so much shouting, so much laughter

when we were three

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:16:00 +0000

i took this photo of dylan and jim in the yard the afternoon before james was born and we became a family of four.

more wordless wednesday: 5 min for mom and momdot

trick or treat

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:37:00 +0000

kids in animal ears = one of my favorite things
it is nearly impossible to capture a real smile on this child, but at least this beats the wide-open, mouth agape that we often get when we request a smile!

that tail!

we took dylan out for her first trick-or-treating, and i was so glad not to miss it. the business district in our town hands out candy to kids, and it was such a festive atmosphere. dylan really enjoyed herself and was such a polite trick-or-treater. then we met up with friends, and jim took dylan up another street while james and i hung out. he did not wear a costume; he just slept in the sling the whole time. maybe next year he'll be a kangaroo--it's actually size 6-12 months!

first week on earth

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:01:00 +0000

dylan is a fantastic big sister. her first words in the morning are usually "see baby james" followed by "kiss head," "kiss ear," or "kiss nose." (i'm not sure where she got the idea to kiss his ears, but it's pretty adorable.) the other day jim got her up and brought her into bed with us. she snuggled up close to the baby and said "cuddle it now." yesterday, i was changing dylan's diaper and james was hanging out on the bed cooing and making gurgly baby noises that dylan interpreted as sneezes: "God bless you, baby! God bless you!"

i think he looks like his uncle josh here.

if someone can take a not-unattractive picture of my whole face, i would be more than happy to post it;) until then, you'll have to make due with this, (mom).

we're all doing well around here--resting/(not resting), playing, reading, hanging out, enjoying family time, praying against sickness, and eating the meals generously provided to us. it's been a good first week.

welcome baby james!

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:54:00 +0000

james edward paul, III made his debut early thursday morning. he was born at 4:04 on october 22, weighing in at 8 lbs, 7 oz. we're both doing well, and we came home yesterday afternoon.

dylan is adjusting so far like a champ, jim and i are trying to catch up on rest, james is nursing well and sleeping fairly well, and all we're thankful that jim's parents have been here, especially to give dylan lots of extra attention.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." James 1: 17-18

clothesline magic

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:19:00 +0000

this baby is due in four days, and my house has never been so clean, between the steam mopping, dusting, organizing, and mountains of laundry washed, folded, and put away.

i'd had a small load of baby clothes that i wanted to sun on the clothesline, but it seemed like most of september and october had been cloudy. finally, this week, figuring i was running out of time, i soaked them overnight in oxygen cleaner and hoped for a sunny day in the morning.

i got my sunny day, but it was also 23 degrees. in october. but i was undeterred: this child was not going to wear clothes with old spit-up stains! i put on my boots, hat, and scarf, and took my small load out to the frosty clothesline.

it paid off! most everything was good-as-new by afternoon, and the two items that weren't quite had a least faded significantly.

sunning out stains on the clothesline is an easy, green laundry tip that definitely works for me.

two great giveaways

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:27:00 +0000

my friend beth writes a blog called diapers to diplomas where she posts creative ideas for kid-friendly crafts, games, and other activities. she is running a giveaway right now for a beautiful hand-knit baby hat, so go check out her blog and enter!

also, i wanted to mention leigh's blog, bringing our baby home, again. she has multiple new giveaways each week, and i actually won another one last week! (i'll post pictures when stuff arrives, but the package includes a gorgeous handmade dress for dylan:) she has a unique raffle-like twist on giveaways: $5 gets you one entry, and the money funds her adoption from ethiopia. (if you don't know, adoptions can cost tens of thousands of dollars.) it is such a great cause--so go check out the ipod, docking station, handmade jewelry, baby items, and other things in her giveaways this week.

book circle: slacker's edition

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:52:00 +0000

i got so far behind in my reading this summer. june's book was The Zookeeper's Wife, and though i liked it a lot, its heavy world war two theme did not make for light reading. i paid late fees on it at the library THREE separate times, but i didn't want to give up, because the story itself was fascinating. it was just hard to finish, mostly because of the time of year i was reading, and because finishing non-fiction is not my forte anyway.

the book tells the true story of a young polish family who used their warsaw zoo to hide and rescue jews during the nazi occupation. most of their animals were either stolen or brutally "hunted" by the nazis, but that freed space to hide hundreds of jews right under the noses of the nazis in the middle of the occupied city.

the story is based on journals, photographs, and other historical accounts, and it provides an intimate look not only of one family's remarkable heroism but also of the creative scope of the resistance.

P.S. I Love You was an awful movie and a not much better book. the best thing i can say about it is it's a not entirely terrible beach read, which is where i read it. the story follows a young widow grieving the loss of her husband to cancer, but somehow she manages to not be a very likable or even sympathetic heroine. also, even though it's about grief, it lacks gravity and remains pretty fluffy. this was partly explained in the "book group question" section, which introduces a question like this: "keeping in mind that the author was only 22 when she wrote this, her first book..."

Letter to My Daughter is actually the first book i've ever read of maya angelou's. somehow, i expected it to be more poignant and memorable, but i still enjoyed it. ms. angelou has packed a great deal of experience into her seven decades, and she writes with warmth and humility.

here's an excerpt from a short section i enjoyed entitled "Keep the Faith," about angelou's grandmother during the Depression:

Whenever she confronted a challenge, Mamma...would tell her family in particular, and the world in general, "I don't know how to find the things we need, but I will step out on the word of God. I am trying to be a Christian and I will just step out on the word of God." Immediately, I could see her flung into space, moons at her feet and stars at her at her head, comets swirling around her shoulders. Naturally, since she was over six feet tall, and stood out on the word of God, she was a giant in heaven. It wasn't difficult for me to see Mamma as powerful, because she had the word of God beneath her feet.

Thinking of my grandmother years later, I wrote a gospel song...

"You said to lean on your arm
And I am leaning
You said to trust in your love
And I am trusting
You said to call on your name
And I am calling
I'm stepping out on your word."

Whenever I began to question whether God exists, I looked up to the sky and surely there, right there, between the sun and the moon, stands my grandmother, singing a long meter hymn, a song somewhere between a moan and a lullaby and I know faith is the evidence of things unseen.

And all I have to do is continue trying to be a Christian.

i've still not read september's offering (let alone october's), but maybe once i start breastfeeding a newborn for unending hours i'll get caught back up. maybe?

on baby boys and strange old men

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:33:00 +0000

throughout this pregnancy, strangers have taken one look and me and declared authoritatively, "you're having a boy."

it happened twice this week. once was an elderly gentleman hanging outside the VFW, and today, i walked past a middle-aged man on an idling motorcycle, who paused to shout over the engine (and into his helmet), "it's a boy!"

is this a normal experience?

i never put much stock in the old wives tales about the differences between carrying boys and girls, but the strangers have all been right. apparently, if you look like you're hiding a basketball, it's boy, for sure.

jim swears i looked completely different (read: wider) carrying dylan, and sure enough, no one thought she'd be a boy.

anyone want to weigh in on this?

easy salsa verde enchiladas

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:18:00 +0000

one of jim's and my favorite recipes is for these salsa verde chicken enchiladas from cooking light. it's an easy recipe, since you just blend garlic, onion, and cilantro with jarred salsa verde, and that's your sauce as well as what flavors your chicken (along with cream cheese.) we usually use flour tortillas instead of corn, since we prefer them and you can skip the soaking step, as well as cheddar cheese and lots more cilantro.

the last time we made it, we only had corn tortillas (leftover from baking tortilla chips), and i wanted to get it in the oven fast. you can't really roll corn tortillas without soaking them first or they break, so i improvised and made the dish into an enchilada casserole. it was simple and just as delicious. i just layered the salsa verde, tortillas, and chicken mix, topped with cheese, and poppedit into the oven to bake. you can stick it under the broiler for a last minute or two if you want to brown the cheese a little and garnish it with chopped cilantro when it comes out.

do you have a favorite easy weeknight meal?

all prettied up

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:14:00 +0000

i won a beautiful new blog header, designed by jessi from naptime diaries. she did such a great job! i love the tree of life image--how rich it is with God's promises and how its appearance in scripture bookends the bible.

in genesis, adam and eve are kicked out of the garden of eden after they sin, but more than a punishment, it's an expression of God's mercy that prevents them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in bondage to sin. at the end of the bible, after Jesus' resurrection and defeat of satan, sin, and death, the tree of life appears again:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away..."

...Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (revelation 21:1-4, 22:1-5)

as in eden, God will once again dwell among his people, everything tainted and distorted by sin's curse will be restored, and the tree of life's return symbolizes that this restoration of what God intended for all creation will be eternal.

amen, huh?

the giveaway i won is hosted at bringing our baby home, and you should definitely check it out. leigh is raising funds to adopt a baby girl from ethiopia, and she has creatively gotten different businesses and artisans to donate things to giveaway. you can donate to their adoption fund via paypal, and every $5 counts as an entry. take a gander.

thanks so much to both leigh and jessi. you can contact jessi at her blog or at jessi @ naptimediaries dot com if you'd like a shiny new graphic, too.

sunny day, sweeping the clouds away

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:06:00 +0000

dylan and i were watching sesame street, and who did we see, but neil patrick harris, performing a sweet-awesome song and dance as the shoe fairy.

legen-waitforitandihopeyou'renotlactoseintolerant-dary!

in the eighties, did actors and musicians do cameos, or is that a newer innovation?

apparently, not much else is new on sesame street: check out gordon, luis, and maria in the background, all still hanging out:)

one person's trash...

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:41:00 +0000

last fall we stopped using paper towels as part of the Ditch the Disposables challenge. before that, i'd taken for granted that paper towels were just what you used and never considered doing without, but it turned out it wasn't a big deal at all. we just use kitchen towels, wash cloths, and rags for cleaning up and wiping hands. making the switch to cloth napkins was similarly easy. it seemed silly to save them for some kind of special occasion. honestly, wiping baby faces is so much easier with cloth that i often travel with a cloth napkin in my diaper bag. they also tie on easily as a bib.

what's funny, is that dylan LOVES having a cloth napkin to wipe her face and hands on. hopefully, we're not raising a little OCD baby;)

we still have a paper towel roll in the pantry from last september that we'll pull out for bacon grease or pet messes, but otherwise, we use cloth. i don't miss spending money on paper, i like throwing less away, and it hasn't really generated much more laundry. overall, it's been an easy switch.

i wanted to try something else this year. we don't really have a lot of "disposable-ness" in our lives, (although buying food on-the-go can be a weakness...) what i realized, though, is that we still generate a lot of waste from buying packaged snacks. we recycle the cardboard boxes, but that still consumes a great deal of energy, and wrappers mostly go in the trash. reducing consumption/waste and reusing/repurposing stuff is certainly better from an energy standpoint than recycling, (which is also why we've been saving and reusing glass containers.)

this year, for the challenge (sept-oct), i decided to not buy snacks like crackers and granola bars. my goal is to to try baking my own, but honestly, that hasn't happened yet. we had a bunch in the pantry when september started, and life has been busy, but in the next few weeks i plan to bake granola bars, crackers, and graham crackers. if you have a tried and true recipe for any of those items, i'd love to hear it. i figure this is a good way not only to cut down on our household waste but also to save money and eat more healthfully.

in the spirit of paring down (and i suppose "nesting"), we tagged along with camp's garage sale this past weeked. it was exhausting since we had it open friday and saturday, but it was worth it. we got rid of lots of lots of stuff and made a decent amount of money. one of the best parts was that we had a free table where i put out weird stuff i didn't want: toiletries, cleaning supplies, little happy meal-type toys, half-burned candles, and all sorts of randomness i wanted out of my house but didn't want to throw away or even give to the thrift store. people LOVED the free table, and stuff moved. it was awesome.

anarchists, hippies, and dissenters, oh my!

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:21:00 +0000

after much fanfare and fear mongering, the g20 economic summit arrives in pittsburgh this week. though it was billed as a fantastic opportunity to showcase how the city is shedding its rust belt past and reinventing itself, who knows what the world will see of the steel city. the local media whipped the public into a frenzy about the perils of protesters, and the city government didn't do much to assuage anyone's fear of life, commerce, work, or education happening alongside the exercise of free speech and assembly, so most downtown businesses, offices, streets, and schools are completely shutting down. it's a shame.

i can't predict what will happen in demonstrations this week, and i don't know anything about groups that are coming in from out of town, but i do know a little bit about the activist community in pittsburgh. they are not the wild, destructive caricature the media would love for you to fear. pittsburgh protesters are a peaceful lot: students, members of the clergy, working people and families, and a lot of retired people, like your grandma. and the anarchists? they're not so scary or violent, either. in fact, the ones i know are vegans.

some demonstrators might be willing to get arrested for peaceful acts of civil disobedience in order to draw attention to their political concerns, but that is a far cry from criminal vandalism or violence. i've never experienced a demonstration in pittsburgh that was anything but peaceful. of course, it only takes one idiot to escalate an action--whether a bonehead with a paint can and an ax to grind or a tough guy with a badge and an itch to test out his riot gear. my hope is that calm heads will prevail and all idiots, on both sides of the line, stay home.

since i'm eight months pregnant and no longer live in the city, i'm not participating in any protests this week, but i thought i'd post a few pictures of some of the less-than-ominous protesters who call pittsburgh home. they might be pissed about war, poverty, or lack of health care, aggressive military recruitment of low-income minorities or the deleterious effects of globalization on the two-thirds world and environment, but they call pittsburgh home and aren't looking to wreck havoc in a backyard they love. they're seeking to exercise their first amendment right to dissent and peacefully proclaim what they believe to be just, which is about as american as apple pie.

aging hippies, kids, tiny dog

see the tuba, keyboard, and drum? i suspect that a sizable contingent of youthful protesters were in their high school marching bands. not so scary, folks.
but do beware the mama protester, babe in tow;)

I love my country
By which I mean I am indebted joyfully
To all the people throughout its history
Who have fought the government to make right
Where so many cunning sons and daughters
Our foremothers and forefathers
Came singing through slaughter
Came through hell and high water
So that we could stand here
And behold breathlessly the sight
How a raging river of tears Cut a grand canyon of light

--ani difranco

anticipating two under two in diapers

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:52:00 +0000

i got a fantastic deal on ten little cloth diapers and eleven covers in all sizes on ebay, which more than doubles our collection of covers. we are set for two babes in cloth.

(dylan's interest in potty training has definitely waned. she asks to use the toilet maybe twice a day, but i don't foresee her being diaper-free for a while, and that's fine. she's still a munchkin!)

these new diapers seem tiny but supposedly fit 8-20 lbs. they're a brand that we already use but a different style. we already have two dozen little prefolds, two dozen bigger prefolds that fit dylan, and about a dozen "one-size-fits-all" diapers that will definitely fit dylan better than james for a good long while. we didn't start dylan in cloth until she was three months, but we ought to be able to put james in cloth much sooner.

after being away from home and having dylan in disposables for a week, i'm glad to have her back in cloth, and i'm thankful to have enough little diapers and covers to get james into them when he's big enough. we created a staggering amount of household waste when dylan was an infant, and i'm looking forward to less of that this time around.

plus, super-padded cloth-diapered baby bottoms are just adorable;)

on the road

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:17:00 +0000

we are back from a whirlwind of a week away with family and friends. we stayed with my parents and sister tiffany in the philadelphia area and my sister bethany and dylan's godparents in brooklyn, and we also squeezed in visits with my brother and grandma, as well as a day trip to the jersey shore. it was a busy week with A LOT of driving, but it was great spending time with people we love and don't see nearly enough. it was also wonderful to be together as a family and away from camp. when you live where you work, you have to physically get away sometimes in order to really feel "off."

as dylan is an extraordinarily reluctant model (and we are lazy photographers), we don't have a lot of pictures, but here are a few:

hanging with pappa hugs and kisses with great grandma (or "bamma" as dylan calls her.)

we were sitting down to dinner when dylan looked at my mom and then my grandma, and announced, "bammas!" indeed.dylan LOVED the beach--the ocean, the sand, the waves, the sun--she loved it all. i only wish we could have spent more time, but only one day was forecasted to be sunny and warm, so we just made a day trip to bell mar. when we left ligonier, the temperature was in the forties and rainy (making packing a tricksy puzzle), but God blessed us with one perfect beach day, and it was the best.

i said i wouldn't post a belly shot, and yet, there you are;)

the top photo is from a winery we visited. to dylan's delight, everywhere we went we saw animals--lots of cats and dogs, tiny ponies, and some of the dirtiest sheep ever. she was thrilled.

we got in late last night and have had all day at home to rest and recover. it's good to be home.

because why should you wait for halloween to see kids dressed up like animals?

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:58:00 +0000

i know she's mine, but c'mon, it just doesn't get much cuter than that:)

great green product review

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:08:00 +0000

this summer, ecostore USA contacted me about sending some of their products for review. since we are in the process of replacing our chemical cleaners with natural alternatives, i was definitely interested. their website revealed their motto, which i appreciated:

NO NASTY* CHEMICALS

*NO toxic petrochemicals, NO phosphates, NO nitrates, NO ammonia, NO enzymes, NO chlorine, NO EDTA, NO optical whiteners, NO synthetic dyes or perfumes.

i realize a lot of people think, "who cares? if those ingredients (and others) really weren't safe, we'd know, right?"

not necessarily. companies can put almost anything they want into cleaners, personal care products, toys, fabrics, electronics and anything else. new chemicals are created every day and go right into products. there's virtually no regulation, and it's hardly in the fiscal interest of any company to run the research to prove that their ingredients are safe for long term use and exposure.

essentially the onus is on the consumer to prove that something is harmful and has no place in our homes or on our skin, to get absorbed into our bodies. supposedly, the average woman slathers herself in about 200 different chemicals before she even leave the bathroom in the morning. that's astounding, and the fact that i can be passing chemicals to my baby makes me even more wary. as incidents of cancer, allergies, and other health problem rise exponentially, i'd rather err on the side of nature and caution when it comes to chemical exposure for my family.

while it's generally been my experience that "green" cleaners (whether store-bought or simply using baking soda for household chores) perform just as well or even better than their chemical counterparts, i've not had much luck in the dishwasher. seventh generation's liquid and powder detergents both left me unimpressed, and i was back using traditional detergents.

i'd heard that opening your dishwasher while it's running exposes you to more harmful toxins than anything else around the house. i also don't like the idea of what kind of residues might be lingering on our dishes that we may be ingesting, so i picked to try ecostore's plant-derived auto dishwash powder, even though i was a little skeptical of its potential.

as it turns out, it worked great. it left no powdery residue or funky lingering smell--just shiny, clean dishes. the bottle said i could use vinegar as a rinse aid, but it performed equally well without it. i consider it a great find. at $12 for 35.5 ounces, it's pricey, but a little goes a long way: it only requires 1 Tbsp per load. i've been using it for much of the summer, and i still have half a bottle. i still want to try making homemade detergent, but it is nice to know a good, green commercial alternative is out there.

i also tried ecostore's laundry powder, which also is super-concentrated and requires a tiny scoop per load. (detergents that utilize a large scoop or cup are typically loaded with additives.) it worked really well--even on dylan's diapers, but at $11 a box, it costs a whopping $.44 per load, which is significantly more than the charlie's soapwe currently use, at under $.14 a load. so although it performed well, i wouldn't buy ecostore's powder myself. we will probably continue to use charlie's for diapers, and i'm still planning to try making laundry soap.

(i just had a funny/horrifying recollection of brad pitt and ed norton "rendering the fat" in their soap making ventures in fight club. that is not what i have in mind! making laundry soap basically requires grating a bar of soap and adding washing soda and borax--no stolen fat required;)

ecostore USA carries a number of safe, quality products. in addition to a variety of household cleaners, they also sell natural bath and body items. shipping for orders of at least $25 is always free, and they are currently running this promotion: if you spend $50 and type in "2for1" discount code at checkout, they will send you DOUBLE of everything you ordered--for free. it's a great time to try out their line of natural products.

labor day rest

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:25:00 +0000

jim's parents came up from nashville for a lovely weekend in which jim was off the entire time! magical:) dylan's poppy made her her very own big girl bed (photos forthcoming) which is absolutely beautiful, and they drove it all the way up here from nashville. dylan loves playing and reading there, but she's refusing to sleep in her bed except in pretend play. we still have a few more weeks until someone else needs her crib...

on monday, we enjoyed an afternoon at Idlewild, a children's amusement park right in our own town. we were especially blessed to be able to use free tickets that were leftover from summer camp. the park is geared toward younger kids, and dylan was actually able to ride little rides. (our computer and/or internet is barely working, so these photos are not edited to reveal actual facial expressions, but if i waited for that, another week may go by!)

the park is situated in the woods, and it was a really nice place to walk, (even for those of us who are eight months pregnant!) there weren't a lot of people there, the weather was mild, and we really enjoyed ourselves. dylan continues to talk about the trolley ride we took through mr. roger's neighborhood:)

may be innappropriate for children under 2

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:19:00 +0000

(note: blogger has been giving me an impossible time with formatting, and even though i thought i corrected this a few days ago, i was still hearing that it wouldn't read. hopefully, now...)

jim and dylan love to watch animal programs on tv together. ok, and hunting programs. she doesn't really seem to notice the difference, yet.

the other day, they were watching something about deer, when a warning came onto the screen:

ATTENTION: The following program may contain images that are disturbing to some viewers.

jim continued to watch, dylan on his lap. i shot him a look that clearly said, "really?? you're gonna watch this with our toddler??"

deftly interpreting my telepathic message, he responded, "it's just hunting. no big deal."

then the show's announcer enticingly proclaimed:

"a 600 lb marlin spears a teenager IN THE FACE!!! and we have it ALL ON FILM!!!"

disturbing? what, this?

wide-eyed and laughing, jim quickly got the tv off in time to spare young (and not-so-young) eyes from unspeakable horrors. crisis averted.

in which my life is like a frat pack movie...except not at all

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:03:00 +0000

i'm at that point in the pregnancy wherein i wake up every two hours to pee. people say it's ~~the devil~~ God's way of preparing you for the little sleep you get with a newborn, but our almost-two-year-old has only recently begun sleeping through the night, and i am well-acquainted with sleep deprivation. i don't need a prep course in that. what i need now is to sleep!

i try to limit nighttime liquids like a five-year-old bed-wetter, but it doesn't really make a difference because this baby is squishing my bladder until it's basically the size of a golf ball. i feel a little like this guy:

"maury ballstein: balls models." photo: zoolander

except i think his problem was that his prostate was the size of a golf ball. no matter.

and on a related note, (but only vaguely...)

this summer at camp, someone (it may have been us; i really can't remember) taught dylan to do "earmuffs:"

(in the movie old school, vince vaughn teaches his kids to cover their ears when he says "earmuffs," so that he can say grown-up things without polluting their little minds.)

not that anyone had any swearing to do in dylan's presence; (it is a g-rated christian camp, mind you.) just because it's funny to make babies do puppet tricks.

ah, but she has turned the comic tables on us and reinterpreted the joke.

last night at dinner, jim was trying unsuccessfully to convince dylan to eat a bite of chicken. she looked at him, weary of the same script, covered her ears, and said "earmuffs."

we looked at each other, incredulous, and tried really hard not to laugh.

bloggy, etc

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:01:00 +0000

people who arrive on my blog via search engines land predominantly on my "how-to" posts, like infusing vodka, cutting your cable bill, or unclogging a drain with vinegar and baking soda. strangely, i also get a lot of hits on a post i wrote called "can a fox climb trees?" (answer: yes!) some people land here by searching "suzannah paul." (hi. do we know each other?) occasionally, someone arrives by googling something truly weird and random, like this recent query:

"who can help me figure out where a real stink is coming from" sent 1 total visits

apparently, i'm the web's go-to girl for identifying the source of that funk. you're welcome.

and now, other random thoughts and questions related to the business of blogging...

Comments: i really love reading your comments, and i enjoy responding to them. they are emailed to me, and if you have a blogger profile with your email linked, then i can reply directly to you. so simple! i know not everyone likes to post their email publicly (or has a blogger profile), and my question is, is there a way you'd like me to respond to your comments? or do you not care about that sort of thing?

sometimes, i'll email you anyway if i have your email. occasionally, i'll respond on your blog--but that can seem out of place unless you asked a specific question. sometime i forget to respond or my internet is so slow it's not worth trying. some people respond to comments on their own blogs, but i rarely return to reread comments/replies when i comment on other people's blogs (or remember to check that box to subscribe to comments), so responding to comments within my own comment section can seem silly if you're unlikely to read it. what do you think, dear reader?

Word Verification: i don't have it on my blog, and i think i've only ever gotten 1 or 2 spam comments, which were easy to delete. if you have a blog with blogger, try taking it off. give your commenter's a break!

Feed/Blog Readers: I don't use one of these, and not being especially tech-savvy, i don't really get it. i regularly read the blogs listed in my sidebar and check in with the ones i follow, and i have several dozen bookmarked that i visit now and then. if you use a reader (i know my family has no idea what i'm talking about right now), why do you like it?

ummm, and i think that's it. i hope you are enjoying a lovely, beautiful weekend:)

dropping like flies

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:39:00 +0000

it's been quite the infirmary around here lately. on thursday, after almost a week of feeling like junk, i passed out in the kitchen, scaring the heck out of poor dylan. nothing like putting a little fear of God into your toddler to kick off a super great day. (i'm fine now. the midwife told me to take some sudafed for the cold and stay hydrated, and i haven't been dizzy since.)

last night, jim came home from ~~work~~ golfing with a fever and went straight to bed.

then this morning at the farmers' market, dylan uncharacteristically started to cry. i thought maybe she'd been stung or something. we came home and couldn't find any marks, but figured out her poor arm was injured. (please don't call child protective services; i promise, i did not yank or pull her!) jim immobilized her arm in a little bandana sling, and i took her to the doctor, who was in, even though she does not ordinarily keep saturday office hours. as soon as i took the sling off, dylan started to cry again, but the doctor gently bent her elbow, and it clicked back into place. she was instantly better and used that arm to reach for a lollipop.

i am SO THANKFUL the doctor was in and that it was such an easy fix. the nearest hospital no longer officially takes kids, and the last time we were there, they sent us in an ambulance to children's hospital. instead, within twenty minutes, we were done. God is so gracious!

now, i'm totally paranoid about dislocating her elbow again. (apparently, it's a pretty common injury in kids.) we were at tj maxx, and dylan was holding my hand and started to pull, and my heart about dropped. dylan almost never cries, even when she gets immunizations, and i don't want to see her in that kind of pain again any time soon.

i think we're finally turning a corner, health-wise. dylan is fine, jim's fever is gone, and our colds are beginning to relinquish their evil grasp. tomorrow jim is off from work, and we'll enjoy a family sabbath together. we're looking forward to some vacation time in the not-too-distant future. i can almost taste it.

this and that

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:48:00 +0000

jim and i had our seven year anniversary on monday, and i wanted to post a wedding picture, but we can't seem to get our printer to scan. we didn't exactly celebrate our anniversary anyway, since i woke up sunday with a head cold that only seems to worsen. being 31 weeks pregnant and sick is not a fun combo. i could seriously sleep all day, except for the busy little person who requires my constant entertainment and supervision.

we did enjoy a visit from my parents and friend mariah this weekend, though, which was so great and unusual, since so many friends and family live so far away. dylan loved having her 'amma, pappa, and 'riah's attention all weekend, and we were thankful to spend time together.

at our church, dylan is often the only one in the nursery. it is not a huge exaggeration to say that we are among the only people of childbearing age here in the land of the retired. i imagine that a lot of congregants aren't around pregnant women very much, so i guess i shouldn't take it personally when they ask me when the baby is due, and i reply "in October," and their eyes grow wide and their jaws actually drop.

i shouldn't take that personally, right?

yes, i feel big and achey, but i swear i don't look like i'm ready to deliver yesterday. but thanks for the encouragement.

obviously, i'm not going to post a "me at 31 weeks!" belly shot, but here is a video of dylan on her swing.

a girl and her horse

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000

the horses have returned to their home in central PA, but before they left camp, we got dylan up one last time. she is one fearless kid:)

garden goodness

suzannah.paul@gmail.com (suzannah) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +0000

last week, friends had us over for dinner and a lesson in canning. if it weren't for them, i don't know what we would have done with several dozen banana peppers! (the pickles are all from our friends.) between summer camp and this pregnancy, our first garden hasn't had near enough attention, but God is providing abundantly anyway. what a lovely picture of grace.

"so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (1 cor. 3:7)

more wordless wednesday pics: 5 minutes for mom