WHERE DID APRIL GO?! We're already into the second week of May! This year just seems to be flying by. Time for another Joseph update. The little bug is doing well. He now has both middle bottom teeth, and is working on getting one of his top middle teeth out. This one really is hard work, poor little guy. The other two came in so quickly, that I didn't even realize that they were in until Joseph bit me...then I knew! This top one seems to be taking it's sweet time...I guess it is one of the bigger teeth (other than molars, of course...THAT'LL be fun >.<). He's also started to scoot places...it's pretty much an Army-crawl that he does: scoots around, pulling himself with his arms, dragging his tummy on the floor, and using his feet and legs a teeny bit.

Before anyone gets confused and/or worried, no, I'm not going to post about basketball. The madness part is my life right now. I had no idea what I was getting into when Joseph started getting more mobile. He's learned to roll over both from tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy...now he uses rolling as his main mode of transportation. I don't know how many times I've laid him down on his blanket in the living room, gone to do something, come back to check on him (usually after just a few minutes...if I have to be busy for longer than that, he goes into his jumper/exercise station thing), only to find him in a completely different part of the room. It's really going to be madness when the little tyke starts crawling.

Yes, it's February, and the faux paux is that I haven't posted anything since the beginning of January. Life's been a bit on the busy side. I think the next person who mentions my "just" being a stay-at-home mom "just" might get one in the kisser. It has taken me almost 6 months to start feeling like myself again...to start getting back in my routine. I actually thought about cleaning the house today. Notice I said thought, hahaha...yet I sit here typing. I've decided that I need to make a more concerted effort to do more around the house. Joseph has gotten to the point that he's a BIT more independent, so it might be easier. I think if I tackle one chore a day, I should be more successful than my old routine of attacking the whole house and cleaning until I'm exhausted.

So it's a new year...and I realize that I haven't posted anything since Joseph was a few weeks old...now he's almost 5 months old...it seems like time is just flying by! We stayed home to ring in the new year...I know, what party animals we are! I was woken up at midnight by firecrackers as well as gunshots going off...luckily, Joseph slept through the whole thing. That's one thing I have been ultra blessed with. That boy SLEEPS. He only wakes up once or twice in the night to be fed, and then he's (for the most part) back to sleep. He also takes several naps during the day, making it easier for me to get things done. What a blessing! We have spent the rest of January just plugging through our routine. It's gotten a bit easier, finding out that Joseph is lactose intolerant.

I thought I'd test out my mad skills of lounging back on the couch, Joseph propped up against my shoulder, and my computer balanced on my lap. I can actually type like this, lol. I wanted to get out a quick update on the happenings here. We are settling into some sort of a semblence of a routine. Joseph is growing each and every day. It is so hard to believe that the baby I carried inside of me for nine months is now just over 3 weeks old. One month old is just around the corner! The more I look at him, the more I see his daddy in him. He's got a few of my features, sure...but I think he is going to be his daddy's boy, which I am ecstatic about, because his daddy is a very handsome man!

I need to try to type this quickly, while Joseph is still sleeping :) I wanted to post this so that family and friends have the particulars of Joseph's birth. I had my last doctor's appointment on Friday, Sept. 2, where my doctor stripped my membranes (sorry if that's too much TMI). Paul and I then went to Target to get a few last minute things, when I got a call from my doctor's nurse, saying they thought that my doctor might have inadvertently broken my water (so THAT's what that small gush was), and that if I felt like I was leaking (again, sorry...) to go into the hospital. I was a bit, but it wasn't too bad. Then contractions started coming...and started getting closer together and more consistent.

Well, I've reached 36 weeks. Only 4 weeks left! Highs and lows so far: Getting to watch my stomach become a jungle gym. A couple of nights ago he was literally moving completely from one side to the other, so my stomach was either really big on the left, or on the right. It was pretty entertaining, lol. Another high: I still feel really good. I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I have had a really uneventful pregnancy so far (the only thing that I had a hard time with was when I was so sick during my first trimester). I know that there are 4 weeks to go, so I hope that I can make it that far without any complications.

Once again, I win the worst blogger award...lol...apparently it's been about two months since my last post. I have been super busy ending the school year, dealing with my ever-growing baby-belly, and trying to rest up while I can. So here is what week 30 has laid out for me. I have reached the point where I can't just roll over in my sleep. I have to shift from one side to my back (dragging my body pillow with me, of course) and then shift from my back to my other side. By this time, I am completely awake, and so is Joseph, so it takes a while to get back to sleep. I love feeling the kicks and nudges, but now he is getting big enough that sometimes it really hurts!

It's hard to believe that I am past the hald-way point of this pregnancy! Here are the lows and highs: I am having a hard time sleeping. I am SO not a side sleeper. I am a stomach sleeper through and through. I have a body pillow that I try to curl around, which helps a lot, but I still inevitably wake up with a sore hip (either left or right, whichever side I ended up sleeping on the most). Plus, it's hard for me to STAY on my side. I will end up on my back sometimes, which might not sound like a big deal, but one time I woke up, on my back, with the bottom half of my right leg all tingly. Now I know what they mean when they say the baby will end up pressing down on certain arteries if the mom sleeps on her back. Yikes!

A couple of days ago one of the kids at school said the cutest thing. There was a class in the library, and a couple of students noticed that the wallpaper on Paul's computer was one of the sonogram pictures (the one where the baby is sucking his thumb). One student asked the other, "How come the baby already knows how to suck his thumb?" Before the teacher could interject (explaining that it's a reflex-type of thing), the second student answered, "He can do that because he's smart, like Mr. Darr!" The teacher told me this story at lunch, and it just made me laugh. The way kids' brains work just boggles my mind. I had to write it down before I forgot.