Chase having fun!

Chase cracking up with Daddy!

Disappointing.

I was supposed to have an OB appointment today, but 5 minutes before I had to leave the house, they called to cancel because the doctor I was seeing was on call and got called and they didn't know when he'd be back.  And apparently Fridays are really busy around there, because none of the other 7 or so doctors had any openings.  

I totally understand that they are called away.  I'm not mad about that.  It's just that I don't think anyone realizes how difficult it is to get 3 kids and myself prepared to get out of the house.  I had plans!  I organized my time wisely!  I showered!  Did my hair!  Put on makeup!  I had my good underwear on!  The kids were all fed, changed, and mostly happy.  Everyone even had shoes on.  I had a cooler bag packed with drinks for the kids while they stayed at Tiff's house!  Seriously, people!  My entire morning had been devoted to getting out of the house at 9:30.

...and I had so been looking forward to sitting in that waiting for even just 10 minutes, reading a magazine by myself.  Even if I had to drop my pants to do it.  

It was all gone in a two minute phone call.  *sigh*  

Learn to Type

Chase has enrolled me in a new typing class to improve my speed and accuracy on the computer.  It's free, and he runs it.

He simply rips 3 or 4 flipping keys off the flipping keyboard at a time so that I can memorize where they are without looking at those pesky flipping letters.  And he does such a good job that I can't even flipping snap them back on.  I really really really want to use much much stronger language, but I fear the boys reading a stream of obscenities later on when/if they ever become interested in this blog.

I am now missing F, G, V, J, L, and the windows key.  Bryan just bought me this computer in February!  GAH!  

Oh, and before you chastise me for leaving him unattended, all of this happened while I dared to use the bathroom for 3 minutes by myself.  The nerve, right?

My Little Bother

Well, since the photos are out, it is official.  My little bother, Scott, has graduated from college!  He probably won't even read this, but I just want it out there in cyberland that I am so incredibly proud of all he has done.  He has taken more math and science classes than I can fathom, and worked incredibly hard to overcome obstacles and get where he is.  AND he is going back for more when he starts his grad work in the fall-- as a graduate assistant, to boot.

So, even though I pulled out a clump of your hair when I was in middle school and called you a really really bad name (that you tattled to Mom and Dad about, you jerk), I am so very very happy for you, I respect you, and I can't wait to see what you do next (assuming that it doesn't involve jail time).

Love you!!!

**btw, those are my parents standing with him...aren't they the cutest??**

ENT Visit

After waiting in the reception area for over an hour, then in the exam room for another 15 minutes, we saw the ENT this morning.  Oh, yeah, and I was doing all that waiting with 3 small children, two of which needed a nap.  

Ian was a total trooper.  He was super helpful and in a good mood.  Chase was happy as long as he was allowed to go toddling down the two forbidden hallways.  William was mostly content in his stroller until he got hungry, whereby I had to stand by the stroller, holding his bottle for him, dropping it and running after Chase every 30 seconds to make sure he didn't make himself at home behind the front desk (which is code for climbing up on the rolling chairs and ripping the keys off the computer keyboards).  It was all very much fun.

When we finally saw the doctor (for 10 minutes) it was pretty much good news.  His ears look good, he probably didn't have an ear infection last week  (Yay for spending $70 on that last perscription!!), and both tubes are comletely out.  He had to dig around in his left ear with a long pointy metal instrument while I held Chase's head still (um, heart attack, anyone??) to get the tube out that was just sitting in his ear canal.  He also said that we would probably be in every once in a while to get his ears cleaned out, just because the size of the canals is preventing the wax buildup to fall out, like on typical kids.  Does anyone else have to do this?  Go to the ENT just to get degunked?  How often does that happen?  I should have asked, but at that point I was still feeding William the bottle, Chase was eating sticky pieces of granola bar out of my other hand, and Ian was trying to pull my left foot off.  

Anyway.  I guess we don't have to worry about another set of tubes unless he gets another ear infection, and maybe we can fight that off until at least after the summer.

Random Photos Including Gavin and I at 36 weeks!

I knew that would make you guys look!

Here are those photos of the random things that have been going 

on around here:

We ordered a dump truck full of garden soil to help out our clay soil.  It was pretty awesome to have the entire truck in our backyard.  And loud.

The finished garden!  That was a LOT of wheelbarrows full of dirt.

Our summer splurge.  I figure it will be really difficult to get to the aquatic center or Carowinds for swimming, so we bruoght the pool to our house.  Like we needed something more in our backyard.

Bryan's bees are working hard.  We may actually get to harvest honey this year!  He has a video of a new bee "hatching"- it is pretty cool, in a science-nerd sort of way.

This is as far as I've gotten on the baby's room.  This bed will eventually go into Chase's room- we have yet to trade for the crib.  The dresser is done and on the other side.  And I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the glider apart to fit through the doorways, so I'm waiting on Bryan who is much better at that stuff than I am.

36 weeks, 4 days.  Large and in charge.

Bad Blogger

Has it really been a whole week without a new post?  Oops!

I wanted to post a bunch of photos of things that we have been doing here, but it is late, dark, and frankly I don't want to get off the couch.

So:

1- Bryan finished tilling the garden, and even shoveled a dump truck load of garden soil over the plot with Ian's help.  Ian and I planted all our seeds and plants, and now we are just watering and crossing our fingers that something will grow.

2- Chase's rash is better :)  Still no idea what that was, but he's happy and healthy now.  We go to the ENT this week to see about that mssing tube.

3- Gavin's room is almost done.  I fnished his dresser and Bryan moved it upstairs for me this week.  I have his clothes and blankets and towels and sheets washed and ready to put in the drawers.  I moved the bassinet into our bedroom (which makes this all seem pretty real now...).  

The only thing not done is moving Chase out of the crib into the twin bed.  I don't think that will happen before Gavin gets here...  I think it would probably be ok, but it is easier right now to keep him contained in his crib.  Although, being a tad anal retentive makes it really difficult to leave that undone...I'm working on letting things go...

4- Bryan's bees are busy.  Our 4 starter fish are still alive.

5- Ian and Chase are officially out of school for the summer...whatever shall we do???  Both boys had picnics at school, which were cute :)

6- We did lots of other stuff...visited the library a couple times, played at the mall playplace (which Chase totally loves just as much as Ian does now!), enjoyed the hot weather with a 'swim' in the kiddie pool, and cleaned off the back patio and added some really bright astroturf outdoor carpet so that the kids have a clean, soft place to play outside (thaks Papa and Gaga!).

Anyway.  we've been doing lots, and I am tired.  You know, I love the feeling of being pregnant- the feel of the baby moving around- but I'm a little bit tired of carrying around the extra 50 pounds.  I thought about it the other day...when I carry Chase or William upstairs with me, that is 75 pounds total that I am hauling to the second floor!!  Ack!  2 more weeks, maybe...?