It happens at night...

The sun goes down and the moon comes up...

some people turn into werewolves ...

others turn into vampires...

Baby Brody, apparently, turns into a baby ninja. And my stomach, apparently, is his arch enemy. My baby ninja persistently wages war against my stomach... all... night... long.

Thankful for this baby ninja? yes!
Exhausted because of this baby ninja? yes!
Sleep anytime soon due to above-mentioned baby ninja? no!

I can't wait for Jasper to be baby ninja's playmate instead of my liver.

sssnooooore........ goodnight y'all

ladybugs

Although it saddens me that Jasper no longer calls them"ladyspiders", I still greatly enjoy his fascination with ladybugs! We spent much of the afternoon searching for, holding hostage, and accidentally smashing many ladybugs. It was a glorious, glorious fall day and I couldn't resist snapping a few pics!

 the 1st (of hundreds) of ladybugs we found. Jasper named him (and all subsequent bugs) Josie.

Josie #15 

after exhausting all the ladybug hideouts in our backyard, he moved to the neighbor's side of the fence. :o)

this is my life

I have a mason jar on my bedstand. Not by choice, but because of Jasper's insistence. Inside the said mason jar is a leaf, lots of grass, and a dead lady bug named Josie.

We have 6 videos on "youtube" starred as our favorites. They are:
    1. Life as an Excavator Operator
    2. City of Ryde - Dump truck clean up part 1
    3. City of Ryde - Dump Truck clean up part 2
    4. 140 Volvo Excavator pushing up the fire
    5. From Rock to Road with Volvo Construction Equipment
    6. Tuck Tunes- Impact Hammer
Andrew and I know them all by name and know each video by heart. These videos are the only youtube videos viewed by us Meades... ever.

I started something new with Jasper tonight. I threw 3 cheerios in the toilet and told Jasper to aim for them while standing up and using the restroom. Jasper hit one dead on. Then out of desperation to complete the mission, he climbed in the toilet and touched the other 2.

This is my life.
And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

music to my ears

Out of the complete blue this morning, Jasper told me, "Baber's most fabrite pwace (aka favorite place) to be is at Baber's home."

brought tears to my eyes; for to this end, I've been working hard day after day.

Granted, he then tacked on the statement, "NOT da alley. just Baber's home."

hmm... ok. I'll still take it. :o)

because all blog posts are cuter with pics, this is a pic of Jasper riding in Nana's convertible the other weekend when we got to spend 3 days up there! I need to put up more pics from that glorious visit soon.... when I have time... soon... hopefully. :o)

The last few days...

The last few days have been insanely busy. Like, super crazy, I-don't-have-time-to-breath-let-alone-sit-down type of busy. My goal for this whole pregnancy has been to have everything done by the end of october so we can just sit back and greatly enjoy nov, dec, and jan. Things are moving right along and going really well, but with an upcoming trip to Georgia this Fri, I've been over-the-top-busy trying to get things done during the beginning of this week so I can start preparing for a week away in the sunny Peach state. :o)

In the last 60 hours alone, this is a literal list of my activities:
I've had a Wasserstrom health evaluation, lunch date with Andrew, clothes shopping for Jasper (he apparently didn't have any winter clothes and I didn't notice till it turned chilly outside), a Bath and Body works run b/c I'm dead out of lotion, dental work done, a bank deposit run, a library run, a pediatrician appointment, an obstetrician appointment, flu shot, bsf, cable guy appointment, grocery shopping/menu planning for the next 2 weeks, and been the recipient of a service project.. I've gone to Meijer once (got all the food for our menu for the next 2 weeks), Kroger once (needed to get snacks for two sweet pre-teens who volunteered to wash my car for me this afternoon), and Target once (to get Jasper's meds). I've cleaned the tub, cleaned several toilets, and scrubbed the outside of the cabinets. I've taken Jasper to 2 different playgrounds and had a picnic lunch with him at one of 'em. I've made dinners, made desserts, packed snacks, packed lunches, sliced apples, kissed boo-boos, and shooed bugs away. I've run several miles on the treadmill, chased Jasper up and down playground ramps, and walked up and down our alley looking for bugs. I've had several spontaneous visits with friends, sent several letters, and am in the middle of designing a neat graphic design collage for Brody's room. I have finally finalized B's accent wall. I've arranged pick ups for a free filing cabinet, won my Fantasy Football game, and sent many emails concerning Craigslist items.

And it's only Wed afternoon. And I'm beat.

I hope that after the Georgia trip, life will slow down.
A lot.
I'm having trouble keeping up this pace with a toddler and fetus in tow; but let me tell ya, I've never slept better in my life. :o)

However, God is so good! Last night as I was reading my Bible, I stumbled across this verse that was just so sweet and soothing to my soul:

"I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls." 2 Corinthians 12:15

How sweet. That's my motto for my life right now; that I will most gladly be spent for my husband and sons.

In between appointments #2 and #3 this morning, Jasper and I had the chance to go to a fun park up in Dublin. Here are a few pics from our morning:

Andrew and Jasper waiting for me when I got home early this morn from my dental work. 

Then a few hours later... the park!

It was such a glorious morning today and it was a real treat to be able to spend it outdoors with this little guy! He was in heaven and didn't stop running once! :o)

J's new bed

In preparation of getting ready for a new baby in our home, we have started transitioning different rooms in our home. It sounds easy. But it's not.

In other words, we've been busy.
Super busy.
We're turning the office into the nursery. We're turning J's room (the pre-existing nursery) into the big boy room. We're turning the dining room into the office. We're busy selling things on Craigslist. We're busy buying things on Craigslist. I'm busy buying things from Target, then I turn around and return those same things to Target. I'm busy preparing Jasper emotionally for all the changes taking place, and I'm busy preparing myself emotionally for all the changes taking place. I'm busy cleaning the rooms so we can move the new furniture into them, and cleaning the old furniture so it's all ready to go when someone comes to buy it.

We've been busy researching, emailing, calling, measuring, painting, trading, driving, screwdriving, disassembling, and bartering.
We've been busy hauling out loads of old stuff and hauling in loads of new stuff.
It's been quite exhausting, but after this weekend, we'll be 3/4 the way through the whole transition and there will *hopefully* be a light at the end of the tunnel. Our thinking is that we'd rather do it all now and give Jasper the chance to settle into the "new normal" rather than do it right before Brody comes and have everything be in upheaval. Also, getting it done now means we can enjoy November, December, and January as a family of 3 before brody comes instead of having to worry, stress, plot, plan, and run around like crazy during the holidays. So... hopefully we'll enjoy the fruits of our labor soon.

Jasper, however, is GREATLY enjoying the fruits of our labor now as he is in love... absolutely, completely, positively in love with his new "big boy" bed. And really, it's quite big.

Up until Tue afternoon, it was this:

Then Tuesday eve, Andrew and Jasper went together to buy his big boy bed.

And while I was gone on Tuesday eve, A and J bought the bed, assembled the bed, decorated the bed, and it became this:

Then Wed morning, a mere "13 hours, $30, 2 trips to Target, several texts with Sarah, and a lotta sweat on my part" later, it became this:

Jasper just loves his bed and whenever I ask him what he wants to do, his response is always, "pway on baber's big boy bed pwease momma!" We don't eat breakfast until 10:30 these days because Jasper just begs me and begs me to lay on his bed with him in the mornings and sing him songs. Yes, please, little one. :o)

imagination gone wild

Jasper is really, really fun. This is BY FAR my favorite stage ever with Jasper! He's a treat, an absolute treat. I haven't blogged much lately b/c I want to spend all my time playing with him and soaking up parenthood. He's just so sweet and attentive, he's totally all-boy, he's very energetic, he's always dirty and a little bit ornery. To sum it up in a word, he's just great! My newest favorite thing about this stage is Jasper's developing imagination! His thought processes and and vocab have developed from:

- mimicking (7 months-maybe 14 months)
   me- "Jasper, can you say 'momma'?"
   Jasper- "momma!!"

- identifying (14 months-24 months)
   Jasper- "helicopter! SUN! clouds! AIRPLANE! toes! ankle! POOP! HELICOPTER!"

- narrating (24 months-28 months)
  Jasper- "Da bulldozer goes push, push, push, push and pushes all da dirt up da hill and den da bulldozer goes backward, backward, backward.."

And now, folks, we've just arrived at the "imagining" stage. We've just recently arrived at this stage a few days ago, and while sometimes I'm caught completely off-guard, it's been such a treat! I never knew parenting could be so fun!

A couple examples of Jasper's imagining:

Wed eve as we were coming home from church, andrew asked Jasper who was in his class at church that night. Jasper said, "Joe was in baber's class!" Andrew and I cocked our heads as we're both going through a mental inventory of the church members with neither of us coming up with a "joe." All of a sudden, from the back seat, we hear, "BAH haha haha!! Baber teasing! Baber teasing mommydaddy. Dere's no Joe in Baber's class! Joe is in da playroom at baber's home!! Ahhahhhahha!"

OHH! you mean that Joe. Joe, the most annoying dog toy known to man. Joe, the dog toy that better be worth his weight in gold b/c we paid a fortune for him. Joe, the nemesis to my soul. Joe, the purple floppy screeching chicken. The Joe that I try to hide b/c I desperately hope Jasper will forget about him some day. That Joe.

I looked at Andrew and said, "Jasper's teasing us! Jasper's teasing us? Jasper knows how to tease us? This is fun!" And the rest of the way home, we all laughed and teased each other.

That was Wed night.

On Thur morn, I'm reading my Bible and having prayer time at the kitchen table while Jasper is waking up in his bed. Normally, he sings "Happy birthday to Ivee-bug" as he's waking up, but this morning, I just hear him laughing. Laughing hard. Like, deep, huge, out-of-control, I-can't-breath, type of laughing! It was so fun to listen to him laughing so hard! Finally, I went in his room to get him and said, "Hey buddy! I heard you laughing! What was so funny?" And Jasper, gasping for air b/c he's still laughing so hard, says, "Dadda's dwiving a robot!!!!" and he immediately flops on his back in a new fit of uncontrollable laughter! I said, "Daddy's driving a robot? That's what's so funny?" and Jasper, gasping for air, said, "DES!!!" (aka YES!!) as he's on his back, laughing and laughing and clutching his sides. I immediately started laughing with him, because, well, who could resist. And we started the day in fits of laughter. It was pretty great.

Then Thur, mid-morning, Jasper randomly, I mean completely randomly, totally out of the blue, came up to me and asked me, "Momma, can baber watch a bideo on da compuder of excavbatorororos wid da fire comin out da top?"
me-
blink.
blink.
then a little incredulously, I said "You want to watch a video on the computer of excavators with fire coming out the top?
Jasper- "des please, momma."
me-
blink.
blink.
Then, "um... sure buddy?" So we ran to the computer, cranked up old youtube, and sure enough, there are tons of videos of excavators with fire coming out the top. Who knew?

And it was at this moment that I thought to myself, "buckle your seat belt, Nat, b/c you're in for a fun and wild ride with this little one."