I am definitely excited that school ends officially on Wednesday.  I'm looking forward to lazy warm mornings, swimming pools, and plenty of watermelon.  But one thing I'll miss is being alone with my buddy.  Eliza and I go and do just about everything in the mornings while the boys are at school.  I've never really had that experience with the boys because they were so close in age that they came as a pair.  And by the time Ben went to kindergarten Eliza was part of our family.  It's been fun this school year to have Eliza as my little buddy to "help" me with errands, chores, and appointments.

Happy birthday to my little girl Eliza.  3 years old never looked so cute.

I can't believe these kids are coming up on birthdays!

A couple of months ago I found out I was pregnant.  I am very happy to be expecting another baby.  Amidst my happiness I have been worried about some possible complications.

At the beginning of the year I noticed a bulge forming in my abdomen.  I was losing weight and working out, so I kind of ignored it and just added some more ab routines to my workout schedule.  Although I kept losing weight and getting smaller in every other place, my waistline was not shrinking and the bulge was becoming more prominent.  By the end of February I found out I was pregnant.  But I also knew there was something wrong going on with my abs.  I went to the my primary care doctor.  He agreed that the bulge was weird and sent me for an ultrasound.  When he called to give me the results he told me that there was a large split between my abdominal muscles allowing my bowels and organs to bulge out.  

I have since visited my OB/GYN and he has confirmed that I have a severe case of diastasis recti.  Fortunately there is no risk to me or the baby.  The only bad things so far: 1. I look much further along in my pregnancy than I really am.  2.  I have absolutely no ab muscles to help support me, making standing or walking for any length of time tiring and painful.

Tomorrow I will be 13 weeks along.  I'm definitely not feeling as sick any more.  And I'm starting to have a bit more energy.  Yay!  

So we'll see how this pregnancy goes.  Here's hoping November 11th will come quickly and without too much pain.

Last week was spring break.  We had really great weather and house guests, two of my favorite things.  We went to the zoo with my sister and parents.  It was great.  Here are some pics from the day.

Some may not agree with this post, and I'm ok with that.  The Easter bunny did not visit our house this year.  We dyed eggs yesterday and will have a small hunt with them.  I did not buy an Easter gift and tons of candy for each of my kids.  I think this holiday has gotten way out of hand.  I think the focus has shifted way off course.  

We will be watching a video about Jesus on lds.org, watching Music and the Spoken Word, and generally try to focus on the true meaning of Easter, Jesus Christ.  I'm not trying to toot my horn.  I'm hoping that others feel the same way I do and we can start a revolution.  Who's with me?

Ben the artist

Ben loves to draw and paint.  He's always asking for paper to create new things.  He especially likes to draw out swords, color them in, then cut them out.  (Should I be worried that he likes to make weapons out of paper?)  Today since Granny was here, he tried his hand at painting.  Granny drew Iron Man on the canvas board and Ben painted it in.  The results speak for them self.

I'm so proud!