It's a ...

Healthy growing baby! We had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound this afternoon and had a family field trip to the event. All was well. The boys enjoyed seeing the "baby pictures" and it was exciting seeing a new little face that we haven't met yet. The baby is measuring right on track - well, a week ahead on arm length & leg length, but overall averages at 2 days ahead of my due date. Sounds good to me. Someone mentioned to me today how being 20 weeks is a new way to look at things - time to start counting down until arrival! We were able to bring home some cute pictures of the little one, too. Always a bonus. I also enjoy the relief of knowing things are good since I really still am not wearing much maternity clothes. I did wear some to church yesterday, but that was about the first time so far this time around and I was still self-conscious of if I needed to and how it looked.

I really like my doctor and we usually have a good little chat when I'm there. He pretty much tells me to "stay boring" (he says I'm an easy patient that wouldn't complain even if I was miserable & he enjoys that I pretty much have things going normally). He grabbed the ultrasound report to check the gender (which we've never found out). Then he was like, "You don't want to know?" After a response, he said, "Good for you." Most of the conversation, though, was about the big basketball game tonight between KU & OU. He's a big fan & knows our household is, also. GO KU! Then as I was leaving, he said he was going back to see the ultrasound technician to see if she'd tell him what we were having. Time will tell!

Leah just wants to be big!

These are just a few of the things she's shown lately...

- She has quickly wanted to take up riding Jacob's tricycle that he's finished with - she climbs right on & sits happily

- She always wants a big cup instead of a sippy cup. She actually does really well drinking that way, too.

- She has started playing her air guitar whenever she hears music & starts dancing...can you tell we learn by example? Unbelievable amount of guitar playing at our house.

- She's definitely to the phase of sitting on your lap at the dinner table and eating from your plate.

"I Need MY LILYPADS!"

We bought all the boys bigger bikes recently. Leyton & Nathaniel's were getting too small & kind of worn out, so we bought the next size. Based on the others' conditions, we opted to get Jacob a new one as well; his has training wheels. He's very against pedaling right now. I know he'll get past it, but at first, he'd sit on it, but his legs don't touch the ground so he can't push himself along that way. The last few days, he says he just wants to "walk his bike." So, he walks it all around the block or to the park, etc. We also bought him a new helmet, which came with kneepads. He is VERY fond of the kneepads and wants them on anytime he puts the helmet on. I think it may restrict his range of motion a bit, which doesn't make pedaling easier, anyway, but that's how he wants to do it. And, well, with Jacob, what he wants is very important and he'll let you know it.

Last week, we were headed to the park in the afternoon and Jacob was dealing with a bit of frustration. He had his helmet, but we didn't have the kneepads with us as I was trying to leave them at home. It was then that I realized the equipment from his point of view. He was very upset and screaming at me as we were leaving. "MOM, I NEED MY LILYPADS! WHERE ARE MY LILYPADS?"

I enjoyed it for a moment but couldn't laugh since he was so upset. I quickly went back to the garage and got the kneepads. All was well again.

Great Quotes from a Wise Woman

I've been reviewing some quotes from Mother Teresa lately. Wow, there are some great ones. Here are a few of my favorites:

"Smile at each other. Smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other. It doesn't matter who it is and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other."

"How can there be too many children? That's like saying there are too many flowers."

"God hasn't called me to be successful. He's called me to be faithful."

"I am like a little pencil in God's hand. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it."

"We can do no great things - only small things with great love."

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much."

Funny Song

I heard this today on the radio...very funny! It's everything a mom says in 24 hours condensed into 2 min 55 sec. Enjoy!
http://www.truveo.com/The-Mom-Song-Sung-to-William-Tell-Overtu/id/3020795974

Later, I found a version for Dads called Dadsense. It is a whole different song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNGFh-dCe0

And for the record, I really don't think I say too many of these things...now I'll try harder not to. And, Patrick does a great job around here, too. I wouldn't agree with the Dadsense part, but it is funny.

From the Mouths of Babes

Recently I've been talking with the boys about the baby being in my belly. It prompts them to ask about when they were in my belly. Tonight I had my ultrasound pics out from when I was pregnant with them. Jacob was particularly interested and was so happy to be asking, "Is that me? In your belly?" He really did well considering those pics can really be hard to interpret - imagine for a three-year-old! Anyway, Nathaniel was also looking at the photo album we have of all of their pictures since we had so many. The cutest part was when I recapped with Jacob. I asked him, "Jacob, where is the new baby?" He said, "In your heart." A lot of truth to that - aren't all of a mother's children in her heart forever? I think so.

A New Round of Baby Names

Well, with all the excitement of expecting a new baby, the boys are really trying to be fair. They think it should be a girl since we only have one girl. How equal opportunity of them. Anyway, they've been coming up with some ideas for names. Here are some I've heard:
- Shimmer (great one, right! Ha, I think it's from Miss Spider's Sunny Patch in case you wonder)
- Lyda or Willa (these are Jim Cosgrove's daughters' names)
Enjoyable; in all actuality, it's nice to know they're very excited. 17 weeks already; we have the sonogram in about three weeks.