Of course it is far too early to know if she will actually be a girl. But I'm hoping, so I'll probably call her "she" more than "he". ;)

I had an ultrasound today. I got to see a tiny little baby ("it's still an embryo, dear") bouncing up and down, with her heart beating away just like it ought. Little head, little torso, tiny buds of arms and legs.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. She is real, and she is the right size for her age, and all seems well. It is ok for me to fall in love with her, because it is likely that I will get to hold her in a few long months.

Hot.

Hot, hot, hot, hot! In the morning when it is cooler (i.e. only about 80 degrees) Jonathan can play outside and we open up the house to get a breeze and I do as many chores as I can do without working too hard. (We're still watching and waiting to be sure this baby is ok, which means limited activity for me.)

But in the afternoon, both Jonathan and I sort of crash. It is JUST TOO HOT!!! Today around 3pm both of us were just lying on the floor in front of the fan. Jonathan didn't even want to read a book - he just wanted to lie there!

He really is hanging in there pretty well, especially considering that he just doesn't understand why he can't play outside at 3pm (it is just too hot and I worry about him becoming dehydrated - he doesn't drink enough when he's playing out there). Much of the time I let him play in the bathtub or the kitchen sink in freezing cold water. :)

Meanwhile, I've decided that summer is NOT a good time to be pregnant.

Spider bites

Check out my poor little boy's leg!





And that is just his right leg. He has more on the other leg, his arms, his fingers, foot...it is very sad! They don't seem to bother him during the day, but he's been waking up at night inconsolable, so I wonder if they're bothering him then (or if he's getting more in the night?) Yesterday I washed EVERYTHING anywhere near his bed and wiped down the crib with 409 in an attempt to kill any spiders in existance. Hopefully any bugs in the area won't stick around after all that washing!

"Down" means "up"

At least, it does in our house right now! Jonathan thinks that "dow!" means both "up" and "down". And he wants to go up and down EVERYTHING. So my days currently consist of:

"Dow!"
"Ok, Jonathan, let's get UP into the chair."
"Dow!"
"Yes, you may get down now."
"Dow!"
"You mean UP, sweetheart. Yes, Mommy will pick you up."
"Dow!"
"Ok, time to get down now."
"Dow!"
"Why don't you try climbing UP onto the cushions by yourself? I think you can!"
"Dow!"
"Yes, you got stuck on the cushions. Hang on, Mommy will come help you down..."

You get the idea. ;) I wonder how long it will take for him to learn that "up" means "down"...I mean, "up" means "up"!

Something good...

Something good has come out of my enforced lack of activity. :) I've been much more focused on playing with Jonathan. I lie on the floor and we look at books, or I lie on a blanket outside and he brings me sticks and leaves, or I lie on the floor and he climbs on the couch cushions beside me. The point is that I'm right there with him, instead of being in the same room dusting the furniture or washing the dishes. And this has had a double payoff. Not only do we have a lot of fun playing together, but he has also become more independent of me. I think because he gets such a full tank of "mommy time", he doesn't have the need to demand my attention like he used to. It is a good lesson for me.

More thoughts on Dan Brown's Book

This title makes me think of the song "John Brown's Baby" for some reason. Ok, anyway.

I think the most interesting part of reading The Da Vinci Code was realizing how insidious Dan Brown's claims are. He mixes truth with half truths and not-truths and throws it all into a huge pot of "might-be-truths". Every few pages I found myself thinking "I need to look that up. It might be real or it might not be." Some of them were true (Opus Dei really exists and the late Pope really did like them) and some of them weren't (there is no actual historical evidence - religious or secular - for Jesus and Mary Magdalene having been married). Some of them were easily verifiable, and for some of them I can't find reliable answers (the existence of the Priory of Sion seems to be hopelessly debated, and I am not a historical scholar! Linds, help!) Some of them were such wild claims that I can't imagine any but conspiracy theorists take seriously...but they were couched in so much half-truth that it just might be possible to believe them. It is sad to me that half the world seems to have just swallowed the entire book...but it is also understandable. I read it with all my Torrey-training in high gear, and could recognize the different layers of fact vs. fiction (or at least, could recognize that the author didn't want me to know the difference!) Most people don't read novels with such care, and evidently most people also don't notice that "novel" actually means "not non-fiction". ;) I guess what I'm saying is that I get why people like the book, and I get why people think the claims are true. I am also pretty firmly convinced that, because of this, the book is dangerous to true Christianity. I think that we would do well to read it and check our facts so that we can defend ourselves if the need arises.

If I had a dollar

for every time somebody "sensed" something in the Da Vinci Code, I could buy an awful lot of Starbucks lattes.

Sheesh.

I'll admit that the plot grabs you. I'll admit that it is fast paced and that you don't really want to stop reading. But the writing itself is frankly terrible, and if you're thinking ahead at all you'll guess most of the plot twists before they happen.

I think I'll write some more substantive thoughts on the book later, when I have a bit more time. :)

Ooh, ooh, I missed one...

"Although his female colleagues insisted the gray (in his hair) only accentuated his bookish appeal, Langdon knew better."

So I picked up a copy of The Da Vinci Code, just to see what all the fuss was about. It reads like the opening to a run of the mill (read: bad) romance novel!!! How can people think this is such an amazing book? I'm on page eight. So far I've been treated to a man "staggering through a vaulted archway", another man with a "glint in his ghostly eyes", and a third man who "needs a vacation" evidently based on the fact that his "dark stubble was shrouding his strong jaw".

Oh please. I'm supposed to take this seriously?

Yuck

Throwing up three times before 8am is not my idea of a good day.

Phones

This afternoon I let Jonathan play with my calculator. He grinned, held it up to his ear, and said "hi!"

Missing Daddy

About 45 minutes to an hour before Gabe gets home, Jonathan heads to the door. "Da-dee? Da-dee?" Then he sits there and cries. It is possible to distract him, but he definitely just wants his daddy.

Honey, what do you think your boss would say to seven hour work days? ;)

The Married "We"

Is an incredibly funny blog post. You can read it here. I know I'm guilty of this...anyone else? Come on, 'fess up! :)

Nose, ears, tongue, etc.

Remember the book "God Bless Me" that I was plugging some time ago? Yesterday Gabe was inaccurately quoting some of it: "God bless my x, God bless my y, etc." and Jonathan got a big smile on his face and picked up the right book! He opened it to the second page ("God bless my ears...") and tugged on his ear. Do I have a brilliant child, or what? :)

He can also identify his nose, his tongue, and his fingers. Sometimes he can find his bellybutton, but not if he's in the bathtub. I guess there are just an overwhelming number of body parts available during bathtime. ;)

Lovely.

Dirty diapers and morning sick mommies should never, ever, ever mix.

Pregnancy thoughts

It is quite likely that we're going to have another baby. By quite likely, I mean that we're not yet out of the "danger zone" for miscarriage, but things are going well enough that I've allowed myself to start imagining tiny fingers and toes and little scrunched up faces. Isn't that a nice image? :)

I'm taking bets: boy or girl? If you're right and its a girl, you win the opportunity to give us cute pink clothing. If you're right and its a boy, you win the opportunity to give us lots of diapers. :)


Being pregnant, while incredibly exciting, also certainly has its downsides. For me, right now, one of those downsides is that I'm supposed to be "resting as much as possible" (what in the world does that mean, exactly?) in order to make sure I continue to carry this baby. Another is that I'm sick as a dog for most of the day. Combine the two and it is very easy to think that something just isn't quite fair in the universe! :)

Well, so I knew that already. :)

I hate not being busy, and this enforced rest is really starting to get on my nerves. Have you ever just felt like you had to run or hit something? Only neither is an option and crying doesn't help? It's sort of like that. You can only read so many books, watch so many movies, and do so much needlework before you go crazy. You can only watch your husband go to work and do the chores and take care of the toddler and make dinner - all the things you are supposed to be doing before you go nuts.

It doesn't really help to tell myself that right now, I'm not supposed to be doing them. I still feel that they are my responsibility, and that I'm falling down on the job.

In theory, I have another four weeks of this kind of life. When I think about that, I cry. So I'm trying to think only about today, and then today, and then today.

Thanks be to God for my wonderful friends and church family. People have been coming in to help take care of Jonathan twice a day so that I have space to rest like I'm supposed to. I don't like letting people come to my not-so-clean house and do my dirty dishes, but I'm grateful that they love me enough to do it.

As far as being sick...well, it is a good sign. Sick generally equals healthy pregnancy. So I keep thanking God that I'm sick, and refusing to kiss my husband when he's just eaten chicken. Or beef. Or turkey. Or potato salad. Or...you get the idea. ;)

Would you please pray for us in this time? As difficult as it is for me, I think it is harder for Jonathan and Gabe. Jonathan doesn't understand why Mommy isn't much of a playmate right now. Gabe is trying to be himself and me, which is rather a daunting task, don't you think? ;) And please pray for our baby. We'd really like to meet her.

Milestone!

Tonight Jonathan figured out how to eat with a spoon! The result would have been a bath, had he not been so tired...I guess he'll get one first thing tomorrow morning. :)

It is interesting to watch the development (or seemingly, lack thereof!) that leads up to these accomplishments. We've been handing him spoons for weeks, with nominal interest and no result. Tonight, he just picked it up and fed himself.

We said "yay!" and clapped, of course, which meant that he had to clap, too, and pat his head (hence the need for the bath!) He got so excited he wiggled his whole body around in his high chair until it rather looked like he'd knock himself right over. He didn't realize he'd done anything special until we got excited, but once he realized that we were proud of him, he decided he was awfully proud of himself, too!

It was a good evening. :)

Hey all you rss-ers

Go check out the changes to my actual site.

Words

I think it is time for a list of Jonathan's words. Most of these are spoken; a few are signed.

Crash
Water
Down
All Done
More
Cheese
Banana
Night night
Daddy
Quack quack
Meow
Uh oh
Woo-woo (train sounds)
Mommy (although we're still not quite sure about this one)

Neat, isn't it? :)

New word

Jonathan is learning so fast I can't keep up with blogging about it. :) His latest word: "wa!!" It means "water". He doesn't use it when he's thirsty (I'm not sure he realizes what being thirsty is, really) but he gets very excited about watering the plants, playing in the spray from the hose, and bathtime.

New tooth!

It has finally arrived! Jonathan's been worrying his two top teeth for at least a month now, and one of them just broke through this morning. I think the other one is trying to come in, too, so he isn't a very happy camper.

On top of that, we think he has a very mild case of chicken pox, and I think that's making him a little cranky too.

If we've been around you in the past week or so, watch your kids for spots. ;)

The Ebay Song

There really is one. Weird Al is a genius! Listen to it here.

Hat tip to MommyLife for this gem. :)

Quack quack!

Jonathan is really excited about ducks right now. "qua qua!" is one of his favorite things to say, and he (usually) says it when a duck is in the vicinity - be it stuffed duck, real duck, or a duck in a book. It is very cute. :) Some months ago my mom gave him a book called "Find the Duck". It has a duck hiding in all sorts of places - in the bathtub, in the sink, under the clothes, behind the toilet, in a pile of tp on the floor (I hope J doesn't get any ideas!) Well, as of this morning Jonathan has figured out how to point to the duck (and say "qua, qua!" of course!) when I ask him "where is the duck?" I didn't know he had pointing figured out that well!

The next book we read had horses in it. He pointed and said "qua qua!" Well, I guess we still have some work to do! :)