long post!

 The past month has been far too pleasant!  but Kent starts another nasty month tomorrow.  just in time for the holidays.  unfortunately when I'm pregnant I'm a gajillion times more emotional- so there could be some holiday tears :)  Luckily I've got some great friends here so I'm hoping to stave them off for the most part!

 I taught preschool a couple of weeks ago. kent was home. the weather was amazing.  The best conditions for teaching preschool!! 

we did some 'junior jungle safari hunting' in the backyard and played in leaves.

And last week we had a Thanksgiving party at our place.  Complete with American Indian head feathers and handprint turkeys.

oh, and a cornucopia (sugar cone) full of rainbow goldfish.  Ike will only eat the 'purple' ones.

We've been trying to get our Christmas shopping finished early- so with some of Kent's days off we hit Ikea, the amazing Cincinnati premium outlets (j.crew, gap, etc), and other spots.  

Something about retail and sales gets me so excited for Christmas :)  kent gets excited about the swedish meatballs. 

I found this bookshelf that I want to turn sideways and use as a table/shelf unit for our front room. Ikea has some of the greatest stuff. I was so excited. And then it wouldn't fit in our car.  luckily we figured that out before we bought it.  we really need a mini van already.  

I've been loving the gloomy weather that's come around this week- but I keep being disappointed when the rain doesn't turn into snow!  come on already!! I want snow!!  we've been wearing galoshes a lot- and just staying warm inside.  I love Ohio for it's assortment of weather.  I can't imagine living somewhere without the seasons.

Kent gave the rugrats haircuts last night and they look so much more handsome.  Zeb is TERRIBLE at getting his haircut. You'd think his hairs had nerve fibers attached to them.  The screaming is ridiculous!!  and the thrashing resulted in a few strange spots :) but he sure is cute. and grown up.

Zeb keeps talking about his little sister.  He's completely convinced that the fetus looked like it was wearing a skirt during the ultrasound so that means it's a girl.    He's also been asking all sorts of questions about how it's surviving in utero.  I told him that it lives in a sac of water connected to a cord inside a giant muscle.  Then I showed him these pictures from when Ike was born.  Both he and Ike were completely shocked.  Zeb sat with his mouth wide open. Ike said "I don't like that!".

 

Ike is still having poo problems.  Although with the amount of miralax, black beans, and quaker oat squares he's eating- I can't figure out how he's keeping it all in as long as he is! At least he isn't constipated at all anymore- just refusing to poo on the toilet.  Every three or so days- he asks for a diaper and goes.  He stays 100% dry otherwise. even all night.  We are going to try and get him pooing normally again (at least every other day) and then try to poo potty train. Zeb had NO problems with this- so I'm still trying to figure it all out.

Zeb loves taking pictures lately.  We even put out a bunch of plates of birdseed on the back deck to attract some birds so that he could try and take some pictures of them.  So far- no luck. Zeb doesn't think the birds know the birdseed is for them.  Kent suggested we make a sign.

Here's a picture zeb took of us this morning. We'd just returned from the gym.  I feel like I'm not all that talented when it comes to a lot- but I am quite the talented pregnant person.  I'm still teaching my bootcamp classes- and going to spin. I feel great.  Although I think I may have gotten heartburn the other night for a few minutes.  The only annoying thing is the rude (in my opinion) comments from other gym goers.  I don't mind the funny looks- but it is NEVER okay to comment on the large size of a pregnant person. NEVER.  One lady asked: "are you sure it isn't twins? because you are awfully big.".  I was shocked.  Not too shocked to tell her that what she said "was a very rude thing to say to a pregnant person", though.