Here We Go

In three days, it will begin again.

Don't look at me like that. You live in the South (probably), so you know exactly what I'm talking about.

In spite of my complete lack of interest in the actual game, I will do my part by wearing something houndstooth, adorning my children in script A's and cutesy pictures of Big Al, and hanging our crimson and houndstooth H on the front door. It really is a pretty H. (Thanks, Nina!) Oh, and DWH thinks I need to do that feigning interest in something I don't care about in order to participate in conversations thing, so I will occasionally ask the score. It's a school spirit thing, really. Roll Tide and all that.
I suppose I should get a new Mercer t-shirt too, since they have a football team now.

I know, I go on about how little I care for sports every year at this time. But, I will remind you that I enjoy football season just as much as the rest of you, only for different reasons. Hooray for nachos! Hooray for good excuses to get together with old friends! Hooray for knowing we're one weekend closer to fall!
Also, it's not that I haven't tried. I have. I have gone to a few games. I read the book DWH got me for Christmas one year. I've stayed in the same room when the game was on and tried - Oh! how I've tried - to pay attention. It just is not my thing. And, that's OK. I still support those of you who love it.

So, even if I won't be entirely sure who Alabama is playing until the end of November (even I know that one!), I hope they win. And, if my eyes glaze over when you start talking about touchdowns and tackles (Wow! my sports vocabulary has VASTLY improved over the last ten years!), don't judge me too harshly. And, in return, I promise to try not to judge you when you don't know the difference between a Death Eater and a Dementor. That's fair, right?

P.S. I'd like to share a quick anecdote on the subject. DWH and his brothers reportedly told their younger sister that she would never find a man if she didn't like sports. According to the sister, this influenced her decision to learn about football.
Fast forward several years. DWH married me. He married the woman who, when we met, had ESPN parentally controlled out of her TV because it was just a nuisance, getting in the way of channels she might actually watch.
I love irony.
I love my husband for  putting up with me, too.

P.P.S.  Every day = daily. Each day. "I brush my teeth every day."
           Everyday = routine. It's an adjective. "I have a long list of everyday chores to complete."
My apologies. I had to get that out of my system.
Thus concludes my pompous rant for the day.

Because This Blog Is My Baby Book

Sort of. I have a baby book for each of my children, and someday, I'm going to scroll through this blog and write everything in them. Someday, D might want to know that his first word was "light," or that he stopped eating anything other than fruit, yogurt, or bread on the week of his first birthday.

I keep seeing these adorable pictures that parents are creating for the first day of school, with fun facts about their sweet little ones listed on the side to remind them of who they were when they were little. So, I'd like to make such a list for my babies, minus the pictures because I have been remiss in my camera-wielding duties as of late.

Sweet Pea
Age: 3
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Favorite Food: Yogurt and strawberries
Favorite Books: The Fancy Nancy Series and The Jesus Storybook Bible
Favorite Colors: Purple, pink, and orange - in that order.
Favorite TV Show: Sophia the First
Favorite Toys: Your dollhouse, Little People, and baby dolls
When I Grow Up: "I'm going to be in the circus. I'm going to do ballet stuff and princess things."

Sweet Pea, you are a very polite and affectionate little girl. You and your brother love each other so much, and I hope that continues. You like coloring, painting, and crafts, as well as anything that has to do with ballet. You will begin dance classes next month. Yay! You are very, very funny and you already have your own sense of wit, along with a bit of a sassy mouth. You also like to talk. A lot. You are showing signs of being strong-willed and independent and I wouldn't have you any other way. You're just a little shy when you first meet new people or enter new surroundings, but it doesn't take long for you to warm up and have a good time.
We love you, sweet girl!

Buddy (Because you're too big for me to call you Baby D anymore.)
Age: 22 months
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown (and it grows like crazy!)
Favorite Food: Bananas, grapes, yogurt, and pancakes. You refuse to eat much else.
Favorite Books: The How Do Dinosaurs... Series and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Favorite Toys: Your pirate ship, your Batcave, and whatever Sweet Pea has.

Buddy, you are also very polite and affectionate. Although, for some reason, you say, "thank you" to everyone except Daddy. Little stinker. For most of the day, you would rather play, but when you're ready to snuggle and read books, you're ready right then. Speaking of books, you can't get enough of them. I love watching you sit on the living room floor and "read" all the books you've pulled off the shelf. You like Batman, Caillou, and anything Disney. You smile and laugh during most of your waking hours. You are definitely more of a daredevil than your sister, resulting in bumps, bruises, and booboos. It makes me a nervous wreck, but it doesn't seem to faze you at all. You just get up and start over again. We can't wait to see what the next year brings!
We love you, Bud!

Both

You both love music, and right now, you seem to have a small addiction to the Beatles. Every time we get into the car, you ask for "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds," and if we don't play it, you start singing it, anyway.
You are both great nappers, awesome night time sleepers, and terribly picky eaters. But, since I'd rather pack some just-in-case fruit and a sandwich than stay up all night, I'm OK with that.

You are both wonderful, smart, strong people who have the potential to show the love and hope and compassion of Christ in the world. Do it. All the money and notoriety in the world will never give you the peace that living out that mission can give.

We love you both so much, it's hard to put into words. But, I hope that love will help to build you into the awesome individuals you were made to be.
Oh, and be nice to your new brother or sister. S/he will love you, too. :)

There Goes the Neighborhood? Back-To-School in Birmingham

Happy Back-To-School!!
Yes, some of you have to wait until next week to watch your little ones enter or re-enter the world where they learn to love learning. But, a good number of you have started that journey today.
You've already bought your #2 pencils and have unearthed the absolutely joyful aroma of a brand new, recently opened three-ring binder. Mmmmmm. You've sniffed the wide- or college-ruled paper and smiled to yourself as you pondered all the awesome things that are going to happen between now and the end of May. Your fingers have itched to open the colored pencils that you can't use yet because, technically, they're for school.

Or, you just realized that your friend is even more dorky than you thought she was and probably needs to go back to work in the near future because she misses teaching like she would miss a piece of her heart if someone came along and ripped it out of her chest.

I'm not sure how to smoothly segue into the thoughts that have been rattling around in this crazy brain of mine, so I'll just set it up with a disclaimer.

If I step on your toes, I'm sorry. I am not trying to sound self-righteous and I am not trying to insult Birmingham. I am sincerely curious about this because, honestly, neither DWH nor I have experienced this until moving here. I do, however, think that this attitude may have something to do with why I often feel like such a square peg in the Birminghole.
Also, DWH, I'm about to start harping, so feel free to stop reading now. Love you.

Why is it (and I really do expect someone to respond so that I fully understand) that people here in Birmingham refer to children who live in apartments with absolute disgust and sheer revulsion?

I need to understand this. It baffles me. What do they have against children who live in apartments? Or, any children, for that matter? Do they honestly believe that their children are superior to someone else's? Because, um, they're not. Really. Neither are mine.
Since moving here almost four years ago, I have heard several people say, unapologetically, that they do not want their children to go to school with children who live in apartments. I have heard more than one mom claim that her child's school's test scores are so low because their school has students who live in (ugh!) apartments. I had mentioned it to DWH a few times, particularly when we had conversations about why I was having such a hard time making friends here, but he had never heard it for himself until the other day when he took Sweet Pea to play at the pool. There were a couple of families with young children there, and they were discussing different neighborhoods in the area. One man said that he would love to move into a nearby neighborhood, but it's in ______ school zone and they let apartment kids go there!
Needless to say, DWH was as disgusted with the sentiment as I am.

So, what is it? Is it that they don't live in a four-bedroom brick house? Is it that their parents don't make as much money as someone else's? Is it (gasp!) OH! You don't think the privileged kids might sit next to the apartment kids in class and have them breathe their poverty on the pristine little cherubs, do you?? Oh, the horror!

I've heard this nonsense in the fellowship hall of a church. Really? That's the example you want to set for your kids? "Let's go to church and pray and live out the gospel of Christ - except when it comes to THOSE kids. I don't want you to go to school with THOSE kids. They're not like us." Sounds like a pretty good example of why non-Christians have a hard time taking Christians seriously, to me.

There are a lot of people with whom I can't identify. The, "I'm too good to live near a Wal-Mart" people are a bit of an enigma. I don't get the people who can't let their daughters leave the house without a bow that's the size of their living room. I'm sure I'll never understand people who don't like chocolate or who enjoy camping. But, I've known all those people everywhere. The anti-kids who live in apartments thing is new.

Maybe I just don't want my kids to be so naïve that they think everyone is exactly like them.

Maybe I wonder, if these people knew that I had lived in a trailer park or a neighborhood across the street from a housing project, would they still be friends with me? Or would I bring their kids' test scores down?

P.S. If you want to see something inspiring, check out Olivia in Peru. Olivia is a former student of whom I am very proud. She is living out God's mission for her life by teaching the children of missionaries in Peru - right alongside children who don't even have apartments to live in. Maybe we need a little more of that.

Just Four Weeks Away...

...from learning the sex of Volume III in the Babyhead Trilogy. Already?? Wow. Compared to the other two, I feel like this pregnancy has flown. I have my sixteen week checkup in a few days, and at my next appointment, we get to find out whose hand-me-downs this baby will be wearing.

Maybe this pregnancy seems to be going so much more quickly because it's, you know, not my first rodeo and I'm not worried that I'm doing irreparable harm to the baby every time I choose to watch an Adam Sandler movie over listening to Bach. I do love a good fugue, but sometimes you just need to laugh at something stupid.
Maybe this one doesn't seem to be taking so long because we're running out of living space for all these little people, and running out of time to secure more. Space, that is. Not people.
Maybe it's because, with the other two, I spent so much time (seriously, soooo much time) thinking about things like whether I was having a boy or a girl, who the baby would look like, what name we would finally choose, etc.

It's not as if I haven't thought about those things this time. It's just that, I already have a girl and a boy, so I really don't have a preference either way. I will be equally overjoyed with either. And, for once, I'm not just saying that because it's what I'm supposed to say. When we found out Sweet Pea was a girl, I acted all pleasantly surprised, but on the inside, my brain said, "YES!!!!" I really wanted Brother D to be a boy, even though I was terrified when it was confirmed. Still am, a little, but mostly when he tries so jump off furniture and such. (WHY does he have a death wish??? Am I that bad???)

We already have one who looks like DWH and one who looks like me, so I really don't care who this baby resembles. (Don't make me get out the baby pictures from the 70's. That girl is DWH all over.) Who will s/he look like? Me? DWH? His family? My family? Leon?

Of course, the baby will look like Leon. Everyone looks like Leon.
 (I'll be happy to explain that to any non-Heads who are curious.)

I have a blond and a brunette.
Maybe I will finally have a redhead, although the odds are not ever in my favor on that one. :(
I've had one bald baby and one with a shock of thick, brown hair.

As far as names are concerned, a girl will have the name I promised to DWH a few years ago, and boy name discussions are going much more smoothly than last time. Poor Brother D didn't have a middle name until we were filling out the paperwork for his birth certificate.

And, what do you think?

Will our trilogy be completed with a girl or a boy?
Blond? Brunette? Redhead??

We can provide an answer to the first one just after Labor Day, but you'll have to wait until January to find out if you are right about the second.