I'm a Big Cousin!

Up until a few days ago I was the youngest of five cousins. Now I have a baby cousin! I'm a big boy. I can teach my new cousin lots of stuff about being a boy.

My new computer

We both have new computers! Baby's is bilingual, though, so a little more unique than mine. He really loves to open and close it.

This little story has nothing to do with computers, but it is a heartbreaking little story about a boy and a girl. We took Baby to our church's Friday Fun Spot tonight (one Friday a month for $2 childcare) and put him down on the floor. There was a little girl in an exersaucer and Baby pulled up to stand on it and was watching the little girl. Well apparently he looked menacing because she burst into tears. Then he started to cry and looked so forlorn that I started to cry. It was heartwrenching. I thought my baby's feelings were hurt because he was trying to make a friend and she cried. That just breaks my heart. Watch, the two of them will grow up, fall in love, and get married, and I can tell the story about how the three of us cried in the Friday Night "Fun" Spot the first time they met.

Dedication

Our sweet baby was dedicated to the Lord today. That means that we pledged to God that we would pray for Erik and raise him in a Christian home so that when he is old enough he can decide for himself to ask Jesus Christ into his heart as his Lord and Savior.

Mr. Baby was sick with some sort of virus this weekend, so he was a little subdued, but he was an angel. He kicked his legs as Randy held him during the dedication and he grabbed our pastor's tie and microphone as Dr. Bowman held him for the prayer. It was a beautiful ceremony and we feel so blessed to be this kiddo's parents. Praise God!

Tee hee - Paris Hilton is funny.

This girl, I'm telling you, she's enthusiastic.

I admit I am a People Magazine junkie. Well, I don't subsctibe, but I do buy the mag when I travel and check the online site.

Recently Paris Hilton said that Nicole Richie would be "the best mom ever." I thought, huh? Ever? LIke better than any mom that ever was? I knew it was an exaggeration, but it struck me as being very silly. So today I went back to ol' people.com and saw that Ms. Hilton is taking acting classes because, "I'm going to make sure I do the best job ever." Really? Like even a better job than Nicole Richie will do as a mom? How are both these things possible at the same time?

Cute Paris, thanks for the laugh. I was feeling stressed this evening but now I'm just so glad to be me.

Person-first language

I'm into language. It "bug's" me when people misplace "apohstrophe's" when the point is to pluralize the word.(Apostrophes imply posession, otherwise just add the s, man.) I cringe when I hear preposition problems like "Where did you get that at." (Where implies direction/location, you don't need to add the prep.) But the worst of all (yes, I know, don't start a sentence with the words and/but/or, although they can get you very far. (Oh yes, and 'or' and 'far' don't rhyme)), is the lack of person-first language, especially on professional documents.

I was over at Christine's and she posted about a CDC report about the prevalence of autism. You can visit almost-Kansas for that report, because I'm just going to address the lack of person-first language.

"A person with autism," is much better language than "an autistic person." The latter implies that autism is the most salient and important descriptor for that person. A person with autism has much, much more in common with anyone else in the world than he has differences. He was conceived in the same way, he was born, he is a human being with thoughts and feelings, etc. An adult with Down Syndrome has DS. She is not a "Downs adult." It kills me when I hear about a "Downs baby." What is that?

Anyway, just think about this. Mull, stew, ponder, you get the drill. Autism, just for example, means many things. Some people with autism don't communicate verbally, some are articulate. Some people with Down Syndrome get married, some live with their parents. Probably some get married and live with their parents. People without Down Syndrome do that, right? No diff.

We can celebrate our differences without letting them define us. We're all human beings created by God, and what connects us is much bigger than the things that separate us.

Now watch those apostrophes, people, or I'll come after you. Knock, knock - grammar police...

We're helmet-free!

Yesterday we graduated from the cranial reshaping helmet. I was so happy. It really hasn't been a big deal since the first few weeks when it seemed like he'd be in the helmet forever, but it is SO nice to snuggle this guy's bare head. He's gotten a lot of kisses and nuzzles today. Here is a picture of the day he got his helmet off.


We also had a lot of tears today from bonking our head on chairs, the floor, the dresser, etc. I found Baby several times lying on his back crying like he'd lost his best friend. That helmet sure did protect this acive guy's head.

We're really happy with the results. Someone who didn't know that he'd had such bad plagiocephaly/braciocephaly wouldn't be able to tell me looking at him. (Especially wince most people have not idea what those words are.) I'll publish before and after pics soon, but the "before" pictures are on a different computer.

Thanks, Hailey, Dr. Bud and Hanger Orthotics!

Travel adventures.

For the weekend we went to visit my inlaws in the Fort Worth area - a four-hour drive from where we are (another hyphenated word - enough, already). On Thursday night we had dinner at some friends' house and had Baby Man out in the evening, which we try not to do often, but we had fun and he did great.

The next day we hopped in the car - you know, after about one hour of figuring out what to pack for the baby - and set off at his naptime. He did great on the trip up, with a stop at Wendy's on the way for some Cheerios and junk food for us (hey, I had a salad, give me a break).

Without going into all the details, traveling with a 10-month-old baby isn't easy. He did some car naps, extra visiting, slept in a new place, woke up to unfamiliar surroundings, missed his kitties and his toys, woke up in the middle of the night, etc. He probably sat in the car for 9 hours in three days, which isn't fun for anybody. As far as babies go he did great, but it is SO nice to be home.

On our car ride home yesterday we talked about all the things we were going to do today on Labor Day. Now that we're home I just want to sit around, surf, blog, and watch TV. I did make some rather yummy gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. Maybe that will be my task for the day.

Stray Cat Strut

This morning I awakened to a loud BANG! and some very strange meowing. A skinny, scary looking grey tabby had jumped our 8 foot tall wood fence/wall and was in our atrium. Chez was hissing at him with her bottle-brush tail as full as the dawn, and the banging was the skinny cat trying to jump back over the wall. He made it, too, which shows superfeline strength, in my opinion. That is a tall fence!

So all morning the cats have been going berserk. I think they are trying to get to all the food before "that other cat" does. I'm glad it wasn't our male cat out there fighting, because the last thing we need is another makeshift litterbox. The planters out there are quite fertilized already.

I have used so many compound words in this post I don't know what should be hyphenated, one word, or are words I'm making up.

I see a shadow out there...please, please I don't want another cat. Don't make me fall for this skinny dude. I won't.

Pregnancy update and a picture at the end.

It's hard to believe I'm now over 30 weeks pregnant. Over the past few days it's like this baby is a contortionist. There is some body part yet to be determined that keeps roving all over the place. Its favorite places are behind my bellybutton, up in my ribcage, or way the heck over to my right side. What is it? I assume it's a foot, but who do I look like, the Bionic Woman? I can't see through my own abdomen. (Nor can I really see much below it, if you must know.)

I haven't written much about pregnancy on this blog, if you haven't noticed. It's a precarious position to be pregnant after infertility and adoption. (Go see Thelma for a really great post about romanticising motherhood.) In a way I think I've tried to minimize the miracle of this pregnancy for fear that I would make adoption seem like less of a miracle or hurt my dear friends who are struggling with infertility. In turn I haven't posted as much recently because the main thing going on in my life right now is children. During the day I care for a 10-month-old alternating with napping to care for myself and a feetoos (I know a fetus is a baby, but I like to say "feetoos." Say it - it's fun.).

At my last appointment I was a little over 28 weeks pregnant and by ultrasound the baby measured 3 lbs. 2 oz., and I can't remember how tall. Tall, I think. I passed my gestational diabetes test, which is great because I'm into ice cream and chocolate these days, on top of my milk cravings and fruity tastes. I've gained 20 pounds, which is on track for normal, and aside from a stomach-emptying hurling festival a few nights ago, I've felt really good.

The thing is, I'm not getting any smaller. It took me a long time to "show" because of my height and broad shoulders, but now there's no hiding. Now I'm thinking that 10 more weeks give me a lot of time to become gianormous. If I gain another pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy I'll be pushing 200 pounds at the end.

It's amazing how much 20 extra pounds will hurt your feet. I bought this fabulously expensive and not exactly glamorous pair of Birkenstocks to help with that, and I cannot say enough about Birkenstocks at this point. I put them on the minute I wake up and wear them all day long - around the house, at the store, and everywhere but 'cept the shower.

I think this picture is me at 28 weeks pregnant. We forgot to take one this week, but maybe we don't need to every single week. Here's the baby boy or girl that will double the size of our family in just one year. Yowzah.