Big News

I'm sorry, I'm pulling this right off my baby page, but I haven't got the time or energy to write a totally orginal post...

Well, I guess I've been waiting for the right time to put this out there, but now's as good a time as any... Justin, Jack and I are getting ready to welcome more love into our family. A little bit of a surprise, but hey, that's God's way sometimes, right? We've been sitting on the news for the most part because I've felt really, truly horrendously bad with this pregnancy - much more so than with Jack and I wanted to either make it out of the first trimester without getting too excited or at least make it to our first pre-natal checkup, which we've done as of today. Hence, the news.

Twins.

Jack is going to have twin siblings.

No, it doesn't run in either of our families. No, they're likely not identical. No, no fertility treatments. 1 in 80ish chance.

We were shocked. We were joking with the tech who did the ultrasound before we started about how we wanted her to make sure she didn't find more than one in there... well, Dr. Mixson made sure Justin and I were looking at the screen at the same time when he turned it around. I looked at it and said, "aaaw, how cute, there's the little heart bea... or is that it? Wait, what's that other thi... No. No way. You have to be joking." The doctor just laughed (he's really excited about this) and said, "No, no joke. Those are both your babies and they look wonderful." I was floored. Justin laughed. (He's allowed to be way more excited than me considering my body is about to be DESTROYED...)

So the medical stuff, first. They're officially due on June 12th, 2009, but they never let twins go that far, so I'll be delivering no later than late May if my kiddos hang in there that long. Really, Dr. Mixson said I'm fine and in great shape and perfectly healthy so I shouldn't expect any real problems, especially this early on. But many, many multiples come early, so that's our main concern. Right now they're both big and strong - they're the same size and developing right on track together with good, healthy heartbeats, and wee little arms, legs, hands and feet that are already waving about and anxious to beat the crap out of my innards. (And each other, but there's nothing I can do about that...)

Yes, I do intend to nurse them both. Yes, I do plan to deliver them both vaginally and naturally. The only obstacle to delivery will be if the first kiddo is breech, in which case I'm stuck with a C-section. If he (and we're calling them "he" until further notice) isn't breech, I can deliver him and then we can either flip his brother or I can squeeze him out breech. I'm not in the least worried about labor and delivery. I'm actually looking forward to getting on with this whole adventure and putting the waiting and the wondering behind us.

Now, for our family, this is a HUGE change. We were adjusting to the reality of having 2 kids. This makes a big, big, almost incomprehensible, difference. Financially it will probably be more of an undertaking that I could have imagined because we can't bank on using Jack's old car seat and getting by with hand-me-downs this time... We're going to need another car seat, at least one more crib, some kind of stroller contraption for either 2 or 3 kids, massive quantities of diapers... the list goes on. It's daunting right now. And there is absolutely no legal or sane way that 3 car seats will fit in either our beloved Toyota Prius or our dear Honda Civic. Don't ask me what we're going to do, but we'll figure it out. I get way less upset about the financial side of things when I look at my Blobs.

Listen, if you have advice or anything, now is the time to cough it up because we're a little overwhelmed!!

I've been a bit sad since the outset of all this about my dwindling time with Jack. He is, without a doubt, my best friend, my little anchor, my angel... I was not prepared to cut my devotion to him in half, let alone in thirds or less. I've got a zillion concerns about how he'll handle being "the outsider" in our 3-some of kids or even if it'll be anything but awesome for the younger two to be a unit so Jack and I will retain our special bond... But I'm excited to see him as an older brother! He's so caring and nurturing and sweet and social that I think he'll settle into the role with the zest and gusto we know and love from Jack.

Thankfully we've made the decision that we're going to move to Virginia as a family at the end of November, regardless of whether or not our house has sold. Although it is going to be a financial strain to handle the two house payments (mortgage in GA and rent in VA), we really need to be together as a family right now. (And hey, may as well get used to paying for two of everything from now on, right!?) We have found a beautiful house up there that I'll talk about later in another post when I have energy, that's thankfully plenty big for our rapidly expanding family.
Well, that's about all the updating I've got energy for right now - I've got lots of fun stuff to talk about here about Jack, but he deserves his own post and I deserve a nap after the morning I've had.

Stay tuned for more on our crazy, crazy family!

Mature?

So in a testament to my awesome maternal skillZ and my above-average maturity level, I just got into a fight with my 20-month-old son over some combination of water cups and popcorn that ended with me dousing him with not only HIS cup of water, but with MY cup of ice water. In the middle of my living room.

Now, if that's not top-notch parenting, I don't know what is. Maybe I should go lock him in a car or something... oh, wait.

Apparently he's not transitioning well to the whole daylight savings time thing. So that warrants me chucking a glass of water in his face? Stellar, Melis.

The best part is, I made him clean up the mess.

Bamm-Bamm

Isn't Jack adorable? I'm so proud of him. Bamm-Bamm... we've called him that since he was itty bitty because he was so strong as a wee baby and he had this thing for bopping our noses...

I realized that I will probably be that mom that lets her kids decide what they want to be for Halloween and then goes out and makes the costumes by hand because they're too ridiculous to find in stores. (What? Exactly like my mom? Whose 7-th grade daughter wants to be a dead pilgrim? Yes...) Along those lines, I will probably pull all-nighters on science fair projects, will bake cupcakes from scratch for the entire grade, and will decorate my car (NOT mini-van) for each and every sporting event for each child.

And I love it.

Personality - funny!

Your personality type:

Practical, traditional and organized. Likely to be athletic. Not interested in theory or abstraction unless they see the practical application. Have clear visions of the way things should be. Loyal and hard-working. Like to be in charge. Exceptionally capable in organizing and running activities. 'Good citizens' who value security and peaceful living.

Careers that could fit you includes:
Military, business administrators, managers, police/detective work, judges, financial officers, teachers, sales representatives, government workers, insurance agents, underwriters, nursing administrators, trade and technical teachers.

Some stuff about me

I guess I'm tagged (THANKS Kelly!)...
First, here are the rules of the game:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
4. Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
5. Go to each person's blog and leave them a comment so they know they've been tagged.

My 6 quirky, boring details....

1. I am an obsessive snuggler.
2. I despise balloons.
3. One of my favorite lunch foods is a sandwich made with deli turkey and stacked with pickles.
4. I get WAY too involved in Jim and Pam's relationship (Jim and Pam being characters in NBC's show, "The Office") for a rational adult.
5. My least favorite chore is hanging up clothes. Followed very closely by emptying the dishwasher.
6. I over-pronounce the "t's" in words like Mountain, Mitten, button, etc.

Okay Morgan Smith, and Bobbi Van Reet, ladies, you've been tagged. I gots no one else that hasn't been hit already!

Rants (warning: negativity follows)

* Is it okay that I'm a politcal science major and HATE listening to crap about politcs these days? I'm over the popularity contests and the mud-flinging and ignorance that goes along with elections.

*I hate the economy right now. That probably goes without saying, but I am not in love with trying to sell a house in a credit-challenged society. Not such a great situation.

*Johnny and the Sprites - moms, you know what I'm talking about - the Playhouse Disney show that probably only comes on early on Saturdays but they advertise the crap out of... Johnny is so blatantly gay. I love gay people (seriously, but not like that) but Johnny is almost a walking, talking, homosexual parody of homosexuality. Come on, it's too much. Kids are getting meaner, don't give them someone so out there for my toddler to point and laugh at. Dude doesn't need to be all lispy and overly made-up to appeal to kids... look at the Imagination Movers - those guys are HOT! I don't care if they ARE gay, they're funny and sexy (okay I might be weird) and genuine. In no way do they come off as "I am only doing this so I can get fan mail from little boys" like Johnny. I mean, come on, Disney, don't set yourselves up for an in-house episode of Law and Order: SVU. And have you SEEN the "Mother Earth" character? I don't know what they were going for, but I'm pretty sure what they got was half-baked trailer trash hippie. And this is from someone who hasn't even seen an episode - just the clips that (unfortunately) come on during Jack's Little Einsteins/Clubhouse/Handy Manny run.

*I just burned my mouth on crazy hot coffee.

*My fish tank is horrible. I clean the stupid thing to within an inch of its life, have only 3 fish in 10 gallons (including an algae-eater!) and have a rockstar filter with a cartridge I change every 2 weeks instead of every 4, I condition the water with the right stuff in the right amounts and within 3 days of adding fresh water, the tank looks like a big rectangle of green jello. (Yeah run-on sentence...)
---> update: I just paused in writing this post to put the tank and its constituent parts in an ad on Freecycle so hopefully someone in the area that actually wants some useless pets will benefit from my utter and complete resignation. So I feel better knowing that soon it will be someone else's problem. I wish them the best of luck. (Suckers!)

*Someone's muffler is laying in the road outside my house. Why don't all states have emissions requirements?

*I have to put laundry away. I hate hanging clothes up. HATE it. My least favorite household chore. I'll scrub 100 toilets before I voluntarily put clothes on hangers in the closet.

Okay I'm done. I needed to vent. Sorry you had to put up with that. It's 9:20 and Jack is still passed out because he's got a cold. Poor kiddo. But it gave me some time to bleed out some frustrations and to put my tank on Freecycle. Sweet.

After 15 forevers, a new post!

So I am basically the meanest mommy EVER because I just made Jack sit in his crib for the last 45 minutes, alternating between talking in a cute voice to lure me in and crying at full volume when talking didn't work. Sorry, pal, naptime rules. We're trying to ditch the bottle thing we've had going since I weaned him off nursing... So at naptime now, instead of giving him a bottle of milk, I give him a sippy cup of milk. When we get to the point where we've had a solid week of smooth naptimes, then the bedtime bottle goes away, too. Ideally, in about two weeks, we'll have a bottle-free home. Pretty soon, I'm going to phase out the milk-drinking-at-sleeping-times routine all together so that potty training can be a reality.

Anyway, after 45 minutes of him making as much noise as possible and me ignoring him, he's sleeping and I get a chance to update this.

We've been traveling all over the place - most recently to Tennessee - and staying incredibly busy around the house and visiting friends. I've been behind on projects and chores from all the traveling and the temptations offered by cooler weather and the ability to spend time outside again.

I'm ready to start updating the blog again (finally!) but I'm going to be lazy today and just copy a few stories from our baby website, so if you've read that recently, I'm sorry, but here you go. My next one will be better (I know, promises, promises!)

I call this collection, "Tales from Toddlerhood"...

Actually, there are quite a few things about Jack that strike me as pretty far from "normal"... I won't list them all, but one personality trait that cracks me up is his insistence on drinking a cup of coffee at breakfast with me. (He and I have so many goofy routines it's ridiculous...) No, he doesn't get regular coffee - I bought him some decaff coffee singles so I can brew one mug at a time of decaff for him - but he has his own mug and it must be prepared exactly the same way as mine and must be cooled with exactly one ice cube. No warmer and no cooler will do. We must eat a waffle together. In fact, meals must be served to all persons present at the same time or Jack gets very upset. And you cannot have something on your plate that he doesn't have on his. Even if he won't eat it, like Caesar salad, a piece of it must be on his plate before he can continue eating. This is very serious stuff, here.

Justin brought home a popcorn air popper a while ago since we discovered Jack's love of popcorn. Jack knows where it lives and if he sees it, he sets it up and points at it an hollers, "poh caaahn" over and over until someone makes him some damn popcorn. And he must be picked up for the procedure. "Up" gets repeated in the kitchen about 100 times a day, as Jack is fascinated by all the activity that takes place on the counter-top out of his eyesight. "Up up up!" he calls as he tries to climb up your legs (you know, to make sure you're aware that he's serious about his request). He's also become a huge fan of informing me of when things are finished by announcing, "DONE!" Anyone finishes a drink, cleans off a plate, throws something away, turns something off, and Jack is there to proclaim the task officially "done". We park the car, "done." We leave a building, "done." A dog on the side of the road finishes peeing, "done." In the morning, Jack wakes up and finds his aforementioned bottle in his crib, empty and he ceremoniously announces, "done!" and I know he's ready to get up. However, there is a crucial distinction: when Jack is, himself, finished with something, he says, "ALL done." So whereas we grammatically-aware adults realize that "cakes are done, people are finished," Jack realizes that bottles are done and he is all done.

Among Jack's many talents is his new-found ability to speak in rudimentary sentences to ask questions, including, "where goin'?" "where'd go?" "what'e doin'?" As well as those to indicate a desire such as, "Ah wan' go." In fact, as we were driving through the stunning landscape of Tennessee, Jack would repeatedly point out the car window and tell us that he wanted to go out there. "Ah wan' GO!" he'd shout from his car seat, gesturing wildly at the passing trees and lakes. Last night, though, his adorable question-asking made a couple cool leaps that I wouldn't have really anticipated being as neat as it is. First, we were looking at a book he has based on the movie Cars. It was a picture of almost all the characters, including Mater (the tow-truck), and Jack would point at one vehicle's eyes and ask what it was, so I would tell him, "Those are Sally's eyes," and so on while he occasionally pointed at his own eyes to tell me he knew what I was talking about. Then he started pointing out headlights on each vehicle. When he got to Mater, who only has one headlight because he's a piece of junk, Jack pointed at the empty space in the picture where a second light would have been and looked at me and asked, "Where'd go?" putting his hands palm-up and shrugging his shoulders. I was floored. I had no idea he was looking so closely at the picture to notice that Mater was missing a headlight. Then, as we were reading our second book, Jack noticed that his flashlight (his "on"... he calls lights "on"'s [probably my fault]) was on the floor in front of us, still turned on. He started fidgeting so I reached down, turned it off and stuffed it under a pillow (out of sight, out of mind, being my thought) so we could continue reading. Apparently Jack had fully expected me to hand him his "on" because he looked at me like, "uuuh, wtf?" and asked, "where ON go? where ON?" He was no longer just asking, "where go?" but now he's specifying what he was looking for with a noun. Cool, right? Pretty advanced stuff, but then you realize he's talking to you about the same "on" that caused a circle of light on the carpet of a darkened hallway that he chased around for a full 30 minutes just before we started reading as if it were a living entity. Way to go, Jack.
Also, Jack's got a thing for bugs. "Buhb" he calls it. We're forever chasing them around outside and he says, "blech!" if they get too close or if he wants to be goofy like me. On a fairly regular basis, he gets down on his hands and knees and blows ants he finds on the driveway, causing them to fly away and him to cackle mischievously. He'll also chase hopping crickets and grasshoppers and follow flies and butterflies around whenever possible. Recently he was given a set of 2-inch long plastic bugs so he sat in the back of the car with them clutched in his mitts saying, "buhb buhb buhb buhb!" and giggling, then saying, "blech! buhb!" and showing them to me. They're gross, and he knows I think so, because he's taken to chasing me around the house with them, and throwing them on my lap whenever possible. "Buhb!" he hollers, "Blech!" then points and laughs at me. Charming, truly.

Honestly, I could go on for hours about him. I could write pages upon pages of amusing anecdotes about the adorable things Jack does. I could talk about how cute it is to take him to McD's for dessert after dinner when Justin has duty and lose sight of him while I'm placing our order, just to find him sitting in a booth, patting the table, waiting for me to bring him something delicious to eat, or how funny he is with his love of kicking balls and riding his new trike... but I have to go get some housework accomplished while he sleeps.