The kids have been sharing a room for about 6 months or so. Not quite sure, but this is the first time I have ever found them in the same bed.

So, secretly, I have always wanted to find them this way. I can’t think of anything sweeter than sleeping children, especially cuddled up together in the same bed. Along with the toys and plethora of blankets,  were two sleeping angels. (Only referred to as angels when sleeping :)) Usually, one yells at the other one when they climb in each others beds. not to mention they are usually playing or fighting, not cuddling up to go to sleep. So, I was really surprised to find them like this. But then, I wanted them to have a good night’s sleep, which meant putting Jameson back in his bed… the top bunk. Crap. Do you know how hard it is to lift a 42 pound kid up the ladder to his bed, with a pregnant belly in the way? Pretty, tough. By the time I got him situated, Ella was sitting up in bed. Luckily, I laid her back down, and she went right back to sleep. I love these two.

Little Miss Ella turns 2! Kevin had to leave town for a business trip, so we decided to celebrate her birthday on Sunday. We had a few friends over that are our “family” here for some dinner and dessert. We had dinner, and then busted out the cupcakes. I have to say, the frosting was delicious made from here. Ella’s favorite song is “Appy irday to you!” So she was so excited for the song and cupcake. (I was a slacker and missed a picture before the candle went out.)

Not sure she ate much of the cupcakes, but every kid loved the frosting. I was trying to get a picture of her eating her cupcake, but every time she saw the camera she’d turn and say, “Cheese!”

I was lame this year and bought a cake. But, it was an ice cream cake and it was delicious! We had some presents to open along with a package from Grammy. Our sweet friends spoiled her just like family would. All the kids were so helpful in opening presents. Jameson insisted she needed help with everything, including playing with her new toys.

We had a great night with friends and love their company.

Ella has lost all of her baby-ness. Except maybe her nice chubby cheeks that I still love to kiss and chomp on. She says small sentences and phrases. She loves to jump and climb, run and wrestle. Basically she tries to copy anything her big brother does. She eats almost anything, and usually more than Jameson will. She no longer has her bottle, any by doing so, she drinks much less milk. She loves her binki, and I am in no hurry to push that issue. We’ll get there, hopefully before next baby comes. Ella is such a girl. She loves high heels, bracelets, necklaces, crowns, headbands. Any time we go to friends houses, she finds all their dress up stuff and comes out completely decked out. Since we had boy first, the thought of dress up has been far from my mind. So, for her birthday, I got her some princess dress-up shoes, that she now wears all over the house. She loves the itouch and whispers it in her sleep. Sometimes, I just don’t know what I am going to do with her.

I took both kids in for check-ups,. Ella is 30.2 lbs which puts her in the 75-90%, and is 34.5 in tall which puts her in the 75%. The doctor didn’t hear her murmur, which, is a good sign. It could have been because she has a cold, and the rumble in her chest from the cold might have covered it???? or that her hole is closing up. I still need to do the follow-up with the cardiologist, so we’ll see. She did really well at her appointment though. It’s a good thing we ask her about body parts, because it made checking her mouth super easy. We just asked her where here tongue was and she opened her mouth. We didn’t have to worry about shots, because our previous doctors take FOREVER to send records. So, until the new office gets the records, we can’t do any shots. Irritating.

Jameson finally got his 4 year check-up. He told the doctor tons of stories. The kid never stops talking now. Especially about rules. He was 48.4 lbs which puts him in the upper 95%. He is 44.25 in tall which again puts him in the upper 95%. Actually, on the chart he was around 115%. The doctor said there is a theory that at the age of 2, you double their height and that is how tall they will end up. That means Jamo would be around 6’1″. Makes sense. But, according to this theory, that would mean I should be about 5’8″, so I’m not too sure how dependable this theory is.

So, for now, every one is doing good. Ella is a big girl, and Jameson loves to tell her the rules.

Sunday, I was cleaning up dinner, Kevin was in the office, Jameson was finishing up his food, and where was Ella? I went to get something out of the garage, turned the corner, and found a mural on the wall! That’s right. A nice blue mural done by blue dry erase marker. An artist, standing on a chair, so she can reach higher, concentrating so hard on her drawing that even her ringlets were still.

I gasped. Yelled for Kevin. Then turned away before I did anything I would regret. Kevin came in, and gave a similar reaction. When I saw the small 2 year old concentrating so hard, I admit, my second though (not my first!) was to get the camera. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Kevin grabbed Ella, told her no, and sent her to her room, where she ran crying. Once she was out of sight, Kevin laughed. I was still irritated, but couldn’t help but smile. Kevin grabbed rags and some alcohol and started rubbing. I went for something better. I gave him a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, which did, in fact, magically erase the marker as if she had drawn on a white board. I went and got Ella from her room, handed her a sponge, and told her to start cleaning.

Kevin really thought we were going to have to paint the wall, but once cleaned, there is no trace of blue anywhere. (So if Mr. Clean needs some promotion, give me free product and I will gladly let you use our story.) This was the first mural we’ve dealt with. I’m sure it’s not the last, thanks to a big brother who leaves markers accessible to our artist. Jameson has never colored murals for us, but then again, I never gave him crayons or anything until he was older. Even his nursery leader laughed that he didn’t know what to do with crayons. Why would I set myself up like that? Anyway, looks like we’re in for it. This little girl loves to draw and will draw on, apparently, anything.

To be fair, Jameson got in trouble last week. We were at the church for Music Makers/playgroup, and when leaving, Jameson thinks it’s funny to run the other way. Ella followed, I was tired, and it was raining. Ella turned around when called, but Jameson was not coming. I put Ella in the car, got in, and started the car. Jameson was still determined to “play the game” of chase. I was not up for it. Instead, I pulled near the sidewalk he was running by. As soon as he realized I was now chasing him in the car, the game was on and he took off. Well, I got closer to him, and then laid on my horn. Admit, not my best moment, but I was tired and didn’t want to yell. It stopped him dead in his tracks. I got out, he turned around, now crying. I helped him in the car without a fight or struggle. Then, the whole way home we talked about why I honked the horn at him. We talked about how I love him and that when he runs away from me, he could get hurt and I don’t want him hurt. Let me say, it was very effective. For the next few days, when I asked him to get in the car, he would run saying, “Don’t honk the horn at me, Mom.” Now, it just takes a small reminder that we don’t run from mom or I will have to honk that horn, and he doesn’t like that idea at all.

So there you have it. Our trouble makers. I have a friend that posts the trouble her kids cause, and it makes me feel better. To know it’s not just my kids, or sometimes that there are worst things my kids can do. Hopefully, our trials the last few weeks will help someone else out who’s had a bad day with their kids.

Tonight, I was showing Jameson the dvd of the ultra-sound last week. He thinks it’s so cool to see the baby. I’m not even sure he knows what he is looking at, but whatever. We were pointing out the baby’s body parts, and the arm appeared. He told us, “We need arms to keep our hands on so we can grip stuff.”

Valid point my friend.

So my plan was to get a picture first thing in the morning, but that didn’t happen. I tried for 2 days. Plus, my photographer is a 4 year old. I had I hopes to take a cute picture, but gave up. After Sunday didn’t happen, then Monday we tried and failed, you get Tuesday’s picture. Who knows if getting dressed is in the forecast for the rest of the week. So, here I am, at 22 weeks. Honestly, I’m more dressed up here than normal. Which means, I’m dressed in jeans with make-up on. We have already run errands in the rain, taken a nap, and whatever else happened this morning. You get a “real” picture instead of the one that I had high hopes of posting.

Let’s see, what else. I feel huge. Based on size, I think I should be a month further along, but everyone keeps telling me “it’s your third.” I guess that means that everything just stretches right back out. I’m pretty sure you can feel the kicking on the outside of my stomach now, but it’s not frequent enough to show Kevin. I guess I haven’t thought to have him feel either. I had a fetal echo cardiogram last week. Because I’ve had one baby with a heart defect, my chances are higher that I will have another. Apparently, I have a 2.2% chance the siblings will have the same defect. That sounded like pretty low odds, but the doctor doesn’t want any surprises. The tech had a hard time getting a good view in the beginning of the ultrasound, because she would only stay on my right side and snuggled into the placenta. It almost looked like she had a hole in her head, because the machine couldn’t pick up where her head was versus the placenta. I had to turn in different positions to get her to move for him.  I am told she was 1 lb 1 oz which puts her in the 60% already. I don’t really like that statistic. I would rather not birth a huge baby, thanks. I did get some 3-d pictures which was fun. I got to see her little chubby cheeks already. She still has no name, not even a list of options, so if you have opinions, feel free to tell them.

Jameson came home from church on Sunday telling us we need to Choose the Right. He even had a new CTR ring to show off. Well, once we got home, he told me , “Mom, you need to choose the right and not put me in time out.” Oh really kid. So my response was, “Well, if you choose the right we won’t have to put you in time out.” So he then tells me he has a ring for me. I asked him if he wanted to keep it, since it was given to him. Nope. He wanted me to have it. He said, “No, Mom. This is your ring. Here, I’ll put it in your jewelry box.” And off he went.

Then today, he tells me I need to wear my ring. Jameson told me, “Mom, you don’t need to wear those rings anymore (my wedding ring), I got you a ring.” I convinced him that I could wear it on the other hand.

I was really trying to convince him that he should keep it, because, honestly, I really don’t want a green finger. But, I know why he wants me to wear it. See, when he asked about my wedding ring, I tell him it’s a special ring. I point to each ring and tell him, “This ring means Daddy loves me (my engagement ring), and this ring means we’re married (the wedding band). So, it was no surprise that he wants to give me a ring. I’m just really hoping I can keep my finger from turning green from the fake metal.

Sometimes, Jameson does have a sweet side.

Saturday was beautiful. So we headed to a small zoo nearby. We thought it was a bit overpriced for what they had, but the kids loved it. We even got a AAA discount. We bought some apples they had to  feed the animals, which was the highlight.

Ella loved talking to the different parrots. They were making lots of noises and talking back.

Then we got to an open area where the birds had their wings clipped. One of the trainers was standing there, so she started holding them, and talking with them. They were playing peek-a-boo, and the kids were laughing.

The only animals that really ate from your hand were the Alpacas. Jameson didn’t hesitate to put his hand out, while the little girls around him were scared. Even Ella stuck her hand out with apple slices for them with no fear.

It was a nice little zoo, that didn’t take too long to walk through. We had lots of fun, and the weather couldn’t have been better for February here.

We’ve been having some beautiful sunny days. So what have we been up to? Kevin and Jameson took Mater in to get the brake lights fixed.

Friday, the kids and I walked over to the park. They loved being outside. After too much time on the swings, I told them to play somewhere else. I was tired of pushing them.

Ella discovered the slides finally. I am much better with this than the swings. She could climb up, go down, and repeat all by herself. She loved it. We spent about an hour at the park, and then walked back home. The kids loved being out side.

Last Saturday, January 28th, we decided to take a family hike. We emailed a few friends, and 3 other families joined us. We hiked a small trail on Cougar Mountain that was about 1.5 miles in. I think it was anyway. The trail head started in the cul-de-sac of a neighborhood. We unloaded our kids and started out. We had 2 babies in packs, 2 jogging strollers, and lots of kids walking.

Dad told Jameson that people in the back are the first to get eaten, so he was sure to stay in the front. Wish Dad wouldn’t have told him that. He wouldn’t stop talking about it the entire hike.

Near the turn around point, the boys found this cave? Rocks? Not sure what to call it. They loved this rock, though.

We kind of missed the waterfalls we were originally hiking for. Oops. Oh well. It was a pretty good hike. Jameson walked with me on the way back, which was nice. We had some fun talks. Jameson loved this log near the trail end. Covered in moss and mushrooms.

As we exited the trail, the family that lived in the house we were parked by came out. They said we were the best group to ever come off the trail. They were laughing saying they lost track of how many kids we had with us. We laughed and told them we had 10 kids, 7 adults, and one was a pregnant lady. They loved it. We’re up for more hikes, but next time, maybe not as far. It was ok, but not sure I will be able to do that long much longer. Especially with the fact that I’m no hiker.

I found a great deal on some bunk beds, so I persuaded Kevin to go pick them up. He wasn’t too excited at first, but we’re going to need them soon anyway. While Kevin was putting them together, Ella gave her bed a trial run (with no mattress).

It has been the best new toy ever. They play on those beds all day long. Bad news, Ella takes forever to go to bed at night. She slept fine in her crib, but now, it’s a trial every night. The next day, I found a mattress, for the same price I sold Jameson’s bed for. So after two days of having the bunk beds, Ella got to sleep in her new bed.

Story behind the beds: I’ve been scouting out the good old Craigslist for beds. I found these beds, including the dressers for $300. Didn’t even think to ask what brand they were. After a little debate, he drove 45 minutes for me to go get the beds. I measured, and the dressers should fit perfectly in the back of the car. I talked to him after he picked the furniture up. He actually admitted they were really nice. The family was moving at the end of the week. The next day, as he was starting to put them together, we had to look up the brand online for instructions. Turns out, the set would have cost us retail about $2000. How awesome was that find? I was pretty proud of myself, and Kevin has admitted a few times how nice they are. So, I am one happy girl. Now if I could just get the rug rats to sleep at night.

P.S.  Ella started to cry when I took her crib apart. She had just woken up from a nap, so I’ll credit it to that. It was pretty funny. Once I got their room arranged with some of their toys in there, she could have cared less about the crib.