Thinking Girly Thoughts

Throughout this pregnancy when asked which I wanted, boy or girl, I enthusiastically replied "girl." As my friend Sarah puts it, we have enough testosterone in this house (Sarah's a very girly girl). And let's face it, girl clothes are WAY cuter. How is it that I've been blessed with my preference for the second time: IT'S A GIRL!!!

We couldn't be happier. Of course I've always said that another boy would be wonderful and absolutely no less loved, but hey it's true about that testosterone thing. So, we spent the day on Friday in a cloud of excitement and had many conversations about what it will be like to parent her. When we told Nancy and Jerry about it I was amused at Nancy's mild disbelief, as if to say "how could our boy-dominated family produce two girls out of three?" Guess those Malone boys have it in them afterall.

Now it's time to "think pink" and spend gobs of time drooling over girl racks while shopping. I forsee a source of marital frustration =).

Rodney was just as excited as I was when we learned we were having a girl. Some of his remarks were that boy competition won't be an issue and that he doesn't have to worry that he will love or relate to this child with any less gusto as it's a completely different entity. He did say that he was a bit nervous because he's been around boys all his life. I took this to mean that parenting a boy seemed way more natural because it had been modelled to him by his father. Girls are brand new territory.

Rodney and I are not ones to hide name choices, so I might as well share it now. Early in our marriage we decided to come up with names for our future children, one boy and one girl, and these names have stuck. William Paul was the boy name and the girl name was (is) Eva Sophia. Eva is my maternal grandmother's name and we also just think it's beautiful (Will is named after Rod's maternal grandfather). We're toying with the idea of lenghthening it to Evelyn or Evangeline but haven't decided on that one. If any of you have ideas on how else to lengthen the name please share.

Lost Camera, Haircut, New Diapers and Moving

We are safely back from our trip and getting back into non-vacationing life. Overall, the trip was good. But after spending so much time living out of a suitcase, it is very good to be home. We've been spending lots of time organizing things around the house and taking care of projects set aside until now. It's nice to be in a "get things done" mode and to actually check those things off the list.

The title of the blog mentions four events that are worth talking about. The first is the fact that I lost our camera this week. I am very upset about this for obvious reasons but mostly because our financial state right now doesn't really allow for me to run out and replace the thing even though it's something very valued (atleast to me). The one silver lining is that my parents gave us their fairly new digital camcorder that they hardly used, so atleast we can get video.

Needless to say, I was not able to capture photos of Will's first haircut last night. His hair had been getting pretty crazy so this cut was long overdue. I have to report that I thought I'd be more emotional about this, but I really wasn't. I was just relieved that our boy didn't look like a sloppy mess anymore. This morning I had to do a double take. He's so cute and grown up looking now that I can imagine him as a toddler (even though he's pretty much a toddler now- hanging on to babydom perhaps?).

If you've been keeping up with Marisa's blog you've read that they made the switch to cloth diapers. We've decided to do the same for the obvious benefits and have been pretty happy so far. Each day we've had to figure out new solutions for little "issues" that arise, but it's mostly because like anything new it's taken some adjustment. Overall, we are happy and mostly really looking forward to the decrease in our diaper spending. Basically this means I have more money to spend at Target and we all know what that can lead to =).

Our tenant, Connie informed us the other night that she's buying a house and will be moving out in September. This doesn't come as a huge shock to us since she told us a few months back that she was interested in buying a house, but originally she told us that she wouldn't be moving for a couple of years. At first we were disappointed because Connie has been the perfect tenant. But now we're kind of excited becuase after discussing it we've decided to move into her unit. It needs some fixing up, mostly the floors and ceiling, but we're looking at it as an opportunity to do so instead of putting it off for some future date. I am looking forward to not having to climb so many stairs with two kids in tow AND doing laundry will be tons easier (especially considering the switch to cloth diapers). It looks like we will make the move by the first of October.

I'll close with a video of Will and my dad. My dad was sick with a pretty bad cold for most of our visit to Florida but he had a few good days when we first got there. He and Will hit it off and I told Rodney that it was fun watching them play together because it reminded me of my childhood.

17 Weeks

Tomorrow will begin week 17 of my pregnancy. Where has the time gone? Now that the nausea is pretty much gone I'm not counting down the weeks like I did during that time. This, and the busy-ness of the past couple of weeks, brought me here rather rapidly I must say. In three weeks we will have the ultrasound to determine the sex and I'm really excited. According to my pregnancy book the baby is pretty much fully formed (just cooking now) and can hear sounds outside my belly. How amazing that a life can "become" so quickly.

One or two you of have asked to see belly pictures, so here are a couple (taken Tuesday).

I have a LONG list of things to do today before 2 pm (and blogging is not on it), so gotta run.

Whirlwind

This is definitely an apt word to describe how things have felt these past few weeks. And since we have officially entered the "travel" portion of our summer, it will continue on this path for the next few weeks.

It started with the news of Phil's death, sending us on an emotional rollercoaster of grief, mourning, and laughter (in reminiscing) and continued with saying goodbye to both Rodney's childhood home and hometown. The physical aspect of long road trips has served to add an extra element to the "ride" (sticking with the rollercoaster analogy) indeed. We look forward to another even longer road trip on Thursday which will take us from St. Louis to Northern Michigan to Columbus Ohio onto Greenville South Carolina then to Florida and, finally, home. We brace ourselves for gas prices and frequent stops while looking forward to spending time with cherished family and friends.

We just returned from the second trip to McPherson in as many weeks and most likely our last for some time. This particular trip was for Phil's memorial service. We got back last night and are "picking up the pieces" only to turn around and (as mentioned above) leave for 2 1/2 more weeks. Phil's service was amazing. I think there were atleast 800 people there (I admit I'm bad with judging crowd numbers, but there were loads of people there) and the stories and tributes offered were so incredible I began to wonder whether or not Phil was a real person. He of course was, and it's evident that to many he was one of the best they knew. What a privelege to share in something so big as was his impact on those around him. We got a chance to talk to Esther a little after the service and watch Anna run around laughing and playing. Esther is incredibly strong and showed such a peace that made me marvel. Certainly much of this was due to the fact that she had already been through two services and one can only grieve publically so much. Once again, we will be praying for them and the Penner family.

In other news, Will is walking. About 4 or 5 days ago he decided that he'd rather spend more time on his feet than his knees and his wobbly waddle is so cute to watch. Here's a video taken last week:



Hopefully our travels won't keep me from posting atleast once while we're gone, but knowing my record I can't promise much. In the meantime, here's to summer travel and the continued whirlwind.

Remembering Phil Penner

Yesterday we received a very tragic phone call informing us that one of Rodney's best friends, Phil had passed away. He was living in Indonesia and had contracted Dengue Fever which ended his life. When we heard the news we were crushed. Phil and Rodney had been friends since high school and remained close until he passed. He left a wife and a 3 year-old daughter behind and we couldn't grieve more for their loss.

I met Phil even before Rodney and I started dating because he would come to visit him (and their other mutual good friend, Dave) at Greenville. I remember my first impressions of him were that he was a cute, funny, and incredibly nice guy. He turned out to be one of the most loving people I knew and Rodney keeps referring to him as a saint. The individual that he worked with in Indonesia told his parents back in Kansas that Phil was one of the most godly men he had ever met. What a loss. Rodney was torn up all day yesterday and even came home from work early. He regeretted having to return today, but decided that he would wait to hear when the memorial service would be held in Kansas so he could take time off for that. From what we know, they will be having the funeral in Chicago (where he lived and met Esther before moving to Indonesia) in the next few days and then a memorial service in McPherson, KS towards the end of the week.

We are very sad about this and are going to miss Phil so much. Rodney said he would miss being able to learn from Phil the most. He informed me that he loved being able to ask him questions and even though they may not always agree, Phil would always teach Rodney something. I think Phil's life was a great lesson in how to be a loving person and a catalyst for God's will in the world. We offer prayers for Esther and Anna and his family in Kansas.

We will miss you dearly, Phil.

(P.S. The picture above of Phil, Rodney and I was taken Chicago O'Hare Airport in 2003 right before we left the country for Paraguay. This is a special memory for me since he was the last person we saw before we moved out of the country.)

Baseball and Busted Shoes

On Saturday the three of us went to the Cardinals v. Phillies game as a birthday/father's day gift for Rodney. It was also Will's first pro baseball game, not that he'll remember it. It was a warm day (84) and hot in the sun, but it was pleasant in the shade. Luckily our seats ended up being in the shade and it turned out to be a really comfortable and relaxing way to pass the afternoon/early evening. Will didn't seem to care too much about the game (surprise) but cared more about the people in the stands. For the first few minutes after we arrived he stood on Rodney's lap and stared over his shoulder at the people in the stands. Then, as the game went on it became apparent that the only way we'd make it through the game was to give him (very slowly and steadily) snacks and drinks due to the fact that every time he saw someone around him eating their peanuts and hotdogs he'd start whinning. Other than this, he was a very good boy and we enjoyed ourselves so much.

Enjoying the Crowd

Where did all these people come from?

A funny thing happened on the way to the game. We decided to take the bus and metro to the game and ended up doing a lot of walking. I was not really smart about my footwear choice and wore a cheap pair of flipflops. Just as we got off the metro at the stadium my left shoe broke and I had to walk half barefoot into the stadium. It was a little embarrassing. We went straight into the Cardinals store when we got in and bought these hot little numbers:

Notice the blinged-out "Cardinals" written on the straps. Ha!

Well, the other bit if news I should share before signing off is the fact that Will is walking more and more. He will stand up, take several steps, then collapse to the floor, crawl a bit, then get up and do it again. I think the most steps he's taken at a time is about 10. He seems to have moments when he cares about "practicing" his walking during the day and then the rest of the time he crawls. It is so cool seeing him walk. And funny, too. Sometimes he'll take a step or too and then teeter on his legs like he's drunk. Sometimes it seems like his head is just to heavy for him to carry (97th percentile, folks). Both grandmas will get to see him walk the next time we visit! Yay!! I haven't gotten it on video yet, but when I do I will post it.

An Apple A Day

Today my voracious little eater figured out how to eat a whole apple on his own! He just picked it up, started mouthing it and then, CHOMP. Bit in. Several times. Tonight we decided to pack up some food and have a little picnic at the Botanical Gardens and enjoy some free Wednesday night Jazz. Here are the photos of the little apple-eater that led up to the video below:

Rodney remarked that our kid will be sure to have a vast array of physical talents when he grows up. He has started taking more and more steps lately, although definately prefers crawling. I think the most steps he's taken in succession on his own is 4. It's so cute and I get so excited when he does it. It will be fun if he is walking by the time we visit my folks in Florida in July.

Pointing seems to be the big thing for this kid lately. For a while now he's been pointing to the ceiling fans (not sure why) and I decided to throw in a little "spice" and show him how the fan spins "round and round." So now he points to the fan and moves his arm rapidly in circles. Whenever he does this I say "round and round and round" and he seems to get a kick out of it. He doesn't try to say "round and round" though. Once again- physical talents.

It's incredible to see Will's personality develop as he gets older. He definately likes to be on the move and often gets bored of being at home, no matter how many toy or room changes. It's usually quite amazing to me when he sits contendedly entertaining himself. Today I decided to try putting different kinds of toys on the bathroom floor and closing him in there with me while I showered. He stood at the tub and looked in the shower for a little bit, then began entertaining himself with a basket of books. When he was quiet for a minute or two I peaked out and saw him "reading" a book. It was super cute. He proceeded to do this for the remainder of my shower.

No matter how fussy he gets at home, the minute we step outside for a walk he becomes the most laid back kid. I think he truly takes after his father with his affinity for the outdoors. We've been trying to teach him to be aware of the trees by pointing them out specifically when we walk. Once again, he doesn't try to say the word, but knows what they are when we ask him to point to them. It sounds as if he's completely non-verbal, but he really isn't. Lately he's taken to "babbling" by stringing together nonsense sounds that often seems like a foreign language. He definately says "Che Che" and "Sissi" and "Ma" and "Da." He seems to think I'm also "Na," which I joked is because he's heard Rodney call me "Gi-Na ." It will be so much fun when he actually begins to communicate verbally with us, but for now I'm content with the baby-babble!