Happy Birthday to My Subby

I have a 5 year-old. I can't believe that I was pregnant for the first time 5 years ago, that we made it through baby-hood, toddler-hood, almost preschool, and that in 4 short months I will send her to Kindergarten. I cleaned out the girls' closet today to make the transition from winter to summer clothes and to get rid of all the grubby things that are unwearable and as I packed away the clothes I thought would still work for fall, a tear came to my eye thinking that I will have to send Sabrina away to school, in Virginia, all day. This is pregnancy hormones at work, I am sure. While I NEVER in a million years thought I'd be THAT mom, I am going to have a hard time with it and so is Lucy. The three of us have become quite the trio.

Some things I love about Sabrina:
*She came good. Sometimes we would like to take credit for how obedient and well-mannered she is in public, but that is just not deserved. She is that way naturally and we are the beneficiaries. She holds on to shopping carts, sings loudly in Primary, and listens to her teachers and soccer coach well. I'm pretty sure on most days, she's raising me.

*She is so imaginative. I love that. I remember playing pretend for hours as a kid and to get to watch her do that too is fun for me.

*Her voice. Anyone that's heard her knows what I'm talking about.

*She was meant to be a big sister. She knows how to get Lucy to do ANYTHING (good and bad). She is thrilled to be having a new baby, kisses my belly every night, tells me what the baby needs and is doing.

*Her funny sayings...example:
Sabrina: Mom, I know what our baby needs.
Me: What?
Sabrina: Yobaby Yogurt. It's love on a spoon.

(Wow! That advertising on the Sprout network is really effective. And she must have seen that commercial several times to get that down...see what I mean about raising me?)

Anyway, we couldn't love her more. For her birthday we went swimming with Shelley and Nolan, ate out, and had cake and ice cream. The thing about setting a precedent with birthday parties (I'm on an every other year rotation) is that you have to stick to your guns. So it was pretty low key. She got a new bike, and if the weather would ever cooperate she could ride it somewhere other than around in circles in our kitchen.

Happy 5th Birthday Subby!

Note: I don't know why I always insist on putting a baby pic with every birthday post I do. It just makes me cry (or I'm just pregnant...you be the judge).

The Day I Fainted

For documentation purposes:

I have never fainted before in my life. Never. I've rarely even gotten light-headed.

I went walking the other morning with my sister, Natalie, at the temple. We walked quickly, but I wouldn't say that we were over-exerting ourselves by any means. When we finished our walk, we stood in the parking lot talking for a minute when all of the sudden, mid-conversation, I got extremely hot and light-headed and my vision began to blacken. I said some jibberish to Natalie to which she said, "Go sit down." I looked over at the curb and was headed there when apparently I started to stagger left and fell to the ground. A fall I don't remember. Natalie helped me to the curb where I regained consciousness and wondered why my knee was skinned. After a few minutes, I felt fine. I called Paul and white-knuckled it home. I went to the dr. later in the day to have my blood pressure checked and to see if I was anemic. Turns out, my blood pressure is fine and I'm not anemic.

I came home only to learn that Natalie herself fainted several times during pregnancy and so did my mom. Also, due to some internet research, many people faint randomly during pregnancy. It's not all that uncommon. Just another fantastic side-effect of bringing babies into the world; the scariest one I've ever experienced. Good thing my babies are cute!

Tiny Dancer

Well, both children just got done throwing fits. Looks like I need to do a post about them to remind me of how especially adorable they are.

We took advantage of Orem City's dance program again this winter and Sabrina just had her concert. Her two dances were each about 30 seconds long. Glad I spent two hours making a tutu! All in all though I have to give Orem 2 thumbs up when it comes to these types of programs. And you can't complain when you pay $40 for 3 months of dance classes two days per week! She was very cute at her concert. She smiled through both performances and paid close attention to her teacher. Such an ideal student! She told me the other day that she's more excited for the new baby than she is for summer. That's saying something, and I think I'll have a lot of help from her when the baby comes.



And as for Lucy, do you see that finger? Any guesses where it might be headed? We're working on it. I'll take this disgusting habit, however, when you've got a child whom after only two weeks of diaper free living (and a mom who wasn't very diligent) is staying dry through the day and through the night and never fights going to the bathroom. It brings a smile to my heart just thinking about it. Although, I know how this process works: Two steps forward, two steps back. I'll do a back flip, pregnant and all, and post it on this blog if she has no regression. She is extremely personable, perceptive, and cute right now. She loves to tell us when things are funny. Most of the time I think I'd like to freeze her this way, and other times, I think I'd like her to get past the age of two.

We Are In Fact Excited

I really didn't mean for brevity to be an indicator of how excited we are to have a 3rd baby. Considering that for Lucy's announcement I did an entire question/answer session, I probably should share a little more details, lest child #3 feels neglected without even being here yet.

Official due date: October 5th (and hopefully not a day sooner: see next question)

Official day we move across the country: We don't really have one. But sometime in my 33rd week of pregnancy is looking probable. People have reassured me"better in than out"with regards to moving. So I'm banking on that right now.

Level of sickness: Moderately high, up until last week. I really don't remember my other pregnancies being this hard. Although others have it a lot worse, so I shouldn't complain (even though I did).

Level of wimpyness: High. I may be a little (or a lot) more whiny than I have ever been. I'm embracing my "C"game with regards to most things these days. I'm just thankful it's not my "F" game.

Doctor to deliver: Don't know. We'll be in Virginia so if anyone has any ideas of who is a good doctor there, please share.

Craving of choice: Baskin Robbins. I made PJ go there several times per week during the nauseous period always after the kids were in bed (is that rude?). And he always went; the ideal husband, I'd say.

Girl or Boy: I have no inclinations either way. Paul thinks it's a girl. Sabrina thinks it's a boy and Lucy says it's a girl. (Although she just figured out the difference, so I'm not really sure she gets what we're asking her.) I don't really care although perhaps I could get to know the boy section in clothing stores better. Right now I treat it like the auto section. Nonexistent.

First sign of pregnancy: I fell asleep at 8 pm one night. The last time that happened was...well, it's never happened. I was also having very vivid dreams.

The girls' reaction: Lucy didn't really have one, doesn't really get it, and always tells us that she's a baby when we bring it up. Sabrina said, "I already knew that. We don't have very many kids, so we're going to have more babies." She's been telling people for 2 years now that we were going to have a baby so I don't think she gets it much either.

Name Game: We won't torture people the way we did with Lucy by not sharing the name when/if we come up with one. That was a bad idea. Really, people just torture you when you try to pull those kinds of shenanigans. I don't recommend that to anyone.

And just in case you were wondering, those pregnancy tests at the dollar store are every bit as effective as the ones you spend 7 to 10 times more on at the other stores. Just a bit more work and not nearly as fancy. I was rather skeptical though so I took 4 of them.

Expecting

I'm pregnant with child numero tres. Due in October. Timing isn't great but still excited. Don't have much more to say about it.

About these girls

I'm a bit ashamed that I haven't taken many pics as of late. Something I need to be better about and will be better about since I'm coming out of my winter fog. (Oh wait, it's supposed to snow on Tuesday...fog still on!)

About Sabrina: Is still a great sister to Lucy, wants to go "somewhere" every day (and no, preschool and dance do not count), is the best kid in the Primary (no, really, I'm there every week and you'd think she was that way 24/7; she's not, for the record, but I'll take all the compliments we get at church on our parenting), she loves to draw and give pictures to people, has no inhibitions about dancing to the music in stores, asks if we can go swimming when the sun is out (um, no it's 40 degrees), smart, cute, funny, will play soccer this spring (I'm sure she'll need her uniform altered).

About Lucy: Loves dress ups and bows as of late, makes us all laugh with her run/gallop and curls bouncing, works hard to be bigger than she is, has gotten a lot taller lately, still hates anything church-related except nursery which she calls "dance class" for some reason, gets 85% of her caloric intake from beverages, has learned how to be funny and joke, still is the loudest child I've ever heard, has the best cheeks to squeeze ever, loves to yell inappropriate things during the sacrament ("Undies!" "Pick Your Nose!" I don't know who is teaching her these things), really fun, makes life interesting.

Because you can't get enough of me...

The time has come for the world to know all that I have to say about everything and nothing at the same time (scary, right?).

Actually, my friends Kasey and Erica and I decided it would be fun to start our own blog where we could just write whatever we want about the world in which we live (from the perspective of 20-something [holding on for 6 more months], LDS women). It's great fun.

Check it out at www.pearshapedthoughts.com

We'll be posting every day, minus Sundays.