My fishies

I've never spent so much time in the water! The kids are such little fishes - tan little fishes. Even with 50 SPF on every day and often reapplied, they are sporting nice tans. Clay and I caught J in action jumping into the pool the other afternoon. These aren't all from the same jump, but they flow together nicely to give you a little play-by-play. He gets some serious air for a flat-footed jump. And then there's E who had to her picture taken too although she spent most of this day getting in and out making footprints on the deck!

Our "schedule" has been so unique these last few weeks that it's thrown J into a bit of a frenzy with his sleep. He's napping again, but then staying up until 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. some nights. (Fortunately for us, he plays quietly in his room regardless what time we put him to bed!) There are nights he only sleeps 7 hours and others he will sleep almost 12. We are really noticing his need for above normal sensory stimulation - which is a challenge for this pregnant mama.

This is how I found him late this afternoon. Poor baby is just worn out!

Miss E's first mani/pedi

I've been a blog fanatic lately. Guess I'm getting a little sentimental as we approach J's 4th birthday and the arrival of little M. Bear with me!

After countless times of me trying, Clay was finally able to convince Miss E to get her fingernails and toenails painted. She's always adamantly refused, but today she got on board. Auntie Claire would be so proud (thus the number of pictures I'm posting)!!! She was quite enthralled in the whole process, but kept asking for me to clean it off after we were done (she watched me remove my old polish before we began). She's already in need of another spa day as a lot of the "paint" is already MIA.

(Pardon her attire - it was a focused potty training day at our house...and you'll notice that Miss E has her daddy's olive skin... even with slathering sunscreen on her whenever we go play outside, she's still darker than me!)

Time at the Y

I finally remembered to take my camera to the water park at the YMCA (again, thanks to the generosity of friends who gave us a summer family membership)! Clay got to join us today, and it was a ball of fun for all.

J loves the frog slide...the first 3 photos show him going down and then cheering for himself! E was a bit more tentative today...just hanging out on the side of the pool and even moping because she didn't want to get wet. She finally decided that jumping to Daddy sounded fun, and she was unstoppable after that. Clay didn't much of a break from our two little fish...


They couldn't wait to get back out so they could jump back in!

Gettin' some major air!


With about 10 minutes left to play, E decided she needed to play in the sprinklers. She removed her life jacket, asked me to take her ponytail down, and headed for the fun. First she gets her hair wet, then she runs through, runs to me and says, "I get wet!", then repeats.

New inhabitants

We had been wondering...and last night it was confirmed -



We knew the mama bunny had been a bit too brazen and hanging too close to the house not to be keeping watch. Little did we know she had 4 little children under her care - in our jasmine right outside our front door! The little ones were brave last night venturing out into the great unknown. It was fun to watch the kids and we got to see babies nurse! The first picture is a little blurry, but is the best one of them nursing. Mama Bunny didn't take her eyes off us, but she finally hopped away so I got a good shot of the 4 little ones trying to figure out how to get back in the jasmine. Something tells me this will not help our grass growing problem!

Swimming at home

Splurged on a $10 pool at Wal-Mart yesterday for those days I just don't want to pack us up to play at the YMCA water park. I added the sprinkler thing we got from some friends last summer and the kids had a blast - E has become quite the little fish since Aunt Claire convinced her the pool was a great place to be. I took a few pictures of our fun before I got wet myself! (I played with a few settings on the camera too as you can tell.)

Musings

It's been a good day. It started earlier than I desired, but they pretty much all do these days. I got busy after getting the kids settled with breakfast. I don't know why I don't do that more often; it always makes me feel better about the day. Grannylou came over to play with the kids while I helped at our church's health fair (Clay was mowing yards with my dad), but I wasn't gone all that long. I hadn't volunteered for a particular area because I didn't know for sure I would have childcare, and they didn't need my help. The kids ate lunch and then we all rested - what a nice Saturday treat! I worked a little more on cleaning out the girls' closet to get ready for our new arrival before we headed to swim with friends. It was fun watching our kids enjoy the water. The girl has become quite the fish (thanks to Aunt Claire coaxing her into the water last weekend), and she spent a lot of the time jumping in to her daddy. The boy split time jumping in (finally doing it without holding someone's hand) and swimming around. It's a good thing they love the water since it's so hot here - heat index today was 108!!! We headed back to our friends' home for dinner and more water time in their kiddie pool. Others joined us for a grand ol' time. Now the kids are in bed, Clay is back out hanging with some guys, and I'm enjoying the quiet.

I've reached that point in pregnancy that I'm ready to meet this little gal (M). Clay and I had a special moment last night as she became quite active once I laid down. Her movements are so different than the boy (J) and the girl (E). They seem to be calmer, more of a sweeping motion than a kick or punch. I sat in church last week with my arms laid across the top of my belly; and for about 5 minutes she just ran some appendage back and forth across my arm. I love that connection. It is my favorite part of pregnancy, and this time I find myself more sentimental about it. Perhaps because it's been a couple of years or perhaps because I know this could be my last time to experience this joy. I do not desire to rush her coming. I long for her to be healthy, but I'm ready for it to be late July knowing her arrival could be at any time. I'm ready to hold her, study her, nurse her, cuddle her, and just have her in my arms. There is much to do between now and then - celebrate J's 4th birthday, celebrate the 4th of July, celebrate my niece's 9th birthday, celebrate Lauren's 3rd birthday, clean out closets, wash baby clothes, get out all the baby equipment, help Clay as he begins his new career, and simply enjoy the summer. I do not wish to rush through these events, but I am so anxious to hold my littlest gal. I wonder if these feelings aren't intensified by the number of people I know that haven't had that joy in the last year or two. They were expecting joyful bundles, but for one reason or another those bundles never breathed their first breath or they breathed far too few for one little life. I've found it interesting that I've worried more about this child than I did my other two. I would have thought I would have been a wreck when I was pregnant with J, but I wasn't. In my naivety, I couldn't fathom God asking to me to walk that road after waiting so long for a child (but I know those whom He has asked to walk such a road). I was so in shock about being pregnant with E that I don't think I thought about losing her, but this time is different. I was so thankful for our 20 week sonogram that showed M healthy and growing right on schedule. I am thankful for every movement that reminds me she is still with us. I treasure hearing her heartbeat unlike I did with the other two. I seem to be more aware of the preciousness of the gifts God has given me this time around.

I am just so ready to meet her.

I love her already... 8 weeks and counting... I know having three kids ages 4 and under will be insanity at times, but I am ready. I am ready for our family to be all together. I am ready for the challenges, the joys, the tears, and the laughter. My heart overflows that I am getting to walk this road all over again...

So proud

**Update: He passed tonight's test with flying colors!**

Have I mentioned how proud I am of my husband these days? I'm always proud, but it's cranked up a few notches over the last weeks. He's studying like a fiend. (I'm not sure I saw him put this much effort into his classes in college.) He's not content just to pass the test; he desires to blow it out of the water. He did so last week...and I have no doubt it will be a repeat tomorrow night. Then it's just waiting on paperwork to get finalized before he is officially a Farmers Insurance Agent.

Not only is he embarking on a new career, he's been doing odd and end jobs to help stretch our savings. He's been mowing yards with my dad, built a wall display for our church, and working with a guy who cuts downs & trims trees. No job is below him as long as it helps provide for his family. Not all guys are like that.

He's a gem...and he's my partner in this journey of life.

I am one blessed woman.