No camera, no cute posts

My last posts have been few and far between. I have a reason. My camera broke. I was with the playgroup, at the zoo and I snapped this fun photo.

When I went to take another photo the camera was kaput. Many tries later, calls to camera stores, trips to find new batteries and sadness at spending money on a new camera when ours is barely two years old, Rob magically fixed the camera! We are back in the business of blogging.

Here's a pic of how excited I was when he came to tell me the camera was working again.

I am wearing clothes, it kind of looks like I'm not.

If you've noticed from the last few blogs, there were no pics. You can only blog so many times without cute pics of your kiddo before its not a fun blog anymore. I have rules.

I don't know if you remember my New Year's goals of 2010. Many of my goals are in the works (I have already read 10 books and my goal for the year was 20). Some have had to be shelved (losing 20 pounds had to go, hello BABY BUMP). One of my goals was to have a garden. My first intention for the garden was a few pots, maybe a bed about 5 feet by 5 feet. A teeny tiny little bed for a few cucumbers and maybe some red potatoes.

Then I realized green peppers are $1.39 a piece at Kroger. Then Rob mentioned wanting to try homemade salsa. Then I went shopping for plants and I realized I could plant cantaloupe and pumpkins. Its turned into a slightly bigger garden. I don't know EXACT dimensions, but if he were to lay down, I think it would be 3 Robs x 2 Robs.

We now have cucumbers, green and red peppers, green beans, cantaloupe, pumpkins, squash, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapeños, lettuce, red potatoes, rosemary, basil, and parsley. I also have marigolds and a citronella plant to keep bugs away and I have strawberries in a pot on my porch. I've planted more flowers this year than ever before and I hoed an area between my house and the neighbor's and we planted beautiful flowers there and enhanced our curb appeal at the same time. Now my pregnant booty is tired!

AND I have a super "good" garden helper. And by help I mean he will come up and hand you something you planted in the ground yesterday that he was nice enough to dig up. Or he will open his mouth and give you back all the petals off your flowers that he just put in his chomper. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Being near this much dirt brings this kid pure joy. He walks around picking up sticks (actually helpful) and talking to the yard, chasing the dogs, re-hiding his Easter eggs, and chatting with me. We are out in the sun and fresh air, burning calories-digging, hoeing, and planting. And we have had some of our best conversations to date.

Me: "Be gentle with the flowers."

Rylan: "do da dee, MOMEEEEEEEE, gugh, dat, puppy, nah, nah, nah, MOMEEEEE, MOMEEEE!"

I think his part means "don't tell me what to do, Mommy, bleep, bleep, bleep."

We are on two-a-day baths right now

Must share

I'm at the doctor's office yesterday (yes, dear Rylan has a bug that just won't quit) and a cute little granny strikes up conversation about our totally cute sickly offspring. Then she says she blames the pollen on their illness and another mom says "I hear that." Granny says, and I quote

"this Earth Day crap, they say plant a tree, I say CUT ONE DOWN."

I haven't stopped chuckling about this for 24 hours now.

What they don't tell you

Before he was born:

"You'll never know how much you can love till you have a kid." -true

"So much poop should not come out of something so small." -very true

"You won't sleep for the next 18 years." -true so far, but did I really sleep before Ry?

"The baby doesn't fit into your life, you switch your life to fit the baby's." -uh huh

"The best feeling in the world is holding a perfectly sleeping baby." yes yes yes

These are the things I was told before I became mama. You know what I wasn't told? I wasn't told that I'd be embarrassed to leave a restaurant and feel the need to leave a tip as big as my bill because there is more food on the floor than in Rylan's belly. I didn't know that every time he got sick a little part of my heart would break a little. I wasn't aware that a child of Rob Qualls has an adult size head, and when said head hits your nose, it hurts in a most vicious way. I didn't know that playgroups weren't all crazy mamas wanting to talk about episiotomies and their workout regimen, that there are really cool people there. I really wasn't told that 90% of the cleaning I do will immediately be undone by Ry-bear. I didn't know I'd get excited about the zoo, story time at the library, playtime at the park or walking through a pumpkin patch just to see the look at Rylan's face.

Seventeen months later:

I still am astounded at the amount of love I feel for one little human being. I'm also astounded at how cute a kid Rob and I can produce.

I still can't believe how much poop can come out of something that small.

I got up three times last night because the new baby in the belly needed to sit on my bladder and the older baby in the bed needed a blanket he'd kicked off. Will I still do that at 18?

We are most definitely learning (slow since he's 17 months) that Ry is our boss. We're hoping he hasn't figured out, but we are thinking the amount of noise he generated in church last Sunday, causing us to hightail it out of there is a pretty good clue that he is aware that he runs the show.

The best feeling in the world is still holding a sleeping, slobbering, 32 pound, 35 inch tall "baby" in my arms. Preferably when I'm in a seated position.

Lent, in retrospect

Well, as Lent started, I had already found out I was pregnant. In an attempt to do everything right this pregnancy (so that I won't blame preterm labor on myself) I immediately gave up coffee. For 3 years straight, coffee has been one of two Lenton sacrifices. The other one chocolate. Because I'd already sworn off coffee for the baby, I felt a need to fill in its place with some other sacrifice. But, I was pukey. And puny. And had sworn off quite a bit of food already. There really wasn't a food or drink that I could think of that I would be sad without.

So, I decided to DO something for Lent instead of give anything up. So, I (and I'm embarrassed to say this) too the shrink-wrap off my Bible and pledged to read it every night. And I did. And I'm glad I did. But, now Lent's over and I'm going over my Lenton season and I have some thoughts.

1. Not giving up something makes the end of Lent a tiny bit anticlimactic. Last year, I got up Easter morn and went to the kitchen and made coffee and put chocolate creamer in it. YUM!!!! Lent is over!!!!! Jesus is risen!!! And there is chocolate coffee!!! When you do only a good thing, there is no celebratory moment.

2. When you do something good, it feels wrong to stop doing it after Lent is over. Not that I dislike reading the Bible, but I got a little lax on it since Easter and I feel really bad about it. Maybe Lent taught me that reading the Bible should be something I do daily, Lent or no Lent. Well, my mom and dad, grandparents and 12 or so Sunday School teachers also taught me that.

3. I really miss coffee.

4. I should have still given up the chocolate. I ate way too much during Lent. The baby will be mostly chocolate.

5. Next year I'll sacrifice and do good. That way, I start a new good habit AND get to have my Easter morning celebration.

6. You know when you hear an awful story and you wish that person had maybe kept that part to themselves? That's how I feel about the Old Testament. Most of it. Like 75% of the part about Moses. I kind of wish they'd left out the taking over of towns and sacrificing Moses's son and all that and just kept the burning bush and 10 commandments and parting sea.

7. Its a good thing PETA wasn't around when the Bible came out. OOOOHHHH would there be DRAMA. They sacrificed more lambs, oxen, and bulls in the Bible, I'm suprised we even know what they are. And they were all pick about it, like a virgin lamb, or a male ox.

Easter 2010 Beware of super long post

Here are some pics from our recent trip to Hays, Kansas for Easter. I was born in Hays and lived there until I was 6. I don't have tons of memories from Kansas, but almost all of them are centered around the home of my grandparents, or to Rylan Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Gene. They are two of the most wonderful people in this entire world. Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela, and the Pope himself don't hold a candle to these two in my eyes.

Anyway, we headed out Thursday night and arrived Friday afternoon for 3 days of cousins, aunts, uncles and lots of food. My waistline is already expanding due to Shim II taking up residence there, but the Easter food helped it tenfold. Poor Rylan is teething again and this one is a real problem tooth, apparently. He was not himself for the first couple days. Sad tummy, didn't want to eat, lots of fit throwing. He was more himself by Sunday afternoon. Right in time for most of our relative to leave. Oh, well.

I'm sorry to my family that I have few pictures involving anyone but Rylan. I took hundreds, its just that we were borrowing a camera because ours broke and I didn't learn how to use it and the first 110 or so look like this:

Even blurry, you will notice that Rylan is in the center. He's kind of an attention hog.

Easter Eve dinner ended with a spectacular egg hunt (Rylan's 3rd). Once again,

Rylan got an egg in each hand and considered his job done. Such annoying parents

expected him to put them in his "basket" (wal-mart bag) and move on to more eggs.

Maybe there are some in the tree. Check out my abs.

No, Dad, I have my two and I'm good.

Trying to give Mary and Joseph an egg or two.

These are my precious, wonderful, lovely grandparents. Rylan

was so excited about sitting with them he's clapping.

Still clapping

Ry also got an Easter basket from Aunt Ruth. He chose to put it

around his head. Not necessarily normal.

And some animal crackers and goldfish, which turned into awesome car food the next day

AND....he got a Peter Cottontail book and yummies from Grammy

Thank you Aunt Ruth for my school bus!!!!

The calm before the storm during the LONG trip home

The dad gum Easter bunny had a basket sitting in the house for Ry when we got home! Apparently Easter Bunny's helper didn't remember the basket when she packed for the trip. She remembered 100 other useless things that we never used, so that's good.

A tamborine, water ball for our pool and more bubbles.

Every kid needs endless amounts of bubbles.