PREGNANCY UPDATE

I am now 31 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Yessss.....a little less than six weeks to go. I have gained 9 pounds. Why so little you ask? Because it's hard to gain weight when you are still throwing up everyday. It is a daily occurrence that I think this......I wish this baby would come NOW...oh, but then she'd be sick, never mind...is there a way to have your baby really early and not have her be sick?? Then I get over it....slowly. My hips hurt so badly that there are times when I seriously can't walk. I rarely move anymore without pain. I feel really horrible that my poor little kids are getting neglected as I have to rest ALOT. I even fainted in my room while getting ready for church yesterday. No Ben because he was at meetings and my kids were downstairs. Obviously I survived but I was scared. I know it doesn't sound like it but, I really am happy and excited to be having this baby. On a happier note. My blood sugars are stupendous and my kidneys and eyes are fantastic with no problems. The baby is moving alot and she is growing right on target. Ben will be in India for two weeks and will be coming home from India the day I turn 37 weeks and I will be having my amniocentesis without him. If the test is good then she will come shortly thereafter. Talk about close timing. Anybody want to come help me for those two weeks?? PLEASE!! Here is a picture of my ankles (or should I say cankles) at the end of the day.

HAPPY 6th ANNIVERSARY TO US!

Yesterday (the 4th) was our 6th anniversary. I don't have a scanner so I can't put up one of our wedding pictures so you can see how much we've changed. So since I don't have that, then why put up a current picture either. I'm tired peole! I have to admit with shame that I totally forgot about it. I swear it is pregnancy brain and not my lack of love for Ben. We hadn't even talked about it in anticipation and apparently I didn't think about it on my own either. So, on Friday we went to my parents' house to help them open their pool. When we got there Ben asked me where I wanted to go for dinner. I was like, what are you talking about......mom already made dinner. It's our anniversary on Sunday and I called your mom to see if she would mind watching the kids while we went to dinner. Since I am usually the one to remember and do something nice and Ben isn't, I felt dumb at that point. So, our options were to drive another 45 minutes to this really nice shopping center in Birmingham that has some nice restaurants or to stay closer to home. I was already in pain from the 1 1/2 drive over so I reluctantly said, lets go somewhere around here because I knew my options were slim. Where did we wind up going you ask? To the PELL CITY STEAK HOUSE!
My parents live in Pell City, AL and I lived there for 6 years before going to college. Every time I have come home to visit the town has changed a little and gotten a little bigger but the pell city steak house has always remained. As you can see from the picture it looks like it is lacking something to be desired. After my mom informed me that the food there is actually good we decided, what the heck, we'll give it a whirl. When we got there, the first thing I noticed was a sign on the wall that said, "Please don't touch the animals." As I looked around for some animals I finally realized what animals they were talking about. Stuffed deer heads and birds all over the walls. Then, as I looked around at the people I realized there were only old people and skanks there. But, we were there so we couldn't leave, right? We were seated and a lady came around and took our orders. And much to our surprise......THE FOOD WAS ACTUALLY GOOD!! My favorite part was when the lady came to fill up our water and I said thank you and she said back, "your sure welcome, baby". There's nothing like that southern hospitality. Ben got a steak and I got a hamburger because of course I didn't feel well. When we got up to pay they had an ancient cash register and these display stands of just as ancient looking wrigley's gum and certs mints. I spotted the bowl of complimentary mints. Andes mints.....score......until I saw the handwritten paper sign that said 10 cents on it. Dang it! The consensus is......we would definitely go back there for a burger someday.

UPDATE

Since I haven't updated in a while I thought I would give you the scoop on the kids.

Mia is 4 1/2 and lives this age to it's fullest. She is quite smart and sometimes I feel that is a disadvantage to parents. You can't slip anything past her. She remembers everything and can recall it on command. She has to do eveything on her own including serving her plate at dinner.....and she does a pretty good job at it too. She is no stranger to making messes and waits until Dallin is napping and I need to lie down to make the dirtiest of all her messes. She is now becoming more compliant with cleaning up her messes too. We have now had to put a lock on the fridge and tun off the water in the door because water or something in the fridge is always involved in her messes. Dragging a chair around the haouse to get anything she wants is apparently no struggle for her. She is in the CTR 5 class and loves going to Primary and did a great job giving her first talk recently. She is usually nice to Dallin but when she's not she doesn't know when to stop and she has a bite mark right now to prove it. Mia can talk anybody's ear off if you let her. She can'twait to go to Grandma and Grandpa Martin's house alot this summer and swim in their pool. She is also really looking forward to preschool in the fall since she will miss the cut-off for Kindergarten. Mia loves playing outside and especially running to the mailbox to get the mail. Dallin is just shy of 2 1/2 now. He is half sweet boy and half stinker. Okay.......maybe more like 55% stinker and 45% sweet boy. He talks in long sentences now and wastes no time telling you what he wants. He knows just how to push Mia's buttons and they have at least one session of chase each other around the house per day......mostly initiated by Dallin. He is in his naked stage of 2 right now and to catch him in his true form I would have had to put a nude picture of him up. He is gearing up for potty training because he takes his diaper off when it gets wet or stinky.......much to my dismay. Dallin loves to be around his Grandpa Martin and when he sees grandma without grandpa he asks where he is. He needs no help from Mia to make horrible messes but that is usuallyhow it happens.....the two of them together. He is my muscle man and I caught him today carrying around a 5 lb. weight in each hand with no struggle. Maybe every two year old can do that for all I know but it seems like alot to me. He loves to play outside and ring the doorbell as he comes in. He also loves to help his daddy fix things......mostly to play with the tools.