I'm Pregnant!!!!

Yep, baby number three is on the way. My due date is January 9th, but we'll see when baby actually shows up. I'm guessing January 12th-15th. I'm finally starting to feel a little better, although I still have bad days. I'm only showing a little, but I guess that will change soon. My sonogram is scheduled for Sept. 4th, and we are impatient, so we will find out the gender. Until then, I will dream of frilly dresses........

Pirate!!!

I'll post more vacation pics later. This is our new dog Pirate!!! She is an eight week old black lab. We figured it was about time to get a dog. Well, Clint figured, and I felt guilty for going to Germany, so the result is Pirate. Actually, i really like her. She is sweet with the boys (besides chewing them a little too hard, puppy-style), and she is sooooo cute. I'm not really an animal person, but I've always loved black labs. I researched it, and discovered that they are great family-kid dogs. Well I'm at work and outta time now.

Finally!!!!

Clint is emailing me pictures at work so that I can finally post again. we got back Saturday night from Utah. We had a really good trip. It was really fun for Ashton and Gilbert to play with their Cousins. This is everyone picking up the candy from the pinada. If I was a picky person, I would go back and edit it so that hitting the pinada came first, but I'm not, so ya'll have to suffer a backwards story.

This is Ashton hitting the pirate pinata at Aunt Ashley and Uncle Clay's dessert party. We had lots of yummy treats that night!!!!

This picture is Gilbert and Ashton riding on the pony cart. They really liked it. Certain Uncles joked that the cart would come back and Ashton would be left holding only Gilbert's head, but happily, that wasn't the case. The top picture is Ashton and Cousin Sophie doing sparklers. As you can see, Gilbert even liked doing sparklers.

I've been babysitting my boss' cute little girls this week. Gilbert is learning to be gentle with Lyla, the petite ten month old. Unluckily for Lyla, his version of gentle isn't really that gentle. A Gilbert hug consists of putting his arms around her and his face in hers and squeezing her as hard as he can. Yeah. Doesn't go over very well. I commend him for being sweet, and try to explain that she really needs a little space. And then I hold her and shield her fom the affection of my son. He is trying so hard. Bless his tiny baby heart.

Still no pictures.....

I have a reasonable excuse this time though. My hard drive (the one with all the pictures I didn't back up) crashed!!!! I had just ordered prints of all my pictures, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but still bad. I had just bought (also not backed up) two albums off iTunes. However, I figured out how to take my music off my iPod and put it back on the computer, so that doesn't really matter. Yes, I've learned my lesson, always back everything up. I was too lazy to install the DVD burner I bought forever ago, for the sole purpose of backing things up. I don't mind working with the software, but I resent having to take the cover off my computer and actually put the thing in. My Dad is putting it in when he replaces the hard drive. Bless him.

We have our tickets to Utah!!! We will be going in July. Which is also the month my sister is not getting married. Which is why we were going in July, after the wedding rather than June before the wedding. She is getting married in August instead. It's a long story involving visas and other boring stuff.

I am going to Germany to visit a friend in September. My sweet husband is giving me the trip for a Christmas\birthday present. He knew how much I wanted to go, and how long it would take for us to be able to go together, so he wanted me to go ahead and go this year. I am really excited!!!! I've wanted to go to Germany since I was a little kid, and even more in the last few years since I met Kirsten. She's been here three times, and I am so happy to finally go there.

Gilbert's poor little feet are all chewed up by ants. Sad. We got rid of all the ones in our yard, but he got into a pile I didn't see at the park. Luckily he doesn't have a severe reaction.

Ashton is having preschool withdrawals. Mommy is to. He has stopped sticking his face right into mine first thing in the morning, and asking me what fun thing he is going to do. He is sadly resigned to the fact that many days we stay at home and do nothing exciting. That's okay though, I want him to be able to play with his millions of toys and entertain himself.

Yes, I'm posting without pictures again

I promise I will post some more pictures soon. Soon is a rather ambiguous word, isn't it? ;) I like it It's reassuring without making a commitment.

Gilbert is sick. He is all cogested and wheezy, and it is sad.

I have a new strategy when Ashton asks me millions of unceasing questions. When I feel that my head will explode if he asks me another one, I answer in German. This gives me a few seconds, while he processes what it is I've just said. Of course he then asks the question again, but he does that when I answer in English as well. Usually faster. Or moves with lightening speed to a new question. Why bother answering when a simple "ich weiss es nicht" buys me five precious seconds of quiet time. Of course, I have to vary it a little. Throw in a "nein, du kannst nicht," or a "Du kannst nicht alles haben." It's working for now.

Speaking of German, I've been trying to improve my very limited skills while I'm at work. I was trying to find a list of prepositional phrases, because German ones really don't make much sense to me. During my search I came across this awesome article by Mark Twain. It is called "The Awful German Language." Here is a link, for anyone who has struggled with German. It is very funny:
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html It helped me to relive my bitter feelings towards prepositions. Here is a choice sentence: "Every time I think I have got one of these four confusing "cases" where I am master of it, a seemingly insignificant preposition intrudes itself into my sentence, clothed with an awful and unsuspected power, and crumbles the ground from under me." Haha. This said, I love German, and enjoy learning it. Most of the time. It's such a lovely expressive language. And you can't get anway with speaking it lazily. You have to open your mouth. I decided that for now I will concentrate on my vocabulary, which is sadly lacking.

Ennui

The definition from the dictionary. Ennui = a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction. This is me lately. Fairly often actually, as I tend soar and crash. It of course annoys poor Clint, because he asks me what is wrong, and I say "nothing". But I'm not trying to be obnoxious. I really can't put a finger on it. It's just feeling a general sense of blah. I haven't been sleeping well, and I'm sure that has something to do with it. In general, life is great. Actually, reminding myself of how blessed I am usually snaps me out of it a little. It's sometimes hard to remember when you have little kids at home, and you are trying to take care of them, and be a great mom, and there is always something everyday that you do wrong. At least me. And sometimes I deal with the challenges well, and sometimes (usually the times when I feel "ennui-ish") I am snappish rather than patient with Ashton's antics.

Well, I did figure out something ths week. My kids aren't the get up and play for a while type. they instantly want breakfast (I'm told I was the same way). I'm NOT a morning person. What I've been doing is getting up and turning music on right away in the kitchen. It makes me feel better, and Ashton talks to me less, which gives me time to wake up. we usually listen to a German A Capella group I really like, called "Wise Guys," or the Beatles. It's helped so far to make our mornings go a little better.

Es ist nicht immer leicht, ich zu sein

Fo those non German speakers out there, it says: "It isn't always easy being me." But most of the time it's okay. Yesterday was Ashton's official tantrum day. Everything I said was greeted with screaming rebellion. That gets emotionally exhausting after an hour. To top it off I had to go grocery shopping. Ashton screamed most of the way through the store. Because I wasn't letting him get down and run around. Because I wasn't letting him take things off the shelves. But mostly because he was in a foul mood, and would have found a reason to scream no matter what.

Then the funniest thing happened yesterday evening. We had the Missionaries over for dinner, and afterwards they were giving us a little lesson. They were taking about Joseph Smith, and when he was in the grove. They said "And then he saw something really special, do you know what it was Ashton?" He got REALLY excited, and exclaimed, "A dragon!" Haha, cute. It was pretty hard to be in a spiritual mood after that. we all laughed so hard. So, pretty great life, even if it isn't easy.