Whew, a long break I took there! I still haven’t found my digital camera and that has really bummed me out. I had a dream that I found the camera in a compartment, like the compartment between the seats in my van. But, I haven’t found it yet. Who is the patron saint of lost items?

We’ve been outside a lot or just hanging out a lot. I’ve had high energy days and days where I’ve taken four hour naps. My morning sickness
is GONE, thank goodness! The baby is doing just fine and I think the days where I took four hour naps was her* having a growth spurt. I’ve been taking walks, going to the Y and also just sitting on the couch. I’m trying to eat well and healthy, but I think I’ve gained 4 lbs in the past month so I guess it isn’t working! I have my next appointment in a week. I’ve been kind of having cravings – I came home from Y the other day and made brownies. But out of the whole pan I’ve only had two – or maybe three? – which is so good! I could have eaten the whole pan. Well, probably not, I’m sure that would have made me sick.

I’ve been doing a few crafts – making tons of cards but little of anything else. I have some sewing to do but I’m not sure when I’ll get to that. I’ve started working on planning the next school year for Alice. She’ll be in first grade and I think we are going to start in a month or so. I kept records this past year but I want to do it different this year. I’ve been checking out homeschooling books from the library left and right lately. I think this year we will do one of the reading groups at the library – we are going to switch to evening gymnastics for both kids so that will free our mornings for that.

I better clean up before I have to pick the kids up!

*her just because I don’t nickname the baby peanut or baby or something like that

A few weeks ago we found out that we are expecting another baby (title too cheesy? Yeah I kinda figured).

It was a fairly big surprise as for the past 3+ years my preferred birth control has been an IUD (feel free to look it up, I’m sharing enough 😉 ) so for a baby to get past that which is 99.9% effective, definitely a surprise. We’ve had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea – and to be thankful for vitamin b6 to cure my morning sickness – and the excitement is setting in.

We’ve had a couple of ultrasounds (the first one showing this – (baby)(iud) – right next to each other!) and the baby is good – wiggly, fast heartbeat and all. The kids are really exited – always asking if the baby is okay, if I’m comfortable, hungry, etc. Chris is thrilled, he has been since the moment we found out. My Mom was here when we found out so she got to also see the baby and hear the heartbeat. She’s excited and hoping for a girl as there are only two granddaughters in a field of 11 kids.

A couple of weeks ago I did another clean up of the office/craft area. I try to stay organized, but sometimes the paper in the office gets overwhelming and I need to do a purge. I shredded a lot and have a small stack to file. I could probably shred more but that can wait. In my cleaning up I realized (and found) quite a few craft, sewing, card projects that need to be finished! Finding those inspired me to clean up my sewing table, which for a long time has been a landing spot for too many things. I have a lot of material that I’m sure I can find something to make, and material already cut for a baby blanket.

My Mom came to visit and just left the other day. It was so great to have her here! She loves to garden and transformed my yard. We had very little curb appeal before she got here and looking at it now, wow the front of the house is beautiful. It is a spot that is fun to sit at and I’m happy to say the flowers are still alive and thriving. The backyard looks great too, we planted a handful of plants and cleaned up. I have a little more work to do, I need to finish laying some bark, but I haven’t yet. I need to before the weeds decide to pop up again!

Dropping my Mom and Stepdad off at the airport was so hard – living away from family is tough but when it is so in your face it is painful. The kids and I cried for a few miles down the road, I don’t think they realized what was going on until I started crying. With some airline ticket luck, Mom will be back this summer, but if the luck isn’t headed our way then she’ll be here in the fall.

Is it just me, or does this not feel like the ‘traditional’ end of the year? Watching tv I’m seeing season finale’s and thinking “huh, finale? It’s May?” It just doesn’t feel like it is May.

For years our lives go on September to May schedules – with the other months being off, vacation time, break time. Maybe it’s because this is the first year of homeschooling but it being May right now is just odd! And strange that it’s taken six years for me to get out of that schedule (since college).

I always get excited when school is going to start because of the great back to school sales going on and the last fall that we were in WA, Alice went to school so we could have gotten on that schedule. I thought I would always be on that schedule – there are so many educators in my family plus I wanted (want) to teach as well.