No New Photos

Sorry in advance. I have been a major slacker on the camera as of late. You will have to put up with some old photos.

Big news for daddy. He has a new job too! Big promotion to bureau chief. He beat out two guys with tons of program experience. It is the next step up in the state food chain. We are all so very proud of him. He starts next week.




As for baby news, I made them move my due date back. I know when bell pepper was made and I can do the math. The bonus of moving the due date back is that if I go overdue again I will have 8 extra days of overdueness - you may notice we are repeating week 18. I would very much like to have a different birth than we had last time.

I didn't feel the baby move at all until Friday, now I feel that little sea monkey moving all of the time. Friday is the ultrasound and yes we will find out the sex, but that isn't what is important. It is important to make sure that bell pepper has all of the pieces and parts and after that, we will find out what bell pepper will be.

What do I think it is? Girl? Maybe. Ed is SURE it is a boy. He says that there is a lot of testosterone going on inside me making me want to wrestle him and push him down sometimes. Couldn't be that he does things that are irritating. No. Baby's fault.

My new job is going well. It was a little boring at first, but is starting to pick up. I need to be busy, I need it to be worth those extra 8 hours a week I am giving up with my baby boy. I need to know that being a Soil Scientist is worth it. My job would be perfect if I could work 3/4 time again. Maybe. . . someday. . . If I was still at my old job, I would have quit when little bell pepper was born. My old job didn't mean enough to me. That is why I need this one to be worth it.



And now after a lot of blah blah blah, lets get to Jr. We went to spend Valentines Day with Jr.'s most beloved Auntie Liesel (Lee-sow as he says it). He enjoyed spending some time running around her house chasing beagles and the cutest terrier ever. He was a champ of a boy. He was great on Saturday night when we took him to Hooters. Yes. You read that right, we took him to Hooters. He adored our waitress ate a hot dog and left with some Hooters crayons.

He was great at the carousel, park and out to lunch on Sunday. He was very excited to play on the Ebola train at the mall and didn't even notice that his mom had left him with Liesel to run and buy some maternity pants. All and all, I would say he gets the MVP of babies for the weekend. It was nice to have three straight days with him.

He is really talking like crazy. I don't know how better to put it. He can count to 10. He repeats sentences in context. He sings sweet little songs. He knows his first name "Junior" and sometimes even knows his last name. He is getting very loving and didn't hesitate with Liesel at all, he is starting to remember people and pick up where he left off with them. His development is amazing.

Oh and he loves pickles, tomatoes, bananas, apples, grapes, berries and oranges over ice cream or cookies. Weirdo.

Janeen and I were joking that we should name our new babies after the food that we craved while we were pregnant. She said that her little girl would be named DQ Blizzard. Mine might be strawberry ice cream or pizza crust.

Baby Sister

Oh no, we don't know if it is a boy or girl yet. Don't worry, we will let you know.

This is Jr.'s "baby sister". He loves to haul around baby sister and feed her, burp her, put her night night. I like that he has dollies to play with, Ed is less than thrilled.

Jr.'s baby sister or baby brother is now a bell pepper.

So Much

So much has happened in the last few weeks. First let me say that Florida was amazing. It was so relaxing. It was just what we needed after the longest coldest December I can remember. Fun in the SUN!







Jr. LOVED his grandparents.





He LOVED his uncle Ock and aunt Patty.


And he LOVED the beach. We didn't do much, just went to the zoo, ate out a couple of times and spent every day at the beach. We loved the sunset. When we could we would head down to the beach, watch the sun set and say "bye bye SUN!" and then have a sunset "mooch".







Thank you MIL and FIL and Bill and Patty for the best week.



Then I had the luxury of a week off. That was one whole week with a whole lotta nothing. Well actually I had a ton of small tasks to check off of my list before crunch time. Today was the first day of crunch time.

I napped, pulled out maternity clothes, sorted Jr.'s clothes, cleaned the house, so on and so forth. I also had a fabulous lunch with Janeen and Carter. Carter was the most AMAZING baby I have ever been around. Carter tooled around his house playing quietly and sweetly. He then behaved like an ANGEL during Janeen and my hour plus lunch. I always say that I hope that our next one is a girl, but damn, I would settle for a little Carter in a heartbeat. His mom claims he is a handful, but I think she is a total liar.

Our weekend was fantastic, Uncle Brian came to visit and Jr. was THRILLED. He brought him a little hot wheels fire truck, we went to the boat show, which was also incredibly thrilling. Jr. got to drive the boats.

Saturday night we took Jr. skiing with Kim and Neil. Just like with everything new, there was a ton of grumpusing. Jr. has a pretty plush little stroller with skis on it that is pulled by his daddy or his uncle Neil. The four adults were thrilled with how slick the whole contraption worked, but Jr. wanted to get out and walk. Of course I totally forgot the camera for the entire weekend.

Sunday we went over to papa's house to see Uncle Bean. Then it was buttoning up the last few details and getting ready for my new job. I had to wake the baby up early, before he was ready and slap some clothes on him, bust him into the car, ditch him at Aimees and then I was off to my new job by 7:45 AM. NUTS!

My first day was LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG. Lots of talking about work, filling out forms, faxing, mailing, shaking hands and not remembering names of my new co-workers. I didn't even step outside until after 3. By the time I left to pick up Selma to the vet I was totally exhausted. Maybe it was the extra two hours I worked today, or maybe it was the first day I worked after two weeks off, or maybe int was just information overload, but I am spent.

I could also blame Turnip Coleman for tireing me out, but I have actually been feeling great lately. Minus the scortching headache I had last week (way to ruin three days of my vacation Turnip!).

This One Is For You MIL

MIL checks every day to see if I posted something, so, MIL this one is for you.

Nothing much has been going on around here, well a lot as usual, but nothing worth noting. We are just preparring for our big trip to Florida. Mostly mentally preparring, but gathering and checking off of the lists. I am also getting ready for my last day of work - FRIDAY! It is scary, for the first time in darn near 7 years, I will not be working for the DEQ, not be working with my husband and not be able to walk or bike to work.

Change is good.

Change is good.

Anyway we can't wait to come see you all in Florida.

Jr. is obsessed with wearing silly hats. He is either wearing his plastic hardhat that declares him "Boss" or his fire fighter hat that declares him "Junior Fire Cheif". He also insists on carying around his "Seaturd" or lizzard as we call it. He is in that obsessed phase where you can't argue with him, you can only distract him long enough to take the hat or Seaturd away.




Lemon Coleman is doing well. I swear I can feel him/her fluttering around in there. And golly gosh I am HUGE for only being a little over 3 months pregnant.

How To Play With A Toddler

By Brian Vibbert.



Directions, find a sort of wet dirty dish rag. Wrap it around a toddler's mid section. Treat toddler like a sort of yo-yo. Involve dogs. Warning this activity requires intense upper body strength, because man that kid is heavy.

What is it again that is the father of invention?

2010

First things first. HAPPY NEW YEAR! A few days late but nonetheless, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We spent New Years Eve curled up like pill bugs in our house eating late and cold Pizza Shit pizza and playing Big Game Hunter. Ed was asleep by 10:30 and I am being very generous with that estimate. If you timed him by the time that he closed his eyes while sitting on the couch and started snoring I will give him 10:08, but I kicked him upstairs by around 10:30. I made it until 11:30 playing video games with Aunt Nancy.

Then we were off to Clinton. Last year it was a four day fest of eating and drinking with all of Ed's BFFs. This year it was smaller and shorter which made for a nice quiet house, it was just us and the Vibbert-Hinmans. Junior was the only kid other than Wally and they still had one bedroom to spare. Thanks to Brian and Angela for the wonderful time. Junior got to ride the four-wheeler and see the fire truck.





On Saturday Junior and I snuck into town to visit his Auntie Liesel and the Beagles. Junior's favorite part of the day was chasing Liesel and the Beagles and checking out the cool fish at the Iron Horse. Ed Sr. got to escape and do some snow 4-wheeling with Brian and Angela.





We rushed home to watch Denver lose to KC (DAMN IT AND MUCH STRONGER LANGUAGE THAT I SHALL NOT USE ON THE BLOG ABOUT HOW DISAPPOINTED I AM AT DENVER AND WHAT IN THE CRAP WAS JOSH DOING BENCHING BRANDON MARSHALL?!?!?!?!?) Thanks to the Moogs for feeding us AGAIN and hosting us during the football game AGAIN. We owe you big time.

Then we rushed home to toss the baby into bed and tear down Christmas. While I was packing away the Dickens Village, I got to thinking how different our lives are going to be when I open up these boxes next year. How different a 2 1/2 year old is going to be and how different his parents will be. I got a little chocked up wondering if Junior will still love his Santa snow globe or the "Horsey" figurine that pulls the chocolate wagon in our Christmas Village. Then I corrected myself and my ridiculousness, he is going to be 2 and a half, he will be awesome, the things he loves about Christmas will make my heart swell and I will have those memories to share with him when he is older. I will also have to expand my brain to accommodate Medium Shrimp Coleman AKA Blinsky and his or her Christmas memories.

I would say that by far my favorite Christmas memory of Junior this year was when he opened one of his gifts (I think it was the tool set) and CLEARLY said "Oh My God!" Where does he learn stuff like that? The other one was how much he loved Claws, but feared him so greatly.

I am already looking forward to having a yummy Christmas cocktail next year. 2010, you are going to be nuts, but we can take it.

Thanks!

Thank you!

Those are the best words I can describe our Christmas.


Thanks to Nanny for spending 3 days penned up with us and entertaining one busy little man. Thanks for all of the great gifts and thank you for the prime rib. Thanks for doing dishes at least 2 times a day and thanks for all of the laughs - especially for the laughs.


Thanks to Doo and Sheree for feeding us on Christmas Eve and all of the sweet loot.

Thank you to all of the Colemans for filling the underside of our Christmas tree with absolute magic! We are NOT opening the drums, not yet anyway. Needless to say, Jr. LOVED all of his toys. He is still working his way through them. His mom LOVED all of his new clothes, so so so cute. His new blanket is dreamy and he insists on sleeping with his "Seaturd" or lizard.



Thanks to Jr. for providing constant entertainment.


Thanks to Ed for my new iPod, and all of my other amazing gifts. Thanks for being an amazing husband again and again.



Thanks!

Lime Coleman - 12 weeks and I am done with morning sickness. It was like a switch went off - yay! My tummy is already poking out. Even if I suck my gut in, there is a firm lump just above my pant line. I should be able to feel the little lime soon.

4 Word Post.

Poop. In. The. Toilet!

Make it 5 words.

CELEBRATE!

Claws

Jr. and I talk a lot about Santa Claus. He always calls him Claws. I thought that he would relish the opportunity to meet Claws.


Not so much. Even though Faith was brave enough to sit on Santa's lap, Jr. couldn't be persuaded. He did give him a distant fist bump. Uncle Bean tricked him into this photo.




We did have a blast riding the carousel. Normally he cries and cries and we have to ride the bench, but today he was brave and rode on a pony and on an otter. Maybe it was because Faith was there next to him to help him be brave.




Last weekend we picked out a tree. It was 9 below in Helena, but was 20 degrees above over the pass. Although the temper tantrum he tossed before we embarked left his parents COMPLETELY scarred.




Once we hit the truck, he was in a much better mood.

Jr. had an absolute blast picking out a tree.










Last night just as we tuned in to the Griz game (poop!) Jr. pulled down the Christmas tree on top of himself. Ed and I were both sitting right there and bam. Tree toppled over and baby completely engulfed in Christmas. We pulled the tree off of him and there he sat completely fine. Not even a squeak. In fact he was rather disgruntled that we didn't let him participate in the ornament clean up/shop vac/carpet cleaning. Apparently Christmas is dangerous.

The new baby is a fig this week. Apparently figs make you have terrible debilitating headaches and sick all day. Thanks fig! I can't wait for week 12 and you are a lime. That is when the sickness starts to go a away. One more week!

Heartbeat

So Kumquat Coleman has a nice strong heartbeat. Ed and I were recalling trying to hear Jr.'s heartbeat and we could hear it but Jamie couldn't pin it down long enough to get a good heart rate. Not Kumquat, he she produced a nice solid little heart beat that we could all hear for at least 30 seconds if not longer.

Both of us had tears and were giggling. Jamie said that it still gives her chills.

Oh and I got a job offer today. I have a great degree of mixed feelings about changing jobs at this point, but when he called and offered me the job, I about lept out of my skin I was so excited. Not one ounce of me hesitated. I started to cry I was so excited.

I am now and once again officially a SOIL SCIENTIST! I will be starting with the Forest Service in February.

It was a monumental day. I am still reeling. We should go celebrate. Take out Emelianos?