Mommy Story and Hannah Story

So I promise this won't turn into a blog about the new baby (also known as a blog about me). But I have to share these latest pregnancy thoughts.

My body is doing all the same bizarre things it did the last time around. (I don't know who exactly reads this blog, but I'm pretty sure the list includes a couple male relatives, so I'll skip the specifics.) As I understand it, the weird side effects are the result of my body reacting to the pregnancy hormones. And I'm surprised by this. I mean, we JUST did this, not even two years ago...shouldn't my body be used to it? Do we really have to do it all again? This time around, couldn't I be one of those women who glows with the Miracle of Life for nine months and only gains 22 pounds? Apparently not. It's a good thing those newborns are so cute.

And now the Hannah story:

Hannah discovered deer last week. She was staying with my parents, who have a little slice of Wild America out their back door. Turkeys, quail, pheasants, deer, the occasional porcupine...it all wanders through sooner or later. One morning, we saw a doe and two fawns. Hannah was hooked. And so, in their ongoing quest to fulfill her every wish, her doting grandparents started putting corn out. Hannah got several deer viewings and even started saying 'deer' ... it comes out 'dee!' but we get the idea.

Anyway, last night Nick took her across the street to the historic mansion grounds to let her run in the grass. I was inside finishing dinner when Hannah came tearing into the kitchen yelling, "Dee! Dee! Dee!" She's started repeating the words she knows (and she runs everywhere, anyway), so I thought she was just trying to tell me that she can say deer. But apparently this is what happened:

As they were getting close to the grounds, Nick was playing with her and said, "Hannah, be very quiet. There might be deer inside." So Hannah played along, putting her finger to her lips and saying, "Shhhh." (This is also her response when you tell her someone is sleeping or when you ask her what sound a bunny makes...it makes sense if you've read Pat the Bunny) They got inside the gates and Nick saw a shape, but he thought it was a bush or something. Still, he said, "Hannah, look over there. Do you think that's a deer?"

And BAM, the deer took off, running right in front of them about 30 feet away. There was shrieking. And dancing in circles. (Mostly Hannah, at least the way Nick tells it.) It probably made her year. It's just going to be hard to explain why we the deer aren't there every time we go play.