My life: Golly gee I wish I had something positive to say! The kids continue to torment each other, and I'm in a fair amount of pain. I seem to have strained a muscle like in between my legs somehow, and of all things this muscle stiffens up after I'm in any position for too long - sitting, standing, sleeping! I'm running out of options! So when I'm at work and someone asks me to step into their office for a sec. it's always a huge surprise to me to have this shaft of pain in my nether regions. That stereotypical pregnant woman stagger? That's me! So I'm tired and grouchy. What's new. Can't wait till this is over!

More random things: Hubby plays this great game with the kids - hide and seek. We turn off the lights in the hallway downstairs and Hubby hides in one of the rooms (4 choices plus the stairwell) while I sit in the big rec room. Anyway, Pumpkin and Precious try and 'find' him, meaning he jumps out and grabs them or chases them into my arms (it appears I am 'base'.) Precious thinks this is great fun and has no fear at all; Pumpkin also thinks it is great fun and asks to play it every night. However, he has advanced to the stage where Hubby popping randomly out of rooms gives him a tiny fright. Consequently he refuses to go first down the hallway. He always wants Precious to play too. It is probably the only time in his this stage of his life that he will allow Precious to go first. SO everybody is happy - especially me, as I get to sit on the floor while Hubby has to crouch in closets and stuff. Fun fun! Precious squealing is delightful.

We had a snowstorm a week or so ago. Hubby got all ready for work unaware it had snowed like a foot the night before, and was not sure what to do as the government had not yet closed. (It closed down eventually as no one could get out of their driveway) Anyway, he's out there in a suit and tie, good shoes and all, shoveling the driveway and walk. Of course this drive the kids bananas seeing daddy outside through the window. So I got them ready just so they could be outside. So, not to disappoint the kiddos, Hubby built them a snowman in the front yard! I was like, at least take your tie off and put on some gloves! Eventually I came out too, and we had to find rocks for eyes, and we shaved down a carrot for a nose. It was quite cute. Hubby is awesome.

Also amusing -- Hubby and I were outside shoveling snow. Well, Hubby was shoveling and I was just walking around enjoying the cold. Precious was napping and Pumpkin was at the window watching us. (We would throw snowballs that would hit 'him' at the window, he loved that.) Anyway, our neighbors Sharon and Bill Willis came tearing across the street, shovel in hand and starting helping us and asking how I was doing. I was like, "huh?" It turns out they thought I was in labor, and that Hubby was digging out the car to take me to the hospital. So they came over to help. Are they sweet or what! Not that we could have gone anywhere. Eventually they used a bulldozer to move the snow - anything more than 6 inches and the area is paralyzed. Definitely not enough salt trucks to handle major roads and side streets. Sharon has offered to watch the kids if I go into labor late at night or on a weekend where we can't take the kids to the daycare.

New Baby: All is well. I now weigh 191 and my 'size' (last Thursday) was 36 cm, which puts me another week early (IE the 3rd instead of the 11). My birth attendant (way cool Catholic woman! 5 kids!) just came over and said that the fundus size is somewhat subjective, but agrees with the midwives that there is no way in creation my due date is the 18. The baby now gets the hiccups pretty regularly, which is reassuring. It doesn't seem to move as often as Precious did - but when it does, it does so in a very dramatic fashion. I guess a few nights ago baby was doing aerobics so I lifted my shirt to watch in closer detail. I called Hubby over to see the elbows and feet protruding well above my stomach, leaving honest to goodness valleys and shadows and they moved across my stomach. Hubby was so cute - he got really nervous and gulped, "You gonna have that baby tomorrow!"

Well, we still have no idea what the due date is. I was originally due the 18th, so I thought I would take off work as of the 9th. Well, now they've moved my due date to the 11th -- but still think I may go early. I have this total fear - FEAR mind you - of going into labor at work. If I do, and someone calls 911, then I am having the baby at a DC hospital! And I won't have any say over which hospital. I'd rather have my baby in a BLS bathroom than at DC general or Adventist! So the goal would be to take a taxi to anywhere in Alexandria (in Virginia) and call 911 from there! In many ways I don't care about the due date, but it would be a shame to have to go to the hospital if the baby is supposedly 2 weeks early if in reality it's the due date that is screwed up. I've been assured that my baby would not be rushed to neonatal as a preemie if it comes out at 8 pounds and screaming. I mean, that would really stink! To have a full term baby and yet have people acting like it was premature and rushing my darling in for unnecessary tests.

Midwife Stuff : On Feb. 3 we had the March Birth Meeting where we got to meet all the other crazies that are having their babies at home during March. Hubby and I never get out alone, so we actually had a lot of fun. At this point we've sunken so low that its just fun to be alone in the car together. The meeting was fine, and most of it I not only understand but have already lived through (twice!) The best part really was meeting the other couples! I admire all the women that are having their first babies at home. I would have been too chicken even had that been an option I was aware of at my first birth - which I wasn't. One couple I run into every other Thursday when I go in for my appointments. They are always there as a couple, and I always thought they both looked really young. Well, turns out I was right. That couple was there with another woman, and when we went around the room and introduced ourselves she introduced herself, said X was her boyfriend, and Y was the wife of the couple they were giving their baby to. How cool that she's giving the baby up for adoption. They are having the baby at the birthing center (which is also on the second floor) and the adopting couple will be right there too. There was another couple that looked the total grunge hippy part, although they seemed really really nice. I mean, she was wearing this green velvet thing and a black velvet beret, and her husband had on a knit rastafari hat. And there was another woman who at MOST was 25 who was having her 3rd baby too. Her labors are even faster than mine! Her 2nd labor was only 1 hour and 50 minutes and she was pretty much planning on having this baby with no help at all. (What?!) Hubby and I were like - how old do you think that couple is? So, half the couples were alternate, hippy, lifestyle type of people (including the 2 unmarried couples) and the rest were extremely high income, well educated types. Plus two redneck type couples who were born at home themselves so this was really no big deal. Hubby and I don't totally fit in and somewhat regard the other couples with amusement. I'm sure they think we are bizzaro too.

I got to give Hubby the big tour of the place, and showed in the huge Jacuzzi they have in the birthing center for the couple. Now, my birth (I hope) will go so fast that I wouldn't use it anyway, but what a cool option to have. Hubby is quite adorable and said in that uncomfortable tone of voice, "I don't think I'd get in there with you." I wanted to laugh and ask what better things he had to do with his time while I was in labor. At least at home I can send him downstairs to watch TV or play on the computer if he annoys me.

Oh yeah. The midwives are really big on watching what you eat. So every two weeks when I see them I bring in a 3 day food diary. Apparently I'm not eating enough protein. I find that totally unbelievable, but that it what they say looking at my eating habits. Of course, they also want me to cut down on the soda I drink, but that's just NOT going to happen. Be pleased I no longer drink coffee every day.

Pumpkin's life: Last letter, I wrote that Hubby and I were nearly done with Pumpkin's room. As a matter of fact Pumpkin took a nap in that room as I wrote -- well, he has never left! WOW! So right away that night he wanted to sleep there. It was really weird taking account of my own feelings on the matter. . . I wasn't ready for him to sleep downstairs. The force of my emotions surprised me, but luckily I realized I was being clingy, and Pumpkin now sleeps downstairs. He seems comforted by the fact that daddy is always right next door on the computer. In many ways his sleeping downstairs has turned out easier than when he was upstairs! Every night as part of the nighttime routine, he changes his clothes into what he is going to wear the next day. Then, in the mornings when I'm halfway ready, I come downstairs to wake up him. The other day I came downstairs and he was awake. So I sat on the bed and gave him a hug and asked what he was doing. "I was thinking." What are you thinking about, I asked? "I don't know, I wasn't paying attention" )I thought that was simply fabulous!) Then yesterday I came downstairs and woke him up. So I asked him how he was and he said, "I'm thinking about Pooh bear." Oh, and what about Pooh Bear? So then Pumpkin started singing the Winnie the Pooh song. He even tries to sing the 'willy nilly silly old bear' part, and it's adorable I don't know if he is getting a better night sleep because Precious is not in the same room, or if he just likes it that I am coming downstairs to wake him up, or what, but he is definitely in a better mood every morning now. (He is still a piss-ant in the afternoons!)

Pumpkin is very aware now of the new baby. The other day as he went to bed he asked, "Mommy, is the new baby going to sleep in my bed?" No Pumpkin, you have your very own bedroom and your very own bed. Needless to say I didn't mention that eventually Precious would be sleeping in the old toddler bed!

Last Friday I took Pumpkin and Precious swimming. (Again, another one of the few activities where they seem to get along!) We went into the deep end and Pumpkin was bounding off the side of the pool, delighting in the large splashes and mommy's sputtering. He was really making these enormous leaps! If he had put his head down I think they would be classified as actual dives. Anyway, he was delighted that I was being splashed. So I told him he was a Katzenjammer! He didn't seem to like being called a Katzenjammer, so I let it go. The following Monday Hubby was teasing me as he helped put the kids in the van. So I 'yelled' at him. Pumpkin was very concerned and asked, "Mommy, are you mad at daddy?" So I said, "No, I'm not mad at daddy. Daddy is teasing me." So Pumpkin gets this satisfied look on his face and says, "Daddy is a Katzenjammer." Isn't that adorable!

Pumpkin has also entered the 'why', 'how' phase. Annoying! However, I keep reminding myself that this is a sign his eager little mind is growing. But it does get really old! Especially when he asks 'why' 8 times in a row, or 'why' to a question I just answered. (Dammit, if you'd just listen to me I already told you! Arggghhh!) I also think he is smart enough to use it as a stalling tactic. But, all things will pass, and so far I've had the patience of a saint.

Precious's life: So the Princess is now nearly 20 months! I forgot to mention that Precious has now experienced her very first snow! She, unfortunately, is not particularly enthralled with it. However, whenever daddy and Pumpkin go outside, then she MUST go with them. She drags her 'jackee' and 'shoos' over to me and cries to go outside (she can also say socks). Well, the snow banks were larger than she is, and we don't have boots for her (as it snows once every 4 years) so I always double dress her so that she has a heavy corduroy overalls over her other clothes. You can imagine how long it takes to get her into all this. Then she goes outside and promptly takes her gloves off, then falls on ice, then realizes that her hands are wet, her bum is bruised, and her nose is cold. SO she stands at the door and cries to go back inside. Once inside she cries as she looks out the window and daddy and Pumpkin are sled riding down the tiny hill in our front yard. This continued for over a week, since that's how long it took for the snow to go away.

Precious's vocabulary continues to grow daily. She is becoming a little bit more difficult. She wants so much to be involved with every single thing Pumpkin does, both from the desire for attention and the desire to drive Pumpkin nuts. So she is your typical 19 month old. Man, when they get along it is so cool - but when they get fussy I just want to cry. This morning they were playing in the bathroom together and were having a gay ole time. The only negative was that I wasn't 'allowed' in the bathroom and they shut the door. What to do, what to do. Just sit outside the door being thankful that they were momentarily getting along and waiting for the inevitable crash? Demand the door be open and ruin their game and have them fuss and pick at each other? Honestly, they get along better when I am not around.

It really is amazing how much Precious will copy Pumpkin. For example, when we were at the pool we all went into the deep end together. The only person who could touch the bottom was me, so I was a bit unsure how this was going to work. I mean, if they both jumped at me at the same time, I wouldn't be able to catch them both. And I really had no idea what Precious was going to do (Like I ever do, really.) Well, she quickly got the hang of taking turns and jumping in. So it ended up really being a lot of fun. She even wanted to 'swim.' With Pumpkin, for the last few inches to the ladder I give him a little push so that he is 'swimming' unassisted. So Precious wanted to do that, and she wanted to climb the ladder. Neither of which was possible without my help. But she was great about waiting her turn and 'jumping' into my arms. In the shallow end she'll actually jump, in the deep in she wanted to be holding my hands as she jumped, which actually made it much more difficult to catch her.

What has happened since last we talked: Dad and Nanna T. came up to visit. What a blast! Dad spent a large majority of his time on the floor with Legos. So he's got Pumpkin building towers while Precious tenaciously attempts to crawl all over him, demanding to be read a book! Dad and Hubby were totally fabulous on Sat. Nanna T. and I wanted to finish up Pumpkin's room (see below) So those two took Pumpkin and Precious to McDonalds and the Dollar store and who knows where else - they were gone for like 3 hours! Then while Pumpkin and Precious napped we sent them to a craft store to buy more supplies, then they went to a hardware store (male bonding) So that was pretty funny.

Nanna T. and I completed Pumpkin's room. Well, Nanna T. did most of the work and all of the creative output. In a flash of pure brilliance, she (I helped!) cut out animals from the pattern in Pumpkin's leftover border. So we stuck those to the wall, and then we stenciled purple, red, blue and yellow stars all over that wall. It turned out really really neat. Pumpkin seems pretty oblivious, however he also is very proud of his room. He knows it's his!

We capped off the weekend by managing to go out to eat to a decent restaurant! Yippee. Precious was in love with Nanna T., and demanded to sit on her lap the whole time. Unbelievably, Precious ate Nanna T.'s salad! I was flabbergasted! A 20 month old eating lettuce? So Precious was Princess of the Table and Nanna T. even swore it didn't annoy her to have Precious opening her mouth every time Nanna T. so much as picked up a fork.

Oh yeah - Pumpkin and Precious have little "JumpStart Pre-School" and "JumpStart Toddler" games, which are more like exercises on how to move the mouse, and what are numbers etc. It was hilarious - Pumpkin was better with the mouse than my dad was.

Another funny thing that happened on Tuesday (Feb. 8) was Hubby's office threw us a surprise baby shower. Of course, it wasn't a surprise to me, since I had to know about it in order to come, but Hubby had no clue. That morning Hubby informs me that he is taking the mini-van in during his lunch hour for a tune up. Meanwhile, I was planning on picking up slugs in the minivan! His car is so small and full of crap (his mobile office, don't you know.) Of course, I've got to be cool about it, as there is no reason I shouldn't drive his car two blocks to where I usually slug - and he's even dropping off the kids. So I've got to convince large grown men to get into this tiny car to take the HOV lanes into town and then I realize that there's no gas! Plus I've got to call his office to make sure Hubby doesn't sneak out to take the car to the shop. However, the party was a great success. Hubby found it totally reasonable to have an unplanned meeting suddenly scheduled for 11:30. When he walked into the room and we all yelled surprise - the confused look on his face was priceless! And it took him forever to realized I was there. "Oh wow. Julie's here." His office was very kind and even gave us a number of gifts. Pizza and cake were had by all. And they got to make fun of us for having 3 kids in 4 years, and also how the only way they found out that I was pregnant was 5 months into the game when Hubby came in late after seeing the sonogram.