a growing photographer

Julianna's photography skills have drastically improved over the last couple of weeks. I don't know if it's just that her hands have gotten big enough to reach the buttons or that she's strong enough to hold the camera better now or what, but now we get pictures like these instead of the usual pictures of the ground or of people without their heads.

She asks to use the camera at least once a week and will spend fifteen minutes or more walking around the house and photographing to her heart's content. I love how she set up certain stuffed animals for a particular shot and she even took a picture of herself in the mirror (I'm sure without knowing it) at one point. And this was all while I was elsewhere in the house. It's kinda neat to take the pictures off the camera some days and find her own shots mixed in with mine. It's fun to see the perspective of a child.

overheard in my house last night

Julianna: It would have been better if we'd made a birthday cake with peanut butter, icing, strawberries.

Also Julianna:  Daddy, the only thing I like on Barack Obama is I like his ears.

note to self

things to pack for the beach:

• Pickles. Claussen dill sandwich slices. Lots of them.
• Harry Potter books 6 and 7 (since the latest movie inspired me to re-read)
• Plenty of hair twisties (because gosh if I'm going to be doing my hair while I'm on vacation in the summer heat)
• Camera (for taking a very large amount of pictures of Jules for then and now comparisons)
• Portable DVD player and princess movies (because I'm going to have to ride down with other family members and the last time we did that my daughter cried non-stop the entire way)
• Easy-Up Canopy (because I do not want to haul beach umbrellas out to the beach every day by myself while being responsible for a 3 year old as well)
• Water Balloons (because I keep telling everyone that my daughter is obsessed with them now but really it's just me)
• Deck of playing cards
• Bathing suit

welcome third trimester

Last week I was pretty sure I started feeling Braxton Hicks contractions. I never noticed these with Julianna so I was really unsure at first. It felt like my stomach was shaking all over from a muscle spasm and I told Jonathan to look at what the baby was doing. When I mentioned that it just felt like a really weird muscle spasm he jokingly commented that maybe it was a contraction. Once I read about it a little bit I realized that he was actually right.

I had a few on Sunday and then not again until Thursday night. Since then I've noticed them every once in a while and always irregularly. It's still kind of a cool pregnancy milestone and yet another thing that makes this pregnancy different than my first.

I am getting so excited about meeting our second (and last) little one. The fact that I am so much more miserable with this one than last time certainly helps too.

I made myself walk on the treadmill the other night. That's something I haven't done really at all throughout this entire pregnancy (exercise). Other than a few walks after dinner here and there I haven't done anything. And even though I'm not doing much walking on the treadmill at 3 miles per hour, I am hoping to slow my weight gain even a little bit.

When I had to take my wedding rings off the other night because my hands were so swollen I almost cried. I really didn't want to have to go without my wedding rings. Considering I had to soak my hands in icy water for fifteen minutes just to get them off, I think I did what I needed, but still... I miss my rings. Now I'm just a huge pregnant girl that looks single.

We haven't done a thing to change the nursery from when Julianna was a baby. It is still decorated in the same apple green color with barnyard bedding and it will stay that way until after Josh or Ellie grows out of it.

I have managed to begin sorting through baby clothes and getting ready to start washing the things that I know I will use again whether or not it is a boy or girl. I am also proud of myself because I have been slowly stocking up on diapers and wipes as I've seen them on sale for the last year or so. I know it sounds almost ridiculous but if you've had a baby that you used disposable diapers on recently then you know how unbelievably many of those things you go through and the money certainly does add up fast.

Hopefully, if I am more successful at breastfeeding (I only made it 3 months with Jules) and therefore avoid spending a fortune on formula, plus the diaper stock I have built up then this baby shouldn't be quite as expensive as Jules.

I have thirteen weeks to go until my due date. I get to take another peek at the baby in two weeks and then my appointments start every two weeks instead of every four. It's getting closer!

because I can't remember these things on my own I have to document them

I love watching my daughter stuff grapes in her cheeks and announce proudly, "Look! I'm a chickmonk!"

the birthday boy and his cake

We were riding in the car and having a conversation about making Pap's birthday cake and Julianna was being insistent on making him a princess birthday cake.

Pap: But what if I don't want princesses on my cake?
Jules: Well, I want to choose.
Pap: But it's my birthday. I would like some choice in the matter.
Jules: OK you can have princesses and ice cream cones.
Nanna: Aunt Whitney thinks that since it's Pap's birthday we should put a tarheel on the cake.

Julianna thinks about it for a minute and then yells out, "But I want to choose and I want it to be princesses!"

So we think Pap just about has her convinced after he tells her all about how if we make a tarheel cake we can make the "tar" part chocolate.

Jules says, "Well, OK Pap. I guess I will not make you a tarheel cake. I will make you a Wolfpack one!"

Jonathan says, "That's my girl!"

Hope you had a great birthday, Mole!

sometimes it's just whatever works

Last week I had an OB appointment and since I had to take Julianna with me I bribed her with a promise to visit Old McDonald's if she behaved well.

The hour plus wait for the doctor proved to be a challenge. Fortunately, my doctor's office has an area for children to play in the waiting room. It's a cramped space kind of positioned under a stairwell, but they have a large basket of books and one of those wire-thingies with beads on them that kids can manipulate the beads over hills and around corkscrews.

Anyway, this is what my child chose to do during our hour and ten minute wait.

almost as good as a fresh mater from the garden

While I have complained a lot here about not having a job this summer and spending a lot of time working on resumes and job searching, I would just like to say for the record that I have really, truly enjoyed this summer so far. Julianna has gotten to the point that I am not nervous about her playing independently in another room for a half hour or so without me. I am able to check on her every once in a while and she is usaully fine, entertaining herself. Plus, it has been great to have two extra adults here most of the time to keep an eye on her as well.

Sure, occasionally things happen when I am not supervising her fully, but for the most part she has grown up to be an independant child that gives me a freedom to work on other things for longer periods of time. This is not a freedom I will have for much longer and I am enjoying it while I can.

bummer

It really stinks when you get a postcard in the mail telling you that your job application could not be processed because it was incomplete. Especially when all it was lacking was a signature that you're pretty sure you added. Especially when you knew you were hurrying to get it finished because the child was waking up from nap.

Guess I'll be spending today re-doing an application that I've already sent in once. *sigh*

old age

The other week when we were at the beach we rode down to where the Pavilion used to be after dinner one night. We passed a woman sitting out on her porch with five dogs at her feet. I pointed her out and Mom didn't see her so she asked if she was an old woman. When I replied, "She was about the same age you are," Jules echoed me. "She was about the same age as you, Nanna."

So then mom asks Julianna if she thought she was old.

"Do you think I'm old, Julianna?"

Julianna said in her deep Southern accent, "Yeah." [pronounced with two syllables]

Well, mom then asked, "Jules, is your Mama old?"

Julianna replied, "A little bit."

"Are you old, Julianna?"

"No. I'm just three." [holding up three fingers]

"And I don't have dots all over my face."

Fortunately, everyone laughed.

blurbs

This baby is so much stronger than I remember Jules being. Obviously, that was three years ago so my memory may be clouded, but I don't recall Julianna being so active and almost violent with her movements as this one is.

I had a check-up yesterday and the doctor said he wanted to do another sonogram next visit to get a more accurate measurement of the baby since it was measuring so big at yesterday's visit. He told me that it would more than likely be a very big baby.

My blood pressure was also high and he instructed me to monitor it at home. In addition, I've gained 23 pounds and was advised to only gain between 25 and 30 so I'm definitely going to miss that mark. Diet and exericse, diet and exercise....

...maybe I should stay out of the ice cream every night.

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Julianna has been giving us a super-tough time lately. I don't know if it's a phase or just that she's three or what but she's been very mean. She disobeys quite often, deliberately doesn't listen or answer questions when we ask her. She has been using "bad words" like "idiot" that she's picked up from The Little Mermaid even after multiple conversations about what the word means, how it makes people feel, and about how we shouldn't use some words we hear people in movies use. It's beginning to really hit home the power of all of these Disney videos.

She tells people she doesn't like them. She picks on my mom in particular, but also tells me and a little girl in one of her classes, straight to our faces, "I don't like you!" and swats us away. She pretends to shoot things she doesn't care for like bees, the dog, and sometimes even people she's mad at.

The funniest (but not funny) part of it all is that she has learned that if she does something wrong while people are not looking, then she cannot get in trouble. She will tell me, "Mommy, don't look!" and then she will move a chair over to the TV to stand in it and turn off the television.

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I have been spending the past couple of weeks mailing out more resumes and applying for more jobs. It is exhausting and you really don't realize how much time it takes to alter your resume and cover letter to fit various different positions until you actually have to do it. I'd say I've applied to over 50 jobs since May and so far nothing.

I am content with subbing again next school year if I need to, but of course it would be better to have a full-time teaching job.

But there are only so many computer teachers out there and only so many computer teachers leave the positions at their schools each year.

I am putting a lot of thought again into extending my teaching license and going to graduate school. I would appreciate your prayers on this matter. It's just so hard to know what is best to do. Ideally, I'd love to be able to do what I "signed up" to do when I got my teaching license which is to teach middle grades computer technology classes. Maybe God has a way to make that happen, but maybe I have another year or two of heading in a different direction instead.

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I've been having so much trouble sleeping at night. The heartburn has begun. I had it with Julianna so I fully expected it this time too. I am a back sleeper and with Jules I was able to teach myself to sleep on my side. I am having a much more difficult time with that this go 'round and I'll find myself awake in the middle of the night on my back with no idea how I got there, and in excruciating pain. Tears run down my face when I try to roll to my side and I'll lie awake and wait until the baby moves again because the pulse in my head is slow and scary sounding. I get worried when I cannot feel the pulse in my stomach like I usually can when I lay down on my side.

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We've seen several good movies lately. We went to see Up in the cheapo movie theater and we saw The Reader, He's Not That Into You, and Revolutionary Road from Netflix. The last two I wouldn't recommend as highly as the first two, but still worth seeing I guess. This week we have a babysitter and tickets to see Harry Potter. I could not be more excited.

I've also read some great books this summer. I finished My Sister's Keeper not long ago and now I'm working on The Time Traveler's Wife both of which are absolutely fabulous. Can't wait to see both of those at the movies later this year. Before that I read Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed which was a bit dissappointing after reading his other two long ago.

Julianna and I have been reading a chapter a day in The Frog Princess and she is eagerly waiting for the movie version to come out in December.

However, it's another Disney Princess movie so we might have to rethink that idea.

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Still have prime weeks open at the beach. If no one rents them I guess I'll have to go back down there for a while again.

Silly girl. She had to come around and feel the coconuts after we took the picture.

notes from Jules

Dear Mamaw,

Thank you for the pretty tote bag. I've been using it to keep my library books and school worksheets in. It is perfect. Thank you for thinking of me. I miss you.

Love,

Jules

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Dear Seth,

I hope you've gotten your voice back since you got home from the beach. I would hate you to have to go to work not being able to talk and sing like Ariel. Thanks for always playing with me.

Love,

Jules

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Dear Aunt Camilla and Uncle Ted,

Thanks for letting me come over to pick blueberries again this year. They sure are yummy! It was nice of you to share with us.

Love,

Jules

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Dear Nanna,

I'm sorry I've been so mean to you lately. Please know that I love you and I am only three and have a hard time expressing my feelings properly. I know it's hard living with me, but I would miss you if you moved out.

Love,

Jules

this has Disney written all over it

We're walking out to the beach just now and Jules asks, "Mommy, why are there fireworks at the beach this time? Is it because my Daddy is falling in love with me?"

Maybe she's watched one too many Disney princess movies?