some crazy people and Earnest Hemingway's sons (who were Brandon - a pastor who was trying to defend himself and his life from the crazy people on the bus who hated he and his brothers), Fraund and Ernst) and then we fell asleep and when I woke up we'd done nothing to help our friend. Like I said, weird dreams. I ALWAYS (even not pregnant) have weird dreams. But they have been especially strange and disconcerting lately. It really breaks into sound sleep to have strange dreams all night long, but since my mind and body are so tired lately anyway, I don't think it really matters.
My baby sister (Kendal) has been in town the last week or so, and it's been SO NICE being able to have her around. Last weekend we took my dogs to our grandfather's house to go swimming. The dogs were big pansies and hated swimming (they LOVE to play in the sprinkler, so I didn't know they'd hate the pool), but Kendal and I had fun. And she's not leaving until Monday, so I'm really glad I still have a couple of days to spend with her. I really miss her when she's gone at school, so I hope she's able to come back soon. At least I know she'll be home from Christmas break when Eddy is born. I'm super excited about that!
Anyway, besides the above, not too much has been going on. Hence the title, these have been pretty peaceful days lately. I love that. I am not big on laziness and not accomplishing things that need to be done, but peacefulness is much different to me than laziness. Our home is (fairly) clean, the laundry is done, we have food, we are healthy, our pets are happy, the baby is growing, Angel is watching over us, and we have an overall good life. No complaints here. Just peace.
sábado, 21 de agosto de 2010
Austin Smith
Next in our sibling series is my 22-year-old brother, Austin.
Austin, circa 2006. His hair is much longer now, he has a beard, and he's even skinnier than in this pic. :)
Austin is the aforementioned Kendal's full-blood brother, the first child of our mom's second marriage, so the half-brother of our older sister, Tana, and me. He was born a few months before I turned six. I was so excited to have a brother, but unfortunately we spent most of our lives not getting along. Into my adulthood we had troubles (especially when he refused to cut his hair for my wedding and all of my pictures of him from that day commemorate a big, blonde afro poof of curls). But now that we're both adults, we have found some common ground and get along fairly well, even if we don't always see eye-to-eye.
Austin is a very disciplined guy. He wanted to be a mechanic, so he set his mind to it and went to school to learn the trade. He works at a local military base as an aircraft mechanic, a job often reserved for retirees who have done the job for a military career plus as a civilian after retirement. He is a vegan, which makes me more disciplined just thinking about it. (Vegans don't eat any animal products at all - no meat, dairy, eggs, anything that came from an animal, in case you didn't know.) He has very strict opinions about life in general, and will argue his side until he's blue in the face. He drives us all crazy sometimes with his debates and arguing, but we love him for it, too. He's got tattoos and piercings and he's full of life. He's got good friends who he would stand behind against all odds and outside influences. He loves to have fun, but he gets to work on time and works hard every day. He loves his dog more than any other animal or human on earth. He supported our mom with love and emotional support when our baby died and we were in Japan. He mourned our daughter, his niece, with us, and was so very excited to find out that I was pregnant again, and with another girl. He loves with condition when he feels conditions are necessary, but with full abandon when he feels you are worthy. He's inspiring, he gives good hugs, he has a great smile and laugh, and he, though usually late, likes to spend time with the family.
I love my brother, who I still (much to his chagrin) call Bubby in his adulthood. He'll always be Bubby, my first brother, the boy who Tana and I tortured with baby (girl) doll clothes when he was a kid and whose childhood Garth Brooks obsession I will always take every chance to share with his friends and girlfriends. I have lots of fond memories of our childhood together, even though the majority of the time we didn't get along. I love my Bubby, and I'm so glad to be his family.
Austin, circa 2006. His hair is much longer now, he has a beard, and he's even skinnier than in this pic. :)
Austin is the aforementioned Kendal's full-blood brother, the first child of our mom's second marriage, so the half-brother of our older sister, Tana, and me. He was born a few months before I turned six. I was so excited to have a brother, but unfortunately we spent most of our lives not getting along. Into my adulthood we had troubles (especially when he refused to cut his hair for my wedding and all of my pictures of him from that day commemorate a big, blonde afro poof of curls). But now that we're both adults, we have found some common ground and get along fairly well, even if we don't always see eye-to-eye.
Austin is a very disciplined guy. He wanted to be a mechanic, so he set his mind to it and went to school to learn the trade. He works at a local military base as an aircraft mechanic, a job often reserved for retirees who have done the job for a military career plus as a civilian after retirement. He is a vegan, which makes me more disciplined just thinking about it. (Vegans don't eat any animal products at all - no meat, dairy, eggs, anything that came from an animal, in case you didn't know.) He has very strict opinions about life in general, and will argue his side until he's blue in the face. He drives us all crazy sometimes with his debates and arguing, but we love him for it, too. He's got tattoos and piercings and he's full of life. He's got good friends who he would stand behind against all odds and outside influences. He loves to have fun, but he gets to work on time and works hard every day. He loves his dog more than any other animal or human on earth. He supported our mom with love and emotional support when our baby died and we were in Japan. He mourned our daughter, his niece, with us, and was so very excited to find out that I was pregnant again, and with another girl. He loves with condition when he feels conditions are necessary, but with full abandon when he feels you are worthy. He's inspiring, he gives good hugs, he has a great smile and laugh, and he, though usually late, likes to spend time with the family.
I love my brother, who I still (much to his chagrin) call Bubby in his adulthood. He'll always be Bubby, my first brother, the boy who Tana and I tortured with baby (girl) doll clothes when he was a kid and whose childhood Garth Brooks obsession I will always take every chance to share with his friends and girlfriends. I have lots of fond memories of our childhood together, even though the majority of the time we didn't get along. I love my Bubby, and I'm so glad to be his family.
martes, 10 de agosto de 2010
Well...
Had the big reveal ultrasound today! And...............................................
(This is a picture of her girl parts so, you know, she can hate me someday for posting them on the Internet. :))
How about pink, elephants, and EDDY!? It's a GIRL!
Eddy's beautiful real name will be revealed at her birth. We would have been thrilled either way, honestly, but I think our checking account is very excited that it's a girl - only need to buy 2 things before she's born. :)
IT'S A GIRL!
(And this is a nicer picture of our girl's profile, with her hand up by her face. All of the shots were a bit blurred because she was moving around like a mad woman. :))
(This is a picture of her girl parts so, you know, she can hate me someday for posting them on the Internet. :))
How about pink, elephants, and EDDY!? It's a GIRL!
Eddy's beautiful real name will be revealed at her birth. We would have been thrilled either way, honestly, but I think our checking account is very excited that it's a girl - only need to buy 2 things before she's born. :)
IT'S A GIRL!
(And this is a nicer picture of our girl's profile, with her hand up by her face. All of the shots were a bit blurred because she was moving around like a mad woman. :))
domingo, 8 de agosto de 2010
David Mason
Mason and our wonderful dad, David; Easter 2010
What can I say about my youngest brother? He's a crazy man, that's for sure! He's the product of my dad's second marriage, so we share our wonderful dad, but have different moms. Mason was born when I was seven. He and my dad share a first name, so Mason goes by his middle name. He was such a funny kid. I really looked forward to seeing him on the weekends when we were growing up (Tana and I lived with our mom during the week and went to our dad's every weekend). He got in trouble a lot when he was little, which I find really funny today, with the man he's grown up to be. It seems like when we were there on weekends he was permanently in timeout. :)
Mason went through a lot as a kid, since his parents went through several ups and downs as a couple. Since he was almost an only child, with Tana and me only there on weekends, he was alone with adults through it all. He had some struggles through his adolescence, but came out on top of it all. When he was really little he was trained in horse-riding, and won some wonderful awards (belt buckles and even a saddle - this IS Oklahoma, after all).
When Mason was a teenager and his parents divorced, he stayed with our dad until he graduated from high school. He moved out briefly, but is once again with our dad, and loving every second, I think, since he's been "moving out this weekend" for at least 6 months. Mason takes care of our dad, and vice versa. Mason has all of Dad's great qualities but has also matured into his own man. In addition to working on his undergrad degree, he has been working for a locally-owned franchise of a national nutrition store chain for a couple of years. He started at the bottom, working as a salesman, and now, at the age of 21, he's the regional manager for all of the family-owned stores in south Oklahoma City (I think it's 8 stores! at the age of 21!). The store he was managing before his promotion was not only the highest-selling store, but blew the others out of the water in sales by a long shot!
Above all, Mason is a loving, wonderful man. He loves his family, helps out where he's needed, is a faithful friend (his best friend is a man he's known since they were both in elementary school), and spends time with his loved ones when he's not at work. He makes time to do the things to which he's committed, but he finds plenty of time to hang out with his friends and unwind from his demanding work schedule. I couldn't be prouder of my wonderful baby brother. I'm proud to know him, proud of the man he's become, and so looking forward to seeing him grow up even more.
Love you, Pace!
What can I say about my youngest brother? He's a crazy man, that's for sure! He's the product of my dad's second marriage, so we share our wonderful dad, but have different moms. Mason was born when I was seven. He and my dad share a first name, so Mason goes by his middle name. He was such a funny kid. I really looked forward to seeing him on the weekends when we were growing up (Tana and I lived with our mom during the week and went to our dad's every weekend). He got in trouble a lot when he was little, which I find really funny today, with the man he's grown up to be. It seems like when we were there on weekends he was permanently in timeout. :)
Mason went through a lot as a kid, since his parents went through several ups and downs as a couple. Since he was almost an only child, with Tana and me only there on weekends, he was alone with adults through it all. He had some struggles through his adolescence, but came out on top of it all. When he was really little he was trained in horse-riding, and won some wonderful awards (belt buckles and even a saddle - this IS Oklahoma, after all).
When Mason was a teenager and his parents divorced, he stayed with our dad until he graduated from high school. He moved out briefly, but is once again with our dad, and loving every second, I think, since he's been "moving out this weekend" for at least 6 months. Mason takes care of our dad, and vice versa. Mason has all of Dad's great qualities but has also matured into his own man. In addition to working on his undergrad degree, he has been working for a locally-owned franchise of a national nutrition store chain for a couple of years. He started at the bottom, working as a salesman, and now, at the age of 21, he's the regional manager for all of the family-owned stores in south Oklahoma City (I think it's 8 stores! at the age of 21!). The store he was managing before his promotion was not only the highest-selling store, but blew the others out of the water in sales by a long shot!
Above all, Mason is a loving, wonderful man. He loves his family, helps out where he's needed, is a faithful friend (his best friend is a man he's known since they were both in elementary school), and spends time with his loved ones when he's not at work. He makes time to do the things to which he's committed, but he finds plenty of time to hang out with his friends and unwind from his demanding work schedule. I couldn't be prouder of my wonderful baby brother. I'm proud to know him, proud of the man he's become, and so looking forward to seeing him grow up even more.
Love you, Pace!
sábado, 7 de agosto de 2010
Gracious...
Gracious; wow, I'm SO bad about updating this thing! I've been hoping to join a blogging network, but you have to update at least once a week, minimum. At my rate, I'll never get in!
Anyway, I guess I haven't been updating because there isn't that much to report! It's been RIDICULOUSLY hot around here, which sucks. I'm already having hot flashes this pregnancy, which didn't happen until much later last time. I think it's more the 105 degree daily temperature than the baby. We had a reprieve the other day that was about 93-95 degrees. A reprieve!? Crap.
Baby's heart rate is steadily sticking to between 145-155, which still leaves me up in the air for guesses on its sex (I wrote about the myth, I think: over 150bpm is a girl, under 150bpm is a boy). Silly child. HOPEFULLY we'll find out Monday whether it's a boy or girl! Yippee! I've been told that the ultrasound tech at my doctor's office is the best in town, so hopefully we'll have a cooperative child and she'll be able to tell us the sex! Ike or Eddy? Owls or elephants? Blue or pink? Boy or girl? Holy cow, I'm so excited. I'm torn because I LOVE weekends and the time I get with Jim (since I'm gone at least 11 hours each day for my commute and work and Jim works all day and into the evenings most days). But since our appointment is Monday at 3:20 (mark your calendars! send us happy thoughts and prayers for a cooperative baby!), I'm anxious for it to get here. On the one hand I want the weekend to creep by so it feels like I have more time to spend with Jim and unwind, and on the other I want Monday afternoon at 2:30 to be here so I can be leaving work and going back to our city for the appointment! Baby has been nudging me a lot from the inside, which I love to feel. Mostly it's little nudges and pinches, but lately I've had the occasional big push, which makes me giggle. One day I was telling a friend at work that I was feeling too nauseous to eat breakfast (he was giving me a hard time because he thinks you have to eat all the time to make a baby grow), and then a little nudge from my belly told me I had better take some nausea medication and get some food in me! It was pretty funny. Can't wait for it to get stronger! That was definitely the thing I enjoyed most (er... the ONLY thing I enjoyed) with my first pregnancy.
In other news, Jim's cousin, Brad, has decided to try to start anew in Oklahoma, so he flew down (from Denver) last weekend, and will be staying in our guest room for a while, till he's found his own place. It's definitely going to take some getting used to live in a house with two men! Thankfully (for him, I'm sure) he has his own space: his own room with a television and a desk, and his own bathroom on one side of the house, so if he gets annoyed with living with a lovey-dovey couple, or doesn't want to watch what we are on television, or just needs some space, he can have it. We want the best for him and want him to find happiness. He's still young enough to find it (although I think people of any age are young enough to find happiness if they truly want it), and I know Jim enjoys having him here; Brad's been one of his best friends since they were in their teens. Anyway, even though all of us will have to get used to the arrangement, I think we're all happy to have him here.
I'll post again soon, I PROMISE! I have to post Monday to share our big news (or non-news if the baby decides s/he doesn't want to cooperate). And I will continue my sibling series in the near future.
Love and hugs!
Anyway, I guess I haven't been updating because there isn't that much to report! It's been RIDICULOUSLY hot around here, which sucks. I'm already having hot flashes this pregnancy, which didn't happen until much later last time. I think it's more the 105 degree daily temperature than the baby. We had a reprieve the other day that was about 93-95 degrees. A reprieve!? Crap.
Baby's heart rate is steadily sticking to between 145-155, which still leaves me up in the air for guesses on its sex (I wrote about the myth, I think: over 150bpm is a girl, under 150bpm is a boy). Silly child. HOPEFULLY we'll find out Monday whether it's a boy or girl! Yippee! I've been told that the ultrasound tech at my doctor's office is the best in town, so hopefully we'll have a cooperative child and she'll be able to tell us the sex! Ike or Eddy? Owls or elephants? Blue or pink? Boy or girl? Holy cow, I'm so excited. I'm torn because I LOVE weekends and the time I get with Jim (since I'm gone at least 11 hours each day for my commute and work and Jim works all day and into the evenings most days). But since our appointment is Monday at 3:20 (mark your calendars! send us happy thoughts and prayers for a cooperative baby!), I'm anxious for it to get here. On the one hand I want the weekend to creep by so it feels like I have more time to spend with Jim and unwind, and on the other I want Monday afternoon at 2:30 to be here so I can be leaving work and going back to our city for the appointment! Baby has been nudging me a lot from the inside, which I love to feel. Mostly it's little nudges and pinches, but lately I've had the occasional big push, which makes me giggle. One day I was telling a friend at work that I was feeling too nauseous to eat breakfast (he was giving me a hard time because he thinks you have to eat all the time to make a baby grow), and then a little nudge from my belly told me I had better take some nausea medication and get some food in me! It was pretty funny. Can't wait for it to get stronger! That was definitely the thing I enjoyed most (er... the ONLY thing I enjoyed) with my first pregnancy.
In other news, Jim's cousin, Brad, has decided to try to start anew in Oklahoma, so he flew down (from Denver) last weekend, and will be staying in our guest room for a while, till he's found his own place. It's definitely going to take some getting used to live in a house with two men! Thankfully (for him, I'm sure) he has his own space: his own room with a television and a desk, and his own bathroom on one side of the house, so if he gets annoyed with living with a lovey-dovey couple, or doesn't want to watch what we are on television, or just needs some space, he can have it. We want the best for him and want him to find happiness. He's still young enough to find it (although I think people of any age are young enough to find happiness if they truly want it), and I know Jim enjoys having him here; Brad's been one of his best friends since they were in their teens. Anyway, even though all of us will have to get used to the arrangement, I think we're all happy to have him here.
I'll post again soon, I PROMISE! I have to post Monday to share our big news (or non-news if the baby decides s/he doesn't want to cooperate). And I will continue my sibling series in the near future.
Love and hugs!
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