Isn’t this photo beautiful? Braydon took it a few days ago in our yard. Suddenly in the past couple of days it is feeling like it is really, really spring here. Daffodils are blooming everywhere, forsythia is bright yellow all over the place, buds are bursting on trees. Gosh, I love this time of year. And this spring seems extra crisp. It feels to me like all of spring is more decisive this year. I know it is because of the baby in my belly. We’re trying to take in every moment. And it all feels so real. It feels like big changes are underway… like it is all happening and there is no stopping it… but it is all right and there’s no need to try to keep it at bay… spring. It is a surreal, yet so real, feeling. Today I had my 34 week OB appointment. 6 weeks ’till Baby Sister is due. 4 weeks ’till Baby Sister is considered full term. And the big good news was that Baby Sister has taken the dive! She’s suddenly head-down! And as the doctor said, he’s “confident” that she won’t flip back because she’s “trapped there.” Nice! The amazing thing is that I’m pretty sure I felt her flip downward– Last night at about 9:30 Braydon and I were in the baby’s room (or, more accurately, I should say, we were in what will become the baby’s room… we’re working on that project)… Braydon was putting together a bookshelf and I was sitting there watching him. I had been in so much pain over the past several days (with Baby Sister’s head crammed up against my right ribs and my right ribs just in agony day and night). She started her usual nightly routine: break-dancing like her brothers, like a little maniac, moving around like crazy in there. Suddenly there was a very, very huge movement and I lost my breath for a minute. And then… instant relief. I sat right up, and said to Braydon, “Oh my gosh! She just moved a huge move and it feels soooo much better!” I immediately stood up, just to see how it would feel. Sure enough– total relief. I felt about 15 pounds lighter and had about 15 times the energy/pep as I had just 60 seconds earlier. Braydon felt my belly and could feel the difference– she’s much more aligned in there, much more centered. I got the best night sleep I’ve had in many days last night. And I woke up feeling great. The doctor confirmed it: she’s head down… right where she’s supposed to be right about now. Thank heavens. She hasn’t “dropped” but, according to the doctor she’s “locked in.” Today I’ve felt a lot better than the past few days. My right ribs are still hurting (her butt is shoved up against them now), but now it hurts much less than before, and it is only really painful about 40% of the day (as opposed to the 80-90% of the day that it was hurting before). There is a lot to do in the next 6 weeks (including tying up many loose ends at work, accomplishing many home projects, checking many things off the massive To-Do list, and keeping two soon-to-be-4-year-old boys relatively calm about the many things they are overly-excited about), but at least it is a beautiful wondrous time of year to be doing it.
This morning Kyle was up before Owen and we had breakfast together. After we ate, he wanted a little snuggle and while filling his love tank, I said: “You are such a smart and nice boy! HOW did I get such a smart and nice boy? How? Do you know how I got such a smart and nice boy How did I get so lucky!?!?”
Kyle: [grinning ear to ear, basking in the glory] “When I was a little baby, you adopted me!!!”
Later, when I was giving Owen breakfast, we had a similar discussion: “How did I get so lucky? How did I get such a smart and nice boy? How, how, how???”
Owen: [also grinning ear to ear, basking in the glory] ” Yooooooou knooooow, you crazy papi!!! In Haiti!!!”
This afternoon I was watching the boys flying high on the swing glider in the back yard…
Kyle: Owen, we are super high!
Owen: Yes, Kyle, we are super duper high!
K: Oh my God!!! We are so high!
O: Oh my Lord!!!
K: Oh my God!!!
O: Oh my Lord!!!
K: Don’t worry Mommy, we’re talking about CHURCH! Don’t worry!
O: Yes! We’re just talking about CHURCH Mommy!Kyle & Owen are currently obsessed with the whole notion of age-time-growth-“bigger kids and littler kids”…
K & O’s school is pre-K through grade 8. And the school is very pro-active about explicitly encouraging and fostering children’s social relationships across age groups. This is one of the things we love about the Waldorf philosophy. Time is given and time is built in for kids to develop genuine social relationships that cut across ages and grades. K & O are in the Acorn room (the “nursery” class; i.e., Pre-K), so they are two of the very youngest kids in the entire school. As it turns out, for K & O, the relationships they’ve developed with some of the older kids at their school are a huge part of what they seem to love about their school. The best thing about these relationships is that they are truly organic, initiated and maintained by the kids themselves (and supported by the teachers and parents involved). For example…
Each day this winter when it was time for the Acorn Room kids to go outside to play, the 4th grade class would come down the hall to the Acorn classroom, and all of the 4th graders were responsible for getting the Acorn Room kids into their snow gear. When every day the “bigger kids” are helping the “littler kids” into their snowsuits, boots, hats, mittens, etc., it is pretty much a given (at least when you’re K & O) that some real relationships will develop. Sure enough, K & O became enamored with some of the 4th graders. And, as we’ve come to hear from the teachers involved (and many of the kids’ parents), some of the 4th graders became enamored with K & O too. Kyle fell in love with one 4th grade boy in particular — David (pronounced ‘Dah-ved’; and Kyle pronounces it perfectly).
About halfway through the winter Kyle started insisting that he go to see David in his classroom before school started. So, each morning at drop-off, on their way to the Acorn Room, Kyle, Owen, and Braydon stop in at the 4th grade classroom for a visit. K & O walk right in and smile huge, sometimes doing silly funny 3-year-old things. David is sweet with Kyle. He greets Kyle warmly each morning, hugging him, shaking his hand, rubbing the top of his head with his hand, saying “good morning Kyle!” But all the other kids get in on it too– The 4th graders all clamor to get up from their desks to greet K & O — the girls hug and kiss them, the boys hug and high-five with them, and the kids (two 3-year-olds and a class full of 4th graders) all fool around with each other for a few minutes before their school day officially begins. The 4th grade teacher encourages it. And so a daily ritual is in place. A ritual that continually builds and cements relationships between some kids who in another school setting would probably never cross paths. It is lovely.
David, age 10, has become Kyle’s idol. Kyle talks about David incessantly. He wants to “run so fast just like David!” He wants to “wear a coat and a hat just like David!” He wants to “eat so well so he gets big and strong just like David!” He wants to “be TEN! just like David!” When I go to pick up K & O from school the 4th graders are having recess at the same time as the Acorn Room kids are being picked up. Kyle and Owen will stand for as long as I’ll let them, just staring at the bigger kids playing. Sometimes David and his friends will stop what they are doing to come over and hang out for a bit with K & O. They chase each other around, rough-house together, and do silly stuff. K & O look up to these “bigger kids” like they are rock stars!
With the infatuation with “bigger kids” has also come a new awareness about “littler kids.” K & O are adoring of babies (as anyone who has been reading this blog knows). But they’ve started to differentiate between “babies” and “littler kids.” This past Saturday we got together at the playground with our friends the Jellisons. Their son Noah is almost 2. K & O kept calling him “Baby” at the playground, but in the days that have followed they’ve been talking about Noah as a “littler kid.” Kristen, Darin, Braydon, and I watched and laughed as K & O played “bigger kids” to Noah on Saturday. They embraced the role thoroughly — ‘teaching’ Noah how to climb up the playground to the slide, ‘showing’ Noah how to duck and crawl under the bridges, and dragging Noah all over the place hand-in-hand. Later that night as I was putting Owen to bed he asked me, “Mommy, is Baby Sister going to be as little as Noah?” I said, “Much smaller! She is going to be tiny!” “Right,” he said, “she isn’t even going to be able to walk! We’re going to have to teach her how to walk! how to crawl! how to sit! how to eat! how to talk! everything!!!” I said, “Yes, that’s right.” And Owen said, “I’m the bigger. I’m the bigger to Baby Sister because I’m going to be the Big Brother. I want her to come out of there right now!”
Right now K & O are loving the notion that they are –to some “littler kids”– the “bigger kids.” This whole idea of relativity is just coming alive for them. This morning on the way to school Kyle said to me, “Mommy, I am a David to the Baby Noah.”
Photos below from Saturday morning, courtesy of the Jellisons.
Our fantabulous friend Corey is not only hosting a virtual baby shower for us, but now she’s got these fantabulous contests going on!!! Here’s some insider info (who knows if it means anything, but here it is nonetheless)~~~
My stats from when I was born:
6 pounds 15.25 ounces
That, other than the fact that my mother was in labor for TWENTY THREE HOURS (my poor, poor mother!), sounds reasonable to me.
My dad’s stats from when he was born:
10 pounds 11 ounces
That, does not sound reasonable to me (my poor, poor grandmother!).Hope that helps!
Last spring Braydon started taking the boys to the driving range to hit golf balls. Anyone who knows us well knows that the boys have been loving golf since they were about 16 months old, and they are pretty good at it. When the driving range closed early this winter K & O were very disappointed. They’ve been waiting for spring ever since… in part because they know that’s when the driving range (or, as they say, “The Good Golf Course”) will open again. Today was the first trip to the driving range of 2008. K & O’s golf season has officially begun!!! They were ecstatic (Kyle especially). They both picked up right where they left off last fall– hitting the ball very consistently, and the best hits going over 50 yards. When we got into the car afterward Kyle very enthusiastically proclaimed, “That was really, really fun!” (The really cool thing about the two photos below is that if you click on them to enlarge them you can actually see the golf balls they’ve just hit flying in the air.)
Another sure sign that spring has officially begun (even though it was actually unseasonably cold here today)— We stopped into a store for K & O to get their new Red Sox hats for the 2008 season. This has become an annual rite of spring for us. They outgrow them each year, so each spring they need new ones. Now they totally get it (i.e., they totally get it that MorFar loves the Red Sox and therefor they love the Red Sox and therefor they are really excited about their new Red Sox hats).
Not a sign of spring whatsoever, but this afternoon we took K & O to their second theatre movie ever! This was a big deal. We went to see Horton Hears A Who. Not sure who loved it more — K & O, or H & B.
Our little man Ky Ky has been waking up with a totally dry Pull-Up for many nights now. He decided to go out on a limb last night and go for the gold— a diaper-free, Pull-Up-free night. No diaper, no Pull-Up, no nothin’! He got up twice to pee, and he woke up this morning dry and proud. 1 out of 2 ain’t bad. We’re ecstatic!
Friday, March 28. 33 Weeks + 1 day prego.
I hate this picture because you can tell that: a) I have not showered, and b) I was up even more than usual the night before. Not that an 8-months-pregnant woman sleeps much any night, but that night was particularly bad. However, the photo really does show the growth of Baby Sister (click here to compare to 3.5 weeks ago). I still don’t have that “beached whale” feeling that all of my friends describe re: the final weeks… but I definitely can see how that feeling is fast approaching. And just in the past 2-3 days I’ve started feeling some noticeable Braxton Hicks contractions (a couple of which have been so strong they’ve jolted me awake in the night). Baby sister is a Mover And A Shaker (nothing could make her Papi and I more proud than if she grows up to be a grown-up Mover And A Shaker)… she is all over the place in there and is virtually never in the head-down position. Here’s hoping that she gets into that position soon, because her favorite ‘fully-horizontal-way-up-high-in-the-uterus-pushing-into-my-ribcage-position’ is definitely getting old fast. It is not comfortable for me, and getting less and less comfortable by the day. Less than 7 weeks ’till Baby Sister is due. We’re crossing some things off the To Do List, but the list is massive.
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