This is an interesting article about a lawsuit regarding the vaccine-autism link that the government conceded.

My morning excitement has been getting nail polish out of the carpet runner on the stairs. Hairspray works wonders.

Here's a picture of Ella in one of Accalia's old recital costumes:


Here's a picture of Accalia that Cole took:

Doing a lot of thinking lately and not so much writing. I've been thinking about
Hannah Jenner and the second anniversary of her death on the 24th, wishing Diana and family still lived in state so I could give them some real life hugs.

Apparently I've also been thinking a lot about trying to get our house clean and organized and how I always seem to fail miserably. Last night I even dreamed that Anne and family came to visit and her husband was appalled by the state of our house. Hee, hee, hee!

That's probably my way of doing a little early pregnancy freaking out about the baby, wondering how I can manage to keep up with the house when I can't even do it with three children. Four? No problem.

Yesterday I was supposed to have a prenatal appointment, but I rescheduled it for Friday because the weather was not so great. We had rain, turning to slush, turning to snow. Cory had the joy of driving home on ice-covered roads yesterday.

Speaking of my husband, he's not especially happy with his dad. Myron called today to let me know he had shoulder surgery this morning and that he was out of the hospital and doing okay. He had neglected to call us beforehand and tell us that he was going to even have the surgery because he didn't want Cory to take off work and come up for it. Ooh, that made Cory mad. He's quite capable of heeding his dad's wishes and not coming up, but he certainly would have liked to know that Myron was having surgery today.

Lately Ella has been doing more and more role playing in her play - by herself, with her siblings, with me. I still can't understand most of what she says, but she is adding more and more words to her vocabulary. Today she had me sit beside her on little chairs in the kitchen and stare at the cabinets. I'm guessing it must have been some sort of show. Every once in a while she'd get up to open or close the cabinets and having us switch seats.

Cole's energy seems to increase each day. He continues to spend a lot of time building with legos or other construction materials, playing out elaborate scenarios with his assortment of animals or action figures, and drawing/coloring. He's also showing more and more of an interest in words - how they're spelled, what they look like, etc.

Accalia likes to have alone time upstairs several times a day, and thankfully Cole and Ella are usually able to respect this. She and Cole spend a lot of time playing together, too, but this is the first year where Accalia wants to be alone a good deal, too. She's also so proud of the things she's able to do and seems to be increasingly happy that she's "homeschooled and can do this or that because I'm not in school!"

Cory's delivering pizzas tonight. Ella has napped (turning into a habit this week), so she might go to sleep and stay asleep tonight.

Today was a very nice late February day here in South Dakota. It was sunny and in the mid 30s. The kids and I went outside to play while Cory worked on taxes, and when we went out front Ella kept heading to the van. It took her a while before I convinced her that we were actually outside to play and not just rush to the van to go somewhere. Shows how little she's played outside this winter with the cold weather!

Later on, Accalia and I went to Goodwill while Cole and Ella stayed at home with Cory. We had an excellent shopping trip and came away with quite a few things for less than $17. Cory had requested that I look for dress pants for work, and I found a gray pair that wouldn't have been his first choice but should work in the interim. Then we found some great deals for Accalia. We found a pink pair of athletic pants, a pair of jeans that actually fits her (most jeans just fall down around her skinny waist), a super cute Old Navy denim dress, and a pair of jean shorts. Then there were a few other items that Accalia picked up for herself and her siblings. We ran a few other places, too.

Now Cory is delivering pizzas. I think the kids want to watch a movie tonight, so I'll dig around for one they haven't seem yet. Tomorrow Cory works during the day, and I have a feeling the kids and I will try to do a little grocery shopping.

So far I haven't really enjoyed this pregnancy. There's so much excitement at first when you find out you're pregnant, but then - if you're like me - you have two to three months of nausea and fatigue ahead of you before the enjoyable part of pregnancy arrives. This week, during my 14th week, I've felt those first little flutters of movement. It was thrilling - such a great reminder of the excitement that lies ahead. I remember being around 14 weeks along with Cole and feeling his first movements. When I mentioned that to my midwife, she was a little doubtful that I'd actually felt the baby move. It definitely was, though, and it definitely is this time. I guess that's the benefit of having been pregnant already and knowing what's the baby and what's just gas. Now I can look forward to the kicks getting stronger and eventually the kids and Cory being able to feel them. I'll definitely enjoy this because the part of the pregnancy where feet are wedged up in ribs will seem to last much too long. I just hope I can completely move past the morning sickness.

Today has consisted of a lot of running around and activities, and tonight we're just hanging out at home. Cory's delivering pizzas and has called to say it's really slow. Accalia and Cole are playing with the platypus they made out of a box, construction paper and popsicle sticks. Ella's running around and taking breaks to watch bits of The Simpsons Movie.

I might be able to take a solo trip to Goodwill tomorrow. I tried to go there today with Cole and Ella while Accalia was at art, but I've come to the conclusion that Ella and Goodwill just don't mix. Ella will immediately go into the racks of clothes to hide and play around, and that's something they really frown on there. So, we lasted about two minutes today before we left. Maybe once Ella moves past this particular stage we'll be able to attempt a less stressful trip there. Anyway, I'll probably go tomorrow because I wanted to see if there were any pants for Accalia. She doesn't have many to begin with, and one pair she has suddenly has little holes in the bottom. Of course the stores are either completely out of pants because all of the spring/summer clothes is out, or they have horrible selections of their winter stock. Who knew size 8/10 would be so hard to find? For the past two years, Accalia has pretty much fit into the 7/8 size range, but now she's definitely needing to move up a size. Cole is moving out of the 5T and needs the size 4/5 in boys. That leaves just Ella in toddler sizes, and we'll have to see how much of Accalia's old clothes matches up with her for the spring and summer. This is the time of year when I wish we had a bunch of extra money to go out and get the new clothes the kids need, new jackets, new shoes/sandals, etc. So I'm starting to scavenge. I wish we had found more stuff on clearance at the end of summer last year, but we did manage to pick up a few shirts and shorts for Cole.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

So, this afternoon was story time at our community library. As any longtime reader of this blog knows, I seem to perpetually complain about the children's librarian. Today is no exception. I might have mentioned a week or two ago that the librarian has suddenly decided that Ella needs to talk and answer questions asked of her. Ella isn't signed up for story time, but she likes to do just what the other kids do, so she lines up for the sticker each child gets at the start, occasionally sits for a while during the reading time, usually watches the short movie, and participates in the craft time. Today, when the librarian handed Ella her sticker, she asked Ella what color it was and Cole, as the helpful older brother who knows what Ella can or will say, replied, "yellow!" "Cole," the librarian replied. "You'll need to stop speaking for Ella. She's old enough to speak for herself."

Later, when they sat down to read stories and the librarian asked each child what his or her favorite animal was, Ella didn't say anything. So Cole jumped in to say something, and the librarian held up her hand to him and said, "Cole! Don't speak for Ella!" Cole went on to try to explain that Ella was just a toddler and didn't say many things yet. "Ella's older than a toddler," was the librarian's reply. Umm, last time I checked, a two-year-old is still considered a toddler. Cole kept trying to explain why Ella wouldn't answer the question and the librarian kept interrupting him so he wouldn't speak for Ella. I interjected, "Cole, Ella does say some things, doesn't she? She'll speak when she wants to, won't she?" That, I thought, was a much more diplomatic answer than "Ella is not a trained dog and doesn't speak just because she's told to speak." After I said that, the librarian said, "Yes, that's right" in a way that made it seem as if my statement was backing hers up.

So why do I continue to take the kids to story time when things like this happen? Well, I suppose it's because they ask me to and genuinely seem to enjoy it. Cole is the only one signed up for story time since he's the only one in the right age range, so he's the one asking to go. And, living in the metropolis that we do, there aren't any other options. We can't go to the Barnes & Noble for their story time or to other community centers or programs. I suppose I could see what area library programs are like, although that may not turn out to be any better.

While I really dislike a lot of the attitude that this children's librarian brings to the program (definitely a preparing for school sort of thing), I don't think it's harming Cole to go to it. When I talked to him today about the incident (Yeah, we know Ella is a toddler and that she's not going to say something just because she's told to and I don't know why Mrs. H. thinks she's supposed to do that), Cole always has attitude that Mrs. H. is pretty much a strange adult who doesn't get how we do things.

I think there are maybe two more weeks for this session, so maybe we just finish up the session and then I don't bring up story time or registering for the last session of the school year? Or I make sure to plan something fun and cool for next Thursday so Cole would rather do that than story time? I don't know. Any thoughts?

Yikes! Accalia is in a majorly bad mood because Cole won the game of Scrabble Jr. that they were playing earlier in the evening. She had been lying upstairs in bed completely covered by blankets but came downstairs to see how the lunar eclipse is progressing. Now she's going back upstairs after sitting down hear and screaming no to everything Cole is asking her. Accalia doesn't necessarily get mad like this very often, but when she does she drags it out quite a while. I don't know if it helps her when I talk to her or try to help her come up with ideas. Oh, now I heard her come back downstairs and talk with Cole about something, so it sounds as if all is good between them once again. I just don't know what triggers it for her. I'm sure that sometimes it's low blood sugar or tiredness, but other time I think it's something else completely that I can't grasp and that Accalia doesn't wish to share with me.

Now that the kids are all getting along peacefully once again, hopefully we'll be able to continue with our pleasant evening. Cory, unfortunately, isn't home to take part as he's delivering pizzas in the frigid weather. Tomorrow the warm up begins, though! Oh, Cory just called and said he's on his last delivery and will be coming home with pizzas for the family. Now that is making the kids very happy.

Because it's been so cold, we haven't gone out today. I went out in the afternoon to start the van and let it run for a few minutes, and Ella was so excited when she thought we were going some place. Tomorrow we'll go to story time for sure.

Hmm. I thought there was something else I was going to post about, but I've lost my train of thought. I woke up this morning with the same headache I went to bed with last night and could not get rid of it. By the middle of the afternoon I threw up because it was so bad and finally decided to take something for it. It worked like a charm, but I really wanted to avoid taking any medicine. I'm trying to limit it as much as possible.

Cory had yesterday off of work, so the long weekend meant a long weekend without me blogging. Cory worked both Friday and Saturday night, but then he hasn't delivered pizzas since. He does work tomorrow, though, and will be working every day except Thursday and next Monday.

There's just not much to report. We've all been hanging out. I've been doing some cleaning. I'm at 14 weeks now, and I was really hoping I'd be feeling completely better. Still having too many green days for my liking, so we'll just have to wait and see.

We'll be lucky to hit single digits tomorrow, so the kids and I have no plans except to stay inside and stay warm.

Sorry I don't have more to say! Just thought I'd better check in and write something.

What a difference a day makes! Thursday was such a miserably cold day, and today was near 30 degrees with sunshine. Both days we've done a lot of running around, but today was definitely more pleasant.

The first thing the kids did on Valentine's Day was open the little gifts Cory and I had for them. One of the items was a coupon book, which Accalia was most excited about. She immediately chose the coupon for a trip to the dollar store, so we headed there in the morning and everyone picked something out. I hadn't realized that there had been rain the night before when the temperatures were still mild, so I had the fun join and scraping a layer of ice off the windshield of the van.

Cory was supposed to see a client at 5 p.m., but the client cancelled because of the weather and we went ahead and had our traditional fettucine alfredo Valentine's meal before my haircut that evening. This meant the kids and I had to make another trip in the afternoon to pick up supplies for supper. The kids were very happy to have that meal, though, and Accalia and Cole insisted on making sure we had a romantic setting. They dimmed the lights in the dining room, and Accalia turned on her little radio so we'd have music. Personally, I don't find Garth Brooks to be too romantical, but that's the station she left it on.

Today was an exciting day for Accalia because she switched the art class she had been going to on Wednesday to this other class on Friday afternoon. The studio owner actually suggested it because she thought Accalia would enjoy a class just for homeschoolers (I hadn't known they even had one right now). There's only one other girl in the class (the other two simply stopped coming), and Accalia loves it. I think she especially likes the fact that it's for homeschoolers. I forget that Accalia really enjoys the idea of doing something specifically for kids who aren't attending public or private school, so this was definitely the highlight of the day for her. Later this afternoon she had tap class and was able to try on her recital costume. That was also very exciting for her.

Cory's working just a few hours tonight. Ella's asleep. Accalia and Cole are wreaking havoc in the living room. I'm ready to sleep. I woke up earlier than normal today and am starting to feel the effects.

Plans for the weekends aren't too extraordinary. Cory works tomorrow night for a while but has the rest of the long weekend off. I have no idea what we'll be doing.

I was really hoping that if I came in here and sat at the computer that all of the dirty dishes in the kitchen would disappear. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening.

I spoke too soon yesterday when I said I was feeling better and hadn't thrown up in a while. I was getting ready to make supper and had just gotten off the phone with Cory when I had to make a run to the bathroom. Darn.

Today was a sunny, warm day with lots of melting snow. Tomorrow's supposed to be extremely cold, but I think we'll probably make it without getting more snow - or at least not more than a dusting. The kids are very excited about Valentine's Day and have been busy making last minute valentines. Usually on Valentine's Day Cory will make fettucine alfredo, and the kids were very disappointed that we won't be able to do that tomorrow. Cory doesn't get home until after seeing a client and I go for a haircut right after that, so there's not really going to be time to sit down and eat together. Cory's going to make it on Sunday, though.

So yes, Valentine's Day will consist of a haircut for me and storytime for Cole. We have a few little things for the kids, and if I'm really ambitious I'll make heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. After my haircut, we'll all snuggle up together and watch Survivor. How's that for a romantic holiday?

Yesterday we had about four inches of snow which, for all you weather geeks, set a record for that particular day. The record had been set back in 1902 with two inches of snow. There's supposed to be another system headed our way Wednesday and Thursday, which Cory isn't too happy about because it will mess up work related things if it does snow. All this winter we haven't had huge snowfalls - 8 inches was probably the most at one time - but we've had more small snowfalls than we've had in the past couple years. I'd much, much rather have this snow to go along with the cold rather than just having it cold and brown for the remaining weeks of winter.

Now that I've hit 13 weeks, I'm starting to feel much better. My stomach isn't feeling completely 100%, but I haven't thrown up in a week or two. I'm waiting for that big burst of energy that comes with the second trimester, although I can tell that I don't feel quite as tired so early in the evening anymore. It will be so nice to feel the baby move. Then I'll actually feel pregnant rather than just plump. I think my belly looks too big for the point that I'm at, but I can still disguise it well with sweatshirts and my trusty yoga pants. When I start wearing maternity clothes, I'm sure everyone will wonder where that belly came from. So, as far as I know, things are quite normal in the pregnancy department. There are times that I can't believe I'm only 13 weeks along. It feels as if I've been pregnant for much, much longer.

This morning we went out and picked up some food. We didn't really do a big grocery shopping expedition over the weekend. This was another small one. That's about all that we have to do today. Cory's taking off this afternoon because he has a doctor's appointment and then scheduled an early appointment with a client. He also delivers pizza tonight, which he just loooves doing after a snowfall because lots of people just don't bother to shovel.

The kids are quite happy right now because they just opened a package from Grandma and Grandpa with some Valentine's goodies in them.

I guess I should check Ella's diaper now and try to rescue my cell phone from the girl.

Diana's comment on my last post was a great reminder of how clean and empty spaces can fuel such creativity in our children. Where a space once was filled with legos and plastic animals, now there's room to roll out the yoga mats to make a trail through the downstairs. That's what happened yesterday at our house.

I didn't want to give the impression with yesterday's post that I think my children are slobs because they're not. They're completely normal children who have a home filled with items that spark imagination and creativity and lead them from one thing to the next. Granted, we do have a lot of stuff and maintaining a cleaner home would be easier with less stuff. I always struggle with this, though, since there are three children (and one on the way) of different ages. That means it's not as simple as giving away or selling items that the kids out grow or lose interest in because there's another child there who will grow into it and be interested in it some day. After this baby is born, though, we will be getting rid of too small clothes and maternity clothes as we plan to be finished with the baby making stage of our lives. So, when I look at ways to lessen the clutter in our house, I usually look at my things or household things that don't really interest or affect the kids.

Truthfully, what we need is better storage in this house. At almost 100 years old, this house was not built with much closet space, and there isn't a lot of shelf space other than the book shelves we've brought with us (and those are basically all full). There's a grand old brick house probably about four blocks from us that I've told them kids is the house I'd like to move into when that day comes that we can move. I'm probably more curious than anything about what the inside looks like since the house is monstrous and a single family lives in it now, but I know Cory and the kids would enjoy the outdoor swimming pool. Not sure why anyone would think an outdoor swimming pool in South Dakota would get a lot of use over the year (maybe four months if lucky), but there it is.

It's cold and snowy today. Accalia and Cole are experimenting with Cory's old trumpet, and Ella is playing our Let's Go Fishin' game while wearing one of Accalia's old dance recital costumes. I sat down at the computer with a purpose other than blogging, so I should get back to that.

The kids and I were up way, way too late last night, and it hasn't been a pretty day around here. Cory stayed up even later than we did, but he seems to be able to sleep in when he does that. I suppose it doesn't help that we've barely left the house these past two days because it's been so frickin' cold. I even canceled the LLL meeting we were supposed to have yesterday because I didn't want all of those moms feeling they had to travel with their little ones, especially since most of the regular moms come from about a half hour away.

So, I've been attempting to clean. The problem with doing that while three children are also in the house is that while you're cleaning one area, they're playing in another and strewing toys and misc. items all around. It's really disheartening to come from a nice, clean space to enter a mess where there hadn't previously been one.

It isn't all bad. The other day Accalia and Cole cleaned up the living room, made a snack for me, and even set a magazine and homemade card right next to my spot so I could relax. Very sweet.

Now on to another week. The kids are excited about Valentine's Day even though we don't have anything major planned. I'm excited about that day because I'm finally getting my hair cut after probably close to four months since my last one. Geez. It seems as if I can barely get it together with three kids. How's that gonna work with four? Yikes!

Poor Cory. Last night at work he called to say what a horrible headache he had. I offered to bring something and wait for him when he came out to do a delivery, but he declined. Then he came home with a bad burn on his hand. He was in a lot of pain last night. He's doing better today, but it's a bit awkward for him since it's his right hand. Hopefully tonight he can come home unscathed.

Today the kids and I made three separate trips to different places. We had to run to the store in the morning to pick up more bandages for Cory, then after lunch we went to the library when Accalia asked, and finally we took Accalia to art later in the afternoon. It was definitely starting to feel like too much for us. Coordinating three children to go places - to want to go places - at the same time is not always an easy task. Then you throw in getting all of the winter gear on, and it feels like a lot of work. Being able to slip on sandals or shoes and head out the door in the summer will definitely be a pleasant change.

Cory's dad is in Arizona this week visiting a woman he dated a year or so ago before he started seeing Bev. Now, as far as we know, Myron and Bev are still together, although a while ago Myron made a comment about Bev really pressuring him to get married and that he just doesn't want to get married again. So now he goes to visit this ex that he's kept in touch with all along. Myron seems to be living quite the soap opera right now. Wonder how it will all turn out.

I should just take a shower tonight since Ella is asleep, but I'll probably end up putting it off until the morning. My laziness knows no bounds.

I've officially completed the first trimester. Unfortunately, this milestone didn't bring an automatic change in my general feeling of yuckiness. Darn.

This afternoon we went to the chiropractor. I wasn't sure if we'd need to reschedule our appointment because our chiropractor's sister-in-law died just a few days ago, and the funeral is tomorrow. He was still open today but won't be tomorrow. His sister-in-law was 37 and left three or four young children. She died due to complications of stomach stapling. The procedure affected her kidneys, and ultimately she died of kidney failure. How sad.

Cory is working both tonight and tomorrow night delivering pizzas. The next night he'll be doing that is Sunday, which means he has Friday and Saturday off! Hooray! The kids are very excited about that. So am I.

Tomorrow Accalia has art, and maybe we'll make it to the library. We were planning to go today, but Ella just wouldn't get dressed when everyone else wanted to go. I wasn't too sad because it's cold and windy and snowy.

Now I'll see about getting Ella in the tub. She just got done painting and probably has more paint on her body than on the paper.

I'm finally getting some pictures uploaded...

Today has been an ugh sort of day mainly because I've felt rather crappy. It probably didn't help that the kids and I were all up somewhat early (8 a.m. is early for the four of us to be up on a Sunday). Then Ella had a huge meltdown and wouldn't come out from under the table because she wants to paint the paint-by-number picture that Accalia has been working on since yesterday and wants to use those paints and that brush. Once Accalia is finished with her picture, Ella can go crazy with the paints and the brush, but since Ella is still quite the color mixer when she uses a variety of paints, we need to keep them pure for Accalia's sake. No other brush or set of paints would make Ella happy, so I walked out of the room for a minute. When I came back, I knelt by the table with my arms out, and Ella crawled out to me and ran into my arms for a big hug.

As I've mentioned, parenting Ella has been quite challenging of late. Two was never that bad with either Accalia or Cole - three is where it seemed to get a little bumpy - so I'm hoping we can get past this and on to a smoother run before the baby arrives. I'm hoping that it's the winter doldrums that's turning my normally cheerful children into snarly, cranky children. Oh, they're not like that all of the time, but it's definitely more prominent.

Yesterday the kids yelled "groundhog!" as soon as they got up because they had read that if you say that word first thing on Groundhog Day, you'll have good luck all year. They were really hoping that the groundhog would not see his shadow and that winter would be ending sooner. I suppose it's actually more like seven weeks until the official start of spring, but I can totally handle that.

Cory's delivering pizza tonight. No one could take off because of the Super Bowl. We'll see how crazy it gets. I think we had been invited to a friend's house for a party, but obviously that's not happening. So, Cory's taping the game (and, of course, the commercials) and we're going to watch it after he gets home. I don't particularly care about either team, but if I had to choose I'd go with the Giants. Tom Brady really annoys me. I don't understand his appeal at all.

What I'd really like to do right now is curl up in the recliner and watch An American in Paris. That's not going to happen, though, so I guess I should pick up some stuff.

I'm determined to make it until my second trimester (I only have to wait until Tuesday) until I wear maternity clothes. I have absolutely no idea why. I don't even remember when I started wearing maternity clothes in my previous pregnancies. I just wish I had a million pairs of yoga pants 'cause those are super comfortable. It's always daunting to start wearing maternity clothes because they look so darn huge when you have no more than a little baby bump. I love my Old Navy maternity shirts because they're designed to not look like huge tents, especially in this transitional time. Unfortunately, most of my early pregnancy wear is more suited to spring or summer. I'll just have to dive into my maternity clothes and see what I actually have in there.

Today we went over to a friend's house for a little bit. While we were there, the 10-year-old was telling me that she and all of her friends at school call their younger siblings "devils." Not too long ago, a mom at dance was talking about how this age (meaning Accalia's age of 8 or so) is very interesting (in a not so good way). She started talking about all of the eye rolling, etc. her daughter was doing. It really makes me feel sad that attitudes and behaviors like this are cropping up at this age already. It blows me away a little. I'd never claim that all is sunshine and roses at our house and that the kids never fight with each other or that we don't get upset with each other, but it's not at a level where it's the norm or it's the first thing that comes to mind to bring up in conversation with another parent.

It would be wrong to blame it all on school for the attitudes toward younger siblings and parents, but as Accalia and Cole get older and spend more time not being exposed to the social structure of school, I do notice differences when they get together with other kids. Accalia and Cole get along very well and spend a lot of time playing together. I've noticed that, especially with the neighbor girls last summer, that one of the biggest things they wanted to do was find ways to tease Cole (as the only boy) or find ways to bug the older girls (younger vs. older). It just really makes me happy that Accalia and Cole (and Ella and the new baby) are able to grow up not surrounded by this need to do or not do certain things because they're in a certain grade or because they're a certain gender. Sure, there's probably a little of that that spills over into general life mostly because school is such a huge basis for our society. I'm glad that Accalia and Cole can live the majority of their lives without that coloring their interactions with each other.

I write all of this in light of the fact that this past week or so has felt like way too much crankiness and shortness toward each other. Ella, too. It seems as if we can't go into a store lately without Ella having a meltdown for some reason. You know, it's one of those phases where you start to wonder where you screwed up as a parent. It makes me wonder how celebrity parents like Jennifer Garner, who is photographed numerous times throughout the day and week without prior knowledge, can always be shown with her adorable (and apparently always happy) two-year-old daughter. Seriously, doesn't little Violet ever get ticked off because the gumball machine won't give her the right color gumball? That happened to Ella last week - or maybe this week. Someone tell me her secret if they know.

Okay, time to clean up the living room and maybe relax a little.