Scout got a new duty in his list of Saturday morning jobs. He (and Icka) are supposed to clean the backyard, but usually I am the one doing the towels. But this week, I taught Scout how to fold the clean towels, and put the dirty ones on the washing machine.
He took it in stride, and loved his new found talent.
I love this boy who loves to learn to do new things.
There he is, walking them to their rightful spot.
And there is Icka — watching him work while she just dinks around.
Don’t worry, she got to her Saturday morning jobs just moments later!
A few things about this pregnancy….
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1. I have made mention of this already, but I carelessly bet naming the baby away to the Shmickster. We were playing a card game, and I was dominating. After winning all I could think of, he said he wanted to put something really big on the next game — like naming the baby. I thought about having that luxury, without him telling everyone that the name would be “spider” for nine months, and took the bait. To my utter dismay, he took the win, and the name with it. I am sure he won’t do anything I don’t approve of.
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2. Speaking of the name….I was gardening with Micah one afternoon. He said, “What do you think about P.J.”? No offense to those who have initial names in their very own family, but I am just not a fan. In my mind, I was kind of dry heaving, but calmly (as to not turn him off from further discussing names with me) said…..”Sorry babe, I don’t die over that one.” He said for me just to think about it. So I went on raking and weeding, when all of a sudden it dawned on me what P.J. stood for. I have always wanted to name a baby after my mom in some way. But too bad her mom had such awful taste in names (Patricia Jean), because it has made it very difficult to use either one. So when Micah’s creative juices were flowing, and he came up with P.J. after my mom, I almost died. Talk about sweet, and nice. I still told him I didn’t like it, but as I have relayed that story over and over, he has made HUGE points with the sisters!
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3. This baby in me is really low. So one day as I was talking to Micah, I said, “Babe, this baby is SO LOW!” To which he responded, “Solo Denison…I like it!” SICK! But truth be told, this little weasel in my tummy is making things pretty uncomfortable. He has been breech for two months, and the doctor showed me a picture of his feet literally standing on my bladder. It was nice to have the proof, but that was a guess I could have taken on my own. I guess the two random times I completely wet my pants was all the proof I needed. How humiliating. Especially when Micah was surprised the first time, but just said, “You wet your pants again” the second time around.
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4. The doctor has told me that this will be my biggest baby. At 32 weeks, his head was measuring at 36 weeks, and his body at 35 1/2 weeks. I was kind of excited when he gave me all this info, because that would naturally mean I would go early. Apparently not. I still have to wait the whole time, and just have a huge baby. I have always been a little worried about big babies because I was 9 lbs. 13 ounces. But I have had a 7lb 12 oz, and a 6lb 11oz, so I put all of that out of my mind. But at this same 32 week appointment, he estimated that baby #3 was 5.5 lbs already. Whoa! I hope he was off! (Disclaimer - he said because the baby is breech, he might be measuring big.)
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5. When I showed Micah my stomach a few days ago, I was saying how huge I was. He said, “But from behind, you can’t even tell you are pregnant!” At first I smiled because that was a really nice thing to say, but not a split second later, I knew that was boloney, and started to scowl at him. He tried to act innocent, but I know him all too well. So finally he fessed up with, “I heard that one on a movie — isn’t it a good one!” I just laughed and left.
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6. Don’t worry, Micah has been throwing out some good compliments lately. Ever since Hawaii, he uses a particular line. Here is an example….the other day, I was on the couch with my robe on. I have to tie the robe above my belly because there is no “below”. It is baby, and then legs. So I looked like a huge grey and pink blob (my robe colors) when he walked in. I think as he walked in, I was trying to get off the couch. Since this is a couch made of down, and is particularly deep, I was awkwardly maneuvering a bit. So he walks in and sees this whole scene and says, “Hottest girl on the couch!” I just look at him and laugh when he says these ridiculous comments. So as of lately, I am the “hottest girl” in the car, making dinner, getting gas, picking up the green shoes. You get the idea. But somehow, I twist it as him being nice. Right now — I will take what I can get.
(Sidenote — Just hours after I wrote this, I was sitting with my mom on the couch. Micah walked in and said, “Oh Babe…I was going to tell you something, but I have to wait until your mom leaves.” My mom was a little bummed that she was going to be excluded in something, but then I caught on and said, “No Mom…..he just wants to tell me I am the hottest girl on the couch, but can’t while you are sitting on it with me.” He laughed. Afterwards, my mom said she would love if he told her that she was “the hottest mother-in-law anywhere.” I told her not to worry — he thinks I am really hot, but that she was hotter than me, based on the fact that he couldn’t call me the hottest girl on the couch while she sat with me. She was pleased, he was pleased, and I was offended. Only because…doesn’t wife status trump mother-in-law status. Apparently not to a strategically savvy guy!)
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7. Scout and Navy are SO excited to have another baby in our home. Besides the accidental times when they jump on him or bonk him, they love to lay by me and feel him move. Sometimes, when the baby is asleep inside me, I “help” him kick. They love it. They especially love telling me their responsibilities with the new baby. According to them, I won’t have to do a thing! Between the two of them, he will be diapered, bathed, fed, ricked, sung to, held, and anything else a baby requires. I love that they are excited to share the wealth!
While the men are gone — the women must play! After Scout got off to school today, Icka and I hung out. She decided she needed to wear her princess outfit, and then went to her very own makeup table to make herself up. (This is all probably due to the hour of princess stories my mom told her this morning.)
Nonnie substituted baby powder for real powder in one of her old containers, and Icka was sold.
She was so into beautifying, that she made herself into a little geisha.
When I looked at the time, we didn’t have time to undo her, so she went out like this all afternoon.
And to her delight, when we headed into a jewelry store, and the lady fell in love with her, she gave her a necklace to have.
Sunshine never looked so cute!
Scout and Siss were in the next room practicing with scissors while I get a few bills paid.
They have both run in a bunch of times to give me a cut out piece of paper.
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First — Scout ran in and said, “Mom, here is a trapezoid!” And he was right. Very impressive on the shapes little guy!
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Next — Scout and Icka had run in about six time within a minute, and I said, “Hey guys, why don’t you color your paper first so that you can bring me really colorful, cut out pictures.” Then I held out a paper that looked like a mountain range and said, “Look Scout, this could have been beautiful mountains if you would have colored them.” Then he said, “Mom….they are mountains. But they are the kind from Utah with snow all over them!”
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Finally, Icka ran in with a teeny tiny piece of paper that she had cut out, and had colored blue on it. When I was overly excited about this little scrap, she said, “But white didn’t work for you, so I did blue.” I didn’t catch on at first, but then realized that she was telling me that she tried to color it white (my favorite color), but when it didn’t show up on the white paper, she reverted to blue. Pretty sweet!
Poor Micah walked in after being gone for five days, and I might have gotten a little teary. I’ll admit that most of it might be hormones, because tears usually aren’t my M.O., but pregnant is what I am — and hormones are what I’ve got! He surprised me by getting home a few hours early, and he came in to give me a hug and asked how I was. Poor Micah, I responded with, “Sick of being a single mom for five days straight.” Quite honestly — I was just so glad to see him after my kids were REALLY naughty earlier that day. He went in and hugged the kids, and we hung out for the remainder of the night. All was well. As we slept that night, we heard the rain come, and Micah went to close the windows. Soon after, Scout joined us in our bed, and then we heard the craziest racket outside. We were having the craziest hail storm I have ever witnessed. Micah’s gut reaction was, “See…this is why I tell you to park your car in the garage!” To which I replied, “For the once in my 35 years hail storm?!” Then, Icka ran into our room and exclaimed, “Guys — it is raining outside!!!” I grabbed the kids, and we went to the front porch to check out everything that was happening.
This hail was on the small side –the size of mothballs, and on the large size — the size of bubble gum balls.
I am sure — to my neighbor’s horror, Icka and Scout went out in their unders (their current summer pajamas). Mind you it was still sprinkling, but if we would have stopped to get them warm, we would have missed out on most of the fun.
Icka ran in to get cups, and she started to collect the ice balls that are still in our freezer right now.
We finally got sweatshirts, and they continued filling up their cups.
Icka was out there for the long haul. She was probably out there for a good thirty minutes. In the meantime, Scout decided that he and daddy needed to make a big breakfast — pancakes and bacon. So as they cooked away, Icka and I were outside with the ice.
She ended up with quite the load.
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Breakfast was delicious.
Then Micah made the world’s biggest fort.
The kids wouldn’t stop long enough for a decent picture.
Except when Scout talked Micah into letting him do his quiet time in the fort. Micah was at an angle where he didn’t see the little weasel peaking out to watch the football game until he sat up for a drink. Luckily it charmed Micah, and instead of scolding, he snapped pictures instead.
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Then Micah let me got with my mom to “The Help”.
Apparently I was tired, because even though I was really excited to see the movie, and I really did like it, I fell asleep in the middle.
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Then I came home, worked on Scout’s talk with him while Micah played with Icka.
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Then we headed over to his parents for a bit.
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Then I brought the kids home to sleep so he could run.
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Then I went to sleep — soundly on the couch.
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Yes, there were tears, but after a rejuvenating day of a teammate, I can’t complain.
All is well, all is well.
Scout is probably too old, and Icka too young, but both had their first dental appointment today. They were pretty excited, but the morning had been long, and they had been so naughty, I didn’t know what to expect!
Scout thought he was the cool guy all morning, and teased and teased Icka — to which she responded with screaming!
Then as I was filling out the paperwork for both of them, they were humiliating. You can tell by their demeanor in this picture. By this time, I was hoping for a little poking and prodding in their mouths to set them straight!
Icka went first and was perfect for the dental hygienist! She even got to hold her own straw that sucked up her spit.
But as soon as the hygienist left, I asked for a smile, and this is what I got. See what I mean!
Then Scout went, and he also got to hold his own straw. They both laid perfectly still, and the hygienist kept talking about how good they were being!
He even did everything right during his Xrays.
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By the time they were finished, there were three hygienists in there oohing and aahing over them. And they kept talking about how kind and nice they were to each other, and how they were perfect during their exams. I was thrilled that by the time we left, they seemed to have changed their ways, and were trying to be good. (Con Artists!) Unfortunately, as soon as we left that office, Scout ran down the hallway to push the elevator button that I had already promised to Icka — and she melted down! What a bunch of two-faced weasels who really know how to charm others. Unfortunately, I know how to charm myself — by putting them both down for naps the second we got home!
My sister Megan always puts me to shame. She honestly does more crafts with my kids than I do. But in an attempt to do better, I took the kids to get bird houses and paint for our front tree. And they loved them a good project.
Scout picked the church bird house.
Icka picked the “little” one.
I guess it was no skin off my back, and the kids loved their finished projects. Thanks sis for the inspiration!
It was lights out in Southern California, Arizona and Mexico last night. It was kind of cool, but also a little eerie. When I say the power was out — I am talking street lights and all. It was literally pitch black outside, with only a 3/4 full moon.
To get ready for the night, Scout and I went around lighting some really huge candles we have.
We also found some headlamps to help us see better as Icka casually laid around while we served her.
But then she got to work on a few projects!
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After putting Icka down, Scout and I went on an adventure. We first wanted to see the really dark city. He kept saying the funniest things like, “Isn’t it interesting that those lights are working, but our house lights aren’t.” (Places with generators.) And then he had one of his toy guns, and because I kept telling him I was glad he was there to protect me, he said, “Don’t you think when someone sees a four year old with a gun, they are going to freak out!” (The answer is yes — if it was real!) Then we
headed over to scare the Thackers, but they had already gotten their power back on. So instead, we just hung out for a while. then we went to see if we could find any more headlamps at WalMart. We found one, and did a little other shopping also. By the time we were heading home, I was having a conversation with him, when all of a sudden, I wasn’t getting any answers back. I finally turned around to see what the deal was, and my boy was out cold! I guess it was just too much adventure for him.
The day was a success!
Scout ran in first thing and said, “Mom, I have had enough sleep….let’s get ready for my first day of preschool!”
So we ate, had baths, got dressed, and off we were.
Here he is walking up to the door, with little Miss Eager following closely behind.
Miss Diane and Scout with his nervous smile. Notice the shirt — the anchor reminds him of his sister Navy.
Icka kept asking if she got to stay too, but when I brought out to the car with me, she pouted the whole way home — and even included sniffling sounds to add effect. I was actually sad for her, but promised her the world once we got home.
We did our own preschool, with books, coloring, stickers,etc. She got into a little mischief, but ended up loving her “special date” with mom. (Even though when I mentioned “special date” she told me we needed to go to Build-A-Bear and stuff a bunch of “Aminals”. Apparently that is what we did on our last “special date”.)
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When we picked Scout up, he immediately told me, “Mom, I respected my teacher!”. I was so proud of him that he remembered the first of our rules. We went down the list, and he also followed directions, Chose the Right, but wasn’t able to do something nice for someone, because “nobody got hurt, and everyone was playing nicely with each other.” (My examples to him the night before.) So went over some smaller things he could do “to do something nice”. When I asked if he wanted me to cancel it, he said, “No Way!” I am so glad he loves it!
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As we drove away, I asked for details. The teacher told me he knew the answers to all of the questions, so I asked him what he knew. He told me they said the Pledge of Allegiance, and he knew that it was the “American Flag”. He also told me that he was supposed to bring something for sharing time. I didn’t supply him with anything, so he decided to share his shirt. I asked him what he said about it, and in his words….”This is my first-day-of-school shirt that makes me think of my sister. And I love her so much.” Talk about sweet!
We went to I Love Bagels for lunch to celebrate!
And for dinner, he requested, “One of those big dinners where we all sit at the table.” I guess summer didn’t have many of those — and I feel like a loser! But at his request, we had pasta, cantaloupe and salad.
But make no doubt about it — Our pasta was delicious Mushroom Rigatoni, but the kids ate plain pasta with butter and parmesan.
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The Cliffords have a first day of school tradition of going to ice cream. I asked Scout if he wanted that to be our tradition also, but he said he wanted to make homemade cookies instead.
So the tradition stands — fresh cookies (and we added ice cream on top) for the first day of school!
The kids are in favor.
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The day was great. I am so excited for this year for Scout. I just don’t hope he thinks every day is like the first with I Love Bagels and Cookies! But he can expect “one of those big dinners” from now on!
Scout and I have been gearing up for his first day of preschool for a while. First, we went out and bought him a new shirt for his first day of school. He picked a dark blue one with an anchor on it because t reminded him of Navy. But then he coaxed me into buying him one with a surfboard on it because I told him Miss Diane’s family all surfed. Then, we went and found him his backpack. We also stuffed that backpack with everything his teacher told us to bring. The night before school, we celebrated by going to his favorite — Good Choice Sushi.
We took Skilly along because she was starting school the next day also!
“Sushi” adores going to sushi. She even has all of the Japanese mannerisms down — minus the one where they use their inside voices!
Of course Nonnie was in on the action, and couldn’t believe that “her” boy was big enough to go to preschool already!
After dinner, Ka took them next door to her nail salon to get free DumDum suckers. They must love our mooching ways!
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After we got home, I put Icka to bed, and went over the school rules with Scout. I followed it up with what my rules are and what I expect out of him when he goes to school. We made up four rules:
1. Respect your teacher.
2. Follow Directions.
3. Choose the Right.
4. Do something nice for someone else each day.
Amazingly enough, I am not sad to send him off. Most likely, because I know he is going to a really nice home with only five other children. And in his before school blessing, it talked about how smart he is, and how he is the oldest in our family because he knows how to be a good example. Words of comfort, when you are sending him out into the world for the very first time.
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Sidenote–He did ask me today, “Mom, if I don’t like it at school, can you just cancel it?” I told him, “Yeah bud, we can cancel it, but don’t worry, you are going to love it!”
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