Now really, baby!

So it seems that our baby is a bit of a difficult one. Today was my second chance to find out the baby's gender, but to no avail! Not only was the baby laying in a strange position that made it difficult to see important anatomical structures like the brain, the spine, arms and legs, etc., it had its little cheeks (of the posterior variety) clenched tightly together and its legs glued together at the knees. I guess he or she is really hoping for a dramatic entrance. I must say, I was very disappointed in our baby's reluctance to let me get to know him or her, but I am happy that it appears that all systems are go!

Hopefully it will just be a matter of a couple of weeks before we know the gender, size, and newborn personality of our little troublemaker.

Clancy's "Firsts"

Clancy is finally 2! He has recently had some "firsts" that I thought might be fun to share:

1. First day of ABC school--ok... so it is a glorified playgroup with a letter theme, but we call it school. It is an adaptation of a group my friend does with her daughter. We usually have a letter-related craft or coloring page, a story, show-and-tell, and a lot of free-play.

2. First ear infection. One day he just started throwing a fit and crying unconsollably. We just thought he was turning into a monster, but over the next couple of days he developed a fever and mostly slept in my arms and cried intermittently (definitely not his typical style). We never once saw him touch his ear or indicate that his ear hurt, so it was kind of a surprise when we received that diagnosis.

3. First time wearing a tie to church! This was a long, hard-fought battle. I probably asked him to let me put on the tie 20 times before he actually agreed to it. In the end the trick was convincing him that a 10 year-old girl that he has a crush on would think he looked really cute. When we made it into the chapel, Clancy kept looking for his crush and calling her name. What a ladies man!

3. First time being "on the chart" for weight percentile. He also moved from the 15th percentile to 25th for height (though I don't know where those other shorties are!).

4. First time performing his animal sounds in front of the camera. Maybe the "elmo cake", which you see all over his face, helped him loosen up!

A "Pretty" Simple Drawing

Hello all you ladies! I know, this is quite a departure from my refusal to say the word or carry a purse earlier in my life, but I just wanted to let you know about this website on which you can sign up to win one of 24 cool handbags on Oct. 15th. So, visit the link and sign up--it only requires a first name and email address, so it doesn't take long. Hopefully someone we know will win!

http://www.handbagplanet.com/