With only 4 or less weeks of pregnancy left, I figured I better journal a bit on our life right now. Pretty soon things are going to be MUCH different around here with a very tired mom and a newborn!
How’s pregnancy at 36 weeks? Big. Tiring. But not too bad. I’m at that stage in pregnancy where every one around me always jumps in to help me. It’s wonderful: at the store the other day I swear the checker was going to insist that I get help out—and he placed about 3 items/bag. So silly. Someone on the max this weekend saw me come into the train and immediately jumped up to give me his seat. There are perks to late pregnancy!
Around 30 weeks I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes (I had it with the boys, so the chances of me getting again were pretty high). It’s a big pain to have: I have to check my blood sugar levels four times a day, regulate my food even more than I already had to with food allergies, and I don’t get to indulge in the best fruit season. On the bright side, in order to keep my sugar low I have to eat barely any carbs, no sugar, and take a walk after every meal; this, thankfully has the positive side of me not gaining any more weight. Baby, however, is still growing rapidly. Also around 30 weeks I measured BIG, so big even that I had to get a growth ultrasound to make sure baby wasn’t too big. As cool as seeing ones baby on ultrasound is, I was quite annoyed by having to pay for another ultrasound: of, course I’m big—I had twins last time! Sure enough, baby apparently had his legs stretched out entirely, while babies at this stage usually are curled in a ball. Since then, my growth has slowed down. The BIG comments have not slowed down, however. My neighbor Joyce says something about my size EVERY time I see her (which is close to every day). “How much longer!? You’ll never make it that far! You’re not much smaller than you were with twins, right?” I texted Ben one day to tell him that I could endure pregnancy, but not Joyce’s daily comments. No tact.
Baby continues to move around like every day is a party. He’s my “little rascal,” and I’m guessing he might be a bit more of a spitfire than Sam and Seth. I’ve taken the boys to my last two check-up appointments, and they’ve gotten to hear babies heartbeat. Sam likened it to a jet, and Seth to fireworks. They are excited for baby brother to come. Baby brother doesn’t have a name yet, but it is narrowed down to two. His room is close to being done, I just need my mom to come next week to help me sew a crib skirt and sheets. I’d be happy if I went in to labor anytime now!
I’m excited to read to the boys while they are on my lap and to get rid of this enormous bump!
Seth and Sam continue to be a daily joy to our lives. They are full of energy and talk constantly to anyone who will listen. They are very active, yet able to sit still really well; they still aren’t going into Sunday School during church and will sit quietly all through the hour+ service (if we can keep Sam from asking questions through that time.) They are imaginative and creative. I’ve been joking with Ben that if we end up homeschooling (we’re not sure what we’re going to do yet), I’m going to have to hire out math teaching, because they are very mathematical minded. They are already doing simple mental addition quickly and easily. For example one boy will say, “Four plus four equals eight,” and the other will pipe in with, “So does 3 + 5!” It is quite fascinating for me to watch them learn math concepts with little or no effort in teaching them. They are doing better socially and will actually talk to other kids at the park, etc. They are getting more adventurous and are really into “hill bombs”, i.e. riding their bikes down the hill on our street as fast as possible (thanks a lot for the idea Uncle Nate). 
They make everything into jets. In this picture the horses are the wings, the bin the window shield, and the sword is the top wing. They still love planes.
Jets again (Sam, Seth)
Seth is totally off his acid reflux medicine and hasn’t complained of a stomach ache in a month! Praise the Lord! He loves to laugh and is really into making a lot of “Ha!” “Aha!” noises that crack me up. While he used to lag behind Sam a bit in being able to make things with directions and legos, I think he’s now passed him up. I feel like this has happened before—where Sam learns things fast and furious, and then Seth comes slowly behind him and does them a bit better in the end. Seth has also turned into our daredevil and will peddle furiously down the hill while doing “bombs”, while Sam takes it pretty safe. 
Sam is a very persistent child. He believes he can argue his way into anything (which is NOT going to happen). For this reason, Sam and I butt heads more. However, if Sam knows he’s not going to see me for awhile, he stay real close to me and cuddles a lot; he still wants me to get in bed and cuddle with him every morning—and I’ll take that as long as I can! He’s more touchy and physical than Seth and LOVES to wrestle with his daddy. He is CONSTANTLY asking questions—so very curious! And now he’s starting to questions anything Seth says with, “How do you know?” His sentences to Ben always start with a drawn out, “Daaaaadd,” and end the same way; this was cute…at first. 
I came outside one day to this: Seth’s drum set. Hilarious. I love the look on his face.
And if that’s not funny enough, Sam was sitting next to him playing the piano.
