MORE love.

Baby number three will be here before we know it, and I am so, so excited.

Excited for a little ball that fits nicely in the crook of one arm.  For baby feet and baby coos, for little fingers that cling, for baby stretches and baby yawns, for a family of five.  Five!

In a way, I am more excited for this little bundle than I was for Abby or Jett.  Abby, being the first, brought a whole bunch of surprises.  And when Jett was born... Well, I was worried.  And I felt guilty.

"Can I handle this?"
"How can I do this to Abby and turn her whole world upside down?"
"I love Abby so much... There's no way I'll love this baby as much."
"This is not fair because I can't be fair!"

But of course my fears were laid to rest in no time, and I was FILLED with love.

And I know the same will be true this time around.  When Jett was born, more love filled my heart and my momma soul, and I expect my love to be multiplied exponentially with this little guy.

I still wonder how we'll move from man to man to zone, and I know we have many sleepy nights and days ahead, but the love I know is coming has me filled to the brim with excitement.

Now just hold on a little bit longer baby boy... We are ready to love you, but Daddy could use just a few more days in the tractor!

Lacee

My sister, Lacee, is a year and ten days younger than me. If you saw us growing up, though, you probably would have thought she was much, much younger. She's always been teeny-tiny.





Don't believe me? One time, we ventured to Mexican Village Restaurant as a family. She was 15, and received the 12 and under kids' menu. Wouldn't have been so bad except that my youngest sister, who was 10 or 11 at the time, got the adult menu. Her nickname is Bean, because she's skinny as a beanpole (I may be mostly responsible for that one...).

Lacee and I fought like sisters.... er, yeah. Lots of yelling, probably over toys. And then I'd sit on her, and she'd call me fat cow (which, compared to her, I really was), and I'm sure we'd end up giving each other the silent treatment. But we shared a room for most of our lives, and come bed time, we let bygones be bygones and played with our stuffed animals, Moonlight and Babs, when we were supposed to be sleeping.

Come middle school, she decided to homeschool, while I stayed with my friends and started wearing wide-leg jeans and flannel shirts. She tells me now that she thought I was going to hell (don't worry, we laugh about it!). Needless to say, we grew a part a little. Maybe because I also slept in the basement during this stint (I was so much more mature and needed my own room).

She didn't really become my best friend until I started high school (and I stopped wearing goth-like clothes). Lacee made it to state in Cross Country (a sport I went out for first), and I wanted to be jealous of her but was just too proud! We were in all 3 sports together that year, and it didn't take long to realize how much I loved having her around. She was so good, and we just sort of let each other have our own niche within each sport... she ran distance, I did mid-distance and fields. She did bars, I did floor and vault, and we both sucked at beam. We built each other up and were one another's biggest fans.

One of the saddest moments in my life was handing off the baton to her in our final 4x400 relay. Would have been sadder if I knew she was going to go to a different college!

We're both married, both have two kids. Still best friends. Love you, Bean.

Dear Abby.

My goodness, do I love you.

You with the stories you tell.  Your active imagination.  Your flair for the dramatic.  The joy you find in people, all people. 

 Your quick smile.  And even if it's hard to answer question after question, I love your inquisitive, curious mind.  You are making sense of the world in your own innocent way, and tell me how things work, or why they are a certain way, or why it doesn't matter, so matter of factly that I believe you. 

You know, don't you Abby Jo.  You know how the world works.  And the world is here for you to make of it what you will, and experience it for all it has to offer.  From the worms we find in the dirt to the music you dance to, even when no one else hears it. 

Your joyful heart will carry you far. 

I love you.  I admire you.  I am so very proud of you. 

W.M.O.T.Y. Part 2.

I am an equally bad-mom with both of my children.

See this cheesey smile?

Abby and Jaedyn, BFFs

Abby's doing exactly what I told her to do. Smile big, show her teeth, and keep her eyes open. In my defense, on our way to dance pictures, Abby was showing me how she planned to pose... which involved her version of half-closed "come-hither" eyes and a close-lipped, trying-to-be-coy smile.

So, this is how my coaching was translated. For every picture. The photographer even took extra pictures of her encourage Abby to show her smile (I guess this look isn't an obvious expression of joy?). And I ordered buttons, magnets, and individual shots.

This will be funny at her graduation, right?

Bah.

[Worst] Mommy of the Year Award.

Jett had an eventful weekend.

See what's missing? After a fun-filled evening at Grandma and Grandpa Nuest's, I hauled reluctant kiddos home. We walked into the house, Jett protesting all the while, and, to get him laughing, I started swinging him around, tickling him, and jumping with him on the couch. I tossed him onto the couch cushion, and he proceeded to bounce off the cushion and nail his mouth (with nuk) into the back of the couch. Wouldn't have been that big a deal had we not removed the back cushions to make forts earlier in the day, but, as it were, hard back of couch hit nuk hit front right tooth, jamming right up into his gum.

A panicked call to Grandma Connie, a quick trip to the ER, and I was assured that he was ok, but we needed to see the dentist this week. So that's where we're headed today.

By the way, if you ask Jett what happened, he'll say, "Mommy throw me." Ugh. Guilt trip.

Back at it.

It's been awhile. Months, even.

It's not that a lot hasn't happened, it's just that I wasn't ready to share what was truly on my heart... like struggles with my job, or my mom moving out. I'm getting ready, though. But more on that later.

Can we talk about how beautiful it is for March 24? We're excepting temps in the 70s today. It's been a happy winter! No feelings of being cooped up and stir crazy. I love having the bikes out, seeing the kids play in the dirt, and trips to the park. Our first trip, on a day where it eeked really close to 80, this scene greeted us:

Abby decided, after her first bike ride, that she wanted to make a go of it without training wheels. So, we let her try (Chad questioned it a bit, but I thought that, if she's asking, we should give it a shot!). We took the training wheels off, Chad grabbed the back seat, and off she went. Or didn't.:) Apparently she thought she could ride a leisurely without training wheels as she could with them on... you know, pedal here and there, stop (with feet on the pedals), point out a bug or something, and then move on at a pace not unlike a stroll in the park.

Chad tries to reason with Abby...

Before we give this a go again, we'll need to work on consistent, reasonable speed.



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Even though our month started out like this

We've caught pictures like this

We also welcomed Sundae Mae Watkins, who warms my heart. She looks exactly like Lacee!!

Abby and Vella sporting big sisters shirts... I don't know that Vella's "claimed" her role just yet...

Quotes

One night, Abby was crying at bed time. She wanted to play a computer game/watch a movie/do anything that would delay bed time a little longer. We put her to bed, crying, and not too long after she came to find Chad and myself in our room (we were rearranging).


Abby: What are you doing?


Chad: Moving our bed. Do you want to help? (Abby nods) Ok, you can help us move our bed, then it's time to go to sleep.



Abby: Yay! That's why I was crying Daddy, because I wanted to help you move your bed.



Me: Abby, I think you're full of beans.



Abby: (dead serious) Yeah, I am. Natalie gave them to me for lunch today.



___________________________________________




Me: Abby, Poppa saw your dance movie. He thinks you were so cute.





Abby: I am so cute. (duh)



Me: (trying to think of a way to focus on good character, not just good looks) And you were such a good listener. That's very important too, right?



Abby: (shrugs shoulders)



________________________________________________



Abby: ... Like Bill the Bobber?


Me: You mean Bob the Builder?

Abby: Yep! It's Calvin's favorite tape-on-book.


Me: Book-on-tape?


Abby: No... Colby ripped it and Natalie taped it. Tape-on-book!