He's SO happy about it.

Note to self: Don't try to take a posed picture of Austin when he's overdue for his nap. This is all you'll get. The least amount of smile possible on a little face. It cracks me up! I'm sure he's actually super thrilled to be getting a little brother. He just didn't want to show it in this photo.

And the survey says...

I have seen or read about several old myths regarding finding out the gender of a yet-unborn baby over the past few years. I hadn't paid much attention last time I was pregnant, but for some reason, this time I have spent more time thinking about the sex of the baby. These so-called Old Wives Tales had me intrigued so we decided to try a few out before The Sonogram to see what they predicted. It wasn't because we thought they were true or that we're superstitious or anything, we just thought it'd be fun. In order to find out how to do the tests, we used this site and this site. Here are the results:

1) Baking Soda Test. You pour some baking soda in a cup, just enough to cover the bottom. You then pee in said cup (the mom, not the dad ;-). If it fizzes, it predicts boy, and if it doesn't fizz, it predicts girl. For us, this predicted BOY. (Is that TMI?)

2) Hairline. This one says if the firstborn has a neck hairline that comes to a point, the next will be the opposite of that child. If the neck hairline goes straight across, the sex will be the same as the firstborn. For us, this predicted BOY.

3) Chinese Gender Predictor Chart. This test simply involves using a graph to find the mom's age at conception and the month of conception. I used this one. When I entered my information into it, answering those two questions, this predicted GIRL. But when I went to the chart and looked up my actual age at conception and the actual month of conception (rather than letting it calculate for me), it predicted BOY. (I looked it up last pregnancy too, and it predicted a boy then as well. Which, of course, is what we had.) The discrepancy between the results is caused by using lunar months versus something or other. Feel free to look it up if you want more information. ;-)

4) Pendant Test. You hang a pendant either over the mom's belly or over the mom's hand. If the pendant sways back and forth like a clock tick-tocking, then it predicts boy. If it moves in a circular fashion, it predicts girl. We did both the hand and my belly, and both predicted BOY.

5) "Feeling" Test. The last one we did wasn't even really something 'to do.' It simply suggests that the mom can tell what she's having just by listening to her intuition. I don't know about intuition or a gut feeling, but the morning sickness was very different this time compared to last time, so I was convinced that meant GIRL. Even though people had told me different pregnancies can affect you differently and that this didn't mean anything. It just felt too different to be another boy.

We could have done many more, but decided to stop with five. The results of the ones we did, though, were strongly in favor of us having another BOY.

And on Monday, May 14th, we had The Sonogram and It's a Boy! We're thrilled to be adding another boy to the family!!!

The angle showing The Family Jewels.

A few of my favorite things (aka obsessions)

Just like everyone else, I have a few quirks. There are things of which I prefer certain brands. That's in this post. That's not what this post is about. This post is about a few of my obsessions. Things which would practically take control of my life if I let them. (Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration.)

These obsessions I speak of are things that I spent a lot of time thinking about, a lot of time researching, and spend quite a bit of money on. (Which would likely be higher if Seth didn't reign me in!) The people that know me really, really, really well could probably guess the things I'm about to write about. The rest of you probably don't know that these things would consume me if I let them. Think: crazy lady who has 4 million cat statues doing nothing but taking up every square inch of space in her house. They'd consume me like that. Hoarder-esque. At least, I think. Thank God for Seth!

The first is the most challenging one. This is the one that I have the hardest time controlling under most any circumstance. Pens. Colored Pens, to be exact. If I see a package of colored pens in the store, I stop. I look. I oogle. I drool. I imagine all the fun I could have with said pens. And, particularly if I don't own them already, they'll come home with me. I don't even look at the price tag. I usually pride myself on buying things only when they're on sale, but that doesn't apply to my list of obsessions.

Note: This does not include Sharpies. Of which I have 50+.

Secondly, I have a thing for water bottles. Think 'Nalgene' and you'll get an idea of the kind of water bottle I mean. (For the record, though, I don't really particularly like the Nalgene brand.) I bought a water bottle as my souvenir from Hawaii. Seriously. Seth is constantly on my case about how I don't need another water bottle, but I'll see one out somewhere which appears to have 'promise' and I have to strain to tear myself away. I will literally size up each and every water bottle on the shelf in the store, imagining how it would be to use. I have several requirements which each water bottle must meet, but sadly most don't, and thus checking out new ones is something I'm constantly doing. I'm always in search of The Perfect Water Bottle. I don't bring home new water bottles as often as new colored pens, though, because they are much more costly, and the accumulation is too much even for this water bottle-obsessed chica.

The current Perfect Water Bottle is the green in the front left. I have to note, though, that this is significantly fewer than I normally have around. I purged the inadequate ones a few weeks ago. Seth wanted me to be sure to tell y'all that this isn't as many as we normally have.

Thirdly, notebooks. I have a drawer of notebooks. This is an obsession that has an origin of something like the pens and water bottles combined. I imagine how wonderful it would be to use, and dream of all the writing I could do if only I had this perfect notebook. I have several requirements for them, though, so I often spend time in the notebook section simply checking to see if any would be good enough. And sadly, I often do. And then it comes home with me. Likely to be added to the drawer because I'm currently using a notebook and nothing kills this OCD-tendancy person faster than having several of the same product 'going' at the same time. Can't have two notebooks in use at the same time. (Unless they have very specific, different purposes.) Can't have two shampoo bottles in use at the same time. Can't have two pens going at the same time unless they're both serving a purpose. Etc.

This is one of the more-hidden obsessions. Even Seth didn't know about this one. ... Because I keep them unused ones hidden in a drawer.

While 'researching' this post, Seth commented about this other obsession of mine. The final one I will mention here. Pumpkin Spice. I LOVE the smell of Pumpkin Spice. I love it so much I almost named our dog "Pumpkin Spice!" I typically buy 2 or 3 pumpkin candles in a season, and love getting them as gifts. My all-time favorite, though, is the Yankee Candle jar candles. I think they burn the best and smell the best. If you come to our house sometime in the fall, you can be sure you'll smell pumpkin spice somewhere inside.

My stash is currently quite low on pumpkin spice as I worked hard to 'use up' the batch last fall. Guess what I'll be buying as soon as one can reasonably burn fall scents!?

Random photos, Funny progression

While downloading pictures from our camera tonight, I came across this hilarious progression of photos. Seth took them, and I'm not quite sure what the goal was or why he kept taking so many. But regardless why took them, I love them. I laugh every time I look at them!

April: The Month of Way Too Busy

I will be the first to admit that I hate the "too busy" excuse. It's like a catch-all for everything these days... I can't come to your party because 'I'm too busy.' I can't help you with that volunteer project because 'I'm too busy.' 'We're too busy' to have time for that, thanks though. Ugh! When someone offers that as their reason for not doing something, not coming to something, etc, it makes me want to scream!

Unfortunately, though, we have been the ones dolling out the above excuse lately. We have been "too busy."

I'd like to think that this wasn't our fault. I'd like to blame something/someone else. I'd like to tell you that we didn't set out to be too busy, that it was simply an unfortunate way that our commitments collided to make April our busiest month ever. I'd like to say that we couldn't help it. We were victims of circumstance. I mean, we generally keep ourselves fairly involved which often equals busy, but this month has been completely out of control. And while I do honestly think it was an unfortunate way some of our commitments collided, that wouldn't be taking ownership of the problem or problem-solving for the future.

I would, however, now that the month is over, like to give a few examples of what we're up to last month. (Please note: this is not to add to our list of 'too busy' excuses, but to literally give you a glimpse into what we were up against last month. This is not my way of bragging about our busyness. Last month wasn't pretty, and I'm certainly not proud of it, but want you to have a better understanding of what I mean when I say that April was out of control for us.... Just for the sake of information sharing.)

Here are a few Saturday examples:

Saturday, the 14th (all times approximate):

6am--up to get Jessica's stuff (which has been at the house) loaded into the Envoy

6:45am--Seth and Jessica leave to get the UHaul and then move her belongings from the storage unit to her new (finally ready) apartment

10:45am--Austin and I walk to go to a neighbor girl's 2nd bday party

noon--Daddy arrives at said party just in time for us to leave to go home

1pm--Austin goes down for his nap; Daddy mows our lawn and the neighbor's lawn

4pm--Austin is up and we go for his first official haircut, after stopping at Target on the way there for needed supplies for our evening meeting

5pm--Austin has his hair cut

6pm--Pool mtg. at the pool, Momma drops Daddy and Austin off and goes to CVS to buy cold medication before coming back to the meeting

7:30pm--meeting is done and attempt to leave pool, realize Austin's had a major blow out--Daddy strolls Austin home

8pm--Austin's bedtime, Momma/Daddy collapse after giving a bath and doing two loads of laundry to clean up from the blow-out, including taking apart the entire stroller to wash it

Saturday, the 21st (all times approximate):

6am--up to get ready for the March for Babies walk

7:15am--leave the house to stop for breakfast and then meet the shuttle at 7:45

11am--finish walk, head to lunch to celebrate

12:15pm--arrive home, and go immediately next door for neighbor girl's 5th bday party

1pm--Austin to nap, Momma to clean house, Daddy to Pool Board meeting

3pm--Daddy mows and edges lawn

4pm--Austin up from nap, Momma dresses him for the next event while Daddy gets cleaned up from the yard work

4:40pm--head to next event

5pm--Crossroads picnic

7:30pm--head home

8pm--Daddy gives Austin a bath, followed by some aloe for the sunburn already showing up on his face from the morning walk (bad sunscreen application); Momma/Daddy collapse. Again.

Here are a few Sunday examples:

Sunday, the 15th (all times approximate):
7am--up to get ready for church/Sunday school
8:30am--leave for church
12:15pm--leave for home
12:30pm--eat lunch
1pm--Austin goes down for nap, Daddy goes to the pool to get ready for the meetings that afternoon
2:30pm--Pool Member meeting
3pm--Pool Open House
4pm--Austin wakes up so Momma and Austin join Daddy at the pool
4:45pm--leave Open House
5pm--host Small Group: FAMILY
7pm--Small Group leaves, Austin gets bath and more dinner
8pm--Austin goes to bed and so do Momma and Daddy

Sunday, the 22nd (all times approximate):
7am--up to get ready for church/Sunday school
8:15am--leave early for church because Momma/Daddy are working in ComfortZone
12:15pm--leave for home
12:30pm--eat lunch
1pm--Austin naps, Daddy finishes our lawn and heads to the pool to mow that grass while Momma cleans off the porch and patio
2pm--Austin up from nap, decides he's not going to take one
4pm--Daddy returns from pool
4:30pm--Once Daddy is showered, we head to the grocery store together (it'd been like 2 weeks!)
6pm--eat dinner
7pm--Austin gets bath and goes to bed
7:45pm--Seth takes Jessica's bike and mail to her at her new apartment
8pm--Momma sits down to watch Hallmark/ABC family movie--something she's been looking forward to for several months and has had it on her calendar since first hearing about it last fall
8:30pm--Daddy joins Momma on couch, we enjoy an ice cream treat
10pm-- movie is over; bedtime

A during-the-week, evening commitments example:

Monday--Chapters book club (Momma commitment)

Tuesday--Small Group: WOMEN (Momma commitment)

Wednesday--Rangers Game (Daddy commitment)
Thursday--Do stuff around the house that hasn't been gotten to all week because of other commitments and deal with a toddler unwilling to walk on his left leg

Friday--spend all evening as a family trying to come to terms with Austin's cast

I've been thinking that this busyness must mean we need to scale back our commitment level and the amount of things/organizations to which we volunteer, but all of the events, activities, commitments, etc that we have done this month are important to us. So, I'm not sold on that just yet. I mean, it isn't always like this. We haven't been to a neighbor kid's birthday party since we moved to Park Forest three years ago. We simply happened to get invited to two in one month. I'm certainly not willing to give up Chapters (my book club). Our Small Group is VERY important to us, so that's not going anywhere any time soon. The pool is one of our more-recent commitments, but Seth's the President and very unlikely to want to give that up. The Rangers games are something we could lose, but having bought half-season tickets has actually made us some money, and who am I to suggest Seth have less fun and work more?? And the lawn? Well, it needs to be mowed each week. Nothing can change that. And so does our neighbor's lawn, and they are unable to do it themselves. Thankfully, Seth is now sharing that responsibility with another neighbor, so he shouldn't have to do that but every other week. And the pool board is going to split the pool lawn responsibilities, so that shouldn't be on his mowing plate more than every third week or so.

Here's the thing, though... Because of the above list of 'important' things we've done this month, other 'important' things haven't happened. For example, we have been trying to have dinner with some friends of ours for a month. A Month. Since before Easter! I finally just emailed her and asked about May 12th. That's two weeks away! We will have put them off for a month and a half. That feels horrible. That feels selfish. That feels like I'm bragging about how busy we are. It feels down-right icky. ... Like I'm proud of it or think of it as something to make me feel good about myself or like I think it makes me cooler to be so busy. When actually, it only makes me feel sad and exhausted and more than a wee bit crabby. And Austin's 18-month pictures!? It's important to me to do those on the Saturday most-closely following his actual birthdate day, but now it's going to be over a month late. We couldn't do it a week early, we couldn't do it on the Saturday I prefer, and then by the following Saturday, he was in a cast! It bothers me that we created a schedule which makes important milestones like that something that gets sacrificed/put at the end of the priority list. (Don't even get me started about when we actually took his Progression Photo!)

I do know at least one thing for certain, though. This month has taught me that we need to say no to things even if we are actually available. We usually live by the motto which dictates that we don't say no to things unless we actually have a schedule conflict or something is already in that time slot. If we can squeeze it in, we do. I think, though, with our family continuing to grow, we need to realize that each event needs to have a bumper of empty time around it. Like those things they put in the gutters when kids bowl--something to prevent stuff from invading that space. I think we also need to realize that Seth is currently committed to mowing a lot of grass and that might need to take its own spot on the calendar. Like, it needs to have an appointment scheduled on the calendar for him to be able to mow the grass he's responsible for, and for it to also have a bumper of space around it.

And the last thing I know for certain? May is going to be MUCH simpler and slower. I can promise you that. (That's at least one positive about having a toddler in a full-leg cast.) Come on, May!