It's been a rough couple days. I thought the morning (ha!) sickness thing was done, and it's back with a vengeance. Last night after supper it snuck up on me, I made it as far as the bathroom sink... and plugged it up royally. Blaine, valiant knight that he is, ended up (without complaint!) using the shop vac on the drain. Seriously. Insult to injury, I assure you. Um, honey? I can't get the drain to go down... good grief. Next time I'll just keep going and clean up the floor later.

Still reading? I'm impressed.

Ruby likes to empty her dresser drawers. She tries each piece of clothing "on" (around her neck, usually, although some things end up over her head) and then casts them aside for the next thing. This is a discipline issue at this point. I'm tired of cleaning up and refolding her clothes. So last night, when Sterling hollers that Ruby's making a mess with her clothes yet again, I called her to me. She came out with her fists covering her eyes, not wanting to look at me, moving them minutes later only to cover her behind as I got up to deal with her disobedience. Try not to laugh at that one!

We made an offer on a house! After a long and ridiculously difficult day getting the banker to get the papers to me that we needed to make the offer, it's been submitted. Keep you posted on that one. It's 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms on 7 acres near Strafford, MO - a 12 mile commute for Blaine to work and about 20 minutes to shopping, etc in Springfield. I'll get excited when we're under contract...

We're down to one box of cereal in the house. The kids don't know, but I'm doing it rather on purpose. If I don't "run out" every so often, that box of cereal they begged for that turned out to have better marketing than flavor will never get eaten. Poor children, forced to dine without options, I know.

News... good news.

I had my first OB appointment today. Ultrasound reveals: one baby! While some people (Thank you, Sister.) might be disappointed, I was waiting with baited breath for one image to arrive onscreen.

In other news: All this sickness that is going around my house isn't getting better. Found out Mom has pneumonia and all the same symptoms of dear Sterling. Time to find a pediatrician???

One nose, running away...

Sterling: "Daddy, can you blow up my nose?"

After trying to catch his runaway nose all day, apparently he's fed up with it. :)

Alive and... well, maybe just alive.

We're still here. I'm still puking - sometimes. I'm 12 weeks now, and hoping things start looking up soon. I called the OB today, scheduled my first appointment. Gee, I can't wait. There's been speculation regarding my sister's twins and her sick desire for me to experience twins as well, so ruling that out will be lovely. Not too worried, but saying "I told you so" to Erin will be sweet. She can keep that experience all to herself!

We went to my parents while Blaine was on location in Florida Feb 27-March 10. Mom and Dad have newborn lambs - although the ewes seemed hesitant to kick into high gear until we were getting ready to leave. Liberty and Eden thoroughly enjoyed the sheep though. Sterling says they are scary and Ruby says that unless Momma goes too, she ain't going. Momma didn't go. There's lots of snow to sled on in South Dakota though, and Dad made a few sledding hills for the kids to play on. I took naps and was generally lazy. Thanks, Mom.

On the way back through, we visited friends in Iowa. The kids have made friends for life in the 52 hours total they've spent with those kids. Fun times. I love meeting up with friends I've had since childhood and watching our children become friends too. The dirt they could dig up on Momma that way...

Weather in Missouri is warmer. Apparently we missed some of the really warm stuff, but it's still warmer. The sound of the birds in the morning is a cheery thought. Spring can come. :)

I'm not feeling funny. At all. It's hard to blog when I'm only upright because I already took one nap, the house needs work but I'm not quite getting there... and I can't find a stinking thing funny right about now. See why I haven't written?

My girls, on the other hand, are figuring out pregnancy. Too many episodes of "A Baby Story" later, their favorite game is labor and delivery. Eden just announced to Liberty that Liberty is 9 centimeters and almost ready to push. I am slightly disturbed, and yet... it's life. They also pretend to give epidurals. Eden was thrilled that the pin they found to use "doesn't even hurt because I'm so chubby". Oh, but I wish it worked that way. That's not life.

Coupon, anyone?

Oreo sent me a coupon for a free package of Oreos when I became a fan on their Facebook page. I redeemed my coupon today, and the kids enjoyed their very first Oreo. Pretty sure they've never had them before. Is that sad? But Eden took the cake - or the cookie, if you'd rather.

"Thanks for buying these cookies, Momma."

"I didn't buy them, honey. I had a coupon that made them free." (Never too soon to implement the money-saving values needed to survive in this world. And mentioning this also lets me remind them, when they want me to buy them again, that I didn't buy them and they are most definitely not in our budget.)

"Oh. Well, thanks for freeing them!"

Oreos: Independence achieved.

(And a side note, Liberty asked me if I could watch for a coupon for her that would make new doll clothes for Felicity free. She doesn't want a dollar off coupon though. Only free. Girl after my own heart.)

Here we go again.

I'm not certain I'm ready for the announcement, but it's hard to hide these days. Baby #5 is due in September. Judging from the way I've been feeling, everything is doing what it's supposed to. Judging from how I'm looking, I'm a lot further along than the 8 weeks that I really am. My muscles seem to have just given up, given in, and let everything go. At this rate, I'll be in maternity clothes long before I'm ready. The girls, on the other hand, are checking every day to see if my belly is growing - and it's seeming to oblige. Then I told them the baby is about the size of a kidney bean, and the wheels started turning. What else is making my belly so big right about now? A friend put it nicely. "You've got to give the baby some padding, so it'll be comfy." Padding, I've got.

Excited? Most definitely. It was a little easier being excited before I started feeling like I'm going to be sick at any moment. That's putting a damper on things. I'll get there though. The nausea is zapping my humor though. Sorry folks.

And so life goes...

Blaine's home. Life's back to "normal". My "old" friend's visit went well. So well, we'll see them again tonight for supper. It was so fun to "reminisce" on times past.

I got a comb stuck in my hair last night. Rephrase: I had nothing to do with it. Names withheld to protect the guilty, one comb cut into many pieces and two hours and waiting for Blaine to get home and help later, my hair is intact and the comb isn't. And one small child now knows that playing with Momma's hair with a comb means combing - not pretending the comb is a curling iron. That is, if said child ever gets to play with Momma's hair ever again. And no, there are no photos. I considered taking a photo of the comb in it's 25 pieces, but didn't. And I didn't consider taking a photo of the comb hanging from my head. Laugh with me, not at me. It's definitely funnier now that I know my hair is not the two inches long it looked like it might end up being when the comb was stuck. Blaine had threats of me finding my shotgun if he laughed. To his credit, he did not. Within earshot.

My washing machine has been down and out for 5 days now. The drain isn't draining and the laundry room floods. I do laundry every day. Things are getting rather slim for pickings right about now. I'm tempted to head to my children's drawers and see what's left - since it's not gone yet, they really don't need it right? Unless the washing machine drain stops draining, that is. Then clothing, any clean clothing, sounds golden.

Off to get my children presentable before supper. If I can find anything clean.