Matt's 'Takover Tuesday'

So our life lately has been pretty wild. Patrice has shared plenty of stories, given updates, and offered lots of pictures. But, I don't know if you've ever noticed the address of this blog is actually mattandpatrice.blogspot.com. So, since I'm in the address and all, I assume it's okay to contribute a post every now and then. (I haven't actually cleared this with Patrice . . . I've just kind of taken over). And keeping in tradition with Miscellany Monday, What I'm Loving Wednesday, and Thankful Thursday . . . I bring you Takeover Tuesday. So here you go, a couple of thoughts on pregnancy from the husband.

1. Patrice is an absolute trooper. I don't know if you know this or not, but Patrice has been on bed rest . . . all summer long. I give her an awful hard time for being terrible at bed rest, but the reality is she is a trooper. She's tough. She hasn't been allowed to stay on her feet long, and she can't pick up L or run around in the backyard, but it is truly scary to think of what L and I would look like without Patrice. Every morning she has gotten up early to help get L ready for her day with Aunt Dana, she's put Abbott's room together perfectly, she's continued her work on LTC, and has been helping L potty train among hundreds of other things she does every day. We are (obviously) so thankful for her.

2. Speaking of Abbott's room . . . Patrice will be sharing the final product on LTC tomorrow. That being the case, part of me really wants to give you a few spoilers. The other (wiser and more fearful) part of me does not want to suffer the fate of Patrice's most common threat by spoiling her reveal. So I guess we'll all have to wait. But you should know that Abbott's room is now officially the best room in the house. Patrice put everything together so nicely, and it's so elegant and peaceful and calm, yet so "boy", that I wish it was a reading room for me. Ok, I'll be brave, here are just a few spoilers: Abbott's room has a door, it's room number 1, and something yellow is hanging in the corner...

3. I now feel obligated to redo Laurelei's room. (Or, for Patrice to redo Laurelei's room) Everyone tells me that they felt this way at one point or another when expecting their second child, and everyone also tells me that there is nothing to fear, but I continue to have anxiety over the idea that I won't be able to love two children the way I love one right now. Because of the way I love L right now, I continue to feel like I won't enough love or energy to go around, and that in order to love each child equally I'll have to love them each a little "less". Does that make sense? I know it's crazy. But to get back to the original point about L's room, one of the ways that fear presents itself is that I'm (already) trying to make sure that everything is "fair". Typically this just means that if Abbott gets something new or nice, I don't want L to feel left out and I feel a compulsion to get her either the same thing or something equally as new and exciting. And since Abbott's room is new and exciting . . . and Awesome . . . I feel badly for L and obligated to give her a new room, too. This is going to be problematic.

4. I'm glad showers are for women only. I didn't always think this. I always wondered why Patrice's parties always get to be occasions for being showered with loads of gifts, while parties for me are just occasions to sit around drinking lots of . . . soda. But then I dropped her and L off at a shower thrown by my mom and sister and saw on the counter a tray full of baby food, each numbered and with its label removed. Upon inquiry, I learned the rules of the game. Quite simple really: each person has to eat the baby food and tries to guess which flavor it is . . . I'm glad I wasn't invited. Seriuosly, though, the shower was awesome and we really appreciated everyone's support and thoughtfulness.

5. Ultrasound technicians amaze me. Seriously, I get lost just watching the screen, but they have this incredible ability to find anything they are looking for just by waving a wand across my wife's belly. I've tried to find watch closely, but it seems to me like we can be looking at the baby's nose at one moment and then 5 seconds later move the wand away and back to the exact same spot, where we have now "found" the baby's butt (or, "bottom"). They seriously are good at it, and we are very thankful for the lady who works with us at our doctor's office. She is so pleasant and so gifted.

6. Our house is cold. No really . . . it's cold. Here's a picture of L taken just days ago. Enough said.

7. I want L to be potty trained but I don't want to potty train her. As you know, we've progressed to a limited use of pull-ups. I've gotten more than my share of meaningful glances from Patrice, lately, because when I put L's pull-ups on her I tell her, "Remember the rule, no potty-ing in our panties, right? If you need to go poo-poo (sorry, I know this is typically a G rated blog), you need to tell us so we can go sit on the potty." Patrice, of course, has no problem with this. It's my follow up remark that gets me the stare: "But don't tell us you need to go to the potty unless you actually need to go poo-poo." You see, I want L to use the big girl potty, I really do. I just don't want to have to go into the bathroom every half hour for nothing! Yes, I can feel your stares. I know them well.

8. I just can't wait for Abbott to get here. For thousands of reasons, half of which I can't put into words, I can't wait for our growing family to all be together. I can't wait to have a son, to say "the kids," for L to be a big sister, to tell "the kids" to quiet down back there lest I turn the car around. I can't wait to hold a newborn baby again, to watch him cackle and crawl and climb. I can't wait for L to help feed him a bottle or for him to follow her around wanting to be like his big sister. I can't wait for the thousands of pictures Patrice will take and for the hundreds of pictures we get to keep. This is our life; it's changing, expanding, being filled. And I can't wait.

MATT