Wimberley Moments

* Immediately when we got there, she hopped out of the car and said, "I want to come here lots and lots and lots." * She found a tablet and started writing about "vacation bible school". She likes to write in her vacation journal on vacations now - Nana started that in disney world. * She asked "where's the 'turn up', when I asked Chris to help me find the turn off." * Joelle asked why Nana and Poppie didn't live in Wimberley. (She's still trying to understand that they own that house and that it isn't an hotel.) We told her that it's because they loved her too much to be that far away. She said, "everyone loves me." (matter of factly) * Chris and I loved the assortment of bread products in the freezer: 1. Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits 2. Southern style oven baked biscuits 3. oven baked buttter tastin' biscuits 4. oven baked butterflake dinner rolls. Nana said the last one was bought by Poppie on accident and, admittedly, we brought #3 with us (not knowing there were already so many there) because, well, it's a tradition to have biscuits there. Even Joelle knows that. * We have a new tradition.... we bought the game Cootie at brookshire brothers. Joelle likes to roll the die all the way up the driveway - that's part of the game now. You should see the dice - VERY scratched up. :) * I think we picked every single pricess lea flower (that's a mommie term, no idea what they really are called.) The next morning, when picking commenced again, Chris said in desperation, "did all these grow over night??" * We made it all the way to the falls with Joelle this trip (first time!) and she loved throwing pebbles into the roaring current.

Apple Pie Eating Contest

Our neighborhood pool is having an apple pie eating contest for the 4th. They have one contest exclusively for the kids. I jokingly said to Chris, "hey, we can enter Joelle!" We both started laughing simultaneously. Joelle had just gone to a tea party where they served cherry cordials. Not knowing that a cherry was in the middle, she popped it in her mouth. Her face quickly turned sour and she spit it out. Later that day, she accused me of hiding a cherry in the banana bread. Clearly, hiding a cherry in chocolate is not on Joelle's list of nice things to do. So, you can see why Chris and I think it's hilarious for her to be in an apple pie contest. She'd take one bite and spit it out! She'd be the world's worst apple pie eatin' princess. Should we do it just for the laugh!?

JOELLE!

I had to share a funny story that Chris told me... He got the credit card bill and was reviewing the charges. One charge for $195 stuck out and the payee said, "Walt Disney....". Immediately, he thought, "JOELLLLLLEEEE!" What did she do? I thought it was hysterical that he already foresees the day when she'll make some big charge without us knowing - tricky little kids. (It was my charge, btw - for Lion King tickets).

Just some thoughts.

I'm learning some things from being pregnant a second time. First, when someone tells you that every pregnancy is different. They're wrong. So far, mine have been the same. I'm banking on that now because with Joelle my all-the-time sickness went away a few weeks before the second trimester. I hope that's the case! Little girl has been so patient with a very sick mommie. At this point, I no longer believe anyone that says "each kid is different" either. I'm thinking we'll have a very collicky, poor sleeping baby. That will grow into a very delightful toddler, like Joelle. Second, you worry so much more with the second baby. I guess we were blissfully unaware of just how many awful things can happen to this baby growing inside of you the first go round. On the flip side, I think we truly appreciate what a miracle a healthy baby is. A lot of people answer, "just a healthy baby," when asked if they want a girl or a boy. I say that... and really mean it this time. My mom confirmed that, although my worry has somewhat been shaped by a recent tragedy with my friend's baby, we just know more with the second one. She worried constantly about me, but the thought never crossed her mind that something would be wrong with Joey. Third, Joelle has no idea what's going to be happening in her little life. There's not much we can do to prepare her. I have complete faith that she will be an incredible big sister, but it's going to really shock her. She's excited by the idea, but doesn't really understand. She doesn't like change... I know this about her, so it should be interesting. She noticed that I had on a "sleeping" shirt to go work out the other day and pointed it out. I said, "mommie is already growing and I don't like wearing tighter work out shirts." She said, "Mommie, I don't want you to get bigger!" Oh boy. If that bothers her.... see what I mean?

Per Joey's Request...

I asked Joelle tonight why she wanted a baby sister instead of a baby brother. She said, "I'm just trying to guess." I couldn't believe it! I asked again in a different way, "So, you don't care if you have a brother or a sister." She said, "nope." Crazy smart. Nana had told her two of the names we like for girls and one of them Joelle doesn't care for: Jordan. I asked her why she didn't like it tonight and she said, "It can be a boy or a girl name and it's more for boys." I'm thinking Nana told her that. How in the world would she know that? She doesn't even know a Jordan! Nana, I'm on to you! ;) By the way, Calliope is her favorite...

Whew, Australia is Safe Now. Stick of Gum Anyone?

I was looking up tariffs in Australia (yes, for work) and this was the only story on their front page.

Chocolate delivers more "shock" than choc Customs has intercepted more than 500 novelty chocolate bars and other items designed to deliver an electric shock destined for a Brisbane home. Chocolate bars, chewing gum and pens were just some of the items discovered by Customs officers at the International Mail Handling Unit in Sydney when they selected a package from China for inspection. It contained a range of novelty items designed to administer an electric shock including cigarette lighters, dice, toy pistols, calculators, mobile phones, staplers and torches.

I remember seeing this stuff in kids' magazines and catalogs about 20 years ago. Who knew that in some countries you could face a fine of up to $80,000+? It must be a good thing for them that this is the biggest breaking story in Australian customs. After looking at the US Customs site, I guess their web presence is really just for positive PR. The US appears to "mix it up" a bit though, with stories ranging from nuclear smuggling prevention efforts to a riveting piece on the changing procedures for bicyclists entering the port of Calexico.

Stuff to play at the beach...

Joelle was flipping through an oriental trading company mag today and pointed out some toys for the beach. A limbo thing, flamingo wind flyers, etc. She said, "Let's get a lot of stuff to play on the beach so we don't have to go in the water." Ok, maybe she's not exactly the fish I thought she'd turn out to be.

It's a Boy! .... or a Girl!

Seriously, we don't know much more after having our first ultrasound (there is NO way Dr. Levine could tell girl or boy at this point), but we do know that it's just one baby!!!! She said, "this is good news, I think." Chris and I both agreed with a quick, "yes, definitely." When I broke the news to Joelle that she would either have one brother or one sister, she said, "I want a sister." Does this just mean we'll definitely have a boy? Poor thing... she can't get her way on any of it.

Brainteaser of the day

There is a common English word that is nine letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word — from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time? (not a trick question) I imagine just going in from scratch that that is a tough one - I happened to see the answer at the same time I saw the question. Here's a hint - try starting with a one letter word (ok, "i" or "a") and then build to see how long of a word you can make. I'll try to think if I can think of any ones that are at least 7 or 8 letters long though (besides the one that is the answer). I'll post the answer in a day or so in the comments section. If you can't sleep because of it let me know and I'll e-mail it to you or it can be found on the web (since that's where I found it). While we're on the subject of brainteasers, check out this guy. At the same time both utterly amazing and useless.

Parenthood: Lasting mental benefits?

Everyone knows that having a kid changes your life. But mentally? The only major things I noticed was gaining the ability to live on less sleep and losing the ability to do moderately difficult math in my head (this never came back). Apparently, having kids might not just "make you crazy":

"No one can deny that becoming a dad is a life-changing experience. And despite an increase in sleepless nights and newly acquired diaper-changing duties, most would agree that it's a deeply enriching and positive one. New findings by brain researcher Kelly Lambert, professor and chair of the psychology department at Randolph-Macon College, suggest that fatherhood may change more than just a man's lifestyle – it may actually cause lasting benefits in his brain."

[From ScienCentralNews via Digg] This is similar to what researchers have found in females (in both cases using animals in place of humans):

"Some of these sites are involved in regulating maternal behaviors such as building nests, grooming young and protecting them from predators. Other affected regions, though, control memory, learning, and responses to fear and stress. Recent experiments have shown that mother rats outperform virgins in navigating mazes and capturing prey. In addition to motivating females toward caring for their offspring, the hormone-induced brain changes may enhance a mother rat's foraging abilities, giving her pups a better chance of survival. What is more, the cognitive benefits appear to be long-lasting..."

[From Scientific American, January 2006] There have been tons of studies on how parental care affects children, but I don't see as much (understandably) on how having children affect the parents. I hadn't really thought much about it, but I would be curious to read/hear more about the other side of the relationship there. And I still don't understand what happened to that math ability...

Day in the Life of Joelle

Joelle: Daddy, my watch says it's time to go. Daddy: Does your watch also say it's time to get dressed? Joelle: (pause) No, it doesn't say that. Joelle: Mommie, will the juice go all the way down to my toes? Mommie: Yes, it will Joelle: Why? Mommie: Because the juice has to nourish your whole body. That comment made me think of myself when I was little. I used to not understand how aspirin knew where you had a hurt. Joelle pictured herself being filled up with juice, not understanding, of course, the digestive tract.

White Cadillac

I look out the window, perched in my usual blue chair where I work. I notice a white cadillac kind of drive over the curb getting into a neighbor's driveway. She gets out, walks to the house. The whole time I'm thinking, huh, she seems a little older to be visiting that neigbhor. After standing at the door a long time, she gets back in her car and goes to the driveway of the next house over. I think she went to the wrong house! hehe. I've actually done that myself, but it's funny to imagine someone having watched me do it! :) Apparently, Nottingham West has had a crime surge (they are separated by Kirkwood from our neighborhood, luckily). If every neighbor could witness as much as we do sitting in our dueling blue chairs at night, I bet a lot of crime could be averted! Then again, we saw our blow up Christmas Tree get slashed, but didn't exactly deter that from happening. We still comb the neighborhood streets for that black jeep... beware.