One more letter...

Okay, this is the LAST hint! :)

What's in a name?

My good friend Heather is super talented at making jewelry. She came over last week and helped me make this charming bracelet for my baby girl. It even has an extender on it, so that baby girl can keep wearing it through her life. In fact, it fits me. So I plan on wearing it through her delivery and then giving it to her.
For those of you who are curious, yes, her name is indeed spelled out on the bracelet, but I've blurred it out! Sneaky sneaky! But at least I've given you one letter as a clue. Here's another clue -- the name is an obscure literary reference. Ha ha! Feel free to guess, but if you're one of those priveleged few who actually KNOWS the name, please don't "guess" in the comments section and spoil the surprise! (I did tell a few select people because I wanted feedback!) Happy guessing!

A funny story

I found this story online the other day and thought it was funny! It is courtesy of the good old Associated Press! Enjoy!

‘God’ responds to legislator’s lawsuit

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response.
One of two court filings from “God” came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.
“This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here — poof!” Friend said.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”
Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he’s trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody.
Not so, says “God.” His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.
It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.
“I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you,” according to the response, as read by Friend.
There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.
A second response from “God” disputing Chambers’ allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.
Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful.

Vices, pointy ears and Chuck Berry

Okay, yes, that's an odd name for a post. But let me start by saying that my baby girl has vices already. WOW! Isn't she a bit young for that?? But there are seriously, a few guilty pleasures that I already KNOW she enjoys! Guilty pleasure number one? These amazing cookies that I found late at Walgreens the other night ... they taste just like those peanut butter girl scout cookies called Tagalongs ... Reeses makes them. Man, are they delicious! And baby girl LUVS them!
Vice number two, I discovered this afternoon when digging around in some ANCIENT CD's in our collection. I found the soundtrack to "Back to the Future" (a classic trilogy!!). While driving in my car to go pick up Gabe from school, the song "Johnny B. Goode" came blasting through the speakers and baby girl literally started turning cartwheels, pounding out the beat with her fists and toes -- it was hysterical! So she seems to be quite the Chuck Berry fan indeed!
Finally, a fun story from my son's back-to-school night. I was chatting with his teacher, who is just marvelous, when his teacher from last year came into the room and the three of us got to talking about Gabriel. His old teacher told a very humorous story about how, last year, on the day we had all gone to the clinic to get our ultrasound done and find out the gender of our baby, Gabe came back to school all excited and announced to his teacher that the baby was a girl.
"And do you know how they know it was a girl?" he asked her?
Rather nervously, she answered, "Noooo -- how did they know?"
"Because she had pointy ears." Announced Gabriel in a serious tone of voice.
POINTY EARS!!! I have no idea where he came up with this, as our baby's ears were never once under discussion at her ultrasound. But I thought it made a rather adorable story!

Welcome baby girl????

Well, last night I had my first taste of false labor. After going to bed SUPER late (I'll explain why in a minute) I was awakened a few moments later, sitting at the side of my bed trying desperately to breathe through some of the worst pain I've had since being pregnant. Yes. A lovely braxton hicks contraction. Which was then followed successively by more and more, striking every five minutes or so for about 90 minutes. Nathan and I were both pretty shaken up, wondering if labor was indeed starting. I've never gone into labor on my own (was induced with both boys) so I had no idea. I just knew I couldn't sleep because of the pain. Finally, at around 5 a.m., I drifted off, only to awaken for my day 2 hours later. UGH! I had a doc's appointment this morning and apparently, braxton hicks can be just as painful as the real thing -- although my doc did seem surprised at the intensity. She looked at me and said "I'll see you in a week .... if not sooner!" WOW!
In other news, Asher took a tumble from his swingset/slide playset in our yard last night, and we made a trip to the ER to make sure everything was okay with his arm, which he seemed to be favoring. After an X-ray, we found out he has a slight break -- more like a sprain actually, since the doc said it's not actually "broken" ... and will be wearing a splint and a wrap for the next week or so. Poor little man!

Walking with Mr. Asher

Asher and I walked to the park today, and I've forgotten how such an event can be so full of wonder and new things for such a little person. We chatted back and forth like magpies, and I showed him all kinds of stuff along the way .... acorns, pine cones, squirrels, sticks, ant hills, fire hydrants and flowers .... we talked about colors and sounds and the wind ... well, mostly I talked and he listened. He is so curious! Everytime I asked him to smile for my camera, he would stop and strike a pose. In these photos, he decided to sit down on the sidewalk and grin at me for one photo. You can't see his "pet" acorn, but trust me, it's tucked securely in his fist! In the other photo, he's hugging a fire hydrant. He hugged most of the fire hydrants from here to the park. Such fun!

Playing dress-up

Okay, so it may be pushing the season a bit -- but Gabe and Ash got to be part of a Halloween photo shoot for Nate's magazine, so I HAD to post some photos here. Aren't they CUTE! (Okay, so I'm biased) Asher was dressed as a little pirate, complete with a scar on his face. I confess, I really didn't think he'd let us put on an eye patch, a bandana and a hook arm, (Gabe would NEVER have let us do that to him at that age!) but Ash seemed to get a kick out of it! In fact, we had trouble getting the stuff OFF of him -- especialy the eye patch! Gabriel got to dress up as a wizard -- Harry Potter in fact. He wasn't completely thrilled, but he played along like a trooper, and I think he looks super adorable! Yay boys! Now we just have to decide what we're REALLY going to be for Halloween this year!

If you're happy and you know it...

My youngest son taught me a little lesson about joy this weekend. Too often lately, my mentality has been to "just make it through the day" as I deal with my various aches and pains of pregnancy and the daily grind of work, as well as the constant energy that is necessary when raising two high-energy boys.

Last night was a beautiful night ... fall is setting in, and I was even wearing a sweater, it was so cool! About a dozen of the neighborhood kids were sitting, playing, or lounging on our lawn and porch swing, when I decided to tear Nate and the boys away for a quick walk around the block since it was so beautiful out. So we went to the park.

As we got there, Asher took off running, (he runs like a muppet, his whole body bouncing up and down, including the arms!) As he was bouncing along, wildly, trying to get to the playground as fast as his little chubby legs could carry him, I could hear the little cutie muttering under his breath "happee, happee, happpppeeee..." over and over and over. Nate and I just looked at eachother and grinned. And I realized that I could learn a lot from my little bugaboo. Happy? Me? Oh yes indeed! And I should probably think of that more often!

Another cute Asher story:
Asher has always had trouble saying Gabe's name. He used to pronounce it B-Gabe. I'm not sure why. But now the name "Gabriel" has turned into a breakfast food.
Last night, while tucking the boys into bed, Nate told Ash to say good night to Gabe.
"Say goodnight Gabriel!" urged Nathan.
"Na-night bagel," whispered Asher sleepily.
So "bagel" it is!

A cute Gabe story:
The other day Gabriel was asking me how the baby was situated in my tummy. I explained that she was head-down -- upside down, and could kind of float around where she wanted to.
Gabe looked at me and said "So there's no gravel in your tummy?"
Gravel??? I was confused. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"You know," Gabe said. "Like the astronauts in space. There's no gravel."
I smiled slowly. "You mean gravity??"
Gabe grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, gravity!"

Soccer again!

It's that time of year again! For $7 a session (or $1 per Saturday), the community recreation department's soccer league is pretty much the best buy in town. Last year, Gabe was in the beginners group with girls and boys. The teams are coached by volunteers from the school system, as well as high school players from town. This year, he's with all boys. He was pretty excited to A.) have his coach point out his Totti (Italian soccer) jersey to the rest of the team and B.) Find out his team name was the "orange Tigers" ... "Just like Mizzou!!"

The kids line up wih their soccer balls.


Gabe kicks his way down the field.


Gabe gets ready to give a mighty kick!!


Daddy helps Asher kick a soccer ball as they play around.


Asher and a HUUUUUGE momma!! I'm the size of a houseboat, really!!!


Asher and daddy clowning around.

Big Boy Bed

Here is Asher in one of his last "crib sleeps" on Tuesday afternoon. Look how big he's getting!

Here is Asher in his big boy bed, with the cowboy sheets, later that night. He looks suddenly very small!

In preparation for baby girl, Asher has made the transition to a "big boy bed." In the first photo, you can see him in his "third-to-last" sleep in the crib. The first night in the bed (Tuesday night) didn't work, because Gabriel was so excited to have a "roomie" that he woke him up when he went to bed in the upper bunk. But last night, it worked beautifully! And both boys came to wake us up in our room at 7:30 a.m. How much better can it get? I suppose there might be days where Ash is up at 5 a.m. and won't go back to bed, but I'll worry about that when it happens. Way to go Asher! We're so proud of our big boy! And Gabriel, we're proud of you too -- for sharing your space like such a gentleman!

The photos...as promised!

Here are the photos from Gabe's first day of school yesterday. Enjoy!

Too Weird

Okay.
My big "little" man went back to school today. Full-time, all-day, REAL school. And after crying on my way out of his classroom, (making sure Gabe didn't see me in tears, of course....) Nathan comforted me all the way out of the school building... while Asher looked at me curiously and tried kissing me repeatedly from his perch on my side/belly bump.

And, my life has just suddenly gotten very strange and different.

Don't get me wrong, I had a nice day! Asher and I spent all morning running about, getting errands done. Oh, the ease of only having to wrangle ONE child through various shops and grocery stores! It was so easy!! Then we were home by about 10 a.m. to put away groceries and such. I bought fabric at Hobby Lobby and spent the better part of an hour reupholstering the rocking chair in the nursery...ripping off the old blue, checked fabric and replacing it with a white print, with spaced out stripes of pink and green...very pretty! (I hope baby girl likes it!)

I soon realized however, how strange it was to not have someone to talk to. Don't get me wrong, I talk with Asher all the time. But I don't have CONVERSATIONS with him like I used to with Gabriel. A "conversation" with Ash (or "Ashers" as he calls himself) usually runs like this.

"Asher are you hungry?
"Hungies!" (rhymes with Huggies")
"What would you like for lunch?"
Inarticulate sound...as mommy stands there trying to figure out what the sound means...chicken nuggets? Noodles? Sandwich? All this as Asher spoons peach yogurt into his lap and shouts out happily....
"MESS!!"

With Gabriel at lunch -- while I might not be discussing the meaning of life or anything deep -- we would at least have been into a deep discussion of the merits of various fighting implements of the Ninja Turtles or something along those lines. Something that made me THINK.

After lunch, it was time for Asher's nap and I was faced with something I haven't had for a long while. TIME. FOR MYSELF. I'm so pathetic, that after watching a Netflix movie ("Original Sin" with Antonio Banderas (yummy!) and Angelina Jolie) I got so bored that I actually went upstairs and watched Asher sleep for awhile. WOW. I'm living the high life now! :) Now most of you are probably wondering why I didn't choose to take a nap myself. Well, that's because sleep is impossible for me right now, and if I nap, it becomes even more of a nightmare, trying to sleep later that night. I get up about 8-10 times a night and am starting to look forward to the baby's arrival because it WILL actually mean better sleep for me. Truly. And that is strange indeed!

In other news, Asher is getting a "Big boy" bed today and will be moving in with Gabe. (I took video footage of the little guy sleeping in his crib for what MAY be the last time this afternoon) So it's a big day of changes. SNIFFLE! Gabe is off to school and part of a world where I only see him for an hour a day. And Asher is growing up before my eyes. How will I ever make it through the day with all this emotion!!!

PS: I'll have photos up of Gabe's first morning at school as soon as possible. My camera battery died this morning, so I have to wait for my hubby to graciously email me some photos! But I think he got some good ones, so it should be worth the wait!!! :)

Last day of summer

We celebrated "the day before school starts" by going to the Sheboygan County Fair. What a blast! We bought a new stroller for baby girl Harrmann and let Asher try it out at the fair. It worked beautifully and we had such a fun time. We ate corn dogs, corn on the cob (drenched in butter) cotton candy, funnel cakes and lemonade. Then we bought a bunch of tickets and let Gabriel ride on rides till he was about ready to drop. His favorites were the mini dragon roller coaster and the motorcycle ride. He and Nathan also went on the big Ferris Wheel. (see them in the photo) Then we saw cows, sheep, pigs and tractors. It was a scorcher of a day, so when we finally got home, drenched, we all piled out into the backyard into the kid's pirate pool to cool off and have a big water fight. Now THAT'S a perfect end to a great summer!