From the Past

My mom sent me these pics a while back and I've decided to hang them in the most appropriate spot in the house, the guest bathroom. Do you recognize the girl in the back?

Baby Pharis #3

I went to the Dr. yesterday and had my first ultrasound. The baby measured at 12 weeks and had a heartbeat of 159. My expected due date is March 24, two weeks after my 9th wedding anniversary, a little over one week before L's 2nd birthday, and a little less than one month before K's 5th birthday; aside from Mother's Day, we have 5 family birthdays in May and school lets out for the year. So, when we originally started "planning" a family, I made the comment that I'd rather not have a baby in May because of how busy it is. Be careful what you wish/ask/pray for! God has such a funny sense of humor and He might just give you what you ask! LOL Oh, by the way.... this time, instead of finding a name we like and then finding the meaning of it later, we're going to try to find a name that means "calm, tranquil, relaxed, easy-going, mild-mannered," etc. in hopes of having a child that will balance out my other two "warriors". The ultrasound tech did say this baby was all sprawled out and just relaxing. *fingers crossed*

A LOT has Happened

On August 28, M left to go on a 3 week hunting trip with his dad. They ended up somewhere in north New Mexico the next day. Since he's been gone, a lot has happened. The only way I'm able to talk to him is if and when they "go to town" and they can get signal. I've only been able to talk to him twice and we weren't surrounded by ideal circumstances either time. The first time he called, he had left his cellphone at the camp, so he had to use a pay-phone. (Luckily, there was still one around). We weren't able to talk long because it was hard to hear him over the motorcycles that were driving by. The second time he called, I had just got home and I was SO tired, that I could barely keep my eyes open. At that point, he had been gone about a week and a half and they had not done any hunting yet and the other guys were just getting there.

When M left, I was truly worried that either the girls or I one may not survive. We were going through a really hard time and they were being very rebellious, which in turn, caused K to be more rebellious. About a week after M left, one of the biggest changes of our household happened and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to talk to M about it. Luckily, I was and he was in agreement with what was going on. The girls ended moving back home Labor Day weekend. Here it is another week later and they still haven't started school yet. Come to find out, one of the girls weren't given proper credit from her previous public school and the new school they are planning to enroll her in won't acknowledge her private school transcript because someone mentioned she was homeschooled. I'm not sure what's going to happen with that. She might have to repeat her 9th grade year.

With that being said, the house has been a lot more calm and relaxed. K has adjusted VERY well to being the big brother again. He's really excited about having a new baby "brother" as he says. Just last night he asked me when I was going to go to the hospital to get the baby. I explained we had to wait until my belly got really big and the baby finished growing. He seemed to understand.

L has learned some more signs. She knows how to say "Thank You" and knows how to get in her booster seat all by herself. If I'm not watching closely, I can even catching her refilling her cup of water at the fridge. Yep! She's done it a couple of times. It was a little messy, but she tried. She also used the bathroom on the potty once.

K says he's "independent" now and dresses himself completely by himself and does ALL the bedtime duties by himself. He's tall enough to turn the lights on and off, so I no longer have to follow him to the bathroom. He learned how to tie his shoes by himself, so now I have to plan way ahead to give him enough time to get it done before I need to leave. Now that he can do it by himself, he doesn't want any help and he ties everything that needs to be tied. The first time he tied something, he called me in from the living room to show me something. When I got to his room, he showed me that he had tied his swim shorts. I was impressed, but asked to see him do it again. I let him practice on his shoes since the strings were longer and of course, he did it. He was so excited and I was/am so proud. He had to call his Granny Nee and Nana to let them know. He would have called his daddy if he would've been able to talk.

Oh, K even learned how to count to 5 in Spanish. Kids are such sponges. They absorb everything!

Such a Girl!

Every morning when I go into L's room to get her out of bed, I am always greeted with a big beautiful smile. Then, she taps on her head and points to her bows letting me know she wants a bow in her hair. I put a bow in a hair and get her out of bed. She such a girl! It's amazing how she can turn any of her brother's buckets into purses.

The other day, I walked into my bathroom and saw her looking up in amazement. She had discovered my purses. She was so excited that she tried climbing my shelves to get to them. You see, she's been "wearing" my shoes for a couple of months, but I guess she had never looked up and saw the row of purses. It was so cute!

Still in her pjs, with a bow in her a hair, and carrying a purse that's too big.

My First Kill!

Yesterday, as I was taking L to the van, to go to gymnastics, K told me, "Mommy, I just saw a snake! It's under the trash can. I saw it's tail." Naturally, I shook the trash, heard a noise, and waited. Nothing came out. I've learned that usually when K tells me something, not to ignore it, he's usually right. So, I loaded L up in the van and grabbed a shovel and a pole to try to behead the snake.
After we got back from gymnastics, K wanted to bury it.

Superhero

K got this costume from Ms. Alex the other night at church. She said his eyes got so big when he first saw it that they almost popped out of his head and his jaw almost hit the ground. He wore it for days and flew everywhere, including Wal-Mart, Market Basket, and Blockbuster. He even wore it to bed. As I walked around the corner of his class to pick him up the night he got the suit, I could hear all the kids calling him "Batman". It was SO cute.

"Someone" *cough Ms. Alex* gave him the idea that he could be a superhero everyday of the week. So, now he wants Flash Gordon, Superman, Spiderman, and Green Lantern. He already has Iron Man. The funny thing about it is that he's never seen any of movies that have the above characters. He's seen clips of Iron Man flying and he's watched a Marvel cartoon, but that's about it.

Chess

K learned how to play chess and actually put me in check once, I didn't even have to help him do it. I guess I need more practice.