the one thing about Summer that I don't like

Ryan switched to working second shift a week ago, as he does every summer when it's time to pack fruit.  So, until our new baby girl decides to arrive, Laci and I are flying solo each evening.  As far as the evening routine of dinner and bath time goes, it hasn't been so hard.  That's because I've been at my parents' house every night where they feed us dinner, help with Laci's bath, and send us on our merry way when it's time for bed.  They really do spoil me...and Laci, of course.  But we miss hanging with Ryan in the evenings, and Laci asks for her daddy each night during the car ride home.  Thankfully, we were able to spend a few good evenings together before his shift change.

Evenings like this one where daddy and Laci "discussed" why we don't throw sand at the dog's face.

And she hugged her daddy at the end of their talk.

And evenings like this one where Ryan showed Laci the tastiness of blackberries picked fresh from the vine.

She now refuses to eat store bought berries, especially if they have been refrigerated.

I can't say I blame her.  There's just something about fruit picked fresh and still warm from the sun that makes it taste sooo much better.

I think what I miss most about Ryan's schedule this summer is the opportunity to catch up with each other at the end of the day.  I spend all day storing up things in my brain to tell him when he gets home...things we need to make a decision on, funny things Laci has done, pretty much every detail of our day.  And normally, I unleash my brain on him when he walks in the door.  Yes, I'm one of those women.  Usually he doesn't mind, since he really only has to listen to about half of what I say in order to get the important stuff.  I tend to just let my brain unravel, letting any and every thought I've had all day fall out of my mouth.  But, when he doesn't get home until after I've gone to bed,  that means I have to store all that mumbo jumbo in my sleep and wait until morning to tell him, and it just isn't the same as unloading at the end of the day.  Sometimes, I can't even go to sleep because I feel like I have to remember to tell him something, so I'll try to wait up for him.  Problem with that route is I usually end up falling asleep about 5 minutes before he gets home, then I try to hold a conversation with him while I'm only semi-conscious.  The conversation usually goes something like this:

     Me:  "Blah, blah, blah."  Then I go back to sleep.
     A minute later I wake up.  "Blah, blah, blah."  Smile.  Go back to sleep.

I'm not really sure how his end of these conversations go because I can't stay awake long enough for a response.  I hope he finds these conversations amusing at the very least.

The upside is, Ryan gets to take some time off from work when baby girl is born.  And, with the way I've been feeling lately, I'm thinking we don't have too much longer to wait.

PS:  The random pictures of the pond and plants are what I was doing while they were picking and eating blackberries.

just a month to go

Just a month to go, give or take, for baby girl to arrive.

The last almost 36 weeks has flown by, and now it feels like time is standing still.  I'm so looking forward to seeing our girl.  Who will she look like?  How big will she be?  Will she be a sleeper?  Let's hope.

I finally washed Laci's baby clothes this week, and just put them away in the dresser today.  Not much opportunity for "nesting" these days.  Some people have asked me if we have the nursery ready.  Well, no.  But only because we don't have a "nursery."  Trailer life.  The basinette will be going in the "dining room" which is a vague term for the area where there should be a table for eating, but it currently holds some of Laci's toys.  The basinette itself is still somewhere upstairs waiting to be carried down, along with other baby items like a car seat and swing.  I have no fear it will all be done in time...and if it isn't, she won't know any different.  After all, Laci's crib wasn't even put together until after we got home from the hospital.

Sometimes this whole experience seems like a dream, but not the kind of dream where everything is perfect.  More like the kind of dream where unrelated memories and thoughts are strung together in a single story, so that nothing makes sense, and you wake up laughing and telling someone, "I had the craziest dream last night."  In my younger years, I may have imagined what it would be like to be bringing babies home from the hospital, and never, ever did it involve bringing them home to live in a shop.  To say I'm looking forward to having a real house again is a huge understatement.

As for the pregnancy itself, I really can't complain.  I haven't written much about it because, with everything else going on at the moment, being pregnant has been kind of an afterthought.  I went through the sick stage at the beginning, which seemed to last forever when I was in the thick of it, but it passed somewhere around 12 weeks and looking back now, it seems so brief.  I'm so lucky to have had two very healthy pregnancies.  Except for being uncomfortable with my size lately, I'm feeling pretty good.  I don't even have deformed, swollen feet yet from retaining water.  Do I feel heavy, awkward, and grotesquely flabby?  Completely.  Is it hard to breathe sometimes because my lungs are squished?  Yes.  Do I pee all the time because someone is using my bladder as a trampoline?  Absolutely.  The truth is, I do complain...A LOT...about being uncomfortable, and hot, and awkward, but I really shouldn't because things could be so, so much worse.

Since the weather heated up about a month or so ago, I've definitely been feeling my size, and it really started sinking in that we'll be having a baby soon. I cannot stick my head in the sand any longer.  "Soon" could even mean less than 3 weeks from now if she shows up early like her big sister.  As my knees grow more tired from the weight, I'm having a harder time ignoring that fact that labor is ahead of me, and there is nothing I can do to avoid it.  Good thing the pain really does go away as soon as you see that perfect little being.  And that is the part I'm really, truly looking forward to.  To see our little family grow from three to four, to see Laci become a big sister, and most of all, to meet the little person who comes alive at night.  Really alive.  Like wakes me from a dead sleep with her antics alive.  At least I know she's strong, she'll need to be in order to stand up to her big sister.

visible progress

It's been a while since I last posted pictures of our house progress.  Mostly because nothing was happening to report on.  I mean, we moved out of the mobile and into our trailer/shop four months ago...FOUR months ago... then it rained for three months...THREE months...and I was about ready to go crazy looking out my window at dark clouds and giant puddles.  Well, about a month ago, the weather dried up, and heated up, and we finally have some visible progress on our new home.  It all happened just in time for me to hold onto my sanity for at least a short while longer...that is until we add a new baby to the whole mix...but I'm not really thinking about that ...yet.

Since I last posted, we moved more dirt, formed the foundation, poured concrete, raised walls, and sheeted the outside.  "We" meaning everyone but myself, but I'm working on my own project right now building a new human being.  Combine that with chasing another human being who is less than 3 feet tall, and I think that excuses me from manual labor.

As for the boring construction pictures below, I apologize, they are imperative to my happiness at this point.  And for the happiness of everyone else, I included some cute ones of Laci "helping."

~ future front door ~

~ building castles with Daddy ~

~ notice the pump in the foreground ~
Never would I have imagined we would need to pump a lake of water out of the way in the middle of June! 

Somewhere in the middle I missed a picture of the actual concrete.  Concrete trucks arrive loudly in your yard at 5:30 a.m.  So, while I was awake at that time due to the noise, it was entirely too early to be up taking pictures.  Then, the walls were delivered a day early, so I missed a picture of the finished slab as well.  Just imagine a big slab of concrete...yep, it was that exciting.  Well, for me it was exciting, but just consider the circumstances.

~ why do the dogs always end up in the pictures? ~

~ the first wall ~

~ the "boss" watching the wall raising ~

I have yet to take a picture of the sheeting, but since the trusses won't be delivered until next week, I'm hoping I have some time.

The view from my window has improved dramatically in the last month and I'm ever so thankful for my hard-working husband and the effort he is putting forth to build our dream.  I'm also thankful for my father-in-law who has been immensely helpful in both building and in keeping Ryan calm and sane.

growing up country

Growing up country can mean...

...learning to look at the ground when you walk through the field (gotta watch for those snakes).
...eating fruit fresh from the tree and veggies straight from the garden.
...that every outdoor activity will involve at least a little bit of dirt.

And if you live in the country, and are building a house, and have absolutely no "yard" to speak of, growing up country can mean that a big ol' pile of rocks can become your new playground. You will become covered in a fine, powdery dust as you climb, and lounge, and play on the rocks, and as you direct your daddy to jump over you repeatedly.  Babies, daddies, and clothes are all washable (thank goodness), and I'm pretty used to having dirt everywhere at this point, so it was a good time for all involved.

remembering June

June is long gone, but I still have many pictures I haven't shared.  Sometimes I wonder why I take so many pictures, so many that I can't keep up with uploading and sharing them.  Not that I feel the need to share every picture.  Despite what it might appear here, I only share a fraction of the pictures I take.  Digital cameras really let a person get out of hand with the volume of pictures taken.  Many of those find the delete button before they ever make it to the computer, some get deleted once uploaded, some get shared here on the blog, and a few just hang around holding their position on my hard drive indefinitely.

Most of the time, though, I'm really glad I take so many pictures because they help me remember all the little things we did.  June has become just a blur in my memory at this point, but with the help of a few pictures, I can remember random moments and funny stories about my girl, and it helps me appreciate the happy little moments we had in between all the stressful ones.

***

Cousin Evan had his third birthday in June.  Laci, although the youngest of the cousins, insisted on being in the middle of all the party action of playing together, riding bikes, opening presents, and hitting the pinata.  She skipped cake time because she hasn't figured out how awesome cake is yet.  And trust me, I've tried numerous times to show her how amazing an overly sweet piece of cake loaded with frosting can be.  She just doesn't buy into it yet.

Some quality time with Shiloh.

In the middle of the action.

Obviously, the best present of the day...a Cars convertible kid-sized couch, just the right size for hiding.

In nearly 50 attempts at a group cousin picture, these are the best I could get.  I'm thinking that adding another cousin or two to the picture won't do anything to help the odds of success.

I can hardly believe I'm saying this myself, but, if you crop Laci out of the first picture, it improves significantly.

Cute siblings.

Without these pictures, I might not remember to tell Laci how much she liked the gift we bought for Evan, which was the race track in the above picture.  I'll tell her about how she insisted on matching the cars to the correct track based on color, even when I tried to switch them up, and how I love how her organized little brain works.

***

Even more than remembering the big events, I like being able to remember the everyday boring things we do.

I like that I'll be able to tell Laci about drinking out of the dog's bucket of water...and thinking it is the best thing on earth.

Gross?  Yes.

But I'm a believer in building up the immune system the good old-fashioned way:  with lots of germs.

And I'm pretty sure Maverick doesn't mind sharing.

I'll tell her about the crazy weather we had that kept us from filling up the wading pool until the middle of June.   I'll tell her that she finally realized it is not only a good idea to sit down in the water, but it is also fun to lay down and put her entire face in the water...a long way from last year when she would only stand up.

I'll tell her how she is obsessed with eating ice, and I'm doing my best to convince her that ice is not, in fact, a real food with any nutritional value.  Because I'm pretty sure if it was up to her, she would eat only ice some days.  Also, I must now disguise my own glass if I put ice in my drink because she will insist on eating all of MY ice, and frankly, I like to avoid tantrums if at all possible, so she ends up getting her way.  Also, I don't really like sharing my drink...or my ice.  I should probably work on that.

And, although I'm pretty sure she'll always know she has a special relationship with Maverick, I'll tell her how they grew up together, and that is why they're such good friends (or at least they will be good friends in a few years).  I'll tell her how her "love" for him often turns physical and aggressive, so he chews on her arm, and then she screams, and then I say, "If you put your hands in his mouth, he will bite you."  And no one is happy with my response, least of all Laci, but it usually distracts her long enough that she stops putting her hands in his mouth and he stops biting her and we move on to the next child/dog argument.

***

And, since I always have a hard time ending posts, especially long, rambling ones like this one, I'll just borrow the words of Forrest Gump:

"That's all I have to say, about that."

The End.