Half way there...

I'm officially 20 weeks people!!!! I'm half way done. At the beginning I never thought I'd make it this far. I was so sure I would die long before now. I'm finally starting to feel better, I still can't eat anything "good" (you know, french fries, chocolate, etc...) but that's okay. I'm finally starting to feel her really move, which is very cool. Hubbie even felt it the other night. The boys aren't patient enough yet to sit and wait to feel her move, as she gets a little stronger I'm sure they'll feel it.

And for your viewing pleasure:

Some New Pics for You!

Here are some pics of the kids.

Baby "I'll never have a name" is totally sucking her thumb in #1 and #2 is proof that she's a girl!

Then there is Little Man and Squirt. I didn't want to spend money on the school pictures that are poor quality and usually pretty expensive. So I took the kids to WalMart because they had a $7.99 special. $75 later I got some great pics. Hubbie didn't exactly see the logic in spending $75 to save $40, but you do right?

Enjoy!

Baby "I'll Never Have a Name"

Little Man

Squirt

Good News

Okay 2 things:

1. I caught the cricket. There were actually 2 of them, they were trapped in a box so they weren't going anywhere. I smashed them and got a "Way to go Mom!" from Squirt. We both slept soundly last night!

2. I started Christmas shopping yesterday. I bought a Cardinal's Jersey for Little Man. I knew he was going to FREAK when he saw it. Approximately 3.2 hours after I bought it Hubbie gave it to him, he was just as excited. To quote my dear Husband "I never had a jersey when I was little." Said with the longing of a disappointed 10 year old. I told Hubbie he is officially banned from Christmas shopping. If this is the way he's going to handle the presents it could get very costly! Little Man did FREAK though and that just warms a parents heart.

Does anyone know the life expectancy of a cricket?

I'm curious because it's a matter of life or death around here. Okay, not really, but it is a matter of getting sleep.

Saturday night we heard the sound of a cricket in Squirts closet. He started freaking out, but I couldn't find it for the life of me. I tore the closet apart with no luck. I told him to pretend that he was camping and to go to sleep. 4am brought him into my room crying because he could hear the cricket again. I told him to lay with me and go back to sleep. 4:05 started the "Mom I'm So Hungry" plea that lasted until 5:25. That was exactly 5 minutes before his Dad would walk in the door and could get him food without me having to get out of bed. I looked over and he was fast asleep. Little Booger.

Sunday night there were no sounds of crickets. He went to bed happily. When I was checking on everyone at about 10pm, I realized the cricket was back. I grabbed a flash light and started tearing apart the closet again. I found the little thing, but I didn't have my glasses on and he kindof blended with the carpet and I lost him again. But, he did jump out of the closet, so I thought well maybe he'll go away. Yeah right. 3:30 am brought Squirt back to my bed and started the "Mom, I'm Hungry" plea again. I told him to be quiet and go back to sleep, which Thankfully he did.

Monday night we could hear the cricket again, and again I tore the closet apart looking for him. But no luck. Dad was home this night and basically told Squirt to stop being a Pansie and to go to bed. At exactly 3:57am (Little Man informed me of this fact later) I was awoken by the most gut-wrenching, blood curdeling scream that I've ever heard. I hear a door slam against the wall as it's thrown open and hear feet pounding down the hall. I caught Squirt as he was nearly kicking my door down. I had about 1.2 seconds to wake up, orient myself and respond. It was heart stopping. I bend down and just hold Squirt and all I can hear in between his crying and gasping for breath is "Cricket... back... Cricket... back..." It was one of those "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME MOMENTS" but I had to hold my tongue because he was literally trembling. Another 2 seconds later and I hear "Mom?" coming from the other room. Even the dog was staggering out from under my bed like "What the heck?" So I lay Squirt down on the couch with some cartoons and try to lay back down, but then I heard Little Man get up and the fighting started. Squirt came in my room probably 12 times telling me Little Man was being mean. Then at 5:30am he asks to go play out side. It's really going to be a long day. Dad slept peacefully thru the whole thing thanks to ear plugs although he said he heard it all, which I don't believe but whatever, that's a whole 'nother post for another day.

And I WILL find that cricket today.

Can I tell you a story?

You have time right?

Okay, 9 years ago when Hubbie and I moved into our first "family" ward (at church) we got called into Nursery. We were responsible for a good 20 kids ages 18 months-3 years old. There was one little 2 year old who loved Hubbie. She immediatly went to him, she sat on his lap, he read to her, he colored with her, etc... He loved her just as much and took care of only her (leaving me with the other 19 kids!!) Her name was Elizabeth but her parents called her Ellie. She was the sweetest little Angel you'd ever seen.

2 years later when we were pregnant with Little Man and before we knew he was a boy, we decided if it's a girl we'd name her Elizabeth and call her Ellie. I loved the name. It was THE name. See Hubbie has this problem, every name that I suggest he says "No, I know somebody by that name" I mean, really? I'm going to have to start creating my own??

Here's where the fun started- Hubbie's cousin is married to a girl named Beth. Hubbie never considered what that is short for, until one day when she called our house and her name showed up on caller ID. He's looking at the phone going "Who is Elizabeth [Last Name]?" I said "Oh, that's Beth" and he freaked out. We can't name our baby that, they'll have the same name, she'll think we named the baby after her, FREAK, FREAK, FREAK... then we found out Little Man was a boy so it didn't matter.

2 years later while pregnant with Squirt, I started my petition again, but to no avail. He was hard set against the name now. It didn't matter either, Squirt was a boy too.

Now almost 4 years later, I have given up on that name and fallen in love with a new one: Avery. I saw it almost a year ago, before I was even pregnant and decided that was it. That was THE name. He agreed, Squirt has been calling the baby that from day 1. The other day I'm standing in the kitchen and Hubbie walks in and says "I don't think I like Avery all that much, I think I like Elizabeth again." He's lucky I wasn't holding a knife at the time, because I just MIGHT HAVE KILLED HIM! Now he's petitioning for the name. Although, Squirt can not be winned over, To quote my sweet 3 year old baby boy: "Ellie is an elephant" (Ice Age)

The few people I've told this to say "Yeah, but you can have your name now." But that's the problem, it's not the name anymore, Avery is. But I do still have this pull toward Elizabeth. I'm so torn I can't decide and I don't really like the names together.

Thanks for letting me vent! Any thoughts?

Here was the scene...

... in my Living Room this morning:

I'm getting dressed and I hear somebody yell "Boom"

I then hear a thud as something hits the floor, sounds like it was across the room

I come out to find Little Man dragging Squirt- dragging him by his ankles. Squirt is face down on the wood floor, arms extended in front of him. The kid plays an EXCELLENT "dead"

I go out to find hunting on the TV. I'm thinking Squirt is a white-tail deer, since that's what they were hunting?

I follow them to their room to see how this scene will play out.

I find Little Man eating Squirt.

I'm really at a loss for words...

Did I mention that I'm having a girl and that maybe, just maybe she'll like to play with babies and dolls and soft, sweet, quiet things? Or maybe she'll join right in with her brothers and try eating them? Who knows!

I was going to wait until I could scan the ultrasound picture, but that will be a couple of days and I can't wait to share my news with you all:

IT'S A GIRL!!

Squirt looked at me like "Yeah, I've been saying that for 4 months now, why are you surprised??"

So of course we went shopping. Babies R Us was probably not the best place to go, SO EXPENSIVE, but we did get one cute outfit. And do you know what's funny?? We bought a blue outfit. We got in the car and went "Huh?! We find out we're having a girl and we still buy blue!" It's super cute though. Baby steps, I guess. Everytime I turned around in the store I would find Squirt with his arms full of stuff for "the baby girl" but we made it out alive.

I still can't believe it. It's a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!