Just Checkin' In

This year is flying by!! Can you believe we're almost to the end of 2008!!!! Wow! At the end of this month Quenton will be FOUR. My goodness, it seems like only yesterday ;) I really really need to scan some pictures of Quen when he was a baby; he and Caleb look identical other than Quen has the darkest brown eyes and Caleb has the brightest blue eyes. My guess is that their personalities will NOT be the same though. Caleb is far more layed back, very easy come easy go. He loves to just lay and watch what's going on around him. Quenton was and is a busy dude. He likes to be on the go and he likes to be in charge. I'm sure we'll have some interesting times here in about a year or so :D
Following are some pictures of my two little guys together, see if you can see the resemblance before I scan in a picture of Quenton as a baby.




This one was taken to commemorate Grandma Vicki sending these adorable hats for everyone. Ari was eating lunch at the time or she would have been pictured sporting her pink one. Caleb was going to his happy place. Have you ever met a baby that likes hats?








I HAD to include this picture cause it's SO stinkin' cute, and though you can't SEE Quenton in it, he's the one that Caleb's smiling at. Some of Caleb's first and biggest smiles were for his big bro.

LOVE those baby cheeks!!!










Now don't wet yourself, but yes, that is my not quite 4 year old holding, without any support (!!) his 16+ lb baby brother. And he even looks happy about it. I tried it out with him before hand, seeing if he was strong enough and then I HAD to get a picture. How cute is that?

My precious worker man!

I couldn't bring myself to close my blog tonight without showing off what a wonderful helper I have in my precious Quenton. He is a very hard worker, with a wonderful attitude. I've been blown away by how much he can already do. He's not yet four, and as you will see, he can pretty much do the laundry completely by himself!!

Here we have a Quenton dangling precariously off of the edge of the washing machine, taking wet clothes out and putting them in the dryer. Did I mention he has extraordinary balance (and there's a stool down there out of the view of the camera)?

Usually Arianna (his two year old sister)
is in there pushing the clothes into the dryer for
him so he doesn't have to get up and down,
but for the sake of the documentary, it seemed
fitting that he should be doing the pushing himself. lol!








Alrighty, washer is empty, dryer is full. Start 'er up Bub.
Pushing the button is the favorite part you know.
Now, let's see about starting up another load!



Now, get Mom's homemade soap,
yes Mom does make her own
laundry soap at times :) ,
measure it out and throw it
in the washer.











And now the clothes go in!!














Voila! The clothes are in, the lid is shut, and my little man did an awesome job!! At this rate I will have worked myself out of a job by the time he's about 8 ;)


I'm accepting applications for marriage at this time. *Snort*

Let's see, where did I leave off

It seems to me I was posting pictures of my little doll face :)

I'm having one of those warm fuzzy, I just love my kids so much I can barely stand it nights. *Grin* God is so, so good!




Here's Caleb getting a bath. I heart bath pictures. Babies are just so stinkin' cute nekked. Love the rolls ;)

Here we have Ari, trying desperately to
be a little mother. As you can see, Caleb is having nothing to do with it.



This was taken on Ari's birthday (Sept. 23rd). That little doll in her lap has been dubbed "Baby Rachael" and she carries her everywhere. Every time Momma gets our the nursing pillow, Ari likes to carry baby Rachael over and "nurse her" from her protruding belly button *snort*. She is ALL girl. I can't wait (in some ways) to see what a terrific mother she will be.

He SMILES!!

Here we have one of Caleb's first few smiles! Too cute. You gotta love those first little baby grins.

And though he's not smiling in this one, it's one of my favorites. It just seems like it shows his sweet, gentle nature to me. For the most part, he is very mild and even tempered. He loves to watch his brother and sister play. Really, he's always been a people person. From the day he was born he has loved to be out where everyone is. He seems to relish noise and activity. Oh, and when it's not noisy in the house... meaning when the other two are in bed, *grin* he makes plenty of noise himself. He LOVES to coo, and he does it a lot. Oh Lord help me to remember and cherish these precious baby moments that are SO fleeting!!

Here's a picture of me with my little man. These, of course, are few and far between. Momma's usually the one behind the camera. It must have been a woman who developed the idea of timers eh? Hmm... sounds like a good homeschooling lesson opportunity. Digital Camera 101 for Quenton ;)

Here's another really good shot of those big blue eyes! He is SO (!!) strong too. He can hold that big noggin up for a long time on his tummy, and he's rolling over from his back to his tummy all the time. *Sigh* They do grow fast don't they?!!

As our Caleb grows!

Well, Mr. Caleb came out with very bright blue eyes, but based on past experience, I had little hope that they would stay that color. However, I've been in for a surprise. See for yourself! This is Caleb at about 2.5 months. Hopefully you can see what a gorgeous color his eyes are in this picture. If not, no worries, there are more to come!
I've kind of been waiting this whole time for his eyes to change, because his brother and sister both have VERY dark brown eyes. Both of them started out with dark blue eyes, but they changed in the first couple of months.

Here's Caleb with Quenty, who, again, is quite delighted with his brother. Hmm.. now that I'm looking at it, I wonder what I did with that outfit. Isn't it adorable? My dear friend Praise sent it to me for him. It has these precious little turtles all over it, and well, I love turtles, although not quite as much as I love the little chunk that's wearing it. *Note how dark Quenty's eyes are*Oh, and did I mention he sucks his thumb? Lol! He looks addicted already doesn't he.

Some shots of Caleb-Coo

Well, now that you know Caleb made it safely into this world, I thought it would be an opportune time to share some pictures of my handsome little man. He's an adorable little bugger, and eats well *snort*.
Here he is at just a couple of days old, with his very, very proud older brother.

Here he is about a month later. Those cheeks are just MADE for kissin', dontcha think?
He sleeps rather soundly too. I must've taken 12-13 different shots of him that night, with the flash on and everything. He didn't move a muscle. God is good!


More later... blogger is having issues and won't let me post any more pictures. :)

Well, it's only been about 5 months *Cough*

It seems to me it's high time I update my blog eh? Life got pretty wonky (that's my new word for the week) after my third child graced us with his presence. Yes, that's right! In case you've been hiding under a rock and didn't know, Mr. Caleb Benjamin Haug arrived June 5th weighing in at 8lbs 4 oz (bigger than his big brother started out as) and 21 inches long.

If you'd read my blog previously, you would know, there was some question as to the position of this little man, as well as some prolonged pre-labor. As it turned out, we wound up doing with Caleb the exact same thing we did with Ari: Manually turning him and then breaking the water. He was born about 15 minutes under 5 hours after my water was broken. Praise the Lord for speedy births. The ride from the midwife's house home (so I could birth at home) after she broke my water was not the most comfortable ride I've ever had, but it was worth it! Let me tell you, I loved my home birth. He was born in what amounted to be a cattle trough, but hey, it's easily transportable and it served its purpose well. ;)

So, life is changing and ever different now, with this added little bundle. I've saved up plenty of things to blog about in my 5 month absence, so, Lord willing, look for more posts to follow shortly.

The Blessing of kids!

I had THE most awesome time with my son the other night. I walked away, nearly in tears, grateful for the billionth time for my precious boy.

I was putting him to bed the other night, which has not been something I look forward to most nights, because usually by then I'm contracting at least some, my back hurts, and I'm tired. But, I do enjoy the chats we have here and there, because he often uses this time at night to talk to me about his day, which is precious beyond words. Well, this was one of those nights, and I'm so thankful that I didn't hurry through it, kiss him goodnight and leave.

I was sitting next to his bed, kind of bouncing up and down on one of those giant balls you always see at Walmart. I had my shirt pulled up off of my tummy, just cause sometimes it's more comfortable that way. He was kind of eyeing my tummy, so I said "You know, baby Caleb is going to come out soon." He smiled and seemed pleased at that idea. Then I asked him if he wanted to talk to Caleb. He looked surprised and glanced at my belly and then up at me and said something like "Will he talk back?" I laughed and said "No, even if he was out here he wouldn't be able to talk yet, but he can hear you, even from in there." He got a big grin and leaned close to my tummy and said "Hi Caleb, it's me Quenton." *heart melt* Then I said, can you tell him to turn so his head is down? He did, and I asked if he'd tell him to come out soon. He did that too. It was soo cute too, because he motioned downward with his hands and said, you need to come out this way. I'm not entirely sure how he even knew that, but he said it exactly right. Anyway, then we went on to prayer time. He said his list of things he wanted to pray for and then began to pray. He started out on his bed, but quickly jumped up and laid his head right on my belly and prayed "Jesus, please help baby Caleb to turn his head down and to come out very soon, and please keep him safe (what wisdom in a little boy). Also, please protect Daddy and help him with his work...."

It was one of the most precious moments I have ever had the pleasure of living through. The caring and sweetness in his voice towards his unborn brother was priceless.

What an honor it is to raise these precious jewels! God, grant me the patience to endure the days that don't end quite so nicely, and the wisdom to remember the days that do!

Thinking....

I'm feeling a bit contemplative this evening. I almost want to say heavy hearted, but it's not that exactly. Reflective maybe? Anyway, part of me is feeling down on myself for being short with my little sweet ones this evening before bedtime. Some days I just don't take the persistant, on-going, seemingly endless (getting the drift?) line of questions from my precious 3 y/o. And then of course, there are just days where you feel like they're trying every trick in the book to get away with something. Quenton is exTREMely obediant generally. But, once in a while, he gets it in his head to try a series of things through out a day, in an effort I guess, to assure himself that Mama is still serious about the obediance thing. Let it be known... Mama is serious! But... 10 days before my due date is not my favorite time to play this "game". Actually the last several nights in a row I haven't been the most pleasant person in the world to be around, I'm ashamed to say. Suffice it to say, I do pray this little man would find his way (and stay) in the head down position, and that he would make his appearance very very soon. I do tire of being cranky. The Lord does sustain me though. I am so blessed. I'm so thankful for this healthy little boy, and ever so grateful for my delightful and inquisitive children. The verses "Let not your heart be troubled" and "Do not grow weary in doing good" come to mind just now. Thank you Jesus for bringing me through each and every day. Let tomorrow end with a smile of pure joy!

For the record

It does seem at long last that I have my answer to my most puzzling question throughout this pregnancy.... "Am I due in May or June?"

Me thinks this is a June baby. I started contracting a couple of weeks ago, and thought to myself, "Oh oh oh, I was right, I was a month off. Yeah, May baby." As I continued to contract EVERY night that week I was definitely reminded of the end part of my pregnancy with Arianna. As much fun as it is to contract and then stop every night... leaving you in this horrible quandry and sending you multiple times to your poor midwife to be checked yet AGAIN. Well, this time I refused to do that. I called her the first night, as a sort of "heads-up", but then left it at that. It was so hard to know what to do, because I have a dear friend who has been at each of my births thus far in a doula capacity, and would like to be present for this one as well, BUT she lives in North Idaho. I start contracting and think, "well, should I call her and tell her to book a flight? Or, is this going to continue on for some time etc?" I did call her, but I told her to hold off. Good thing eh?

All that to say, I think I finally figured it out. See, I started taking this Gentle Birth labor prep stuff about a week before those contractions started. I dismissed it as having anything to do with my contractions because they started a week later. I believe I was a bit hasty in my dismissal. After reading some posts on the welltellme forum about Gentle Birth, I came to different conclusions. So, I continue to contract here and there, seemingly randomely. It's not my favorite thing in the world. Not that they hugely hurt, but it does make me wonder how easily I'll recognize it when I'm in labor for real. I really don't like NOT knowing. And I do hope that enduring weeks and weeks of this WILL make my labor/delivery easier. I think I would be most put out if I went through all of this, only to have another 10-12 hour labor.

Either way though, this little baby will be making his appearance rather soon, and I certainly look forward to it. Oh, how I can't wait to cuddle my little Caleb and cover his little face with kisses and and and. What a blessing from God our little ones are!!

As the baby turns

*Note to self, ALWAYS save new post somewhere else before hitting the ever fallible "Post" button*

Alright, so what is it with me and having these babies that can turn at will (and largely without my noticing) from head up to head down at the end of my pregnancies? Arianna did it, and now little Caleb is doing it. I can feel his movements a bit more than I could with her, which leads me to believe he's a bit bigger.... and also scares me, since I have just under 3 weeks remaining *ack*.

Perhaps it's just God giving me breaks from the pubic bone pressure. That seems to be my most obvious indicator of the baby's position right now. When he's head down I can FEEL it! Oh... and I waddle. *sigh*

Kids growing up

My kids are so cute! I love them so much, and it's such a joy to watch them and see how they are growing. I got a sweet picture of how they might be as they get older the other day.

Quen was taking the trash out for me (what a wonderful helper he is already!!!) and his sister was standing at the door watching. She kept trying to open the door for him when he was coming back in (it's a glass door). If the door latched as he went out, then she couldn't do it, but if it wasn't she was able to push it open for him. So, one of the times it wasn't latched and she pushed it open as best she could to let him in and he paused, garbage can in hand and said "Thanks Ar!" It was sooo precious to me. We, him included, pretty much always call her Arianna, Ari, or Baby. For some reason it struck me as so precious that he called her Ar right then. Like, perhaps, it would be his special name for his younger sister as they grow older.

Oh how precious these little memories are!

Maybe a May baby?

So, I've been contracting for the last two nights in a row... The biggest part of me would LIKE to think that little Caleb is going to be a May baby instead of a June baby, as I had wondered before. I have so many conflicting emotions. Not the smallest of which is "What's going on?" I guess I don't really like "not being in the know".

BUT, through all of this, I think I'm beginning to understand that God is telling me to rest in His timing and not worry about tomorrow, so to speak. Caleb will come out of there, one way or the other. Yes, it's frustrating. Especially since I went through this exact same thing with Arianna. Yet, she is here, and she's over a year and a half! I really was hoping to have a more straigh forward time of it this time, yet I feel like there must be Some reason for this. So, I will wait, and do so with as much patience as I can muster, while my Lord and Saviour molds me into His image.

I sure can't wait to hold this little man though! Although, I must say, it's not quite real to me yet ;)

My cute kids

This preggo Mama took some time to sit down on the couch and do NOTHING tonight after going for a long walk with my precious ones, that also included pulling them behind me in a wagon. By the time I got to where I was going, I was seriously wondering if I was going to send myself into labor. It would seem all is well on the home front though.

Ok, so back to the couch. Quen and Ari were playing around nearby while I took my little rest. We have this little, uh, Winnie the Pooh "car" type thing that they can ride on, that both love to play with. Quen, of course, got to it first, and was rolling around on it a bit... at least as well as you can on something like that on a carpeted floor. Well, eventually Ari went up behind it and grabbed on to the handle part that doubles as kind of a back rest (I think it's for little kids that are learning to walk to hang on to and push). Quen was choppily motoring along and she was hanging on to the back, walking fast to try and keep up. It was HILARIOUS to watch. Again, this thing doesn't roll well on carpet. So, the motion of it made it look like she would hit her head on the handle any second... picture: start stop start stop start stop as he moves his legs front to back. I was kind of half expecting her to go down like a 9 pin, but she never did. She managed to hang on and keep up. Then, after a little bit of that, much to my amusement, Quen asked Ari if she would push him!! LOL!!! Ok, Ari is a little squirt. She probably weighs all of 22 lbs or something like that. She's just a petite little girl. My son, on the other hand, is quite large. Not chubby, he's just a big kid, tall and feels like he's made of bricks and concrete or something. He weighs somewhere between 35-40lbs. But, her being the persistant little bugger she is, set about to pushing him! And she did it! I couldn't believe it. It was so perfectly adorable to watch her, as tiny as she is, push her big brother on that car. It took a huge amount of effort, but she kept at it. I have got to get pictures of it. It was too cute for words.

When am I really due?

This pregnancy has been an interesting one, that's for sure. There's something so comforting about knowing what your due date truly is, and feeling as though you can count on that. I guess it's something I took for granted with my first two. So, why am I uncertain with this one you ask? Well, it all began back in, oh, August/September when we were moving down here. I had an hunch I might be pregnant near mid August. I hadn't "missed" anything yet, but we're uh, ahem, fertile people. So, I had that in the back of my mind as we made the LONG trip down here. We were blessed to have much help in packing things INTO the moving truck, but alas, no one was here to help us UNload it. So, Geoffrey and I, thinking (my fault) that we needed to return the truck pronto, unloaded the entire truck worth of stuff in less than two days!! And, I of course had to help carry all the heavy stuff. Dearest Quenton means well, but his couch lifting skills have not reaches their full potential yet. So, the first day we were here unloading I had a visit from "auntie"... But, it wasn't a normal visit. She didn't stay long. I believe I did take one pregnancy test which gave me a negative, but I took it while "auntie" was here, because I was rather confused. Anyway... fast forward to the next month and low and behold, I'm pregnant.

As the months progressed, it sure seemed like my belly was getting big fast. I really started to wonder about it. But, I also didn't want to get my hopes up. I mentioned it once off handedly to my midwife and she said things felt right to be due in June and not earlier. So, I settled myself down and was ready to wait till June for this sweet little man.

Then came my last visit with my midwife. I believe she had forgotten about our previous conversation regarding my suspicions of a possible earlier due date. She was feeling for the size of the baby, and when I asked about it, (me with 6 weeks till my June due date mind you), she said, "He feels like he's about 7lbs" (!!!!!) ACK!!!! Here I was expecting her to say 4lbs or something like that. I think I nearly passed out, lol! If I still had 6 weeks of the biggest growing time left on this guy, he'd be 10-11lbs in June. Quen was 8lbs and Ari was 7.3, bless her heart. I'd really rather stick to that region, thank you very much.

So, I did again mention the due date thing to her, and she nodded and said she was glad I'd mentioned it and that she wouldn't worry about it if I went early.

Goodness me. Now I'm all confused again. I truly had reconciled myself to being due in June, but if she's accurate with him being 7lbs NOW.... I sure hope he's due mid-May!!

This is me at 33 weeks, looking rather preggo, I must say!!

We need a fence!

I mentioned, kind of off-handedly, in a previous post that we recently had to give our dog back to the lady who originally gave him to us. Cruiser was a nice, sweet, golden retriever, who, as golden retrievers are, was VERY friendly. What does this have to do with us giving him back you ask? Well, being the friendly boy that he was, all 100 lbs of him, when let out to go potty in our fenceless yard, would go wandering off looking for attention. When he was in the house, he was lazy enough to be regularly found laying, without the slightest hint of movement, near our front door. So, I, being the ever vigilant pet owner that I am, would often let him out to do his duty and subsequently forget about him. Assuming that he was manning his usual post near the door I would go on about my business, until someone (Quenton) or something (not tripping over him to get up the stairs) would remind me that I'd not let him back in in a rather long time.

Well, the woman who gave him to us was supposed to change his microchip so that when looked up it would register us as his owners and not her... obviously. Alas, I'm not convinced she ever did that. Why? Because each time he wandered off, if he didn't feel the need to come back later on his own and someone picked him up, they always seemed to come in contact with her long before me. Unfortunately after several times of this (again, vigilant pet owner that I am), she became worried that I was not watching him properly (I wonder why?) and said she would like to have him back. I reluctantly (to some extent) agreed. After all, I did feel horrible that he kept wandering off and that I kept allowing it to happen; not to mention the dislike I knew my husband harbored for him. It seems Geoffrey has no tolerance for an animal that will not stay around regardless of how many hours without monitoring. So, with very little thought, I agreed that it would be best that she take him back.

Upon hanging up the phone, what should enter my mind but my two, dearly loved, children. They, of course, did not share my or their Dad's (admittably, I had my share of irritated feelings toward said shedding, scaredy cat during thunderstorms, needy 100 lb dog) vague dislike of Cruiser. Quenton is the more vocal of the two, as well as more comprehending. He has gone through this before, unfortunately. I'm very thankful that he took the news graciously. I felt HORRIBLE telling him. I consoled him with the "bone" that we might be able to get another dog sometime "soon". Unfortunately, soon for a three year old typically means tomorrow. Surprisingly he hasn't really brought it up all that much though. I guess he's consoling himself with the cat. Dear Ari though, as mentioned in a previous post, is an out and out pet lover. I can just see it in her. If she's got an animal to love on, all is right in the world. I felt a huge pang when I thought of how she loved to sit with her little bottom between the dog's legs and just lean on him. He had the patience of Job. *Sigh* Oddly enough she hasn't "seemed" to notice the absence of one very large, amiable golden retriever. She's really not mentioned him since, and yes, she could say his name, surprisingly. A child's short term memory can be a blessing at times. She has however, on several occasions been looking out the window and pointed out with much enthusiasm the "dog, woof!?!" that was passing by. I believe I saw a physical look of pain pass over my husband's face the first time he heard that. Then when we went to our friend's farm and I watched her love on their dog, again, another stab of remorse.

So, we need a fence!

Hmm..

Well, I typed out a rather long blog post earlier today, and when I went to publish it was furnished with a lovely page that told me blogger was not available at this time and sorry for my inconvenience. So... I'm wondering, what happened to the "automatically saved draft"? Hmm... What I wouldn't do to have that post back.

Well, I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Time sure flies! I'm not complaining, because each day brings me that much closer to holding my little baby in my arms. But, then again, as I think of how fast time goes by, I see my other two growing up in front of my very eyes. Why do they have to grow up so fast? Occasionally I find myself looking forward to them growing up (some) because there are things I long to be able to do and enjoy with them. Yet, I look at Quen and think, he's already SO big!!

Sunday was a much needed relief to my "emotional" week. I and my family enjoyed a wonderful time of fun and fellowship with a couple of families from our church. We went out to our friends farm and enjoyed a cookout by their fresh running spring. It was an absolutely beautiful sunshiney day, in the upper 70's. Food always tastes better outside and in good company.

Quenton just about scared the snot out of Geoffrey (my husband) and I while we were out there. Geoffrey went walking alongside the creek that ran away from the spring with some of the other kids, and Quenton started to follow a ways behind, but further away from the creek. I was sitting up near the fire, eating and chatting with our friends, when suddenly I heard Quenton screaming bloody murder. I mean seriously, it was the "we're all going to die" type scream. I could see Geoffrey was heading back his way going to see what was wrong. When Quenton's screaming didn't subside at all, I, in my very pregnant state "ran" over to see what was wrong. His Dad got to him before I did and it was then that Quen clued us in that nothing was too terribly wrong when he said tearfully "I want Momma!" I stayed back and instructed him to talk to Daddy. Come to find out he was walking in a boggy area and got half stuck, but more than anything just soaked in the shoe region. *Insert eye roll here* That was it. It was his first experience with deep mud, so I'll give him that. But, I was expecting nothing less than a bee sting. He's not prone to overreacting to things at all. I was a bit embarrassed to report back to the circle of friends that he had only gotten his shoes wet/muddy. Ah well, thinking back on it, I'm glad that nothing was truly wrong. He did however get a stern talking to about not "crying wolf" and screaming when nothing is really wrong.

Ari really enjoyed our friends' dog. He's young still, probably 11 months or so, but getting pretty big. He looks to be mostly black lab. I guess he showed up on their farm randomely and they've just gone ahead and kept him. (He was obviously homeless) He is a cool dog. We had to drive from their house to the spring which is about a mile and a half to two miles away. Their dog literally ran that entire distance going 25 mph!!! We could not believe it. It was cool to watch him poor on the heat when she would rev the engine of their van a bit. Anyway, Ari is apparently an animal lover, and spent a good deal of her time loving on that dog. Up until Tuesday we had a giant golden retriever for her to love on, but wound up having to give him back because our yard isn't fenced. She also loves our cat to pieces, even though the cat isn't the nicest around. It's so amazing how some of their traites (the kids') come out so early. It is very obvious she's a pet person. Soooo cute!

When we went back to our friends' house we all got to hop on their four wheelers and ride out to round up the cows for milking. Thankfully I was able to pawn Ari off on Geoffrey for the ride. As one might imagine, it's not so easy to ride on the back of a four wheeler over rough pasture land while VERY pregnant... adding a 19 month old into the mix... nothing good would have come from that. Thankfully, the baby, my bladder and I all made it back safely and in one piece ;) I actually really did enjoy the ride though.

So, while my week started out rough, it ended on a very nice enjoyable note. And, I got to call my Dad and harass him about being out all day and it being warm enough my entire family got a sunburn. He, after all, had gotten snow only a day or two beforehand :D

Quen's newest phrase

I had a sweet little conversation with Quenton, my 3 y/o the other night. I must say, I'm often blown away at the things he comes up with to say. My most recent example occured the other night when I went to go say goodnight to him. His Daddy had put him to bed, to his chagrin (Quen's not Daddy's) and I wanted to go talk to him for a few minutes. I sat down on his bed and started chatting and eventually said:

"Why don't you like Daddy to put you to bed?"

Quen: "I don't know."

Me: "Well, there must be some reason, right."

Quen: "I don't know."

Me: "Don't you have a reason?"

Quen: "Yeah, I guess."

Me: "Well, what's your reason."

Quen: "I don't know what my problem is."

I struggled hard not to laugh hysterically at that. Something about hearing a 3 y/o saying "I don't know what my problem is."

Silly kid.

The last couple of days

Well, it's been a few days. I can't say a whole lot has gone on, per se, but I've been feeling rather drained.

I had a big "pregnancy emotional moment" earlier this week. As mentioned previously, we just moved (about 7 months ago) 2000 miles from "home", away from everyone and everything we've ever known. It's only been this last week where I've really struggled a lot with this. I guess I've just been extra lonely lately. Well, Wednesday morning I got a lovely phone call from a friend I've made here, asking if I'd like to come out that afternoon and help with planting their garden etc. I was very VERY excited. YEAHH!!! Someone wanted to spend time with me, and I could get out of the house. I needed to take my husband a lunch at work, so I headed down there. He came out and sat in the van for a few minutes to chat and said that he'd talked with my friend earlier, because they'd needed to cancel their daughters piano lessons (he teaches piano lessons among other things), and he casually mentioned that he'd suggested to her that she call me and invite me over, as I was "getting stir crazy". Bless his heart, my husband was really trying to think of me, and I've not mentioned this to him, but that broke my heart. I want so badly to make friends down here and for them to WANT to invite me over on their own, without my sweet husband having to ask them too. SIGH. I held it in while I was chatting with him, but I had tears rolling down my face as I drove away. Pregnant much?? Oh well.

Beyond that, I've mostly just been working on training my precious kids. It's a whole new "monster" when you have to learn how to deal with the emotions of two siblings! Wow! Now that my dd has "opinions" and can speak well enough to voice them (she's HAD the opinions for a long time...) my ds is not so sure what to think. Mr. Command son doesn't appear to like to be told "no" by little baby sister ;) So, we're working on little sister saying "no" nicely... as opposed to screaching it in a way that could curl the paint of my toe nails. And big brother is learning that, well, Mommy is baby's Mommy, not Quenton. Did I mention he is a Mr. Command? My husband and I have found it darkly amusing, in a way, to hear her put him in his place. But, I think some of that amusement has led us into not correcting her for being rude. Oooops.

Thursday was nice, because I again got to get out of the house (hooray!!) when dh wanted to drive 3 hours away to Peoria, IL for a backgammon tournament. While there I was blessed to be able to eat at one of my all time favorite restaurants: Chili's. I did get some weird looks though. Dh was not with us, as he was still playing the tournament. So, there I was with a 3 year old, an 18 month old (who looks younger) and very VERY obviously pregnant.... by myself. I'm sure the waitress was thinking "please, tell me you're married." hehehehe. Ah well, the kids were very well behaved, and Quenton surprised the waitress by ordering his meal all by himself. Makes a Mom proud ;) Oh and this time Ari was kind enough (as opposed to the last time I was out of town) to wait until we were leaving to poo out of her pants. Imagine my surprise when I went to put her in her car seat only to find I had a big lump of something stinky on my arm....*groan* What we mothers go through. Thank the Lord, it didn't get all over her clothes at all... just my arm.

Cat litter...

Ok, not a fan of changing out the cat litter box (as though anyone is). But, my father in law is coming to visit today, and since the litter box is in our downstairs half bath, I figured it would be nice of me to clean out the stinkiness. You know what I'm talking about. That beautiful vinegary smell that makes you want to ralf during the best of times, let alone when you're over 7 months pregnant ;)

So, what's the upside here? My absolute blessing of a 3 y/o son Quenton likes to help! Before embarking on my stinky messy journey, I said in my most cheerful tone "Sweety, would you like to help Momma change the cat litter pan?" He was finishing up sorting his mastermind beads and asked politely to finish, stating he'd be right there. He comes running in with only the excitement a 3 y/o can muster for the special task of cleaning out cat poo. I, of course, have two pooper scoopers for just this purpose and he and I set to work. Somehow the task just isn't quite so disgusting when you've got one of the cutest little boys in the world working by your side.

Noteably, naptime came in short order after he came running in from the garage where he'd been sweeping around the second cat litter pan and yelled happily "Momma, look I found more cat poo." Not my favorite thing to find in my son's hand!

Missouri

I must say, it is a different life I have here in Missouri. Moving here was one of the more drastic changes that has occured in my relatively short life.

In general I would say I have adapted well. As well as one can adapt to moving a couple thousand miles away from everyone and everything that has, for so long, been apart of ones life.

Truly, I do like it here. It's beautiful, and it's quiet. We live in a smallish town, which is certainly not new to me, having been born and raised in what started out a small town. Coeur d' Alene (the town in Idaho I was born in) is not tiny anymore, with its population of nearly 40,000 people, but it was much smaller during my growing up years. The town we're living in now is home to approximately 18,000. This area is interesting because we are surrounded, so to speak, by larger towns all within between an hour and a half to two hours away. So, there are plenty of things to do and go see if I'm willing to do a bit of driving to get there. And, for those of you who know me well at all, I'm always up for a drive ;)

I guess the big changes for me have been in the area of staying home a lot more. It is so foreign to me not having any number of friends or relatives a very short distance away that I can go visit at a moments notice. Somehow flying with 2, and almost 3 kids is not quite as convenient as hopping in the van and driving 15 minutes down the road.

I have made a couple of friends here, but, it is much harder to do than it was in high school. After all, the vast majority of my close friends from Idaho came from my high school years. I've met a couple of wonderful ladies at church, but all of them are a good ten years older than I, and obviously for the most part at different places in their lives.

Hmm, as I was typing, I stopped to think about what to write next, and was thinking about asking "how does one go about finding friends in a completely foreign place?" The blessed Holy Spirit was kind enough to point out the obvious: Pray that the Lord would bring just the right person into my life. Thank the Creator of Heaven and Earth, He knows the desires of my heart, and can bring me someone better than I could have asked for or imagined. How silly of me to wonder where to find such a person. If a friend is something God has in store for me, then a friend He will bring.

Everyday

I was just thinking how great it is that every new day is a clean slate. We have a new fresh start, whether it's in our child training, our relationships with others, or our walk with God. So many times we mess up, but each day brings us hope of starting anew. I have a feeling that is why God made the cycles of the sun and moon the way He did. In His forsight, He knew that we would get bogged down if the days seemed to drag on and on. But, with the rising and setting of the sun, there is a sense of renewal.