I am tired! That pretty much sums things up for me, but such is life at 29 weeks. I seem to suffer from pregnancy insomnia every other night, and I did find out at my last appointment that I'm low on iron, so I've had to start taking supplements. Hopefully that will give me some extra energy! I really should be going to bed right now (or at least try to fall asleep), but I want to write a quick update, just to keep up on things...
Ariana amazes me every day with the things she says and does! She really is like a little lady, talking so articulately and saying things like, "Oh, that's so terrible!" with all the feeling of an adult. Her pronunciation of the "L" sound is one of the few things that reminds me she's still only two. She uses a "W" sound instead, so "little" becomes "wittle," and so forth. I love it. I really wish she could just stay two forever! She's seriously so much fun these days. Her newest love is playing "Memory," as long as we play by her rules. ;) I have to admit I let a few things slide, like letting her take extra turns to find the match, just to see how excited she gets and hear the little growling sound of triumph she makes (hard to explain). She also loves playing our "I Spy" game, which is actually a favorite of the boys as well. Here's a picture of David and the kids playing not too long ago...
Ari's also more and more into princesses these days. She wants to check out every Disney princess book from the library and will ask me to read them over and over. And she says that for her birthday she wants a princess bike, a princess bed, a princess TV and a princess computer! Um, we'll definitely hold off (indefinitely) on the TV and computer, but maybe I'll look into the other two... She's still happily in her crib but is due to graduate to a toddler bed in the next month or two, and I love the idea of getting her a new bike once Spring comes around. We should get a gender-neutral color bike that Baby Boy can use some day (since Bry and Matt have beaten our other bikes into the ground) but I may not be able to resist something pink for our girl...
Matthew is still the emotional firecracker of the family. You never know what's going to set him off or when. He can be super sweet and affectionate one minute and then start screaming, "Never! Never!!" the next, which is apparently his favorite way to express his distaste for something. Thankfully he always calms down quickly if we just leave him alone or give him an extra hug or two. :) He also happens to be the child these days that says, "I love you" the most. He'll come and crash into my belly and give me a hug and say "I love you" at the most random times, so it's especially sweet. He's becoming more and more inquisitive about things - typical of four-year-olds - and asks questions like "How's the baby going to come out of your belly?" or "What makes a tractor so strong?" or "Does it take a long time to get to heaven?" :) Keeps me on my toes.
One kind of weird thing that's developed with him lately is that he's taken to hoarding food! He must be going through a growth spurt or something, because it seems he wants to eat non-stop. If I don't lock the pantry in between meals, he's in there all the time, and it's always the sweet things he's after. He's gotten into the sugar jar multiple times, downed a bottle of pink candy sprinkles, and eaten jam and ice cream right out of the containers. Then he'll sneak snacks up to his room and I'll find crumbs in the most random places. Sometimes he'll sneak food into his bed at night, and once he even hid a cookie in his underwear!! Gross!! I'm trying to be better about making sure he gets enough good snacks during the day, in addition to good meals, so that he doesn't have to resort to his sneaky ways! He is a big kid - almost as tall as Bryan - so I guess this just may be how it's going to be with him. I can't imagine the food we'll go through when he's a teenager!
As for Bryan, he made us proud this last week by receiving the academic Student of the Month award for his class at school!
I think since his reading has taken off, he's really excelled. He has a knack for numbers, so he's been doing great at math as well. He loves learning, and I often think that I should be doing more to challenge him here at home, but at least he's enjoying school and learning new things. I'm thinking once school's out I'll experiment with some home schooling activities for writing and such to really see what he's capable of.
He's also doing a great job with the piano! He's about ready to move up to the next level and continually surprises me at how quickly he catches on to things. He's able to memorize songs fairly well and really gets excited about playing. It makes me excited to think that we might have a real little piano player on our hands! He can't sing on tune to save his life (bless his heart), but at least he can play. :)
David started a diet this last week - mostly vegan w/ lots of fruits and veggies - and he did a great job! He just needs a little detox period to jumpstart healthy eating and so far so good. He's started working out again as well, so he's lost several pounds in just the last few days. I'll have to do a whole separate post on our eating goals and such. I really want us to eat healthy, but there are things I struggle with and can't quite figure out which direction I want to take (dairy or no dairy, etc.) But I'll save that discussion for another day...
On a different note, Dad came into town this weekend! Being the nice guy that he is, he braved the winter storms and drove out a car for Grandma Willes to use since her car broke down a couple weeks ago. He'll get to attend Alexia's blessing tomorrow and stay a couple days before flying back to PA on Tuesday. The boys are excited to go on a "date" on Monday, since Grandpa always does cool stuff like take them out to eat and to the Tractor Supply store or something. :) We'll all get to visit at a luncheon after the baby blessing, and then Dad and most of the family will come back here for dinner and the Superbowl. It should be fun! Then next week brings something David and I have been anticipating for a while, but I'll wait and write about that in another blog post as well. ;) We're anxious and excited... For now, though, I think this little update has gone on long enough.
