...And he gets paid more than me!

I had my 32 week OB appointment today and because it was colder out this morning, I decided to wear my long-sleeved "Baby by Rob" shirt. I figured somebody at the doctor's office would appreciate it. Boy, was I ever right!

Apparently, one of the OB's there LOVED my shirt and wanted to take a picture of it to send to his wife (?). Whatever, sure you can. So, my nurse placed me in an examination room to wait for the doctor who wanted to take the picture. As we were waiting, Rob sat in the chair next to the door and the two of us were just goofing off until he walked in. The doc looks at my shirt and reads it, "'Baby by Rob'." He looks up at me, "Who's Rob?" Seriously?!?!?

Rob perks up in his chair, all kinds of offended, "I'm Rob!" he says. I about died!!! But, wait, it gets better: The doctor looks at my husband and offers his hand, saying, "I'm Rob, too!" I had to literally shake my head to make sure I heard him right. And then, the doc says "That was awkward." He ended up taking the photo of the shirt, but Rob and I looked at each other afterward and just shook our heads.

This doctor, who has spent the vast majority of his adult life in higher education, deserves the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he really isn't that inept. Our thought was that maybe he didn't see Rob sitting in the chair as he walked past him...? Certainly he should notice a rather large man sitting in a chair in this small exam room. Maybe not, though. Who knows? I mean, this guy gets paid a LOT more than I do and he seemed in this instance to have less brain than me. And, that's saying a lot coming from a pregnant woman!

The famous quote of the day, however, is "I'm Rob!" The look on Rob's face during this exchange was priceless! He was actually offended that the doctor would think that he would come to an appointment like this with a woman who was NOT carrying his baby. If he's not Rob, then who the heck is he and what the heck would he be doing there? Sheesh!

Why? Because I'm acting CRAZY?!?!?

Ryan refused to take a nap after church this afternoon. Instead, he played in his bedroom and then was told to clean up the mess. He did a pretty good job (for a 4 year old) in cleaning up. When he was finished, he came out to the kitchen with every Lightning McQueen toy car he owns. While playing with said cars, he began singing:

We wish we were Merry Christmas,
We wish we were Merry Christmas,
We wish we were Merry Christmas
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

When he saw that his lyrics were causing us to smile, he began a more animated approach to his singing. Ryan went to the breakfast bar and began jumping up and down while singing his song.

I looked at him while he was doing that and said, "Oh, Bubba, you should have taken a nap today!"

Without missing a beat (or a jump), he asked, "Why? Because I'm acting CRAZY?!?!?"

Hit the nail on the head, didn't he?

Singing to the Feet

I went out and bought 2 maternity shirts this week. My plan was to customize them into this cute idea I saw online. You can see the shirts at right: "Baby by Rob" (Rob is my husband).

I wore the long-sleeved black shirt to work on Friday as my "costume" for Halloween. Whatever works, right?

As I was getting the kids ready for school yesterday, they were just fascinated with the feet on my belly. I guess they had never really thought about there being feet in there. Both kids were really excited at the prospect that there was an actual body living inside of me!!! I saw Ryan's eyes light up and he started to talk to the baby. Aurora was just hanging back watching him, taking it all in. I thought my heart was going to melt--and then Ryan did something that made me just want to freeze the moment in time: He began to sing to the baby! Now, mind you, he's 4 and his lyrics are a little different than most people's.

Hush little baby, don't say a word
Daddy's gonna buy you a 'knocking bird'
If that 'knocking bird' won't sing
Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring
If that diamond ring gets fast
Daddy's gonna buy you a 'nooking mask'
If that 'nooking mask' gets broke
Daddy's gonna buy you a billy goat
If that billy goat runs away
Daddy's gonna buy you another day!

The baby was kicking and squirming ever so slightly while he was singing to her. Aurora saw this and when Ryan was finished with his song, she asked to sing her song to the baby. Of course, I said yes! She sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to the baby and lulled her back off to sleep, I guess, because I didn't feel any more kicks for a while. Aurora's song was sung beautifully. She was so proud of herself because she was remembering back to when we brought Ryan home after he was born. She sang "Twinkle, Twinkle" to him the first time she held him and she just can't wait to do the same thing for this baby. Aurora has an amazing knack for singing and she got all the lyrics correct.

Singing to the baby must have really stuck with Ryan. When he woke up this morning, he asked to sing another song to baby Ellie. I smiled and said yes, waiting for him to start singing. His lyrics to "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" went like this:

Baa, baa, black sheep have you any roar
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, 3 bags wolf
One for the master
One for the dame
One for the wolf *mumbles lyrics* DAME!
Baa, baa, black sheep have you any roar
Yes, sir, Yes sir, 3 bags wolf!

It was all I could do to keep from laughing! The mind of a child fascinates me. To him, all these nonsensical lyrics are perfectly legitimate for his song. They kind of rhyme and they fit into the tempo, so what more do we need? I love it!

Ryan, you can sing to baby Ellie whenever you want!

I could (figuratively) wring her neck!!!

My daughter. My firstborn. I do love her. I do.

But, when she takes 15 minutes longer than all the other elementary school children to finally exit the building at the end of her day, I just want to scream.

You see, Aurora has always been pokey--from the time she was born. It took her 3 days to finally emerge from the womb. Yes, you read that right: 3 days!!! From then on, I realized what it meant to have that Fruit of Spirit called "longsuffering". It meant dealing with Aurora's time schedule.

You see, even the most menial tasks take twice as long as they should. For example: Going to the bathroom? Five minutes, MAX, right? No, not for her. She must go stand in front of the mirror, as if to psych herself up for what's to come--or maybe to make sure she looks appropriate for the task, I'm not really sure which. The next time-consuming task is the song she must sing--every time--while on the toilet. And then, of course, there is the washing of the hands... *sigh* Her version of the ABC song (which must be sung twice to get the 20 seconds of hand-washing) is about what I imagine Beyonce's rendition would have sounded like when she was 7. Two minutes into the hand-washing, I am hollering at her to turn off the water.

Now, I know you must be thinking "That's so cute!!!" No! You're wrong! It is exhausting. It was cute when she was 2. It affects her everyday life--especially keeping up with the tempo at school. I don't know what to do about it. We're talking nature vs. nurture here--which even the most brilliant scholars and psychology professors of our time can't figure out! I mean, if highly intelligent, highly educated people can't decide what to do about this sort of thing, surely I'm not going to figure it all out.

In the meantime, I do love my daughter. She is wonderful in so many aspects. She takes her time with things that are important, as well--especially if they're handmade gifts for someone she loves. She is very thoughtful and wants to make sure everything is just perfect. It's very sweet to see how she blesses the lives of others with her thoughtfulness. If only she could do it faster!!!!

Lamenting a Spider

Aurora was all freaked-out that there was a spider in her room. It was a completely harmless spider. We told her to ignore it, especially since spiders eat other bugs. Ryan, who LOVES spiders, went into her room and stood guard over said spider so that she wouldn't kill it.

Well, you know how siblings are... Just out of spite, Aurora killed the spider. Ryan, being all heartbroken over the loss of his newest friend, came up to me with tears in his eyes. "Aurora killed the spider!!! He was my best friend!"

A little dramatic, don't you think?

Ryan is "Too Four-ded"

Ryan was putting shoes on this morning and noticed that his sandals weren't going on his feet. He looked up and said, "These shoes fit me when I was four, but now they don't fit because I'm too four-ded!" (He doesn't turn 5 until the end of December.)

Where do they come up with this stuff?

Ryan's Funny of the Day

It was nap time and I told the kids they could come out at 3:30. At 3:15, Ryan started asking "What minutes do we have?", meaning "How much longer do I have to be holed up in my room?".

At 10 minutes, he counted to 10. "Mommy! I counted all the way up to 10! Can I come out now?" No, Ryan. (He must have gotten distracted for a few minutes, because I didn't hear from him again until 3:27.)

At 3 minutes, he asked again. "Awww, that's a baby number! 1... 2... 3...! Can I come out now?" No, Ryan.

At 2 minutes, he asked again! "That's another baby number," he said and slammed his door shut in disgust.

At 1 minute, I just decided to let the poor boy out!