More Lucy Than June

Till the big ultrasound!!!

Anyone care to make any last minute guesses?

My friend Courtney asked me tonight if I was going to be able to sleep.

Normally, I would have said no, but we had such a full day today, that I’ll probably fall asleep before I make it to the bed.

Met up for our Wednesday playdate at Jumpits.

It’s a new inflatable jumpy place near Kennesaw.

Kenni LOVED it! And I think that Caia did too. I didn’t pay for her to jump, but she kept crawling into the obstacle course and running away from me.

Then, we came home and after what was SUPPOSED to be naptime, we cleaned up Kenni’s room, played, and I started on the two pots of chicken chili for journey group tomorrow night. (More on THAT in a minute.)

Caia has spent two of the past three days napless. We’re assuming teething since she’s waking up at night too.

The diaper she presented me with this afternoon also confirms my suspicions.

But, all the same, I made  her stay in her crib for what SHOULD have been nap time.

Now…my chili story.

I volunteered to make the chicken chili for our Thursday night Bible study. Now, when I did, I didn’t think about all the work that would be involved, especially when I’m not going to be here tomorrow.

I found a crock pot recipe that looked good and decided to go for it.

Not only did I have to soak and simmer two pots of beans, de-bone and de-skin 8 chicken breasts, chop up two onions, mince 6 cloves of garlic…I had to grind my own cumin powder!!! 

Long story short, I didn’t buy ground cumin at the store, because I knew that I had seen cumin in my pantry.

When I finally get ready to dig out the ingredients today, I pull out the cumin. The label reads “Whole Cumin Seed”.

Fab-u-lous.

So, I measured out what I needed and ground it up with a mortar and pestle.

That took some elbow grease.

And I don’t know if the potency of whole cumin seed is more or less than that of already ground, so we’ll see how this turns out!

Anyway…ULTRASOUND!!

Well, at 2:30, give or take some minutes, we will know what we are having. 

Team Pink? Team Blue?

Let’s just hope the little booger decides to cooperate.

We’ll update tomorrow with the results.

I’m no politician.

And I’ve never really followed politics.

But…is it really supposed to MATTER that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant?

Why is this such a huge news story?

I am sure that this young girl has enough emotions to sort through right now without having to deal with the harassment of the media.

I have read the statements that Sarah Palin and her husband released about the “situation”, and I think even more highly of her than I did before.

And, as much as I disagree with Obama, I respect him very much for what he said when asked his opinions.

People’s families are off-limits. And people’s children are ESPECIALLY off-limits.

He’s right…at least about this.

This has nothing to do with politics.

Her parents are giving her the unconditional love that she deserves.

Leave her alone.

Oh…and the CNN reporter who is insinuating that Sarah Palin shouldn’t run for office because it puts her daughter in the spotlight during what is a difficult time in her life??? 

Sheesh.

Caia is nearing 14 months old. 

Not sure quite how that happened, but whatever.

And it has been in this past week that I feel like she has jumped to a whole new phase in developing her sense of identity. (Does that make sense? I’m no psychologist. I just babble and make random comments that I question whether anyone else understands.)

She is still very much a snuggler.

In fact, just this morning, all she wanted was for Daddy to hold her. It was the sweetest thing to watch!

She kept pulling on his pants leg and jumping up and down, whining the whole time of course.

When he picked her up she continued whining until he let her curl up in his lap and snuggle up against his chest.

She is a Daddy’s Girl.

But, where her independence has showed itself the most has been in how she plays.

She could care less if I’m there with her or not. She would rather crawl off into Kenni’s room and play with her, or wander off on her own to find something to do.

Stephen says, Enjoy it.

And I do. I had a friend tell me that, in the long run, that second child makes things easier on you because they already have a built-in playmate with the first child.

But, I often wonder if I’m giving her enough attention.

Stephen, ever the dismisser of my worries, says to just look at the fruit.

How is she developing socially? Is she withdrawn? Does she cling to only you? Does she trust you? Does she want to spend time with you, even if it’s just a little?

Well, in those aspects, she’s doing fine.

She is very much a people person. In fact, last night with our friends, she would crawl into whoever’s lap would hold her. And at one point, she just snuggled up to one of our friends on the sofa, laying her head on his shoulder.

But, as the arrival of Parris Baby #3 draws nigh, I worry that she’ll get that “middle child” complex.

She’s not the oldest. She’s not the baby. 

Oh, but she is loved. And she is special.

So, how do you know? How are you sure that you’re giving them what they need in the way of playing with them and letting them play on their own?

You’d think I’d just be happy that she’s so happy to play on her own and with her sister. 

I guess, at the end of the day, all I can really do is pray for the guidance to be their mommy.

Besides, do any of us humans REALLY know what we’re doing? I think we all muddle through it until we come out on the other side, and then we can look back and say “That worked” or “That didn’t”.

There is much to be said regarding the counsel of those who have walked in our shoes before us.

The Future Generation of Bloggers…

Isn’t she precious?

At 13 months, she’s quite a climber. Not so much a walker yet. But definitely part monkey or mountain goat.

Her sister walked at 11 months. Caia is perfectly content to just crawl around…she’s developed callouses on her knees as a result. They’re truly something to behold. Just beautiful.

In other news, tomorrow we take Kenni to her Preschool Open House. 

I may cry.

She’s only going to “school” for two days a week, three hours each day. But I can’t help but feel a little sad that my baby is growing up.

We’ll be missing our regularly scheduled Wednesday playdate to attend Open House.

And let me just say, I have so enjoyed our Wednesday playdates that our little group has put together. I look forward to it as much as Kenni does.

But I know Kenni is excited about school. I think this is really going to be a great thing for her.

We’re going to go pick out a backpack once we’re finished with Open House. 

Let the good times roll.

And to completely change the subject…speaking of school…(nice segue, huh?)…

Is anyone else just READY for fall????

Fall is my absolute FAVORITE season!!! I love everything fall!!!!

Pumpkins, apples, leaves, pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks… (I was told I could have one on Sept. 6th. Yes, I asked when they were releasing them. These are the important questions in life that must be answered.)

I cannot wait to buy a pumpkin scented candle. I am about to pop waiting to bake my first fall apple pie. 

But, I am breaking my September rule and will be baking a pumpkin pie for our journey group on Thursday. 

Normally, those things should not be baked before September. It just doesn’t seem right.

But my friend Allison requested it. And so she shall have it. And I have to find a pumpkin chiffon recipe because my friend Melissa mentioned it, and it sounds too good not to try.

And the fair….

Oh, I LOVE the fair.

I know. I know. It’s dirty and smelly and all that…but I LOVE the fair.

And I’m not ashamed of it. And yes, I’ll go on dollar night or whatever it’s called.

And yes, I’ll go through those warehouses where they display the prize winning tomatoes.

And yes, I will pet those questionably treated poor little animals and let my children feed them stuff with their bare hands.

I am a little sad that I will not be able to ride The Sizzler this year. It’s my favorite.

Oh well. I suppose the safety of my unborn baby is more important than taking a whirl on a rickety traveling fair ride.

But, then again, if I’m concerned about safety, maybe I shouldn’t eat that fair food.

..things happen. Conversations. Things get said and misunderstood.

And you’re left feeling like the rug got pulled out from under you.

WARNING: Melodramatic thoughts ahead.

Plain and simple: today, I feel hurt.

I don’t even know if, logically speaking, I should. But when you deal with emotions and such, logic doesn’t play such a huge role. 

If I could detach myself from the situation, I might not be so inclined to say that I am hurt. 

Before anyone jumps to any crazy conclusions, Stephen and I are fine! In fact, we’re in this one together.

And, to give God glory through this, tonight I prayed as I walk into the bedroom,

Lord, could you please send someone to encourage Stephen right now?

As I said that, I heard his cell phone ringing. 

I looked at the caller ID. It was a good friend, so I answered it for him.

He just wanted to see if Stephen wanted to grab some dinner. I think he just wanted to keep him company tonight. (To be honest, I was a little surprised that God answered my prayer that quickly…)

And I so appreciated that. He didn’t assume that someone else would call him. He just did it himself.

Oftentimes, people think that those who are in church leadership have scores of adoring friends that they could call on at any given moment.

This is simply not true. And anyone who has led you to think otherwise is not telling the truth.

Anyway, I’m not angry. I don’t even think I would feel right about using the word “offended”. 

God and I talked about this while I drove home tonight. And I know that things are going to be okay. But I hate feeling like this. I hate situations like this. 

I hate it when things are “messy”.

But, deep down I know that God uses messy. God takes messy and makes them beautiful.

I’m looking forward to it.