Wednesday, October 16, 2013

50

Only 50 days until Mister Man is due to arrive. What?! How did that happen?? This pregnancy is flying by.. 

In efforts to capture this fleeting pregnancy, I have written a 50 few thoughts in regards to Baby Boy. 

50. We didn't wait until two weeks prior to your birth to determine your name!  We are improving in our parenting :)

49. Why do you feel like a cat "kneading bread" with your front paws in my belly?

48. I am thankful you don't jab heels and toes and knees in my ribs. 

47. I have CRAZY BAD heartburn with you. You must be a hairy little feller. 

46. I put your shelf together over the weekend, and sorted your clothes in your drawers. Mommy is feeling better about life now. 

45. I hope you like dog and car prints on all your outfits.. Because that's about as creative as boy clothes get. 

44. Should I make your mobile or splurge on that awesome one on Etsy?

43. Please, please, please come in December. Your sissy and your daddy already have November birthdays. 

42. Are you going to be a typical baby boy that's huge and grows fast and eats a ton? 

41. Did you know both your mommy and your daddy come from older sister/younger brother sets too? 

40. I'm not scared about delivering you. 

39. Are you going to be a spitty baby? 

38. I hope you don't feel jipped because you get a lot of your sister's hand me down baby toys, baby books and baby gear. 

37. Being pregnant is really hard work. Being pregnant with the second one is double the really hard work. How do some people have so many kids?

36. I am not as near as anxious that something is "wrong" or "could go wrong" this pregnancy. 

35. I am wondering if this baby boy is somehow Italian.. Because all I want to eat is creamy pasta, pizza, bread and olive oil and drink robust red wine with a big slice of flour less chocolate cake. 

34. I wonder what kind of personality you will have? 

33. I am sorry that we don't have more family near by for you to grow up with. 

32. I miss Dr. Grey in California. 

31. I have an entirely different set of maternity clothes this time around, even though both babies were due at just about the same time. Explanation: SoCal vs Upstate NY. 

30. I am not bothered by your constant bouts of hiccups. 

29. I hope this isn't a sign of the future, but I am WAY more exhausted carrying you. 

28. Speaking of all these comparisons, I don't want to compare my children, but just let them be who they are. I'll try to do better. 

27. Thank you for letting me sleep on my back occasionally!

26. I just read about added aluminum in formula.. Oh boy. Lets start on the right foot about nursing, okay?

25. What color eyes do you have? Blue like Mommy or brown like Daddy?

24. Your Daddy is a really amazing father, you're going to love him. 

23. As we are introducing people, you have two aunts. They are Amy and Aimee. I'm sorry that's a little confusing. Both are great, especially with little boys. You'll fit right in. 

22. Our house is really old, it has very creaky floors and you can hear a whisper from the basement. You better start preparing yourself to sleep through such things. 

21. I hope the colors lime and aqua make you feel content and happy, because they are everywhere in your room! 

20. I am so thankful we have a big vehicle that easily accommodates a second carseat.

19. I am also thankful I went with grey/green color combo for the carseat and jogger stroller with the firstborn. Phew. 

18. Do you ever sleep inside my belly? Or do you just constantly switch between your two favorite activities of kickboxing and yoga? 

17. Some second time moms do things differently and cut corners here and there.. I wonder if that will be me? 

16. A couple requests, son- the carseat is a fabulous place. Please enjoy it and sleep there. Also, pacifiers are amazing! Please love yours. 

15. I have three friends with the same due as myself! Too bad they are spread from here to Timbuktu. 

14. I have another request, in a few weeks, as we bring this pregnancy party to a close, could you stay far, far away from my sciatic nerve? That'd be great. 

13. So Mommy is nesting.. What is that, you wonder? It means that Mommy finds every project humanly possible to do on the house and yard, writes it in a to do list format, then thinks (and subsequently stresses) over all of them at the same time. 

12. I apologize for not being as strict or conscientious of my food/drink/vitamin intake this go round. It hasn't been terrible. But, i think you have consumed more caffeine and a few less vitamins than the ideal standard. Please don't come out polka dotted with 18 toes or anything. 

11. I'm not really sure how you are able to be so much lower in my belly, who would have thought there was like a six inch margin in there?

10. I hear boys are climbers, not like what Daddy is.. But the kind that require multiple gates, blocked off areas and furniture rearrangement to contain your little monkey self. That sounds exhausting for both of us. 

9. Would you rather stay in the birth canal and let me push you out for days and you make your debut with a cone head and puffy face OR would you rather ease out with a few pushes not look like an alien? I try to make these decisions as easy for you as possible. 

8. Pregnancy makes one BIG in every aspect, from BIG swollen hands to BIG chubby feet (that often don't ever return to the pre pregnancy state) to even BIG hair. Yes, I can do a BIG Texas hair do anytime these days. 

7. The most ideal pregnancy item of clothing would have to be maternity overalls. Can you imagine? Full coverage without any thing being squeezed or adding 10 degrees to an already overheated body? However, those aren't being made these days. 

6. My doctors appointments are now every two weeks. Time to get serious. 

5. Another reason for you to arrive in December: Daddy will be in Baltimore about two weeks before your arrival date. No early debuts please! 

4. There are two new baby boys, and two new baby girls, at our church that are a few months older than you. Maybe you will all be friends over our next four years here. 

3. Confession. I haven't read one sentence from one page of any pregnancy books. 

2. I am getting a crash course in life with two kiddos by taking care of a friend's 4 month old. Hoping that real life with two is actually easier because I won't still be pregnant AND have two. 

1. By now it's actually only 48 days til your due date. Apparently it takes a couple days to write a post these days. Can't wait to see you December 5th!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Cider Days




One thing that's fun about living all over the country is experiencing the traditions, or customs, or way of life, or whatever you want to call it, of the local life.  While living here in upstate New York, I've observed a love of festivals, numerous terms for varying snow conditions, a strong concern for social justices, a heavy bent for local, organic food, a pride in all that is old, and a partiality to the outdoors.  And all these bring me to my current point... that I could see so many of these fun localities in this past Saturday's event, Cider Days!  We made our own apple cider with our fabulous church!!

It started with a drive to a local apple farm, a wagon ride (with a cider cake donut, of course) and some real apple picking. 

And of course, apple eating. 

And apple running.

After we picked our half bushel of apples, we headed to the church for a big meal and the pressing of the cider. 
It is actually quite a bit of work. 

And the glories of our 1/2 bushel.. 6 quarts of fresh apple cider

Such a great experience.. I'm so glad our church does such cool things! 









Thursday, October 3, 2013

One Year

One year (and one day) ago we moved to New York and into our first house. 

Thinking back to this time last year, I am so grateful it is behind us! Last year, during the last week of September, Jarod had already been in New York six weeks without us, living at a campground, a hotel, a friend's futon, a park bench... okay not really a park bench, but the others, yes.  I was ansy back in Missouri to see my husband, load up, and get moved and settled into our New York house. I had enjoyed my summer with my family, but with the key word being "summer", and here it was the end of September, all parties involved were ready to be where they were supposed to be. The realtors and mortgagers and whoever else kept needing more and more paperwork and hoops for us and no one could land on a closing date. 

Finally, Sept 27, Jarod called and said, there's a possibility we will close this week. So on a hope, we rented the truck, drive to Oklahoma to get our things out of storage and on eastward to New York.
(Dad and Jarod's Dad loading up our stuff in Oklahoma). 

(At my mom's cousins farm about two hours south of Rochester). 

September 30, we showed up, spent a few days with distant family in Mid New York while we waited for an official date to close and have keys jingling in our hand. At last, October 2, 2012, 9am- our closing date. By 10:30 that day we were unloading the truck into our place. Such a fiasco to get here, but well worth it. And so glad I'm not doing it all again THIS year! 

Home keys!!

Day two at our new house. 

Our first winter.  

Spring snow. 

And our first summer. 

Love our house!!