Cute Little Crossdresser

We had to properly document Mal's post-accident ensemble on the day of my shower. At least she has long hair & a bow!
"Who cares if these are boy clothes?"

Jake's Jabberings/ Mal's Musings

Jake: (as I was getting him dressed in a plaid button-down shirt for school) "This is my superhero shirt."
Mommy: "Oh, really? Does it make you run really, really fast?"
Jake: "Yes."
Mommy: "Does it make you jump really, really high?"
Jake: "Yes. My superhero shirt is HUNGRY!!"
Mommy: "It is? What does it eat?"
Jake: "Um, donuts and toast and cheeseburger buns."
Apparently, superhero shirts need lots of carbs to sustain them.
Mommy: "We're having poppyseed chicken for dinner tonight."
Jake: (pausing to think) "No, poppyseed RICE!"
Mommy: "Hmm, I'm not sure how to make that."I overheard this conversation of theirs while they were playing with their kitchen upstairs & I was down in the real kitchen.
Mal: "I want a cracker. I want a cracker. I want a cracker." (repeated more times than I care to type)
Jake: "Just a minute!"
Mal: "I want a CRACKER!"
Jake: "Just a minute, Mal Mal!"
Apparently, I'm not the only one with whom she loses her patience!

Showered With Love

On Saturday morning, my girlfriends from church threw a fabulous shower for me & Beau. Everything looked so cute, & there was lots of yummy food!
Haylee made this adorable cake. Chocolate, my favorite, & delicious as always!
Hattie made this cute diaper cake full of goodies.
My hostesses & me: Jennifer, Miranda, Hattie, Tami, me, Haylee, Sharon, Michelle & Courtney
Nana, Me, Mallory & Mimi
So many of my sweet friends came to help me celebrate!

Sharon, Jenn & Lauren
Eleanor & Courtney
Me with my cousin, Amy, who drove all the way from Austin. She's lived in West Virginia for the past year, & I'm so glad to have her back in Texas!
Tami, Amy D & Amy Mac
Haylee & Lauren
Me & Hattie, who was kind enough to be my personal photographer for the morning. Thank you!
Me & Sharon
Aside from the memory of a great time shared with friends, my shower will also always be memorable to me because of a couple of "mommy moments" in the morning. You might notice that Mal isn't wearing any tights or shoes in this pic. That's because she had a little accident while sitting in Tami's lap, only about 20 minutes after using the potty. Her dress didn't really get wet, so we decided to leave it on, sans legwear.Her next accident, only about 20 minutes later, didn't spare the dress. She spent the rest of the morning in a pair of Caroline's panties that Michelle happened to have in her purse & some borrowed clothes from Ranger. Dressed as a boy, she enjoyed the rest of the party & helped me open some gifts. Thank you to all of you who pitched in to help with Mal & my apologies to those who were peed on! I guess this new kind of social situation was a bit much for her.I haven't taken pictures of the nursery all put together yet, but here is Beau's bedding.
We received so many wonderful gifts. I've had fun organizing everything & getting it all put away.
Sweet friends, thanks for a wonderful morning. You are all blessings in my life!

We now have just six weeks until baby day! Here's me at 32 weeks:

Look & Find

A recent favorite with the kids has been Look & Find books, where they have to find the items shown in the key in the larger picture. We had one that they'd gotten for their birthday that we'd pretty much worn out, & then I bought them each one for Christmas.
They'll sit, or preferably lay on their tummies, forever looking for all of the listed items. Of course, it's even more fun if Mommy or Daddy looks with them.
It's so cute to see the joy on their faces when they find an item they've been searching hard to locate. What big kids they're getting to be!

Let's Pretend

With each passing day, Jake & Mal are moving farther away from being babies & turning into big kids. One thing I've loved watching lately is the development of their imaginations. They spend countless hours pretending to cook & have picnics together, making up games that make no sense to anyone else & insisting that objects are something other than what they know them to be.
Mallory came into the room holding her lambie that she sleeps with the other day & informed me, "It's a pet." Once I understood what she'd said & repeated it, she beamed happily at the fact that I was going along with her made-up version of reality.
They both love to pretend to be babies from time to time but also get a big kick out of being Mommy & Daddy. Also on the list of favorite alternate identities: superheroes, a king, a princess, all kinds of different animals & Duke from the Veggie Tales episode Duke & the Great Pie War.
On Sunday, Daddy decided they might like to pretend to go camping, so he set up his tent in the playroom. When we used to camp in this thing, I thought it was tiny, but in the house, it looked huge!
The kids had a ball going in & out of the doors, taking all kinds of toys inside with them & camping while watching Sesame Street.
I remember being a very imaginative kid & playing for hours at a time by myself with my barbies & baby dolls. It looks like Jake & Mal are having just as much fun as I always did. Hopefully, all this self-entertaining will serve me well when I have another little one needing my attention.

Be Still, My Heart

Mal was crying a few minutes ago, so I headed upstairs to see what was wrong. As I entered the room, she immediately got quiet & then just smiled at me. I tucked her back in, gave her a kiss & told her I loved her.

Jake was sitting up in bed, awaiting his turn, so I crossed the room & did the same for him. When I started to head for the door, he began to whine. I turned around, kissed him again & asked what he needed. "You," he replied. After a bit more loving, I left them both & told them goodnight once more.

I may not always enjoy trudging up the stairs a billion times when they're having a needy night & I certainly don't care for whining, but it's hard not to smile when they love you so much that they need just one more kiss to make their day complete. Sweet babies.

Yummy to My Tummy: Ginger Salmon

In an effort to improve the health of our weekly menus & convince my kids to eat fish not in stick form, I tried this super easy recipe that I found in the January 2010 issue of Parents. The frozen salmon fillets also made it economical. After being given an M&M incentive, both kids tried it & agreed it was yummy. Success!

Ginger Salmon

Olive oil spray
1 lb frozen salmon fillets, thawed
2 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil; coat with oil spray. Place salmon, skin side down, on the foil. Mix soy sauce with spices & brush onto salmon. Bake 10 minutes.

Hey, Good Lookin'!

Having kids is sometimes like playing with dolls. It's so fun to get them dressed up!

Pint-Sized Picassos

Paint brush pens are a great invention. So much less mess than dipping a regular brush! And don't they look cute in their little smocks?


Mal declined a picture of her finished product, but Jake was proud to pose for me.

Yummy to My Tummy: Sausage Pinwheels

These are a family favorite with Justin's family & are great for breakfast or as an appetizer. They also freeze & reheat very well. Mine didn't turn out nearly as pretty as Karen's usually do, but perhaps I'll improve with practice. Enjoy!
Sausage Pinwheels

1 lb ground pork sausage (I use the hot kind)
2 8-oz cans crescent rolls
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened

Brown sausage & drain. Stir in cream cheese until well blended. (I found it helped to heat it just a bit.)

Form 1 large rectangle with each can of rolls. Spread 1/2 of the sausage mixture onto each rectangle. Roll up lengthwise to form a long roll. Slice with a serrated knife into 1/4 inch slices & place on lightly greased cookie sheets. (Chilling the rolls in the freezer for a few minutes before slicing helps to make prettier slices.)

Bake at 350 degrees about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 40 pinwheels.

Am I Blue?

What's better than getting a blueberry dum-dum for dessert?

Getting to admire your blue mouth afterward.

Tornado Watch

My kids, like many two-year-olds I'm sure, love routine. If we deviate even slightly from the "normal" way of doing things, they want to know why & remind me quickly what was supposed to happen. A couple of months ago, they added an element to their bath time routine, & they get irate rather quickly if you even suggest they skip it. What's this exciting activity? Watching tornadoes, of course. Or "toomadoes," as Jake calls them.

Once the plug is pulled, they assume this position & watch with delight as little funnels of water form over the drain. They then take turns "catching" them, giggling all the while.
Another recent bath time favorite is swimming in the tub, which they get such a kick out of. Here's a glimpse of the silliness:

I love these crazy kids!

Choo! Choo!

Jake got several Thomas the Train sets for Christmas & has had fun learning how to put them together & make the trains go.
This activity is much more fun with the help of Daddy, master track engineer.
Mal loves to join in too, but sometimes she hampers the trains' progress by taking apart the track.

I'm not sure where we'll have to put the trains once Beau starts becoming mobile, but I guess we'll figure it out as we go.

Beau Harrison at 30 weeks

We had another sonogram yesterday & got to see our sweet boy. I can't remember exactly how much they estimated him to weigh, but it was over 3 lbs & about a week ahead of my due date. He may be a big boy! Since he's beginning to get a little squished in there, the pictures aren't quite as easy to see as last time. Here he is looking at you (top of head on the right):
And here are a couple of profile views:

Dr. Rinehart said that everything still looks great & that the bright spots on his bowel are actually a bit smaller & not quite as bright as before, so that's good news! With the bustle of the holidays, I failed to get a belly pic at 28 weeks, but here's 30 weeks:
I think my body is really feeling the strain of pregnancy lately, but I've still been very fortunate not to have any symptoms that are too terrible. I have either an aggravated muscle or a pinched nerve in my lower back & left hip that has been troublesome, but hopefully my prenatal massage on Thursday will bring some relief. The massage was my Christmas gift from Jake & Mal, & I'm so looking forward to it!

My leg cramps persist, but I picked up a Cal-Mag supplement today, at the recommendation of my OB, so we'll see if that helps. While waiting in line at Whole Foods to pay for that supplement, a random lady checking out in front of me gave me a concerned look & said, "Why don't you take your rings off?" I was rather taken aback & befuddled by this & didn't quite know what to say. She then added, "A friend of mine had her fingers get so swollen when she was pregnant that they had to cut them off!" (The rings, not her fingers, I assume.) I assured her that I would remove them if they started getting tight & that seemed to appease her. It cracks me up how involved complete strangers become in all things related to a pregnant woman!

My C-section is now scheduled for Thursday, March 10th. Only 8 weeks to go!