Free at Last, Free at Last

Hallelujah, I'm free at last! My bedresting days are officially over. I had my doctor's appointment yesterday and he released me from my housebound prison. I can't even describe how ecstatic I am. Thank you so much to all of you who offered suggestions of how to stay entertained, and especially to all of you helped out by taking the kids for me! I wanted to give a special shout out to my number 1 favorite sister (hahaha) Emily for sending me my very own Good Mail package. She sent me the hook up with several issues of my favorite celebrity tabloid magazines, as well as some conversation hearts (the candy), and some cute clothes for baby Sophie.


In retrospect, the time actually passed by pretty quickly, although each day seemed like it was a week long. The kids have pretty much been watching TV all day long for the last 2 weeks. So, we're gonna need to break that habit real soon. In other news, Ethan has finally caught on to the fun that is picking on a little sister. Grace has 3 stuffed animals that she is VERY attached to -- Doggie (a white dog), Puppy (a pink dog), and Ribbit (her stuffed frog from the Build a Bear workshop birthday outing). Ethan's new favorite thing to do is to grab one of her animals from her and then run away with it laughing maniacally the whole time. Grace gives the desired response by freaking out and chasing after him trying in vain to get it back. Its been lots of fun.

The irony is that right before going on bedrest they were actually starting to play together really well and nicely with each other and I was really excited thinking that perhaps they would continue to do so once the baby was here. I guess that was just wishful thinking. They still CAN play nicely together, but they're also at each other's throats half the time. Here is my favorite exchange from today. Ethan was doing something to bother Grace and she came crying to me and Scott saying that Ethan was bugging her, so I told her to tell him to stop. Here is what they said:

Grace -- (yelling) "Don't bug me!"

Ethan -- (yelling back) "You just can't worry about that!"

Huh? What does that even mean?

Anyway, I don't really have anything too exciting to report after my first full day back in the swing of things. However, since today I'm exactly 4 weeks away from my due date, I thought I'd follow in the footsteps of my friend Heidi and offer up a contest with actual prizes for the winners (well, as long as I know your address so I can send you something). I'll make it a 2 part contest for whoever guesses closest to the actual birth date and weight of the baby.

Now onto my reality TV commentary for the day. I know many of you out there watch American Idol. So here is my question. What is up with Paula Abdul this season? Seriously, all she does is make weird or crazy faces at the camera and she's making even less sense with her comments than usual. As far as the "talent" this year, I'm always really annoyed by all the bad singers they show. I wish they'd show more of the good singers. That being said, my early favorite is that teenage girl who was training to be an opera singer but skipped out to audition for the show. I LOVED her. I thought she was hilarious, and I hope she does well. Somehow I doubt she'll make it past the Hollywood round, but I thought she had so much personality I'm still holding out hope. Other favorites include the Jack Osborne look-alike who said he wanted to make David Hasselhof cry and the revolutionary-looking guy with the long hair and beard.

In closing I'll post a picture of how Grace utilizes her Mr. Potato Head set she got for Christmas.


That's all folks!