Changes

Saturday Thad went fishing with his dad and brought home "pets" for the kids. Meet Sally and Copper.

The kids tormented them all morning before church and then we put them in their new home, the pond. Well either they don't care for the pond, or they are really good at hiding, because we haven't seen them since. Pet failure!
I noticed after the pictures I posted of the crib paint job how bland the nursery was, so I decided the room needed some paint too. Only one wall, and I just happened to have some blue left from painting the wall in Sammy's old room. I've still got curtains to hang, and some "art" to put on the walls, but it's coming along.

This picture makes the letters look so crooked, but I swear they are straight!
It was time for the end of pregnancy hair chopping today. I don't know why, but with all three I have just had the urge to chop all my hair off. This time my excuse is that it's stinkin hot, and my hair is ridiculously heavy.  And this time around, after three and half years of growing it out, I had enough to donate to locks of love. 14 inches to be exact, I thought about posting a picture of the braided mass, but it just looked creepy. So here's a picture of the new do instead. Excuse the self portrait, but it was better than Andi's attempt.

Counting Down

The crib is done! I borrowed Thad's Dad's paint sprayer this week and got to work on priming/painting/clear coating the whole spindly thing. I may have a new callous on my hand. And I may have hijacked the kids swing set for a few days as my painting zone. Thad had this great idea to take the swings off and hang the crib pieces so I could paint all around each piece at once, instead of spray, wait, flip, spray, wait, move. It worked beautifully, and went so quickly I've been wondering why I paint anything by hand. I should have used the sprayer for the dresser too! Anyway, here are a couple before shots of the crib and dresser a few years ago when Sammy was using them.

And what they look like today!

Once I got all the bedding  on the whole nesting thing took over and I pulled out all the clothes and blankets for the first few months and washed them all and put them in drawers. I know I've still got ten weeks, but now I'm ready. Okay, maybe I still want to put something up on the walls, but the room is now habitable.
Speaking of almost there, I really haven't posted much about being pregnant this time around. I've been busy with other things, but I wanted to write a few things down to remember, especially since this time around has been a completely different experience. First difference, I had morning sickness this time which I didn't with the other two. It was more of a sporadic all day sickness, but not bad at all. I wasn't nauseous or anything all day, but I'd eat, and then a little while later it would all come back up. Really though, I actually prefer it to the horrible heart burn I had with the first two. And my heartburn this time around has been minimal, and only recently. Another huge difference, braxton hicks! I'd never felt them before, but this time I've had them since about week 22. Lately they are so sensitive. All I have to do is vacuum my house and they are in full swing to the point where I have to lay down on the couch till they go away. Lame. This kid has been camped out on my sciatic nerve since week ten. With the other two I'd get occasional twinges when I'd stand up too fast, but this time around anytime I sit or stand or bend or pretty much anything, I get a shooting pain. When I get out of the car it's like I'm totally gimpy because it takes me a few steps to straighten out and walk normally. So it will be nice to have that done soon. I have craved two things with this kid, fruit and chocolate. I actually e-mailed Thad one afternoon and told him he needed to let me know what he wanted for dinner because all I wanted was cantaloupe.And that's what I had. I don't know if it's because I'm a few years older now or what, but I get worn out easily these days. I get stuff done in the mornings, but by lunch time I am completely out of steam. Which wouldn't be so bad, but there are still two monkeys running around my house thrashing it, and I don't have the energy to even care. And then there is dinner to be cooked, we've been eating later and later these days. For the most part though I feel good, and just hope the next ten weeks fly by.

Camping Extravaganza

This weekend was the annual Father & Sons camp-out. Sammy was so excited all day Friday and walked around the house with his flashlight and backpack on, waiting for Daddy to get home. I wasn't there, but from the pictures and the little details I've picked up from Sammy he had a great time.

"I had smarshmellows"

 "I got an alamander!"

"There was a fire, and I slept in a tent wif Daddy!"

 "I fell off a big rock!" I guess after the photo was taken Thad kept telling him to stay off the rock, but of course he kept climbing it and ended up falling off the right side.

"I play wif flashlights wif Brody."

They came home filthy and smelly, which means it was a success. They also came home bearing mothers day gifts, Thad had flowers and Sammy had a cake. "Hey Mom, I found you a cake." And then he ran to the kitchen and got himself a fork and sat down.
 While the boys were gone Andi  and I had some girlie time. After dance we got ice cream and I let her pick any movie she wanted to watch. So we had a night of High School Musical(Yes, it's in my collection) and me answering all kinds of questions about it. Andi talks constantly during movies, and asks questions the entire time. The next day we had some errands to run, which she normally hates to do, but since this trip involved Jamba Juice and getting her toes done she was very cooperative. Once a year when the boys are gone we go get pedicures, and even thought Andi is still really young I figure once a year will not spoil her too much. I was a bit surprised when I walked in to the nail place over on our new side of town and saw all kinds of little girls there with their mommies, and two child size pedicure chairs. What?! People take their little ones to do this on a regular basis?!  And you could tell these 5 year olds were regulars. Andi was all nervous and sat right by me, and these other girls were wandering around picking out different paint colors, totally at home. Weird.
That night Thad decided that since Andi had not been able to go camping they would all camp out in the backyard. So we let them stay up late and chase frogs in the backyard. We discovered a few nights ago that there are a bunch of them back there that come out to play at night.

These kids are scared to death of insects. Anything with lots of legs or wings sends them running away screaming, and forget trying to get them to hold a rolly-polly. But apparently frogs are no big deal. They each caught about 8 before we called it a night and made them wash their hands.

I participated in the camp-out long enough to read bedtime stories, then Mommy went inside ;)

Sunday was mothers day and it was a very nice relaxing day. My parent's were out of town again, it's their new tradition I think. But we had dinner with Thad's family and I ate way too much cake. But it was from Jake's Tex-mex, I couldn't help myself!

San Diego

Thad had a conference in San Diego last week and the kids and I decided to tag along. I wasn't sure how we'd do sleeping in the same room for several nights, and then just having me to navigate SD and entertain the kids while Thad was in meetings all day. But we had a great time. We spent a lot of time at Balboa park, and the hotel pool. Not that it was warm enough to swim, but it had a hot tub so the kids ran back and forth between the "hot pool" and "cold pool" and managed to spend a couple hours there in the afternoons. Balboa park was really cool and we barely scratched the surface. I'd like to go there with no kids and enjoy some of the museums we missed. We did visit the science center, which was  a pretty sweet discovery zone for the kids, and we caught a puppet show one morning. They actually have a little theater solely for the purpose of a twice daily puppet show.

Headed into the park.

Posing with some "art" on the way to the puppet show.

Sammy stopped at every single fire hydrant we saw and wanted me to take his picture with it. I have no idea why.

We had some company during our picnic lunch in the park. This guy ate right out of Sammy's hand!

The cube tower of death at the science center. This thing is cool for maybe two kids at a time, but there were field trips going on and like 20 kids all over and in it. Madness.

On our way out of town Friday we stopped at the temple so the kids could have a look around. Andi was impressed with the size of Angel Moroni. "He looks so small in my picture." Then she spent the next half hour singing I love to see the temple and doing her best Jackie Evancho impersonation. If you don't know who Jackie is, google her, and then imagine Andi trying to sing like her ;)

Friday we left SD and drove up to meet my mom's family at Camp Pendleton and spend a couple days on the beach. We used to camp there as kids with my moms side of the family, and it was pretty much exactly like I remember. I have no pictures of the day and half we were there, but a good time was had by all. The kids finally got some beach time in with Daddy, they got to make smores, and fly kites, and chase/try to trap  a rabbit around our site.
Sammy was very social this week, especially at the pool with every stranger who walked in. "Hey, you going to swim wif us?" "Where's your swim suit?" "I'm Sammy, I'm ten." He's decided he's really big now so he's not three anymore, he's ten. He also had us cracking up as we came back in from the beach Saturday afternoon. We walked by two teenage girls in bikinis and Sammy stops and grins at them and say's, "Hey, you all naked," Then continues watching them walk away. Little creeper.
It was a nice week, but I was very glad to be back in my own bed with the kids in their own rooms by Saturday night. Today we are anxiously awaiting the arrival and our wood flooring! Of course we have a million feet of baseboard to take off the walls, and carpet and tile to remove before the floor can actually be put in, but I'm just so excited it's almost here!