B has gotten REALLY into reading. He'll just grab a book and throw it on your stomach and if you don't read it immediately, he throws a nice little fit, right in your face. So much fun. I do love how much he loves to read now, though. Greg's often reading to the kids after work at the end of the night.

B has ALSO been OBSESSED with BUBBLES. It creates a huge mess and soaks them, but they LOVE IT. Every morning he'd point to the bubble bowl and say, "Buh buh! Buh buh!"

Scarlet loves to pick Brighton up. If they didn't also tumble to the ground, I wouldn't mind at all. When I tell her not to she exclaims, "But I lifted him under his arms!" Versus wrapping her arms around his NECK to pull him up. That's what she used to do on quite a frequent basis. I keep waiting for them to fall on a nasty corner and really hurt themselves.

 B loves it too. Now, as soon as Scarlet gives him a hug, he just lifts up his legs- whether she wants him to or not.

Am I the only one that tries to feed my kids stuff like this? Should I not feel completely defeated when the plate still looks like this at the end of dinner?

 Looking at the picture now, I realize this completely looks like hippie food. It's Greek Quinoa and Cumin Beans. This is my favorite meal! It is so amazing! WHY DON'T THEY EAT MY FOOD!!!! It is the MOST frustrating thing! I know it's not an original tale- but I am soooo frustrated by it. The constant debate is always- should I give up or keep trying? It's the worst. Why are they so turned off by veggies IN their food? They will eat them ALONE- but not mixed in things. I always think, "FINE! I'll just take it out and we'll have plain pasta every night!" But I think that's disgusting and why should I have to suffer because my kids are crappy eaters? Dinner is just threat after threat- "Eat a bite right now or it's a time out! 1, 2, 3!" FOR EVERY SINGLE BITE!!!! This is SO not an enjoyable way to eat a meal. EVERY NIGHT!!!! It is the worst. The whole philosophy that if you only feed your kids what you want them to eat, they will eventually eat it is a complete LOAD. Another former judgement gone out the window. BAH!!!! I just keep telling myself, someday this will be a former problem. But I'm sick of making two meals a night or letting them have hot dogs for dinner AGAIN. It annoys me.

I guess I'll forgive them. I remember not wanting to eat dinner when I was a kid. And you know,  they ARE pretty cute. Though sometimes I want to yell, "YOU DRIVE ME INSANE!!!!"

Let's see . . . Brighton has discovered the joys of picking his nose- to the point of making it BLEED!!!! His finger is ALWAYS up there! I can't keep it out! I don't understand how it's kept on because the first 2 weeks his would pull out a nasty booger and stare at his finger and cry, not knowing what to do with it. So every time he'd do this, I'd think, "WHY are you doing this again! Keep your finger out of your nose and this won't be a daily problem!!!" Now he's figured out he can wipe it on his shirt. At least it's not going in his mouth. I can't say this for Scarlet. I've noticed he's starting to put things up his nose in general. This does not excite me. Hopefully it doesn't cause any MAJOR problems in the future. 

Brighton is completely obsessed with me. There's no other way to describe it. I'm having trouble not picking him up, but I have to stop because my stomach keeps camping up and it only feels like this at the VERY END of my pregnancy, and I'm only half way through and it's already WORSE and far more persistent than it's ever been. I am in SERIOUS trouble if I don't take care of this, RIGHT NOW. I'm anxious to talk to my doctor about it, though I know what they'll say. For some reason I thought I could lift him the whole pregnancy, but it is giving me trouble.

Scarlet is saying the funniest things everyday. She really has such a THIRST for knowledge! She is constantly asking me things. Sometimes it's hard to find an appropriate way to answer. Usually the topics are simple and factual. But last night I read her a scripture story and then when I was changing Brighton's diaper she asks, "What's the Holy Ghost?" It was such a deliberate question! Like she was thinking about it and decided to ask me- which I LOVED. But that was harder answer than I thought it would be. I talked about spirits and feelings, but she's too young to understand the difference between what we are and a spirit without a body. I know she'll get it someday, but I get sad sometimes when I know I can't explain the answer show she understands. But I love that she is constantly asking me questions and I love answering them.

Every night at bedtime she asks us to tell a story about how "baby sister pooped in Daddy's shoes because she wasn't wearing a diaper!" Every night. She thinks it's so funny. She is pretty obsessed and excited for the baby. She talks about the baby all the time. Every time she gets dressed she exclaims, "When I get bigger, sister baby will wear my clothes!!!" Every prayer she'll talk for MINUTES about sister baby. How she help her when she cries, how we'll fly on a plane to Grandma and Grandpa's for her to be born, changing her diaper, feeding her bottles- ALL of these things work their way into her prayers. Almost every night! She is very aware of it all and very excited.

I don't remember if it was a movie or one of us, but she learned the expression, "I'm pooped" and of course thought it was so funny and now she uses it all the time. She also frequents, "Holy Crap!" and "That's disgustin'!" and "stupid this! stupid that!" and "that's gonna take FOREVER!!!" Such wonderful phrases she's learning from her mother. Oh I almost forgot the best one, "That's nasty!" It always makes me laugh to hear her say NASTY. It's just so funny.

Well, I think that's our update. I am still sickly and am certain we've never been well more than 3 weeks in a row- EVER since we moved here. Why we cannot escape being sick here- is a MYSTERY TO ME. But oh well, what can we do? It just seems to happen. But I've managed to make dinner the last two nights and find BITS of energy throughout the day. I'm trying to just get along, because I simply have to.

I'm getting really excited to have this baby! I feel kicks all the time now! It's fun!

I read one of Dr Fuhrman's books and really liked it. Obviously I'm a firm believer in his philosophy of nutrition and was so excited to learn about his eating plan. There were a few changes to our diet that he recommends. The most obvious changes were eating MUSHROOMS regularly. Who knew! So now I'll try to work them in every week. The other one, that is much more demanding and I need to find more recipes to make this happen- is eating beans EVERY DAY. Every day!!! 1/2 cup to a cup! Kind crazy, but hey- I'm a believer. I really do trust this guy, so after reading his book I thought, "OK, let's do it!" But then I'm sick and I feel tired and it's like, "Oh my GOSH! This isn't going to happen. I'm such a failure!" But even as I was saying this to myself, I knew I felt defeated because I felt like CRAP after a long, sickly, very sleepless week. And I assured myself, that I will just work in what I can. I am obviously going to struggle when I'm sick, and I'm ALWAYS SICK and therefor will ALWAYS be struggling, but hey- I'll keep trying. The other thing we were doing quite a lot- just not EVERY single day- is NUTS. Eat 1/4 cup every day. The straight up fact to work in a specific amount of beans and nuts EVERY SINGLE DAY is just a whole new idea to me! It changes things. I eat a lot of these things each WEEK, but every day? No! So I'm trying to keep home made lara bars around and switch up the flavors regularly so we don't get sick of them. As much as I see how far from his plan we are, sometimes- we are so much better than we were before I read his book. I was in need of a nutritional kick in the buns. Kyrgyzstan sort of deflated all my motivation for healthy living. It is so much harder to do here. So much more hassle. And the less and less I did it, the more I forgot about it and even though my MIND knew I'd be better off making more of an effort- I just didn't. Well, since our trip to France we are BACK IN THE GAME and I'm excited! I don't know if we've been eating the correct AMOUNT of produce he recommends, but it is like 10x more than it was a month ago and I feel so much better already. I wish we never stopped! I'm certain I will not MASTER his plan- atleast not here. And since we don't have health problems and we're not trying to lose weight- there are a COUPLE things I'm just not going to worry about. Like oil. I'm gonna use more oil than he recommends- but you know what it tastes good. The oil thing, for him, is more about weight control than actual HEALTH, so I don't feel SO bad about that one. Anyway, enough about this. I'm just excited to be eating better and trying new things that will hopefully benefit us- like more beans, mushrooms and nuts!