Rain, rain go away! It's turning into such a blah week. It's actually not raining today...at least not yet, but our yard is a jungle. Oh well...hopefully next week will be a little nicer out so that the boys and I can venture outside a little more. The boys I think are in need of some fresh air. Normally when it is nice outside the boys get to go outside in the morning when we go to the Y and then again in the afternoon for a little while...until Matthias decides he wants to run into the street...that's usually our cue to head inside.

Things are going great with the boys though. I think Justus has just gone through a growth spurt because he seems a lot taller. We are going to try to buy him some pants for next winter at some garage sales, but I'm not even sure what size we should get him. I'm scared that 3T may be too small by winter. I think we actually have some 4T pants...somewhere, so I guess we will have to try them on him soon to see how they fit. Other than that Justus is doing great. Things have been going pretty smoothly since he has started being a better listener. He's not pushing as much...or really that often, and he will share when we ask him to. Not to say he doesn't still have his moments.

Matthias' two canine teeth finally popped through his gums this week. Now they just have to work the rest of the way out. I'm just glad that he only has two more teeth to cut before getting a little break...one canine and one molar. In other Matthias news...we have been noticing lately how many things Matthias picks up from Justus. He calls our cat "bees", he makes this funny noise when he wants a drink...kind of like he is sucking a straw, when he wants a bite he gets in your face and pants...the list goes on. It's just so funny how he has started copying Justus though. One thing Matthias has also started doing is throwing fits when he gets frustrated or doesn't get his way. I guess it's a sign that the terrible two's are coming. He will throw things and smack the ground or wall when he gets mad. The good thing is we know it will pass eventually.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. Only 8 weeks left!! That seems pretty crazy. I start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now until 36 weeks, which is when I switch to weekly visits. I think we are possibly going to talk to the doctor about me being induced again since it will make childcare arrangements a little easier, but we are going to wait to see how things progress. With Matthias I was induced because I was already between 4-5 cm dilated at 37 weeks, and since labor with Justus was rather quick the doctor wanted to make sure I didn't deliver Matthias at home. I guess the same sort of thing could happen...we'll just have to wait and see. I'm still feeling really great...nothing to complain about except for the occasional heartburn, but it hasn't been that bad. I'm thankful that it hasn't been too hot out...and I'm hoping it stays that way for the next few weeks.

I will try to post some pictures within the next few days, so check back!

It's finally feeling like spring! We are super excited that the weather has finally started to feel more like spring. The boys love being outside, and Jon and I both enjoy being able to take them into the backyard to burn up some of their energy. Hopefully we will plan a trip to the zoo sometime soon, or some other fun outdoor activity.

Justus is continuing to learn more and more. We are still working on his colors and alphabet. He is a little stubborn and doesn't like to repeat things, so it's hard to know if he is catching on to the alphabet or colors. I guess no matter what he will get there eventually. His vocabulary continues to grow and he is able to put quite a few little sentences together. He is listening to me much better during the day...even though he still has his moments. We are still working on teaching him about the potty. It seems like he is starting to understand, but doesn't like to sit on the potty when he thinks he might have to actually go. He will come up to me and say "stinky", which I'm thinking means he has to go because a lot of times he isn't really stinky, but he usually is within 30 minutes or so. I try to get him to sit on the potty when he tells me that, but he won't let me take his pants or his diaper off. I guess at least it seems like a step in the right direction since he seems to be starting to understand when he has to go potty.

Matthias is getting so big. I'm just amazed at how tall he is getting. He is learning more and more words, which is kind of nice. He is becoming more independent and is getting better at holding hands and walking on his own. Up until a couple of weeks ago he would fight me if I wanted him to hold my hand, but now he will usually let me and will walk beside me instead of trying to get away. This is so comforting since in a couple of months I won't be able to carry him. I'm thinking though I may have to start using the double stroller a little more...even for short trips into the Y or the doctor's office or places like that. One of Matthias' canine teeth finally broke through this week. I'm hoping this means the end of teething is in sight. Two of the other ones should be popping through anytime. Matthias has been pretty sleepy lately, so I'm wondering if he is going through a growth spurt. He sleeps well at night and takes good naps, but seems to be tired way before bedtime. We have been trying to keep him up, but sometimes he is just too cranky to fight with.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I'm feeling really good, although I can tell that I am pregnant. I'm not sleeping as well and I get worn out pretty easily. I think it's chasing after two toddlers! My next doctor's appointment is next week and then I will go every two weeks after that. I never heard from the doctor's office about my glucose screening, which means it came back normal. I'm very thankful for that because the long test is no fun. In the next few weeks we will have to go in for our pre-admittance appointment, which just doesn't seem right. June feels so far away, but it's not at all. We are done clothes shopping for Charley now, which is kind of a relief. We still need to get bibs, socks and pacifiers, but those things are pretty cheap and easy to come by. Hopefully I will be able to finish Charley's quilt in the next few weeks. Jon and I have to go pick out the fabric to finish it.

We are still trying to sell our house, and have had a few people who have said they were interested, but still no offers on the table. We were hoping to have the house sold before Charley arrived, but it's looking like we probably won't be moving before she is born unless we get an offer within the next couple of weeks since closing usually takes close to a month. Hopefully the warmer weather will bring more people out to look at the house. It's such a weird market right now that it is so hard to say what will happen. We are in no rush to sell and are being patient.

Lots of Pictures!

I think Matthias looks a lot like Justus in this picture. What do you think?

Me at 27 weeks. I feel like my belly has gotten even bigger since then. I'm 30 weeks now. Only 10 weeks to go!!

Justus being cute.

The boys with Grandma K.

This is Justus' favorite movie. He refers to it as "donkey".

My preppy little boy.

Matthias somehow got Justus' sucker and was chasing Neifi around trying to hit him with the suckers. Matthias thought it was hilarious!

Charley's closet. We have bought very few things in here...most of it has been given to us, and the things we have bought we have spent less than $20.

Matthias is getting pretty good at using the spoon.

This was my little project. The dresser was pretty rough...it had been Jon's when he was a boy, so it had seen better days. I think it looks pretty good now though.

Sorry I've been absent for the past two weeks. All my free time has been spent backing our pictures up online. Jon and I both fear losing all of them if our computer were to crash, and so I finally got to putting them online. I don't know why I hadn't done it before, but that's okay...it's done now. We haven't really been that busy other than that though. We do have a busy weekend planned, but that's life I suppose.

So Justus has somewhat gotten over his clingy phase, which is very nice. He still will be clingy with me when I drop him off at the Y, but it's not everyday anymore...more like once a week, which I can handle. He has been very good lately, which gives me hope for actually being able to go out during the day with three small children. He has been listening much better and has been doing well with not pushing Matthias and with sharing. I'm hoping that we are turning a corner. He is talking much more...although he doesn't enunciate very well sometimes. I will probably ask the doctor about that if it doesn't get any better. He is able to put little phrases together, which will hopefully lead to short sentences soon.

Matthias is teething once again, so the past couple of days have been pretty rough. His canine teeth are all coming in and the top two are so close to breaking the gumline. He is also dealing with three of his molars pushing the rest of the way through. He's been taking ibuprofen the past couple of days, but he still is pretty cranky and will wake up several times in the middle of the night. I'm looking forward to him being done with cutting teeth! On Friday of last week Matthias went in for his 15/18 month check up. I totally forgot that he needed to go at 15 months, so we just combined the two. I didn't write down the exact numbers because his little book got wet in the diaper bag from a babywipe, so I will have to write them down next time we go, but I do know that he was in the 75th percentile on height, weight, and head circumference.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I'll be 29 weeks tomorrow...only 11 weeks to go...but hopefully more like 9 : ). I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, which went well. I had my glucose test done, so hopefully that will come back okay. I go back in 3 weeks...and then every two weeks after that. Charley is a mover and is getting bigger, so I can definitely see her moving around. She even wakes me up sometimes in the morning with her daily aerobic routine. We are still working on the winter wardrobe. We haven't really made it to many garage sales yet, but we will hopefully get that taken care of within the next few weeks. Even if we don't she is set for the summer months.

I will have to post pictures soon...I have to upload some from our camera, which I haven't done because I've been so busy upload pictures to shutterfly. I'll try to work on that in the next couple of days.

It was a busy week last week. Jon worked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Scottrade. He was gone until well after the boys bedtime each night. It made for a long weekend since the boys and I didn't get to see him very much at all. We were glad when the event was over. The rest of the week went pretty well though.

So we think that Justus is going through some sort of separation anxiety. At first he was only throwing a fit when I would drop him off in the children's center at the Y, but Sunday at church he did the same thing with Jon. We have no idea what is causing this, but we are definitely looking forward to it being over. Other than that though he has been doing really well. Time outs seem to be helping. He seems to be able to grasp the concept of time out...along with being sent to his room and spankings, which are usually only given after he has been put in time out for the same thing a couple times. It seems he gets smarter every day, and remembers things that we don't even remember. His vocabulary is getting bigger every day as well. One of his new developments is acting like a cat. I don't know where it came from, but he will get down and crawl around and "meow". It's pretty funny and I should probably get a video of him doing before the phase passes.

Matthias is doing well also. I totally missed his 15 month check-up, so we are headed to the doctor next week to combine his 15 and 18 month check-ups. Can you believe he is almost 18 months old!?! I sure can't. He is getting so big, and sometimes I forget how big he really is. I always think of him as little since he is smaller than Justus. He is able to reach things that I don't think he should be able to, fit into clothes that I think shouldn't fit him, and talk more than I think he should be able.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. Charley is getting big and I can feel her kicks/punches/wiggles ALL the time. She is a mover...that's for sure. I will be 28 weeks on Wednesday next week. 28 weeks is such a huge sigh of relief since most babies born after that point survive with little to no lifelong effects on their health. I have a doctor's appoint April 6th and after that I start going every two weeks. I know that will make the time fly even faster. We have most of her wardrobe taken care of...except for winter clothes, which we are going to work on over the next few weeks. We also need to get receiving blankets, burp rags, sheets, and that sort of thing. Almost everything we have like that is very blue. We aren't too worried about it and we can use the blue if we need to, but of course I would rather not! I have also been a bow making machine. One of my friends taught me how to make bows last week, and so I have been hard at work making bows ever since. I was lucky enough to learn how to make bows the same week that Hobby Lobby was having a sale on all of their ribbon. Charley has a pretty good collection going.

Anyways...I finally added some pictures. Hope you enjoy!!

Charley's quilt...at least the front of it.

Matthias was so proud that he got the bowl of mac n cheese off the table.

Justus was rockin' out with his dad's iPod.

The boys having fun playing together...this is rare.

The new paint color in the boys room.

What a roller coaster of a week! As many of you know Jon and I attend First Baptist Church Maryville and were present during the service in which our pastor was shot and killed. We are doing well, but the week has had it's fill of emotions. Please continue to pray for the Winters' family, our church family, and the shooter. We know that God is in control of all things and trust His plan.

Sorry to start this entry on not so happy news, so moving on to something that is happier. The boys are doing great! Justus is getting so big and is learning more and more everyday. He is starting to recognize more things and remember them also...including people that he doesn't see on a regular basis. It's amazing to see how much he remembers. It seems that lately Justus has been a little more clingy with me. I'm not sure what the cause is, but he definitely hates when I leave him at the YMCA or at the nursery. He has been clinging to me when I go to leave and starts to cry. I don't know if he sees his brother getting picked up all the time and wants the same or if it is something else. At home he has been pretty good. Time out seems to be working a little, but I still don't think he fully gets it even though we try to explain it to him.

Matthias seems to be getting bigger...maybe going through a growth spurt. He is getting so tall. I can't believe he is almost 17 months old. Where has the time gone!?! He is becoming a little more independent, which is kind of nice in a way. He is starting to like to walk when we get out of the car. He isn't very good at holding hands yet though, so we are working on that. He just likes running around like a wild man : ).

The pregnancy is going well. I feel as though my belly has really "popped" in the past few weeks. I actually am starting to look pregnant rather than like I just gained weight. Charley is getting stronger and I can see her moving around now pretty easily at times. Jon and I didn't make it to any garage sales this weekend, but we know there will be plenty of them for us to choose from in the coming weeks.

This weekend was a pretty busy one. The boys went to my parents house Saturday and stayed the night. Jon and I got to paint the boys room and organize/clean out our storage shed. The boys room turned out really well. It's a light blue, but it is pretty vibrant. We thought it would be much lighter than it is, but we really like it. We ended up getting rid of quite a bit out of the shed and it felt great to get it all organized. We are planning on having a garage sale in the next few weeks so that we can clean it out even more.

I really need to post some pictures. Hopefully I will have time to do that sometime this week.

Life has been pretty busy lately. I think maybe the pregnancy is starting to catch up with. I just feel busy all the time and as if I am doing way more than i actually am...if that makes sense. Things are good though...no complaints!!

We have a pretty calm week ahead, and next Saturday the boys are staying with Mimi and PaPa so that Jon and I can re-paint the boys room. Justus has been picking at the wallpaper border and it was looking very rough. Jon and I decided that we had better just take it down...not only because we didn't like the looks of it, but we figured potential buyers would just see it as a task that needed to be done...and the fewer of those we have the better!! So I took the border down this week, which went very quickly and was very easy. We are planning on picking out a paint color and painting it on Saturday while the boys are gone and letting it air out over night. We are planning on cleaning out our shed on Saturday while the boys are gone as well. We are going to have a garage sale in the next few weeks and want to prepare for that, but the shed is also in need of some major organization. It will be a busy Saturday, but we will get lots of things done that we have been putting off.

Anyways...the boys are doing great. Justus is doing pretty good. He is really starting to hit that independent/terrible two stage. He has been pushing his brother a lot, and will throw fits when he doesn't get his way...screams and tears included. He has even gotten put in time out at the YMCA a few times. We know he is probably just testing his boundaries, but it is so frustrating because nothing we do seems to help him not to do those things. Time out has been helping a little bit, but even though we explain to him what he did and that he's not to do it again...he does it again. Oh, well...it will hopefully pass.........eventually. Another new development of Justus'...sleeping with the light on. I don't know if he is scared of the dark or what it is, but we will put him to bed and he will get up and turn the light on and fall asleep. We were going back in and shutting the light off, but he would just get up at some point (in the middle of the night) and turn it back on. I would also shut it off if I got up in the middle of the night and noticed it back on, but Jon said it was usually back on when he got up in the morning. We decided that if he turns it back on to just leave it on. Since we stopped shutting it off he seems to be sleeping better. We want to put some sort of night light in his room, but we fear that he will mess with it since the two outlets in the room are exposed. Other than that...Justus has been doing really well. He is well behaved most of the time and loves being silly.

Matthias is doing well also. He is a little chatter box most of the time, which I just think is adorable. He has a pretty good vocabulary now, and can get his point across with words and pointing. We have discovered that Matthias loves to be outside...and is a little explorer. Justus would usually stick pretty close to us in the yard and not wander away...but Matthias is just the opposite. We have to keep our eyes on him at all times otherwise he will wander off...and usually head straight for the front yard and then out into the road. He really loves the road for some odd reason, which makes me very nervous. Yesterday I was picking up some sticks in the yard when I realized Matthias was in the ditch and heading toward the road. He is completely trusting and fearless all at the same time.

The pregnancy is going well. Charley is getting bigger and stronger every day it seems. She is a mover...that's for sure. She is pretty active all the time. We had our doctor's appointment Thursday...with an ultrasound. She is close to 2 lbs. now and is doing really well. My next appointment is the beginning of April. I have to get my glucose screening done at that appointment, so hopefully that will come back fine. Today Jon and I went to a big garage sale at the high school in Edwardsville. We got a ton of clothes for $8!! We came in about 30 minutes before it ended and cleaned up at one table. They let us fill up two tote bags for $5. I think we are pretty set as far as summer clothes go...now we just have to work on fall/winter clothes. I also need to figure out how to make some bows to go with her new clothes!!

Nothing else is really going on. We are super excited that the weather is getting nicer and that we can get out of the house a little bit!! I'm glad the boys love running around outside...they have no idea how much energy they are burning!!