February 2009 (BEWARE EXTRA LONG POST)

Okay almost a whole month has passed without a post, and unfortunately even though I know we've been busy I'm not really sure with what. Luckily I took pictures - as I had to go back and look at them to see some of the things we did this month. So he is a unorganized look at the last month with a picture slide show.

The Children's Museum, Devon and his friend Ellie went to play at the Portland Children's museum with their Dads' (mom's were at a baby shower for Ellie's soon-to-be new baby brother & sister - yes twins). They both love the Bob the Builder room and the Water room and the dads had fun trying to keep up.

Games class - I signed Devon up for a games class at the local rec center. 1/2 hour once a week of trying to learn how to follow rules, share, and run off some energy. They pretend to be bears, snakes, birds, etc. Play basketball (all 6 3 year-olds against "coach" - aka teacher). Devon's favorite games are Red Light Green Light and Statue.

Grandma Hope & Rick visit - What a great visit from Grandma Hope. Devon had a great 3 days and we had some unusually sunny weather and were able to get out and play for a bit. Devon loved playing on the swings and if you think his smiles are great you should have heard the squealing that went with them. He likes the big swing but gets so excited he forgets to hold on so we switched him back to the baby swing so he could go super-high - he is such a dare devil already and was constantly wanting to go higher and faster.

Train building - Devon has been building a lot of train tracks this month and it is fun to see the designs he comes up with. The photos are of the tracks he set-up down the middle of the hallway. He has a Brio Smart train the picks up a signal from special SmartTracks to do certain things (like slow down, speed up, stop, blow whistle, etc). So he set up a long track with a reverse track at each end so basically the train started up chugged all the way down the tracks to the end where it hit a reverse signal, stopped, and reversed back to the other end where it reversed again ..... you get the idea. He played in the hallway by himself for about and hour and 1/2 half with this set-up absolutely enthralled with the whole thing. He even built up a little town along the tracks, a forest, and a shipping yard. His imagination is just starting to take off it's so much fun to watch sometimes. Other times its a bit annoying like when he sits in his room and yells at the T-Rex to stay out because he's mean and scary or won't go to bed because the Echo is going to get him.

Remodeling (as usual) - Yes we never seem to be able to stop remodeling for long. The current projects are turning Darren's old office (3rd bedroom) into Baby sister's new bedroom. We sold Darren's desk and he was finally able to add all the trim work. Then we spent a while picking out a new paint color (middle of the road green that is a bit on the yellow side) it's name is Golden Chartreuse and I can promise I didn't pick it based on it's name.

In the same vein since Darren gave up his office he is finally building a desk into the nook in the master bedroom. He has been enjoying designing the desk, and finally doing some woodworking again. I think he secretly enjoys that he found a way to get my car back out of the garage too. :) Progress on the desk has been moving along swiftly as Vernon has been coming on saturday mornings and helping him out. It's freezing out (in my opinion) but they are both happy to be freezing and covered in sawdust.

We are also adding in one extra project which I hope in the end will reduce some of Darren's stress. About a year ago we had a bunch of sheet-rocking done (from moving and resizing windows doors) and although even thing was textured and primed we never got it painted. It hasn't ever bothered me all that much but it drives Darren nuts so getting the painting done has been on the top of his priority list for a while now. Unfortunately he also HATES painting (he does and exceptional job - because he's so picky - but it's a long process - again because he is so picky.) I finally succeed in convincing him to pay to have the interior painted. We are using the same painter who did the exterior (Corey Barnes Artistic Creations) and after about 13 color tests we think we even have the perfect color. Corey starts tomorrow and he will be painting the huge family/dining room, the hallway/entry way, Kitchen, and Baby Sister's room. And what would have taken Darren a couple of months (both in time and stress) should be done in about 8 days. YEA!

Zoo - Devon has been asking to go to the zoo so we took a Saturday afternoon a froze to go see the animals. I got a couple of great photos and we think Devon enjoyed himself (even though he whined and complained the whole time).

Allergies - Darren has had very bad allergies this month and we have no idea what he is reacting to. Devon has been mood with a clogged and running nose most of the month to. Today Darren was really really bad so we went to church with out him and not 5 minutes after we got there I noticed Devon's eyes were red and watery and he started asking me to helping him blow his nose every few minutes. HE even laid still on my lap in sacrament meeting. He was rubbing his eyes all evening and by 7 o'clock was telling us he was tired so unfortunately for Our Little Man it looks like he inherited his dad's allergies. So now I have to get him in to the pediatricians and then probably the allergist to see if we can make his life a little bit better. I feel so sorry for both my boys as they are struggling to breath constantly because their noses are so plugged up and runny at the same time.

Pregnancy update - I had my 28 week appt on Feb 18th and all looks well. I passed my glucose test (barely - 140 is the cutoff and I was 137). I am slightly anemic so I have to start taking an Iron supplement. I also had to add a DHA (Omaga 3 Fatty acid) supplement (Fish oil, cod liver oil, flax seed). I opted for the fish oil in capsule form which I have to take 3 times daily so now I feel like I am over dosing on supplements. I have put on a little more then 20 lbs this pregnancy and other then being constantly tired and sore and doing pretty well. The baby is moving a lot all seems to be well with her.

So that is very long run on for the month of February. We are busy and time is flying fast but we are also very anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby sister and the changes that life brings.