McKenna, this time around

McKenna woke up this morning and was lamenting about how much she wanted donuts for breakfast. I wasn't in the mood to go get any at a moments notice so I offered to make cinnamon rolls. You know, since no one delivers donuts. She agreed that cinnamon rolls would suffice. We went downstairs and I. kid. you. not. there were donuts on the table. Apparently, on a whim while picking up some milk this morning my dad decided to pick up three iced and sprinkled donuts. And delivered them back to the dining room table. (This reminded me of the time that McKenna sadly looked into the yard on a Sunday morning and said, "I wish we had a play house..." At that moment dad was in the garage assembling the one that had been purchased the day before. It was constructed and in the yard before we got home from church.) This girl has some odd timing for her requests.

Yesterday McKenna was circling the toys that she would like from a specialty toy catalogue that came in the mail. Samuel looked over her shoulder and asked if she would like to have the laptop. "Laptop? That's not a laptop. That's a 'learning tool for the next generation.'" Seriously.

On the night that the girls got "twinkle toes"

Laura was here tonight.

Anna was showering.

Laura looked a bit confused.

"Is that Anna?"

I replied. Yes.

I realized. Not everyone is used to the white noise that our family has grown accustomed to when Anna showers.

Anna sings.

She sings loud. She sings opera. (Or at least opera-like) She sings in what sounds like Latin.

And we don't even notice.

But Laura laughed. She laughed because we didn't even notice that there was a second grader singing Latin opera from the bathroom.

Doesn't that happen everywhere?

It only took 33 years

At the expense of my dear children, and over the course of two days, I may have just won my first game of monopoly. Ever. Until today I thought I had mastered losing with efficiency. I loved playing with the kids, though. They were so excited about it. They were SO into the game. At one point near the end of the game Anna looked at me and said, "You can have all of my properties (all of which were mortgaged) and give my $2000. Take it or leave it, Sister." I have no idea where she gets her competitive nature (smirk).

Perspectives

Samuel has had such sweet prayers lately. They have one consistent element. "Dear God, please help Caitlin to get unstuck and for mommy to not have public pain." Love. It.

Anna is coming around to the idea of having a baby in the house. She will deny excitement if asked directly about her enthusiasm. If you just talk to her about the Caitlin in general she is very excited.

McKenna is just nervous about me being in the hospital. She's not looking forward to me being gone at night. How quickly she's grown accustomed to me being home at night. Not going to lie, I have, too. Going back to work whenever I do will be easier at night than during the day, but I sure do enjoy my nights at home!

Season still pending, and more

With the potential end of the NFL lockout later tonight, it is fitting to report that there were some football conversations at home today as well. I put McKenna's hair into a ponytail this morning, using the first ponytail holders I grabbed. They were green and white and McKenna looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Mom, those are JETS colors! (audible gasp)" She later asked me for Colts tickets for her birthday this fall.

Samuel spent part of the evening outside driving his race car. He was completely outfitted with his racing vest, gloves, and cap. At one point he jumped out of the car, stomped up the sidewalk, and went into the house. When he came back out moments later I asked him what was the matter (after reminding him that there was a heat index of 115 and to kindly shut the door to the house, of course). He responded by pointing with an accusing finger to his pedal car and said emphatically, "My car stalled!"

Anna is still lobbying for a dog. I have decided that I might pay for her first tattoo before I pay for her first dog. Tattoos are less maintenance. I wonder if my position might be too hard and fast on the whole dog thing. I have no desire to add a dog to the family, but I absolutely love to watch Anna play with other people's dogs. You know, the ones that the other people take care of.

We were able to capture Caitlin's heartbeat on a recorder today at the OB. Build-a-bear, here we come. Again.

At our last appointment, we had another ultrasound and the tech asked if we would like her to turn on the 4D imaging. Um, yeah... We were able to see some amazing images of our little girl. I think she looks a lot like Samuel. It's so odd to think that already, instead of merely wondering if she who she will look like. The tech said that it looked like she already had some visible hair. THAT leaves me wondering. We've had such baldies that I can't imagine having a newborn with any substantial amount of hair!

(Still nameless)

It's old news around here by now, but the scales will officially be tipped to the girl side with the arrival of our (still nameless) baby in September. We took the kids with us for the ultrasound earlier this month. Anna went in with her "I-still-don't-want-another-baby-in-the-family" chip on her shoulder. It was fun to watch the monitor and be able to recognize things before the technician pointed them out. I was much more excited, after working at Riley for a year, to see a complete spine and other body parts than I was to know if the baby was a boy or girl. I think that's ultimately why I didn't even want to know the gender. I just wanted to see the heart, spine, palate... The technician asked the girls if they could read. They responded that they could, and McKenna popped out of her chair to come over and see that the tech had typed "GIRL" on one of the images. McKenna yelled out, "It's a girl!"

I remember the kids' reactions more than Chris' or mine. Anna sat with her arms crossed and announced, "I wanted it to be a boy." (Naturally.) McKenna was all smiles, bouncing around the room. Samuel sat by my side, trying so hard to be stoic. His little chin and lip just quivered until he meekly said, "I wanted it to be a brother."

The updated status is that Anna seems to be much more excited. The hasn't in the last week made any comments, to me anyway, about not wanting another baby in the family. She's been excited about the purchases we've made for the (still nameless) baby. She's spoken in much more positive tones about her. Anna still thinks that Montana should be the name of choice. McKenna is talking to the baby every day, rubbing my belly, telling the (still nameless) baby how much she is loved. McKenna has been suggesting names that are reasonable, just not ones that we want to use. Samuel has come to terms with being the only boy. He's about as verbal about baby-excitement as I would expect a 5 year old boy to be. He thinks that it's pretty neat that he and I will be the only two in the house who have three sisters.

***

Anna recently asked to learn to play monopoly. We spent an afternoon this week (in May) sitting in front of a fire, playing monopoly. All five of us. So fun. Until Chris and I realized that we grew up with completely different sets of house rules. Still fun.

Some more Samuel moments that I don't want to go forgotten.

1. There is nothing better than watching Samuel hoe the garden, see an airplane fly low overhead, and go chasing it across the yard. Unless it's followed by watching that same little boy eat an ice cream cone on the swing. (sigh) Love these moments.

2. At dinner the other night Samuel looked at Nana and said, "I know what you mean by (insert hand gesture quotations) 'your girls'." And he listed Nana's daughters. But seeing the hand motions was so cute.

3. The kids were listening to "Stayin' Alive" in the van today. Sam was singing along then yelled, "Take it away, Girls!" And the girls started singing right where he left off. I was thankful to be stopped at a light because I was in tears I as laughing so hard!

Time Fillers

So lately, my girls have been spending a lot of time playing three things.

1. Day Care
2. Orphanage
3. Runaway Slave

I'm left wondering where they are getting their inspriation.