There's a BABY moving around in there...

You know, some days you just wake up and think "WOW, am I PREGNANT, or what?!" Of course other days you wake up and think "how can it be morning already?!" because you seem to have hardly slept all night, due to that large and uncomfortable mass that has developed inside of you over the past 8 months. Recently I've been having more of the latter type of morning. This week in particular, sleep has been elusive and headaches just the opposite.

Pickle particularly seems to enjoy moving around a lot recently--which is just lovely, when I am (or want to be) awake. It is a little less enjoyable when I am trying to sleep, and when the moving around starts to feel like Pickle is trying to shove a limb through my belly!

The ever-growing belly, in week #30.

Today we started week #32...which means that we have just 6 weeks (from today!) until we are considered full-term! Ack! Where did the time go?!

Andy and I have both been busy working...but don't worry, we still find time for our leisurely pursuits as well. Recently Andy has started playing WoW, and Jess keeps knitting away to her heart's content.

Pickle's mittens, recently finished. (Thanks to Ellie for the company while knitting these!)

Andy's sweater...mostly finished several weeks ago, but I finally got around to sewing in a zipper. Here he is trying it on for the first time post-zipper-install, pre-blocking.

More Cute Kid Photos

Some of you may be wondering just how many more posts we can get out of visiting with our adorable niece and nephew...and really, hasn't anything else exciting happened in our lives since then?

Well, no, nothing exciting HAS happened since then. It's been all work and no play for the Gubbins'. And so I figure we are entitled to at least one more post featuring Ellie & Ben--it may not be current news in our lives, but its a heck of a lot cuter than anything that's been happening since they left!

Some days Ben napped and Ellie didn't...a few times she sat on my lap while I knit, and told me all kinds of things! I was knitting mittens for Pickle (recently finished, photos to come at some point!), so Ellie asked me all kinds of questions about Pickle..."will Pickle be my cousin?" "when will Pickle come?" We had the best conversations! And for a little girl just about to turn 4, Ellie was very patient--she just sat there for 1/2 an hour, twirling my needles while I knit, telling me stories and asking questions--I think its my favorite memory from the whole week.

Uncle Andy attempting a double-airplane ride with both kids at once--it was brief, but highly entertaining for all involved (including the onlookers!)

Uncle Andy was also giving rides in the laundry basket--fun for everyone. Luckily, he didn't start this potentially back-breaking practice until the last day of the visit, so while the kids begged for more and more and more, at least it was only one afternoon's worth of lifting :).

We once had a video camera. It was a well-loved little handheld Canon mini-DV camera...but it died. It was a good 6 years old and had been well-used, so we weren't too upset or shocked when it started fading away. However, we have yet to replace it. Our deadline is baby's arrival...in the meantime, we've discovered that our new still camera takes much better video than our old still camera. So I thought I'd take this excuse of a cute kid video to test out uploading video clips to blogger, just so we're ready to show off Pickle when s/he arrives. Behold, the entertaining antics of Ellie & Ben, playing with Uncle Andy (video is about 35 seconds long):

Apple Picking

We took Ellie & Ben to Fireside Orchard for their first apple-picking experience while they were here. It was a blast! Here is the evidence:

Jess and the kiddos--quick, take the picture before Ben runs away!

Ellie s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g to reach an apple, with Mom's help.

Ben was a little less precise in his picking, so we ended up taking a few leaves with us, too.

I think here Jen is demonstrating to the kids how some apples have bad spots and others don't--and that you should pick the ones that don't. Ellie seemed to get it...and Ben enjoyed picking whatever apple he felt like and then dropping it on the ground--which led to many demonstrations and reminders of how to put apples in the bag after you pick them...

...at one point this part became nearly as exciting for Ben as the actual picking. Then he lost interest in it and went back to dropping them on the ground.

Nathan, Ben, Jen, & Ellie

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids.

This is one of my favorite photos from the whole week--I snapped it just in time to catch Ben's delight at the discovery (or re-discovery) of spreading dandelion seeds!

More photos

Last Sunday we had a baby shower--TONS of people came to help welcome Pickle, and to see Jen & family. Here are just a couple shots from the shower:




We also celebrated Ellie's 4th birthday while she was here (she actually turns 4 this week, and I hear she has another party scheduled at the other grandparents' house--lucky duck!). Ellie helped Grandma bake birthday cakes, and worked hard to blow out her candles:


Of course one of the perks of being a little kid is that adults are kind enough to buy you a present, even when its your sister's birthday...here Ben is checking out his new lift-the-flap book (upside-down):


And who can resist buying random gifts for cute kids anyway? Aside from birthday presents, they got these Halloween spinning light toys from Grandpa that they just loved:

Cuteness--Day 1

Well, all the relatives have now left, and our house is once again nearly-empty with just the two of us. As we spend the evening recuperating (read: watching tv and avoiding work), I thought I'd take a look at the photos we took. There are many to be sorted through--here are just a few from day 1 of the visit (i.e. last Saturday):

Ellie & Ben tackling/cuddling with each other on the bed.

Ellie helping Liz make black bean lasagna.

Flying a kite with Liz. Their parents were napping in the room with the kids' clothes and we didn't want to wake them, so instead we wrapped them in our fleece jackets--which turned out to be more like gowns on the kids :).

Ben spent some time sorting through rocks in our yard and selecting "special" ones to set aside :).

no time to post

Just wanted to check in and say that we haven't disappeared off the face of the earth...rather, we have had a house full of guests all week! Our weekend (after they leave) will no doubt be filled with catching up on work and sleep...but after that, come back for some cute photos of what we've been doing this week :).