Okay, Shannon wants to know how I'm doing. I guess I haven't shared that for a while because all I had to share was complaining, and I didn't want to do that. There was just a rough couple of weeks there with Nathan traveling and me sick with a nose problem and nausea and weariness that comes with pregnancy. And kids that miss their dad and kids that still need me to wipe their poo and fix their food. I hardly cleaned the house. I didn't exercise. Of course, that gets you down to have a messy house and a sloppy body. I gained 5lbs in two weeks. I was just nauseous enough to need to munch constantly and just tired enough to have no energy to work out. But not so nauseous that I was in danger of vomiting, so I'm not super sick like some women get. I could have it worse, so I'm grateful for that. I was just tired and hopeless enough (knowing I was the only parent for a while) to have no motivation to get out of the house with the kids.
So I went downhill there for a bit, but things are back up. My nose problem is almost completely gone, which really helps my nauseousness. I think my lack of energy was very much psychological. When Nathan came back home I came back to life. He watched the kids so I could rest, then I was able to work out.
As I was dragging my growing body into the gym the other day and just coming out of my depths of despair, a sweet old man was coming in behind us and started telling me how fit I was and what a good job I'd done not letting myself go after having all those kids. Boy, did that make my day.
My tummy is really poking out there. I'm just 9 1/2 weeks, and I'm testing the limits of my non-maternity shirts. I'm going to be a monster with #4. All those muscles are just going to take up where they left off and stretch a little further this time. It makes me want to clutch my gut just thinking about it.

Kate doesn't call Nathan Daddy anymore, she calls him Dab. I love it. She says, Monny, Dab, Ridey, Cayee and calls herself Tay. I'll be sad the day she starts saying them correctly.