Another long post... zzzz....

Well, it has been quite awhile since I've posted! Not much has changed around here... that's good news! Josh has been working out a lot and has been enjoying the wonderful weather we've been blessed with over the past week or two. He's been able to get outside on his bike and go for some longer rides - Tyler enjoys going out with him in the trailer (which gives Daddy a better workout having to pull him up hills). He said he can tell he's getting in better shape! He's planning on doing some races over the course of the summer/fall, so Tyler will have to brush up on his cheering skills!

Tyler has been coming up with some interesting phrases to say. One that comes to mind is "I'll be right back" while he holds his hand up as if he's saying "stay right there". Just last night he said that and went to see what was going on on the TV. When he came back he said "Okay, I'm back." He's also gotten into a kick saying he's a green dinosaur and roars at you with his "claws" out. On our phanfare website, there's a video of him saying his favorite word - delicious. He won't drink water out of his sippy EVER, but he can't help but get a sip of water at every water fountain he sees and then says "mmm, dewicious".

As always, he's still into his Pixar Cars movie and toys - mostly just the toys now. He really loves his Geotrax train that he got for Christmas - and it came with a DVD that runs about 45 minutes long of 4 Geotrax cartoon episodes. He loves to watch that on his portable DVD player AKA "computer". He incorporates his Geotrax train and tracks with his Cars toys and the result is some really imaginative play. It's especially entertaining when Daddy joins in on the fun.

As for me, the only changes are the size of my girth (understandably). I have officially entered into my third and final trimester with gaining about 17ish pounds (depending on the time of day). Most of that gain happened over the past 2 months - I had a seriously long-lasting case of the munchies as well as eating well over what one person would eat at meal time. I guess I was making up for something.

I have also begun the every-two-week appointments at the OB... which i'm not real sure how I feel about that. I'm excited to be getting near the end and seeing my little baby boy. I'm a little apprehensive to have two boys to watch - and to be going through all the newborn things again, like breastfeeding, cleaning/sterilizing bottles and binkies, all the doctor's appointments/shots, changing diapers constantly (and having them all be poopy and ucky), nighttime feedings... ya know... all that. However, it'll be fun to revisit all the cute little outfits that Tyler wore and see Tyler interact with his little brother (who, by the way, doesn't have a name yet.)

Besides being a little apprehensive, I think I'll manage just fine. I already know to expect the worst with my hormones/emotions, so as long as it's not worse than the "worst" I believe I'll manage okay. Tyler doesn't require much supervision anymore, so I won't have to keep an eye on him constantly - yippee! I don't doubt that I'll still have my hands full, though!

After the baby is born, I plan on going walking nearly every day - hoping to shed some baby pounds and also to kick-start getting back into shape. I'd like to eventually do a triathlon or duathalon, but we'll see how things go. I think last summer I pushed the running thing too hard too fast, so I'm going to start slower this time around. I probably won't get out on my bike much this summer due to having a baby with no means to ride with him, and I refuse to go out on my own for a ride... too scared with all the crazy maniac-drivers out there buzzing you.

On the crafty-front... I've done a lot of sewing in the past couple months - all baby-related of course. I sewed up a crib-sized quilt, a couple "baby snugglers" (one with a zipper that was a disaster to install, but turned out well regardless), a couple baby slings, and a nursing cover. I recently bought fabric to make a one-piece romper for a Baptism outfit. I'm hoping it'll turn out well, because it's been awhile since I've sewn up an article of clothing. I've also been crocheting a blanket for the baby - going very slow...mostly because I haven't been working on it very much. I made it a little on the wide side, so I'll need to make it that much longer so the dimensions make sense. And I'll probably end up ordering some more yarn to be able to make it longer. I'm not entirely sure that this project will be done before the baby comes, but it'll be a size that I won't use right away anyway except to put on the floor, and I'll have other blankets I can use for that. I'm going to push to finish it in time because I probably won't have the time to do it afterwards!

This past weekend, I was busy in the kitchen cooking up creations for the freezer. None of it will be for after the baby comes, but I just wanted to try out some recipes to see if I should make them in larger quantities later. I made 8 different recipes over the course of a couple days, so we should be eating good over the next couple months-many recipes I divided into smaller 9x9-ish sized pans instead of doing one 9x13. I figured that we'd get burned out on the leftovers if we cooked up that much at a time. A couple recipes I doubled and ended up making 5 or 6 meals-worth. Each of the casserole recipes made 2 of the 9x9 pans. If I like how they turned out, I will definitely share the recipes on here.