Last Night

Normy ate two pieces of pizza.

Drank from a real cup.

Then, excused himself to go potty... all by himself!

Georgia needed a napkin because she was unhappy when her hands became "sticky."

She spend most of her time at the table dropping her fork so that she could say:

"Dang it!"

Mom was too nauseated to cook dinner; Smoochy bought the family pizza.

Mom made a miraculous recovery once the pizza was on the table.

Are you tired of looking at that last post yet?

What day is it?

Seriously, this has been the fastest most intensely busy month we've had for a long time. The blog has suffered as you all know. I can hardly believe we are half-way through October already. And as much as we've had going on, I haven't taken my camera out to capture any of it until tonight. The days are just packed.

Some of what we've been up to:

1) Potty training the Normster. I can not express to you what a massive undertaking this has been. It took my friend Stela sharing with me the technique she used with her son Lucas, who is two weeks younger than Normy and alike him in so many ways. Basically her method was NO DIAPERS. Not for naps, not on trips, just no diapers. We started the day after I talked to her, a couple of weeks ago now. And things are getting better. Typical of most kids, he's got peeing down, but we've still got a ways to go with poops. Atypically, he didn't have problems with accidents at first. He had potty phobia, so would just hold it... all day long. The first day we started he only peed 4 times, despite the massive amounts of liquid he consumed. He's now much better and will even ask to go. Though, he still wants a buddy in the bathroom. As an added bonus, he's finally learned how to take down and pull up his own pants. Excellent. Who knew three year olds could do such things! ;-)

2) a Visit to Kansas. Last week we left on Thursday and stayed through Sunday. It was a wonderful trip. We were lucky to spend time with both sides of the family. We also got to enjoy dining at Smoochy's mom's new restaurant which was beyond wonderful. My favorite dish was actually and appetizer. Kettle chips smothered with white cheese sauce, crumbled bacon, chives, and blue cheese! Heaven. Plus, Smoochy got the opportunity to fulfill a life log dream while we were there. He bartended for a private party she was catering! He was quite the drink slinger I was told and made some serious tips. ;-) The real highlight of the trip was reuniting with our dog Jack. He' been spending the summer at Smoochy's dad's house while we settled back in Omaha. But, he's home with us now. The kids are LOVING having him home, and I actually like it quite a bit too, despite the hair and the muddy paw prints on my pretty wood floors. Maybe if I took the time to wipe his paws...

3) The Nebraska Friends of Midwives has kept me busy busy busy. I just became the vice-chair of the organization (which I think is tremendously cool.) We had our yearly meeting last week, as well as a trip to the Capitol in Lincoln. It was a long day for my kids who accompanied me for all of it. But, they did wonderfully. Next up is the LLL conference in a week and a half. We will have an booth there to reach out to the community and hopefully drum up support for the three CNM bills we are trying to move out of committee next session. Further, I plan to doula for a friend's twin birth coming up soon, so I have had lots of birthy stuff on the brain.

4) Oh yea, and I'm pregnant. And just starting to feel it. My complexion has taken a turn for the worse and today I HAD TO NAP. It was not an option. I cooked a pork loin in the slow cooker all day, but never had the energy to make sides to finish the meal, so we had pizza instead and tomorrow I will turn my pork into Posole. Oh yea, pregnant. I'm pregnant. I can't think about anything but food. Tomorrow I have a prenatal appointment with hospital based midwives. I am not sure if I am going to use there services for the birth itself, but I really want an ultrasound to establish a firm date. Seeing as Normy was born only four days after his due date and Georgia was born ON her due date, my track record is pretty solid for being able to narrow down the birth to at least a week. I can't believe I am going to have THREE children. That's a lot of laundry. ;-)

OK, the end. I'm going to bed. Sorry this post is lame. After such a long hiatus you'd expect something spectacular. Maybe after the first trimester! ;-)

One minute they love each other...

The next, not so much.

Two Pink Lines

Thank you all so much for the out pouring of congratulations and well wishes. We are grateful to have such a wonderful family and group of friends supporting on us in our third adventure in parenthood. Isn't it amazing? I am just as excited for the third one as a was when I was pregnant with Normy. I am over the moon with joy. (So is Smoochy, don't let that scary face fool you. The first thing he said when I told him was "That's awesome!" The second thing was: "This isn't the last one is it?")

I have to admit, ever since I found out I was pregnant I have had a sort of blogging paralysis. I couldn't imagine what else to write about other than being pregnant. Of course, it is still ridiculously early, and we probably shouldn't be spreading the news in such a public forum... but well, otherwise I probably wouldn't have posted for the next four to six weeks. By my estimation, I am due either May 10th or May 28th. Seeing as my husband was only home two out of seven weeks around the time of conception, it really narrows down the possibilities.

I have to say, I was totally shocked to see two pink lines. I've been charting, and never had any fertility signs, if you know what I mean. But, of course Georgia nurses like a six-month old, so I shouldn't be surprised. Anyway, It is kinda' funny actually how the whole testing came about. I had just gotten home from Kate and Chuck's house in Denver, when I caught a side view of my stomach in the mirror and was pretty shocked by the view. I looked ROUND! Not just hadn't worked out on ten days of vacation round... but like second trimester (for a primipara) round. I thought I'd test just for the heck of it. Well, thirty seconds after peeing on the stick, I was cursing my self for being so silly and waisting a pregnancy test. (Smoochy says we should buy stock). I flung it down on the counter and left the bathroom irritated with my self.

Fast forward to much later that night. I came into the bathroom to wash up and what was waiting for me... the pregnancy test. I glanced down at it while brushing my teeth. TWO PINK LINES. I almost choked on my Aquafresh. Thus precipitated a massive online search regarding the validity of pregnancy test results after the initial window of testing has passed. There is seriously a website called www.peeonastick.com. Very helpful. Basically, a test result is only 100% reliable for ten minutes. After that you could be seeing saturation lines. But, the thing is I have taken a lot of pregnancy tests, and I know from previous experience that whenever I have dug a negative test out of the trash hours or days later they have all still been negative. This one was clearly positive. Of course, I didn't have an other test in the house and Smoochy was out of town. The kids were sleeping. I seriously contemplated leaving them alone and asleep and driving to the Quick Trip at the end of our street. No one even knows our house in the woods is here, right?

I managed to restrain myself till dawn, though I lay a wake half the night playing the what if game. As soon as I got the kids fed and dressed we were out the door and on the way to the gym. I stopped off at a grocery store in-route and bought another test. I couldn't hardly stand the suspense. First I had to make it to the gym and check the kids into their childcare room. (Doddle doddle doddle... COME ON NORMY!) Then I ducked into the ladies' locker room and found the first open potty stall. With trembling hands I tore open the package... two pink lines again. Holy Shit.

I still can't really believe it. Another baby. Another sweet precious baby to snuggle, and nap with, and wear around the house in a wrap, and wipe it's cute little bum, and mash bananas for, and stay up all night with, and love love love. Another sibling. A sister or a brother. Another place at the dinner table, another birth. I love this.

So, I haven't taken a single photo all week. I've been in a daze I tell you. But, I thought I had better put up some photos to help remove that last image of my husband that may have seared itself into your brain and kept you up at night with it's horrible grotesqueness.

So:

Come on May!

Post Deleted due to complaints of young children crying