Tidbits

*We went to the park today with Sonya and Grace and had a picnic.  Later, Jack's and Grace's friend, Abby, showed up.  Jack lifted up his shirt and showed her his belly soon after she arrived.  Later, at dinner, I asked him about it:

Me: Did you show Abby your belly today at the park?
Jack:  No, the baby in my tummy.
Me:  You have a baby in your tummy?
Jack:  Mmm hmmm.
.
So, I guess the big news this week is that Jack is pregnant.  I'd like to see any of you top that.

*And on a related note, he must already be in nesting mode because yesterday he donned an apron and boots to help me clean out the fridge.  

Nevermind that the boots are on the wrong feet...

*I got some new cloth training pants for Mr. Preggers this week from here.  He's still rather inconsistent with using the potty, but we definitely need something that he can easily use on his own (and be re-usable).  It's weird to be at a place in life where I'm excited about underwear...but whatever.  That's where I am, apparently.

*By the way, have you noticed how awesome the weather is right now in Iowa?  I plan to spend a lot of time outside in the coming days.

*And just for your viewing pleasure:

Have a good one!

5000 Words

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes, so here's the past few days in pictures.

1. I watched Grace for awhile today.  While I was busy changing a diaper, I didn't quite catch what she and Jack were up to:

2. In case you didn't know, my son is a Hero in a Halfshell.  

3. I love, love, LOVE that Brooklyn is old enough now to be able to play with Jack.  Often I just sit in complete awe that these are my children.  

4. I equally love Jack's imagination:

In case you can't tell, he's making play dough food for his beloved Ellaroo

5.  Brooklyn likes to make a lot of noise in the car.  I'm pretty sure she knows that it annoys Jack.  His solution:

He's super coordinated too

Well, that's all for tonight....because what I didn't show was the pile of dishes that need to be done, bills that need to be paid, and laundry that needs to be folded.  And I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.  

And....I'm Back!

I feel like I pretty much dropped off the face of the earth over the last few weeks.  And if by "off the face of the earth" we actually mean "into a deep, dark nightmare," then it would be slightly more accurate.  But we, and especially Seth and Sonya, have been shown some amazing support, and things are starting to look up. So tonight I'm back to my good ol' list of happenings around here:

1.  Brooklyn is nine months old and finally crawling!  She's been mobile for awhile now but just perfected the hands and knees thing recently.  And* she has the sweetest temperament!  She's laid-back, social, happy, and has the most squeeze-ably delightful rolls.   And.......(drum roll).......she's been sleeping through the night the past three nights, around 11 hours each night!  You have no idea how happy I am.  Unless you've also been up in the night with a baby for the past several months.  Then you do know how happy I am.

2.  We're dog-sitting my in-laws' basset hound this week.  She's a good-natured dog and easy to take care of, although I think she might be in a bit of distress over her temporary home.  Two crawling babies and a toddler boy are not exactly the peaceful environment she's used to.

3.  On a similar note...it's been going really well having Morgan here every day.  It was a bit of an adjustment figuring out how to coordinate everyone's routines, but I think we're managing pretty well.  She sleeps in a pack n play in our room for naps and goes down really easily.  She and Brooklyn are quite a pair, as they're virtually the same age.  And it's funny how easy everything feels now when I just have two kids to take care.  Ahhh...perspective.

4.  2.5 year-olds are awesome creatures.  I love the things that come out of that kid's mouth.  And his imagination.  There always seems to be a monster following him or eating the food he's giving it under the table.  He knows that Nana and Papa Rob work at a hospital, Papa Tom works with Uncle Seth and they "build shelves", and Grandma works at a school.  He has a list of people that he'd like to marry (I'm on that list, in case you're wondering), and he thinks that Jesus is our president.  He also likes to sleep with the light on because "Ellaroo was sad 'cause it was dark in my room."

Ellaroo is a hand-me-down stuffed animal from when Jeremy was younger

5.  We went apple picking at the Berry Patch this weekend with a legitimate candidate from Jack's marriage list, Nora, and her parents, Mark and Anna.  I got so excited about all the apples that we ended up bringing home 14 lbs.  Looks like we'll be having a lot of apple crisp!

6.  Jeremy and I are going through the study, "Economy of Love," by Shane Claiborne and Isaac Anderson.  We fell in love with Shane's writing last year when we read his book, Irresistible Revolution.  We are continually convicted that if we believe that Jesus meant what He said (and we do), then our lives should be a reflection of that.  Economy of Love (what I've gathered so far anyway) is basically just a creative suggestion as to how we can take care of those around us and be the "hands and feet of Jesus."  I'm looking forward to the rest of it!

*By the way, I've noticed lately that I love starting sentences with conjunctions, like "and, but, so..."  If it bothers you, please discontinue reading my blog.  I don't think I'll be breaking that habit any time soon.