This past weekend we decided to forgo tracking down babysitting and went out on a family date.  I always end up wondering why we don't do that more often!  Randy got a few groceries at Costco while all 3 ladies napped in the car (ha) and then we treated ourselves to burgers and fries and a little mall shopping.  Thanks to the man in my life, I even got to browse a little sans children.  Hence this selfie, because every child-free dressing room moment no matter how brief or fleeting,  is worthy of commemoration.
 
   We're just rollin' along here at 25 weeks, and trying to take it one day at a time.  Actually, I'm feeling pretty great, all things considered, but the anticipation with this pregnancy this third time around is KILLING ME.  June. Feels So. Far. Away!  But...we're only 3 weeks away from the third trimester so, hope remains.

   The littlest Smucker is getting seriously active at this point. Rolling and turning and round-house kicking and perfecting his/her Olympic gymnast tryout routine in there.  I have to admit it's definitely one of my favorite stages.  Towards the end they move less and less and you feel more and more like a beached whale, so it's just pretty great right now.  My lungs still have room to breathe, I'm still sleeping pretty soundly, and as long as the calendar months keep flipping by, we will all be just fine.

(Just don't ask my husband that if we happen to go overdue.)

Five things I'm looking forward to with Smucker baby #3: (other than the obvious snuggling, smelling their sweet little head, and covering them with kisses)

1. Reading books.  With Jocelyn I POURED through books because she was a super-slow nurser, and I didn't have an iPhone.  With Charlotte....I don't think I finished a single book because of aforementioned phone.  How sad is that?  I am really hoping to get back to reading with this little one.
2. Not sweating the small stuff.  I know that is probably what every pregnant woman says/thinks and then every postpartum woman forgets.  Because, let's be honest, it's super hard not to do.  You feel like your house is in the toilet, the laundry is a laughable notion, and supper just isn't even happening.  You feel like a failure in pretty much everything except for keeping babies alive.  And I know I did a lot of that with my first two.  But THIS time, I am determined to do some preparations before hand like frozen meals, and get myself into some sort of routine, and NOT freak out about how little it seems I am getting done.   Hold me to it.

3. Taking more pictures.  This one is kind of a no-brainer but for as many pictures as I think I take, I always look back later and feel like there is never enough of that itsy-bitsy teeny-tiny age.  So sad.

4. Getting lots of fresh air.  Still not sure how this is going to look.  Baby-wearing while pushing the double stroller?  Or maybe just getting Jocelyn a bike with training wheels so she could pedal along? However it happens, Oregon summers are wayyyyy too short to spend the days inside.

5. Watching my girls as big sisters.  I seriously CANNOT WAIT to witness them welcoming this little one into their lives.  I'm pretty sure they're planning on it being another girl, but I'm sure they will come to love a little brother just as much. ;) They ask me about the baby more often than anyone else, they plant kisses on my growing belly and they profess their love for this new sibling with reckless abandon.  I seriously get a little giddy thinking about sharing that milestone with them.....a new baby, a new name, a new family member, a new friend.