On the run

Every morning and afternoon, Kate and I go out on trips. Sometimes we have a specific purpose, other times we are just going out to see what fun we can find in the world. I can't see any reason to just sit around our house. There is fun out there, and Kate and I will find it.

But, occasionally, we do need to be at home - a contractor's coming over, I have a commitment that forces us to stay in for a while, etc. It doesn't seem noteworthy enough to mention to Kate, "Hey, this afternoon, we're just going to hang out at the house," but I am starting to see that she may need that type of notice.

The other day after her nap I had a painter coming over at 4:30 so I was just sitting on the couch. She put on her shoes, stood at the door and said, "Come on, Mommy. Let's go. We need to go on a trip. Let's go to the mall." I casually said, "We're just going to hang out here," to which she replied, "No, we need to go on a trip. How about Target? Or even Home Depot?" I've not only trained her that we need to always be on the go, but also that there is a hierarchy of places we can visit. When the mall isn't an option, we settle for Target, or even Home Depot when we are desperate.

This is just more data to support that Kate needs to be in preschool when Ellie gets here. Kate needs to be out in the world, having fun, burning energy, while Ellie and I are getting some sleep. Clearly a priority we are going to need to invest behind for everyone's sanity :)

Alli said - I was just remembering that I used to be on the go a lot more with just Andrew. I even remember thinking "maybe I'm teaching him we always have to be going somewhere. Is that a bad thing?!" Anyway - good news: he's a 4 year old now who is perfectly content to be at home or on-the-go. No harm done. :-)

Happy Birthday Kate!

I can't believe she's 2 (tomorrow)! What a cutie! Here are just a few things I know about this sweet girl -

Kate is loving. She cares deeply about those around her, aka "her buddies."
Kate is smart. Good grief. That brain of hers is strong.

Kate is passionate. She's all in, all the time. Her intensity is high.
Kate is fun. She loves to laugh and make those around her laugh.

Kate is a shepherd. She is inclusive and wants everyone to be involved.
Kate is joyful. What a joy and delight she is!

Compliment or Insult?

So, I'm not sure how to take this - what do you think?

Today I saw a friend that I hadn't seen for a couple of months. We chatted for a while, she complimented my outfit and told me how cute I looked, and then she asked me if anything new was going on. When I said I was excited about the baby she said, " What! You're pregnant!" I feel like this happens to me more often than it should, and I don't know how to take it. Is it a good thing that my body handles pregnancy well even at 6+ months, or is it a bad thing that people think nothing of me gaining 20+ pounds primarily in my stomach? It's one thing with strangers or people who don't really pay attention to physical appearances, but a girl friend who clearly had noticed how I looked and not noticed, I don't know what to do with that.

Seriously??

Kate and I have been checking out preschools lately. Kate loves it. She says, "I have to do work. I need to go to school." I don't know where she got that but it's funny. She loves being around kids, and when the baby is here in August, I really want her to have her own, big girl thing to do.

As we look at these schools, I have to admit I'm way out of my element. The level of chaos in a preschool far exceeds my capacity. But all the kids and teachers seems to be loving it so here's to them.

But I do have my limits. At one school we visited, the director was explaining one of the school's policies to me and I could barely keep my composure. Here's what she said - "If a child is playing a math game and says that 2+4 = 5, we don't correct them or tell them that they are wrong. We don't want to discourage them!" I stood there with my mouth hanging open in disbelief as she continued, "We want them to like math, so we just try to model the right answers in hopes that they will get it right next time." Ummm, seriously? You've got to be kidding me. I promise you that kids who think 2+4 = 5 will not have math as a love of their heart over time. I swear it was the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. And probably the thing that shocks me the most is, I'm sure it's a philosophy being taught in a university setting somewhere. She also added, and I guess this won't surprise you based on what I've already shared, that they don't tell the children "no" or "don't do that." I certainly think there is a time for redirection, but how can you not acknowledge the need to tell kids - who are just small people - no. Absolute lunacy. So the search for Kate's school continues...

On being a mom

I was in the bathroom at a restaurant Saturday night, and there was a woman washing her hands at the sink next to me. I noticed her because she was strikingly beautiful, but I couldn't figure out what about her made her so attractive. She was fairly average in every way, and yet, I found her so beautiful that I was kind of staring at her to land on the heart of her beauty.

As I was glancing back and forth at her subtly, she kind of caught me off guard by asking me, "Are you a mom?" I of course said yes and she wished me a happy Mother's Day. After assessing that she was about my same age, I asked her the question back and she replied yes, so I bid her the same. I then added that I had another on the way, and she congratulated me.

(This is a separate point - I feel like when I meet strangers, or even see people I haven't seen in a while, I need to tell them I'm pregnant and not unfortunately shaped or letting myself go. I have to say it's hard - I just had some people I see pretty regularly find out and be surprised to learn I'm pregnant. Good grief with the long torso - it's 6 months already!)

Back to the main story, so after being recognized as a mom, I stopped and considered what got her to the conclusion. And at first, I was upset - I thought, "Am I wearing a 'mom' outfit? Do I have a 'mom' haircut?" I hope my body at least makes me suspicious, but based on her reaction I wasn't obviously pregnant to her. So basically, all of my first reactions were negative - I didn't want to look like a mom.

But then I thought, maybe she thought I looked soft. Maybe my smiles seemed loving to her. Maybe she could see that I'm nurturing. Perhaps even the beauty I saw in her that I couldn't identify was her softness and grace, and that's what she was also seeing in me. I liked this idea better so I stuck with it. :)

My Mother's Day was outstanding. Brett and Kate made it a perfect day. I knew what I wanted to do, asked for it, and received it. They took me to breakfast, gave me sweet gifts, hung out, had Dairy Corner custard - all my favorite things. Kate really understood it was a day to celebrate me - she kept asking to "cuddle mommy" and hug and kiss me. Adorable little girl. I love being her mom :)

What's in a name

So it looks like we have a name for our new baby girl. Once we knew we were having a girl, her name came to us pretty quickly. With Kate, we knew her name before she was even conceived. We also have had our boy name picked out for years - Jonathan Thomas. But we weren't sure on our second girl right away...here's a little background on the process:

We started with Grace, but felt like Grace Little would be read as "Little, Grace" and we want lots of Grace not a little bit. Our next fave was Alli, but I never really liked that TV show "Kate & Alli" and I thought I'd always think of that. Lillian has always been a huge favorite of mine - that was my grandma's name and I love Lilly as well, but Lilly Little just doesn't roll off the tongue for me. So, we kept thinking.

Brett and I have both always loved the name Elizabeth, but we could never land on a shortened version that felt right to us. But then Suzie Zakany, Brett's aunt, suggested Ellie or Elle. YES!!! My response was, can you do that? Well sure you can. So it looks like her name is going to be Elizabeth Little, and we will call her Ellie. When she gets older, maybe she'll want to transition to Elle, but we'll have that be her call. As for the middle name, the lead horse is Grace (the issue above doesn't bother us in the middle)...Elizabeth Grace Little.

The name Elizabeth is Hebrew and means "Consecrated to God." Uh, yeah, that's awesome. In case you don't use the word consecrated every day, it can be defined as, "dedicated to the Lord," "set apart for God," "devoted to God." Yes, please sign our daughter up for these things.

So don't hold us to it - there's still time for a change, but I think we're feeling pretty solid on this one.

Partying at 5am

The other night it was storming, and Kate had to go to the bathroom at 5am. When she heard the thunder she was confused and said, "Daddy's awake! Let's go see Daddy!" I told her he was still asleep and that it was raining outside. She started laughing like I was crazy and said, "I can't go outside in my pajamas!" Apparently she was looking for action. I explained we were staying inside and going back to bed, to which she replied, "But I need to get the newspaper." Yes, it will get all wet, but it will be okay. The conversation continues like this for a while... While there are advantages to a potty trained kid, I could do without this early morning excitement...but she is pretty stinkin cute :)