Long post

Loving right now...

1. The second trimester! I completed my first trimester of this pregnancy as of yesterday. I am feeling much much better...the nausea is almost completely gone (still feeling it a little at night), my energy has returned, and I am able to think about/prepare food without throwing up. Hooray!
2. Progress on the bathroom. Last weekend, Matt and some friends finished gutting out the bathroom and fixed the dryer vent problem. The hose that vents the dryer air outside was filled with lint, sludge, and standing water! We're guessing it hadn't ever been cleaned out and our house is 30+ years old. You can imagine the smell.

This weekend, the new tub will be installed and Matt and Brad will lay tile on the floor and shower walls. My very wonderful man has committed to finishing the project by Addie's wedding (April 11). Hooray!

3. Our friends ( loving now and always:)

Clockwise from far left: Kale, Mason, Jack, Smith, and Lizabeth.
Right before V Day, we gathered at our house to bake sugar cookies. In all, counting babies in utero, there were 11 of us (Rebecca and Naomi are pregnant, too!). Miraculously, the cookies got baked, everyone ate lunch, and all the babes played peacefully.

1. 

A treat for the eyes AND the tastebuds :).

4. My new vacuum. (The high school version of me is cringing at this confession. Back then, I hoped to never get truly excited about a stain remover or a vacuum...what can I say? Things change.) I've been using a cheap-o Dirt Devil from Target and it just wasn't cutting it. With mostly hardwood floors, two fireplaces and two crumb-droppers (toddlers), I need a stellar vacuum. So, one Saturday afternoon, I marched myself down to Sears and purchased this #1- rated-by-Consumer-Reports vacuum. It's awesome. I love it and I vacuum more than I need to because I am so loving it. 5. This little guy's emerging personality.Smiggy-D: enjoys a good snuggle, is easy-going except when he doesn't get enough sleep, takes his socks off when he wakes up from his nap, says "peas" for please, climbs everything - stairs, chairs, ottomans, picnic tables, his mama's legs,

likes to run,
thinks silly things are funny,

pretends to read.

6. This little guy's emerging personality.Maser: likes his own space, is a ham when the camera comes out, loves the garage, says "peesh" for please,
hoards his own stash of toys and aggressively defends it from any approaching Smiggies,
wiggles out of his clothes sometimes, is not so easy going,
recently learned how to grind his teeth (cringe), and wins the prize for most bruises, bumps, scrapes, and other boo-boos.



7. This ever-growing friendship.At the Oberly's for dinner and found these two sitting together in one little chair...cradling blankies, sucking their respective fingers/thumb...two peas in a pod.



Silly, precious Smiggy and Maymo.

8. This blog I've recently stumbled upon. This woman has 12 children, all birthed by her...and she doesn't like being pregnant...and she loves Jesus and is kind of spunky...I like her.

See 'em here first, people

Ha! I didn't take any pictures with my camera of the weekend we spent in Billings partying with the extended family. So, I was waiting for my fellow bloggers to post the pictures they took...no dice. Meg sent us all an e-mail with some pictures and I'm taking this opportunity to post them on my blog first! Ha! Suckahs!

Moi, Hannah, Joy, Addie.

Ray and Noah Freese.

Steph Womack (Wes' lovely wife), Meggie, Joy (carrying Baby Schneiter).

Joy and Big B. We celebrated Blake's 4th birthday while in town.

Meg, expressing her delight at being a "grandma".

Steph, Joy, Addie, Hannah, Me, Aubyn.

Oldies but goodies

Just learned how to extract the pictures from my cell phone onto my computer...yes, I just learned how. For your viewing pleasure, I picked the best of the best to share with y'all. Some are quite recent - others, as you'll see, are from a time I barely recall :). (The quality of the pictures isn't great but considering they were taken with a cell phone...they're not that bad.)

Smiggy-D enjoying his new beanie, knit by the fabulous Miss Joy.

S in the 'exer-saucer'. I was able to determine it was S only by the fact that he is sucking his two fingers (Mason sucks his thumb).

S asleep in his car seat. (For those of you who know my kids well, S actually started with the green blanky but somehow it's M's now.)

Blake snapped this flattering picture of me gosh-knows-when.

Oh, the days of playing in the parking lot at the condo! Good times.

M smiling for the camera in his car seat...don't worry, folks, I'm pretty sure I wasn't driving while taking the picture...maybe.

M enjoying his new beanie, knit by the fabulous Miss Joy.

M and the mohawk that earned him the nickname "MayMo".

Wow.

Mason. Remember when he scratched his face and then kept scratching off the scab? Finding him with a trickle of blood down his face was shock enough to sear it in my memory. Revisit this post if you don't remember.

Really don't know who this cutie is but I'm leaning toward Smith.

Smiley Smithy...with some ridiculous hair.

Smiley Smithy but with a much-needed haircut.

Camo jam-jams and a delicious belly roll.

S, not too pleased with the bear hat.

What fun I had browsing through the pictures on my phone...they loosely chronicle the past two years of our life...I hope you had fun, too!