For all of you reading this who reside on the West Coast, you too are pulling out the t-shirts and shorts and watching your daffodils poke out of the ground during this 70 degree break from winter we're having. For those of you on the East Coast, I am entertained by your Facebook posts which keep us informed on the growing number of feet (or yards) of snow in your driveways- yikes! I'm sure winter will return to us soon, just hopefully not in mid-March when I am making a mad dash down to my birthing center in Fresno!
I am 33 weeks along today, and feeling a bit on the large and uncomfortable side. The usual third trimester aches and pains have set in, along with my lovely sinus complications. I'm not sure whether it is humorous or sad when Lyell imitates me by reaching up on his tip toes to grab a kleenex and making horrific "nose blowing sounds" while holding the tissue to his face. He is not quite ready to understand the baby in the belly idea, although he has felt baby sister's kicking, which he thinks is quite funny. In fact, he thinks my belly is pretty funny in general- he likes to put his hand on my protruding belly button and squeal with laughter. Hopefully he'll feel the same about the little package inside.
These days Lyell seems to be very busy. No longer do we sit cuddle for a while in the morning as he wakes up. Now he gives me a quick squeeze and then he's off and running. He'll start off by gathering all of his board books and arranging them carefully on the couch. Then he'll climb up on the couch and look through each book, screaming wildly and making the sign if he sees an animal that he recognizes. Eventually, out of the corner of his eye, he'll spot his miniature animals on the shelf and the books are abandoned as he runs over to pull out all the animals and arrange them in a specific corner of the living room. When he is finished he runs screaming back to the shelves to take out all his cars, which of course need to be arranged on the floor and then driven over to either transport the animals or run them over, depending on his mood. As you can see, most of his projects involve transportation and arrangement of a group of objects (and screaming).
Pretty soon, he looks out the window and remembers the outside world, which triggers another burst of screaming and running around making the signs for socks and shoes. Once we are outside he continues a complicated project he began about a month ago, which involves rearranging all of the sand, dirt and acorns on our property. He has also become very interested in our car, which he has come to understand usually takes him to fun play dates, parks and even up to the snow. Today, when we came back from a playgroup at our neighborhood lake, we were eating lunch and I was reading through a cookbook when I looked up and Lyell was sound asleep in his high chair! So it's go, go, go and then crash for us right now as Lyell discovers the world.
Here are some pictures from the rest of our Hawaii trip and January fun in Mariposa County.
Sisters and cousins!
At the Honolulu Zoo with grandpa checking out the giraffes.
Lyell in his aloha gear
Pregnant mama at the beach in Waikiki. After a short hiatus (since the beach days of my youth) grandpa needs to brush up on his drip sandcastle skill as he used to be the CA state champion :)
Returning to CA for a Family Hike to Striped Rock on one of the only cold days in January
Lyell in his favorite window seat.
The boys: Lyell, Nariz and Matthew relaxing with a book.
Lyell definitely has his sad times. Here he is distraught over mommy's closed wallet. He doesn't understand why I don't open it for him so he can dump out and play with all the interesting things inside.
This face is in response to, "Lyell, show us your teeth."
And, "Now, show us your nose!"
Every time I am feeling a little overwhelmed and emotional (often these days) it takes about 5 minutes of surrendering completely to play and experiencing the world through the eyes of my son to make my preoccupations dissolve into love.
We are hoping that our next blog will include the fourth member of our family. Much love to all of you!
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