Catching Up Again!

Where does time go? How can some days simply drag and yet the entire summer is gone in a flash? It has been one crazy summer! It has been the summer of...

• another exciting pregnancy
• a surprise getaway weekend for our anniversary
• a weekend long family reunion hosted at our house
• the girls' first long vacation without Mommy and Daddy
• canning, canning, and more canning
• our first year of school supply shopping

... and almost all of this without a working camera for documentation!

Looking back over our calendar, we've had a lot of company and we've gone lots of places. There's no way to recount everything that was done. Kevin surprised me for our anniversary. We dropped the kids off at my parents' house on a Friday evening and escaped to a bed and breakfast for the weekend. We enjoyed many activities that Kevin had planned until Sunday afternoon when we were reunited with the girls.

The end of July brought lots and lots of family to our house. Everybody arrived sometime on a Friday and most left Sunday afternoon or Monday moring. 31 of us enjoyed visiting, playing games, sharing devotions, singing as a choir at the churches, and eating lots and lots of good food. What a fun time!

After the reunion, Kevin's parents and one brother stayed for several days. Chloe and Julia took a vacation back to Michigan with them when they left, leaving Kevin and me at home. I cried when it was time for them to leave (okay, okay, I cried off and on much of that day). Kevin and I left for Michigan 5 days later. It was nice to have a break, but we didn't really take good advantage of being kid-free. Most of the time was spent cleaning the house and preparing to leave for our vacation. The girls had a great time without us though!

I've done more canning this year. Two years ago was my first time with it, and I'm starting to become a little more comfortable with the process. This year we have 8 pints of salsa, 8 pints of relish, 4 1/2 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 8 pints of tomato juice, 6 pints and 4 quarts of bread and butter pickles, 7 pints and 2 quarts of dill pickles, 13 half-pints and 3 pints of pear-pineapple jam, 2 1/2 quarts of pears, and 3 pints and 2 1/2 quarts of pear sauce. All produce was given to us... can't complain about that!

Needless to say, we've been staying busy. I hope to start writing more regularly again now that things have settled down. More to come on the topics of school and this pregnancy.

Pregnancy

Here's the picture I wanted to add a few days ago. It's the picture the doctor gave Chloe of her newest sibling. I think the picture is pretty easy to decipher, but for those of you who need help: The circle at the bottom is the stomach. Above it is the head. There's a hand to the right of the stomach. To the left is the other arm, which was waving at us while the picture was being taken.

Now that I've hit the second trimester I'm slowly starting to feel a little better. I don't have to eat every two hours to ward off nausea anymore... hurray! Snacking that much only sounds fun. I quickly ran out of foods that sounded even remotely decent.

I'm still tired most of the time, but I am optimistic that this will get better very soon. (It better... my house is really suffering.)

I'm not quite at the stage of needing to wear maternity clothes yet, but pants with buttons are never buttoned anymore. And the maternity pants Mom and I shopped for two weeks ago already fit. It probably won't be much longer before I'm living in them.

I am having the most vivid dreams. My mind becomes fixated on something each night, and even after waking up and falling back asleep I will continue with the same dream. I have spent the majority of many nights tossing and turning trying to get myself to stop reciting the catechism or singing the same stanza of a hymn over and over. Weird, huh? By the way, in my dreams the baby is always a boy. Don't chalk it up to mother's intuition though -- boy was the only thing on my mind when I was pregnant with Julia. I think it's just because we already had a girl.

I'm having fun asking the girls if they want a brother or a sister and asking for name suggestions. Usually Julia wants a brother and Chloe wants a sister. The names are often jibberish, but here are some of the better names:

Chloe -- Reno (for a boy) and Chlo-mo (for a girl)

Julia -- Matthew (for a girl!) and Uck (for a boy)

Needless to say, we're not leaving the naming of the baby in the hands of the girls!

Overheard

Kevin and I have been doing a lot of explaining to Chloe about why I get to do some things (like snacking pretty close to a meal) and she doesn't. "Mommy has a baby in her belly so she....." Kevin has also been taking the opportunity to really talk up her having kids later (he's so eager to be a grandpa!). "Maybe one day when you're older and married, you can have a baby too."

So last night at supper Chloe looked like she was really thinking about something hard. "Mommy, did you get married so you could have a baby?"

How do I keep the answer simple for a four-year-old? "Yes" (among other reasons).

"Well, who wanted to get married with you?"

"Daddy and I got married."

"Oh."

I can't figure out if she was just checking to make sure I'm married or if she's trying to work out how to get married herself. Either way, it made me chuckle.

Birthday

There was just no time to write yesterday. Chloe turned 4 yesterday! I've said it before, and I know I'll say it many more times: Where did the time go? She's very excited about starting school in the fall. I'm not sure I'm ready, and now it seems very close.

Chloe had a very busy, but fun birthday. We were out of the house most of the day doing a variety of things. I had a doctor's appointment in the morning. Afterwards we had a special birthday lunch at Steak and Shake. Both girls loved the milk shake we shared. Then we did a little shopping and visited a shut-in. We didn't get home until 3:30. The girls did some reading and playing while I rested. Presents came next. Chloe was such a big girl sharing her brand new toys with her little sister. That gave me a chance to cook supper and work on the frosting for the birthday cake. Of course, we celebrated with a Mexican-style meal (for cinco de mayo) and the requested chocolate cake. Chloe was quite happy to receive a few phone calls from people wanting to wish her a happy birthday. She was also really excited about getting to stay up a little late to play her new game.

I am disappointed that we don't have any pictures from yesterday because there's something wrong with our camera. Electronics have not been cooperating with me this week. So no pictures of our now 4-year-old. Our scanner is not working today either, which means I can't show you the picture that got Chloe really excited yesterday. At my doctor's appointment, the doctor gave each girl their very own picture of their new sibling waving at them. Estimated due date is November 21st. Maybe I'll have a birthday baby?

All around it was a very exciting day. Chloe has been cracking me up all day. She keeps saying things like "I'm 4 now, so I won't _______ anymore". She's growing up so fast. Glad you had a great day, Chloe. We love you very much!

Getting Older

Yesterday I was explaining to Chloe how close her birthday is, and Kevin started in with some teasing. First he said nobody in this house likes birthdays. She was quite firm in saying she does. The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Kevin: Why do you like birthdays? They just make you get old. And when you're old your back will start hurting. And your knees will start hurting. And your knuckles with start hurting. And your insides might hurt.

Chloe was getting a worried look on her face by this point, but the next sentences really upset her.

Kevin: And your hair will turn gray and might thin out, which would be really bad with your already thin hair.

At this point Chloe is practically in tears and screams NOOOOOO!!! Poor girl.

Rest assured, the situation has been resolved. She is no longer worried about getting older, and she is back to looking forward to tomorrow's birthday!