What am I supposed to do with my son? I think today we will look for door locks. Seems the child can get into everything and he will. Today he found Emma's paints. Davis however, abhors painting on paper. Her prefers house painting. Or body painting. the face of remorse......I am so sorry I accidentally painted all over everything. the face of hidden glee.......But it was really fun while it lasted. the face of I need a bath.......again Luckily it was the kind of paint that cleans up with soap and water so it was easy to clean up. Off the floor. Off his bed. Off the fridge. Off the wall. Off the door. Off of Davis. Why did I think another one was a good idea?????

Emmaline is a Science and Math lover. As a home schooling parent, you learn about your kids in a different way. You figure out HOW they learn and you get to see first hand what lights their fire. Emma from the beginning showed very little interest in reading and writing. Much to my dismay. Once she learned to read, I thought she would love it. Not really. She did figure out that she can read all sorts of things, not just her school text though and that did ignite a bit of a spark. But nothing comes close to her love of Science and Math. I should not be surprised by this. Emma has always be an inquisitive child and prefers a real, straight answer. Much of reading and writing is left to interpretation. But Science and Math have finite answers. For first grade, there is only a small amount of Science. However, Emma watches Zoom on PBS. A couple of weeks ago she learned how fingerprints are all different and conducted an experiment that involved pencil all over a sheet of paper in which we...

Emma has become my official photographer for documenting this pregnancy. So far she has taken every single belly shot. She is pretty good at it isn't she? Poor kid today had to take about five or so different ones. I kept looking at them and wondering why I looked so small. I kept putting my arm in front of the belly. Hides it that way some. So here you go. The uncensored eleven week shot. You would be amazed at how you hold the belly and how you position your arms can make it look smaller or so different. But here we are. Me and the baby (babies?, likely not). I think we are growing right along, don't you? As an aside, there was talk of going to a ball game tonight. My husband's pick up line now? "I'll buy you food." Sad, isn't it?

Do you ever have days where it seems the tears begin to fall and for some reason you can not quite gain control back? I know I have hormones running amok. The kids today already have done a lot of whining and crying. The kind of day where you feel like you are on the edge and the view looks bleak. Do you get, at times, a feeling that you never conquered something you thought you had? That at one point you convinced yourself that you had dealt with this thing and that all was okay and you were okay and everyone started singing Shiny Happy People and you went along with it? I think I am in that spot right now. I am willing to admit that my current condition may be playing a large role in that. Overly sensitive right now and feel as if I am being thrown punches from every direction and I can not keep all of them from not striking. I hate admitting to feeling vulnerable and likely since I always play as if nothing bothers me, a trait I passed onto my daughter unfortunately, I wonder if pe...

Yesterday I was searching for pictures of me when I was pregnant with Davis to see if I am huge or not. Turns out, I am likely not. Or if I am, I was with him as well. Anyway, in my search I found one of the most wonderful pictures I have. Now with the digital age when you say you looked at pictures it means popping a disc into your computer and watching a slide show. I found the picture below. I remember getting my copy of the pictures from the family reunion for the year 2003. I sat down at my computer and began to look through them. My uncle is the official photographer for the reunions. So you never knew what may be on the discs. He is like a fly on the wall and when you see a picture you think, "I do not even remember him being around then." This is Emma and I in the lake. She was a little over three in this picture. I was barely pregnant with Davis at the time. I love how you can see that she still had chubby little hands and fingers. Emma and Davis look a lot alike too...

I had Emma take another picture today because I feel huge. Even bigger than from Monday. So be honest, don't I seem a little big for ten weeks, four days? I know the dates are not off, since I had the early ultrasound and I know my cycle dates. And if you saw me when I was pregnant with either of the other two, was I really this big that early with them? You will not offend me. Anyone reading, is this normal????

Here is the ten week shot y'all. If one more person asks if I am having twins, I am going to hurt them. Maternity clothes make me look even bigger but my regular clothes are not really fitting. I think I am at that stage where I just look like I have gained a lot of weight. Not fun really. Over 200 hundred days to go? Yikes. This summer should be fun.

Today I am going to just say that you need to go here and read. Then I will say, "What Alan Shelby said."

Funny. Karrie over at One Weird Mother was kind enough to nominate me for Best Parenting Blog . This does not mean I am the best parent. I am not sure what it means. And I am up against Karrie too. Go over and vote for people. I know Dawn has a blog of her photography that has been nominated, Project 365 . So you can drop a vote in for her as well. You can also nominate other blogs that you like in any of the categories they have. I have not been able to get my sign up to go through yet and once I do I will be over voting. Take a look. There are some great blogs over there and you never know what you might find.

With the other two kids I took very few pictures of me pregnant. This time, though I hate pictures of myself, I told myself I would take a picture every week to see the progress. I still hate pictures of myself. But at least this pregnancy will be documented by weekly pictures. So here you go... Seven weeks Eight weeks Nine weeks I apologize for the way I look. But most days call for cleaning and school so I find I have no desire to dress up. Or do much with my hair. Three questions: 1) How long do you suppose it takes before people ask when I am due and when I tell them they get this sad look on their face because they think I look further along and will be miserable? 2) How long do you suppose before people begin asking in all seriousness if I am having twins? 3) How many older ladies will see me out with my other two kids and pregnant with this one and think, "See what happens when babies have babies."? Or do I finally look old enough to have a seven year old, a three year...

Often times there are moments where you know you have changed. A lot of times those moments are hard to put into words. See, I felt the changes inside over time. I never paid much attention to them. I knew things were changing in me, but since it seemed a gradual thing and something that I was working on doing, I just did not realize it. Sometimes though there is a moment where you get it. Where you realize the extent of this change. Today I was looking at one of the boys Facebook albums. The boys are Mark's cousins. I have known them since they were 11 (the twins) and 14 (Andy). They are now almost 21 and 25. They are three of my most favorite people on the planet. Anyway..... This album was the one of pictures from Costa Rica. It was our second trip there. We had taken Emma when she was about eighteen months. To be honest, I hated going. I was nasty the whole trip and just did not enjoy anything. It was who I was at the time and now, I do not remember much about that first trip....

It has been a long time since I have done a Love Thursday. Today's Love Thursday will be shown also through pictures. I have come to learn over time, that in love time changes things. Almost ten years ago I walked down the aisle to say "I do" to Mark. The love I had for him that day is not the same as the love I have for him today. It has grown. And changed. Over the years we have been up and down and around again. But the best expression of our love is our kids. There is no better way to explain this than to look at our kids and think, "Now THAT is love." We created some of the most beautiful beings on the planet. The two of us. Love is loving someone so much and completely that you begin to share the same dreams, hopes, thoughts, and needs. Love is truly becoming one mind and one heart. What love created... (It is taking a lot for me to post this picture. First, I do not like pictures of myself. Second, I am getting big already.)

I have commented before about how much my children look like their father. They really have a strong resemblance to him. And did from the very beginning. When I was pregnant with Emma, I wondered what the baby would look like. We did not find out if we were having a boy or a girl and I spent those months wondering what I was carrying and who they would look like. As soon as I was coherent enough to really take a good look at Emma after she was born it was obvious. My baby girl looked just like her daddy. I tired really hard to see myself in her but it was pointless. People now say she looks like me and I smile. I figure they have only seen me and her and not her with her dad. I say thank you all the while knowing in my mind she is a copy of her father. When I got pregnant with Davis, I resigned myself to the fact that this child would likely look just like Mark again. We once again did not find out the gender though I had a strong feeling it was a boy. I spent another nine m...

We have finally completed all of Emma's birthday gatherings. Here are pictures of her Hello Kitty cake. And cookies. I made Hello Kitty cookies too but do not have a picture of one right now. I know I have been MIA. Life has been crazy busy lately. I promise I have not gone anywhere and this month (April) I will get better about posting more often. I am sure that anyone who is reading this has absolutely missed me. Right?!?!?! The random thoughts are still there. Stay tuned.......