Chicken Buckets

making a tent with furniture and a bedsheet is a new favorite game of theirs, but they call it "under"

playing with Daddy in the "under"

Before I forget, I wanted to say that my new favorite thing the boys say is "chicken nuggets" because it comes out "chicken buckets"!!  Too cute.  They have all kinds of new words that I don't remember teaching them... Almost everyday they come out with something new, it's amazing!  Right now, though, everything is "me do it".  Aidan actually says "I" most of the time, but Jordan says "me".  The best is when I hand him something at supper, like a fork; he'll say, "me have lellow fork."  I mean, that's a whole sentence right there.  It has helped some with a potty training slump we're in... I think it's partly getting over a sickness we had, but they just don't want to go (Aidan especially).  So I've been playing up the "you're a big boy and can do it all by yourself" thing.  And if they sit on the little potty seats, I don't have to pick them up (which helps me not have contractions).  They associate things that I don't anticipate.  Like Saturday, we said we were all going to the farmers' market and we would see the fire truck (there's a fire station right there and the door is almost always open).  Jordan told me that Mimi & Grandpa would be there to see the fire truck, too (because they were visiting when we last went).  It's just such a miracle to watch them grow and learn and develop skills and language and imagination.  And potty training is a day-to-day struggle.  I'm trying to (and not doing a great job) make it less of a big deal without losing my enthusiasm for them doing a good job - it's hard!  They are still so young, but they clearly know what they're doing.  Parenting is such a hard (but rewarding) job and sometimes I forget that tomorrow is just another day of the same.  This is just my life right now, there is not really a "next thing" that I just need to be done with this in anticipation of.  I'm not sure why that is so hard to grasp, but I know I'm not alone.  And being pregnant doesn't help much  :)

  Aidan wearing Daddy's shoes

 Jordan riding his "bike"

They are playing more together now than they ever have.  They wrestle and chase and yell most of the day, actually.  And along with developing imagination, we've been having some bad dreams.  We were all sick a couple weeks ago with fever virus, ear infections, sinus infections... kept us down for more than a week.  And we thought Jordan's sleep crying started back up then as part of the earaches.  But it continued after everyone was well and I was confused about it.  (He doesn't wake up as far as I can tell, but he whimpers and cries in his sleep.  It's awfully pitiful.)  And then finally, one night after our bedtime prayers, he wouldn't get in his bed.  He kept saying "mommy daddy bed".  I didn't let him, of course, but it was so heartbreaking to see that face!  So after talking with my discipler about it, we've started teaching him to say the name of Jesus when he gets scared in bed at night.  Andrew was at a meeting one night and so I taught them both to say "Jesus, protect me."  And they remembered!  And two days later, Aidan was laying in bed while Jordan went potty and he said to me, "prayers. talk God."  I was so excited!!  I told him that yes, we talk to God when we pray!  I know he's young to understand the concept of God completely, but wouldn't it be awesome if they started to get it at this age?!  And I think we've successfully countered the bad dreams with talking to God!  I'm sure we'll have more rounds of bad dreams, but Jordan's definitely been sleeping better.

during the sick week, Aidan slept so much better sitting up - this was nap on the worst day

 like Jordan would really sleep in his room alone... we'll have to work on that, I guess.  but this day it was the couch with his favorite new "lovey" - a giant elephant pillow

Baby Asa: My last appointment was 2 1/2 weeks ago and I passed my glucose test.  whoohoo!  I asked Dr. P when the next ultrasound would be since I don't know what a normal pregnancy is like and she said there usually isn't one.  I was a little bit devastated, but she said after the anatomy scan, they don't usually do any more unless there is a good reason.  I told her that was fine, that I had just been curious since he was measuring so big last time and I was/am getting so gigantic and uncomfortable this early in the game.  So she listened to his heartbeat on the doppler (always around 150-160) and then measured my belly to see what it was measuring.  She didn't tell me what that measurement was, just agreed that I was getting big and said well, let's go ahead and get a growth scan.  I took that to mean that I was measuring huge - and I was right  :)  The ultrasound tech said Dr. P wrote down that I measured 30 weeks.  I was 25w3d.  Fabulous.  So then I got to see Asa on the ultrasound and he's a chubby little thing with plenty of fluid around him.  He measured 26w6d.  10 days ahead.  I have no idea what this means... but the first time we saw him, it was 3 days ahead, then 5 days ahead, now 10 days ahead.  I'm 28 weeks today and still feeling gigantic, although the week of sickness knocked me back about 3 lbs.  Asa is a very active little thing (well, big thing) and kicks just as hard as A & J ever did.  Because my placenta is anterior (in the front), I feel more kicking inside than I did with A & J.  It doesn't really make a difference, it's just more uncomfortable for me.  But I still feel plenty of good strong kicks on the outside, too.  I go back this Thursday, so I'm interested to see what Dr. P thinks about Asa's size and growth and whether or not we'll get any more ultrasounds!  I'm thinking we may get to meet him in person a few weeks before his actual date  :)  We'll see.