Poppy seed

I was reading about Baby Wernet version 3.0 today. He or she is a tiny ball of cells the size of a poppy seed. I'm still in that 15-30% chance of miscarriage, being 4.5 weeks pregnant, so I'm always it a state of mild anxiety that something will happen, praying that each little cell division will be healthy. So it is so amazing, mind-blowing, really, to watch Nellie and Annie and think that once upon a time they were little poppy seeds, and I was worrying about their health and safety. Which I still do, of course, and always will. But to see them running and jumping, dancing and singing, talking and laughing, makes me realize again how incredible God's creation is.

Also, mom found out the big news today. We all had dentist appointments, and mom came to pick up the girls after Nellie was done so they didn't have to sit around waiting. I thought they had left, and I had to tell the hygienist (the x-rays and all), and mom came back for Nellie's coat just at the right moment. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights! Oh well, it's definitely easier for mom to know. And my advisor, Kristen, and co-RA Jerilynn. And of course, Kevin.

The day I bought a pregnancy test

was April 15th. I was growing increasingly suspicious that I might be pregnant, and I wanted to take the test before Kev got home from work. I figured it would give us something interesting to talk about on date night that night! So I had to take the girls with me to Rite-Aid, which is literally 30 seconds from our house so of course I thought it would be a quick trip. But I was too embarrassed to just buy pregnancy tests, so I dragged the girls around buying potato chips, new brushes, hair clips, and milk. During which my mom called, so I was trying to make light conversation about weekend plans while the girls pulled every sheet of hair ties, barrettes, and hair product off the shelves and put it in the basket. I put it all back, then picked up Annie kicking and crying because she didn't want to leave to aisle. When it came time to pick up the product I had actually come for, I grabbed the first one I saw because there was an employee standing there and I was afraid she was thinking I barely had control over the first two, the last thing I needed was a third (and I was afraid she might be right.) After deferring 100 more requests from Nellie about things she wanted, we made it out of the store and to the car, which took a long time because Annie insisted on walking and both girls had to hold something we had bought.

We got home. I took the test first thing, but of course the girls had to be rightbyme the whole time, so I ran water in the sink for them to play in. They splashed and fought while my heart pounded and hands shook.

"What's that?" Nellie asked, reaching for the pee stick sitting on the shelf. "Nothing," I replied. "Don't touch that."

Well Nellie, those two little blue lines are our future. Deep breath. Here we go again!

Things to love about Nellie and Annie

Annie loves...

• Being held, cuddled, and snuggled.
• BABIES. Baby dolls, baby humans, baby animals, baby bottles, baby strollers.
• Nellie. Everything Nellie does is exciting and/or hilarious to Annie. Well, almost everything.
• Her pacy. Especially the one for infants with Pooh on it that she found at grandma's house.
• Grapes
• Carbs, and sweets. When we give the girls sandwiches, Nellie only eats the meat and Annie only eats the bread. Basically, Annie eats like me and Nellie eats like Kev.
• Books. It is currently 8:33; Nellie is in the top bunk sleeping and Annie is reading with a flashlight.
• Singing, and all things musical. She knows all of Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, the Dora theme song, and Three Little Birds (Bob Marley).
  
• Taking baths, right up until the hair washing part.
• CHAPSTICK! I can't believe I almost forgot the chapstick.
• Her pink (well, brownish) silkie blankie.

Annie does NOT love...

• Not being held when she wants to be.
• That we're making her give up her bottle.
• When Nellie sits on her, takes her stuff, etc. etc.

Nellie loves...

• Talking. Moving. All the time.
• Learning new things - Kevin's been teaching her a lot about birds, and she also seems particularly interested in theology (being very concerned about whether or not animals go to heaven after we saw a dead squirrel in the road.) She also learned to milk a cow on Saturday at the Baby Animal Day on campus.
  
• That she is starting to read words. OPEN, mainly, and TREE.
• Playing a game with Annie that involves saying, "Okay Annie. You run this way, and I'll run that way." Runrunrun around the kitchen-dining room-hall-living room loop. Cue raucous laughter.
• Her cousins. All of them, but Robynne and Leah especially. It really is nice to have so many little girls close in age.
• The fact that we're getting ready to enroll her in preschool next year.
• Princesses, Dora, blah, blah.
• Gum. (Just like her Uncle Dave.)
• Doing gymnastics. We've been taking her and Annie to open gym for preschoolers where a gymnastics instructor is there to teach the kids tricks. I think it's what Nellie was born for. Annie likes it but mostly keeps an eye on the baby brothers and sisters sitting in their carseats in the corner.
  

Nellie does NOT love...

• Being told what to do.
• Bugs.
  
• Pop. I'm pretty sure we really just brainwashed her into believing she doesn't like it. Oh well!
  

Cordial glasses

I've never had cordial. I'm not really even sure what it is, and what I do know comes from that scene in Anne of Green Gables. But the summer I turned 21, I bought these glasses:



Erin and Steve took Kevin and me wine tasting up north, and I got the glasses as a souvenir. I thought they were pretty, but I never intended to actually drink out of them. I thought that someday, they would make good medicine glasses for my hypothetical kids. Which is what I told Kevin, and in retrospect I'm glad it didn't scare him away to hear his girlfriend was buying gifts for her future children!

Anyway, when Nellie was sick last week, I took the glasses out and for once, she actually drank her Tylenol. It totally worked! I thought back to when I bought them almost 9 years ago...and here we are. I feel like I've arrived.