How are you feeling?

That is the most common question I've been asked these past few weeks now that I can't hide the baby in my belly anymore. The second comment I've gotten is "Wow, you are sure blossoming." That's a nice way so say I'm getting fat. LOL.
I really don't know how to answer the question. I'm not sick like I was, but I'm certainly not feeling WONDERFUL! I guess I can't complain too much. I just have the usual aches and pains of being 5.5 months pregnant. I just keep telling myself that I never have to feel this way again. This is it. When I voice that of course I have those naysayers who ask me if I'm sure. Umm. . . yeah, I'm sure. I doubt I can go through this again even if I wanted to which I don't.
Perhaps my greatest wish is to regain my patience. I have a low patience and tolerance level when I'm in pain. Not that I'm in horrific pain - just that subtle, I'm not comfortable constant pain that leaves me with little energy to deal with too much especially anything that requires me to lift, bend or walk very far or fast. This too shall pass. Someday I'll be super mom again.
I must say though the kids were better behaved at church today than they have been in a while. For that I have to be grateful. There was a young father sitting in front of us with his 3 yr old son who kept howling during the bishop's talk depsite his father's attempts to get him to hush. Jessica and I just had to give an empathy chuckle.

Baby Marcano # 4

 Here the baby is waiving at us from the womb. What a smart baby. He's so excited to join the family. I'm sure he was worried he wouldn't make it there for a while.

This was pretty obvious. Wow! What a shock. So the fued has finally ended sort of. The irony of it all is that all the kids changed their platform before we found out. Right before we went into the room, Gavin was telling me how upset he would be if it was a girl and Lily was insisting that we were getting a sister. Then inside, their tunes changed. Gavin now wanted a sister and Lily was certain it was a boy. Lily was right. So, Ammon it is! Now to settle on a middle name that both Jhonny and I like. That might be a challenge.

I can report that once Gavin got a nap, he finally realized that having a brother might be more fun. Good thing he has 5 more months to get over having his spot as the baby boy taken over.

All I want is. . .

My little baby boy is growing up. For the past semester he's been going to a day care that has been very conveniently located on the way to work. I've really been pleased with everything, except for the occasional tantrum from my son in the mornings dropping him off. I'm assured these are short lived and he usually ends up having a great day. However. . .
For more than a few weeks the tantrums have revolved around one request. He's been wanting to go to our neighbor's house instead of daycare. If their name was mentioned at all - a tantrum would insue. If you know my sweet little darling well, you also know that once he gets an idea in his head, he's pretty stubborn about getting what he wants until it happens and then once he's experienced it he might change his mind. But this is something that he's been begging for for a while.
Then a couple of things triggered me to think about it a little more seriously. When we went over to ask if they were interested in taking the job, Gavin sidled up to the mom batting his long eye lashes begging her to take him in. I promise we were not coaching him. Who could say no to that? I won't go into details, but to make a long story short, he finally got what he wanted and he'll be going to our friend's house when school starts again in 2012. He's promised me no more morning tantrums.
Who knows what I'll do next year when I need to pay for 2, but I have a few more months before I have to worry about that.

Merry Christmas

Jessica has joined the Gattis choir this year. This is one of their songs from their caroling at Randalls followed by going to the Senior Living Center.

Linus Connection

 The Gattis quilting club

Helping show and tell at the Linus Connection

Jessica joined the quilting club at school with her best friend Ashley. They went to a show and tell and delivery meeting to the Linus Connection last Saturday. We missed the blankets that the girls made, but got these of them helping someone else show off what they had done. We were told that the girls made four quilts and 9 fleece blankets to turn in the first semester.

Jessica is really enjoying the art of sewing. She has taken her fashion design for her dolls a step beyond just cut and glue to actually getting on my machine and using a few stitches in her designs. It's definitely in her DNA.

Promised Pics

 Before

 After

 Still bleeding

Aren't I cute?

Lily lost a tooth

I'd post a picture, but I can't find the camera. Lily's been working on this particular first tooth for about 3 weeks. She was so excited when it was first loose, but having it yanked out at that time was a bit too intimidating for her. I told her to work on it for a while wiggling it whenever she could. That was fine with her, but she informed me that she couldn't do it at school, because it was against the rules to put her finger in her mouth there. Okay.
Last Saturday - Dec 17th, she came to show me how loose it had gotten. I told her I could probably knock it out if she wanted me to. She nodded her head and before she could change her mind, I yanked on it quickly and it popped right out. She had a mixture of emotions after that. She couldn't wait for the tooth fairy, couldn't believe all the blood and why did I hurt her like that? After the bleeding stopped, she just couldn't stop admiring how cute she looked with her missing toothy grin. There are pics. I just have to find the camera to post them. I promise to do that soon.
By the way - the tooth fair came and gave her a whole dollar. She couldn't wait to go shopping and ended up buying a toy jewelry set at the dollar store. She wanted ear rings, but settled for the sticker kind in the set instead. She also left a note for the tooth fairy letting her know how much she loved the dollar. What a thoughtful little girl.