***caption contest***

Yesterday Cameron and Jason were playing outside after dinner and I just had to take a few pictures of her "outfit". During a diaper change earlier in the day she had insisted that we take off her dress. So she was just wearing a diaper and Jason's sweatband on her wrist. To play outside she decided that she needed her Strawberry Shortcake shoes and some yellow socks. I think 2 is a hilarious age because the kids just start to get an idea of how to dress themselves and become opinionated about their clothing. Earlier in the week she had picked out a green shirt, yellow shorts and orange socks to wear. If you have a clever caption for this photo, please leave a comment. Thanks!

beach day!

We finally made it to the beach this week. With gas prices holding steady above $4.50 per gallon we haven't been touring the county like I would normally do in summer. We met up with some friends who had moved away a few months ago and enjoyed the beach together. Jason loved jumping in the waves, but still has a healthy respect for the ocean. Cameron sat with me most of the time, venturing off the towel to build sand piles ("look mom, sandcastle!") and to yell at Jason to be careful. She had to peel off her clothes immediately even though the wind was a little chilly because she loves to be in her bathing suit. She would prefer to wear her bathing suit every day if I let her! Hopefully we'll be back a few more times this summer.

Vote for Jason!

Hi everybody! Voting for the Crafty Crow funny food contest starts today. Please click the link on the right and vote for Jason's veggies in the vegetables category. (You can vote in the other categories too, they're pretty cute!) Thanks!

news of the weird

Hey gang, check this out! Apparently I'm only 9 years old and could live to be 95! www.embedtube.com/uploads/33101407Realage.swf

funny food contest

The kids entered The Crafty Crow's funny food contest. I pulled everything out of the fridge and used the knife to cut pieces, but they did the rest. Jason's entry is on the left and Cameron's is the right. We entered the vegetables category, but I just realized we used apple slices for the mouths. Oh well! Hey is anybody else shocked about the amount and variety of vegetables I had on hand? I won't reveal how fresh they were, but give me a little credit!

art lesson

Today we did a very simple art lesson. I took out our tempra paints and put a blob of red, yellow and blue on a piece of paper. From these primary colors we then made secondary colors of orange, green and purple. Once Jason had his colors mixed he was on his one to create this beautiful painting. I am so impressed with his talent!

lost tooth

Yesterday, Jason lost his first tooth! He had two bottom teeth that have been very wiggly and yesterday during lunch he took a drink and one floated out of his gums. I'm so glad it was that easy! We were at Chili's for my birthday lunch (yes, it was my birthday and I am feeling very old) he plopped the little tiny tooth down on his napkin and smiled like crazy. I put the tooth in my coin purse because it was the only safe place for it. Later that evening when we went to my parents house for dinner I pulled out our old tooth fairy pillow and took it home for Jason to use. He put the tooth in the pocket and put the pillow directly under his pillow and his head. When he awoke the next morning the tooth was gone and it was replaced by a few quarters. O Happy Day! Now I have a little boy who is dying to go to Target and spend his quarters. If only he had the patience to wait for the next tooth he could buy something better.... we'll see if he can last! (note: Blogger is having problems with pictures today, I'll try again later)

headbands

This afternoon I stumbled onto a site called www.thelongthread.com . Today and every Monday is Make-It Monday. The project was a headband for adult and child. Here is Cameron's new look. I made one for myself, but I'll have to adjust the width, as I'm not crazy about it as is. Enjoy!

in defense of #3

Now that the cat is out of the bag I feel a funny need to answer the silly question that people seem to want to know: was this an accident? My answer (in my very blunt and sarcastic mind) is "don't you think we know how this all works?". But honestly I think my answer boils down to one favorite thing: dogpile on daddy. In our house some evenings when Darren comes home from work he stretches out on the floor to relax but also to give an invitation to the kids to bring their best shot. They love to pile on him, wrestle, tickle and laugh like half-crazed sugar high kids. And when I get down on the floor to help them out we all end up laughing and playing and that kicks off our evening with good fun. One night in the midst of all this fun I thought why in the world would we not want to add another kid to the pile? Another voice to scream with delight when they get tickled or another pair of feet pattering in the hall to run in for a crash landing on the pile.... why not? And in fact, there's still one more seat in the back of the car. There's even one more seat on the couch to be filled. So sure, I'm going to get fat and be very uncomfortable for a few months. And then after that we'll be sleep-deprived for a few more months (I say we because Darren is great at sharing the middle of the night duties). And of course, it will be one more mouth to feed and clothes to buy and shoes (oh, the shoes!). But why not? I can see what most people are thinking: Darren got his boy and Jen got her girl, what a perfect family! Gender has never been a big issue for us, I guess that's easy to say when you have one of each, but I think we could be content with two of the same. So here we go into new territory, 3 kids. I hope the dogpile answer is satisfactory for everybody.

*****BIG NEWS******

Yep, big news. Rusco kid #3 is on the way! I am having the hardest time spilling this news. I was content just letting myself get bigger and bigger while watching people squirm and wonder if I'm letting myself go or pregnant. But it's hard to work it into a conversation. I thought for sure I'd be able to work it into conversations at church today, but it didn't happen. I mean how would that work? Me: hey Cindy, how's your foot? Are you recovering from surgery? Cindy: It's going well, I'm almost done with PT and I have three screws in my foot. Me: Awesome, hey I'm pregnant! Or how about this.... Teacher: Cameron was such a good girl in class today and she had a lot to say. Me: Great job Cam! Hey did you know I'm pregnant? It all seems too forced and I couldn't work it in naturally. Of course there were the generic conversations... Mr. & Mrs. Adams: Hi Jen, how are you? Me: Good thanks, just a little pregnant but really enjoying the weather!
This is the beauty of my blog. It's a place where I get to type about me and my family and for some strange reason, people read it! So to all of you loyal readers, here it is. Baby # 3 is due January 9 but like babies 1 & 2 it could arrive 3 weeks early if my blood pressure rises. So that would bring us to December 15ish and I'm sure I'll have plenty of stress in my life about then! I know Darren will be breathing down my neck trying to get the baby delivered before the end of the year to meet our deductible and get the tax deduction! So yeah, last week when I posted my tag answers and said I was looking forward to December, I wasn't just talking about Christmas.
How I'm feeling: really good. About three weeks ago my stomach muscles gave up and decided not to help me out so I've got a gut. It's not even a cute baby bump like all the celebrities have. It's a certifiable, third baby gut. I was nauseous for a few days but I never throw up. I eat like a trucker and take naps every day when Cameron naps. Cameron has no idea what's going on and probably won't get it until the baby arrives. There will be drama. Jason set right out to make arrangements. We were sitting at the table when we told the kids and he started moving the chairs to make room for a high chair. He also decided to start a list of baby names to bring with us to the hospital. So far he's written John and Suzy on his list. I'm curious to see what else will be added over the next few months.
I had a very exciting first OB visit. The exam was normal and they sent me to the lab to get my blood. It was about 11:30am and I was starving and ready for lunch. The woman drawing my blood had a hard time finding a vein in my left arm so I asked her to try the right. She finally found one and started to fill 5 vials. I was trying to follow along with a song on the radio, read the charts on the wall and generally ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. I was getting weaker, breathing heavier and finally asked how much longer. "I've got 2 more to go do you want me to stop?" "No, let's get it over with." Bad decision. I started getting weak and tired and really sweaty. I tried to tell her I was just going to lay my head down but my words were slurring. I couldn't sing along with the song anymore so I put my head down and everything went black. When I woke up there were 3 women in the room applying ice packs to my sweaty neck and throat. They didn't have anywhere in the back for me to lay down so they got me into an office chair and rolled me out to the lobby to lay on the couch. AND THEY LEFT ME THERE! I can remember hearing people walk into the lobby and going up to the receptionist to ask if I was ok. "Oh she's fine, she just passed out during a blood draw." Wow, what a way to instill confidence in your patients! When I was able to sit up I dug through my bag to find my trusty tin of almonds and my water bottle. Not only did this lab not have a decent place to lay down but they also had no juice! NO JUICE! I finally stood up and went back to find my phlebotomist and she handed me 2 cups. "We need some urine, are you up for it? " Well shoot, why not? I've never passed out from THAT before! So after a memorable trip to the lab I drove straight to In'n'Out for a double-double to regain my strength. Such a great story and I had to keep it bottled up for a few weeks!
Ok, enough about me. Do you have any good news? I'm not trying to be generic, I'm just trying to give you lovely readers and opportunity to announce some big news. What, you can't top a pregnancy?