Two more...

Fun times on the airplane! The boys are so small that Jesse actually sat in between the two of us for most of the flight...and they didn't even poke or hit each other!


And here we are...on the way to the pool!

We made it!!

And let's just say that the trip really couldn't have been better. It did take me about 10 minutes just to get through the scanner at security (our items filled 4 plastic bins). I had to take 3 pairs of shoes and coats off, pull out the DVD player separately, collapse the stroller and haul it up onto the conveyer belt, put all of our carry-ons in, then make sure I didn't lose a kid. One of the "helpful" TSA men looked at me as I'm trying to hold two sets of hands while doing this and said, "Ma'am, you need to put that stoller on the belt so it can go through the scanner." "Yea, thanks, I'm aware of that...that would be what I'm trying to get to doing at this very moment."

Anyhow, the boys were PERFECT on the airplane. They totally surprised me and it was a great flight! Their forgetful mommy pulled out the DVD player at the end when they got a tad bit antsy, not realizing that 10 minutes later I'd have to shut it off because we were starting our descent (that took 25 minutes) and you have to turn off all electronic devices. Oops. The boys handled it quite well!

We didn't waste any time and got in the pool pronto! It was beautiful, upper 80's, warm water, nice...

Then we ate dinner at Rubio's, one of our favorite CA restaurants, and had popsicles on the patio outside my parent's house after dinner. What a nice evening. Joel is currently trying to fall asleep on his blow-up mattress next to my bed so I'm crossing my fingers!

The pic of naked Jesse is him getting a "bath" on the lawn with a bowl of soapy water after the popsicle. He doesn't really eat them, instead he just lets them saturate him with stickiness. Good times, especially for my mom who's the "clean freak" (I mean that in a good way--my boys are never cleaner than they are when they are around her).

All our bags are packed...

and we're ready to go! We leave for California in the morning. I am pretty excited but also quite sad that Zac will be staying behind. It's not a great family vacation when part of your family isn't there :(. The boys will really miss him too. They are getting old enough that they really feel a hole when daddy isn't around. He provides a different dimension for them that I just can't. Maybe they will be sufficiently distracted by the swimming pool and zoo while we are there!

Hoping for success on the airplane. Some good friends loaned us their portable DVD player yesterday and my anxiety level dropped immediately by about 3 levels. I'll post pics soon!

Pain.

Zac and I were invited to a gathering last night where he shared his sermon from a couple of weeks ago and then we shared a little bit together. As always, it was a really neat time of encouragement and seeing the Spirit move among his people. Afterwards, person after person came up to us to share their individual stories of suffering. It is always so shocking to me that in our culture we sweep suffering under the rug as much as we do. If you have a headache, you take a Tylenol immediately. When we told people about Joel's autism, we were bombarded with recommendations for treatments and therapies. When someone is in the midst of an extreme personal trial, many of their friends avoid them. Someone literally laughed in my face the other day when I told them I might not have an epidural when I deliver this baby. "You don't get a medal for the extra suffering" she said.

No, I don't. But suffering if a part of this world. It is inevitable that EVERYONE will face it in some way, at some time. It is a result of sin and evil in this world. It is a part of the kingdom cycle. In a small way, when we suffer, we can have just a taste of what Christ went through and there is true fellowship in sharing in his sufferings. If we are always shying away from pain ourselves, or from engaging with others when they are in pain, we lose sight of part of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. It can become trite and removed from our everday experiences. I for one, hope that never happens, for in suffering, we receive something that is truly a severe mercy from God.

Yea, baby.

Had another doctor's appt. today for Hicks baby. Everything was good, hearbeat fine. It's always a little reassuring to hear that, although the incredible hormones that I feel surging through my body and cause me to visit the toilet frequently certainly should be enough reassurance. :) In the baby's honor, I put a ticker at the top of my blog to keep track of how far along I am. You know how things are around here, I don't want to lose track of time. I'm trying to really enjoy this pregnancy since it may be my last...who knows!

Something funny the PA at the OB's office told me on my first visit, "So, you should probably only gain around 20 pounds throughout the pregnancy, that's average." I snorted a little (discreetly) and started chuckling. She said, "Oh, did you not gain that much with your other two?" "Oh, no, I gained 55 pounds." "They were twins?" she asked. "Nope."

On a side note, that is not the average weight gain. It's 25-35 pounds. I don't know where she got her numbers. I will say that I went a tad overboard when I was pregnant with Joel, but eating was the only thing that made me stop throwing up (for 8 months). With Jesse, I tried to be a little more moderate, since it was hard losing 55 pounds the first time, but I still gained 45 with him. I think that's just the way my body works. So, here's to gaining 20 pounds by the time I'm only 20 weeks (probably)!

Random pics

Soon it will be this kind of weather again...I can't wait!!


Here's Joel on his first day of preschool last fall. His last day is in a month...time went by fast and he had a great year!










And Joel decided to lock himself and my mom's dog in the crate. I found them this way. :)

Grocery store anyone?

Does anyone else feel like they go to the grocery store every day? Actually, I probably go more like every other day but it sure feels like I need to go every day. Maybe I'm just not the most organized grocery shopper but I do try to be. I plan my meals for the week every Monday and try to do my big grocery run then. It seems however, that I am always running out of something random that I didn't really plan to run out of but certainly need and so again, I head off to the store. Other times we've decided to have people over and I need more food, or there's that bake sale at church that I need to bake something for and I need chocolate chips, or I'm in charge of snack for preschool so I need to go buy snacks for 12 three year olds. It doesn't really matter what it is--there's always something.

On that note...I made my meal plan yesterday but didn't get to the store yet so the boys and I are off. It's not usually very much fun taking a 1 and 3 year old to the store. Sometimes we make it through without incident, other times, not so much. Hopefully today will be the former. I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going to put the new baby when we go shopping. Jesse sits in the seat of the cart, Joel is in the big part (when he starts touching too many things or not keeping up with us, which is most of the time), no more room for an infant seat. Hmmm.... I may have to start going late at night after Zac is home from the work and the boys are in bed.

On a funny note, I was having a hard time getting out of bed the other morning. Joel was standing by the bed, trying to encourage me (he wanted cereal, badly). He handed me my glasses and then actually tried to put them on my face. Then he told me that I just needed to put my feet on the floor and stand up. "You can do it, Mama!" he said. Thanks, buddy.

He likes to talk about the baby in Mommy's tummy. His conversation varies but it usually ends by him reminding me that he also has a baby in his tummy. I always look in on the boys before I go to bed. You never know what I'll find while they sleep quietly--a leg stuck in the rails of the crib, a poopy diaper, someone a millimeter away from falling off the bed, pajamas unzipped all of the way. The other night when I went into Joel's room something looked funny about him. As I looked closer, I realized that there was something inside of his pajamas--it kind of looked like he was 6 months pregnant. I unzipped the pajamas and pulled out two of his security blankies and a toy boat. Weird. :)