Three, Two, One

{Three}

Sherwood baby number three is doing well. We got to take a little peek last week for my 20 week ultrasound and HE is growing a moving and all that just like he is supposed to. I am already fond of him as this has been a super easy pregnancy. I haven't been sick or anything like that. On some days I get really really tired. But that is the easiest symptom to remedy: take a nap. Or take a coma (a coma is one of those naps when you sleep so hard and drool and wake up disoriented). It seems that when I need a coma so does Asa. Perfect!

Unlike my pregnancies with Annabelle and Asa I haven't hit the 'eat gummis every single day' phase. I still like sweet things, but mostly just in moderation. I have noticed that I am more emotional. Yeah, that was unexpected. I fought back tears for the first 10 minutes of the 4th of July parade this year. I find myself feeling shoved to the side when I haven't been. At unexpected moments of slight difficulty I will suddenly become overwhelmed. It is a bit ridiculous, which is what I try to keep in mind. I just take my good friend's advice and tell myself "I'm just going through a stage right now".

Sometimes while in this stage I make lapses in nutritional judgement. Let's just say that is what happened the night I decided that we were going to have peach crepes with real whipping cream, powdered sugar and chocolate drizzled on top for dinner.

Back to our little number three. He is already fairly active. So far his little jabs and kicks have been fairly amusing. Asa loves to fall asleep laying on my chest/belly. Unknown to Asa, his little brother notices and makes sure to thump Asa several times to let him know that he is being squished.

This week at my appointment he was so active it took my RNC about 4 minutes to get his heart rate because every time she'd get him for a second he would move before she could get enough beats to get the rate. She exclaimed several times that he was a really active baby.

{Two}

This boy is my love. He is a real rascal but then he turns right around and has me wrapped around his finger again. He'll empty the recycling, climb up on the table, sneakily drop his dinner on the floor, turn the power strip for the computer off, try to get his hands in the toilet (or the 'yuck' as he calls it), throw toys down the stairs or imitate his sister when she is crying BUT most often when I scold him he'll give me a cheesy grin with a scrunched up nose so that I have to quickly turn away so that he won't see my smile. He'll snuggle up to me and bring me a book to read him. He'll remember to sign instead of grunt.

He has been picking up signs so quickly now. For a lot of them he does his own little variation but for now he is using: dog, cat, hat, telephone, book, fish, bird, eat, drink, please, thank you, help, more, again, snowman, flower, baby, and this week I have been trying to get him to say 'love'. He also shakes his head or nods to answer yes and no questions. We love being able to communicate! Of course there are always break downs (like last night when he didn't understand why I wouldn't let him eat the baby powder) but overall signing makes life so much easier.

Mike says it is time to cut his hair again. He is probably right, but if he gets really sweaty and it is humid out then he'll get curls like in this picture from the zoo.

{One}

Miss Annabelle has been in school for about a month now. Here in Arizona they start school a lot earlier in the year and most of the schools only offer full day kindergarten. I know - aren't you supposed to ease into it? For the mother's sake?

She likes going. There are ups and downs as far as having a stricter bed time or getting up in the morning goes but she is always happy about it on the way there. I was a little worried the first week because she told me "Mom, did you know that learning isn't fun?" Seriously, who let that one slip?

Since Asa and I miss her all day she is a bit of a celebrity in the afternoons. We sit and eat a snack with her, read books or play if she feels like it. Some days I think she is just ready for down time and she'll disappear into her room or watch a show.

She let slip last week that a boy at school was giving her kisses. I tried not to act too shocked so that she wouldn't get embarrassed and not tell me WHY he was kissing her. She explained that she had won candy three days in a row and that he got so excited for her that he just started kissing her cheeks and arms. Mike encouraged her to cover her face next time!