REALLY????

My sweet brother Jordan is still in town on his school break, and so I took advantage of it and took him shopping with me. (He had to chase Wes around the store carrying a stuffed animal.) Jacki made him look at the toys.

Well, I'm getting to the part in pregnancy where nothing is comfortable, and though people tell me "you're tiny," it doesn't make the pants fit. I don't like prego pants either because they hug me too much. I just want to be comfortable. I found a pair of pants under $3 at Ross....yeah...until I took them out of the bag at home and saw that the gray plastic tag that beeps when people steal items was still on there. It did beep when we left, but the loss prevention lady told me that it was because we bought a movie (which was the Berenstain bears movie that Jacki got Jordan to get for her. I didn't even give permission for that one.) I asked her if I could take it off. She said that I would have to bring it in to the store.....REALLY....that's totally not worth it. What a pain, but I turned it into an excuse for Ty to take me on a date yesterday. My mom told me that she had the same thing happen at kohl's, so we took hers back too. I told Ty I couldn't believe that they had put a tag on a $2.50 pair of pants. We figured that they put those on everything when they come in- no matter the value, but we still had fun cracking jokes: "Don't let the pregnant lady get away with the $2 pants."

We did have a great date though. I read my friend's Marisa's cool blog post about their marriage counseling session and just preventing problems. I don't have the luxury of having free counseling, so I thought I'd be my own counselor/therapist and counseled myself to go on more dates to spend time with Ty without the kids. It was great.....hard to breath though....the air was sooooo cold. Ty noticed a big dent on the passenger side of my car when he opened my door.

Wes is trying to put his fingers in the shredder and crying, so that's all of my "really" moments for today.

Baby

I haven't said much about the baby yet. Ty thinks this is our most active baby yet, which is saying a lot. Jacki made my belly do the wave. I believe it. I'm so exhausted. It must be from being pounded from the inside all the time. I told my doctor that I had so much more energy with the other two during the 2nd trimester (I wondered if depression or anxiety was making me tired.) He didn't seem concerned and said that the reason why I had more energy is because I didn't have the other two. He compared them to the dementors (spell check doesn't like this word by the way.) in Harry Potter that suck all of the energy out of you.

The picture on the left is our baby's first picture.

We had the typical 20 month ultrasound in November. The doctor couldn't find the corpus collosum. It's that gray part in the middle of the brain in the picture below. The doctor said it separates the left and right side of the brain, and they don't know exactly what it means if it isn't there. So, I haven't said much about it (since we have no idea what it means.) I did tell my mom about it, and she told my sister that there is something wrong with my baby. She's been really worried about him and prays for him a lot.
This baby has had an extra ultrasound, and we go in for a MRI the end of this month. I don't want people to worry, but prayers are always appreciated. (I am worried about being claustrophobic in that machine they use. (Of course I'm taking my MRI knowledge from fox 13's series House, but the ultrasound doctor suggested maybe I should take a Valium....good idea....maybe I should take a Valium to deal with the rest of motherhood too. That might help me chill out next time I have to help Jacki clean out her toy chest.

I'm going to have a photo album full before he even comes out. I like that each of these ultrasound pictures say what they are. The ultrasounds have gotten better with each child, but I still like the helps. So, here's the face, and the doc said that he is very good looking.
Here is a foot.
We're getting excited to have another baby around here. Wes isn't a baby anymore!!! It's also going to be fun to have a baby the same age as his cousins. (Rachie's twins will be born within weeks...maybe even within days of our sweetie. We'll see where this baby takes our lives. I've quit my job....it was too much, and the boss needed someone who could work more and whenever he needed them, and it was too hard. I told him that it would be easier for him to find another accountant than it would be for me to find someone to watch 3 kids under the age of 4. I've tried to really enjoy being home and spend more "quality time" with the kids rather than just babysit.  Jacki and I worked on her first talk this week. Every day she asks me what day it is. Today I told her it is Saturday, and she said, "What do we do on Saturday." I sang her the "Saturday is a special day it's the day we get ready for Sunday song." She got excited and said that Sunday is when she's giving her talk. I've also been reading her Disney stories. (We really want to go to Disneyland now.) We played the wii too, and she was able to do a fast serve on the tennis game and got two strikes in a row in bowling. I adore these kids!!!!

Where's the binky

Binkies disappear so fast. Wes will have one in his mouth, and then it's gone seconds later. It couldn't have gone too far. One time I found it under Ty's desk. This week I found toy in Jacki's toy chest. I think the craziest place I've found one is in the bag of flour. Then, I found one in the toilet. Where's the binky is a constant adventure around here.

A stitch in time saves nine

"A stitch in time saves nine." Ty taught me this phrase the other day after I spent FIVE hours stitching up the bed. The stitching and binding on our mattress started coming undone, and then the kids helped it by pulling the string. They thought that it was a lot of fun to pull it and wrap it around them. So, new years day, Ty took Jacki to the Princess and the Frog movie, and Wes was having a nap. Ty had washed the sheets, and I figured he was giving me a clue that the bed really needs to be stitched up. He told me later that he just hadn't made the bed, but I figured it was about time that I fix it. It's one of those projects that I never seem to have time to do, so I made myself do it. My back hurt so bad after that and needed some major adjusting. Ty is my personal chiropractor this pregnancy. My back needs to be popped everyday.

This baby must be doing cartwheels inside of me. It feels like a big stomach ache. Ty likes to feel the baby and the other day he said, "whoa, that was a big one." I gave him some attitude and said, "Really, honey if you can feel him, I can definitely feel him." I also give him attitude when he tells me that my belly is getting big, "Really???" I've whined more this pregnancy than the others. Ty's handled it well though and hasn't complained about my whining or lack of energy.

YOU

Wes sometimes gets overshadowed by Jackster, but he's got plenty of personality of his own. He does a lot of funny things. He points at people with his index finger. We had a lot of fun with this yesterday while listening to the Runaway Bride album. There are several songs that say you in them, and he and I kept pointing at each other and laughing. Speaking of laughing, he likes to tease people by pretending he is going to give them something. Then, he takes it away and laughs. His laugh is so contagious. I love it when he gets it going. The other day he couldn't stop laughing. Ty is especially good at making him laugh. He can also make Wes growl. They like to growl at each other.

Just Breathe

I'm going to capture more of the funny things that the kids do all day long (as long as this 2nd trimester nauseousness and exhaustion doesn't overtake me.) Jacki is an entertainer and a talker. She talks nonstop and asks questions all day long. Aunt Megan was over here the other day and pointed out something that Jacki does when she talks. She doesn't stop to take a breath. Now that she pointed that out, I notice that Jacki does this ALL OF THE TIME. She has no idea that she does this because when I tell her to breathe and then talk she asks me how.

Oh Baby It's Christmas

For my mom's birthday, which is two days before Christmas, she wanted to go to Christmas village. Since we had been wanting to go anyway, it worked out great! We promised Jacki that we would take her to see Santa. She told him that she wanted instruments for Christmas. He asked her what else she wanted- she said a recorder. I told her that she might have to wait to get the recorder until her birthday. She was insistent that she get it for Christmas, so Lauren was nice enough to donate hers to the cause (I wasn't about to fight the shopping traffic to go find a recorder two days before Christmas.) Wes was oblivious to most of the Christmas craziness. He was excited about the candy cane that Santa gave him. Jacki calls them "candy cans" and says she doesn't like them (that's because she's only tried the peppermint kind. After she had that kind, she wouldn't try any of the others.)

At the annual Richards family Christmas party, Jacki played the part of the camel during the re-enactment of the Nativity. She didn't pay too much attention to the story being told---she was more focused on sticking her tongue out at different people.


Jacki woke up on Christmas morning at 7:30, which is just about perfect i.m.o. (One of my friends has older kids. She had to wake them up at 8:30. My nieces and nephews like to get up around 5, but they aren't allowed to open presents until 6.) She was excited that it was finally Christmas- time to open presents.



Jacki liked Wes's busy ball popper better than her sit and spin. Wes liked the music on both of them and caught right onto how to get the music to play. We had a good time, and then we went up to mom's to have the traditional Murray omelet breakfast. Ty and Zach cooked them for us. Jord added smoothies to the tradition, which were declicioso!