Abnormal growth....

Ok now, I have to share some news that may or may not be shocking to you. So I learned about two weeks ago that I have this rapidly growing "abnormal growth" in my stomach. Right now, as far as we can tell, it's been growing for about 6 weeks or so, maybe a little longer. And it's only about an 1/8 of an inch. By next week at this time, if it continues growing as rapidly as it has been, it will double and maybe even triple in size and grow to almost 1/2 an inch.

Have you figured it out yet? As Arnold Schwartzenager (I'm sure I just butchered his name) once said, "It's not a toomah." No, it's not a tumor or any sort of malignant growth for that matter. It's a....well, you see...it's the beginnings of what will be full grown in about 7.5 more months. It's a baby.

When I was pregnant with Zoe, I told my 7th grade students by teasing them about the "abnormal growth", but I didn't go into as great of detail. One of my girls spouted off, "Oh no...Mrs. Buscher has cancer!" She was so genuinely upset, that is until the young man sitting next to her said, "No dummy...she's pregnant!" That got some laughs. I actually teach her in Sunday School and reminded her of that story when I told them the other day. Actually, I think in honor of her, I started my story the same way. She remembered that moment very well...and laughed about it for several minutes.

Yes, baby #2 is in the oven...and the oven is working overtime to host this "growth". And although this new being looks more like it came from an outer space, has tiny buds right now resembling arms and legs, and is about the size of the sprinkle that I had on my last ice cream sundae, it's already so special to us.

So now I'm asking you a favor. These next few weeks are always the scariest in a woman's pregnancy...well, mine at least. Until about 12 weeks, the threat of miscarriage is extremely high. So pray for this baby's health and little life; that it might continue to grow and prepare for it's grand entrance into the world...which at this point we assume will be sometime mid-end April. I won't know that until our first doctor's appointment on the 23rd of this month. And pray for my sanity as I journey through these next 6 weeks or so. Since I've miscarried before, I remember the all too intense pain that it can cause (and that was after not even being aware that I had been pregnant for 8 weeks). I can't imagine the pain brought by losing a baby you knew existed..and I have faith that I won't have to experience that again.

I ask that you also pray that I have an easier time with this pregnancy. I've had great luck thus far..except for the fatigue and just a bit of morning sickness. But the last few days, I've had morning sickness for much of the day. Hopefully that has to do with the fact that my nasal passages are dripping like a leaky faucet and not so much that I'm going to have morning sickness in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, and the night like I did with Zoe.

And as you're praying (wow, I'm selfish aren't I?) also begin praying for Zoe and the preparation we begin to ready her for receiving a sibling. She won't quite be two when the baby arrives, so as much as you can prepare a 21 month old, I'd like to pump her up about it. I know that after having mommy and only mommy to herself all day during the week and only mommy and daddy during the weekend, she will undergo a bit of jealousy. But my hope is that my little helper who "folds clothes" by tossing the neatly folded piles all over the room and "does dishes" by putting her toys in the dishwasher as I'm doing dishes will actually be old enough to be my big helper. If I can positively involve her in this experience, it might ease the negative feeling of being dethroned.

80's flashback......

Yes, so I had an 80's flashback for two reasons. One, because someone handed down a ton of shoes to Zoe, one of which was a pair of red "Jellies". And everyone knows that those were shoes of the 80's. Ah, yes, jellies...I'm not sure that I ever actually owned a pair, and after smelling the stench that followed when friends of mine who owned them took them off after a HOT summer day, I really don't remember wanting to own a pair. And yes, that same stench, though probably not as bad, came back to haunt me when I took Zoe's jellies off after she'd sweat in them all day long. Yuck. But here's Zoe sporting her new look.



She looks like she's modeling, doesn't she???

The other flashback came through a friend's post on her blog talking about "teenage watching". Through her careful observation of teenagers that she encounters through the day, she described all of the, styles that teens will sport down the halls of a high school, all of which we now consider very odd or just downright ugly. And that got me to thinking...good grief. How weird must older adults have thought we looked when we sported our "hot mamma" styles through the school halls? Some other people and I commented on her blog and jogged her memory a little. So in response, she did a new blog post to share her new found 80's memories. I will now follow in suit by rehashing some of the hideous styles that I thought was just the coolest in the 80's and early 90's. And yes, in the late 80's, I was not even 10, but the trends started young.

If you are a child of the 80's or just remember some of these hideous styles and think of one that I forgot, comment. I'll attempt to do a top 20 thing...only with 16.

16. Scrunchies
15. Banana Clips
14. Loved sporting the New Kids on the Block paraphernalia - Jordan was my favorite....
13. Caboodle's - not necessarily a fashion trend, but you looked "rad" bringing these to your slumber party.
12. The tee-shirt clips that you would pull your tee shirt to the side with.
11. The brightly colored shoe-laces. I had some that were bright pink and teal that I wore with stone washed gray and white Keds shoes.
10. Those little squiggly things you could put on the end of your shoelaces. I had those in bright pink and bright green, and probably some more awful colors. Put those with the teal and pink shoelaces and you've got yourself a real good lookin' foot.
9. The tight pants that sucked the life out of our legs and were usually too short to begin with. To top it off, most of the time, these lovely pants were acid wash or stone washed pants.
8. Stirrup pants...loved these for some reason.
7. High Tops
6. The High Top look with jeans tucked inside or tight rolled
5. The tank top with a gigantic sweatshirt over it that was all cut up (when we wanted to be "cute" while working out)
4. the side ponytail
3. The tight roll on the pants - I taught one of my students to do that last year and he thought I was nuts. I thought it was hilarious. We thought we were hot stuff strutting down our elementary halls with tight rolled pants. Really, we just looked like we were expecting a gigantic rain puddle to mysteriously appear in the hallway and rolled up our pants so as not to get them wet.
2. Two or three different colored socks that we layered one on top of the other. I LOVED to do the black socks with bright teal or pink....yeah, can you tell I had a teal and pink thing going on? But three layers were the super-cool. Two layers, and you were only semi-cool. Then throw in the LA Gear high tops and you were hot stuff!
1. Drum roll please...this is probably the best, or worst depending on how you look at it, style of them all. The three layer bangs with so much poof we could have touched the sky with the top layer...and not to mention the half can of hairspray used to hold it in place. I had my bangs so stiff that even a tornado couldn't stand up to me. Not a hair would have ever been out of place. I think every girl did this style.

What's even funnier after looking at these things is how trends that you just think are a signature trend of your town are really all over the United States.

And now to think about the styles then and now...how much worse could it get?? I often catch myself thinking, "what am I wearing right now that I'm going to make fun of later on?". Hmm....

Sucking Snot

Are you curious? Yes, it actually is as gross as it sounds. Zoe woke up about 6 times last night, but in never more than a few cries later, she was asleep again..or at least quiet. I discovered why she had been waking up this morning when at 8:30 I went in to get her. She could barely breathe for all of the congestion and, well, to be blunt, snot clogging her airways. It must have just bothered her those times during the night and it just took her a while to readjust.

I couldn't help but think each of those times at 1, 2:30, 3......4........yada yada yada, "why is she continuously waking up?". The selfish side of me who just wanted the sleep I so desperately needed waited to make sure she wasn't either screaming in pain or really in need of mommy's cuddling, either of which I would have been in there in a heartbeat despite my lack of sleep. We learned early on that she sometimes cries out in her sleep and that usually within 30 seconds, she's stopped again. Fortunately, all of these wake-ups were that kind...just 10 seconds here, 2 cries there, etc. But still, I knew that with her waking so many times, she would be groggy the next day b/c she didn't stay in her REM sleep for very long. Yay me...

So the morning routine began. Change her 5 pound full of pee diaper...check. I should really do an experiment and weigh her diapers in the morning...they're so full! And especially this morning's which contained the almost 16 ounces of water that she had late in the afternoon (toddler temporarily turned camel). So this mornings actually soaked all the way through the diaper and onto her clothes...YUCK! Get her in fresh clothes that don't have pee smells and stains on them...check! Feed her oatmeal...check. Give her a plate of fruit...well this is where the problems began. She was given pineapple this morning. The first piece alone took her about 2 minutes to eat. Now she's a turtle-like eater, but this was beyond turtle. This was more slug like. Bless her heart heart, she couldn't breathe to eat. So she would take a quick breath with her mouth and then chew chew chew. Another quick breath followed by chew chew chew. LOOOONG process.

So here's where the sucking snot part comes in. About this time, I go dig out our blue snot sucker...I think it's called an aspirator, but I like the name snot sucker much better. It's just catchier. Anyway...I take her plate of pineapple from her and took her out of her highchair, which didn't seem to bother her considering she was still on her first piece. Wow..and only 20 more to go! She unfortunately hates....no loathes that sucker. But on mornings like this, it's a must. So I became the mean mommy who held her daughter down with her 5 arms (I wish) so that she could suck snot.

Now here's where it gets really weird. God used this moment this morning to teach me something, or rather to reveal something to me. Was it that I shouldn't suck snot out of a 13 month old? No, though watching my squirming and now red in the face shrieking daughter, I wish that was His lesson. No...he decided to relate that moment in time of pure squirminess, kicking, hollering, and crying to what we do to Him sometimes. He has us in his arms, yet He's having to literally hold us down to do what he wants to do. Now I know that without us truly following Him, He won't make us do something...it has to be us that takes that step of faith. However, the battle that we often fight in getting the courage to take that step is like what Zoe was doing when I was wrestling her. He knows that what he's trying to do will be a good thing; something that will bless us. But it's the getting there, the wrestling match that often occurs before we allow Him to work that often keeps His best from us.

So the next question is this..."God, what is it that I'm wrestling you on? What do I need to learn from this moment of insanity?" Right now, I don't know, but hopefully now that I'm fully aware that I may very well be doing to Him what Zoe did to me this morning, He will reveal that to me.

Moody mommy vs. Fussy toddler

Rough morning! I hope this isn't any indication of how the rest of the day will go. When two "almost never" situations occur at the same time, what happens? In this case, a competition....who can be the moodiest? Any bets? OK, first off, I'm not moody very often, but as with any woman I do have my moments. We're entitled to a few. Second off...Zoe's not usually a fussy baby, but again, like any toddler, she has her moments. Since birth, she's been one who's quite content in any situation.

This morning was the two extremes colliding with a big boom. Ok so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but remember, moody mother in the room.

This morning, Zoe fussed and whined...ALL MORNING. Of course, she didn't start the constant fussing until Darin left for work. And it was like a magic button..he leaves...wahhhh. Now normally, I have patience for this kind of behavior from a 13 month old. I'll find something to distract her, which lately could be as simple as a toy or a book. This morning, nothing.. Toddler - 1 Moody mom - 0 I'd pick her up, she'd cry. I'd put her down, she'd cry harder. I'd show her a toy, she'd throw it. Toddler - 2 Moody mom - 0. Now do I know what the problem is? Yes. She was tired..for whatever reason. But the other problem was that it was over an hour before her usual nap time. So the new battle now occuring in my head is "should I put her down early and risk this happening again this afternoon (ALL afternoon) because she also went down early for her second nap or do I just try to survive the next hour?" Which would you have done?

Moodiness is now taking over. New battle now occuring in my head - "Don't take your frustrations out on her...it's just one hour". Toddler - 2 Moody mom - 1 So I signed into the blog and picked her up so she could relive some of her life. She gets a kick out of watching herself on video. Toddler - 2 Moody Mom - 2. Phew...15 minutes are gone now. Now it's 9:15. Of course at 9:16, she starts whining again. Find favorite toys and get her engaged. Sweet! Another 10 minutes gone by. Whining again. Toodler - 3 Moody mom - 3

Moodiness again creeping up...so again, I reminded myself, "she's just 13 months. She can't compete with your mood swings." So by this point, I realized there was no way she was going to make it till 10. But in a last attempt, Jack's Big Music Show was on, so we watched it. She LOVES that show (although it's the only one we watch during the day...I on the other hand had seen this particular episode 3 times. Toddler - 3 Moody mom - 4

That show afforded us another 15 minutes, but then she just broke down, so I gave in and put her down. 15 or 20 minutes early is entirely better than an hour and a half early. I'll take it. That's what I get for having a baby that prefers a schedule.

Final score, Toddler - 4 Moody mom - 4. Tie...which is ok. She's now sleeping peacefully, and I'm now able to vent my frustrations by using my creative outlet instead of her. Phew...1.5 hours down, only 7 to go until Daddy get's home.

Random moments

Here's the setting...8:00 in the morning. Zoe's eaten, been dressed. Mom's still hanging out in her flannel pants. Dad's getting ready...he's lathering up his face to shave. Zoe, somewhat amazed at this sight goes in to watch. So mom eggs her on and we practice our "go go's" and our "yay's" at Daddy's smooth shave while trying to make him laugh. As a grand finale, he bends over so she can touch his smooth skin and reply with a "woah". Instead, she touches his face once or twice, but then, out of the middle of no where, she sticks a finger in his ear and says, "tickle tickle tickle". Wow...that's a random but very funny moment. That's her newest word. She's quite ticklish, so she hears that word a lot. Now the ear?? Not sure where that one came from...but it was a priceless moment nonetheless. Here's a very short clip of her saying her new word and "tickling" daddy. You'll have to ignore Jedi who's halfway barking in the background. He was waiting on me to throw his ball and was growing impatient.

The Mini-Olympics Cheerleader

Good grief...the last thing I want my daughter to become is a cheerleader (though I know with her being a girl this is a distinct possiblity). One of the three channels showing the olympics is on quite often at the Buscher household. When an event only comes around once every 4 years, you watch as much as you can. Oddly enough, Zoe learned 5 new words during the last two weeks. Three of which could be identified as cheers or utter astonishment at something just performed. So what are these so-called cheer words, you ask? Well, there's the word "go go" with the fist pump (no joke...Darin gets the credit for that one). Then there's the word "Yay" which is often accompanied with clapping. Again, Darin gets the credit for those. And lastly, the word "woah" which is long and dramatic. That one she learned on her own...I think. But most likely, it was probably me that let out a long "woah" after Michael Phelps continued to climb the gold medal ladder or the gymnastics routines that just blow me away. It's a funny sound to hear a one year old say "go go" and watching her do a small fist pump in the air after some prompting from Daddy. And among the other new words..."thanks and "thank you"...more often sounding like tank-oo.

How cute is the fist pump?

Mommy Papparazzi

Someone asked me the other day, "Does that child know what to do when there's not a camera around?" The answer to that question is yes...when she's not posing, she's dancing. Well, sometimes...ok, maybe a lot of times. This child has music in her head and in mid stride will just break out into a booty shake. As she's learned to maintain her balance shaking wildly back and forth, her shake has grown increasingly larger and wilder. I'm waiting for the day when she breaks out into the macarana dance. So when the camera's on her, this is what she does (only if I am smart enough to play peek-a-boo with her around a giant white column). Who knew that two specific spots on OBU's campus would make such great photo shoot spots! Can you tell I'm thoroughly enjoying child photography?

Uh-Oh Spaghettio's

Boy did I make a mistake yesterday at Walmart. I saw a giant can of spaghetti and meatballs for what looked like a great price and thought, "Oh, she'll enjoy this!". Both were true. It was a decently priced can, and she did enjoy it...maybe a bit too much. She'd had spaghetti before, but always with us feeding her. Today she got to eat it by herself. She dove into it about as quickly as she did her birthday cake, though believe it or not, this was much more messy. I only took two pictures and then began the process of cleaning her up, which in this case took longer than it did for her to actually eat it. And yes, just in case you're wondering, she did actually get some in her mouth...her plate was full before she started.

Jammin' In Her Jammies

Ever since I was able to feel Zoe move in my belly, I've noticed she has a love for music. At church during worship, I would feel her dancing around only to feel nothing when the sermon was being preached. When she could sit on her own, I'd catch her just kind of "dancing" every once in a while. Not sure you could really call it dancing, but it was some sort of intentional random movement. Now that she's standing and walking, she dances ALL THE TIME, sometimes to nothing at all. She rarely gets to watch TV during the day, but she does love to watch Jack's Big Music Show sometimes in the morning..and guess what? It's all music and dancing. Tonight, Darin flipped the TV on just before she went to bed to another show she'll occasionally watch called the Backyardigans...again, another musically oriented show. She has started just recently this "shake your booty move", as I call it. Then sometimes she'll add bouncing up and down to that as well as moving side to side and all around. It's hilarious to watch. I have two videos...the first is her signature move...the "shake your booty move". The second is a combination of all her baby shaking grooves.

First Haircut

I know, I know, most if not all of you reading this are saying, "What in the world would you give that child a haircut for? She's almost bald!" Did I capture your thought? Well, on with the story. Yes, she is somewhat hairless still...however, the hair on the back of her head was so long and thick compared to that on top and on the sides of her head. We had a true baby mullet going on there for a while. So I decided to just trim the back a little bit. So I thought, "ok, I groom Jedi, cut Darin's hair, and have given myself a mini haircut in the middle of the month, really...how hard could it be? Yeah...was I stupid. She sat relatively still, but she's my mover and groover and doesn't like sitting still for any extended period of time. So through this experience, what did I learn? That baby's hair trims are not my forte. So have I kept you on the edge of your seat for what it looks like? I didn't mess it up at all...just trimmed about an inch or a little more off. Now she looks a little more even-headed.

Hello?? Hello??? Hellllloooooo????

Just had to share this picture. She has this little cell phone toy and she's figured out (with the help of watching mommy talk on the phone I'm sure) how to use it. Notice the other hand is up to her ear. I almost always talk like that so as to block out other noise in the room. Now the fact that she has picked even that gesture up is a strong reminder of how much little ones observe us. I snapped this one of her in action "talking" on the phone. Not that we actually want her talking on the phone for real just yet or anything...just thought this was a cute pic.

She does a fake-out, she shoots, she scoooooores!!!

Ok, ok, maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. David and Stephanie, this post is dedicated to you...remember the pink ball? Balls are among Zoe's favorite toys, and the pink basketball in particular is her favorite (this week, anyway). She's been doing all kinds of "tricks" with her newfound discovery of half walk/half run. I just got a kick out of how some of these pics actually look like she's trying to play basketball - by herself nonetheless, but still. She won't get any b-ball skills from me, unfortunately. That'd come from her dad if she gets them. My skills are in just about any sport other than the golf (where chunks of grass come flying up - without the ball moving), and basketball (where I just look like a total fool). Now, softball, volleyball, tennis, swimming??? Those are more along my line of favorite sports to play.

Splat...whoosh...splash

These are the sounds that I hear each time Zoe takes a bath...over and over and over. She's into splashing now, but it's like half the bathwater comes up with each swift hand motion. And not to mention I have to stand several feet back (yes, several) in order not to get soaked. I still get wet, just not soaked.

"Dis, Dis"

****Baby word "dis" - English word "this"**** That title may look funny, but it's probably a word I hear several dozen times each day, and lately it just so happens that when you hear that word, you can find a wobbly 12 month old waddling towards you with a book out in front of her wanting you to read her a book. And, yes, generally it's the same 5 page book. For all those teachers out here reading this blog, you'd be proud of the little book lover. It looks like spending all those hours reading picture books to her have paid off. She loves "reading", and especially having someone read to her. Often, I'll find her sitting in a corner somewhere flipping through the pages of a book. Then when she catches your eye, "dis, dis", and up she goes. She's getting the hang of being able to identify certain items, mainly animals and everyday items. She probably knows b/w 10-20 objects and colors. Who knew that even when I wasn't going to be teaching, I was still going to be teaching
This is the look I'll get in conjunction with "dis, dis"
Still hasn't quite figured out right side up from upside down...but we're getting there!