Crawly Underneathy

So, we started a little fun tradition of bedtime stories about a little person named (by the girls) "Crawly Underneathy". He has adventures all over our house, like scaling our oven to and trying to figure out how to peel mandarin oranges that are twice as big as he is. Amy and Esther love these stories, and it's been really fun to see how much they take to these type of bedtime stories. I am usually one who just likes to tell factual stories, or funny ones from my childhood, and Ryan is the one who's imaginative and tells them about dragons, and princesses and castles. But this was my first night on my own telling them a 'Crawly Underneathy' adventure, and I was surprised by how easy and fun it was.

Other news in the Weight household: RYAN GRADUATED!!! He's amazing!! I cannot even express how proud I am of how hard he's worked to accomplish this. He did all of this schooling, while being a full time provider, husband, and father. I am amazed by him, and very grateful for him to have a hiatus for a bit. It's been nice to just relax in the evenings with him and talk.

Also, Little Miss Monta is getting very close to making her debut. It just dawned on me today that actually we're getting quite close. Crazy!! It makes me realize I don't feel very prepared. I feel like I need to get more things in order, but I've been busy just taking care of the other girls, so I haven't had as much time to devote to prepping myself for her arrival. Health wise, I'm doing well. I'm starting to feel big, and like there's not much space left, but on the whole, I hobble around alright and take care of the girls' needs without issue. I guess today I just realized that there's not going to be much left "calm". Once she gets here, there will be sleepless nights and readjusting. I hope I can do so quickly. I am excited to meet her, and hope she might be a little red head, then we'll have one kid of each color. :) Ryan has enough red in his beard it's possible.

The rest of the girls are growing up so fast... it's hard to believe how much they've grown and progressed this past year. Amy is my great little helper -- I can hardly imagine how I'd manage without her. She's like a little mother, and though sometimes it's odd when she's bossy and too motherly, I love her desire to be helpful. She always tells me randomly throughout the day things like "Mommy, I love you" "Mommy, I want to be your helper". She's really sweet. She's so bright too -- she's been doing this great online preschool program and is getting so good at spelling and is so close to learning how to read. I'm really excited for her. Esther keeps us on our toes, but we love her giggles and craziness. She is "mis-cheesious" as she once said, and we have to stay on our guard, but she's also very funny and affectionate. She makes me laugh more often than she makes me frustrated, which is good. She is a delightful child, even if the house is feeling the effects of her exhuberant spirit. Lena's starting to walk, and is learning words at an amazing rate. It's been really fun to see her personality blossom more over the past few months. She is such a snuggly sweetheart. I am grateful she still has squishable cheeks, and I'm glad she's become more interested in babies and baby-dolls recently, and hope that she really loves Little Miss Monta and is not jealous of all her mommy time.

So that's the update here. Hope you are all well. :)