This and that

I told a friend that since this is our last baby, I wanted to be better at getting belly pictures. (I think I have one each from the other 2 times I was pregnant.) I'm still not doing very well this time around - here I am at 21 weeks (this was taken a week and a half ago... not only am I bad at having Mark take pictures, I'm even worse at posting them!):

I've been feeling great lately and even have energy to do things like weed the flowerbeds and plant some new things (to take the place of those ill-fated plants that decided not to put up with my neglect any longer). We've all enjoyed lots of fresh air and time outside lately. In fact, anytime I get Carter's shoes on, he immediately goes to the back door and wants to go outside to swing - he'd be happy to swing for hours on end. He's immensely disappointed when I tell him we have to go somewhere in the car. So, one day when we came home from the store, I let both kids stay outside while I unloaded the groceries. Everything was inside except a gallon of milk and a watermelon. I came outside to see said watermelon rolling down our driveway and a very guilty-looking Carter standing by the back of the station wagon. I chased it down the driveway, across the road and into the neighbor's yard, trying not to think of how ridiculous I must have looked. Thankfully, it remained intact, and I've learned my lesson to unload anything resembling a ball first.

Ava and I were playing her My Little Pony game the other day and we apparently needed an entire pony audience.
And, since the ponies had vacated their castle home, Carter took the opportunity to use it as a playground for his cars.

One last set of pictures. Ava loves going to the library - almost nothing is as exciting as new books. When we get home, I always get her out of the car first since she sits behind me. By the time I get Carter out and get inside, this is usually how I find her:

While he took a little longer to show an interest in books, Carter has become quite the little bookworm himself, and he'll often pull book after book off the shelf to look through them.

When it comes to naps and bedtimes, we used to read stories in Ava's room, then I'd go rock with Carter for a few minutes before putting him down and coming back to give Ava a hug and kiss, but one day Ava said she wanted to rock with us. It's a little tight getting all 3.5 of us in the rocking chair, but it's been such fun - albeit not always the quiet wind-down I'm hoping for. Ava likes to sing along with whatever song I'm singing (even if she doesn't know it), and Carter has started to join in as well. When Ava and I sing Jesus Loves Me, I'll hear random words I actually understand from Carter, like "Bible" and "Jesus" and "so." Touches my heart and makes me laugh all at the same time!