Baby Ed, at 30 weeks

Modern technology never ceases to amaze me.

Yesterday, I remember being annoyed because my iphone's internet connection wasn't fast enough for me download a pizza place menu so I could to call in a take-out order from the interstate. I stopped and thought of how silly it was for me to be annoyed. I have this little box-shaped phone thing in my hand that can surf the world wide web from almost anywhere. I can get up to date news from around the world, and I can upload (or would that be "download?") pdf files of pizza restaurants from miles away, order a pizza, and pay for it...all from my phone. It seems rather peculiar that I can walk into a place I've never been and see folks whom I've never talked to...and have them know exactly what kind of pizza I want and to have made it ahead of time. whoa. Sci fi movie? Not anymore.

This morning, I wasn't exactly sure how to find the babysitter's house to bring Mary to, so I typed the address into the thing and within two seconds, it showed me exactly where I was, and where I needed to turn to get where I was going. Again, no futility here. Had it been a few years ago, I would have done the Sarah thing...drive around until I finally discovered Crescent View Avenue. Because of technology, Julia got to preschool and Mary to the babysitter, and thus I made it to my appointment...on TIME!


This morning, I went in for an ultrasound at the OB's office. They were able to get an amazingly clear picture of our baby's face using SOUND WAVES. It was incredible. They can put an ultrasound probe on my belly and bounce some inaudible sound waves off of the baby through my anterior abdominal wall and then a computer takes the data and....zap! A picture of "Ed." More amazingly, the tech was able to copy the images to a disk within seconds so I could put it on my home computer and post them to the internet. In less than two hours, we have digital images of Baby's face plastered all over the blog.

And now, may I present the latest "pics" of baby number three, gender still TBA. He or she was swimming happily and posed for a few pictures.

PS: Baby is rather large (measured at 33 week size on 30+5 weeks...) so there will be another ultrasound around 38 weeks. More pics to come! And boy am I glad I'm seeing OB...they aren't afraid to induce you at 39 weeks if they think the baby is big. Halleluiah!!!!!!!!!

Many things

Hi fam and friends,

I thought of a new year's resolution today. I am going to quit feeling guilty for violating any or all of my self-imposed deadlines that don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. I hope you know what I mean. (I wish I could include things like, " wash the dishes" or "bathe the children..." but I must admit that good hygeine does matter in the grand scheme of things.)

The first thing on the actual list is being the mom that blogs every cute moment of her childrens' lives in order that it might be saved in an e-archive and simultaneously warm the hearts of blog-viewers everywhere. Eau Contrare. (I KNOW I spelled that wrong. Here's to not feeling guilty for refusing to call Mike and ask him the correct spelling.) I have friends that do keep blogs like that. It's amazing. They take beautifully candid photos and post them every day. They also change the color scheme/background of their blog to match the color scheme in the photos. My blog background is white. This is already a set-up for failure, since it is a RARE day when my kiddos are still in white by the time I find the batteries for the camera and snap a picture. By the time I get organized enough for a candid snapshot, the white is now eau de ketchup or eau de fingerpaints or eau-de-violaceous-diaper-explosion-cause-I-fed-Mary-too-many-blueberries.

So there's my New Year's resolution. I also plan on embarking on a new residency and making myself into a more patient mom and a successful ER doctor (my new temporary employment until I hopefully embark on a career as an obstetrician.)

Here are some entertaining bits that happened over Christmas:

Julia and Mary got what they wished for....and prayed for....and God granted them seven times seven more than their wishes. Yes, it's true...our house has been invaded by Barbie and her herem. I do believe we have gone from one to fifty of them over the course of one week of Holiday. I lost count. I also lose my patience every time I step barefoot on one of their shoes and the tiny high heel tries to puncture the bottom of my foot. @%#@*&!!!!!

Annie and I took Julia and Mary to see an exhibit of Sue, the T-rex, in St. Cloud. It's a replica of the most well-preserved T-rex skeleton in the world. We spent a LONG TIME explaining the skeleton to Julia, talking about everything from herbivores and carnivores to death and dying and why everything eventually will leave behind a skeleton and a pile of dust. She was intrigued. I *thought* she was listening to us. The tour guide even took a liking to her and made the remark that Julia should consider a career in science. I was so proud....... I thought Julia was going to be able to lecture everyone at preschool about meeting this archeological masterpiece. And then as we were leaving, I told the girls to say goodbye to Sue. Mary called,

"Bye bye Soooooooo."

Cute. But then the aspiring archeologist child yells,

"Buh-bye Alligator!"

So much for my budding scientist.



Last Sunday my mom and I took the kids to church at the hospital because their mass is at 1030...not 9:00 like the other churches we go to. We sat up in the balcony. The sanctuary was filled to the brim, with patients, their relatives, a few nuns, and lots of hospital employees in scrubs. The balcony was rather empty, so I let the kids wander a bit and look over the edge. Julia was outright naughty. She loves to yell SHHHHHHHHHHHH....which comes out VERY LOUDLY and is heard by all. During the Gospel reading, Mary spotted the nativity scene at the front of the church and started bleeting, "JESUS!" She was SO excited! She found Jesus! She was not going to keep quiet about it either, even with her sister SHSHSHHHHHHHHing her louder and louder by the minute. When we went by for communion, she got a closer look at the creche. I saw a look of terror in her eyes, and she began to yell, "JESUS!!! OWIE!!!! HOT!!! HOT!!!" As I tried to quiet her down, I glanced at the nativity again to see what she was yelling at. Sure enough, somebody had placed a little tea light candle about 2 inches from Jesus little hand. Mary, who had become a bit too famliar with candle flames over the holidays, was voicing her concern for Jesus' hand. She didnt' want him to get burned, too. How thoughtful!