Now the summer is complete!

7/31/09

Yesterday Mark and Madelyn jumped at the chance to go boating with my dad, my sister Megan and her best friend Veronica. We used to go to the lake every single week when I was a kid and zoom around on tubes behind the boat. I still love it, but being 7 months pregnant and fairly wilting even when I'm inside an air-conditioned house meant it was better for me to stay home.

Madelyn had never been on a tube ride, but she hopped right in and had a GREAT time, despite it being a little scary and she kept getting water in her face.

Thanks for the fun time, dad!

Wow, she does take after me a little!

7/27/09

She may not look like me (she might as well have been christened "Mini-Mark")...

...but the girl LOVES to dance! She is so naturally talented but has never had lessons, other than just watching me and copying a little ballet video we have for kids. She made me get out my pointe shoes the other day and put them on. Ow. Let's just say that taking 2 1/2 years off has not been kind to my body.

Anyway, yesterday in church she took it upon herself to get up in front of the Primary and put on a little performance for everybody. It was rather disruptive so they asked her to stop, and of course she dissolved into tears--she hates getting reprimanded. But we had at least a half dozen people come up to Mark and I afterward to say what a beautiful dancer she was. (♥♥♥ Heart swelling with pride ♥♥♥) I can't wait until we have enough money to send her to ballet class. If I weren't so clumsy and big right now, I'd teach her myself.

P.S. Thanks for all the positive comments on Madelyn's haircut--I am no longer fearing that I totally butchered it. I was just a little alarmed with the results the night that I cut it and had to go back and reshape everything the next day (the results being what you saw in my post). She really does look cute and spunky with her short new 'do.

At last!

7/25/09

I finally got to go see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince this week. It was freakin' awesome! I only wish it had been longer with more material. It was my favorite of the books, and the movie stayed true to the essence of it. I'm so excited for the last two installments of the series. Sigh! Good movies are so rare these days.

So apparently, my baby is a little furnace who has been driving me to turn the thermostat so low that even Mark thinks it's too cold--a first in the 10 years we've known each other. And he (the baby, also Mark) thinks eating Chinese food is a medical necessity. Last night I attempted some homemade fried rice, despite having to stand in front of a hot stove. It turned out pretty tasty:


2-3 cups cooked rice (if made the day before, all the better because it's dried out a little bit)
1 chicken breast, cut into thin two-inch strips and seasoned with salt and pepper
2 eggs
1 cup frozen pea and carrot mix
1/4 cup diced green onions
2-3 T soy sauce
2-3 T canola or vegetable oil

In a hot wok or skillet, stir fry chicken in oil until cooked through--about two to three minutes. Remove and set aside. Scramble eggs until just soft--remove and set aside. Make sure there's still a little oil in pan before adding rice, peas and carrots, green onions and soy sauce. Stir fry until heated through and golden. Toss in cooked eggs and chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Shrimp can be substituted for the chicken, or it can be made without meat. Yummy.

Now I've got to get back to the SpongeBob SquarePants marathon on TV. Hope your weekend is just as productive!

Promise not to laugh...

7/22/09

Before last night's foray into "Mom as hairstylist instead of someone who actually knows what they're doing."

...And after

I used to be able to cut Madelyn's hair with no problems. That's because up until recently, she only required monthly mullet maintenance because her hair refused to grow on the top and was overall pretty sparse. Now, thankfully, she has nice thick hair, but I've discovered I'm no longer able to cut it very well.

I was going to just trim it and add some chunky layers, but it ended up MUCH shorter than planned. Sigh....You'd think I'd know better after a similar bang-cutting experiment I did back in the 10th grade....

At least hair grows back, right? I still think she looks cute, although she's going to be wearing nothing but pink for the next month lest people start thinking she's a boy. Again.

A special kind of talent

7/19/09

(Sometimes I wonder how I'd ever have anything to blog about without Madelyn around...)

My daughter has many gifts--among them is that she has a flair for painting, which she spent a couple hours doing yesterday while I sorted through a gazillion boxes of her toys. Thanks to my nesting instinct, there's not a single item in this house that is safe from such sorting (i.e. "may or may not be thrown ruthlessly into the garbage or D.I. pile"). Anyway, second only to her painting talent is her knack for unwittingly getting said paint all over the table, walls, chairs, floor, all the way up to her armpits, inside her ears and up her nose.

Thank goodness for smocks, and the good folks at Crayola who make all their products washable.

The mark of a true artist is their disregard for the mess they make in the process of their creativity. At least that's what I'm telling myself because I'm nearly as messy as she is when I'm crafting. And because I'm about to embark upon several crafty projects at once. No need to roll your eyes, Mark--it's for the BABY, who is 50% your doings, need I remind you.

Formula for summer

7/15/09

Hot sunny day + Madelyn + water + 40 bath toys = happy girl

Swimming pool - water + dirt back yard = mud

Mud + Madelyn = too tempting to resist

Tired mom + Madelyn wanting to make mud castles = GROAN

Daddy comes home + hose to rinse off child (who has at least kept mud off darling new swimsuit from Old Navy and only has it on skin and hair) = mom goes inside to get some Tylenol and Golden Grahams for dinner before collapsing

Repeat tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, etc. except now Madelyn wants a bigger swimming pool

Sweet vengeance!

7/12/09

Thanks to my brother Kevin, I now have a virtual Sarlaac pit installed in my front yard. I had expressed my desire for such a pit back on Oct. 25, 2008 in this post, for any uninvited visitors who happen to catch me with a dirty house or in other such predicaments. Bwa-hahahahahaha!!

PS. I also hope to be able to chuck garage junk and other random debris in there, because I understand the Sarlaac are omnivorous. You just wait--this is going to become a trend. Everyone who's anyone will want one.

PPS. I am now in my third trimester...holy smokes.

The Joys of Pregnancy

7/10/09

Here's a quick update on my heart and whatnot: My OB called me a couple days ago with the results of my EKG readings I'd sent in every day for three weeks. It appears that I have intermittent tachycardia that should go away after I deliver, when my blood and plasma levels go back down. He told me my pulse was up to 150 beats per minute with some of the episodes I had. My heart beats so fast that it doesn't have time to fill up with blood all the way, so I don't get the oxygen I need. He called in a prescription of beta blockers for me to try, which slow the heart down and lower blood pressure.

The lovely result was that I just felt dizzy and lightheaded ALL the time instead of just a few minutes (or sometimes hours) here and there. The problem is that my blood pressure is already so low--it was 96/52 right before I took the pill--that lowering it further didn't help anything. Dr. Sanders is going to prescribe something else, so we'll see... I had vertigo with Madelyn, but it wasn't until the last month. Now I'm wondering if that was from the same heart thing going on. This time it's been bugging me since I was only three or four months along, though.

Some other things that I'm hoping will go away after delivery:

*the oh so delightful leg cramps in the middle of the night

*having to pee constantly

*the insatiable craving for carbs

*those Omega-3 supplements and their "fish burps"

*the crazy nesting instinct that's led me to go through all our stuff and spend 10 hours in the garage yesterday neatly labeling everything

*the mood swings and sudden tendency to worry over everything

*the ability to smell the tiniest odor molecule

*getting poked with needles for routine bloodwork, Rhogam shots, and getting tests per the whims of my doctor

*having a little person wedge up under my ribcage and then kick violently

Ah, but it will all be worth it when I get that precious baby. The I can kiss those problems goodbye and say hello to no sleep, post-partum hormones and changing diapers again! Motherhood is the best!!!

P.S. What is your favorite pregnancy symptom?

Mashishi!

7/7/09

Look at that mischievous grin! And here we thought Madelyn had reformed and had moved past acting on such impulses. She poured herself about 1/2 cup of popcorn cheese and festooned herself, the floor, table and chairs with it, and then leaned all over the couches to make sure they had a nice powdery cheddar coating. I should mention that she was almost completely covered in blue sidewalk chalk underneath, so together with the cheese and little patches of skin, she looked like Madelyn the pungent tricolor ghost. Siiiiggghhh......

Also:

Happy birthday Tyler and Monica! Today is Monica's birthday, and tomorrow is Tyler's. Monica has become one of my closest friends and I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't e-mail or call her up to talk about everything. She is so sweet, gorgeous and talented and Ty's a lucky man. He is turning the big 30, which means that I'm not too far behind. (Oy...) But he has accomplished quite a lot in his 30 years and I hope his dreams of being filthy rich come true soon. I'll give you his address if you want to send a check to help him along with that.

The one day I dress her in summer whites....

7/2/09

Sigh....yes, that is my child slopping around in the mud. And of course she couldn't be happier.

Pouring about a quart of water out of her boots...

"It's OK Mom--you know how to get my clothes clean--you've had lots of experience."

You must admit that the matching umbrella and boots are adorable on her. We ♥ Old Navy!

Getting hosed down in the front yard (look--another huge rainbow)

Luckily, she likes baths just as much as she likes getting dirty

We went to Mark's work the other day to use his phone (I had to use a phone that had a cord attached in order to submit my EKG readings). Look how intellectual he looks there in his office reading over charts! That's my manly man!

Madelyn using daddy's "telescope."

And last but not least, my 6 month belly picture:

OK, well, it's really only been three weeks since my last appointment, but I've gained four pounds! I should have suspected as much, because all of a sudden none of my clothes fit. I am now sporting maternity wear (blah!) at least on the bottom. I had bought a ton of size L regular shirts last year, so that's what I wear on the top. Maternity tops look like tents on me until the last few weeks.

Anyway, the baby is doing just fine so far, but I am still waiting to hear the results of my wearing a portable EKG monitor for three weeks. I did have an echocardiogram also, and that came back normal. I think I recorded 21 "events" on my monitor, so I had roughly one episode per day where I felt dizzy, faint or short of breath. I know that my pulse was around 140 beats per minute at least a few different times, so I may have to start taking medications for that. Just waiting to hear. Hopefully now that we're moved and getting settled, I can take it a little easier. Just as soon as I organize the garage, that is.....


P.S. Stinky feet minions update: By our second day here, I couldn't stand the smell anymore, so I got some Glade scented oil plug-ins, and thank goodness they are working pretty well. I like to have the ceiling fans going and a couple windows open, too, because it still reeks down on floor level. But hopefully people who come into our house will think, "Vanilla cupcakes!" instead of "What is that unholy stench??!"