Score - Boys 4:Girls 3

The score is in.  We will be adding a BOY to our family in June.  We couldn't be more excited with the news.  The kids were not a bit surprised.  They were confident that the boy, girl pattern would continue so they never even questioned the gender.  Josh and I talked about it the night before finding out and couldn't even really come up with a gender preference.  I know it sounds cliche, but I was just looking for a healthy baby.  I did have a girl name that I really wanted to use (Emma after my grandma), but there was no real reason to prefer a girl.  Now that we know that we are having a boy we are really happy about it.  Based on the boy girl ratio of our neighborhood I am coming to the conclusion that heaven is running out of girls.

We do have one problem, no name.  We had decided that if Ali were a boy we would have named him Gregory (my Grandmas maiden name and my dad's middle name), but this time that name isn't settling.  When we were trying to come up with a name for Caleb we really liked Ben or Benjamin from the Book of Mormon.  This time Josh is thinking he would like a J name.  I think he feels left out since everyone in the family has someone with an alliteration except him.  We have talked about Jay or Jason (Josh's great step grandpa was Jay, but I don't think he was a great guy.)  Today I am thinking maybe John (from the New Testament as well as a great grandpa of mine who was an incredible person and for whom we have a detailed history).  The trick is that all of our kids have very special and significant names for both their first and middle names.  I want this baby to have a special name too, not just something that we like or a trendy name.

Finding out that we were having a boy seemed obvious since I have been so sick.  My girl pregnancy's were significantly healthier than my boy's.  I guess that is a personal price I have to pay to get these little missionaries to earth.  I will be glad when June comes!  My health has dramatically improved, and I am so grateful for every moment that I don't feel sick.  I am 21 weeks today.  This is as good as it gets for me.  I'm not too big and I'm not too sick.  I am only throwing up about every other day and not feeling sick all of the time.  I have even been doing a little house work and some cooking.  I am still busy crocheting beards.  It is a great way to pass time sitting around, yet still feeling busy and productive.  It makes me feel less guilty about paying someone to clean my house.  My outings are usually associated with sharing Essential Oils.  I am having a wonderful experience teaching people about natural alternatives for health care.  I think it is a wonderful tool, when not taken to an extreme, a tool that most people in our culture are missing.  I have been so grateful for it this winter!

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged since Christmas.  Our lives are very routine right now.  Caleb and Cara leave for school at 8:20 AM.  I try to get up at 7:45, but usually drag myself out of bed closer to 8.  Luckily they can get ready really fast.  I try to enjoy some time with Andy and Ali in the mornings before Cara get's home from school at about 12:30.  Andy has Joy School on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he is disappointed every other morning when he doesn't get to go to school.  Andy and Ali love to play, but they do watch too much Play House Disney online.  Andy loves Mickey Mouse and Cars and Ali really likes a Strawberry Shortcake movie we have.  Sometimes Andy tells me he is "sick" when he is watching TV and what he really means is that he is sick of watching Ali's girl shows.  We don't have official TV, but we don't need one for the kids to get too much screen time online.  I have to remind myself that I will be a better mom when I am not preggo.

Caleb is doing really well in school.  He is one of the top readers in his class.  Unfortunately he gives me a really hard time about doing jobs (aka homework) at home.  He brings procrastination to a whole new level.  Why can't he just comply and do his responsibilities?  Caleb's big news is that he got glasses in January.  I received a note from the school district that he did not pass a vision screening at school and that he needed a full eye exam.  I hadn't noticed that he had trouble seeing so I put it off, thinking there wasn't really a problem.  When I took him in I really thought he had forgotten his alphabet.  I kept telling him that if he couldn't remember a letter to just say "I can't remember that one".  Once the print got big enough he "remembered" his alphabet perfectly.  He was in great need of glasses to see at a distance.  I could have gotten him glasses for about $100 for the frames as Sams Club.  Being the bargain shopper that I am I got him three pair and myself one (a total of 4 pair) including the lenses and shipping for $60 at Zenni Optical a site I have been using to get mine an Josh's glasses.  It is awesome!  He loves his glasses! These are the ones he wares most days.

He has designated these camouflage/safety glasses as his favorites, but luckily he has decided that he will just ware them to Grandma Iva's.

Cara's big news is that she has her first loose tooth.  The first day that it was loose she wanted to go to our friend and neighbor, Tonya's, house to get it pulled.  Tonya pulls all of Caleb's teeth and not only does she perform the service but she also gives him a dollar and some candy for every tooth.  It is an awesome way to double dip on the tooth payout.  Cara makes her tooth bleed almost every day trying to get it looser.  She is ready to join the ranks of Kindergardeners with missing teeth.

Ali has been begging me to potty train her, but it is a task that I am not up to.  She asks to go potty many times a day and goes whenever I take the time to put her on the pot.  I hope I am not missing a golden window.  I have put her in under ware a few times, but as soon as she has an accident back to the dippers I go.  I'm thinking I would like her to just potty train herself!  For your entertainment here is a sample of her morning bed head.