Happy New Year

I am excited for 2012. A new year and a new beginning. A few things have changed for us. My belly is growing quickly, I am consistently measuring 3 weeks ahead (yikes!). Here I am at 29 weeks (last week):


I am having a lot of contractions, so in order to take it easy a little bit, Sam has started preschool. I debated whether to put him in something, but he does love it. He begs to go every day (even though he only goes twice a week). When Lucas leaves for school, Sam puts on his backpack and asks constantly when it's time to go. The transition has been easy and I am grateful for that. Of course, Sam has had the benefit of watching Lucas go to school his whole life, so it is not something new to him, as it was for Lucas:



The boys are taking a sports class at a local kids' gym. Lucas is learning to play football there and is a natural. Sam is learning to listen to the teacher and follow directions (at best). It's fun to watch them in action:




I started a weekly playgroup in my ward and this was our first get together:


We are settling into our new life here. I still have dreams that we live in Manhattan and wake up to remember that we have moved. It's strange. We were there for so long that the adjustment to being in a new place has been interesting. But we love it. And I love that even though we are in a bigger space, the boys are always right next to each other doing everything together. When I ask Lucas who his favorite person is in the world or who his best friend is, he always says it's Sam. We spend our afternoons and weekends doing variations of this:





The boys' favorite thing to do is play hide-and-seek in the house. I found Sam up on a shelf in this closet. He scampered up there all by himself and was quite proud:


The boys love getting haircuts and getting "colors" in their hair. I don't love the colors personally, but luckily it washes out the same night:


And this is Sam sitting in my lap in the recliner. He is watching TV and holding on to my belly:

Lucas is really excited for a baby brother. It's fun to hear him explain how things will be to Sam and how baby deliveries happen. Sam has mixed feelings. Sometimes he says he will love the baby and help me with him and other times he says, "There is no room in our house/car for the baby." He has also told me that I can't hold the baby, "only Daddy can hold him, Mommy can hold Sammy." But we are all excited and we have regular discussions about possible names and what life will be like with a baby in the house. Now that the holidays have passed, I feel like the real countdown has begun. Because of various reasons, my doctor is not going to let me go to term. So, at most, I have another 8 weeks to go. I am nervous, excited, scared, grateful...and lots of other things. I never dreamed I would be the mother of 3 boys!