Just Checking in!

I feel as if I've neglected my friend duties lately because of end of the year stress, but now it is Friday and I'm looking forward to two weeks of rest . . . ahhhhh. I know now that my life is going to be a lot more hectic in a few months, so I might as well take advantage of it now. The baby is doing fine. He or she has been kicking the mess out of me for days. No one else can feel it but me yet, but this child is either going to be a break dancer or a gymnast. Believe it or not, since I've been really careful about eating and walking every day to pick up the car after school, I haven't gained a pound in almost two months. Don't worry, the baby is getting plenty of nourishment. I have been craving eggs and fruit. The other day I made myself a fried egg sandwich where the yolk was runny (yuuuummmmm) and it tasted so good I actually started moaning. On the very rare occasions where I've had to grab some fast food on the run, I've gotten very sick and been running to the bathroom. Unlike with Maxwell, the thought of a Big Mac kinda makes me ill.
In just a few days we will find out whether it is going to be a girl or a boy. The secretary at my school said to me the other day "Think Pink". Actually I'd rather think purple, or magenta. We will not reveal the gender of baby Flem until Christmas, however, so hold on to your hats. I know that you all are really not interested in my pregnancy body woes, but I've lost my ankles for a few months, and I've been downing Tums like they're candy. It's all coming back to me now, let me tell you. Waking up in the middle of the night coughing up stomach acid is totally disgusting. Poor baby Max had to take baby Zantac when he was a newborn because of acid reflux. Believe it or not, I discovered that the old wives' tale about excessive heartburn meaning excessive baby hair is mostly true. I'm willing to make the sacrifice, because I think that it looks a little strange when a cute baby girl is bald and wearing one of those baby headbands. I refuse to put hair accessories on my child unless they have hair to attach it to. I think that our kids are genetically doomed to be hairy, sorry baby. I'm doing well, though, and even better now that Jack has his volkswagon running again and can drive himself home from work. Woooo Hooooo! I'll post pics hopefully of Max "driving" the bug like he did the other day. He said that he was taking me to Granny's house, and made me buckle up like a law abiding citizen. See ya later!

Hello, she's still alive and kicking!

Okay, I had all of these grand ideas about announcing this will a cute picture of Max holding a sign that says "big brother", etc. But you are just going to have to use your imagination, because I'm really really tired, a little overwhelmed with housework/cooking dinner/Christmas concert for the entire school/trying to keep up with Max/and gestating. Yes, I'm pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most of you have no idea how long Jack and I have been trying (2 1/2 years) and how badly I've prayed for this. I really felt like Elizabeth in the bible, pleading and pleading for another child. Jack and I were even almost at the point of trying to investigate adoption. I'm definitely not a fertile myrtle, let's just put it that way. There are several emotions that pop up when you are trying to get pregnant, like jealousy, fear, sadness, resignation, hope, frustration. All I can say is that the Lord definitely let me sweat it out for awhile. Maybe Max needed to be older to be able to handle it, or maybe (more likely) I needed Max to be older for ME to be able to handle it.
My life is a whirlwind of doctor's appointments: specialists in Phoenix, my very cautious OB, ultrasound techs at the hospital, now maybe a psychologist? In between doctor's visits, I'm fighting with Max to get him potty trained (I've tried bribery, force, coercion, enthusiasm, all to no avail) picking up the slack for my very busy husband around the house, and trying to teach and complete my first portion of my National Board Certification. Do you get bonus points for being tired and pregnant? Right now little Fleming is 14 weeks old and doing well. I'm afraid that I have another spitfire on my hands. I can already tell. Do two crazy children equal preoccupied children that let you get things done? Or is there some kind of chemical reaction when the two collide that cause the planets to shift orbits? Only time will tell.

Hello Again!

School has started again, which means that I now have access to the Internet and can resume blogging. Actually, I have a confession to make. School has been back in for almost a month and I've been blissfully keeping tabs on my peeps through their blogs, but couldn't quite muster a blog entry for myself. For those of you who probably checked my blog a few times this summer, then gave up because there was nothing new, I repent. We've moved from Bloody Basin to Peach Lane in Strawberry. We LOVE having wood floors again and space to move around. Jack has gotten over his pre-mid-life crisis and has decided to go back to school at NAU (Flagstaff) for an Art Ed/History degree. I love this school year so far, things have been great. Right now I'm seeing the world through non-existent glasses because Max broke my Gorilla Glued glasses with a fierce hug. But hey, I sure got my money's worth because they were ghetto fixed back in February. I have my eye on some purple frames. How perfect is that? I promise to model pics of them when I can see again. The only other exciting thing in my life is that I'm playing one of the twelve virgins in a Stake musical. Lucky for me I get to be a wise one. Snicker, snicker. I find it pretty ironic that there is only one out of the twelve of us that's actually a virgin. We're talking old ladies and married women. Call it creative licence. The last time that I played something for church was in high school when I was "Billie" from Billie and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Classic acting skills, let me tell you. Keanau Reves would be proud! Well, another day and another dollar. I'll try to post something more interesting, I promise.

Anti-sweatpants in Public Mafia

I'll admit, there was a time when I wore pyjama pants to college classes, and the store, and a trip on the greyhound bus. But I am vehemently opposed to sweat pants in public. When I saw this ad, I laughed for a good 5 minutes. I think that a member of my family (who shall remain nameless) has those exact pants, only he wears them with a turtleneck (gag. . . ) Please let me know your feelings about sweatpants. Do they give you flashbacks of the 80s, or do they give you the uh oh feeling because perverts are caught wearing them. Please, elaborate.

Sir Robin of Loxley!

Hello all. Yesterday was fantastic. Jack and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary with a movie, dinner, and a trip to Home Depot. You have no idea how long it's been since we've watched a movie in the theater, and Robin Hood was a good choice--romance for me, and arrow violence and minimal fire for Jack. Is it sad that we were cuddling next to each other during the movie, quoting Monty Python in some parts and laughing at the excessive ending? Here is my review of the movie--

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been obsessed with the Middle Ages and King Arthur and Robin Hood and all that jazz. What I've discovered over the years is that people were stinky, had bad teeth, and were lucky to live past the age of 30. The movie did a good job of depicting filthy, nasty medieval men (surprisingly, Maid Marian looked pretty fresh most of the time) and awesome, bloody battles. I was actually intrigued by the new take on the storyline. However, the ending just ruined it for me. The climactic battle between the Frenchies and England on the shore was pretty good--and then Lady Marian and her army of "feral children" (yes, they were listed as feral children in the credits!) ride into battle and start kicking butt---WHAT???? Okay, I was willing to overlook that, even though Jack and I were snickering, then there was the overly cheesy slow mo "Noooooooooooooooooooo . . . " (imagine distorted faced-Russell Crowe brandishing sword in fury) from Robin as he avenged Marian's battle wounds. Too much!!!!! And did I mention that my new favorite Mr. Darcy (Matthiew McFayden) is the skeezy Sheriff of Nottingham? If you want to distort P&P visions, just check out rotten-toothed had-to-be-reeking Sheriff. Ewwwwww.


So,

decent storyline, nice costuming, excessive violence and ruinous ending. But a fantastic date night, and I will always remember quoting "There's some lovely filth over here" to Jack's amusement, eating fried cheesecake and pretty good hamburgers, and staring into the eyes of the person I want to be with forever! I love you Jack!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Hello all of the wonderful mothers out there! (And someday to be mothers) I am going to share with you some gorgeous pictures of my abuelita and abuelito on Mother's day. She is so beautiful. I hope that I look that dang good when I'm 80 years old! If I'm even half as cool as her when I'm a grandma, then I'll be happy. Gramps lucked out when he found her over 50 years ago, and they still love each other and give each other grief :) My mother's day turned out to be pretty spectacular! Max and Jack made me pancakes with berries, then Max helped me make pot roast to put in the crock pot. For the rest of the day, he smelled like garlic. Yummm! Then (I wish I had a video of this!) Max and the primary sang songs at church, which I conducted. Max was hanging over the podium, as expected, but he was singing the words that he knew at the top of his lungs and was conducting with me. How adorable is he? Then in the afternoon we got to camp in our yard with our friends from Sierra Vista, where Jack almost burned down the rental house with a gas can and a barbeque grill. I won't even elaborate on that, just imagine Jack running around the yard with a flaming gas can, waving his arms and leaving burning patches of gas in the yard--that Gary promptly stomped out with his foot. It's not very often that I get to laugh about dumb mistakes that Jack has made, because 99.99 percent of the really crazy ones are my fault, so I shall bring this even up often. Tee heee heee.

Mr. Fox is Fantastic!!!!!

Jack grabbed some kids movies from the library this weekend and I discovered a treasure: The Fantastic Mr. Fox!!!!!! Turns out the only thing kid-like that kept Max's attention was the moving animals and neat yellowish coloring, but the dialogue was definitely adult. My favorite scene is when Mr. Badger (played by Bill Murray) and Mr. Fox (played by George Clooney) get into an argument in Mr. Badger's lawyer office. They start growling and spitting at each other as they circle around and around. Watch this clip and pay attention to how Mr. Fox eats--Max has been duplicating it all weekend.