Father's Day Weekend 2014

I hope all you dads out there had a great Father's Day weekend!

We sure did. We didn't do too much (unlike driving down to Sea World for Mother's Day...being 38 weeks pregnant puts a little damper on any potential travel plans), but we had a really nice weekend overall. It didn't hurt that Eric's last official day of work was last Tuesday, so our weekend felt really, really long - in a good way! (Eric is actually doing some work for Teach for America this week, but then when that's over, he's officially free for the summer!)

On Saturday we went to the zoo. The zoo's calendar said it was "Save the Rhinos Day," which we thought would be great because the rhinos are Ellie's favorite zoo animal. Turns out there really wasn't much going on for said Rhino Day, but we had a nice time wandering through our usual paths. This was probably the last time we'll get to go to the zoo until much later this year, so we made sure to let Ellie visit with all her animal besties.

Usual zoo fun: watching elephants, brushing goats, hanging out with giraffes, looking at fishies, riding the carousel, being generally adorable.

On Sunday, we met up with my friend Amanda for lunch. You may remember Amanda as my old friend from Gainesville who lived in NYC for a bit while working as a travel nurse. She and I had a great time in the city, and she was always game for a new Big Apple Adventure. It has been years since I last saw her, so it was great to meet up with her, catch up, and introduce her to Ellie. Ellie was smitten with her and kept asking her to play, then after lunch spent the rest of the day talking about Amanda!

Sitting on the fire truck at our local Mellow Mushroom - Ellie was beside herself!

After lunch we went down to St. Augustine and spent some time at the World Golf Hall of Fame. We have been there before, but they were offering free admission for all and free putting for dads in honor of Father's Day, so we figured we'd check it out again.

Ellie and Eric at the Golf Hall of Fame

We went through the museum pretty quickly, but Eric and Ellie made sure to stop at the little putting exhibits, where Ellie got some of her first golf lessons from her daddy. He even found her a left-handed putter (she's our little lefty!) to practice with. Future golf buddies in the making!

Ellie and Eric on the replica Swilcan Bridge (from the Old Course in St. Andrews)

Trying their hands at some putting - Ellie totally cheated.

Golf buddies

On the right: "I DID IT!"

After the museum we decided to skip the full putting course and instead just walked around the grounds. Eric and Ellie had some fun at the playground...

"Daddy swing wif you!"

These days, Ellie does everything Eric does.

...and then we just circled around the lake and enjoyed the lovely (albeit hot) day.

We stopped for hugs from an alligator statue

Playing in the grass

I sure enjoyed our weekend as a family, and I hope Eric did, too. With two weeks left until Plus One's due date, I'm trying to make a point of cherishing every day with the knowledge that it could be our last as a family of three. If this weekend were to turn out to be our last, it was a really great one! I'm so lucky to have these two as my family, and I can't wait to meet our new addition, too!

Loves of my life

Fathers

Happy Father's Day!

Today we're spending the day celebrating those important men in our life - fathers and grandfathers that have helped shape who we are. I have been blessed to have two strong, caring family-focused gentlemen as my grandfathers:

With my Gramps on the left, and my Papa on the right

And of course, my own dad, who has done so much for me and for my little family over time. And in the past two years, it has been such a joy watching him be Ellie's grandfather. He is so great with her and she just adores her Papa. It gives me a new appreciation for the man he is to see him in this role with his granddaughter...and soon, with his grandson!

Ellie and her Papa

Of course, as we very rapidly approach the due date for our new baby, I am once again spending a lot of time thinking of Eric as a father and realizing just how lucky I am to have him as my partner in this parenting gig, and how blessed my children are to have him as their daddy. I have known Eric for a very long time now - just about 16 years, in fact. We met at the age of 15 when we were just a couple of skinny kids, the football player and the band nerd. Since that time I have seen Eric in a wide variety of different roles: aside from those of son and brother, he has been an athlete, a scholar, a lawyer, a New Yorker, a teacher, my boyfriend, my fiance, my husband. He has always excelled no matter the "hat" he is wearing, but the role in which he has impressed me most is that of father.

Eric's devotion to his family is more than I could have hoped for, and I knew going into this that he was a good, family-oriented man. How best to care for his family is always at the front of his mind and he works hard to give us the world. As a father, he wants to be involved and be as hands-on as he can in his children's lives. After a long day of work, he will rush home to catch as much time with Ellie as possible before she goes to bed. He and I always do the bedtime routine together, and he handles her baths and helps with so much else during the day. He plays with her constantly and she loves it. "Daddy play wif you?" is a chorus we have been hearing quite a bit lately and he is always happy to oblige, be it coloring, kicking a ball outside, doing silly voices, singing, playing with her dollhouse, rough-housing or having a dance party in the middle of her room. He can make her smile with greater ease than anyone else and the sound of her giggles as she plays with her daddy is possibly my most favorite sound in the world. He is so proud of her, and you can hear it in his voice when he speaks of and to her. Their relationship is truly beautiful and I love that my baby girl has been able to develop such a bond with her daddy.

To give you an idea of how much quality time Eric really spends with Ellie, the majority of these pictures were taken just within the past week. I certainly didn't need to go digging back in the photo archives to find pictures of Eric playing with Ellie!

Now, Eric is getting ready to be a father for the second time, this time to a son. I think he and I are both a little apprehensive about parenting a son, because Ellie is all we know to this point. But I have no doubt whatsoever that Eric will excel in this role, too. Through both example and teaching I have faith that he will raise our son to be an admirable man, respectful and kind and dedicated and strong. (And, if he ends up being a great golfer, all the better!) I can't wait to watch Eric as he parents our son, and to see their relationship grow. I am certain that next year at this time, I will be sitting back and marveling and the bond between Eric and his baby boy just as I do at the bond between Eric and Ellie.

Eric, thank you for making our family your top priority without fail and for being such an extraordinary father to your children. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and we love and appreciate you so very much.

Two peas in a pod, these two.

Happy Father's Day to these important men and all the other great dads and grandfathers out there!

Ellie 'Wimming

Now that the weather is nice and summery (have I mentioned that it's hot?) we've been spending a good bit of time in the water. Well, whenever afternoon thunderstorms don't interfere, of course. As Ellie says, we "go 'wimming!"

Is this girl a Florida girl or what?

I was pretty excited for Ellie to spend some time in the pool this summer, because last year she LOVED the water (splash parks for the win!) and she loves the bath and such, too. So, as soon as we could, we signed her up for swim lessons at the YMCA, and she went every Saturday in May (with the exception of the week she was sick). It wasn't really a hardcore swim lesson, but more was just geared towards getting the kids comfortable in the water a little bit. The classes included some water games, some paddling/kicking practice, blowing bubbles in the water and jumping in. The first week, Ellie was super pumped at first:

Excited!

...but things took a turn for the unhappy when it came time to float on her back.

Hates it.

Frankly, we were a little surprised at her reaction, but figured it was all just new and the next week would be better.

And indeed, the second week was much better. In fact, she was a paddling, kicking, splashing, jumping machine. She loved it. I attribute much of the attitude shift to a video my cousin Molly shared of Ellie's cousin Santiago happily jumping into a pool over and over again. Ellie watched that video and wanted to be "brave like Gago!"

In the water for lesson #2

VIDEO: Ellie "swimming" to a toy

The last lesson was another mixed bag, however. Ellie did some of the activities and fussed over others. She started off the lesson wanting to do nothing but jump in over and over, but by the time we reached the jumping portion of the program, she wanted none of it. Toddlers, man. Fickle creatures they are.

Waiting for her last swim lesson

Showing the instructor her paddling skills - "like a doggy!"

We've also been trying to spend some afternoons at our community pool, which Ellie very much enjoys. She spends the whole time running back and forth from the one-foot-deep kiddie pool to the big pool, where she enjoys going up and down the steps over and over and over and over again, and jumping in (with help, of course). It's not exactly a relaxing time for her parents, but it's fun.

"I'M AT THE POOL!"

Hanging out in the kiddie pool

Sitting on the edge of the big pool

Pretty little water baby

VIDEO: Jumping in!

I love that she loves the water and I hope we're able to have more poolside fun this summer!

Feeling Crafty

So, I'm like, 100 years pregnant now.

I'm kind of over it.

I know, I know. Less than three weeks left until my due date, so it will all be over soon and Baby Boy will be here and our family will be forever changed. I'm trying my very best to enjoy each day as a family of three in the meantime.

But I mean, it's hot. And everything aches. And I'm so irritable, I feel like I hate everything. So I'm ready to wrap things up here.

But alas, at least three weeks left to go. So, I'm keeping myself wicked busy to help pass the time and distract me from the fact that it is OPPRESSIVELY HOT ALL THE TIME and my belly bumps into things and Braxton Hicks contractions are a way of life now and I can't remember the last really good night of sleep I had. Also, to keep me from whining. It's totally working.

My nesting instinct has been strong this time around (much more so than with my first pregnancy), and I have been channeling it in a crafty direction. I have spent most evenings and nearly every one of Ellie's naptimes in recent weeks working on at least one project at a time. Most of these will be revealed in the coming weeks as we finish getting the nursery set up and reorganizing Ellie's room, but in the meantime, how about a little sneak peek?

I've already shown off and/or hinted at a couple nursery decor DIYs, including some early work on the mobile with my mom:

A work in progress!

And the hand-painted dresser knobs:

Baseballs!

More recently, however, I've tackled some more projects, including the largest nursery project of them all: a scoreboard for the wall, with Plus One's name at the top. I'll reveal the finished product when I show off the completed nursery, but for now, a teaser:

Just a little look at the lower left corner!

I am in love with the completed scoreboard, so I'm making it a top priority to get the nursery finished so I can share the whole thing as soon as possible. It turned out even better than I had envisioned (when does that ever happen when you DIY?) and is a very cool, meaningful piece of artwork for Plus One's baseball nursery.

Of course, Ellie also wanted to get in on the "Crafting For Baby" fun, and she painted a canvas for him:

Little artist

What you can't see is the painter's tape underneath Ellie's masterpiece that spells out Plus One's name! When she finished painting, I pulled up the tape, resulting in a lovely personalized painting made by Ellie for her Baby Brother. It turned out great, and every time she sees it in his corner of the room she comments on it: "had fun painting for Baby Brother!"

Speaking of Ellie, I've also been crafting on her behalf. The biggest Ellie Project has been a little table-and-chairs set for her room. We'll be moving the glider out of her room and into the nursery, so I wanted to have something fun to take its place. We picked up a plain wood table-and-chairs set from Ikea and I've been working hard to girly it up for Ellie:

Not yet assembled, but certainly sufficiently girly!

I've also been working hard to finish filling in all the photos and memories that were still missing from Ellie's baby books. And, similarly, I got our anniversary scrapbook updated. You may recall that for our third wedding anniversary, I gave Eric a leather scrapbook including one collage for each year of marriage. I have continued to make a page a year since then, although I was two years behind until just the last few weeks! I'll have another page to make come August, but hey, we've got some big things happening between now and then so I can't get ahead of myself.

Year Five

Year 6

All of this has been in addition to regular photo-storage housekeeping that I was behind on but needed to be done: clearing old photos off my computer, backing things up, getting organized. Basically, telling my iPhoto to brace itself, because there is an onslaught of new baby pictures headed its way (remember when we took 350 pictures of Ellie in her first few hours of life?).

I must say, this nesting thing has been serving me well. I have completed more projects in the last few weeks than I had in years prior to this, I think. And the distraction is certainly welcome. By giving myself a to-do list about three miles long, I'm not wishing for any sort of early delivery because there is too much to do first!

The baby will be here before we know it, but at this rate, I may very well have remodeled the house, carved a bust of Ellie out of clay and written the great American novel by then. Heck, I may knock all that out by the weekend. Let the nesting continue!

Kids Fest

On Saturday we took Ellie to the Orange Park Kids Fest for a morning o' fun.

Me with the kids at Kids Fest

Now, mind you, Ellie had a particularly fitful night of sleep on Friday night, including being awake from 5:00 a.m. till after 7:00 a.m. (fun for everyone!). So, throughout the morning her mood was oscillating between joyous and this:

Overtired. Hates everything.

But really, for the most part, we had a great time. The festival had live music and performances, character appearances, games and play stations, face painting, food, a touch-a-truck portion and tons of vendors.

As for us, we did a little bouncing...

Super fun!

This is what gravity/bouncing does to piggies and cheeks!

...said "hi" to Sponge Bob...

He's no Elmo, but she was still pretty pumped.

...checked out some bees at a local honey stand...

"Bees gonna getcha!" she said.

...rode a train...

Eric and Ellie, second cow from the front

...petted a snake...

Well, one of us did. The other two cowered and sucked our thumbs politely declined.

..."drove" a tractor...

I thought she was just being grumpy but she told me later that she "rode a big truck with Mama, was scared." Awww. Oopsie.

...played on a firetruck...

Firefighter Ellie!

...and blew off some steam at the playground.

These two are going to have so much fun together this summer!

Considering we were only at this festival for about an hour and fifteen minutes, I'd say we made good use of our time! It was a very fun morning! It's nice to be able to take advantage of fun offerings in Jacksonville like this one. Hopefully there will be more to come this summer!

First Year: Down!

Today is Eric's last day of school (with students) for this year. He still has to go in on Monday and Tuesday next week to wrap things up, but today is the last day for the kids and thus, his last day of actually teaching. So, I think we can say that his first year of teaching is officially in the books.

Mr. W. in action last summer

I hope that at some point he'll put some of this thoughts and impressions together into a post of his own that I can share with you, because I would say his first year of teaching has certainly been eye-opening. Although he expected his students to be "behind," he had no idea how dramatic the deficit might be. He has encountered a myriad eye-opening experiences and interactions with his students, and has made great strides towards figuring what might and might not work when trying to teach the kids in his classroom. It is very safe to say his first year has been quite a learning experience, and I hope he'll share that with you firsthand soon.

But in the meantime, I just want to say how proud I am of him. I know this year was no cakewalk, and I'm not sure either of us was prepared for how challenging it would really be. I know that Eric has struggled with feeling that he didn't do the job he hoped, judging by test scores and many student attitudes. But in reality, I think he did an extraordinary job this year. He was thrust into a difficult teaching assignment with only six weeks of teacher training under his belt. He had to navigate both subject matter and classroom management for the first time. He had no idea what would work and what wouldn't. He had two subjects to prepare for and struggled to motivate kids whose attitude about school and grades is in stark contrast with his own. He also coached football his first semester - essentially another full-time job in itself - and dealt with a newly pregnant wife and a new home and new city. How he didn't run screaming for the hills with all that, I may never know.

But scream and run he did not. In fact, he often commented on how much better he felt about going to work each day than he ever did in law. He certainly had a lot on his plate but there was never the overwhelming stress and/or dread over facing each new day. He built relationships with many of his students, and now even has cards and letters of appreciation to show for it. Some of his well-used "speeches" became famous and the kids loved to impersonate him. He was known for not letting his kids swear in his classroom and by the end of the year they were actively working to improve their in-class language, calling each other out on it and even extending the "no swear zone" to the hallway within Eric's earshot. He did his best with those kids, in a very challenging circumstance, and I think he made a lot more progress than he can probably even recognize.

I can't say enough how proud I am of Eric for doing this. I know that the one place he would prefer to spend all of his time (aside from the golf course) is at home with his family. However, working is a necessary evil that makes that impossible. Yet years ago he had the character and the integrity to say, "If I have to be away from my family for a job, I want to spend that time doing something worthwhile." And then he evaluated his career, didn't like what he saw, and changed it - venturing into the unknown, far from his comfort zone, in the pursuit of the greater good. He is an admirable man and I think those kids are lucky to have him. I know I am, and my kids are. There's no question about that.

There is one more year of teaching ahead of Eric on his Teach For America contract. He will be teaching math again next year (most likely Algebra 2) and he is already brainstorming new methods of teaching content, managing his classroom, instituting a cohesive vision and ultimately having the maximum positive impact possible for next year's students. It is inspiring and wonderful to see his enthusiasm still going so strong after the first year, as he already looks towards the next.

Eric, you should be so proud of yourself. I hope you know what a great job you have done this year and next year promises to be even better. You're an inspiration to me and an incredible example for Ellie and Plus One, as well as the kids that you teach. We're so proud of you.

The Big Sister To Be

First, my apologies for the back-to-back-to-back baby-related posts if you're not into that sort of thing, but a warning: I have less than one month till my due date and I am in Hardcore Baby Prep Mode, so it is quite likely that the majority of my posts for the next month are going to be in some way baby-related. And we all know they're not going to get LESS baby-related after the baby actually comes, so hunker down, friends. It's Baby Talk Time around here.

I have been asked quite a bit if Ellie is ready to be a big sister. The short answer: I sure hope so. We've been doing the best we can to prepare her for what is coming, but really, how on earth can a two-year-old grasp the concept that there's a baby in Mama's tummy that is going to come out and live with us and change her world?

I wanted to have Ellie take a Big Sibling class at the hospital, as I did when I was a wee only child getting ready for an impending baby sister. But, our hospital requires the big siblings to be at least three years old, so that was a no-go.

This is Ellie modeling MY "prepared big sister" shirt last summer. I received this shirt from the hospital where my sister was born, back in 1985!

So, Eric and I have been doing what we can on our own. We bought Ellie a bunch of big sister/baby brother-related books that talk about what she can expect, and she has really enjoyed those.

I mean, let's not sugarcoat it, here.

We also have been bringing her with us to all of my doctor appointments - largely because we don't really have anyone to watch her, sure, but she seems to enjoy going, too. She likes to lay on the table "like Mama" and lifts her shirt because "baby brother needs a check-up." She asks to turn off the lights and see baby brother (via ultrasound), and when she hears his heartbeat on the doppler she exclaims over what a "noisy lawnmower" he is. Because obviously.

Ellie is ready for baby brother's check-up!

An unexpected plus of bringing Ellie to all my doctor visits: when she had to go to her own doctor, she was as good as gold! We've gone twice now in the recent months (just for check-ups), and both times the doctor and nurses have exclaimed over how exceptionally well-behaved and cooperative she is, especially for a two-year-old. I attribute that to knowing the doctor is not a scary place - after all, Mama goes all the time and it's totally fine!

We've also tried to involve Ellie in preparing our home for the new baby. She "helped" Eric build the dresser for Plus One a couple weekends ago, and I plan to have her make a painting for his nursery, too.

Ellie and Eric "hammerling" the dresser

Ellie has also started to recognize when she feels baby brother moving when she is cuddling with me. She'll pop her head up and say, "Feel him moving! Baby Brother kicking you!" The other morning she also told him good morning and said, "I'm gonna getcha!" Kills me.

VIDEO: Ellie feeling Baby Brother move

These days she's also very much into "helping," which I hope to use to my advantage when the baby comes, so that I can help her feel involved and important while caring for the baby takes up so much of my time and attention. I also hope she'll want to just mimic me - she's been very into babies lately, and taking care of them. For example, if she sees/hears a baby crying at storytime, she'll comment on it and try to figure out why the baby is crying: "Needs a bottle! Needs a change! Needs a nap! Needs his mommy!" She likes to "take care of" her baby dolls, too, so I'm hoping that we can just be a little Mommy Team when the baby comes.

"Wearing" her baby in her backpack! Somebody get this girl a Moby wrap.

So I think we've really done all that we can to prepare her: books, pretend play, talking about it, having her involved in the process. If anyone out there has any other suggestions that we may not have thought of, please, share! Otherwise, we'll just hope we've done as much as we can!

I, on the other hand, am not entirely sure I'm ready for Ellie to be a big sister. I've still been feeling a lot of guilt about changing her world in such a dramatic way, and she has been so sweet lately that she hasn't been making it easy on me. For example, the other day we read her "Welcome to the Neighborhood" Daniel Tiger book, and after reading the following page about a "supermommy," she turned to me and pointed at me and said, "there she is!":

"Daniel pretending the special visitor really was a supermommy."

Then, the other day she saw this cup at breakfast, and asked me what Pooh and Owl are doing:

She notices everything, that one.

I said something along the lines of, "They're hugging! They're friends!" to which she replied, "Like Mama and Ellie! Mama and Ellie are friends!" And I was all, OMG STOP I AM TOO PREGNANT FOR THIS EMOTIONAL ONSLAUGHT.

She and I just have such a good thing going. Because I have been lucky enough to be able to stay home with her, for the majority of the days in her life, it has been the two of us. We have such a tight bond and we really have our own little groove going. It breaks my heart to know that everything is going to be different for her so very soon, and she has no real way to anticipate or understand it. I worry about her feeling left out or betrayed or forgotten, none of which will be true but I can't bear the thought that she might feel that way.

Of course, I know that ultimately, we'll all find our new groove and it will be just as good. Or rather, even better. I know that even if it doesn't happen immediately, in time she will love having a brother, a playmate, a built-in friend. And she and I will still have that close bond we have now, our days together will just look a little different.

Thanks to my TimeHop app on my phone I was reminded today that just last year I shared this article about the gift of siblings on Facebook. Reading back through it made me think again about how true this is:

"[Siblings are] less tailored fits than friends are. But in a family that's succeeded at closeness, they're more natural, better harbors."

My sister is certainly a gift - in fact, she's one of (if not THE) best gifts my parents ever gave me. We've gone through life together, serving as each others' constant playmates, friends, confidants and cheerleaders. We've seen each other at our best and our worst; we've shared countless tears and even more laughs. She knows me through and through and I can't imagine my life without her. So I keep reminding myself that in the end, this baby brother will be a gift to Ellie: someone who can know her entirely, who will understand where she came from, who will hopefully always be by her side. I know I cannot guarantee that my kids will have the same close friendship that my sister and I are lucky enough to share, but I will do all I can to help that relationship grow so that they will ultimately see one another as the great gifts that they are.

And in the more immediate future, I know Ellie will be okay. She's a sweet-but-resilient little girl who is probably way more prepared for the challenges and changes that Baby Brother will bring than I am. She's going to be a great big sister.