Blessings come in leaps and bounds!!

What a busy month!! So much has happened! I'm so huge and pregnant but we'll go into that later!!

We got a new (new to us) van. We had gotten rid of the Kia so I could be a stay at home mom. So we have been driving a Blazer that Brigham and I overhauled, but it doesn't have enough room for 3 car seats. So we've been looking around for another vehicle, well, as things go we just couldn't find anything for a while. Then Brigham's Dad found us a van. Thank heavens my husband is a mechanic!! LOL It was a mess. Someone had sold it for scrap metal to one of Wayne's (Brig's Dad) friends, well the only thing wrong with the engine was supposedly the transmission. Brigham changed the fluid and the filter and the filter was clogged!! Since changing it, the van has been working great!! Well, the body however needs a little work. The windshield needs replacing, the passenger door handle needs replaced, the back hatch has a few dents and the back bumper will need replaced. The inside was awful!! They had a cat or something in there so there was hair everywhere. There was also rotting food under the seats and about an inch of mud on the floor. But with alot of work, a pressure washer, and a steam cleaner, Brigham and I got the inside cleaned out wonderfully! But this guy only wanted 200 dollars, and some scrap metal. We currently have 2 trucks on our property that Brigham was going to fix and hasn't and this guy wanted those. So not only am I getting a van but getting rid of 2 vehicles as well!! And speaking of getting rid of vehicles, Brigham also sold a metro for $800 so that money was helpful we are hopeing to sell the Blazer as quickly as this metro was sold.

Apparently we are the lesser of two evils. My brother-in-law and his wife were moving and needed to get rid of a couch. We are so hard on couches. We have been through 3 in 3 years. We currently have a red couch that someone in the ward gave us when they realized that we didn't have a couch. (I wasn't going to buy one and we can sit in chairs! But apparently if you don't have a couch you need one.) Our living room isn't very big and the couch from my brother-in-law is a big corner sectional. Well, my brother-in-law called me and said that they could either put the couch in storage and worry about mice and hobo spiders or he could let us have it. Apparently we are the lesser of two evils. LOL Zeke has been really enjoying this couch. It's really big and he can layout on it and not be bugged by anyone else. We do have a little bit of problem with jumping but he's been getting so much better in that department.

Zeke had a week of full day school. It was to test him on how much he could handle for next year. He did so wonderfully! He went to a 1st grade class and they were so great with him. The kids were understanding and loved to try to get him to play with them. His aide said she expected lots of problems and he sailed through it. I wanted him to get school lunch, I know that he would never eat any of it, but I wanted him to go through the line and get a tray. Another mom of a child with autism, gave me this idea: Zeke has to get a tray of food and sit with it for at least a couple of minutes and then if he doesn't want any of it he gets his sack lunch from home. I'm always going to pack the same thing so the school lunches will look more appealing, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, a granola bar, and a capri sun. He actually ate a few things off his tray a couple of the days. Like the corn chips that went with the chili (but didn't eat the chili) the fruit, a couple of bites of cinnamon roll, and a bite of a pizza pocket. At this point we are hoping to have Zeke go to full day school next year but we will see how he does in the summer time. One of my biggest concerns with having another baby was Zeke and lately his behaviors have been better, he will follow very simple commands, and because of wonderful IBI therapists he has an opinon. This is a wonderful and terrible thing, LOL, I have loved giving him choices and having him tell me yes or no, or telling me which one he wants. He also has been saying prayers with us, it isn't always easy to understand what he says but the attempt is there. We are hoping he continues to improve with the baby here.

Kizzy has been so awesome latly. She has been trying harder to help, and she has been working harder to be more independant. She loves to pick out her own clothes and they don't always match but she loves putting things together. She is also so excited to go to school this August. She keeps asking when she can go and how many days are left. We have been crossing the days off the calendar. Kizzy has also been trying to talk to the baby and gives it pictures she's colored and stickers that she places on my tummy. It's pretty funny to walk into the store or church with a sticker on my belly that I've forgotten to remove before I get there. Oh, well. We are it seems going to have to watch her with the baby. I'm a little worried that the little mommy will try to help to much! Hopefully this won't be a problem.

I have been really healthy! At my last appointment I was dialated to a 1 already. I'm hoping this continues so I can be dialated a ways before I go into labor. I noticed a difference between Zeke's labor and Kizzy's labor. With Zeke I was induced when I was dialated to a 4 almost 5 and his labor was hard yes but I moved into the transition stage faster. With Kizzy I was only dilated to a 1 when they induced me and it took forever to get to the transition stage. When I got there however it went fast but most of the labor was getting to that stage. So, I see the doctor again Thursday and I'm hoping to be dialated more. I have only gained 10 pounds this pregnacy, which is really great but being heavy to start with, this pregnancy has been hard on my body. I struggle with sleep because my hips start to scream around 2 am. It doesn't take much for me to over do it with my hips and I have to realax and take it easy. It's really frustrating because I want to clean things really well and can't. My house isn't really dirty but like right now the floor needs swept and mopped in the living room and kitchen, the playroom needs vacuumed and the dishes need done. But I will probably only get to sweeping before I need to sit down for a while then the dishes, then maybe the playroom, and if I'm lucky the mopping. It just feels like a big Wookie or monster came and pulled my legs out of their sockets and spread my hips out, kinda like everything is unhinged. But ya'know life goes on. If I take things slow I'm really good but when I try to do to much, then I'm hurting. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who has been picking up the slack and hasn't been picking on me for whining either. He has been so wonderful this pregnancy we haven't had major fights or angry spouts like the last pregnancies. I think it helps that we have better communication this time. I let him know ahead of time when I'm feeling cranky or emotional and he tries harder not to start picking on me. Same with him, when he's had a hard day, he tells me so I can take it easy on him. It's been great.

We still don't have a name for this sweet little girl. We both love the name Kalli, but we really want a longer name like Elizabeth that could be shortened to Ellie, Beth, Liz, ect. We really think it's important to have options on nick names. When Brigham worked at TA in Boise he was teased because of his name. Most of the guys there were anti Mormon and he got the brunt of it because of his name. Really he could only go by Brig or Brigham, and his middle name is Wedekind so there wasn't anything there he could go by. Zeke and Kizzy have a ton of options with there names so if they ever get tired of being called by their nick names they have other options. I know we are silly but we will see when she gets here. She is quite the mover and shacker however, now that she's big and there's not alot of room, she has been kicking everyone and everything that pokes my tummy. She hates it when the counter or table or anything pokes my tummy and will move and kick, it's alot of fun. She also responds to Brigham's and Kizzy's voices.

Well, this post is getting way to long!! I'll come back and post pictures. I'll also post soon about our garden! I'm hoping to get it in before the baby gets here. We will have to see. I'll keep you all posted!!