Guess who turned FIVE on Monday?!?

Our little Joseph!

Five years of Joseph…such a JOY of a BOY!

With friends, food, fun, and LOTS of love!

Yummy cake from the famous McArthur’s Bakery

Emily decorated with these adorable clotheslines

And all the ladies helped to make a lovely spread

No baby shower is complete without a Diaper Cake

Thanks Beth!

And lo, here is the belly…a front shot anyway, which is only slightly less scary than a side view.

Thanks to all my friends for the best baby shower ever—I am truly blessed!

See, what happens when you go a long time without blogging is that actual, important, real-life stuff occurs…and then it gets to be too overwhelming to sit down and write about…so you ignore your blog and play on Facebook all day long.  

And obsess over the SYTYCD contestants, Jersey Housewives, Kate Gosselin, and other mindless summer distractions.

But okay, to sum up:

• I suppose you are all wondering about the pregnancy.  It goes.  Belly pic coming soon.  Brace yourselves.  
• Baby is currently breech.  There’s plenty of time to turn, but do I still stress over it and google “natural ways to turn a breech” and then spend all day hanging off my couch with frozen peas at the top of my belly?  Yes, I do.
• My dad has colon cancer.  
• Sean’s dad has skin cancer.
• Shaylea got glasses.
• We put our house on the market to try to move closer to the church.  Can I say how fun it is to try to sell a house pregnant?  So fun.
• Sean finally did outside landscaping and indoor projects (such as, and I am not kidding–we JUST NOW have a toilet paper holder thingy in the master bathroom instead of a roll of toilet paper that sits on the edge of the bathtub only to fall in and get soggy several times a week) that I have been griping about for 3 years.  I seriously hope the new owners appreciate all that hard work.  
• My feet get swollen alot these days.  When I think about having 10 more weeks of this summer pregnancy, I start to twitch a little.

Things I am totally looking forward to:

• My Baby Shower is this Friday!  I requested there be Sangria and Bunco.  The Sangria is not so much for me, but naturally I want my guests to have a good time. And the Bunco is because no one really likes those silly baby shower games anyway. Bunco–now, that’s a baby shower game I can get behind.
• Selling the house so I don’t have to clean it everyday.
• Having “pregnancy brain” over with because there is something else I am looking forward to but cannot remember what it is.
• My blog friend Kearsie is going to make me a baby quilt.  Y’all, she hand sews them. Did I mention she is a blog friend?  As in, we have not actually ever met, and yet, she would do this for me.  I love her. 

And I love all of you.  All 3 of you who still read this little blog.  I will do better with the updating, I promise!

Or so I thought.

Joseph has to go and turn 5 this summer.  KINDERGARTEN age already.  My baby! 

And so, the homeschooling of the boy begins.  I like to start off slow with little ones.  A little math here.  Some phonics there.  Handwriting occasionally.

I learned this lesson the hard way by being a complete homeschool nazi overachiever crazy person with Shaylea when she was 4.  

HA!  I laugh  now.  4 year olds are babies.  And yet, there I was, with all my expectations, ready to crush her happy little spirit and love of learning with a stack of curriculum taller than she was.

Anyway, my point is that all my “teaching” didn’t even seem to matter.  One day she started reading and I still can’t really explain how that happened.  

But, Joseph.  Not so much.

He’s got the language delays, and some fine motor skill issues, and he’s a wiggly boy…

Everything I thought I knew about homeschooling, I pretty much have to throw out the window. None of the curriculum I used for Shaylea will work for him.  I have to use programs that are visual, game-oriented, or manipulative-based.  In other words, I have to freaking START OVER.

So, my homeschooling friends out there—any suggestions?  I am currently considering Happy Phonics, Math-U-See (which I’ve used before–but just the primer), and Handwriting Without Tears.  

I *think* this will work best with him, but I would LOVE to hear from any of you.  Also, is feeling like you have to “start over” with each child a normal part of the homeschool process?

And it was awesome!

But we’re back now.  

What you missed:

~the belly is way bigger

~the baby likes to kick my ribs now

~sunscreen brand really DOES matter

~Shaylea discovered her love for body surfing

~Joseph announced he is moving to Florida

~Sean channeled his inner beach cowboy

~I survived the maternity swimsuit

Good to be home.  More pictures tomorrow!

Today, I lost my bellybutton.

It’s not poking out through my clothes yet, but that’s coming.

Lord help me; it’s coming.

Because everyone wants to be like Daddy…

I was all geared up for last Sunday to be emotional and sad since it was the due date for the baby we lost last August.  But, to my surprise, the sadness never came.  

I can’t help but to feel kind of guilty about that.  Am I moving on with my “replacement baby”? No.  That’s not it.

I started a post back in January that I never finished.  It was me, still mourning our recent loss and also desperately hoping that our current pregnancy would continue.  I don’t know why I never published it.  It occurred to me that there are couples who have entire calendars filled up with due dates that will never come.  I decided I needed to get over myself, I guess.

So apparently, I have.  But I do still think about our little one.  We named the baby Promise, for the promise that we will see him or her again.  That is a comfort and a grace.  I am thankful for that.  

Speaking of names.  

Dun, Dun, DUN!!!

Names are decided people.  This is nothing short of a miracle.  Sean is THE pickiest person in the world when it comes to the naming of a child.

Okay, before you start with the opinions, I have to tell you who came up with what, so you can direct your praise/mockery/indifference appropriately.

Sean is responsible for the first names, and I chose the middle names.  

Ready?  Deep breaths…

Girl:  Emma Catherine Sawyers

Boy: Wyatt Christopher Sawyers

And, if you hate them both, I shall now distract you with a very popped out 22 week belly.