Thursday, September 27, 2012

Whirlwind of the past 24 hours

OK, here it is the 25th of September, less than 24 hours from my last post, and I have had some news come to light that is going to rock my world come the end of May to sometime in June of 2013.

For about the past two weeks Margaret has been complaining of allergies and feeling sick to her stomach every evening.  I thought it was just her way of saying she was not interested in doing the wild thing.  (Like a sniffley nose or her not feeling good for two weeks in a row would stop me, OK it did.)  I would say as I always do, "then take a pregnancy test."

That is my pat answer to anything she complains about.

She would always say "No, it's not like morning sickness, I just don't feel good."

To which I would reply "Then call the doctor in the morning and go see what is going on, maybe you have an ulcer or something."

Well last night, Margaret took my advice and took a pregnancy test. Thirty seconds later, in bold Ariel type the ClearBlue results were in. Pregnant Margaret kept looking at it and shaking it waiting for the Not to appear in front of pregnant.  But it never appeared.  We're going to add a member to our family for Sophia to be a big sister too.  As a stay at home dad, I will be at least twice as busy with two little ones to care for, plus looking for additional income to help out with our day-to-day expenses.  Margaret's first doctor appointment is not until 9:00 a.m. on November 7th, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to do between now and then.  We have to start getting the house ready, find homes for the cats, (YEA!) tear up the carpet in the downstairs and replace it with tile or hardwood. Change rooms for Ethan, (not that, that will change where Ethan sleeps when he comes up here to stay.) It will just be more crowded in our room at night.

I know, I know, you're thinking, how did Margaret get pregnant with other people sleeping in their room all the time.  Because we are sneaky. Hee Hee Hee.  And trust me, where there is a will, there is a way.  Anyways, now that my sister is blushing and my brothers-in-law are about to lose their lunch lets change subjects.

Let's talk baby names.  If this baby is a boy, I really REALLY like the name Trajan, for several reasons. First it is unusual in the western world. Second, I like what Trajan stands for.  Trajan was a Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 A.D.  He was a great and just ruler that freed many of the prisoners that his predecessor's imprisoned unjustly and returned personal property that was taken unfairly from main of the Roman subjects.  After his death of a stroke in 117, the Senate deified him and each of the following emperors were bestowed with the wish of  felicior Augusto, melior Traiano which means may you be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan.  [Wikipedia]

One of my sisters-in-law, claim he will be teased in school as Trojan, (the condom). However, I think he will be called Tray for short and it is a great, noble name and a great person to be named after.  Of course, this could all be moot as the baby could be a girl, leaving me open to additional suggestions.  I have some ideas, but I will save them for a future blog.

It is now the 27th of September and we have told our families. Of course everyone asks what do you want a boy or a girl, and we always answer "Healthy." We pray for a healthy baby and for Margaret to go this time without the pre-eclampsia that plagued her the third tri-mester last time and brought Sophia to us 3 weeks early.  We were very lucky with Sophia that she only spent 40 minutes in the NICU and we had the totally best OB/GYN for our needs. She seemed to always have the time for us and the time to explain everything to us in layman's terms and she was always available and never rushed, yet we never had to wait very long for her. And come to find out she is one of the highest demand OB/GYN's at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake.  I swear, she is really one of a set of triplets.

When we told Rory and Ethan last night it was after Ethan's scouting awards ceremony where he got a whole bunch of awards, and moved from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts with his Arrow of Light Ceremony.  He was really cute with it all and got his face painted by the four mom's of the boys that were moving on to Boy Scouts last night.  He is really looking like a grown up to me now, a good looking kid.  He was really excited about having a new brother or sister next year and he was cute about it.  Rory said "Congratulations," and then didn't really know what else to say. That's okay, I think I understand.

Well, I'm going to post this now and get back to taking care of Sophia, Caillou (her other TV love addiction) is almost over.  Talk at you again soon.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Well, it's been quite a while since the last posting - sorry to keep you waiting - I know most of you have probably been loosing sleep over this, LOL.  Anyway, here is what has gone on, in a nutshell, since that last posting in June.  Sophia has had her 2nd birthday come and go. We had a blast at a 6 person birthday party where we rented an inflatable bounce house and an inflatable water slide.  It was a blast and we all had fun, there were about 25 of us that were all there including Sophia's brother Ethan whose birthday was also celebrated during that party.  About a week or two before the birthday party, Sophia, Ethan, Mommy and Daddy went on a road trip to visit Aunt Susan and Uncle Bob in Colorado. The kids were real troopers for the road trip and hardly complained about the long hours in the car.  We visited Rocky Mountain National Park and saw moose and elk and deer and other wildlife, as well as traveling the Trail Ridge Road that exceeds 11,000 feet above sea level and is a beautiful drive. We stayed in Estes Park and Ethan was intrigued with the Stanley Hotel and the stories of it being haunted.  One of the elk we saw close to the road just outside of the National Park had apparently gotten tangled up with someones Christmas lights and had its' antlers all wound up in the lights and wires. I am sure the elk is looking forward to losing this years rack of antlers and growing new ones next year as they were a bit in the way of eating. 

Sophia has progressed very well with her academics over the past 4 months. She not only knew her ABC's song before her 2nd birthday, she also knows each letter by name and where in the alphabet it goes.  We have a 'Melissa & Doug' puzzle of the alphabet that she loves to play with and she says the letter of the alphabet and then puts it into the proper place in the puzzle without hesitation.  She also has been counting up to 16 without assistance since the end of July.  Margaret and I attribute a great deal of her learning to several of the learning apps that Sophia loves to use in 'her' iPad. We can kid ourselves and say it is Margaret's iPad, but Sophia uses it 90%-95% of the time now, and calls it "MINE".  Sophia is sleeping about 8 hours a night and then about 90 minutes for a midday nap. She also loves to play basketball.  Ethan has an adjustable hoop up here at our home and when it is on the lowest setting of 8.5 feet, I can lift her up high enough for her to roll the basketball over the rim and through the hoop.  I then set her down and she chases after the ball, comes back with it, stands under the hoop and says "Dada, bask-eyball", to which I am supposed to pick her up again and let her do her impression of Karl Malone once again.

The night before last she was singing songs to Margaret and I. Her favorites are the Barney songs (I Love You, You Love Me), Crap now I have that song stuck in my head again, and "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Sponge Bob, Happy Birthday to you". The funny thing about that is that she has only seen Sponge Bob Square Pants a hand full of times, but she got a McDonald's toy of that creature during the Olympics and became fascinated with him ever since.

Her 2 year follow up doctor appointment is not until the 3rd of October and we are a little concerned the doctor is going to rip us a new one because she is so damn skinny.  She is taller than kids older than she is, but even 18 month pants won't stay up on her bony butt.  We buy 24 month pants and I take them in by hand, (I know, I'm very versatile and some day I'll make a great wife, yeah, yeah, yeah), but you do what you gotta do to cover up the diaper.  Well, she is beginning to stir, so I better end for now, I promise it won't be as long till I write again, and maybe I'll have a funny story or two by then.  If you like the blog, please share with your friends, if not, share it anyways.  Thanks and enjoy.