Hello blogging world! It's been a few weeks. We haven't been up to much, just the daily grind. Kyle is really glad it's finally spring break! We've been busy trying to set up a bunch of different house projects, we're getting new windows and an air conditioner. Hallelujah! Last summer was not fun, and I refuse to have a newborn without air conditioning. The windows in this house have never been replaced (from the 70's), so it's time for them to get an upgrade too. They're single pane, they would let out all of our cool air! So we've been getting bids for all these things, not to mention I recently had to sign up for service with a pest company because we've started to notice carpenter ants. They weren't there last year, so as soon as I saw them I wanted to nip it in the bud. The pest people won't spray the perimeter of our house until mid-April because that's when it gets a little warmer and the ants are really going back and forth to their colony (thus killing the most that we can), but I'm really glad we signed up for pest service because not a week later we started to see a ton of sugar ants too! Ants just gross me out, but unfortunately for some reason they TERRIFIED Payton. She didn't even want to walk on the hardwood floor, and one day when we got home she flat out refused to come in the house. It was sad to see how scared she was, no matter how much we told her they wouldn't hurt her. She saw one crawl on her foot one day and freaked out (I thought she was being murdered), and I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back for her. Anyway, the pest people were awesome, they came out the next day after I called them and set a bunch of traps and 24 hours later we're ant free! Thank goodness!

Last week I presented at career day at West Albany, which went great! It was actually really fun, I really enjoyed it. I got to meet a lot of neat people from all kinds of careers, and then I got to do my presentation in Kyle's classroom with him. It was so crazy how many kids came to my presentation! We turned kids away every session (there were 4), it was packed past capacity each time. Very flattering! I got a lot of positive feedback, seems a lot of kids really enjoyed it and took to heart my advice about pursuing their career. Hopefully I'll get asked back to present next year too!

My kiddos are doing great! Both of them :) Payton is really funny these days, she's always saying something to make us laugh. One morning when she saw her dad drinking coffee she said "I want some coffee too". I told her that she wouldn't like it, and that coffee is an adult beverage. She thought about that for a second and then said "like a beer?" I had to try so hard not to laugh out loud! She's a smart girl. I said yes Payton, just like a beer! Last weekend she spent the night at Grandma Sue's house while Kyle and I went to Casino Night, which is a fundraiser for the baseball program. It was really fun, there's a silent and a live auction, casino games, great food and drinks (which this year unfortunately I did not get to partake in, but maybe next year). Anyway Payton was so excited about going to church in the morning that apparently she had trouble going to sleep. I got a text from Sue saying that she could hear Payton calling her name and she wasn't sure what to do. Payton was calling "Grandma Sue, I'm ready for church!" At 9:00 at night of course. Sue eventually went in there and told Payton that the church was asleep, and we have to sleep too and we'll see it in the morning. She was fine with that and went right to sleep! She loves church, and has even been praying for us before meals. This is her prayer she learned at school: Thank you God for food, Amen. Concise and to the point, we love it! She has started to call us "friends" when she's bossing us around, which is also something she picked up at school. We'll be playing in the living room and she'll say "OK friends, it's time to clean up and then it's circle time!" Then she makes us get in a circle and wants to sing a song, or play her new favorite game, duck duck goose. She's definitely a little leader!

I can't get over how long her legs look in this picture! She's already more than half as tall as her mama...

Bed head!

Payton is officially a shower girl! She really started to resist baths for some reason, and when I suggested a shower, she was all for it! She LOVES them!

 

Hello!

 This is the look I got when I finally took her out of the shower, not too happy... 

If only my skin were so beautiful... 

That's enough pictures mommy!

As for baby boy, he's quite the mover! I feel him all the time, and Kyle finally got to feel him for the first time this week too. The other night you could actually see my belly moving when he kicked me, which is really fun to watch! He's been breech, which also means I've been feeling a lot of kicking on my bladder, which I'm not used to. Payton was head down from like 16 weeks on, so I only ever felt her kicks way up high. He's super active at night, usually when I'm trying to go to sleep of course. That's also very different from his sister, I never really felt Payton at night. Hopefully he likes to sleep at night when he comes out! Payton was such a great sleeper, we were really lucky with her. Hoping that we can get lucky twice!

Kyle and I have been doing a lot of talking recently about our family, our future. I have always been super set on having at least three kids, but now after a lot of discussion we've decided to see how two goes first for a while and then make the decision to have (or not to have) more children. Who knows what the future holds for us, but we will consider ourselves very blessed to have had two healthy, happy kids. Then it really hit me that this might be my last pregnancy, and it's already more than halfway over. Time is flying, and yet July can't come soon enough! We're definitely not ready though; haven't started getting his room ready, have no idea on the name, all the baby stuff is still in the attic... we'll get to it soon I'm sure! :)

I'm already almost 24 weeks, only a few more weeks in the second trimester. I have an appointment Monday morning with the maternity care coordinator at Good Samaritan in Corvallis, which is where we're delivering. She meets with patients and gives them a tour of the maternity center, talks about classes you can take, answers any questions that you have. I don't think we'll take any classes this time, except they do a big sibling class that I think would be fun for Payton. I think it's one Saturday for a couple hours, just showing new big brothers and sisters basic tips for taking care of a new baby sibling. Then on Tuesday morning I have my next doctor appointment. I'm dreading getting weighed this time... I have been SO hungry the last couple weeks! Just not looking forward to the scale reflecting my constant eating, but oh well. I read somewhere that they did a study that showed women who were pregnant with boys were typically hungrier during pregnancy, which definitely seems to be true this time around!

Anyway, time for this mama to go to bed... hope everyone is having a great weekend!