He can't be mine

I tried to give him apple crisp (with ice cream) for breakfast last Sunday. He took one bite and wanted Cheerios.

He can't be mine.

He chows down on dad's tuna fish, shrimp, and salmon, and thinks frozen peas are the best lunch ever.

He can't be mine.

He runs into Nursery every week without a glance back, or a thought that someone might push him down, make a mean face, or leave him out.

He can't be mine.

He refuses to wear socks to bed but is happy to wear pajamas that don't match.

He can't be mine.

But look at those smiley eyes, as Tim calls them,

He might be mine

Some of our family members feel like this:

Feline family members that is.

"An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out. The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks. Curious I pinned a note to his collar: "I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap."

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: "He lives in a home with 6 children -- 2 under the age of 3 -- he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"

Things I'm craving

-rocks
-damp cement
-chalk
-Comet (the delicious smelling bathtub cleaner)
-the drafty fiberglass smell of our attic
-clean towels
-hospitals linens

Unfortunately I can't cook *any* of these things for dinner.

BOOO

The Terrible Two's?

I am not a fan.

Spotlight

Remember these things from primary? Here is one for Chase because he is changing and growing so fast.

-He's almost 2 years old, 27 pounds, and 33 inches tall

-He speaks mostly in 2, 3, and 4 word sentences. ("Bye Bye Uncle", "No! Other cheese!", "Ohhh Mama, look at that!", etc) Unless you spend a lot of time around him, I think he is pretty hard to understand.

-He knows most of his colors, and some of his letters and shapes. He's so incredibly observant and needs to show you EVERYTHING. You must acknowledge that what he's saying or showing you is correct or he'll shout it over and over.
EX: "momo-cycle, momocycle, MOMOCYCLE!!!... "YES, that IS a motorcycle!" (followed by silence and contentment on his part. I think he likes to be right).

-His favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", but it has to be read IN CONJUNCTION with "10 Little Animal Sleepyheads". It's insane. Once I tried to read "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" instead... and he got seriously mad.

-His favorite activities are brushing his teeth, washing his hands, and taking baths. He's a very hygienic little kid.

-When we say "I love you", he says "I know".

-The only thing that makes him cry is when I growl. I do this unconsciously when I'm frustrated, and I guess he knows it, because he bursts into tears every time. It makes me feel terrible.

-He folds his arms and bows his head for prayers, and says "amen". He recognizes Jesus in most pictures. His favorite part of FHE is the treat. His favorite prophet is "Ho-Hi" (Lehi).

-He really is a smart, sweet-tempered little boy who wants to please you all the time. We love him to bits.

Riley

I can't believe how long it's taken me to get these up, but here are Riley's third ultrasound pictures. He looked like a lump in the first round (he was only 10 weeks or so), and a skeleton in the second (16 weeks), so we were happy to finally get some good pictures of the little guy. He is 100%, without a doubt, a boy. Within seconds of turning on the machine and before the tech said anything I could see SO clearly that he was a boy. Fun Fact- With both Chase and Riley I've had a dream the night before their ultrasound that they were boys. I am a little disappointed not to get to buy a whole new wardrobe (girl), but we are really excited for Chase to have a brother to play with and get into trouble with. There is something so sweet about little boys.

Our ultrasound tech was FABULOUS. She showed us his heart chambers and the heart beating, we saw his arms, legs, toes, bum cheeks, eyeballs, brain, liver, all kinds of stuff. We've taken Chase to all my ultrasounds and he does seem to understand that the thing on a screen is a baby, and lives in my tummy. I'm just not sure he realizes that someday it will live with us.

The tech was fun because she kept laughing at the baby, saying she'd never seen a baby stretch out so much to take up ALL of their mom's tummy (yes, I could have told her that) and exclaiming over what a "gorgeous" spine he has, etc. Tim and I were cracking up, but it was fun to have someone be as excited as we were. We got to see him suck his thumb and move around. It was really a sweet experience. Here are some of his pictures:

Profile with his arm by his face:
Clearly a boy, right?
A little arm:
Two little legs:
And my favorite, two little baby feet:


I've been able to feel this little guy moving since about 14 weeks, and have been having braxton hicks since 16 weeks. My doctor told me to lay down and rest when I have contractions, since I'm having a LOT unusually early. Sometimes this means I just get on and off of the couch all day. I am almost six months, and Riley will be viable next Saturday. *woo hoo* Obviously no baby should be born 3 months early, but it is comforting to know that we are approaching the point where they could intervene and try to save him if anything happened. Considering Chase was 2 weeks late, I'm not really betting on an early baby, but sometimes it still makes me nervous. I'm getting a nice little tummy, but I can still button my pants. Call it vanity, but it will be a sad day when I have to switch to maternity. I hate those stretch waistbands like nothing else. Chase is in the process of getting a whole new room because soon we'll have to boot him out of the nursery. I will post pictures if we ever get it together, and if I can actually get him to sleep in a bed that doesn't have bars caging him in :) Tim is rooting for a Pirate themed bedroom, but so far we only have his furniture picked out.

What the ningo?

'Ningo' has quickly become a pseudo swear word at our house. 'Heck' is no longer even part of our vocabularies. That is how frustrated we were getting about this word. For the past two weeks I asked Chase constantly what a 'ningo' was. And every time his eyes lit up, he got super animated, and start shouting 'NINGO NINGO NINGO!!!!'.

Hmmm ok, well sorry I can't share your excitement dude.

When I asked him where the ningo was, he would say "CAR!". So I took him out to the car and spent half an hour asking him if this was a ningo, or that was a ningo. He just wanted to play with his carseat toys. I gave up.

The other day the three of us ran an errand to Target. As we were walking in Chase looked right up at the Target sign and said 'NINGO!" Tim and I stared at each other and said, "WHAT did you say??" We went into the store and asked him if the store itself was ningo, if the cart was ningo, if the cop at the entrance was ningo, etc. etc. etc. No response.

We let him out of the cart and asked where the ningo was and he ran back to the front of the store, and out the automatic doors to point at the sign again. I'm starting to think Ningo means Target. How that makes any linguistic sense... (even in toddler language)... I do not know.

We take him back in the store and start shopping. Suddenly he looks up at the neon electronics sign and says NINGO! I start to vaguely recall a scene in Cars where Sally gets excited about the signs in the town lighting up again. We walk over to the pharmacy. Chase points to that neon sign and says NINGO!

The light is finally dawning.

Apparently in the movie Cars Sally refers to the towns' electric signs as the "Neon Glow".

Ningo. (NEEN-GO if you need a pronunciation guide).


This child really might be the death of me.