Good afternoon!
Where has the last week gone?! I am in awe of time lately and how fast it goes. Every time I post a new entry I always say this, don't I?!
We had such a great long weekend. Jeb was home for 3 whole days which is always nice for me as someone else can be the "bad guy" for a change. We had all of our friends over on Sat. night for the "send off of summer BBQ". I know that I have said this before but between 5 families, we have 11 kids, soon to be 13 this winter. Crazy Chaos! But a blast none the less. I was so lucky enough to share in so many memories with so many cousins and family friends growing up so I can only say that we are more than blessed to share our time together with all of these wonderful families. There is nothing finer than spending time with all of these people. We mesh well, we play well, we love each other well. We could be the 2007 version of the show Thirty Something. :)
Another big "to do" happened this weekend. Isaac made the big move downstairs to his new room. He in a nutshell really wasn't all that fazed. This may be due to the fact that he was so tired all weekend, all we needed to do was shut the door and he was out. I purchased a new comforter for the huge king sized bed that he will sleep in and also put in an alarm clock, which was a huge novelty to him. (its the little things I tell you) You all would have been so proud! No tears were shed at all. It was a little strange looking in his bare room upstairs but I think this really wasn't due to the fact that he wasn't in there. It was due to the fact that there will be another little boy in there come December! I am slowly getting used to letting go of the "little boy" Isaac and am doing my best at ushering him into "big boy" Isaac-hood that will go to pre-school and start learning about the big bad world out there. He from the very beginning has been such a laid back little boy and has adjusted so well to any kind of change so this in effect has been no different. He is still asking to sleep downstairs every night maybe not fully grasping the fact that it is indeed his own room. But I think that in time it will be old hat and there will be no more questions about where it is he will lay his head. I am so thrilled! He is such a nice boy, if I do say so myself! I will wait for the day that he says to his siblings, "I have the biggest room of all of us." This is when I will for sure know that it was indeed not so traumatic for him to move downstairs. Or maybe it will be the day that I catch him sneaking out to go on some kind of "teenage adventure". Whichever comes 1st, hopefully not the latter. Hmmm...
I had a very interesting encounter on Sunday when I went out for a little jog around the neighborhood. I was in a somewhat Walt Whitman-esque mood and was really enjoying the breeze and how it was affecting the trees. The placement of the new September sun in the sky seemed so inviting so I proceeded to throw on my skanky, smelly running stuff and set off to enjoy a few miles alone with just me, the breeze, and the Fray. I was feeling really great and really enjoying the fact that at 27 weeks pregnant I was remembering all of the good points of still running with this very active little man all tucked in and staying put for me to take off yet again. (Don't you love how I am constantly setting you guys up for some Stephen King like story/scenario?) I am insane and I have told one or more person that I am sure that I should start charging some kind of fee for watching me and my mondo-pg self run down the street. I like to think that I could be considered one of the 7 wonders of the world. I am now a sight! I am totally now aware! Anyway, I had made it 2.5 miles and told myself that I would make it to 3 since my "body scan" was reading AOK. I saw a friend ahead and she signaled that she was going to stop and say hello. (Which is always kind of irritating. I know, get over it) Anyway, I proceeded to say hi and make small talk all the while jogging in place. (refer back to previous reference of being a sight in the 1st place) And then the words came out...
"I don't think that you should be doing that."
"Should you be jogging?"
Now ok, so clearly I know, that I am not a, lets use the word, female dog. I know that I am very hormonal and I am very capable of flying at warp speed and plunging head first into the deep end abyss that is pregnancy over reacting. But I am not an idiot nor am I going to jeopardize the growing life inside of me. I am not going to take the time to re-justify myself to anyone. The only thing that was able to come out of my mouth was, "Yup, all is well. Thanks!" And off I went. It was one of those moments where I could have said, "I don't think that you should be wearing that color. Should you be wearing that color?" But no, I continued on trying to make sense of the dumb things that people come up with to say. I took offense. My feelings were hurt. It felt like an episode of Wild America with Marty Stauffer where he was videoing a mother bear taking care of something/someone who had screwed with her baby cub. I was defensive and feeling majorly wounded. I had to talk myself down and chill out. (hence the continued run) I calmed down and proceeded to wait for my burning ear lobes to cool off. (if only we could bottle this feeling up to be catapulted into the desert tundra directly exploding into Osama's living room)
Along came The Jolly Green Safety Giant, my saving grace. My sweet, kind, gentle, big daddy of 2, running buddy who proceeded to give me the thumbs up and a "looking good kiddo" high sign. I was violently warped back into the normal percentile of living human beings. That's all I needed was the justification that indeed it didn't really matter what she said but that I had a #1 fan in him. I smiled turned my music back up and finished the run. The very funny part of the whole story was, as a dear person put it, was that it was a woman who offended me and a man who has clearly never experienced any part of carrying a child to comfort me. As Alannis Morrisette so amply put it, isn't it ironic? I will run with my head held high and I will, as another dear person put it, fluff my feathers and strut my stuff next time I run in the neighborhood. And when I am long away from this strange hormonal land that is pregnancy I will make some cliff notes and pass on my knowledge to another generation.
I also wanted to follow up on my littlest man and his kidney issue. One sentence; He is fine. Sigh. I would say a pretty good batting average for a gal who was told not to think about carrying any babies at all. I will retire on that note in the child bearing department. He remains busy busy these days. My next appt is one week from Friday. From there on I will visit with the doctor every 2 weeks until delivery. I have started the birth plan, once again making note of all my wishes. No matter if they are followed through or not I know what I would ultimately like to happen. It will depend on him and what he decides his birthday will be. The beauty of child birth and the unknown. Hey, that would be a good title of a book. Probably already is! :) Jeb and I picked out colors to paint his room. Hard to believe that this will be the 3rd time this room has been painted. I will let you know progress as it happens. Can't wait to put him in the crib his big bro slept in and simply have him here. Still no concrete idea on a name. I suppose I still have some time but would like to establish as I hate calling him the baby.
I send you all my love during this busy week of 1st's. All my prayers for calmed fears and nervous stomachs and sighs of relief for safe returns back to the familiarity of h o m e.
I will post pics tomorrow of the big drop off.

My love, all my love,
Cass