House and Belly

Our new front door. Looks good, no?

The new inside of the house with screen door. All of this wood replaced rotted wood.
New inside. I suppose we will paint the new boards at some point.
Look at that belly--lovely. At this point Heidi has been pregnant 2 more weeks than she has ever been pregnant. Could she go all the way?

A new bed for Amelia

Amelia had a big day / night today - she got a new bed and she loves it. Of course everything you read says NOT to transition your older child out of a crib right before a baby comes, but Amelia was ready. She was becoming a gold medalist in the Crib Jumping Olympics - and starting to specialize in the balance beam / crib rail event. Yes, those are Spiderman sheets on her bed and yes Tom asked if we could get them for a queen bed.

After we set it up, she played for awhile and told me to "get off" when I tried to sit on the bed with her. At bedtime she did let me sit and read with her and cuddle. I think she is going to like that new routine - and so will we!

She went to sleep without a peep. You can see the destruction she caused before deciding to lie down and sleep, but that is fine with us. It beats finding her standing on top of the crib rail and saying, "HI MOMMY LOOK AT ME!" as I enter the room.

Yellow Light

A yellow light is a guideline it says--it might be good to slow down. But the light itself does not stop you. It is just a suggestion.

I have found that there are very similar parallels to this axiom in our house.

• Most builders do not use 2x4s as rafters.
• Most do not use 2x4s as joists to hold up the entire second floor of a house.
• It is uncommon to fill large holes in the roof with socks. Even if the socks are navy blue and blend in quite well.
• Usually the piers holding up the house are made of stone or concrete--not blocks of wood.
• Many builders frame doors with 2x4s or 2x6s not 1x4s.

The latest exciting omission to following suggested guidelines was the realization that our front door was framed with 1x4s. This led to the whole house shaking every time the door closed. So in the never ending list of fix up projects I fixed the door this weekend.



Before. There are 2x4s on the right but the 1x4s can barely be seen on the left.
Lookin' good. See how these beams don't even touch the sill? Could that lead to the door shaking the wall?
I just like the mess that is pictured here. What was happening in their minds?
I overdid it a bit but I didn't want to go back in later.

The door is finished. Now I need to work on the look of the front.

Sleeping Beauty and Redneck Livin', again.

Amelia decided it wasn't necessary to nap yesterday. Unfortunately for Tom, this fell during the World Cup game and so he had to keep her busy while trying to watch the game. Perhaps as a result of divine intervention, she eventually dozed off while sitting with him on the couch as he explained the rules to her. She stayed there for 2 hours (yay!) but still sad for Tom because he had to cheer very, very quietly (or NOT cheer at the end...)

We then retreated to Grammie's garage where Aunt Becky loved the possibility of this White Trash Family Portrait. It seems fitting in honor of the big Nascar race in NH this weekend...

Our little scholar...

Amelia leaves the house for her first day of school last September:

She tries to drag her backpack (which was absolutely obsessed with and called her "packpack") to the car.



Amelia leaves school on her last day for the year last week. She finally has hair. She is carrying her own backpack which she is still obsessed with and calls "MINE backpack." She is possessive of it and gets ticked off when one of the cats sleeps on it and makes us yank it out from under them...

I find it funny that she's surrounded but pregnant women in this picture -- her teacher SueAnn (a.k.a. SueAnnie to the kids) who is having a baby in August; her friend Emma's mom who just had a baby; and me who is about to have a baby.

The backpack was STUFFED with stuff and she insisted on carrying it herself: "I do it myself."

She tipped over but then said, "It's okay!" She stood up and kept going... but she did let me hold the back of it as we walked to the car.

Week 36

We have arrived at week 36 - I've never made it this far... obviously I can say that for every day until the baby is born. I am very happy to let this baby keep cooking and it's been nice to have some down time after school has gotten out until whenever the big day is. But...

...you can see I am not totally thrilled with how it feels to be 36 weeks pregnant...

...but I"m willing to remain happy and optimistic. I also like the morning naps I've been taking while Amelia is at her preschool -- she goes 3 half days a week and it's been AWESOME. I'm having some Braxton Hicks contractions that are starting to get more uncomfortable, which is a good thing. It's fun to see them show up on the non-stress test machine when I go to the doctor!

Sleeping, Sophie and a Belly

Amelia took a 3 hour nap today. It was much needed by her mom who is very tired right now.

We had a great last week of school. I had one student who failed and I was sad about that--but she did skip the final. The highlight of my year was a student named Maryline who came here with her family from Ivory Coast about 5 years ago. She has learned English and has the kind of drive that is exhibited only by those who have already known major strife in their young lives. It was a pleasure to have her in class this year. I also enjoyed a student named Tom--not just because of his name. Dressed in modern day thug attire--ridiculous flat brimmed hat in bright red with a matching bright red shirt--I could easily have judged him by his choice in clothing. I'm glad that I didn't because he turned out to be a highlight of my year. Beneath his tough guy exterior he was a kid who frustrated easily when confronted with difficult material. Over the course of the year I learned how to help him and he learned to accept help from me. At the end of the year he stayed behind after the exam to shake my hand. I hope the best for him.
An old one of Sophie and Amelia--Hi Sophie!
35 Weeks. I liked that yesterday Heidi said, I've never been pregnant this long before. What a weird and cool way think of it.

School's out for summer...

We reached a very exciting milestone here in our house -- yesterday was the last day of school and the same day in my pregnancy that I went into labor with Amelia. So, I made it to the end of the year AND this baby is now officially cooking longer than the first one! I am hoping for a few more weeks so I can have some down time and some nice time with Amelia before the madness begins...

35 week belly shot.

Off to my last day of school until November - yay! (Yoda won't leave me alone...)

Amelia has taken to playing in the baby stuff that we are pulling out. Here she sits in the outdoor bassinet - she asks us to zip her up and then stays in there for up to a half hour at a time... This morning she ate her breakfast in there. Hopefully she'll share when there is a baby who needs to go in there!

And here she plays with her baby Emma in the bouncy seat.

The creation of a Tomboy takes dedication and intensity. Here Amelia approaches a sleeping fox. Don't worry I didn't let her actually touch the fox...I just let her get close.
We visited Squam lake last weekend and did some fishing. This was the big fish of the weekend.
Most of the fish were about this big.
Here is my friend Matty with his big catch of the weekend.

PS: For you worriers out there the fox was in a glass enclosure at the Squam Lakes Science Center.

A cornucopia of pictures

Amelia's "artist interview" from her art show at school. If you want to see the answers just click on the picture and it will get bigger. We find them very funny...


Amelia showing her mommy around school...she clung to me like glue the entire night and was so excited that we were there and was running around like more of a nut than usual.

Tom of course could not let one of my non-stress tests go by without photo documentation.

A BIG girl coming down the slide.

Amelia is loving all of the baby things we have pulled out... hopefully she will be willing to share when her new sibling arrives...

I just realized...

I am actually 33 weeks...and I really had to think about it. But the previous post was wrong... it's 33 weeks. Haha.

Little Rodin

We attended Amelia's art show at her school on Thursday night. They had beautifully laid out all kinds of wonderful art the children had made over the past several weeks. Here is Amelia's play-doh work of art, which as you can see on the sign says that she "made a snowman," but we think it looks like a pile of pooh. When I glance at it out of the corner of my eye I think one of the cats has gotten sick on the counter. Our little Rodin is very proud of herself, though, and says, "I made it!" Soooo we haven't sent it to the trashcan quite yet...

Hello Basketball...

Week 32.

--I gained some weight in the last 2 weeks - yay - first time that's happened in a month.
--I have my bi-weekly non-stress tests and think it's really cool to see all the different kinds of activity it picks up.
--Baby weighs around 4.5 pounds and I am starting to feel it... not comfortable to lie on the couch anymore (boo), not comfortable to be in bed, and not comfortable to bend over and pick stuff up (I am making students do that for me).
--I am optimistic this baby will stay in longer than our precocious, precious Amelia! Everyone keep your fingers crossed! This baby is still up high - and Amelia had dropped by this point in my pregnancy with her. Also, my blood pressure is super, and it had started going up with Amelia at this point, as well. Nonetheless, I am all planned out for the end of the year so if I have to leave school early, it shouldn't be a huge deal.