More Stuff.

 I have expanded my many talents in 2012.  Not only do I do acting in exercise videos but I can put in hair extensions too! My beautiful friend trusts me enough with a needle to have done it twice now (somehow I think I did better on my first try, these fumbling pregnant fingers seem to be getting more clumsy.)  In any case, it gives me a good excuse to have a nice conversation with another adult, and Hazel got to play with playdough which pretty much made her month.

 This year we finally made it downtown to see the cherry blossoms.  I completely  missed them last year because all of March 2011 was freezing cold and rainy.  This year has been so amazing I couldn't pass it up again.  It just so happens that yesterday was not all sunny and bright but we managed to see most of what we wanted before the rain came down too hard, and before the crowds got annoying.

(Please don't say anything about the fact that even without seeing my belly in this picture I still have that "pregnant look".  And I ain't talkin' about no glow.) 

 Clark worked his biceps and helped the girls all get a good whiff.

 We walked around the tidal basin and stopped at many monuments that I have never been to before.  The Jefferson, Rooselvelt and Martin Luther King Jr., all amazing and beautiful.

 Mia has been begging for months to see the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  Every time we have been downtown she pouts for a good 20 minutes about it.  All her little 6 year old dreams came true yesterday and she finally got to see it.  It was pretty impressive as well.

Then Hazel tried to make out with the side of a federal building and got a fat lip.

Also, by the end of our outing we all looked a little like drowned rats.

It was a fun morning, my very favorite kind of Saturday.

The company is gone and so is the milk.

The two don't really have anything to do with one another.  It's just kind of depressing all around, don't you agree?
Why do I have to keep going grocery shopping?  I would appreciate it if things just spontaneously appeared in my cupboards without all the hassle.  Allow me to get completely off topic for a minute (or two.)  I am tired.  I am always such a poor judge of just how tired I am allowed to be at different points during a pregnancy.  Mostly I mean that I don't want to complain too early about certain things.  I hear several "too lates" out there already. 
I am fairly certain I am not supposed to feel as pregnant as I do, with 12 weeks still to go.  I feel sluggish, huge and sore until I see a picture of myself and realize that I don't really look that pregnant, which makes me feel lame for being such a whiny baby.  But this kid is seriously beating me up from the inside.  I feel bruised and sore because he moves so much.  And I'm not talking the gentle flutters of a butterfly but the kind of kicks and punches where it feels like he is repeatedly crossing and uncrossing his legs in a wound up rubber band sort of motion.  It often takes my breath away and then I want to cry a little.  I'm almost certain he has nearly worn a spot right through  my skin to the outside where he likes to poke repeatedly just to the left of my belly button.
Sometimes I try and say things out loud like "I love being pregnant" and then Clark gives me a funny look and says "no you don't".  Then we banter back and forth for a little while before I concede that I rather like the idea of being pregnant, and I miss it a little when I am not, but he is right, I have too many complaints to actually claim that "I like it."  He is right a lot, but don't tell him that- like the time two days ago when he told me that the larger chocolate turtle was awfully big but I got it anyway and he was right, it was way too big and I felt sick from eating it but I did anyway because it was so delicious.
Back to baby boy.  I saw his little face yesterday, albeit a little creepy.  A face only a mother could love, right?

He has a face and that makes me feel happy that there is a real baby in there.  I'm glad, otherwise that would mean I was having some serious gastrointestinal issues.  I get to have more ultrasounds because I have a low lying placenta that is not moving as much as it should.  A tiny part of me would like to be put on bedrest except it might compound the already existing problem that I am not sleeping well.  Plus I'm pretty sure I would just feel even more stressed watching the house come crumbling down around me while I sat and watched the entire series of Alias or 30 Rock, repeatedly. (Not that Clark doesn't know how to tidy up, it's just that everyone else in my family has slightly different standards of cleanliness than I do.)
I just took off my wedding ring last night.  The one that a few months ago would slip all around my finger and I was slightly afraid I would lose it.  My feet are swelling too.  I guess having a baby this time of year doesn't agree with me, or maybe it's having a baby in my 30's that doesn't agree with me, or having 5, or gestating while trying to accomplish anything else like feeding kids and vacuuming.
OK, pregnancy rant over. 
I am excited to have a baby and I am very grateful for a great many things.  I am just scared to death of being "that kind of tired" with a newborn that I want to crawl under my bed and hide (with a comfy pillow.)

Just in case you were wondering, I have no problem with dumping lots of pictures and giving short explanations, but anyone who knows anything already knows that.
Last week my three oldest had a fund raiser fun run at their school.  They were thrilled beyond thrilled to receive pledges and donations mostly because it meant they got cheap prizes.  And they got to go outside and run around in circles during school.  So Hazel and I went to cheer them on and dance along to the pumping music throughout.  It actually was pretty fun.

Poor Hazel got tired from watching all those kids running so she needed to sit down.  I made her sit on my feet since the grass was wet.  Besides, I always need to get the token "Hazel looking up at my shot".  It's what I see all day long and I kind of love it.

Abby and her best friend Sammy, couldn't you just eat them?  They are adorable and I love that they are friends.  The kids could run a maximum of 35 laps (short little laps.) A line of teachers were there at every round to mark the laps off their t shirts.  All three of my girls did all 35 laps.  I was pretty impressed that no kids barfed from running around in circles, but not so surprised to see so many elementary school kids trip and fall while running.  I didn't laugh, out loud.

 Mia just kept going and going.  I would look for her cute white bow coming around the bend.

The fifth graders were significantly more sweaty but still adorable.  I think Haley high-fived Hazel at almost every lap.

On to even happier things.  My sister came to see me!  I love when my sisters come to see me.  Even if it was just for the weekend.  It was heavenly.  She came to run the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon with Clark and our good friends, Mike and Laurie.  I was so impressed and proud of them that I woke up at 6am to take a picture.  I abandoned going to cheer for them when I heard how many thousands of people were going to be milling about but I got updates on my phone each time one of them crossed a milestone...we cheered them from the comfort of our home, and the grocery store.
Sarah the road race pro ( 7 time marathoner and lots of other races-er) called me from mile 2 to tell me to check her facebook status.  Not only is she exceptionally inspirational as a runner, but as a multi tasker too.

Clark and Mike ran with Sarah almost the entire way, beating his time from his 1/2 marathon last year!  He would be concentrating hard, he said, and then look over at Sarah who was texting and posting pictures while she ran.  She is so talented.

I am so glad that I am pregnant and had a good excuse to not run with them. But I am really good at being impressed by them.  They are amazing.




That very afternoon, Sarah and I went to Mount Vernon.  We had little time to pack in sight seeing and I didn't want her to miss out.  So I complained that my feet hurt because I am prego, and she didn't say a word about her own legs that had run more than 13 miles that very morning.  It was sure perty.  The weather continues to be amazingly beautiful for March.

On Monday I let the girls play hookey and we took Sarah downtown to fit in as much as possible.  We hit up the Post Office Pavilion in order to see everything all at once and then made it through one Smithsonian before making her take a jumping picture in front of the big pencil.

Then Abby took a picture of me and my sister in front of the capital building, while facing into the sun and looking exceptionally wrinkly.

At this particular point in composing this blog, I realized that she was the one taking all the pictures on her camera and I ran out of interesting things to show you.  Taking her to the airport was sad sad sad but I am so glad she came! Next time, bring the entire fam-damily though, will ya?!

Next best thing to pictures of my sisters visiting is pictures of my feet, yeah!
I dare you to tell me that is not the cutest toe nail ever, I double dog dare you.
Polka dots in the spring just feels right.

 And just in case you were wondering what Hazel looks like while wearing a waffle box, here ya go.

My kids like to play with the things from the recyclable box.  I am not sure what they were going for in this game of make believe...homelessness? occupier of DC?  Not sure, but they had fun.

Don't think for a second that this next picture is not significant enough for a blog.  Having Sarah come into town meant that we were all blessed with a little bit of what the family likes to call "luck 'o the Giles".  It meant that while she was running the 1/2 marathon in downtown, I was getting THE closest parking spot at the most popular grocery store, on a Saturday morning.  I know, a-mazing.

And I have to say that even though I have a very strange shaped bottom in the picture, slightly pointy chin, white legs AND black crocs on, I still know how to have a good time.  We took a Sunday walk in the delightful weather with the cousins that come to Sunday dinner and Sarah.  And even though the walk was a tad farther than I would have liked (meaning, farther than if I was sitting on the couch with my feet up) it was heavenly.  Family walks are the best.

This is also a random pic that Sarah posted on Facebook.  And even though I am just pretending, it's precisely how I felt after our abbreviated tour of downtown and lunch at the Pentagon with Clark.
And that, is all I have to say about that.

The alternative to the cattle prod.

A couple of weeks ago I had a stroke of parenting genius.  It doesn't happen very often, and the results only are temporary, but sometimes it is really fun.  I was laying in bed immediately following my 6:45 wake up of the girls for school, right about the time the bickering starts.  The short tempered snaps.  The "that's mine, get out of my room and out of my closet" type comments.  It makes me want to pull the covers back over my head (yes, occasionally I go lay back down for just a minute, pregnant, remember? I am fully taking advantage of the fact that I can do that right now, knowing that in about three months my life of sitting down and relaxing for a minute will be over for another three years.)
So, I got out the Taboo buzzer.  Brilliant.

See this little gem? I am going to start using it every day I need a little parenting boost. I decided it's kind of like a cattle prod but without the electricity or visit from DCFS.
I push (and continue to hold) the button whenever I hear bickering, snapping, whining or complaining.
It is to serve two purposes.
One, it illustrates to the kids just how annoying their bickering and whining can be.  You see, it makes a really annoying sound itself.
And two, it makes them more aware of just how often they do the two a fore mentioned things.
We are blessed with kids that love each other.  I know they do and I am grateful for it. They hug in the hall at school and play amazingly well together a lot of the time.  But they are girls.  Lots of girls, with lots of emotions.  They are children.  Children (lack of self control) + emotions = lots of benign bickering that drives their mother up the wall.  That's cool.  I get it.  But I don't have to live with it forever.  The girls either think it is funny when I do it, or they grunt, stomp their foot and walk away, stopping whatever they were doing.  See?  Magic.  I even took it in my pocket to the bus stop on the first day, just as a threat.  Over the course of the last week I have used it many times and it nips all of those things right in the bud.  It's kind of awesome.

And now on the norm of what keeps us busy.

Haley did a science fair project with a partner this year.  It was fun, but mostly messy.

Note to self: avoid science fair projects that involve food coloring, especially when you are lucky enough to have tile countertops from the 80's.

Hers was for a science grade.  She got an A+, and looked cute while doing it.

 Abby decided to participate just for fun, and it was kind of fun (even though it included food coloring too.)

 (and Abby sportin' her post-virus rash that most of my children get.)

 When Hazel sees lots of pictures being taken, and none with her as the subject matter, she feels obligated to request "take a picture of me."  So I do.

I have mentioned the unseasonably warm weather we have had this year.  I think the entire world has experienced this.  Yesterday is was 74 degrees.  Unbelievable.  Beautiful.  However, it might be the reason I keep having dreams about the apocalypse.  We took a kite down to our neighborhood tennis courts and ran around.  Then we walked home through the woods.  There are daffodils in bloom everywhere.

 And these little guys.

It makes our barren woods look a little more cheery.

 We had a couple of extra neighborhood friends with us.  I love this path through the woods over creeks and bridges. 

I do not love ticks.

 And this is walking from the path up to the back of our house.  It is a fun backyard.  Private and closed in when the leaves come out again.  I like it.  I like looking out my kitchen window into our little space while when I do the dishes.

 Hazel found a little pig buried up to his snout in the ground.  She thought it was worth taking a picture of.  And it was.  The little boys that lived in this house before us left all sorts of little treasures everywhere...most of them buried in the yard somewhere.

 Mia finally lost her first tooth.  She will be 7 this fall and is probably THE last child in the first grade to lose a tooth.
She was very excited.
However, this in addition to the fact that Haley has lost 4 molars in the last month is putting the tooth fairy straight into the poor house.
Haley, though she fully recognizes that the tooth fairy does not really exists, still insists on writing her notes and receiving them back.  Notes from the tooth fairy usually entail tiny writing on teeny tiny cards.  Carpal tunnel is surely on its way.

Clark is preparing for his second 1/2 marathon which is coming up next weekend.  His training buddy came up from southern VA last weekend with a couple of his kids to do a run on the mall, because that's cool and its Clark's favorite.  I took a  picture because I totally dig men walking with a million kids AND black knee high compression socks.  Yowzahs!

 I took the kids to the Natural History Museum while the Dads ran.  I kept referring to them as "the Dads" while in the museum and wondered what other people thought I was talking about.  It amused me.

 This is Abby looking exceptionally old, holding an exceptionally large grasshopper.
And Mia wearing a hat to cover up her exceptionally crazy hair that she got cut a few weeks ago.

And now, I am going to go eat breakfast and maybe get dressed.
Happy Saturday everyone.

Aaaah! Nothing to write.

And no pictures.
Goo.
Guess I can go clean up the house instead.
Blasted Monday.