Toots in a line

Yesterday morning as I was getting Kyle dressed, he farted. "Did you just toot?" I asked him. "Yeah," he giggled. "My toots are all waiting in line."

I also had an OB appointment yesterday. Everything looks good! This time he found the heartbeat right away with the doppler. We heard that beautiful sound beating away at 160 beats per minute. No ultrasound at this appointment, unfortunately. Dr. said my weight and blood pressure looked great. We scheduled my big ultrasound for August 10. That means I have about three weeks to decide whether I want to find out the gender. I'm torn. We didn't find out with Kyle, but I'm leaning toward finding out this time. Troy doesn't want to find out, but he said since I'm the one carrying the baby, I get 51% of the vote. Hmmm....

the cat's pajamas

• Kyle just came inside to yell at me. "Mo-om," he whined. "Why you put me in pajamas today?" Then he did his little grunt thing he does when he's frustrated. Yes, I dressed Kyle this morning. But no, I did not dress him in pajamas. The shirt he is wearing is most definitely a regular shirt. I bought it at Wal-Mart. I thought it was rather cute, but who am I to judge pre-school fashion? No matter what I have told him, Kyle remains convinced that he is wearing a pajama shirt. The irony of it all is that Troy has dressed him in pajama shirts beforeBut I digress.) And Kyle has gone an entire day without protesting his pajama outfits. But this shirt has him quite upset. I guess we won't be wearing it again for awhile.

• We've started mentioning to Kyle, very casually, that he's going to be getting a baby brother or sister. He believes he is going to have a baby brother, or baby bruddah, as he says. And baby bruddah will be named Tyler. That's because his friend Blake's baby bruddah is named Tyler. But the other day, he conceded that the baby could be named Parker (another baby at day care) or Carter (his friend Isaac's little bruddah). And this morning, he said his baby bruddah will be named Willie Parker. There's a player in the NFL, a running back I believe but I could be wrong, by that name, and Kyle heard it once on ESPN radio and decided it was the funniest name in the whole wide world. He cracks up whenever we say it. Willie Parker. And now he wants his baby bruddah to be Willie Parker. Then, a few moments later, he announced that Baby Herman would be a very good name, too.

Painting with Kyle

Kyle has suddenly taken up painting. He has never showed much of an interest in the arts and crafts, much to my dismay, but in the past few days he has become a prolific painter, filling in dozens of coloring book pages with his unique painting style. I thought I would share some examples with you.

I'm so proud that he is starting to be mindful of what he is painting. He's actually trying to fill in the colors, instead of just randomly smearing blobs of paint on the paper. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


And here is a rather colorful day on the deep seas:



In this painting, note the addition of the sun in the upper left corner. He's always got such a sunny personality.



Okay, maybe not always:





I find this one a little more disturbing. He still added a sun in the corner, but there's something about the massive streaks of blood red and the purple zombie eyes. Maybe I'll save this one for his shrink.

But I just have to say: What is this image doing in a kids' coloring book, anyway? Maybe they wanted to help kids feel more comfortable around doctors and nurses. But am I the only one getting a Nurse Ratched vibe? "Be a good little boy and take your sedatives, or it's off to electrotherapy for you!" And where are her hands?

I've been keeping a secret...

I've been keeping a secret for a few months now. Some of you know already, and I have put a few subtle hints out there (does anybody scroll to the bottom of my page?) but I decided it is time to share it with everyone.

Yep, that's right. Baby #2 is due 1.9.10. In these ultrasound pics, I was about 11 weeks. Sorry the pictures are so crappy. Our scanner is broken. I finally gave in and just took a picture of them. Don't worry if you can't really see anything. I can't either, but my doctor assures me there's a baby in there.

I am now almost 14 weeks. Hello, second trimester! I've been feeling really good. Occasionally queasy, but not sick like I was with Kyle. And I've been super tired, but then again, that's nothing new. I've been so nervous about having another miscarriage, but my doctor thinks we're out of the woods now. Whew!

So now that it's out in the open, I'll be keeping you posted about how everything is going!

Day 161

Day 160

I love peonies, but they're always covered with ants.

Day 159

At least somebody is using the treadmill. Don't worry, we use all the safety devices so that he can't turn it on when we're not around.

Day 158

Troy's grandmother, Gert, passed away Friday. The funeral was Monday. This is the flower from Kyle that was on her casket.

Day 157

Kyle wearing Grandpa John's hat. He loves to wear Grandpa's hats.

Day 156

Kyle chilling out and drinking some juice before bedtime.

Day 155

I did not take a photo on June 5.

Day 154

Cora (and Ruby too, not pictured) were at Grandma and Grandpa's tonight, so Kyle and I headed up there for supper and some playtime. Here, Kyle, Cora, and Grandpa were playing count the cars, which involved watching for certain colored cars to drive past. Kyle and Cora were having so much fun. I love the excited look on Cora's face in this photo.

Day 153

Kyle has started playing a bit more with his pirate ship. He walks the little pirates around and says, "Avast ye scurvy dog. Aarrgh!"

Day 152

Kyle discovered the joy of popping bubble wrap.

Day 151

Kyle was so happy to have the pool set up, he didn't mind swimming in the sub-zero frigid water.

Day 150

I did not take a picture on May 31.

Day 149

This is a painted daisy that I have growing along the side of the house. Ain't it purty?

Day 148

I did not take a photo on May 29.

Day 147

Kyle decided to play buffalos tonight. I got to be the daddy (the one in the middle), and Kyle was the mommy and the little boy (I don't know which one is which). Our tasks involved going to the scorpion store, waking mommy up from her nap, and returning a bald monkey to the jungle. All in a day's work for a buffalo, I suppose!

Day 146

I did not take a picture on May 27.

Day 146

For Christmas a few years ago, my brother-in-law gave me a copy of the book I wrote about Ella Fitzgerald framed along with her autograph. I love it!

Day 145

Kyle and I made ice cream cone cupcakes. Yummy!

Day 144

We returned to the carnival, and Kyle enjoyed all the rides for a second time. Here he is on a motorcycle.

Day 143

There were a few drops left on the plants after an overnight rainstorm. I thought they made for a pretty picture.

Day 142

The carnival is set up at the Madison East parking lot. Kyle loves it. Here he is enjoying the rollercoaster.