another instagram update

monkeying around at the zoo • enjoying the playground • tired boy • a trip to the ice cream shop (a blue tongue is a major bonus!) • sister's carseat gets installed, which means a new "ship" has arrived—right now it's all packed up for a trip to "africa" • video games on PBSkids website are hypnotizing • more watermelon? YES, PLEASE!

sammy clip which i thought was longer, but is still cute

i thought i'd taken a nice long video of sam using his training chopsticks (he was doing a great job until he decided that the chopsticks were a spaceship. this happens with his utensils often.) i guess not. i'm posting it anyway. so there.

another little update

bedtime stories • sam making good progress with his training chopsticks • the painting i did for little sister's room (not sure if i like the end result all that much) • 37 weeks (we're "full-term" now people!)

speaking of full-term, we had a good doctor visit last thursday. the midwife said that little girl is in "perfect birth position" which was good news, and though she thought my bump looked small, everything was measuring right on track. according to the scale i've gained about 17 pounds (though it feels more like 70), and her heartbeat was great. to celebrate this new milestone, i actually washed some of the 0–3 month clothes and put them in the dresser so they'd be ready for little sister when she shows up. i'm still not convinced she's going to be small enough to fit in any of those things, but i suppose sam wore some outfits that were equally tiny, so it's possible.

one of those days

today was just one of those days. it started out around 12:30 this morning when i couldn't sleep. i'm not sure if it was a not comfortable thing (highly likely) or a restlessness thing (also likely), but i spent the majority of the night on the couch watching lousy tv in an attempt to be bored enough to fall asleep.
shortly after i heard mike leave for work this morning i was awakened fully by sam yelling about something. i went upstairs to find that he had pooped in his pull-up, and in his attempt to be a "big boy" had removed it himself. this, of course, meant that poop had been smeared all over his rug and bed and several places in the bathroom. i ended up having to put him in the tub to get him clean and washing all his bedding and his rug (which may actually dry eventually and be functional again) and scrub down the bathroom and hall.
and of course, while i was cleaning everything up he decided to draw on my computer (my WORK computer) even after being told repeatedly NOT to touch it. i was glad it was only pencil, though after i wiped the computer down i had a few moments panic (or ABSOLUTE TERROR) when the touch pad wouldn't work properly (it ended up coming back fine after i restarted).
after spending a rather long while sitting in time out, sam was freed for lunch (which actually went rather well for once). at 2:30 he opted for "quiet time" instead of a nap and managed to smash the lamp by his bedside while reaching for something he shouldn't have been touching in the first place.
he is still in quiet time as i type.


i suppose the day wasn't exactly a total loss. i did manage to scrub and mop the majority of the wood floors in the house (my knees and back are less happy with this accomplishment, however), mop and clean in the kitchen, scrub and mop the upstairs bathroom, and get several loads of laundry through the wash. still, at this point i'd rather just call the day done and go to bed rather than think about dinner. i am EXCEEDINGLY glad that reinforcements have arrived home and have taken on the task of making dinner (for the meat-eaters anyway).
today has reminded me of my very favorite line from alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, "…some days are like that, even in australia."

recently—july fourth and such

we bought a new camera card just in time for our trip south, which of course meant that i haven't touched the good camera in a week or so. still, life goes on. we had a great trip to the farm, dessert and fireworks with grandpa h on his birthday, and have generally been having a good time entertaining ourselves and trying to keep cool.
sam is now transitioning to "quiet time" rather than taking naps, and it's going semi-okay (by which i mean that mike found sam in the bathroom playing with the dental floss today when he went to get him after quiet time was over. this was not a sanctioned activity.) i think the whole business is a little tougher on me because any time sam is by himself i have visions of him banging his head against something and requiring medical attention. i want him to be quiet during quiet time, but when it gets too quiet, i wonder if he's knocked himself out and is lying in a pool of his own blood with a concussion or brains leaking out or something equally unpleasant. 
in other news, the baby's room is now painted and in dire need of a good cleaning. the crib has not gone up yet, which is step one in trying to get her to decide to show up early (and by early i mean in four weeks or so and not two weeks late causing me to miss oglebay for nothing).
also, mike's phone has been on the fritz off and on for the last week or so. the day it appeared to die completely was the day i thought we had completed step two of the "early baby" plan. alas, since then mike has gotten a replacement battery, and the phone seems to be amongst the living again (so much for step two). however, mike has some travel planned for work in the next three weeks, so maybe that will be the trigger. if nothing else, we can depend on him going to oglebay as a way to coax out the little kickboxer.
lastly, i am making good progress on my attempts to eat my weight in melon over this summer. i am exceedingly glad that my weight is increasing if only because it means i can consume more. i figure if i'm going to look like i swallowed a melon, i ought to eat a boatload of it.