Things were hairy in the beginning

Tonight we went through old photo cds and found some gems.  After we finished laughing hysterically, I remembered the story behind them.  In early 2000 I was contemplating a change in hairstyle and possibly color, and my oh-so-nerdy new husband had a bright idea. 

Before Photoshop was trendy, cool, or even heard of by most, Nathan used it to show me the many coiffure possibilities.  He posed me in the same positions as the models in the hair magazines and then went to Style Town.  

Unfortunately for me, I would have required a hair transplant to achieve the massive volume I sport in all of these lovely pics.  Bonus points to who can guess which style I chose in the end!!

Nathan, the 'Vacation Dad'

I love this picture of Nathan and Rebecca.  Having reached the bottom of the strenuous 3 mile round-trip hike to Delicate Arch (the one on the Utah license plate), I guess the two of them decided they needed a break.

Our other picture comes from our trip to Yellowstone two summers ago.  Mostly I like this one because of what it brings to mind.  As I was sorting through our old family photos, I noticed that most of our pictures from vacations feature Nathan holding whichever of our children is the youngest at the time.  It may be to give me a much needed break for the week, or just to give him extra quality time with the kids on his time away from work.  Whatever the reason, I really appreciate Nathan's effort to take over the youngest without being asked.  What a great dad!

I love my toddler

Rebecca has been so much fun this week.  Yesterday we were going to Cassie's end-of-school program in the afternoon, so I told her she could stay up and play instead of having a nap.  She said that sounded great, but 5 minutes later Becca came to me and said, "Mom, I want to have a nap.  I am tired."  So I told her to go lay down with her blanket, and she did!  She's always been our best sleeper, but I've never had a two year old volunteer for a nap before!!!

This morning Becca has wanted to be with her mom.  She came to me while I was drying my hair and said, "I need to lay on your shoulder for a minute," so we went to the rocking chair and snuggled for a while.  Then later (while I was blogging!) she told me in her perfectly pronounced two year old English, "Hey!  I have a great idea!  Do you want to play Flip Flap Chicken with me?"  And who could turn down a few minutes of the Big Lots budget-version of Hungry Hungry Hippo with a toddler who laughs hysterically as soon as the flip flapping commences?? And she even helped clean up.

Postscript:  Four hours after this post Rebecca turned into Demon Child.  By six o'clock that evening she was tearful, whiny, fussy, irritable, argumentative, and just plain unpleasant.  OH, the irony!  I mentioned it to my friend Jenny, who hypothesized that perhaps she had just used up her daily niceness allotment a little early.

An Industrious Creature of Habit

This morning in the shower I washed my body before I did my hair.  It felt wrong and rebellious, and I realized there are lots of daily things I do in a certain way.  How sad that all it takes for me to feel a little off is switching up the bathing order!  My fridge is not completely organized, but there are rarely-varying places for the jam, butter, eggs, and sour cream.  We have one-half of a shelf always devoted to yogurt.  I even put the different colored laundry piles in the same places in the hall every Monday.

Idiosyncracies aside, I've been accomplishing a lot these past two days.  The stars and grocery sales aligned and I finally decided to try making freezer meals like some of my neighborhood friends do.  I put together six meals yesterday and three earlier in the week, bringing my total to NINE!!  Not bad for the first try, I think.  I'm also making gingersnaps and four batches of strawberry freezer jam this afternoon.  I suppose if I were a pioneer woman I might scoff at myself and add plowing the back 40 to the list of my accomplishments, but I'm feeling pretty good right now.  Nathan, though supportive of what he thought was a great idea, wondered offhand if this meant somehow in my subconscious that I was going to go into preterm labor like I did with Rebecca's pregnancy and really need those pre-prepared meals . . . I told him not to say stuff like that out loud.

I had no idea HE sang that song

I like music.  But there are some artists who seem ubiquitous and yet unknowable to me.  Invariably I'll hear a song by them and then hear who the artist is and be surprised.  Seriously, I just can't recognize a single song by Kiss, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, and ZZ Top unless their name is printed in front of me.  Pretty weird.  I say they are "Famous for being Famous."  And in some cases, for being talented - on a case by case basis.

My Most-of-the-Way Helper

Last Friday was house cleaning day.  Five year old Braden was assigned to vacuum, and that morning he did the WHOLE house, excluding the stairs and my room.  (Which, according to him, is SOOOO big that it wears him out.  I don't know how to put it in perspective that is is no bigger than the family room or the kitchen area, which he does without saying a word.)

After lunch, his vacuuming completed, he came to me and said, "Mom, I'd really like to do something to help you.  What can I do?"  I thought vacuuming the entire house was more than I had expected, but who am I to turn down a willing offer?  So I told him to get a dust rag and dust the railings.  He replied, "W-e-l-l, I don't really want to do that job.  Could I do something else instead?"  So I told him that doing the blinds with the long-handled duster would be great.  He thought for a moment and politely said, "Hm.  I kind of think I've changed my mind about helping."

Like I'm 15 again

This fourth baby has made me feel like I'm 15 again, and not for the reason you'd suspect. 

There's always Some Reason you 'can't wait' for a pregnancy to be over.  After my morning look in the mirror today, I've decided that the Return of the Blemish Fairy (does that mean I'm calling my baby The Blemish Fairy?) is my first 'can't wait till it's over' reason.

 

Thank goodness for this.

It's a . . .

My baby and I had our first recognizable-as-a-human ultrasound today.  It was just a quickie:  heartbeat, 2 arms, 2 legs, and a spine.  At first we didn't think we'd get gender confirmation, because this fourth child was the first of all our children to cross its legs!!

But after some poking and prodding, we were able to see the goods.

See those three little lines?  That means it's a girl.  She debuts at the end of October.