Sensitivity has no place in our home

Chip dinged up his left foot pretty good last week. It started a few days before Christmas, when after a lot of wincing and limping I finally acquiesced and asked what the hell was wrong troubled my poor husband so.

D: What did you do?
C: I twisted my ankle.
D: How? Where?
C: I fell at Jiffy Lube.
D: In the pit!?!

Sadly -- I mean, thankfully -- he didn't fall in the pit, but rather stepped into a hole that usually has an orange cone covering it. Falling in the pit would have made a much better story, though. And you better believe I would have blogged about it well before now.

Fast forward a few days, and Chip is hauling all of the Christmas loot out to our car so we can take it to Highland, and his ankle rolls on him as he's walking down our basement staircase. And now, not only is he really limping, but his foot looks bad. Like twice it's normal size with large purple bruises bad. Like he can't wear half of his shoes bad. Like make his PT sister gasp and immediately jam a bag of frozen blueberries down his sock bad. You get the picture.

Since Mr. Pharmaceutical Sales refuses to take ibuprofen, much less ice or elevate it, his ankle is still bothering him. So after realizing tonight that there were no baby wipes in Mary Clare's room, I offered to run downstairs to the basement to get a refill.

D: Here, let me go get the wipes.
C: No, no. I can do it.
D: Seriously, Chip, you have to rest your ankle.
C: Yeah, but you're pregnant. My ankle will get better, but your pregnancy will only get worse.

Here we go again.

Indoor sledding session

Brennan received a new sled for Christmas, so of course the cousins had to give it a go. But indoors, of course. So around the basement they went, with Chip, Brian and Papa honoring Mary Clare's requests for "more, more, peesh, peesh?" 

Tell me that Brennan holding onto Mary Clare so tight is not the sweetest thing ever.
  

And tell me that Mary Clare holding Brian just as tight is not the funniest thing ever. She took her job just as seriously as Brennan did. Safety first, Uncle Brian.

Santa seriousness

Okay, there may be a lot of Christmas posts well into the new year, because TB went down to the wire when it came to holiday festivities. Case in point, our last-minute Santa visit.

After two unsuccessful attempts to see Santa at Plaza Frontenac on the 23rd (I know), we squeezed in a quick visit to Santa's House in Highland on our way to Nana and Papa's on Christmas eve.

Falling Snow + A Santa Visit = Just Another TB Norman Rockwell Moment

Eyeing up the big guy in the red suit.

I will take your candy cane, sir, but I shan't make contact with you.

Since the little miss wouldn't sit on Santa's lap much less shake his hand, Chip and I both patted ourselves on the back for not waiting for two hours to see Santa the day before. But we did not pat ourselves on the back for procrastinating like this. Trying to track down a no-wait Santa mere days before Christmas is a nightmare. Thank heavens for the small town Santas of the world, is all I can say.

The big two

Happy, happy, happy second birthday to our sweet Mary Clare.

It truly feels like I was just writing Mary Clare's first birthday post. In fact, I read it and thought, "A sippy cup? Seeing her use a sippy cup threw me for a loop?" Because wow, what a difference another year makes. Mary Clare now deftly* uses her fork and spoon, and she's getting quite good at drinking out of a cup**. The list of her feats is astounding. Not because of what they are -- baby girl is definitely riding that average train -- but because of the amount of growth and development she's experienced in the past 12 months. But fear not, gentle reader, I won't list everything here, as doing so would bore you to tears and render me a teary mess.

I will, however, say that while each stage brings its own set of challenges, Mary Clare has been kind enough to temper said challenges with an array of funny expressions, fierce frowns, a wiggling tush, garbled words, funky dance moves and all the fierce hugs and kisses you can handle.

I said it last year, and the same holds true this year -- we are beyond lucky to have this expressive, energetic and outgoing little girl in our lives. Happy second birthday, Mary Clare. You are more loved than you could possibly know.

*I use this term loosely. She uses them, okay?
**Of course, we still use the sippy cups at home. And probably will continue to do so until she goes to college. Such is the fate of a child with two neat freaks for parents.

Tearing it up

Mary Clare does love her books. In the morning, she takes her milk and Cheerios and sets up camp in Chip's bathroom with a stack of carefully selected books. Her seat of choice? The scale. It's quite hilarious and unbelievably adorable. And it's also a godsend, because all of that sipping, munching and reading keeps her occupied while we get ready for work.

Deeming her worthy of "big girl books," I recently added some books with paper pages into the mix of board books. I previously kept these set aside for when Chip or I would read with her, for fear that she might go on a page tearing spree. For the most part, she has taken her newfound responsibility in stride. With one exception: She has torn the hell out of Mother Goose Manners.

But I guess I had that one coming.

Sweet lips

Saturday was a beehive of activity, with not one, but two back-to-back birthday parties. We started off at Xavier's bounce-rific fourth birthday party at Vetta Sports, and finished up at Anna's first birthday party in O'Fallon.

You would think that the bouncing, driving and failing to consume food with any real nutritional value would have left Mary Clare spent, but no, the girl had plenty of energy when it came time to bid a fond farewell to sweet James, Anna's older brother.

Note that Little Miss Aggressive has her hand on his shirt, while Gentleman James has his hands clasped behind his back. But do you see the eyelashes on that boy? I mean, come on. I can't blame her for going in for another smooch. Or three.  

Post-pregnancy announcement post

So, there were a few questions from commenters (love you girls) following the pregnancy announcement, as well as a few from coworkers and friends. I'll address them here, to get us all on the same happy page.

• No morning sickness. I totally lucked out again.
• Once again, we're not going to find out if it's a boy or a girl. I love surprises. Almost as much as Dr. Simckes hates having to keep said surprise every single time he gives me an ultrasound.
• Yes, Chip is already having me reschedule appointments so he's sure not to miss a precious moment with Dr. Simckes the baby.
• No move to the suburbs. Yet. (Ha, ha. Got you Amanda.)
• The guest room will become Mary Clare's room, and the nursery will stay as is, with a few minor tweaks. So if you want to stay at Casa Lindh and sleep in an actual adult guest room with damask curtains that I am so, so sad to see go, then I suggest you do so soon.
• Am I totally jazzed about having a summer baby? Yes, yes I am. I am especially jazzed about how nice it will be not to have to plan a birthday party in conjunction with a major holiday. (Still sorry we made you a Christmas baby, Mary Clare. I should have listened to your father.)

So there you have it. Those are all of the updates I have to date. At least the ones you want to hear. Because trust me, it's in your best interest to remain blissfully unaware of the host of pregnancy-related items that have plagued me this week alone.

This is going to be fun, people.

Darn the luck

Apparently Alexandra is partial to Brian as well.

Sorry, Sherri. At least you have the dogs. Well, Holly, at least. You'll always have Holly.

Words of love

If Brennan could permanently affix himself to Brian's side, he would. The boy loves his dad. Loves him. So much so, that when Brennan received walkie-talkies for his birthday and excitedly chattered on about using them to talk to his daddy, Brian asked, "But don't you have to be more than 12 inches apart for these to work?"

So it wasn't the biggest shock when Brennan woke up this morning and announced to Sherri, "Mom, when dad is at work ... then I like you."

And I think that's as good as the compliments are going to get for awhile. At least Sherri has Alexandra. And it's never too soon to start playing favorites. After all, Brennan's the one who started it.

Party of five

Team Botanical is on its way to becoming a family of five! Please note that Buddy is included in the family count, so no, we are not having twins.

You can pick yourself up off the floor now.

As you can see, Mary Clare is quite enthused to be a big sister. We have told her about the baby, and she will now say "baby" when I point at my freakishly-large-for-13-weeks stomach. This is an improvement, as just two weeks ago she would emphatically say, "No, mama's!" when I would point at my stomach and say "baby."

Most of all, Mary Clare loves the fuss everyone makes when she wears one of her big sister shirts. So much so that when our neighbor Regina asked her if she was going to be a big sister, she frantically pulled and pointed at her striped shirt to show the non-existent writing to Regina. So yes, she associates being a big sister with clothes. Just as I had planned.

My due date is June 19, and so far the pregnancy is going smoothly, provided no one gets between me and my carbs. And best of all, it looks like I can bust out the That Crazy Pregnancy Thing tag again. You know you're excited. I mean, who doesn't want to read about me smuggling tubs of butter into work? It's fun for the whole family.

Awry in the manger, KC style

Sherri and I both have the same nativity scene by Fontanini, which, as I mentioned, is not only quite pretty, but quite unbreakable as well. My mom gave the main three pieces to us when we were in high school, and she added figurines every Christmas and Easter so we would have complete sets by the time we had our own homes. One year we both received goats in our Easter baskets because my mom declared we had both been as stubborn as a bunch of goats lately. Mom Thole does love her symbolism.

Anyway, apparently having the same nativity set is causing some confusion among the cousins, because when Brennan saw the pictures of Mary Clare setting up our nativity, he shot Sherri an accusing look and said, "Hey! What's Mary Clare doing with my animals?" 

Sorry, buddy. I'd try to explain it, but it's probably best to just blame Hunter.

Little lady

Well, hey, hey ... we haven't seen this little lady in awhile. Keep in mind, I use the word little loosely, as Alexandra is currently tipping the scales at 12 lbs., 10 oz. and topping out at 24 inches. This puts her in the 95th percentile for height and weight. My little niece is quite the overachiever.

Oh, and how I love my little Chunka Chunka Burning Love. I'm already looking forward to snuggling her again at Christmas. And I don't care what her mom says, Alexandra totally digs Aunt Debbie's rapid-fire swaying.

Awry in the manger

With Chip at the hospital almost every night this past week, Mary Clare and I decided we couldn't wait and would have to get this Christmas decorating show on the road. Okay, she could really have cared less; it was all me looking for ways to entertain a child who regularly requested her beloved Dada.

We started small, with the nativity set, which, thankfully is not breakable. (Good call on that one, Mom Thole.) Mary Clare had a ball arranging all of the figurines. As you can see, at one point the stable fowl took center stage.

 

I would like to tell you that our night of decorating ended with impish grins on both our faces, but sadly, that was not to be. Basically, all hell broke loose when I told Mary Clare it was time for her bath, and no, baby Jesus could not join her in the tub. Which led to a chase, which led to me prying sweet baby Jesus out of her hand, and which ended with Mary Clare executing her patented move of falling to her knees, throwing her arms in the air and crying in utter despair.

So no silent night for us, as all was most certainly not calm nor bright, but all in all, I'd say it went well.