Fancy

Where is this fancy girl going, you may ask?

..to a party?

...to church?

..to a royal ball?

Nope. None of the above. Just to BSF (our wednesday bible study/preschool). She insisted that she is what she wears. She wouldn't compromise with a fancy, puffy skirt and would have nothing to do with jeans. I'm not the kind of mom who cares too much about what Mimi wears (ie, all our trips to Target in a fairy costume), but I thought about the kids in the gym dancing and jumping and did have a fear of  being considered the "unpractical mom" (since I've been on the other, judging side! ;) This is also after the third time that I've gone to pick up Mimi from class and the sweet volunteer had to hunt down her bow or headband that stayed on her head for two minutes because I wanted her to look cute. (They don't need to spend extra time keeping track of her accessories!)

Anyways. This is how she went to BSF. But, the joy and spinning and twirling and royal quality she suddenly possessed after she put on her dress was priceless. She had a great day being a "princess" at BSF (and the comments and "oos and ahhs" from the sweet older ladies as we walked in didnt' hurt her ego either!)

Here's a Mama Update:

Do not attempt to adjust your computer. That is my real baby belly. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE IT! But, I am filled with a tiny bit of fear. If this is what 3 1/2 months looks like, what will 8 months hold for us!?!?!?! (I know I've blogged that statement once already...still on my mind!) Yesterday I was feeling super dizzy and a bit gaggy again. Thankfully Mimi took a great nap, therefore, so did I. Once I got up, I SWEAR that everything was bigger. No joke. The tank top that was barely covering the tops of my jeans no longer would reach. I should have a sign on my tummy that says "Baby At Work" because this little person is GROWING! Did you know that at 14 weeks (where we are now) they can make expressions and even suck their thumb. I'm picturing a little person, the size of a lemon (in my case, maybe a bit bigger and ahead of that!) doing just those things. I also am feeling small hints of someone moving. So fun. Love you baby!


On a side note, sweet Ali so kindly let me know that Dispatch (a very favorite band!) is coming to concert at Red Rocks in June. I seriously want to go. It's the kind of concert where I would know all of the songs..and...at RED ROCKS! But, my logical side is telling me that a month before I deliver, I may not want to be at a concert. Surely just walking up the stairs at Red Rocks could send me into labor! (but there are elevators I'm sure). Any moms or preggie friends, please weigh in. I'm 90% sure I shouldn't go, but when I saw a commercial for the concert I felt a twinge of longing...

(Mimi has a "baby" too. Her baby's name is Ash. And, after a visit to Ashley and Baby Isla, the comments about "I want a baby sister" have increased at a rapid rate. While we were driving  to see Isla Mimi said: "Mama, I want to be a big sister to your baby." Well good. We will stop the application process for other big sisters, 'cause YOU'RE HIRED!)




*update: I DO have to say that I don't look this big in person...at least that isn't quite what's staring back at me in the mirror. Maybe it's the ol' "camera adds 10 lbs" thing...*

Find A Penny, Pick It Up...

My little girl, daughter of a banker, has turned into a real saver. 

After showing her how she could put pennies into her piggy bank, she now scopes out loose change with eagle-eye precision. It's actually become a fun past time for us when we're out. When she spies a penny on the ground, we pick it up and put it in Mommy's pocket or hers. Lately, it's even gotten more extreme. Last time I paid with cash for something and got a handful of change back, she looked up at me with excitement in her eyes and said, "MOMMY! MONEY FOR MY PIGGY BANK!" :) 

So it shouldn't have come as a surprise to us when yesterday while we were visiting a friend of my Dad's, Mimi walked in to the house took her coat off and proceeded to pick up some change that they had lying on their coffee table and put it in her pocket! Ben caught her and called her out on it, while I tried my hardest not to laugh (she really hates laughing, and of course, especially if it seems like it may be directed at her. Understandably.) I guess we really hadn't talked about picking up money that didn't belong to you...

So next time Mimi is over, hide your change!

Imagination At Work!

Since Mimi changes literally every day, I have to write down some of our recent developments so I don't forget!

My cooking Tinkerbell

(that's Mimi as Rapunzel at the Isenburgs)







That's Mimi wearing a shirt of mine when I was little with my picture on it!




I just am mostly loving her little imagination these days!


Tonight I came into the living room to overhear Mimi talking with her sock on her hand, that she had named "Darby." She put on a whole puppet show for herself; just her and her puppet Darby!

My favorite part of the night is eavesdropping on the high drama that goes down in the bathtub between all of Mimi's princess dolls. She has them all acting and talking and being friends. About a million times in a bath session I will hear her cry "mama! mama!" and it takes me a second to realize that it's her dolls calling for their mama. 
I also do love hearing her process her life through those dolls. So far, they only seem nice to each other and the mom is sweet, so she hasn't seemed to internalize pregnant "grumpy mom" yet ;)

Today, after she got a new Rapunzel doll from "Tangled" (as a reward for a big potty moment!) she informed me that the doll actually used to be her Grandma's when she was a little girl and now it was hers. It took awhile to piece this one together, but lately we've played with a Christmas ornament that was her Grandma Mimi's and now I've overheard her talking about things that used to be her Grandma's. Even though it was comical that this singing Rupunzel doll "used to be her Grandma's when she was little," it was really sweet to see that her Grandma Mimi is on her mind because we try hard to keep her memory alive in our house.


Mimi continues to love BSF. I love overhearing songs she sings or verses she learns; it's just the sweetest thing ever. So today I overheard her singing a song...it went something like this:


"Do not be afraaaaaid. Do not be afraaaaaaid...do not be afraid....you better watch out...


(at this point I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what she says next)


..." because, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN..."


(I guess that she morphed a few things. Kinda like when I asked her today what she learned in BSF and she said she learned about God. When I asked her what she learned about God she said, Ring Around the Rosie and the Jack-in-the-box song...it does all get confusing, doesn't it?! ;)

O Happy Day!

...This is a VERY happy day indeed!!!! (Besides it being our dear Nana's birthday...Happy Birthday Nana! We love you!), we also got to SEE our little munchkin at our doctor's appointment today!

It sure didn't start out as a happy day though. We had some anxiety over the appointment, just the normal "are we going to hear anything happening in my tummy" fear. So, with some excitement and some trepidation we marched into the doc's office (Ben, Mimi and I). We kept telling Mims that she'd get to hear the baby's heartbeat. She was pretty stoked...and so were we. I reclined on the table and the doc got out her handy dandy Doppler/microphone thing and proceeded to try and find baby's heart.  Of course those minutes feel like HOURS as she scans and scans. We had been praying all morning and the night before, so I tried to remember that God was in control. 

There was nothing.

She kept searching and searching as my eyes met Ben's across the room. I think we both thought, "there's no way that this fear could be playing out right now," but it was.

The doc finally decided to stop torturing us and went to get the ultrasound machine. There was more scanning on top of my stomach and more concerned looks and silence from the doctor. Until FINALLY, she pointing the screen to us and said, "okay, here's baby..." (and then I don't remember anything else). All I could concentrate on was this little love that actually LOOKS like a baby now, with a round little head, a reclining spine and the wiggliest movements I've ever seen. I had to make sure to ask the doctor about the heart, and she pointed out the sweet beating heart that had been eluding us moments before. 

We watched our baby and laughed (and cried) and scolded he/she a little too. What a stinker!!!!! How dare they be so rascally at such an important time!? My theory is that this baby likes the screen time. We've now had THREE ultrasounds with them, compared to the usual ONE that is expected. Of course, that's a major blessing and we don't really mind a bit. Actually, as I write this, it's suddenly occurring to me that maybe we've gotten to have so many ultrasounds because God knows me so well and knows that's what I've needed-to SEE this baby and have some peace about the goings on inside of me. Thank you Lord. We cannot say that enough...THANK YOU.

I feel so thankful that I know that we have a God who loves us dearly and cares about the details of our life. How nice to say thank you, and know intimately WHO we are thanking, instead of sending it up, blankly into the sky.

What a great, rollercoaster of a day.

The other best part of today is that we've already scheduled the anatomy ultrasound for my 30th birthday!!!! It just ended up happening that way. We can't wait!

Pregnancy Eating..

Well, I think that it's safe to say that the sickies are packing up and moving out of town. I still have a lingering "not so great all of the time" feeling, but I'll take that any day over the "I hate my life, who chose this anyway, I wanna die" feeling.

I had to share this picture (taken with my new ipod! Thank you SANTA!) of my grocery shop this morning after BSF. I hope that you can see the theme as well as I can: SODIUM! I literally bought two things that I've never bought before in my life: Bean soup with bacon and pickled baby corn. I also got sauerkraut, a cup of noodles, onion soup mix to make onion dip and Dr. Pepper to finish it off.

I'd been so proud that over the last few weeks, my cravings revolved around lots and lots of fruit, cranberry juice, grapenuts and raisin bran. 

(I guess now I'm making up for lost junk food time! But I really am going to try to not indulge TOO much. I like my new maternity jeans from Target too much to grow out of them that fast).

My first mistake was grocery shopping while hungry ravenous. I guess the rule should now read, "don't grocery shop when you're hungry...or pregnant."

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You Can Pick Your Friends...

...But you can't pick your friends' noses, or something like that.

This group all ended up at the Helmicks over the holidays visiting Baby Isla:

Such a cute picture! (Thanks for sending it Kar!)

But please notice the location of Mimi's finger in relationship to her nose...

This is a very accurate picture of her right now. The nose picking has commenced. I'm not quite sure how to deal with it without just offering a tissue and telling her it's not polite to pick you nose. So far, that's not super effective yet.

Which brings me to this story:

One evening while Ben was on the computer and Mimi and I were reading books on our bed, I noticed Mimi picking her nose. I casually remarked to Ben that we need to try to teach her not to pick her nose. To which Ben replied, "Well, then I better stop too. Because LITERALLY right when you just said that, I was picking my nose."

This led me to the conclusion that this just may be a hopeless cause.