I would have been the weird one

I'm home alone (!) watching "I Love Lucy," and thinking that I could not have survived if I was married in the 1950s. If I had to say "yes, sir" to my husband, or beg him for money, or be in charge of the kids full-time while he earns the living, or ask permission for everything, I would have rebelled and talked back and been the talk of all the biddies at the bridge games.

RRRRGH! Lucy just bought new furniture without Ricky's permission, so he's taking it to his office and making her pay for it out of her "allowance." She washes one of his suits in the sink to show she's economizing to save for the furniture--and to get back at him for yelling at her--and he says she has to pay an extra $100 for the furniture. So she wants to have one last party night before she starts saving money, which means a perm and a new dress. Ricky sternly shakes his head.

"If I make the dress myself, can I have the permanent?"
Like a father dealing with an aggravating child, he sternly shakes his head.
"If I give myself the permanent, can I buy a dress?"
Head shake.
"If I give myself the permanent and make the dress, will you take the extra $100 off?"

Like a child having to do chores to earn an allowance, not like an equal partner!

Tonight Jason is baby-sitting for friends of ours--their oldest child and I do not get along, so it's understood that Jason (who is so much more patient and understanding) babysits when their oldest is there, not me. He even took Jamie with him so I could have a little time to myself--with which I need to get up and continue accomplishing things in a minute here--so he's with three kids by himself. He said he needs the practice anyway, because we'll be to that point eventually. Now, that's a real man!

I guess I shouldn't have referenced the 50s. Plenty of women are still dominated by men, in subtle and horrible ways. But I'm glad that at least in our culture, it's encouraged, even expected for husbands and wives to be equal partners, and for fathers to be parents to their children, too. And I'm so grateful to be blessed with a man who believes that, and practices it.

B&W photo session

I wasn't expecting to have another ultrasound until the big one, so I was pleased to go in for routine tests today and get to see my little baby!

Can you see the arm and little hand?

The Halloween picture. It's the baby looking right at the "camera" and showing the bone structure of the face.

4D, scrunched up with the little fists near the eyes and the feet propped up, just like a baby in a car seat

Different angle

My favorite--the nurse and ultrasound tech agreed that it looked like the baby wanted to do a hand stand. It kept using its legs (right side, looking tadpole-ish) up against the side of the uterus to bounce its little bum up and down! SO funny and cute!

I told Jason we have another little stinker on our hands. It took the tech three tries to get the angle she needed for the test that would be done. She was jostling my abdomen, poking (gently) at it, I had to cough, go to the bathroom, lift my hips and then plop them back down, and that baby still refused to move!

"Wunning!"

Family has seemed to really enjoy the couple of videos I put up in the last few days, so I thought I'd try to keep it up.

Shoe makeover, and a quick video

Remember when I recovered the arms of a desk chair I got at a yard sale last year, here?  I finally figured out something new to do with the leftover faux leather. I've had these shoes for a long time, and they needed an update.

Before

Not-very-good-picture of After

Sorry, I know these pictures just aren't very attractive, but when you can only craft late at night, light and photo ops are limited.

I got a template to cut the flower pieces out of from this post on Make It and Love It, my go-to for most all things crafty. Want to know a secret? They were way too dull-looking; to make them shiny, I colored each layer with a Sharpie!

Then I just hot glued each layer together, cut the bows off the shoes, and hot glued these on. Very easy.

I might even try again and put a different flower on. These were, in all honesty, just the easiest. I also have these shoes in tan and I wear them to church practically every week, so I'm thinking of how to make those over, too.

Here's a small dose of Jamie for you, in his wonderfully messy glory.

(his smile comes right off his face the minute he notices the camera)

A sweet friend gave us some toys and clothes for Jamie Sunday night, and he has been SO excited about them! We obviously need to go garage sale-ing and get him more stuff that's more his age.