23

This is the image I am going to view for the rest of my life. And footballs, and basketballs, and hockey pucks and maybe even soccer balls. I will spend my days on the sideline screaming at refs, wearing huge pins on my coat with pictures of my sons.

That's right, I said sons.

Today we went for our 20 week and ultrasound and saw our boy. Long arms, long legs, my lips and a nice round head. Yup, and a close up to ensure he is indeed a boy.

We are lucky. Everything on the checklist was good. Everything that is supposed to be there was there and everything that wasn't, wasn't. We have a nice, healthy, very active little boy. A friend for Jack and another son who won't call me.

That's just it. He won't. And his older brother has already told me he's not planning on it. And that just ... stinks. My sister and I call my parents every day to touch base. We don't always talk long but we make contact.

My brother calls maybe 2 times a month. Maybe. Now that they have a baby, that may have upgraded to 3 times a month. But he calls so infrequently it's like a holiday for the 'rents when he makes an effort.

My husband never calls his mother. Today he couldn't remember if it had been 2 weeks or longer. My OB said her husband calls his mom 4 times a year if she's lucky. She has 3 sons and said she hears from them when she calls them.

I doubt this baby is going to want to talk to me about the latest Hollywood news, some new drama on TV or a sale at Crate and Barrel. He probably won't talk to me about a new girl he has a crush on or what he should wear on a date. These are not conversations in my future. And I guess I just have to get over that.

My future conversations will be about sports, a really cool bug and dirt. That's what little boys are made of, right?

My whole life I thought I would be a mother of boys. Being a girl is overrated and I didn't want to be a part of the "ugly stage," mean girls and dances that she wasn't asked to ... but now that I have invested all this time and sweat, I want some return. I want to know my hard work now will ensure a friendship in the future. I guess I can hope their future wives are cool. I hope they marry their best friends instead of the ditz that will no doubt chase them. Maybe when they go away to college I will print this out and remind them, their Mama wants to see what's going on... a quick text, a voicemail, an email ... a crumb.

That's not much to ask for, right?

Now the name debate begins. We have ideas but can't agree on anything. Suggestions welcome. We have 20 weeks to name our baby. In 20 weeks I will begin my adventures with my sons. Surreal.

22

Peter Parker

Spider-Man

21

I guess it's been 20 days since I last posted. I was really doing well for a while.

Here are some highlights:

*Halfway through week 19 and can find out the baby's sex Monday if we want ... still up in the air. We have no baby names confirmed at this time. I don't think I am going to tell people anyway when we hammer it out. One name I know it won't be: Anthony. Sorry, Daddy. No way.

*Spent last Saturday in Cleveland for sister's wedding shower. Jack spent the day running around with his uncle-to-be and their mini dog. He loved the dog. He's still talking about it. Then Monday night he insisted on calling "Stina" to tell her what he'd like for his birthday ... the list included Spider-Man items. His birthday is the end of July.

*Went to Midland Sunday to visit with our friends from LA and spent a 80 degree sunny day frying. It was perfect and totally gorgeous. The minor league field was super nice. It was a great day.

*Friends from Boston came in to view campus and may end up attending here in the fall. It would be nice to have a babysitter that I have literally known since the day she was born. Sadly, I once babysat her. Now I am really, really old.

*We have yet to see Baby Freddie. After doctor's orders prevented us from heading to 'Cago for a month, the schedules are not meeting well. Unfortunately, it looks like we won't meet my first-born blood nephew until the end of May ... or maybe his college graduation.

*My hip is actually killing me. I feel like someone is drilling a screw driver (a rusty one) into my leg socket. I guess it's because I am making more room for R2. It's not pleasant and I don't remember it with Jack. Of course, there's been a lot of unpleasantness that I don't remember first time around. I don't know if it's because I was younger or what the deal is but this is hard.

20

Got this shot this morning. Talked to his dad today and he said Freddie continues to be a good eater and when he's hungry, he wants to be fed right away. He gets mad if you take too long.

In other food news, Jack continues to wow and amaze. Last night for dinner he had 10 chicken nuggets, a bowl of cearl, a waffle with all the fixings, chunks of cheddar cheese and juice. At lunch, he had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll with butter. And he got seconds! When his teacher told me he had eaten that way I thought he'd eat nothing for dinner. Boy, was I wrong. He must be growing. Of course, when he was Freddie's age, he ate like mad. It must go in stages. No fear of my boy getting chunky, he is a lean machine. And he runs around so much anything he eats literally melts off. Must be nice.

He's getting excited about the Easter Bunny but he was concerned yesterday when he realized we'd be in Cago for the big day. He seemed relieved when I told him the Easter Bunny knew that we'd be at Uncle Fred and Aunt B's house. He's also excited about finding eggs with Uncle Fred. Hope he's up to it.

We plan to take the boy to Shedd's Aquarium. Jack loves fish and I think he'll really like the whales. I am sure B and the baby will need a break from Hurricane Jack.

19

Xander's birthday.

This weekend Jack went to his first birthday party. It was to celebrate his favorite friend at school, Xander. We took him to the store to pick out his gift and drilled into him that the gift was for his friend -- not him. We were scared he would try to open the gift, and take the gift home. Truthfully, we bought him a similar item so he wouldn't feel bad. The party was three and half hours long and included three 3-year-olds and Jack, a 2+ year old. They basically ran and screamed all day. We thought we'd be able to leave him there but he quickly told us not to and to sit in the corner and not interrupt him. (Nice, eh?) I can happily say the gift opening went well. He was excited to play with all the toys but didn't open any. However, when they brought the cake out, he blew out the candles. He was so excited, so geared up, he just blew them out. Honestly, if the tables were turned, I would be mad at the kid who did that. But Xander's mom took it in stride. (We were very embarrassed. I hadn't even thought to prep him on that!)

Just being honest.

Jack is on strike from naps. That's no big deal, nothing new. But he gets a little uptight in the afternoon when he goes napless. Yesterday I picked him up from school to witness him get frustrated with George, the new kid. I knew he didn't really like him. When I asked why he didn't play with George he told me he doesn't have cars. Apparently, George doesn't bring toys to school to play with at free time and instead is grabby with everyone else's toys. And he's whiney.

So, his teacher told me that Jack was giving George a hard time. I was worried. I asked her what she did. She said she pulled him aside and asked him why.

And with all seriousness, he shrugged his shoulder and said, "I just don't like him."

She said she had to laugh because he was being 100 percent honest. She had another teacher ask him what was wrong. Again he said matter-of-factly, "I don't like him."

The teacher took the high road. She told him that she didn't expect him to like everyone but he did need to be respectful of other people. With that he said, "I know, but it's hard."

He's 2. He's busy. He's not going to waste his time with people he doesn't like.

I had really, really hoped he would be more laid back about people, more like his dad.

18

It was a rough sports day for Freddie. First, the Tigers blew Opening Day and then the Buckeyes lost to Florida.

It's his first life lesson. He is cursed with Michigan-based teams. And they will disappoint him for the rest of his life. There will be more sports tears shead. The Tigers, the Lions, the Spartans -- they will let you down little guy. Your only hope for consistent goodness is Ohio State football. And Spartan basketball, er... sort of.

17

Pops just sent this to me while I was publishing 16.





The caption read, "Belly's full."




(In case you didn't know, if you click on the pictures, you get a bigger image.)

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FWM Day 4

While he gave his parents, grandparents and extended family a bit of a scare, this boy (like his father) now likes to eat. Thank goodness!

Mama, baby and Daddy are doing well. They will be going home tomorrow where Ma is waiting to help out. I wonder if he'll call my parents Ga and Ma?!

BTW, his pops keeps sending me pictures so feel free to stop by for more shots here. (I will have to show him how to set up his own blog!) Jack is finally getting over thinking these pictures are of him when he was "Baby Jack" and is now excited about "Baby Freddie, not Uncle Fred." He says that every time. "It's Baby Freddie, not Uncle Fred" but really, when there's multiples in a family and you are only 2, it may get confusing.

15

More pictures of Freddie.
(These are from Ga and Ma's cell phone and Uncle Fred's phone so they're not super. I am sure the proud parents will send out new ones soon.)