26 weeks and 26 minutes to read this...

I can't believe I'm 26 weeks along already! Time is flying by and everything looks as good as it can...I don't know that it "feels as good as it can" but relatively speaking, we are ALL well. People are definitely noticing the "bump" which I feel like is more "lumpy" than just a bump, but I'm glad to have a reason to have a "belly";-)

The baby is supposed to be up to 2 pounds by now. I see no one could understand Owen say "the name" from the video. No worries-still not sure. I'm quite distressed over not having the name nailed down. It's not my personality at all to be so wishy washy and worried about what people will think about what we (I) choose. He's an active lil' guy and Tim has officially felt him moving all about. That is always a neat moment to share with someone-glad it was Tim first. Still trying to have TJ catch the lil' stinker movin'.

I ordered a car seat for the baby which has arrived and I think it's super cute and fun. Car seats have come a long way since the dinosaur we used with the other 3 boys...that puppy was retired this summer as it was WAAAAYYYYYYYY past safety standards for current use. I am thinking about also getting a sit n' stand stroller for the baby and Owen, as they will both need to ride around for outtings and such for a while more.




So, the car seat is supposed to go to 22 pounds...but I'm not so sure;-)

I am shopping for slings but HAVE NO IDEA what would be a good one-PLEASE comment if you have ANY advice on good or bad ones-I've never owned one but really want one this time around;-) I'm clueless on where to even begin for this purchase. HELP please!

Speaking of Owen needing to ride for a bit longer...he's growing quite well, I'd say. He's up 5 pounds since this time last year. A whole 22 pounds total-my 27 month old is finally the weight of an 11 month old;-). I don't know his height (anyone proud?) but clothing wise, he's outgrown his 6-12 month jeans;-) He's also finally outgrowing his shoes we bought back in July (the ones he had insoles made for)...I've finally bought him a size 5-wa-who! I got cheapy Walmart Elmo tennies just in case they don't work out for his insoles. He is still toe walking pretty badly, but I've decided it's probably due to a habit of trying to get an edge up on things.



How bout those undies? Not officially potty training, but he shows some interest so I thought the Elmo undies might help...too bad I lack interest;-)

Owen also had his first professional haircut-she did ok...here's before and afters:
Oh, he's still not got in 2 of his teeth-his canines on the bottom-weird!



Nice orange marker mouth and teeth, eh?

TJ has finally lost his 2nd tooth...he has 2 more hanging on by threads and now has the cutest lisp. Having lost his upper incisor actually makes him look younger;-(




Jake is well-he's enjoying being back in just preschool and not childcare too. We have lots more special time now;-) Here's some pics from a recent mall playtime-thanks Em!




YAY! It was a warmer day today-up over 50! I pulled out all the dead flowers and leaves from the flower bed, etc. Can you believe there was actually green weeds under the brush??? Thought I would die by the time I was done, but I took lots of breaks and feel fine (minus the aching back;-). We (my sis Heather and I) took all the kiddos to the Community Center pool sans spouses and that was a fun time. Owen is like a little fish. If we looked away for a second, we would find him floating face first and when we'd pull him out, he'd say "I swimming". Yeah, or drowning;-) Bummer I forgot my camera;-(

As another tangent, American Idol is nicely in full swing again...oh how I missed Randy's "dawgs" and hearing Randy and Paula's a million billion times "yes" and Frankly any of what Simon says...not so sure about this new judge though-she needs more clothes for one. I have no predictions yet, because they are really editing poorly this year. I don't even know names of contestants yet, but a few stand outs from the audtions for me were the sight impaired male, the Osmond dude, and the fella whose wife passed away recently-so sad. There is also a constructiony type fella who was pretty good-can you tell I'm into the males and not females so much. Can I just say, I am SOOOOO glad binkie girl is gone!!!!

A sort of funny story: My sis Heath and I went out for "gal-time out" the other night...we decided on a movie-"He's just not that into you". I looked it up on the theater website and we shopped for the perfect treats for about an hour (in our defense, we were passing time for the 7pm movie). Anyway, we got to the theater and I asked for our tickets and the dude at the counter was like "What movie"? I repeated it and he was looking at me like I was speaking a foreign language-finally, a gal coworker of his piped up and told us it opened the next day-UGH...perfect treats and no movie to see. So, we settled on "Bride wars" which was funny but I wouldn't of typically paid theaters prices for such a movie. We were blessed by an older gentleman giving us a kick-butt coupon for essentially half price popcorn and huge sodas! Which in return just added to my bladder "near explosion capabilities with little Mr. thinks it's funny to be breech and kick mommy's bladder repeatedly to the point of Depends being a near necessity".

And in really exciting news...the Daytona 500 is just one week away-Nascar-how bad have you got it? Go Carl, go Carl, go Carl-!!!

Lastly, hope you all enjoyed this post where I have a lot to say since I'm avoiding my hubby since he hurt my feelings (and made me cry;-( while not following rule #1 in the Financial Peace University class, which I really like, except it is making me feel very convicted and irresponsible with finances. That was an awful sentence-sorry. FYI, Rule #1 is "shutting-up after giving the free-spirit a copy of the budget"...let's just say the nerd didn't shut-up.

PS Spell check wouldn't work so I did my best at editing but, spelling is not my forte;-)