M.I.A. (and pictures)

Well, contrary to what you must be thinking at this point (if you're still there at all), I have not decided to completely abandon my blog. There's just been a lot going on, and I have been having a hard time finding when to fit in my writing. That's a blog post in itself, really. But for this one, we'll just stick with the light stuff.

I think my belly looks (and feels) bigger to me than to anyone else. And my whole body is filling out these days (and has been...). I think it's definitely reaching my face these days. I was hoping to avoid this until closer to the end, but when I am eating constantly I guess I'm pretty much going to lose that one.

We've had some grandparents in town. Fraser's parents, Mimi and Pop, came out to spend some time with us and perform some manual labour tasks. I think I set the record for least pictures taken while family was visiting. Things were just so busy with trying to get things done. My camera is fixed, by the way!! It's just that I haven't actually had much time (or taken it) to do much with it.

Jacob had to show them his marble track and, even more important to him these days, his marble track drawings. It started with a simple one he brought home from school one day (rolled up and tied with a ribbon because it was a special present for me). But these have turned into masterpieces and have occupied much of his time recently.

the first track with conveyor belts going up the sides

 He'll ask someone to pick out two marker colours and then tell him what he/she wants in the track. They have gotten quite elaborate: funnels, tunnels, spinners to push the marbles, switches so the marbles can go down different sides of the track, you name it, he'll get it in there. His portfolio is growing.

He has also started branching out into 3-D models of his tracks, using pretty much whatever he has on hand. Markers, these days.

 
 The grands gave Fraser and me a wonderful gift: a night down in Denver, alone. Whoohoo! It was amazingly nice to just be alone together, to be able to talk to each other, look at each other, not be interrupted by someone or distracted by things needing doing around the house. It was so lovely. 

Meanwhile, Mimi and Pop worked their butts off all week taking care of the boy, moving boxes all over (we cleared out our shed in the backyard, reorganized everything and put things back or kept them out to get rid of or go through), cooking delicious dishes (sea bass anyone?), doing yard work and more yard work and more yard work (seriously, we have a lot of yard and almost all of it needs work), fixing our three-legged picnic table, rearranging furniture. I couldn't have asked for more willing and helpful people. And for someone like me who likes to get things done, moving while pregnant and not being able to just do that is VERY difficult.

the boys watching football in the guest room

oh, ball tracks!

The backyard after being mown, weeded, carpet pulled and dirt seeded!

What you don't see here are the weeds; and the painted table looks amazing!

The front room

 We did manage to squeeze in some fun!

It's always nice to share time with loved ones, to have help and to have company! Jacob and I love hanging out together, but being an at-home mom does have it's uh... lonelier aspects too.

So... yeah, things are full these days. I'm trying to tackle the house the best I can which is not at all fast. I'm always aware, though, that in three short months, there will be some additional craziness around here and that the regular day-to-day things will become even more haphazard for awhile. I'd just like to get a few things in order before that happens. Like the office space where we keep all our paperwork and where I can do some writing. At present, it's not in much of a usable state...

This whole process is a bit overwhelming, I'm not gonna lie. Especially with elevated hormone levels. I am so very happy to be pregnant, I love feeling the baby move, I am very excited to be having another person join our family. And... remind me never to move while pregnant again, ok? 

Speaking of the baby, one more quick story. So, Mimi and Pop were like, "We can't just call the baby "it". We need a nickname." So one morning I tell this to Jacob and ask his opinion. He says, "Johnson Jones!" No idea where this came from. So, we've abbreviated it as J.J. 

And a few more pictures to end it....

All dominoes set up by the boy