Any Day Now

So...we're about 2 1/2 weeks away from the critter's official due date (June 19th), but the truth is, it could be any day now. I've been having tons of Braxton Hicks contractions and just, in general, feel HOT, HUGE, and READY. Mostly ready. I have one more day of final exams. Sixty more essays to grade. I need to pack up my classroom. Callie needs to get her nails trimmed. My car needs to be vacuumed out before some hospital staff person allows us to drive off the lot with a new person (they say they're only checking to see if you have a car seat, but I know they're judging me...). I need to remove all evidence of crushed goldfish cracker from Sophie's infant car seat so it can be passed along to her little brother. I have an appointment for highlights and a haircut on Friday...if I don't make it that long, it'll probably be August before my hair gets cut again. Oh, yeah. And he needs a middle name.

But all of this may be beside the point. After all, at this stage in the game, I think I have ZERO CONTROL over when this baby is born. And the biggest time clencher of all? The Stephens went and had their critter yesterday. Laney was born on a Monday and Sophie was born on a Friday. So...little Solomon Allan Stephens entered the world on a Monday. (Tune in later for a post about the adorable new guy.) Adam called me yesterday when Maggie was checked in to the hospital and gave me my four-day warning. And that means WAY more than any Braxton Hicks contraction. I may just be spending this summer as a brunette with crushed up goldfish crackers on the floorboard. Oh, well...

If you're feeling prudish...don't scroll through the rest of these pics. You might see a BELLY.
Here's Sophie giving Momma gross lick-kisses. She's so very loving...

Hello in there? Can you wait until finals week is over?
This is my baby brother. I want to name him Mango. Or Jesus. Since Mom and Dad haven't picked a middle name yet, I'd say there's still a chance...
Me and my kids:

Funny Things I Wish She Hadn't Said

But she did...

While watching me put on make-up, Sophie said: Oooh! I want some of that!
Momma: This is for covering up wrinkles. You don't have any wrinkles yet.
Sophie: No. But you do.
Momma: (sigh) Yep.
Sophie: You gots some on your legs, too.
Momma: (whimper)

Weak-of-stomach, stop reading here. This is the potty post:

While flushing little turds down the potty, Sophie said: They're going to be with their Momma. Bye, poops! Have fun with your Momma!

While flushing a not-so-little turd down the potty, Sophie said: The big ones are not good to eat. (No, I did not take the opportunity to de-classify all turds as edible...I just grabbed onto the bathroom counter and tried not to gag too loudly.)

The New Guy's Room!

THE BEFORE PICTURES:
We used to call it "the blue room" -- technically a guest bedroom but used much more by that sweet Callie dog. She liked to sleep in the Lazyboy chair during the day so she could look out the window. And this was Frank's napping spot on Sunday afternoons -- it was a very comfy bed. We plan on having a guestroom again in about sixteen years.


It housed a bunch of books...
...and some family heirloom furniture.


But all that furniture has been moved to new spots in the house (or the attic or the garage). We only kept the blue walls as a "blank canvas."


THE AFTER PICTURES:
And now...the NEW GUY'S room! Bear with me while I tell you about all my nesting treasures. (It's the Lively Family Way -- we're garage sale people and proud of it.)



So! The daybed is my solution to keeping a guestroom available. It's got a trundle bed underneath so when we've got grandparents spending the night, it can pop out and turn into a king-size bed. Found it on Ebay for half the price of another bed I almost bought! The green shelf used to be brown (see the first guest bedroom shot), and the lamp is a $7 garage sale find. Daybed pillows, bedding, and white wall shelves are all from IKEA. Gotta love the Scandinavians.

This picture shows off my Craigslist finds. The upholstered chair and ottoman were about a third the price of what we would have paid for a new chair (no ottoman included). I bought a matching dresser, twin-sized headboard, and a corner table -- all this cool 1960's design with sliders that you can take out and paint different colors -- all for $150. Of course, all we're using right now is the dresser, but we've got the headboard and table in the attic for later (when Sophie has graduated from her toddler bed to the daybed and when the little guy graduates from his crib to a twin bed). This picture is also my PROJECT PIC, because I had to prime and paint the dresser and paint all the different mirrors hanging above. Nesting!

This is Sophie's crib...just got some new polka-dot bedding from Target. I didn't want to go with a "theme" baby room, but the dots looked cute with the planet mobile. I ordered an extra curtain that matches that I'm going to turn in to some cushion covers for the daybed. I'm not really skilled on my sewing machine yet, but I'm going to give it a shot! The shelf is a Target find, too.

The pic above is just a cozy pic of the reading corner. The pic below is the "toy box" system we got at Ikea. Sophie was happy to model how the buckets slide out like drawers.

So the room is ready. We have purposely left the infant car seat up in the attic -- as soon as we install that bad boy, the baby boy might think it's time to arrive. (This is scientifically proven -- Sophie arrived two days after we installed her carseat.) And the boy has about three more weeks to cook!

An Open Letter to Callie

I'm sorry. And thank you.

I'm sorry that she wants to kiss you when you're trying to take a nap. I'm sorry that she sometimes pats you just a little too hard. I'm sorry: that you haven't been on a walk around the block in weeks, that we used to buy you stuffed animals and time you to see how long it would take to destroy them -- now stuffed animals are off limits, that the guest bedroom used to be "Callie's Room" and now you're not allowed on the new daybed, that she uses that high, squeaky voice when she talks to you -- it hurts my ears, too.

Thank you for being so gentle with her. Thank you for letting her tug and pull and pat and hug. Thank you for being excited to see me when I get home -- but thanks for letting Sophie get "first hugs" anyway.

There's a new animal joining the pack soon. Please don't eat him.

New Vocabulary

In the parking lot at Sophie's pre-school yesterday, she bent over to look at a little grey blob of something.

Sophie: Is that candy?!?
Me: I think it's just a rock.
Sophie: Actually, I think it's candy.

ACTUALLY?!?

Belly Shots

Happy Mother's Day! We're at 34 1/2 weeks and counting...

Laney and Sophie...through the years

It's amazing how you can look back at younger pictures and see all the features and expressions you love in your kid's face. But you can't go the other way and project what they'll look like.

Laney and Sophie last week:

Laney and Sophie last summer:

Laney and Sophie, "back in the day:"

Sophie-fest

Last Saturday we drove down to the Barsana Dham Hindu temple for their Mela Fest -- a traditional Indian festival with dancing, music, Indian food, jugglers, a petting zoo, bouncy castles, and tons of wildflowers. The temple looms over the Central Texas hill country and is painted white and gold. When we pulled up, Sophie shouted, "It's my capitol!" (She has a book that shows pictures of the state capitol and always gets very excited when we drive by the real deal.)

Sophie is shy around people sometimes -- at least for the first few minutes. She is NEVER shy around animals, and really loved feeding the camel at the petting zoo.

And who can resist a baby goat?!?

Our little Saint Francis, lover of animals: (Sorry, Hindu friends...I don't know which god/goddess is the patron of animals, but I know a little about good ol' St. Frank after hot-gluing a stuffed bird to a choir robe for Frank one Halloween.)

Sophie loved watching the dancers, too. She goes to dance class at school on Tuesdays. When we ask her what she learns in dance, she always says, "I learn to shake it, shake, shake it." Hmmm...could be good for a part-time college job...

Sophie tries out her new dance moves in a field of flowers:

And after the festival, we headed over to the Salt Lick for some barbeque and beer with friends. Don't tell the Hindus... it really is such a strange irony to build a Hindu temple across from one of the most famous bbq joints in Texas. We couldn't help ourselves.

Flip This Guestroom

So the BIG THING on my BIG LIST OF THINGS TO DO before a new human lives at our house is flipping the guestroom into a baby room. The walls are already blue, so that saved us some painting, right? Well...I got it into my head that I wanted a blue ceiling with fluffy clouds.

I spent hours looking a paint chips trying to find the perfect light blue that would not clash with the wall color, not make the room feel like a cave, and still be blue enough to contrast with white clouds. In fact, I bought one blue, didn't like it, and went back to buy another blue. (And white, and a sea sponge for cloud-making, and plastic dropcloths for the floor, and new paint rollers and tape and a brush and three big pieces of plywood for cloud-making practice.) I thought of listing the prices of everything here for my readers, but that's too painful.

Instead, just picture me yesterday...after perfecting my cloud-making technique on my plywood planks in the garage...seven months pregnant standing on top of a bed covered in plastic, wearing a painter's mask to protect the unborn, staring up at a 3 foot by 3 foot patch of blue that is suddenly NOT the correct shade (even though it looked great on my plywood panel). I looked around at the vast amount of white ceiling remaining. I thought about everything that had to be taped and the plastic that had to be moved around to different parts of the room. I painted a sample cloud that did NOT look fluffy or cute because of the dang "popcorn" stuff on our ceiling and asked Frank what he thought about it. "I think it's okay." Every wife knows that those words actually mean "I hate it." I was irritated and already tired and had flecks of white AND blue ceiling popcorn in my hair. Frank offered to help me paint the entire ceiling just to see what we it would look like, and then we could paint it white again. But I knew from my little 3x3 patch just how hard it is to get good coverage on popcorn ceilings. It would be a HUGE pain to repaint if we didn't like it.

I thought about all the other stuff that needs to happen in that room (repainting a dresser, rebuilding the crib, putting together a daybed...), and I thought about all the other things on my list (closet and pantry organization projects, landscaping work, finishing Sophie's baby book, making some casseroles to freeze). And then I thought about a nine-year-old boy, telling me that fluffy clouds on the ceiling are for babies and begging, can we puhleeeeeease paint the ceiling black?!?

So I painted over my clouds in not-quite-right white. Sigh.

Pregnancy Update

It's 3:40 a.m. So the first thing I should mention is the insomnia. And heartburn. Preggos are allowed to take Zantac, but it says on the box that you should take it each day, one hour before eating anything. If I wait an hour to eat, I'll be barfing all over my toothbrush. So I eat something and then I take it and I suppose it works for a while...but the combination of pre-natals, Zantac, an iron supplement (I'm anemic), Zyrtec (I'm allergic to the great outdoors), and the DHA supplement (something about developing eyeballs and brains...I dunno) sometimes turns my stomach. Oh yeah, and I pop Tums Smoothies all day, like they're candy. The worst thing you can do for heartburn is lie down, which is fine (even though it's 3:40 a.m.) because Sophie has cried out for me three times tonight (1:20, 2:30, and 3:10) to come and rub her back. And in between those sessions, my eyes just won't close.

So today's doctor appointment was the typical weigh-in, blood-pressure check, heartbeat timing, belly-measuring variety. Everything looks great -- we're 8 1/2 weeks from "Oh, Baby" Day! Sounds like that spicy Mickey Rourke flick...but, you know, without any sexiness whatsoever. And missing a week.

Here's part of the conversation I had at the doctor's office today:
Doc: "And you're eating right?"
Me: "I'm eating. Right."
Doc: "Okie doke. Any other questions? Any strange feelings or sensations?"
Me: "Actually, yes. Every now and then I feel a tiny scraping feeling...like a fingernail or something. Is that a muscle or tendon stretching?"
Doc: "Oh, no. That's probably his fingernails. Sometimes they can get right up beside the uterine wall and scratch away with their hands or toes."
Me: "That's completely creepy. I mean miraculous."

So, folks. He's trying to claw his way out into the world. Or, like my friend Brian suggested, he's ticking off a countdown tally. On my INSIDES. It won't be long now, son.

Remembering Nana Jane

This is a picture of my mom holding Sophie right around Soph's one-month birthday. Today it has been one year since my mom passed away. There are so many times that I've wanted to call her this year -- so many things I wanted to tell her. But when I look back at the pictures of Sophie from last year and realize how much she has changed, it honestly feels like Mom has been there and she has seen it all. I don't know how to explain it. Today I listened to a guest speaker talk to my students -- a survivor of Auschwitz -- and she started to talk about losing her mother and I thought, "I can't hear this today. I've got to get out of here." But she said that at the moment they realized their mother was gone, her sister looked at her and said, "The spirit never dies." And I guess I did need to hear that today.

Jordan is bowling with some friends tonight -- my mom LOVED to bowl and even worked at the bowling alley for a while -- I had my own booth in the coffee shop where I often fell asleep staring up at wads of gum and listening to "You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille" on the juke box. I'm not sure if I can heave a bowling ball right now (in fact, they might accuse me of trying to smuggle a bowling ball out in my shirt), but maybe I'll whip up some tuna noodle casserole for lunch tomorrow. And if you're reading this and you're family, or if you knew my mom, I need your help telling all the great stories to Sophie and "the new guy" on the way. (Like...how my mom was afraid of roaming charges, but she just could not stand still when talking on the phone. Or how she ALWAYS bought a coffee cup at a garage sale -- never drank coffee in her life, but didn't want the strangers to think that she didn't like their stuff). That's funny, funny stuff...and the spirit never dies.

Big Sisters!

Sophie and Laney went to a BIG SISTER class yesterday at Maggie's doc's office. It was super cute and they had sooo much fun. (It was technically called sibling class, but Sophie doesn't know that word yet. There were a couple little boys in there getting ready to be big brothers, too. The one who brought a stuffed horse as his "baby" had a bit of difficulty with the diapering lesson.)

Sophie and Laney sat right up front and listened very carefully to Nurse Blair's lesson (which started with Mom's disappearing lap and touched on belly buttons, soft spots, crying babies, and frequent handwashing).
The kids practiced putting on diapers, and Sophie was a pro!

See Baby Tom's fresh diaper and brand new hospital hat?
After a tour of the hospital and nursery, the girls tore into their Big Sister Survivor Packs, which included lolipops, stickers, visors, and extra practice diapers.

In Sophie's Words

Funny things she has said lately...

On a windy day: "Look, Momma. Those trees are dancing! They like to shake it, shake it, shake it."

With Frank, driving behind a pick-up truck painted with a Southwestern motif of Indian mother and corn: "Oh yeah...I painted that." And then later, pretending to talk to her Dad on the phone, "Oh shuuuuure...I could paint you truck for you."

Leaving the house every morning, right after I tell Callie to be a good dog or to have a good day: "Have a GOOD DOG, Callie!" (And she grabs the dog's face to emphasize her point.)

And overheard last night..."I not having a baby sister. JUST a baby brother. That's okay."

Hang Up and Drive!

The car was parked. Promise. The conversation becomes very animated at the end...then Sophie demands all the money. Future bank robber?

Scary Hairy

Sophie's hair has been getting a bit WILD lately. It's very fine hair, and it wiggles its way out of piggie tail holders quite easily. I was determined to just let it grow, thinking that the weight of her hair would eventually let her push it to the side, out of her eyes. Apparently very fine does what it wants, when it wants...


On Saturday, Sophie got frustrated with her hair because it kept covering up the rainbow face paint she procured at the Farmy Market. So we added a haircut to our list of errands...

And here's the updated look. Slightly shorter, a "dusting" of bangs, but still requiring barettes or piggie tail holders to be totally out of her face. Ain't she purty?