The calm before the storm.

Relaxing

 Having experienced an earthquake or two in my day, and growing up in Southern California, there seems to be an eerie phenomenon dubbed "earthquake weather". It is not necessarily something that you can  put your finger on, however, there is a strange feel in the air around you; an unsettling stillness; an all encompassing warmth that feels so good, that you know it is about to be thrust aside with a frigid chill.
  I am only making an analogy here. I do not feel as if an earthquake is imminent, although we are well overdue for a big one. I am simply trying to draw a parallel between "earthquake weather" and "baby weather". It is the calm before the storm. Six weeks and counting. The pregnancy is winding down and all is well. Three weeks until we are considered full term. It is all the "knowns" and the "unknowns" that paralyze you with fear in the middle of the night and then rips you from sleep only to keep you awake while you anticipate the inevitable.

  The nights are quiet now. If left undisturbed, I sleep pretty soundly. It has barely been one year since Apollo started sleeping through the night and what a joyous  occasion that was. We have reset the clocks and the sleepless nights are about to begin again. Will it be another two years? I certainly hope not.
  We have kept Apollo involved with the pregnancy as much as possible. We have talked to him about the new baby all along. He has been to the prenatal visits, heard the heartbeats, seen the ultrasounds, and felt the baby move in his mothers tummy, but it was not until last weekend that I realized he had a better understanding of what is going on, than I thought he would.

  We were at a four year old friend of Apollo's birthday party. Melanie commandeered a friends three month old baby girl and was holding her while visiting with the babies mother. Apollo did not notice for a good hour, as he was busy playing. At some point, he came back to check in with his mom. When he saw Melanie holding the baby, I could see the look in his eyes as if all the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. The look of understanding soon turned into the look of panic; "What is that?!"

"What is that?"

 I could tell by the look on his face and his reaction, that he thought his baby brother had come while he was off playing. Once we explained that it was someone else's baby and that his mom was just borrowing her and it was not his baby brother, he shrugged is shoulders in a loss of interest and replied, "What ever you say" and wandered off to resume playing. I can't wait to see the look on his face when his baby brother does finally come. Apollo's world will be turned upside down for sure as will ours.
  A few personal observations I have made about this pregnancy compared to Apollo; Melanie is carrying the baby much higher, Apollo had crazy hick-up's by now that kept Melly awake at night, and this baby seems to be a night owl and has one of his most active times of the day around 11:00pm.

33 weeks

Needless to say, I think Melanie looks super cute in all her prego glory. On a side note, Melly is tanner than I have ever seen her. This picture doesn't show it, but if she lets me take a picture of her bare tummy and allows me to post it here, you will see that it is pretty impressive for an Oregon girl with the Ginger Gene. She assures me that the sun bathing is solely for the babies benefit as she is producing Vitamin "D" for him. We are enjoying this last bit of quiet time before the baby comes. With the onset of summer, and all the farmers markets and fruit stands around, we are enjoying the bounty that California has to offer. Melanie has confessed that she has never eaten so much fruit in her life. Melon and bananas are a daily staple around here. Apollo is a banana and melon junkie. He will eat as many as 4 bananas a day along with half a cantaloupe, Crenshaw, or honeydew melon, and an equally large portion of watermelon, not to mention blue berries, and strawberries. It is often a task to get him to eat real protein. Fortunately, he will always eat eggs or fresh sea food, which he prefers to chicken, pork, or beef.
  Melly on the other hand prefers peanut butter and chocolate and feels that one or the other should be included with everything.
I am hoping the baby arrives as close to the due date as possible. I will lament the lost sleep, and the days of no diapers, but will welcome our little gift with open arms and all the chaos that a new born brings, after all, I would not give up one moment of time that I have spent with Apollo...except for changing diapers of course.



  

What not to say.

at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue  

Summer time...Long days, warm weather, movies in the park, concerts in the park, farmers markets, festivals, camping...by far my favorite time of year. It seems that we are going non-stop once summer hits. With Melanie 33 weeks pregnant, we probably wont be doing a lot of camping until after the baby comes, but we may have to slip in at least one more trip.
  Apollo has been unbelievably charming lately. He talks non-stop. Even walking across the room involves a verbal play by play as if he was a sports caster calling a football game over the radio. Apollo's comprehension level is increasing dramatically now, and you can actually hold a real conversation with him. When asked a question, he will think about his answer before responding. His sense of humor is really starting to shine through as well. Certain words and phrases strike him as funny and he will use them at the right moment, and then burst into laughter.
  One of my favorite things about Apollo, is his ability to do impersonations. This requires a keen attention to details of mannerisms, expression, facial movements, and gestures. He does excellent impersonations of me laughing and chewing gum, many variations of his mom scolding both himself and the teens, and even Ian and Aden acting appalled that they are asked to do anything.

  He even impersonates the boys friend Alex laughing.  Along with impersonations, Apollo is repeating everything he hears, and I mean everything. One of his favorite expressions is "Ah crap!" (thanks Mel). Some of our other favorites are, "What ever you say", "Stop it every guys!" (when trying to curb an argument), "Hush up!", "Do you need a time out? I'm gonna put you in a time out!", "You get your butt over here!", "Remi stemi!" (Calling his dog), "I'm not wasting water! I'm doing the dishes!", "Momma's gonna get really mad", and my favorite of the week; "Brother, you may look like my mother, but your not!" Okay, he had a little help with that one, but it is really cute coming out of his mouth. The problem is that he sees himself at a higher status than Ian and Aden and loves to boss them around, but when Ian and Aden try to tell Apollo what to do, Apollo gets upset, and will tell them to "Hush up! you can't say that to Apollo!"    Of course I do what any parent would do in this situation; back up the three year old. "That's right Apollo, you tell brothers!".
  With all this repeating of words, having teens in the home, friends of teens, and a crabby pregnant lady in the house, you quickly learn all the things that you should not say in front of your toddler. It becomes really interesting when you are in public, at church, or around other adults, and your toddler starts trying out some of his new found words and phrases. The looks you get from complete strangers is priceless!
  This past week, on a particularly hot (91 degree) day, Melanie suggested (demanded) that I take her and Apollo out to eat somewhere with air conditioning and with out teens (as they had worn her down that day)

Getting sprayed in a water gun fight

We found ourselves at Applebee's. Once seated, Apollo spurts out "Buuuuuuutttt!" and bursts into laughter. My eyes must have widened enough that Melanie quickly started in with, "Oh yeah, guess what Alex taught Apollo to say? Apollo thinks it's hysterical." Here's the thing, I will start laughing when I hear this despite all my efforts, which only reinforces this behavior. I think I was mostly laughing out of being uncomfortable that everyone around us could hear...clearly! Diversion, is your only defense in these situations. You quickly bring up a topic or produce an object that you know will spark his interest long enough to get his mind off of the behavior you are trying to change. This was met with only marginal success. Through out our dinner, he must have used the word 'butt' a dozen times, annunciating , using the word in inappropriate sentences, and then bursting into laughter.
  As if this was not bad enough. Apollo started in when we were leaving, this time loud enough for everyone with in 3 or 4 tables could hear what he was saying. Melanie decided that she would stay behind as we exited the store. To paint the picture, Apollo was wearing his sunglasses, arms crossed walking in front of me. "I LIKE BUTT!" "LET'S GO GET SOME BUTT!" "WE LOVE BUTT'S!" "LET'S GO FIND SOME BUTT'S DADA!" You could have heard a pin drop by the time we reached the door...everyone was turned around looking at us. Some laughing, some horrified. I turned to see if Melanie was right behind us, but she turned around and headed away from us, only to find the waitresses hiding around the corner covering their mouths to contain their laughter.....
  Imagine the horror I will feel in church waiting for the inevitable outburst. "My dada loves butt's!" That would be my luck!