Climb, Climb UP Stone Mountain

Last Friday morning I rolled over in bed to face Dave, who smiled and said, "It's going to be a beautiful day, let's hike up Stone Mountain!" My response was something to the effect of, "when hell freezes over..." and then, "I'm not carrying anything or anyone!" For those of you non-Atlantans, Stone Mountain is a huge rock/mountain outside Atl. You can walk around it, you can take the vernicular up to the top, or you can hike the 1.3 mile trail over boulders, straight up the side of the darn thing. You can also camp there, or go fishing in the lake, in the summer you can watch a laser show where all the "locals" come out and holler about the South rising again (oh did I mention there is a LOT of history about the Confederate states and memorials about when each state seceded from the union, anyway! Now since it is all owned by Dolly Parton, there are also other amusement park-like attractions.

In any case, an hour or so later, we had the girls loaded up into the car (they were so excited) and headed to Waffle House for breakfast and then onto SMP. I was skeptical of making the climb with the girls, but I tried to trust Dave, and to my great surprise we all lived through the excursion. Hadleigh hiked the entire thing, which I found amazing because it is not easy, and Annelise hiked most of the way up and then Dave carried her on his shoulders back down. And I did not need anyone to carry me either! The nice thing is that since we were hiking with the girls, I had an excuse to go slow. And then it does make a difference when you make the hike at 8am in April, rather then at 5pm in July! I even received some cheers from fellow hikers (claps and everything), I'm sure they were secretly hoping to watch me roll down the mountain.

So I guess we can check that one off our list for the year, although I have a feeling Dave and Hadleigh will make that trip again this summer.

Pregnancy #3

The funny thing is when you are prego it seems you might as well walk around town with a sign around your neck saying, "please give me some advice, I really enjoy it when perfect strangers give me advice."

When folks see me walking around with 2 girls they are desperate to know the gender of my baby, which is fun because having a boy seems like a bit of a novelty since I have two girls already, and everyone seems to glory in that excitement with me. And then the questions/comments start...oh yea it is a boy because you are carrying low/high, wide/long (pick your flavor), etc. And then it is, oh you are gaining more weight because it is a boy, or oh your boobs are huge because it is a boy... And finally it moves to his would be personality...he is going to be mellow because he is the 3rd...he is going to be a terror because he is the 3rd.

This is all interesting to me and I just nod because they certainly don't know anything more than I know, and I don't know why folks feel a need to predict what my life will look like when he arrives, or why my boobs are huge for that matter.

One of my friends was recently shocked to hear that Annelise was late because everyone knows that ALL 2nd babies come early. My response was, "Lies! Lies! They are all lies!" Several of my friends had longer/harder labors with their 2nd child...why do we need to fill our heads with possibilities? I know I do the same thing, and I need to stop it.

Someone once told me that she willed her baby out 10 days early...well, I don't think there is a person on the planet that willed their baby out more than I willed Annelise out, and she was 2 weeks late (and I even tried castor oil).

Anyway, I attribute all my prego woes to the fact that this is my third baby, and most all the moms I've talked to have said that each prego gets a little harder (don't know how that chic with 19 kiddos does it)... I feel everything more, I definitely am bigger (not sure if I'm bigger in the belly, but I'm definitely bigger in the boobs...can't wear a lot of things that I wore last time around), and my sciatica is really giving me trouble this time around. Other than those little complaints it all seems to be going well. The little man is growing, his heart is strong, he is very active, and must have a head of hair because my heartburn is kicking it up a notch.

I'm not too anxious for him to arrive yet. I'll be happy to meet him, but I can definitely wait on it. I have big plans for the summer with the girls and I want to take full advantage of every minute I have with them before he comes. Summer will begin for us in 2 weeks and I have lots of fun things planned for us, family vacation, a nephew's high school graduation, trips to the zoo and the pool, VBS, hopefully a trip to visit a Germany friend, and then lots of fun time sitting around reading and singing and coloring and playing and building...and then my life will change forever again. Hopefully we will be able to agree on a name before he makes his debut. For now he could be named after a theologian, a hymn writer, a family member, a city...and many things in between.

Imagination

Over the past week the hallway between the playroom and our guest bedroom has become packed out with toys, blankets, animals and pillows. The girls are hard at work playing. On Monday alone they spent 1.5 hours straight in the hallway without any need for me to help them, or even break-up an argument...it has been heaven. HC told me that it is their house, and they sleep, and talk and eat there. I love it!

I occasionally enjoy doing a project with them, like dyeing Easter eggs, but more often I enjoy giving them loads of unstructured play time in the hopes that their imagination will really come alive, and it looks like it is paying off. It is so fun to watch them in their little world, cooking up something in their little kitchen, sailing on the "boat" in the backyard, and playing race cars on their big wheels.

I think this is one of the reasons I'm not enthusiastic about preschool 4 days/week for HC. I just hate the thought of her having to sit in a classroom, I imagine they will do fun projects, but wow, she will have to sit in a class for the next 12 years (at least) of her life, why start now? And I also get nervous and wonder if the reason some kids get "bored" so easily is because they are told what to do 6 hours a day and so they can't think of what to do for themselves. I don't know, I'm sure it all depends on many factors and that is why everyone has to make decisions that are best for their family and their children, and I have to make decisions that are best for us.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to some of my neighbors and the issue of preschool with HC came up. One of the ladies was a bit pushy, like well, she IS 4, she is certainly capable of going to school 4 days a week. I tried to explain that wasn't exactly the issue. She then asked is HC liked school...I tried to explain that that wasn't exactly the issue either (and HELLO, she is 4, what she likes/doesn't like is a factor, but not the most important thing, she also likes picking her nose and eating her boogers...so...).

Another argument I have heard is that I need to get HC ready for kindergarten...well, having talked to some kindergarten teachers that teach in the GA public school system, I have zero worries about HC being ready, she will be just fine if we decide to send her to public school. The same is true if we were to send her to private school, she will be just fine.

So, for now, I have both girls registered for preschool this fall, but I only plan on sending HC two days a week. And Dave and I continue to talk seriously about not sending them at all, but that decision will have to wait until the little man makes an appearance. Until then we are enjoying lots of fun playtime and lots of imagination time which is super fun.

Almost a Big Day

Sunday was a big day, not only was it Easter, but we celebrated 2 years of living in our home. This is a huge milestone to me. For the most part I have enjoyed being a home owner...besides the fact that sometimes you have to spend money on things that aren't "fun". I love our home, and our neighborhood and am continually thankful that we live here, despite our best efforts to live somewhere else.

I love that our house is a little older and has projects that need to get done. I love that we can live in it as it is and do not need to do any projects if we do not want. I love that we have lots of space to play, and have people over, and that we will never have to move because of a lack of space. I love our flat, green, backyard which is perfect for gardening and for playing. I love our neighborhood. I love going outside in the afternoon for a stroll and stopping to pet dogs and cats, and to smell flowers, and to have an impromptu playdate with neighborhood children. This home has been such a blessing to us.

I was also thinking that 2 years is the longest I have lived anywhere in my adult life, but I was slightly off. The longest I have lived anywhere is 2 years and 1 month, so on May 4 I will be able to celebrate a new milestone. It is interesting to go from being a wanderer...moving 11 times in 10 years, 2 of those across the country and 2 of those across the ocean...to being a mostly rooted person. You can almost write my address in pen theses days. But I'm certainly thankful to have ended up here, and I hope to be here for a long time.

We Belong in the Zoo!

That is an Atlanta Zoo bumper sticker you see all around town, and the zoo is one of the many reasons I like being a semi-urbanite (that seems like a decent descriptor for our current location). There are so many fun things to do in this city and many of them are within 20 minutes of our house.

This morning we loaded up the girls for a much needed Family Fun Day. We have been lacking in this department recently. Most of our Fridays have been taken up with painting, or yard work, or shopping for paint or plants. It was really nice to go to the zoo, although it was far from quiet. I thought most schools were out for Good Friday...not the case...all the schools that are not on Spring Break yet were at the Zoo...just in case you wondered.

In any case, we love just wandering around, seeing the favs...giraffes, lions, elephants, and meerkats. We don't need a map, because we know the zoo from our many excursions there, and we are not in any rush to see as much as possible, because we can always go back tomorrow if we wanted. I think we spent a good 45 minutes just feeding the parakeets, which is one of my fav things to do.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to many more trips to the zoo this summer before "Walter" arrives...it's too hot to be outside in August anyway, right?

Egg Hunt

This past Sunday was our neighborhood egg hunt, which was followed by our playgroup egg hunt, which was followed by Hadleigh's school egg hunt. I think we are good on the egg hunt front.

In preparation for our 3rd neighborhood egg hunt (the egg hunt was the first neighborhood activity we attended 2 years ago, we had just gone into contract on the house), I bought some plastic eggs at the store last week. HC was with me and super excited. When she saw them she exclaimed, "Mama, there are teddy grahams inside those eggs!" (Last year we removed all the candy and put in teddy grahams, which obviously was a big success, I cannot believe she remembered). When she realized that in actuality there is candy in the eggs, she was overjoyed. Fortunately she has forgotten about her basket of eggs and candy which is allowing Dave and I to make the swap.

We managed to squeeze the egg hunt in between two sets of rain on Sunday, one in the morning and one in the evening, but we were happy that the sun came out to greet us for 30 minutes while we chased around some eggs.