This week in pictures

Well we are in countdown mode again around here.  Brandon's unit has a month long assignment at Fort Polk, Louisiana.  He left this morning and I'm back to being a quasi-single mom.  This afternoon the girls and I made this paper chain to count down to his return.  

I'm a little nervous about this next month.  Sure, the kids and I have been through all this before, but now I'm pregnant.  I'm already having lots of lower back pain so I have to watch how often I lift Mister Heavy Derrick (thank goodness he learned how to walk!)  I also make sure I spend a lot of time sitting down.  My motto for this month is "Its a marathon and not a sprint."  That means I don't have to have a clean house, nicely dressed kids, and amazing meals all at the same time.  Me and the kids just have to get through this alive - and preferably happy.  

Tomorrow the baby will be 20 weeks along.  I can't believe how long this pregnancy already seems.  I guess that's because I figured out I was pregnant around week 8 this time around.  With Derrick it took me until almost week 12 and with the twins . . . well . . . there was that whole not-real-miscarriage thing and I didn't know I was still pregnant until week 18.  With the twins I only knew I was pregnant for a total of about 20 weeks. So I kind of feel like this baby should be here already.  Oh well, here is my 20 week pic.  

And here are some pics of the kids from the last week or so.   We did other stuff this week too, but I really can't remember what any of it was.  So you just get the picture version.

When Derrick goes down for a nap the girls and I head into the office to work on projects.  I keep the girls out of my crafts by giving them their own things to play with.  The other day I let them play with my ribbon box.  Lydia wanted me to tie bows around her waste.  

Charlotte spent a lot of time putting little ribbons into a little jar.

I made this little area in the office closet for the kids to play in.  They keep pretending to take naps in there, but so far no real naps.

On Sunday the kids looked really cute.  I had the camera in my bag so we could attempt to take another family picture - again.  (I don't like my bangs in the current header, but at least we are all looking in the camera this time.)  Only Lydia would actually pose for the camera.  So I guess we'll have to try again next month when Brandon comes home.

The caption for the next two pictures should read: What happens when kids put themselves down for a nap.  Yesterday Charlotte and Lydia succumbed to exhaustion and took naps.  Charlotte laid down and put this blanket on all by herself.

Lydia must have been really tired.  At least she found a box to be a pillow before she conked out.  She was asleep like this for hours.  Once that girl falls asleep there is no waking her up.

The girls had fun feeding Derrick some dinner last night.  I didn't get the camera out in time to catch Lydia trying to feed him too.  

Because of the naps the girls were wide awake most of the night.  We made sure Brandon gave everyone Father's blessings. Then we had scriptures and prayers.  Derrick went down around 9:30, but the girls were going strong.  Brandon got out his money bank and the three of them had fun playing with all the money.  

When the girls finally did go to bed (at 11:45!) Lydia insisted on sleeping on the window seat.  I really didn't care at that point.  This morning I found Charlotte with her.

Derrick fed himself yogurt today.  Most of it actually went into him, but a lot ended up on the outside too.

We had a little picnic for dinner tonight.  It was fun to eat outside.  And I LOVE using the picnic blanket.  I'm so happy that I have made something so useful out of a bunch of stuff that was just taking up storage space.

The girls' babies joined us for dinner.  Each girl made sure her baby had noodles and a drink.  They are such good little mommies.  Charlotte keeps telling me that there is a baby in her tummy too.  Sometimes she puts her baby under her shirt.  The other day I showed the girls the little "as your baby grows" magazine with pictures of fetuses as they develop.  Lydia thought all the babies looked sad.  And she kept saying, "want out."

As usual we made cookies for Family Home Evening tonight and Derrick joined in on the fun.  He was so happy to be included.  Usually I just hold him while Brandon and the girls make the cookies, but that wasn't an option tonight.

Well that's us so far.  We'll see what happens over the next couple weeks.