My boys are busy playing Star Wars Legos rights now. We spent the day in Albany with the Beck's for Palm Sunday/Easter celebrations. Levi and Bobbi made it up so everyone was able to see the new baby:) Quinn and Luke are pretty darn adorable as they play together. Quinn is wearing his new spiderman t-shirt and shorts from Marcia and Steve. The t-shirt is sleeveless and yellow and he's wearing it over his grey Darth Vader shirt. He's got on his new black shorts and has kept on his brown socks that went with his Easter outfit. He is perched on his red rocking chair from Grandma Edberg and has the Wii remotes clutched in his hands. He is making lots of narrative sort of comments, as is his father. They are both chuckling throughout their game play. I believe that my son is far more talented with a Wii remote than he probably should be, but I impressed nonetheless and predict many more hours of father/son video game playing over the years. "Roger" is stretching and moving in my belly and I am glad that after a long weekend, she is still up to moving about. Quinn and the family just finished a late dinner of pizza and Quinn was quick to tell me that if he finished his pizza, Dad said that he could have "chocolate" but the way he said chocolate was in a hushed whisper, adding intrigue to his treat. Sweet, sweet boy.

One of Quinn's new things is that he likes to pretend to steal our ears and then we pretend that we can't hear him and all he says. He laughs uproariously about the whole thing and it's all wonderfully happy. He is doing very well at his new session of swimming lessons and is good about holding on to the wall of the pool and kicking his little legs. We stopped at the Gap outletin Albertville today on our way back from Albany and picked up some new summer duds for the little man. He is going to be wearing 5t and clothes- wild! I can hardly believe that I have a near 4 year old and will soon be adding an infant to the mix! had the St. Kate's book fair yesterday at Barnes and Noble and visited with some nice parents. Karissa Baker, a former co-worker from SPA, has her son at St. Kate's and its fun to visit with her. McCall's Mom was also there with Quinn's pal and we are glad to here that they are returning next year.

Both Luke and I are proud of the fact that by and large, Quinn is a polite and friendly boy. When exhausted, he can be curt and not want to be forced into things, but in large part, he's a respectful kid. I am glad that we are doing our best to model manners to him. Roger continues to be the most popular name for his little sister to be. Luke and I continue to marinate over the other names we like and are trying to balance out the root of the name and the family associations as close to equal as possible. Who knows where we'll land on a name??

Spring break is finally here and I have tons to do this week. I need to finish the science work from last summer, I need to get lessons ready for the long term sub and it also looks like I need to ready a resume and cover letter for a potential new position at open school. that, and I should take it easy and try my best not to have a baby:)

Quinn continues to be a happy co-sleeper and snuggles as close to me as possible, then stretching his legs across the rest of the bed so I can't switch sides and make any gains in space. Funny kid. We were able to get him off a wierd week of Spongebob and Nick tv and move him to pbs. He had worn tired of the disney line up and likes the arthur, george mix. I saw the trailer for toy story 3 today and that is going to be quite good:)

Just finished a mystery that was reviewed in people magazine and now I'm going to dive into diana gabaldon. The boys are laughing and shouting. Luke sometimes reprimands Quinn's moves and I think Quinn likes teasing him with their progress by jumping into water, off ledges, etc. My son loves being a storm trooper and often asks if I want to come and play with him and be a jedi and he'll be a storm trooper. Funny kid. I do love them both so very, very much.

The anxiety or worry is seeping in. I look around at the amazing life I have and I worry about the safety of everyone. Today we meet with the life insurance guy. We need to update our plans now that we'll be adding a second child to our merry mix. With that, the burning need also persists for Luke and I to sit down and make a will. UGgh. I don't want anyone else to raise my children, I want to do it with Luke and I don't want anything to jeopardize that. So, when I sometimes turn over- rather awkwardly- in the bed and listen to Quinn breathe, I think to myself, "This is the most perfect life I could lead. Please God don't let anything change the health and wellness of those I love most".

Today we're off to the perinatal ultrasound folks to check in on the little one and her growth. From the looks of my much expanded belly, the two cord vessel has done little to slow down her progress. She's a mover too. She's pretty regularly active:) Quinn spent some time last night kissing the belly and was highly entertained the other evening when she was pushing her foot out and making my belly have a funny bump to it. He laughed hysterically at that. Listening to Quinn laugh is one of the best sounds I can imagine. He and his Dad will wrestle a half dozen times a week and the hysteria to his enjoyment is so sweet. Sometimes in his dreams he laughs good naturedly. Love it!

This past Saturday was McCall's birthday party and it was a delight to watch Quinn and his beloved friends. They ran and ran and ran and jumped and explored and had a great time. Of course, the two of them were nearly inseparable and where one went the other followed. When one didn't want to eat pizza, neither did the other. There were odd displays of arms crossed and No's being flung around to no one in particular. I guess we don't have to look very far for Quinn's inspiration at sassiness. To his credit though, he already is learning the art of code shifting and in most cases knows that when with us he is one version of himself and with his friends, he can be another person. By no means do I think either of them misbehave in school, but some of his assertiveness has roots in McCall's modeling:)

Before the party we went to Creative Kids Stuff to pick out McCall's gift. Of course my son found a box of Star Wars equipment under a discount table and began to carry it around. For someone who can't read, he sure recognizes the Star Wars logo. He enjoys watching letters and numbers form together and his new thing is to ask what something says. He likes to type on the computer as well, just like Mom and Dad. He's been watching Super Why on his Dad's phone lately and singing along to that. Speaking of, I bought my first toddler CD and it was a "huge" hit in the car. I need to remember to check in with Luke about some of those purchases. Whoops.

The appearance of the word stupid was temporary it seems hasn't recurred, which is a nice thing. It was just the one put down to the Storm Trooper and beyond that, nothing. Whew. We got Quinn signed up for swimming lessons at Learn to Swim at the U. Luke got a recommendation for their program from ECFE so we followed up and they are set to start in two weeks. Unfortunately, the first session interferes with sibling class at the hospital so we're going to have to arrange for a tour or something to supplement the lack of class. Spring break is at the end of the month and I think Quinn will take a break from school. It will save some money and perhaps he can spend a day or so with Nana and Papa. His last overnight there went well and even though it took him a while to recover from the change to his weekend routine, he slept the full night there and was in good spirits.

I must be in nesting mode a bit because I'm all about keeping up on laundry and picking up. Luke and I both are bracing ourselves for the deletion of personal time in the house. I can hardly believe that my son is almost 4 years old. I watch him in the bath tub and he's this tall, wiry little boy who has energy to spare. He loves to splash, lay on his back in the tub so he can hear the world muted and lately, poor water into his ear because he similarly likes that tunnel sensation, though we discourage the pouring exercise a ton.

My son loves the snowman book, dislikes walking up or downstairs alone because its scary, but embraces all things Star Wars. He loves to carry around his "gun" and attack the clones and wants his parents help as back up Jedi. He works to get the tiny plastic guns into the hands of his storm troopers and loves that his Dad built him a giant lego snow fort like thing for the battles on Hoth. He carried around the cardboard cut out of the figures in his Endor set and jumps on the bed whenever he has the chance. At present, his water bottle is the pink one and mine is the blue. He still loves the name Roger for the baby, but last night he asked me what we were going to name her. He loves to cuddle and now wants to sleep with his Star Wars pillow even though he prefers the flatness to the bed for his head. He is putting on his own clothes more and more, but his slightly large head presents problems for him, poor thing. He is chiefly concerned with touching my elbow and making sure that happens enough in each day. He enjoys corn dogs, Noodles and Co. mac and cheese and Cinnamon Toast crunch. He newly likes fruit snacks of all kinds it seems and first licks off the icing on cupcakes before diving into the substance.

And soon, there will be two children to adore and love. There will be two children to care for and worry for. There will be twice as much joy and twice as much pressure to make sure I do well by them both. I need to lesson plan for about 9 weeks and still manage to get through the rest of this student teaching experience, where I feel like I'm caretaking a 32 year old teacher in training. I wish there was a surplus of money so I wouldn't have to be thinking about money at the same time that I'm thinking about labor. To be fair though, my fears about labor are pretty minor. I know that I can do it, have done it and that I will get through it. It doesn't mean that will be pretty and even though my body can't conjure up memories of pain, I can see how I was walking, know in my head that sitting in the car was painful and recall that bathroom protocol took forever because of the "damage" done downstairs. But, I have an amazing little boy and he is superb, so I know I can do it. 12 hours of my life is 12 hours of my life and then a lifetime of joy as a newly minted parent.

Please let Luke be approved for additional unemployment... I just have to pray that all will be alright:)

So, I'm very, very excited to see how much the little one has grown and to assure myself that she's on course and healthy. I am planning for her birth to be a couple weeks early, like Quinn's, but I suppose in the grand scheme of things, delivering on time is the fiscally smart thing to do and better assures my sick days of lasting and the short term disability not being sucked dry with early bills. Asha is throwing me a shower, which is so very sweet. Better get ready for the day. I need to follow up on a tip Megan gave me for writing a short will online, a perk of our insurance or union benefits or something.