Quick Takes Friday

1) We are succumbing to curiosity and taking the advice of Heavenly Sarah. Even though the 3-D ultrasound images freak the husband out, I scheduled an appointment for one. Hopefully we will find out tomorrow whether we should be buying pink or blue baby items!

2) Today we are going as a family to see Winnie the Pooh. Ben has been watching the classic every morning for weeks. I feel I can quote this verbatim. Which is not a bad skill to have - I am sure it could be a very entertaining trick to perform at parties. Fingers crossed that this theater trip goes as well as the Cars 2 trip did and we make it through the whole flick. (I, too, love all things Pooh and would be sad to have to leave in the middle because my toddler is disruptive).

3) Recently we joined a couples' bible study group at our church. The couples' are almost all folks we know and like who have kids around the same age as us. They have been reading this book called "Love and Respect" by Emerson Eggerichs. So, we downloaded our own copy and have been reading it simultaneously on our kindles. I want to tell you that this book is amazing and insightful, but really so far I have found it repetitive and a bit sexist at times. It has however led to some hilarious discussions with the husband along with constant joking every time one of us says something critical to the other along the lines of "You don't respect me! Don't you know that I need respect!" and "You don't need respect, you are the woman! You only need love!" Lest you think we are just jerks - the premise of the book is that men need to be respected by their wives and women need to be loved by their husbands. Leaving me to wonder why women don't also need to feel respected by their husbands? Perhaps he addresses that somewhere in the book?

4) I have been struggling with the toddler's nap again. He recently had a bout of tummy upset that led to many smelly and very messy diapers. He seems to be on the mend now, but for whatever reason - during this time of illness, his nap seems to be disregarded. By him, not me. I put him down as usual and come down stairs and listen to him chatter until I can't take it anymore and then I go back up and say "Go TO SLEEP NOW!" which causes him to cry and become traumatized and (as you can imagine) does not lead to any sleep happening. So every day he has slept minimally or not at all during nap. And every night he has gone to bed early. And laid there and chatted for an hour or so before talking himself to sleep.

5) Next week I am single parenting it again while the husband is away on business. Expect another very whiny post about how hard it is and how lonely I am. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

6) I am starting to panic about being a mother of two. It is likely this will turn into a whole blog post, but as of now, suffice it to say that I am feeling stressed at the idea of trying to divide my time between the needs of the newborn and the wants/desires of my toddler. I become highly anxious whenever I imagine (incredibly likely) scenarios where the newborn needs to sleep or eat or some other silly thing and Ben is begging me to play or read or something and I have to tell him "not now". I imagine his sad little face and trembling lip and feel a knot in my stomach. I hope I am over reacting to how horrible this will be. Someone with more than one offspring tell me I am, please!

7) Tomorrow is my first prenatal massage! I am nervous but excited. I have had back pain most mornings when I wake up because I inevitably flip over on my back sometime in the night and sleep that way which is murder on the hips. Wouldn't you know it - this morning I woke up and did NOT have a sore back? Whatever, I think the massage will still be good.

Have a great weekend, blogosphere friends!

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