A City Life For Me

Yesterday I began my third trimester.  I am 27 weeks, and still don’t have much of a baby bump.  This pregnancy has been different than with Elaine, and more difficult in some ways. With Elaine I had acid reflux constantly.  Starting at 20 weeks (that’s halfway through) they allowed me to take Zantac twice a day to help control it.  With this baby I have struggled with heartburn, indigestion, and nausea in rotation.  Supper has been the hardest meal and it often puts me out of commission for the rest of the evening. In the last few weeks I have had acid reflux on top of the other symptoms.  I am back to popping Zantac.  My prenatal vitamin is a different brand now that my prescription has been filled in NY.  It makes me feel very sick, and I even threw up after taking it in Colorado. (I don’t throw up easily).  Since Sunday I have been very breathless.  Sometimes the smallest activity sends me to the couch for a few minutes to catch ...

My husband has a sense of humor.  Let me illustrate. I have my refrigerator pretty well organized.  Certain items go in the door, certain items in the drawer, and certain items never go on the top shelf (like leftovers).  Ben doesn’t think about this system when he is putting things away in the fridge.  In his thinking, everything goes on the top shelf.  You can dig for it the next time you need it. So I came home from my trip to Colorado and opened the refrigerator to this: Yes – everything in the refrigerator, except the milk and water (which wouldn’t fit) was on the top shelf.  Ben thought it would be funny, and he said he enjoyed throwing things in there wherever they would fit while I was out of town. Ha-ha.

perfected at Grandma’s house

One of the highlights of my trip was seeing Grandma & Grandpa ( my grandparents).  They are my mom’s parents, and they always lived close by.  I grew up with them always around – at every birthday, piano recital, and Christmas Eve.  I was looking forward to seeing them again, and letting them spend time with Elaine.  This trip I got to see them twice.  We had them over for dinner on Tuesday night, and we went out to lunch with them on Sunday afternoon.  Sharing a cookie with Great Grandpa Paul Great Grandpa & Grandma Paul When my brothers and I would leave for college, we usually had a last Sunday lunch at the buffet with Grandma & Grandpa.  Then we took pictures on the bench out front.  This year the bench was gone, but we added Elaine. Uncle Scott (my mom’s brother) joined us for lunch. Enjoying an ice cream cone…compliments of Grandpa Godby The hostess gave Elaine a balloon, and she couldn’t ...

My mom teaches Kindergarten Sunday School at Highlands Baptist Church.  She also leads the department opening for the primaries.  I used to teach 1st Grade, and then 2nd Grade in the same department.  Though there were only two kids that I knew, I decided to stay for the opening on Sunday.  I kept Elaine with me.  Trouble is, she didn’t want to sit with me.  She wanted to sit with the kids.  Can you see her sitting between those two tall girls? She did get a little fussy and we had to go out.  Then, when I was helping Mom teach a new song, Elaine took a seat in the back row.  During the song she got up and went over to a stack of extra chairs.  She worked diligently to pull a chair into the back row next to her.  As she returned to her original seat, I realized the purpose of the effort.  Bunny needed his own chair.  There was Elaine, with Bunny next to her.  It was cute. Elaine wore this dress to church…it was ...

Last Thursday we took an afternoon to visit the Denver Zoo.  I wasn’t sure how Elaine would do…would she notice the animals and be excited, or be bored?  The first was true, and she had a great time!  I haven’t been to the zoo in a long time.  The weather was perfect – warm but just cool enough to make the animals active.  I saw the hippo open his mouth wide and heard the lion roar…it was pretty neat! Wes had a short workday, so he met us at the zoo.  I think he likes being an uncle, and Elaine has taken to him well.  See?  She’s already copying him! When we entered the pachyderm house, the zoo keeper was just handing out snacks.  This 54 year old hippo, Bert, got two apples, but he had to open wide.  This is the best picture I could get, but it was pretty cool! Quote of the day, “The rhino lives a boring life.”  --Wesley Elaine loved standing on the fences, but I’m not sure she really understood or notic...

My mom has a whole bunch of toys that she has been saving for such a time as this – when her grandkids come to visit!  They include our favorite toys from when my brothers and I were kids.  I’ve been watching Elaine pull toys out of that box and discover the same fun that I remember having, and it brings back many memories!  I just can’t help but smile as I watch her enjoying the same toys that I played with as a child. Mom has the original Little People by Fisher Price – the house, the farm, the castle, and more.  Elaine loves putting those people in the car or the tractor and driving around.  She stuffs her hood or her purse with Little People and toddles around the house.  She fills the barn with accessories and then locks the doors and carries it with her. There is also this rocking chair that was not only used by me, Kenny, and Wes as kids, but it belonged to Mom as a little girl.  It needs repair, but Elaine doesn’t seem to mind.  Sh...

“Grandma, Uncle Wesley isn’t sharing his iPhone!”

I just wanted to post a little update about our travel and flight yesterday.  I appreciate those of you who offered advice and prayed for us.  We made our connection and our bags arrived just fine – what a blessing!  I woke Elaine up at 4:30 a.m. in order to make it to the airport on time.  She was amazingly cheerful at that time of the morning!  There were many kind people at the airport who helped me with my bags (I had the stroller too) and offered assistance. Elaine’s attitude changed drastically when we went through security.  She did not want her shoes removed.  She did not want her coat removed.  She did not want to relinquish Bunny.  She did not want to get out of the stroller.  Once we were through security and she had all of her accessories back, she was happy again. The first leg of our flight went well.  The flight was not full, and we had a whole row to ourselves.  The sun was just peeking up when we boarded ...

Here’s just a random post full of random details… Elaine loves to look out the window.  When I came in to get her out of bed yesterday (at the bright & early time of 11:30 am…she slept in late!) all she could do was point to the string for me to raise the blind.  Then she talked and pointed and watched everything on the streets below.  She would have been happy to never leave her crib! Sometime that morning she had apparently discovered her zipper and figured out how to work it.  This is how she looked when I came in to get her out of bed… Ben and I have been busy doing our taxes this week.  We had two states and the Federal taxes to file this year, and figuring out how to do the taxes for our home business.  Additionally, I had sales tax to file, so there were really four sets of taxes.  I feel a sense of accomplishment now that everything is done and filed.  I also feel a little surge of pride that we were able to do everything our...