Dorisa and Oskar Attempt Churching

Dreams are a funny thing. When I could remember them, I used to have incredibly interesting dreams. They brought us all smiles at times, other times they have left us wondering, "What... why?" Sometimes, on the other hand, dreams can disappoint. Dan once had a dream where he made his bed. I recently had a dream to rival that where I changed a light fixture. Can I really not come up with anything better than that anymore? This is bad news. Maybe my creativity is dying. Or maybe I'm too tired to remember my interesting dreams.

What does he think about?

Sunday, oh Sunday.

I knew the day was going to be interesting right from the off, and interesting is putting it kindly. I didn't sleep well on Saturday night due to the fact that the parasite within is still trying to convince me that she is a martial arts expert. I had slept about three and a half hours when Dan's alarm went off. I tried to fall back asleep. Any normal day I would have been able to do so, but I encountered an unusual and stupid problem: cows.

Don't get me wrong, I love the cow. Giant eyes, cute little baby cows, nummy milk and beef; you can hardly go wrong with the cow. I also acknowledge that I live a bit closer to the country than I am accustomed to and that cows and farming in general is a much more visible and common part of living here. I am still used to the sound of the freeway to lull me to sleep. Cows are a stretch. Some days it even smells like farm here in town (which I much prefer to the occasional sugar beet smell of Fargo). If one leaves the city limits of our town and doesn't see a cow, you are either blind or stupid and don't know what a cow is. This may sound harsh, but seriously- there are cows everywhere. I get it and expect it.

It's not just that the cows were mooing, or lowing as it were. They were having a conniption. I could not believe how loud they were and it was non-stop. I have never been able to hear cows from our house so in my sleepy state I assumed the next thing we would encounter was them charging down the road. And THEN I'm pretty sure I heard gun shots. Having grown up in neither a hunting family nor a particularly dangerous urban area, it's hard to be sure, but that was the logical conclusion. Every 10 minutes or so I heard about 5 shots. I don't know much about slaughtering cattle, but I'm pretty sure this isn't what they were doing. Plus, the mooing just kept going.

That all occurred from 6:30 to 7:00 AM. We were off to a banner start.

Oskar riding the tractor train at the apple orchard.

Church- well, we tried. Dan preached out at Split Rock on Sunday. This is nice because it's a shorter day for him, but it means we all have to leave at the same time since it is not walking distance. We got to the church about a half hour before worship. Oskar had time to run around a bit and dance before the service, which I thought would help. He also went over to the coat rack and took off his shoes. That was weird, but he was adamant this was the right thing to do and I chose not to fight this particular battle.

9:15 the service started. 9:18 I was out of bribery fruit snacks. During the Kyrie/Hymn of Praise, Oskar sprinted out into the narthex. Fine. I don't care. It's a small country church- I can watch him and stay right where I am. I was starting to think this might be a suitable solution. He got a bit loud so I pulled him back into the church and he sat on my lap during the first lesson. Someone walked in at this point carrying a gift bag with a lion on it. Oh the horror.

"Lion! It's a lion! Rarrr!" Thank God there was not a truck on that bag or the accidental profanity could have gotten us excommunicated (which would be quite a feat in the ELCA). We were sitting in the back row. Dan was able to hear him while reading the lesson in the front. It was not quiet. I got out his fancy coloring book and we made it through the Psalm. Second lesson- out the door again. Dan had previously mentioned that Oskar can come up for the children's sermon. So, after retrieving his water bottle and Mister Bear, he runs up to the front of the church (late) for the children's sermon. The kids who attend this church are generally well behaved and have a system. They sit on the top step of the altar and look toward the congregation for the children's sermon. Oskar did not sit. He stood in the aisle. He was standing still so I figured it was fine. Then he started walking. Over to the wall and up the steps and he started playing with the gate. This is a little gate on the side of the altar with 2 doors that swing both ways. The gate comes up to his chin. He was standing behind it and smirking. This was a painful mixture of embarrassment and trying not to laugh. I waited until he was completely distracting, went up to the front and tried to get him to sit with me and listen to the story. I failed. We left the sanctuary (I wrestle/carried Oskar out while he whined/cried).

This is when we had our typical exchange of him wanting to be in the sanctuary but me telling him that we can either sit down in the sanctuary or walk around in the narthex. We will not and can not dance and run around yelling in the front of the sanctuary which is the only thing he wants to do. "Daddy's up there." Yes he is, he is leading worship. Can we sit quietly on the chairs? "Daddy is talking!" Yes he is, that is his job. This answer was unsatisfactory. We left the building to compose ourselves. Please don't suggest that we try sitting in front. That has been done and does not work.

His exact words were, "I have fashion." Can I blame Dan for this?

Do you want to try to listen to daddy's story or do you want to walk around the narthex? He chose to dance in the back of the sanctuary and then he ran out and was absolutely convinced that he needed a hanger. Fine. Have a hanger. This happened while the congregation sang Children of the Heavenly Father.

"Though he giveth or he taketh, God his children ne'er forsaketh;
his the loving purpose solely to preserve them pure and holy."
"Ahhhhhh!" Oskar charged into the back of the sanctuary brandishing his sword (hanger) above his head and holding Mister Bear behind him in his left hand. Just to finish off the image, remember that he's still not wearing any shoes. He's really fast. Really, REALLY fast. He made it farther into the sanctuary than one would hope. Dan saw all this, composed himself and continued with the Apostles' Creed. Again, we took our leave. Oskar yelling, mommy sweating. We'll just call it our Sunday morning workout routine. It's the most reliable exercise I get.

Running outside. Not in a church. Wonderful.

Someone then helped us out by getting some paper and crayons. I have tried bringing anything and everything to church so he has something to keep him busy. Oskar finds this unacceptable and I end up carrying around a ton of crap that he's uninterested in. The crayons and paper worked for a while and then he let this person hold him during the last hymn. Does he let me hold him? No, no he does not. Not that I want to hold that tank during an entire hymn, but it would be nice to have the option.

Worship over. I sat down and Oskar did whatever the heck he wanted. For about 20 minutes. I just sat. Deep breaths.

Teamwork!

We are very lucky to be in this community. Split Rock Lutheran is an extremely welcoming, vibrant and tight-knit community and if our behavior offended anyone I would be surprised if we ever hear about it. Many of them have large families and they have told me time and time again that they understand and that they have been in the same position. They also seemed genuinely pleased to see us after our pregnancy sabbatical. After today's shenanigans we'll see if they are as happy to see us next time.

Leave one church- go to the other. It was only 10:30 at this point. Sunday was the Harvest Festival which meant a delicious meal awaited us at Brandon Lutheran. It was not a relaxing meal, but we were able to enjoy a bit of conversation with other members of the community. At this point we also learned that the cattle fit we heard could have been weaning occurring at a farm close to town and there is a chance that some sort of hunting season started or something so that would explain the gunshots. I eventually took Oskar into the nursery where he filled his diaper with a special birthday treat for his daddy. Time to go home.

Oskar curled up on my lap and fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting home. He slept for 4 hours. So did I. Church attendance has become a catch-22. He is only going to calm down if it becomes more of a routine but as you can see, it is so... very... difficult. Do you know what will make it even easier and more fun? Having another child! Wait... somehow that doesn't seem quite right.

He is interested in everything. And is capable of playing by himself for over an hour. Except at church.

Saturday was our yearly apple orchard visit. It was great and Oskar was still talking about it after nap time and even the next day. There was a tractor train for him to ride plus the big tractor out to the trees. There were donkeys and chickens and ponies and there were hay bales to play on. He had a blast. We had a blast watching him. Also, we got too many apples. This baby loves and always has loved the orchard.

9 months

1 year, 9 months

Oskar Explodes. Again.

A nice peaceful picture from the cabin.

Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel like you lost?

Up until now, I thought I couldn't get sick (you know, besides 24 hour morning sickness for 4.5 months) during pregnancy. I had been around so many sick people and creatures (i.e. toddlers) and never had gotten sick while being pregnant. Hooray for something going well during my pregnancies. Last Friday though, I learned that a toddler with a cold who throws up on you while you're hugging him transfers exactly the right amount of germs to infect one with a massive cold. What makes it even better is that it has been over 80 degrees the last 3 days. Super fun.

The past few days have been rough. On Monday, I made the mistake of saying, "Dan, it's fine if you're not here for bedtime. It's hardly a struggle." Yea, that night Oskar was up until 10:30. Bedtime is 8:15. Tuesday and tonight were not quite as bad, but they aren't nearly the blissful bedtimes we had been blessed with. I'm hoping it's just the heat.

So, now the day is ending, and the fact that I was able to keep another human person alive for the 5 hours between the end of daycare and bedtime (9:00 tonight apparently) does not feel like an accomplishment that would put today in the win column. At best, we will simply say that we made it through with no tears. On my part anyway. Oskar had a fit when I told him he couldn't watch any more ballet today.

"Oskar, it's bedtime. You may not watch any more ballet."

I do not find it humorous that most times when Oskar throws up it is on me, while I'm hugging him and while no one else is around to help clean up the mess. This must be one of those very special perks of motherhood. I think the worst part of it is that while it's happening I have to keep hugging him because it scares him so much. Running to the bathroom would just spread the mess and I'm pretty sure pushing him off of me and getting out of the way wouldn't help him calm down any. Gross. Motherhood is gross.

I look like death in this picture, but clearly I have won.

See, I won.

I had my gestational diabetes test last week. It was not my favorite experience, but went much better than last time. I think this was partly because I scheduled it right after lunch. I don't think that is considered cheating. They called me with the results and I am good to go. For those of you who don't know, the test consists of drinking 50g of sugar in 5 minutes and coming back 1 hour later for a blood draw. Sounds easy, but it's pretty gross.

I investigated what the numbers they are looking for indicate- because I'm generally curious about most things. Mayo clinic says a normal level for this test is 130-140mg/dL 1 hour after drinking the stuff. They want to be sure that after waiting one hour your glucose level is lower than 180 mg/dL and Avera wants you to come back for the 3 hour test if you are over 140. Mayo also states that a normal FASTING blood glucose level is 95 mg/dL or lower. One hour after drinking 50g of sugar, my blood glucose level was 81 mg/dL. I really didn't feel too terrible during all this, but I'm glad I was sitting down for most of it. When she called she didn't sound alarmed and when I looked online (so you know it's correct) this is still a normal level and danger doesn't occur until below 70. I still found this amusing. Apparently I can process sugar like a pro. While sitting down. Otherwise history has shown I am prone to big tips.

Came home to this poor thing after vacation, not sure if it somehow got
trapped in the garage or what, but I feel pretty bad about it.

A lily pad is clearly something that warrants further investigation by these curious minds.

My little boat baby.

I've learned that it is not important that we understand what they are doing.
Let them explore and prevent them from drowning. Those are the rules at the cabin.

Dan and I were thrilled to make it to the MN State Fair this year and we were especially excited that Oskar is at a good age to try some of the food and enjoy the animals and other things. We all had a good time, but Dan and I decided that next year we will go with just the two of us. No toddler, no baby, no pregnancy. It will be a level of awesome we have not experienced at the fair since we lived at Luther.

Hot air balloons!

A while back we went to see some hot air balloon shenanigans. Because of life, we didn't get to see many of them actually take off, but we were able to watch them light up at the end of the night. We will definitely be attending on time next year if our schedule allows. Hot air balloons are a big thing around here and it's not uncommon to see them flying overhead as you go about town. Oskar has become a pretty big fan- who can blame him?

I don't think you are supposed to interrupt an artist while he is working. Right?

Oskar loves to paint with water colors. The problem is that he does it wrong. Now, I know it's not really wrong as long as he is having a good time, so I just hold my tongue and let him at it and come back when he's done to clean up the shredded wet paper and water puddles. He doesn't quite get the water, then color, then paint. He has a really good time though. God help you if you try to teach him how to do it properly so there is actually color on the paper when he is done. This is apparently not a goal of his painting. I really only have myself to blame. He comes into his room, sees the painting he did on the wall and then needs to paint some more. That's what I get for trying to expose him to different things.

Oskar decided that he wanted to play the cello.
That is the bottom half of his recorder and his drumstick.
Clever.

Then he reevaluated the situation and thought he could do better.
After getting his guitar out in one of the clumsiest displays of anything I have ever seen, he was making music.
I can call it music because you can't hear how out of tune that guitar was.

This is where he lost me. You think your kid is so smart and then...

Oskar is still obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, but we have viewings down to only about twice a week, so the rest of us aren't going quite as crazy. It's fun to watch him learn the songs and dance moves though. We also spend a fair bit of time watching the All Star Symphony Orchestra on PBS/Sling. That's what initiated the cello business.

Netflix has a new series called Dinotrux. Let us just say they had a demographic in mind and they nailed it. Dinosaur/truck hybrids running around playing, building things and solving problems. The next step is getting Oskar to speak correctly because while we are used to hearing Oskar talk, the rest of society may not find dinof***s and helif***er (helicopter) as acceptable as we do. At least he's cute.

I check on Oskar an obscene number of times before going to bed.
I also place a pillow right by his bed when I leave his room.
This is the reason I do both of these things;
dude falls out of bed and doesn't even wake up.

I generally cut Oskar's hair. I don't do a great job, but he is 2 so no one cares. The last haircut I gave him went particularly bad. Before you think I'm overreacting let me tell you that it took 4 days over 2 weeks. One time he was being restrained by my mom and continuous cuts were made while he was sleeping. After this I decided that while taking him to the salon would no doubt be terrible, at least I would be able to try to hold him down while a professional does the cut in considerably less time and to a higher quality than I am able. I suppose it went as well as 26 minutes of crying and wrestling can go. And my stylist was a champion (who received a sizable tip). Now he looks like a little boy instead of a toddler. This is upsetting at times.

My little boy. Being a little boy.

A belly picture at around 6 months. Oskar stole the show.

Dorisa Slays the Beast: An Epic

This picture is irrelevant to the following story,
but every post needs a picture.

Early on Monday, a tragedy occurred. I was sitting in my living room and a spider brazenly waltzed across my ceiling. Dan was sleeping so I thought the least I could do was cup him, slide cardboard under him and relocate him to spider jail on the table in the kitchen, where he knew he belonged. Dan knows the system and deals appropriately with such felons when he awakes in the morning. I refuse to use profanity on this blog, so I will simply say that the little flubber fell, evaded capture and receded into the depths of the couch. I had a freak out that was partly (mostly?) fueled by pregnancy hormones. It was not a panic attack. Having had one before, I will not use that term lightly or inappropriately. I DID end up crying, sitting in the time out chair and eating a cold toaster strudel. This all happened because it was 4 AM, I was over-tired but could not sleep, we don't have enough extra money to buy more/new furniture, the trampoline (as stated in a previous post) can only accommodate 100 pounds and for some ungodly reason the toaster didn't heat my strudel correctly. All the settings were correct, I simply don't understand how this could have happened. Man, life is really tough sometimes, isn't it?

Anyway, I went to bed to read and calm down. I talked myself into believing that when I returned in the morning, the spider would have vacated the couch and gone back to the depths of hell from which it came. Although my fear of spiders is irrational, considering I live in South Dakota anyway, I try to apply sense and rationality when not paralyzed by fear.

I have phenomenal eyesight, but only when it comes to spotting spiders. Ask me to read a road sign without my glasses? HA. This, coupled with great peripheral vision from years of dance, has given me a gift that is both a blessing and a curse: I can see all spiders.

Monday evening, another spider paraded across my ceiling. Dan dealt it a swift death. Tuesday evening YET ANOTHER spider trampled all over my ceiling. MY ceiling. This was getting obnoxious! They are organized and they are rubbing it in my face. It's like they don't even know whose house they are in. Again, execution without trial occurred. Worst part about this is that they both left spots on my pristine, newly painted ceiling. I thought to myself, "Okay, that's 2 spiders in 2 days since 'The Incident' that have been killed. There's probably some kind of reasonable possibility that one of them could have been the demon who dared tread on my couch." I  try to be sensible about these things, I really do.

After watching the X-Files movie (a classic) Dan went to bed and I resumed working on a report. I stretched out on the couch because In Utero Nelson made me and was working away, peacefully, when the mother flubbing demon couch spider stampeded across my thigh. ACROSS MY THIGH! The little flubber hung out in my couch for 68 flubbing hours only to be caught in an epic, multi-minute battle. How do you think the spider fared? Well, let's take a look at the replay, shall we?

I swished that ... thing... off my leg and leapt up faster than I remembered I could move. The game was afoot. The line between terrified and outraged was crossed and this spider's clock was ticking. It is nearly impossible to find spiders on our carpet, even for the spidey-visioned, like myself. This is not aided by our notoriously awful lighting in our living room. One must also take into account that these guys know when you are looking at them and know when to move. I found him snuckered in under one of  the seams of the couch. I put my bare foot into one of Dan's shoes (yuck) and knocked him off his crimson pedestal. I knew he wasn't dead, but he and I were now on equal ground. He had the benefit of carpet that hides everything, but he didn't know about my stellar spidey-vision. He ventured for safety under the couch, forgetting that I am a very strong, very angry pregnant lady who has the ability to move a couch. Do not underestimate me. I can move all sorts of things. Car ramps moved, couch moved once, twice. No sign of the abomination. Maybe he went back the other way. Moved the couch back. Nothing. Time to move onto the coffee table. I'm pretty sure it weighs more than the couch, but don't you dare fret, I had it covered.

Computer placed safely on the couch, the coffee table performed a spectacular version of the hokey pokey: in, out, all about. I saw the 8 legged joke of evolution disappear under the table. The dance continued. He was as good as gone. As if the planets were aligning and Dark Angel was returning to TV to give us all the satisfying ending we deserve, everything was falling into place. The furniture was back in place and I had him in my sights. He knew I could see him so he wasn't moving, but this also means that spider jail was out of the question because I couldn't go get a cup or I could lose him. This was obviously not worth the risk. I had put on my slippers after verifying that they were spider free and more importantly, realizing that my foot was in Dan's shoe and I had put it there voluntarily. After all, the slippers already had the death of at least one other spider and an earwig. What's another death on their conscience? They get replaced at Christmas anyway- they aren't long for this world. The tricky part here is that we are on carpet and although the slippers have a hard-ish sole, they're no boot. This was going to involve a great deal of force. I took all of my 150 pounds (weight gaining success!) and put it on my right foot and did what can at best be described as a sguiggling flamingo. It was pure grace.

Forgetting that I'm, let me check my phone here, 26 weeks pregnant and my body is loosening in all sorts of ways and that I don't have the ankle strength and flexibility that I used to have when I was dancing all the time, I am not without injury from my escapade. My ankle has been throbbing somewhat intensely for a long while now and since I forgot to buy an ice pack at Target the other day and I see no sense in wasting perfectly good corn, it will continue to throb until it is done. I wouldn't consider walking especially comfortable either, but I remain victorious. (Update: It has been 10 hours since this event. The situation regarding my ankle is somewhat serious and I am more than a little embarrassed.)

As for the spider- I vacuumed up the evidence and his fragments rest in peace in my vacuum with so many others who have dared cross me and suffered the same suctiony fate. It's not a total loss for the spiders and earwigs though. We have a REALLY nice vacuum.

Oskar, the Lecturing Professor

The other day, our little family was sitting down for dinner. Oskar has become quite the conversationalist and as always, he loves to sing. I don't mind at all if he sings during dinner. It's quite sweet- generally. He can get really REALLY loud. I have a problem with one of my ears. I don't really know how to describe it, but there's a weird inner vibration that at a certain pitch and volume hurts really bad. Oskar was really excited and found his loud singing absolutely hilarious. Dan and I both tried calmly and quietly to explain and ask him to please be quiet because being so loud makes mommy's ear hurt. He proceeded to give both of us a 2 minute lecture on how to cover our ears when things are loud complete with demonstration. Dan and I were laughing so hard and he just kept talking at us, like why are you guys laughing? This is what you need to do! He didn't really get quieter, and he refused to understand that that mommy needed her hands for eating and couldn't cover her ears. So we listened to the smallest and loudest opera there has ever been.

This is his "my way of organizing is better than mommy's way" face.

He is quite the problem solver though. He had a sucker the other day. He knows that suckers are sticky and he didn't feel like holding it all the time. Our coffee table is made from reclaimed wood and because of that it has tiny holes in it from old nails and the fact that it is actual wood. Witness my little guy's problem solving skills:

Oskar continues to fear his tiny toilet so potty training has remained elusive. We'll keep trying. This must be done before November.

In Untero Nelson can best be described as combative. I was sitting earlier this evening with a bowl of grapes on my stomach, you know, like a good pregnant woman, and she kicked the bowl off of me. I'm not making this up and I am not exaggerating. There it was- gone. She can also be described as excessively stubborn. I thought that with all the moving around she does our 24 week ultrasound would go better. It absolutely did not. The doctor is pretty sure she doesn't have a cleft lip, but they can't say for sure. They were able to confirm it's a girl, so that was nice. I was talking to the tech and she said when I walked in she thought I was going to be her easiest patient all day. "You are tall and thin- that baby has all the room in the world to spread out and it's not hard to get images on women who are in shape." That is what she said. Little did she know that this baby enjoys snuggling face first into both the placenta and my hip. Baby moved everything but her head during that ultrasound. Little punk. And based on the tightness and pain I experience I'd be willing to bet that her little head is still down there. 

In general, I just think that she really doesn't like being in there. I feel like she is going to break out of my stomach like something you'd see on The X-Files (current binge-watching project). I know people understand that I'm pregnant, but I feel like if they see this in real life it will freak them out. Observe the reason why I'm awake while most are sleeping.

Still think I'm lying about her kicking a bowl off my stomach?

Oskar Rocks Lake Life

This is easily one of my favorite pictures of him.

I have been neglecting my bloggerly duties!

We have achieved the impossible and the newest addition to our little family is a baby GIRL! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? (For those of you who don't know, there are currently 4 little boys and no girls between our families). As predicted, she was exceptionally difficult during her ultrasound and I need to go back in a couple weeks to get a lot of images that the doctors care about. It was quite clear that it was a girl, which is what I wanted to know. She was literally in a ball the entire time and would not move out of it. While trying to look at her face I said, "Is that her foot?" the answer was yes. Her foot was in her eye. That night, of course, she was having a frickin' party. She remains incredibly active, which is nice, but can be a bit annoying.

We are already struggling with coming up with a name for this girl. It may end up being that the name we choose is simply because neither of us hate it. We have four months though. That might be enough time.

I am feeling much better overall, but I get very tired quite easily. I tried to golf a couple times while up at the cabin last week and even with a cart, the first time I couldn't finish golfing and the second time, I was able to finish all 18 holes with the cart but felt much more tired than I usually would from walking 18. Tomorrow I'm sending the hubbs down to the abyss to find my pregnancy clothes. I can still fit in most my clothes, but there's no reason to be uncomfortable. I still look more portly than pregnant, which is a tough spot to be in. It does change throughout the day though, especially if I've been standing a lot. Then I can look very pregnant come evening.

Can't remember why the tears are happening, but this guy is a master
at manipulating others with his emotions. Watch out.

Dan went to the youth gathering in Detroit a couple weeks ago and let me tell you, it was ROUGH. Like a genius, I decided this was a great time to paint the living room. The room got painted, but this was not a great choice. So much exhaustion.

After his "episode," Oskar asked for toast. Then he asked for more. And again.

After the long week, I was going to try to take Oskar to an event at church that Friday to get out with some different people. However, something in him decided that vomiting was the best response to eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or as he called it "Big spit!" The evening went drastically downhill from there. At an EPIC rate. I seriously think that I blocked out the rest of the night from my memory except for what some might call an overreaction to the killing of an earwig. On Saturday we were saved from each other by some friends who came to visit and acted as a WONDERFUL buffer. It was super convenient that they had the same names as 2 of his aunts. Then on Sunday an actual aunt came to visit for a couple hours and just added to the fun. Thank you to you three. You know who you are and your presence was essential to my sanity.

Ice cream gymnast.

At least the run home from ice cream
wore him out!

I thought Oskar would be so happy to see Dan when he got back, but he held a bit of a grudge for a while, which was inconvenient at best, because I needed some time alone. Or at least away from him. I know this sounds terrible, but I doubt I'm alone in understanding this. He has since come around on Dan and the only time he really prefers me is for cuddling in the morning. For like a half hour. This is great because morning is my absolute favorite time of day. Oh wait, it isn't. At least it's nice to have a cuddle buddy. He really is very sweet (when he wants to be).

Fading while watching Phantom

3 minutes later after I moved him to the couch.

Oskar has developed a liking (understatement) of Phantom of the Opera. It has intrigued him for a while and he used to sit and listen calmly to it and if we were lucky it would lull him to sleep. Now, he dances and sings along. It's pretty impressive when he runs around the house singing and we catch little phrases that are quite similar to phrases in the show. But I guess the odds are in favor of this considering today he was singing for about 40 minutes straight. Now, I'm not claiming the video below is phenomenal, but it's pretty darn cute. I could have cut it shorter, but I like his spin moves at the end.

Today, in exasperation I accidentally swore in front of Oskar. He laughed hysterically and then said, "Bless you!" Oh my, it was so sweet.

Because why wouldn't this be in Nisswa?

Not even driving a boat with grandpa while holding
a sponge can get in the way of nap time.

I am doing my best to provide Oskar with a fun summer despite my limited abilities as a human person, especially at the beginning of the summer. This mostly involves spending time with grandparents at the cabin. He loves going up there, even with the 5+ hour drive and each day he gets so worn out that bed time tends to be real easy. He absolutely loves fishing and it is really easy to catch fish off the dock. Someone will pull in a fish and he will say, "Put it right here" and pat a spot on the dock. Then he will laugh as the fish flips around for its life. He knows that the fish is supposed to be in the water though and likes to push the fish back in the water with his finger. Or his foot. Whichever is more convenient.

Even Oskar found this hilarious. Dan caught that fish- it's not bait.

We saw a 2 foot long some kind of fish while pulling into the bay. Saw it a couple times actually.
Despite their best efforts, retrieval of the beast was unsuccessful.

Thanks for reading!

Dan Freaks Out While Ordering Food

We have a Chinese Restaurant in town and apparently it's pretty good (I'm still off Chinese food from the Oskar vomit incident and simply from pregnancy making it not sound good). Dan orders delivery from this restaurant sometimes and knows that they have a $15 delivery minimum. He usually gets the shrimp and garlic sauce dish thing and wonton soup. Well, one day last week he was ordering and it was really hot out and Oskar and I were out of town. Dan had already dialed when he realized that it was to hot for soup. If it were me, I would say and an order of eggrolls or something- he just had to be close to $15. What does Dan order? The Pu Pu Platter for Two. FOR TWO. Did I mention that our microwave broke so re-heating things isn't quite so easy? Goodness. Dan is no longer allowed to make decisions under pressure.

Dan also doesn't quite understand furnishing a living room. I was telling him that I'm going to put up another coat of paint because although we like the color that we inherited, there are parts of the room that are a bit patchy and the cream from the past shows through. There is also some pet hair in the wall that I need to sand out. I made a comment that once this is done we can kind of start settling in and make it look like we've lived here for a year instead of a month. He pointed out that there are toys everywhere and that the commitment required there clearly shows that we've been here for a while. I was just saying that it might be nice to get some of our pictures on the wall maybe get some art up there or something. And I would LOVE to have some new furniture to sit on. To this, Dan responds, "You have a couch, a trampoline and a time-out chair! What more could you want?" We do have a couch- it is breaking and pretty worn out. We have a wooden time-out chair, which is apparently a very valuable chair, but that doesn't mean that it is comfortable for me to sit in. We have a trampoline, which has a 100 lb weight limit. Summary: We have a breaking couch that if we have more than 2 adults in here things get pretty cozy pretty quick. One other thing that bothers me is that we have absolutely stunning end tables, coffee table and entertainment table. I feel like I'm not providing them an appropriate venue to exist. I just want some couches. Maybe a cushy chair.

Anyone need a thousand tiny maple trees?

One week. That is the amount of time it takes me to go from not looking pregnant to looking downright portly. I'm starting to feel a lot better though and I can function as a human adult almost most the time. Baby is kicking away and sometimes when I take a deep breath it feels like something is about to break forth from my stomach. I don't remember this from last time. Pending fetal cooperation we will know the sex of the baby next week. I'm not holding my breath on the cooperation bit- at my previous appointment it took us 5 minutes to find the thing's heartbeat.

We had quite a storm go through here last week. It was VERY windy and it caused quite a few trees to come down around town. We noticed a couple days later that we had a hanging broken branch from one of our giant trees in the back yard. This needed to be dealt with, but as new-ish homeowners we find that again we were lacking the tools and since it was not hurting anything we were just going to let it hang there. Happily nature took care of it and the branch magically fell down while we were in the Twin Cities this past weekend. We were pretty fortunate- a town just about 10 miles NE of us got destroyed. There were a couple days where the weren't letting outsiders enter the town. I only heard of 1 injury though and no fatalities, so we can be happy about that. Our church was a temporary red cross shelter and there were about 30 people who could not occupy their homes. It could have been worse, but it could have been a lot better too. It is simply astonishing that the damage can be so much worse not very far away.

I have been up to the twin cities over the past 3 weekends for various wedding activities. It is not fun driving to the cities right now. Two weekends ago on 35 I went 2 miles in 45 minutes. I was super annoyed because 75% of the cars I saw were from Iowa probably going up to the lakes for the weekend. Hey Iowa, you have your own lake. Go there. This past weekend we traveled on Thursday and came back on Monday so it went much better.

Oskar got some much needed cousin time over the past couple weeks. Whenever he is with his older cousins he is simply insane. He doesn't have much chance playing with boys near his age because daycare is mostly girls. He has a blast with those two. He also got to see his younger cousin. He was so cute with him and seemed to actually listen to his aunt while she watched him for a few hours while we were at a wedding. He even held his hand for a while. So cute. When the little one becomes a little more sturdy I'm sure craziness will ensue when these two get together too.

Oskar Misses his Turn, Attempts to Crack Head Like Egg

Although a valiant effort was made to give his parents a heart attack, Oskar and both elders are recovering nicely after he decided sprinting into a door frame was a good idea. Dan did not respond well to the bulbous crack that appeared almost instantly on his beautiful head. I have learned that I respond better to injury and Dan responds better to illness when concerning Oskar. Oskar, like with every other injury he has gotten, was done crying in 2 minutes and back running around in 4. After consulting a mother and a nurse-friend we were affirmed in our decision to not rush to the doctor and he has been acting normally since the incident on Tuesday. For a time the bump came out about a quarter inch. It was gross and Oskar was not a fan of the idea of icing it to make it go down.

Tuesday was also an extremely warm day in Brandon, on the prairie, with absolutely no wind. Our house stays pretty cool, but it did get pretty hot around here when evening fell. The image below is what made me turn on the air to get us through the night. The chomps is generally a sweaty sleeper, but I couldn't look at that and not do something about it.

Oskar's headboard is finally completed and installed! Thanks to the guidance of the guy who builds all our furniture I was able to turn an old gate into what I believe is a beautiful headboard. 

Before

Installed- I know I've posted about this before, but I'm just so excited that it is finally done.

Potty training is not fun. Oskar won't even sit on his potty anymore. This would be a step backwards. I thought for sure he was ready, but maybe not? No one teaches you how to potty train a child. Thankfully the internet is full of helpful advice. Oh wait... On that note, if you are pregnant for the first time and you have a question do not ask the internet unless it is an incredibly reliable source. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT READING ANY COMMENTS ON ANY BOARD EVER. Call your mom. Call your mother-in-law, friend, sister, me, whatever. Do not read the comments. Oskar hiccuped throughout his whole gestation. Then I saw a comment that if your child hiccups a lot he/she is likely to be stillborn. I did not believe it, but at 37 weeks pregnant with my first child that is hardly what I needed to hear. Most of my thoughts resonated with Susan's on Friends: This is impossible. It's just impossible. What that woman... did. I am not doing that. It's just gonna have to stay it, that's all, everything will be the same, it'll just stay it. Oh, what do you know? No one's going up to you and saying, "Hi is that your nostril? Mind if we shove this pot roast through it?" Yes, around 37 weeks, that's what I was thinking. No room for stillborn hiccups.

My little stud. I swear he wears clothes almost all the time,
although I will have a hard time proving that.

And here I am again. What was I thinking? 16 weeks as of yesterday and I am still dizzy and can't stand for long without support (usually a shopping cart). I am finally kind of starting to put on weight, but still can't break 140, which is disappointing. I know for many women, 140 is a healthy weight. Please keep in mind that I am probably taller than you and it really isn't a healthy weight for me, especially not pregnant me. I keep thinking the *morning* sickness has passed, but two days ago I was informed I was wrong. Again. Without going into too much detail I will only say that my throat is still recovering from this most recent event. Sadly I must report that I am used to it by now and that it is more annoying than anything else. It still must end. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!

Those of you who are exceedingly cool (nerdy) know that that line is from Star Trek. I am pleased to report that I have completed watching Deep Space 9 and have made progress into Voyager. The theme song to DS9 nearly killed me every time I heard it. It is what I would provide if someone asked for the saddest Olympic fanfare. Congratulations guys, you made it to the Olympics but let's face it, you won't even qualify for the finals. Here's your participation ribbon, and the world's saddest trumpet playing just for you. In season 4 they put a drumbeat behind it. While I assume the intention was to liven it up a bit, to me it sounded more like Ha! You thought this was the Olympics! You are marching to your doom! And you will do it briskly! I realize this is a lot of opinion about a theme- but when it is 2 minutes long you have a lot of time to think about these things. And yes, I did fast forward through it most the time. When I would press play though, it would often be on the final note which was four measures long. FOUR. And the note should have ended on beat 1, not 4. On the upside, I loved the episode 'Trials and Tribble-ations" because we got to see my favorite creatures again! For the time, I was also way impressed with how well they merged the episode with the one from the original series. I know this paragraph will only be understood by about 1% of the people who may read this, but this is my blog, so there.

Throwback Thursday! Isn't that what the kids are calling it these days?
Oskar was our very own little Tribble for Halloween a couple years ago.
For those who understood, it was fantastic.

We have robins in our lilac again. One baby left the nest today- it was very exciting. I was able to get a couple pictures of them a few days ago. It took a while for the momma to get used to the sound of my camera, but she did. It might have been the camera scaring her away, it might have been the 2 year old or some other bird thing. This lilac bush is absolutely hideous and way overgrown, but it has had nests in it this year and last, so I guess it is staying. Sorry neighborhood. I put up a feeder in back and it took the birds a long while to find it, but now that they have we are sprinting through seed and suet. Very exciting. My pictures could have been better if I had used a ladder, but my doctor said no ladders for me. I can hardly blame her.

I hope you are all enjoying the start of your summer! Enjoy the weather and the sunshine and if you are having a rough day, keep in mind that you could be vomiting as well as dealing with all the crap you are dealing with. Dorisa Nelson- providing you the slimmest silver lining since 1986.