This one is for you, Mom. :)

Mom lets me know every so often that I haven’t updated my blog in a while. She’s usually right.

Please accept my sincere apologies for long delays in between updates. I’m busy…and tired. Very, very tired….

Today is February 6…That means I’m 19 weeks pregnant [slight panic attack], and Jackson is 21 and ½ months old [slight panic attack again].

I’m still feeling good – teaching classes at the gym and trying to rest when I can. I’m mostly just tired at this point, past the sick, sick part. We go for our 20 week appointment and ultrasound next Friday (the 17th), so we’ll find out if this sweet baby is a girl or a boy. Then, the real planning begins for us… Who gets to share a room – Payton or Jackson? Do we pull clothes bins out of the basement, or do we start consignment shopping for pink dresses and learn how to make cute bows? My platelets have stabilized around 100 at this point, but they did that last time too. With Jackson, my platelets didn’t nose-dive until about 6 months, so we’ll see what happens at that point. Depending on a lot of factors, an epidural is probably out of the question at this point, but if the platelets stay as they are, we’ll avoid the steroids and a specialist. I’m not worried about it – my midwives are monitoring it closely, and God is bigger than all of it.

Jackson continues to amaze me. His verbal skills are off the charts right now…the boy speaks in original, complete sentences (or thoughts) quite often. As we’re getting out of the car to visit Pops yesterday, for example, Jackson says, “Uhmon, Ayton. See Pops!” (Translation: Come on, Payton. See Pops.) One of my favorite things right now is that he doesn’t pronounce the “gr” sound, so my mom is Naaam (yes, that’s at least 2 syllables) instead of Gram, and Uncle Grant is Uncle Nant. In fact, I’m selfishly enjoying these imperfect pronunciations very much, and I’m trying to capture as many as possible on video before he says everything correctly. A little part of me will be very sad that we’ll have a “Christmas tree” next December and not an “ohfafree.” By the way, if you haven’t seen that video…you need to! He tells Wadol (Rachel) how it is.  Jackson is doing really well with Ms. Mary Jane who now keeps him during the day while I’m at work. She keeps 5 other kids of various ages and is phenomenal! She loves Jackson (how could you not, right?), and says he is the most masculine, “all-boy” kid she’s ever kept. Papa Bear puffs up with pride to hear that; Mama Bear winces in fear. Either way, we have the busted lips, bruised chins, tears wiped, and popsicles for pain to attest to that statement. Mary Jane says he runs all day at 100% (his only speed is FAST) and gets all the other kids to follow him around saying “I’m an airpane!” (yes, he leaves the “l” out for now). He likes “chool bus” sightings (school bus in case you didn’t get that) and only likes 2 songs on the VBS cd from last year - the “wild song” and nums (drums). We listen to those OVER and OVER again in the car…

One of my favorite blessings of motherhood is watching Andrew and Jackson together. Andrew is still ridiculously squeamish when it comes dirty diapers, but hearing about their adventurous walks to the creek and under the barbed wire fence make me happy. :)

Andrew and I are looking forward to a weekend getaway on our long weekend off work. Special thanks to my mom and dad (as always) for keeping little man. Then, we’ll be gearing up for J’s 2nd b’day and several visits from the Missouri crowd…can’t wait for them to see Jackson – it’s been since September!