now there are four

It’s really amazing to me that Ben and I started out just five years ago and now we have two sweet babies. And they are so sweet. Annie kisses Abe with no prompting when she leaves the room. Abe is patient and calm. I realize they’re very young and we could be rudely awakened someday with typical behavior, but I want to appreciate our good fortune while we have it.

Abe arrived Friday, May 1, after some medicinal encouragement at Willow Creek. Six minutes and three big pushes and we got a handsome six pound, ten ounce boy. He shares a birthday with two cousins, Zach and Caden, and it’s also the anniversary of Momoo and Dado. Ben and Jessica barely made it to help me deliver him, but luckily they had chosen a nearby restaurant when I kicked them out of the room 30 minutes prior to his arrival. Lindsey Seale delivered him and we had the best nurses/staff ever. I really enjoyed my labor/delivery with Annie, but this was like being in a hotel. I really miss someone bringing in my food then promptly taking it away, then getting a visit from the narcotics fairy. Ah.

But now we’re home and reality will soon kick in. Jess is still here and I have lots of help from her and Mom and Ben, but soon it will be much different. I hope I can be the mama I want to be.

why is it…

that I only want to write when I’m full of rage or sadness or some other emotion I don’t want to feel? I guess it’s my brand of therapy. So I got canned last week. I expected it, but it still ain’t fun. And now I think I’m just now feeling the effects, along with the swelling and raging hormones of late pregnancy. Annie has started treating me like crap and I have come up with this really odd non-cussing form of swearing so at least if she repeats me she’s saying “goat balls” instead of something really bad. And maybe no one will pick up on what she’s saying if it’s that abstract. Our house is a total disaster that I cannot for the life of me catch up on. I washed ALL of Abe’s clothes I guess thinking he was going to come out the size of an 18 month old. Now there is nowhere to put them except back into the trash bags they were in to begin with. I can’t stand to be touched and that’s all anyone seems to want to do to me. Everything I eat immediately turns to gas, heartburn or pee. Lugnut has pinkeye. Crosby still has heartworms. Shady has a deviated septum. Someone please get me a beer.

a boy

This thing flailing around in my belly is a boy.  I can’t describe how excited I am to get to type that.  Of course we would have been happy with a sister for Annie, but to have one of each really is thrilling.  Ben and I haven’t been able to look at each other without grinning since we found out.  We were so anxious to get home to pick Annie up from “school” together even though she has no idea what’s going on.  I think I’ll just let her keep practicing on her dolls a bit longer.  Plus I still haven’t completely gotten over my guilt of adding to our family when I feel like we just got her.  Ah, motherhood.

truckin’

It’s been awhile.  Annie and I went to Connecticut to see her dear aunt Jess, uncle Adam, and cousins Franny and Henry.  She had such a big time with her cousins that she forgot to sleep while she was there.  Luckily for me she is back on her schedule.

We did have one mishap causing us to make an early Sun. a.m. trip to the Greenwich ER.  Annie’s first bed-jumping experience was not so successful.  She fell and got her ear hung on a radiator.  Three layers of stitches by an interesting Lebanese plastic surgeon seemed to not even bother her.  However, aunt Jess uttered the word “chocolate” and it was all over.  Annie couldn’t stop begging for it and they wouldn’t let us give it to her while she was horizontal.  That really was the saddest part.

We also got to stop in Kansas City to play with our Doolittle friends.  I got a glimpse of what it will be like with two and I’m still exhausted just thinking about it.  As a matter of fact, I think I’ll go to bed now.

mean girl

I’ve been a real sour grape today so I don’t know why I feel like writing, but maybe it will clean it all out of my head.

So I’m pregnant, which is wonderful, but I’m at that yucky phase where I simultaneously want to hurl and sleep.  That’s part of the problem since I sleep as if someone were watching me without blinking.  I guess good quality sleep will come back in my fifties?  Something to look forward to about getting older.

Another problem is all the crap.  Not feces, but just the crap.  Like friends who work hard and can’t make it and people who choose to hate other people for one reason they can’t get past and sick babies and lonely people and everything that’s made in China and CNN and all this crap that I wish I weren’t thinking about right before bed.  I’m sure you suspect this, but I could go on forever about the crap.  I don’t even want to really.  I just wish we could all take deep breaths and start over on some stuff.  Or that there were unlimited Ctrl/Command Zs for life.

i do…

…this is how Annie says “I love you.”  She says all kinds of words now, like “Blue’s Clues,” which we watched about 492 times today, and chair (cheeah) and knee (me) and deer and drink (nee).  Her favorite thing right now is the moon.  She goes through all her books looking for it, much like I google what I’m looking for.  She kisses the moon on her wall goodnight.  She’s only seen the real moon once, but it was before she was so excited about it so I’m anxious for darkness to get here earlier.  Everyone said this age is really fun and they’re right.  She is so interested and interesting.  I may have posted this observation earlier, but I’ve remembered so many vivid details from my own childhood while trying to create vivid memories, even if it’s the dish she uses, for my own baby.  And I know some of the details are from when I was very young.  So hopefully she’ll have good thoughts someday about the crazy things I do around here.

walk like a ham

The Vandervoorts are here (yay!) and I knew our gal would take her first steps while they’re here to attempt to keep up.  Franny is extremely sweet, big sisterly and patient with Susanna and you can tell it is appreciated by her.  They were playing in Annie’s room a few nights ago and Franny was down on her knees teaching Annie the word “racket” (because rackets are such a staple around here) and Annie just walked right over to her smiling and laughing.  Luckily I was hiding behind her so I got to see it.  She did the same thing to me last night, but she still prefers to be dragged everywhere by her upstretched arms.

sty

I don’t mean to gripe about aging because I’m thrilled I’m not dead, but now I have a sty in my left eye.  I looked this up and do you know what it is essentially?  A zit mixed with an allergy.  Of course, I suffer both of these afflictions, especially during the warm months, but why?  Why must they mix to form a hideous eyesore, pun strenuously intended?

Ben is so sweet.  When I rant about silly things like this (moles, zits, allergies, non-boobs, three kidneys, facial hair, glow-in-the-dark skin, bug bites in the netherregions, butt freckles, monkey toes, bird legs, gassiness, smile wrinkles) I wonder why he sticks around.  But he always hugs me and says that my weirdness is one of the reasons he does stick around.  Let’s hope there are many more because my list will surely lengthen.

2 days off

The past two days have been so fun. Yesterday we played at Gigi’s, then had our first playdate with Gavin and Tara Coker. Gavin is in Annie’s class at the Baptist Church Mother’s Day Out program. She’s the only girl in the class so she gets spoiled by all the teachers … and all the boys. When I go pick her up in the afternoons there is usually at least one boy kissing her or helping her with toys. Pretty cute to watch toddlers socialize. Anyway, so then we went to Western Sizzlin with Gigi after a big nap and ate a huge meal. Her favorite was mac and cheese and lima beans.

Today we ate breakfast with Gigi and Mema, then played outside with Scout while the great grandmas were at the beauty shop. Marsha and Olive Holcomb stopped by for a visit. Olive and Scout seemed to like each other … not as much as Annie and Scout seem to like each other lately. They’ve been sharing food and toys and kisses and pats.

None of this sounds very exciting, but that’s just how we like it. I guess if it all falls apart someday we’ll have the pictures to prove it was once this way.

You can view these pictures by clicking “Seymore Photos” on the right side of the screen.