This Week at Our House # 4

Ruth, Kate, and I made these delicious homemade eclairs

1. John has been working side by side with me on the political stuff. He has also picked up a lot of slack as this pregnancy leaves me extremely fatigued in the evenings. He has been washing dishes and making dinner about every other night. I am so grateful for his help.
2. I spent a lot of time this week helping to prepare for the UT marriage rally. I've been to 2 meetings, have spent quite a bit of time trying to spread the word, and influence people to attend or help in whatever way they are comfortable.
3. Ruth got her driving permit this week. She really needs time to practice in a large empty parking lot. She's not ready to hit the road, but neither was I my first few hours driving. 
4. Kate had the science fair on Thursday. She also had an additional science project that she enjoyed doing with the people who came to see the science fair. Kate's very studious, and very annoyed with how much work it takes to be studious.
5. I told my kids that I would ease up on my media restrictions if they kept their rooms clean and their beds made. Johnny and Adam have gone from having an extremely messy room to one of the cleanest rooms in the house.
6. Adam kept his room cleaned and faithfully made his bed everyday this week. I am still not sure the extra video game time is worth it, though.
7. Rachel is often quiet in the car while I drive her to school. If I try and get her to chat, she'll either talk too quietly to hear over the sounds of the motor, or just get annoyed. A few days ago, while trying to engage her in conversation, I remembered that she had been telling me a lot about a boy named Logan. I asked Rachel if she wanted to marry Logan. She perked up and said, "No way!" Her reason surprised me. Rachel said she could not marry Logan because Logan has blonde hair, and while blonde hair looks good on little boys, it looks bad on grown up boys. She said that she had to marry someone with brown hair. 
8. Ugh... Anya, my little kindergartener now has math homework three days a week. She is doing the same math as Rachel is doing in second grade. I think she needs more playtime, and less busy work time. I hate homework!
9. Joseph and I enjoyed doing puzzles together, making cookies, and playing memory. It may be hard to make him sit down with me to play, but he is so much happier when I do.
10. Potty training Josh is going to take a long time. I can just tell. He just does not care if he walks around in wet pants. I suspect it is going to be a good 3 to 4 months before he starts caring. Kate took 4 months, and Johnny took 3 months. All of my other kids took between 2 days and 2 weeks. I thought that maybe I had started Kate and Johnny too early, but now I am thinking it is just personality. Josh is already 3 and the latest of all of my kids to potty train. I have been feeling fairly patient about the mess, so I think I will stick to it and hopefully get him independent before the baby comes.
11. Arwen's just cute. We all love to watch her play. 
12. I didn't feel this baby move for three full days this week, and was feeling pretty nervous about that. I didn't really know what to do at this early point in the pregnancy, so I just did nothing. Over the last two days, I have been feeling the baby move plenty again. I have the ultrasound on Saturday. It will be a nice relief to see the baby moving around. I look forward to when it gets a little bigger and I really know when the baby moves and when it doesn't.

This Week's Pictures

Josh's picture of a truck

Rachel's fairy

Anya's Fairy

Joseph's Fish

Rachel's Picture of Adam as Dr. Who

Adam's picture of Rachel