Predictions

The other day Ardon told me he thought the baby was going to come out on Monday.

Unfortunately he has since changed his mind and now tells me the baby is going to come out on 'Taco Tuesday'. We don't have a taco Tuesday at our house but now I'm thinking tomorrow would be a great day to start!

Educational?

I told Ardon he was going to take a brake from electronic gaming for a couple days. He doesn't play a ton but I still like him to have periods of time away from it all together.

Daddy had downloaded an "educational program" to his handheld. It seems like it is on the verge of being in the gaming spectrum to me but since it's alphabet based and Daddy was the one to get it going, I guess we'll let it slide!

Caught Underware, I Mean Unaware

Earlier I was getting things together to run some errands. I went into the bedroom to change out of my 'working around the house pants' and put on a different pair. At some point the kids had wandered into the room with me. All of the sudden I hear Ardon cracking up laughing from behind me. When I turned around to see what was so funny I saw him with his camera, you know, the one I've mentioned before that my parents got for him. Through his laughter he managed to get out, "Mom, I took a picture of your bottom!" Obviously I informed him that due to modesty issues we shouldn't be taking pictures like that, I then took the camera to see what he had managed to capture. There it was, not like his pictures I have posted before, oh no.

Perfectly centered with barely a blur, there was my backside.

I looked at it for a moment, surprised at the clarity and obviousness of it, then quickly pushed the delete button. I guess I'm going to have to start reviewing his pictures regularly to avoid possible embarrassment, for everyone, in the future!

The Last 2 Months

They have been wild, busy, full of excitement, anticipation, disappointment and stress. They have had us pulling out our hair, doing more home projects than we'd imagined and questioning our sanity.

We felt lead to do something, having no idea how it would turn out, trying a door that was opened in front of us. At times we thought that door had been closed and the 'only' result would be was that we were spending more time in prayer seeking God's direction. As soon as we decided to change our focus and go a different avenue the door opened back up for us to walk through. As we are standing on the other side of the door we look around and start to twiddle our thumbs and say "Now what?"

With as harried as the last 2 months have been, the next 2 will probably be even hairier. Not only are we very soon adding 1 to our family but we are about to be homeless. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. We have peace about it, mingled with excitement along with a little bit of 'what are we suppose to do now.'

We put our house on the market and it sold at the last minute. 2 days before our house was scheduled to come off the market we got an offer but it was too low. Negotiations drug out for a week, we finally said we were tired of going in circles so the house was coming off the market the next day. Then, much to our surprise, the buyer came back and accepted our original counter offer.

So, here we are.

I've decided it's not a good idea to say, "Well, if we do this we're definitely not going to do this". Because that's what we've said about half a dozen times over the last few months and God had other plans, plans for us to be stretched. And believe me, with all the stretching in my belly, there's been a lot of stretching going on!

Are we crazy? Probably a little, but that's what keeps life exciting, at least that's what we tell ourselves, and as long as we're in the center of God's will, which is what we've prayed for all along, that's all that really matters.

Wordy Wednesday

A couple days ago Ardon went to get the scissors from the kitchen. As he walked back into the room he got a very serious look on his face and asked, "Dad, I can't remember, are we supposed to run with scissors or no?" implying that he thought running was required for carrying them. At least he thought about it and asked first.

This morning as I was getting Elee dressed I put her in a tank top, she became very distressed and started grabbing at her bare shoulders, where she thought sleeves should have been, and started hollering, "It's broken, it's broken!"

Earlier in the car today Ardon wanted to pray while we ran a couple places. He thanked God for food and prayed that God would help him eat a lot when we had food again and that our whole family would eat when we had food again, and that God would give us food again. Through our afternoon travels he prayed this about 4 times after which Bronze and I decided he must be hungry.

Elee has a never ending quest to run around without cloths on, after she succeeds in shedding her attire she immediately grabs a blanket to wrap around her and says, "It's chilly, it's chilly!"

Any time the wind picks up or it starts to get a little cloudy outside Ardon immediately runs to me and says that a tornado is coming so we need to leave and go to someones basement. To Ardon tornado's equal adventure!

Ardon has been having a lot of what we're assuming are growing pains lately, he is constantly telling us he's 'lost a bone' in some place or another.

Ever heard of bubbles you can hold? If you ever find and decide to use them, be warned, they are MESSY! The kids love to run around crazily trying to catch them, Elee gets almost frantic yelling, "catch, catch!" as she tries to beat Ardon to one. However as soon as one lands on her she runs to me panicked, acting like she's been touched by the plague!

Down By The River

Saturday evening we decided to walk around downtown for a little while since it was the last day of Riverfest. We're not avid festival goers but since it usually falls over our anniversary in May we'll sometimes take a day to go down and check everything out.

We met up with Bronze's family. Ardon had a blast running around and rolling down the hills.

Elee preferred to sit and snack while she people watched, and if you've ever been downtown here you know that can be pretty interesting!

She kept scooting further and further away from us so she could integrate into the group that brought the snacks.

I had told Elee no more candy because she'd had enough sugar but I guess she was afraid I would take the chips away too so she closed her eyes so I couldn't see her eating them.

The weather ended up being pretty nice, I think the storm front that was on it's way in blew in some cooler air ahead of it.

We didn't actually stay for the fireworks since we're desperately trying to get everyone on a better bedtime schedule before baby gets here. We were told that they were really good this year so it disappointed us that we missed them but we still had fun hanging out and visiting while we were there.

Checking Things Off The List

I was able to get several things done yesterday that I had hoped. One of the first was digging out some cloths to wash and have ready.

Some boy, some girl and a couple of gender neutral outfits for the traditional 'guess the baby's gender' game we play when family comes to visit us at the hospital for the first time.

And since an infant car seat is a must, we got it all taken apart and washed up. Kami offered us a seat they're not using any more, it's so nice we didn't end up having to buy one!

This was very entertaining for the kids, er uh, Elee and Superman.

Elee was obsessing over the buckles.

Then when I told them we were getting it ready for the new baby Ardon wanted to try to get it put back together. Elee got her baby out so they could put it to the test. Pretty serious stuff you know!

Getting Closer

I had an appointment earlier this week with my doctor and everything still looks good!

At this point I am only a couple weeks (give and take) away from where I had the other 2. It's amazing the difference a couple weeks can make. Ardon was 5lbs 10oz and Elee, who I technically carried 2 weeks longer, was 8lbs 9oz.

The last 2 months have flown by and we can't believe we're so close to welcoming #3 to the world all ready! I've been feeling fairly well, just a little tired and definitely like it's getting close to the end! I finally packed my hospital bag, which Bronze has been on me to do. I decided it was a good idea since I've been having stronger and more consistent contractions.

We're feeling a little pressed about a name and even though we've been racking our brains we haven't really come up with anything yet. I figure if we can at least come up with a first name for each gender I won't feel so bad when they ask in the surgery room, "What's his/her name?"

Today my goal is to get out and wash some outfits and the car seat cover. If I can get ambitious enough to brave the heat then it would probably be a good idea to get the cars cleaned out and ready for another car seat too!

Thinking Outside the Box- Then Inside

Who wants to color on paper when there's a cardboard box handy!

Lets see, what color should we use....

Of course she chooses the lightest and least likely color to show up.

Then when coloring no longer holds our interest we can flip it over and turn it into a boat.

Or a space ship.

Or a train, on a bumpy ride.

Or a good place to trap your little sister and give her a big smooch!

Play Time Adventures

I heard squealing and laughter coming from the other room.

Only something this exciting could come from blankets,

and a big brother.

Sometimes it makes me a little nervous, the things that they already come up with together at their young ages. The next 10-15 years ought to be interesting!

Too much fun!

And they're off!

Ardon thought he'd try a different method, it didn't work so well and the blanket slid right out from under her making her legs squeak across the floor.

She had a blast, who knew so much fun could be had with a couple fuzzy blankets and wooden floors!