I thought I'd post an update on happenings around here since it's been a while. I should include pictures but that would mean I would have to exercise patience while uploading them to the computer and then getting them onto the blog. I just don't think I can be that patient right now!
The pregnancy is going well. It's been a hard one, that's for sure, but we're excited for a baby boy. I'm huge already...two months to go and counting! Felicity passed her crib on to the baby. We moved it into our bedroom and set up a big-girl bed for Felicity in the girls' room. She was very excited to have it. "Mine new bed!" she exclaimed all day and evening. It was hard for her to sleep in it. She was up a few times and fell out of it once during the night, but she's getting used to it. And she loves it.
Felicity is talking, talking, talking. She cracks me up with how well she is putting sentences together. Sometimes she just doesn't stop, even when you're hoping for some privacy like in a public restroom. She loves to "read" books like her older siblings do. When the older kids play a new song they've learned on the piano to daddy or grandma or anyone who will listen, she has to play her song too--and she sings along. It is wonderful to see her growing up.
Ella-Bella-Cinderella just turned 5 years old! She is very happy to be able to chew gum now. She is reading like crazy; you just can't stop her! She loves doing lessons for kidschool. She wants to be included in everything just like the older kids. She has learned "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the piano and it sounds very nice. Ella is so easy to get along with. You can't help but love her.
Abba-Dabba is growing too. In fact, both girls have grown over an inch in the last 3 months! Some days she wakes up and she is so cheerful and helpful. She does her chores pleasantly, then helps her sisters with their chores. Today she wiped Felicity's bum after Felicity went on the potty four different times! Felicity didn't like it at first; she wanted mommy to do it, but mommy was busy. By the second time around, Felicity was done on the potty and shouting, "AB-BY!!...AB-BY!! WIPE MINE BUM!!" Sometimes, Abby is not so pleasant. Like last night, in the middle of dinner, OUT OF NOWHERE, she starts crying. At first it's quiet and she's trying to hold it in and the tears are streaming down her face. When we ask her what is wrong (because none of us have any idea why!), she won't answer, she just cries and cries and it gets louder and louder. We offer to help but she just won't take it. She just cries. Finally it comes out that she can't find her favorite Barbie. She sometimes cries in random outbursts like that, Matt and I just look at each other in puzzlement. She is a champion bike-rider. She can manage the hills on our road like a breeze.
Kian is currently absorbed in computers. It's really all he thinks about. Almost everything out of his mouth is something about computers. He gets a couple of hours in the afternoon to explore his computers after completing all of his kidschool requirements. He's not playing games; he's opening and installing programs, learning how they work, making things with them, connecting monitors, and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand. He knows so much more than I do. I often tell him, "I don't understand what you're saying. Can you talk to Daddy about this?" As soon as Daddy is home, Kian is firing questions, "Why don't you install such-and-such program on your computer, Dad? It's on my computer and this is what it does..." His questions are much more technical but since my brain completely turns off when I hear computer language, I can't even remember them to write them down.
I do make sure he learns other things to give this kid some balance in his life. Actually, I consider that my role as his mother/teacher--just to mentor him enough to balance his education out a little. He studies 1,000-page computer manuals for fun. It's amazing.
Our house is wonderful and the land is so beautiful right now. Isn't October the best month of the entire year? I'm loving the fall weather and the color of the foliage outside and the cool breeze that flows into my bedroom windows at night and lets me snuggle under my big down comforter and feel so warm (but not hot!) We go for walks every day. Today was a windy one! We see woolly bear caterpillars all over the road and even small snakes sometimes.
We have new pets. Our friends ordered guinea eggs and incubated them and now we have 10 guinea keets (baby guineas). If you don't know what guineas are, they are funky-looking birds about the size of chickens that will eat lots of bugs on our land next summer--especially ticks! They'll go through your garden and eat all of the pests and none of the produce; isn't that amazing? We had them in a box in the house for a while because they're still small but they stink! I couldn't stand it! And they are good flyers already and would fly out of the box constantly. When we came home from church on Sunday there was poop all over the dining room and I said, "That's it! They're moving to the garage!"
Matt and I purchased a wood stove for the house so that we can save on astronomical heating bills. That'll be a fun addition to our home. Hopefully we'll be warmer than we were last year, especially with a newborn coming in December! I kept the thermostat so low last year and the bills were still almost $400/month. Forget that. This year, we should be toasty warm with our new wood stove.
Matt finished his first quarter of school. He's teaching 6th grade this year. He survived parent-teacher conferences last week (what long days!) He is singing in the ward choir now and is, as always, a wonderful, patient, adorable husband and father.
We had family come visit us in Missouri this month for their first time which was lots of fun. First, my dad and Jackie came from California and showered us with presents and took us out to eat. It was wonderful to see them and for the kids to interact with Grandpa Chad and Grandma Jackie. And then Randi came from Utah and hung out with us for a week. She brought the kids their home-made Halloween costumes which are awesome and showered us with gifts and treats too. The kids loved every minute of it. And she took the kids out for the day after a night when I couldn't sleep and I loved every minute of it! Thanks, Grandpa and Grandmas!
That's life here at the Mussers in Missouri. (Maybe pictures will be forthcoming).
