Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve!

I'm really excited about Christmas this year, mostly because Perrin is really excited about Christmas this year. He's had the hardest time staying away from the wrapped presents under the tree--he knows they're for him and he's just dying to open them. (And he's nearly succeeded a couple of times when I had my back turned).

 Yesterday when I asked him what he wants for Christmas, he said, "A baby." I wasn't sure if I'd heard him right, so I asked him to tell me again. "I want two Brielles," he said. Ha. As much as I love Brielle, I'm really glad we only have one of her right now. Sorry Perrin--no more Brielles for us. But I do think it's sweet that he wants another Brielle for Christmas.

I've spent a lot of time this year teaching Perrin the Christmas story with a child-friendly nativity set. He wants to play with it and hear the story just about every day. So he knows all about Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, but he's still pretty hazy on the idea of Santa. We took him to the library to let him meet Santa last week, and he totally did not understand the concept of sitting on Santa's lap to tell him what he wants for Christmas. Instead, he looked back at us like, "Who is this guy, again?"

 

So we never actually got him to sit on Santa's lap. Oh well. He's had lots of other fun experiences this Christmas season, like helping bake and decorate sugar cookies (oh, the mess) and watching classic Christmas cartoons (over and over and over and over and over) and decorating a gingerbread train (which he sneakily munched on over the next couple of weeks until I finally threw it away) and entertaining us with his debut performance as a drummer boy in our church Christmas play (where he spent part of the time drumming the poinsettias instead of his drum and part of the time wandering aimlessly across the stage with his back turned to the audience. But he sure looked cute doing it!)

 

Birthday thoughts

Yesterday was my 28th birthday. It's hard to believe I'm near the end of my 20s... they've gone by fast. (I also just realized that I met Trey more than 10 years ago... wow! Has it really been that long??) So here we are, with a house and two kids, rapidly approaching 30.

We went on a date last night to celebrate, and we left both kids with my parents for the first time. I love my kids, but oh my goodness it was SO incredibly great to get out of the house and enjoy being a couple again. I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in being parents that we forget that we're a young couple in love and that we occasionally need to spend time together talking about something other than choo-choo trains and poop.

We went to Conway for the evening to do some Christmas shopping and eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Mike's Place. There was something really special about going back to the town where we met and fell in love. We drove around and talked about all of our memories there, like the time we went to the park and Trey ordered a pizza in a British accent, or the time I was late for work because Trey and I were having a stimulating conversation online about eyebrows or something, or the time we played on some abandoned carnival rides at midnight (and Trey was freaking out the whole time because he thought the cops would come after us), or the time the cops DID come after us at another park (but we were innocent that time--really.)

After dinner, we drove out to Toad Suck park out on the river. We used to go there for picnics all the time when we were dating. It was dark and chilly, but we walked around for a little while and finally found what we were looking for--a bench where Trey had carved our initials and a heart more than eight years ago. It was still there! We've changed a lot in eight years, but somewhere deep down we're still that couple that loves to explore and enjoy the world together. I wouldn't trade parenthood for anything, but I'm thankful for times like last night to remind me that I'm not JUST a mother... I'm also Trey's wife and best friend. And even though we're currently sleep-deprived and ankle deep in diapers, spit up, and annoying toys, we still like to be goofy and have fun together. And there will be more opportunities for goofy-ness in the future. Life is a lot of work right now, but it won't always be this hard. And someday we can include our kids in our adventures. I told Trey last night that we should take them to Toad Suck in a few years. Maybe we'll even add their initials to our bench.

Two kids: Ten times the work, 1/10 of the sleep

Our baby girl will be three weeks old tomorrow. I can't believe it's already been three weeks! Part of me feels like it's flown by... I still feel like she was just born yesterday. But in some ways it's hard to believe it's only been three weeks because we've had plenty of loooooong days and nights that have made the time drag by.

So here's a recap of our first three weeks as a family of four. In a nutshell: I am TIRED. I'm up and down with Brielle all night long, some nights only getting a couple hours of sleep. Then I'm up with Perrin by about 6 AM every day. That's one reason I'm just now getting around to blogging--if I have a spare moment where both the kids are occupied and/or sleeping, I'm most likely going to spend some quality time with the couch rather than do anything that requires a moderate amount of brain function.

For about as long as I can remember, I've always spent time praying at night in bed before I fall asleep. I've noticed lately that my prayers have gotten a little weird... like, "God, please watch over our family and purple elephants skydive in the ocean....zzzzzzzz." I really do try to stay awake for meaningful prayer time, but it's like I start dreaming while I'm still praying. Perhaps I should try praying out loud--maybe I could stay awake that way. Or if not, at least it would give Trey a good laugh.

Perrin is still doing great as a big brother. He's always asking to hold Brielle, and he gives her kisses and asks to see her "little bitty baby toes." He helps me change her diapers and he checks on her when she's sleeping. He's been pretty perfect, aside from one instance when he asked if he could eat her. But I'm pretty sure he was joking. Hopefully.

On a more serious note, I passed out a couple nights ago. I got up in the middle of the night and was on my way to the bathroom. The next thing I knew, Trey was waking me up from our bedroom floor. Apparently I crashed pretty hard and woke him up. I'm thinking it was caused by anemia... but whatever the case, it was a little scary. I'm having my blood drawn soon to see if we can figure out what's going on. If it is anemia (and I'm almost positive it is), then that adds another layer of fatigue to my already zombie-like body. This zombie will be really happy when Brielle is sleeping through the night!

Despite the challenges, I'm really happy with our little family. Perrin is growing up so fast--he's learning new things every day, getting taller by the second, and talking our ears off. Brielle is so sweet and cute and tiny. I love holding her and rocking her and can't wait to see her personality develop. Our kids are worth all the hard work and sleepless nights. I just need to remind myself of that at 3:00 in the morning. :)

Welcome to the world, Brielle!

Our baby girl is here! And I have to say, my labor with her was a lot better than Perrin's. (THANK YOU, Brielle! No 56-hour ordeal this time!) I woke up around midnight Thursday night/Friday morning feeling a lot of pressure, like she had dropped even further down. At about 12:30 AM, my water broke (seems like these things always happen in the middle of the night. What's with that?) So we called my parents to have them come stay at our house with Perrin, and we headed to the hospital. With a little help from pitocin to get my contractions going a little stronger and closer together, she was born about 12 hours later at 12:49 PM. Even the pushing phase was much easier this time around--I pushed through three contractions,and she was out in less than five minutes. Once the doctors and nurses did the initial weight check/APGAR/clean-up, they all cleared out and left us to bond with our sweet little girl. She snuggled down in my arms and even nursed a little before falling asleep.

I was really excited to introduce Perrin to Brielle, but wasn't too sure what he would think. At best, I hoped he'd be mildly interested but mostly indifferent. At worst, I was afraid he'd be jealous or not like her for some reason. It turns out that he is the sweetest big brother I could have imagined! He petted her head and held her hand and asked if she wanted to play choo-choo trains with him. Then he sat beside me in the hospital bed and held her across his lap. So far, so good! I hope he keeps his sweet nature when he realizes he has to share his mommy with her from now on.

We're back home now, and so far Brielle just seems to sleep and sleep and sleep. Not that I'm complaining... but unfortunately, she wants to do all of her sleeping in someone's arms, which is fine during the day but not so cute at 3:00 in the morning. Oh well... sleep deprivation is part of the package of parenthood. Besides, it's hard to get upset with someone this cute:

Pumpkin patch!

Perrin may not realize it, but he's in the final days of being an only child. My doctor told me at my appointment two days ago that I'm 1 cm dilated, so we're on our way! We've been trying to spend extra time with Perrin doing some fun things in these last weeks before the birth, knowing that soon he probably won't get as much one-on-one time as he's used to. Yesterday I took him on a field trip with his Mother's Day Out program to the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun!

Here we are, near the entrance. From the looks of my belly, it's pretty appropriate that I'm standing next to a giant pig. Speaking of pigs, we got to watch a few pig races while we were there. Miss Piggy won every time. She was apparently highly motivated by Fritos. Also, you can see a little bit of the tire tower in the background. Perrin had a good time scrambling his way to the top.



Next, Perrin wanted to go down the slide. So I stuck him in a potato sack and sent him careening down. The first time he went, we were both a little surprised at how fast it was. Just look at that face!

I didn't know if he'd want to go again, but after the initial shock, I guess he decided he liked it. He was a little better prepared the second time.  

 

Of course, we had to go see the animals. They had goats, sheep, chickens, llamas, and bunnies. Good thing the goats were on the other side of the fence because one of them tried to head-butt Perrin when he grabbed its horn.


Next, we got to go on a hay ride! The tractor pulled us out to a big field where all the kids got to get out a pick a pumpkin. Perrin picked out about 4, and I told him to choose just one. This one was the lucky winner. Perrin asked me if he could eat it. He's his father's son, for sure.

We had some time to just explore the farm before and after our picnic lunch, so Perrin climbed on haystacks, played in the corn pool (which is exactly what it sounds like) and "drove" a choo-choo train.

We had such a good time that I'm already making plans for us to go back next year... as a family of four. :)

Pregnancy update: 35/36 weeks

We've made it to October, which means our daughter might be born THIS MONTH! I feel like I've been pregnant for about a decade, but even so, it's strange to think we're finally nearing the end (or rather, the beginning). And I realized the other day that I've taken almost no pictures of this pregnancy, so I had Trey snap a picture of me a few days ago at 35 weeks. I seem to have exploded in growth lately:

When I reached this point with Perrin, I was concerned a lot with the impending labor and delivery, and I was wondering if I would know how to take care of a baby. This time, I'm not too worried about labor (surely it can't be as bad as the 56 hours of torture I survived with Perrin), plus I feel a little more confident about all the baby things that were so mysterious to me the first time around. Most of my worries this time are centered around Perrin and how he'll handle the transition and how I'm going to juggle the demands of a newborn with a very rambunctious toddler.

Yesterday Perrin was singing Happy Birthday to my tummy,which was very cute and sweet. And he mentioned something to me about Brielle playing choo-choo trains with him. So he doesn't seem disturbed at all that a baby is coming to live with us soon. On the other hand, he really has no idea what he's in for. It's obvious to me from the times I've babysat other kids that he does not like to share me. So I keep wondering how in the world this is going to work out. Then I have to remind myself that millions of people have managed two kids at once. Some people even manage 5 or 10 or 15 kids at once. Having only two kids sounds like a walk in the park when you look at it that way. (Of course, I don't think ANYONE could handle 15 Perrins. It would be the cutest, most destructive, hyperactive, dog-terrorizing crew of energetic nudists this world has ever seen. Not that I would change anything about him because I truly do love his spunky personality--chaos and all.)

I could analyze this situation to death, but I'm just going to have to wait and see how it all goes. Until then, I'll spend lots of quality time with my little boy and enjoy all the one-on-one time we have for now. And I'll marvel at the little life kicking away inside me and appreciate these last weeks of pregnancy (in spite of back aches, heartburn, and my Shamu-like figure) because this could be the last time I experience the miracle of pregnancy.

I love my kids. And I believe that one day they'll love each other. And somehow God will enable me and Trey to give our kids all the love and attention they both need and deserve.

Colors, numbers, and keeping our clothes on

Perrin started back at "school" (Mother's Day Out) a couple weeks ago. All of last year, he went only one day a week (5 hours total). This year he's in it two days a week. He's adjusting wonderfully--he loves going to school to play with toys and go down the slide and make new friends. Plus he's learning some preschool concepts in a really low-pressure environment.

Just one teensy problem. HE WON'T KEEP HIS CLOTHES ON!!! Since he's about 98% potty trained at this point, I've been sending him to school in underwear. He's handled it really well, for the most part. But the very first day of school he needed to go potty, and I guess he wasn't sure what to do. So he just stripped naked in the middle of the classroom. The teachers were busy getting lunches ready, so they didn't notice until a little girl screamed, "He's NAKED!"

::Sigh:: The teachers were really nice to me about it. They said it wasn't a big deal, but I might want to have a little conversation with him about it. Uh, yeah... I'll just say, "Perrin keep your clothes on, okay?" And he'll say, "Yes, Mother." And our problems will be solved. Now why didn't I think of that?

Well, I DID talk to him about it, and he did fine for the next week or so. Then earlier this week he did it again. But this time, after he undressed himself, he redressed himself. Progress! Unfortunately, Perrin really isn't so good at dressing himself yet... he pulled his cargo shorts on backwards. His teachers thought it might be demoralizing to redress him, so they praised his efforts and let him wear backwards shorts the rest of the day. When I went to pick him up, his cargo strings were hanging down behind him like little twin tails. I have to admit I felt a little silly walking out of school with him.

Our toddler, the nudist

Perrin has been doing surprisingly well with potty training lately. He wore underwear all day long yesterday (even to church in the morning) with no accidents. Yippie! We taught him how to pull down his pants and underwear for himself so he doesn't need help every step of the way. He likes that part. Good news: he can go potty on his own without even telling me he needs to go. Bad news: He can get his clothes off, but he can't get them back on. And he happens to love running around naked.

The other day, his cousin Brandon was over playing at our house. The boys disappeared for a few minutes, and when they came back, Perrin had taken off all his clothes and was dragging his potty chair into the living room floor. With Brandon watching, Perrin sat down, pottied, and clapped for himself. I took him to the bathroom and reminded him that we need to keep our clothes ON in front of other people. But I also praised him for going in the potty. Maybe the mix of praise and correction was confusing for him. Whatever the case, he still seems to think it's perfectly acceptable to take off his clothes whenever and wherever he feels like it.

We've had a couple more "incidences" since then. Yesterday at my parents house, Perrin climbed into the bed of my dad's truck and for some reason decided to take off his pants and underwear. I ran over and got him dressed, but by then he'd already given the neighborhood a show.

Today I needed to get some dishes done, so I let Perrin go out into the backyard to play. He likes playing out there by himself (I guess it makes him feel grown up) and I can easily keep an eye on him from the kitchen window. I noticed him playing in the sand box, and then groaned when I remembered that it was filled with rain water. I knew Perrin would be filthy. I watched him for a few minutes and thought, "Hmm. It kind of looks like he took his shirt off." I squinted, trying to see if he really had taken his shirt off or if it was just difficult for me to see a light yellow shirt from that distance. Sure enough, I decided he had definitely taken his shirt off. Then he stood up. He was 100% naked, and dripping with sand and dirty water.

I rushed outside, carried his squirmy body into the house and deposited him in the bath tub, despite his protests to the tune of "Perrin swim in sand box!! Perrin swim in sand box!!"

Whew. I'm not sure what to do with this kid. I can just see him stripping the next time we're grocery shopping. Anyone know how to instill a sense of modesty in a two-year-old exhibitionist?

poop+mud+mess=sanctification

It's barely after noon, and so far today Perrin has pooped in his underwear, dumped dish detergent all over the kitchen floor, broken a lamp, and walked across the couch with muddy shoes. I can't finish cleaning up one mess before he gets into something else. I'm exhausted and frustrated. And I have to be honest--the broken lamp was the last straw for me, and I did NOT react well. After yelling at Perrin (something I swore I would never do as a parent), I locked him in his room so I could clean up the shards of porcelain. He seemed pretty oblivious to my anger--I could hear him playing with his toys, completely  unaware that his mother was entertaining visions of packing him off to live with the grandparents for the next five years.

As I swept and threw away my beautiful lamp (which happened to be a wedding present), I had to remind myself that stuff is just stuff and that the way I raise Perrin will last forever. Since he was playing happily in his bedroom, I took a few minutes to stretch out on the couch and read a few passages from Psalms. Then I went to check on Perrin (good thing, too, because he was about to smear play-dough all over his face). I gave him a hug and apologized for yelling at him. I know he wasn't trying to be bad today. He's just a normal two-year-old.

I love what Psalm 127:3-4 says about kids: "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth."

I know Perrin is a gift. He's a gift in the sense that he brings me so much joy and fills me with love. But he's a gift in a less obvious way, too--he forces me to become a less selfish, more humble, more patient and loving version of myself. And that's not always fun, to be honest. And like today, I don't always pass the test. Instead I get a glimpse into my human nature that reminds me how desperately I need God to help me live up to the incredible privilege of being a mom.

When I feel like a failure, I have to remind myself that God not only uses times like these to show me my weaknesses and my need for His grace in my life, but He can also use them for good in Perrin's life. Perrin will learn a lot more from a mother who messes up but admits to those faults and seeks forgiveness than from a mother who acts perfectly all the time.

Even so, it's tough. Raising kids is tough. Sanctification is tough. Typing out this blog and admitting to myself how far short I fall is tough. But it's worth it.

Zumba!

I started going to a zumba class back in December or January, and I really loved it. Then towards the end of February I found out I was pregnant, and within a couple weeks I was puking non-stop and barely had the energy to peel my head off the pillow in the mornings, much less shake my booty for a solid hour. But once I finally got past the morning sickness, I returned to zumba, baby bump and all.

So Brielle and I have been dancing to sexy Latin music a couple times a week for the past couple months. Now that I'm about 6 months pregnant though, I'm definitely realizing that my zumba days are numbered. My belly is getting bigger and I'm a little afraid I'm going to shake her out onto the gym floor if I'm not careful. Plus I can feel my stamina leaking away week by week.

Case in point: Yesterday morning I went to zumba like usual. After about 45 minutes into it, I was huffing and puffing and clutching my belly as I jumped around during a particularly fast song. When the song ended, a girl next to me asked really sweetly, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I wheezed. "It's just a lot of bouncing. It's getting a little tougher for me."

"You're not about to go into labor, are you?"

"No, I'm only about 6 months."

"Okay... well, just take it easy. Be sure to sit down if you need to." She eyed me skeptically, like she thought I might keel over at any minute.

Hmmm. I guess I was looking a little overspent. And I admitted to myself that I probably should take a break--an hour of cardio is a lot for a pregnant woman. But I have this teensy tiny problem... I can be a wee bit competitive. (I know, that's a shocker, right?) And as I looked around the room, I kept thinking, "If all these ladies can make it a full hour without taking a break, I can too!"

But since I truly don't want to go into labor on the gym floor, I'm resolving to take it a little easier from here on out. I just need to swallow my pride and admit that my body needs more rest these days. Speaking of swallowing my pride, I should also admit that being pregnant and doing zumba is probably the dorkiest-looking thing I could do. Actually, that reminds me of a picture Trey found online for me not too long ago:

Busy week, happy boy

Perrin is taking a nice, long nap right now. I think he's making up for being on the go constantly the past few days. Monday he went with his Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Paul, and cousin Brandon (or as Perrin calls him, "Bacon") to the zoo. Tuesday he went with them to the Children's Museum. Tuesday night we took the boys to Chuck E Cheese (Trey and I did our duty and played about 50 rounds of skeeball to earn the boys enough tickets to buy toys and candy. I'm sure the prizes equate to roughly $5 per tiny box of nerds, but hey... you gotta do what you gotta do). Wednesday we took them to the park, then to Brandon's Granny's house to swim in the pool.

Whew. That's a lot of fun packed into a few days for a 2 and 3 year-old. But I have to say, they are sooooooo cute together! Every morning this week, Perrin has been waking up and saying, "Play with Bacon!" And since Perrin likes to run away, Brandon made it his personal mission to go after Perrin and drag him by the hand back to the group every time Perrin tried to go off and explore. "Bacon" comes in handy!

A couple things I noticed this week: Perrin has become really social. He's not a baby anymore. He's interested in making friends and having adventures on his own away from Mommy. Kind of sad. The other thing I noticed is that he's bossy. I don't know how many times I overheard him saying stuff like, "Bacon, sit. Bacon, come here. Bacon, stop that." I have no idea where he could have gotten his bossiness from. As I told Trey the other day, I'm certainly not bossy. I just know what everyone else is supposed to be doing at all times.

Brandon is headed back home to Northwest Arkansas today, so Perrin has lost his new BFF until next visit. When Perrin asked about "Bacon" this morning, I tried to explain that he had gone back home and we would see him again someday soon. I was feeling kind of sad for my boy, knowing that a month or two is like a lifetime when you're a toddler. I asked him if he missed Brandon. He nodded. Then he told me I have pretty toes. I guess he's not too choked up.

Pregnancy comparison

I'm halfway through this pregnancy. Yay! I've been thinking lately about how different this pregnancy has been from my first one. They say that no two pregnancies are alike, just as no two babies are alike, but I have to be honest--I kinda thought it would pretty much be the same experience the second time around. But it's not.

First off, the morning sickness has been waaaaay worse this time around. I thought I had it bad enough with Perrin, but at least with him it only lasted the first 13 weeks. Once I hit the 2nd trimester, I felt great--I had tons of energy, clear skin, a healthy appetite (maybe a little TOO healthy), and got lots of complements on how cute I looked with my pregnant belly. At this point, I'm still not feeling great (but I can at least choke down my breakfast and keep it down... progress!) So I guess the old wives tale that morning sickness is worse when you're carrying a girl is true for me. It's also an old wives tale that boys will give you beauty and girls will take it away. I won't go into my skin and hair issues, but I'm telling you... there's something to these old wives tales.

Another difference: With my first pregnancy, I felt Perrin moving pretty consistently throughout the day and night. That was a pattern that he started in the womb and continued as a newborn--wake, sleep, wake, sleep. As far as I can tell from Brielle, she's asleep all day and awake all night. Joy.

I've been reading back through some of my blogs from my first pregnancy, and I was a little surprised at how often I was blogging--at least once a week, or sometimes twice a week. It's not that this pregnancy has been less interesting to me or that I don't have any new thoughts to share, but since I have a toddler running around this house this time around, I'm just too busy! Example: A couple days ago, Perrin wandered into the spare room (soon to be his new bedroom) and found all of our puzzles and games that we were in the process of moving to a new location. I was busy answering some e-mails and didn't monitor him for about five minutes. Big mistake... in those five minutes, he managed to dump out two puzzles (one was 1000 pieces), an entire trivial pursuit game (all the cards and game pieces), a game of doodle dice (bunch of cards and dice), Lego Creationary (which has about a million tiny lego pieces) and some other assorted cards and instruction manuals. What took him five minutes to dump across the floor took me AGES to pick back up and sort into proper boxes. Who has time to blog about pregnancy with a two-year-old in the house?? (Reminds me of a quote I saw on Pinterest the other day: "Having a two-year-old is like having a blender with no lid.")

Bottom line: It's true--pregnancy is different the second time around. Here's hoping the labor and delivery are different, too... cuz 56 hours of labor is not something I want to relive.

It's a girl!

I guess I need to tell Perrin to watch out... a little sister is on the way! Yep, it's a girl! She looked healthy and active on the ultrasound, which is a huge relief because I haven't been feeling as much movement from her as I did from Perrin. Maybe she'll be a little more calm and snuggly than he is. I love my little boy and his bucket loads of energy, but sometimes I just want to cuddle!

Now that we know it's a girl, I guess it's safe to announce that we're naming her Brielle. Isn't that pretty? (And if you don't like it, I don't want to hear it!) Also, I might be a tiny bit further along in the pregnancy than we originally thought. My new estimated due date is Halloween. (Brielle, please don't be born on Halloween. Okeedokee?)

We're so excited to have a little girl, but I sort of feel like I'm becoming a parent for the first time all over again. I think if we'd found out it was a boy, I would have thought, "Okay, I know exactly what I'm doing. I've got this." But having a daughter is going to be brand new territory.  

Oh, well. I'm too happy to worry about that now. We're having a girl! We really are so blessed!

Sweet or unsweet?

Perrin can be such a sweetheart. I love when he climbs up on the couch beside me, puts his head on my arm, and says, "Best friends." It's a good thing he has his sweet moments to make up for dumping cocoa powder all over the living room or for peeing on the floor at the library (yep, that happened recently. But that's another story for another day).

I keep wondering what he'll be like as a big brother. Will he be sweet to his little sibling? I hope so. But lately he's been climbing up on my stomach and saying, "Sit on baby." Probably not the best precedent to be setting. And he's incredibly jealous of other kids who try to climb into my lap or steal my attention.I worry that this will be a tough transition for him. On the other hand, he also kisses my tummy and says, "Wake up baby!" as if he just can't wait for the baby to come out and play.

So it'll be interesting to see if the baby brings out his sweet or spicy personality. Speaking of the baby, I'm 17 weeks pregnant now and I think I might possibly be past the awful morning sickness. At least I think I'm past the worst of it... I still have occasional nausea. But that's nothing compared to throwing up half the day. So, yay! AND... big news... we'll find out if we're having a boy or girl in a week and a half!!! I can't wait! Perrin keeps changing his mind about whether he wants a brother or sister. I'm not even completely sure he knows what those words mean. I asked him again a few minutes ago if he wants a brother or a sister. He said, "Brother, sister? Want toys."

Making room for baby

I'm 15 weeks pregnant. Still throwing up. :( On the up side, I'm starting to feel the faintest little flutters of movement. It makes the fatigue and nausea a teensy bit more tolerable. Well, as tolerable as puking up stomach acid can be.

Anyway, now that we're getting closer to the halfway point, I've been kind of freaking out because we still have SO much to do to get ready. Mainly, we have to clean out 29-year's worth of accumulated electronics, nerf guns, ugly robots, legos, and things that I can't identify from "the man cave"--previously known as Trey's room. It's been quite an experience going through everything. To give you an idea, I've compiled some statistics:

Number of toys in our house left over from my childhood: 0
Number of toys in our house left over from Trey's childhood: 5,397
Number of those toys covered in dog hair: 5,397
Number of those toys I've managed to sell so far: 3

So as you can see, we still have a long way to go before the room will be ready for Perrin. Aside from getting rid of stuff, we also have to paint, recarpet, set up a new bed for Perrin, and move all his furniture and toys. And THEN we can do some work on the nursery to get it ready for the next baby.

So, sweet little baby #2, I really need you to stop making me throw up so I can get some stuff done. Okay? Okay.

Pregnancy update--12.5 weeks

I'm nearing the end of the first trimester. Yay! I'll be 13 weeks on Saturday, which is right around the time I stopped having morning sickness when I was pregnant with Perrin. I am PRAYING the same is true for this pregnancy. The puking started earlier with this one and has been a little more intense, so I'm ready for some relief.

I've been taking zofran some just to get me through the day, but I've tried all the natural remedies too. Crackers (threw 'em up), ginger ale (threw it up), ginger snaps (threw 'em up), etc etc. Who would have thought the quickest way to get rid of those stubborn extra 5 pounds I was holding on to from my first pregnancy was to get pregnant again??

I know I'm being whiny and ungrateful. I'm really, really happy to be pregnant and to add to our family. But I am soooo tired. And sick. And I just want to be able to eat without gagging.

Okay, whining over. Happy thoughts: Perrin likes to poke my belly and say, "Hi, baby!" Then he'll blow bubbles on my stomach and say, "Wake up!" What a good big brother he is. :) I've asked him several times if he wants a baby to come live with us. He nods his head and says, "Yes!" My mom asked if the baby could wear his Toy Story flip flops. He got a really concerned look on his face and said, "No! My shoes!" So I guess he's okay with a baby coming to live with us as long as it doesn't steal his shoes.

Happy Easter!

I love Easter. Now that Perrin is 2, I can teach him a little about the meaning of Easter and why we celebrate Christ's resurrection. I love the colored eggs and chocolate and Easter eggs hunts too... but it was fun to spend some time with Perrin all week learning the Easter story through toddler-friendly activities (FamilyLife's Resurrection Eggs are awesome, by the way.)

This morning, I decided to continue building on what we've learned this week by making "resurrection rolls" for breakfast. I got the idea from Pinterest. Basically, you take a marshmallow that represents Christ's body, and you dip it in butter and cinnamon and sugar to represent the oil and spices that were used to anoint the body. Then you put the marshmallow into crescent roll dough (symbolizing the tomb) and close it tight. When you cook it, the marshmallow is supposed to melt and disappear so that you're left with an empty "tomb" when you bite into the crescent roll. Nifty idea, huh?

Well, it would have been if it had worked. The marshmallows we used weren't technically fresh... they had condensed a bit and were a little tough and chewy. That's probably why the metaphorical body of Christ, instead of disappearing, puffed up to about ten times its normal size and then slowly began oozing out of the "tomb." Not exactly useful for explaining the story of Easter.

Oh well. It tasted good anyway. And Perrin had fun dipping the marshmallows with me and babbling: "Jesus. Tomb. Empty. Candy!" I suppose that's a pretty good toddler summary of Easter.

Here we go again...

I've been pondering a question in my mind for the last few days: If you win the jackpot, do you keep playing the lottery? No, Trey and I haven't taken up gambling. I'm way too cheap for that. I'm thinking about it in relation to having kids. Perrin is so perfect (temper tantrums and affinity for mud puddles aside) that I really do feel like we won the jackpot with him. I love him to death; he's healthy, happy, funny, smart, cute, brave... everything I could have ever dreamed for in a child.

Here we are, pregnant again! Now that I know how awesome parenting can be, I'm really excited to add to our family and have another sweet baby to cuddle and love. But... is it possible that we could really be blessed with TWO perfect children? I don't want Baby #2 to ever feel like he/she has to live up to some impossible standard set by our wonderful first child. But come on... Perrin is pretty stinking awesome.

It also just occurred to me that Baby #2 might read this blog someday and wonder if we really do love him/her as much as we love Perrin. Well, dear Baby #2, let me just say that we already love you with our whole hearts and can't wait to meet you. We know you and Perrin will have very different strengths and personalities, and we are so excited to learn all about you! Yes, your older brother is amazing. But you are too. Also, you're making me throw up an awful lot right now but I love you anyway. You're totally worth it. Doesn't that make you feel good?

Happy anniversary to us!

Yesterday was our 6-year anniversary. In the first few years of our marriage, we made it a point to always travel somewhere fun for our anniversary--Eureka Springs, Branson, Hot Springs, etc. We have some awesome memories of sleeping in a tree house, relaxing in a mountain-side hot tub, horseback riding, and exploring together. Now that we have a child, anniversary celebrations have been toned down a bit. We didn't even leave the house yesterday evening--just cooked a nice dinner together (with Perrin scrambling into our laps as we tried to eat), and fell asleep soon after putting Perrin to bed. Fun, but not exactly on par with previous anniversaries. And not exactly loaded with romance. To top things off, both Perrin and I woke up puking yesterday morning. Nothing says "romance" like being sick AND cleaning up someone else's throw up!

We are in the diapers/bedtimes/messes/Elmo overload/playdough on everything phase of life right now. And I'm okay with it--in fact, I wouldn't have it any other way. But I do feel tinges of nostalgia for our carefree days of dating whenever and wherever we felt like it. I guess even as adults we still experience some "growing pains." I'm happy with where we are; I'm excited for the future. But change is always tough.

Between feeling sick yesterday and exhausted by the time dinner was over, I'm not even sure if I kissed my husband yesterday. On our anniversary!! Isn't that sad? I did send him on an "Anniversary Egg" hunt (similar to an Easter Egg hunt... one chocolate egg hidden for every year we've been married). But I'm telling you... my creative and romantic powers must have taken that anniversary trip without me because I feel about as romantic as a stick.

So, dear Trey, I apologize that your previously romantic wife is too tired to even give you a kiss on our anniversary (or too tired to remember, if in fact we did kiss...) I know this is just a stage and we'll have many wonderful anniversaries to celebrate in the years to come. In the meantime, we'll just have to settle for snuggling on the couch with the Veggie Tales theme song playing in the background as our toddler flushes his toy trains down the toilet. Maybe we can even sneak in a kiss before he pours his apple juice on his head.

Happy birthday, Perrin!

My little boy turned two years old yesterday. It's hard to believe I'm the mom of a two-year-old! It was fun celebrating with family over the weekend. We took Perrin to the Museum of Discovery on Saturday, and he had SO much fun.

Here he is digging for dinosaurs. It was tough pulling him away from this to see the rest of the museum. I think he would have played in this spot all day if I'd let him.

The museum had plenty of cute props to explore--a barn, a kitchen, a pirate ship, a lighthouse, etc.Perrin kept trying to go in and out the windows instead of using the doors.

 Here's my big boy climbing his first rock wall! (With a little help from Daddy).

Perrin climbed up inside this exhibit so that he could get a closer look at the balls floating on air. It worked out fine until he started throwing the balls out of the exhibit, and I had to go chase them through the museum.

When we got home, we had a party with balloons, food, presents, and Elmo cupcakes! I got this idea from Pinterest, and mine are totally not as cute as the ones I found online. They don't look much like Elmo, either. And I couldn't get the frosting perfectly red, so I had to serve pink Elmos. Not very manly... but Perrin didn't seem to mind.

Sneaky toddler

Earlier today, I was in my bedroom fixing my hair. Perrin was dumping my makeup out on the floor and stealing money from his daddy's change bucket (a pretty typical morning for us). Then he suddenly walked out of my room, shut the door hard behind him, and yelled at me, "Don't open!" My first thought was, "Great... my son, who isn't even two yet, is already trying to boss me around." When really, my first thought should have been, "Wait a second... he always wants me to play with him. What's he planning to do that he wants me to stay in my room for?" Well, I figured it out a couple minutes later. I heard the pitter patter of little feet as he ran into his room then came out again and went into the bathroom. A few seconds later, I heard water running in the sink. My cue to check up on him.

When I opened the bathroom door, he was in the process of washing his pajamas in the sink. Water was everywhere. And he definitely had a guilty look on his face.

He's tried a couple times since then to close me into a room. But when he uses that telltale phrase, "Don't open!" I can be sure he's about to do something mischievous. So, for now, I'm at least enjoying the couple minutes of advanced notice.

Two years down

I know I haven't blogged in a while... it's not that I haven't had anything to write about. It's just that this month has been so busy. In the last couple of weeks, we've gotten new windows, refinanced our home, started working out at the local rec center, and started leading a Thursday night Bible study. (Trey's actually the one leading the Bible study... but I help with preparation. And I make yummy snacks.) It seems like we've had something to do or somewhere to go every night lately.

For some reason, time seems to go by so much faster when you have a lot to do. I feel like my life is on fast-forward right now. Not to mention that Perrin will be two next month. TWO! I can't believe we have a two-year-old. His life must be stuck on fast-forward too. His vocabulary is really exploding, and he's starting to string together words into simple sentences (things like "Where poo-poo go?" when he flushes the potty, or "want this" when he sees, well, anything.) He's not a baby anymore. But that fact still seems to take me by surprise every day.

I miss having a tiny, snuggly, cooing baby. But I love having a noisy, adventurous, mud-covered little boy. The toddler stage can be a lot of fun. It can be difficult too--like when he stands up on his chair at the dinner table and Trey tells him to sit down, so he sits down on the table. Or when my mom hands him his toothbrush but forgets to put toothpaste on it, so he hurls it across the room and yells, "paste!" He's defiant, willful, stubborn, selfish, disobedient, and prone to the worst temper tantrums I have ever seen. He's also incredibly smart, independent, funny, determined, and affectionate. Not to mention super cute. :)

I can't slow down time, but I can try to let go of the things that make me want to pull my hair out and just appreciate this awesome stage he's in. Yes, toddlers can be difficult to handle. But they can be so much fun too. These years are going by fast, and I'll never get to enjoy this stage with Perrin again. So I'm making it a goal to press the pause button now and then. I'll leave the dishes undone, the computer turned off, and promise myself to exercise "later." Then I'll give Perrin my undivided attention and simply live in the moment with him. I think he's waking up from his nap now, so it's time to go practice what I preach!

Adventures in potty training

Perrin has recently taken an interest in the potty. Yay! Up until now, he's enjoyed playing in the toilet, flushing the toilet, and occasionally throwing items in the toilet, but not doing anything, um, productive in it. But for the last couple of weeks, he's really impressed me. I'd say he's using the potty at least 50% of the time now. (Which means we're saving 50% on diapers--woo hoo!)

A couple of hiccups we've run into along the way:
1. When it's time to get down to business, only the grown-up potty will do. He refuses to use his cute soccer ball potty chair that we bought for him. I'm not sure why... it even cheers for him. But alas, the soccer ball goes largely unused... except for when he wants something to sit on while he's watching cartoons. Then he'll drag it into the living room and plop down on it like it's a recliner. Classy.

2. Perrin has been sitting down to pee, which works great. But a few days ago I guess he realized that Daddy gets to stand and pee, and now I cannot get that boy to put his butt on the toilet seat to save my life. He insists on standing. The problem is that he's not tall enough to reach the potty on his own, and his aim isn't that great. My attempts to hold him over the toilet and aim him have resulted mostly in temper tantrums and a big mess to clean. I've wrestled with him over this issue for the last couple of days, and I'm finally throwing in the towel. Trey is at the store as we speak looking for a nice step stool so that Perrin can stand up to pee and I don't have to spray down the entire bathroom with bleach every time afterwards (I hope).

3. Now that Perrin is in the midst of potty training, he's interested in all things potty related. He loves books about potties; he loves playing with potties; he loves talking about pee pee and poo poo. This is a fair warning to you: if you need to use the bathroom and Perrin is in the near vicinity, he WILL want to stand three inches away and watch your every move. He'll also tear a 10-foot wad of toilet paper off the roll for you and flush the toilet for you--whether you're ready or not.

All in all, I can't complain. Potty training is messy business, but we are inching our way closer to the days of no more diapers (does anyone else hear the Hallelujah chorus?)