Dyer Days

Logan is obsessed with t.v. We used to limit his time to 30 minutes per day; however, this has crept up to one Disney length movie on non-school days. He usually watches it first thing in the morning and we play the rest of the day. This has been the routine since we moved into our house 7 months ago; however, he asks nearly everyday after his nap if he can watch another movie. This is today's conversation:
L: Can I watch a short movie?
M: No, you know that. What kind of mommy would I be if I let you watch movie after movie?
L: Miss Sharla

I couldn't resist posting this. Sharla is my "pseudo" sister, my dear friend and someone I and my family love and adore. Sharla also lets Logan get away with whatever he wants to do and sometimes I wonder if he truly wishes she were his mother...

Okay, since Logan was born I've had this HUGE (some call it irrational) fear of my child/children drowning. I don't know what it is, but I do get deathly afraid of this at various points. I think that it all started when I was pregnant with Logan and I realized that there were multiple dangers that could easily cause this...my in-laws had a pool with 2 back doors, their backyard backed up to the Brazos River and they also owned a houseboat in Arkansas. Let me stop here and say that I LOVE these things. I think in another life, I could live in the water--if I believed in that sort of thing. I can find no better relaxation than on the lake, sitting by/in any body of water or just looking at the water--as long as my child isn't with me. My mother on the other hand is scared to death of it--this was always so absurd to me, but no longer.

For many other reasons, we have not taken Logan to the boat since he was 9 months old; however, we have decided that it is time to get him acquainted, so in another month and a half, we'll be taking our first trip to Arkansas as a family since he started walking. This scares me for a huge variety of reasons, but the biggest being that there is a large gap between the boat and the dock that any child could slip between, but is not large enough for an adult to fit.

So, now on to the dream...last night I dreamed that Logan was jumping between two platforms over water...I was trying not to panic aloud in my dream, but I awoke in sweaty sheets with my heartrate at a million beats a minute. I woke up just after 2 a.m. and didn't get calmed down until after 7 a.m. Today, I checked my email and found this:

"Why do I have such strange dreams?Your hormone levels are all over the map and you're about to undergo one of the biggest life events imaginable that's enough to give anyone the occasional nightmare. In fact, vivid, bizarre, or even terrifying dreams during pregnancy are probably the mind's natural way of dealing with the anxiety, excitement, and fear that accompany childbirth, says Dr. Raina Paris, author of The Mother to Be's Dream Book: Understanding the Dreams of Pregnancy. "

Yet another thing I forgot about pregnancy.

Well, we went to the doctor yesterday and everything looked great again. Nothing of note to report, really. It was an interesting visit because of several things:
1. I forgot to ask about my Level 2 ultrasound--yes, I've already gotten chastized for this from my husband.
2. I went alone for the second time ever--which was fine, especially since I saw the doctor for maybe 2 minutes.
3. I forgot my pre-registration packet for the hospital.
4. I was told not to wash the dishes for 24 hours after getting my blood taken (wahoo!)
5. I went back after my packet and to ask about the sonogram and was told the nurse sets it up and calls me with the date--this was a little too weird for me, but whatever.
6. I seemed to be one of two married people in the packed waiting room.
7. I'm measuring further along than 17 1/2 weeks--with Logan, I only measured "big" once and it was at 38 weeks...uh oh!

I am feeling better--back to one pill a day. We decided that I must have had the stomach flu and it was prolonged due to taking all of the medicine. I found out that three of my kiddos had it right after school got out for Spring Break...hopefully I didn't make any of you sick.

Today the nurse called to tell me that she scheduled the ultrasound for April 18--we'll be at Sea World, so they rescheduled for April 21. If munchkin cooperates we'll know if we're going blue or pink then.

On a side note Logan informed me last night that my belly is "huge!" Great...what will he be saying come August? BTW: this is after he told me he wanted me to be "FFFFATMAN", aka: batman while we were playing. He's definitely keeping me laughing if nothing else.

Well, we spent an evening the week before Easter dying eggs. We got started a little rough, with the wind blowing the newspaper all over the backyard, blowing over the pink dye and Maddie trying to sabotage the rest of the colors, but we had a blast eventually. Logan was so upset about the pink dye that we didn't know if he'd recover, but he did and he loved it. Here are a few of the pictures.

Okay, after a hilarious email from my friend Colleen I realized the error of the last post's title...Just to clarify, there is only one pea in this body...not two. I was told what havoc it caused to see a post by a pregnant lady entitled "two peas in a pod."

As far as the "pea" (or rather "avocado" at 16 weeks) goes, the morning sickness has not subsided...its actually getting worse...now I'm up to taking two pills a day to help with the nausea instead of the one at night...too many of my friends have had to listen to my complaints over the past few days. I just can't understand how I felt so great with Logan after the first trimester, and how I can feel so absolutely awful still with this one. I know that pregnancy is just a time in your life when you are totally self-absorbed, but I thought that it would be better with this one after I could just get through the sick stage...I guess I'm going to have to fight a little harder to get out of this "selfish" mode. Please forgive my rantings.

On a lighter note, we go to the doctor next Wednesday and we will schedule "The Ultrasound." Yes, we will be finding out the gender of the baby and we will be shouting it from the mountaintops, but we haven't determined yet when we'll be shouting it. I'm also toying with the idea of letting Logan come to that appointment. He's SO interested and curious about seeing the baby and hearing its heartbeat (he sticks his ear to my tummy several times a day to see if he can hear its heart) that I think it would be really sweet for him to be there. Plus, I think that it would be sweet to have him there to be "surprised" with us on the gender. We've been talking the whole pregnancy about how this is just as much his baby as it is mine and Jarrod's so that he knows how special he is and how he fits into this family--he's finally started referring to it as "our baby" which I just love. I'll keep you posted which route we go.

Well, if any of you have lived in Texas, you know how crazy the weather can be. On Wednesday it was a beautiful day--55 in the morning, 70 by early afternoon. We went with our friends, Evan, Austin and Mrs. Joni to the zoo for the morning. We had a fabulous time! Here are a few pictures of the boys.

Well yesterday, Thursday, (yes, the very next day)the highs were in the 30s and it was sleeting on Logan and I as we drove home from school. When Logan woke us up this morning, he told us that there was snow and it was winter. We got up and played in it for a little while (no comments on the clothes choices...)before it had time to melt! Here are some pictures!

Too many times over the past few weeks, I've been reminded that this world is not my home. I'm so thankful that one day the pain, suffering and heartache will all be left behind for a much better place--where we are promised a perfect life everlasting with Jesus Christ. Its always amazing as I think how quickly life can change and how often we are reminded that we cannot take one minute for granted. Most of you know that my life was forever changed April 21, 1990 when I received a phone call that my father had shot himself. I was 12 years old and life has never been the same. Some days that means that life has been better than it was then and sometimes that means that life has been far worse--but either way I got through it, I survived and I fully believe that I am a better person because of that survival.

Additionally, you know that Jarrod's life was forever changed October 31, 2005 when he received a phone call from his mother stating that his father had left. Again, though tough, Jarrod has gotten through it, he's survived and has for the most part forgiven his lifetime hero for a hurt that he never dreamed of having to endure. Our hurts were a little different because they were caused by the people that we most loved, but nevertheless, all it took was one instant to realize that life would never be the same.

Last week, our dear friends Jenny and Brad Wims were given devastating news relating to Brad's cancer. Brad is young, he has two beautiful children that are 4 and 1 and he is married to one of the most amazing women I know. Our prayers were so sure, there was no angst in them, we just knew Brad would receive good news from the doctors last week and then somehow God just didn't answer those prayers to our longing--at least not yet.

Today, my precious, precious friend Ashley called to say that they found out this morning that her father, Forrest has colon cancer. He will undergo surgery tomorrow to remove part of his colon--thankfully they have caught it early. I'm once again prostrate pleading with God for the life of a friend. Its amazing to me that Ashley's biggest worry when she woke up was what she was going to teach her 3 year olds at preschool tomorrow and in the blink of an eye, or rather the ringing of a telephone, her course was irreversibly changed.

I'll never understand why "bad things happen to good people." Why the things of this world still overtake the faithful and shake them to their core, but I suppose it all has to do with the fact that we live in a fallen, sinful world and we can't for one instant take for granted the blessings that we have been given. God has blessed us richly and I will strive to make every minute with my child, with my husband count--so that they never doubt that they are the most important, precious gifts I have been given. I would encourage each of you to do the same--love your life, live so that there's no room for regrets and praise God for even the smallest of your blessings.