Sugar-Induced Energy

It feels like I have so many things to say, but when I get the chance to use the computer I'm always too tired to get the words out. Thanks to a little bit of Valentine candy (okay, probably a lot) it is almost 8:30 and I'm still awake.

This leads me to my first item of business. The pregnancy.

I am a little over 36 weeks and going strong...and by strong I mean, of course, getting huge. For the most part I feel really good. With the exception of some heartburn the only thing that has really been bothering me is that when I get up in the morning my right hip doesn't work. It seems like it pops out of socket or something and I have to hop around for about 20 minutes. Then it just goes back to normal. I wonder if Brandon thinks I'm faking it like a little kid wearing a sling trying to get attention. At night when I move my whole body pops and creaks like an old house. I try to keep limber by checking out the prenatal yoga videos as the library and Rocky really likes to participate. I twist myself up into strange stretches and I see her little smiling face peeking around my belly. She isn't really that great at making all of the poses, but she gets really into the final part when you just lie down and relax. I don't blame her, that's the part I like too.
I have been having a hard time coming to the reality that we are going to have another baby around here. Sometimes I just think of pregnancy as a state of being instead of a state of preparation. It is easy for me to forget that the jabs I get from the inside are a little person. Last night, after a stream of terrible, bizarre, and unexplainable dreams I finally had a good one where the baby was born and I just got to hold her. I think it turned the switch in my mind and I'm getting really excited to get to know her.

Until then I've got my Rocky to keep me entertained. She is certainly going through some developmental changes. Although she is still a very good little girl, she has started becoming more opinionated and has little tantrums. She watches me until she knows I am too busy to stop her before she gets into things that she knows she shouldn't.
I'm glad that she is so smart and observant, but it is a little scary too.

On the other hand, she can be absolutely adorable and loving. It is amazing to watch a child grow and learn. She dances, sings, and jabbers all day long. She loves reading books and looking at pictures of animals. Her face is so expressive and she has figured out how to make us laugh by wiggling her eyebrows and scrunching up her nose.

For those of you who don't get to see her regularly, here is a quick catch-up.

Here she is modeling a hat that I made and showing off her unique thumb-sucking style.


The pickle princess.

As far as I can tell pickles are her favorite food. She will say pickle over and over until it sounds like she is making an animal sound. Her crown was a playgroup craft and she wanted to wear it all day. After a couple of hours she took it off and removed all the hearts and put it back on with only the stars. First I was impressed that she recognized the difference and was so consistent. I thought she must be a genius. Then she started to put all the hearts into her mouth to eat them and I decided that genius might not exactly be true. By that time all the pickles were gone so what other choice did she have?


She loves reclining in the baby's car seat. It makes her look like a giant.

It is amazing how kids zone out when they are in front of the TV. She loves to watch Sesame Street and I can take a shower and get ready and she won't even move. Part of me feels guilty that I use the screen as a babysitter, but the other part of me thinks that the show is a gift from heaven.

Rocky and Chloe are as tight as ever. When they sit on the couch they sit as close as they possibly can. Rocky may look like she's connected to a Huka, but she's really playing the whistle along with her boom box. She thinks it is best if she makes as much noise as possible when Chloe is trying to read.