December 22nd

Well, they have set a date for the arrival of Baby #4, December 22nd. This baby will come with much fanfare from me, as in the last few weeks I have been labeled as "gestational diabetic" and taking insulin 5 x a day. Not fun at all. But, if in the end we get a healthy, happy (and if you happened to throw cute in there, I wouldn't be offended) baby, I'm good with it.

As for other happenings in our family, Ben and Maddie have been practicing feverishly for their upcoming Christmas shows at school. We recently took them to the store to get items for their preschool rooms from a "Giving Tree", but understood a few minutes into the trip that they do not understand the concept of a giving tree AT ALL. It mostly turned into a crying disaster resulting in babies in bed by 7.

Zach is doing great and trying to keep up with everything the other two do. He is now sharing a room with his "Moo Moo" (Maddie) in order to get him prepared (and an empty room prepared) for the new baby. He gets a kick out of throwing his binky at her and making her fetch it for him.

But, all three are now jockeying for positions on my lap (which is why I don't often try to get on the laptop) so I better tend to my mothering duties.

Halloween is Coming!

Ben is going as Iron Man, Thomas, or a ghost depending on when you ask him and what mood he is in that day. Maddie is leaning towards Minnie Mouse or a Princess, both of which involve pink frilly dresses which are right up her alley. And Matt and I have chosen a pretty cute monkey costume for Zach (if we can get him to put it on...that is TBD).

However, my kids don't eat that much candy (i.e., I don't like them to eat much candy), so does it make me a bad mom that I want them to go out and harvest the candy for me and then take it all away from them and keep it for myself? Anyway, I'll be sure to post some costume pics soon!

Patterns

Okay, I am really behind and I promise some new pics and stories soon, however, I had a quick one to share about Ben. He and Matt got into a bit of a power struggle the other night, with Ben pulling out the "shut up" and "i hate you". I talked to him after he calmed down and said, "Ben, you don't ever tell your dad you hate him. You might be angry with him, but you always love him." And he said, "Well mom, it's a pattern. You see, sometimes I hate him and then sometimes I love him. You know, a pattern". Nice! Stay tuned for more as I promise to be more diligent!!

Mean Eyebrowns

Yesterday Ben asked me why I had mean eyebrowns. (yep, eyebrowns). Apparently I was scowling at him and he didn't like it. How does a four year old not only interpret my body language so correctly and then call me on it? Amazing. For all of you that don't know, we spent last week moving into some new digs, so I will soon have some updates on that for all!

Mommy and Me x4

So, for most of you that still read this, even though I never write, I am sure you have heard that Baby #4 is on the way. Things have been crazy with a capital C. But, I had to take a few minutes to do some updating. We finally decided to tell our little secret when my body decided that instead of being 10 weeks pregnant I should go ahead and look 5 months pregnant. I think my stomach muscles are waving their white flag of surrender. Anyway, I told Matt that I was going to have to start wearing maternity clothes, so we better 'fess up. We started by telling my family. I told Ben to go and tell grandma that mom had a baby in her tummy. I thought he already had come to this conclusion with all the talking that Matt and I had been doing, but apparently I was wrong. He just looks at me and goes "WHAT! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!". So much for delivering my message. Anyway, he was and remains super excited, steadfast in the belief that we are having a girl and determined to name that girl Lexie. Everytime I bring up a different name he says "Mom, how about we use my name this time and your name next time". I keep trying to explain to him that there won't be a next time (this is it folks), but he insists. Maddie is also pretty excited, and has been especially mothering towards Zach. Maybe she is afraid he is going to get lost in the shuffle. Zach continues to be a man of a baby. At his last check up he weighed in at 33 pounds (that is somewhere in the 150th or so percentile) and was 32 inches (not quite square). His head is finally evening out with his body, so we did not have to do an MRI as the doctor had thought we might.

If that weren't enough, Matt and I are preparing to move to a new house. We pretty much figured with baby #4 on the way, we have pretty much officially outgrown our old house. However, our old house remains on the market, so if anyone knows anyone that is interested....it would certainly take a load off my mind:) Keep checking in, I promise I'm going to keep up with this!

Wedding Fever

I have no excuse for not writing for almost a month, except for the fact that I have been living life with my three crazy kids instead of writing about it. Last night, however, was a writing-worthy night. My cousin, Kristen and now my new cousin, Derek were married last night. The kids have been looking forward to the wedding for a long time. Well, mostly to the cupcakes, but the wedding too. So, they had a very nice ceremony and reception, in which the kids fared pretty well. You can tell that they don't go out in public much, but they still did okay. Then came the dance. Holy cow, it was worth two hours of chasing them around, taking them potty and chasing them under tables to see all three of them cut it loose on the dance floor. If only I was one of those good parents who would actually take pictures of cute stuff like that. Ben was playing air guitar and break dancing, Maddie was "putting her hands up" and singing along to Party in the USA and Zach was pretty much winning over every single person on and off the dance floor with his side step, bounce up and down style. To see kids so open and unencumbered on the dance floor is refreshing. No worries about what they looked like or who was watching them, just having fun and lots of it. It makes it a lot easier for me as a mom to do the same thing. I wish that you could bottle up that free spirit and give it back to them when they are teenagers. We have a couple of more weddings this year, so I will try to capture it on film.

Tic Toc

So, if you know the song Tic Toc by Ke$ha and then you stop to realize that yes, this is my kids' favorite song right now, you can go ahead and award me for the "Coolest Mom of the Year Award". Granted, I didn't say "Best Mom of the Year Award" because the song is downright naughty, but you gotta admit I'm pretty cool if my kids are listening to Ke$ha and Lady Gaga as opposed to the Wiggles (Thank God Ben forgot about them) and Barney. I'm being a little sarcastic, but it is pretty funny that all three of them get the biggest kick out of that song. It is pretty catchy and it has a good beat and honestly, you should see Zach get down to it. He would put Michael Jackson to shame. We taped her when she was on SNL so that the kids could dance to it and they absolutely love it. I don't know if you have seen the performance or not, but it is slightly weird and features dancers dressed like spacemen doing all sorts of robotic moves in the background, which Ben then tries to copy. Maddie just dances her little heart out and sings the chorus when it comes on the whole time leading up to that announcing "Tik Tok is coming, Tik Tok is coming". If I did YouTube, a video of the three of them might just be a classic. To add to how cool they are and how wide their little musical minds go, the other day in the car they were arguing over who sang a song "Lady GaGa or Ke$ha". I can't remember what song it was and who was right, but it was pretty funny. Ben also loves the Train song, Hey Soul Sister and whenever it comes on the radio he goes, Mom, it's my favorite ChooChoo Train song. Close enough. Maddie can pipe up that it's "Jason Mraz" with just a few chords of his popular songs, which is pretty impressive as well. I suppose they have their Uncle Jeremy (and if I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Grandma Laura likes to bring up the fact that she was an All-Stater for a couple of years whenever it seems appropriate), so their Uncle Jeremy AND their Grandma Laura to thank for their musical talents. Man, they crack me up.