Florida

So we are at the beach now. It took a awhile to get here, but it's nice to relax now. We left Friday afternoon and spent the night in South Carolina with my parents. The next morning (well, it was more like noon) we left Liz and took off for Panama City, Florida. I took the shot below right before we left. Lizzie didn't seem to mind that we were leaving since she was with her grandparents and in the pool. The ride to South Carolina wasn't too bad. Lizzie mostly played by herself and listened to her stories on CD. At one point she started talking about who she wants to marry and got really sad when she explained that the two boys she wants to marry--Cade and Mikey--are already spoken for by other girls. Andrew explained that you don't just say I'm going to marry someone and that's it, first you fall in love. She responded with, "Well I was going to fall in love with Cade, but Avery said she's already going to marry him." It was kind of funny that she was so upset. The video is of Liz and Andrew kicking the soccer ball around at a rest stop en route. Notice her holding up her hand and telling Drew to "halt" at the begining.

When we were somewhere in Georgia or Alabama, Andrew and I encountered a horrible rain (and hail) storm. It came on suddenly and progressed quickly. We turned on our four-way flashers and slowed to 30 mph on the freeway. Then the rain came so fast and hard that our wind shield wipers could not keep up. We literally could not see past the front of our car so we pulled over to the side of the road and hoped we didn't get hit by another car pulling over. Crazy. I've never seen a storm like that. Luckily it didn't last long. That was it for excitement on the drive down. We read through some of the names in the baby name book (I think we got to I), but had to do in small doses because it made both of us sleepy.

Preschool Graduation!

Elizabeth graduated from preschool today. At the end of the year program her class sang two songs--Do Ray Me (the actions were adorable) and some song that required tapping sticks (she kept talking about how to make sure you do not hit your neighbor with them). Later, along with the other two graduates from the frog class, she walked across the stage, shook hands with the director, and hugged her teacher. It was super cute. Lizzie was especially excited about her hat (wore it most of the day) and the pink graduation bear her teacher gave her.

Pony Play House

We have been reading Lizzie Fancy Nancy books lately (upon my a friend Tiffany's very appropriate suggestion). They are about a little girl who is the only fancy one in her family and her related struggles. Lizzie can sympathize. She often gets frustrated with me because I will not leave my church dress on all day and sometimes she insists that I put on "pretty" clothes before I come to her tea parties. In one of the books we noticed Nancy had made a dog house for her toy dog. We decided to make a pony house for Elizabeth's ponies. I don't normally do a lot of crafts with her, but this was fun and I'm glad we used up some of the silver wrapping paper that I've been storing the last few years. Lizzie was a little worn out after all our building and playing so she cuddled up with Andrew.

Other updates: last weekend we went to a DC restaurant named Lima. It was delicious! I especially liked the creme brulee (my favorite dessert). The only bummer was that we didn't feel like we were dressed hip enough and we felt especially lame when the valet pulled up with our mini van after dinner. It was our last night out for our babysitting co-op. We had done it nearly three years and were very sad it ended. It will be hard to go from the possibility of three free babysitting nights a month to none.

The baby name saga begins

When I was pregnant with Jacob, a friend of mine lent me her baby name book. After I read all the boys names I plowed through the girls and compiled a list of possibilities "just in case." A couple nights ago I read it to Andrew. I started out with 81 and ended up with 14. I no longer liked a lot of the names on the list, but I was kind of sorry to see some of them go. Here are some that Drew vetoed: Alexandra, Charlotte, Elenor, Anya, Josephine, Laila, Lydia, Malia, Melissa, Mia, Mila, Odessa, Risa, Roxanne, Sabine, Talia, Tatum, Tobianne.

It's a . . .

. . . GIRL! We had our sonogram today, and as far as they told us everything looks alright so that it a relief for now. I'm glad to know what we are expecting so we can start thinking of names (we have always waited till after the sono). My plan is to plow through a couple baby name books on our way to Florida. As you can imagine I'm looking forward to it, Drew is not.

As far as wanting a girl or a boy, Andrew didn't have a preference (and hasn't during any pregnancy). I kept saying, that I didn't care what it was as long as it was alive, but I had been thinking of the pros and cons of either. A boy would have been nice because my sister and sister-in-law are both having boys in August, plus then we would have "one of each" (living that is). Still, I thought a girl would be preferable because of the age gap between Lizzie and the potential sibling (not to mention the school situation with another September baby). I also didn't want this child to feel like a replacement for Jacob (or hear anyone suggesting this) and I feel like that will be less likely because it is not the same sex. As for same-sex cousins, Drew's sister had a baby girl last month.

I was going to wait to tell Lizzie the sex later tonight when Andrew could also be present for her reaction (she threw a spectacular tantrum last time), but it didn't quite work out that way. I was visiting with another mother as we lingered on the grass after school, when Lizzie came running up to me and asked "Mommy, does the baby have a penis or a bottom?" I told her it had a vagina. She said "A bagina! That means it's a girl. I'm going to have a sister."

Change of plans

Today my original plan was to take Lizzie to the Washington Monument despite the downpour (I reserved tickets a month ago after all). Before we headed downtown I decided to take Liz to IHOP for breakfast. Unfortunately, shortly after our food arrived the restaurant was evacuated because of a mercury spill (I don't know how or why this happened).

We walked out the door just as a couple fire engines rounded the corner. Liz completely freaked out when she saw them. She became somewhat hysterical--screaming and trying to run in the opposite direction. I was eventually able to drag her to the van where she finally calmed down. Turns out along with being frightened by the sirens, Lizzie thought the fire fighters were actually coming to start a fire.

Anyway, we ended up spending (what felt like) a big chunk of time waiting in our car for the hazmat team to arrive and wave some sort of indicator wand under our shoes at which point Liz again freaked out and started crying. Once we were cleared to go I went to my OBGYN because I am now beyond paranoid about this pregnancy. When I got there everyone was very reassuring and I heard a heartbeat and everything so I'm glad I went.
The following video clip is a snippet of Drew and Elizabeth wrestling/playing before dinner (one of Lizzie's favorite activities). In this clip Andrew is trying to flip her off the "bucking bronco." At first this was easy, but Liz got pretty good at holding on. I love the leotard. She reminds me of a baby WWF girl.

Mother's Day

For my Mother's Day celebration Andrew pampered me. He had a platter of sausage, olives, hummus, and assorted cheeses and crackers for me to snack on while I waited for him to make my quiche. Yum. Later in the evening he had chocolates and limeade (a craving during the last two pregnancies) for me to snack on. Again, yum. Andrew, thanks for being so sweet and thoughtful on a day that I know is also emotionally difficult for you.


Lizzie didn't sing at church with the other kids this morning because she was too busy throwing a temper tantrum. Latter she sang while she was writing an email to her Nana, so I'm including a clip for said Nana. It's almost two mintues long because I haven't learned how to edit yet. Sorry.

Great Falls

Yesterday we went to Great Falls National Park with our friends, the Pomeroys. It was a lot of fun. The falls were amazing, the company was great, and Liz enjoyed climbing on the rocks, which now that I think about it, maybe she shouldn't have climbed. In the visitor center's bathroom was a sign that read: If you fall, you will die. For some reason the frank assessment of the situation cracked me up.

Later in the evening we had dinner with our friends, the Stearns. We went to a restaurant named Silverado which was superb (and I don't think that's just the prego appetite speaking). If you go try the Texas tornado drink. It's a non-slushy moctail and we loved it so much, everyone at our table had two.

Baby update

I had my 20 week appointment earlier today and the baby is still alive.

Little Ears

Sometimes I forget that Lizzie is always listening. This morning I was daydreaming in the car when Lizzie suddenly asked "Who is that lady?"
"What lady?"
"That lady in the story. The one who won't 'take it all off.'"
Argh! I had been so distracted that I hadn't even realized the radio was on. Who knows what she had overheard the disc jockeys saying.

Sometimes I feel so inadequate and a little frustrated when I try to explain things to Liz. Certainly there are things I don't want to explain yet like how babies get in mommies tummies (I've already had to explain how they come out). There are also concepts that she has asked about that I wish she hadn't been exposed to yet like why some daddies are not allowed to see their families and the uncertainty of procreation.

Other times there are words that I just can't seem to define to her (or my) satisfaction. This week Lizzie has asked me to explain comets, bombs, and famines. I told her about how bombs blow up and cause a fires. She wanted to know how "the people got away from the bombs." I said, "Well Sweetie, some don't." Despite this, I thought I did alright explaining, defining, and mitigating her concerns, but last night she prayed that a comet would not come down to earth because she doesn't want to "dieded." Also, earlier in the day she asked if I had extra food in case of a famine (we have been listening to the "Joseph" soundtrack).

West Virginia weekend

Last weekend I went to West Virginia with friends, Lea, Ryann, and Wendi. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and pretty much relaxed and recharged all weekend. Our main activities were: eating, going on walks, talking, making bows, and playing board games (loved it, Drew normally doesn't want to play with me).

We spent a chunk of time making bows. When I told Drew our plans, he was like, really? You're just going to make bows? Maybe you should bring some cards. I threw some cards in my bag at the last minute, but we never ended up using/needing them.

I swear we didn't plan it, but we all ended up in black for dinner. Naturally we decided to take a picture of ourselves. The food was really good. My favorites were the butternut squash risotto and homemade bread.

Prayers

Lizzie loves to pray and I love to listen to her. She is so innocent and sincere. Tonight she said an entire special prayer about a caterpillar her friend stepped on at the park earlier today (it was "hurt, but not killed"). She pretty much wanted the bug healed and protected. Later during her official "personal prayer" Liz told Heavenly Father that we are happy "Daddy's bum feels better" (he broke his tailbone in February). She also said that we are happy "mommy has a baby her in tummy and we don't know if the baby will stay alive, but we hope the baby will." So innocent and sincere.

Other updates on Liz:

She had a really fun day bike riding at Clemyjontri today. We spent a few hours there and I could tell she improved (or at least became more confident). Lizzie also fell a couple time and subsequently asked for knee and elbow pads. I need to get on that. Speaking of protecting my child, I neglected to put sunscreen on either of us. I got burned, Liz did not. Incidentally, Andrew got a sunburn at a golf tournament over the weekend and I kind of gave him a hard time about it (I feel lame about that now). Over the weekend, while playing with a friend Liz got a rope burn. Apparently she was pretending to be a dog and had a jump rope around her neck (the leash). It wasn't on for long, but before her friend's mom could intervene she managed to injure herself. It looks worse than it is (better picture to follow).

Lizzie is finally coming out of her room in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom instead of incoherently screaming from her bed that she is hungry or wants to go home. I feel like we are making such progress!

While I'm at it, here's a fun update on Andrew:

His golf team came in second at the Deloitte Gold tournament this past weekend. They originally tied for first, but lost on the tie-breaker hole meaning Drew almost came home with a Wii. Instead he got a Ipod Nano which he has passed on to me. My own Ipod! Hurray! Thanks Andrew and CONGRATULATIONS!

Silly little girl

I loved the silly things kids say and do. I especially love listening to Lizzie's prayers. Sometimes she tattles (tonight she told Heavenly Father that Marcus didn't share his horses with her), but mostly she asks Him to change other people's behavior. For months she asked God to make her friend Emi "stop saying poop and peep." Once when I told her it was time to say her prayers, she started asking me to get her drink and her retrieve her lambie. I told her I would talk to her about that after her prayer so she said: "Heavenly Father please make mommy get me a drink of water and my lambie. In the name . . . . Amen." Awesome.
Today we had a friend, Avery, over and the girls played pretty well. At times their play dissolved into "I'm not going to play with you," "You can't come to my birthday party," "You're not my best friend," and so on. I can't believe all that catty girl stuff starts so young. I did get some cute shots of the girls when they were behaving. Avery was some sort of super girl and Lizzie was a fairy, both with self-applied makeup.