Funny Girl

Well, LittlePeanut2 is still hiding out in the womb and in the meantime I spent the day hanging out at the house with the three-year-old, avoiding the misery that is Texas heat right now. Since we were together, just the two of us, the whooooole day (can you tell it was long?!), KK gave me some good blog fodder that could not be ignored.

Funny #1

KK spent a good amount of time helping me with chores this morning which was nice. I commended her repeatedly for being mommy's helper and gave her stickers for her chore chart. Then, this afternoon, I was upstairs shredding some documents while she watched a TV show. She made her way upstairs to see what I was doing; she is certainly a mama's girl who likes to be glued to my side.

Me: "KK, will you be mommy's helper again and go downstairs and get mommy a trashbag for all the shredded paper?"

KK (in a very sweet voice): "No thank-you Mommy. I deserve to watch TV all day. I appreciate your offer."

Funny #2

Gene and I decided to go out for dinner and were debating the various options among our normal rotation. Katelynn is becoming familiar with our "regular" restaurants and her absolute favorite is Mi Chula's, a Mexican place that she associates with Sprite, beans and rice, tortillas, and fajita steak meat.

KK: "Mommy, now sit down on the couch. I want to tell you your choices."

Me: (Sitting obediently.) "OK."

KK: "Now, Jesus is in our hearts and he wants to eat beans and rice. We need to go to Mi Chula's." (I glance over to the loveseat where Gene is trying not to completely lose it...)

Nesting

The anticipation of waiting for Tyler, a.k.a. LittlePeanut2/ LP2, to arrive has been intense this time around, even for my even-keel husband. I have been shocked how many times Gene has made comments wondering when LP2 will make his debut and wishing that we could know when it will be. I'm not sure why; we don't remember thinking too much about it when I was pregnant the first time.

The past few days I have been a nesting fool, despite extreme fatigue and back pain. I have felt compelled to keep up with the laundry almost daily. The house has been relatively spotless, especially the floors which I often ignore when I'm not 9 months pregnant. And yesterday I felt strongly that having the somewhat pricey "Interior Super Clean" package at the car wash was an absolute life-or-death necessity. Oh, and I also labeled all my shoes, which are in matching clear bins, with my label maker ....and organized Katelynn's drawers.... and re-organized the laundry room. You get the idea!

Well, last night some of those late "impending labor" signs started making their appearance. (Go read a pregnancy book if you are curious enough to wonder what those are.... I'm not sharing details here on the blog!) So, that explains the nesting. Hopefully my next post will be one welcoming our little boy into our hearts and home! Today is my official "due date". Katelynn arrived on hers, so maybe we will make it 2-for-2 ???

Giant Tortilla

KK loves her carbs, and she especially loves warm tortillas, just like her daddy. The other night we picked up delicious made-in-house tortillas from Rosa's Tortilla Factory since Gene wanted to "carb load" in anticipation of his weekly torture long run.

Katelynn was thoroughly enjoying her late night snack in the back of the car, making all sorts of contented noises as she chowed down. She announced that "warm tortillas are soooooo good." She then finished that cute comment up with an even better one: "Mommy and daddy, I sure do wish I had a GIANT WARM tortilla I could use as a blanket!"

We both cracked up laughing. I'm not sure if she was picturing something like this:

Or if she is just having dormant memories emerge of the days we wrapped her up like a burrito:

Either way, you gotta' love the imagination of a three-year-old.

Day With Nanna

Katelynn's Nanna (my mom) takes her to do lots of fun things. There have been many trips to the zoo, but recently those have been abandoned due to the ridiculously hot weather. (We don't need a Nanna or Katelynn passed out on the concrete from the heat.) So, KK's trips to Nanna and PopPop's usually involve a friends' swimming pool, trips to Costco to get ice cream, etc. Recently, my mom made a special trip with her to the Children's Science Museum in Fort Worth. It has been overhauled with tons of interactive exhibits.

Nanna and KK spent hours there. Among many other activities, she dug for fossils in a big sand pit, rode a fake horse and corralled sheep, saw an Elmo planetarium show, had a picnic lunch on the museum grounds, and created shadow "sculptures" out of everyday objects.

That evening I went to pick KK up and ate dinner with my parents. As we were all sitting around the dinner table, Nanna asked KK what her favorite thing about the day at the museum was. Katelynn did not miss a beat. Without hesitation she immediately answered, in a sweet little three-year-old voice, "Just spending the day with you Nanna."

The popular Mastercard commercials talk about things that are "priceless." This was one of those priceless moments - it just doesn't get much better than that...

My Ballerina

For months, Katelynn has asked to take ballet. She has always favored walking on her toes everywhere and has calves of steel thanks to this habit. Recently, she has begged for tutu's and frequently chooses flouncy skirts for her attire, calling them her ballet clothes. Her favorite little Einsteins character is June - the ballet dancer of course. And one of her favorite "Max & Ruby" episodes involves her favorite bunny attempting to learn to pirouette.

KK finally got her wish. Nanna and PopPop helped to get her started, buying her shoes and paying for her first-ever round of classes. We are taking a 4 week summer class at a nearby community center to get her feet wet. As you can see from the picture, she was very excited about her first day. The girl is obsessed with leotards and tights, so it isn't hard to get her dressed to leave the house on dance morning.

In typical fashion, any time I peek into the dance room, Katelynn is the most serious little girl in the room. She is all business. Last week they were dancing in a big circle around the room and she had her little tongue stuck out to the side of her mouth in concentration. Before we left the house this week to go to class she informed me that some of the moves were "very hard."

This week, she caught me peeking at her through the door and her serious face broke into a huge grin. She gave me a little wave then got right back to the business of practicing second position.

My New Housekeeper

My new housekeeper is about 40 inches tall, weighs 37 pounds, and requires a certain amount of supervision. Yes, that's right, my 3.5 year old Katelynn has been cleaning up a storm with me lately!

I loved to clean as a child. My mom gave me a dime to clean the tub, and she had to place limits on how often I was allowed to perform this task! Yes, I am a nerd. However, KK has a very different personality from me and I did not expect her to take to the cleaning; it has been a fun little surprise and very welcome in late pregnancy, when getting up after bending to the ground feels about like being an Olympic dead-lifter.

It started a couple of weeks ago with mopping the floors. I usually let KK have her own mop, but in the past she has abandoned it quickly after getting frustrated with her inability to control it well. However, I guess she has developed enough now that she can now handle it much better and I was in shock when she was still helping me - very enthusiastically I might add - after 30 minutes! Yesterday we gave toilet scrubbing a try and that is her new obsession. She thought she was pretty hot stuff.

Today made for a bit of long afternoon since it is too darn hot (i.e. 105 degrees) to go out and do much these days. KK was clearly bored and I asked her what we should do. Her response: "Let's CLEAN mommy!" Ahhhh, now that's a girl after her mommy's heart!

It's August?!

Where has the summer gone?! My mom recently commented to me that this pregnancy has seemed long to her. On the contrary, it has gone quite quickly for me. I had envisioned a long, lazy summer to spend with my "only" before rocking her world. I can't believe the time to welcome our little son will be here any day....

While the time has gone quickly, I do feel I have done a good job of enjoying my little girl. Spirited KK certainly gives me a run for the money many days, but she also grows more sweet every day and is pretty good at melting my heart only minutes after enraging my head! Just today, she was sent to her room for some alone time after hours of whining and pestering mommy. Mommy just needed a break, but Katelynn made sure to cry loudly and miserably during the entire "break." I finally took pity on her. She came downstairs puffy faced and sniffling and sat on my lap. Me: "I have an idea. Let's get a nice bath and get shiny and clean. Then we will put on your new earrings." KK (in pitiful voice, with face to match): "I don't want to get sparkly, mommy. I just want to be poor, plain 'ol Katelynn." At this point it was difficult not to crack up laughing at my sweet little drama queen.

We have spent so much time together and it has been a summer of fun firsts for her - swim lessons, ballet lessons, attending Vacation Bible School, and going to her first "day camp" at church. And now we wait for the biggest first of all - first time as a big sister!

The Camerons

Gene and I have joked that every time we get that "comfortable closeness" with another couple, they leave us. We hit that great point where hanging out is effortless, last minute invitations to grab dinner are welcomed, and it's just a lot of fun to be around each other. Then they move away. We had two sets of friends do this where we should have seen it coming since they were here in town temporarily to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. But we didn't see it coming with our pals Mark & Layne Cameron.

These sweet and fun friends grew up in Amarillo but had truly grown to love Dallas. They had really put roots down here and even said they weren't the types to feel the need to return to their "small town." Then they had baby Clay nearly a year ago. Well, all us parents know how having babies changes us! Sure enough, they began to feel the urge to be close to family... and all their family is still in Amarillo.

The next thing you know, their house sold in one day and we only had a month left with the Camerons. Luckily since they were homeless we got to have them in our home for a week before they left us; it was so fun! Oh how I miss those last minute fun times already, Mark and Layne!

So I leave this post with these Michael W. Smith lyrics to the song "Pray for Me." A little cheesy? Maybe. Full of truth - for the Camerons and other couples from our past that we miss so much? Absolutely.

Here is where the road divides
Here is where we realize
The sculpting of the Father's great design
Thru' time you've been a friend to me
But time is now the enemy
I wish we didn't have to say goodbye
But I know the road He chose for me
Is not the road he chose for you
So as we chase the dreams we're after

Pray for me and I'll pray for you
Pray that we will keep the common ground
Won't you pray for me and I'll pray for you
And one day love will bring us back around again

Painted on our tapestry
We see the way it has to be
Weaving thru' the laughter and the tears
But love will be the tie that binds us
To the time we leave behind us
Memories will be our souvenirs
And I know that thru' it all
The hardest part of love is letting go
But there's a greater love that holds us

Pray for me and I'll pray for you
Pray that we will keep the common ground
Won't you pray for me and I'll pray for you
And one day love will bring us back around again