What's With The Mourning?

Random Stranger: Ooooh I see you're expecting baby #2!! How fun!

Aims: (smile politely) Yes, we are. Very exciting.

Random Stranger: So is this a boy or a girl?

Aims: (still smiling) We're having another girl.

Random Stranger: Awwwww. Oh well, maybe the next one will be a boy, huh?


Seriously people. I have had this conversation with COUNTLESS strangers. What is the deal here? We are thrilled to be having two girls. I am so thankful that Claire is going to get to grow up with a sister--something I never had. I have always wanted two of the same gender. If Claire had been a boy, I would have probably wanted another boy.

What is with the mourning over the lack of a male offspring? Where are we, China? Do moms of two boys get this same pseudo-sympathy for not having a girl? We are done and we are happy. There is no need to try for a boy. If the Lord decides to bless us with a surprise down the line, then that is His choosing, but we feel complete with our two girls.

It is so weird to me that people assume you are going to be sad if you don't get a boy, or at least one of each. Weird, weird, weird.

I've Put It Off Long Enough . . . .

I have resisted blogging about our transfer of Claire from her nursery to her big girl room for fear that I would jinx us on how well it was going. However, it has been over a month since we made the move and she is still going strong.

In fairness, I did quite a bit of praying before the move so I can't take the credit for how well she is doing. But it is nice nonetheless.

We wanted to make sure we switched her room early so that she would have plenty of time to adjust to the new environment before Baby Sarah arrives and takes over the nursery.

So we worked for a couple of weeks on room decor and got her bed all set up. We decided to get her a double bed frame since our guest bed was a double and we didn't really see the point of throwing out a double mattress just to purchase a twin and trundle. So my tiny baby is rattling around in a massive double bed. Quite the change from her tiny crib space. We pushed the bed up against one wall and placed a bed rail on the other side so she is pretty boxed in for safety. So far, she hasn't fallen out or even tried to leave the room. Granted, we put a child safety lock on the door knob so if she ever does try to escape the room, she won't be able to . . . that is until she figures out how to work the lock.

We are thrilled that so far, she sleeps in this new room as if she was always supposed to be there. I just hope that continues!

Here are some pictures of her new room. Be sure to check out how talented my Dad is. For Claire's Christmas present, I requested that he build her a bookcase for her room. As always, his talent and creativity was OVERWHELMING and the bookcase is more precious than I could have ever imagined! Claire is quite the lucky little girl!!







Such a cute bookcase, complete with shingled roof, siding and a brick chimney and foundation. Thanks Pa!!

The Big 3-0

Yep. I am 30 weeks pregnant this week. I am not sure why, but it feels nice to be in my thirties when it comes to weeks pregnant. The end is finally in sight. Only 10 weeks to go if she is on time. It is truly my goal this time to go into labor at home so that I can wait as long as possible before heading to the hospital. We induced with Claire at 37 weeks for medical reasons. That was all fine and well, but a Pitocin induced labor was INTENSE and I want to try to avoid that this time.

We have chosen a name for our new little princess. She will be "Sarah Grace". Claire is finally able to point to my belly when we ask her where Sarah is. I am sure that will confuse her greatly when Sarah is out in the world and she still thinks she is in my belly. Oh well.

I will leave you with the most recent belly shot at 30 weeks plus a great profile of Little Miss Sarah. It's neat, but a little freaky. It almost looks like she is smiling.

So I'm A Bad Mom . . . . Leave Me Be

All those who know me well, know that I can be a germ-a-phobe. Especially when it comes to things Claire touches. One area that has been tough for me is eating out. Claire does not do well with plates and bowls yet. To her, they are just fun toys that need to be either thrown or banged upon the table repeatedly. So we usually opt to forgo the plates and bowls when we are not at home.

But that leaves a dilemma. I have worked in restaurants as a waitress and know full well how much funk is left on a table at the end of a patron's meal. I also know that the damp cloth (which by the way has been used on numerous other tables through the course of the evening) does little more than smear all the germs into new places on the same table. So I don't really love the idea of putting Claire's food directly on these germ-laden pieces of furniture.

As a result, we have tried several things to provide a "germ barrier" if you will. We've tried those handy plastic liners that "adhere" to the table. Yeah, right. Claire can rip one of those things off in an instant and then the food is tumbling all over the table anyway. I even found a cool rubber place mat with suction cups. That worked until she was about 8 months old. Now she has enough strength to overpower those little suction cups and we end up in the same boat.

So what's a mom to do? I have finally opted to carry those handy Lysol Disinfecting Wipes along with me. Whenever we sit down, I wipe the table thoroughly with one wipe, let it dry and then follow up with a second wipe just to be sure. Then I go ahead and put her food on the table (where it was going to end up anyway) and we can finally eat in peace.

So tonight we dined at Chick-fil-A. After going through my ritualistic cleansing ceremony, I start portioning out Claire's nuggets and fruit. We are eating happily when a mom from another table comes over to us and hands me a napkin. She says ever-so-helpfully, "I thought you might want to use this to put her food on so it won't be on the table." REALLY?!!! I told her politely (although who knows what emotion my facial expression was conveying) that we have tried that in the past and she just throws the napkin on the floor. I even showed her my container of disinfectant wipes . . . . you know, just for grins. She then took said napkin and placed in in front of Claire as if to make a point.

Now I shouldn't have done this, but in the moment, I decided to concede and put Claire's food on the napkin. Wouldn't you know the little cutie grabbed each piece of food one at a time, placed the morsels lovingly on the table and then grabbed the napkin and threw it on the floor. YEA BABY!! That's my girl! EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Glad she did it for me.

The mom just giggled at Claire's "cuteness" and resumed dining at her table with her two elementary-school-aged children who were eating happily on their napkins.

I am still shocked that she had the nerve to actually come to my table to show me how to parent my child. I am sure she thought she was doing me a favor. Shesh. What ever happened to the good ole days when people just talked about you behind your back?

A New Look!

Check me out! I am experimenting with the look of my blog. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I think this background is pretty cute so it's a start. Just tired of the same old, same old and needed something new.

I updated my daily reads column on the left too. If you are one of my friends who goes months without a new post, then I saved you in my personal links so I can still catch up, but took you off of the list on the blog. Hope that doesn't offend, but I had a few new blogs to add and the list was getting long!

The Difference Between 7 months pregnant and 15 months pregnant? An Outfit . . . Apparently.

There have been times when I've shown up at church to hear things like, "Wow! That baby sure has dropped!!" But then the following week, from different people, I get, "You are carrying so high!"

I have come to realize that you can look vastly different depending on the maternity outfit chosen. Take for example the two outfits I could choose from last Sunday. Both were taken within 5 minutes of each other, so there were no amazing growth spurts going on.



Seriously? I look like I am about to deliver twins in the dress. Granted, I don't look itty bitty in the other outfit either, but the dress has got some serious issues. Fortunately the tag is still in tact and it is going back to the store, PRONTO!

Boy I miss my skinny jeans and cute tops. I am so excited that we are having another little girl, but I am seriously DONE with this whole pregnancy thing. I am ready for a cute baby in my arms and my body back!

Happy Fall, Ya'll

Okay, I couldn't resist posting a few more pics of Claire. Here are some of my favorites from the pumpkin patch and Halloween.