Weekly Quote 5/31/10

"Beetles are for playing with. They don't bite you. That's what my grandpa taught me."

Right. From the kid at the library. New quote up!

Baby Stuff

Well, the poll results are in! Sophie is clearly the favorite, followed by Ella, Eleanor, Caroline, Lucy, and then Joy. It's nice to get input from everyone, see what people like. Who knows what we'll end up deciding on, but it's nice to have input.

And speaking of Baby Bing, I had an ultrasound yesterday. All is well with the baby! It's always a relief to hear them checking off all the vital organs, and to hear that she's growing well. This time we actually got some good pictures, too. (Last month there really weren't any great ones, but I guess the tech felt like she had to print off something, so she gave me a picture of the spine. And for some reason it came out as a 5x7. So that's weird.) Anyway, she even put them on a CD for me, so I can share them with you (without having to haul out the scanner and set that all up, which, honestly, is too much work, and that is why I haven't put any ultrasound pictures up this pregnancy).

Here we have the lovely profile:

And then we got some great 3-D ones. Amazing technology, no?


And an amazingly cute baby, if you ask me. While we're doing pictures, I suppose I should put up the most recent "bump picture." Here I am at 31 weeks:

I'm not sure why I'm posting this, because I think I look like garbage, but whatever. It's done. We'll focus on the baby bump and not on the rest of the picture.

The other result of my doctor appointments (yeah, plural) yesterday was we decided that next week is the time to start Non-Stress Tests (NSTs). Which means that starting next week, I can't bring Julia along to my weekly appointments. Which means I get to pawn her off on friends and neighbors every week and feel really guilty about it. But wait! It gets better! For some reason, Dr G decided that I needed 2 NSTs per week. So really I get to pawn Julia off on friends and neighbors twice a week! Except for the week that I get another ultrasound, in which case it will be 3 times in one week! What a delight! Luckily, Clark doesn't work on Mondays, so I scheduled them on Mondays and Thursdays, and will only have to find a babysitter once a week. But that doesn't change the fact that I will basically live at the doctor's office for the next 2 months. Which is better than living in the hospital. Or being on bed rest. So I'll take it. Positive thinking.

I am really looking forward to this pregnancy being over. It's stressing me out. And yes, once the baby is here there will be a whole different kind of stress, but I think I'll take "New Baby No Sleep" over "You Could Go Into Heart Failure and DIE." Wouldn't you?

Baby _______

Remember how we're having a baby in 2 months? It turns out we are in charge of naming this little person. I don't know who thought that was a good idea, but I guess that's how the cards fall. It also turns out that, unlike just about everyone else we know, we are much better at thinking of boy names than girl names. And yet we're having another girl. (Which really delights me, I just don't know what to name her.)

Which brings me to: The Name Poll!

Because we can't call her Baby Bing for the rest of her life!

Here is our list of possible names:

Caroline
Ella
Eleanor
Sophie
Lucy
Joy

Please note that Eleanor would likely be called either Ella or Ellie, and that Caroline would be called nothing but Caroline. None of this Carol business.

As far as middle names go, I think I'd like to go with either Joy or Elizabeth. Joy is my grandmother's name, and Elizabeth is my other grandmother's name (and is my middle name). Of course, if this baby's first name is Joy, then her middle name wouldn't be Joy. Joy Joy Blockburger doesn't sit well with me for some reason. And lately Clark has started throwing around Jane, so that is a possible middle name as well. (I suppose it could be a first name, too. . . I'm not sure what his intentions with "Jane" are, I just know he rejected it a long time ago, and suddenly he pulled it out of the pile. I like it, for the record, and always have.)

So, there you have it. Go! Vote! Comment and suggest! (Google Readers: there is a poll on a sidebar of my blog. Click on through to see it!)

Weekly Quote 5/14/10

I know, it's not Monday, but in case you haven't noticed, I haven't changed my "weekly" quote in like a month, so I decided to do whatever I wanted. So there. The previous quote, "One year older and wiser, too,
Happy Birthday to you!" was in honor of Julia's birthday.

The new quote is from the library today. We learned about bugs during storytime. The librarian brought some bugs she caught and put in ziploc baggies, one of which was a cockroach - and it was still alive. She caught it last weekend. LAST WEEKEND. STILL ALIVE. Disgusting. Some of the kids were asking her if she was feeding it. OF COURSE NOT! Ew.

But that was an aside. What I want to mention is that one of the bugs was a beetle. And one of the kids busts out with, "Beetles are for playing with. They don't bite you. That's what my grandpa taught me." Oh, too funny not to share.

What I'm Grateful For

Yesterday, with 5 minutes left to go in Sunday School, I got a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find a nursery worker telling me I was needed. I feared the worst (which would require a change of clothes), but it turned out Julia was just "having a rough day," as she would say. I guess she was having meltdown after meltdown, and Sister Potter decided it was time to come get me when she was at the door crying, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" So I went in, and saw the little tears still on her face. I gave her hugs, kissed her cheeks, and told her everything was ok. I read her a book, she looked through my bag, she rode the horse, and then it was time for me to get back to Relief Society, since I was the teacher. I felt bad leaving her, but I had to. And I think she did OK after that (though they could have just told me that to be nice).

I'm so glad that I am that kid's mom. That she wants me to comfort her when she is sad. That my hugs have the power to make tears disappear. The rest of my Mothers Day was great, lots of love and attention, but that 15 minutes was probably the best part, because it demonstrated perfectly that I am the Mom. And I'm so grateful to be just that.

May 5

This is Clark:

Let's talk about some of the places he has been and the things he has done, shall we?

10.5 years ago, he was here:


View Larger Map

Watching a car get towed out of the moat. And I was there too. Jokes abounded. And more importantly, we met.

9 years and 2 months ago, he asked me to be his "back-up." I accepted (load off my mind, at least I'd get married someday). The wedding date was set for May 5, 2015. Because you don't want to be too old to have kids by the time you get married.

9 years ago, he took me here:


View Larger Map

A frisbee was thrown. Then we went back to his parents' house and watched this:


And ate these:


I would call it our first date, but someone was a little less certain about that fact. Whatever. Movie + Starburst on our faux anniversary? Dude, that's a date.

8 years ago, he managed to have a package delivered to my house. From Brazil. On a Sunday. It was masterfully done. Kudos, Clark.

6.5 years ago, he got on one knee in the snow and asked if I wanted to move our wedding date up a few years.

And 6 years ago, he met me here:


Took me inside, and married me. Making me the happiest woman alive.


Happy Anniversary, Clark! I love you.