So much for keeping up...

I'm sure it happens to all of us.  We start off with the best of intentions.  The life gets in the way.  That's what has happened around here with me and my blog.  I was so determined to keep up and then life happened.  Andrew got sick in January.  Then I got sick...more so than I have been in a long time.  Then Andrew got sick.  Now Luke and I are sick again.  I'm not even sure I fully recovered from the last round. 

So, here's a quick update on what's going on with the Myers Clan.  Sorry for the long, verbose post.  A lot can happen in 6 weeks.

Clayton:  He's been SUPER busy at work.  It's been a change from what it was like for the first 5 years we were married.  Most of the time he was sitting at work with nothing to do so we would get online and chat off and on throughout the day.  Now he's so busy that I'm lucky if he gets a lunch break to call me during.  It makes my days a little more slow and a lot more lonely.  He's doing really well though.  His boss is happy with the progress he's made in the time he's been in his new position.  He's extremely smart and picks things up quickly.  He usually only needs to be shown how to do something once, maybe twice.  It has been nice with the new M-F, 8-5 schedule.  He's been able to carpool with a friend from church.  It's helped with gas money, and the last few weeks have been a lifesaver.  We lost our car to a seemingly minor accident so we are down to one car.  We've been looking for almost 3 weeks now, but with gas prices soaring, now is not a good time to be trying to find an economical commuter car.  We will call on a car that's been posted for less than an hour and it will already be sold.  And living out in the middle of the sticks doesn't help either.  We don't want to drive an hour, just to find out that a car is not a good fit or to find that it's already been sold.   Clayton was released from what we thought would be his eternal calling in the Elders Quorum.  The Church has been working on keeping families from being overburdened by having both parents in time intensive callings.  Now he's one of three men teaching the Valiant 10/11 year old class.  Honestly, this is my favorite.  We are both in the Primary now.  Before, I could rely on him hearing what's going on around the ward and keep me up to date.  Now neither one of us knows what's going and it makes me feel even more isolated that I already did.  He's one of those that will do whatever and doesn't complain so I think he likes his calling, but I'm not really sure.  :o)

Andrew:  Andrew will be 5 years old this Saturday.  I can't believe how the time flies.  He's as...energetic as ever.  He loves going to preschool and playing with friends.  He's kind of past learning anything new though.  He's a super smart kid.  He reads exceptionally well for his age.  He started really picking it up last summer, really on his own, and has blown us all away with his ability.  He is to the point that he can read a column out of the scriptures by himself with minimal, if any, help with words.  Most of the time when he does need help, it's because he's come across an unfamiliar, unusual scripture name.  He can count to 100 without really much help.  He knows all his letter, shapes, colors.  I'm a little worried about kindergarten next year.  I have had family members who have gotten in trouble in school simply because they were bored and weren't being challenged.  I'm positive that's what will happen to Andrew if he's not kept busy and engaged.  It is kind of crazy that my oldest is going to Kindergarten.  It was a bit surreal when I stopped by the school to pick up the registration packet.  Sometimes it seems like it's been forever since he was born.  But that day it made me feel like it just couldn't have been that long.  He can either be super helpful (clearing and rinsing everyone's dishes without being asked) or can be a bit of a pill, picking on his brother and not listening to anything anyone tells him.  You have to love this age.

Luke:  My baby isn't so much a baby anymore, turning 2 in January.  He's an independent little guy who is a miniature of his brother.  He copies everything Andrew does and says.  That's not always a good thing.  His latest is calling everyone a "coo coo brain".  The only other person in this house who has ever used that term is...yep, Andrew.  It is kind of funny when Andrew gets mad at Luke for calling him a name that he has called Luke over and over again for months.  And Luke doesn't really understand that it's not nice, no matter how often we remind him.  Luke has also taken to biting his brother when he doesn't get what he wants.  We've had a lot of time outs around here lately.

Baby:  The baby is growing nicely.  I'm 32 weeks and 5 days along.  I can't wait to be done.  I feel like there just isn't any more room in me for this little guy to grow.  Fortunately, I have the best OB in the world.  Because of my history of big babies (Andrew was 8 lbs 13 oz and Luke was 8 lbs 9 oz and were both induced a week and a half early), Dr. is going to do an ultrasound in 3 or 4 weeks to see how big the baby is getting.  He won't let the baby get too big.  As long as I make it to 38 weeks (considered full term) and because I respond well to induction, he doesn't see any reason to let the baby get to be huge just because.  So hopefully, I'll have some baby pics to post in a few weeks.  And no matter what, he's already told me he won't let me go past my April 22 due date.  Have I said how much I LOVE my OB?!?! 

Me:  Other than being sick and uncomfortable in the last weeks of my pregnancy, everything is just chugging along.  I'm still the 2nd Counselor in the Primary, a calling that is completely out of my comfort zone.  Even as a young girl/woman, I was never really interested in watching or interacting with others' kids.  I did babysit a little, but not nearly as much as most girls my age did.  And I didn't really enjoy it.  It was most always as a favor for one of my parents' friends.  And now here I am dealing with everyone's kids.  I struggle a lot with how to interact with them.  I'm not comfortable going up and giving kids hugs and asking how they are doing.  I do much better behind the scenes.  I guess that's why we are given callings sometimes, to push us to grow.  I've definitely gotten into the nesting stage of my pregnancy.  It always comes at the end when I'm too big to do anything that I really want to do and have to wait around for Clayton to help me.  We did a lot of purging recently and had a very successful garage sale.  It was more to get rid of stuff than to make money, but we did make a tidy little sum.  Far more than I expected considering we really didn't have much by way of big ticket items.  We got to talk to a lot of really fun, and funny people.  I think that was my favorite part.  Just talking to the people.  I did learn a couple of valuable garage sale lessons.  1st off:  Don't open your garage door until you are ready to have people going through your stuff.  Clayton went out at 6:30am to put up the signs for our sale that started at 7:30am.  He had two gentlemen follow him as he put up the signs.  I opened the garage door so Clayton could get in.  Even though we told them we weren't "open" yet, they were rifling through our stuff at 6:45am.  We sold a lot of stuff that I'm sure they made far more money off later just to get them out of our hair.  Next time, I'm not letting anyone buy anything until I'm ready.  You can come back later or not at all.    2nd:  If you have stuff left over at the end of your sale you don't want to have to deal with or haul off, put up a sign saying all remaining stuff is free.  I think we had fewer than 10 small items left when all was said and done.  People will take stuff they probably wouldn't buy just because it's free.  3rd:  Stuff sells better if it doesn't have a price tag on it.  The first day we had a lot of stuff left.  I decided to take all the tags off of everything.  And it started to sell.  I expected people to see a price and try to talk us down.  Most of them looked at the price and kept walking.  But if they have to ask, it starts the bartering process.  I'm already planning the next sale in my head for next fall.  I didn't really have the time or the energy to go through the kids' toys so those will go.  I'm also going to begin purging of baby clothes, etc.  This is our last and we don't have room to keep things we don't need.

So, I think that about sums up what's been going on around here.  We have a busy couple of months ahead and I'm sure the baby will be here before we all know it.