Convalescing.

My sincere apologies for another prolonged absence. I contracted a nasty cold last Sunday and am only just getting over a stubborn cruddy cough, which I can tell you is at least 30 times more annoying when pregnant. Particularly because your choice of medications available is severely curtailed.

I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This morning I woke up after a relatively unbroken night's sleep, the first in a week. I was nearly floored (even though I was still lying down) by a huge wave of love and contentment. I realized how lucky I was to have such a wonderful husband and two (almost) beautiful little boys, and how much I loved them. I wished my husband hadn't already left for work so I could give him a huge hug. Adding to my increasing sense of glee is a prediction for several days of 70-degree weather in the next few days. The boy's new spring/summer wardrobe is in the wash in preparation for warmer days ahead. Birds have been helping me wake up the past few days.

I am confident that once I finally kick this illness, I will finally have energy to do some things I have been putting off. Namely, writing more poetry and hopefully biting the bullet and starting to edit that novel I wrote in November. Part of my motivation for writing more poetry is that April is National Poetry Month. Any ideas for topics/ other poetry-related things you'd like to see here are quite welcome, consider the comments section my suggestion box. A heads-up for this week's Poetry Challenge: I think it's high time we did Spring poems.

Haiku News

If you are surprised

Ricky Martin has come out,

you have no gay-dar.

High up on my list

of things I would never watch:

Levi Johnston's show.

Scary things afoot:

Michigan-based militia

planned to kill police.

A few small conversations.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"You OK, Mommy?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you OK?"

"I fine."

****

"Mommy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Where going?"

"I'm going to be here with you, sweetie."

****

"Sweetie, after your snack we'll get your shoes on and go on a walk to the park!"

"Shoes on, walk, park! Whee!"

Haiku News

Way to go, Ms. James,

but your timing could have been

better--March Madness?

New Jersey Wal-Mart

has a mystery to solve:

who's the PA jerk?

This piece makes me sad,

between ignorant adults

and lazy parents.

Could it be?

The snow has melted. The sun seems to be out more than the clouds of late. The past two days I have been able to take the boy for a walk without needing a jacket of any kind. In fact, yesterday was the first day I could take the boy to the park and put him on a swing in months. The look on his face was priceless. Could it be...spring? I am hoping against hope that this is indeed the case. I am tired of my nose running and my fingers hurting anytime I venture outside for longer than a few minutes.

The boy is really turning into a mimic these days. Yesterday he sneezed and I said "bless you," which he promptly repeated. He is also working on "I love you". His pronunciation of "dinosaur" reminds me of a New Yorker even though he has never heard that accent before. I am finding that more and more he will repeat something I said moments before. While I do not generally use any sort of bad language, I will definitely need to be on high alert from now on that I don't say anything I don't want a tiny voice repeating.

As for the littlest one, last Friday we found out our boy is getting a little brother. He is already a bit of a wily one; I have had several days where I could feel him kick high enough to put my hand on my belly and feel it from the outside, but it seems that every time I am around other people he stays conveniently head up so that all his kicks are too low to put a hand on. Stinker.

Haiku News

I'm sorry, but why

should I care that George Clooney

frowned at the Oscars?

I will never know

what drives teachers to have sex

with teenage students.

This one makes me ill:

since when is love "dangerous"

to a high school prom?

Anticipation...

It is so hard to wait for things sometimes. Now that little munchkin has started regularly making his/her presence known, it's getting more "real" and I am really excited about the "big" ultrasound on Friday. Last time we kept it a surprise, which was awesome, but this time I just have to know if our little boy is getting a little brother or a little sister. So hopefully if the baby cooperates we'll know in just under 48 hours. Now that it's so close it is really hard to wait. I am trying to keep busy, but I'm sure you are familiar with the feeling: the more you are looking forward to something, the slower time seems to go until you get there. Sigh...at least tomorrow I will have my mom here to help me pass the time.

Speaking of big brother, he is just so funny lately. He seems to be able to recognize the numbers 1, 3, 4 and 5, and often if you start counting he will join you. If he starts it himself though, it is likely to sound like "Four, five, four, five!" He also likes to say "green," although I don't think he quite knows what that is yet. He is just learning Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Minnie frequently comes out "money," as in the other day when he pointed at her picture and said "Yaaaaay Money!" What a silly guy. We live close enough to our church to be able to walk, and the last few weeks we have taken our little boy by the hand and had him walk to church with us rather than riding in the stroller. I am proud to say he will frequently make both trips with no problems.

Haiku News

"Take your child to work"

taken to a new level:

kid directs airplanes.

Lesson for the wise:

if a girl asks for your kid,

call authorities.

Another good tip:

when departing on cruise ships,

bring sanitizer.