the giant bean bag

We got a giant bean bag years ago at a garage sale. Joseph saw it and thought we had to have it. Since he never wants anything, I thought: why not?! It has turned out to be one of our best purchases. Joseph was just wrestling with the kids (which is SO entertaining), but he needed to go work on a lesson. The kids had all run to a bedroom hiding from him. He proceeded to use the bean bag and lots of pillows to block them into the room. They thought it was so funny. They continued to have so much fun (without him) climbing up and down that bean bag wall.

wake up

Yesterday I was in bed sick all day with the stomach flu. (And I hadn't quite recovered from my head/sinus cold from the weekend.) Anyway, I'm so grateful for my wonderful husband who stayed home to take care of us. (Two of the three kids were getting over stuff too.) The kids took turns visiting me and I would read to them a little. During Lincoln's visit he said, "WAKE UP, MOMMY!" I told him I was awake. Then he said, "Glasses on, mommy." Ha ha ha. I guess he knows if my glasses aren't on, I'm not really paying attention. It has been a while since I've worn contacts too. It's cute that Lincoln is really starting to communicate. He also has pretended to be asleep in the car. He saw Ansel do that and now he thinks he is SO funny to do it in the car, at the dinner table or pretty much anywhere. Lincoln does everything he can think of to be funny and get us to laugh at him.

photos

thanks for the camera tamra. i haven't been able to down load onto my computer, but i'm finally using joseph's!

new post

So, I'm trying to write on my blog more this year. The problem is that we are just sick all the time, especially me. However, this is not the kind of think I want to complain about, document or remember. That is one of the great things about me...I have a pretty bad memory. It's really nice that Joseph has a great memory when it comes to details. It's fun to remember things together with him. Today we were talking about my previous labors since we are getting excited and anticipating another one pretty soon. I remembered thinking that I had no dilation, no dilation and then all of a sudden (I would feel the contractions change and...) I would be at 10cm and ready to go. Joseph did remember with all three kids so far I slowly got to 4cm and then 30 mins later I was 10cm and pushing them out. It's comforting to see a pattern. I know there is no guarantee it will be the same this time, but we'll see. I've been really trying to sit/be in positions that will help my baby be in the best position for birth. (Sitting up/forward/hands and knees/etc. NOT reclining.) I think it helped with previous babies and hope it will help with this one too.

Anyway, I guess I've now shared what this 8.5 month pregnant lady has on her mind. Who could have guessed: sickness and birth. ha ha. I think Ansel is ready for his reading lesson. We had a bad sick day yesterday and skipped his lesson so we are doing his make up lesson now. I'm so thrilled at his progress. He is just working so hard and accomplishing a lot. I think we are on lesson 36 out of 100. I hope we can keep it up well when the new baby comes. Maybe since this pregnancy was hard the baby will be easy??? I guess I won't get my hopes up...but we'll see.

getting back to routine life

Joseph and Isabel had to get back to work and school this week. Joseph realized Sunday evening that he didn't have to go back to work until Tuesday. This was a wonderful surprise because he got one more full day's work on the wood floor and finished it all except for the stairs. We are waiting for our stair pieces to get in and he needs to put the baseboards back on. We are already just LOVING the wood floor. Tonight with dinner Lincoln pushed over his cup and spilled lemonade all over the floor. It was so much nicer to clean it off the wood than the carpet. We still can't imagine who would put a carpeted dining room into a house! Anyway, I'm SO SO grateful to Joseph for working all day long every day on his "vacation."

Ansel made a little penguin at his pre-school this month. When we got home, he put it in a car and drove it around. It was really funny watching him play with it. The penguin was bad. He broke into a restaurant several times and ended up stealing everything and taking it to his huge garage.

Today I did some grocery shopping at my normal stores up in Wichita. Over the break I didn't want to go all the way up to Wichita so I just went to Dillons and Walmart here in Derby. I feel like we have so much food in the house now and am excited for about 20 meals to make. (Good thing I'm pregnant and will be able to eat them all!) When I go to the store it kills me to have to pay more for something than I normally do. For example, I had to buy several gallons of milk for $3.08 at Dillons (which almost killed me...I bought one at a time hoping the price would go down) until today when I finally could pay $2.59 at Sam's. I think it's in my genes to find great happiness in good deals/bargains/etc. Even though I didn't sleep well last night, I think it's going to be a great day!