Monday

Today is John's last day at the Growing Place and I'm a little weepy. Partly because he's had a really good time there and all the teachers have really cared about him, partly because I'm dreading making the adjustment to the new school, and partly because I'm always weepy when I'm pregnant. Plus I'm tired and I have a cold...
He'll be OK, I'll be OK. And Tony will be there for us both. Thankfully, that's how it's always worked so far!

I've been running us all ragged to get stuff done before Twohy's arrival and before I get too big to be able to move. The other day, as I was cleaning out our cable storage under the TV, Tony asked if I was nesting. I guess I am. It's a little early, but I know as time goes on I'll probably have the energy to do less and less.

I did not get the laundry all folded and put away this weekend (it's mostly clean in baskets, with some in dryer and some still in washer), but I did get a bunch of other stuff done...
I went to the Central/Clemson consignment sale, we went to Lowe's, Target, Home Depot, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Gattiland, framed pictures for Twohy's room, went through John's old baby clothes, refitted a lamp to make it shorter (to fit under the bookshelves in Twohy's room), changed the sheets, washed laundry, starting filling out paperwork to put Twohy on the waiting list for the Growing Place, started cleaning out shelves in the dog den, priced plastic storage benches, started redesigning the backyard space, started organizing the calendar for the next month, I can't remember what else. Thankfully friend Kerri fed John and I on Saturday evening and bathed John. Oh, yeah, all this while Tony was gone both days in technical rehearsals in Greenville.
This morning, Tony and I hung the pictures that John painted for Twohy's room, talked about the new map I bought for John's room, then Tony made lunches and I made a deli tray for the teachers at his school. I stopped at the bank on the way home. Now I'm about to take Keats for a walk then try to get two days worth of work-work done, as well as unload the dishwasher, straighten the kitchen and my desk. Without wasting time on folding laundry, designing our "new backyard," getting ready for the upcoming consignment sale, filling extra screw holes in the walls in Twohy's room, cleaning the Thomas train table I got at the last consignment sale (they come in clumps in fall and spring), or browsing online.

Oh, and here's a picture of the fort my dad picked up for us Frisco this weekend. (The centerpiece of our "new" backyard.)



Life is VERY full. Very.

More information about the fundraising

In response to a question from my sister on the previous post, this fundraising we are doing is part of a walk, the Start Lowcountry Walk in Charleston, South Carolina, which takes place on September 26. This will be our third year for raising money, although we have not been able to make it to the walk yet, due to scheduling conflicts...

The American Heart Association has fundraising walks around the country and throughout the year. We got involved with this event after John's first stay at MUSC in 2006. The "Little Hearts" segment is a group of walkers/fundraisers whose families have been treated in the Pediatric Cardiology Department at MUSC. (Little Hearts is part of the MUSC Health company group.) There is a walk in Greenville for the AHA in the spring, but we've chosen to support this one, since we have such an emotional connection there.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. This is the one charity that we do ask our friends and family to donate to each year, and every single dollar helps us and the MUSC Little Hearts meet our goals. No amount is too small. You can also mail a check directly to us, if you prefer not to get into the "system." We won't submit your name or address, if you don't want us to.
Thanks again! Please donate!

Merciless Mom's Minor Miracle

We started out the week with the laundry all caught up... folded, put away, EVERYTHING!

No good deed goes unpunished

Before my readership diminishes, I wanted to thank everyone again for sticking with us through this stressful time. Your love, support, prayers, good wishes, and activity presents have really helped in more ways than I would have ever hoped!

So here's the part where we ask for even more... It's time for us to start fund raising for the American Heart Association again through the Little Hearts program at MUSC Children's Hospital.

If you feel moved to do so, please contribute. Every little bit adds up, and we really appreciate your help.

Here is the link to donate and for more information. Email or comment if you have any questions.

Again, thank you all from the bottom of our hearts! (Hee hee!)

Coin Collection

I spent some time this summer working on my coin collection. There are a few coins that I am still looking for, so at Juliet's suggestion I put up this post to ask you to keep an eye out for the following and if you have one, please hold on to it for me.

Lincoln cents

Anything before 1960
1962
1962D
1963
1981D
All 1982 cents
1985D
1990D

Jefferson nickels
Anything before 1964, especially 1942-1945 (although I doubt you'll find any of these "Wartime nickels" in circulation). Also, one of the newer nickels with Lewis & Clark (sailing ship) on the 'tails' side.

State quarters
Florida
Iowa
Oregon
South Dakota
Idaho
Hawaii

Also, please look for Bicentennial quarters and anything with a San Francisco (S) mint mark. On Lincoln cents, mint mark is below the date. On Jefferson nickels 1938-1964, it is on the 'tails' side to the right of the Jefferson Memorial. After 1964 it is on the 'heads' side below the date.

Thank you!

Random John Stuff

One of the things John likes to do is come see us with a toy behind his back and say "I have a surprise for you." Evidently I am too good of a guesser, because now, when he does this trick for me, he says "I have a surprise for you and don't say anything."

He also says "I have to show you something cool" and "Look at my new game."

His favorite place to pee is on the azalea bush in our front yard. Anytime I hear the patter of feet and then the storm door open, I know that's what's happening. Unfortunately, he just pulls his pants and underwear off and leaves them on the front porch. He also likes to wave "it" around while he's peeing. Definitely all boy. I guess I'm definitely all boy-mom, because it doesn't bother me at all. It also didn't bother me during the brief trend when he liked to get down on all fours, lift one leg, and pee like a dog. Except that he usually got his shirt wet. However, Tony didn't like that one, so we stopped it.
We were at a local park last week, and he needed to pee, so I let him pee on a bush. A couple of girl-moms were across the park judging me. I was just happy we didn't have to end a successful playdate to try to find a bathroom!

He only knows the letters of the alphabet that make up his own name.

He runs everywhere.

He is now riffing on scenes from the movie "Cars," rather than just replaying them. He is starting to understand and accept the fact that we already have just about every "Cars" diecast toy made and that he isn't going to get any more. We did go though the seven stages of grief on this issue.

When Tony and I are talking about non-toddler topics at the dinner table, John occasionally throws in descriptions of scenes from the movies "Cars" and "Wall-e" so that he can contribute to the conversation.

He has my Dad's selective/attention deficit hearing disorder: "John, do you ...?" "JOHN, do you want ...?" "JOHN. JOHN! JOHN MICHAEL PENNA!" "Excuse me. John!" "What, Mommy?"

He removed all the steri-strip tape strips from his chest by himself one at a time over the course of a week. He would announce "I'm ready to take some tape off" and then he would do it. The gray tape residue is still there.

He has inherited, by genetics or by observation, my default reaction to anything displeasing: a brief temper tantrum. His current mode is to whine, wriggle, and jog his feet up and down a little bit. Not getting juice, having to get dressed for school, and not getting to watch a DVD are the most frequent catalysts. Fortunately, he recovers pretty quickly. I am usually in the middle of doing something else and just ignore it, or I say "I know you want [whatever] and you can cry about it if you need to, but a fuss isn't going to change it." or I say "Life is hard, I know." Sometimes, we can circumvent it when I have to require some behavior on his part by saying "Is [this] going to cause a fuss?" He either answers "Yes this will cause a fuss" or "No this will not cause a fuss," but either way, if we talk about it before hand, he usually doesn't fuss.
One day, we were standing next to the refrigerator having the "no juice" altercation, and in his orneriness, he pushed on the water dispenser lever and got a shirt full of cold water. Then as he was whining and jogging around he slipped and fell in the water on the floor. The wicked mom in me loved the instant karma of that one. He calmed down soon and then wiped up the water with the dish towel I gave him.

Whether we wake him up in the morning or he wakes up on his own, he has to have about 10 minutes of solitary time. If we intrude on this morning meditation (or whatever it is), he goes to a different room and says "Leave me alone" or "You are bothering me."

He likes to pretend that he is the mommy or daddy and we are the babies. We played out our whole bedtime ritual that way one night. It's a good reminder about how we really sound to him.
Yesterday I let him pay at Gattitown. If only it had been his money...

Back to school for Tony

This past weekend was a bit of a "get your life in order" weekend for us. Tony wrapped up the last details of his tenure and promotion review packets, which will go out to the external reviewers (hopefully today). Then he started working on Twohy's room, shelves, bookcases, and starting to hang the roller shade. He also started going through and organizing about 10 years of tax documents, which were in several different locations in the house and office.
John was amazingly cooperative. He wasn't really happy about not getting all the attention he demanded, but we had relatively few meltdowns. And he didn't spend the WHOLE weekend in front of the TV.
I did more cleaning out of Twohy's closet, purging and prepping for my favorite semi-annual consignment sale, framed some pictures, cleaned out the fridge (this was the big one: I took out all the drawers and shelves and washed them and cleaned out the fridge itself), ran a couple errands, organized the BIG to-do list, and laundry, laundry, laundry.

I made a quick trip to Goodwill on Saturday afternoon because I had a compulsion to see if they had the perfect lamp for Twohy's room. They didn't. But when I was in line waiting to pay for two bath books for Twohy, I was behind a cute older couple who were purchasing two posters that I had donated the day before!! I felt very glad they were going to a "good home" and that I got to see their new owners. Plus, it was gratifying that the posters were sold so quickly! It was kind of an amazing coincidence, the result of me following a compulsion without doubting myself (a rare occurrence, but one I love!)

So of course, we didn't get everything on my list done, not by a long shot, but we did accomplish a LOT, and Twohy's room will be "ready" soon.

Tony starts class on Wednesday, but the meetings started today. His life will go into high gear in about a week and a half, when he starts focus and tech rehearsals for his first show in Greenville. Then, it's pretty much non-stop until Twohy arrives... Now that John is 3 and can do lots of stuff by himself and can communicate (when he's not having a temper tantrum), I'm not as freaked out by Tony's crazy work schedule... but of course, we'll see as time goes on. It will go by even faster now!

Back to school

John went back to the Growing Place today and it went well. He cried when I left, but I'm sure he calmed down fast. Evidently he had some trouble readjusting at snack time (which is the first event of the day), but got back on track and had a "fantastic" day, according to Miss Kendal, and a "great" day, according to John.

He has a trend of his first day back usually being a good one, I was hoping that would hold!

Yay!

Just life

Haven't been posting, because there hasn't been much going on...
We're just living life, muddling our way through the day-to-day.
We've been to Gattiland, Toadily Fun ("the jumping place"), and various parks. Playing in the kiddie pool out front, playing cars, watching "Cars" and "Wall-E." Napping or not napping. Running errands.

Tony had his 20 year high school reunion this weekend. He drove up on Friday, partied on Saturday, and headed back Sunday. He had a good time and saw people he first knew in preschool and elementary school.

John will start back to the Growing Place tomorrow, for Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of August. He'll start Episcopal Day School on Wednesday, September 9. We'll start him 5 days a week from 9am-2pm, and adjust as needed. Thankfully, he is potty trained. He can go on his own without fanfare and wash his hands. He just tends to leave his pants off afterwards. We'll have to address that one before school starts! (Still in overnight diapers, but that won't change until he gives up his pre-bedtime milk ritual...)

Tony starts classes on August 19th. His first show in Greenville will open on September 4th, and then on the 10th he flies to Louisville for Dracula.

I have an OB/GYN appointment this Wednesday. I am hoping we get the date for the C-section.

That's about it. We've got the next three and half months pretty much scheduled. Tony and I had a calendar meeting last week...

~Life is a progress, and not a station.
Ralph Waldo Emerson