Taking a Break To Go To the Park

What is w/ us being sick all the time?! It feels like I've been sick more in the last six months than I have in my entire life. I used to always tease Jonny b/c he seemed to be sick at least every other month during the winter. Now, guess who's the one who doesn't seem to catch the colds or doesn't get the flu as bad... JONNY! What the heck!? Anyway, we are still ALL sick w/ this cold. Eli's doing the best. For the last couple of nights Jonny has been sleeping on the couch b/c he's up all night w/ a double ear infection. One ear drum finally burst & has been slowly draining while the other is just very painful. Poor guy. I just keep having these coughing fits & can't go five minutes w/out my box of tissues.
Anyway, enough complaining... the weather has been beautiful this week. Eli has been playing on our little balcony & feeding the ducks when they come by. He really likes to be outside, so I decided to get my sick body up & go see the sunlight. We've been taking walks all week (of course w/ my travel pack of tissues). Yesterday we stopped at the park so Eli could play. He was so cute. I expected him to be a little more daring & reckless- needing my constant supervision & assistance. He was SO cautious! It was so funny. He wouldn't go down the toddler slide w/out holding my hand. He climbed up & down everything very carefully, either gripping the railing or my hand. He was too scared to go down the tunnel slide & didn't like walking on the wobbling bridge thing. When I put Eli in the swing & gave it a very gentle push, he giggled & then immediately said, "Down." I think his favorite part was all the dogs he got to see. It was a nice little break from being cooped up inside.
I just want to share one more cute Eli story. Yesterday the baby was moving, (he moves SO MUCH!) so I told Eli to feel it. I usually just press his hands into my belly, but this time he laid his face on me. The baby kicked & Eli jerked his head back & looked up at me very serious & then laughed. Eli laid on my belly again... nothing... he looked up at me & said, "More." This boy cracks me up!
Gotta go, Eli's getting into my perfume... I can smell it! Ahhh!

My Eli

I love my Eli so, so much! As excited as I am about having another sweet boy to love on & take care of, I'm sad that my time w/ Eli- just the two of us- is going to end in 3 months. We're like two pees in a pod. We do everything together. We are seldom apart, & I hate being away from Eli for too long. "Too long" isn't very long at all. By the time church is over, I'm so eager to go sweep him up in my arms & give him tons of hugs & kisses. He loves me too, I know he does. :) When I show up at the door of the Wobbler room to get him, he races to the door, arms in the air ready to be loved on.
I've never spent the night away from Eli. My night in the hospital will be the first time & I'm SO SAD about it. I'm more dreading being away from Eli than I am dreading the labor. I've already thought about the detailed list I'm going to have to leave for my mom. :)
I remember when Eli was just a tiny baby & people would say 'let me give you a break' when they really meant 'I want to hold your baby'; a lot of times I didn't want a break! My arms felt so empty w/out my baby. It was the strangest feeling like, 'it's my job to hold him all the time & nobody can soothe him like I can.' Don't get me wrong- there's a time & place for taking a break. It was just this weird Mommy complex I'd never experienced before.
Anyway, I've just been appreciating my time w/ Eli so much lately. I'm so lucky to have spent every day of Eli's life at home w/ him. And I'm going to keep on holding & loving on him as much as I can b/c he's growing so fast! (thank you Jonny for working so hard so I can stay home w/ our babies! It's the best job in the entire world!) I posted some pics of my sweet Eli- you can see why I just want to squeeze him!

Tagged?

So my sister, Amy, tagged me- apparently a little blogger game. Now I need to list five weird things about myself. Here it goes...

1~ My linens take turns being used. After I do laundry, I put the clean ones at the bottom of the pile so they all get a turn to be used. Bath towels, kitchen towels, bed sheets, burp rags, etc.
2~ I LOVE string cheese. Only from Winco or Costco. I eat like four a day. Guess who else is getting addicted!?
3~ I HATE milk.
4~ One of my pet peeves is losing things. It drives me CRAZY! I can't sleep if I know something is lost. (Jonny loves this about me!)
5~ I have an excellent memory, especially when it comes to numbers & dates. I could tell you my first best friend's birthday & all the friends I've met in between. And I know all of Jonny's family members’ birthdays, which is great b/c he isn't so good in this area.
(I know; it’s only supposed to be five, but I'm a really weird person)
6~ I 'm a total list maker. I'm not just talking 'To Do' lists or 'Honey Do' lists. I make two different grocery shopping lists: Winco & Costco. I even have saved 'want lists' on the computer for Jonny, Eli, Baby & myself... oh, & our house (if we ever get to buy one!) I even have a list saved called 'Baby Names'- possible girl & boy baby names including their meanings. I also have a list of 'Things I Want to Remember from Pregnancy' - laugh all you want, I told you I'm weird. Hey now I have a list of weird things about me! :)

I'm supposed to tag someone else, but since none of you blog I guess I can't!

Poor Eli

Poor Eli is sick w/ another cold. It seems like we've been sick all winter long! Eli has a sore throat, cough, stuffy/runny nose, swollen eyes, diarrhea, & a fever. So sad! Instead of taking tons of naps & laying in my arms all helpless like he usually does when he's sick, he's been crying & moaning ALL DAY! Jonny started coaching 7th grade baseball this week, so he needs to stay late tonight to get caught up on school stuff. Woe is me...
I still managed to get some cute pictures of the boy... even when he's sick. :)

Poor Baby :(

Count Down

108 days until my official due date! This pregnancy is flying by, & it's so different than the first one. I haven't been obsessing over what we need, what body part or system is developing this week, what he'll look like, reading all kinds of pregnancy/labor/delivery books, running various 'delivery scenarios' through my mind, but mostly I haven't been watching the clock like a hawk -like I did w/ Eli. We still haven't settled on a name either & I don't feel like we're under a deadline to decide. Like I said... we still have 108 days. (Unless I'm early!)

I feel like Eli has been regressing on some of his 'big boy' behaviors. I was so excited that the potty training thing was happening so early & that he was excited about it. Well, I think it’s gotten boring for him. In the last week the number of 'poo poo's' he's done on the potty has taken a nose dive. Yesterday was a slight improvement, but for the last week, he keeps going in his diaper & THEN telling me, 'poo poo'. However, my friend, Grace, encouraged me when she told me her oldest boy did the same thing. He just got uninterested for a bit, but it was short lived & he was still potty trained earlier than most kids. Eli also has a cold, so I think maybe that could be affecting his interest in using the potty. (Speaking of his cold... his voice is horse & raspy- seriously, the cutest thing ever!)
The other thing is that Eli has been asking for his bink (pacifier) all the time! He was down to only having it for naps & in his car seat if he was fussy. Now he wants it all the time! Again, when he's sick, we give him his bink more often, but this has been going on for the last two weeks. I know his bink is no different than kids who suck their thumbs (a habit that can last many years longer!) It’s a security item! It just seems like there is a stigma associated w/ toddlers who still use their binks. I shouldn’t care what other people think, but of course I sometimes do. I have a feeling it could be harder to take his bink away after the baby is born... especially if the baby likes to have a bink. We have 108 days... I just don't know what to do.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We blessed Eli w/ a balloon for Valentine's Day. He LOVES balloons! (It's a little girly, but he doesn't now, right?)
So I know most people associate Valentine's Day w/ romantic love & a lot of people hate today b/c they don't have a romantic 'someone’ or b/c they don't like to do all the mushy stuff even if they do have someone to celebrate w/. I'm not one of those people. :)
However, that's not why I bring this up. I was thinking about Valentine's Day & how it’s supposed to be the day of 'love'. Love is something we all need, whether we admit it or not. Well, who better demonstrates His love to us than Jesus? "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."~ Ephesians 2:4-5 I was thinking that on Valentine's Day believers everywhere should be celebrating God's love for us. He is the only one who loves us perfectly & never fails us. The thought of God giving His son for us is even more sobering now that I have a son (almost two sons!). It's really unfathomable to think that God, who loved His son more than our earthly minds & bodies can love our own children, gave up His son for some wretched sinners. Talk about LOVE! I can't even wrap my mind around it. Anyway... maybe this Valentine's Day we can fall in love w/ Jesus more & more. "We love Him, b/c He first loved us." ~ 1 John 4:19

23 weeks prego

I'm 24 weeks tomorrow, but these are some pics from earlier this week.

Marshall Baby, Doctor Visit & No Driver's Ed

The Marshall baby is finally here! Congratulations to Eric & Lacey! Ethan Jude Marshall was welcomed into the world this morning @ 11:08 am (my birth moment!), weighing in at 7.10. Born on Aunt Amy's birthday!! Rian's going to be a great big brother & helper. We are excited to meet our new nephew. :)

As for our baby, I had a doctor appointment last Tuesday after bible study. I met one of the new midwives Samaritan hired since Eli was born. (Eli's newborn picture was posted in the room I was in- I can't believe he was ever that small!) I felt so relieved after my visit. Baby's heart beat was btwn 120 & 130, which she said was normal for boys. A couple months ago when the heart beat was in the 150's it was, apparently, an active time for him, but I couldn't feel him move yet. She also told me that the 20 week ultrasound results showed he measured exactly where he should be & all his organs looked just right. Remember the post about the twin scare? Well, that second sac (subchorionic bleed) is finally gone. Lastly, she said I gained 7 lbs since my last visit, so that was really, really good! I'm so glad I'm finally gaining weight! Eli was so tired from playing in the nursery w/ his friends all morning that he fell asleep in the car as we left the parking lot of church. He was so zonked out that he slept through my entire appointment. I carried him in, handed him to a nurse while I was weighed, laid him in a chair w/ his legs hanging off the edge while I met w/ the doctor & carried him back to the car- he slept through it all!

And finally, off topic... Jonny decided not to do Driver's Ed this year. We have too much going on, & the training he would have had to take in order to teach Driver's Ed this summer was three weekends (Friday evening- Sunday evening) in February & three weekends in April IN PORTLAND, along w/ a couple projects. I thought it was a very wise decision, considering how Jonny works most Saturdays, teaches the 4th & 5th graders for second service every other Sunday, goes to Wednesday night church (I work in the wobbler room every other week), we have home group every other Sunday evening AND he's a husband & dad. The time he'd make up for lost work hours would be cutting into our already limited family time. Although the extra money would be nice, it’s just not worth it- maybe next year will be more flexible for Driver's Ed.

Snow, Snow & More Snow for K- Town

A few pics from Patty & Becky.

Apparently the snow won't stop pouring down in Klamath! We always keep up w/ the weather for Klamath Falls on MSN & then of course from our friends & family down there. I was laughing on the phone w/ Becky when Jonny had two days of school canceled for maybe an inch of snow & slightly icey raods. Becky said, "Yah, there's probably more than two feet of snow here & they haven't cancelled school for me!" :)