My hubby and I are celebrating our 6th anniversary this weekend. I was thinking last night that out of the 6, I have been pregnant for 3 of them! Got to do something about that after this baby comes!
Anyway, I won't be back to post anything till Monday, so I leave you with this picture that had mom and dad rolling in laughter! It's a camera phone/in the semi-dark snapshot, so it's not so great. But that's Ben rear and Juli is in between his legs...both of them totally zonked!
I call them the ultimate snugglers! Talk about brotherly love!
Hope Ben doesn't let one RIIIIIPPPP!

And just a piece of my day...
The husband (yes impersonal and harsh...you'll see why) came home for lunch and when he was done left the salt shaker on the table. My kids love to lick salt...little ponies! But I always oversee it...except this time Juli oversaw it. When she came to me crying she had fists full of salt and her tongue was shriveled like a slug!
We washed up and brushed teeth and got some water.
Thought she was fine but 5 minutes later she bursts into the bathroom as I am on the toilet (where else would I be at 18 weeks pregnant?) and excitedly begins to tell me something when she hurled all the salt and breakfast (cereal and watermelon! Didn't you want to know?) onto the pile of laundry awaiting the wash. YUM! What a way to start the day...and he could have just PUT THE SALT AWAY!

Want a cardio workout without moving?

And I'm not talking about thaaaaat...dirty, naughty!
Phone Booth was on tv last night. It was pretty freaky. My heart was pounding at such a fast pace I almost wondered if it was unhealthy!
The review I have linked is pretty right on. They could have done so much more with the whole point of the movie, redemption, but just as it is, the ending is what REALLY gets you!
So, if you think you can handle it, check it out and if you get bored (I didn't though) wait for the end! It does have a lot of language, but since it was on tv they blurped out every bad word! While I usually don't mind this, some of them were really there for a reason!
Also you might want to turn off your phone while your watching. Once the movie was over I lay down in bed and began to fall asleep. In my doze I heard the phone ring and jumped out of my skin! It really was an approaching train! Yes, exactly...the only way a train can sound like a phone is if you've been mentally psyched!

Anyway, I got my cardio for yesterday...while bumming on the couch!

20 weeks to go...and counting! (almost as exciting as the shuttle)

My skin is dry and cracking, my belly is itching and my double D's are already bigger! I am 19 weeks pregnant at this moment and the most exciting thing that has happened thus far is the day I came oh so close to buying a fetal heart monitor so DH and the kids could listen to baby.
I should be having a sonogram right now and waiting for my glucose and blood test results to come back and tell me I am low on iron (like I usually am). But instead I sit and wait...wait on the state of Florida to tell me if I qualify for financial help with this baby.
Because of trouble early on and blood testing I have already done our bills at this moment exceed $1300 - and that's just in the first trimester because I haven't seen a doctor in two months! Not so good, I know, but what else to do?
I always have little ways of staying excited and pepped for another child. Usually it's through listening to the heartbeat at least once a month, finding out the sex of the baby, beginning my collection of baby clothes and even starting to decide what needs to go on my registry.
As it is, I am staying excited through nest keeping (ohhh fuuun) and buying things for my other children, like books about being a big sister and magazines that have pictures of baby inside the womb.
Ahhhh...my patience level is burning out! I WANT A SONOGRAM NOW!

IN - LAWS

You never get the jokes about in-laws until you have some. In my case it's no joke...it's very serious, with many mind blowing, underlying issues and character traights that don't just blow over in...well...in a year.

DH's brother and SIL are coming into town this weekend with their two kids. The cousins are around the same ages as my kids and it has been thought from the beginning that they might like eachother and thus make a family get-together more enjoyable for everyone.
It was a nice thought and I think part of me still hangs on to it becasue of the closeness I had and still have with my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle. BUT in reality, if let myself admit it, the boys are too different to even play together and thus in consequence the girls haven't had much of a chance.
Anyway, my family is invited to the In-Laws house to visit with DH brother and kids this weekend. I got an e-mail...we are ALL invited. Hmmmm...I seem to remember that tragedy struck hard last time we all got together. And I haven't seen or spoken with the In-Laws in a year an a half! Yes, it was that bad and certainly justified...but way too dramatic for me to even try to explain. Those of you who know can only begin to understand. I can just say that NO ONE on this planet ought to EVER over-ride my authority over my kids in front of me again! Unless for good reason of course (though I really can't thihnk of one). And oddly enough I have never had a problem with anyone in any of my distant or close family the way I did with DH's parents. And so I stay away. Actually it is the smart choice given the situation. Not that I haven't forgiven them...I actually feel sorry for them that they have made things this way. But some attitudes are intolerable and if I can't change them then I stay away.
Any problems with your in-laws? Or even you parents? How did you handle them? Am I the only one who never speaks with their children's grandma and grandpa anymore?

As I lay in bed (yes- being lazy and pregnant- my privilege as a stay at home mom) yesterday morning and listened as space shuttle Discovery landed, I realized that I didn't post anything about our 4th of July.

July 4th 2006 - forget fireworks and grilling out. It was blazing hot and fireworks still scare Juli. So we piled in the car to see the launch of Discovery. It was our second trip out to Titusville since the first scheduled launch was canceled. The kids got Burger King and I had my Subway and we scoured the river across from the launch pad in search of the best spot to see from. We ended up directly in front of the entire NASA island sitting on a dock with our feet dangling down over the river. A picture perfect spot! We arrived about 15 minutes before the shuttle was set to go off and in about 5 of those minutes the kids were bored out of their minds! We continued to explain why we were waiting and how worth it the launch would be. Yeah right...at what age do kids actually start believing their parents about anything? Finally someone in the throng of people behind us started a countdown. Ben is a number expert and counted along with us.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Nothing...ok maybe we were a little off.
Then a pile of smoke. Both children were riveted!
And fire and lift off!
The launch is always so quick and you wish you could replay it. But as we stood on the dock in silence with our necks craned back watching the shuttle begin to disappear into the clouds, the roar of the explosion began to reverberate across the water! It had taken a good 40 seconds for the sound to travel to our ears and when it did it rattle us to our very bones. The baby inside me jumped and the two in my arms opened their mouths in disbelief! The ground shook and Ben said "My heart is pounding!"
Worth it? I'd say so!
For the next ten days we watched videos from space and listened as the astronauts spoke with men/women still here on earth! They explained technical procedures, and showed us some space walk moves and even had to know the soccer scores on the day of the playoffs!
We thought of heading back to see the shuttle when it landed and opted to watch the TV instead. But mom didn't get up in time. When the sonic boom hit our house I smiled.
Welcome home Discovery...we were with you the whole time...our hearts pounding!

The Nerve of Some People!

It was pitch black but I could still see the smoke coming out of my ears.

DH and I love to talk before we fall asleep. Everything is quiet and dark and still, our insatiable hunger for one another has been satisfied for the moment and so we lay in the dark and talk. Sounds like every woman's dream man right? I thought so too...at least for the first 20 minutes of the conversation.

I was complaining (again) of my childhood. I think pregnancies tend to do that; make you dig up the past in order to better the future. I was saying how my parents never had me engaged in anything. I never played sports or took gymnastics or dance. I never learned music or how to play an instrument. I didn't get to build homes for the homeless or go on mission trips. For a very short period of my life I took horseback riding lessons (my passion) and then horse camp and I was in heaven. But there was no follow through. I was told lessons and riding were too expensive. After that the only time I got to ride was when it was my birthday.
My mother offered to be a softball mom and I turned it down. I throw like a girl! She also attempted to get me into flower pressing and stamping. After a first class I remember expressing to her the fact that being in there with a bunch of old ladies wasn't really enjoyable for me.

But because I was the quiet child, the one who could play alone and teach herself from the textbooks provided (homeschooling at it's best) I think it was very easy to overlook me. And I was not the child who would ever ask for anything...except if I was allowed to have a piece of gum after lunch, or if I could call one of my 3 friends to see if they could play.

By the time I was ready to branch out on my own I had no self confidence. I had nothing to have any pride about. I had not accomplished anything. I had no aspirations or even a glimpse of how the real world works. I had a passion, a few, but they lay dormant because no one had ever taken the time to encourage them.

My freshman year in college was also my senior year of high school, called duel enrollment. My teacher for my freshman Comp. noticed one of my gifts, my passions, and that is writing. Now, writing comp papers isn't really the passion I mean when I say I love to write. And yet still, wrapped within the layers of the introductions, body paragraphs and conclusions, my gift shown through. My teacher invited me to attend his gifted, AP (whatever it's called) English class. I remember the excitement I felt. I was good enough - and I hadn't even graduated highschool yet! I accepted his offer immediately, my heart and mind racing at the thought of this new challenge. And then I was told that duel enrolled students were not welcome to attend those "higher education" classes.

As I look back now I realize I could have good at so many things if I had had the chance. If someone was to ask me to sum up my childhood in one word I think "boring" would be appropriate. I don't think I ever felt like a child, no cares, no worries, just doing what I loved to do! And doing it well...making my parents proud!

I want that for my kids! I know it costs money - and I'm willing to make what it takes. I think it is very important for kids to be engaged and I think it is not valued enough in today's society. Those hoodlums in my old neighborhood who spent their afternoons scrawling up the local park and drinking boos and smoking pot might actually make something of themselves if they felt like they could be a part of something bigger than life!

I have no idea if I'm making any sense but it feels good to write it.

So, after this wonderful conversation with my hubby, in which we were in full agreement and getting excited about he futures of our children, he snuggles in next to me. He began to share how exciting his new job is getting. He has connected with a group of wine and gourmet food importers and is helping them build their empire. They recently began importing coffee as well. Evidently (he was telling me) selling coffee takes a lot of knowledge from how it's grown to how is packaged. Ok, guess I can understand that. So, (he continues) they will probably need to take a class on this stuff to better learn how to sell the coffee. Ok, that sounds good too. Then he says, "So, they are thinking of sending me to the classes for a couple of weeks...in Spain!"

Am I supposed to be excited about this?

Spilled Beans!
(typing that actually made my stomach growl- lol)

The cat's out of the bag! Fidget has a huge secret and today is the day she shared with all!
There is a Chinese proverb that speaks of friends at heart being forever strung together with a red string - you think we have that or is this just a coincidence - being pregnant together for the THIRD time?!
Maybe we take the same vitamins?
Or we're just too sexy for our own good!
In any case keep Fidget in your prayers sending lots of positive chi her way!

Getting excited about baby frog

My tummy has begun to pooch and the kids are noticing. Yesterday I began to tell Juli very simply that the baby would be a boy or a girl. But either way she would be a big sister. She really loved that idea! I told her if it was a girl they could play dress-up and Juli could teach her ballet. And if it was a boy they could play dinosaurs. The latter image brought a curl to her baby lip!
So as she was falling asleep last night and very quietly mulling this baby frog over in her mind, I heard her say quietly "When baby comes out, I be a big sister and I teach her ballet!"
My heart melted! Despite all my financial, emotional and psychological fears about having a third child, I find myself relaxing into it and getting excited! Who wouldn't want another Ben or Juli?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA



We've got our sparklers, our steaks, our wine (just a taste for me) and our family - what more could we ask for?
But this Fourth of July a friend of mine sent out a very simple and to the point e-mail reminding people that our freedom is a very precious gift that has come at a very high price, and continues to cost us every day.
So, in honor and remembrance, lift your glass with me (whatever might be in it, cause all I have these days is water) -

TO OUR MEN IN IRAQ WHO CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR ALL AMERICANS
TO OUR SOLDIERS SPREAD ALL OVER THE GLOBE READY TO DEFEND OUR FREEDOM
TO OUR PRESIDENT (God be with him)
TO OUR GOVERNORS and CONGRESSMEN
TO OUR ASTRONAUTS - modern day Magellans
TO OUR TEACHERS AND PASTORS
TO OUR DEDICATED HUSBANDS and FATHERS who are superheroes in their own class
TO OUR DEDICATED MOTHERS who are changing the world one child at a time (ideally for the better)And TO OUR CHILDREN - may they rise up to be the generation that makes a difference in the world!
And last but certainly not least:
L'CHAIM! L'CHAIM
TO LIFE! TO LIFE!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2006