A six week catch up.

I've been a stranger to my blog for about six weeks because, well, I don't know. I suppose the main reason is because I'm kind of a lazy blogger, if you haven't picked up on that throughout the life of this blog. I annoy even myself because I have promised about 35 times that I would do better but I never do. So I won't be making any more promises about that anymore. If anyone reads this, just accept the fact that I may or may not be consistent. Even though I can honestly say I wish I was consistent because this little website here is all I have to go by when it comes to our family history over the past three-ish years. I'll do better.I promise. Haha - kidding. I probably won't do better.

Anyway, here is what has been happening with us Rice's. Aaron is really enjoying his job at his law firm. He's learning a lot and tries to tell me about it, but never gets far into it before he gets interrupted by me screaming, "Clark, please don't (fill in the blank)." So even though I don't have a clue what exactly he does for 8-10 hours per day, I know he's happy doing it.

And then there is Clark. Where do I even start with that kid? He is by far the sweetest, most handsome little chump I've ever laid eyes on and I will always consider it a huge blessing and honor to stay home with him and teach him what limited information I know and most importantly, I learn from him everyday. I am learning patience in a way I never thought I'd ever have to know. After all, he is a two year old boy who shares a gene pool with Aaron Randall Rice. Whoa is all I'm going to say about that.

He's learning new things everyday. He's a curious little tot and is constantly exploring. I am loving seeing this huge world through a toddler's eyes. He's getting semi-proficient with words and we actually have conversations with him now and he can communicate with us. And as with any toddler, I am sure, the number one concept we are all trying to nail down is discipline. Clark understands it, I have no doubt. He understands consequences and spankings and even though I try not to do it too much, he definitely understands threats. His main problem right now is running away from me when I ask him to do something, and that is not okay at all with me. Every time he does it, I ask him what happens when he doesn't obey the first time and he responds by spanking himself on the leg. So he understands the consequence of not listening but he's okay with it because he continually does it. It gets old, especially when you are ridiculously pregnant and sitting down and standing up (and running after a fast two year old) is quite an ordeal that results in lots of moaning and groaning. But I am sure with much prayer, patience and practice, we will all be okay.

Some of his favorite things right now include reading, riding the four wheeler with his Geez and talking to the cows and horsies, going down big slides on his belly, running, playing with his cars and making vroom vroom noises, talking about airplanes and fire trucks, praying for his family and the cows and horsies, playing in dirt, mud, and water puddles, being outside, playing with his friends Jackson, Noah, and Barrett, going to school (pronounced cool) and church, making coffee for his dad every morning, hugging and kissing the baby (my belly), watching lame shows like Blue's Clue's, and roughhousing with Aaron. And I mean serious roughhousing. If one were to see the kind of roughhousing I'm talking about, there is a high probability Child Protective Services would pay us a visit. But then you hear the squeals of laughter and cackling coming from both dad and son and you know it's all in good fun and dad (hopefully) has everything under control.

I'm not proud of the pink paci in this picture, but this was a particularly rough no-nap day

and he fell asleep on the couch after I gave it to him.

He will turn two on January 6, and by then he would have been a big brother for about three weeks. Raise your hand if you are as nervous as I am about this. I'm anxious for several reasons, but the main one is because I am scared of not being able to appropriately give myself to these two kids (and Aaron). I'm scared of yanking away the attention I've always been able to give Clark. I'm already feeling pangs of guilt for knowing that in just a few days, I'll be repeating a variation of this phrase over and over again: "Hold on just a second, Clark." or "The baby needs to (fill in the blank)." I will be overly conscious of this when Griffin is born and will make a very concerted effort to spend as much quality time with just Clark as possible. The good news is that so far, he is showing signs of being excited about the baby and he's very nice and gentle with him in my belly. He loves to go in Griffin's room at night and say night night to his crib and point out everything that the baby is going to use. I don't know if this is foretelling of what life will actually be like or not, but I'll let you know how it goes. Probably in about six months when I get around to blogging again.

Griffin is still growing, and of that I am sure. With every ounce he gains, I feel it in my back, my muscles, my hair, toenails, everything. Last week he was a little over eight pounds, so we are expecting another 9+ pound baby by next week, unless he decides to come sooner, which would be awesome. We are having him at UMC and I am going to write a very long book one day about how much I love my doctor. If you are in the market for an obgyn, please, please, please call me.

This is our plan for Griffin's delivery. If I have not had him by Wednesday, December 14 (my roommate Megan's birthday), I will check in to the hospital at 5 am and by 7:30 am, we will be holding our newest baby. This time around I am having a c-section and I am not going to go into details for reasons you should thank me for. But I will say that I am nervous about it and would love to hear from anybody who has ever had a c-section. Please send me an email or facebook message if you can tell me that it is a piece of cake and I will breeze right through the whole thing. If you can't tell me those exact words, don't contact me. I do love the fact that his birthday will be scheduled and predictable and I can make arrangements for Clark and Jake and all the above.

In other news, Aaron and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on November 20. It was a nice, low key day spent at church and lazing around the house not doing anything productive besides watching marathon episodes of Sister Wives and talking smack about the husband on the show. That guy is so creepy. Seven years of marriage - dadgum that sounds like a long time. But really it hasn't felt like it. We have lived in what seems like a thousand different cities, we were students for most of those years, I worked in a gastroenterologist office at one point and got to talk about colons all day, Aaron started and finished law school, we moved in and out of a wonderful house in Oxford, we had a kid who changed our worlds, we've had some really good times and some perfectly bad times, we got a white maltipoo who I now have a love/hate relationship with, we made some great friends, and now we are getting ready to welcome a second baby into our lives. All in seven years. And none of that would have ever happened if it weren't for Nikki, who convinced me to go with her youth group to Panama City for a church retreat that made me wear a one piece bathing suit. So thanks, Nikki. I owe you one. Oh wait, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have met your husband, so I guess we're even. You are welcome. That is a true story, by the way.

That about sums up our lives in a few short paragraphs. Please keep our family in your prayers as we grow next week, or hopefully much sooner than that. I'm so excited to celebrate Christmas with family and watch Clark open presents for the first time. Last year he was a wee too young to actually enjoy his gifts. I'm also happy to really understand Advent for the first time this year. What a difference it makes on your entire perspective of Christmas when you look at it through the lens of the heritage of Jesus Christ.

I am going to rely on Arnie to post pictures of the new little guy and I'll try my darndest to write a little somethin' somethin' about him as soon as possible. We had a 4d ultrasound done when I was 31 weeks pregnant, and Griffin's pictures are identical to Clark's 4d pictures. That is awesome to me because I happen to think that Clark is the cutest thing to ever be born and I would be happy to be the mom of two of the cutest things to ever be born. I had another ultrasound yesterday and the nurse zoomed in on his head and showed me that Griffin has lots of hair. That made me smile. I hope his hair is all Bozo the Clown like Clark's was.

Merry Christmas, y'all.