Just an update on how things are going...

My pregnancy is going well. I was 12 weeks on Sunday and it felt good to get to that mark. I can't believe that I'm already showing. (see picture). Still feeling very tired. I was really nauseated all week long. This was by far the worst week of nausea thus far. I had a few close calls of thinking I was going to barf while I was in the store or driving down the road. Thankfully, I was able to breathe threw them without any embarrassing incidents. Baby is doing well though. I've felt very faint flutters that I have been wondering if it's the baby, but I think it's still too early to feel movement and so I've been chalking it up to being gas. I am beyond excited about this baby and cannot wait for our big ultrasound to find out what we're having. I'm thinking about finding a place that does 3D ultrasounds too as I really think those are so neat. Deidra wants to go with me to see the baby. She's already informed me that she wants the baby to sleep in her room. I told her we'd just have to wait and see. She's been asking me little questions about the baby...how it eats and so forth. I'm hoping she doesn't eventually wonder how the baby got in there, but I guess the s-e-x question has to come sooner or later. She is 9 after all.

Speaking of being 9, my baby girl, Miss Deidra, turned 9 on Nov. 11. We took her out to Applebee's for dinner on her birthday and she opened her presents from us. We got her the movie UP and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That's the only book series that I've seen her interested in and I really want to encourage her in her reading. Then, on Saturday we had a birthday party for her at the bowling alley, complete with a birthday cake that was done up shaped like a bowling ball. It was very cute! She had a few people from her class show up along with 2 of the neighbor girls. Grandma came too. It was fun! I really cannot believe that she is already 9. My how time flies! They grow much too fast!

Josiah is doing pretty well. I noticed that he is getting much better at transitioning from one thing that he likes to do to having to do something he'd rather not be doing. He is not throwing as big of a fit about it as he used to. He still is struggling with listening and following directions but the bribing of the gummy bears for completing tasks without incident is helping. I think mornings are the worst. That first hour until his meds kick in is hard. He's loud, cannot follow directions, he's running all over, I'm constantly having to remind him of what he's supposed to be doing and to stay out of the kitchen. I always have to tell myself that it will get better after the hour. That helps me to stay sane. :-) He is getting SO big. He is wearing big boy underwear as of last weekend. He still has a couple of accidents during the day, but for the most part he is doing great with using the potty. I am so proud of him!

Little E still struggles with listening and following directions and she still needs constant redirection as well. Her hands are always into something. But, again, the gummy bear rewards are helping her to somewhat stay on task depending on her moods. I'll take it. Things are getting a little better around here. I have to tell them somedays "Mommy, has to use the bathroom or make a phone call if you stay out of stuff and are quiet while I do this, I'll give you gummy bears when I'm done." And most of the time they are successful. They do not like missing out on their gummy bears. She is struggling in school with learning her letters and phonics. I told the teacher she can't very well be expected to learn her phonics when she doesn't know her letters. This is something we've been working on for a long time. Learning for her takes a LOT of repetition and she still seems to learn very slowly. OT has been working on it with her as well. She's only got about 3 letters down and even still she doesn't know them every time she's asked. I'm trying to do something with her daily that is alphabet/phonic related, but her attention span is SO short as well, that it's hard for her to grasp what you're trying to teach her. Yet, we plug on and I know she will get it sooner or later.

Baby T was doing better with all of her whining, but she seems to have had a relapse. My OT got on her yesterday about it and she looked at me and told me that she doesn't know how I've been coping with all of her whining as it gets to her when she's only here for a couple of hours and all she does is cry and whine over every little thing. I told her that some days are better than others. She told me just to keep staying consistent and when she does that and the warning doesn't get her to stop, to keep putting her upstairs in her room. I asked her if she thought it was just her age, or the fact that she is still struggling with speech. She told me that with the way she can turn it onn and off that she thinks it's behavioral. I was just curious as to what she thought. She can be so sweet and affectionate, I wish she would let this whining go. She is such a good girl for the most part.

I've been working on our adoption paperwork too and hope to send it in this afternoon. Hopefully then, we can get their adoption rolling. I really want them to be adopted before this baby is born.

I have my quarterly monitoring tomorrow morning, so I'm just trying to do some cleaning and get my house decluttered as there is too much paper clutter around here right now that is driving me nuts. Then, I just need to do the girls' clothing inventory and a fire drill and then we're good for this month.

I cannot believe that we're already getting ready for Thanksgiving. These past couple of months have flown by. Wow!