Bart's Big Day

Today was a triumph for Bart. He's been taking karate for about a year and a half now. When he first started out, it was a bit of a struggle for him. He enjoyed it, but he normally has the attention span of a gnat. He would wiggle, ask weird questions, and mess around. But then, at some point I can't really identify, Bart got really serious about wanting to do his best. I think it may have been because he wants to earn his yellow belt. He started to listen to Mr. Tim, his instructor. He finally got the hang of playing "Sensei Says" (which is pretty much just a karate version of Simon Says) and was no longer the very first person to get out. So tonight at his karate lesson, Bart was actually the winner of Sensei Says, which is a really big accomplishment for him, especially since he was playing with some of the older boys who outrank him. Everyone clapped for him, and Mr. Tim presented him with a martial arts sticker for our car in front of the class. Sure, to some it might not be a big deal, but it was awesome for Bart to be the best at something. Mr. Tim really made it seem like a special moment for him, which it was. It was good to see his little face light up with pride when he bowed to the class and received his prize. We put it on the back window of the van at once and as soon as we got home, Bart took George outside in the dark to show him the sticker and tell him everything. OK, so now Bart is a good listener at school and a good listener at karate. My question is when is he going to start being a good listener at home? As a mom, do I expect too much of him? Never having had any brothers, I have no idea what I should expect of him. I think I expect him to be as diligent, conscientious, and self-disciplined as Skylar. Not only is he not a girl, but he has a completely different personality than his older sister. I want to be careful not to compare him to her too much.

The Latest

It's a girl! We found out on Friday that the new baby is going to be a girl. I think we were all surprised. I know I totally expected a third boy. Skylar was so excited! She doesn't mind that she will be almost ten years older than this baby. The point is that she will at long last have a sister. She will be outnumbered no longer. She will have a partner in crime in tormenting the boys. Bart was a little disappointed, but not too much, as he already has a little brother. George and the two older children came with me for my ultrasound. We got plenty of ultrasound pictures, including two each for both Skylar and Bart to keep all for themselves. The ultrasound tech even typed "Hi, Bart" and "Hi, Skylar" on their pictures, to make it extra special for them. I'll have to scan the pictures later and post them. The estimated due date is still August 26, and at the moment, the baby is around 12 ounces. Now comes the hard part - deciding on a name. At least we know that the middle name will be Elizabeth, after my sister, but we still have to come up with the first name. I like Ava, Gemma, and Scarlet, but I don't think George likes any of those names. So begins the great debate.
Today, I took the children downtown to their favorite toy store, Snapdragon, to spend their hard-earned and even harder-saved allowance. Bart bought two Thomas trains, Whiff and Billy. Skylar bought an interesting diary that has invisible ink and a special light to reveal it. We walked through Bear Plaza at Middle Street to Mitchell's hardware on Craven Street. On the way, I snapped pictures of the clock tower and the downtown area. It is quite scenic.
Skylar bought a stone mortar and pestle at Mitchell's Hardware, which is such a fascinating store to go into.
On Thursday evening, George and I took the children downtown. We ate dinner at the Cow Cafe, which is probably the neatest little restaurant for kids. They've got good, simple food (hot dogs, quesadillas, sandwiches, pie) and yummy ice cream. In the back, there is a play area that looks like a barn with a little white picket fence. In the front of the store is a gift shop and an electric train that runs the perimeter of the room. After eating, we went to a kids' bedtime program at the library about outer space. The library staff really outdoes itself with their children's programs. They're always chock full of songs and skits. Plus, there is a little snack at the end.
Friday after finding out the baby's gender, we had dinner with our friends, the Nicolaysens. On Saturday, I attended the Kinston Stake Women's Conference at church, which was really nice. There was a lot of work and thought put into the classes and the program, as well as the lunch we were served. Afterward, I picked up Skylar and Bart's friends, Kory and Chris, who came to play until dinnertime. The children stayed outside all afternoon, catching caterpillars and even a bee with a broken wing. Kory came in yelling, with a bee sting on his thumb. For some reason, the kids thought that since the bee's wing was broken, he couldn't still sting them, so Kory had picked it up. Hmmm...injured bee equals angrier than usual bee...At any rate, they had a ball, until a sudden, violent rainstorm drove them inside. Tom and Renee came over to visit for a few hours and shared dinner with us.
Sunday, after church, George, Drake, and I napped while Skylar read and Bart watched "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", which he is only allowed to watch when his father is not around because George loathes it. Actually, it really is a badly-made movie, but Bart loves it. We spent the later half of the afternoon outside, as it was very nice. I uncovered a baby snake in the flower bed right by the back deck. Unfortunately, I killed it because I was afraid it might be poisonous. I tried to do it quickly and as painlessly as possible, striking off the head with the garden hoe. Both children were understandably freaked out when the poor snake's head and tail kept moving afterward. I felt really bad, but I would have felt much worse if I had a poisonous snake lurking around where my children play. For dinner, we grilled beef ribs, which George declares he hates, but which I love. As a child, my parents always grilled beef ribs in the summer, and I actually like them much more than pork ribs. George did a good job grilling them, and I was reminded of our family dinners when I was a child. After dinner, the boys got a bath to wash all the dirt and rib grease off them. They splashed an inordinate amount of water onto the bathroom floor, but I tried not to mind too much. I can remember Elsie and I making a much bigger mess when we took our baths, so I guess I should be thankful.
Over the weekend, Drake added a few more words to his vocabulary: "cheese" (due to me taking a bunch of photos of him), "uh oh", "choo choo", and "George". He's been saying "George" an awful lot, and it's really cute.
Well, that's it for now. It's pretty late and I'm really tired. I just wanted to catch up on our weekend and deliver the good news about Skylar's long-awaited little sister.

On Our Way

Thanks to generous donations from Rose & Randy Jarrell & the Savitz Family in PA(Alan, Mary Kay, Abby, & Emily), we are now up to $145 for the March of Dimes March for Babies. Thanks, guys! We're well on our way to making our goal of $200. We really appreciate everyone's support.

On the homefront, it's been business as usual. Skylar and Bart have been diligently going to school. George has been diligently going to work, although some car trouble has complicated transportation around our house this week. Hopefully, George will be able to fix his car and we will not have to rely on only one car. Isn't it funny how not too long ago, most families only had one car. Are we spoiled, or what?

Skylar is hard at work on her recital numbers in her dance classes. The recital is coming up at the end of May. She comes home on Monday and Wednesday nights sore and complaining of having her "butt worked off". I wish I could work mine off.

Bart is working on earning his yellow belt in karate. He just received another stripe on his white belt, but I think he still has a bit more work ahead of him before he will be promoted. He really is working hard, though, and we're really proud of his focus in class. He used to be the kid that raised his hand every three minutes to ask ridiculous questions or to tell the teacher that he had chicken for dinner, or something similar. Now he stands at attention without fiddling and has quite a few times been able to leave before the other students because he had the best attention stance.

Drake has just begun to say a couple of new words: "Why?" and "Oh". He doesn't use them correctly, of course, but he sounds really cute. Last Saturday, my Dad and Diane visited us. It was General Conference weekend, so we were at home pretty much the entire weekend. And it rained pretty much the entire weekend. In fact, I think it's literally been a week since we've seen the sunshine. So, Dad & Diane came over for a little visit, and Dad taught Drake the "High Five - up high, down low, too slow" game. Drake imitated him, only using baby talk, and was tickled when we all laughed at him. If you're a baby, you're an automatic celebrity.

Happily, we were able to watch most of Conference. We took the laptop into the playroom so that the children could color, read, and play during the talks, and George and I could supervise them and even fold laundry while we listened. It worked pretty well. It also worked out that the first sessions on both Saturday and Sunday coincided with Drake's naptime. Saturday night, George attended the Priesthood session. I put Drake to bed and then Bart, Skylar, and I watched Nancy Drew together. It was a cute movie, but just suspenseful enough to keep the kids jumping. They really enjoyed it, but were still a little nervous when it was time for bed. Skylar actually asked Bart to sleep in her top bunk with her, which was too funny, considering that over Spring Break when Bart was having trouble sleeping and George made her let Bart sleep with her, she had a hissy fit and started crying. Skylar is now starting to read Nancy Drew books, which is pretty neat since my mom and I both read them as girls.

We're all looking forward to another weekend that we can stay home and relax. The weather is getting nicer, so I think we're all longing to start taking walks and bike rides around the neighborhood. There's something strangely satisfying and nostalgic about walking outside near dusk. It reminds me of home, in Middlesex, when I see the barn swallows and bats swooping low. The sounds of mourning doves in the late afternoon and owls make me miss our big yard in the country. I'm really glad we chose River Bend as our new home. Even though we're in a neighborhood, which is a situation entirely new to me, there is still so much wildlife around and so much to enjoy out-of-doors. It really makes for a much easier transition than if we'd moved to a big city like Washington DC (as we contemplated). I never wanted to be or even thought of myself as a country girl, but I guess I am. There are worse things to be, right?

About Drake

It's really hard to get Drake to eat sometimes. He likes most everything, but I never know when he's going to actually eat it. He could chow down on cheese one day and refuse it for the next two weeks before loving it again. Same with almost everything else. The only things that he will usually not refuse are yogurt and Cheerios...most of the time. But he's even been known to go on a Cheerio strike. He looks all innocent and harmless, but he has also been known to hurl his unwanted peas at his brother's head with very good accuracy.
One can imagine my relief a few days ago when I managed to get him to eat mini corndogs. (We moms celebrate small victories). Granted, most of them ended up on the floor eventually, but I have photographic evidence that at least some of the corndog came into contact with his mouth and may have even made it into his stomach.
One of Drake's favorite mealtime games is the "Me" game. One of the older kids or I will ask a question such as "Who likes green beans?" or "Who wants to kiss Drake?" and then we all raise our hands and say "Me!" Drake loves to imitate us and raise his hand, too, saying "Me!" Sometimes George likes to trick him by saying something like, "Who thinks Skylar has a stinky butt?", and of course Drake raises his hand and says "Me!" and Skylar gives her dad A LOOK. You know the kind that only pre-teen and teenage girls can muster. Here in the picture, Drake is replying to the question, "Who likes corndogs?" but he would answer exactly the same way to, "Who wants a peanut butter and poo sandwich?" so it's best to never take it as an indication of what he will actually eat.
Another of Drake's current likes is his baby. Santa brought him a little cabbage patch doll for Christmas this year. Drake calls him "Bebe," and never goes to sleep without him. He tucks him right up under his arm and snuggles under his blanket with him. Drake first learned to show us where his eyes, nose, etc. are by learning about Baby's. In the morning, the first order of business is to grab Baby and reach for me to take them both out of the crib. He's surprising tender with Baby. If you tell him to give Baby a hug or a kiss, he will, and he likes to stroke the doll's soft hair. He puts Baby in the stroller to push around, too. It's really very cute, particularly since Drake is such a typical boy. On this particular day, he wanted to share his lunch with Baby. He insisted on holding Baby in one arm and eating with his other hand. Luckily, there was no ketchup involved.
Speaking of babies, on April 1, I felt the (real) baby move for the first time. It was really active just before I went to bed, but I've only felt a little bump or two since then. It's such an amazing/weird feeling. By the end of the pregnancy, I know I will feel like I'm not even in possession of my own body anymore, but in the beginning, it's pretty neat to feel the baby move. It's like a reminder that it's real and that there's actually a little person waiting to be born. George refuses to look or put his hand on my stomach anymore because he says it makes him think of the movie "Alien". It does make you think of that, but I prefer to think about the "Spaceballs" version of that scene.