I must be starting to S.H.O.W.!!!

Ethan with his hand on my bare belly:

"Whoa, Mommy, your belly is getting bigger!"

(applies slight pressure) "Breathe dooown."

(Mommy sucks in best as I can) "You're doing great." (matter of factly)

"Now big again."

Yippeee!! I love a pregnant belly and not a pooch! It's getting there.

Now, I'm off to obsess about feeling those babies move. Today I got some good strong movement :)

Anatomy and gender scan is scheduled for Friday, October 17. Please be in prayer for these little ones to be perfectly healthy and for the anxiety I feel about finding something wrong.

Not that he doesn't watch Dora like the rest of 'em....

.....but Ethan is sitting enthralled watching a show called History Hacker--a wacky engineer who is building a generator. Can't tear him away from watching the guy demonstrate different ways of creating AC and DC and talking about Tesla and Edison. He's fascinated by it!

Pack Rat in the Making?

Ethan has been choosing one special thing to play with in bed before falling asleep, which I don't have a problem with, so long as he stays on the bed and goes to sleep fairly quick. His recent faves have been his firefighter helmet, a sunglasses box with a rope, cloth, and firetruck keychain in it, a clip board with papers (to play office), and a pirate notebook with pen (to journal), but he only chooses one thing to have in bed with him.

Last night was our Sunday Night Slumber Party. Since Chris wasn't home, there was plenty of room in the bed, so here's a list of what we slept with last night:
A heating pad (turned off and thrown on the floor after he was asleep)
A firefighter helmet
A "microscope" (empty toilet paper tube)
A "sword" (hanger)
A rock that could do many things--turn into a door, a TV, a candle, a boat....
His train blanket in case he wanted to sleep with his head at the foot of the bed
and the standard Bob blanket with Puppies and Quackies

I drew the line when I heard him sing a little song with words along these lines: "Oh no....I forgot my cash register....I must tell my mom....I must go get my cash register...."

Boy of Faith

This is a story from a couple weeks ago, but worth remembering to me.

It was a bright and clear Sunday morning when we were driving to church...not a cloud in the sky. Just as we approached church, Ethan says the following all in one breath:
"I wish it could rain. I like the rain. God, please make it to rain. Thank you, God. Amen."

Sweet little boy. I knew there was no chance of rain.

The next day, I was doing work around the house, when all the sunlight started going away. I looked outside and couldn't believe it...dark clouds closing in! I turned on the weather radar, and saw tons of "green" headed over our city! I grabbed Ethan and we started to cheer, "Thank you God for sending the rain!! Yayy God!!"

We were already on our way out to visit with a friend at the park, so we kept our plans. A little drop on the car. Another little drop. A drop at the park. Then another. Then suddenly, we're running for home trying to get out of the downpour. It rained for two days!

What a lesson in faith and prayer for our little boy.

God, thank you for your faithfulness and for the opportunity AGAIN to show me and Ethan that you do hear us when we talk to you. Please continue to reveal yourself to Ethan and grow him into a man of faith who walks closely with you and talks to always as a friend.

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16

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I'm cleaning the house, but just thinking through this life lesson---it hit me how this is not just a life lesson for Ethan, but for me, as well.

Thinking about his prayer,
--Ethan put no time constraints on God. He made his requests known to God, but didn't put God on a timetable.
--Ethan didn't stress and worry about whether God would answer his prayer or not. There are times in our lives when we need to wrestle and persevere in our prayers, but never a time to worry about whether God will take care of the situation.
--Ethan believed. God, help me to have the kind of faith Jesus asks of us--childlike and trusting.
--Ethan gave thanks, even before the prayer was answered. God hears us and He loves us. That is enough to be thankful for. On top of that, He takes care of us, even when the timing and the answer are not always exactly what we would have planned (like giving you twins after praying for another child for a looong time!!).

Thank you, God, for Ethan. Keep my eyes open to learn more from this little person.

Imaginary Friend

I may have helped Ethan create his first imaginary friend (oh no!)....The other night, I was too tired to read him a story at bedtime (I was dreading The Little Engine that Could again), so I asked if I could tell him story instead.

Once upon a time.....

The only storyline I could think of at the moment was a teeny-tiny little character named Bobo the Clown who wanted to see the world from up high, so he enlisted the help of his friend Ethan to help him find and climb Daddy's big green ladder.

Ethan thought it was hilarious and "lifted" Bobo high in the air during our story.

The following day, I heard Ethan laughing on the couch. "What are you giggling about over there?"

"Oh nothing."

Then I heard him talk quietly.

"Mommy, you don't know why I'm talking so "fuietly", do you? I'm talking to Bobo! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!"

Oh my. Why couldn't I have made up a story about a super cool astronaut??

Frist Day of the New School Year

Can you tell Ethan was happy to be going back to school??

All About Ethan

When Ms. Amy and Ms. Joanne came over last week, they asked Ethan to fill this paper with his favorite things that tell about himself. We've been talking it over, and today we looked up pictures and images. He picked out which ones he would like to add to his "All About Me" page to share in class this week. Here we go, from the top left---
Sprinkler System--Family--Sadie--Fire Engine and Fire Stickers--Super Readers--Gears--Daddy's Work--Jace--Ranger--The Color Green--A Cool Vacuum Cleaner--Mommy's Babies (the twins make their blog debut!! 12 weeks, 5 days today!)--The Home Depot and Tools--and Sprinklers. We almost got everything, except Smarties, Hot Dogs, Baseball Games, Elevators, Hitting Golf Balls, Playing Chase, Going to Hotels...maybe we missed more than a few! What a great kiddo!