Evidence to Support the Hypothesis That While Boys May Get Older, They Don’t Necessarily Grow Up

Matthew

December 2007

Matthew

August 2011

I don’t think Darth Tater’s helmet will fit him in another four years, but it definitely made me chuckle at how much he has grown…and stayed the same.

In Praise of a Spool of Thread

I learned how to sew a long time ago.  My mom started teaching me when I was seven or eight or somewhere around there.  I don’t remember exactly, I just know it was a really long time ago.  In my 30 years of sewing, I’ve done a lot of things and tried a lot of different products.  But I had never used any specialty threads (they come in metallic, iridescent, shimmery colors, all kinds of cool stuff), just the normal kind in an enormous rainbow of colors.

Right now I’m sewing Halloween costumes.  Yes, I know it is only August, but 1) it is actually pretty normal for me to be sewing Halloween costumes in August (Kev saw a t-shirt once that said “I have CDO-it’s like OCD only in the right order.” It is a pretty apt description of me.) and 2) I want to get them done before baby gets here so I’m not trying to create Yoda ears out of fabric and fleece in the midst of the exhaustion and sleep deprivation of those first weeks.  And Nathan’s costume has some lovely silver braid on it.  Seven and a half yards of lovely silver braid to be exact.  This is the stuff that I would normally sew on by hand so that it looks fabulous (Yes, I know this is a Halloween costume for an 8 year old.  But it can still be well made and look great!), but I have neither the time nor the energy to sew 7 yards of braid onto a wizard robe.  And yet my OCD won’t let me just slap the stuff on with the glue gun.  I have some great craft glue that is washable and dryable so it would work well, but it is so stinky that with my current super charged nose I just barely managed to make it through the few minutes it took to glue braid to the wired brim of the hat.  There is no way I could stand smelling it long enough to glue the remaining seven yards.  Besides, even glue would be a huge hassle since I’ve got seven freaking yards of trim to attach.

But while I was at the fabric store over the weekend, I happened to notice that one of the more readily available brands of specialty threads was on sale for 50% off the regular price.  So I picked up a spool of invisible thread.  And I am in love.  It is a bit more fickle than regular thread (It is harder to thread the needle of the sewing machine and it breaks more easily.  However, I loosened the tension on my machine a bit and that problem went away.)  but it is totally worth it.  In mere minutes I zigzagged all seven yards onto the robe and the best part is that it looks like I spent hours and hours painstakingly stitching it on so that the stitches are impossible to see.  The only proof that it is machine stitched is the gray thread I used in the bobbin.  It is seriously awesome!  

So while the invisible thread is not suitable for every task, I’m sold on using it to attach decorative trims.  And I think I might have to come up with some projects that will give me an excuse to try out some other specialty threads as well…

You Really Cannot Make This Stuff Up

Have you ever been startled awake at 1:30 in the morning by someone knocking vigorously on your front door?  That would be a yes for me.  Have you ever sent your husband to answer the door only to discover a police officer standing on the front porch?  Me in the affirmative again.  To tell you the rest of the tale, let me introduce my guest blogger, Kevin:

BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!!!!!  At o-dark-thirty in the morning, a pounding at a door is never what you want to hear.  BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!!!!!  I glanced at the clock as I startled awake a couple of weeks ago.  Somebody knocking at the door at 1:30 a.m. can never mean a good thing.  I staggered toward the door as fast as I could.  By the time I reach the front door I am fully awake, thoughts of what happened to the cars, or is the trailer still there, or any number of problems racing through my head.  As I reach for the locks on the front door, I glance out the window.  Yep, there it is.  Standing at my front door is a local Sheriff and my heart takes a jump and drops into the pit of my stomach.  I greeted the officer and asked what was going on.  He proceeds to tell me that they have caught 4 youths digging up sod in my yard and throwing it in the street.

Um, what??!?  Digging up sod in my yard?  Surely I misheard him.  No cars, spray paint, knives, rocks, eggs, or something else that sounds,  well . . . . fun?

He proceeded to tell me that a witness saw these youths get out of an SUV and walk over to my yard and dig up 4 or 5 6” to 1’ holes in my yard.  The witness called the sheriff and they got there fast enough to catch them.  He said let’s go take a look.  Being 1:30 in the morning, I had to excuse myself to go get shoes on.  The trip back to my closet to get my shoes had quite the personal dialog:  Really?  How is that fun? Digging up my yard?  Why my yard?  Of all the yards on the street, mine didn’t need any more help looking like the local redneck!

I go out with the officer, and sure enough, there are holes in my yard.  I had to ask him: did they say why?  He said no, and it doesn’t make any sense to us either.  I asked what was going to happen to them.  He said they would be charged with criminal mischief and their parents would have to come get them from jail.  UM OOOOOPS!!! 

Shauna here.  Want to know what was I doing while all this was happening?  I was lying in bed trying to go back to sleep, which turned out to be a futile attempt since a huge adrenaline rush is not exactly fabulous for lulling one into a peaceful slumber.  And once Kev came back in, he couldn't sleep and had to get up again and go rescue the sod from the street.  Now back to Kevin...

Jump forward to tonight.  There is a knock at the door.  Only this time, it is early evening.  There are two youths, and one disgusted looking father.  Turns out, 2 of those who caused the problem came and apologized.  They will be here later to help make my yard not quite so redneck.

You cannot make this stuff up:  so there is my sod story. :-)

Me again.  Yesterday two of the sod perps arrived to do some yard work in order to make up for their stupidity.  Kev made them dig up sod from where we don't want it. The first pieces were used to fill in the holes they made.  I think that would be called poetic justice.

Random But True

Baby has enough hair that we can see it on ultrasound.

Splenda and Spice and Everything Nice, That’s What This Little Girl’s Made Of

I have officially been diagnosed with gestational diabetes again, which is really no big surprise.  Considering the chances of getting it once you’ve already had it are crazy high (like 70% or something close), I’m actually amazed I didn’t get it with Matthew.  But since I’ve been on the diet since before I ever got pregnant, the only thing that is different is that I’m back to testing my blood glucose every day.  And my numbers are just fine so it’s not a huge deal.

I am, however, having a wicked cheesecake craving that I can’t do anything about.  So in honor of National Cheesecake Day, all of you who can indulge should go and have a big old slice for me.  Just don’t tell me how delightful it was afterward.  I’ll feel better if you tell me it was the nastiest cheesecake you’ve ever experienced.  (Esther, maybe you could even tell me you found a hair in yours…)  :-)

Summertime and the Living is Queasy

I’ve never experienced the third trimester of a pregnancy in the summer before.  With babies born in December, May, and February I’ve done the home stretch in every other season, but I’m a first timer for the summer.  As such, I have developed some opinions about being hugely pregnant in the summer months.

First of all, it’s hot.  Really hot.  When I get overheated I get migraines and since 1) I get hot a lot easier than usual and 2) I can’t take my migraine meds while I’m pregnant, I’ve pretty much been hunkering down in the air conditioning.  I think I’ve only been to one outdoor activity all summer and luckily for me, it was super windy which helped keep things nice and cool.  I’m never one for a lot of heat anyway, but I’ve been even more antisocial than normal this summer.

Once I figured out that my prenatal vitamins were contributing to my queasiness and changed to a different one, I actually got a break from the nausea for a month or two in the second trimester.  But in the third it has come creeping back.  At unexpected moments I’ll suddenly feel unsettled for awhile.  Add to that the fact that the migraines make me nauseous and then let the fun ensue.  While I have managed to have an entirely barf free pregnancy (which is a huge blessing!), the queasiness is still terribly unpleasant.

Due to the fact that I’ve never been this huge in the summer before, my maternity wardrobe is not exactly well suited to the heat.  And I’m at a stage in my life where I’m really not willing to put a lot of time or money into maternity clothes.  So I’m making do with what I’ve got.  When I was pregnant with Nathan I was so hot that I was wearing shorts in February.  Boots and socks and shorts.  It was probably one of my worst fashion statements ever.  I say probably because I was in junior high in the 80’s and we all know that some enormously heinous fashion faux pas were born in the 80’s.  Add to that the awkward phase that was seventh and eighth grade and the boots and shorts thing is probably on the chic side.  So while my current wardrobe is probably nowhere near the worst I’ve ever had and I’m not ever exactly a fashion diva, I’m still walking around looking a bit less…suave than normal.

Pretty much I view the late stages of pregnancy as a fabulous excuse to avoid shaving my legs.  I mean, I can barely reach my feet and only catch a fleeting glimpse of my legs once in a while, so why put forth the effort?  Since my previous pregnancies have been during a time of year when the weather was conducive to clothing that covered my legs, I’ve been able to indulge in the lack of leg shaving.  But now it is summer.  And it’s hot.  And there is not an air conditioner in the world that could convince me to wear enough clothes to completely cover my legs.  And try as I might, I’m just a bit too vain to let all my fabulous dark leg hair keep growing.  But my enormous near-sightedness added to the fact I can barely bend far enough to reach my ankles means that I always end up missing spots.  So while I may not look like I’m wearing fur leggings, there are definitely days when I have a nice zebra stripe look going.  Between the legs and the clothes, if you want to pretend you don’t know me if we run into each other at the Walmart, I promise I won’t be offended.

But on the bright side, the best thing (and by that I mean the only good thing) about being pregnant in the summer is that thus far I have been able to completely avoid the contortions necessary to put on socks.

En Garde!

Daniel has never really been into traditional sports.  He is the kind of kid who would much rather stay inside and read or work on models.  I don't really mind that, but as a mother I feel like I should encourage him to be involved in some kind of physical activity.  Which is one of the big reasons I make Daniel and Nathan walk to school every day.  (Well, that and the fact that I like that I don't have to be dressed by the time they leave for school.)  So when Daniel brought home a flier for fencing and told me he wanted to try it, I was more than happy to sign him up.  It was kind of a crash course in beginning fencing, lasting for an hour and a half on four consecutive days.  Today was his last day and he was pretty bummed that it is over.  He really enjoyed himself and I love that one of the very first things the instructor told them was that fencing is a sport and that they should sweat when they are doing it.  So now we have to see if we can find a way for him to continue...

Light 'Em Up!

Boys and fire.  Need I say more?

(The extra child is one of our next door neighbors.  He just happened to be in the wrong spot for this to be an ideal photo opp.)

 

Although the wind made getting things lit a bit tough, we managed to light a bunch of stuff on fire.  And from our vantage point on the hill, we had a great view of the newly legalized aerial fireworks being set off across the entire valley.  We didn't even need to buy our own to enjoy a fabulous show!