A long awaited update

There is so much that has gone on in the past - oh - four+ months that it may take me a week of continuous blogging to recall all of it. Seriously, a veritable mountain of change in our lives. I'm lucky, however, that you may know a lot of it if we keep up with each other on facebook. If that's the case, nothing here will shock you, but will rather just fill in the blanks.

I'll add pictures at a later date as my camera is conveniently at a friend's house, in the depths of the diaper bag I left there this morning. Shame on mommy.

Ok, first things first. we're expecting again*! Our joy overflows! (It occurs to me that feelings and exclamations cannot properly or adequately be transmitted over the bloggosphere, but you get my sentiment).

*once a day I get a chance to blog. that time happens to coincide with the once a day that my toddler sleeps, which also happens to be the time I was also taking a much needed nap. Every. Day. Therein lies my non-blogging excuse.

We're due around the New Year, and we'll find out what we're having in mid-August. Although I am into my second trimester I am still sick-sick-sick. In my pregnancy with Levi my morning (ahem, ALL DAY) sickness was totally gone by now, but as they say, "every pregnancy is different" right? I remain reasonably hopeful my poor ailing stomach will even it's keel soon. If not I guess our eating-out bill will grow and grow as I simply can't stomach cooking ANYTHING that makes my house smell like ANYTHING at all. Truly.

There are so very many more things I could say about this pregnancy (especially because we conceived so very soon, and so very much to our surprise, after our March loss) but I'll leave most of that for future posts. Suffice to say I'm certainly reserved, although excited; I'm paranoid, but peaceful; I'm afraid, but also very sure that this pregnancy (like the two which preceded it) belongs fully to my Heavenly Father who makes no mistakes, and does not act on whims. Amen.

Levi turned 2 on May 28th, Hooray! Grandma Jen came for the celebration which consisted of a dual party for he and his best pal Teague in our back yard - complete with sprinkler running and the blow-up pool. Loads of fun for any 2-year old. Levi reveled in the gifts he was generously given, including the delightful tool-bench I found at goodwill a few months back. He's our little builder now and the saying holds true "to the toddler with a hammer, the whole world's a nail"

Not two weeks later Levi weaned - I was 10 weeks pregnant at that point, and more than willing to be DONE nursing. Nursing hurts when you happen to be pregnant, a fact I did not fully understand until I was in the middle of it. So, one evening (Levi was only nursing once a day, just before bed) I suggested to Levi that we snuggle instead of having "milk time" and he agreed. Wow, I really expected that to be a bone of contention, but apparently he was as ready as I was.

Soon after (or was it before - I'm losing track) I embarked upon jam-splosion-2011. You may remember my 2010 edition? Well, I created 42 sticky pints of delicious strawberry jam for just under $60, a feat I'm more than proud of - especially considering how sick I felt whilste making said jam. And it turned out great, just ask my friend Kim, who bought a few jars for her family to enjoy. Although my jam extravaganza was just as messy this year as it was last year, I spread it out over a week instead of doing it all in two days. MUCH BETTER OPTION. Just sayin'.

I'm sure there are more things that have happend between all that stuff and this, but Levi decided almost two weeks ago to be all done with diapers. Friends, I will be completely honest with you and admit I used to scoff at parents who attempted to get their kids out of diapers early in their second year. And then, a little strong willed two-year-old of my own refused to wear his one morning. I agreed that he could go au-natural as long as he sat on his potty and made a deposit every 30 minutes. He abliged, and the rest is history. I remain attached to the notion that this was HIS idea, because SURELY, I would have to be CRAZY to think I could force any child, let alone my strong-willed 2-year-old, to put his waste anywhere he didn't want it to be. Whew.

Potty training has been an unreasonably easy road for Levi (and as such, for us as parents) and if you want any more details I'm happy to share. I have no tricks though, save a few pieces of sweet reward (m&m for urine, gummy worm for poop). We now use one diaper each day (night time) and it is occasionally dry in the morning if I get to him soon enough. I had NO CLUE little bodies were capable of holding it so long. I'M NOT EVEN capable of holding it that long. Just sayin'.

The weather in Nebraska has taken a turn for the HOT, as per usual around here. We're enjoying 90-100 degree temps and hanging out by our wading pool under the shade of the giant silver maple that I spend all fall cleaning up after. That tree, man, I despise it from September to December, but it sure is nice to have during the summer. We've also spent time with friends at their various pools and back yard sprinklers. My child continues his affinity for all things wet - we refer to him often as our little fish. He'll happily dish out the splashes, but he can take 'em too.

Most recently we spent the 4th of July holiday at a local parade with friends of ours - it was so fun to watch the change in Levi since last year - this year he RAN for the candy being thrown from each float. He grinned at all the fire trucks and motorcycles, and other assorted vehicle floats that passed us by (last year, by contrast, he wailed). Of course all of that made for a very tuckered out little boy who took a delightfully long nap before we went to our neighbors' home for a picnic dinner complete with ice-cream sundaes.

The longer we live here the more grateful we are for the collection of friends we've made. Summertime, and all the fun togetherness that comes with it, makes it even more enjoyable to be raising a family here in Lincoln.

Have I forgotten anything? Oh, yes indeed, about a billion pictures; Ultrasound pictures, birthday pictures, parade pictures, petting local livestock pictures, and pictures of very many other varieties. They'll come, in time, as I re-gain the energy I'm quite sure I used to have. Having some semblance of appetite wouldn't hurt my energy needs either, but I'm guessing that will return eventually also. Here's hoping anyhow :)