Baby

There are a few posts I wrote but never posted I can't figure out why because they are great. This is one if them. More to come!

32 weeks.....that means we are ONLY 5 weeks away from a full term baby (37 weeks) and 8 weeks away from our due date!!!  The time has flown.  Although this last part is always the part that drags on the longest.

It's funny to note the differences between this baby and Kylea.  Kylea was in constant motion.  The doctor would ask me what time of day she kicked most and I honestly couldn't say, she kicked ALL. THE. TIME.  It was the same after she was born.  She wore her infant mittens out and was swaddled for most of the first 3 months of her life (and during naps up until she was 8 months!)  She was just so active!  She was like a tiny tazmanian devil and the swaddle helped tame her flailing limbs enough to keep her happy.

This baby however definitely has a time of day she's most active.  She wakes up in the evening hours and occasionally pokes and nudges me.  They're much gentler than the karate attacks from Kylea.

My belly is riding lower so it looks much more like the traditional baby bump, I like it.  I actually kind of feel cute, other than the times that I try and roll over in bed. Then I feel like a cross between a whale and a cheetah.  The whale describes the feeling of laying there with a watermellon sized tummy when suddenly, oh no my hip hurts I should probably switch sides.  Now comes the cheetah....grunt, thrash,  rearrange pillows, attempt sleep....oh no, I have to get up to pee, rearrange pillows again, attempt sleep, heartburn, grunt, thrash, strain for bottle of Tums next to bed, noisily crunch 2 Tums down, attempt sleep, repeat all through the night.  I do feel bad for Kevin, but he really doesn't seem to notice and I secretly feel like this is my vengeance for his snoring....shhhhh!  I mean, what? he doesn't snore! (....yes he does)

You get the idea.  It's not pretty.

It's just amazing how I feel like I can sense her personality already.  I'm getting very excited to meet this little one.  What does she look like?  What is her personality?  What unique qualities will she bring to our family?

We'll know soon enough!  The clock is ticking 8,7,6...

Kylea Lately

Life with Kylea Lately:

Is a musical.  She musically narrates everything we do.  Today during breakfast she danced around my legs singing, "Mommy make da eggy! Foodies, foodies for Ky-ky!" over and over again.  

Is adventurous.  She's curious and quick to learn and repeat anything she sees or hears. "What that?!"  is a common question around here.

Is proper.....sort of.  She's very polite, whenever she toots she quickly follows it with a gasp and says, "Sorry, poo-poo!"  I have no idea where she got that from.  It's a Kylea original!

Is filled with preschool shows.  We watch Dora, Diego, WonderPets and Sesame street.  My favorite is her impression of Swiper the Fox from Dora. She swings her arm just like Swiper and declares, "Ohhhh man!" whenever things don't go her way.

Is a dance party.  She LOVES to dance and whenever a chance arrives she excitedly shouts, "Shake your booty!"  and grabs our hands to have us join her in dance party.  Dance parties aren't resevered for just times when we play music.  They occur during musical selections of any tv show, movie or commercial, department store, convenience store.... anywhere!

Is full of love.  She gives great hugs and kisses and is becoming very clear who she is attached to.  Tekoa has had to visit the vet a few times the last couple months because of an injured paw, every time we had to wait while he went back to the exam room her little eyes filled with tears, her lip quivers and she heartbrokenly cries out for her,  "woo-woo"  It's such a heartbreaking performance she won a "backstage pass" to the medical room in the veterinary office, where she got to meet the vet's personal dog, and all the vet techs and observe Tekoa's procedure, a very special privilege indeed.

Is a fashion show.  She only leaves the house in what SHE thinks is most fashionable.  Today's ensemble was a tutu worn over her regular clothes, her fancy church coat and pink cowboy boots.  Who can deny her when she declares herself to be a "beautiful princess!"

She adores strawberries and single handedly polished off an entire box of them in just a couple short days.  She very politely requests, "strawbs pwease" for every snack and meal whenever they are in the house.

Is chatty.  She LOVES to have good conversations and eats up moments when I sit on her level and stare directly into her face she excitedly chatters about horses and dragons and princesses and monkeys and babies and all her favorite things.

Is empathetic.  She is always the first little kid in play group to ask, "you ok?!"  When someone falls over or begins to cry.

Is cold-a-phobic.  She must be my daughter or something.....she does NOT like to be cold.  She loves the idea of snow and begs to go play, but the second she starts to feel a little cold she howls and whimpers until we retreat back indoors and warm her up.  This generally takes only minutes before it occurs.  She fought me at the beginning of winter every time I asked her to put on a coat now she quickly complies all the while saying, "brrrr, cold!"

Is a water game.  Every shower that is started in this house inevitably is joined by a certain water-loving two year old.  She can get nakey in a flash, it's kind of amazing actually. 

Is one giant game of tag.  Kylea LOVES to get a good game of tag going.  She will bait one parent into chasing her, then run to the arms of the other parent laughing and giggling the whole way.

In a word, life with Kylea lately is a 

Joy.

We are so lucky she's ours.

Resolve: Rejoice in Simplicity

Have you ever sat and watched the sun set?

http://shareyourwallpapers.com/nature/sunset/show/24306/

I have. 

One of the best summers of my life, I spent in Phoenix, doing one of the worst jobs I have ever had.  The best part was every evening at sunset I would take a break sit on the curb and drink in nature’s beauty.

Have you ever sat under a starry sky?

http://ihaveavoicetoo.com/127-the-night-sky/

I have.  

On warm summer nights, my brothers and I would grab our sleeping bags and sleep under the starry sky.  We woke the next morning to the warm summer morning sun in our faces.

Have you sat on a quiet beach near the ocean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pacific_Ocean_At_Acapulco_1.jpg

I have.  

I can vividly remember sitting on a log near the waves of the Pacific, as a 17 year breathing the salty fresh air and feeling the cool spray of the ocean on my face, digging my toes into the cold sand and being wonderfully present in the moment.

Have you looked into the eyes of your true love? Did you know that your love would last for eternity?

I have. 

It's unparalleled

Have you ever experienced this moment?

I have. 

I’ve seen an angel.  Held her in my arms.  We went from a couple, to a family.  There is real magic in this memory.

Have you felt a little life kick around in your belly and marveled at your divine capacity to nurture human life?

I have. 

I love that Heavenly Father has given me the chance to do it twice.  What a blessing!

Why am I rehashing all these moments in yet another overly sappy blog post?  All these magical moments have something in common…

Simplicity.

None of these gems cost a penny. Oscar Wilde once said, 

“Simplicity is beauty and beauty is simplicity, nothing more and nothings less.”

I’ve been living out this “trial” of our finances for the last couple of years, waiting for the day when education and preparation pay off.  All the while, I have forgotten to take joy in the simplicity of my life the way it is right NOW. 

It doesn’t take a penny to put on music and dance around like rock-stars.  I will cherish that memory more than 1,000 trips to Disneyland.  It’s simplistic beauty, the blossoming of family love and little personality.

There really is true beauty in simplicity.  Being “poor” just gives us an opportunity to revel in that simplicity.  We get to explore the depths of our creativity and we get to marvel at EVERYTHING the world has to offer.

I recently stumbled across a blog (http://andthenwesaved.com/about-the-spending-fast/) where the author decided to go on a "spending fast" so she could pay off debt.  She eliminated ALL spending that wasn't essential to her survival (including make-up....brave gal!) She eliminated all of her debt in 15 months while making only $33,000 a year.

We’re already on somewhat of a spending fast, so that I can stay at home with our little girl.  But it felt involuntary, we felt sorry for ourselves every time we had to say, “sorry, we can’t afford it.”  And to be totally honest, we haven’t been great at saying “No.”  And we have a LONG list of "wants' we jokingly refer to as "the list".

Guess what?  I’m DONE feeling sorry for us, it’s miserable.  I resolve this year to live more simply, to want less and be happier. 

How will we do this? We aren’t going to eat out more than a handful of times.  We’re not traveling even though we could probably scrap up the money to do so.  The money can be put to better use. And we'll designate a purpose for all the dollars that come into our bank account.  If a "want" arises that can't be covered by our budget we'll just say matter of factly (without feeling sorry for ourselves) there is no money for that, what should we do instead?

By the end, I hope to have shaken that monkey (called student debt) off our back and gathered hundreds of memories of starry nights, vivid sunsets, little giggles, rock-star performances, $30 Christmases, handmade gifts and all sorts of treasures of the like. 

If by this time next year we aren’t making any more money than we are today, I hope that I have perfected the art of simplicity to a point where i'm not bothered by that fact.

“I have just 3 things to teach: 

-simplicity, 

-patience, 

-compassion.  

These three are your greatest treasures.” 

– Lao Tzu

By the end of this, I hope to have cultivated all 3 of Lao Tzu's treasures.  And cultivate them with grace, not while kicking and screaming. I’m really looking forward to 2013!