Yearly Archives: 2007

Family matters

Oh boy

Poppy never kicked or moved about all that much before she made her grand entrance into the world. She’s held on to her laid-back style, for the most part. For the last week, for example, I’ve had to wake her up every morning. I don’t like to let her sleep past 10 am. Even with her 13-hour sleepathons, she usually takes a 2-hour nap during the day. Today, it’s been closer to 3 hours.

But this isn’t about Poppy. This is about her little brother. The ninja. He moves all the time. And they aren’t gentle little nudges, either, like his sister used to give me. Most of the time when she moved, it felt like she was tickling me from the inside. When Pete is flopping about, he is punching and kicking and flailing. And it’s generally in the direction of my bladder. I find myself this close to weeing my pants roughly 800 times a day.

Last night, as I was trying to get to sleep, little Pete torpedoes hit each side of my stomach simultaneously. What is he doing in there? Calisthenics? Whatever it was, it went on for hours. I’m trying to get as much napping in as I can now, because I something tells me little Pete isn’t going to be as enamored with sleep as Poppy is.

I’ve been worrying a bit about the differences between raising a girl and raising a boy. When I brought Pete’s activity level up to my sister-in-law, who has two boys and two girls, she said, “Oh, that’s right! You’ve never seen someone stick a fork in an electrical outlet. Yet.”

I’m trying to prepare myself for Life With A Boy. Life with considerably more dirt and wildlife and rambunctiousness. But it will also be life with extra hugs and kisses and another sweet little voice saying, “I love you too, honey.” And I’m definitely OK with that.

Flotsam / Jetsam

Summer vacation memories


Chris‘ participation in the Wordless Wednesday circle inspired me to find a similar project for today. I like the idea of Wordless Wednesday, but I’m not sure I could stick to the “wordless” part of the equation.

I also haven’t been taking many new pictures lately, which makes Throwback Thursday a good fit for now.

This week’s theme is Summer Vacation Memories. I would’ve liked to share the picture of the very cranky, child-hating Uncle Sam we met in New York (Really. He was wearing a button that said “I hate kids.”) or some photos from our ill-timed camping-and-Disney trip to Florida (in July). But the only thing I had scanned in that fit the theme was this one, from our trip to Georgian Bay in Ontario.

So here they are, a few memories from our adventure in Canada:

  • We bought some candy bars on the way up, and they tasted funny. We attributed this to their being Canadian.
  • Powering around in the paddle boat. I have a vague recollection of some kind of paddle boat war, with Justin or maybe my stepbrother Wayne ending up in the drink.
  • My stepsister Kristy’s hair turning green from the over-chlorinated hot tub. (Or maybe she was just worried about her hair turning green.)
  • The quiet. It was a very remote spot, and it was the first time I enjoyed the stillness of the outdoors.
  • Going to a science center and learning that the tallest I could hope to be was 5-foot-3. Their formula proved to be pretty accurate.

    And just for good measure, here are a few more “throwback” pictures. These aren’t in chronological order.

    1. Justin, a wagon and Mom. I don’t know when this was, but I’d guess 1984.
    2. Canada. Again. Just like up top.
    3. Me and Justin in tubs in our Granny’s front yard.
    4. My dad’s dad, Justin and the garden.
    5. Granny, Justin and Mom. Why do I have so many pictures of Justin in here?
    6. There I am. Ready to garden, apparently.
    7. Mom, me and Dad at the Sugar Beet Festival (I think). Check out Dad’s totally awesome hat. There was a whole lot of hair under there, too. He was a stylin’ dude in the ’80s.