Sorry for the break.....

It seems that I am not a great writer, or great thinker these days, and thus the blog is left to gather dust...... along with every other project that I have ever started that is an ongoing thing. This blog makes me think of those little digital pets that were popular (at least with me and my sister) in the early 90's. Mine died. Not much has changed for me. If something does not make noise or in some other way demand attention, it will not be fed or cared for..... hence the stack of folded, clean laundry sitting on my dresser and the poor maintenance of this blog. But, you will be happy to know that my littles have been bathed, fed and changed in the recent past. :)

In other news, life is moving right along. I am 31 weeks and set up our hospital tour for next Tuesday. We do not want a repeat of Waddle's delivery. If you'll recall, we were planning to visit the hospital Saturday morning, drive by and see how to do everything. Well, I went into labor Friday night, only the Emergency entrance was open and we had no idea where we were trying to get to. I recently visited a friend at the hospital that I will be delivering at, so I at least know where our final destination is. I was talking to Albert about the tour yesterday and we both feel it is very important to figure out where we park and go in if I am in labor "after hours." Our first three were born at 8:05 a.m., 1:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. They like to party all night!

(This pic was taken over a month ago, just pretend this is still what I look like. )

The baby is moving like crazy and often feels like he/she is doing a headstand and keeping his/her balance on my ribs....... not the most comfortable thing ever, but it's temporary. My midwife recommended that I read "The Birth Book." I so wish I had heard of this book while I was pregnant with Widdle. I have been so clueless all along. I already feel much more educated for this birth and I would HIGHLY recommend this book to any lady who is expecting a baby. It is excellent.

Widdle is doing well. I can't believe he will be four years old next month. We have started his pre-school curriculum and he always asks to read more stories. I thought he would like the manipulative for math more than he is showing interest at this point. My main goal is to teach him to be considerate and thoughtful towards others, everything else he learns is just icing on the cake! It seems the Holy Spirit is working on his heart and it is a great joy to see. We still have a lot of hard days, but the fruit is showing and we could not be more joyful!

Waddle is half-way working on being potty trained. He does not seem to be very concerned with it and I am too distracted to keep potty time at the front of my mind. I think we will work with the timer next week and see what happens. Every morning I pray for more energy and the ability to accomplish the things the Lord has set for me, all I can gather is that the Lord is not extremely worried about Waddle's ability to potty on the toilet and keep his undies dry. Thankfully I have been able to relax and just roll with this. Waddle is extremely interested in babies these days. He is the most interested in our baby and wants to take it out. I wish it were that easy. He will be a wonderful big big brother and I suspect he will have a very special bond with this baby.

Piddle is sweet and sour. She makes us laugh all the time. She is walking everywhere and just learned how to go down the two steps that lead from our laundry room to our play room. Unlike every little boy that I know, she had decided that sitting down and scooting her bottom to the edge of the step is the safest and best way to move to the lower step. Our boys have always flipped over to their bellies, dangled their legs over and kicked until the felt the step. For the longest time Piddle would just stand at the top of the step and half whine, half grunt, looking for someone to rescue her. Widdle has been very happy to help. Now she can handle it, though she still looks around for an assistant. On Father's day she learned how to give "nucks." She has finally learned how to say "please" in sign language and how to knock on the door. I love seeing them figure out how to communicate and function in the world around them.

Albert took the boys to CO for a few days last week and they had a blast. Widdle has said several times that he wants to go back. Waddle will give me a little pouty face and say, "I leave you, I miss you." Today when he said this I replied, "it's ok though, you came back to me" and his face lit up. That warmed my heart a bit. While in CO they went horseback riding to breakfast and seem to have had a blast. I have heard about R.J. (Waddle and Papaw's horse) more than anything else from the trip.

Piddle and I had girl's time at home. She inherited a sleepy head from her mama and we both enjoyed sleeping in, taking naps and going to bed early. I had high hopes for getting a lot of things done in prep for the baby and the only real thing that was accomplished was resting up for the boy's return..... I work better when everyone is at home anyway. :}

I think that's the short overview of our last month. Maybe I'll be a little more with it in the next 5-9 weeks leading up to baby Duck 4's arrival, or we could just call him/her Paddle.

*That's a lie, after looking through the pictures and pulling these out, I see that we have been up to quite a bit more. We have gone blueberry picking several times and have about 20 lbs in our freezer. Hopefully we'll pick more next year, but I am just a little over it for this year. The boys had a BLAST shooting off fireworks in our front yard. We also enjoyed the show the city put on on the 4th of July. I just never get tired of fireworks! We hosted my mom's surprise 50th birthday party. I was certain she had an idea of what was going on, but she was totally shocked and I think it turned out great. The littles and I went to see the Blue Angel's practice show. That is another thing that I never get tired of seeing. I hope to go again next week. I had my hair cut short again. My dear cousin came to a beach near us and we were able to hang out with her and her sweet family for an evening.... before the oil hit. We had a very special time and I wish it could happen more often. OK, I think that's a better summary for now.