Boys and Such

Last week we learned that our third cute little babypie is another boy! While I was hoping for a girl (hairbows, you know), I'm thrilled that Bashy won't be surrounded by girls and that he'll have a baby brother to be buddies with! His first name is a secret (until Rory spills the beans, anyway), but his middle name is Victor, after my grampie and uncle.

Blake: His semester started last week and he has 17 credits and a big 'ol non credit course too.
Britt: I'm tweaking the toy rotation system, doing the ladies' Bible study at my church for the first time, trying to put a little more effort in my appearance, working on other organizationy things, and having fun with cooking. Rory "helps" me all the time in the kitchen, which is trying; I know it's good for me to include her though, so I take deep breaths and grin (hard to do when she's stirring over enthusiastically and eating random handfuls of ingredients). She helped me make whole wheat corn muffins with little hot dog pieces in them, which were a huge hit with both babies and Blake! During nap time the same day I made whole wheat breakfast calzones for the freezer so Blake can take something with him when he works early. I'm back to my old diet of only whole grains and no refined sugar, though I'm allowing myself frozen yogurt along with dark chocolate (I am pregnant, after all!). The occasional piece of pizza or burger is okay too! I'm sure my resolve will weaken as I get closer to delivery day. I'm going to start a new cloth diapering method with this little boy: prefolds and Thirsties covers; I'm excited! I've also tried to be good about coming up with crafts and other fun out of the ordinary activities for the kids; early childhood is far from my specialty, and it's so hard for me to think of and implement things! But this week we fingerpainted, colored and mailed greeting cards (fun to teach Rory about stamps and such!), and I made Bash a game out of drinking straws and an empty oatmeal container!

Rory: We experimented with Rory bringing her preferred baby doll and purse in her little shopping cart to the grocery store. It went really well! She pushed Tina in her cart right next to my cart, and she was so earnest and cute! She got lots of smiles and comments from people. I'm hoping we can keep that up so Bash can sit in my cart. Rory talks so much, and says so many funny things. Example: we were driving in the car and Rory told me, "Papa has a beard. Papa's handsome. Papa's a cute boy!" She explained in detail to Blake how the wood stove works while he was building a fire: "It has a side, and a top, and another side, and a hole in it..." So many things she says are original thoughts and observations, and she picks up random expressions and laces her conversations with them; so fun! We've started looking at preschools for next year; we want her to go for just a few hours a week. She'll love it and hopefully pick up on some social things before we start homeschooling for kindergarten.

Sebastian: Not too much here; he'd been teething and thus hasn't had any major accomplishments. He is such a dreadful teether, but he's popped out a bunch of molars over the last couple weeks. He's so snuggly and cute and kissable and adventuresome!

Sweetened condensed milk and food coloring makes great fingerpaint! It is edible (and apparently tasty) and dries shiny, which is fun!

Rory loves making hand prints and having her hands traced.

Static electricity in the tent!

Playing with mama's homemade straw game!

Funny how Rory never cared for balls and cars but Bashy just instinctively loves them! I can't believe we're going to have two little boys in a few months!