Wow..

Where did the last month go???? Wow.. Well they are working me very hard at work... I worked 55 1/2 hours last week.. I'll enjoy this Friday's paycheck.. yee haw.

On the baby front I am 17 weeks along. I am definately out of my normal clothes, but luckily not very far out of them.. :o) I go to the Dr. on Thursday for a checkup and to schedule my "BIG" ultrasound... So prior to my appointment news I thought I would give you my stats. I have LOST 3 pounds... can you believe it. I don't have much of an appetite. Apparently this child is watching its figure... who knows. I'm sure that will change in the next few weeks. I am not feeling movement regularly. I have felt a few flutters, but nothing consistent or strong. I have felt the baby roll to the front of my belly and push. At least I get a reminder that I am pregnant every now and then since I am having zero other symptoms... The morning sickness has been gone for about 2 months.. Thank goodness. I get complimented on how beautiful my skin looks. If you follow the old wive's tales this would be an indication that I am having a boy. They say if you are having a girl you will know because she will steal your beauty while you are pregnant. So I must be having a boy, right? I have only had one dream that showed the gender and it was actually a girl, which falls in line with everyone else in the world's premonitions about this baby's gender. I want a girl. I think a Daddy needs a Daddy's Girl. It makes them a much more sensitive man. :o) Jason could use more sensitivity.. lol I am happy no matter what the gender is. We refer to the baby as "she" because Jason is convinced he can't be lucky enough to escape having to raise a "girl" {insert shudder here}... Maybe you fathers of daughters out there can give him some advice..

Jake is trying to potty train.. My sister potty-trained using M&M's and I remember one time she expressed to me that she wishes she hadn't used candy as a motivator, so I found some really cheap stickers and was going to use them to coerce Jake to go potty, but his school uses Skittles and he gets so excited about the Skittle... I guess there is something to candy.. Much better than a stinkin sticker.. Yesterday he went ALL DAY without wetting his diaper and he used the toilet all day, so they gave him a starburst. That's all he talked about. So he told me this morning that he wanted another Starburst, so his goal was to earn another Starburst at school. I'm all for getting him out of diapers since I've already spent $30 on training underwear for him... I may have to hit up my Mars friends for skittles and starburst.... ;o) Desperate times call for desperate favors.. I'm willing to donate some of my 18,000 stickers to the children of their choice.. lol

We went to the waterpark last Friday and I'm happy to announce that Jake is starting to resemble the child that proves that he could be mine... He enjoyed it a lot more this year than in the past. I bought him a swimsuit that has the built in floatation pads. He was leary about putting it on at first, but then we tried to get him excited about wearing it by play-hitting it to show that it doesn't hurt and he thought it was funny. He didn't have any problems wearing it after that. He wanted us to hit him more.. lol such a boy...

I have been subbing in the Primary for some friends who are out of town for the summer. The poor primary children have had to endure a very inept Music and Singing time leader for the past month... I'm surprised that they are learning anything.... I don't read music or sight read very well. I'm also at a disadvantage because I didn't go through the primary program myself, so I don't know the songs or actions. I had a "Snowman" disaster last Sunday. Not fun... at least it was in front of the Junior primary who will forget about it. right?

The house is coming along. We had to take about 3 weeks off from working on it because the A/C went out in there and 100+ degree weather does not make for fun home renovations. I could only work for a couple hours before the heat would make me nauseas, so we've been spending the night there for the past couple weekends to work hard on it now that the A/C is fixed. The painting is almost done. We have replaced a few light fixtures and next is the countertops and a few things on the outside... then carpet and landscaping and up for sale... I'm happy with how things are looking so far.

That's the last month in a nutshell. I've included a picture of my growing belly for you all to laugh at. I am going to dig out some pictures from when I was pregnant with Jake because I'm sure I was well on my way to being big as a house by this point last time. If I find a picture from this timeframe I'll post the comparison... until then....

Say Hello To My Little Friend...

I'd like to introduce you all to our little friend...

That's right... I'm pregnant. 12 weeks along which makes me due on New Year's Day. We are excited and looking forward to the new addition and new challenges.

We don't have a preference of gender one way over another. Our wallet wants another boy. Jason wants another son (mainly because I think he's scared of girls) I want either. I've always wanted one of each, but I'm scared of girls... Jacob wants a sister. We've asked him several times and he always says the same thing. The dogs just want us to move out and leave them be.

I personally think I'm having a girl, and several other people have professed the same thought, but only time will tell. I'm over the morning sickness part and actually there are times when I forget that I'm pregnant.

Jason is insisting that this one be a surprise, but of course I want to know so I can shop and plan.

I'll keep you all informed. Or at least try to...

I guess everyone needs a vacation now and then...

Last night while Jacob was saying the night time prayer I heard the following:

"Please bless Jacob that he doesn't have to go to school. Bless Jacob that he can go to Emma's house. Bless Jacob that he can go to Papa's house. Go to Grandma's house. Go to..."

At this point I interjected because his list of vacation spots can be lengthy. I steered him more toward others' needs. I had him pray for his great grandmother who is very ill.

I found it very hard not to chuckle at his prayer as he normally loves school and has a great time there. He is often the center of attention since he puts on shows for everyone to see. He is their entertainer. I have shown up many times to see the entire class sitting down watching Jake who is doing his one man comedy show... I just hide and watch as long as I can until my presence is known.

I'm grateful for Jacob and the wonderful, sweet, innocent spirit he brings into our home. I refer to him as our family conscience. He's always telling us to behave and to be nice. I guess we still have a long way to go.... Maybe our parents shouldn't have turned us loose so quickly.. Or just maybe we need to take a vacation... I'm all for that one.

Last Thursday was my birthday. The girls at work went above and beyond to make sure I had a good day. First they decorated my cubicle...

Then they surprised me by organizing a departmental lunch... Hot Dogs with chili, sauerkraut, relish and all the other fixins... plus chips and Chocolate chip cookies, low fat chocolate pie, low fat key lime pie and full fat red velvet cake. It was really nice. I have the super easy recipe for the pies if anyone is interested, too....

It was a great day.

Cousins Make all the difference

There are times when I wonder if Jake is really my son. I'm a very adventurous person. I LOVE amusement parks and carnival rides. I have gone skydiving and bungee jumping. There are many more daredevil things I'd love to try if I ever get the chance. My father was in the Navy, so no matter where we lived you can be sure there was water close by and he made sure we were well aware of all the fun you can have in the water.

Jacob.... not so much.... I thought I was being a great Mom when a couple years ago at the age of 8 months old I introduced Jacob to the wonderful world of the waterpark. Needless to say.. He hated it. I was destroyed. But I chalked it up to him being so young and the water was too cold and we'll get him a little older and try again...

One year later... I took him to Spray Park... I couldn't get him to play in the water. I told my Mom where we were and she and Bekah were down the road, so they stopped by. Viola!!!! Bekah + Spray Park = good time to Jacob. Who knew??? I thought for sure that he'd have a great time at the Water Park later that summer, but it took him a LONG time to find his happy place... and that was being with his Daddy and his cousins...

Memorial Day (this year) my sister and her husband set up the big inflatable waterslide my parents own and told their kids to have fun. Then they called me and told me to bring Jake... At first he didn't like it much...

But after lunch and more time to get used to it all he started having a great time.

Jacob loves his cousins. At least I know who to call at the Water Park this year...

Here are some fun pictures from Memorial Day.. Enjoy.

Wicked Awesome!!!

Well, it is official... I will be having a girls day out with some friends to go see "Wicked" in Austin in August. Yay. I'm so excited. This is my birthday present from Jason. I love it when I let him off the hook so easily.... lol Thanks, honey.

He's so funny... and he knows it.

The first thing you need to know is that Jacob is extremely independent. He insists on opening doors and holding them open while Jason and I go through them, then he closes it... anyway.. if HE can do it, he WILL do it... This poses a slight problem and frustration for a mother who needs the morning routine to go quickly and smoothly... with that said:

This morning while doing our morning routine we were heating up some waffles in the microwave and after they were done I always tell Jake to open the microwave door. Sometimes he can get it himself, but sometimes it is just too hard for his tired muscles to do by himself, so I offer to help him "get it started". After a couple minutes standing at the microwave offering assistance, not getting any participation and reminding him that we need to hurry, Jacob got down from his step stool and said "I need get key". I didn't quite understand him at the time, because that isn't something he normally says, but when he went over to the carpet, bent over and acted like he was picking it up I understood. He turned around and said "I need unlock it". I about busted out laughing. WHERE DOES HE GET THIS FROM? So with his "key" he made several unlocking motions and declared he needed more keys. I looked on top of the microwave and there happen to be a skeleton key Brandy brought back from Nauvoo. In order to keep his game from going on and on... and to hurry him along, I handed him the Nauvoo key and said, "Here, use this one". He took it and "unlocked" the microwave. Then I offered to help him get it started again.. It worked. A few minutes later we were leaving the house and he was happily singing the "I Love You" Barney song...

Jacob is a crack up. He keeps everyone rolling, even his daycare teachers. I fear the day I get a call from his school teacher saying he is the class clown and distracting everyone... I don't want to discourage his sense of humor, because I love it so much. This age is so fun. Just about everyday he says something new and I just jump back in bewilderment at how big he is getting.