The times they are a changin'...

Things feel very topsy-turvey these days. I'm really ready to be done being pregnant- not enough to wish for a premature baby, of course, but just ready for term to be here. I'm uncomfortable and not a lot relieves it- except sitting with my feet up :) And that's just not happening nearly enough. My midwife appointments are now weekly starting this week- I'm almost 35 weeks.

It seems as though Dillon has outgrown naps. That's a harder one for me to deal with, though I have to admit that she really does OK without one. It used to be that she slept horribly at night if she didn't have a nap, but now not so much. She's a little more "fragile" in the evenings, but that can often be attributed to her (inherited from her daddy's) trait of ignoring her hungry belly until she's falling apart. We've been working on that lots and lots lately. She's also gotten a lot better at entertaining herself to give me some work time.

Peaches has taken huge steps in both bravery and stupidity in that when she goes out to pee, she pees, then runs directly into the road. A busy road at that. It's happened twice, making me none too happy either time. I suppose no one clued her into the fact that she shouldn't make her very pregnant owner chase after her in the snow so she doesn't get hit by a car in front of the 3 year old owner. Nor should you spend the rest of the day groveling at having made your owner so angry. It only irritates her more to have you underfoot all day.

Dave is months from finishing anesthesia training. We both marvel at how close after 11 years of pursing this dream. Close, yet far- he's developed serious "short-timer's" syndrome. We've been making some plans for him to work some- as an anesthesiologist- during his ICU training. Just seems unreal- both that it's possible AND the amount of money he can make doing so.

Life's just unsettled right now. Not in bad ways- very exciting way, but sometimes I feel a little like someone at the top of the roller coaster that's headed for an amazing ride- can't wait, but scared to death all the same.

16.7

That's what the thermometer says at our house. A balmy 16 degrees with about an inch and a half of snow. Wasn't it 60 degrees here last week?

We played outside a couple of times today until I got entirely too whiny about being cold. Dillon either got cold as well or just got tired of hearing me whine about it, I'm not sure. She had a good time pretending we were penguins in Antartica (no real stretch there...) and that I was protecting her from freezing. My solution was to pretend we were Carribean penguins and go inside. Yes, I realize there is no such thing as a Carribean penguin.



I got tagged by Karen to post 6 weird things about myself.
1) I profess a belief in a desire for homeschooling and teaching things honestly, yet I teach my child about some falsehood as Carribean penguins as a not so clever ploy to get to go inside. In my defense, the wind chill is 5 degrees.
2) Along those lines- I have the coldest feet on a living human being. I wear socks to bed year round and will only go sockless on the warmest of days.
3)I can curl my tongue.
4) I get up between 5:30-6:00 most mornings to exercise. And than I actually do it.
5) I stopped drinking cow's milk after we visited a farm and saw cow's being milked and an explanation of how they separate the baby from the mother after a certain amount of time so the baby doesn't drink all the milk. Dillon was an infant at the time and I was working, having to pump on the days that I worked. It just all added up to being completely repulsed by the thought of drinking a big glass of milk. As if that weren't weird enough, I still eat cheese, though.
6) I hate crowds. I'll go without something from the grocery store if it means I have to go when it would be crowded. Or I'll skip an event if it's more crowd than I think I can deal with.

So there you go...

And what did you learn today Dillon?

"Hey mom, it doesn't hurt when I clip this thing on my tongue!"

I'm so proud.

"But I don't like to use my imagination!"

This is what Dillon declared when I declined to buy her a very noisy wooly mammoth toy at BJ's one day. I explained that I don't like noisy toys because 1)they make the same sound over and over which I find incredibly irritating and 2) I think toys should be for helping you use your imagination.

Fast forward to that evening. She found a hummingbird feeder that I've never managed to find a home for until we actually have hummingbirds again in the spring. She spent a solid hour pretending to be a hummingbird- first she was an egg hatching, then she'd fly to the door and want to come in, then used her wings to hold the feeder still so she could eat out of it- on and on. Last night, she found a pair of Dave's socks and spent about the next half hour pretending she was a dog with broken legs and they were her casts. She figured out all kinds of ways to do things with 2 broken legs.

It really is unfortunate she doesn't like to use her imagination. I wonder what she'd come up with if she did?!

Feeding the birds

Our neighbor gave us some sunflower seeds. Not wanting to deal with scattering the seeds for the birds, this was Dillon's solution:




















This is the back step, immediately outside the back door. For some reason, the birds just aren't jumping up to eat it from this spot. Couldn't be because of the dog going past that spot several times per day. I suppose it's the thought that counts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here we are Thanksgiving evening. We had a great day, cooking and hanging out. I took Dillon & Peaches for a walk in the woods. We found several dens of hibernating animals that I sucessfully kept both Dillon and Peaches out of. Dillon was sure that every one of them was for a bear, even though they were all far too small for a bear to get into. Our neighbors across the street saw one in our driveway a couple of years ago & Dillon has never forgotten it. Otherwise, she made creative use of any and every downed branch by turning them all into horses. We had to pet the horses, she rode them, we fed them, and groomed them. Peaches, for her part, ran and ran and ran. Only once did she stay gone long enough to make me worry a little. But return, she did and slept well when we came back in.

So, we explained Thanksgiving as a special day that we think and talk about the things that we are glad we have in our lives. We checked out a book on Thanksgiving from the library, which she's enjoyed. Dave & I said we were thankful for our families, our friends, for the new baby coming, for Peaches and for getting to spend the day together. Dillon said she was thankful for Dimetredon ( one of her toy dinosaurs). What about mom and dad, we said? Yes, she's thankful for us. What about Peaches? Yes, her too. What about grandparents? Yes them, too. But mostly Dimetredon.

I guess it's good to know where you rank.

What happens when you don't like your hair brushed

It gets cut shorter. She inherited my touch-me-not-ness when it comes to hair. She does not like it touched, put behind her ears, put up in any kind of holder, brushed or washed. Ever. Without exception. And has no problem telling anyone that makes the mistake of touching her hair that she doesn't like it "messed with." The only way to brush the rats nest of tangles that mulitply before your eyes is to sit her in front of a movie. Therefore, as the person that has to fight this battle, I decided long ago that once she is old enough to take care of her own hair, she can have any length of hair she wants. Until then, it's going to be shorter.

The haircut was surprisingly easy. She was watching a movie, I had scissors ready and simply said "Here's what we're going to do." She went for it and even wanted her bangs cut. She liked it right away and has reveled in the many compliments she has gotten on it. Dave didn't like it at first, but has grown to since then. I think it looks really cute, even if it is a little uneven in the back.