rare

I can count on my hand the number of times I have actually seen Luke asleep since he was a newborn. He prefers to go down awake and put himself to sleep instead of having us rock him or soothe him to sleep and will usually wake up to the sounds of me making whatever meal of the day its time for him to eat. It's a routine we both expect and enjoy...or at least I do.

Yesterday, I went to get him from his morning nap and this is what I found.

He didn't even flinch when I opened the door. So, instead of waking him to feed him, I took pictures. I love that I can tell he's a teacher's kid already. He sleeps criss-cross applesauce style. You are welcome future kindergarten teacher!

mr. murphy go away

It must be Murphy's Law or some other cosmic happening that makes certain (or one very specific thing in my case) events happen. I am not a popular girl. I do not talk on the phone a lot and actually prefer e-mails to having a verbal conversation with someone. It gives me a chance to reflect and compose my thoughts the way I really want them to sound. Maybe that's why I like to blog so much. :)

Over the past week or so, my sickness-feeling has been on the decline (praise the Lord!), but my need for sleep and rest has not. I'm still on the schedule of sleeping when Luke does to accommodate my siesta needs. *Without fail* every single time I'm about to fall asleep or have just fallen asleep, my phone rings. Either the home phone or my cell phone, but either way, one of them starts wailing in my ear. If I can't form a very witty or insightful conversation on a good rested moment in my life, there is little to no chance I have a shot at making sense while I'm groggy.

The sad part is that most of the phone calls that I do receive during these times are from the dreaded telemarketers. They are the people that call me. I used to try to let them down gently and nicely refuse whatever service they were trying to peddle, but now, I just hang up or interrupt their schpeal with a very abrupt, "Do not call me again. Ever." Sorry. Well, not really. I'm not really sorry. I'm tired and pregnant. And since Luke just went down for a nap, I'm headed to bed too.

playtime randomness

Over the past week or so, during the brief times when I emerge from my sick-and-tired-from-baby coma, I've caught Luke doing some very funny and weird things during his playtime. Maybe he does these things to occupy himself since he does play alone a good majority of the time (I try but he usually runs away) or maybe he's just crazy. Either way you look at it, he's quite the ham.

Loves to "boom boom boom!"

Luke throwing his activity table over...

...and trying to escape punishment through Keith's legs when disciplined.

He's started putting his hands behind his back and playing with his fingers.

Still loves to spend some time in his toy baskets.

Still working on the exit strategy.

Successfully used his overturned firetruck as a prop to push on when pooing. Helped his cause.

Doesn't use the cup for drinking, but to scream in and make funny noises with.

We're getting better on the grass. After some much-needed grass therapy with Grandma last time they visited, he seems to be enjoying it again...or at least tolerating it for my sake.

hot stuff

Luke thinks its the greatest thing when Keith puts his sunglasses on him. Such the stud already!

i'm the turtle

I feel like Keith is running circles around me and I can't keep up or catch up. Ever since we found out we're expecting again, Keith has morphed into "I-want-to-fix-everything-around-our-house-and-have-it-completely-spotless" guy. I told him that I think he hit the nesting phase way too early this time. He claims that he's not nesting. Yeah right.

So far this week, he has:

• installed a keyless entry to our garage
• swept both the back patio and the front porch
• vacuumed carpets multiple times
• cleaned carpets in family room area
• wiped down our laundry room door
• adjusted the drape tie-backs so they are "more secure" in the wall
• installed a towel bar in our bathroom
• searched Home Depot and Lowe's to find a different towel bar that will coordinate with the rest of the house's fixtures since this one doesn't match just right
• cleaned Rosco's mat
• emptied garbages and recycling multiple times
• initiated purchasing bedside lamps for our room so it can feel bigger and more cozy...his words, not mine
• mowed and maintained the backyard
• reorganized our laundry room
• transformed our junk drawer into an organized miscellaneous drawer

Don't get me wrong. I am completely appreciative of everything he has accomplished. I just feel like I should be doing my equal share. Unfortunately, baby's idea of equal share means taking naps when most of this stuff was happening. I'll make it up to you sweetheart as soon as my second wind kicks in!

documenting

This post is so not supposed to sound like a whine, so I genuinely apologize for when it starts to drift in that direction. I realized that when I was creating Luke's blog book, I had very few posts of what happened while I was pregnant. I wish I would have kept better track then, so I'll start by keeping better track this time. So this poor kid gets the good, the bad, the ugly, and the nauseous in their book...Sorry!

People have always said that the labor and birth experience is fairly traumatic, though easily forgotten once you get your precious baby is placed in your arms for the first time. All the suffering and pain that was endured evaporates in a millisecond and is replaced with sheer joy (with a smidge of panic in realizing you are now a parent-yikes!). That is, until the epidural wears off or they forget to give you the pain medication on time or refuse to get you the double-dose of the good stuff. Whatev. I digress.

No one tells you how quickly you forget the torturous first few months of being pregnant as soon as you feel your baby move for the first time. Or in my case, as soon as I can stay awake long enough to realize there is, in fact, a child in there. Don't think I've felt the baby move already. Please-I'm only 9 weeks along. I am fully entrenched in the constant state of nausea and sleepiness. I'm just trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel at this point.

With Luke's pregnancy, I could solve my nausea issue, which only appeared in the afternoon, by eating small carby-type meals and a decent nap in the afternoon when I got home from work. This pregnancy is not following the same guidelines as Luke's did. Nausea occurs at any point throughout the day. Morning, noon, night, midnight. You name it, I've felt sick at that point. Food doesn't seem to help the situation either. It exacerbates the problem. I am no longer able to eat blueberry bagels, even though I lived off of them a week ago. Sometimes, I wish I would just throw up already so the feeling would go away.

Sleeping is a whole other can of worms. I took 2 two hour long naps today and I typing this now as a way to prolong staying awake so Keith doesn't make fun of me for going to sleep so early. Poor guy. I try to stay up, but the baby has very distinct other plans for my body and its well-being at this point. Its tough to get solid naps (I could easily sleep 3 hours at a stretch) in during the day. Luke takes a couple of two hour naps, but I have other stuff that needs to get done. At some during the day, I like to at least make it out of my pajamas.

I just have to remember that I'm on the downhill slide of this morning (ha!) sickness thing. I know that I have only a few more weeks of this *super fun* stage of pregnancy. It's like a chant in my head: downhill slide, few more weeks. Downhill slide, few more weeks.

just because

I haven't posted a picture of Luke in quite a while (probably because you know now its been extremely difficult to do much of anything other than lay on the couch during Luke's nap) and I can almost hear Holly in my head requesting a new one. So here is my little man who is happy as always.

I just can't get enough of this kid.

peanut makes four

Although we've known for almost four weeks now that Luke is going to be a big brother, it still hasn't registered in my brain. I mean, I even got to see the little peanut and it's flickering heartbeat on an ultrasound today and it still has this dream-like quality to me. One would think that photographic evidence would cement the idea that I am soon to be a mother to two kiddos, but, no.

Maybe I just need to get the rotund belly with hints of stretch marks around the edges. Then it will stick. Maybe I just need to feel this little one move and try to force its way out my ribs. Then it will stick. Maybe I need to stop feeling so nauseous all.the.time. Then it will stick. Maybe I need to hold another sweet, perfect, amazing bundle of baby in my arms. Then it will stick.

I can't wait for it to stick.

grass is a no-no

So we attempted the outdoor playtime again this morning with the deepest assurances from the hubby that the sprinklers would NOT go off for real this time. I set Luke on the grass to play with the same toys he was in love with yesterday and he ran off the grass faster than I think I have ever seen him move before. I tried blowing bubbles, putting him on his slide, pushing around the bubble mower. Nothing worked. I think he's just as paranoid as I am that yesterday's debacle will become our recurring nightmare.

So now I'm forming plans for Luke's Grass Rehabilitation Program. Step 1: Multiple exposures a week with some favorite and varied toys. Step 2: Maybe convince other kids to come over and show him that grass is not the devil. Step 3: I have no idea what Step 3 should be. Any suggestions?

bubbles and sprinklers

Although Arizona is quickly shaping up to meet its normal unholy-hot requirements for the summer, the mornings are still really nice. I thought I'd take the opportunity this morning to take Luke outside to play in the backyard because a.) there was no dog poo to be found on the lawn or nearby rocks for Luke to play with and b.) all of his backyard toys were still out from the night before which meant I did not have to lug them all out by myself. Sweet. I even remember Keith saying last night when I had mentioned this idea that it would be the perfect day because the sprinklers had gone on that day.

After Luke finished his normal breakfast this morning, we headed out to the back. As he ran around having a great time, I blew bubbles towards him from my central spot on a towel in the middle of the grass. He's never been around bubbles or even seen them before (I know, my child is deprived) so he was having a blast trying to catch the bubbles, pick up the bubbles, whatever he could with the bubbles. He was laughing and running around and it was too precious for words.

At one point, he walked over to his slide, so I helped him up onto it. He hasn't quite figured out the rock wall thing you have to climb up to get on it, so I lifted him up and sat him in position. Just as he was about to slide himself down, he looked at me with this beaming grin and I wish that I would have had my camera to capture the look. He was the happiest kid in the world at that moment. Bubbles, the slide, his mom, beautiful weather. Perfect.

And then the sprinklers came on. That would have been the real picture to see. I was not expecting them to come on at all, so I (kind-of) lost the typical mom-coolness and freaked out. Grabbing my phone and my shoes, I hopped up and saw Luke. He was screaming from the top of the slide. Poor guy had no idea why he was suddenly being sprayed with water rather forcefully and why this weird noise was being made from the water. His look was sheer panic so I grabbed him and bee-lined for the patio.

Needless to say, Keith received a very nice phone call from Luke and myself soon afterwards. I now know the water schedule very well and Keith knows to update me with any changes to said schedule. Hopefully Luke will be okay when we venture back into the yard tomorrow. I bet the bubbles will fix everything.