35 weeks and counting. I like to think that once Sunday comes I am practically a week ahead...so today I start telling people I'm 36 weeks. If that makes any sense. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday...and then I will have one again on next Monday. Since tomorrow is Memorial Day I had to change the day of the week for my appointment. It will seem needless to go to the doctor twice within 5 days, but my doctor leaves the middle of next week, so I don't really have much of a choice. I think the reality of Charley's impending arrival is finally starting to sink in. I was induced with Matthias at 37 1/2 weeks because I was already almost 5 cm dilated and the doctor was concerned about me going into labor during the day while Jon was at work since he works close to an hour from home. More importantly, my doctor was concerned because labor with Justus was only 8 hours and he didn't want me to be extremely uncomfortable at home by myself. All that to say....we could have our baby girl in 2 weeks!! Of course, it isn't as likely that I will be induced as early this time, but it is a possibility. Anyways, I'm still feeling really great, although it is starting to get pretty warm. I'm in the process of sanding Justus' old crib...a project I thought would be super easy, but has actually been very time consuming. We are going to put a clear coat on it once it is done being sanded, which will hopefully be in the next few days. Once we get that done we are going to transition Matthias back into the same room as Justus...being praying for us on that one! Next will be decorating the nursery. I need to get some sheets for her crib and then we will paint the walls. I'm thinking I'm going to paint the room a light brown with a pink horizontal stripe towards the top. The quilt I will hopefully get finished before Charley arrives is pink and brown polkadots. I just love pink and brown together...it reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream...yum!

Other than that...we are actually spending time in Springfield this weekend, which has been a lot of fun. Everyone is taking a nap right now though, and I'm not much of a nap taker. Jon's sister threw their dad a surprise 60th birthday party yesterday, and all of Jon's family is here, so we decided we would stay up here since we don't get to see everyone all that often. The boys have loved playing with everyone and getting lots of attention, and we have enjoyed visiting with everyone. We are heading back home this afternoon sometime.

Justus and Matthias are doing well. They got to play outside yesterday all afternoon, which they absolutely loved! Sarah's yard is fenced in, so they pretty much could run and play where ever they wanted. No new developments with either of them. Matthias is sleeping much better. Justus has been eating really well also. He even ate an apple yesterday, which was so surprising to me. He loved it!! He must be going through a growth spurt because he's been eating a ton and taking really long naps.

Nothing else is really going on. I really need to post some recent pictures. Maybe I will do that when we get back home.

So I'm thinking that Justus is about ready to start potty training. He will often tell me when he has to go "stinky"...but refuses to sit on the potty. I think it might be scary to him, but I'm not sure. He also is aware of when he is going and gets embarrassed if I ask him if he is going potty. He also has started doing a little dance if he is trying to hold it. I just really don't know where to go from this point...I'm not sure I'm ready to potty train considering I'm a few weeks away from giving birth. Maybe once the baby is born and I'm confined to the house for a couple of weeks we will start the process then. I think I may have to do a little research. Any tips or tricks would be much appreciated!

It's been a pretty good week so far. Nothing too eventful, but I kind of like it that way. The boys and I have gotten to spend a little time outside almost every day. I don't know if we will make it out today since the ground is a little wet, and our lawnmower is broken, which means our grass is getting a little taller than I would like. Hopefully the boys will be content with staying in this afternoon. Anyways...I decided yesterday to add a few pictures back into the living room, which I was very excited about. Sounds like a silly thing to be excited about, but I have hated not having any personal pictures up. I spent some of the boys nap time picking out a few of my favorites. I think it looks good without being too overwhelming. It makes me feel more at home to have a few pictures back up. We have a pretty eventful weekend planned, which should be fun. Saturday we are dropping the boys off with my parents for the night and going to a BBQ with some of our college friends and then Sunday we are treating Uncle Tom to lunch since he will be leaving in just a few short weeks.

The boys are doing good. Justus is talking more and more in short sentences...even though some of them are still pretty hard to understand. He is also getting so much better at listening and helping me when I need it. If I drop something and ask him to pick it up for me he usually will and if my phone rings and I'm in a different room he will bring it to me...he will even shut the TV or lights off when we are getting ready to go "bye bye". It's kind of nice because I know in the next couple of months those things (which seem so small right now) will really help me out.

Matthias has been a little on the cranky side the past couple of weeks, and rather sleepy too. He is waking up earlier than normal...usually between 6 and 6:30. He usually wakes up at least once in the middle of the night as well. He is taking good naps though, which I'm assuming is because he is pretty wiped out. I'm not sure if his teeth are bothering him or if he is going through a growth spurt, but hopefully it will pass soon. Matthias has also been getting nose bleeds about once a week for the past few weeks. It started out as just dried blood in his nose, but now he has actually gotten a bloody nose a couple of times, and usually while he is sleeping. I'm thinking I may need to dig the humidifier out and see if that helps.

I had my 34 week appointment on Monday, and it went well. I have an appointment in two weeks and every week after that. My doctor will be out of town the 4th-11th, which makes me pretty nervous, but I don't think it will be an issue. Right now I'm really torn between asking to be induced and just allowing things to happen naturally. I've been induced with both boys, which was really nice to be able to plan for the delivery. I'm also concerned that since Jon works close to an hour from home and my labor going pretty quickly with the boys that it will be an issue making it to the hospital before I get extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention having to deal with labor for an hour while also trying to take care of two boys. It just all makes me nervous. I'll probably just talk to my doctor about my concerns at my next appointment. In the next couple of weeks I will probably pack a couple bags for if/when I go into labor...one for the boys and one for Jon and I. It's so weird that we are getting to that point!

We've had a fairly productive week, and we had a great weekend as well. Saturday Jon and I dropped our boys off with my parents for the evening. We enjoyed going out to dinner and catching the new X Men movie...which I highly recommend. Sunday morning we decided to head over into Missouri to go to church with some of our friends and then got to enjoy lunch with them afterwards as well. Monday we had Charter come out and move our computer out into the living room so that we could fully devote our third (and smallest) bedroom to a nursery, which for the moment is being occupied by Matthias. We plan on transitioning Matthias back into the other bedroom with Justus once Charley arrives. I'm looking forward to turning the third bedroom into a little girl's room. Anyways...moving the computer into the living room meant we had to rearrange a few things, which took some time deciding where everything was going to go without it looking cluttered. Yesterday was a pretty normal day. The boys and I got to spend some time outside, which I think they loved! Jon is working a concert tonight, which has made for a pretty long day.

The boys are doing great...not too much to report with either of them. Matthias has officially cut all of his teeth. The only bad part is that he is now dealing with 4 canines and 4 molars working their way in...poor little guy. They don't seem to be bothering him quite as much though now that they have all broken through his gums though.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I go to the doctor again on Monday. It's hard to believe that I only have about 7 weeks left. I really have nothing to complain about. I'm still feeling really good...the occasional heartburn, but it's nothing too horrible. Jon and I have to go in for a pre-admin/epidural consultation on June 1st. I'm not 100% sure that I am going to get an epidural, but just in case I'm going to the consultation. I haven't had the greatest experience with having an epidural, so I'm not sure if I want to go through the trouble...last time I only had the epidural for 20-30 minutes before Matthias arrived, and it hadn't even fully taken effect. I guess we'll see what happens.

I'm not sure what he is saying, but it looks like it's a good story to me.

My big boy being silly.

I just love this picture for some reason. I love Matthias' smirk, the yellow wall with his green shirt and white crib, and how he's reaching to get out.

He was actually sitting still and smiled for me. He doesn't do that very often.