Updates abound

Here's some generic news for you. Enjoy!

Anne keeps talking up a storm. She'll try to say anything you ask her to, which is very cute. She even attempted "butterfly" last night with reasonable success. The funniest thing now is that she says "no" It's funny because she isn't saying it TO us. It is usually in response to something we've told her not to do. For example, the other night she was pulling on the cord to our floor lamp and I sternly told her "No" and moved her away from it. The next day she walked over and pointed to it, looked at Sam and said "No" and left it alone. It was too funny.

She's walking well and standing herself up, and she's not yet climbing on anything, which is great in my mind. No rush there! She can walk backwards and spin in a circle, too. The cutest thing now is if you're sitting on the floor she will walk over to you, turn around, and back herself into your lap and sit down. This is the preferred method when reading books in her room--she fetches the books, plops into my lap, and then gets up for more books when we're done!

Work is busy right now as we get ready for conferences next week. That for me doesn't mean much since I only teach one class that gets grades, but it means it is time for the Book Fair, which is my project. We do it twice a year and it always goes fine, but it adds a little to my stress level.

Once-A-Month dinner is going well. We had Chicken Macaroni Bake last night and it was very good. I used rotini instead of macaroni because it is my favorite pasta shape--seriously, it's the only one I'll buy. No long noodles in our house! The dish tasted eerily similar to the Tuna Helper I ate as a child--the cheesy kind with the breadcrumb top. You know the one I mean. I also managed to make an extra one for the freezer last night, as well as 2 pans of chicken enchiladas. The freezer's getting full. As Mr. Burns would say: Excellent.

Sam is fine--I never write about him! He broke my heart and shaved off his beard last night. He was tired of taking care of it, and he'll have a new one in 3 days, but I like the beard! Come back, scruff!

In pregnancy news, all is (apparently) well. I'm tired and like to nap when I can and I'm a bit grumpier with the kids at school, but I try to be nice. I feel hungry all the time and feel like I'm eating constantly--lots of little meals/snacks throughout the day. Right now I can't get enough water and my skin is very dry and itchy. That's probably due to the extra-hot showers I love to take more than anything else (honestly, I've been known to shower in just hot water, nothing coming from the "cold" pipe at all) I'm headed to the doc next Friday to check on things. Of course the doctor I like is out of town so I have to see my second choice, but I'll survive. Hopefully Dr. N. will be back soon!

Today I'm meeting with a person who can hopefully hem Annie's flower girl dress. I'm also hoping she can radically alter my dress for Sarah's wedding. Let me say that being pregnant during 2 weddings gets complicated. I simply chose a different dress for Erin's wedding (it should look okay since I'm maid of honor and can be different). But for Sarah's wedding I already had my dress, so I've ordered extra fabric and have to find someone to morph it into a maternity dress. Lordy, how I hate maternity clothes of all kinds! You'd think it would be fun to get all new clothes for a few months, but it isn't. My only consolation this time around is that when I get to my very biggest I won't have to worry about dressing for work. If you see me in August I can almost guarantee I'll be wearing an XL tank top and capri-length yoga pants. Oh yeah, lookin' good. I'll start covering all my mirrors on July 1st...