My funny girls...and bouncing boy

We have a set of toy food made of felt, which the girls "cook" in their little kitchen daily, at least.  A few days ago Hollie was making me quite a feast, and I told her, "Wow, Hollie, I'm not sure I can finish all this!"  She looked over her shoulder and told me matter-of-factly, "It's okay, Mommy, it's not real."

A few nights ago, Blake woke up very upset, and spent the rest of the night in bed with Daniel and me.  In the morning when Hollie woke up, I moved a pile of clean laundry onto the bed so I could find a new shirt, and then took her downstairs, leaving Blake in the bed, sound asleep.  After almost two hours I realized I hadn't heard a peep, so I went up to check on her, expecting to find her still asleep since she usually wakes up hungry and needing breakfast.  Instead, I found her sitting up on the bed, with one of my bras wrapped around her stomach, and a pair of my underwear over her back with an arm through each leg hole.  She was drinking from the glass of water that Daniel keeps on his nightstand, and had evidently been flipping through the books that I keep on mine.  On her face was the most mischievous little grin I've ever seen!

About a week ago we had the first warm-ish (high 40's) sunny day we have seen in a loooong time, so we went to the beach for a few hours.  Despite the relatively cool temperature, the car did warm up a bit from sitting in the sun, so when we got in the car to leave, Hollie took her jacket off and complained in earnest that it was "too hot in the car".  I was speechless!!  Guess it's a good sign that we have officially acclimated to the PNW (pacific northwest) (we can also use that acronym now, officially), and that my kids will never be able to live in warmer climates.

--------------------------------------------------------

Funny stories concluded, I want to say more about the weather!  We have been having some ridiculous fog.  Very very limited visibility for days...and days...and days, sometimes.  Makes me feel claustrophobic.

Anyway.  The weather forecast for Friday (last week) called for sun and high 40's...the first time in weeks, probably.  Big plans were made to go to the beach.  We watched the sky all Friday morning, and the fog seemed as foggy as ever, but I said Who cares??  We're going anyway!!

So, we arrived at about noon, and over the next two hours we got to watch as the sun finally did come out and burn away the fog!  It was...spectacular.

We had a great time, as usual.  The girls made a "meal" of sticks, rocks, and shells.  Blake, of course, took it too literally.

It may be hard to see...this is Whidbey Island across the water.  When we arrived, we couldn't see the island at all, but as the fog receded we started to see the very tops of the trees!  It was like a wall.  It was fun to see the ferry go in and out of it.

I had heard that going to the beach in the fog can be pretty cool, but we just hadn't made it.  I've been having a hard time getting out and doing things in this weather.  As someone who enjoys the rain at least a little bit, I never thought that SAD (seasonal affective disorder) would be something I'd ever experience, even in a place like this, but in hindsight (after seeing the sun again) maybe the weather has gotten me down a bit.  It's not that this weather makes it that much more difficult to get the kids in the car and go somewhere...I just couldn't get motivated to do it.  And it wasn't just going out of the house...I found myself in one of those mental ruts, with too many things to get done and zero ability to focus.  I listened to a guest speaker at my moms' group last week who told us that verbalizing things like that makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy, and you have to stop using that kind of language (even to yourself) and instead say/think: I can, and I will.  It was a few weeks too late for me, but with that thought (and maybe a little help from the sun), things are picking up.

-----------------------------------------------------

On that note, here's an ultrasound picture of our little boy!  This was from about two weeks ago.  He was bouncing around in a breech position at that point, so we had another ultrasound yesterday, and he has settled head-down.  For now.  He's still small enough to turn any way he wants to, so we'll probably check again at least once.  My sciatica is "back" (haha) with a vengeance, but I unearthed my old prenatal yoga DVD and I'm giving that a try.  Other than that, I'm feeling just fine and baby is doing great!