Throwback

I found this vintage Madeline video when I was sorting through some old pics....it was her first "real" laugh. Notice everything Mommy and daddy had to do to get it done!

The government that governs best...

I had to call the IRS this morning which was exactly as painful and inept as you would imagine it would be.

Madda is OBSESSED with talking to anyone on the phone that she possibly can. Gramma, Daddy, Mommy's friends have all indulged her by talking to her on the phone. The other day I told her I was talking to the doctor and she couldn't talk to him. So every time I pick up the phone she says "Talk to doctor? Talk to doctor!"

Today she was whining at the top of her lungs to talk on the phone when I was trying to talk. I finally got frustrated and said "Madeline I am talking to the government NOT THE DOCTOR!"

She got quiet and then said sheepishly, "Talk to goberment?"

Swimmers

Steve sent me an e-mail this week that he received at work. Ball State was

offering a beginning swim class for toddlers! He thought it would be a fun date for him and Madeline! *Segue - can I just say how much I LOVE that he didn't forward it to me and say "This would be great for YOU to do with Madeline" !!!! He found it and wanted my opinion on HIS taking her to do it together. What a man!*

So today was their first class. I got the bag all packed with her swim diapers and suit and a change of clothes and a snack etc... and took this picture before they walked out the door. I think she's saying, "Mom do I REALLY need all this stuff??" Nonetheless...

I was excited at the prospect of being home alone for a while to get some things done around the house and just to have a nice quiet home in which to do it! I got to sleep in (though, I get to do that every weekend because my awesome husband gets up with Madeline Saturdays and Sundays) and have breakfast in bed, and - after kissing my baby and husband goodbye - got lots of stuff done!

But then I felt left out. The entire time they were gone I kept wondering what they were doing, if Madeline liked the water, if I remembered to pack everything for them, what she was going to remember about the class.... I felt so......left out....... Talk about having your cake and eating it too! Here I have a many wanting to invest good quality time with his daughter, and all the sudden I feel out of the loop! I guess being at home, you are used to being 90-100% involved in all things. It's probably good for BOTH of us that he's the leader on this...though he did coax me into taking her next week while he's out of town. Yum - big maternity mama in the water....

OK Blogger - die

After ALL that work....and blogger still jacks me up......GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Half n Half (2)

Half n Half

Well it is official that two of the four bedrooms in our house are now children's rooms. Crazy. I picked out an "Alice in Wonderland" theme for Madeline's nursery as soon as we found out it was a girl. Steve was totally game as neither of us are really "Nursery in a Bag" type of people. (Not that there's anything wrong with that at ALL - if there had been an Alice in Wonderland nursery set I totally would have bought it!) I just like things different. So with his painting talent and my mom's recent discovery of ebay, we put together a pretty unique nursery.

When baby2 decided to make an appearance in our lives, we now had to figure out another nursery theme. When we found out it was a boy we discussed all kinds of different options. Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Planets, and the Chicago Stock Market. (Hmmm whose idea was that last one?) We finally agreed on a Pirate Ship room after finding some pretty cool ideas on the internet.

We had a blank canvas to work with as most of the house is either beige or white. This particular room however was my "ebay room." So the challenge was more getting it clean. But I took it little by little, marked down my prices on ebay, and made myself purge a lot of the rest. All of the furniture in the room went down the lakehouse on Monday, so we have a nice clean room!

Steve and I found the design we liked best online and he went to work. Since it actually takes some artistic ability that immediatley ruled out my ability to help at all. I got the dropclothes moved around and did lots of taping and then cheered him on. I did try my hand at making some treasure maps that we're going to hang on the wall - and that too was a bit harder than I thought!

So above are the pictures of the room before... since Blogger is still in the stone age and loads all the pictures backwards, the NEXT post shows our progress so far.

Naming Names

It's tempting to think that picking a name for the baby is one of the harder parts of the pregnancy, but after THIS pregnancy - I wouldn't tend to agree. But yet, it seems to be a huge responsibility..... this is the name they will have for life! Kids will tease them about it, they will have it written on the front of their desk at Kindergarten, they'll be trying it out with various boys' last names.....ok so our son won't be doing that..... but still - a huge decision.

My husband and I are lucky in that - our parenting methods and outlooks are very much in line. We don't tend to argue over how Madeline should be disciplined or if we were going to breastfeed - we sidestepped a lot of potential arguments because we agreed right away on how things should be done. (Even if the agreement was "We have no idea what we're doing anyway! ; ) But we couldn't be more different on naming our children. With Madeline I pulled out all of my favourite names I had been saving since adolescence. Ophelia, Portia, Yohanna... and all of them were rebuffed. We finally arrived at Madeline much by mistake and I felt fortunate that we ended up with something at least somewhat unique.....or so I thought until I met about 15 other Madelines her age. :(

When we found out we were pregnant again, I immediately started to try to indoctrinate my husband to be open to weirder names - so that we wouldn't run in to the "Madeline" situation again. Poppy, Lucious, Svetlana, Bjorn...... and was 0 for 4. We had finally somewhat settled on Mila for a girl when....we found out we were having a boy! Lucious and Bjorn were out....so I tried a little more mainstream - Jonas, Liam, or Roman.

No luck.

So we're at a bit of an impasse. I'm at the halfway point now, so we still have time...but something about picking a boy name intimidates me. Maybe it's knowing it will never ever change - no new last name or anything. Or maybe it's just that it's a boy...

Do all couples have this much trouble?

Oh yeah....

I was reminded over New Year's that I need to make sure to update my BLOGS about baby stuff. I guess I just assume that everyone who reads my blogs either knows me/sees me on a regular basis or is friends with me on facebook and gets all of their gossip there. But I guess that isn't the case. So let me bring you up to speed.

1) I am pregnant again (20 weeks to be exact)
2) I am having a little boy

I can't believe I am at the "halfway" point already. This pregnancy has seemed to have flown by. I can feel the baby's movements well now, and Steve has been able to feel them a few times too! I have only gained 7 pounds, but have come to the conclusion that I must look "obviously" pregnant because at church yesterday someone I don't know all that well just walked up to me and said "CONGRATULATIONS!" So - that's that. I guess I just have to accept it at this point.

I am feeling well. My doctor is very happy with my weight and blood pressure. It's been a very different pregnancy than Madeline's (a LOT more sick and tailbone pain so badly that I'm almost in tears every night now) but similar in where I am gaining the weight. No stretch marks yet, but I know this dry heat in the house isn't going to help that situation so I need to invest in some good moisturizer! Then again, I didn't think I got any with Madeline but Steve so kindly pointed out the ONE I got that I couldn't see. Thanks Sweetie!!

I am starting to feel the nesting coming on strong now. I am desperate to get the new nursery cleaned out. (It's being used for storage) It's about 70% there... We have the theme picked out (Pirate Ship) and even bought the paint. So it's just about me getting my act together to get the rest of the junk in proper homes. (read: Goodwill)

Baby boy doesn't have all that many clothes yet, but between the Grammas and an excited husband I think that will be covered by the time he gets here. Though I should probably invest in at least one Tonka...