Summer starts

Yesterday was the last day for public schools in our area and public pools open today, so summer is officially underway. Penny celebrated with our next door neighbors, who happen to have thw full array of aquatic fun installed at their house.


We got home from work last night and in the short span from then til bedtime, Penny enjoyed dashing through the sprinkler, swimming (briefly) in the pool and chomping on her first icee pop. What's more definitively summer than that? I was excited that she finally agreed to wear the swimsuit I impulsively purchased back in March when we stayed at a hotel with a pool and I really wanted to use it. Unfortunately, I don't know that the suit I got myself on that trip will get to see any use any time soon. I tried to buy something that might look good around now, but I don't know, pregnancy and swimsuits don't totally go together in my book. Maybe I'll be bold and try it out. We'll see.

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Picnic in the park

We had yet another fun weekend with extended family on Sunday. This week, we celebrated an adult cousin's birthday by heading out for a picnic after church. Though originally scheduled as a NJ picnic, we took about two hours to prep and folks weren't up for another one hour drive before we opened our no longer steamy vats of fried chicken, biscuits and other goodies. So we took the opportunity to visit one of our local natural playgrounds, Wolfe's Pond city park. The threat of storms any minute kept the table competition minimal and we thoroughly enjoyed quite the banquet.

After our meal, the boys (including our guest of honor) enjoyed passing around a football, kickball and a couple of frisbees. It was kind of fum keeping so many projectiles in the air simultaneously. Aim was such that everyone got a solid running workout from the afternoon. Even my mother-in-law got in on the frisbee action at some point.

Penny was beside herself to see a real frisbee in action. Previously, she had only seen the on the Wii Sports Resort game as a little disk you throw to a puppy to catch. Whenever she managed to snag the frisbee, she would toss it to me, tell me to pick it up in my mouth and return it to her. Sometimes I'd be the retriever, other times I tossed it to her and she returned it to me via her mouth. The evil and infectious laughter was too cute. At one point, Daddy threw it to her from across the field. It was an excellent shot from a fair distance and I keep wondering whether she planned to try catching it in her mouth like the puppies on the game do. Regardless of her plan, the frisbee made its way inexorably toward her head until it came to a jolting halt on the bridge of her nose. Thankfully we were outside, otherwise the collective gasp of shock would have sucked all the air out of the room. And she needed all the air she could get for that first ear-shattering wail. She pinned her hands to her nose so tight I couldn't properly assess the damage. Dr. Dad crossed the field in a heartbeat, but was no more successful than I, so I set him to work on a teeny little ice pack back at the cooler. The novelty of the ice pack was almost as effective as the numbness it was intended to induce, because Penny stopped crying as soon as it touched her nose. She looks a little stunned in this picture, but I think that's more lack of nap than injury related because it was taken an hour or more after the incident.


Penny did recover completely. It was actually somewhat fortuitous because previously she had been so excited to play that she skipped eating. Her recovery period was spent catching up on lunch/dinner. Later, she rejoined the frisbee game, though everyone threw well away from her or tried to convince her to go to the playground. So there is no permanent frisbee-phobia affiliated with the event. Dan, I think, continues to feel pretty bad as there's a respectable visual reminder and it causes flashbacks to a certain previous frisbee victim. I tried to joke with him that he was just helping her have my nose (somewhat off-center due to a sporting accident of my own in my youth).

In other news, our 17 week checkup went lovely. A certain little someone enjoys squiggling away from the doppler, so it took a while to get a heart rate reading. She's doing well so far, though. I think Dan officially agreed that he didn't want to find out in advance, which is a nice relief because I wasn't sure logistically how I could maintain ignorance if he knew. It just seemed like it would have slipped out at some point. It's hard to verbalize why I don't want to know, but based on Dan's description of his reasoning, we're pretty much on the same page.

I was a little weepy at the appointment because it was the first time I've talked with the doctor about the delivery room. Even when I was pregnant with Augustine, the thought of delivering the standard US way was very stressful for me. I just hate the idea of being confined to a bed for hours on end when I could be doing useful things to help the process along and make it easier on myself and the baby. I don't understand why I have to go to a crunchy granola place to get what I want instead of a hospital, where they are better equipped to handle complications. Dan was reading one hospital's description of their midwife services aloud and just interrupted himself with a "...let's see if they can mention "low risk pregnancies one more time." I don't relish diving into the search for the right delivery location/care provider all over again. Plus, my current doctor was awesome about listening to me and recognizing what I was actually asking for. He didn't call me a nut (like my previous nyc midwife did), tell me it was absolutely inadvisable, just that hospital restrictions would make it tough for me to find. He recommended some good places to start the search. I like him a lot, so it seems a shame to ditch him. I really want someone whom I know at my delivery, though, and as THE guy who handles high risk deliveries, there's just no way to guarantee that. We'll see how the search goes and he will stick with me until we find what makes the most sense.

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Birthday Extravaganza

Through a bit of a scheduling snafu, this weekend was jam-packed with family birthday fun. Even though it was a little hectic, each party had its own perks and Penny thoroughly enjoyed herself. After church we walked with birthday boy Christopher to his grandma's house for a little lunch and yummy cupcakes. Penny was very excited for Christopher, even going so far as to insert HIS name into her usual rendition of the birthday song (ok, maybe only for one verse, with the rest of the verses being "Happy birthday to Penny" still). She let him open his own presents and only tried to walk off with the balloon once. Not too bad for someone who's convinced her birthday is every week.

From there, we headed to New Jersey for cousin Aneesa's tea party. Her birthday had been spent at our house sick in bed with a nasty fever while her parents were in Paris, so this was definitely a nice makeup for that. The first exciting surprise was when Cinderella emerged from the house and greeted all the guests in the backyard. Cinderella is Penny's absolute favorite Disney character. She often sings the songs from the movie and dresses up in her beautiful dress just to dance around the living room. It was a little intimidating meeting such a big hero, though, so it took her a while to introduce herself. When Cinderella pulled out a rack of fancy dresses for everyone to wear to their princess practice, Penny declined. She was already wearing what she calls her "Cee-erella dress." She happily joined in on the dancing, procured a tiara, and even sat in for some Disney trivia.

After a quick dinner of cookies and nachos, Penny helped out with finishing off the pinata. Her uncle was so impressed with her burgeoning swing, that he gave her the bat to take home. As you can see in the video, I have reason to be a bit hesitant - I don't think her swing needs to be any stronger when it is too easily directed at parents. I'm leaning toward making this an outdoor toy.


Sort of a fun add on for the weekend was a little friend I happened to introduce Penny to on Monday. There was a lovely cicada sitting on the clothesline and I brought it into the house for Penny to see. She was very polite and offered it something to eat. I told her the cicada likes to eat trees, so she invited it to sit on Daddy's tree, then got the tree some water to drink. I love how friendly she is with the bugs I introduce her to. She has been reluctant to let them walk on her, but she pets them on occasion and usually talks to them very nicely. She's so cute sometimes.

Memorial Day

We had a really fun Memorial Day. Penny and I caravaned with cousins down to scenic Camden, NJ to visit with another cousin. We enjoyed a lovely BBQ and view into the woods, without having to be stuck out in the sticky hot outside. Food was tasty and we didn't have to worry about how long it had been sitting in the sun. It's a little outrageous what one pays for corn on the cob this time of year (or perhaps I'm spoiled as a midwesterner), but it was nice and tasty.

The best part of the trip was watching Penny and Christopher play, though. A bit of a constant battle to get them to share, but they were pretty good with each other. Penny grabbed a feathered stick that the cat wasn't using and led a parade around the apartment, waving her feathery baton as she went. This also doubled as a starter flag when she and Christopher did a little footracing later in the afternoon.

The kitten didn't mind the temporary loss of a toy as she was the actual center of attention for the day. Everyone in the house took turns snuggling her, teasing her with the laser, or otherwise getting her to be cute and kitten-y. I was very proud of Penny. She would seek out little bell balls or a mouse, approach Meeka slowly and gently place the toy in front of her, then back off an inch and crouch to watch her play. She wasn't chasing her down or picking her up, just patiently sharing toys and reveling in the cuteness that ensued. I would like to get her a pet because I think she would be pretty reasonable with one, but we're taking one thing at a time. First, make sure we can take care of two kids, then move to a place that allows pets, THEN maybe we can contemplate more additions to the family. I look forward to it, though, I do actually like having pets, just not fond of being the sole person responsible for their care when there are lots of people in the house.

We stayed until late in the evening and the ride home was a little rough just because Penny was so exhausted and it's hard to address her needs with no one else in the car. We managed, though, and she seems to be recovering ok from the lack of sleep. I fear it's not helping her get over her cold, though. Maybe if she didn't fight going to sleep so much ;) I'm sure she'll be rid of her cough soon.

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