Baby day (with added links)

That title was thought of by my little apprentice Kate, sitting here on my lap helping me share this news.

We had our ultrasound today.  Those who took the poll had the right consensus!  Take a look;  below are actual pictures of their genitalia.  I think having a picture of that is a little bizarre, but what happened earlier was even more bizarre. 

The ultrasound tech was having a hard time seeing between Baby B's legs.  When she finally got a good image, and we saw the baby's vagina, all three of us began to say, "Awww."  I started laughing and had to say, "I never thought I'd hear people saying 'awwww' at the sight of a vagina."

We took the girls out to dinner and gave them the news of their new sister and brother.  Kate was excited, because she'd prayed for a brother, but later she looked a little concerned.  She explained the problem, "Boys like boy-y stuff, and girls like to do girly stuff."  Dave and I convinced her that she'll have lots of fun and shared interests with her new brother, and now she's excited again.

Click here to see Kate when we tell her the news...

Click here to see Anna when we tell her the news...

Little repeat

The other day, I was in a grumpy mood, and Dave and I had a couple minor disagreements about things I was sure we’d discussed, but I’d tried to let them go. Then, as we were getting the kids out of the van, Dave asked Kate when she’d gotten the “new toy.” I looked over to see he was referring to a toy she’d had for several months. I said, “She’s had that for months. And, you actually asked her that same question a couple months ago, even after I’d told you about it when she got it!” He swore he’d never seen it before. I just shook my head and said, “Wow, Dave.”
Anna found this comment hilarious, and started to repeat, “Wow, Dabe! Wow, Dabe!”

I felt a little guilty, so I distracted her, and we went in the house. Dave did a few things outside and came in about five minutes later.

When he came through the door, Anna looked up at him with a big smile and said, “Hi, Wow Dabe!”

Our new playset

We did it. We finally bought a new play set to replace our old dilapidated one.
Unfortunately, we have a little work to do.

In actuality, Dave and I are pretty excited to put it together this weekend. I'm curious to see how excited we are after the first five or six hours, though.

Basement

Everytime we have people over, we put Mason in the basement.  It's a habit we got into to avoid scaring other kids, and just because it was a simple way to avoid Mason being obnoxious.  Most of our other friends never asked about him, but Ashley, Amber, and Abby often did.  Each time we'd explain to them he was in the basement, and we always left him there.

For the first time in years, we let Mason join the party on Thursday when Ashley, Amber, Abby, and their baby sister Maddy came over.  Our guests were all excited about this.  Amber, my friend's five-year-old, pet and played with him the entire time he was up.  And Abby, the three-year-old, kept calling to him to play with her, "Come here, Basement!  Do you want to play, Basement?" 

Despite being corrected several times by her mother, Abby couldn't get past the fact that every time she'd asked about our dog in the past, she'd been told he was in the basement.  She was sure that either must be or should be his name.

(I'm quite certain this will remain Mason's name with her for a long time, too, because Abby has a very endearing habit of giving people names she feels suit them and sticking to them.  Along with names I've heard she's given her cousins, she referred to herself as "Super Bunny" and her father as "Zoom Zoom" for about six months.  And for over a year, I was "Anna" and Anna herself was "Baby Anna.")

Baby love, times two

Soccer

Dave isn't the biggest fan of soccer, and he's not exactly thrilled about the idea of any of "his" kids playing the sport.  So, we've introduced the girls to baseball, gymnastics, basketball, ballet, swimming... most everything except soccer.

Guess what they chose, completely on their own, to play in the backyard today.

Goal!

That smile!

Anna's been having some difficult moments lately.  Her temper tantrums seem to have increased the last week or two, in both frequency and intensity. 

Thankfully, her smile makes me forget them in an instant.

Per your requests

I've been avoiding posting more belly shots, since I just feel big.  I don't have a cute round belly, like we all picture the ideal pregant belly.  I get bigger everywhere every day... and I'm not even half done with this pregnancy.  But, I've had a few requests for a belly shot, so I guess I'll post another.

Even more telling than the belly shot, though, are these stories from the last couple days.

*Saturday, Dave's mom came over.  She took one look at me and said, "Wow, Kristal, you're getting big."

*At church yesterday, a man I barely know commented, "Well, you're sure looking pregnant."

*When I was teaching children's church, a 7-year-old boy came up to give me a hug and said, "Oh, you're pregnant!"

*This morning, I was getting Anna dressed after her bath and she said, "Mama, you big."  I said, "Oh, yeah?  What's so big?"  And she answered, "You bellybutton so big."

January 6 - 7 weeks pregnant

January 30 - 10 1/2 weeks pregnant

March 22 - 18 weeks pregnant

Outtakes

When I'm trying to get the belly shot, I set up my camera to take a series of shots, so I can pick the best.  This was how my first attempt went.

An artist's rendering

About a month ago, I posted some pictures of Kate's first sleepover.  A few days ago, Kate drew some pictures of her own about that experience.  I think they're so cute, especially when looked at right next to the actual photographs.

Waterparks

A couple weeks ago during our weekend getaway to a waterpark hotel in the Dells, our family was in a Walmart there.  We wandered into the toy aisle, where Dave spotted a Strawberry Shortcake waterpark, which he thought would fit perfectly into Kate's Strawberry Shortcake village, and subsequently pointed out to Kate, asking if she'd like it.

I have become increasingly neurotic with the amount of clutter in our house, especially as our basement fills up with the additional baby necessities needed for two babies.  After I overcame the shock of what was happening, I gave Dave a dirty look and tried to talk Kate out of the miniature waterpark.  I talked about how much fun we could have making a waterpark ourselves, how it wouldn't just be something to play with, but also a project.  If we made it ourselves, I added, we could make it any way we wanted it.  Oh, what fun that would be!

As you may have predicted, she didn't go for my idea while the brightly colored, beautifully packaged waterpark lay before her on the shelf.  She instead decided we should have both.  (In Dave's defense, he was trying to add an extra special element to our vacation, since we were at a waterpark, and he rarely spoils the girls with materialistic things.)

This morning we finally made our homemade waterpark.  We had a great time designing and constructing it.  And since then, the girls have spent the last hour and a half playing with it, which, I have to say, is at least twice as long as they played with the $16.99 one we bought at Walmart two weeks ago.

Well stocked "emergency kit"

I have an "emergency kit" that I keep in the car, stocked with diapers, wipes, a snack, and a new outfit for each of the girls.  When I looked at the outifts that were in there, I decided I should probably throw away the snack. 

The outfit for Anna's was a size 3-6 months, and the pants for Kate would have barely fit Anna.  The last time I restocked the kit had to be over 18 months ago.  That lead me to conclude that the Annie's Bunny Crackers might be a little stale.

Thankfully, and rather surprisingly, I discovered this when we were switching the kit to the new van and not when one of the girls' clothes were covered in poop!

Who loves Anna?

I was changing Anna's diaper before and I asked her, "Do you know someone loves you so much?"

She replied, "No."

Whereas Kate would always start guessing, Anna does this all the time, just to be sassy.  So today I teased her, "No?  Nobody loves you?  Oh... nobody loves Anna!"

Well, she teased me right back.  She said, "Ebewyboby [Everybody] loves me.  Ebewyboby!"

Social graces

This morning at the library, Anna saw one-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, in a stroller. She was looking at them, so I asked her if she wanted to go say hi to the babies. She walked up to the girl baby in the front of the stroller and waved at her. Then she pointed to the boy in the back and asked me, “I say hi to him, too?” I nodded and said, “Sure.” She walked to the back of the stroller, put her head closer to the baby, and said, “I happy to meet you.” 

Where would she have gotten that?

St. Patrick's Day cupcakes

My kids love to help me bake.  It must be their natural culinary inclinations. I can't think of why else they would like it so much.

She's my sister

This morning at Kate's library class, Ms. Beth, the librarian who leads the class came up to me and told me this funny story:
"Last week at class," Ms. Beth said, "Kate came up to me and told me, 'You know, that girl that my Mommy brings with her in here?  She's not my friend; she's my sister.'"

Two stories

We bought our soon-to-be-necessary mini-van on Sunday.  I think we got a good deal.  We went in with the bargaining position that we liked both the Honda Odyssey, which we bought, and the Toyota Sienna.  I told the dealer that I knew that Toyota was in the middle of a scandal, but from a purchasing position, I thought it was probably a safe buy, since the company would be extra careful from now on.  In actuality, as I later relayed to Dave over dinner, I had no intention of buying a Toyota, but it gave us leverage.

A seemingly unrelated story...

We've been working on teaching Kate to unbuckle herself from her car seat.  Monday morning in the car, Kate told me that she'd unbuckled herself the previous day when she and Dave returned from the grocery store.  I said, "Really?  Just the top buckle, or both?"

"Both," she replied.  I told Kate that was wonderful, that all her practice had paid off.  But, then she added, "Don't tell Daddy."

As Anna piped in, "Don't tell Dabe, Mama, don't tell Dabe!"  I debated whether or not to call Kate out on what I was pretty sure was a little lie.

A moment later, Kate added, "Don't tell anybody," and Anna piped in, "Don't tell Dabe or anyboby, Mama, don't tell Dabe or anyboby." I decided I'd first confirm with Dave when he got home, and then I'd talk with Kate.

I talked to Dave for a moment that evening, and then I took Kate to her room to have a talk.  After a few excuses, she tearfully admitted she had lied.  I told her lying was wrong.  Daddy and I don't like lies and God doesn't like lies.  After she cried for a minute, I assured her that everybody makes mistakes.  She said, "Yes, it's true!  Everybody makes mistakes!"  I told her all we can do is ask the person for forgiveness, ask God for forgiveness, and try to do better the next time.  I felt kind of proud of how I was handling it.  I thought things were going really well.  Then Kate looked up at me from my lap and said, "You lied to the car guy."

New shirts

During important elections, one often sees yard signs or t-shirts announcing the candidate to whom the owner is commited.  Thanks to our printer and iron, Kate and Anna can now advertise their allegience to their favorite T.V. show.  ...And the "Super Why v. Dinosaur Train" debate takes on epic proportions.

Poor Abby Cadabby

I bought Anna a little stuffed Abby Cadabby doll at Target today.  When we got home, I asked Anna if she wanted me to cut the tag off.  She did, so I took Abby Cadabby over to the counter and got out the scissors.  Just as I was about to cut the tag, Anna asked, "That hurt Abby Dadabby, Mama?"

Recital

I finally got to see one of Kate's recitals for myself.  I'd missed the other two, one because I had a meeting and the other because I was sick.  It was adorable!  I have a lot of respect for her young teacher, Miss Ashley; she does a great job with those little girls.

I do have one interesting aside.  During a break in the recital, the girls went to get a drink.  Kate told Miss Ashley she didn't want one.  I yelled over, "Go get a drink, Kate, since everyone else is."  Kate insisted she didn't need one.  I thought that was fine, but it inspired Miss Ashley to say something.  She turned to me, in front of all the other parents, and said, "She's a very sweet little girl, but she's very strong-willed."  For a moment I was speechless.  I just sat there with Anna in my lap and my mouth partially opened.  After a couple seconds, I smiled and said, "That's true."  Dave, who wasn't fazed by it like I was, said to me, "She hasn't met Anna."  Grabbing on to that comment, to try to make light of things, I pointed to Anna and said, "This one's even worse.  Just wait, Miss Ashley, if you ever have her." 

I thought I'd of recovered from the comment pretty well.  I know it's true, and I know Miss Ashley said it with the best intentions, but it's sticking in my head. I think that will stay in my mind as the very first comment any of my children got from a teacher. 

Mild regret

I kind of wish I'd stuck to my guns and made them wait until we got out of the car to have their yogurt.

Anyone going to be interested in a used car seat some day... very clean, well cared for, etc.

Getting outside

The Audubon trails have become our favorite places to go as spring approaches, especially with my growing, verging-on-obsessive, fear of contracting the stomach flu.

I hadn't gotten many pictures of us there, since I don't like to haul my new camera around on excursions.  But yesterday I brought along my old Elf camera and caught a few shots; Kate caught some, too.  (Unfortunately, I've been ruined by my nice camera, and I find the quality of these frustratingly bad.)

Their new boots getting more use.

Kate gets the photo credit here.