Heartening

Two interesting links:

First off, check out this story about a preemie born unexpectedly at 24 weeks due to an infection of the womb. She had an irregular heartbeat, wasn't breathing, and was placed on her mother's chest to die -- but she didn't -- her mom's skin-on-skin snuggle brought her back. No joke!

Secondly, check out this Etsy shop, Star of the East. Dreamy.

Understatement of the year: the most amazing sky ever

These pictures were taken well over a month ago; but, in spite of their age, are well-worth posting. The sky was the most spectacular shades of blue and purple and red. The texture of the clouds made it seem as if you could eat them, and all the earth was tinted red. (Baby Truen, playing in a puddle in the driveway, was an orangey-pink, both hair and skin.)

Every part of the upper atmosphere - north, south, east, west, and every combination of direction - was different, and wonderous. It was an incredible sight; all we could do was stare upwards and try to take it all in.

House jargon

Diego says,

"Skeeter Bikes", instead of Speeder Bikes
"Damana", instead of banana
"Audweady", instead of already
"Imn't", instead of I'm not


Truen says,

"Nuggle", for snuggle
"Buh-doh", for butter
"Bruh-doh", for brother
"Wey-si", for raisin
"Manana", for banana

And I'm okay with that

Aside from being a little flummoxed about my un-announcement, I truly am okay with not being pregnant. A few people have asked me if I'm okay . . .

And, yes - I'm fine. A bit perplexed with a dash of embarrassment, but I'm good. Though I was starting to get excited about the idea of a new baby and the thrill that goes along with it, I really did want more space between Two and Three.

As for the future, we shall see . . .

This happens all the time, right...?

So, in light of my last post, albeit rather dramatic . . . ahem . . . I'd like to un-announce my pregnancy.

Yes, that is correct. The friggin' doofus that I am, I'd like to un-announce my pregnancy. Take back. Renege. Recant. Withdraw. Retract. Un-announce.

Un-un-un-un.

Unbelievable. So yes, while most everyone thinks I'm happily humming through my twelfth week of pregnancy, I am here to say, officially, that I am, in fact, NOT pregnant.

I thought I was.

Yes, I thought I was, but I am not.

How is this possible? What it does explain is my lack of extreme exhaustion and need to eat like an overworked team of oxen. What it doesn't explain is the strange tightening of my waistband, the ever-present need to pee, sore nipples, and why I hadn't had my period since the end of May. Shoot, I just figured every pregnancy was different.

Things this past week were starting to feel a little goofy, like, shouldn't my belly be a little bigger than this? . . . and why am I not tired at all? . . . and most alarming, . . . blood. So we decided it was time to take a pregnancy test. [Ahem, a first for this time 'round . . . coughcough . . . mmmmph]

Negative.

So, ladies, please: un-congratulate me. I am NOT pregnant. What I AM, however, is a complete and total nincompoop. This whole deal was announced to my entire family while I was home (too-good-to-be-true, everyone-in-the-same-place-at-the-same-time) and then, doorknob that I am, to the entire internet via my blog. Yes, I thought I was, but I am not.

Most definitely not.

Un-un-un-un.

Don't do the math, it doesn't add up

9 years married +

13 years together +

11 weeks NOT pregnant =

TOTAL DWEEB

Happy Anniversary!

Checking in

Head on over to my SIL's blog, "Rock Garden" for an in-depth photo montage from some big family events. That sibs picture just cracks me up!

Secondly, I'm re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-obsessed with the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. Go! Take the test and report back in the comments. I'm very curious to hear your results.

Once you get your letter combo, i.e. ISFJ or ENTJ, google it and click on "Portrait of..." Make sure you click on the Relationship section.

Muy interesante.

Sibs

Two girls, three boys

The girls in "bookend" position in birth order

Brown-eyed boys - Blue-eyed girls

e/infp, enfp, istp, infp, infp

(an astounding ratio)

24, 31, 30, 21, 26

Love 'em

Scenes from my brother's wedding

This one's for the boys

KT, tell Luuuuuuke; and Amy, tell RC.  Shooooot, Dist - if you're looking at this, tell T. Spence, too.  (I don't think Runyan ever cared, but maybe he did.) 

I trimmed the old pits (with scissors) upon their suggestion, and I must say - I like the new look. 

Think bunny tails vs. Wookie.

Chillin' in the heat

It is downright sweltering in Western WA.  Seriously. 

Haaaaaaaaaaaat.

I don't have much else to say other than that.  We've been spending a lot of time with grandma and grandpa, great-grandma, and the great-aunts.  Think, "Gwamma, will you play Star Wars guys with me?" or, "Gwampaaaaa!" [insert frenzied snuggling here] and, "Gweat-Gwamma, I founds lots 'n lots of moths outside last night!" etc. That, and being serenaded by, "Life is Like a Mountain Railroad" by my grandma.  

[For Ashlik: "woof-woof, boom-boom - merry christmas, happy new year"]

Tru-babes [or "Do", as Diego calls him] has started a few new tricks, like throwing and hitting.  Think lots of, "Maaaamaaaa...Do hit me!"  Oh dear...  It doesn't help that Diego can be heard, on the presumed-sly, saying, "Do!  Hit me!"  Too tantalizing.

We are getting the house ready for my brother's wedding next weekend.  The ceremony and reception is going to be right here, at my parents' place.  It should be lovely.  I am really looking forward to it.  And my new(ish) SIL.  Awwww, shucks.  What a gal.  I'm quite fond.  I just went to her bachelorette party last night and watched her "pin the junk on the hunk"; though she was the last to go, and, instead, pinned her junk on another previously-pinned-junk.  Ha!  It was fun to see her outside of a family event.  I learned quite a bit of interesting tidbits about my brother, too.  (Another HA!)  It was fun.

And now, adieu. 

Glazed

Here I sit, enjoying the silence, with my mom asleep behind me and my boys sawing logs above me, and my lover 1,300 miles away.  And all I can do is stare.  My mind is blank.  

zzzzzzzzzzzz

G'night!

Here we are...

At home, in Western WA

"More later"

Tea party

But how/why/when/where did Darth Vader die? And why couldn't he live with his robot suit? How did he get burnt? Why? What about Obi-wan Kenobi?

This afternoon during lunch, I had an extremely lengthy, extensive conversation about Darth Vader with my four year old. Endless questions, endless answering.

Good thing I know my stuff.

Sad junkfood for the brain

I want to post, but have nothing to say --
I've stayed up waaaay too late,
Looking at this. Ay.

Streaming

• Our garden is beautiful - we are eating very well, with frequent 2-3-4 combinations of vegetables at each meal. Beets top of the charts, nummm. Red Swan beans with butter, salt, and parm cheese come next (but that just started last night).
• Being a mother highlights faults and shortcomings like no other job I've ever had. Being a wife is probably second, but I don't think it even touches motherhood.
• Tea parties are all the rage at our house again these days. Diego set up the little kiddie-table in the kitchen today, right below the low-lying window; the view was delightful and we dined on buttered ginger muffins, chicken bits, walnuts, banana chips, and alfalfa-mint tea.
• Diego's naps are becoming shorter and frequently he does not fall asleep during snuggle time. He recently even started saying, "I don't know how to fall asleep!" It may be just a phase, as he is sleeping in quite late to make up for the lost time. Quiet Time has begun. He settles into an upstairs bedroom with books and his beloved pac(fier) and comes down when 1) the music goes off, or 2) the buzzer beeps.
• I am purposefully gearing my life into a slower pace. This includes staying home a lot and focusing more on the daily routine. I am incorporating regimented tasks into my daily and weekly life, like "After Meal Clean-up", where Diego helps by clearing the table, wiping up, and tucking in the chairs; "Quiet Time"; and routinizing things like sweeping, cleaning the bathroom, and vacuuming. My living space is out of control and I need some assistance (structure) to help me manhandle it into submission. I hope to make it simply "what I do" in time.
• So why is it...whenever I get a chunk of free-time, my motivation and To Do list totally dissolves and all I want to do it lay around and read?
• I've started brushing my teeth with tooth powder (Eco-dent is the brand) vs. paste. I really like it and will never go back. The boys are even starting to take to it...yessss.
• I will be at my parents house in Western WA for several weeks at the end of July/beginning of August. My brother Andrew is getting married and my sister has her senior show for the art school she attends. I can't wait to melt into being a daughter again. That feels so good. Squeeze will be coming for a long weekend as well - I am so glad that he'll be there with us, as he wasn't able to attend my other brother's wedding last summer. He'll miss the senior show, though...bummer.
• Blahblahblahblahblah blahblahblah
• My SIL was told "If I were Bond, you'd be my woman" at the post office the other day.
• I've been dreaming about Nepali/Indian food recently - I want curried potatoes & cauliflower and poori like you couldn't believe. I am also nursing a serious obsession with Brazil nuts.
• Both boys love Brazil nuts too, as does Squeeze. They are going real quick, like lightning, in this house.
• I must read.

Where have I been the last two weeks....?

Visiting and being visited, with a wedding tossed in --

Lots of laughs and good conversation

The guys

Heart to heart with Uncle Ry

Diego passed out in the pew
BLS yukking it up with Luuuuuuuie

Totally. zonked.
between the ceremony and reception
zzzzzzzzz

This man was an angel
He seemed to enjoy the boys (and they loved him)
I think he liked their toys, too

Ta Bunz!
His Little Buns!
and Baby T

RC and his lovely brown eyed lady

Diego and the Ladies

Luuuuuuuuke and KT

Working hard for a gourmet brekkers

Playin' hard with the Billinator's (like pollinator)
C-3PO Collectors' Case

Relaxing in the backyard with Darth Veda
(the dog)

July birthdays

(Truen was looking at baby turtles...)

Fireworks with the Cousins

Can you spot the cousin who was plugging his ears?

The Fearsome Foursome

Diego, Truen, Jackson, and Claire

Oh, baby

What a sight: mid-July garden

Pa rulz

I started reading Little House in the Big Woods to Diego last week. He is mesmorized while I am reading it, eagerly waiting (of course) for the pages with illustrations on them. [I try to hold those pages open while I'm reading non-picture passages.]

The "Little House" books were one of my favorite series as a child, as I am sure they are special for many. I re-re-re-read through them the summer before I went to college, knowing it might be awhile before I could re-re-re-re-read them again. And I re-re-re-re-re-read them after I was married, too. My perspective changes with each re-reading. I am noticing that this time around, too (fancy that).

Diego is enjoying Little House in the Big Woods, just as I hoped he would. We are already re-reading favorite passages, like the story of Laura's Grandpa being chased by the black panther through the Big Woods.

The first evening while snuggling in bed, I asked him, "What do you remember about LHitBW?" and I think he's got a bit of Pa Obsession going on.

Here's what he remembered:

1. When Pa butchered the pig; Laura and Mary played with the blown-up pig's bladder like a balloon.
2. When Pa shot the bear holding the pig.
3. When Pa hung the two deers he shot high in the tree, so the wolves wouldn't get them.
4. Pa, building the hickory-smoker in the hollowed out tree. It had a roof!
5. Pa, playing "Mad Dog" with Laura and Mary and scaring them half-to-death.