The Bump

There is no hiding it... I have a pregnant bump on my belly... and here it is.
The 16+ week checkup was Thursday. Again, the midwife could not find a heartbeat. I watched her cheerful face turn serious. It took her about five minutes (and it felt like an eternity) to find the heartbeat. What relief when we finally heard it! This is the third time during this pregnancy when the heartbeat was frighteningly difficult/impossible to find. I think this might be a tricky kid.
My midwife said that by the next checkup the baby will be too big to hide anymore. Let's hope so.

Someone got a haircut

On Tuesday night, we found a pile of hair in one of Alli's toy bins in her room. Not cool.

Alli decided she didn't like her hair getting in her face, so she trimmed it herself. Apparently clips and headbands just weren't cutting it... pun intended.

On Wednesday we had to finish the job... professionally.



Alli loves her new 'do. It is going to take some getting used to for me.

PS- Her scissors are on a long time out!

The best part of waking up...

Ruby always has such wild hair in the morning. The Knot Fairy must have been hard at work all night.

Chicago summer

In Chicago, summer is the magical season... if only it lasted six more months.
The summer goes by way too fast.

Danger for ants

Ruby has a thing for bugs, especially ants. She loves to pick them up and let them crawl all over her. She has no fear. Ruby finds these little critters fascinating. She watches them run around like most kids watch TV. Ruby "plays" with the ants and they usually end up less mobile than when she found them. On Saturday she wanted to go outside, so she said, "Mom, let's go find some ants!" Fun. She likes other bugs too, so we have to keep an eye on her or she will try to pick up a spider or something. Maybe she will become an entomologist someday.



We found this black ant being attacked by tiny ants on our patio. Pretty interesting to watch. And a little bit scary.



Andy took a bunch of pictures while keeping Ruby at a safe distance.
(This black ant is the same size as the one on her shirt in the picture above, the red ants are like grains of sand.) After watching the big black ant get beat up, Andy sprayed the gang of little
mean ants with bug spray. We don't want Ruby playing with those ones.

A simple hello would do

"Hey Mom! We're painting!" (super-happy-cheerful voice)

Not my favorite greeting when I walk into a room... and the girls were on the floor with brushes and paints. (Sigh.)
I love the creativity and the tenacity... paint on the floor I could do without.

The 5K

On Thursday, I ran the Bastille Day 5K with a bunch of friends from church. Let me clarify... I ran slowly... quite extremely slow... nearly a walk.
Andy and the girls came to cheer me on. Andy was a bit under the weather (which turned out to be crazy... the weather that is), but he managed to cheer from several points on the course... again, I must have been moving very slowly... and the course went up and down streets in a small neighborhood. What a cute cheering section!

The race started under perfect conditions, clear skies, sunshine, not too hot. By mile 2 it was raining lightly. The rain was pouring for the last quarter mile or so... plus lightning and thunder and high winds.
I ran with some friends: Kristal, Shana, Missy, Ashley, Andrea... and Nicole was there too. Andy didn't get pictures of everyone, but check out the huge crowd, and guess which one is Kristal. Andy thinks the second one is Nicole (apologies if he is wrong). Shana ran and did some cool jazz hands move.

Here are a few pictures of me. In the first one, it looks like I am winning. The second picture isn't my favorite, but you can see the baby bump I've got.

The end of the race was wet. Like cats and dogs. I had to hold my hand over my eyes to block the rain so I could see (I am by the stop sign in this picture). I was glad to see the finish line... and even more glad to step under the giant umbrella we brought.

We walked a few blocks to Kris Tina and Greg's home afterward to dry off and enjoy some fresh-baked-homemade cookies that KT made... while wearing this darling apron.

Capitalism at its cutest.

We have seen a few lemonade stands around the neighborhood this summer. Alli has been fascinated with them. She notes what type of beverage they are selling, if they have cookies, how they decorate their table, etc. Most of all, she is interested in what those kids do with ALL that money!!?!
We had a big box leftover from the bathroom vanity, so we fixed it up to be an awesome lemonade stand. Alli and her friend Elijah helped decorate the box with stickers and drawing (I helped a bit with the lettering and lemon). They helped make the lemonade (it was supposed to be pink, but a little too much help turned it red). They set up shop on the sidewalk and shouted "lemonade for sale" to anyone within earshot.
They made $2.50. They were thrilled! They have big plans for a trip to Dairy Queen.
Alli wants to set up shop again. This time she wants to put it on another street where there are more thirsty people. She is working on her business plan already... maybe next summer she will franchise.

Give us a hand!

The bathroom remodel is coming along... slowly, but surely. Last week we finished the tile. This week we moved the vanity into the bathroom.
A working toilet is coming soon! I will miss walking downstairs to the loo at 2:30 every morning. I look forward to the convenience of a bathroom just steps away.
We still have plenty of work to do: install another light, put the trim in, cover the exposed outlets, take the painter's tape down, grout the shower, fill in the gaps by the door, install the new faucet, put the door back on... sigh. We have come a long way, and it finally feels like we are closer to the end of the project than the beginning.
I am looking forward to buying new matching towels and stuff, but I haven't even started to look yet. That will come.

There is still work to be done on the sink too.
(Ruby startled me the other day. She was hiding under the sink, and I jumped when I came into the bathroom and saw something wiggling in the sink. This is a reenactment.)

number three

Yes.  I am pregnant.

And this is a tricky little one already.  I had an ultrasound at 11 weeks to see how far along I was.  My midwife thought I was further along than the calendar would suggest.  It turns out that I am just big this time.  Cool.  All was well with the baby.

At 12 weeks, the midwife couldn't find the heartbeat.  She said not to worry, come back at 13 weeks.  I have never, ever heard a heartbeat from my womb at or before 12 weeks... without a real ultrasound machine.  I tried not to worry.

Today I went in for the 13 week heartbeat check.  I was nervous.  Very.  My blood pressure was higher than normal, enough that the nurse wanted to recheck it.  I calmed myself enough for a normal second reading.  When the midwife came in, she put the doppler scanner probe on my belly and started circling it around, searching for the heartbeat.  Nothing.  She continued to move it around.  Nothing.  She had me change positions.  Nothing.  It was the longest five minutes of remaining calm while the look of concern was growing in her eyes.  She said, "I think we need to do an ultrasound."

I was freaking out inside... and it was starting to surface.  Before Alli, I had two miscarriages.  Both were late in the first trimester.  Both were awful.  I focused on my breathing to keep from crying.  I was trying so hard to breath easy so my belly wouldn't shake... so she could find that heartbeat!  I was going through some sad scenarios in my head.

Then, she found it!  Only for a second.  I think I was shaking too much... with relief.  It took her another minute to find the heartbeat again.  It was definitely a baby heartbeat, quick, and music to my ears.  What relief!  Five second later the battery in her machine died.  What timing!

So baby #3, the mini-van-baby, will be joining us in early January (or maybe in late, late December for a nice tax break?).

Stay tuned.

a sad goodbye

Andy's uncle Bruce passed away yesterday.  He valiantly battled a very aggressive cancer for six months. 

We are thankful for the time we were able to spend with him and the whole family in June.  Though he was more quiet, weak, and tired, he was still Bruce.  And we loved being with him.

And he still had his wonderful, warm, distinctive laugh...

...that we will miss so much.