The Recital

Ria did well in her dance Recital. I think one of the things she was most excited about was receiving a flower afterward. We did give her a flower last year and she seemed to expect that was a part of it (and so does Kat now!). She was SO excited and pleased that she received not 1, but TWO roses. We couldn't locate a purple one, which was her special request, but she was just tickled to received 2! :) Ria was definitely a good line leader for the Tap and pretty good for Ballet. For the dances she was placed on opposite ends of the stage because, I guess, they could count on her most to do the steps she was supposed to do. We could tell she was checking the teachers who were off-stage and that was pretty funny. During one of the dances Ria was doing what she was supposed to do, but the rest of her line was not... so she ended up totally away from the rest of the group. The audience laughed and she looked pleasantly surprised. Ria definitely loved being on stage again this year! She's been talking about it a lot and VERY much looking forward to performing again next year.

Additionally, (I'm pretty sure I already told you) since her piano teacher told her she's going to do a Piano Recital she has had a renewed focus and desire to work on her piano practice. Well, today she told me she was going to play "Red Drum" instead of "Ten Little Indians". It's totally fine with me because Mary Kay told her she could choose her recital pieces. But now she has to memorize Red Drum... I think she did that, for the most part, already today! Can you believe her? She's just amazing to me.

OTHER NEWS

Jess
Still working LONG and hard in all his roles. He's also been helping me in important ways when he is home. I'd been having some tremendous difficulties getting Ria to focus on school and Jess stepped in a couple weeks ago and things have been improving dramatically, yet still bit by bit. He's being Daddy-teacher! I've read about other homeschool families and it seems Daddies most often take a stand-back-and-watch position. I'm so grateful that Jess is willing and able, in such a productive way, to take an active part in our homeschool!

Jess works Wed. through Sun., though Sundays he's off in the morning to go to Church with us. It's a pleasure to have him home on Mondays and Tuesdays, but having him gone from about 8am until 9:30pm or later is really rough much of the time.

This past Tuesday he made it possible for us to go to the temple together as a family. Every month I feel such a renewed gratitude for him support of my Spiritual Life!

Jess agreed to start having "Couple's Prayer" each night and he also reads his Bible out loud to me almost every night. I think I've mentioned this, but I'm just so thankful and... really... joyful over it, I can't brag on him and my God enough over it! I know Father has been working on his heart. Jessie's prayers are amazing! And when he has prayed over the anxiety and other problems I've been experiencing I've always felt a greater peace than when I was praying for myself. I know Heavenly Father is creating miracles in our lives (SO OFTEN!!!) and I know Jessie is recognizing them more, too! What an awesome blessing and even miracle, in itself!

Jess also makes our garden happen. It's been ridiculously difficult to get any work done the times I have tried to do it on my own, so it waits until Jessie's weekend. So, our garends are still not all planted out (one box is untouched as far as seeds being put in the ground while the other is almost completely planted now), but I'm going to pick my first BIG zucchini today! We'll have a BUNCH of yellow-crookedneck sqaush ready soon! I'm so excited! We have eaten quite a few raspberries and I even made some raspberry frozen yogurt (out of my homemade yogurt)! The girls LOVE the berries and enjoyed the "ice cream". What fun! I would like to get some blueberries from the Spring Hill Nursery that I got my raspberry plants from. No moolah for it right now, but I may be able to scrape some together next month? I DO hope so!

Me and SCD
So, I've been plugging along with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It's difficult still. Even though I have more variety of things that I can eat, it's still very difficult for me to NOT be able to eat everything I fix for my kiddos. I'm pretty sure I'm through the worst of the "die off" period. Lots of the peeps on SCD go through such a period, but MAN, I had no idea it was SO difficult and even traumatic!

How "die off" was rough: anxiety became much worse, my chest hurt a lot and often, diarrhea was basically non-stop (it had been regular, but not every hour on the hour previous to SCD), I was more exhausted than when preggie!, my "fuse" was shorter than ever, head aches, cold/flu symptoms, and generally feeling BAD. Currently anxiety is much much decreased. I still have had troubling thoughts, but not in the overwhelming-can't-do-anything sort of way I was having. My chest hurts less often. I have not had diarrhea at all in at least 3 days! Energy levels are improving. Fewer head aches when I drink enough water. Cold/flu is basically gone.

I'm in the Pecan Bread Stage 2 of implementing the diet. I'm most excited about adding in nut butter and nut milks. :) I also successfully added in eggs recently, which will broaden my food preparation horizons!

So, it seems good.

Ria
She's fighting less. As I implement "Bible Character Studies" more regularly, she seems to understand why the way she was behaving was wrong. She's totally NOT doing all her work independently and happily, but there is a lot less fussing and fighting about it! Currently her favorite classes are Math (MUS) and piano practice.

Can you believe she's almost through the Laura Ingalls Wilder books? She's read more of the series than me! I definitely want to read more of them, but am currently reading ahead books that I would like her to read before too long.

Kat
Did I tell you she's starting Dance this summer? She is SO excited! She's already been talking about going on stage a getting a flower! :) Isn't that so cute?

Kat is progressing slowly (but wonderfully) through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She also enjoys numbers, though she's still not identifying them correctly on a regular basis... except for #s 1 and 2, maybe.

Kitty Kat loves playing with Tea, but Tea doesn't enjoy or tolerate her well, much of the time. Every once in a while Tea will enjoy Kat and I feel hopeful that they will be good friends like Ria and Kat are almost all of the time.

My middle daughter does not enjoy hanging out outside as much as Ria. I think Kat doesn't tolerate heat terribly well. In this way she's definitely more like me. I suppose she must needs be like me in some ways since she's SO much her Daddy's daughter in most ways. It's kinda funny, too, cause Ria is more like Jess in heat tolerance and more like me in personaily (among other things)!

Tea
Almost 8 months old. Can you believe it? She's cruising confidently now. She crawls like a Speedy Gonzales on all 4s! ^_^ She loves to play Peek-A-Boo. She has started to prefer having her LONG bangs in FRONT of her eyes (a-la-Ria... do you remember?). Tea has been pulling her hair out of it's clips and ties to get it in front of her face. I think she has too adorable a face to hide behind her hair. I guess she doesn't agree. Who knows!

Tea is still a happy girl, but she DEFINITELY wants attention when she wants it! She does NOT like it one bit when I can't make time for her right when she wants to be with Mama. Thus, she can be pretty fussy sometimes. She also does not sleep more than 7-10 minutes without me with her. This is definitely reminiscent of both of her older sisters! I think my babies just become this way after about 5 or 6 months.... It's exhausting for me to have no time alone. I NEED my temple time to be completely off duty!!! I'm so grateful Jess is so willing to make the trip so I can nurse my nursling right before and right after my work/time off! ^_^

Catchin Up a Bit

So, there are a few funny little things I've been meaning to share, but I've been super busy with ChaCha (when I'm on the computer), so I haven't been over here much. Weird, right?

Ria has some funny little things she says. I'll start with the most recent: at some point after dance class (Sept. 4) I was talking to Ria about her Leotard. It's a pretty black one that someone gave to me for her. She was very excited about wearing it. After the issue of the shoes, I was worried that she might not have been quite so happy with her black leotard since almost all the other girls were wearing pink. So, I asked her about it. We were having a little bit of a conversation, and, as is normal lately, Kat realized she wasn't a part, so she came over and included herself as she does. Ria corrected her and said, "NOoooo, you don't have a black Riatard." I was caught off guard, but immediately started smiling when I realized what she said and how she might be thinking. I let her know how to correctly pronounce the word, of course, but didn't continuously correct her because it was really cute (and I think most people wouldn't even hear the mispronunciation).

The other thing I wanted to share is something she's been saying for a while. When she wakes up, one of the first things (jobs) she does is to open the windows. Sometimes they are very difficult to see through because of an accumulation of mist and water. Jess once told her that it looked foggy through our windows when they were like that. After a while she started talking about it and often says, before she opens the windows, "Mama, do you think the windows will be FROGGY today?" I LOVE it! I think it's soo cute! I let her know what the real term is every once in a while, but FRoggy is stuck. And I don't mind a bit.

September 9, 2008
Mom Farrell turned... oh, I won't reveal it. But she had a birthday on this date! I totally have been super bad about birthdays this year and even didn't call my OWN MOM until we were getting in bed around 8pm or so! I felt even worse since she didn't answer the phone. Hopefully she got the message, at least.

I'm making a gift for her with my girls that I think she will really like and use... well, perhaps Ria and I are making with some scribbles by Kat. ;) So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

September 10
I woke up at least 30 minutes later than I intended, which frustrated me because that meant Jess would leave for work 30 minutes after I got up as opposed to an hour (family time). But I was really tired from the day before... so I couldn't be too mad at myself. And it was really sweet to see how Jess had occupied himself for at least the past 5 minutes (which probably wouldn't have happened had I been up). He was sitting on our BIG chair with Ria on the ottoman in front of him and he was painting her toenails! She was, of course, JUST THRILLED with that situation and the outcome! And he was pleased with himself, too, even though he had no clue that the "nail polish" he was using was total crud and would wipe off in two steps of her foot. (It's play stuff she received from somewhere and REALLY no good! But she LOVES it, so I haven't had the heart to throw it out.) She was super happy, though... and I think Jess was trying to win some points.

You see, Sunday Jess took Kat out for a walk so Ria and I could have some special time just the two of us. I'd been feeling like I really needed to be with just her and connect/reconnect and let her feel how much I appreciate her. We sat down and read her new book, which she'd wanted to do since we purchased it. Actually, she'd already read it, she wanted ME to read it to her. So, I did. Then we went outside and she rode her bike around the driveway and chatted me up a LOT! It was really relaxed and just a sweet time. Jess was gone for, maybe, an hour. Most of that time Ria and I were outside and I was just sitting while she talked and rode.

Subsequent to this (like the next day) Jess and Ria ended up doing something together and somehow (I think he asked) she told him, "Mama is more fun than you!" When he told me this he seemed rather chagrinned. This is a TOTAL reversal from the norm. It's been YEARS since I was cool to Ria! I TOTALLY attribute it to how much LESS time I've actually been around AND awake with her and Kat. So, I think the toenail painting was a way Jess was trying to win some COOL points with Ria. ^_^ Pretty sweet, right?

On the other hand, the time I've been unavailable lately has TOTALLY cinched the whole "Daddy's Girl" phase with Kat! It's rather... okay, VERY... sad for me when she runs to Daddy when she has a booboo! I mean, for a few more days or weeks she's still my baby! And anyway, I've felt a special closeness... like the way it seems like Jess has felt for/with Ria since she was super tiny... I've felt that way for/with Kat. So, perhaps that makes it even more heart wrenching for me. I dunno.

September 11
Jess thought he might attend a memorial, but didn't. Jess talked to me about the day and it was all I could do to not cry and boohoo! I purposefully do not think about the whole thing because of all the experiences attached to it PLUS, just the whole idea of it all. Anyway... I was bummed that it's still so very raw.

Another DANCE CLASS day. Ria's performance/behavior was very disappointing. It's SO obvious she is a TOTAL social butterfly! It pleases me that she is able to easily socialize and I even made sure we arrived to the studio early so she would have time to spend with any girls already there. She did and had fun, but didn't end upon entering class.

I was very pleased with myself for NOT interfering during all of Ria's disruptions and poor behaviors. I sat frustrated and annoyed that she was behaving so poorly. We went, together, to speak to her teacher after class. I apologized for her behavior and asked Danielle to suggest something we could do to improve her attention and participation. Danielle did tell Ria that she needed to focus and not distract the other girls, but no "plan of action." So, I suggested that next week, if Ria behaved improperly she could get 1 warning. If she didn't shape up, she's be sent out. She can return, but if she behaves poorly she'll be sent out and have to depart for the day. Hopefully it won't get to that, but she was REALLY disruptive today and I wanted her to know the repercussions for such behavior in the future. Danielle was quick to point out that Ria knew all the steps and did them, which I'm grateful she could see, but I don't want to pay for Ria to disrupt other children!

Kat, on the other hand, was SUCH a big girl during dance class. She was actually asleep through the beginning of our time at the studio. When she woke up she was very peaceful, which is a HUGE blessing! She ate some snack and then got out of the stroller. She sat on my lap and when she got down to go to the class she stopped right in the doorway and plopped her little bum down to watch. She was SOOOO good! She was bummed and pouting about not being able to dance. It was even worse after the girls came in to get their tap shoes on. Kat was just sure that once she got her ballet slippers on. It was so sad for me to have to tell her she couldn't! I don't think I'm going to get used to telling her she can't dance at the studio!

At least I can encourage her to dance at home! She DOES! Whenever there is talk of dance, dancing, ballet, or anything of the sort, Kat gets up on her tippytoes and flitters around the room in circles wide and loopy as well as some that are tight and dizzying AND NEW THIS school YEAR, she holds her hands up over her head (ballerina-like) with her fingers and thumbs together (making a little diamond over her head). It's just adorable!!!


FIGURE THE ODDS
"How do I know if Mormonism is true?" came as a question in ChaCha to me. I responded with my testimony and urged prayer and listening to the Holy Ghost. Wouldn't it be cool if I made a difference!?!?

I've actually received a few querries about the Church and respond with lds.org as my reference site and some REAL info. I like THOSE. Now to get rid of those darn explicit querries!

Thursday was Our First (and second) Day of Dance Class This Year

So, I'm pregnant. Everyone should be pretty aware of that by now, I hope. Well, there are certain memory/brain issues that somehow accompany the myriad other difficulties that plague preggie women. Thursday was a living embodiment of my brain issues. I'm CERTAIN they are (and were) complicated by the fact that my schedule is completely skewed relative to the rest of the sane population. (Ooops, did I somehow assume myself sane in that last line? Well, I think I certainly WAS compared to now!)

In addition to brain/memory/thought issues, I'm also rediculously weepy lately! No, seriously! I mean, I've heard of preggie women being emotional, but this is verging on exceptionally tedious. And not that I've been totally in control of my emotions for all that long (or even totally, for that matter), but it's really getting tiresome to have tears in my voice and pouring out of my eyes over every little thing that pulls at my heart! COME ON NOW!

Ok... so, back to dance class... sort of.

Ria, Daddy, and I have started working on a job chart/routine tracking system. (Kat has one, too, but it's MUCH more difficult to connect the reward with the activities in her case.) Ria has a total of 17 jobs she does throughout the day and earns rewards for completion of them. Over the course of a week she can earn money, a special dinner, a book, and even candy for completing full days worth of starts (ALL jobs completed). In the first 8 day period, she had SEVEN all star days! That meant that she earned, among other things, a new book that she could choose from the local book store here in town that she's wanted to visit for MONTHS! (The book had to be $2 or less.)

Since I'm not all full of gusto and gumption (meaning I'm totally lacking energy most of the time), I decided to combine our Dance class day with the Book Store trip. We literally pass right in front of it on the way to Dance, so why not! We left in plenty of time to stop for a book, get to class early so Mama could purchase dance shoes, and still have some "rest" time before class started. Or, at least I thought we did.

Well, we were in and out at the Book Store. Ria was SUPER easy to please with a Snow White book (which she read from start to finish on the way home from Dance!! and it's NOT an easy reader!!). It cost me only $1.75! ^_^ I was worried it would be difficult to find a book for under $2, but, thankfully, the store carries TONS of used books. I think the book stop was a bit too fast, really....

We arrived at Ria's studio in plenty of time to make our purchase and relax, I thought. I was able to get Ria some ballet slippers. Initially we received leather ones with flowers on the lining, which Ria was TOTALLY excited about, "Mama, they look like everyone else's!" But they were just right or barely too small, which we canNOT afford (replacing them in a month or less, PSHAW!). So, we received some canvas ones just like her previous slippers to try on. I like these as they look more like little ballet slippers to me, but Ria was obviously disappointed. She was NOT snotty about it, but her countenance was downcast, "Mama, I don't like these so much." I tried to build them up, but she wasn't consoled. Though she didn't complain or carp at all after the one comment. Strangely enough, to me, my heart hurt SO bad over this incident! I'm actually going to purchase her some leather slippers for Christmas because I know it will be THE hit of a gift (we're only giving one gift to each child this year because we're using any other money for camping/preparedness stuff).

There were TONS of parents present. There were at LEAST 15 girls in this class (which is the HIGH number for our class last year!). A few of them were the girls Ria had class with last year, so, of course, their mothers were there. I'm sure this impacted my percetion of everything and confusion. Well, class started REALLY soon after Ria had her shoes on and everything and I, not being a clock checker anymore and thinking that we were more on time than super early, didn't think twice about Ria going out for class.

A little way through class I realized I'd not paid for the new ballet slippers. So, I went to the office to pay. Cindy, the director, told me over $30 when I asked for the amount I needed to write on the check. I was sort of shocked, but not thinking, and wrote the check. Later, as I tried to rest a little in the waiting area, I looked at the receipt for the shoes. OH, NO! I'd paid for tap AND ballet slippers! I'd only purchased ballet slippers because her tap shoes from last year still fit.

So, I went back to speak to Cindy. She was sort of confused, understandably. There'd been SO many people she was dealing with... anyway. While I was waiting to talk to her, I learned that she was trying to switch over to a new tap shoe, PINK SPARKLIES. Well, I'd already subtracted a high amount from my ChaCha pay (for the shoes I thought was just one pair and turned out to be 2), so I decided to pay for the new style tap shoes and be able to give those to Ria when they arrived in (since they didn't have them in stock yet). As it happens, they cost only a couple dollars more than the other ones, so I'm really glad for the accidental quote of a high price. So, Ria will receive the new style tap shoes, which she is SUPER excited about because her very favorite color is pink and she LOVES sparkly things. And Mama feels happy to be able to provide something that she will love so well!!

After getting that all straightened out, I went back to the waiting room and sat down (trying to deal with Kat ALL this while). I realized, at this point, that the little girls waiting were the girls Ria went to class with last year. This was a problem because I'd asked for Ria to be scheduled in with the older group. Why didn't I notice this before? Well, mostly because I wasn't able to watch Ria in her class much at all. I was dealing with Kat's meltdown over not being able to participate IN dance class. SHE was just HEARTBROKEN. I was, of course, sad, too... which made convincing her that it was ok that she could just do dance class with me in the waiting area not terribly convincing. :(

Another trip to the office. I explained the situation to Cindy and told her I was totally willing to pay for the second class, but that it was actually the 415pm class that I'd meant to arrive for, "Blame it on the belly!" Cindy was very kind and refused the $10 for the class Ria wasn't supposed to be in. So, after Ria was finished, I talked to her teacher, Danielle. Danielle had thought we'd had to go to the 3:15pm class because of some sort of scheduling issue, which is why she hadn't said anything. I said, "Yeah, the scheduling issue is my preggie brain/memory and inability to keep track of time properly!" They were both very understanding.

So, Ria enjoyed dancing for almost TWO hours straight on Thursday. And Mama was beyond pooped from the rediculous amount of activity and exertion Kat required. (On top of the disappointment, it was her nap time during the beginning of all of this!) I walked too fast from home TO dance and could barely walk from dance TO home! How annoying. If I had a vehicle, I would probably drive to dance class every week after this (as long as I'm preggie) because it was really that difficult. But, as it is, I will walk VERY slowly to AND from dance class from now on!

Crazy day. Crazy preggie Mama!!!

Oh, and the ChaCha Universe is crazy right now, which makes time for me to write here rather than work for money. I was logged in for an hour and received only one query (and that while I was out of the room, so it timed out and I didn't even get to answer it)! ahwell... I should probably just hang out with the girls for a bit and get them to bed!

Adui, for now. ^_^

An Amazing Blessing and Gift

Yesterday I picked up the mail. Jess often, if not usually, does that. But it was really nice that I got to do it and that he wasn't around to witness the ugly blubbering of his pregnant wife. I read a note (which I always tear into straight away because it's SUCH a treat to me to get actual mail and not just bills or junk!!) and almost immediately tears were streaming down my cheeks. Soon after the tears came sobs that totally surprised me and alarmed Ria. The note itself was definitely enough to get me crying, but I do think that the sobbing was pregnancy induced. I have, actually, gotten MUCH better at being a bit more reserved in my shows of emotion (especially the ones that make people uncomfortable). If you've known me for a while, you KNOW what I'm talking about! ;)

Okay, so what got me sobbing uncontrollably? Well, a little back-story is rather necessary here... I know I mentioned in a prior post that we've been having a much more difficult time with finances since Jess isn't working the part-time gig anymore. We're actually doing so poorly that we are receiving food assistance from Church. If it weren't for the help we are receiving from them we wouldn't have fresh milk, fresh fruits & veggies, or any real meat AND we would MUCH more quickly be tearing into and eating up our food storage. That's what it's for, of course. And I'm SO very thankful for the blessing of the anxiety Father bestowed upon me to gather together food stuffs because it enables us to ask for far less from our Church than we would otherwise need to ask. Needless to say, probably, we have little money for anything beyond our bills. We're eeking by with gas and asking for rides as much as possible.

I'm working doing the ChaCha thing and trying to get other things going to make money. I'll receive my first paycheck, since quitting the teaching thing a few years back, in the next few days. That money is set aside for gas for the van and Dance class for Ria. The latter may seem odd, or even frivolous to some, but it is SUPER important to me for MANY reasons, but I'm going to share the main two reasons. #1 reason dance class is so important to me that I'm willing and DO sacrifice in many other areas personally and as a family: Ria is and will continue to be homeschooled. We don't have tons of opportunities for her to spend time with other children her age. We often cannot drive out to playgroup activities with the Mom's groups in the area and/or to other friends' from church.

#2 reason: I know that dance as an activity will cultivate in my daughter many desirable attributes and characteristics that would be difficult to help her attain without it. For instance, and as only one example, Ria LOVED being on stage! Would we have discovered this about her without dance and her opportunity to participate in the recital at such a young age?? I don't know... but I really REALLY don't think so! Attached to that attribute (her enjoyment of the "bright lights and applause") is the feeling I have that as long as she can look forward to recitals she will, in some way, retain her enjoyment of being in front of people in that way. I LONG for my children to be comfortable in front of groups where I totally was not and had to and STILL have to REALLY stretch to put myself "out" there.

I could go on and on about why dance class is super important as a part of Ria's home education, but I won't. Basically, because the van sucks up tons of gas, that and the dance class will eat up my meager earnings from ChaCha, so I was trying to come up with more ways I could earn money to pay for our midwife. (Thus the blogging for money and searching for writing work.)

The whole issue was causing me great anxiety, which I was using to feed my work on the ChaCha thing and search for more work. I can't illustrate completely the amount of time I've sat on my butt in front of this computer lately. I wonder if I'm going to develop bedsores! No, not really... I DO still walk almost daily. But my butt REALLY does hurt by the time I go to bed around 2 or 3am (I do most of the consistent work I'm able to get done between around 9pm and 2am or later). In addition to the seriously late nights, I also do the ChaCha thing when the girls are watching their after-Ria's-reading-class-movie. If they happen to take a nap together, I work. If they are playing nicely together, I work. It's been stressful and I've felt like SUCH a bad Mama because I've spent so little time with my kiddos and so much time saying, "Ok, I'll be there in a minute." :( I know I'm not a bad Mama, but the feeling is still there. Ya know? Anyway... the point?

Well, yesterday we received in the mail, which I was so lucky to have to pick up!, a very sweet note from an anonymous benefactor. In the communication their love was extended and they expressed their desire to assist us in paying for our midwife. They'd heard we were in a difficult situation and didn't know how we'd get the money to finish payments (due at 36 weeks gestation, which is speedily approaching!). They'd been pondering for a while how they should use the "free" money from the government, which they'd recently received. When they realized our situation, they explained, they felt their answer was in that information. So, they sent the money on to us... and as of the next time we see our midwife, we will be: PAID IN FULL!!!! Can you believe it? Isn't that amazing and wonderful and... a MIRACLE!?!?!!?

If that's not the most awesome and amazing thing... let me add a bit more detail to help convince you. ;) The night before (Fri. night) I'd knelt in earnest prayer and tearfully shared my heart with Father. I truly feel that we really are doing the best we can and that I, personally, didn't feel that I could do any more than I was doing (by then I'd already added looking for additional writing work and such). I explained that and immediate I felt the complete peace and a sense of, "It's going to be all right," communicated to my mind. This feeling totally did NOT jive with my mental figuring, but I've had enough of miracles in my life (especially since just before and since our move here) to know that I should trust in the feeling rather than continue to try to figure it out. And then the special piece of mail happens the very next day!

Now, I know that the note and check were already in the mail when I said that prayer. But, you see, to me the miracles Father has bestowed upon me and my family are SO much in timing! For instance, someone may have been planning something for a while, but then they DO it for us right after I made a wished in my heart or prayed specifically about it. And, to me, that's still an enormous and amazing miracle!

We are tremendously blessed! I'm so grateful to those who have blessed our lives - in this moment I feel surging love for the benefactor who has acted as an Instrument in the Father's Hands in blessing us with the gift of decreased stress and anxiety over payment of our midwife by providing it for us! Thank you!!!!

As an ending note... I feel SO much less anxiety and so much MORE motivated by desire (rather than anxiety) to continue working ChaCha and to continue efforts to find additional (and hopefully significantly better paying) work to fill in the current gap in our finances. This is a wonderful and exciting feeling to/for me because in the past, when anxiety has been relieved (in situations similar, in any way, to what we're in now), I didn't feel the need or motivation to continue previous efforts. This time I feel inspired and just plain ol' motivated to keep going! That, too, is a HUGE blessing of this gift and I'm tremendously, heart-full-to-exploding grateful!!!! ^_^

Poop and Other Current Events

POOP
Yes, this entry is about Number 2! Kitty Kat's in particular. :) In the past week, Kat has pooped 2 times on the potty! YIPPEE!!!! This is such wonderful news to us - especially as we have the arrival of the third baby approaching ever faster. It would be truly lovely to have only one child in diapers (as I did when Kat was born because Ria was using the potty day AND night before Kat was born).

I planned to use Infant Potty Training (also known by many other names) from the beginning with Kat, but the move when she was 3 weeks old, and the multitude of physical and emotional issues I had subsequent to the move caused me to change my priorities. I have had many days during which I've let Kat run around naked butt, but not NEARLY as many as Ria did respectively. Actually, by 20 months old, which is how old Kat is, Ria was already totally using the potty during the day by herself! Kat usually isn't interested in using the little toilet. She'll happily sit on the big toilet, but even though she grunts and pushes, prior to the two poops of this week, she rarely produced anything.

A huge difference between Ria and Kat's toddlerhood is that when we lived in VA, Ria and I didn't get out too much. Ria, Kat, and I go all over the place regularly! Before summer started, we had at least 4 outside obligations each week as well as any play time we spent out and about. IPT definitely isn't terribly conducive to an active lifestyle.

THE BIG CLASS
Jess has tonight and tomorrow night off from the Club. Tonight is just the night off and tomorrow night is a night he requested (otherwise he would probably be working 6 nights again). It's much easier to deal with his long work hours at the Club lately since his hours at the Cafe have been cut WAY back. However, this is not my point. My point is that Jess has been actively working hard to prepare for the class he's teaching our Ward tomorrow night! ^_^

He's VERY excited! He was asked, by the Elder's Quorum President, if he would be willing to teach a class on using food storage in meal preparation; specifically wheat bread. The members in our Ward know that we've lived off of our food storage a few times, so we have some real experience and perhaps a little expertise. :) Our Ward had a day at the Bishop's Storehouse a little over a week ago and they wanted to have this class soon after so people could learn techniques and make use of their stores.

Tonight he's been making bread. He's tried out a couple other recipes that he plans to present for tasting at the lesson. He's also going to make at least one more item that's a little bit more like the main course in a meal. All of this is just bits to taste, so we're not feeding the Ward or anything. He's so excited... I've mentioned that already, but it should be repeated at least a couple more times because he is! :) He's thought about it a LOT, he's planned the food to present/share, and he's worried about getting his thoughts down into an outline so the class will flow smoothly. He's even thought he might be able to do this sort of thing monthly - or, at least, after each Bishop's Storehouse trip. I really think he should be a Prof... perhaps he'll listen to me someday. ;) You know how guys can be!

When Will I Get To Be On Stage Again?
Ria asked me this today. She was very let down to hear it wouldn't be for a while. But she persevered and asked, "You mean, in 2 months?" When I told her it would be longer than that she asked, "Maybe in September?" I told her it would be a lot longer than that to which she suggested October. ^_^ I finally told her that she would have to wait until next May, which was almost a year away. She looked a little downcast. I told her it was really only about 11 months away and she seemed happier. She is very excited to return to dance class and enjoy the stage and adoration of the audience once more! I love it!!!

The girls and I watched Kung-Fu Panda online today. Ria was very impressed with the Kung-Fu moves performed by all of the characters and asked if she could learn how to do that! I'm happy about this because I plan to start our kids in Karate at 5 years old (assuming fund-age allows). I actually would have started Ria already if we had enough moolah for it! But I think it's even better that she now has some inclination toward that sort of education... so the wait, in this case, is definitely worth it. ^_^ I just wish we had a piano because she's stopped asked quite as much for music lessons. :( *sigh* Hopefully she'll still be excited about it when it is possible.

Cleaning, Walking, and Movies
I have really enjoyed the respite this summer has offered, thus far. Life has been slower since dance class and Play at the Park has ended. We still go to Story Time most weeks, but I've actually missed a few for various reasons.

Thus far I've almost got the house back up to par (the cleaning) - much to Jessie's relief and pleasure. However, if I didn't know him, I wouldn't really know that he was relieved and pleased (especially pleased). Such is life with a man who doesn't get the fact that he's married to a Words of Affirmation chick... no matter how much I tell him. I did spy The Five Love Languages on his bedside table, but I'm not sure if one of the girls put it there or if he did. ahwell What can I do more?

I'm still walking, though last week was down to 4 days. The main reason for the down by one day is the blood issue and not feeling well Saturday night (missed my 5th day by missing my Saturday night walk). I subsequently missed church on Sunday, so I really wasn't doin' so hot physcially. Tonight was a woosie walk (all by myself, since Jess is home for the night) because I started it with a headache. I'm trying not to push myself too much since the bleeding bit and all. It was a pleasant walk, for sure! I continue to feel really good about the walks - even if it's really REALLY difficult to start after 2 days off (Monday). I think, perhaps, I feel even better about those days than others because when I walk I overcome my natural tendency to quit when something is difficult or dull. YEAY me! ^_^

I've found an URL from which I can pretty easily watch movies. I don't even know where to begin, really, but I've been watching movies again. Mostly, I think, "family" is the best and safest genre. I started watching one movie that looked quite okay, it must have been rated 'R' because not 10 minutes in I saw something I did NOT want to see. So, I'm checkin' on the movies I watch outside of "family" a little more carefully now! I watched the newest Harry Potter last night. COOL movie. I mentioned the movie the girls and I watched today... I've seen the new Narnia movie. Also very cool. I should, perhaps, keep a list somewhere of the movies I'm watching... but I don't think I'll actually devote time to that. Sorry. I'm watchin, though. ^_^ Any suggestions?

Jumping Belly
Like jumping beans, ya know. This belly... rather: BABY!!! is moving all over and strongly! I've now been feeling REALLY strong movements for more than two weeks, with some of them so strong that I can see it on the outside. The outside visibility aspect of the baby moving is going on at least 1.5 weeks now! With Ria and Kat we didn't see this kind (or even feel this strong) of movement until sometime around 25-30 weeks. This baby started at about 22 weeks (earlier??) and now at 24 weeks (tomorrow) I see the baby kick once a day most days (usually more). And I certainly feel strong movements a lot more than that. With Kat and Ria Jess usually had to press into my belly pretty firmly to feel the movements I felt, but this baby won't move if you press hard. You have to just rest your hand on top and the baby kicks up to it!

Ria is the first in the family to feel the baby move! She felt him/her move for the first time today! Jess was sitting there and saw the movement, but didn't feel it when Ria did (he wasn't trying at the time). When he did move to try he pushed in, so the baby stopped showing off. When he laid his hand on my belly gently, a moment later, he felt the strong movements (rolling as well as kicking!) and commented on how the baby was "really moving around in there." Yeah, no need to tell me! I wake up with the kicks already! I can truly NOT imagine how this baby will feel at 36 weeks!!! I rather hope the space gets tight enough that baby won't want to try to stretch out. Fat chance? Well, a girl can hope, right! :) Kat missed this bit of action because she fell asleep in her eating table (it's really NOT a high chair, so I can't call it that!). She almost laid her head down to sleep, she was THAT tired! Poor Kitty!

Papa (Jpa) Arrives and Giddy Giggles

We had a long and lovely day yesterday. I was up at 5am and Jess soon thereafter. We were able to leave by 5:45am, which is actually slower than normal for a TEMPLE DAY! But I was purposefully trying to remain calm and peaceful about everything... so NO rushing. Even though I was trying to keep calm I still ended up with my "signature" stress bowels. (Thanks Mom! jj ^_^)

Our temple visit was completed by about 9am and we headed over to the Orlando International Airport. Ria was very impressed with the BIG airplanes flying around. She and Kat are quite used to airplanes because there is a small airport down the road from us, but the airplanes that land there are private and rather small. So, this was a rare experience. Ria remembered her Daddy's trip on an airplane, but Kat hadn't ever REALLY seen any so big. She didn't seem to react, but that could have been shock. :) Who knows, though, since she didn't say anything about it.

We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A in the airport. Ria has wanted to go out to eat for quite a while now. I've tightened down on the "belt" so that we have more money for food storage stuff. So she's been excited to get to eat out. But I know she wasn't thinking about THAT when she saw her Papa walking toward us! She was so totally ecstatic. She raced over to him and jumped into hugging him. It was very sweet! Jess and I encouraged Kat to go say hi to Papa, but she clung tighter to Jess even as she watched Ria race over. So, Jess, Kat, and I walked over to my Dad. Kat was holding back, so I stepped up to hug my Dad hello. After seeing me being so friendly with the strange man, Kat totally reached out to him for a hug. So funny.

We made a couple stops on the way home, so by the time we arrived we had about an hour before Ria and I had to leave for her Dress Rehearsal. A good bit of that time was spent preparing Ria FOR her rehearsal. She was very excited and pleased to have makeup applied and then, even though she wouldn't actually wear it until we arrived at the auditorium, she just HAD to put her costume on to show Papa. She looked VERY sweet, of course.

Ria and I had to be at the auditorium for 3:30pm and we were on time. We didn't leave until around 5:30pm (and that wasn't the end of the rehearsal)! The funny thing, to me, is that the organizers expect the parents to leave the girls until around 9pm, when everything is finished. Thankfully they didn't push the issue with the parents of toddlers. I would have revolted and the whole thing would have been canceled (for our family, at least) if they asked me to leave my daughter with a woman I didn't know for more than the time required! Lori did a very good job of monitoring and caring for our girls, I must say. I'm very glad to have the opportunity to get used to all of this hub-bub while Ria is young. I mean, can you imagine me being faced with leaving Ria as a 6 or 7 year old - with no prior experience in doing so under the given circumstances?! I can't!!!! Oh, they also expected that there would be no spectators during the Dress Rehearsal. Uhhh, WHAT!!? Well, the toddlers' parents (and quite a few others) didn't really pay that much mind. I was determined to see Ria dance so that I would not be quite as upset about Kat not sitting still and quiet for the performance. This way, at least, Jess and my Dad will get to see THE dance and I can distract Kat elsewhere. Hopefully Kat will be SO enthralled by all of it that she'll sit quiet and happy the whole time... but I'm trying to plan for all contingencies. ;) heehee

After I got home with Ria from the rehearsal I felt like I was going to pass out! I mean, I haven't run off of only 5 hours sleep in a VERY long time... and definitely NOT while preggie!!! So, I fell on the couch to get a little rest. I got up in time for my walk, which Jess and my Dad helped me enjoy ALONE! I totally did not feel able to do the whole 80 minutes. To make matters worse, Jess has prepared most of dinner already and I was feeling my stomach gnaw at itself! So, I was very lame and only walked to the half-point at the top of the bridge, which gave me a total of a 46 minute walk. I felt like a total woosee; especially because my shin splints were REALLY hobbling me (almost literally!). So, I hope to get a little walk in today, sometime in the evening. Maybe Kat and I will walk around after we drop Ria off for the pre-recital wait. We'll see. I really want to get another 14+ minutes (I'll go for 20 because that will elevate my heart rate for a satisfactory period of time) so that I'm still good for my weekly average time. As it stands, because of my short walk last night, my average for the week puts me at about a 46 minute walk each day for 6 days. I only walked 5 days, but if you recall, I increased my daily time to sort of add up to a total of what I would walk in 6 days IF I could get that 6th day in! I actually might this week, GO FIGURE!

So, the main point of the previous paragraph was to illustrate my fatigue. I totally went off track (my train was derailed!), but that WAS the point. :)

Our girls moved into our room to sleep for the night. They'll also sleep in our room tonight and Sunday night. The move last night didn't go very smoothly because I hadn't prepped Kat for the imminent change. (Bad Mama!) But it did eventually work out, for the most part. Kat did move to our bed in the middle of the night and Daddy didn't get up to transfer her like he said he was going to, so he didn't sleep very well. But, really, that's his own fault, in a way! Ria is so flexible, Mama is SO grateful, and she didn't have a problem with the change at all - even when asked to give up the bed she was excited to sleep in! She sure is a gem, right!?

Part of the plan to make the whole thing more comfy for the girls was Jessie's idea to put a light on so that they would be able to get their bearings if they awakened during the night. He's SUCH a thoughtful Daddy! I was promised a shepherd of my family's spiritual and temporal needs and I certainly have that in him!!! We decided on moving the dark-sensing night light from the hall bathroom to our bathroom and keeping the door slightly ajar. I would like to remind you that I was SUPER tired and completely and utterly ready to collapse into bed and DEEP slumber by this time (around 10:15pm).

So, Jess put the night light in while I finished up in the bathroom. I noticed that it was in, but not on before I left so I started to mess with it to try to get it to stay on so it would work for the night. I noticed that when I had my hand near it, trying to adjust the connection between the night light and the outlet, the light came on, but as my hand moved away it totally went out. (In my defense, here, our outlets are quite old and we do have some regular problems with many of them working!) After watching this phenomenon for a few minutes and feeling amazed and almost in awe; I was thinking that perhaps the electricity of my body was interacting with the lightbulb and making it WORK when my hand was near enough, only to go out as my hand moved away. I went to fetch Jess. I was waiting for him in the bathroom and described/showed him the problem. He sort of looked at my funny for a split second and said, "Well, yeah, Tori, the light is on!" Immediately the absurdity of the situation struck me and I began to giggle. Jess looked at me with a goofy sort of grin on his face (the kind he gets when I'm laughing, but he's not really sure why) and he asked, "Did you think it was magic or something?" Between giggle fits (the goofy giddiness I haven't experienced in AGES that results from SUPER exhaustion: giddy giggles!) and hugging him to support my upright posture, I said, "Or something!" He was anxious to get back to his dumb Shuffle, so scooted out as soon as he could get himself out of the hug and I went to bed giggling uncontrollably, but also feeling overwhelmingly lonely and sad because I didn't have Jess there to share some silliness!

I rarely ever have so many people in the house at night - and especially not Jess. Yet, when I'm feeling goofy and craving company my hubby wants to go play on the computer. Ah well....

Of all the gifts I've given Jess, I think I most dislike the iPod Shuffle I got for him as an early Father's Day gift. :p Live and learn, right? Note to self: no more electronic toys for husband!

As if. Even should I want to stick to that NOTE TO SELF, I won't. See, I want to give Jessie EVERYthing he wants. I certainly can't! I mean, between NEEDING to provide for our family as a unit and our children's need and some wants, there's very little Jess and I can have that we actually WANT... but if we run across another deal like the iPod, even if I don't want to, because of THIS, I won't hesitate to get him what he wants. I mean, when do you get a BRAND-spankin-NEW-iPod-Shuffle for $20!!! It was NEVER used and still in the original packaging, less clear plastic wrap stuff!!!! *ahwell*

Proud Mama

The stage rehersal yesterday was interesting. Of the girls in Ria's class, Ria was the one who did best with the whole dance on stage. There were other girls who did some of it. But Ria was THE one who was most consistently trying to follow her teacher. I was so impressed with how well Ria pointed her toes when doing her tondous and how she tried really hard to keep her arabesque up the way her teacher does! She's quite a little ballerina. And she wasn't bothered at all by being on stage! ^_^

Kat was trying to get up there the whole time. So, perhaps we have two little drama queens!? Should be interesting to see.

Dance!

Today the girls and I watched an episode of DANCING WITH THE STARS. The girls LOVED it. I should have guessed they would be gah-gah over it, but I guess I wasn't really thinking. Had I thought about it, I might not have watched it with them because they were sort of wild with dancing like the show for at least 30 minutes after it was over.

I really should have remembered that Ria loved it when we watched it almost 2 years ago. That was around the time she fell in love with Ballet (she happened to see a full-on ballet on PBS and talked about it constantly after that). As a matter of fact, about a week after seeing THE ballet on PBS Ria's Grama Farrell, Mimi, gave her a pair of cute little pink high top tennis shoes. She immediately named them her "RinaRina" shoes! ^_^ Anyway, it was hilarious to watch my two little girly girls dancing around the house today. Kat was going for arabesques quite frequently (always holding on to something, of course), while Ria was busy working on trying to dance like the TV and getting her Tondous perfected. :) They are adorable!

Don't mistake me, though, they are fighting to help Daddy work on the car (literally!) and love to muck it up with the best of them! After they play on our lanai (back patio that is enclosed), they come in looking like they did some dust rolls. You know, the way cows and horses will roll in the dust to help protect them from the bugs? Anyway... they are covered from top to toe!

Today was the last day of official dance class for Ria. It was kinda sad. Next week is THE big week! We have stage rehersal on Tuesday, dress rehersal on Friday, and THE BIG EVENT on Saturday. We're very excited! ^_^

I planned to walk the bridge today, but didn't because I just felt REALLY sick to my tummy when I was heading out that way. It went away after I turned to go South... so I think I was getting a message NOT to go that way. Regardless, I walked 74 minutes today. Yesterday I did 40 minutes of intervals and completed my walk at 79 minutes! ^_^ I feel so good when I walk even just 5 minutes over 60. :)

Monday I went visiting teaching and both my companion and the sister we visited commented quite a lot about how nice I look and how much weight I've lost. I will reiterate my lovely news of yesterday: I've lost 2 pounds in the last two weeks. So, really, it's not a lot on the scale, but it's obviously showing up nicely on my bod. :) Yesterday a few of the ladies at Play in the Park commented on my appearance. And today a couple more in dance class made the same/similar comments. So, I'm feeling like the work is paying off visibly. That pleases me very greatly! It would be much more difficult to continue if there was no discernable change!

Dance Class Day

Yesterday was Dance Class, of course. It was a mostly really good day. I didn't accomplish much of anything around the house, but felt more relaxed and calm than I have in a while. (NICE!) We did go to dance class. The girls are plugging along in their practice and loving class, it seems. The mothers are becoming nervous about all the rehersals and plans for the recital. It's pretty funny. For two reasons... we have so many different dates/times to remember AND it really is going to cost a bit for the thing, all said and done. There's the costume, which, to me, is a TOTALLY good investment (of $48) for a really cute ballerina costume that BOTH girls will wear as dress up into the distant future. It actually should have been significantly more because the girls usually do TWO dances (one costume each), but this year they are only doing one.

We also have to make sure to have the right kind/color tights, which run about $15. Then there's the pictures, which wouldn't be so bad if our extended family could attend, but they cannot, so we want to send pictures: $60! Addditionally, the video is $30 and since I've had at least one request for that (possibly 2) I'll be purchasing that as well. It's $30 if you purchase in ADVANCE, which tells me that it will cost more if you wait until the recital to pay. YIKES. A bit of a profit margin on that baby, would ya say??

Then there's the flowers thing... you can buy a flower for your dancer ($5 for ONE!!!) and there's a spot to put in a donation for the teacher. We're not buying a flower for Ria from the florist FOR the recital. I will get some myself and give them to her = $5. Perhaps when she's older I'll do the whole stage presentation thing? I'm not sure if I'll be doing the donation or a handmade gift for the teacher... I haven't started MAKING anything... so it looks like it might be a donation = $5. Who knows.

Then there's the group picture, which I definitely want for Ria: $15.

I purchased a long-sleeved leotard because Ria has been VERY concientous about modesty (specifically regarding shoulders) and I want to encourage thato we are covering hers for the recital with a longsleeved leotard! The leotard had to be nude to go under the costume = $20.

And, of course, I still have to pay for regular classes = $40 per month. So, what have we here for the last month of dance class? 40+48+15+60+30+5+5+15+20=$238 I just hope there aren't any unknown amounts and on the bright side, it could have been significantly more!

Babies Babies Everywhere and Not a One to Touch!

Dance class day.

A little girl, a bit younger than Kat, comes with her Mama and big sister to dance class. The almost 1 year old ALWAYS sits in her stroller, doesn't interact much, and definitely doesn't talk. Probably a month ago Kitty Kat identified her as a baby and has been so attentive to her every Wednesday since, much to the little girl's chagrin! :(

Sage's daughter Mary is another "baby" Kat tries to love. Now, I have to say that Kat is AMAZINGLY gentle! She has been ever since I can remember. People have even commented about how gentle she is and how much she loves babies. But Mary is NOT interested what-so-ever! Sage tells me that at other activities there are toddlers about Kat's age and size who love her not-so-gently, so she thinks Mary is just sort of afraid of the "look" now. Makes sense to me. But try to tell Kitty Kat!

Another Mama of two dance class girls had a baby a month ago. She AND her hubbie brought the girls to dance, so, of course, the new baby was there. The baby was sleeping the whole time, so it took Kat a while to notice her. But when she did she wanted to pet and love her!!! It was sooo sweet. Kitty doesn't say many words really clearly, but she enunciates BABY sure as shootin!!! :)

Poor Kitty Kat has so much baby love and not a baby interested! If you couldn't guess by all of that, Kat is so VERY excited about the baby coming to our family.

Ria informed me today that she knows for sure that we're having a girl. She even told my belly, "I love you, baby Theresa!" I thought this was sweet of course, but tried to convince her to call the baby "Baby" since I won't know that the baby is a girl until I see the baby.

The funny thing about the name is that Jess and I decided on that name quite a while ago. I'm not sure we ever really talked about it with the girls. I'm pretty sure we DID talk about the boy's names a while ago. Well, out of the air one day Ria told me, "I think that if the baby is a girl we should name her Theresa and if it is a boy, we should name him John." The context was that she had asked Daddy if she could name the baby and he told her to ask me. She was asking what I thought of those names. I told her I thought they would be PERFECT. So, Ria is naming our baby! ;)

On to a disturbing incident.

I've been walking the bridge this week for my hour long walks. It's about 4 miles total and I finish it in about 64 minutes. Pretty good for a preggie fat girl!!! ;) Today was my third day on the bridge. It's a great workout! Today, however, I saw, as it were, my daughters' lives flash before my eyes!

Upon coming DOWN the bridge into my town I get to a light. I always push and wait for the little crossing man and then shoot across. Well, I won't be doing THAT anymore! There are a bunch of scrub palms that are set against a fence, which is around a pond, but because of those palms walkers and drivers cannot see each other at this corner. Today, even though the little man (WALK) went up right away I was moving really slowly, for some reason, compared to normal. It actually felt like I was walking in mud.

This is a tremendous blessing because, had I been moving as normal, the car that ALMOST hit us would have either hit the my girls in the buggy or me AND the buggy!

A stupid young female driver almost hit us. And I don't use stupid much to describe people, in general, anymore, but she DEFINITELY was! She had a red light. Rather than stop at the line appointed for stopping at red lights, she zoomed right through the pedestrian crossing area and stopped close enough to the corner that someone in oncoming traffic would have likely been VERY close to hitting her! (Since the little accident I was in when I was preggie with Ria I am a very careful driver and can honestly say that I am pretty darn sure I always stop at the line or before it before I continue driving.)

I was already crossing the street when this girl did her stupid deed and if I hadn't pulled the buggy back she totally would have hit the front wheel, which would have put an end to my walks. (Bad enough, but I've already illustrated the worse outcome!) Anyway... I yelled at her and almost cursed (which you will recognize, I hope, as a sign of how distraught I was!!)! :( But, thankfully, I did not actually say the bad word that shot across the stage of my mind. I said something like, "What the freakin' heck are you freakin' thinkin'???!!!" Loudly enough that I'm pretty sure she heard me even though her windows were rolled up.

A young guy and an older lady were behind me on the bridge, so they saw the whole thing. Right after she almost hit us I think I was overwhelmed by shock, or something, because as the guy crossed the street I totally lost it and started shuddering and crying hysterically. (This reaction is probably explainable by the fact that I'm preggie! heehee ^_^) The guy finished crossing, but then totally stopped and kept checking to make sure I was okay. The older lady was behind him and stood with me while I caught my breath and calmed down. She talked to me a bit, which helped me refocus.

The good from this very bad situation is that I felt deep concern from two complete strangers. This is really wonderful to me because sometimes it feels like people just don't care. So, that was heartening and uplifting to feel. I really feel like I was touched by two angels (as I feel people in our daily lives are the angels most of us see, but, perhaps, don't recognize).

A Day for Dance

No camera today, but the pictures are pretty typical. Cute, of course! :)

I do have to say, though, that Ria does NOT usually look this bored in class! They were in between songs during the tap portion of class at this point.

This is Ria posing after class. See my cadillac of a stroller behind her. It's THE best thing ever! It's a double stroller that converts (NO TOOLS) to a trailer you pull behind a bike!! It's awesome and I've loved, loved, LOVED having it. I found it at babyjogger.com, and, of course, when in stroller mode, it is very light and would be VERY easy to use as an all weather jogger because the whole thing is entirely enclosed. What an awesome income tax return purchase. It's about a year old now, but you wouldn't know it because I take very good care of it!

Kitty Kat is hamin' it up for this picture! She gets ready for dance class every week right along with Ria, even though she won't be able to begin ANY dance classes until she's 2... and that's only if there are enough registered children for a Mommy and Me class at that time AND if Mama is up to it with the new baby! I really hope to be because she loves dance class SO much and often dances along with the girls when she loves the music (this happens most often during tap class).

I just wanted to include another picture of Kathryn and didn't like the other dance class options. For whatever reason, Kitty loves to put her head to the side when I aim the camera at her. :)