Round 3

The news is out. Clark Baby #3 is on the way! This is from the girl who SWORE to never have another child. Two was pahhhhlenty....right? Well, yes....and no...not for me anyway (the current me). It's funny to watch yourself grow up, I've decided. Remember your 18 year old self? Younger, hotter, more energy, full of potential, and you thought 26 was OLD?! I did anyway. My poor friend Angela...we still laugh about that comment. As an 18 yr old punk, I told her I thought 26 was old. (And I meant it). She's just a few years older than I am and she just laughed at me and my naivety, knowing full well I'd be there in no time! Now that I've surpassed the "old" number, I realize how funny it really is.

It's the same thing with the "I'm never going to have another kid" mentality. Tis the words from my old self. Here's the short story behind the transformation.

The baby thing was tossed around in my mind over the last year or so. It happened though, one gorgeous day, as Steve & I, the girls, and Rosie Posie Clark strolled through our little neighborhood; I looked around me, surrounded by awesome little people decked out in pink bike helmets & glitter, a fantastic husband/father to my babies, and the yellow doggers, and I realized, it just doesn't get better than this....not for me anyway. And I blurted out to Steve, "I want another baby." BOOM. I nailed him with it. I held my breath for his response, knowing that I fully meant it, and I fully wanted it....but he just chuckled and said, "I knew that was coming." That's Steve for you...never one to get bent out of shape, even at the most assanine out of the blue comments.

Here we are now, and baby #3 is coming sometime in late July. I have exactly NO baby things as I've given them all away to friends as they have had babies, but it's all good. I'm a bargain shopper, and shopping is my thing. Plus, this baby is born into the consignment store, EBay, Half.com, craigslist type of world.....and what a world it is.

So, we're anxiously anticipating Round 3: the office to be transformed to babyland, us-returned to the world of needing a highchair and a car seat, a stroller, diapers, and a diaper bag. Life will change for us, for the better. We need a little person to bop their head to music for the first time and squeal with delight at their first view of Christmas lights. We need big dance parties in our living room again and tiny shoes and tiny sockies.

The best part was the girls' response to the whole thing. I told them I had something to tell them. They ignored me. "GIRLS!" I upped my voice a bit. "Look at me. Mom has something to tell you." They stopped and listened. I told them how they were going to become big sisters. Sophie wouldn't be the baby anymore, but a BIG sister! I waited for it to sink in, not knowing how they'd react.

They started squealing and jumping up and down. Sophie beamed ear to ear, apparently willing to give up the baby title. Then the questions came. Where do babies come from? We've already discussed this. I reviewed (in short watered down detailess statements). How does the baby come out? Sigh...I don't want to think about this right now, but again, we reviewed. Does it hurt? YEP. Sophie: "The only thing I don't like about ladies having babies is all the yelling." :) How does she know? I wondered. It's not like she's witnessed a birth...Mid question answering, Olivia interrupts (this is true):

"Let's pray." She bows her head and we follow, I keep one eye open smiling and watching her. Normally, Sophie is our tiny pastor. Anyway, Olivia continued on, "Dear God and Jesus, Mom is having another baby! But, you probably already know that. Anyway, thank you for our new baby! We will be good big sisters. Amen."

I melted. I am so glad they are excited. I really didn't know what they'd think. We took a poll:

Clark baby #3 is a GIRL or a BOY?

Olivia: Boy
Sophie: Girl
Me: It IS a BOY and no one can tell me otherwise. Except for maybe the ultrasonographer. Maybe her. That's it though.
Steve: What if it's a girl?

:) We are obviously ecstatic for either option....but polls are just so much fun. I really do think it's a boy though. Stay tuned....

In the meantime, what do you think? BOY? or GIRL? Let's hear the predictions! And don't you dare say twins.

The S word

SNOW. Geez. Thank you Iowa for the craziest snowstorm I can think of. That doesn't mean much actually because I have a HORRIBLE memory....increased by the working nights thing. While doing Christmas cards this week, I simply could NOT remember people's last names. They weren't far off ancestors either. People I know well....family. I was scaring myself so I just broke down and googled them.

Anyway, the s word has arrived in Iowa with a big bang. 16 inches or something ridiculous...

When it began to snow, it was sort of fun. The girls even convinced me to join them outside for a bit to play. I put on Steve's snow gear (about 3 ft too long in the legs) and pulled on his boots (about 4 sizes too large) and stomped out into the wilderness. Actually, we live in town and it really wasn't that bad out yet...but for me to voluntarily play in the snow was big and I want you to recognize my greatness as well.

We had some good moments, surprisingly! We did some snow swinging and snow tackling, which made the girls and I laugh a lot. They'd run and plow into me and I'd throw myself back as far as possible, pretending they knocked me down. All fun and games til Rosie Posie Clark (our lab doggie) entered the scene, right on cue...with some disturbing humping and hat stealing. She has a way with the children. We scolded her and exited the back yard for less hostile territory and some cocoa. This was before, of course, the real storm hit.

I won't bore you with details of this storm, as you can find them in any paper or news channel or you live here. Needless to say, we all won ourselves a snow day today. Steve's boss told him not to come in unless it was 50 degrees and sunny, which we took as a pretty safe bet he wasn't driving in.

So what does a family of 4-5 including doggie do on a housebound snow day? Hmmmm...we have no answers really. There was lots of tattling, baking, napping, whining, etc. But, no matter what WE did on our snow day, there are plenty of positive activities out there to do. Here's a link to a story on such activities. I'd like to highlight the one about filling glasses with water.....it's in a whole league of it's own awesomeness...or sadness...not sure. :)

Happy S Day, Midwesterners! And boo on you Floridians....DAD. He actually told me on the phone he was getting "hot" putting up his Christmas lights today. Time to go in the air conditioning! All in the same USA. Can you believe it? You probably can. It's been happening this way for years.....

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991209026

Sophia Grace

This is my baby, my second born, now the BIG 5 she'll tell you..."rollin with the big dogs".

She was THE easiest baby on the planet. She'd wimper a bit when she was tired, but other than that...all smiles, no complaints. From a lovable chunky baby with curly hair, to a now gone platinum and straight haired, tall and leaner big girl...always with big blue eyes and a big big smile.....

She's incredibly unique, the ultimate imaginator, artistic and sensitive. She is immensely articulate, stunning me with big words spoken with a little girl voice with a tiny little lisp....music to my ears.

She does her own thing. She can be found playing for HOURS by herself, setting up elaborate scenes with her puppies. They all have names and birthdays, personalities, likes & dislikes. She brings them to life with voices and stories. She ties ribbon around their necks and makes leashes for them. They all sleep next to her in bed at night.

She confuses me with her sensitivity as this is not a trait that Olivia and I possess. Although we are sensitive to others needs, we have relatively thick shells. Sophie, however, can crumble in an instant. A strong word, or a mean look and I can send her into hysterics. I'll never forget the first time I scolded her as a baby...as she reached for an open outlet with a toy....and I said sternly..."Sophie, NO!" And her hands began to shake a bit as she reeled back gasping for breath, terror in her eyes, and cried and cried.... because of me....big mean Mom. I felt so awful. I comforted her over and over again until she finally forgave me and it was all better. It was this day I learned THIS baby was not the same as the other.

She adores her big sis.

I love her spirit, her adventurous mind. She loves to dig in the mud, find worms, swing high, plant seeds and watch them grow, do "scientist" experiments, get the mail from the mailbox, and sneak into our bed at night. She adores all animals and wants to be a veterinarian someday.

Dr. Sophia Clark....our precious little turkey.

I love her endlessly.

Little Drummer Boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKyeOe9liUI

Check out this link to hear an awesome arrangement of Little Drummer Boy arranged by Janis Bailey (my mom) with music by Shawn Cornally (my brother in law). This song was one of 9 fantastic songs on this year's Family Christmas Album that was made completely with our family vocals/instrumentals/arrangements. Shawn and Lianna put this together and gave this to us for a pre-Christmas gift. It was a really fun project we just have to share. So....enjoy!

Merry Christmas!