Life update

Mike is keeping busy with work, Cub Scouts, and taking care of us.  He is such a trooper and I am so grateful for him.

Michael is doing great in school, he almost always gets 100% plus all the bonus words right on his spelling words and loves reading.  Michael still has the softest heart and wants to help everyone and everything and is just such a nice boy!  Michael is such a great big brother to Grace up until I made them stay in bed until 7 am, I would come upstairs for the morning and Michael would have cereal on the table and in bowls for both him and Grace.  It was nice that he was helping out but, they were both so eager to wake up that they were not getting enough sleep.  The past week with them both having to stay in bed until 7 am has helped them to be in such better spirits.

Grace is growing up so FAST!  When we are at home she is about 98% potty trained.  I am not brave enough to leave the house in panties, one day at a time.  Grace loves everything baby right now and loves talking to her baby in my belly whenever she wants.  She also loves to play restaurant and take our orders and bring us fake food.  Grace's vocabulary is pretty amazing and she surprises me daily with new full sentences and demands.  A scary thing happened last Friday, Jan. 29th.  Grace and I were done shopping at Walmart and getting ready to leave when all the sudden Grace decides she is going to bolt through the front of the store (in the wrong direction.)  I yelled for her to stop, she didn't hear me and she ran straight out the door, across the street and about 3 cars down a row into the parking lot.  I ran after her, she saw me, laughed, and tried to run even further away.  I swooped down and picked her up and tried telling her how scary that was, she just laughed, I started bawling and I think she finally understood, somewhat.  We were so blessed that day, that nothing happened to her!  I have been terrified to take her our since then and make her stay a lot closer!!!

 I think/hope that the morning/all day sickness is subsiding a little bit.  I have figured out that if I eat a little bit every 2-3 hours I can keep the queasiness at bay, food doesn't sound/look/taste like it did before.  My taste buds have gone haywire, I don't like chocolate, ice cream, cookies or donuts at all anymore.  Peanut butter and jelly is a staple food around here for us all and, it hasn't disagreed with me yet.  Fazoli's is a new favorite place to eat, bread sticks and a baked ziti go a long way, the kids and I can all eat off of one serving of it, so the 3 of us eat for $4, can't beat that.  Going to the grocery store is quite the chore, it's in and out and my ad shopping hasn't been done in months but, hopefully life will be more normal sooner than later and old routines can be restored.  I don't look pregnant at all, in fact I can fit into a dress that is 4 sizes smaller than my normal size.  It would be nice to weigh less when I have this baby then I did at conception, it will be much easier to get down to my goal weight of 150 when all is said and done.  Boy don't I sound vain?  I am trying to be positive about this being my 3rd pregnancy and being 17 weeks and not showing at all.  I had dreams of being at my goal weight before I got pregnant again so that everyone could see I was pregnant and so I had a cute baby belly.  I didn't get to my goal weight or even close but, being pregnant I have lost about 23 pounds.  In other news as of this week I have really started feeling the baby move and shake and it's really exciting and makes it so much more real!  My count down to baby being her is on!!!!!

So as you can see we are all alive and well.  Life hasn't been very interesting but, that's okay that means all is well ;)