An update is in the works, just can’t find enough hours in the day at the moment.

Okay, after some pictures and playing catch-up, it’s time for another meme (thanks Danielle)! Whenever I get these and it’s the “seven random or weird facts about yourself” ones, I always think how can I narrow it down to just seven? But I will try and here goes:

1) I’ve said it before but it always bares repeating because it is that weird: I rub paper. I Fold it, fold it, fold it and rub the corners until they’re dull. Once they’re dull, I refold it and start the process again. It must be hereditary because at four months old Conner began to rub tags and at almost three years old, he still does it constantly.

2) Whenever I eat something small, like candy or teddy grahams, I have to eat them in even numbers. Two at a time, four, six, etc. If there’s an odd-man out I either won’t eat it or I’ll break it in half so there are two. And if they’re flat, I have to stack them or put them back-to-back and then eat them. I know.

3) I never forget a face. Ever. I always say I would be a criminals worst nightmare in a police line-up. Tim likes to test this knowledge when we’re watching TV and I can place *most* people in commercials who used to be on TV shows and movies and vice-versa. Names escape me, but faces never do.

4) I have this awful fear of breaking my collar bone. Tim will playfully tap on it and it sends chills up my spine and it makes me want to throw up - eww eww. It’s such an awkward bone, too, but that’s a whole other issue.

5) I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars movies.

6) I get manic about the stupidest things. One time I got it in my head that we *might* have fleas in one of our rugs (we totally didn’t, but I had just heard a story about someone who did). I stewed about it for almost two hours before I pulled the vacuum out at 11 pm and vacuumed our 5′x8′ rug for about fifteen minutes straight. I made Tim stop watching the movie he was watching so I could do this, and even afterwards I still lost sleep over the possibility of fleas breeding in the rug. And there are so many instances of me doing stuff like that. My poor children.

7) I teared up a little (in a good way) after the election and I didn’t even vote for Obama. While morally he stands in direct opposition to most of my belief system, I do feel hopeful for the future of America under his command and hope with all my heart that he keeps his word. And just the fact that I was a part of such a monumental election - an African-American presidential candidate, and female vice-president candidate - to see both in my lifetime I am amazed. I feel so proud to be an American right now.

Now I tag: YOU! Do your seven weird things and let me know so I can hopefully feel better about myself.

Wow - did two weeks really come and go since the last time I posted? I hate saying cliche things like, “time flies when you’re having fun” but at the end of each week I can’t believe that my kids are another week older and we are another week closer to being at the end of 2008. And Christmas is less than two months away! Zoinks!

Anyways, what have we been up to? Well first we took a trip down to Atlanta to see my in-laws. They were great - they always are - I just didn’t realize how restful our visits down there really were until you throw a four-month-old in the mix and suddenly it’s not so restful. Sure, it’s hard work at home but in my delusional mind it wouldn’t be if we were on vacation, right? Wrong. We came back even more exhausted than before we left but it was still a good visit and the boys get gold stars for their behavior on the plane (even when I had to wake them at 5 am to take a 6:30 flight, but watching a gorgeous sunrise 27,000 ft in the air made it slightly worth it).

Last week Max had his four month well baby visit. He tipped the scales at 18lbs, 13 oz and is 25.5″ long. It’s amazing how different your children can be in terms of their size. Conner grew length-wise (he was 29″ by this age) and Max is just growing width-wise. I think we’re going to use the terms “big-boned” and “husky” when we talk about his build, but that’s okay because I adore his fat rolls and love to tickle and kiss them since it makes him laugh. At his appointment the nurse noticed he still had a lot of congestion in his chest (something he was born with, actually) and was concerned it could be something besides a cold. She ordered an xray “just to be safe” which didn’t bother me much, until the next morning when we got to the appointment. I walked into the xray room and got a little choked-up. I knew in my heart it was probably nothing, but what if it wasn’t? What if this was going to be this defining moment of my life where I’ll always remember that day we “found out”? And the machine - it was huge! This huge machine hanging from the ceiling of this huge room over-top this huge table…and then my little Max laying in the middle of it all. He did great though and got gushed-over by all the techs so he was loving it. They did have to press the skin under his chin back since his fat roll was getting in the way of the xray which made me giggle. And while everyone was wearing those heavy metal jackets to protect their innards from the radiation, Max got a little metal loincloth placed over his lap since, as the tech said, “You want grandchildren, right?”. But this story is anticlimactic in that Max is totally fine, nothing in there that shouldn’t be, so now we just wait and hope he grows out of it. He’ll just sound like he needs to cut back on the Lucky Strikes a bit.

We did the whole Halloween thing again this year and Conner had so much fun trick-or-treating with his B.F.F. John. I totally wanted Conner to be something super cute like an elephant or skunk, but Tim got this crazy idea that Conner should be the one to pick out his costume. What’s that about? Isn’t that my right until he’s at least ten years old? So naturally Conner picked a baseball player and I gotta admit, he’s no adorable elephant but he is one cute ball player. He did great going from house to house getting his free candy until this huge kid (and by kid I mean college student or freakishly large middle schooler) dressed as Darth Vader came up behind him and scared the living daylights out of him. Not cool.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon up in the mountains with the family and it was a great way to spend a fall day. My kids are so lucky to have so many people who love them and want to know them. We are truly blessed.

This is my Papa. He’s so sweet and so incredibly funny. He tells the best stories and most of them are so wild he either has to be lying or they just have to be true. And he’s very handsome to boot. A friend of mine has a little crush on him, saying he looks a lot like Sean Connery.

These two sassy broads are my mom (on the right) and her sister, Gwen. While they couldn’t be any different in personality, I think they look so much alike.

This cutie is my cousin, Ethan. He’s so good-looking and all the girls just love him. Could you blame them? And he’s got the best hair, too. Conner loves Ethan so much and his face lights up when we tell him we’re going to see him.

And this sexy minx, well that’s me, hard at work.

Real quick: I have to show you the hat that I made for Max:

Isn’t it awesome! I’ll have to take another picture since this one it’s hard to see. I saw the pattern and thought it would be cute, but once I got it on his noggin’ I fell in love with it. He’s so adorable.

This is my dad. Everyone comments on how much Max looks like him, and I can’t deny it either. In fact, the morning after Max was born I kept staring at him and it was unsettling to me just how much he looked like my dad. But now I find it endearing and not so strange. What do you think?

It’s so hard getting a good picture of all of us. Telling one person to look “over here” while getting the other to just lift his head at all.

So then we have to get creative

and then just settle for what we can get.