Paul’s Fourth Birthday

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Paul has been playing “birthday” with imaginary friends for months. He will stir up a bunch of toys in a bowl with a spoon to make a “cake,” then he’ll spread out a blanket, wrap a toy in another blanket (to be the present), and then invite me to celebrate with him. His imaginary friends regularly turned two or maybe 10, and I have had dozens of birthdays since my last special day in January.

So needless to say, I was rather excited to help him celebrate his real special day. Although we don’t plan on having a friends birthday party every year, this was definitely a year to plan something fun.

I was told that a theme is not necessary, but I chose one anyway. Paul loves the concept of Super Why!, who is a superhero for preschoolers because he can read. Besides, Paul has learned how to read, so playing on the theme of reading, alphabet, and phonics was just what he liked. My games were rather loosely based on the show — but it didn’t really matter, because Paul went around for days telling everyone he was Super Paul because he knew how to read. That was the idea in my mind.

A few fun things about planning a party with a kid who is really excited: As I began making lists, he was jumping around the room.

“Can we play Duck Duck Goose?! Don’t forget we need decorations! I need a party hat!”

(He insisted on the party hat. He wore it for about 10 seconds and then told me he didn’t want a party hat. Sigh.)

Below, I have a video that has collected still shots from the birthday party, plus us singing to him as well as still shots from the rest of the birthday party. If you’d rather, you can browse the Flickr collection of photos here.

It’s a….

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Baby Girl!

Paul has accepted that the baby will not be a monkey. A few times in the past week, he has said he hopes for a sister. Yesterday, he said he hopes for a brother. But a sister it is!

Baby is 100% normal in the measurements and has plenty of space to move around. I was about 19 weeks when I had the ultrasound yesterday and baby was even a few days larger than 19 weeks. So, despite the fact that I’m still wearing normal clothes and everyone (and I mean everyone) thinks I’m very small for being that far along in pregnancy, no worries — baby is perfect.

(The nurse that took my blood pressure even thought I was 9 weeks pregnant. I said, “no, 19 weeks.” She was shocked.)

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Paul took this picture of me last week (at 18 weeks.)

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Open mouth. She’s screaming or singing.

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Our baby girl with stars in her eyes.

I’m Lovin’ It

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If you’d have asked me in mid-July how I felt about being pregnant (finally), I wouldn’t have sounded very positive. Yes, I’ve been hoping to be pregnant for quite some time, and I was devastated by the miscarriage I had. But still, in July and August, I was pretty miserable being pregnant. I did not have a lot to say in regards to joy. I was sick multiple times a day. I was exhausted. I was constantly worried about another miscarriage, and I couldn’t tell anyone I was pregnant yet because I didn’t want to have to backtrack if I did miscarry.

Fast forward. Today I’m one day away from 19 weeks, and I’m not so worried about miscarriage. I find out if Monkey is a boy or a girl in just two more days. I feel the baby move at various times of the day and I no longer wonder if it is just indigestion. (I felt the first movement at 13 weeks, 6 days, and Ryan and others suggested I was just imagining it….now I”m pretty sure that was Monkey all along.) I’m still very small and wearing regular clothes. This made me very nervous for a few weeks there since people have been saying I”m “too small” and otherwise acting surprised at my pregnancy news. I kept worrying if Monkey really was okay. But, given the regular movement I’ve been feeling for the last week or two, I’m no longer in any doubt. Baby is okay. I get reassurance every time there is a poke inside of me.

I have been feeling so good that I find myself saying to Ryan daily “Oh, I feel so sorry for you that you can’t feel this! It’s so amazing! I’m so glad I’m a woman so I can be pregnant. You are missing out.”

Ryan’s response? “Doesn’t it kind of gross you out that there is a parasite growing inside of you?”

Sigh.

I’m just so glad I’m feeling so well, that I have those reassurances that everything will be alright. I know by the end, my hugeness will once again make me not feel so great, but for now, I’m lovin’ it.

A Visit from Grandma Peggy and Papa Paul!

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At little Paul’s preschool

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On the train

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At the train restaurant

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At the car museum

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At the car museum

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At the car museum with Lightening McQueen!

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At the car museum and Doc Hudson!

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Being silly at the car museum

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Being silly at the car museum

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Gasp! Don’t drive yet! You’re not 16 yet!

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An early birthday cupcake to celebrate four years.

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Yummy!

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See all the pictures from Grandma and Papa’s visit here on flickr!

“Why Is the Flag Coming Down?”

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Paul asked me this as we passed a flag on our way to church this morning. I told him that ten years ago today some bad men stole an airplane and killed a lot of people. We fly the flag half way up to remember that lots of people died.

“Who were the people that died?” he responded. “Tell me their names.”

I didn’t have any names for him. I didn’t, in fact, know any of the 3,000 people who died that day. I didn’t even see the television coverage until after I returned home from campus a few hours after the fact. I found out about the towers as I walked in to my economics class at 9 a.m. Mountain Time, just 20 minutes after I’d finished reading the New York Times and heading out for class.

It struck me, though, that his first reaction is to connect with the people who died. He could have said, “Why would bad men do that?” but no, he knows that some people are bad in the world. He just wanted to remember along with me and all the others that put our flag at half mast. I had just told him that we lower the flag to remember. He was remembering through me.

(Ten years is, he informed me a few days ago, the definition of “old.” One is not “old” until they are ten. Then they are old. He is still not old. Apparently, the attacks in NYC are now “old.”)

It was somewhat reassuring that this year I didn’t have to have a discussion with him about the bad people. “Terrorist” is still not in his vocabulary. But “remember” is. We can all do that each September 11. Let’s focus on the good. Let’s remember.

 

First Day of Preschool 2011

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It’s that time of year again! It’s (finally) time that Paul can go back to preschool!

He has been asking for weeks when he can go back. Most of his friends started two weeks ago. Today was his day! I tried to prepare him by reminding him that he has a different teacher this year, that he will have new friends in his class.

His main concern this morning?

“But will my teacher have an ABC carpet?”

She does, he was happy to see. Looks like a promising year, even if I couldn’t get a good picture of the school boy this morning…

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Summer Family Fun Days

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My goal this summer was to make it “fun” for Paul so he wouldn’t miss preschool. Well, having morning sickness (more properly, most of the day sickness) kind of drained my energy. But we did do some fun things! Here are some photos and videos of our fun activities.

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Rockford Children’s Museum, June 17, 2011

Paul got to pet some animals at the children’s museum. He talked for days about how he wanted a pet duck-turkey-donkey-etc.

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I ask him now, months after the fact, and he says his favorite was the baby duckling, “and the goat!”

The museum also had tons of imaginative play, including a train, a bank, and a post office mail box and costume. There were a number of science exhibits too, but they were geared toward a little older kids. Definitely a place to return to at many ages. He had a great time and still asks to go back.
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Train Ride

July 8, 2011

We rode the train to Des Plaines to visit the train restaurant for cupcakes. He still talks about this all the time too.

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Reading with Grandma

July 22, 2011

This is a really long video, so don’t feel obligated to watch it all. Grandma reads a page, and then Paul reads a page.

 

Schaumburg Nature Center

August 16, 2011

We met a few friends and went for a short (1 mile each way) hike at the Schaumburg Nature Center. There was a silo to climb up, and lots of nice walking trails. We had a picnic at the “farm,” where chickens begged for a few crumbs. The kids had a blast, although Paul (and some of the others) were quite exhausted by the end of the walk back.

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A nice trip with friends to end off the summer.

Trip to the Mall

August 18, 2011

Maybe this is lame pregnant Mommy, but I was looking for something else to do so we went to the mall and walked around. Paul’s friends were already starting preschool and Paul was looking for fun (he really wants to go back to school). Anyway, Paul “rode” on the coin operated toys without my paying any money… that was our fun day… Hey, he DID have fun.

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Touch a Truck

Algonquin, August 20, 2011

I thought we’d be rained out, but then the skies cleared and we headed over to our township’s annual touch-a-truck event. Paul got to sit in all sorts of trucks. What a blast! He got to turn on the police car siren, and he was most excited to see the cement truck, although he wasn’t able to sit in that one.

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We also went to the pool a number of times, but I didn’t take any pictures. I’m not sure if the summer membership was worth it (not sure how many times I went and if it was $100 worth), but because I didn’t pay $5 every time, I never felt bad going for just an hour! I wish I hadn’t been sick for so much of the summer, but then, I’m very excited to be pregnant, so I’m very happy I was!

Introducing…Curious George

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We’re happy to announce that baby #2 will be joining our family! Attached are some ultrasound pictures of the little leap frog from August 4, age 10 weeks. I am now 12 weeks 4 days along.

I have been absent from the blog because baby is busy making me sick and tired, as well as getting us all excited for the future. I should just leave the description of my summer at “sick and tired.” I’ve been feeling bad since about 5 weeks along, but I’m starting to feel human again!

Estimated due date: February 29, 2012. Grandma and Grandpa S. nicknamed the baby “Kermit” since I”ve been calling him/her my little leap frog. However, Paul is adamant that baby’s name is Curious George.

“That’s a really good name for baby boys and for monkeys!” he says.

I ask what the baby’s name should be if it’s a girl and he appears stumped. (He does say frequently he wants a baby sister.) Nevertheless, he’s busy calling baby “Curious George,” so until we know if it’s a boy or a girl, that name will be the name around our house!

Paul really likes the idea that there is a camera that can see inside mommy’s belly; he really wants one for Christmas so he can see inside his belly too. Maybe, he says, he’ll be a doctor when he grows up because he really wants that cool camera!

Since the ultrasound, he’s understood the concept of a baby in Mommy’s belly a little more concretely. The other day, he told me the baby was crying; he went and got a pretend bottle of milk and “fed” it to Curious George through Mommy’s belly button. And then yesterday, he let baby Curious George take a turn in the game we were playing. (He yelled through my belly, “Do you want to take a turn?”) He helped move the piece after baby said, “yes.”

Yes, he’ll be a wonderful big brother come February or March!

What have you been up to this summer?