Pregnancy Update

I haven't reported much news about Wee Webster Version 2.0, because up to this point, it's been the standard first trimester. I've felt green, gaggy (but no vomitus eruptus this time around), and very very very tired. Useless, actually. The morning sickness is more of an all day long thing, but it's not that bad. I feel really gross around 4 p.m. and that lasts most of the afternoon/evening when I'm supposed to be enjoying my Sophie time. My stomach starts feeling better around 8 p.m., but by then I'm on the couch and not likely to rise until after 10 p.m. when I wake up, ask Frank who the killer was on Law and Order (I usually peg it during the first ten minutes, but I like to verify), and stumble off to bed. I feel like I started showing the day I found out I was pregnant (or maybe I'd just been holding my breath since giving birth to Sophie, and now I let it all hang out). I'm DEFINITELY showing now -- especially in the evenings. The biggest news is that this week starts the SECOND trimester! Any day now, I should be experiencing less gagging, fewer headaches, and my fingers are crossed that my green skin will start to glow.

I had a doctor's appt. yesterday and finally met my new OB. (She was delivering a baby during my first visit, so I saw someone else.) We listened to the heartbeat and I gave four little vials of blood. That's about it -- everthing is moving along the way it should. The Wee Webster is about the size of a lemon (so why is the bump the size of a cantelope?!) and moving around quite a bit. I lost 3 pounds in the first month, but now I'm up 5 pounds. I'm gonna count that as a 2 pound gain, and y'all can just play along with me and NOT ask me if I'm having twins.

Sophie is getting more excited, I think. The other night, I was sitting in her rocking chair (feeling tired and useless) while she was getting ready for bed. My stomach was flip flopping around so I told Frank to tell the baby to settle. He put his mouth next to my belly and said: "Chillax, kid. Your Mommy and Daddy and Sophie love you. Take a nap." Then Sophie came over, put her mouth next to my belly, and yelled, "Relax! You got a big sister!"

Ditchdirt Holiday Pic

A few nights before Christmas, the Ditchdirt Gang gathered for our annual viewing of 38th Street lights, and our annual family shot in Maggie and Adam's dining room. (I mean photograph, not a shot of liquor...although I did have a teeeeeny bit of wine.)


Hey, where did Laney go? Take two:

And now...Christmas past. Here's the same party, in 2006:

And 2005 (before the door was painted, before Sophie's hair turned blonde, and before Momma got highlights to try to look more like Sophie):

The Legend of Redbeard

I don't think it started off as a protest -- just busy with grading and holidays and a two year old. But then people started making comments (especially me), and it turned into a challenge. He said he loved it. He said he wanted it to grow to his belly button. He said it was a war protest -- he wasn't shaving until the troops came home. "You think this war is long? Wait 'til you see my beard!"



He said that Sophie liked it, because it was softer. And that was true:



But then Will Shoaf's annual "Creepy Mustache Party" rolled around, and presented Frank with the perfect opportunity for a creepy shave.



Really, really creepy. But Sophie still loved it:



He did shave the next day. I know I should have hidden the clippers so that he had to go to church looking like this, but to be honest, I was too happy to see it go.

Christmas Card Sans Postman

Close your eyes. Imagine you're at your mailbox. Imagine you're opening an envelope...now, open your eyes! Here's your Webster Christmas card. Just doin' our part to save the environment, one biodegradable stamp at a time. Merry Christmas, from Frank, Stacy, Sophie, Callie the Dog, and Wee Webster, Version 2.0 (to be released June, 2008).

These photos were taken at Maggie and Adam and Laney's Christmas party -- they put a photobooth on their front porch! Also featured: Laney and Lucy (and the farewell performance of Frank's beard -- stay tuned for the before and after Frank shots)

Cookie Time!

We made cookies this weekend! Sophie helped with every step, except the oven part. After some debate over the best use of a rolling pin, we created tasty gingerbread bears. And then Sophie decorated them with gum drop boobs...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Boxes are arriving. (And good news for Santa -- Sophie still likes the box as much if not more than the goody inside.)
Our primary pallete consists of green and red these days:

And the tree is up! It's our first ever artificial tree, but so far -- TEN THUMBS UP! I don't have to water it every day, it's been up for more than 48 hours and it hasn't started turning brown, we managed to get it into its stand and maneuvered into place without itchy arms, and not a single needle has dropped onto the floor. Of course, I miss the smell of a real tree. We may have to add some tree shaped car air-fresheners. You know, for authenticity.

Super STAHS

This is a pic from when I was out of town, but I just now downloaded some stuff from the camera and saw it. Frank took Sophie over to Laney's house for dinner, and the girls put on a little fashion show:

Tutu Cute

If you ignore the snotty nose...

Future prima donna or future plumber?

I couldn't resist.

Sophie's Words

I recently spent three nights away from Sophie because I was attending a conference in Dallas. I missed Frank and Soph sooo much (even thought it was kind of nice to skip the whining that happens around bath time and skip the groggy lunch-making routine every morning). But she grew a little in those three days -- and I think I might have missed it if it had happened right under my nose. Her new trick? Compound sentences!

Every day I ask her what she did at school. She always starts off with: I play with Kendall! (Um...even if Kendall's absent, this is how our conversation always begins.)

On the phone Tuesday afternoon, I asked her how school had gone: "I play with Kendall and Jason and Danny, but I not play with Roman -- Roman not there. Roman sick." Holy cow! A soliloquy!

Other funny things she said yesterday and this morning:
After sneezing on me: "I bless-you'd Momma's arm!"
After walking off with the cell phone and hearing me say, "Don't call China": "I called China. I said Happy Birthday, people!"
On the way to school today, she sang this song that I've never heard before: "Giraffe giraffe giraffe giraffe have a long neck like that, giraffe giraffe giraffe, hangy out the window!"

But communication barriers exist. This morning she said, "Where's my water? Where's my pink water?" I put some water in a pink cup and handed it to her. She burst into tears and started flailing her arms -- then walked over and smacked my leg. Yeah, yeah...I did the whole "Use your words, please!" routine, but I secretly thought, "No one hit me when I was staying at the Anatole."