Introducing...

We had our ultrasound Wednesday afternoon. The nurse who did the sonogram was fantastic. She got wonderful pictures of our absolutely perfect baby.



Baby is measuring right on (well, technically 2 days ahead, but nothing they'd change my date over) and everything looks perfect.

And we know now that Jasmine and Bekah have a baby brother!! He was very willing to let us know (unlike Jasmine, who hid in my hips so the tech couldn't tell)

His name is Hudson Tyler, after family on both sides. We're not calling him Humphrey anymore...just straight on to Hudson!

The girls are thrilled. Bekah likes to rub and kiss my belly and say "Hi, Hin" (hopefully the pronunciation will improve before he's born!) and we couldn't be happier. I would have been thrilled with a third girl, but I really thought this one was a boy (so I have a 66% accuracy in guessing my own kids!)

Tidbits

From Jasmine recently:

"Please is the answer"
"Oh, you were right" (to Josh, upon seeing that he had told her where he'd left her coat)
"I fink I don't fink so."
"Fank you, Lord, for my books." (Anne', I thought you'd enjoy that one! She loves all the books you sent home with us!)

Introducing: Wunderkind!

Yesterday Bekah:

*decided it was time to start potty-training. She spent a good portion of yesterday in the bathroom and we anticipate the same happening today

*was tired and touchy, so went up to bed and took a long nap, with no assistance or even a suggestion from me

*answered "no thanks" when Josh asked if she wanted a banana

*said "thanks, Dada, kitty" when he brought her a toy kitty to snuggle with for bed.

Little Morsels

I haven't been keeping up with the little fun things the girls say. They are both so funny! Bekah's started putting words together, and even when it's a single word she can be very amusing. And Jasmine talks in paragraphs and keeps us in stitches with that. She is involved in our conversations at dinner now, which makes them so much more fun.

Bekah's new phrase is "uh-oh, mud." She got it from "Going On A Bear Hunt" :
She says it every time she means "uh-oh." It's really cute to see her say it when she pushes a button on the TV remote and accidentally turns it off.

This morning, Bekah woke up (too early) crying, and Jasmine's response was: (almost in tears) It's not up! I want to sleep more!

We've been munching on M&M's the past few days. Jasmine hasn't figured out why they're called that, though, and thinks each and every candy has the "number" E on it!

New Header!

I finally made a new blog header! Jasmine and Bekah love for me to take pictures of them in their Hawaiian garb, and I'm always happy to oblige!

I talked to a dear friend last night. She just had her second baby, and her two are almost exactly the same age span as my girls. We were talking about how different it is having the second, from having the first.
It really makes me wonder what I'm in for this time!!
I had it pretty easy in a lot of ways. Jasmine was still nursing when Bekah was born, so there was no resentment of the time her baby sister was getting. I had no discipline problems at that point. This time, neither girl is still nursing (Jasmine thinks she'll be allowed to nurse again when the baby's born, though I keep telling her otherwise). Hopefully the fact that I'm used to carrying around the nurseling will make things easier...I can still run around as needed while I'm nursing the baby. At least that's my hope right now!
And the girls are older. Bekah will be 2 years and 3 months, in contrast to Jasmine's 21 months. And she's already so much more independent than Jasmine is still. Jasmine needs to be with people, which is pretty foreign to me, the one who was happy spending hours in her room working on huge jigsaw puzzles.

Dad's words keep coming back to me; when he talks to people who are considering/pregnant with #4, he tells them that going from 2 kids to three is the hardest transition. I'm really trying not to think too much about that, though...it's really not what i want to think about!

I voted! Did you?

We went out first thing this morning and voted! It's a gorgeous day so we walked the 1/4 mile (or there 'bouts) to the elementary school to cast our vote.

I've never gone in the morning, so I don't know if it's usually a busier time than later in the day, or if this election really does have more people getting out to vote. Or both. But there was actually a line in front of us! (well, three people). While we were there, we heard two people ask about registering to vote. I wonder how many people nation-wide hoped they could register today?!
And while we looked at the paper to see what we'd see in the booth, a woman came over and looked, and asked us if she had to vote for all the categories, or if she could just vote for president. It was fun to help someone who was doing it for the first time! (especially because it looked like she was voting the same way we were ;) But I would have helped either way, don't worry).

We wore our most patriotic gear: I'm wearing a shirt with a flag that says "strong and proud," Josh is wearing a shirt with an eagle and flag on it, Jasmine's shirt has a flag on it, and Bekah wore a navy and white dress (no flag gear in the house in her size, unfortunately). We did our patriotic duty and now sit and wait. And pray.

I'm praying for all the people who haven't completely made up their mind, praying they see how important this election is, not to just vote for "history," but to vote for the direction the candidates will take our country. More government intervention, or the promise of less? For the rights of the unborn, or against?

How many kids...

...request bed? By name?
Bekah asked Josh "bed? please?"
Unfortunately, it was too early. I usually love when we get that extra hour of sleep, but this year I wish we didn't. The girls were already going to bed nice and early (i.e. between 7 and 8) and waking up between 5 and 7. I really didn't want to see their shining faces and hear "everybody, it's up!" at 4 in the morning!

A few little morsels from the girls:

Bekah has not only started echoing all the words we say, but she's putting words together now. She loves to say our names, so now it's not just "hi" and "bye," but "hi mama" and "bye dada." Oh, and let's not forget "thanks, mama!"
She can finally tell us what she wants, and "yes" is actually a discernable word (For awhile, "no" was clear but "yes" sounded like "uh" or something similarly unhelpful). She loves talking to her sister and pretending to talk on the phone. ("hello, papa. Oh! yup. bye-bye") and telling us she loves us "ah-vla."

and Jasmine says things that constantly crack us up. This morning I was looking in the mirror at my belly, and said, "is it getting bigger?" She said, "no, mine is! Do you want to pet my Humphrey?" and uncovered her tummy so I could pet him :) She wants to know where s/he will sleep and keeps offering to let the baby sleep with her in her bed! It's so sweet! I hope this love continues when the baby's actually here!!