Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Honestly...I'm sitting here after folding laundry for the last two hours and don't understand how anyone in this house can complain about having nothing to wear. I usually do laundry on the weekends and since I was out of commission last weekend, got behind a week.

I did laundry from the moment I got up on Sunday until I went to bed that night and still have about three loads left. We literally had NO towels left and had to wait for the first load of towels to dry before I could give the kids a bath last night.

It was bad.

Anyway...I digress.

We ended up going to the pumpkin farm on Saturday morning. This is our favorite farm in the area because it is the perfect size for small children. It's about 40-45 minutes away but it's totally worth it. Well, we thought we'd take a little side route this year and get a chance to see some of the season's changing leaves.

And boy did that extended drive give way to some very interesting conversations in the truck.

Conversation #1 - The birds and the bees

I don't know how we even got on the topic but somehow Josh was talking about a bird and its eggs. And when the baby comes out of the egg it's called "hatching". So far...I'm good.

Then the question...."Mom...how does the egg get out of the mommy bird?"

The look of panic on my face made Dustin bust out in laughter. I composed myself and silently cursed all this knowledge he's gained in Kindergarten. I said, "Well, it's kind of funny. The mommy bird kind of 'poops' it out." Oh God. He giggled and said, "Are you serious?"

I'm like, "Uh yeah!" He giggled again. Then he named about 100 animals and asked how each of them had babies.

Having had a c-section with each of my children, I have the easy explanation as to how mommy has babies so we've already had that conversation...but it's one of my favorites and I don't believe I've ever blogged about it.

A few months after Lauren was born he asked how she got out of my tummy. I explained to him that the doctor gave mommy a big owie on the tummy. He was very concerned and asked if it hurt. I told him that yes, it did hurt but that mommy took medicine to make it not hurt so much. I told him I got a huge band-aid and that just like his owies...mine healed up!

I wanted to tell him the truth and told him that I would show him my scar if he wanted to see it. That's when he started to cry and came running to my arms. He was sad that I had to go through that in order to have him. I gave him a big hug and said, "Josh...if I didn't have that...I wouldn't have you. Well, that or I'd have a 5 year-old in my tummy still!"

Then when we were in Des Moines this last camping trip we started talking about it again. He said, "Mom...I don't even want to think about that again. It makes me sad."

He's such a sweetheart!

Conversation #2 - Bi-lingual

The drive was taking much longer than expected and Josh said,

"Man...this is far away. Do these people talk different out here?"


Once we got out to the farm Lauren immediately spotted the goats and started squealing like a little pig!!





Josh was thrilled to spook the chickens and make them run in fear. That of course made him laugh and inhale the God-awful stench of the chicken coop. Then he was the one running in fear which made me laugh!



Lauren was in no mood for photo ops and had ripped off her "pretties" (a/k/a barrett) by the time we got her to sit down for a second. So...out of the twenty photos I took...these are the best two. So what does that tell ya?




We really had a great time and the kids had fun so I guess you can't ask for much more than that!




Baby Update: 18 weeks

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.