The great rhetorical questions of our times.

Sometimes, I feel like I had a really awesome day because I got around to mopping the floor. Is this reason to celebrate, or a mark of how unproductive I have become? And is it horrible that accomplishing this one thing makes me feel like I've fulfilled my chore quota today? (Never fear. The gnawing doubt that mopping the floor qualifies me as Martha Stewart drove me to finish folding the laundry as well. So we chased away any residual guilt.)

I'm afraid Madeline is on the verge of giving up naps. Mostly because she'll still sleep a few hours usually, but not until at least 2 or 3 pm, and usually because I coerce her into it. And then she wants to stay up later. I let her because I don't want to give up MY afternoon naps. Is this bad parenting? Is this going to backfire on me when she decides to quit humoring me around November 7th and I lose my afternoon respite and my solid eight hours every night all in one fell swoop?

I am sort of having the same dilemma with potty training. In some ways, Madeline is showing every sign of being ready to attempt it. But she's really, really stubborn and refuses to let me call the shots. If she wants to sit on the potty all day, she does. But if she doesn't want to poop in the toilet, no amount of bribery will change the situation. So I kind of want to put it off until after we're acclimated to a new sister. Is it bad of me to put off potty training for my own sanity? Is my two-year old exercising too much power in our household?

These are the musings of a bewildered mother. Thanks for listening. Let's move on to September so that when I tell people I'm having a baby in two months it's actually true. So long, August.

Okay. Children really are awesome.

I can't leave that last post at the top of my feed for long, lest people think I am ungrateful. Because drat these two girls, every time they try my patience, I can't forget how cute they are. Today I had another ultrasound because they had to check to make sure my placenta previa had cleared up (it did), and shoot. Little black and white arms and legs kicking around on a computer screen are so dratted adorable. Our little Jalopy is about 3 1/2 pounds now, and was determined to make up for the new ills she's been imposing upon me by passing all the doctor's tests with flying colors. The glucose test, iron levels, growth, heart rate, weight gain, etc. Little overachiever. Only ten more weeks until she will be big enough to come out.

And not to leave out the other little munchkin-I came out of my appointment and there she was with grandma, outfitted in a DI princess crown and Cinderella camera and making all the little old grandpas coming out post surgery appointments fawn over her cuteness. Because she is a show off. A cute one, but a show off nonetheless. And we shamelessly encourage her.

Anyway. You can tell I don't like being a mother. If this post is too disgustingly sappy for you, refer to the one below and feel comforted that more posts complaining about small limbs in my ribs are probably forthcoming. To bring us all back down to earth.

The joys of children

I'm starting to feel pregnant. Surprise. It seems like the third trimester has decided to make an appearance in the past week or two. Meaning my stomach all of a sudden feels rather large, my back is starting to ache, my feet are starting to swell. I'm debating whether it's too early to give up on shaving my legs for the duration. I might have to continue to make an effort until it's cool enough to wear pants on a regular basis. I suppose these are some of the perks of being pregnant during the summer. Bless Madeline for being born in April.

But enough of my pregnancy woes, and more of the hijinks of my first offspring. Madeline is as feisty and independent as ever. She recently figured out that she can get out of her toddler bed and leave her room without waiting for explicit permission. Which is great in the morning when she'll come crawl into bed with me and I don't have to get up to get her. But not so awesome when I put her down for a nap or bedtime and she decides she's not ready to sleep. I love two year olds. Madeline has also gotten very into letters and words. We recently acquired bathroom crayons, and she loves to have me write words on the side of the bathtub. Oddly enough, she often asks me to write "Warner" and "Cami". I didn't know she knew our last name. Other favorite words for the tub wall include "Daddy" and "kangaroo". This is what we do everyday. Aren't you jealous?

An uneventful Friday.

Madeline and I are on strike today. I'm not sure what Madeline is striking against. Sleep, presumably, since she woke up at six and took a relatively shortened nap. I'm on strike against chores. (Well, I started after doing the dishes and straightening a bit this morning. Because that would have made my strike self-punishing as I sat and watched the dirty dishes mold.) I decided that when I clean the house, you can't tell what I did .5-24 hours later. So I'm not doing it today. Until my house becomes a smoldering heap of dirt, or nothing happens and I realize my life is meaningless. Whichever. In the meantime, we're bored stiff. We're also boycotting Cinderella, we're sick of books and games, and I'm too lazy to go to the park. So here we sit. We got desperate and painted our nails. Well, Madeline sat there and I painted both of our nails. We do Madeline's occasionally, but I haven't painted my nails in...years probably. They are now bright pink. This is how bored we are. Hopefully Jessie will come home soon and relieve us of our doldrums. Or we might end up doing our hair and actually breaking out the makeup. If I can find it. Heaven help us.

What we've been up to.

I think I've officially become an occasional blogger. We'll blame it on pregnancy and see if I become more verbose after I'm no longer tired and prone to complaints. (These are my excuses for not blogging. Laziness, and not wanting to impose my melancholy moods on you. I know you're grateful.) Actually, the last few weeks have been relatively eventful. We celebrated my brother's birthday, went on a picnic up the canyon, visited farm country and the gardens at Thanksgiving Point, went to a few ward parties, visited with some friends, and have generally been enjoying summer now that Jessie has the time. Madeline's been enjoying the outings, and talks about each one for days and weeks afterwords. She's really fond of telling me about the baby kangaroo she saw at our ward party, and asks every day to go up to the mountains to throw rocks in the river.

Jessie is still trying to make up the void in his life left by school by doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, and I'm not complaining. Not to brag, but the other day he told me to take a Sunday afternoon nap while he tidied up a little bit. I woke up to a completely clean house and dinner two hours later. I usually refrain from making this blog into a memorial to Jessie, but sheesh: what a guy. Madeline has been a champ too, being really cooperative about picking up her toys and anything else at floor level this old pregnant woman doesn't want to bend over to get. Singing the clean up song from nursery all the while, incidentally. She must take after her dad. A girl could do worse than those two.

Bring on August.

Welcome to August. We're optimistic that August is going to be a good month around here. One great thing has already made this August particularly noteworthy: Jessie finished his MBA program! Congratulations, Mr. Master of Business Administration. We're all excited you now have the skills to lead this Warner empire into the future. Mostly we're excited to have Monday nights and Saturday mornings back. Because Madeline just doesn't appreciate the Mommy Madeline nights as much as she should, considering I've watched Cinderella and Up way more often than is healthy for an adult person.

Another big milestone: We've officially crossed the hundred day mark. Which still means three more months of being pregnant, but we're getting there. Madeline is getting impatient for her little sister to come out, but I keep explaining that she needs to get a little bigger first. But secretly I'm with Maddie. November can't come fast enough. Although now that Jessie has some free time, he's decided we actually should decorate the nursery. And he's made a list of baby-related projects he should do before the little bundle of joy arrives. Because he's antsy if he doesn't have a project. So it looks like we'll be organizing furniture and hanging pictures this month. And then Jessie will be doing some sewing projects and knitting a baby quilt.