Mark Your Calendars!

The date is (tentatively) set for the arrival our newest addition....Wednesday, November 8th. The doctor said we'd firm it up at my next appointment based on the baby's size and weight, but at this point he's pretty certain it will be the 8th. I'm a little sad that it won't be the 6th (my sister's b-day) or 7th (my niece's b-day), but it will be neat to have three family birthdays in a row.

Everything looks great, according to the nurse and doctor. The nurse was amazed at the strength and steadiness of our little guy's heartbeat, given the complications he gave us back in March. I have to admit, next to hearing the first cries of a newborn, hearing a baby's heartbeat is the sweetest sound in the world.

Yay - We Have a Target in the Heights

After months of speculation and waiting, the Heights Target opened this week. It's official opening is next Tuesday, but it opened early for the neighborhood and those "in the know."

Sydney and I went this morning to check it out and while it looks just like any other Target, we did find some great "store-opening deals." She got a new Dora the Explorer place-mat and some new pigtail holders while I picked up another maternity tank top.

The Heights is not known for its acceptance of retail chains, so we were thrilled to see this store open. Now we don't have to drive into River Oaks or toward Jersey Village to shop at our favorite store.

I feel really good about shopping there after reading Newsweek's article about Target's charitable donations and community service connections. Target gives more money to charity (percentage wise) than any other retail chain. They also encourage their employees to get involved in community service work. In addition, they do not allow solicitation on their properties (that explains the lack of Salvation Army bell ringers come Christmas time) and they strive to be not only equal-opportunity employers, but equal-opportunity sales people. This explains why they chose to have their employees say, "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas," despite all the hoopla caused by the Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh fanatics. The entire store is filled with Christmas decorations and paraphernalia while Christmas music fills the air - why shouldn't they also cater to their Jewish and Muslim customers as well by saying "Happy Holidays" to include Hanukkah and Ramadan in the holiday festivities? In an area as diverse as Houston and in a country as diverse as the U.S., no company wants to alienate entire segments of the population.

Needless to say, Sydney and I are thrilled about the neighborhood's new addition. I like it because it's affordable and community oriented while Sydney likes it because "it has lots of stuff." No matter what the reason, I'm pretty sure they'll be seeing a lot of us.

A Life-Size TV (literally)

Who needs a TV this big? http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060710/tc_nm/japan_matsushita_dc

What exactly are you saying to your guests (if you have any) about your life when you have a television the size of a double mattress?

1. "I have no life....all I do is watch TV and play video games all day."
2. "I sold a kidney so I could have the largest TV on the block."
3. "I'm hoping that the life-sized people on the screen will compensate for my lack of live friends."

I'm all for having the finer things in life, but come on......

Sydney Has Another Cousin!

For the past few months, Sydney has been obsessed with knowing everyone's relation to her. She knows that Rachel and Laura are her cousins (my sister's girls) and she can name my sister and Ryan's brothers with no problem. Last week, another name got added to the mix when Sydney got another cousin: Kayla Watson, daughter of Ryan's brother, Shawn.

We went to visit the new little family on Wednesday. We took them dinner and a few baby gifts and Sydney declared that it must be Kayla's birthday party because she was getting food and presents. I told her that it WAS Kayla's birthday, but that babies didn't have birthday parties. Sydney countered with, "Jacob had a birthday party and he's a baby." Jacob is Ryan's great-nephew who turned one last month. She's a smart little thing! I'm thinking she'll be a lawyer with that kind of logical argument appearing at age 3.

Sydney admired Kayla from a distance, merely peering at her over the edge of the bassinet. Other than that, she really had no interest in the baby. We're curious to see how she reacts to her baby brother in a few short months given her behavior with Kayla. We'll see!

Drumroll, please.....

It's a boy!!! The doctor is '1000%' sure it's a boy. He's very active and we had a hard time seeing anything for more than a second at a time, but there was definitely a penis exactly where it should be. We're very excited; nervous, but excited.

Everything else looked great, as well. All body parts are present and accounted for (and in the right spots) and he's at the 64th percentile for size and weight. The VCR was broken, so we don't have a video, but the doctor gave us several pictures to show off to everyone.

Now we just have to mentally prepare ourselves for having a little tyke, rather than another little princess...I guess there goes the girl name we'd already picked!

Mispronunciations

While Sydney's verbal skills continue to astound me, I still find myself chuckling at her mispronunciations and mix-ups. A couple that had me laughing this week:

"Mommy, I want to eat a HANGERBER for lunch."

You figured out that HANGERBER is hamburger, right? The next one won't be so easy....

(Pointing to one of the Disney characters on a Memory game card) "This one is HOKEY POKEY."

Ever heard of HOKEY POKEY in a Disney film? I hadn't, either. It turned out to be Pinocchio, which I will admit is a pretty tough word to say.

Needless to say, we are entertained daily by these little pronunciations. I'm going to be pretty sad when she learns to pronounce everything correctly, but for now, I know to enjoy it while it lasts.

Oops!

To make bath time easier, I usually climb in the tub and take a bath with Sydney. Our tub is fairly deep and leaning over it tires me out, especially now that I've got a belly in the way.

A couple of nights ago, I was already in the tub while it filled with water. Sydney undressed herself, threw her clothes on the floor and used the potty. When she finished her "business" she began to get in the tub. I asked, "Sydney, where do your clothes go?" meaning, "Put your clothes in the hamper." In her excitement, she picked up her pile of clothes and threw them in the unflushed potty. I cried, "No!!!!!!!!"

Ryan came running in, thinking something terrible had happened, and the two of us cracked up laughing. Poor Sydney had tears in her eyes thinking she'd done something terrible. She fished her clothes out of the potty and threw the soaked items in the hamper.

We started laughing even harder and I felt rather sorry for her. Ryan and I couldn't stop laughing long enough to reassure her that she'd done nothing wrong. It took a good five minutes of cuddling to calm her down.

I knew it would happen one day seeing as the hamper is right next to the potty. I just didn't think we'd find it that funny.