Rob's delicate flower

"My delicate flower"

That's what Rob calls me. Not because I'm like a beautiful petunia that you want to not touch for fear of hurting it. Because its the opposite of me. Because I have diarrhea of the mouth. I open and crap flies out. The previous sentence is an example of my delicate flowerness.

I have been known to call myself a fat a$$ at a CHURCH. I have told embarrassing gross GI nurse stories at a dinner table, while people are still eating. One time, I got the movies Monsters Ball (starring Billy Bob Thorton and Halle Berry) mixed up with the animated child friendly movie Monsters Inc. I then proceeded to warn someone that said they were going to show Monster's Inc to their kids that "I heard there was some nasty Billy Bob Thorton porn in that movie." I have no cork. I have no bubble that I can take back, like they can in cartoons. I have very little filter.

So, this is why, when my poor, helpless, unborn 20 week fetus was named a boy I said we saw his "cash and prizes." I HATE names for genitalia. Not that I try to infuse them in everyday life, but especially kid genitalia. UGH wee wee? GROSS! Pecker? Not even cool. Little thing? That just sounds WRONG.

Here are some other funny and useful choices that don't give me the creeps, but make me the delicate flower that I am. I'll do a Mad Lib.

On the baby's ultrasound we saw his ___________ (noun).

1. Cash and prizes

2. Frank and beans

3. Shmekel.

Sorry baby. God decided, you get me and all my glory. At least you have your dad to help.

Shim's parts have seen the light, or at least the camera

ITS A BOY!!! ITS A BOY!!!! ITS A BOY!!!!!!

RYLAN HAS A BROTHER!!!

WE HAVE ANOTHER SON!!!!

SHIM IS A HIM!!!!

ROB WILL FINALLY DISCUSS BABY NAMES WITH ME!!!!

So much to celebrate. So much, that I need to write in baby boy blue. Everyone, minus my sister and my friend Robyn, SWORE I was having a girl. They felt girl, they thought girl, they dreamed girl. And really, their chances were 50%, so I'll give them that. But, I have felt, from the day I peed on that stick that we were having another boy. Even when I got the pukes WAY more than last pregnancy. Even though I'm carrying this baby down by my thighs versus under my boobs in my last pregnancy. I just felt BOY.

Both pregnancies, I haven't hoped for either sex, just for healthy babies. I never wanted to hope for something and then get let down. Its still a cute, cuddly, gooing baby boy or girl. I sent out a mass text saying it was a boy and got no less than 5 back saying "awwww, at least you can reuse all your stuff." So I felt the need to send another text that said "I'm excited about my boy!!!!" I truly am. With them being less than 2 years apart, its great to have two boys. And quite frankly, I've done the boy thing, I think I'm doing okay at it, and I've totally enjoyed it, let's do it again!!!

And there's always been this little part of me that knows that deep down, I always wanted a BABY girl, but not a pre-adolescent or teenage girl. There is a little thing called karma, and I don't want to get into details, but I was a hormonal, eye rolling, "MOM, ugh", teen girl that infused the words "like" and "whatever (cue eyeroll) into every sentence. When you hear you are having a girl, you think this:

Yes, cute little clothes, bows, dresses, purses, ruffles, tights, Mary Janes, rompers, fun fun fun. Then there's this little part of me that would think about this possiblitity:

You can tell she just told her mom to shove it. I think we were meant to have boys. So, forget about bows and Mary Janes. Bring on the dirt, sticks, and soccer cleats. I'm ready.

And to finish, I must include the first offspring of Sara and Rob Qualls. Here he is dancing to Ring On It by the Chipmunks.

Too bad he's not a very happy kid

On a side note: Did you notice the new blog name???? We made it to 19 weeks, Shim II! In 8 long days, we'll know whether me and Lola Dog are the odd (wo)men out or if chicks will rule the roost.

Not everyone's typical Mother's Day

So, for Mother's Day weekend, we went to Fayetteville for a Crawfish Boil. Its kind of a yearly tradition for my sister and her brother-in-law in celebration of their birthdays. And its fun. I adopted Angie's in-laws years ago as super cool people to know, and when I met Rob, he gladly adopted them as well. They live in the boondocks, like you have to cross a creek in your car to get there (poor little Honda) and there are chickens and cows, pigs and a flamingo? It was fabulous weather for sitting outside all day and partaking in an hourly dumping of crawfish, corn, potatoes and garlic all boiled together in perfect harmony with cajun spices.

Action shot

Ry checking out the wildlife

A rare moment of letting Grammy rock him

Trying out out the trampoline

I think it might have been the best day of his life

The next morning, Angie hosted a brunch with fabulous Amish casserole and other yummies and we gave our Mama/Grammy a Sephora gift certificate. Sephora gift certificates are the best present. Always a crowd pleaser.

Another action shot, this one of Anthony's blocks doing a tumble

A side note: my pregnant self wasn't entirely up for mounds of crawfish, I had a couple, but mostly corn and garlic smeared on a cracker. The past two Crawfish boils I've made it to I've been pregnant. I promise to stay fetus free for the next one so that I can really do a Crawfish Boil right.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all.

-Thank you mama for giving birth to me and not killing me for being a super sassy, chatty, bookworm, bad at housekeeping, good at cooking teenager!

-Thank you Sandy for giving birth to Rob. I like him and so does Rylan. He's pretty swell in our opinion.

-Thank you Rylan for making me a mama. You are the best thing that I've ever done and I love, love, love, you!!!! Thank you for reminding me that Mr. Potato Head is totally cool. Thank you for laughing at anything from my hair wrapped in a towel to my mad dancing skills. You are sweet and cuddly, good natured and chatty, you love being outside and picking up sticks, you love dogs and other kids. You are PERFECT!

-Thank you Shim II (wish I didn't have to call you that, but we don't know if you are a pink or blue yet, so you have no name). Thank you for letting us know we were ready for another baby. If it weren't for your deciding for us, we might never have decided to give Rylan a sibling!!! Thank you for being you and your little grapefruit sized self. I'm sorry I keep pushing on you and going "are you a girl or boy?"

And here is a few pics that would make even the hardest

woman want to be a mama.

Sorry about the nudity, Rylan.

18ish weeks and steady

I haven't talked much about the new addition. Shim II. THE BABY. I guess this is why I didn't start a blog until after I had Rylan. I really did set this blog up at the beginning of my second trimester with Rylan, but everytime I typed anything, I became sure that no one wanted to hear about it. Do you want to know about belly size, cravings, pukes, and such? Maybe you do. Maybe you don't.

Well since this blog is for us as much as for others to read, I've decided to quit my overthinking and just blog. So here you go. This little turnip (the current size of Shim II) has been roasting for almost 18 weeks. My pukes and puniness are a think of the past. I have crept back up to my starting weight (morning sickness, all day sickness, and a nasty stomach flu had me 7 pounds down at one point) and sprouted a baby belly.

Now, my stomach was, um, REALLY stretched out after my first pregnancy. Seven weeks of contracting and pulling the skin as tight as possible will do that to a belly. So, I can't say that I had washboard abs, by any means. But, after some postpartum pilates and other exercise, my stomach kind of returned to its original shape, sort of. Well, let me tell you, the minute said stomach got the message that baby 2 was inside, it was like "YES!!!!! I've been sucked in for 17 months TOO LONG." I think I actually heard a "blah" noise as all the stretchiness returned and my stomach pooched out, ready for another 8 pound baby. I've tried to tell it that it could have waited, that the 8 pounder won't be needing that much space for a while, but my nice stomach was so excited, it plopped right out extra early. At least now it looks pregnant, not like I let myself have the All You Can Eat Pasta every night in March.

May I just add that this baby is off chicken as well! What is that? I'm also off my love for Mexican that has lasted, um, 30 years. I'd still eat if we were at a Mexican restaurant, but for the first time in my life, I'd pick any other food over Mexican. And here's some pregnant cravings for you pickled okra and hot and sour soup, not together. Seriously, I had pickled okra for the first time at a salad bar 3 weeks ago and haven't stopped talking about it since. I finally found it at Wal Mart. And I could eat hot and sour soup any day. But, those packets from Kroger Asian section don't do the trick, I tried. BLAH. Must be from Hunan. Or Fantastic China. Or New Fun Re. Or the China Buffet in East End. I could go on.

Here is my 18 week preggo belly. You won't be seeing a bare preggo belly from me. My belly hasn't been shown to the public since I was, oh, nine. Right now isn't the best time for its re-debut.

Rylan and I have a good life. On a good week, we clock about four walks, we babysit a super cute 6 month old, and we go on two or three playdates anywhere from playgrounds to the zoo to story time. I looked around one day as we sat at Barnes and Noble, Rylan playing on the Thomas the Train table and me with me decaf Caramel Macchioto (probably not correct spelling), talking to other moms, and I thought "I'd be on hour 5 or Gi-Lab grossness right now."

Before I stayed home with Rylan full time, I stayed home twice a week and Rylan and I sort of wondered what to do with ourselves. Granted he was a lot smaller then, but I tried taking him to Gymboree classes (super expensive and I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt like all the other moms) and we went to the park alone a few times. I'm very happy that we've discovered the stay at home mom oasis that we have. People told me that we'd be bored, I'm like "we never slow down!"

We did get a little crazy last week, when Rylan was struck down by The Springtime Virus Infestation. Rylan had a little virus, nothing major, he's had a few colds in the last months. Slight fever, slight oozing from nose. No biggee. Then the wheezing started. We went to the doctor and got some steroids for the little man. In his computer he showed that Rylan had to have steroids exactly one year before ( a mystery April virus affecting the wheezy types). So he got a little better for few days, then he got worse again, more sadness, more oozing, more fever. So, little man had the Sprintime Virus turned Springtime Infection for a week. Rylan and I (aka Mover and Shaker) were in the house from Sunday to Saturday minus doctors offices and quick trip to Kroger. C-R-A-Z-Y

Let me give you a little Rob background. Rob drives 40 miles to work and 40 miles home from work every day. And works 8-10 hours in between the drive. He comes home and helps me do the dishes and even gives me a night to myself each week. So, on weekends where we don't go out of town, Rob wants to stay in the house. He's been out of it and running all week. I understand, I do. Its just that on this particular day, Rylan had a few hours of feel-goodness and we dragged Dear Ole Dad with us to show him one of our Stay at Home discoveries. A little piece of heaven right here in Little Rock we call The Wonder Place. Its Wonderful.

Cool drum thing

Playing dress-up, please note colorful pregnancy top

Rylan sized slide, we couldn't get a pic of the large slide, because I literally think they Clark Griswald greased it, he flew off that thing and landed halfway across the room

Blue sand is kind of like the first birthday cake to a kid, he kept looking at me like "I shouldn't be doing this, why aren't you upset, its blue, its dirt-like and some is even going on the floor. Its freaking me out that you are not telling me no."

And the dressup and play baker didn't work out because Mr.