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7.22.2009

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....




7.20.2009

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.

7.09.2009

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!




6.10.2009

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!

5.30.2009

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.

5.24.2009

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.

Day 141

The neighbor's hydrangea bush is in full bloom.

Day 140

I hadn't taken a picture yet that day, and instead of hunting down Doris, I just snapped a quick one of Kyle. He was headed upstairs for bedtime.

Day 139

Kyle was crying because he had to come inside after playing with his new friend, Isaac.

Day 138

I collect things that say "JOY"--they remind me of my goal to keep my house and my life full of joy.

Day 137

I did not take a photo on May 17. I'm so ashamed.

Day 136

Kyle likes to hang out at Barnes and Noble and play with their Thomas the Tank Engine train table. It's one of our regular destinations.

Day 135

I did not take a photo on May 15. Shame on me.

Day 134

The front of our refrigerator--chaos, just like the rest of our life.

Day 133

When we first moved in, there were bunches of irises that would grow in our garden. They've thinned out quite a bit, but I still enjoy the ones that do bloom.

Day 132


Whenever it is late at night and I realize I haven't taken a photo yet, Doris is my go-to subject. She's easier to find than Loki, and easier to photograph too. This one cracks me up, though, because it looks like she's trying to communicate with her mother ship.

5.11.2009

Day 131

Remember those eggs? Well, they hatched!

Day 130

The next day, Bingo got some exercise by running along behind Kyle on his Big Wheel.

Day 129

Kyle and I took Bingo for a walk over to the river.

Day 128

Kyle eating some cheez-its before bedtime. It's one of the few foods he'll eat on a regular basis.

5.09.2009

Day 127

Troy hates getting his picture taken, which is why I don't have many of him in this album. Sometimes I just have to catch him a little off guard.

Day 126

Day 125

When we told Kyle we were going to see Hermann the German, he said, "I need my sword!" But when we got there, all his armor wasn't enough to make him feel very brave. He kept his eyes closed and cried as we tried to get him to go a little closer to the statue. This is as close as he would get.

Day 124

Kyle didn't want to go to bed. I post so many happy pictures of him, I thought I'd show his other side.

5.01.2009

Day 121

I have not worn my wedding ring on my finger since October because I needed it resized. I've been wearing it on a chain on my neck instead. But I finally got it resized and picked it up today. It feels so good to have it back on my finger.

Day 120

We have a bird's nest in our garage. Getting this picture involved climbing on a ladder, which freaks me out completely. I could only climb three steps and then hold the camera over my head and hope for the best. I just couldn't get myself to climb up even one more step.

Day 119

Loki in the bathtub, hoping for a drink from the magic faucet.

4.28.2009

Day 118

Things are blooming all over! Snapped this up on the campus where I work.

Day 117

Kyle just started to spontaneously giggle while brushing his teeth this morning, so I had to take a picture of his giggle fit.

Day 116

These are the little treats I made to put in the break room to try to raise money for the MS Walk.

4.25.2009

Day 115

There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on the race track tonight.