in his defense...

Beloved isn't shunned by Pink all the time. He is still the only one who can make her laugh a certain way (and it's precious), she still calls out to him every morning, and he's upstairs right now reading a goodnight book to a very happy little girl. She loves her daddy. And she also ignores/shuns him. Poor guy. I guess he can be thankful that I've prepared him somewhat for the roller coaster that is living with a female!

lessons from a father

For some reason, Pink has been giving her daddy a really hard time for a few months now. She loves and adores him, she needs him, and she misses him when he's gone. But at least a couple times a week (or a couple times a day), she refuses to talk to him, touch him, or even look at him. This might go on for a few seconds or for over an hour.

He feels crushed inside. He pursues his daughter, his beloved little girl, the apple of his eye, and he is flaty rejected. Sometimes she's rather indifferent. Sometimes she's just plain mean. I did this to my dad, too, at this age. I tell Beloved that, but it doesn't lessen the sting.

It occurred to me today, though, that Pink bears a striking resemblence to the modern-day me, not just the two-year-old me. Doesn't God pursue me relentlessly? Doesn't he seek after me every day because he loves me and is passionate about me? Don't I turn away sometimes, not in anger or because I don't like him, but because there is something that catches my attention at the moment? Don't I ignore his beckoning at times? Haven't I had times in my past when I consciously walked away because I specifically didn't want to be with him?

If you have a daughter who is pursued by your beloved, then you know the heartache that comes with rejection (I speak only of daughters because that's all I know; could quite easily be the same way with sons). You've watched his face fall. Even if he recovers quickly and remains calm and loving, you see your husband's eyes wish she wouldn't turn from him.

Encourage him as he demonstrates God's pursuit of her, teaching her how very loved she is. What a high calling!

I'm off to lift up my husband. But first I'm going to my Father to ask for more grace, that I might never casually ignore him or turn from him even for a moment.

how to keep a straight face in front of teenagers when the baby kicks

*look outside and pretend there's drama out there

*find a student who's about to fall asleep and wake him/her up by dropping a book on his/her desk

*turn around and write a name on the board; then say, "just seeing if you're paying attention."

*return to the roll sheet and make sure you marked it correctly

*yell a threat about what will happen if students don't get to work immediately

*find a phone to confiscate

*distract yourself from a round of in-utero gymnastics by sitting down and writing a post about survival tactics for the pregnant woman in the classroom

true story.

that's my girl!

Pink insisted on donning the harness and climbing the rock wall at our local carnival last weekend. Even though the guy warned us not to be disappointed, she made it 1/4 of the way up! She was by far the littlest (and certainly the youngest) one to climb, my tough little mountain climber. :) You go, girl

theories i've heard

heartbeat of 140? definitely a girl
heartbeat of 140? definitely a boy

morning sickness? means it's a girl
morning sickness? means your son's already giving you trouble

showing early & straight out front? it's a boy
showing early & straight out front? could be a girl
showing early & straight out front? duh, it's the second baby

have a good appetite? gotta be a girl
have a good appetite? that's a boy for ya, already eating you out of house and home

the one that gives Beloved hope is this omen from India: if a baby is born with a little blueish spot on the bridge of his/her nose that looks like a tiny blood vessel, that baby will be followed by a boy. Pink was born with a still-visible blueish spot.

I really am getting a kick out of watching people's curiosity and steadfastness about the gender of this baby. It's funny and endearing.

So if you have other theories, keep 'em coming (disclaimer: all theories submitted to the author of this blog become the exclusive property of said author. Author retains all rights and priveleges to such theories and they may be used for publication purposes. All identifying information will be withheld).

ultrasound success!

It's a...







Just kidding. You didn't really think we'd cave, did you? Nope, we held strong to our "don't want to know" stance.

We were there for two hours (OBs should just give up scheduling anything, I swear - just tell people to take their chances cuz it works out that way anyway), and Beloved will now have to work three hours late tonight to make up for it, but we saw the little DW!

We managed not to see anything "telling" on the ultrasound so we'll still be surprised about the gender of the little thing. Pink had been talking all week about seeing pictures of "her" baby, but lost interest completely when it was a black & white 2D image. Oh well. She loves the xeroxed copies they made just for her - go figure! They are up in her room right now as she sleeps.

The measurements are all in agreement and split the difference between the two dates the doctor had originally given me - October 18. AND, the legs measured only slightly further along than the rest of the body (Pink's measured two weeks further along!); maybe this one will have Daddy's build?

And the heartbeat, if you're wondering, is still nice and ambiguous. Oh, and DW was moving around all over the place and doing crunches - definitely Daddy's baby! Mommy only does crunches when paid. :)

God help us

Just for kicks, Beloved introduced me to a certain ACDC song entitled "Got You by the B*lls." Lovely, I told him. And what did Pink do? She rocked out and danced like we've never seen before. She even threw her sippy cup across the room!

We're gonna have to watch her all the way to the front of the church. Oh, Lord, my heart can't handle this!