August?! Last post was August?!?!

I didn't know I'd been THAT bad, but apparently I have been. Oh well, I can see that being the case, actually. August is when my anemia got bad. Oh yeah, because I'm pregnant... in case I hadn't shared that in this forum yet. I'm 19 weeks, and we'll find out the sex of the baby (and if it's healthy etc... but, don't people just really want to know what it is?) at an undisclosed time next week... you'll hear when you hear :).

Anyway, I've seriously been to exhausted to do anything but sleep when Ezra is sleeping, and the kid is just WAY too rock-n-roll for me to get anything done but drum shows, coloring, water-play, YouTube watching, etc. Every now and then I can squeeze in an indulgence for myself like a trip to the grocery store or cleaning something. Today I managed to have some of Ez's and my friends over AND clean the bathroom. I'm so pumped off of FINALLY cleaning the bathroom that I have just enough energy to bang out this post before going to my nap.

I'm so tired these days. Ezra has been sleeping great for the most part, and I'm just managing to get over my hyper-alert phase of worry that he's going to fall out of his new big boy bed. Of course, he just fell out at 4am this morning for the first time. He handled it like a champ, but after all the excitement it took him over an hour to get back to sleep. Naturally, he still felt ready to wake up at the regular time of 6:30am. Sadly, that's when we discovered the dried blood on his face and pillow. Source of blood could not be pinpointed, so it must not have hurt that bad - he barely cried! ANYWAY, I'm tired, though, because of this other sweet little human I'm incubating. S/he is a kicker and apparently it is also a iron-rich blood sucking vampire. Just kidding, but my iron levels have sucked, and, BOY, do I feel it. Dancing my whole first trimester probably didn't help either. Oh, and, I just learned at my appt. yesterday that, despite being about halfway done with this pregnancy (crazy!), I've gained a whopping... wait for it... ONE POUND! Yeah, so Snap is sucking my life force, and I'm not replacing it quickly enough. I have a prescription for one bowl of ice cream a day :)... except that I don't really like ice cream... but, cheesecake is another story.

To recap the last 3 months, here are some quotes:

"Happy Anniversary! I'm pregnant!"

*** I'm drawing a complete blank on anything that happened in September... except for our friends buying a house :) ***

October
"Hi Carla!"- when Carla and Ben came to visit from Austin
"Wow- so that was Pt. Townsend... huh"- also when Ben and Carla came
"Can you watch Ezra while he throws his plockie at you? I have to use the bathroom again."- when I had stomach flu for a week in Texas with my family w/out Brendan but w/ a eye-teething child doing his best audition antics for "Supernanny"
"I'll never do that again" after flying with Ezra*
"He was great on the plane" after flying with Ezra*

November
"I'm on my way to Ikea to buy Ezra a toddler bed. This wasn't supposed to happen this soon, right?" -to my mother
"Oh Hi... AGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" when my best friend showed up on my doorstep to see my dance show and stay with us for a week
"I never thought this would happen again" - in happy tears after my show
"I like St. Louis"
"Sorry Ez threw-up in your papasan chair" in Louisville with my sister for Thanksgiving
Nurse:"well we're not picking up any contractions." Me: "yep- neither am I!"- in L&D at some hospital in Louisville after going to the ER for severe abdominal pain... I had to CONVINCE them that I was not in labor... of course, they didn't believe me. I'm thankful they checked on Snap, but they sent me home with a diagnosis (made over the phone by a doctor who had never seen, touched, or spoken to me) of round ligament pain. BS. We're now pretty sure that I had some kind of ovarian cyst that finally burst. Maybe doc wouldv'e thought of that if he'd taken any sort of history on me.
"I'm never doing that again"- after flying with Ezra*
"Do we HAVE to get a Christmas tree"-me
"I LOVE our Christmas tree!!!"-me

December
This is the quote of the month so far, and I'm pretty sure it's top of my list of "Things I Never Thought I'd Say," right up there with "don't use your chopstick on the laptop"

"No, that's not a tail; that's your penis" to Ezra in the bathtub after a long discussion of who has tails and who doesn't

*Ezra is typically a gem on the plane. BUT, I cannot apparently handle the 30 minutes when he's not. I actually was throwing stuff on the floor and crying. Huh, pregnant much?

iLike

I don't think I've EVER talked about Brendan's job... except maybe to explain that he's a computer dork :). The time has come. Our family is excited this week over the news that iLike.com where Rib works was purchased by... MySpace

It's been a fascinating process, and I think the guys are looking forward to a site with oogles of users, and their wheels are turning with ideas for how to make MySpace even better. MySpace Music and iLike combined should be a really cool, powerful force for artists and fans alike. The two together hold the largest volume of users. Thankfully, they aren't a Wal-Mart - high volume/low quality. Anyone who has spent time on ilike.com knows that.

I remember when I first heard about MySpace- I thought, "wow, that sounds distracting and uneccessary." Of course, I eventually joined the masses ;). Who knew that one day I'd be eating thanks to a MySpace paycheck!

We're just counting our blessings out here on our upper-left corner, as usual.

A better post

HERE. Our friend and Auntie, Lola, wrote a much cuter post than I would have about the baby shower for Blythe held at my house last weekend, so just read hers :). I had 25 people in my living room and loved it. The next day we had 35 people in our back yard for the Robbins' Fare-welcome party, and we also loved that.

Screen Time

An interesting set of findings regarding "screen time"

Just as I suspected, it's more of an indicator rather than a cause for all the terrors attributed to television and excessive gaming. Although, it does only take one-two hours of screen time before the positive correlations with negative things (obesity, etc.) begin to appear. Of course, we didn't need the Mayo Clinic to spend money to tell us "everything in moderation."

FRIED

When it comes to food, fried is a good thing; but, with humans, it's bad.

I'm letting myself be easily overwhelmed this week. Maybe it has something to do with this "yes" word I keep using...

This is fair warning:
In August, the answer is a cheerful "No."

Good, Bad, Ugly

GOOD

• $4 coral skirt from Gap that's the most comfortable thing EVER
• Birthday bracelet from my husband :)
  

• A mom I met when handing out flyers for VBS at Green Lake showed up with her son today
• Ezra walking up to the rocking chair in his room, rocking it, and singing softly
• Ezra really starting to use his "please" sign
• Ezra back in G Diapers now that they have a reusable insert
• Stella telling me that she has "hear ears"and will listen to me
• Whitney arrives next Saturday!
• My BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW
• Ezra's birthday is Monday
• I'm back in ballet classes... a really long story that I will have to post about when I'm ready

BAD

• Ezra's 8th ear infection in 7months. We're going to Children's next month to do a surgical consultation. (that last part is good; maybe we can see an end to these ear infections...)
• Ezra screaming for an hour at home with Dad while I tried to go out to get my VBS room set up
• Less than 12 kids showing up for VBS. I have hope for Monday, but right now this fact feels sad

What a blessed life that I had to think for a long time to come up with just 3 "bad" bullet points

UGLY

• Yo' Mama (just kidding, but I had to have *something* in the "ugly" category)

For Posting's Sake

I have nothing particular in my mind on which to discourse; but, for posting's sake, let's see what I can do...

I'll start with the fact that I got stung by a flippin' yellow jacket this morning. I have been absolutely terrified since childhood of being stung by a wasp (in Texas, wasps are Yellow Jackets). Today, I found that my fears were COMPLETELY justified! It hurt a whole stinkin' lot!!! Those guys are mean. He wanted to hurt me. He was a centurion posted to guard the nest, I think, and boy did he do his job! I'm not going out my side door until that nest is dead and completely obliterated. They've built a nest inside some little opening into the outside wall of the house behind the electricity meter. SCARY. I listened to the wall on the inside, and I can hear them scittering around in there. I'm seriously paralyzed with the fear that they are going to chew through the wall and come in here. Brendan said that happened to his uncle's house once. So, yeah, I'm calling an exterminator later. I'm not messing around with these little pricks (pun intended).

A yellow jacket sting is about the last thing I can think of that Ezra needs right now. Kid just got over a double ear infection, and his eye teeth and some bottom molars are beginning to grow. I feel so sad for him. However, I've been praising God for his mercies and goodness to us in placing us in a time and city where any medicine he needs is at our fingertips. Ezra has 8 ear infections this year with his left ear taking most of the hits. As far as we can tell, his hearing has not been damaged. Ezra is so genial that the slightest crabbiness of mood has, thus far in his life, indicated that he is in pain. I've caught them all very early, so he's not had to deal with any ruptures. Thank, God! In my prayers for Ezra's health, I've really been also praying for the many children in the world who may be ear-infection-prone like him. This many childhood infections could lead to so many very serious problems if left unchecked and untreated. We here are so obsessed with our children's perfect health (as well we should be), but we so often forget to be thankful and to try to help those who don't have what we have. Lord willing, Ezra won't suffer any hearing loss, but so many do!

Alright, that's what I have for today... earaches and yellow jackets. blech.

Hopefully next post will be good footage of ezra walking :)