Nate's Super Sweet 4 (and other updates)

I can't believe the last time I'd written was in May, and here we are at the end of June! Things have happened, but I've been too busy or tired to broadcast them. So...

My baby is 4!!! Nate turned 4 years old on June 19th. It also happened to be his end of school year picnic, which was pretty cool. I made cupcakes for his class and they had a little party in school for him. When Joe brought the boys home from the picnic and after we got the other kids off to bed, we had a bright orange new bike waiting outside for him. He really hasn't had a decent bike yet, and he loved it. It's hard to imagine how much he's grown. He has always been and will continue to be my little man. His maturity level for his age is outstanding, and he is so much smarter than I'd like sometimes. (he no longer accepts simple explanations, and has found holes in some of my stories.) I can always count on him for help, and he is happy to do it. I'm sure sometimes I take advantage of him being the oldest, but I try not too. I don't want him to have that typical oldest sibling complex. We had his party on Saturday, and it was a blast. We rented this gigantic bounce house/slide which made the party a hit. We chose the 'county fair' theme from Pottery Barn Kids (of course) after much deliberating. Nate and I tried to come up with a theme for weeks till I found this one. We both loved it. We also rented a cotton candy machine, hot dog steamer, and had a few games. At each game the kids won a prize that made up their goody bag. We had 65 people scheduled to come, and I think about 58 showed. Not bad, but a lot of work. We decided to do cupcakes instead of one giant cake, so me, Joe and Nate were up till 10:00 the night before baking, frosting, and decorating them. Nate had his own little cake make from a mini quiche pan, and he loved it. I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed the party, and it wasn't nearly as chaotic as I thought it'd be. I always take on way too much, but it turns out well in the end. Just want to say a quick "sorry" to anyone who was not on the guest list. I accidentally forgot to invite some people, and I really didn't want anyone to feel left out.

I have taken up a new job. Child Care! I have a 2 year old girl, 4 year old boy, and 10 month old girl. I might be taking on another 10 month old girl, but we're doing an on-call trial right now. And yes, all in addition to my own children. Crazy? Yes I am! But I really enjoy it. Joe's been around during the day which has been awesome cause he's such a great help. Kids just gravitate towards him naturally, so they love having him around too. It also helps to have an adult male in the house when the older boys aren't listening. He'll be going back to a regular schedule in August, and I don't know what I'm going to do without him. Yeah, I'm going to be hiring some help for a few hours a day, a few days a week. I can deal with it pretty well myself, but when Nate goes back to school, I'll have no way to transport him with the other kids. (too many kids, not enough vehicle) So I'll probably look for someone from 9-12, just to help with the mornings. (even though the afternoons are way more chaotic.) I'm not charging a lot, and according to most of my friends not nearly enough, but I really do enjoy doing this. I'm home anyway, and I know what it's like to have to spend more than you make on child care. Also how hard it is to know you are leaving your kids in the right hands. I think all my parents are comfortable and happy with me, so no complaints. And there's something accomplishing in what I'm doing now. I've taken a crazy pay cut, but it's surprisingly not as stressful, and I feel like I'm actually doing something useful. Every time a kid 'gets' something I've been trying to teach them, it's rewarding just by itself. We've almost have the two year old trained, which is awesome for two reasons: a major accomplishment, and no more diapers for me! I realize not all parents have the time to do and work on certain things, but I do. But I guess like most of my ventures we'll see how long this works for.

We finally did it. We got... a minivan. A Honda Odyssey. It's got everything: power doors, DVD, leather... it's nice; for a minivan. I've yet to really drive it. Usually if we take it somewhere, it's all of us, and Joe drives. I'll warm up to it eventually.

Pregnancy is going well, though I'm so done. Done, done, done. Everything on Me is huge. My hips are aching more than ever. I have trouble walking and trip over my own feet. The ugly last month has arrived and I'm so done. Still trying to get my anemia under control. It's a little scary cause I only have so much time to get it up and if I don't, it's off to the hospital I go. Joe has been really on my ass lately about taking my iron and vitamins. It shouldn't take that much effort, I know. But I can't take the iron with calcium, etc. trying to remember all that and counting grahams of sugar, fiber, fat and protein is a little much. Nutrition should not be a full time job, but it is.

My friends from work (ex-work) threw me a baby shower on Sunday. It was really thoughtful. There are so many occasions that show who your true friends are. It was fun, and the cake Katie made was adorable. She's really great at it, and I think she's ready to start doing cakes professionally. If you made it, or weren't able to make it, thank you everybody!

I think that wraps up the last month's worth of info in a nut shell. As we get closer to the due date, I'll have more frequent updates. Or any other info to share, I'll try to be better about getting that to you. As always, my phone is open for calls, and I'll try to take them as long as I don't have 6 screaming kids at the time!