One Lord's Day in April

There was just too much cuteness not to share!

 This was, as far as I can remember, the only time that Anna has Ever fallen asleep randomly like this.  Naps generally include a whole lot of work on my part, still.

big boy, helping clean up at the end of the day

Me, Fat and Flourishing

I am pregnant.  Very pregnant, according to some!  I figured I'd better get around to writing a good old 'pregnancy update' post before I run out of time :)

21 weeks

I am currently 35 and a half-ish weeks pregnant.  I'm feeling fine, just ... very pregnant!

I didn't have braxton hicks in the second trimester, which worried (maybe irked is a better word -- I have this unfounded notion that maybe lots of braxton hicks are what helped me have such easy deliveries) me somewhat, since with the other pregnancies they started quite early, about 4 months along.  But they started around 6 or 7 months, and are now a regular part of my day.  Particularly if I'm taking a walk (rare occurrence, I'm afraid), when they're almost constant.  When they first came I thought they were more intense than in other pregnancies, but that could've been my imagination.  Now they're reasonably ignorable.

This baby is more active than any of the others ... possibly.  My memory is generally horrible about such things :-P  He isn't constantly active, just strongly active when he is.

I've nicknamed him Quartus.

30 weeks

I'm not entirely sick of my maternity clothes yet, since my wardrobe fully doubled when Matthew was born and I got all of Susan's clothes.  New clothes are always fun!

About a month ago I met several random people convinced that I looked ready to pop in 2 weeks, not 2 months as I tried to tell them.  It was quite amusing.  Heather E. is still convinced that I won't make it more than another 2 weeks.  She's quite sure I'm bigger with this pregnancy than with the others, but again, my memory about such things is so horrible, I don't know whether she's right or not.  I've decided to visit the Dr. one more time before Quartus comes, so maybe she'll have some more accurate insight on the matter (this Friday, DV).

 I'm having heartburn this pregnancy, for the first time.  The only time it was really bad, though, was the night I had a large serving (or maybe two ... or three?!) of alfredo, then finished it off with fully half a pan of monkey bread.  Ooh, that was a good meal!!!  I spent half the night sleeping sitting up on the couch, though ...

today

I've gained 30 pounds so far.  One person told me that I've put on more non-baby weight during this pregnancy (which they intended as a compliment), so maybe all that monkey bread is catching up to me :)

My ribs get sore when I slouch, which I don't remember happening much in the other pregnancies, but as always I'm carrying him low, so he can't actually touch my ribs at all.

So that's what I'm up to (or should it be 'out to'?).  What did I forget to mention?

Jeff's Sprinter

Most of you have heard about Jeff's new Sprinter van, and I thought it was about time I finally shared a few pictures of the whole 'getting it ready to take to work' process.  He bought it at the very end of March, and took it to work for the first time May 9.

First off, the necessary comparison picture.  Look at all that extra head room!

Jeff (and Dad, who helped with - or did, in a few cases - almost every step on the way) put in insulation on the walls and ceiling, and rewired for different lighting in the back.  In this picture they already have the white paneling put up on the walls.

The kids, of course, enjoyed their new jungle gym ...

... and the guys all admired the engine :)

New flooring was laid

... with Nathan's overseeing

... paneling was put on the ceiling, and the new lights installed.

Custom shelving

"See how much we've gotten done!"  Good work, guys!  (Please take a moment to admire the end piece on the shelving.  It is nicely sanded and stained.)

The kids found a perfect hidey-spot ...

... and here's the zoomed out view of that!

Next (I'm sure I'm forgetting some major things they did, but anyway) was transferring all the parts.

Grumpa was a great help all day!

Where should this go?  Is this worth keeping?  What size bin buckets would work best here?  Should the F&P parts take up this shelf, or Dacor, or maybe all the misc. washing machine parts?  Etc, etc, etc ... 

Kate and Anna decided to be ladies of leisure, pull up their lawn chairs, and watch us work :)

Oh, and the van got duly 'christened' by the kids this day, too ... One of my daughters (old enough to know better!!) climbed in in the morning and promptly peed on the floor (whereupon Jeff was very glad he had chosen not to carpet it!) and Nathan door dinged it with the other van.  So now it was all ready to be put to work ;-)

That night we had an impromptu celebration/thank-you dinner for those involved.  Didn't get a good picture, but I figured the occasion called for a fancy dinner.

And the next day, Jeff went to work in it!  (Didn't get a better picture because the camera battery died just then)  We spent several more hours on it that weekend, moving a few more parts over from the old van and fine-tuning the organizing, and we still need to do a proper inventory, but the old van is now (a few visits to the mechanic later) ready to be sold, and the Sprinter is fully functional And saving a mint in fuel bills!  Very exciting :)  Hope you're all as thrilled as we are, ha!