What happened to August?

Another portrait of our budding artist

Yeah, see, I promised to update more often, and then I fell off the planet again. The thing is, we're slightly computer challenged at the moment (both our laptops died within a month) and photo/blog management has been an issue.

Other than that, August was a great month for us. Jim's back at work, and it looks like it may very well turn into something long-term. It's something indefinitely long-term right now, but still in "for the time being category." His employment coincided with my second trimester, which means that I am far more of a human being than just a big bundle of pregnancy symptoms. I actually feel pretty good most of the time, particularly in the past few weeks. And Gwen - well, Gwen's a happy little kid, bar the occasional meltdown and the fact that she hates to sleep.

Oh, and we're having a girl! The amnio (which was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be) came back, and we have another healthy little daughter. Jim and I are both thrilled, and we're just about set on a name. I'm going to post a belly picture soon. (Ok, so I'm little bummed around the edges not to be having a boy, because, you know, one of each and everything. But you know what? I would have been bummed around the edges not to be having another girl, because you know, look at the one we've got! This is why I didn't find out the last time. I like the possibilites. But knowing is fun, too.)

We've been spending a lot of time at
this little river beach this summer. (Well, it's called a river, but half the time I call it a creek, which Gwennie says this way "keeek") (I was packing-challenged this particular day, which is the only day I actually took pictures.) It's a great little spot for a picnic and wading. There are little tiny fishies to watch if you feel like sitting quietly to watch them, but mostly Gwen splashes around and digs. We were there as a family this day, but mostly we go with friends, and the mamas sit in the shade while the kids entertain themselves. Lots of butterflies and dragonflies and the occasional duck or helicopter. It's in the same park as out wedding, and they use the grass area for med-evacs and trainings and stuff.

This is Gwen posing for an early morning photo opp, one of the first times she's actually asked me to take her picture.

Me and my girl, in one of her favorite princess dresses.

Not necessarily the cutest picture ever, but this is Gwen in her favorite mermaid bathing suit. Her Auntie Kathleen gave it to her. Mermaids are very big in our house this summer. We were swimmin with Keidi and Adessa and Eliana and her family this day. Here are the little BFFs
afterwards.

It was so hot that weekend that we had to get out of the house on Saturday night. We went out to dinner, and then we drove down to the beach at sunset, where it was much cooler. Gwen thought that was magic. It was a perfect night for bonfires, and the beach was studded with them. The waves were beautiful in the moonlight, and the sand was nice and cool under out feet. Gwennie wandered all over, finding sea gull feathers and other treasures. It was a wonderful adventure, and we thought for sure it would wear our little night owl out. It was full dark when we left, and we figured that if we took the long way home, Gwen would fall asleep in the air conditioning and we could slide her into bed. Great idea, and would have worked, too, except Gwen had other ideas. The whole way home, she was singing at the top of her lungs."Wake up, sun! Wake up! Go to sleep, moon! Wake up, sun!"

She is nothing if not determined.

Last photo - the one that Jim calls "I'd rather fight than switch to Huggies."

Gwen had a literal run-in with a boy at the mall playground the other day, neither one of them looking where they were going, humongous bonk, mucho tears. His big ol' bean collided with Gwennie's cheek at just the right spot, and we've been watching the evolution of a shiner ever since. It's a nice yellowy green now.

And now the girl is yelling, Mama! Come down here! Play blocks with me! so I gotta go.

Where have we been?

Well, here. We actually don't go anywhere.

It's been a crazy summer, though, in a not-so-good way. Jim keeps coming soooo close to getting a job, but then - no job. I've been busy gestating, and whooboy. I'm much much better this go-round than the last time, but whooboy. I'm clearly starting to come out of the worst of it, though, so here I am again. I even cooked breakfast this morning! Yea me! And Jim is up for a job that would be great for him, so please hope/pray/send good energy our way.

But let's get right down to it, shall we? How, you ask, is Gwen?
Big. The girl is big, and she talks a mile a minute. She's very into Dora the Explorer, ballerinas, picnics, swimming, and princesses. She sings herself to sleep at night. Every dress she owns is a princess dress, and that's what she wants to wear (except this week. She's worn shorts 3 days in a row this week.) Her sandals, complete with flowers, are princess shoes, unless they're ballerina shoes.
And dancing. She's definitely into dancing, especially with her daddy. These pictures are from the last Aquarium trip. We were waiting to watch a play.

I just like this one. Because she's pretty.

Nobody puts Gwennie in a locker! Except, you know, Gwennie.

More updates to come, I promise.

The Big News

...which sounds like it should be a job, but it isn't, quite yet (although there is reason to be hopeful on that front, too.) Nope, it's even bigger than that. Ready?

I'm pregnant.

Apparently, my 43 year old previously infertile body has figured this pregnancy thing out, because against all odds, we have an 8 week old fetus swimming around inside of me. Strong healthy heartbeat, good size, morning sick mama, all systems look to be go.


Here's my little blob of a swimmer. I can tell this is my second child because I was all gooey over Gwen's ultrasound pictures (Myyy Baaaaybeee!) but these ones, not so much. I saw the heartbeat. I know the little blurry bean is growing, I'm good. Don't get me wrong, I'm floored and thrilled, but I'm already much more relaxed about everything. There are plenty of people nodding their heads right now, thinking this is a good thing.

I can't stress how huge this is for us, how absolutely shocking. Everybody hears stories of people who finally concieve after completely giving up hope, or conceiving naturally after ART. But there's not a lot of actual data to back that up. You definitely can get pregnant in your forties, but it's not all that likely, even if you're trying your hardest. Which we were not. Everybody tells you that it'll happen when you relax, which I definitely did not. The timing of this? Not so great. The fact that this happened? Well, Gwen was my medical miracle. This one's just a miracle, period.

This one is due on Jan. 27, 2010, which is exactly one week after Gwen's due date, and we are hoping that this one does not get as la-di-da about that as she did.

Jim had a very promising interview last Friday, and he's going back for Round 2 this Friday. He's got some other irons in the fire, too. So we're hoping...

Gwennie is her usual busy self. We had the gang over for Memorial Day, and the kids fingerpainted. The fun part was throwing them all in the tub afterwards.












She's been playing Supergirl, a lot. Sometimes she makes us put on blankets, too, so we can be SuperMommy and SuperDaddy.





Then Grandy and Gramps came, and brought fairy wings, but that's a whole different post. Cute, huh?




Two of these munchkins. Rutherford is going to be one busy lion.

Portrait of the Artist as a Very Young Woman

First, you must consider the placement of your paint.















Then you stretch your imagination! Use the whole canvas!













Contemplate the big picture....















Fingerpainting is so...limiting. Throw your whole self into your art.

Let your Muse shine through. Our Artist, deep in concentration.

My girl is gorgeous.

This whole post? Just an excuse to post this picture.

Big Girl News

The crib is toast. Gwennie has shouted and yelled and expressed her clear preference for her sleeping on the floor, so we've gone from this:

to this:

Look at those munchable little feetsies! (That's Gwen's name for them, btw.)

Which is fine, really. I think we're going to borrow a twin bed from the Lewises, because Gwen is really long, and rolls off of the crib mattress repeatedly in the night (We bought a rail yesterday, but still.) She's more than ready - she hasn't looked back once since we asked her if she wanted her mattress on the floor. In fact, she's been telling everybody she can find about her big girl bed.

But still - remember this? Her mama is a wee bit sad.

Oh, and these footie sleepers? They're toast, too. Sigh.

Easter. No, really, Easter

The Easter Bunny, with a little help from the grandparents, was very very good to Gwennie this year. (Please ignore the weird looking creature in the window - there were no glowy-eyed animals stalking my child that morning, it's just the light off the grill or something.)
Plus, I still love me some dollar store, folks - that's a Dragon Tales coloring book, which has displaced Elmo in the current Hit Parade of Gwendolyndom. (And whose sweet little lilt of a theme song will.not.get.out of my head. It starts up within seconds of waking, especially at 3 in the morning.)

Gwen also enjoyed the bunny family, especially when it came to eating them. For the record, she likes to start with the feet first. Daddy , on the other hand, goes straight for the ears.

Mommy just likes the fact that hers was dark chocolate.

I was a little concerned that I wouldn't wake up early enough to get all the eggs hidden outside, but I did just fine. Once Gwen chose her hip outfit,

the hunting began. This was definitely the best part for Gwen, at least until we got to the Senko's party.

There's one!








And another!















After a brief discussion about which dress to wear (Gwen loveslovesloves her pink poodle dress*, but I wanted something, you know, Eastery, even if she did need a shirt underneath) we went up to see Auntie Daphne and Uncle Mark and Jessie. They throw a huge Easter Egg hunt, with bills of various denominations tucked off in corners. Gwen had her own area to look in, but she also got help from the adults after Jessie and Alan had finished up. There was ham and potatoes and all the usual feasting going on, plus jelly beans and candy. Gwen was pretty thrilled with the whole day.
And that, my friends, concludes our coverage of Easter 2009! Stay tuned for more Gwennie news soon!
*Which is a little sad, because it is too short for her now. She's growing like crazy.
PS: This Blogger stuff is cool, but it still messes around with the spacing something fierce. Please know that this post made sense when I previewed it, but I'm tired of honking around trying to get things to line up. Sigh.

Glimmers of Light

Gwennie and Daddy at the zoo, a couple of Saturdays ago. They could be looking at just about anything, couldn't they? I love these two so much that I'm surprised little glittery hearts didn't show up in the photo(it was giraffes, by the way.)

Jim had a job interview today. Startup company, only 10 or so US employees, development based in Australia. Followup interview next week, bt the CEO took Jim to lunch and is going to call his references. One question for them, he says - is Jim the go-to guy? Hell, yeah, he is.

Favorite Gwennie moment this week: Jim shaved his beard for his interview. Gwennie patted his face, giggled, and yelled,"I love my family!" as she threw herself in between us. Not so favorite Gwennie trick? Yelling the word Mine about everything. But hey, she's two. Her arm's just about better - the orthopedist took new X-rays and there's new bone there already. She's got a new splint to wear outside (in case she faceplants again, or for when, rather) but she's got the all-clear, no followup needed.

Jim's got another interview with a different company on Monday, there's a third company out in the wings, and the opportunity for a boot-strap startup that he could do part time even with a new job. I'm thinking maybe we've turned the corner. Just in time, maybe - the COBRA runs out at the end of the month.

We come out of this. Someday, we come out of this. I hope it's soon. I love my man so much and this hurts him so bad and I want us to be out of it.