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...

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.

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.

Goldfish?

On the way to school today, Joelle informs me that she wants a pet. She says she wants a kitty cat. Darn, all these books touting happy kids and their friendly pets. Although, Chris and I prefer Olivia where Edwin the cat fits our picture of a cat. It goes something like this, "Olivia moves the cat, brushes her teeth and moves the cat...." However, most books picture sweet little puffs to cuddle up with. I say, "well, Nana and Poppie have cats - those can be your pets." She says, "nah, they aren't friendly." I laugh and say they are like most cats. I say, "maybe a goldfish." She gets all excited until she remembers puppy dogs. If only Joelle understood what a track record we have with pets. We have owned not one or two, but three pets that just didn't work out. For all those folks who say, "first comes a pet, then a baby carriage..." Whatever, I can handle babies. I think they're worth it - pets, well, they aren't. I know all you pet lovers out there are aghast. Before you cast me off as an individual, I will say that I actually do LOVE pets. In fact, I don't know what is wrong with me. I adored my dog, birds AND fish growing up and certainly like playing wither other people's pets... I think a goldfish sounds nice. I wonder how long we'll get away with it?

Survival of the Fittest

This cat apparently thinks it's a lion.

Jack, a 15-pound orange-and-white cat, cat sits under a treed black bear in a backyard in West Milford, N.J., Sunday, June 4, 2006. When the bear climbed down, the cat chased it up another nearby tree. Neighbor Suzanne Giovanetti thought Jack was simply looking up at the bear, but soon realized the much larger animal was afraid of the hissing cat. The cat's owners called it away and the bear ran off. (AP Photo/Suzanne Giovanetti)

Schlitterbahn

Ironically, my morning sickness really picked up after Joelle got well from her stomach flu. It's as though she passed on her nausea. Jeff gave me the "weenie" award at Schlitterbahn because I got sick on the lazy river, yes, the lazy river. I will say that the "lazy" river wasn't so lazy at some parts. Anyway, Joelle sat on daddy's tummy and we shared a double ring. On the fourth go around, I looked at Chris and said, "I'm going to be sick." I was sick - luckily, I got out of the lazy river in time. That would have been embarrassing! Earlier, Ashley and I had gotten on with Joelle on my tummy. (separate rings though - I say this because my arm is STILL sore from holding on for dear life.) I tell this story to enumerate the truth of the lazy river not being so lazy. We both wanted to float with our legs over the tube, but we could NOT get into the lazy river because the waves kept pushing us on shore. Finally, we both got grounded on the shoreline with the waves pounding on us. Joelle was dismayed, but we just laughed. Finally, we asked a guy standing around to help us, but he misunderstood and started trying to pull Ashley out of the tube with her trying with all her might to stay in the tube! At last, we conveyed to him that we wanted in the river and he pushed us in. We would have then been fine, except that there is another branch to the river and, of course, we went the wrong way and ended up in the ocean part of the river where you, once again, get pushed to the shore with the waves. Very comical. Our jaunt around the lazy river took MUCH longer then the rest of the group (who I might add left us floundering on the shoreline in the first place!) :)

All of Them...Daddy Watered the Rest.

After some tense sick moments, Joelle appears to be back in full force. Her lingo and her pretty color came back when she started to feel better on Thursday. * She called my visor a "geyser". * She told me that I smelled like a puppy flower. I think she says this because I picked upthe phrase Noonie uses and tells her she smells like a "puppy dog" when she comes in from outside. * When I asked her what flowers she watered outside with daddy, she said, "all of them. but then Daddy watered the rest." Our girlie has apparently inherited my skin color - a darker shade of pale. So, she has a little tan line from the beach and the pool. She likes to pull her panties up to show us the tan line, like the coppertone baby.

Calliope

The name game begins. Before I've even seen my baby or know the sex, we're thinking of names. It's a lot of pressure and the most lasting impression you can have on your children. All your hopes, dreams and pragmatic wishes in a name. My family all recalls one Thanksgiving when Chris and I said that we really liked the name, Calliope. We got unanimous and vocal threats about naming our next child Calliope. Recently, Chris told his mom, "... don't worry, we've settled on Calliope or Gustav." She said, "I like Gustav better." Come on, Gustav? Nana said, (sigh) "that's fine, I'll tell everyone her name is Callie." Come on people! What's wrong with Calliope? Nana said, "It's an inanimate object." Chris and I actually both thought first of the muse in Greek mythology. NOT the musical instrument. Having looked up the musical instrument on Wikipedia to even see what it is.... Poppie should be all about Calliope: A calliope is a musical instrument that produces sound by sending steam through whistles, originally locomotive whistles. Most calliopes disappeared in the mid-20th century, as steam power was replaced. Without the demand for technicians that mines and railroads supplied, no support was available to keep boilers running. Only a few calliopes have survived, and these are rarely played. You can see why Chris and I don't think of a musical instrument first. For those who would like to know one reason we like the name... In Greek mythology, Calliope (Greek: Καλλιoπη, beautiful-voiced) was the muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and is now best known as Homer's muse, the inspiration for The Illiad and The Odyssey.

Rain

Joelle: Mommie, why is the rain knocking on the umbrella? Mommie: It wants to get in. Joelle: Why does it want to get in? Mommie: Rain loves to get everything wet. It wants to get us wet. Each time it's rained all week, she's asked me if the rain is trying to get in and get us wet.

Skills

Some people teach their kids the important things... their home address, how to read, not to talk to strangers, etc. I think the real flourish of parenting is the idiosyncrasies you teach them. * When you see someone "hit the deck", climb on their back (she learned this from "riding" on Chris's back for pushups and will now hop on anyone's back should they lay down.) * Making up random songs to tunes you know. Take the song, "money, money, money, mon-ey". Joelle changed it to "honey, honey, honey, hon-ey" when I got out the honey for the pancakes. * How to make a fake cry that is so real, Noonie doesn't even believe us when we tell her it's fake. * How to appropriately position your hand to get a stamp after any kind of class (gymboree, gymnastics, music, etc.). (hand goes on top of the head to wait for stamp to go on, remove hand, enjoy stamp) * How to properly handle the bait and switch. In the grocery store, she points out some blueberry muffins that she'd like to buy. Ok, we think - it's healthy enough. As we look away, she grabs the chocolate chip ones instead. I think she learned skills like the bait and switch from Disney World when we had world class maneuvering to limit her line time. The "bubba chuck" relay was our favorite. See dumbo line. Chris and Joelle enter Dumbo line. Mommie counts 12 sets of people and gets in line behind approximately 12 sets of people. (There are 12 Dumbos). Chris and Joelle enjoy Dumbo. Mom grabs Joelle after their ride. Mom and Joelle enjoy Dumbo. Apparently, we're teaching her some handy skills.

Twins

Many of you know, Joelle's omen of demanding twins (one boy and one girl - she's very specific) has me thinking about them. If we are graced with twins, I'll treat it as just that - fate and a blessing. I had always thought that I was more likely to have them because my dad had two sets of twins - one on each side of his family. I knew it was hereditary, but dad was right, it's only passed down by the mom. All these years, I thought I would have twins. Not that we are guaranteed not to! Apparently, there is a 1 in 90 chance. My good friend Laura pointed out today that statistics can be looked at in two ways. Sure, if there's a 99% chance you won't have twins, you're probably not going to. However, there are also 1% of people who will. What about that 1%? They're out there.... Some facts about twins: http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/2/3608_753.htm * The incidence of fraternal twins does vary. It's related to several factors, including the mother's age, nutrition, number of prior pregnancies and family background. In some parts of Africa, the rate is 1 in 20; in some parts of Asia, it's about 1 in 150. * If a woman has a family background of fraternal twins -- if she herself had fraternal twins before or if her mother, sister, or grandmother had fraternal twins -- it's possible that her chance of having fraternal twins is increased. * Unless you use fertility drugs, your overall chance of having twins is probably the same as the rest of the general population, about 1 in 90 pregnancies. * Your chances of twins goes up significantly if you're over 35 and goes up slightly in your 30s vs. 20s.