A Third Boy in Training

Sometime around the end of June/ beginning of July, I had a dream.  This is nothing out of the norm...I dream a lot.  I think it's genetic.  I've had a couple dreams before that have been "prophetic;" most of them are nothing but nonsense.  For some reason, this one was especially strange to me and stuck out in my head long after I woke up.  I told Adam about it as he was getting ready for work and I was still laying in bed.  I couldn't remember all the details and most of them are completely ridiculous anyways, but I tried to recall what I could (or what I thought was important).

The basic premise of it was the baby coming WAY early.  I was only a couple months along, but the baby came out full-term, healthy and a boy.  We were completely unprepared.  No crib, no car seat, no name.  So, after getting home from the hospital, I left the baby at  home with Adam so I could go to the store.  On top of baby gear, we were also in need of groceries.  Here is the really weird part:  While I was out driving, God gave me a name for the baby.  I don't remember how; I think it just popped into my head...but I knew it was God and I knew it was our baby's name...even if the first name was one I had honestly never heard of outside of this dream and the middle name was one that neither of us was fond of.  The name given was Elias James.  I called Adam right away to tell him what the baby's name was supposed to be and try to convince him that although it sounded strange, it was from the Lord.  Haha.  I don't remember too much after that.  I don't even really remember his reaction.

His reaction in real life was a funny face...which was about what mine was.  That first name especially just sounded so strange to me.  Then I did some research on it and found out it's not entirely unheard of and it's even kind of growing on me.  Not so much for Adam (yet).  I did a search on Blue Letter Bible and found that it's another name for Elijah and only used in the New Testament of the King James Version when referring back to him (can you tell I don't usually read the KJV?).  It means the same as Elijah, "The Lord is my God."  On an unrelated note, I also found out it's Walt Disney's middle name from a random Disneyland facebook post.

From the beginning of this pregnancy, I never really got my "hopes up" for a girl.  There's no written law that says once you have two boys, you must have a girl.  Our goal in having another baby wasn't even to "try for" a girl.  After having that dream, it just confirmed my thoughts that it was a boy...and I was totally okay with it. Happy, even.  I love our boys so much and though they drive me crazy sometimes, they are a lot of fun.

Our ultrasound with my doctor where we get to find out the sex is scheduled for September 12.  Fortunately, Adam's great-aunt is an ultrasound tech in Murrieta, CA which is exactly where we had planned to be (months ago) for the first few days of our vacation.  I didn't think I'd be far enough along to be able to tell the sex, but I looked at the website of where she works and saw right on their homepage "Gender reveal starting at 14 weeks."  YES!  I would be almost 16 weeks when we were out there!  I e-mailed her to let her know we were coming and ask if she would be able to fit me in.  Turns out, the day we were coming was a good day for us to stop in.

So, a month early, we got to see our baby BOY together with his big brothers.  It was such a special time and Aunt Kathy blessed our socks off.  On top of the ultrasound, she gave us a DVD of it so we could share the experience with our families and a CD of pictures.  They have an incredible ultrasound machine and we were able to see him sucking, waving, and of course, his telling features.  (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

His imitation of "The Thinker"

He's pointing at us.

"There's a stem on that apple!"

Just kickin' back.

He loves us already.  :)

In a few months, I imagine this stretching out is going to hurt me.

In this part of the ultrasound, we could see him moving his mouth.

The ultrasound basically confirmed what Adam & I both already knew.  We had a date night a few nights before and were talking about the baby.  That's when we told each other that we had both been thinking it was a boy.
On the way into the ultrasound, we asked Micah what he thought the baby was.  He kept saying, "Oh, it's a girl."  I told him, "Daddy & I think it's a boy.  You'll still be happy if it's another brother, right?"  He replied, "Yeah, but I think it's a girl."  Then, when we found out and rubbed it in a little that we were right, he said, "NO!  I didn't say it was a girl, I said it was a girl OR a boy."  What a  back-pedaler.

We're all very excited.  Adam & I feel so blessed that God has blessed us with another little man and the boys are happy to have another brother.  I just pray Seth is as good of a big brother as Micah is.  So far, he tends to be a bit more relentless and merciless...so we'll see how this goes.  :)

BIG imagination

My mom has told me many times that Micah is much like I was at his age.  Goofy yet hilarious, tall & lanky, klutzy, and possessing a BIG imagination (I still do...maybe that's why I have such crazy dreams).  I've seen videos of myself when I was that small, and I believe she's probably right.  Today alone, Micah gave two instances of his imagination.

I picked him up from "Nanny's" house and told him to get into his carseat.  As he was doing that, he looks over at the neighbor's house and notices their tall, stucco, retaining wall.  Suddenly, he says, "Mom, do you think a spy could climb over that wall into their yard?"  These out-of-the-blue musings crack me up.  Of course, I told him that a spy could most certainly climb that wall because they get all the cool gadgets.  "Oh, you mean like those hook things?" he asked.

After we got home, the boys dove into their new ninja LEGO sets I got them a couple days ago.  They were playing for a while, but Seth got bored and started pestering me to play the Wii.  I told him, repeatedly, that the TV was not going on and that they would not be playing video games tonight.  He kept nagging at me, and I got tired of saying the same thing over and over, so I got very stern with him...I might have even yelled.  I think he finally realized that I was serious, so he started crying...VERY loudly.  I took him over to the couch near where Micah was still playing with his LEGOs to calm him down.  I forgot to mention that when Micah plays, he gives voices to his toys and has conversations back and forth between them, etc.  So, Seth is still crying crocodile tears and I'm trying to talk to him and explain why he can't play the Wii, when Micah exclaims, "Seth!  Could you stop crying?  I can't hear my LEGO guys talking!"  This kid is straight up crazy...and I love it.

Another Little Baird in Training

Baird Bun number three is a-cookin' in the oven!  We are so excited about the newest addition to our family.

After "Do you want this one to be a girl?" the most common question people have asked is, "Were you guys planning on another baby?"  Adam and I have discussed this in great detail and we still come up with the same answer..."Yes and no."

Here's the truth:  A few months before getting pregnant, I was bitten by the "baby bug."  Adam calls this, "getting stupid again."  He says that after awhile, women forget about the pains of pregnancy and childbirth and can only think of little baby toes and onesies and the smell of baby heads, etc.  Call it what you will, I had it.

Along with that, I also had reality...and the reality was (and is) that we were not financially prepared to have another baby or for me to stay at home and do full time "mommy-ing."  That is something I've always longed for.  So, despite baby-dreaming and getting Adam to admit that if we were financially stable, he would want a baby, too...we resigned to be babyless for now.  I even sent him this article, telling him, "See?  We're not the only ones."

There's this verse in the Bible...

"A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps."  Proverbs 16:9

Our method of "birth control" is called natural family planning, so I'm pretty tuned into what's going on with my body and cycle.  Well, in May, I came across a startling revelation as I was feeling pain in my lower abdomen (mittelschmertz) and looking at my chart.  I ran it over to Adam and plopped it in front of him at the dining room table (and no, he was not eating).
"Look at this," I said.  "It is only day 9 and I'm pretty sure I'm already ovulating!  I've never ovulated this early before."
He just kind of shrugged and said, "Okay...so what does that mean?"
"That means that we could definitely get pregnant this month."

Sometimes, we ladies really gotta spell out for the men.  For the next week and a half, we were just left to wonder.  I was on high alert for any pregnancy-like symptom.  I experienced some immediately, but was also able to explain them away with other possibilities.  "Maybe I just  have to pee again because I drank more water than usual today."  "Perhaps the heartburn is from that meat being too spicy."  It was so frustrating.


Then, we went to Zech's graduation from Bible College in Murrieta.  Tom Mauch, who was one of my teachers when I went to school there, had gotten quite close to my brother during his time there.  He is a wonderful old saint with a smile that just shines Jesus.  During the reception, he came over to our table to say hi to the fam.  When he got to me and Adam, he was asking about the boys.  We introduced them.
As he was looking at them he says, "Ah, children are wonderful.  Have more."
We laughed a little and looked at each other.  "Have more?" I asked.
"Yes, have more.  We only had one daughter and I'll always regret it.  She never married, so no little grandbabies for me."  As he said this, he cradled his empty arms.  It was so sweet, yet sad.  "So, have more.  Don't worry about the money."
Adam and I looked at each other with wide eyes.  The very thing we had been talking about holding us back from having another kid was the thing he was telling us not to worry about.  After he walked away, I said to Adam, "I'm pretty sure that's a word from the Lord."  
He replied, "It would be weird if we were pregnant, huh?"
I said, "Even if we're not, that sounds like a green light to me!"


After that is when I think the peace came and we even got a little excited about the prospect that we could be pregnant.  I even told Adam that if we weren't, I wanted to try for a March baby.  For some reason, that sounds like a good month to have a baby.  I'm sure Michelle Lubow would agree (all three of her kids were born in March).  Still, it was impossibly early to know if we were really pregnant or not, so I went back to scrutinizing whether any symptoms were true or just my imagination.


Four days later, Adam was to go on a "man-cation" with my Dad and Zech to Florida for a week.  We had planned on me taking a pregnancy test the morning before he left, but we never got a chance to buy one.  There was always someone else around or the possibility of running into someone we knew was too great.  Ah, small town life.  I thought I could wait it out, but when I went later in the day (after he had left) to pick up my prescription and saw the tests right by the counter near the checkout, I couldn't resist.  Even though I was at least 3 days away from when I was supposed to start my period, my curiosity could stand it no longer.  I grabbed a box that had three tests in it and as soon as I bought them, stuffed them into my purse.  It was a good thing, too because on our way out, the boys and I ran into someone we knew.  Imagine that.


At first I told myself I'd wait until the next morning.  As it turns out, I tell myself lies.  As soon as I had laid the boys down for their nap, I ran into the bathroom and peed on that stick like there was no tomorrow.  Watching the test work seemed agonizingly long as I waited for the line or lines to appear.  Sure enough, there were two.  Even though we had so many suspicions, I couldn't believe it.  I was so excited and instantly fell in love with the little one growing inside me.  My motherly instinct kicked in and I wanted to do everything I could to protect and nurture him/her.  Mostly, I wanted to tell Adam...but he was thousands of feet in the air somewhere over Texas.  Talk about torture!


I was faced with the decision to tell him right away or plan something really neat out to tell him when he got home.  For about two hours, I stuck with the latter plan.  Once he called me after landing and I heard his voice, that all changed.  I told him I had a picture to send him and sent him the one I had taken earlier of the test.  We hung up so he could look at it.  He called me back and said, "So...what does that mean?"  Do you see why I said before that sometimes we ladies really gotta spell it out?  Haha.  When he finally "got it," I could hear the excitement in his voice and I was so relieved.  For some reason, even after all we had talked about and been told, I still had this small fear that the news would only bring him stress.  Thankfully, that was not the case at all.


When I told him, he was driving around the airport in the rental car waiting for my Dad and Z to get there.  They did, all too quickly.  It was hard enough telling him over the phone and not being able to just hug him and rejoice together, but on top of that, we had to clam up almost immediately about it.  Maybe it would have been better if I had waited to tell him, but I just don't have it in me to contain myself!


It was all good, though.  He got home at the end of the week, and I got that hug I needed so badly.  We were able to keep it under wraps for a few more weeks, then we just had to tell the boys.  We figured once we did that, we'd have to tell the world, considering their young ages.  Here's the video we took of us telling them:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDYHErkIuY&feature=channel_video_title.
After telling our families and close friends, we put the video up on facebook to tell everyone else.


Now, I'm almost 9 weeks along.  Only 31 more to go!  The other day, I had my first prenatal appointment and we got to see our little peanut.  We had the boys come in to see the ultrasound, too.  I wanted to try and make it a little more real to them and show them there really is a baby growing in Mommy's belly.

I love ultrasounds.  As weird as this might sound, I wish I had a constant window to see our baby grow.  What a miracle life is!

So, there's the first story of Baby Baird's life.  The first of many, I'm sure.  Now, if I can only occupy my mind until we find out the sex....

Micah's First T-ball Season

This past Tuesday, Micah had his final T-ball game.  It's amazing to see how far he has come in just the past few months since it started.  During the first few practices and games, we were having to coax him just to stay on the field the whole time.  By his last few games, he was an eager participant and would ask the coach if he could play certain positions while on the field.  His next to last game, he FINALLY got to play first base.  In fact, in that game, he played all three bases and had lots of fun.  I'm so proud of my boy and can't believe how big he is getting.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of the season.

There's a lot of power behind that swing!

Amazed that he got a strike!

Yawning while coach is giving him a pep talk at bat.
Saturday morning games weren't his primetime.

He loved sliding into home...every single time.

Slide marks.

Mr. Hollywood

Going into home

Man, I love his laugh.  Melts me every time.

Tough guy

He just has to be different.

The stance he picked up from watching the coaches.

See?  Haha.

Micah ran to claim his spot at third base oblivious to the fact that his team was in a huddle.

Hallelujah, New York!

Yet more words coming out of my kids' mouths that for the life of me, I can't figure out where they come from.

Lately, it has been Micah yelling out, "Hallelujah, New York!" at random times.  Why?  

Well, Seth has been hearing this along with the rest of us and put it into action today.

My mom had the boys and she took them to SARA park along with Noah & Caleb.  While they were there, Noah sees Seth licking a pole...another habit that I wish to know the origins of.  Anyways, as he sees Seth doing this, Noah shouts, "Hey, don't do that!  It's icky!"  Seth turns around, looks at him, and shouts back, "Hallelujah, New York!" and then runs away.

What is with these crazy kids?!

The Boom!

I realize there have been a lot of Seth posts lately, but he must be at that age.  This story I'm about to tell happened on our anniversary and I wasn't there for it, so I'll be telling it as Adam told me.
April 9, 2011 was a stormy day.  I was helping with and attending Ricci's bridal shower that afternoon and Adam had the boys.  For lunch, he took them to El Mariachi.  He got Seth out of his carseat and sent him towards the building.  As he was getting Micah out of the car, a flash of lighting struck very close by.  Adam thinks it hit something on the island.  Almost immediately, the thunder followed and it was LOUD (I heard it at the church).  Poor Seth got scared out of his mind and, with hands over his ears, started frantically running into the parking lot to find Adam.  Adam stopped him by shouting his name and he ran over to Daddy's arms.  By then, the thunder had stopped rumbling, and he told Adam, "The boom!  I don't like the boom!  The boom just scared me."  Poor kid.  He really believed it was the end of the world or something.  He had Adam cracking up.  He then told everyone about his horrible experience with "the boom" for the rest of the day.  In fact, he still will randomly bring it up, especially when we're tucking him into bed.  "The boom scared me when I was with Daddy at the 'achi."

The Singing Face

Seth takes after his Daddy in that he is the boy with the rubber face.  Ever since he was a baby, he has been making BIG faces.  When he was only 7 months old, he invented his own version of "The Cheesy Smile" and would give us a big one whenever we requested it.  Here's a couple pictures of the first time he ever did it:

Well, since then, we've seen many Seth faces.  His most recent one is no exception in cracking us up.  Of course, it has a story (and a couple back stories)...

I think I "baby" Seth a bit more than I did Micah.  Micah has always seemed more mature than his age and it seems that since he had a little brother at only 20 months, he grew up even faster.  Besides their difference in personality and birth order, perhaps part of it is my parenting style has relaxed some.  Example:  On Micah's 2nd birthday, we told him that he was a big boy now and he didn't need his "sucky" to go to sleep anymore.  I didn't even like that he still had it, but we were only giving it to him to fall asleep at that point.

Fast forward to Seth's 2nd birthday and found ourselves in the same spot.  Except Seth was the baby...and much more attached to his "sucky."  More specifically, the "blue sucky."  I just couldn't do it...and I didn't really want to, either.  It was easier to let him have it, so we did, for just a little while longer.

Then on December 8th, almost 4 months after Seth's second birthday, Adam decides (with no warning) that he was taking the "sucky" away.  I was less ready for it than Seth was, but once you go down that road, there's no going back (unless you want to drag it out for another year).  So, we cut him cold turkey.  The way he would ask for it was so sad, almost like he had lost a friend.  I tried to supplement it with his "binkit" (blanket), but it just wasn't the same.  Instead of hearing him cry in bed for half an hour, I decided a better alternative would be if I rocked and sang to him for a little while before laying him down.  It helped, but added a lengthy amount of time to the already long bedtime ritual.  It started out with one song, then he started requesting more.  The way he would ask was irresistible:  "Mommy, do LaLu?"  C'mon people!  Who's gonna say "no" to that?  The songlist went from just "Lalalu" and grew to include "Baby Mine," "Big Moon," and "Jesus Loves Me."

Lately, it's become more obvious than normal that he doesn't just want me to sing to him, but he just wants to stay up later.  A little more than a month ago, he started squirming and trying to tickle me and holding on to the crib while I was rocking so that we would come to an abrupt halt, etc.  During this time, we has sitting up in my lap, facing me, with his head (supposed to be) on my chest.  To cut down on the goofing off, I moved him to where he was cradled in my arms like a baby.  There was nothing for him to grab this way and I could control his little limbs better.  This left  him with little option...except for his rubber face.  In a last ditch effort, he decided the only thing he had left to do was make me laugh in the middle of the lullabies.  I looked down into his sweet little face to see this expression: 

That picture is obviously a re-creation of that first night, because we can now tell him, "Seth, do the singing face," and this is what he does.  Just put yourself in my shoes.  Imagine singing to your (not-so)small child and looking down, expecting to him half asleep...only to see this.

Needless to say, we've cut down on the singing time...I think he may have been using it for his advantage.