Cause & Effect

Cause and effect is one of the milestones in a child's development I always look for. There is a certain age when babies begin to understand cause and effect. It usually comes in the form of "if I throw this toy I know my Mom will pick it up for me" and grows into "I know if I cry she will come in here and get me".

But sometimes in life our children get to teach us a thing or two. Most times much to our dismay, but it is just part and parcel.

I have to say since Trent has been born and grown into a boys boy they have given me a refresher course in cause and effect.

The latest installment should have been titled:
Watch This
Cause: I hear Trent's little voice say "Hey Joseph, watch this"
Effect: Never good....never good.

I am sure by the end of this summer I will have had many, many lessons. Keep posted for updates.

Watch your mouth

101 things NOT to say to a pregnant woman

Ok, really it isn't quite 101. But there are some really obvious things you just DON'T say to your wife on a good day. No less mutter them to her on a pregnant day.

When I was pregnant with Joseph there is one thing that was said to me which I will never forget. Might I remind you that Joseph was almost 10lbs at birth, so in heinsight Big Daddy was probably just speaking the truth. But I recall one early morning near the end of my pregnancy I was attempting to get out of bed. Big Daddy came over to help me and my sorry self up. He then felt the need to comment "Man, if you get any bigger I am going to need a crane to get you out of bed!"
If his intent was humour, I didn't see it that day.

I must admit with Trent there wasn't that one comment that seared into my brain.

But this time Big Daddy has struck again. On Saturday we spent the day at the paddling pool & park with the boys. It was around +31 out and well my pregnant self thought it around +999, but whatever. When we got home I holed myself up at the computer with the lights off and the a/c blowing trying to cool off. Big Daddy walks by and catches me out of the corner of his eye and says to me "What did you rub all over your face?"
Me: "nothing why?"
BD: "Well...its kind of... shiney"
Me: "I am sweating"
BD: "Oh, I thought you put some lotion on or something"

I don't want to tell you what I really wish my reply was but it wasn't nice.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Pregnancy "glow" really doesn't exist, its just sweat.

Room for a wiggle

There are some things that go hand in hand with the territory of becoming a Mom. It is a given that over the course of life with children that these things will happen.... The good, the bad and the ugly. Mostly the good of course though.

But I have to admit there are a few things that since becoming a parent have caught me completely off guard and have shocked the hell out of me.

I mean, I knew that I would get emotional at things such as, the first day of Kindergarten or watching one of my kids take their first steps or speak their first words. All of these different milestones define their age and remind me that they are growing up and doing it way too fast.

In particular, the one milestone that recently took me by surprise that I didn't realize I would get teary over was a loose tooth. Joseph, my oldest baby came to me and said his mouth hurt. Upon inspection we concluded that his lower front tooth was loose. I teared up and Joseph's eyes got wide. Joseph knows about the tooth fairy and has had friends loose teeth... so he is well aware of what will come when the tooth actually does fall out.

I just wish I was aware of the emotions it would stir to reach my fingers into his mouth and wiggle his tooth. It is just another sign that he not my baby anymore and he is growing up into a young man.... all so much to my dismay. As each of these milestones pass I find it harder and harder to remember so vividly those tender moments of him sleeping on my chest with a milky tootles grin of satisfaction. Is it his growing up and giving me all these new memories that is making the old ones slightly fade? Or is it my aging memory? Regardless, I don't want them to fade at all.

But like I said, Joseph knows what is to come when the tooth does fall out. Or so he thinks. He commented that maybe the tooth fairy would leave him twenty or even fifty bucks. I can well assure you that will not be the case unless perhaps Big Daddy and I get a visit from the Lotto 6-49 fairy before the tooth falls out.

Whether the tooth fairy leaves $1 or $100 I will never forget the first wiggle and the moment Joseph and I shared. I have to say that as off guard as my emotions caught me I am glad I wasn't the only one since the look on Big Daddy's face when Joseph shared his news was quite similar to how mine felt.

I guess it once again is one of those things that reminds you that at the end of the proverbial job description of "Mother" it states "and all other duties required".

Take your guess!

As per request of my faithful blog reading friend I have set up an online pool for bitty.

http://www.expectnet.com

On the right hand side where it says invited guests, enter: ThirdLittleBitty
and it will take you to our expectnet game where you can place your bets on gender, weight and birthdate. I have given some stats in there about the boys to help you out, or confuse you more.

Happy Guessing :)

Blogsperation

I have to admit I know I have been lacking lately in the world of blogging. I seem to have zero "blogsperation" these days. I have nothing to talk about. These days at 34 weeks pregnant, I feel like my head is in the clouds and have very little brain left in my head. I almost wish there were something I could do to get my head out of this fog. I know I am just obsessed with thoughts of impending labour, delivery, baby and baby stuff and I feel like no one else wants to hear about it. It is one of those times in my life where I can't hold a conversation because I don't have the attention span to do so. Knowing how that feels I can not even fathom what a person who suffers from ADHD must feel like on a regular basis.

However, I will admit that my attention span is large enough to know where my ice cream is stored, how much I have left and who to blame if some has gone missing. Do I feel bad about my secondary obsession. Not in the least. It is the last time in my life I will get away with yelling at Big Daddy for eating my ice cream. Once baby arrives I think it is once again fair game.

So, here we are 34 weeks along. My apprehension is growing. It is like Christmas eve...but we don't when we get to open our present. But, it is the last present of this kind we will ever have. It however, is comforting to know we have made it this far and if labour were to happen now they wouldn't do anything to stop it since baby would be ok. This pregnancy has flown by. I know it is far from over and these last six weeks are probably going to be the longest yet. But I anticipate it's fruition and am excited to see if my gender prediction is truly mother's intuition or was just a hoaxy feeling the whole time.

Until then, I think my blogs will be few and far between as I feel I have so little to write about.

Ce la vie, life goes on. Wish us luck as we embark into our journey of parenthood once again.

Soaking up the sun

How much better does a day get than spending it at the beach with your family.

I think its time.

I have to say that I must admit to myself at some time that my kids are growing up. It's a hard admittance and not one I really want to do. But it needs to be done.

I personally don't have a problem with tasteful bathtub pictures of children. Like I said tasteful. Ok, what I percieve as "tasteful" and what someone else may percieve are probably completely different. However, with that said, I took some new pictures of my boys tonight and as cute and endearing as they are I now feel that Joseph has hit the age where I should discontinue the bubble bath pictures.



It is still a wonderful picture as far as I am concerned, but I really do feel that it will be entered into the album as the last, right beside his Kindergarten graduation photo.

The irony in it all is that his album will then be full. His baby album that is. I guess with the start of grade one is the start of the big boy album.

Its a whole new world.