Howdy Folks

I haven't been updating as much lately. So sorry! Here are a bunch of stories to get caught up. :)

• We got a treadmill and of course since being on a treadmill without visual interest just is too boring, we got a tv to go with it. It is wonderful and in our garage and we have cancelled our gym membership because of it. Let's hope you can see visual proof soon that we use it!
• Jeff singing in bed: "Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. One for the master, one for the dame, one for the little boy who lives on the plane. Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags fulllllll." :)
• I am at 35 weeks with baby #2. Feeling pretty good and feeling ready. Hoping this baby doesn't want to stay in as long as Jeff did and that this baby won't be as large, but mainly just hoping for a healthy baby sometime soon!!
• One day we heard Marvie (one of our cats) meow and we knew Jeff was over by her. So Kirby said, "Jeff, did you hit the kitty?" and Jeff came around the corner and said, "No, I didn't hit Marvie. I was petting her...with my fist...and my muscles." And while he said this he was making a fist and using his other hand to point to his knuckles. I thought I might die laughing at that one.
• Jeff loves his pajamas. He wants to live in them and will try to convince you that they are the best thing to wear all the time. He'll say, "I don't need to take off my pajamas. I can just put on my shoes and my coat and that will be OK!" or "I CAN wear my pajamas to school. It will be OK!"
• Speaking of clothing, I can't believe that I am starting to buy 4T shirts for Jeff. 3T are just too short most the time now. So crazy. But he's still a lean long kid, so sometimes the 4T are too wide. I don't get how the sizes work.
• And maybe I shouldn't be surprised that he has to wear such a big size, the other day Jeff was playing at a playland and he met a kid that he started hanging out with for a while. I found out a little while later from the kid's mom that he will be 5 in June, and Jeff was taller than he was!!
• Jeff has been speaking for such a long time now, but obviously said many things in a way that probably only Kirb and I understood. He's now starting to fix so many of his words that it almost makes me sad. I miss the way he used to say things. My little guy is growing up so so fast! Some examples: "appa gink" is now "apple juice" : "seeping booty" is "Sleeping Beauty" : "peez" is "please" : "goggie" is "doggie." Jeff is very articulate and mostly answers questions or makes statements in complete sentences. He does not say his "r" correctly at all, so "Jefferson" sounds like "Jeff-o-son." I am sure he'll figure it out though. Many in my family talked like that when they were little, and they’re all just fine and crazy smart.  :) 
• Another thing he's learned recently are all of our full names, which is something he will also recite in bed: “Kirby (ko-bee) Robert (Wa-boat) Sand.”
• Jeff loves to sing. He makes up his own songs all the time. For example, I heard him one night before he fell asleep singing, "I can't have Diet Pepsi, because it has caffeine....but someday I can have Diet Pepsi...." and he made up his own little melody to go with "I love you....to the mooooon and back!" He loves hearing live music and recently when we were at the coast at a restaurant, he danced the entire time they were playing.  They thought he was so cute and the lead singer gave him a pick and everyone was coming up to us saying how entertaining he was.  If you listened, you could hear that he was just singing and making up his own melodies the whole time.  When they would finish a song, he would start clapping and then run up to me and ask, “Can they play another one, Mommy?”
• Jeff is excited about the baby coming.  Obviously he has no idea what the reality will be like, but it’s fun to hear him talking about how he will help.  He knows that he will be a part of helping the baby learn things like sitting up, singing, talking, etc. and that he will be able to help get diapers to change the baby, give the baby their “boo” (pacifier) if they are sad, hold the baby and make the baby laugh.  
• For a long time, Jeff was adamant that the baby was going to be a boy.  One memorable conversation at dinner I asked him if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl, and he said, “It’s going to be a boy, Mommy.” Then I asked, “Well, will you still be happy if the baby is a little girl?” And he responded, “Um, I don’t know. It’s not going to be a girl, Mommy.  It’s going to be. a. BOY!”  But, now in the last week he suddenly is saying the baby is going to be a little sister, and he calls her “_____ Baby” using one of the names that is on the top of the list.  I guess we’ll see!
• Oh and to explain the blank, we aren’t completely keeping our possible names a secret or something, but we also have a few names for girls and boys and want to wait and see what they are like before we decide and announce what they will be. :)
• I turned 30.  THIRTY.  Whoa.  :)  And my wonderful husband pulled off a GREAT surprise party for me on the Saturday beforehand.  I had been judging a solo voice contest in Eugene that day, and I got back and walked in the door to decorations and food and a bunch of friends and up on the tv screen and computer screens were my mom, my sister-in-law Jenny, and my brother Brent and sister-in-law Terra via Skype.  My cousins Miriam and Josh and their little boy Will even came down from Seattle. It was such a surprise, I had no idea.  Thanks Kirb!!! I love you.  I am sad that we didn’t take a single photo of the evening, but I guess we were just having too much fun.  :) 
• The day after the party, Kirby had to leave for Boston for work for two weeks.  He’s been gone a week and we are missing him.  Of course Jeff and I had to get nasty colds this week but we are surviving and look forward to him being home next Saturday.  We are mainly just hoping the baby doesn’t decide to come too early while he’s gone!  Anytime after that though, I’ll take!  :) 
• While he’s been gone I have been a bit of a freak with doing things. I don’t know if it’s that nesting thing, or just wanting to be sure that everything is ready, especially if things did happen earlier than we expect, but yeah, I’m crazy.  Last time when I was nearing the end of my pregnancy with Jeff I feel like I just mainly sat on my butt and watched Baby Story on TLC, and now this past week, even with the nasty cold and on top of work and taking care of everything totally on my own since Kirb is gone, I also decide I need to replace the living room curtains; get curtains for the kids room and put them up; deep clean our bedroom; go through my closet; get the baby swing, infant seat, infant toys, infant tub, and Boppy pillow cleaned and ready; reorganize the loft; move the big wooden cradle from our garage loft to our bedroom (yes, I know, I’m dumb. I shouldn’t be doing that) and washed and put in the bedding for it; buy a little girl and little boy outfit for the baby to come home in (we’ll see which one I have to take back!); and put together a little bag in case I have to go to the hospital.  And of course multiple loads of laundry and sweeping and mopping and vacuuming and cooking and playing and cuddling and teaching and watching the Olympics too.  :) Yeah, I am a freak.  What normal person would choose to DO all that when they could have been possibly resting? Oh well. 

Jeff with second cousin Will!  They play so well together, what sweet boys! 

Jeff helping clean the infant tub.  I can’t believe he used to fit in there!!!!!

Jeff swinging Doggie in the infant swing.