LG Laughing from gene pensiero on Vimeo.

He had never laughed like this before and he’s never laughed like this since.  Thanks, Jujy, for making him squeal!

daddy floor time is some of our favorite time.

Suffice it to say that a lot has changed since my last post…

…i just can’t get enough of this kid!

Here is a much overdue picture of my belly for anyone who wishes to see what a pregnant Kelly looks like these days.  I am in the middle of my 21st week of pregnancy and it has recently been brought to my attention that babies in-utero don’t only kick out, they also kick in and up and down.  What a trip!  You would have thought that in all my life I would have considered this a possibility in pregnancy, but no.  I never had.  Until now.  And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t poked my belly and asked a certain baby to direct his feet elsewhere.

So far he’s decided to do what he wants instead of what mom wants.  No big surprise there.

Other than that things are going well – dad got to feel his first kicks and both of us are enjoying the game where we press on my belly to see if ‘little g’ (as i’ve been calling him) would like to play.  And sometimes he does!

Last but not least, if you’re wondering why I’m in such a yellow-y picture up there, here are my list of reasons: 1) it was still dark outside when we took the picture, so we only had indoor light, 2) all our indoor lighting has a tendency to cast a jaundiced look on everything inside the house, especially when the shades are closed, and 3) our walls are painted a neutral khaki color, which only heightens the yellow look.  But it sure seems warm in there, doesn’t it?

This picture was taken probably 2 weeks ago…we’ve been out of town off and on since then, so this is the latest.  As soon as I take another one I’ll post it, because, WOW, my belly grew a bunch in the last 3 days. I didn’t even know that was possible!  I went away for a 3 day conference and when I came back gene didn’t even recognize me.

Just kidding.  But it was bigger.  Strangely bigger.

I’m 5 months now (I suppose I was only 4 & 1/2 at the time the picture was taken) but the most common comment I get is “you’re so tiny!”  Normally this would be my dream come true.  I may at one time have been small but I’ve never been tiny.  But now it’s just funny.  My most common response is to pat my belly and say “this is the best I could do so far” in a faux apologetic voice.  It seems to work well.

But enough about that. The more exciting news is that according to our ultrasound from today, there will be a little boy in our family come February.  That’s right:

IT’S A BOY!

And I’m a little concerned about what kind of crazy active kid this will be because the ultrasound tech had trouble getting all the proper pictures she needs because someone was swimming around and around and around in there. Way to go, little guy!

If you read my husband’s blog, you know we recently had our church’s annual Family Camp.  We love Family Camp.  Nay, we are completely ENAMORED with Family Camp!  Gene had the good fortune of going when he was just a tiny guy, but after a number of years it got too costly and the church stopped going.  It resumed again last year and now we just can’t get enough of it!  Lots of good, wholesome, campy, hikey, cabin-ey, family fun.  Here are some highlights:

My niece and another sweet one from our church…how would you know which way was the correct way to play on a ping-pong table if you’d never played before? you wouldn’t.

The s’mores line.  Nobody got burned, either!

I’m sorry to report that there was one team in the canoe race that really brought disgrace upon the entire canoe racing community with their lack of skill special talents. Either that, or they just need to start putting in 4 hours a week NOW for next August’s race.  Yes, I said 4 hours per week. No, it was not an overstatement.  (This ended up being perhaps the most entertaining part of the whole weekend!  Thanks, team!)

The mayhem and delirium of the Horseshoe Tournament.

Here’s Gene and I, practicing good parenting by encouraging a younger member of our t-shirt relay team.  I think we got it.

Here’s Gene, meticulously judging the fireworthiness of the matches during the Match Relay.

Here we are, tearing it up in second place for the Ping-Pong Blow at the Award Campfire.  (Don’t mind my sister-in-law and brother-in-law…technically they got first place, but I think there’s reasonable doubt.)

Handsome alert!

We love you, Family Camp!  See you next year.

But I suppose all of that is to be expected.  None of it is bad, either, just different than before. An adventure, really. Truthfully, its pretty nice to be “showing”.  And speaking of showing, here’s a little footage for the masses (it would’ve just been a picture but I don’t have my camera with me at the moment):

Click here to view the embedded video.

just one more thing: why is it always so awkward to see yourself on film?

And the best part is, it’s ours!  It’s the littlest Pensiero.  Jamie said baby p looks like a gummy bear and I think she is absolutely right.  I’ve never seen a cuter gummy bear, that’s for sure!

When we had the ultrasound, the doctor poked at baby p to see if she could “wake him/her up”.  I thought she was joking and was just trying to get a better picture, but she kept poking and suddenly there was wiggling.  Tiny 9 and a half week old WIGGLING!  I almost died, I’m pretty sure I started laughing.  We loved it so much that gene and I keep reliving the wiggling experience.

Visit daddy’s site if you want to see another picture of the little nugget.  You won’t regret it.

This past Christmas, while serving in our church’s cafe, I ran into one of our elder’s wives.  She was on her way to teach sunday school and she had a book in her hand.  It was the little book you see right up there.  It looked really scrumptious on the outside and the illustrations looked comfortingly familiar (it was tucked under her arm and I couldn’t see the whole thing) so I asked her if I could see it…and when she opened it, I almost died.

That’s right. Pop-ups. POP-UPs, people!

But not just any pop-ups.  This little treasure of a book had the most intricate, adorable pop-ups, all crafted with great care and precision, making it absolutely too charming. As a side note, I wish I had access to a Mr. Roger’s (or some sort of show) that has a “making-of” on pop-ups. Can anyone help me out there? Anyway, on top of all the cute details, it was by Tomie de Paola.  One of my favorite authors from when I was in elementary school.  Swoon. (Strega Nona, anyone?)

I knew I had to have it for my collection.  I, like many many teachers, love and adore children’s books and have a little budding collection going.  Plus, have you seen the little red ribbon that ties this book together?  How could you not want a book with a red ribbon and a barn door-like front cover that’s all about Jesus’s birth?

When I mentioned that I would like to find a copy for myself, the woman said that if I did she’d like me to grab two extra copies for her grown daughters.  She then went on to tell me that she had purchased the book when her daughters were very young, but since then had not been able to find it in bookstores.  Knowing she was not the ebay type, I casually mentioned (with smug over-confidence and a wave of my hand) that we could find it on ebay “no problem“.  Since when can you not find things on ebay, right?

I’ll tell you since when.  Since it’s very out-of-print and sells for upwards of $100.  Wow.  I forgot that beloved out-of-print books can be a pricey item and, more importantly, I hadn’t realized it was first printed in like 1982.  But guys, now that I knew the book was the same age as I was, I wanted it EVEN MORE!  I told myself that they were probably only selling for so much money because it was Christmastime.  After Christmas people wouldn’t want to make such a high profit, probably.

Snicker. But a regular eye on ebay and four months later, I have done it.  After months of scouring and watching, I have finally found one!  And by finally found one, I mean finally found three copies that are hopefully in some sort of decent condition for less than the going ebay rate of $100.  In fact I found them for considerably less.  In fact, you would not believe how inexpensive they were. On amazon.  Apparently, in all my excitement, I had checked pretty much everywhere BUT amazon…which is really unlike me, considering I do almost all my Christmas shopping exclusively on amazon.  (In my defense, they are sold by book stores on amazon and not amazon itself, so they might not have been there at the times I was checking anyway.  You’ve got to time these things just right.)  But none of that matters now because the preciouses are on their way.  I have ordered them and am salivating at their impending arrival.  I feel like I’ve just sent away for a cereal box prize that will take four to six weeks to arrive, only this prize should be much better and arrive much sooner.

Now we just wait.  And you can wait with me if you want.  We wait to see what kind of condition a 25+ year old pop-up book could be in.  I only ordered ones that were “good” or “very good”; even so, I expect a generous amount of wear and tear.  The suspense is palpable!  In the meantime, which of you teachers wants to let me order off of your scholastic book club order? Sadly, substitutes do not get such privilege.

Today is the day to let our government know that we believe abortion is wrong.

Pick up some red envelopes, put the phrase below on the back, address it to the President and mail it today, March 31, 2009.

WRITE ON THE BACK:
“This envelope represents one child who died in abortion.  It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world.  Responsibility begins with conception.”

WRITE ON THE FRONT:
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

(also, include your return address – it will not be delivered without it)