The End is Near!

There are about 3 weeks left until my due date (April 27th). I try to distract myself as much as possible (which means I think about how close I am to the end of this pregnancy a lot). So... uncomfortable... I know, I know, I shouldn't be surprised. It was like this the last 2 times, but they tell you that you will forget. And you do. The weather is also getting warmer. We crossed the 80 degree mark, possibly not to return for the next 8 months or so. Ugh. (Gripe, complain, moan.... Moving on.)

We've been doing as much fun stuff as I can think of during the day. Partly out of guilt that the boys will be sharing the spotlight soon and it won't be just the 3 of us hanging out together. I know it will take some time to start juggling those extra responsibilities in my routine, but I've never had 3 kids before so its hard to know exactly how things will change until they do. At least the boys can walk themselves up to our 3rd floor apartment by themselves. When they want to. I'm excited to see this little one who has made sleeping through the night nearly impossible.

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Uplifting Conference talks, good food, fun with family. We really had a good weekend. Probably too good, because the boys were beat by the end of the day for Saturday and Sunday. (Easter candy + extra excitement = lousy naps and cranky boys)

Clark opening his easter basket. I tried to be minimal in the amount of Easter candy I gave them, but somehow (after the second grandparent's house) it didn't seem to matter what my original intentions were. They knew there was candy and they were determined to find and eat it! Apparently I'm more lax than I thought I was. Well, me and the leftover candy seem to be getting along just fine.

Shake it, Bruce! (Please excuse the varying quality of our pictures. They come from different sources.)

Ooooooh! Bubbles!

Our family tradition includes hiding the Easter baskets, so these pictures are after the hunt. They boys thought it was a lot of fun. Bruce needed some help understanding what exactly he was looking for, but caught on after a while. We also hid some plastic eggs.

And here are some random pictures of our recent adventures:

Playing at the zoo: Clark, Bruce, & Cousin A. hanging on the elephant trunk statue.

Clark digging (for dinosaur bones) and Cousin A. wandering.

Bruce playing in the sand at the zoo. We seem to do this everywhere we go.

Clark brushing the goats. (Very stinky!)

Bruce brushing... himself. I know, so gross!

Clark and Bruce harrassing that same goat.

Playing at the park with Uncle D.

This is our favorite activity lately. Uncle D. played very patiently with the boys. He looks a little bored here, but he never complained. (What a good sport!)

I'm sure you noticed all the nice playground equipment in the background. The closest we got to it was filling a bucket with mulch to bring back to the sandbox/bare-spot-in-the-grass. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Well, considering my once-a-month blogging pattern, this may be my last post before the baby is born. Maybe not. Blog readers consider yourselves warned. Both of you. :)

I Would Like to Thank...

Thank you cucumber. You have my undying gratitude for saving my grocery shopping trip when my 2 year old was in melt-down mode. You endured being called Larry and repeated renditions of the "Veggie Tales" theme song for 15 minutes in the extremely long Wal-mart checkout line. Please don't be mad about the bite marks...

Thank you Choco Puffs. You are second-best to your cousin Cocoa Puffs, but it doesn't seem to matter. I have you hidden away from prying children's eyes and hands (and mouths), since the 2 year old in me doesn't want to share you. You make my day as a guilty nap-time snack.

Thank you dishwasher. I didn't realize how much I missed you until getting you back in my life. Deep down I feel that your plastic-ware melting heat makes my dishes that much cleaner. Even though you sound like a hand saw for the entire wash cycle, you make my life so much easier.

Just some random thoughts of gratitude for the day...

Kid Quotes

Funny things my kids have said recently:

Me to Clark: "Okay Clark you have 5 more minutes."
Clark: "No, no, 4 more minutes."
Me: "Okay... 4 more minutes."
Clark: "Is 4 more minutes a long time?"
Me: (Thinking about putting Clark down for a nap...) "Yes, 4 minutes is a long time."

Bruce to Clark, who just snagged his pretzels: "Clarkie! You spit that out right now!"
Sorry Bruce, but you probably don't want it anymore. It's the thought that counts I guess.

Clark to Mom: "Mom, I want to go with Grandma." or "No, Mom, I want to sit by Grandma."
He's got it figured out already. Grandma is a softy.

Bruce, while sitting on my lap: "OH! The baby bumped me!"

Me to Bruce: "What should we name the new baby?"
Bruce: "Thomas the Train."
I don't think she would be to happy with that one when she got older...

Clark, after grabbing a toy from Bruce and being scolded: "But Mom, he didn't want it anymore."
Is that right? Nice try mister!

Wrestling

Seriously? Wrestling? I feel like my house is WWE Friday Night Smackdown every day (growly voices included). Wrestle on the couch, on the floor, anywhere or nowhere in particular once the mood strikes them. I have to say I prefer the couch, since it takes longer for the inevitable injury to occur.

Really, I'm not exactly sure where they got the idea, since Caleb is not really a wrestling-type Dad. It doesn't matter because it's like the flu and they've already caught the bug. I have assumed the roll of the nagging mom all day. We are constantly trying to limit injuries as well as bumps and thumps on the floor (for the benefit of our downstairs neighbors, who have already developed saint-like patience). It's possible that we are worse than the base-thumping-music-type neighbors, but that may be up for debate. That's apartment living I guess.

The most nerve-racking move I have witnessed would have to be when someone climbs on top of some piece of furniture (like in the corner of the wrestling ring) and jumps on the other participant. Is that called a body slam? Usually, this follows by an eruption of laughter (thankfully), but sometimes a boo-boo. I feel like they are going to start smacking their elbow for a "flying elbow drop" any day now. So, I apologize in advance to other mothers. I hope my Wrestle-Mania hopefuls don't pass this bad habit along because there is no turning back. Just to let you know, we're working on it (for probably the next 10 years).

(sigh)

Also, don't keep scrolling for pictures. We still don't have our camera, although I'm sure you would love to see my little wrestlers in action.

At Home Today

We have one car in the family these days, so we try to plan as much as we can in order to get out of the house (and keep my sanity). I have to say that sometimes it's good to have an at-home day the whole day. With doctor's appointments and other errands keeping us busy lately, today I felt like I accomplished something just by not getting out of the house. Really just regular stuff that I had been putting off (like folding laundry and organizing).

As I was sitting folding the boys' clothes and thinking about how much laundry those little bodies produce, I was watching Bruce trying on every single pair of Clark's (clean) underwear one by one. (Sorry Clark, but in my defense he was wearing a diaper.) It made me laugh and think that being busy is fun, but this has been a good at-home day. And I love being a Mom to these cute, silly, energetic little boys.

Sorry about the blurry pictures, but these were taken with my phone (since we may never find our camera).

Hangin' out with our buddies J. (behind Bruce) and S. (on the left) the other day. Please excuse the mess...

Coming and Going

We have had a few changes since my last post. Well, I should hope so since it has been almost 3 months since I've written anything on this blog. Which may be a disappointment to the 2 or 3 readers who were brave enough to check, but have since stopped checking, on whether or not I would break my silence...

To my defense, we have had some major changes in this time. I'll try to catch you up without writing an entire autobiography.

1. I'm pregnant. Like really pregnant (27 weeks I think). I'm due at the end of April and we are looking forward to having a girl this time (if the doctor was right). I still have my doubts in the back of my mind as to the accuracy of when the doctor says its a girl versus a boy.

2. We've moved! No, we haven't moved out of Florida, but back closer to the grandparents and other family members (which we have really enjoyed especially over the Christmas/New Year holidays). We get to hang out with our relatives a lot more often and still get to sleep at home at night. Awesome! We also have almost double the square footage of our last apartment, which has done wonders for my sanity since Caleb has our one and only car every day at work. On the down-side, we pay almost double the rent since we were living in campus family housing which is really cheap. Also on the down-side is all the cool people we don't get to see so often anymore. We miss you guys! Clark keeps trying to convince me that we haven't moved that far away, so we could go back and play with some of his friends. Hopefully we'll be back soon to visit when we get our car fixed (which has been plaguing us this week with problems).

3. Caleb graduated from UF with a BA in English (with honors). It was pretty cool all around and I appreciated that there were no long speeches from anyone. I seem to remember my graduation being boring (as graduations tend to go), but I was really excited to see Caleb walk across that stage. Caleb was smiling pretty big the whole time. I was and am very proud of him and all his hard work. I would post a picture, but he has also misplaced our camera... So, no pictures for now. Also, Tim Tebow was graduating in the same ceremony. That was pretty cool, even though I'm not really a football fanatic. I feel I have put up with enough game-day traffic to appreciate it.

4. Caleb got a job! I know you were all wondering, since he was an English major. :) He is working for a railroad signal engineering company and doing well. (Nope, not writing a novel or teaching high school.) After 2 years as a full-time student, we are very relieved he is gainfully employed again at a job he feels has a good future. So, next time you're stopped at a railroad crossing you can think of us. (Or sing Thomas the Train songs, like we usually do. Either way.)

5. Bruce has turned 2 years old! This is a little bit of older news, but nonetheless it has happened since my last post. He usually seems older to me because he speaks pretty clearly for his age, but then he has a meltdown and I remember that he is only 2.

He is such a creative little guy and always saying funny things. He stood up in his booster seat the other night at dinner with his arms stretched to the side exclaiming, "I'm a sword!" I have no idea where that came from, and I couldn't help but laugh. I made the mistake the other day of hoping for a repeat performance (since it was so cute), but when I said "Brucie, are you a sword?" I just got poked in the eye by a very fast finger.

We were also talking about eating things that were good for us (eating vegetables at dinner) and how the things that mommy eats, the new baby eats too. Bruce thought about this for a minute and then said, "Mommy, the baby says, Oooh! That's Hot!" He had just burned his mouth on his food a minute before. I'm constantly amazed at how content he can be playing by himself and the funny things he comes up with in his creative play time.

Bruce is still enamoured with his brother and is so excited when Clark wakes up. Sometimes he'll even hug him and say "I love you, Clarkie!" (This, of course, is contrasted with plenty of the sibling struggles that are common to 2- and 3-year-olds.)

6. Clark has moved up to the Sunbeam class (3-year-olds) in Primary at church. He seems to be doing well and enjoying being a "big boy" now. He even has a cute tie to wear (just like Daddy). I get to see him during singing time since I teach the 4-year-old class now. He loves singing and is quick to learn the songs, but is still learning how to stay in his seat. Bruce has been distraught by this development, since Clark no longer plays with him in Nursery class (18-months to 3-year-old class). He was so upset this last Sunday that he had to sit with Daddy in his class for a while and calm down, but was coaxed back by the promise of snack time and did just fine after that.

Well, Happy 2010 to everyone. I'm looking forward to catching up on my blog reading now that we have the internet again! Hopefully, it won't be so long before I post again.

Funny Things

Just a couple of random quotes:

"Mom, is that guy beating his dog?" by Clark while watching a jogger and his dog running. Get it? Beating him in a race? I know, it took me a second to process and respond to his question.

"I'm going to beat you up!" by Clark while racing up the stairs to our apartment. He does say this while racing when we are NOT on the stairs and it cracks me up. Is it wrong if I don't correct him?

"HI FRIENDS!" by Bruce with a big smile to a crowd of strangers in our parking lot. They did respond similarly to his greeting. The enthusiasm of little children is undeniable.