Two Thomas's!

Nathaniel was delighted to see his friend, Jonathan, this afternoon. He had asked about Jonathan twice earlier in the day, so when I told him his buddy was on the way over, he ran to eagerly wait at the window. He had just put on his new Thomas the Train t-shirt, and when Jonathan arrived wearing his own Thomas t-shirt as well, there was even more excitement than usual.

It has been so fun to watch the boys develop a friendship. Their playdates always start off with squeals of delight at the sight of one another. From time to time, they'll disagree about who gets to use the favorite truck or tool of the day, but they're starting to develop some limited conflict-resolution skills, like the other afternoon when they both wanted to drive the dump truck in the backyard. After a little scuffle, they worked it out so Jonathan could pull and Nathaniel could push. The boys haven't yet mastered the coordination or attention for a group photo, though. Here are a few attempts to catch them sporting their Thomas shirts this afternoon:

When I got out my camera, Nathaniel felt he needed to take a few photos as well.

Choo, Choo!!
This one is my favorite :)

A Week With Mimi

This past week we had the pleasure of a very helpful visit from Aaron's Mom, Kaye, aka Mimi. And it truly was such a blessing! She came from West Texas to help us through what was hopefully our second-to-last week of bed rest. She cooked for us, did our laundry, and even cleaned out my car. And of course, she was on full-time Nathaniel duty while Aaron was away at work. I think we wore her out, but it was so fun to see Nathaniel soaking up the one-on-one attention from his Grandmother. A Zillion thanks, Mimi, for your help!!





We go back Wednesday for another ultrasound, and hope to find everything has healed up well. I'm looking forward to getting up off this sofa for more than a few minutes here and there. And I know Aaron is eagerly awaiting the end of semi-single parenting. I can't wait to take Nathaniel to the park, or out for a walk. Hopefully it's just a few short days away!

Thankful

Tonight I am physically nauseous, and not because I am pregnant (though that is also true!). It is because my little guy will not eat dinner, and is going to bed hungry. He refused dinner 3 times this evening, with the final episode the most dramatic. He cried projectile tears -you know, the kind that go airborne when they squint their eyes tight. Until I had a child, I thought those only happened in cartoons. It is the saddest thing. And dinner was really quite yummy, a chicken lasagna, graciously provided by friends of ours from church, with green peas, which he ate very well for lunch today. Had he only been willing to have a taste, he would have enjoyed it. I know, thousands of parents probably battled over dinner time with their toddler this evening, and sent many of the stubborn ones to bed hungry, as we did. Truer still, millions of parents around the world had no choice tonight, with nothing to offer their hungry little ones... Now I am more nauseous, but extraordinarily grateful to be so blessed. Nathaniel will undoubtedly wake up to a growling tummy at 6 AM tomorrow, and down a large breakfast of some sort. Yesterday when Aaron arrived upstairs bleary-eyed to Nathaniel's wake-up call, he was greeted with a ravenous toddler who demanded "cook, Daddy".

On a lighter note, things are going well on the baby front, and the front is starting to pooch a bit to show for it. We are now 10 1/2 weeks, and after 4 weeks of bed rest due to early pregnancy complications, issues are resolving, and our little one is growing at a robust rate. Bed rest has been at times dull, and always a challenge with a 2 yr old in the house, but has allowed for some appreciated down time. Time for leisure reading, catching up on medical journals and continuing medical education credits, learning a new skill (crochet), general introspection, and some tender moments at home with my little guy. I've also learned over the past few weeks to accept help from others. Friends and family have so graciously provided meals, childcare, emotional support, and prayers, and for that we are infinitely thankful. I may be release from bed rest at my next appointment in 2 weeks, so we are keeping our fingers crossed!