Two Outta Three Ain't Bad

It appears my mystical powers have failed me. I guessed right on my friend Emily's girl and my friend Erika's boy, but my cousin Jessica decided to spite me and have a little boy instead of the lady I'd predicted. Actually, I believe everything Jessica has done in her pregnancy was to spite me. First, she went and had not a smidge of morning sickness. Then, she thought it would be funny if she showed me how few stretch marks she could get (i.e. zero). And for her grand finale, she decided to have a 6 hour natural labor. That's it?! Six hours?! Who is this super woman?! Aren't we supposed to have some of the same genes? I always knew Nanny loved "Perfect Jessica" the best. I should have known that she passed her awesome pregnancy genes to her first grand-daughter on purpose.

For those of you that don't know my relationship with my cousin, I jest. "Perfect Jessica" is something I said in an angry tantrum long ago...I think it was last week. Sorry, I can't help myself sometimes. And the previous paragraph is all based on the fact that last Thanksgiving, Jessica declared she was glad we were not pregnant at the same time because she was sure I would hate her. Well, in the meantime, I went and got knocked up purely to see if her theory was true. That was the whole reason for Belew #2. It turns out I did not hate being pregnant at the same time as her. In fact, I am so proud of her and happy for her and my entire family that a new addition has been added. She's a tough old bird just like Nanny and I adore that.

Though her whole situation did get me thinking. Is my Gingervitis the cause of my crappy pregnancy? There are two types of people on the Long side of the family, those that look like straight up Native Americans and those that seem they jumped the boat from Ireland. There's not really an in between. Perhaps there's a severe nausea gene that hitches a ride over with the freckles and one for stretch marks getting cozy with the one for red hair. Someone should do research on this subject for the sake of ginger moms everywhere. (Again, I jest but only half-heartedly)

I'm sure baby Isaac is adorable and I will post a picture of him here as soon as there is one to post, so check back often. As for me, I can't wait to get up there and meet him at Jessica's earliest convenience. Perhaps I'll tow Nanny along because Lord knows she wouldn't get up there unless she's baited by a chance at holding a new baby. I'll even take a graveyard shift just so they can get a whole night of sleep. Have a wonderful first night at home with your son, Wonder Woman!

Isaac Bradley Wilder, 7 lbs 4 oz, 21 in.
Ready to start yapping, a Nanny Long trait! (We pop out the alert ones)

The Best Days

As I sit here watching my son grin while he pretends to eat cereal puffs out of an empty container, I can't help but think of my friends...friends that are expecting babies, friends that have new little ones, and friends who are waiting for their time to come...and I'm filled with amazement and a little amused by the advanced knowledge at how much better their lives will become. Each day with your own child brings some new wonder, and just when you feel you couldn't possibly love anyone or anything any more, your baby suddenly will become magically more adorable than the previous second.

Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that every parent in the world is a good one and that everyone has love for their children, but the women I have in mind most certainly will. And I don't care how cliche it is, the truth remains that the love you feel as a mother is the best kind of love. I'm also not so insane to ignore the fact that there will always be bad days but for every completely and utterly bad day there are 50 good ones with your child. (that's coming from a woman who battles depression consistently) Last night I was sobbing uncontrollably, but in the midst of it jamie was runnig across the living room and throwing himself at the floor. Then he would roll like he'd had a major spill and giggle, and I couldn't help but laugh through my tears.

Currently, Jamie is laying on me and tickling me waiting for me to laugh. I'm serious. His first word was tickle and he has now mastered the concept. He wiggles his fingers on my arm, stomach, whatever's closest saying "tickle, tickle, tickle" until I belt out my most convincing laugh. I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you ladies, even the ones with newborns, that you can imagine it, but you truly have no idea of the joy you are in for. Sappy I guess, but true. Even now, I'm surprised every day by this love. I'm so excited to have ladies to share it with.

I need to shave.

Tennessee Gypsies

Our family is officially homeless. Well, I suppose not officially. The house hasn’t technically closed but the fact remains that other people now live in the home on Mercury Boulevard. The couple that wanted to buy our house chose the 29th of May for their closing date because that’s when their lease was up on their apartment. The closing didn’t go through on the planned date and they were freaking out about not having a place to stay, so we wrote up a rental agreement with our real estate agent for a week because “They” tell us the closing will happen by the end of this week…here’s hoping.

After that, we’ll just be waiting on our loan to process (a seemingly endless task, even with great credit) and then it’s off to live in our new home. We drove by it the other day just to take a peek at the outside and were pleasantly surprised to see our six foot privacy fence already installed. During the walk-thru, the builder told us that they wouldn’t even start on it until we closed, which would have made it two weeks without a fence for Max & Mattie. We also peeked in the windows at our new appliances. This house comes fully loaded with a brand new stove, refrigerator, microwave, ice maker, disposal, dishwasher, and a washer and dryer! Not many builders throw in those last two. I’m totally excited.

When we do finally close, we will still be having that painting party I mentioned. I don’t know when to expect to close now so it may be a couple days notice for it. I know last minute doesn’t work for a lot of people but even one person helping is more than no people helping, so we’ll take whoever has the time to help out a pregnant lady with a one year old who isn’t really supposed to be painting. (How do you like that sympathy card?!) Yes, Emily, I know that looks like it says Jamie isn’t supposed to be painting.
I’ll provide pizza or something…wings, perhaps. When we do know when we’ll be closing, I’ll send out notice. Trust me.

Currently we’re vagrants roaming Tennessee with a car full of suitcases. We started at Tyler’s Granny’s house but she has a lot going on this week and doesn’t need the added stress of house guests. That lasted 5 nights. Sunday we headed west on a caravan to Henrietta. We’re now staying in the old double wide at my parents’ house. Good ole Cheatham County is quite far away from well, everything, but at least we’re in our own space and will hopefully not be stressing out my parents.

We discovered when we got here that Mattie stayed in the outdoor kennel for about two days before breaking the wire and escaping. She has since been living happily as a country dog on my parents’ property and is not the hundred miles away we would’ve expected her to be at this point. It’s going to be heart-breaking to put her into a fenced yard but we would hate to part with her, and she clearly wants to be with us. She spent the entire day curled up next to the sliding door of the double wide. Mom would’ve let Max out but he hates everything animal. He tried to attack her two dogs and would most definitely eat the cat and probably get stepped on by the horses trying to take them down as well. Apparently, he didn’t get the memo that he’s 20 lbs and about a foot tall. He’s always been very picky about his animal friends. If Tyler and I don’t bring them into his world for him then he assumes they are the enemy and must be stopped. Dogs. We're not sure yet whether Beans will be back to live with us or not. She certainly has a better situation at Boxwell than she would at our house but she's welcome to come back anytime, of course.

Soon all 5 of us, 6 if you count the baby (who I am convinced is Charlie) will have a home and a backyard and will not be right on a four lane road. I will be counting down the days to that!