Rainy days

We've had a lot of rain lately and that means we spend a lot of time inside. This sometimes leads to mundane activities becoming primary sources of entertainment. Here's a smattering of videos showing how we manage to stay dry and have fun. Sorry for the shakiness in some of the videos; I'm not a very good filmmaker.

Where she gets some of this stuff I'll never know.

We're really lucky Maggie is such a gentle dog!

She isn't the neatest eater but she sure has a good appetite!

It had been raining all day but finally dried up enough to go outside for a little fresh air in the late evening. As you can tell, Madeleine was pretty tired of our company and was seeking attention elsewhere.

Waving the white flag

You can call me weak but I've decided the battle of the bottle isn't one I have the energy to fight at this point in time. I've come full circle with this pregnancy and find myself as tired now as I was during the first trimester. I get at least 9 hours of sleep and still take naps! We might try again soon using the water in the bottle-milk in the sippy cup method but for now we're calling it quits. Maybe next time.

Ode to the bottle by Madeleine Cline

"Oh how I love my bottle. I drink my milk day and night. It has been with me since birth. I never want to part with it. Wait, what is this? A sippy cup of milk? Oh no, my friend, sippy cups are for water, not milk. Please pass me my bottle. No you say? I must use this cup? The torture!!! I refuse; I will purse my lips in protest! How can you be so cruel as to expect me to grow up so fast? I am just a little baby, aren't I? Simply to remind you that I am in control I will grudgingly take a few sips but then violently toss my head from side to side to refuse any more. Oh bottle, my bottle, where for art my bottle? I will miss you dear bottle and be thirsty for milk forever."


Ok, so this is my exaggerated interpretation of the events of the last few milk-drinking opportunities but it isn't too far from what I am sure Madeleine is thinking. I've decided to go cold-turkey with her on breaking her of her bottle. For the most part I've been fine with her continuing to use it but with the countdown for Junior's arrival gaining on us, I would really rather save the bottles for him. While Justin isn't as willing to endure the fight, I'm hoping my persistence over the next few days will be successful as he won't offer to help put her down while she resists. My other alternative is to hit the store tomorrow in an attempt to find a bottle-sippy cup hybrid that can help with the transition. If she fights it for more than a few days I will succumb to her demands and give her what she wants until she initiates the switch. We'll see where we sit a few days from now.

A changed perspective

Earlier I complained that people were assuming I'm more pregnant than I actually am. Well, I'm starting to empathize with them now that I've seen a picture of myself. Justin took my picture last night and only after looking them over did I start to believe that I look really pregnant...far more pregnant than I feel I look when peering in the mirror or looking down at myself. We started to take a video of my belly with Junior in action but of course he stopped moving when we pushed record so we'll save that for another day. But here, for your viewing pleasure, is the latest look at my ever-growing self. (Justin managed to resist the temptation to take my picture with the antlers over my head.)

Daddy's home

All is again well with the world :)

When dad goes away...

the most random things happen! A few days ago Madeleine managed to step on a small piece of glass with her bare foot and I had to play surgeon without anyone to help me distract her. The first realtor other than ours has called and wants to show the house to clients today. And the power went out at 4:00am today and came back on around 8am. Fortunately I had found the flashlight a few days ago and knew where it was when the power went out. And thank God for batteries because Madeleine's crib aquarium runs on them and that helped her fall back asleep after her fan kept turning on and off during the three flickers of power before it went out. I don't think I'll be too keen on Justin going away for any more long stretches of time, especially since I can't find much in the wreckage of our storage boxes in the basement. But we've survived (albeit I'm a little sleepy this morning) and that's the important thing.

Classic Madeleine

I thought I'd share with you how Madeleine acts these days when she's beyond tired. This happened earlier today when we got home after my prenatal appointment and grocery shopping. It was about 10:30am and she had been awake since 6am. I had to break up the video into three parts to download it more easily to the website but it's all sequential. You get a quick shot of "the belly" but I tried to spare you the view of all my beautiful stretch marks. Maybe I'll capture those for you some other time!