I know.  It's been ages since I last posted on here.  I have some valid excuses.  I'm pregnant and feel lousy most of the time.  I'm busy with my three kiddos, all their activities, family life and my church projects (which are almost behind me).  I love all of what I do, but I'm finding that my almost 40 year old pregnant body does NOT love it.  As soon as I finish this last project at BC, I am taking a "maternity leave" from my volunteer responsibilities.  No new projects.  None.  Mark doesn't think I can do it.  I don't think I have a choice.  I'm pooped and have to get myself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually ready to have a newborn around here.  Plus, I have absolutely nothing when it comes to baby items so I need to focus my energies on getting ready for baby.  Oh, and did I mention that our house is on the market?  So there's this constant stress of keeping the house "show ready" so that we can sell it as soon as possible.  We'll see how that goes...

Anyway, enough rambling.  I have a couple of family members who use xanga to stay abreast of what's going on in our lives so here's the latest.

Charlie has no teeth.  Well, not really but he lost 3 in the last couple of weeks and it's hilarious.  His smile is adorable and I LOVE the way it's affected his speech.  Here's a couple of pics that show the progression.

One of his front teeth was super loose.  Hanging by a thread.  He didn't want to smile, but I encouraged him to show it off.

See it?

 Before the great loss...

After.

And then there were none.  Pretty cute, huh?

I'll try to do some more later.  Madasgascar 2 is calling my name.

I love my dog.  It's a good thing, too.  It takes a LOT of love to keep him around.  Lately, he's become notorious for digging out of the backyard or darting out of the house when the opportunity arises.  We're careful.  We fill the holes and try to block the door.  But he's fast and he's sneaky.  When we were in Colorado last week, he escaped from my brother's yard no less than 4 times a day.  My mom got lost chasing him down one night as the sun was setting and ended up having to be rescued by my brother and me.  Literally.  I've worked on this nasty little habit the best ways I know how and I'm thinking I've got to find a new approach.  Especially after this week...

So I'm at the church at a women's Christmas party when my cell rings and it's Mark.

"The dog got out.

We think he was hit by a car."

"You think?"  I asked.  "Why do you think?"

"Because the neighbors came running to the door all upset and saying that our dog had been hit by a car." 

"So he's been hit by a car."

I rush home and Mark ends up in the doggie ER with him until late that night.  $500 later he's going to be fine.  I swear this dog has nine lives.  He was pretty banged up and really sore for several days.  The vet put him on morphine, an anti-inflammatory AND an antibiotic.  Geez.  He's still healing from a nasty laceration under his right leg but miraculously it wasn't too bad.  All that said, he looks pathetic.  He had to be shaved in several places to be examined and treated.  It's sad.  We've taken to calling him "Roadkill". 

Here are some pics:

Notice the knots all over his head? Nasty cut that he can't leave alone

Looking pretty sad with a shaved head and a jagged tongue

We had to resort to the cone today because he won't leave that cut alone and it's getting really inflamed.  We've had some good laughs at his expense today.  He owes that much to us at least.

Okay, so I'll be 12 weeks tomorrow.  I still feel lousy.  My stomach is sour ALL DAY LONG.  It's so exasperating to be starving and then to eat something and immediately feel sick.  AAAAHHHH!!!  I'm trying to keep my chin up and I have to admit that I'm not as sick as I've been with my other 3 pregnancies.  I shouldn't complain but I do.  I just am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.  Hopefully, I'll start to feel more like myself in the next couple of weeks.  I think I was 14 weeks when I started feeling better with Charlie (let's don't talk about the other two pregnancies ).  That would be so nice.  I wouldn't even mind still feeling exhausted as long as my stomach would just settle down.

Enough about me.  Let's talk about the fam.  They are fantastic.  I'm so blessed.  They have been so helpful and understanding.  The kids are really patient with my need to rest so much and with what I'm sure is a much more short-tempered version of their mommy.  Morgan is constantly assessing the size of my belly.  I can't believe how much I'm already showing.  I'm completely in maternity clothes now.  Crazy.  Mark has been amazing.  He walks in the door and immediately asks me how he can help me.  Evenings have left me pretty much useless so I've needed so much of his help.  I'm super grateful to him for everything!

The annual Cub Scout Dad and Lad Cake Bake was this week.  This is a night the boys always look forward to and Mark and I dread.  Especially Mark.  As the Wolf Den Leader, he had numerous responsbilities for this pack meeting PLUS getting a cake ready.  The theme this year was Adventures in Books.  After much debate, Mark and the boys decided to try to compete in the Most Creative category and this was their design...

It worked!!  They won first place in the Most Creative category.  The boys were beaming and of course, their smiles and excitement make all the hard work worth it.

Here are the cakes I was most impressed with... (there were over 40 entries, by the way)

A Scout Handbook and....                                        A Cookbook!

A Library Card and...                                              A dragon from some story.

Goliath's Head - disgusting...                                   and Dr. Seuss (very cute)

This one was most impressive and somehow, didn't win anything!  Daniel in the Lion's Den.  Remember that only the dads and their sons are allowed to work on the cakes - no female input whatsoever.

Jackson's best bud, Zach, did Indiana Jones' hat and whip.  Very cool.

A good buddy of Charlie's, Grant, did Green Eggs and Ham.  Awesome!

Five loaves and two fishes - adorable.

Magic Tree House and...                                       A Treasure Chest

Pretty impressive, huh?  What was more impressive to me, though, was my wonderful husband's hard work that evening.  The Wolves were responsible for set up and tear down, the opening and closing flag ceremony, cheers AND jokes.  Whew!  Mark did a fantastic job with the boys (we have SEVENTEEN Wolves this year).  I was very proud.

Do you see all that yellow?  Those are the Wolves in our ENORMOUS den. 

So, that's the latest from this fam.  I'll post again after Thanksgiving and will hopefully be able to report at that time that I'm feeling much better.  We'll see...